Abstract The opsin gene family encodes key proteins animals use to sense light and has expanded dramatically as it originated early in animal evolution. Understanding the origins of opsin diversity can offer clues to how separate lineages of animals have repurposed different opsin paralogs for different light-detecting functions. However, the more we look for opsins outside of eyes and from additional animal phyla, the more opsins we uncover, suggesting we still do not know the true extent of opsin diversity, nor the ancestry of opsin diversity in animals. To estimate the number of opsin paralogs present in both the last common ancestor of the Nephrozoa (bilaterians excluding Xenoacoelomorpha), and the ancestor of Cnidaria + Bilateria, we reconstructed a reconciled opsin phylogeny using sequences from 14 animal phyla, especially the traditionally poorly-sampled echinoderms and molluscs. Our analysis strongly supports a repertoire of at least nine opsin paralogs in the bilaterian ancestor and at least four opsin paralogs in the last common ancestor of Cnidaria + Bilateria. Thus, the kernels of extant opsin diversity arose much earlier in animal history than previously known. Further, opsins likely duplicated and were lost many times, with different lineages of animals maintaining different repertoires of opsin paralogs. This phylogenetic information can inform hypotheses about the functions of different opsin paralogs and can be used to understand how and when opsins were incorporated into complex traits like eyes and extraocular sensors.


The classrooms of today represents a variety of different cultures, a facet that is often problematized. This research explores how a multicultural context can be used as resource, instead of an obstacle. By investigating this theme, I have been conducting research on the concept of Ethno-camps – trying to identify the key aspects of these, and discuss whether or not these key aspects can be transferred to other forms of music education. The qualitative data for the study was collected between 2015-2016 and is composed of interviews, participant observations and a visual ethnography. Recurring themes of importance found in the data is aspects of cultural diversity, environment, social interaction between participants, learning traditional music by ear or having a peer-learning approach to teaching music. The results discussion features the erudition what the key aspects of Ethno are, but also that an important aspect is the interplay between these aspects. Considering that all these facets are in constant interplay with each other, the true effects of an Ethno could be limited to its own context – thereby making it difficult to be transmitted in its entirety to other settings. (Less)


This paper confers one of the three phases of tree multipliers, i.e. the Partial Product reduction phase. In this paper four types of hybrid tree multipliers are studied and proposed using parallel counters (full adders and half adders) for reduction of Partial Products in multiplication operation. After ANDing the bits of multiplier and multiplicand, the Partial Products are arranged into two groups for reduction, each group uses a different technique for reduction of Partial Products, resulting in a fewer gates than the parent tree reduction techniques. The results of the proposed tree reduction techniques are then tabulated and compared with the parent tree multipliers. The performance comparison is done in terms of number of gate counts of half adder and full adders used in the Partial Product reduction phase. Four types of hybrid tree multipliers are presented using CSA (Carry Save Adder) Array multiplier, Wallace Tree multiplier, Modified Wallace Tree multiplier and Dadda Tree Multiplier. The results show significant reduction in number of full adders and half adders with the slight overhead of increased final addition stage of the hybrid multiplier. The proposed multipliers can prove to be the better choice for digital signal processing designs, image processing designs and processor architecture.


Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will play a key role in future economic and social strategies in South Africa. However, we find that SMEs are par-ticularly vulnerable to shocks in their external envi-ronment due to a general lack of skills and resources. This is critical as the future demand for electricity in South Africa is likely to outstrip supply and electricity will become increasingly unreliable and expensive. We surveyed 250 SMEs in Cape Town and found that the prevailing policy methods of changing electricity consumption behaviour: information campaigns, increasing prices, and pro-viding rebates for energy savings, have had limited results and are unsustainable when applied to SMEs.


In the course of the research for this dissertation uncoated, silane-coated and UV-modified nanoscale zinc oxides with a high surface area (130 m²/g) have been synthesised for the first time. These nano-porous materials are more robust than the so far described zinc oxides. Also the UV treated material is more effective than nanoscale titanium dioxide for the photocatalytic mineralisation of chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Uncoated and silane-coated nanoscale zinc oxides are synthesised by a sol-gel process in solvents containing a high zinc-ion concentration. Such high zinc concentrations in the sol-gel process have not been used before because of the strong aggregation of zinc oxide particles that result. To affect the aggregation alkoxyalkylsilanes with organic functional groups were used as coating molecules.
Previously known formulations of the synthesis of uncoated nanomaterials were optimized and the use of silanes was adjusted as coating substrates. Special for the synthesis of coated zinc oxide is the presence of the coating substrate during the precipitation of the zinc oxide particles. Thus a surface modification of the primary particles takes place in "statu nascendi". In this state a competition takes place between primary particle aggregation and the reaction of the surface of the primary particles with the silane coating molecules. The high reactivity of the ZnO particle surface is used to form covalent bonds between the silanes and the zinc oxide surface. Depending on the silane concentration different types of bonds between the silanes and the surface of the particles (T0, T1 and T2) have been characterised by spectroscopical techniques. (e.g. 13C- and 29Si solid state NMR-studies)
In a second step the silane-coated surface is photooxidized by UV-irradiation. This results in a high BET-surface (130 m2/g), purely inorganic porous oxidic network composed of polycyclic silasesquioxane-bridged zinc oxide particles.
Furthermore, properties of the obtained material, like pH-stability and storage stability, as well as the possible use as an heterogenous photocatalyst for the photo-oxidative mineralisation of chlorinated hydrocarbons (e.g. ethylene tetrachloride) and in photovoltaic application (e.g. thin films in Graetzel-cells) have been investigated.


Abstract. We present a technique for achieving tracked vertical parallax for multiple users using a variety of autostereoscopic projector array setups, including front- and rear-projection and curved display surfaces. This hybrid parallax approach allows for immediate horizontal parallax as viewers move left and right and tracked parallax as they move up and down, allowing cues such as three-dimensional (3-D) perspective and eye contact to be conveyed faithfully. We use a low-cost RGB-depth sensor to simultaneously track multiple viewer head positions in 3-D space, and we interactively update the imagery sent to the array so that imagery directed to each viewer appears from a consistent and correct vertical perspective. Unlike previous work, we do not assume that the imagery sent to each projector in the array is rendered from a single vertical perspective. This lets us apply hybrid parallax to displays where a single projector forms parts of multiple viewers' imagery. Thus, each individual projected image is rendered with multiple centers of projection, and might show an object from above on the left and from below on the right. We demonstrate this technique using a dense horizontal array of pico-projectors aimed into an anisotropic vertical diffusion screen, yielding 1.5 deg angular resolution over 110 deg field of view. To create a seamless viewing experience for multiple viewers, we smoothly interpolate the set of viewer heights and distances on a per-vertex basis across the array's field of view, reducing image distortion, cross talk, and artifacts from tracking errors.


We formulate and investigate the simplest version of time-optimal quantum computation theory (TO-QCT), where the computation time is defined by the physical one and the Hamiltonian contains only one- and two-qubit interactions. This version of TO-QCT is also considered as optimality by sub-Riemannian geodesic length. The work has two aims: One is to develop a TO-QCT itself based on a physically natural concept of time, and the other is to pursue the possibility of using TO-QCT as a tool to estimate the complexity in conventional gate-optimal quantum computation theory (GO-QCT). In particular, we investigate to what extent is true the following statement: Time complexity is polynomial in the number of qubits if and only if gate complexity is also. In the analysis, we relate TO-QCT and optimal control theory (OCT) through fidelity-optimal computation theory (FO-QCT); FO-QCT is equivalent to TO-QCT in the limit of unit optimal fidelity, while it is formally similar to OCT. We then develop an efficient numerical scheme for FO-QCT by modifying Krotov's method in OCT, which has a monotonic convergence property. We implemented the scheme and obtained solutions of FO-QCT and of TO-QCT for the quantum Fourier transform and a unitary operator that does not havemore » an apparent symmetry. The former has a polynomial gate complexity and the latter is expected to have an exponential one which is based on the fact that a series of generic unitary operators has an exponential gate complexity. The time complexity for the former is found to be linear in the number of qubits, which is understood naturally by the existence of an upper bound. The time complexity for the latter is exponential in the number of qubits. Thus, both the targets seem to be examples satisfyng the preceding statement. The typical characteristics of the optimal Hamiltonians are symmetry under time reversal and constancy of one-qubit operation, which are mathematically shown to hold in fairly general situations.« less


The literature on adverse selection has until recently concentrated on the case where the agent's outside option is type-independent, implying that all types of agent receive the same payoff should no trade occur with the principal. Unfortunately, this assumption is not innocuous. If it is relaxed, the properties of the optimal contract can change dramatically. This thesis characterizes the impact of type-dependent outside options in three different settings. First, we explore the notion that a worker's prospects in the labour market may be influenced by his employment history. Under these circumstances, employers may incentivise their employees by randomizing over the probability with which current employees are retained. We identify a set of sufficient conditions for this to be the case in a two-period employment relationship, where the employee's ability is private information and both parties are risk-neutral. Although randomization is seldom observed in the real world, our results suggest that employers may optimally introduce some ambiguity over the conditions that need to be fulfilled in order to be retained. Second, we study competition in price-quality menus within the context of an horizontally differentiated duopoly, where each firm also operates in a local, monopolistic market. It is assumed that the consumer's (unobservable) valuation for quality is determined by the nature of his preferences over horizontal (or brand) product characteristics. We find that, if competition between the two firms is sufficiently fierce: (1) the equilibrium quality schedule exhibits bunching and (2) the equilibrium contract features overprovision of quality for sufficiently low types. Thus, with respect to the monopoly setting, competition may introduce new types of distortions, namely upward distortions. Third, we analyze the conflict of interests that arises between employers and employees with respect to the adoption of innovations that change the nature of the skills relevant for production. If an employer decides to adopt a new technology, he will also replace his specialist workforce. Thus, although a current employee has access to superior information concerning the efficiency of the new technology, he also has an incentive to misreport it. We show that if (1) the employee's expected utility from alternative employment is lower when the new technology is superior and (2) the employer cannot commit to retain the employee if the new technology is adopted, no renegotiation-proof contract exists, which induces the employee to truthfully reveal his information. In the special case where the employee can ex-ante commit to make his information publicly available (commitment to transparency), access to external sources of information can result in the employer's choice of technology being less efficient than otherwise.


The real character and abilities of Richard I of England have largely been hidden by his contemporary and subsequent fame. In consequence his achievements and many of the main features of his reign have been wrongly assessed. In these essays John Gillingham goes far to redress the balance by examining Richard's reign in general and in detail. He refutes the idea of Richard as simply a warrior, incapable of thinking in terms of administration or of coherent planning. Richard's ability, and his application to work, compared favourably with that of his father, Henry II. John Gillingham shows how successfully Richard solved some of the perennial problems facing a medieval king. On two specific scores he demonstrates that Richard acted for strategic reasons rather than on whim: his marriage to Berengaria of Navarre in May 1191 was planned as an essential element in an elaborate diplomatic manocuvre; while his death in April 1199, fighting the lord of Chalus, was met in an atempt to solve a serious political challenge not in an impetuous squabble over treasure. John Gillingham brings out both the nature and the importance of war in medieval society. The book also includes a general survey of the history and nature of the Angevin Empire.


This integrative doctoral report describes how I have used my underpinning experience as a practising pharmacist to make a substantial contribution to pharmacy education. Using separate models for undergraduate and postgraduate students I have planned and delivered high quality innovative programmes which prepare undergraduate pharmacy students for practice and postgraduate professional students for advanced practice.

Using an action research methodology I have planned and led a team in the development of a suite of M.Sc. programmes (modular master's degrees) which matches stakeholder requirements (i.e. students and employers). These programmes offer flexible learning opportunities requiring limited contact. With support systems in place, this model allows the busy healthcare professional to work in a full time capacity whilst studying for a postgraduate qualification. Using this model I have developed short courses and led a team to successfully operate them both in the UK and in Hong Kong. Taking an early lead in the development of supplementary and then independent prescribing courses, has allowed our graduates to develop to meet their potential and allow these practitioners to specialise in their chosen clinical fields.

My work with the Centre for Excellence in Healthcare Professional Education (CETL4HealthNE) is perhaps one of the most important and major suggested changes to pharmacy undergraduate education for many years. This is the introduction of Inter-Professional Education (IPE) and practice-based learning. I am a firm advocate for IPE and practice-placements being at the heart of, and becoming a substantial component of, undergraduate pharmacy education. This allows clinical patient-focused teaching to be maximised. I believe that this is of critical importance to ensure that new graduates have both underpinning theoretical knowledge and practical application ability. This is all with the same goal: for the safe and effective care of patients. From my own experiences gained from my collaborative research work and CETL4HealthNE, I propose a model where pharmacists work together with other healthcare professionals, both in practice and in IPE, for the benefit of patient care.


This research project was conducted in response to several calls by marketing scholars and practitioners for a better understanding of the concept of consumer engagement in general and social media based brand communities in particular. The term 'consumer engagement' has grown in importance in recent years to describe consumers' interactive experiences with brands. The popularity of that term was boosted by the rapid penetration of social networking sites which facilitated engagement of consumers through online brand communities embedded in it.

This thesis investigates consumer engagement in Facebook brand pages. These pages are considered a form of online brand communities that are created by many companies for marketing purposes. Fast food brand pages in Egypt were used as a context for conducting this research study, where they are extensively used for targeting young consumers.

With the purpose of identifying the factors that enhance consumer engagement in these online communities, this study examined consumers' relationships with brands that initiated these communities as well as consumers' perceptions inside these communities. Also, it studied the role of these brand pages in fostering consumers' brand love as well as brand equity dimensions and outcomes. Brand love is an important marketing concept that has been appearing in academic publications recently to describe consumers' emotional connections with brands. It is becoming widely accepted that consumers' emotions towards brands, are a key determinant for their consumption behaviour.

A mixed method research design incorporating focus groups and online surveys was used to collect data in the current study. The data collection was conducted by drawing a sample from young consumers whose ages are between 18 and 29, and who are active members of official fast food brand pages on Facebook in Egypt. The first phase of this study adopted a series of qualitative focus group discussions with the aim of exploring the nature and dimensionality of consumer engagement from the perspective of young Egyptian consumers. Also, it was useful in exploring the benefits these consumers seek by their engagement in online communities. The second phase was conducted through an online survey that was posted on Facebook brand pages of the fast food chains in Egypt. The aim of the quantitative phase was to test a conceptual framework for the antecedents and outcomes of consumer engagement in social media based brand communities. This framework was developed from an extensive literature review as well as the qualitative discussions.

The findings indicated that consumer engagement is a multidimensional concept that consists of emotional, cognitive and behavioural dimensions, as well as several sub-dimensions. Also, three factors related to consumers' relationships with brands (brand identification, satisfaction and trust) and four factors related to consumers' perceptions inside the brand communities (critical mass; functional, hedonic and monetary benefits) were identified as antecedents of consumer engagement. Moreover, the study proved the positive effect of consumer engagement on the development of brand love. Furthermore, it indicated a positive influence of brand love on brand equity dimensions and outcomes.

The current study contributes theoretically by enhancing our understanding of the concept of consumer engagement, particularly in the context of social media based brand communities in Egypt. More importantly, the inclusion of brand love is expected to contribute to the body of consumer-brand relationships literature. Also, this thesis contributes by providing a measurement scale for consumer engagement in the context of social media. On the other hand, the study provides some practical implications, where it provides some useful guidelines for companies to follow when advertising to young consumers on Facebook brand pages.


Nonwoven fabrics and aerogel have complementary properties required for good thermal insulation. In this work, the polyester/polyethylene nonwoven thermal wraps treated with amorphous silica aerogel are studied and characterized with regard to thermodynamical properties at subzero temperatures. The characterization of physical structure was done by scanning electron microscope. C-Therm TCi thermal conductivity analyzer was used to measure thermal properties like conductivity, resistance, and effusivity at subzero temperatures. Heat transfer caused by convection through the thermal wraps was measured by particle image velocimetry technique, which allows obtaining information about the current distribution of velocities in two-dimensional array in a flowing fluid. Vector and scalar maps of the fluid flow were caused by thermal convection. The samples were studied for different temperature gradients. On scientific evaluation of results, thermal conductivity and thermal effusivity were found to be differing with respect to different temperatures and fabric density. Thermal resistance showed an increase as the fabric thickness increases. It was observed that fabric density and the aerogel present in the structures have a significant effect on thermal properties of aerogel-treated nonwoven fabrics. The findings in this study are significant and can be used for further research in aerogel-treated nonwoven fabrics.


BACKGROUND
Brain stimulation is the most direct form of neuromodulation. Direct brain stimulation is an older procedure that has taken various forms, but 'non-invasive brain stimulation' is a more recent development.

AIM
To provide an overview of the current arsenal of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques.

METHOD
We discuss the underlying principles, the pros and cons, and the applicability of non-invasive brain stimulation in experimental research and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.

RESULTS
Non-invasive brain stimulation is a direct form of neuromodulation, which is not invasive, harmful or painful. Its effects are in principle temporary, which makes the technique suitable for experimental research. At the same time, temporary effects can have lasting clinical consequences, if they target neuroplasticity to aid rehabilitation or alleviate symptoms.

CONCLUSION
Whereas the value of non-invasive brain stimulation for research purposes is undisputed, its efficacy and value as a treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders are still being debated. Nevertheless, the accumulated evidence about the clinical efficacy of the treatment for certain disorders is sufficiently compelling to start thinking about European regulations and standard medical insurance coverage.


Evidence of associations between socioeconomic status and the spread of HIV in different settings and at various stages of the epidemic is still rudimentary. Few existing studies are able to track incidence and to control effectively for potentially confounding factors. This paper reviews the findings of recent studies, including several included in this volume, in an attempt to uncover the degree to which, and the pathways through which, wealth or poverty is driving transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. We investigate the question of whether the epidemic is transitioning from an early phase in which wealth was a primary driver, to one in which poverty is increasingly implicated. The paper concludes by demonstrating the complexity and context-specificity of associations and the critical influence of certain contextual factors such as location, gender and age asymmetries, the mobility of individuals, and the social ecology of HIV transmission. Whereas it is true that poor individuals and households are likely to be hit harder by the downstream impacts of AIDS, their chances of being exposed to HIV in the first place are not necessarily greater than wealthier individuals or households. What is clear is that approaches to HIV prevention need to cut across all socioeconomic strata of society and they need to be tailored to the specific drivers of transmission within different groups, with particular attention to the vulnerabilities faced by youth and women, and to the dynamic and contextual nature of the relationship between socioeconomic status and HIV.


The life history of sea ice is written in its basal morphology. Sea ice progresses through several stages during its lifecycle, including frazil, nilas and pancake ice, until it bonds into a near-continuous sheet known as first-year (FY) ice. If this ice survives the summer melt-season, it becomes multiyear (MY) ice (Weeks & Ackley 1986). Both FY and MY sea ice have significant morphological variability, ranging from undeformed, level ice to heavily deformed or ridged ice. These variations lead to a complex, highly heterogeneous ice topography. Profiling the underside of Arctic sea ice was first performed by nuclear submarines (e.g. Wadhams 1988, 2000); however, since the end of the Cold War, military submarine transits of the Arctic have become less frequent and are insufficient to understand climate-induced trends. Therefore, deployment of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with upward-looking multibeam sonar represents an important innovation.

Sea ice is not a homogeneous medium. It occurs in a wide variety of forms due to the various thermodynamic and dynamic forces it undergoes during its lifecycle of growth, decay and deformation. The greatest variability is associated with deformed ice in the form of ridges: long, quasi-linear features composed of blocks of ice, piled both above and below the relatively level ice surface. Ridge sails may be up to several metres in height above the sea surface and keels may reach depths of >40 m. These morphological variations lead to a complex, highly heterogeneous sea-ice topography that varies on scales from <1 metre to 100s …


Herein we propose a low-cost, one-step synthesis of magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) that is deposited on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers by electrospinning. Following carbonization and etching, an in situ N-doped mesoporous carbon nanofiber (N-MCNF) network is synthesized. The synthesized flexible network is employed as a freestanding electrode for supercapacitors. The as-constructed supercapacitor based on the N-MCNFs prepared at 900 °C (N-MCNFs-900) can deliver excellent performance with an ultrahigh specific capacitance of 327.3 F g−1 at a current density of 1.0 A g−1, and remarkable cycling stability, e.g., only about 7% loss after 10 000 cycles at a constant high charging–discharging current of 20 A g−1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. The flexible network consisting of N-MCNFs-900 as the electrode material with long cycling stability is highly promising for next-generation high-performance supercapacitors.


Let A be a finite alphabet, and H be a finite dictionary of words formed from the letters of this alphabet. In a conventional keyboard typically each key of the keyboard is assigned a unique symbol chosen from the alphabet. We consider the problem of assigning more than one symbol of the alphabet A to the same key on the keyboard. Let Ci be a subset of A. Every time a character in Ci is to be represented, the keyboard represents it using the digit (i.e. the index) 'i'. In a keyboard of this form, since multiple symbols of the alphabet A have the same representation, the representations of all the (distinct) words in the dictionary H need not be unique. A useful measure of the effectiveness of a particular keyboard is the number of words of H which are mapped to the same encoded form (i.e. they collide). This metric will be termed the ambiguity associated with the keyboard. The problem we study is one of optimally assigning the symbols of the alphabet to the keys of a given keyboard with a view to minimize the resulting ambiguity. The problem as stated above is proven to be NP-hard. This naturally leads us to seek fast and approximate solutions to the optimization problem on hand. After presenting the only reported solution to the problem, we report a fast learning automaton-based solution to this problem. Experimental results demonstrating the power of this solution have also been presented.


The large economic costs associated with the Global Financial Crisis have generated renewed interest in macroprudential policies and their international coordination. Based on a core-periphery model that emphasizes the role of international financial centers, we study the effects of coordinated and non-coordinated macroprudential policies when financial intermediation is subject to frictions. We find that even when the only frictions in the economy consist of financial frictions and financial dependency of periphery banks, the policy prescriptions under international policy coordination can differ quite markedly from those emerging from self-oriented policy decisions. Optimal macroprudential policies must address both short run and long run inefficiencies. In the short run, the policy instruments need to be adjusted to mitigate the adverse consequences of the financial accelerator, and its cross-country spillovers. In the long run, policymakers need to take into account the effects of the higher cost of capital, due to the presence of financial frictions. The gains from cooperation appear to be sizable. Nevertheless, their magnitude could be asymmetric, pointing to potential political-economy obstacles to the implementation of cooperative measures.


Objective: Adhesive capsulitis is common in Type 2 diabetic patients. The painful nature of adhesive capsulitis and the lack of effective therapy for improving motion and diminishing pain demonstrate the demand for a new effective therapeutic intervention. The current study aimed to determine the efficacies of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and reflexology for improving range of motion (ROM) in diabetic patients with adhesive capsulitis. Methods: Forty volunteer patients of both sexes with proven Type 2 diabetes and adhesive capsulitis were included in the current study. The patients were divided into two groups each comprising 20 patients as follows; Group I (LLLT): Patients received LLLT for 15 minutes and Group II (Reflexology): Patients received reflexology in the form of thumb walk for 15 minutes. Therapy was applied 3 times/week for 8 weeks with concurrent 15 minutes exercise. Results: Patients received LLLT showed a significant increase in ROM of abduction, internal rotation, flexion, and external rotation at the end of 4 and 8 weeks. Reflexology induced a significant improvement in shoulder ROM at 8 weeks posttreatment, however, its effect on internal rotation ROM was non-significant at the end of 4 weeks period. Conclusion: LLLT and reflexology significantly improved ROM and reduced pain severity in diabetic patients with adhesive capsulitis; LLLT seemed to be more effective. Thus, both therapies may be recommended in the treatment of frozen shoulder, pending further investigations to trace out their exact efficacies. Keywords: Adhesive capsulitis, Diabetes complications, Laser, Reflexology.


Developmental stuttering is a speech motor disorder characterised by difficulties initiating speech and frequent interruptions to the speech flow. Previous work suggests that people who stutter (PWS) have an overactive response suppression mechanism. Imaging studies of speech production in PWS consistently reveal greater activity of the right inferior frontal cortex, an area robustly implicated in inhibitory control of both manual and spoken responses. Here, we used a manual response version of the stop-signal task during fMRI to investigate neural differences related to response initiation and inhibition in PWS. Behaviourally, PWS were slower to respond to 'go' stimuli than people who are typically fluent (PWTF), but there was no difference in stop-signal reaction time. Our fMRI results were consistent with these behavioural results. The fMRI analysis revealed the expected networks associated with manual response initiation and inhibition in both groups. However, all contrasts between the two groups were characterised by overactivity in PWS relative to PWTF. This overactivity was significantly different for the initiation of responses (i.e. the 'go' trials) but not for response inhibition (i.e. the 'stop' trials). One explanation of these results is that PWS are consistently in a heightened inhibition state, i.e. areas of the inhibition network are more active, generally. This interpretation is consistent with predictions from the global response suppression hypothesis.


In this report we have examined the ability of small resting B cells to act as antigen-presenting cells (APC) to antigen-specific MHC- restricted T cells as assessed by either T cell proliferation or T cell- dependent B cell stimulation. We found that 10 of 14 in vitro antigen- specific MHC-restricted T cell clones and lines and three of four T cell hybridomas could be induced to either proliferate or secrete IL-2 in the presence of lightly irradiated (1,000 rads) purified B cells and the appropriate foreign antigen. All T cell lines and hybridomas were stimulated to proliferate or make IL-2 by macrophage- and dendritic cell-enriched populations and all T cells tested except one hybridoma caused B cell activation when stimulated with B cells as APC. Furthermore, lightly irradiated, highly purified syngeneic B cells were as potent a source of APC for inducing B cell activation as were low density dendritic and macrophage-enriched cells. Lymph node T cells freshly taken from antigen-primed animals were also found to proliferate when cultured with purified B cells and the appropriate antigen. Thus, small resting B cells can function as APC to a variety of T cells. This APC function was easily measured when the cells were irradiated with 1,000 rads, but was greatly diminished or absent when they were irradiated with 3,300 rads. Thus, the failure of some other laboratories to observe this phenomenon may be the result of the relative radiosensitivity of the antigen-presenting function of the B cells. In addition, this radiosensitivity allowed us to easily distinguish B cell antigen presentation from presentation by the dendritic cell and macrophage, as the latter was resistant to 3,300 rads. Finally, one T cell clone that failed to proliferate when B cells were used as APC was able to recruit allogeneic B cells to proliferate in the presence of syngeneic B cells and the appropriate antigen. This result suggests that there are at least two distinct pathways of activation in T cells, one that leads to T cell proliferation and one that leads to the secretion of B cell recruitment factor(s).


The Galaxy Center in X-rays At the center of our Galaxy there is a black hole 4-million-fold more massive than the Sun. Wang et al. (p. 981; see the Perspective by Schnittman) report x-ray data on the accretion flow around this supermassive black hole, revealing how it interacts with its surroundings. The data rule out the possibility that the quiescent (that is, flare-free) x-rays observed are produced by coronal emission from a population of stars at the center of the Galaxy and also rule out the possibility that there is a pure radiatively inefficient accretion flow with no outflows. X-ray observations of the center of our Galaxy reveal the interplay between the massive black hole there and its surroundings. [Also see Perspective by Schnittman] Most supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are accreting at very low levels and are difficult to distinguish from the galaxy centers where they reside. Our own Galaxy's SMBH provides an instructive exception, and we present a close-up view of its quiescent x-ray emission based on 3 megaseconds of Chandra observations. Although the x-ray emission is elongated and aligns well with a surrounding disk of massive stars, we can rule out a concentration of low-mass coronally active stars as the origin of the emission on the basis of the lack of predicted iron (Fe) Kα emission. The extremely weak hydrogen (H)–like Fe Kα line further suggests the presence of an outflow from the accretion flow onto the SMBH. These results provide important constraints for models of the prevalent radiatively inefficient accretion state.


In the design of investment portfolios, the authors maintain that Treasury Inflation Protection Securities should be evaluated as a separate and distinct asset class. These securities have unique characteristics that are not directly available through other investment vehicles. Their most significant benefit lies in the fact that they provide a direct hedge against one specific measure of inflation (i.e., the non-seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, which allows investors to maintain real purchasing power and hedge against future nominal increases in the overall domestic price level. TIPS may also appeal to a broader audience by virtue of their relatively low correlation with other traditional asset classes. The authors demonstrate that TIPS offer potentially significant diversification benefits, establishing them as a viable asset class in a long-term asset allocation policy.


In a Globalization era, a product has trend to be sold rather than bought, it
cause product recycled become shorter and for concequence will be hard for the
company because the trading volume doesn't do as good when it was planned. So the
company will has great financial loss A research titled " The Analysis of consumer behaviour for the Teh Botol
Sosro, study case in gajahmungkur sub district semarang city" arranger for knowing
consumer's judgement, knowing consumer's trustment, and knowing consumer's
behaviour to Teh Botol Sosro with comparing by cost, taste, quality, container, and
the secure with opponent products (Frestea and Tekita). So, the problem can be
solved. The Method of this research was explanatory research with data gathered
technique method by questioner, interview, and literate. The responden take 100
people was using purposive sampling. Fishbein method and Chy Square Anaysis are applied as data analysis. Below
is the acquired data after being calculated:
a. Based on Fishbein analysis calculation, it is identified that the highest
consumers' attitude is Teh Botol SOSRO (Ao : 63,44), followed by Frestea
(63,24), and the last is Tekita (58,62).
b. Based on Chy Square analysis calculation, it is identified that price, quality,
container, and security attributes in belief relation do not have significant
relation. Since the value of X2
 arithmetic < X2
 tabel (in the amount of 5,991).
Therefore, there is only significant relation on taste attribute
c. Based on Chy Square Analysis calculation, it is identified that price, taste,
quality, and container attributes in evaluative relation do not have significant
relation (there are no difference based on gender). there is only significant
relation on security attribute (there are difference).


Experience based reinforcement learning (RL) systems are known to be useful for dealing with domains that are a priori unknown. We believe that experience based methods may also be useful when the model is uncertain (or even completely known). In this case experience is gained by simulating the uncertain model. This paper explores a simple way to allow experience based RL systems to cope with uncertainty in a model. The particular form of RL we consider is a policy-gradient method. The particular domains we attempt to optimise in are from temporal decision-theoretic planning. Our previous experience with military planning problems indicates that a human specified model of the planning problem is often inaccurate, especially when humans specify probabilities, thus planners that take into account this uncertainty are very useful. Despite our focus on policy-gradient RL for planning, our simple (but approximate) solution for dealing with uncertainty in the model can be applied to any simulation based RL method, such as Q-learning or SARSA. Our attempt to solve decision-theoretic planning problems with a policy-gradient approach is novel in itself, making up another contribution of this paper.


The European Commission's release in late January 2012 of its proposed "General Data Protection Regulation" provides a perfect juncture to assess the ongoing EU-U.S. privacy collision. An intense debate is now occurring around critical areas of information policy, including the rules for lawfulness of personal processing, the "right to be forgotten," and the conditions for data flows between the EU and the United States.This Article begins by tracing the rise of the current EU-U.S. privacy status quo. The 1995 Data Protection Directive staked out a number of bold positions, including a limit on international data transfers to countries that lacked "adequate" legal protections for personal information. The impact of the Directive has been considerable. Yet, the United States proves an outlier to the story of international information privacy law. As an initial matter, the EU is skeptical regarding the level of protection that U.S. law actually provides. Moreover, despite the important role of the United States in early global information privacy debates, the rest of the world has followed the EU model and enacted EU-style "data protection" laws. At the same time, the aftermath of the Directive has seen ad hoc policy efforts between the United States and EU that have created numerous paths to satisfy the EU's requirement of "adequacy" for data transfers from the EU to the United States. This Article argues that this policymaking has not been led exclusively by the EU, but has been a collaborative effort marked by accommodation and compromise. It then analyzes the likely impact of the Proposed Regulation on Data Protection, which is slated to replace the Directive. The Proposed Regulation threatens to destabilize the current privacy policy equilibrium and prevent the kind of decentralized global policymaking that has occurred in the past. The Proposed Regulation overturns the current equilibrium by heightening certain individual rights beyond levels that U.S. information privacy law recognizes. It also centralizes power in the European Commission in a way that destabilizes the policy equilibrium within the EU, and thereby threatens the current policy processes around harmonization networks. To avert the privacy collision ahead, this Article advocates modifications to the kinds of institutions and procedures that the Proposed Regulation would create.


Abstract This paper provides a new leadership alignment model incorporating various concepts focusing on leadership styles, organizational leadership, and situational strength. These concepts are brought together to introduce a leadership model, which looks not only at individual leadership and the effect of that on the organization but also at an organization as a system and how leadership behaviour and culture in individual departments or sections in an organization can be explained. Based on the work of Podsakoff et al., a 23-item measure of transformational leadership questionnaire was employed to evaluate transformational leaders. 339 followers from five manufacturing companies were asked to complete the questionnaire about their leaders and it was analysed to identify transformational leaders. The 76 manufacturing leaders then completed the organizational culture assessment instrument and a situational strength questionnaire, which was used to study the hypothesis.


Grünbaum claims it is possible that all belief in God is a delusion, meaning a false belief which is engendered by irrational psychological motives. I dispute this on the grounds that in many cases belief in God is engendered by purely cultural factors, and this is incompatible with its being engendered by psychological ones. Grünbaum also claims that saying a culturally engendered belief cannot be a delusion makes social consensus the sole arbiter of reality. I dispute this on the grounds that we can say that socially engendered beliefs fail to be delusions because they fail to meet the psychological criterion, rather than because they are true.


T helper 9 (Th9) cells are specialized for the production of IL-9, promote allergic inflammation in mice, and are associated with allergic disease in humans. It has not been determined whether Th9 cells express a characteristic transcriptional signature. In this study, we performed microarray analysis to identify genes enriched in Th9 cells compared with other Th subsets. This analysis defined a transcriptional regulatory network required for the expression of a subset of Th9-enriched genes. The activator protein 1 (AP1) family transcription factor BATF (B cell, activating transcription factor–like) was among the genes enriched in Th9 cells and was required for the expression of IL-9 and other Th9-associated genes in both human and mouse T cells. The expression of BATF was increased in Th9 cultures derived from atopic infants compared with Th9 cultures from control infants. T cells deficient in BATF expression had a diminished capacity to promote allergic inflammation compared with wild-type controls. Moreover, mouse Th9 cells ectopically expressing BATF were more efficient at promoting allergic inflammation than control transduced cells. These data indicate that BATF is a central regulator of the Th9 phenotype and contributes to the development of allergic inflammation.


Pilot testing was conducted at a brackish water reverse osmosis water treatment plant to identify operational constraints associated with effective scaling control. The test program involved testing select inhibitors/dispersants, feed water pH, and operating recovery as part of a full-scale retrofit from a hollow fiber to spiral-wound reverse osmosis membrane facility. The test results indicated the facility could be operated at elevated recovery, but was sensitive to conditioning with sulfuric acid. Use of sulfuric acid addition to control calcium carbonate scaling was determined to increase calcium sulfate scaling. Membrane autopsy data confirmed calcium sulfate scaling onto the membrane surface with minimal biological and organic content. It was determined that recovery could be increased from 65 to 75 percent by discontinuing sulfuric acid addition and feeding only scale inhibitor. Scale inhibitors with dispersant properties were recommended for full-scale implementation.


The purpose of this study is to determine bias in press news coverage of the 2003 post-election street protests, which resulted from the presidential election in Azerbaijan. This study provides a look at the extent of state and private media ownership of newspapers in Azerbaijan conducting a content analysis of three highly circulated local newspapers, one state owned and the others privately owned, during a three week period following the election day when the main subject of local newspapers' coverage was protest actions in the streets of the capital city, Baku. The data are news and articles regarding the street protests from three newspapers: state owned Kalg, privately owned Echo, and Zerkalo. The period under study consists of 3 weeks, from October 15, 2003, the election day, to November 7, 2003. A content analysis of 126 news articles in the three local newspapers found that significant differences exist in newspaper coverage reflecting differences in ownership. The study showed how ownership of media outlets affects political coverage of the street protests by opposition party supporters through unbalanced coverage and framing. The general conclusion of this study is that the privately owned newspapers are more objective than state owned newspapers in their coverage of the political protest.


Thanks to the ability to digest lactose, Arabian nomads had become less dependent upon their sedentary neighbors and some of these populations spread to Africa. When and by which route they migrated to their current locations have previously been addressed only by historical and archaeological data.


GRNsight is a web application and service for visualizing models of gene regulatory networks (GRNs). A gene regulatory network consists of genes, transcription factors, and the regulatory connections between them which govern the level of expression of mRNA and protein from genes. GRNmap, a MATLAB program that performs parameter estimation and forward simulation of a differential equations model of a GRN, can mathematically model the dynamics of GRNs. GRNsight automatically lays out the network graph based on GRNmap output spreadsheets. GRNsight uses pointed and blunt arrowheads, and colors the edges and adjusts their thicknesses based on the sign (activation or repression) and magnitude of the GRNmap weight parameter. Visualizations can be modified through manual node dragging and sliders that adjust the force graph parameters. We have now implemented an exhaustive unit testing framework using Mocha and the Chai assertion library to perform test‐driven development where unit tests are written before new functionality is coded. This framework consists of over 135 automated unit tests that examine about 450 test files to ensure that the program is running as expected. Error and warning messages have a three‐part framework that informs the user what happened, the source of the problem, and possible solutions. For example, GRNsight returns an error when the spreadsheet is formatted incorrectly or the maximum number of nodes or edges is exceeded. The completion of the testing framework marks the close of development for version 1 (the current release stands at version 1.12). In version 2.0 of GRNsight, a new feature will be implemented that colors the nodes (genes) based on the expression data. The user will have the choice to display the experimental data or the data produced by the forward simulation feature in GRNmap. GRNsight is available at http://dondi.github.io/GRNsight/.


Monetary economists have recently begun a serious study of money supply rules that allow the Fed to adjustably peg the nominal interest rate under rational expectations. These rules vary from procedures that produce stationary nominal magnitudes to those that generate nonstationarities in nominal variables. Our paper investigates the determinacy properties of three representative interest rate rules. ; We use Blanchard and Kahn's solution technique as a starting point. It doesn't directly apply, so we first modify their procedure. We then narrow the range of solutions by considering the ARMA solutions of Evans and Honkapohja and the global minimum state variable solution of McCallum. We then examine these solutions in light of the expectational stability notions employed by DeCanio, Bray and Evans. ; Two of the three classes of rules yield a unique admissible solution. The exclusion of bubbles usually rules out the general ARMA solutions present in Evans and Honkapohja and leads to unique solutions via a saddlepoint property. Nonetheless, the nonstationary money supply rules we examine do not generally yield a well determined system over all parameter values. We employ the global minimum state variable methodology of McCallum and Evans' expectational stability in an effort to insure uniqueness. Although these methods are usually in agreement, one of the nonstationary rules yields a global minimum state variable solution that is expectationally unstable when the central bank is sensitive to interest rate deviations. Moreover, under these conditions, an alternative (non-global) minimum state variable solution is expectationally stable, casting doubt on the applicability of McCallum's global procedure in this context.


1. Ecologists concerned with life-history strategies of parasitoid wasps have recently focused on interspecific variation in the fraction of the maximum potential lifetime egg complement that is mature when the female emerges into the environment. Species that have all of this complement mature upon emergence are termed 'pro-ovigenic', while those that do not are termed 'synovigenic'. We document and quantify the diversity of egg maturation patterns among 638 species of parasitoid wasps from 28 families. 2. We test a series of hypotheses concerning variation in 'ovigeny' and likely life- history correlates by devising a quantitative index - the proportion of the maximum potential lifetime complement that is mature upon female emergence. 3. Synovigeny, which we define as emerging with at least some immature eggs, was found to be by far the predominant egg maturation pattern (98.12% of species). Even allowing for some taxonomic bias in our sample of species, pro-ovigeny is rare among parasitoid wasps. 4. There is strong evidence for a predicted continuum in ovigeny index among parasitoid wasps, from pro-ovigenic (ovigeny index = 1) to extremely synovigenic species (ovigeny index = 0). 5. As predicted, synovigenic species are longer-lived than pro- ovigenic ones, and ovigeny index and life span are negatively correlated across parasitoid taxa, suggesting a life span cost of concentrating reproductive effort early in adult life. 6. There is equivocal evidence that host feeding (i.e, consumption of host haemolymph and/or tissues by adult wasps) is confined to synovigenic parasitoid wasps. It is also not certain from our analyses whether host feeding is associated with a relatively low ovigeny index. 7. As predicted, egg resorption capability is concentrated among producers of yolk-rich eggs. Also, the hypothesis that it is associated with a tendency towards a low ovigeny index is supported. Parasitoid species that produce yolk-rich eggs also exhibit a lower ovigeny index than species that produce yolk-deficient eggs. 8. Ovigeny index appears to be linked to parasitoid development mode (koinobiosis-idiobiosis). 9. We conclude that 'ovigeny' is a concept applicable to insects generally. [KEYWORDS: feeding strategies; pro-ovigeny; synovigeny; timing of reproduction Leptopilina-boulardi hymenoptera; host-feeding strategies; egg limitation; reproductive-biology; clutch size; independent contrasts; functional-response; asobara-tabida; drosophila-melanogaster; evolutionary argument]


ABSTRACT An outbreak of granulomatous dermatitis was investigated in a captive population of moray eels. The affected eels had florid skin nodules concentrated around the head and trunk. Histopathological examination revealed extensive granulomatous inflammation within the dermis and subcutaneous fascial plane between the fat and axial musculature. Acid-fast rods were detected within the smallest lesions, which were presumably the ones that had developed earliest. Eventually, after several months of incubation at room temperature, a very slowly growing acid-fast organism was isolated. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene identified it as a Mycobacterium species closely related (0.59% divergence) to M. triplex, an SAV mycobacterium. Intradermal inoculation of healthy green moray eels with this organism reliably reproduced the lesion. Experimentally induced granulomatous dermatitis appeared within 2 weeks of inoculation and slowly but progressively expanded during the 2 months of the experiment. Live organisms were recovered from these lesions at all time points, fulfilling Koch's postulates for this bacterium. In a retrospective study of tissues collected between 1993 and 1999 from five spontaneous disease cases, acid-fast rods were consistently found within lesions, and a nested PCR for the rRNA gene also demonstrated the presence of mycobacteria within affected tissues.


This dissertation deals with the question how people become motivated to perform specific actions without giving it much conscious thought. For example, how does it come that you mindlessly drink a glass of beer in one gulp? Based on a review of the literature, a framework to understand motivated behavior is presented, which is then tested in three empirical chapters. The framework proposes that the accessibility of mental representations of behaviors is crucial for motivated behavior to occur, however that actual motivation depends on the rewarding value of a behavior, which can be modulated either by (1) deprivation or (2) result from an association of the behavior representation with positive affect. A first series of studies tested whether the accessibility of behavior representations played the assumed key role for behaviors motivated by states of deprivation. It is shown that fluid deprivation results in motivation to drink water, but that this effect is moderated by the accessibility of the drinking representation. In a second set of studies it is shown that both behaviors motivated by deprivation and by an association with positive affect are able to affect the human mind on a very basic perceptual level, so as to facilitate goal pursuit nonconsciously. Specifically, goal-instrumental objects (e.g., pen) were perceived as being bigger when motivated (e.g., to write). In a final line of research, the combined effects of deprivation and an association of behavior representations with positive affect were tested in a single research design. It was shown that experimentally attaching positive affect to the behavior of drinking water increased motivation for this behavior for non-deprived participants, but that this manipulation did not affect motivation of deprived participants for whom motivation to drink was already high. Nonetheless, reducing this deprivation by means of an atypical action (eating) reduced subsequent water intake of control participants, but not for participants for whom a positive affective tag was attached to this behavior. Thus, the studies presented in the dissertation support the notion that motivated behavior depends on accessible mental behavior representations and on deprivation or positive affect as two distinctive sources of motivation.


To correlate gene expression profiles to fundamental biological processes such as cell growth, differentiation and migration, it is essential to work at the single cell level. Gene expression analysis always starts with the relatively low efficient reverse transcription (RT) of RNA into complementary DNA (cDNA), an essential step as unprocessed RNAs will not be analysed further. In this paper, we present a novel method for RT that uses microfluidics to manipulate nanolitre volumes. We compare our method to conventional protocols performed in microlitre volumes. More specifically, reverse transcription was performed either in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rotary mixer or in a tube, using a single cell amount of mouse brain RNA (10 pg), and was followed by a template-switching PCR (TS-PCR) amplification step. We demonstrate that, using the microfluidic protocol, 74% of the genes expressed in mouse brain were detected, while only 4% were found with the conventional approach. We next profiled single neuronal progenitors. Using our microfluidic approach, i.e. performing cell capture, lysis and reverse transcription on-chip followed by TS-PCR amplification in tube, a mean of 5000 genes were detected in each neuron, which corresponds to the expected number of genes expressed in a single cell. This demonstrates the outstanding sensitivity of the microfluidic method.


GOETZ, KENNETH L. Physiology and pathophysiology of atria1 peptides. Am. J. Physiol. 254 (Endocrinol. Metab. 17): El-El& 1988.-The atria secrete atria1 peptides (atriopeptins) that are capable of producing dramatic alterations in a number of body processes. Secretion of atriopeptin appears to be regulated primarily by the prevailing pressure within the atria. In pharmacological doses, atriopeptin rapidly elicits a natriuresis when administered to experimental animals or humans. In contrast, infusion rates that increase plasma atriopeptin only by about threeto fivefold tend to produce a slowly developing and modest diuresis. Evidence examined in this review suggests that the atria1 peptides are not potent natriuretic substances under normal physiological conditions, although it is likely that they exert a modulating influence on sodium excretion. The atria1 peptides are vasoactive and induce a number of cardiovascular changes including decreases in arterial blood pressure, cardiac filling pressure, and cardiac output and a translocation of fluid from plasma to the interstitial fluid space. They also interact with other hormones, particularly the reninangiotensin-aldosterone system. Finally, atriopeptin is distributed throughout many regions of the brain where it may serve as a neuromodulator or neurotransmitter. Atriopeptin circulating in the bloodstream also may influence cerebral mechanisms by acting on receptors in the circumventricular organs. A more complete understanding of the diverse effects of this cardiac endocrine system is expected to provide further insight into a spectrum of physiological and pathophysiological processes.


Introduction: Patients with abdominal wall defects present challenging complications that require the use of advanced surgical approaches. Methods: This primary, retrospective, and descriptive study evaluated patients who underwent abdominal wall reconstruction at the Plastic Surgery Service of the Clinics Hospital of the Federal University of Pernambuco. Results: The medical records of 18 patients were reviewed, including 15 women (83.3%) and 3 men (16.7%), with a mean age of 41 years (range, 16-79 years). Seventeen patients (94.4%) had a history of previous surgery. The causes of abdominal injury were cesarean section in eight cases (44.4%), oncologic surgery in six (33.3%), trauma surgery in two (11.1%), and bariatric surgery in two (11.1%). The etiology of the defect was necrotizing fasciitis in eight cases (44.4%), incisional hernia in four (22.2%), trauma in two (11.1%), surgical wound dehiscence in two (11.1%), abdominal wall neoplasia in two (11.1%), and total thickness defect in one (5.5%). The surgical interventions included the component separation technique in seven cases (38.9%), simple VY advancement flap in six (33.3%), closure with abdominoplasty in three (16.7%), and tissue expander in two (11.1%). Four patients (22.2%) presented complications. Conclusions: Abdominal wall defects are challenging cases for plastic surgeons, as their treatment is difficult, but the results are satisfactory even in the most severe cases. ■ ABSTRACT


The irrigation industry contributes significantly to the Australian economy. The irrigation sector has faced many challenges over the past decade including severe and prolonged drought, reduced water availability and ongoing reform of government water policies. At the same time, climate change and increasing climate variability are likely to increase the uncertainty of water supply. As a result, irrigated agriculture is under considerable pressure to adopt best practice methods to increase efficiency in terms of water use and productivity.

Until now, investment in innovative onfarm irrigation technologies has played a significant role in accommodating the reduction in agricultural water use, by increasing water use efficiencies and contributing to increases in the value of irrigated agriculture. Additional investments are needed to increase irrigation efficiency at the field, farm and irrigation-area scales to fill the supply and demand gap and ensure robust adaptation to climate change. To help fill the investment gap, the Australian Government is meeting the challenge of water scarcity and climate change through its Water for the Future initiative. A major component of this initiative is the $5.8 billion Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure Program that is helping to upgrade irrigation infrastructure and secure long-term water supply.

The conversion to pressurised systems is a valid option due to the potential increase in efficiency of pressurised systems and the subsequent water savings, but these new irrigation technologies will change the patterns of onfarm energy consumption and generate considerable greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. If the Australian Government is successful in introducing a price on carbon, this may influence the extent to which new irrigation technologies are adopted.

This study explored the trade-offs between water savings, economics, energy consumption and GHG emissions, critical elements of both Water for the Future and any future price on carbon. We developed an integrated economic framework to assess the effectiveness of different irrigation technologies used at farm level. This framework was used to evaluate trade-offs between various choices of irrigation technology adoption in terms of irrigation requirements, water savings, energy consumption and GHG emissions and the relative costs of irrigation and associated equipment. The integrated framework has three main components: hydrological modelling, energy and GHG modelling, and cost and benefit estimation, and highlights trade-offs between energy consumption (and GHG emissions) and water savings at various levels of investment. We also applied the integrated framework to farm-level case studies and irrigation transformation scenarios. It is important to realise that there is unlikely to be just one ideal choice; there may be many alternatives, any one of which might be quite appropriate, depending on the priorities set by the individual farmers and governments.


The filtering/data assimilation and prediction of moisture-coupled tropical waves is a contemporary topic with significant implications for extended-range forecasting. The development of efficient algorithms to capture such waves is limited by the unstable multiscale features of tropical convection which can organize large-scale circulations and the sparse observations of the moisture-coupled wave in both the horizontal and vertical. The approach proposed here is to address these difficult issues of data assimilation and prediction through a suite of analogue models which, despite their simplicity, capture key features of the observational record and physical processes in moisture-coupled tropical waves. The analogue models emphasized here involve the multicloud convective parametrization based on three cloud types (congestus, deep, and stratiform) above the boundary layer. Two test examples involving an MJO-like turbulent travelling wave and the initiation of a convectively coupled wave train are introduced to illustrate the approach. A suite of reduced filters with judicious model errors for data assimilation of sparse observations of tropical waves, based on linear stochastic models in a moisture-coupled eigenmode basis is developed here and applied to the two test problems. Both the reduced filter and 3D-Var with a full moist background covariance matrix can recover the unobserved troposphere humidity and precipitation rate; on the other hand, 3D-Var with a dry background covariance matrix fails to recover these unobserved variables. The skill of the reduced filtering methods in recovering the unobserved precipitation, congestus, and stratiform heating rates as well as the front-to-rear tilt of the convectively coupled waves exhibits a subtle dependence on the sparse observation network and the observation time.


Frustration of chiral ordering is explored in cholesteric liquid crystal droplets with planar degenerate anchoring using numerical modeling. Droplets of variable pitches are studied, demonstrating the role of a gradually increasing cholesteric pitch and the corresponding equilibrium structures. All previously known structures are identified but with notable differences. The structures presented with director fields are complemented with a detailed description of the defect regions. The characteristic half-diameter +2 disclination from previous studies is found to be in fact a double-helix of two λ+1 disclination lines, whereas the full-diameter +1 disclination is composed of an alternating series of τ−1/2 and λ+1/2 disclination rings. Finally, two new meta-stable cholesteric structures -Lyre and Yeti- are found, which are characterised by complex compositions of cholesteric disclinations.


The rationale of this research thesis is to identify the gaps in accreditation criteria and to develop a well-structured, globally adaptive, systematic, transparent accreditation framework for quality assurance in engineering education. In engineering education, accreditation involves the assessment of educational programs against defined accreditation criteria. A review of the literature shows that although various accreditation frameworks have recently been developed and implemented to assess engineering courses using the criteria, there are however serious gaps in the assessment and accreditation process. Most of these frameworks lack uniformity or non-equivalence in standards as well as being too complex and non-transparent. Most of these frameworks cater for national engineering education systems and there are no reports in the literature of the development and successful implementation of a trans-national or international accreditation framework in engineering. Furthermore, these frameworks do not assess all of the essential elements of the educational process cycle, i.e. the input, the teaching and learning and the output. Other limitations are; the problems associated with 'outcomes' based assessment criteria are not always comprehensively measured student learning outcomes. There are difficulties in obtaining the performance data, such as the assessment of graduate attributes or competencies, graduate employability and industry feedback. The engineering graduate attributes (outcomes) are not clearly defined and not sufficiently monitored in the assessment criteria. The assessment data for the graduate attributes and graduate outcomes is generally not well documented. As a result, the existing engineering criteria developed by worldwide accreditation bodies to accredit engineering programs do not assess adequate engineering graduate competencies. The thesis provides a way forward with important insights on the engineering graduate competencies with a case study from Monash University's employer survey for engineering graduates. Based on the literature review, review of existing accreditation frameworks and findings on employer survey on engineering graduate competencies, the following research statements are formulated in this project: • The existing accreditation frameworks developed and implemented worldwide in engineering education are not equivalent or comparable (uniform). • The criteria developed and applied for engineering program accreditation neglect the educational process cycle as a whole. • There is no clear-cut and comprehensive assessment of engineering graduate competencies incorporated in the engineering accreditation criteria. The Thesis outlines and describes the design and development of a global accreditation framework in engineering based on the gap analysis from the literature review and from the findings on engineering graduate competencies based on employer survey. The subsequently developed Global Accreditation Framework is a comprehensive mechanism for ensuring consistent accreditation standards for quality assurance in engineering education and comprises all three parts of the educational cycle, namely; input, teaching/learning and output. This framework will provide a common framework of standards for engineering accreditation in the global context and also provides important insights on the engineering graduate competencies. The application of the developed Framework in six engineering institutions from the Asia-Pacific countries, namely; Australia, Malaysia and India, is described in this Thesis. A field work data collection and the in-depth discussion on the findings of the fieldwork data analysis are also presented. At the end, important conclusions and future work in the direction of research are derived and possible challenges as well as implementation strategies for the developed accreditation framework are discussed.


Feminist history began in Australia in 1970 when Ann Curthoys published her `germinal article,' "Australian Historiography and Women's liberation," in which she noted the failure of the nationalist historiographical tradition to consider the historical construction of the Australian family, to discuss the sexual division of labour, or to acknowledge the ideas and beliefs that separated women and men (Curthoys 1970, 2-8). In response to her challenge, five short feminist histories were published between 1975 and 1983, all of which either explored the construction of women's paid or their domestic labour. (Summers, Kingston, Ryan and Conlon, Dixson, McMurchy et al.) As Macintyre (1978) pointed out, they all revealed the difficulty of using source material largely written by patriarchal culture and in giving adequate recognition to women's agency.Since then so much new work has been published that it is now possible to place Australian feminist history into perspective. The short feminist history I am currently writing relies upon this new work and does not attempt to use primary source material. If there is any originality in my book, it is in placing the more recently published work within a structural framework of colonialism and in using for feminist purposes two analytical tools - language as a way of acknowledging women's agency as well as understanding the patriarchal voice; and the sexual division of labour as a way of understanding the differences between men's and women's experiences as well as the differences between women. For I argue that this framework and these conceptual approaches can usefully address the intersection of gender, race and class in the Australian context.ColonialismWhat is colonialism and what form can be related to the Australian experience? According to the Macquarie Dictionary colonialism is "the policy of a nation seeking to extend or retain its authority over other peoples or territories." As Pierre L. van den Berghe (1967, 1-41) and Donald Denoon (1983, 1-16) remind us, colonialism is not monolithic. There are different forms of colonialism, defined according to the historical period in which the colonies were established and according to how the process took place. However there are characteristics common to all colonial experiences, including the original invasion by the colonising power, the resistance and subjugation of the indigenous peoples, and the domination of the colonial invaders' cultural practices and social and economic structures. In each case the social patterns that emerged in the colonies are determined as much by the character of the indigenous peoples as by the policies of the colonising power. Above all colonialism installs a clear cut, though shifting, sexual division of labour in the colony, and the language of colonialism establishes and expresses power differences between the powerful and the subjugated, oppressor and oppressed.Derek Fieldhouse (1982) has set out three models of colonialism. The first model is colonialism by occupation and conquest. In this case the colonising power develops a hold on the colony by virtue of its relationship with the indigenous people. The colonisers are few in number and are almost exclusively young white men. As sexual adventurers, they engage in the first instance in sexual and economic politics with the indigenous people. A distinctive colonial society is created where the language of sexual interaction produces new terms like `Creole,' `Metis' and `mulatto.' The Spanish colonies of the Philippines and of Latin America, the Portuguese colonies of Timor and Brazil, all established in the sixteenth, seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, are examples of this model. The colonies of New South Wales and Tasmania between 1788 and 1915 and the Northern Territory from the 1880s are variations of this model.The second model is plantation colonialism. Plantation colonies were established by British, French, Dutch and Spanish trading companies in the Caribbean and parts of the North and South American mainland in the seventeenth century in order to produce tobacco, sugar and coffee as `grocery' items for the European diet. …


Relationships are unclear between polymorphisms in genes involved in metabolism and detoxification of various chemicals and papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) risk as well as their potential modification by alcohol or tobacco intake. We evaluated associations between 1647 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 132 candidate genes/regions involved in metabolism of exogenous and endogenous compounds (Phase I/II, oxidative stress, and metal binding pathways) and PTC risk in 344 PTC cases and 452 controls. For 15 selected regions and their respective SNPs, we also assessed interaction with alcohol and tobacco use. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the main effect of SNPs (P(trend)) and interaction with alcohol/tobacco intake. Gene- and pathway-level associations and interactions (P(gene interaction)) were evaluated by combining P(trend) values using the adaptive rank-truncated product method. While we found associations between PTC risk and nine SNPs (P(trend) ≤ 0.01) and seven genes/regions (P(region)<0.05), none remained significant after correction for the false discovery rate. We found a significant interaction between UGT2B7 and NAT1 genes and alcohol intake (P(gene interaction)=0.01 and 0.02 respectively) and between the CYP26B1 gene and tobacco intake (P(gene interaction)=0.02). Our results are suggestive of interaction between the genetic polymorphisms in several detoxification genes and alcohol or tobacco intake on risk of PTC. Larger studies with improved exposure assessment should address potential modification of PTC risk by alcohol and tobacco intake to confirm or refute our findings.


Previous studies have suggested that women are more risk averse than men, leading women to choose more conservative investments. This study used a sample of one person households from the 1995 Survey of Consumer Finances to explore gender differences in the investment decision-making process. The determinants of some investment decisions were found to differ by gender, but gender did not appear to be a critical determinant of investment choice. Women were more likely to hold risky assets if expecting an inheritance, employed and holding higher net worth; while men invested in risky assets if they were risk seekers, divorced, older, and college educated.


Children get a better start in life and parents are better able to balance work and home commitments in countries that have family-friendly policies. These include paid parental leave, support for breastfeeding and affordable, high-quality childcare and preschool education. This report looks at family-friendly policies in 41 high- and middle-income countries using four country-level indicators: the duration of paid leave available to mothers; the duration of paid leave reserved specifically for fathers; the share of children below the age of three in childcare centres; and the share of children between the age of three and compulsory school age in childcare or preschool centres. Sweden, Norway and Iceland are the three most family-friendly countries for which we have complete data. Cyprus, Greece and Switzerland occupy the bottom three places. Ten of the 41 countries do not have sufficient data on childcare enrolment to be ranked in our league table. There is not enough up-to-date information available for us to compare across countries the quality of childcare centres or breastfeeding rates and policies. There is scope for the world's richest countries to improve their family policies and collect better data.


Efforts in searching for microbial life in the driest part of Atacama Desert, Chile, revealed a small number of lithic habitats that can be considered as environmental refuges for life. In this study, we describe for the first time chasmoendolithic colonisation of fissures and cracks of rhyolite-gypsum and calcite rocks collected in the hyper-arid zone of the desert. The use of high-throughput sequencing revealed that the Atacama rock communities comprised a few dominant phylotypes and a number of less abundant taxa representing the majority of the total community diversity. The chasmoendolithic communities were dominated by Chroococcidiopsis species cyanobacteria and supported a number of heterotrophic bacterial lineages. Micro-climate data and geomorphic analysis of the mineral substrates suggested higher water availability in the calcite rocks in the form of enhanced water retention in the complex network of cracks and fissures of these rocks as well as increased occurrence of liquid water in the form of dewfall. These characteristics were associated with a diverse community of phototrophic and heterotrophic bacteria in the calcite chasmoendolithic ecosystem. This study is another example of the diversity of adaptive strategies at the limit for life and illustrates that rock colonisation is controlled by a complex set of factors.


Post hoc analyses of Rector v. Arkansas have regularly highlighted that the defendant requested that part of his last meal be saved so that he could it eat later. While the observation is typically raised as part of arguments that Rector was incompetent and unfit for execution, the more basic fact is that commentators have drawn important inferences about Rector's mental state from how he treated his last meal. In this essay, we draw upon multiple disciplines in order to apply the same inferential logic to a much broader sample and explore the question of whether traditionally customized last meals might offer signals of defendants' guilt or innocence. To investigate this, the content of last-meal requests and last words reported for people executed in the United States during a recent five-year period were examined. Consistent with the idea that declination of the last meal is equivalent to a signal of (self-perceived) innocence, those who denied guilt were 2.7 times as likely to decline a last meal than people who admitted guilt (29% versus 8%). Consistent with the complementary theory that people who admit guilt are relatively more "at peace" with their sentence, these individuals requested 34% more calories of food than the rest of the sample (2786 versus 2085 calories). A third finding is that those who denied guilt also tended to eat significantly fewer brand-name food items. Previous discussions of last meals have often lacked quantitative measurements; however, this systematic analysis shows that last meal requests offer windows into self-perceived or self-proclaimed innocence. Knowing one's last meal request and one's last words can provide valuable new variables for retrospectively assessing the processes that led to past executions.


RF guided missile developers require flight simulation of their target engagements to develop their RF seeker. This usually involves the seeker mounted on a Flight Motion Simulator (FMS) as well as an RF target simulator that simulates the signature and motion of the target. Missile intercept engagements are unique in that they involve highly dynamic relative motion in a short period of time. This puts demanding requirements on the RF target simulator to adequately present the desired phase slope, amplitude, and polarization to the seeker antenna and electronics under test. This paper describes a newly installed RF Target Simulator that addresses these requirements in a unique fashion. The design utilizes a compact range reflector, dynamically rotated in two axes as commanded by the flight simulation computer, to produce the desired changing phase slope and an RF feed network dynamically controlled to produce the desired changing polarization and amplitude. Physical optics analysis establishes an accurate correlation between reflector physical rotation and resulting angle-of-arrival of the wave front in the quiet zone. The RF Target Simulator is self contained in a two-man portable anechoic chamber that can be disengaged from the FMS and rolled to and from the FMS as needed. Measurements are presented showing the performance of the RF Target Simulator.


Starting from the observation that substantively free migration is impossible in a world where millions lack the resources to move country, this article evaluates two contenders for the second-best alternative. On the face of it, arguments from freedom of association and material inequality appear to commend formally open borders, while those from liberty and equality of opportunity seem to favour a migration lottery. However, the argument from liberty gives us only a presumption in favour of freedom of movement, rather than an equal human right. This is not enough to make a compelling case for a migration lottery. Moreover, the idea that equality of opportunity requires a migration lottery rests on the belief that this will facilitate self-realisation. Yet it is free movement which better promotes self-realisation. Therefore, it is concluded that the case for a migration lottery is ultimately unpersuasive.


Globalization has not led, and is unlikely to lead, to a global homogenization of penal policy and practices. Drawing on a study of penal systems in 12 contemporary capitalist countries (the United States of America, England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Japan), this article demonstrates that the political economies of such countries can be broadly categorized as neo-liberal, conservative corporatist, social democratic or oriental corporatist. This categorization is strongly related to the punitiveness of the penal culture and the rates of imprisonment to be found in each country. The reasons for this association are discussed. One crucial factor may be the degree to which societies with different types of political economy are 'inclusive' rather than 'exclusive' towards deviant individuals.


Women who give birth as teens have worse subsequent educational and labor market outcomes than women who have first births at older ages. However, previous research has attributed much of these effects to selection rather than a causal effect of teen childbearing. Despite this, there are still reasons to believe that children of teen mothers may do worse as their mothers may be less mature, have fewer financial resources when the child is young, and may partner with fathers of lower quality. Using Norwegian register data, we compare outcomes of children of sisters who have first births at different ages. Our evidence suggests that the causal effect of being a child of a teen mother is much smaller than that implied by the cross-sectional differences but that there are still significant long-term, adverse consequences, especially for children born to the youngest teen mothers. Unlike previous research, we have information on fathers and find that negative selection of fathers of children born to teen mothers plays an important role in producing inferior child outcomes. These effects are particularly large for mothers from higher socio-economic groups.


This paper presents an econometric analysis of land-cover change in western Honduras. Ground-truthed satellite image analysis indicates that between 1987 and 1996, net reforestation occurred in the 1,015.12 km2 study region. While some reforestation can be attributed to a 1987 ban on logging, the area of reforestation greatly exceeds that of previously clear-cut areas. Further, new area was also deforested between 1987-1996. Thus, the observed land-cover changes most likely represent a complex mosaic of changing land-use patterns across time and space. We estimate a random-effects probit model to capture drivers of land-cover change that are spatial, temporal or both. We employ two techniques to correct for spatial error dependence in econometric analysis suitable to qualitative dependent variables. Lastly, we simulate the impact of anticipated changes in transportation costs on land cover. We find that market accessibility, increase in national coffee prices, and agricultural suitability are the most important determinants of recent land-cover change.


Subband adaptive filtering is rapidly becoming one of the most effective techniques for reducing computational complexity and improving the convergence rate of algorithms in adaptive signal processing applications. This book provides an introductory, yet extensive guide on the theory of various subband adaptive filtering techniques. For beginners, the authors discuss the basic principles that underlie the design and implementation of subband adaptive filters. For advanced readers, a comprehensive coverage of recent developments, such as multiband tapweight adaptation, delayless architectures, and filterbank design methods for reducing bandedge effects are included. Several analysis techniques and complexity evaluation are also introduced in this book to provide better understanding of subband adaptive filtering. This book bridges the gaps between the mixeddomain natures of subband adaptive filtering techniques and provides enough depth to the material augmented by many MATLAB functions and examples. Key Features: Acts as a timely introduction for researchers, graduate students and engineers who want to design and deploy subband adaptive filters in their research and applications. Bridges the gaps between two distinct domains: adaptive filter theory and multirate signal processing. Uses a practical approach through MATLAB-based source programs on the accompanying CD. Includes more than 100 M-files, allowing readers to modify the code for different algorithms and applications and to gain more insight into the theory and concepts of subband adaptive filters. Subband Adaptive Filtering is aimed primarily at practicing engineers, as well as senior undergraduate and graduate students. It will also be of interest to researchers, technical managers, and computer scientists.


In this chapter, I examine the function of noun class prefixes in several non-Pama-Nyungan languages. In these languages, prefixes show several alternants. I show that these alternants are distributed according to discourse functions "topic" and "focus", making them somewhat like articles in European languages (or better, the topic marking clitics in Japanese and Korean). The topic marker is also found in a number of polarity contexts: under the scope of negative and interrogative operators in the clause. In order to understand this highly unusual phenomenon, we need to understand the nature of references to kinds, and the realisation of number and quantification in these languages. This examination reveals that topics serve to enable operators to bind variables without a well-defined configurational phrase structure. The adaptation of the tools of formal semantics to nonconfigurational languages is in its infancy. This paper represents an initial step in understanding the similarities and differences between the semantics of such languages, and the better-described languages of Western Europe.


The second- and third-order azimuthal anisotropy Fourier harmonics of charged particles produced in pPb collisions, at sNN=8.16TeV, are studied over a wide range of event multiplicities. Multiparticle correlations are used to isolate global properties stemming from the collision overlap geometry. The second-order "elliptic" harmonic moment is obtained with high precision through four-, six-, and eight-particle correlations and, for the first time, the third-order "triangular" harmonic moment is studied using four-particle correlations. A sample of peripheral PbPb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV that covers a similar range of event multiplicities as the pPb results is also analyzed. Model calculations of initial-state fluctuations in pPb and PbPb collisions can be directly compared to the high-precision experimental results. This work provides new insight into the fluctuation-driven origin of the v3 coefficients in pPb and PbPb collisions, and into the dominating overall collision geometry in PbPb collisions at the earliest stages of heavy ion interactions.


Obesity disrupts glucose homeostasis by metabolic disorders. Probiotics are nutritional and medicinal potential to control obesity and its related disorders. This study was aimed to investigate effects of synbiotic supplementation on weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood sugar in type II diabetic patients. This clinical double-blind trial study was done on 43 (15 males and 28 females) type II diabetic patients who reffered to diabetes clinic in Sabzevar. The patients in the study were randomly divided into two groups Synbiotic and the control. The synbiotic group received 1 tablet synbiotic and placebo group received 1placebo for 8 weeks. At the beginning and end of the study, all of patients' weight and height and fasting plasma glucose levels were measured according to standard protocols. Before and after study, 24-hour dietry recall was taken and food intake and calorie consumption were calculated throughout day. Mean age and duration of disease was 54.88 ± 11.10 and 7.33 ± 5.4 years. Synbiotic supplementation leads to weight loss. BMI and blood sugar in intervention groups patients in comparison of control group. The results showed that Synbiotic supplementation reduced weight, BMI and blood glucose in type II diabetic patients and its intake can be usefull for diabetics.


When the Soviet Union and its satellite regimes collapsed, they bequeathed to successor states an unexpected dual legacy: an outsized, backward agrarian sector on the one hand and a wealth of undeveloped nature, rich in biological diversity, on the other. Popular perceptions of the region centre on nightmarish images of environmental devastation, but environmentalists on both sides of the former 'Iron Curtain' are increasingly recognizing the unintended benefits to nature of Communist underdevelopment. Eight of the post-Communist states have now consummated their long-awaited 'return to Europe', but as they begin a new era as European Union members, they confront a critical developmental challenge. Faced with declining agricultural prospects and growing Western interest in Eastern nature, what to do with a large and underemployed rural population and an ever-expanding area of marginal farmland? This article contributes to a growing literature on the political ecology of post-Communist transformation in the 'Second World' through a case study from Latvia. At Lake Pape, the Latvian program office of WWF International has implemented a Western-funded project in ecosystem restoration and eco-tourism promotion involving introduction of wild horses in a remote but ecologically rich coastal wetland area. I explore diverse Latvian responses to the polysemic Western narratives of sustainable rural development and biodiversity conservation that have been borne into Eastern Europe along with Western aid monies. Local mediation of these narratives is shaped by the struggle between competing 'agrarian' and 'internationalist' understandings of national geography, identity and developmental destiny that have structured cultural and political discourse since the emergence of Latvian nationalism 150 years ago.


BACKGROUND
Depression, alexithymia, and lack of assertiveness interfere with individual psychosocial functioning and may result in longer hospitalization stay and poorer therapeutic results.

AIM
To analyze the psychosocial functioning in acute and chronic patients and its association with psychological, clinical and sociodemographic variables.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional study that included 80 inpatients of both sexes with organic pathology, aged between 18 to 70 years old, without any current psychiatric disorder. Clinical and sociodemographic data were collected from a semi-structured interview and hospital records. Beck Depression Inventory-IA, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and Rathus Assertiveness Scale were administered.

RESULTS
Fifty five percent of patients had some degree of depression, 33% alexithymia and 34% lack of assertiveness. The levels of depression, alexithymia and lack of assertiveness in chronic patients were significantly higher than those observed in acute patients. Women and participants older than 60 years exhibited the highest degrees of depression. Alexithymia and lack of assertiveness were associated with a lower educational level. A negative significant correlation between alexithymia and assertiveness scores was observed among acute patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Participants with chronic diseases had a lower psychosocial functioning. Less educated patients showed more alexithymic and less assertive features. We emphasized the need of a better management of these aspects by the health team, since social functioning might interfere with the outcome of physical illnesses.