Carbon is a versatile material which is composed of different allotropes, and also come in with different structures. Carbon nanofibres (CNFs) is one dimensional carbon nanomaterials, which have exhibited superior mechanical properties, great specific area, good electrical conductivity, good biocompatibility, and ease of modification. In addition to the lower cost associated to compare with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), CNFs have been attracted in numerous applications, such as reinforcement materials, filtrations, Li-ion battery, supercapacitor as well as tissue engineering, just to list a few. Therefore, it is a great deal to understand the relationship between the fabrication conditions and the characteristics of the resulted CNFs. In this project, electrospun PAN NFs were used as precursor material to fabricate carbon nanofibres. In order to produce CNFs with good morphology, the processing parameters of PAN nanofibres by electrospinning was optimized toward to the morphology at solution concentration of 12 wt%. The optimized processing parameters at given concentration were 16 kV, 14 cm and 1.5 mL/h, which led to the formation of PAN NFs with average fibre diameter of approximately 260 nm. Along with the effect of processing parameter study, the effect of concentration on the morphology was also carried out at optimized processing parameters. It was found that by increasing concentration of PAN solution from 2 to 16%, the resulted PAN transformed from beads only, to beaded fibres and finally to smooth fibres. With further increasing concentration the morphology of smooth fibres remain with increase in the fibre diameter. Electrospun PAN NFs with average fibre of 306 nm was selected to be converted into CNFs by using standard heating procedures, stabilisation in air at 280 °C and carbonization in N2. The effect of carbonization temperature ranging from 500 to 1000 °C was investigated, by using SEM, FTIR, Raman, and Impedance spectroscopy. With increasing carbonization temperature from 500 to 1000 °C, the diameter of NFs was decreased from 260 to 187, associated with loss of almost all functional groups of NFs. It was indicated by Raman results, that the graphitic crystallite size was increased from 2.62 to 5.24 nm, and the activation energy obtained for this growth was 7570 J/mol. Furthermore, impedance results (i.e. Cole-Cole plot) revealed that the electrical characteristic of CNFs transitioned from being insulating to electrically conducting in nature, suggested by the different electrical circuits extracted from Cole-Cole plots with carbonization temperature from 500 to 800 °C. The carbonization on PAN NFs with diameter of ~431nm was carried out by using novel route, microwave plasma enhance chemical vapour deposition (MPECVD) process. To compare with carbonized PAN NFs by using conventional route, MPECVD was not only able to facilitate carbonization process, but more interestingly can form carbon nanowalls (CNWs) grown on the surfaces of carbonized PAN NFs. Suggested by the unique morphology, the potential applications for the resulted carbon fibrous hybrid materials are supercapacitor electrode material, filtrations, and etc., The method developed in this project required one step less, compared with other literature. Therefore, using MPECVD on stabilised PAN NFs is proposed as economical, and straightforward approach towards mass production of carbon fibrous hybrid materials containing CNWs.


The Australian Institute of Criminology has produced a diverse range of studies on illicit markets, including those in drugs, diamonds, stolen vehicle parts, abalone, plastic payment cards and antiquities. This paper draws together information on one aspect that these markets have in common— networks of transportation. In view of the common structure of these networks for transporting and distributing illicit goods, and the common nature of the skills required to successfully operate underground trading links, this paper questions whether the same personnel are involved in the movement of all or some of these goods and, if so, what implications this might have for crime prevention and detection initiatives.


The rapid and reversible upregulation of the functional activity of integrin receptors on T lymphocytes is a vital step in the adhesive interactions that occur during successful T cell recognition of foreign antigen and transendothelial migration. Although the ligation of several different cell surface receptors, including the antigen- specific CD3/T cell receptor complex, the CD2, CD7, and CD28 antigens, as well as several chemokine receptors, has been shown to rapidly upregulate integrin function, the intracellular signaling events that initiate this increase in adhesion remain poorly defined. In this study, we have used DNA-mediated gene transfer to explore the role of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-K) in the upregulation of beta 1 integrin functional activity mediated by the CD2 antigen. CD2 was expressed in the myelomonocytic cell line HL60, which expresses beta 1 integrins that mediate adhesion to fibronectin and VCAM-1 in an activation-dependent manner. Antibody stimulation of CD2 expressed on HL60 transfectants resulted within minutes in increased beta 1-mediated adhesion to fibronectin and VCAM-1 at levels comparable to that obtained upon stimulation with the phorbol ester PMA. A role for PI 3-K in CD2-mediated increases in beta 1 integrin function is suggested by: (a) the ability of the PI 3-K inhibitor wortmannin to completely inhibit CD2-induced increases in beta 1 integrin activity; (b) the association of PI 3-K with CD2; and (c) induced PI 3-K activity upon CD2 stimulation. The mode of association of PI 3-K with CD2 is not mediated by tyrosine phosphorylation-dependent binding of PI 3-K via SH2 domains, since: (a) PI 3-K is associated with CD2 in unstimulated cells; (b) CD2 stimulation fails to increase the amount of associated PI 3-K; and (c) the CD2 cytoplasmic domain lacks tyrosine residues. A role for both protein kinase C and cytoskeletal rearrangements in CD2 regulation of integrin activity is also suggested, since a PKC inhibitor partially inhibits CD2-induced increases in beta 1 integrin function, and CD2 stimulation increases F-actin content in a wortmannin- sensitive manner. Analysis of human peripheral T cells indicated that CD2 stimulation also results in PI 3-K-dependent upregulation of beta 1 integrin activity. Thus, these results demonstrate that CD2 can function as an adhesion regulator in the absence of expression of the CD3/T cell receptor complex; and directly implicate PI 3-K as a critical intracellular mediator involved in the regulation of beta 1 integrin functional activity by the CD2 antigen.


The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument for the proposed NASA/ISRO mission would utilize a distributed architecture dubbed SweepSAR. This real-time On-orbit digital beamforming, combined with lightweight, large aperture reflectors, promises significant increases in instrument capability for solid earth and biomass remote sensing. These new instrument concepts require new methods for calibrating the multiple channels, which are combined on-board, in real-time. The benefit of this effort is that it enables a new class of lightweight radar architecture, Digital Beamforming with SweepSAR, providing significantly larger swath coverage than conventional SAR architectures for reduced mass and cost.


—Enterprise architecture (EA) frameworks of the past have attempted to support the cohesive and comprehensive modeling and documentation of the enterprise, often with a focus on business and information technology (IT). However, the digitalization of enterprises and the complexity of IT have outgrown these matrix box-like frameworks. This paper proposes a digital, holistic, and sustainable EA framework, called the Digital Diamond Framework, to support digitized enterprises in aligning the real EA state with the desired state.


The overall aim of this thesis was to examine the acute phase response, as measured mainly by acute phase proteins (APP) and cellular response, in calves during different types of respiratory infection, and to identify potential markers useful in evaluation of their health status. Experimental infections were performed with virus, bovine virus diarrhoea virus (BVDV) or bacteria, Mannheimia haemolytica (M. haemolytica), or with a combination of the two micro-organisms. Special interest was focused on the differences between single BVDV or M. haemoytica inoculation and co-infection with both agents. In another study, calves were infected with the cattle lungworm, Dictyocaulus viviparus (D. viviparus) using different dose regimens. Finally, a study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of APP measurements as indicators of health in calf herds. Co-infection with BVDV and M. haemolytica induced the most severe clinical signs, while single M. haemolytica inoculation induced none or very mild clinical signs, while BVDV inoculation induced mild to moderate signs. Increases in the APP haptoglobin, serum amyloid A (SAA) and fibrinogen were observed after inoculations with BVDV and/or M. haemolytica. The increases coincided in time with the onset of clinical signs. The duration of elevated serum concentrations of SAA and fibrinogen was larger in the group inoculated with both BVDV and M. haemolytica. A marked decrease in lymphocyte numbers was observed after BVDV inoculation. This was mainly explained by a decrease in the numbers of CD4+, CD8+ and WC1+ lymphocytes. In contrast, M. haemolytica inoculation induced an increase in total neutrophil numbers, while the numbers of CD8+ and WC1+ lymphocytes decreased somewhat. The results indicate that detection of supra-normal APP levels could be useful to identify animals that are, or have recently been, clinically or sub-clinically diseased. Lungworm infection induced an increase in haptoglobin, SAA and fibrinogen, as well as in the numbers of eosinophils in blood. However, high numbers of eosinophils and low levels of APP do not exclude a diagnosis of lungworm. Thus lungworm infection may not be detected if measurements of APP are used to assess calf health. In a herd with high disease incidence, a larger proportion of calves had elevated serum concentrations of APP, and a larger number of days per calf with elevated levels of APP compared to a herd with low disease incidence. The results indicate that measurements of serum concentrations of APP can be useful as indicators of herd health.


ABSTRACT With an increase in the proportion of Australians aged over 65, and high government expenditure on residential care, there is a strong imperative to find smart, safe solutions to support older people to stay in their own homes. There is a growing interest in Australia for assistive technologies that provide home monitoring to promote health and wellbeing. This solution will only be viable if it meets with the expectations of older residents and their families. In the first smart homes pilot in Australia, we sought to ascertain barriers and facilitators of this technology. There was an overall positive response to the system, despite a slight tendency for residents to modify their behaviour due to perceived surveillance. Positive outcomes included increases in family communication, health autonomy and advances in technology uptake. Our findings suggest that a combination of considered placement of in-home technology, straightforward medical devices and a supportive human element will ensure that the technology meets the balance of service provision and preservation of dignity. Smart homes could mitigate the challenges associated with aged care while affording peace of mind for seniors and families.


Cloud storage is vulnerable to advanced persistent threats (APTs), in which an attacker launches stealthy, continuous, and targeted attacks on storage devices. In this paper, prospect theory (PT) is applied to formulate the interaction between the defender of a cloud storage system and an APT attacker who makes subjective decisions that sometimes deviate from the results of expected utility theory, which is a basis of traditional game theory. In the PT-based cloud storage defense game with pure strategy, the defender chooses a scan interval for each storage device and the subjective APT attacker chooses his or her interval of attack against each device. A mixed-strategy subjective storage defense game is also investigated, in which each subjective defender and APT attacker acts under uncertainty about the action of its opponent. The Nash equilibria (NEs) of both games are derived, showing that the subjective view of an APT attacker can improve the utility of the defender. A Q-learning-based APT defense scheme that the storage defender can apply without being aware of the APT attack model or the subjectivity model of the attacker in the dynamic APT defense game is also proposed. Simulation results show that the proposed defense scheme suppresses the attack motivation of subjective APT attackers and improves the utility of the defender, compared with the benchmark greedy defense strategy.


In the course of this thesis, neural mechanisms underlying the generation of single leg stepping in the stick insect Carausius morosus were investigated at the premotor level. Local nonspiking interneurons (NSIs) are important premotor elements within the leg muscle control system of insects, which integrate sensory signals from different sources and provide synaptic drive onto motoneurons (MNs). The single middle leg preparation used allows intracellular recordings from identified NSIs while the active animal performs stepping movements on a treadmill. For identification, NSIs were stained following physiological characterization by iontophoretical dye injection and viewed with a confocal laser scanning microscope. The alternating activity of flexor and extensor tibiae MNs during single middle leg stepping, which characterizes stance and swing phase, respectively, was monitored by extracellular recordings. In the first part of the thesis, the activity pattern of NSIs driving tibial MNs during single leg stepping was studied and their contribution to the generation of stepping motor output was revealed. With the initiation of stepping, modulations of membrane potential were generated in all NSIs that were closely related to the step cycle. The activity pattern comprised distinct excitatory or inhibitory phasic input, during at least one phase of the step cycle. Most NSI types showed an inversion of membrane potential polarization from one phase of the step cycle to the other. It was shown that the activity pattern of the individual NSIs during stepping was not predictable from the synaptic drive, i.e., excitatory or inhibitory, they provide onto MNs in the resting animal. Artificial alterations of membrane potential and measurements of local input resistance for individual NSIs revealed that phasic excitatory and inhibitory modulations of membrane potential during stepping results from true excitatory and inhibitory synaptic input. Current injections into NSI I1 immediately terminated stepping sequences, indicating an important role of I1 in the control of motor output for stepping. The amplitude of phasic membrane potential modulation of NSIs during stepping varied markedly. The maximum peak-to-peak amplitude of membrane potential modulation during stepping amounted to 16.9 ± 6.0 mV on average for all NSIs presented in this study and ranged from 5 to 34 mV for individual recordings. The time of peak and trough potential occurrence within a step cycle appears to contribute substantially to the patterning of motor output, since the extensor MN activity was closely correlated with the membrane potential of individual NSIs, e.g., E2/3, E4, E8 and I2. For the first time, it could be shown that the activity of NSIs during stepping can largely be explained by the state dependency of their inputs from the femoral chordotonal organ, one of the main leg sensors. Hence, the results presented here strongly support the notion that the motor response during the �active reaction� represents a part of the control regime for the generation of single leg stepping. In the second part of the thesis, the interest was to investigate neural mechanisms underlying adaptivity in locomotor systems. Therefore, it was examined which parameters contribute to alterations in stepping velocity. An important finding was that stepping velocity varies with membrane potential alterations of NSIs activated during stance phase, but not with NSIs activated during swing phase. Furthermore, the results suggest that the stance part of the locomotor network is stronger activated during fast stepping velocities and that the swing part is simultaneously inhibited to the same extent. However, investigation of extensor MN activity failed to show a correlation with stepping velocity. This finding implies that swing phase activity is independent of stepping velocity and, hence, corroborates the notion that the swing part of the premotor network does not contribute to alterations in stepping velocity. Finally, it was investigated whether there is a correlation between swing phase activation and stance phase velocity during single leg stepping. The results indicate that there is no influence between stance and swing phase activation in the single middle leg preparation, at least, not in the way that activation strength of stance would influence the subsequent activation of swing phase. The insights gained on premotor NSIs within the femur-tibia joint control system of the stick insect raise the assumption of a premotor network organized into functionally different and partly overlapping pools of NSIs. In the single middle leg preparation, individual NSI types appear to control the actual magnitude of stepping motor output (e.g., E2/3, E8, I2) or the stepping velocity (e.g., E1, I1, I2), while others seem to control step phase transitions (e.g., E2/3, E4, I4) or phase duration (e.g., I8, I1, E1).


This book is a short and very readable account of the origins and evolution of WHO as the United Nations specialized agency for global health. It will be of interest not only to scholars and practitioners of public health, but also to those interested in development and international relations.

Starting with a brief review of the history of international cooperation aimed at prevention and control of the spread of communicable diseases across borders, the book traces the rise of social medicine and public health in response to recognition of social and economic determinants of the health of populations during the Industrial Revolution in Europe and subsequently into the 20th century on both sides of the Atlantic.

Biomedical and social concepts of human health have led to tensions with regard to defining the scope and limits of public health and its amenability to scientific and technical or social and political action.

The book discusses these tensions in relation to the foundation of WHO in the aftermath of the Second World War, starting with a definition of its mandate and constitution, which came into force on 7 April 1948. While the constitution adopts a broad notion of health, nevertheless the history of WHO in the subsequent 60 years reveals alternating and competing cycles that reflect ongoing debate and opinions on how best to promote the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.

Following a brief review of the events leading up to WHO's creation, the book analyses the structure, functions and governance of the Organization, all of which are intended to reflect universal membership as well as its role as the United Nations specialized agency for health. This chapter explains WHO's unique regional and global structure that enables the Organization to carry out its dual normative and technical cooperation functions, the latter implemented through its 147 country offices.

Two chapters are dedicated to analysing WHO's approaches to competing pressures among its Member States on how best to improve and promote health. These pressures arise from two related dichotomies. The first relates to the relative effectiveness of focusing on specific diseases versus strengthening health systems. The second relates to the balance between focus on health and the health sector versus broader determinants of health and the need for health in all policies and intersectoral action.

A chapter on global campaigns against specific diseases traces WHO action against malaria, smallpox, HIV/AIDS and poliomyelitis. It notes how disease control and eradication campaigns fire the public imagination and attract donors. For many people they epitomize the work of a world health organization. However, the author notes WHO's mixed record and concludes that global disease campaigns are not in themselves an adequate fulfilment of WHO's mandate to improve world health.

A chapter on tackling the broad determinants of health examines attempts by the public health community to influence the work of WHO to better reflect its Constitution. It traces early work that focused on single factors such as water, sanitation, nutrition and housing before moving on to the primary health care movement of the 1970s and 1980s that drew international attention to health equity and the fundamental importance of ensuring universal access to services, including essential medicines. The author records the controversies and political tensions that have accompanied WHO's work in these areas, including recent work on tobacco control, trade and health and prevention of chronic diseases in which strong vested interests have sought to oppose and undermine the work of the Organization.

The final chapter describes pressure on WHO to respond to the realities of globalization by engaging with new stakeholders, beyond its member states, and addressing important cross-border health determinants. The author examines the pressures on the secretariat to embrace global health and the ensuing challenges to revisit WHO's mandate, basic functions and even its underlying value system. In line with the higher-than-ever priority that has been accorded to public health in international affairs, WHO's functions and governance have been the subject of repeated studies and calls for reform since the early 1990s.

The book concludes that politics has been embedded in WHO throughout its history and is an obvious feature of an international organization mandated to promote the attainment of the highest possible level of health for all peoples. In that context, it is remarkably current at this juncture when human health and wellbeing face challenges as great as any since the Organization was established. ■


Several methods have been developed to obtain oil from corn germ, oilseeds, and other oil-rich plant materials using aqueous enzymatic methods. Unlike traditional oil extraction methods, these new processes are performed without the use of presses and without organic solvents. Beginning with olives in ancient times, oil has been obtained from oil-rich plant materials. The large variations in cell wall ultrastructure and chemical composition (varying proportions of cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin) of oil-rich plant materials have created a challenge for the development of aqueous enzymatic oil extraction strategies. For most oil-rich plant materials, three types of enzymes (cellulases, proteases and pectinases) have proven to be most effective for the aqueous enzymatic oil extraction. Although the high cost of enzymes is a major hurdle to the commercialization of aqueous enzymatic oil extraction methods, recent advances in enzyme production technology are gradually reducing enzyme costs and bringing these technologies closer to becoming economically feasible.


Drug Rash with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS) is a rare, idiosyncratic, life-threatening drug reaction with a variety of clinical manifestations including symptoms of fever higher than 38.5 oC, pruritic maculopapular or erythematous eruption, hematologic abnormalities, lymphadenopathy, and multiorgan involvement. Its incidence ranges from 1 in 1000 to 1 in 10,000 drug exposures, and it has an estimated mortality rate of up to 10%. To date, many drugs have been reported to cause DRESS syndrome, but the most common ones are the anticonvulsants and sulfonamides, although the pathogenesis is not clearly understood. Deficiency or defects in the epoxide hydroxylase enzyme, which detoxifies the metabolites of aromatic anticonvulsants, an insufficiency in the detoxification of the drug leading to reactive metabolites which may trigger immunologic reactions, predispositions due to some HLA alleles, and reactivation of herpes viruses are suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis. The latent period varies from two to six weeks. Hematologic, hepatic, renal, cardiac, pulmonary, neurologic, gastrointestinal and endocrine involvement; and hemophagocytic syndrome can be seen during the clinical course of DRESS syndrome. The long term sequels of DRESS syndrome include hepatic, renal and adrenal failure; diabetes mellitus type 1 and type 2, Graves disease, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, lupus, systemic sclerosis, and autoimmune enteropathy. Diagnosis of DRESS syndrome is difficult to establish, and requires a high degree of initial clinical suspicion and ruling out of other etiologies. The most important step in the management of DRESS syndrome is early diagnosis and prompt withdrawal of the offending drug. In cases with organ involvement, systemic corticosteroid treatment is required. In serious and steroid-resistant cases, using more potent immunosuppressive agents or intravenous immunoglobulin treatments may be required.


This paper examines why physicians continue to prescribe trade- name drugs when less expensive generic substitutes are available. I utilize a data set on physicians, their patients, and the multi-source drugs prescribed to study the prescription habits of physicians in prescribing generic and trade-name drugs. The results indicate that almost all physicians prescribe both types of drugs to their patients. There is, however, persistence in the prescription behavior of physicians, so that some physicians are more likely to prescribe trade-name drugs, while others more often prescribe generics. While much of this persistence cannot be explained by observable characteristics of the physician or the physician's patients, patients who are treated by physicians with large numbers of HMO or pre-paid patients are more likely to be prescribed generics, and there is wide regional variation in the propensity of physicians to prescribe generic drugs. The results are most consistent with an explanation of physicians' prescription behavior based on habit persistence.


Objectives: Obesity is a rising problem in adolescents related to unhealthy behaviours. Commitment devises are one type of behavioural intervention that may help people change their behaviours. The current pilot trial tests whether commitment devices delivered via text message help adolescents maintain their recent weight loss. Methods: During a 12-week pilot trial, adolescents who attended a weight loss camp were randomly assigned to either received text messages that contained only information, i.e. advice, about weight loss management (n = 13) or asked for them to commit to following the same advise (n = 14). Results: The BMI of the adolescents in the commitment group did not change. In contrast, the BMI of adolescents in the information group increased. A linear regression revealed that group was a significant predictor of BMI change. A logistic regression revealed that adolescents in the information group were nearly eight times more likely to regain weight than those in the commitment group. Conclusions: This is the first study with adolescents to show weight maintenance using a commitment device. The results suggest that commitment devices can help adolescents maintain their recent weight loss.


Major interest has focused on the identification of regulatory factors involved in lipid biosynthesis. This study examined the B.napus β-Keto-ACP reductase 5' sequence for potential regulatory cis-acting elements. The 5' sequence of the most highly expressed Brassica napus β-Keto-ACP reductase isoform was fused to the reporter gene β-glucuronidase (GUS) and its expression pattern examined within transgenic Arabidopsis. The construct was shown to act as a functional promoter and direct transcription within embryos, cotyledons and roots. There was no apparent staining within the true leaves, but staining was visible within the cotyledons. Overlapping fragments of the promoter were analysed in gel mobility shift assays and all six showed the formation of protein-DNA complexes. Competition analysis suggested that the same trans-acting factor binds to a number of regions along the promoter. The protein-DNA complex appeared to be competed away by the Arabidopsis enoyl-ACP reductase (EnR) promoter sequence, but not the lipid transfer protein (LTP) promoter. A common 9bp cis-element (CGCANTAAA) was identified in four of the six promoter fragments. Deletion analysis of the β-Keto-ACP reductase promoter intransient expression experiments into B.napus tissue, suggested the promoter could still direct transcription upon deletion to 132bp within embryos. The GUS expression appeared to show more than one decrease in expression upon subsequent deletions of the promoter within embryos, suggesting that more than one cis-element may be involved in the control of transcription. At least one of these suspected decreases con elated with the deletion of one of the 9bp boxes identified. Differences were observed for expression of the constructs within leaves and embryos suggesting that different elements may be involved in transcriptional control within these tissues. The identification of a potential cis-acting element within this study could be used to isolate a potential regulatory trans-acting factor that binds to the B.napus β-Keto-ACP reductase promoter.


The corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda has been a part of the global debate on socio-economic development for many decades. Countless claims have been made that CSR can contribute towards more inclusive development and the alleviation of poverty. This briefing examines the concept and role of CSR in the mining industry of South Africa. The mining case study reviewed here demonstrates that key implementation challenges are a lack of co-ordination and alignment with the government's development plans, at both national and local level, coupled with weak monitoring and evaluation. Too frequently CSR programmes are centred on business-orientated objectives that are not fully integrated with broader, country-level development plans. This briefing highlights how the current CSR agenda and its practice may be unsuited to effectively addressing social problems and delivering socio-economic development plans in South Africa.


This article examines the role of caste in the lives and identities of a small sample of young Sikhs in the English Midlands, using social psychological theory. In many academic writings, there is an implicit representation of caste as a negative aspect of South Asian culture and religion, and of caste identification as a means of oppressing vulnerable outgroups. Twenty-three young Sikhs were interviewed, and the qualitative data were analysed using Identity Process Theory. The following themes are discussed: (i) Caste as a Dormant Social Category, (ii) Anchoring the Caste Ingroup to Positive Social Representations, and (iii) Caste as an Inherent or Constructed Aspect of Identity? It is argued that neither caste nor caste-based prejudice appear to be prominent in the lives and identities of our interviewees but that, because caste is an important symbolic aspect of identity which can acquire salient in particular contexts, some Sikhs may wish to maintain this identity though endogamy. What is understood as caste-based prejudice can be better understood in terms of the downward comparison principle in social psychology. The implications for caste legislation are discussed.


We present a time-dependent multizone code for simulating the variability of synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) sources. The code adopts a multizone pipe geometry for the emission region, appropriate for simulating emission from a standing or propagating shock in a collimated jet. Variations in the injection of relativistic electrons in the inlet propagate along the length of the pipe, cooling radiatively. Our code for the first time takes into account the nonlocal, time-retarded nature of SSC losses that are thought to be dominant in TeV blazars. The observed synchrotron and SSC emission is followed self-consistently, taking into account light-travel time delays. At any given time, the emitting portion of the pipe depends on the frequency and the nature of the variation followed. Our simulation employs only one additional physical parameter relative to one-zone models, that of the pipe length, and is computationally very efficient, using simplified expressions for the SSC processes. The code will be useful for observers modeling Fermi, TeV, and X-ray observations of SSC blazars.


Yoyo is a toy in.ade of two th.ick circular pieces of wood, plastic, etc., connected with a short axle that can be made to run up and do.wn by mo.uing a string tied to it. Humans can play widh a yoyo without difficulty. However, developing a robot system that can play with a yoyo presents a significant challenge to controller design, because the dynamics of the yoyo are dificult to m.odel precisely. Moreover, since the dynamics are not continuous and there are integral-type constraints on the hand trajectory, conventional continuous time feedback con.trol theory does not work well. This paper presents a m,odel and a control scheme for robotic yoyo with visual feedback. Experiments on a PUMA 560 are carried out to evaluate the validity of the discrete time formulation an.d the cowtroller design.


Nutrient deficiencies are a major global health problem affecting more than 2 billion people (children included) in low income countries. Deficiencies are reported for both organic nutrients such as vitamin C, beta-carotene (BC)-the vitamin A (VA) precursor and for mineral nutrients; calcium (Ca), iron (Fe) and potassium (K). In Kenya, potential nutrient-rich foods such as Ipomea batatas (sweet potato) are locally available but their nutrient content needs to be quantified. Vihiga County, Kenya grows white, yellow, purple and orange colored flesh sweet potato varieties. This study aimed at quantifying vitamin VA and C in raw and boiled varieties of sweet potato from Vihiga County. In addition, raw samples of sweet potato as well as soils growing them were quantified for Ca, Fe, K and copper (Cu). Liquid chromatography, iodometric titration and atomic absorption spectroscopy were employed. The orange fleshed varieties had significantly higher level of Fe, K, Cu and vitamins. Vitamins though reduced significantly with boiling. The level of Ca, Fe, K and Cu in soils was positively correlated (r=0.07) with those found in the sweet potato. This study indicates that the orange fleshed sweet potato contain higher levels of Fe, Cu, K, VA and vitamin C making it a very rich source for both organic and mineral dietary nutrient. While production of other sweet potato varieties is encouraged, the study findings promote the consumption of orange fleshed sweet potato to address nutrient deficiencies.


This paper asks if a virtual space-time could appear to those within it as our space-time does to us. A processing grid network is proposed to underlie not just matter and energy, but also space and time. The suggested "screen" for our familiar three dimensional world is the inner surface of a four-dimensional hyper-sphere bubble. Light waves and matter travel on this surface in directions defined by its architecture. Time derives from its processing sequences, as movies run static states together to emulate events. Yet what is proposed to exist is not the static states but the dynamic processing between them, with quantum collapse the irreversible event giving time its direction. In this virtual reality, empty space is null processing, directions are node connections, time is processing cycles, light is an information wave, objects are information tangles and energy is information in transfer. This strange interpretation suits a world where empty space is not empty, directions warp, time dilates, light never tires, existence smears and energy is the common currency of all interactions.


Doctorate holders' careers are increasingly diverse and research funders have a strong interest in exploring how their investment has contributed to the career paths of the researchers supported and how their work benefits society. Funders are also looking to understand the challenges, bottlenecks and opportunities at different career stages in order to tailor policies and activities to researchers' needs. Siobhan Phillips and Rhona Heywood-Roos share some of the headline findings of the European Science Foundation's career tracking study. Unsurprisingly, employment insecurity was noted as the greatest source of career dissatisfaction amongst researchers and the highest cited reason for withdrawal from research careers. The survey findings also found that ECRs with permanent jobs are nearly three times as likely to have had a significant impact on policy or practice than those on temporary contracts.


The author continues to expose the results of his research on the book of Ezekiel. In this study he endeavours to find out the possible existence of an influence of Iranian elements on the liturgical framework (particularly on New Year's Day) at the stage of redaction in this prophetical book.
To his purpose the article develops itself in three points: 1) an investigation of a possible relationship between the motive of the resurrection of the dead in Ez 37, 1-14 and a similar one present in the annual Iranian feast of Farvardigan; 2) an examination of the connection between the date of the New Year's Day in Ez 40, 1 and that of the Iranian New Year's Day of Mihragan; 3) the relevance of the similarity of the solar characteristics of the Ezekielic God with those of the Iranian Mitra.
The eventual iconic borrowing does not in any way affect the original identity of the God of Israel.


The paper is primarily structured in four sections. Section 2 deals with the four-stage reform process of infusion of Foreign Direct Investment in China. It provides an indepth understanding of how China moved from a controlled economy to a more open market economy. Section 3 discusses the primary and secondary determinants of FDI in China, namely, the market size, sectoral distribution, availability of cheap labour and various other determinants. Section 4 deals with the economic impact of FDI in China. This section speaks about the internal as well as the external impacts of FDI on Chinese economy. The final section considers the future challenges facing China in spite of having continuous flow of foreign investment in the country.


The main focus of this thesis is on the response of ecological communities to environmental variability and species loss. My approach is theoretical; I use mathematical models of networks where species population dynamics are described by ordinary differential equations. A common theme of the papers in my thesis is variation – variable link structure (Paper I) and within-species variation in resource use (Paper III and IV). To explore how such variation affect the stability of ecological communities in variable environments, I use numerical methods evaluating for example community persistence (the proportion of species surviving over time; Paper I, II and IV). I also develop a new method for quantifying the dynamical dimensionality of an ecological community and investigate its effect on community persistence in stochastic environments (Paper II). Moreover, if we are to gain trustworthy model output, it is of course of major importance to create study systems that reflect the structures of natural systems. To this end, I also study highly resolved, individual based empirical food web data sets (Paper III, IV).In Paper I, the effects of adaptive rewiring induced by resource loss on the persistence of ecological networks is investigated. Loss of one species in an ecosystem can trigger extinctions of other dependent species. For instance, specialist predators will go extinct following the loss of their only prey unless they can change their diet. It has therefore been suggested that an ability of consumers to rewire to novel prey should mitigate the consequences of species loss by reducing the risk of cascading extinction. Using a new modelling approach on natural and computer-generated food webs I find that, on the contrary, rewiring often aggravates the effects of species loss. This is because rewiring can lead to overexploitation of resources, which eventually causes extinction cascades. Such a scenario is particularly likely if prey species cannot escape predation when rare and if predators are efficient in exploiting novel prey. Indeed, rewiring is a two-edged sword; it might be advantageous for individual predators in the short term, yet harmful for long-term system persistence.The persistence of an ecological community in a variable world depends on the strength of environmental variation pushing the community away from equilibrium compared to the strength of the deterministic feedbacks, caused by interactions among and within species, pulling the community towards the equilibrium. However, it is not clear which characteristics of a community that promote its persistence in a variable world. In Paper II, using a modelling approach on natural and computer-generated food webs, I show that community persistence is strongly and positively related to its dynamic dimensionality (DD), as measured by the inverse participation ratio (IPR) of the real part of the eigenvalues of the community matrix. A high DD means that the real parts of the eigenvalues are of similar magnitude and the system will therefore approach equilibrium from all directions at a similar rate. On the other hand, when DD is low, one of the eigenvalues has a large magnitude of the real part compared to the others and the deterministic forces pulling the system towards equilibrium is therefore weak in many directions compared to the stochastic forces pushing the system away from the equilibrium. As a consequence the risk of crossing extinction thresholds and boundaries separating basins of attractions increases, and hence persistence decreases, as DD decreases. Given the forecasted increase in climate variability caused by global warming, Paper II suggests that the dynamic dimensionality of ecological systems is likely to become an increasingly important property for their persistence.In Paper III, I investigate patterns in the size structure of one marine and six running freshwater food webs: that is, how the trophic structure of such ecological networks is governed by the body size of its interacting entities. The data for these food webs are interactions between individuals, including the taxonomic identity and body mass of the prey and the predator. Using these detailed data, I describe how patterns in diet variation and predator variation scales with the body mass of predators or prey, using both a species- and a size-class-based approach. I also compare patterns of size structure derived from analysis of individual-based data with those patterns that result when data are aggregated into species (or size class-based) averages. This comparison shows that analysis based on species averaging can obscure interesting patterns in the size structure of ecological communities. For example, I find that the strength of the relationship between prey body mass and predator body mass is consistently underestimated when species averages are used instead of the individual level data. In some cases, no relationship is found when species averages are used, but when individual-level data are used instead, clear and significant patterns are revealed. These results have potentially important implications for parameterisation of models of ecological communities and hence for predictions concerning their dynamics and response to different kinds of disturbances.Paper IV continues the analysis of the highly resolved individual-based empirical data set used in Paper III and investigates patterns and effects of within- and between species resource specialisation in ecological communities. Within-species size variation can be considerable. For instance, in fishes and reptiles, where growth is continuous, individuals pass through a wide spectrum of sizes, possibly more than four orders of magnitude, during the independent part of their life cycle. Given that the size of an organism is correlated with many of its fundamental ecological properties, it should come as no surprise that an individual's size affects the type of prey it can consume and what predators will attack it (Paper III). In Paper IV, I quantify within- and between species differences in predator species' prey preferences in natural food webs and subsequently explore its consequences for dynamical dimensionality (Paper II) and community stability in stage structured food web models. Among the natural food webs there are webs where species overlap widely in their resource use while the resource use of size-classes within species differs. There are also webs where differences in resource use among species is relatively large and the niches of sizeclasses within species are more similar. Model systems with the former structure are found to have low dynamical dimensionality and to be less stable compared to systems with the latter structure. Thus, although differential resource use among individuals within a species is likely to decrease the intensity of intraspecific competition and favor individuals specializing on less exploited resources it can destabilize the community in which the individuals are embedded.


The paper examines the impact of converting previous open-access common land into protected areas on the community resource management system in Shimshal, northern Pakistan. We explored three main questions in this regard. First, what happens to community resource management under strict government control of the resource? Secondly, what has happened to the centuries-old practice of the traditional yak herding system of the Shimshal community as a result of the introduction of new policies leading to the creation of protected areas? Thirdly, can the community retain resource control of the protected area (state property), and how can we conceptualize it under the property regime? The research draws the following three conclusions: (1) a clear divide exists between the local government and the community on resource management and resource use, (2) the Shimshal community relies significantly on yaks for their livelihood, and the imposition of new rules and regulations in protected areas has significantly altered the Shimshal community's traditional yak herding practices, and (3) community control over resources in protected areas would be a new experiment under the state property regime. The study concludes that it is possible to bridge the gap between what have been regarded as irreconcilable principles of protected areas and livelihoods. This arrangement needs to be contextualised by giving specific importance to the community and their management practices. The state would achieve its conservation goals by monitoring the local community's activities and ensuring that their livelihoods and conservation efforts do not negatively affect each other.


Introduction: Dual antiplatelet therapy is recommended for prevention of secondary cardiovascular events in acute coronary syndrome patients who undergo percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). This therapy includes aspirin with either of a P 2 Y 12 platelet receptor inhibitor like clopidogrel or ticagrelor. Methodology: A retrospective cohort study with 1 year follow up which compared clopidogrel and ticagrelor for determining clinical effectiveness in post PTCA patients through the incidence of primary and secondary end points. Primary end points included cardiovascular death, Myocardial Infarction (MI), unstable angina, secondary revascularization and Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Secondary end points were bleeding and dyspnea. Results: Age, gender, cardiovascular risk factors, concomitant medications administered and angioplasty specifications like the number of stents, type of stents and approach route were in comparable between clopidogrel and ticagrelor groups. The primary end points, a composite of cardiovascular death, unstable angina and secondary revascularization occurred more in the clopidogrel group (9%) than in ticagrelor group (5%) in 12 months follow up period. The secondary end points, a composite of bleeding and dyspnea were observed more in the ticagrelor group (11%) compared to clopidogrel group (5%). Conclusion: The use of ticagrelor prevents the incidence of secondary cardiovascular events in post PTCA patients to a greater degree than clopidogrel in comparable risk groups. Our observation revealed that ticagrelor was found to be better drug than clopidogrel as a prophylactic antiplatelet drug though there was increased incidence of dyspnea and bleeding in ticagrelor group. Key words: Antiplatelets, Ticagrelor, Clopidogrel.


Transgenic mice were created with cardiac-specific overexpression of the beta-adrenergic receptor kinase-1 (beta ARK1) or a beta ARK inhibitor. Animals overexpressing beta ARK1 demonstrated attenuation of isoproterenol-stimulated left ventricular contractility in vivo, dampening of myocardial adenylyl cyclase activity, and reduced functional coupling of beta-adrenergic receptors. Conversely, mice expressing the beta ARK inhibitor displayed enhanced cardiac contractility in vivo with or without isoproterenol. These animals demonstrate the important role of beta ARK in modulating in vivo myocardial function. Because increased amounts of beta ARK1 and diminished cardiac beta-adrenergic responsiveness characterize heart failure, these animals may provide experimental models to study the role of beta ARK in heart disease.


Introduction: Breast expanders/implants were developed in the 1980s as a breast reconstruction alternative to pre-existing techniques. They were created to provide adequate shape and volume to the breast after one-stage surgery and they do not require replacement. To evaluate the long-term results of breast reconstruction performed with Becker expanders. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated patients who underwent breast reconstruction with implants/expanders between 2004 and 2012. Results: A total of 161 expanders were implanted. Major complications (those that led to the removal or replacement of the prosthesis) comprised 22.98% of the enrolled subjects. The expander was removed and replaced by another type of reconstruction implant in 21.74% of the cases. The main reasons for the replacement were capsular contracture (31.43%), patients' desire (31.43%), and implant failure (20%). The surgical alternatives for the replaced expanders included prosthesis (91.43%), latissimus dorsi flap (5.71%), and TRAM flap (2.86%). Only few studies have evaluated the long-term effects of Becker expanders. In this study, the replacement rate was 28.57%. The study questions the use of Becker expanders as an adequate, onestage reconstruction technique. In spite of a high rate of optimal outcomes in the new surgical procedures (37%), its use is limited because of the high costs. The expanders are still useful for patients with comorbidities or other factors that limit the performance of other surgical procedures. Conclusion: The use of Becker expanders as an alternative for one-stage breast reconstruction technique is very limited. Therefore, these devices should only be used in selected cases. ■ ABSTRACT


Abstract: Can you measure democracy? Based on previous attempts to operationalise the term "democracy" in such a way that it can be used as a measuring instrument (especially on David Beetham's indicator-system which forms the basis for his "democratic audit"), a concept will be presented that does not (mis-)understand democracy from the outset as a specific set of institutions but (1) connects democracy firmly to the self-determination of individuals and (2) puts the political institutions in relation to the respective societal structure. Several political systems are then measured by applying this "measure for democracy:" the "motherland of democracy" Great Britain, the "half-direct" democracy of Switzerland and the still evolving political system of the European Union. The following points will be up for examination: - the centres of decision-making and the main actors (inter alia with respect to the question: who takes the final decision?) - the societal structure - the "opportunity structures"; i.e.: where do the "people" come in?;


Since the partition of the Korean peninsula, the crises between Seoul and Pyongyang have ranked high in the US political agenda. Nonetheless, the profile that the Obama administration has chosen to keep is relatively low. This choice has triggered criticisms, however the posture has brought its own benefits. Moreover, in a difficult economic situation, and in the face of increasing pressures for the curtailing of government expenditure, the 'low profile' approach meets the demands of a Congress whose support the White House increasingly needs. The main uncertainty is in the attitude of the PRC. However Beijing, more than any other nation, has a keen interest in keeping East Asia stable. This does not mean that China will become a sort of 'US cop' in East Asia. However, some forms of localized cooperation can be envisaged; a cooperation that could strengthen, as China will progress in occupying the international position that its leadership believes the country deserves.


No coach in National Football League history endured more playoff heartache than Marty Schottenheimer. Despite racking up two hundred regular-season victories (only five coaches in the entire ninety-year history of the NFL ever won more games), Marty never reached the Super Bowl during his coaching career. Martyball tells the story of a man who persevered through an avalanche of misfortune and playoff agony that would have brought most men to their knees. But Marty never lost sight of why he fell in love with coaching in the first place: he wanted to teach and mold men through the game of football. Based on more than one hundred hours of interviews with Marty, his players, assistants, family, and friends, this book will give readers a look into the mind of an exceptional coach, and explain why he never gave up or succumbed to self-pity despite a long streak of bad luck. Get the background on Schottenheimer's life, from his childhood in rural Pennsylvania to his playing and coaching careers in pro football, and learn why he kept believing in the game he loved-and how he found valuable lessons about life and football beyond each and every loss.


We evaluate incentives for residential energy upgrades in Italy using data from an original survey of Italian homeowners. In this paper, attention is restricted to heating system replacements, and to the effect of monetary and non-monetary incentives on the propensity to replace the heating equipment with a more efficient one. To get around adverse selection and free riding issues, we ask stated preference questions to those who weren't planning energy efficiency upgrades any time soon. We argue that these persons are not affected by these behaviors. We use their responses to fit an energy-efficiency renovations curve that predicts the share of the population that will undertake these improvements for any given incentive level. This curve is used to estimate the CO2 emissions saved and their cost-effectiveness. Respondents are more likely to agree to a replacement when the savings on the energy bills are larger and experienced over a longer horizon, and when rebates are offered to them. Reminding about CO2 (our non-monetary incentive) had little effect. Even under optimistic assumptions, the cost-effectiveness of incentives of size comparable to that in the Italian tax credit program is generally not favorable.


Learn to capitalize on online word of mouth, leverage its power, and measure results of your initiatives Savvy, strategic, and right on time, Implementing Word of Mouth Marketing is the essential guide for any company or organization needing to understand the dynamics of online word of mouth. This powerful book will coach you to identify your own set of online influencers, craft the stories that will resonate with your consumers, and spread messages through cybercitizens who are social media experts. Guides you to identify and engage your online influencers to manage your reputation, promote your brands, and sell your products Reveals how word of mouth disperses online Explores strategies for your organization to engage its online advocates, tap into networks, and to mobilize the masses Explains how to design online word of mouth campaigns Includes measurement tools to gauge the impact word of mouth campaigns Filled with case studies, research, and check lists, this invaluable guide will definitively show you how to leverage the power of online advocates to pass along stories, deliver recommendations, and draw people to purchasing points.


With the continuous development of economy, science, technology, and education, people pay more and more attention to the ecological balance. In all aspects of social development, people emphasize ecological development. And college education is an important part of the cultivation of social talents. Physical education teaching has also been concerned. In this paper, the status quo of physical education teaching in colleges and universities was briefly summarized. At the same time, the current situation of physical education teaching in colleges and universities in China was analysed by using SPSS statistical software. Based on the concept of ecological civilization under the college physical education teaching at the present stage of the problem, the corresponding solution was put forward.


A transaction repair system detects erroneous transactions as they update the database, and for each erroneous transaction, it finds the necessary and sufficient changes to the transaction that would repair it. Detection and repair are the two essential components of semantic integrity maintenance since detection alone would leave the user with the difficult responsibility of manually correcting and reentering an erroneous transaction. Both detection and repair rely on incremental integrity maintenance techniques. The detection process takes advantage of the integrity of the database before the transaction, and detects only the new errors introduced by the transaction. The repair process takes advantage of the integrity before the transaction and integrity violation after the transaction but before the repair. Such a two-step incremental analysis produces the minimal repair necessary and sufficient to correct the transaction. All necessary and sufficient repairs are generated, for all first order constraints, and by using only substitution with no resolution search. Multiple constraints are repaired in parallel, with no sequencing of constraints, and no possibility of cycles. Extensions to recursive constraints and nondeterministic transactions are provided.


The DMSP F8 satellite's coverage of Earth's polar regions provides horizontal ion drift velocities along the dawn-dusk meridian at approximately 835 km altitude in each hemisphere during the ∼100 min orbital period. We examine the ionospheric convection signatures observed by this spacecraft in the summer and winter hemispheres during periods when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is directed northward for at least 45 min prior to the satellite entering the polar region and remains northward throughout the polar pass. These convection signatures can be readily categorized by the number of sunward and antisunward flow regions and by their potential distributions. Here we describe the most frequently identifiable and reproducible features of the convection pattern that exist during steady northward IMF conditions. In addition to IMF Bz, the influences on the convection pattern of the IMF Bz/|By| ratio, season, latitude, and solar wind velocity are all considered. The ratio Bz/|By| provides a first order organization of the signatures that occur on the dayside of the dawn-dusk meridian. Sunward flow at highest latitudes on the dayside of the dawn-dusk meridian is the dominant feature seen in the large-scale convection signature during steady northward IMF; however, sunward flow at highest latitudes does not imply the existence of a particular number of convection cells.


The growth of cocoa in Indonesia has significant impact to entrepreneurs who process cocoa beans into refined products. The Company can not avoid the problems such as the changing business environment whether comes out from internal or external environment of the company. To minimize the problem, the manager should be able to develop appropriate marketing strategies. The goal is that the business carried on to survive and thrive. The purpose of this study was to identify the internal and external factors faced by Factory Mini Chokato and determine marketing strategies and also the priority of marketing strategy of refined products of Factory Mini Chokato. This study using the methods of descriptive qualitative to analyze the first goal and quantitative to analze the second goal. Data were collected from people who is considered as an expert in this study.The results of this study showed that the internal factors of the company that has impact in winning its product from the competition in the market is the quality of the cocoa product itself, the brand name, the strategic location for production, the ability to maintain relationship with stakeholders and a variety of products such as product packaging, promotional activities, product pricing, distribution channels and production capacity. The external factors include opportunities (availability of raw materials, technology development, local government support, healthy lifestyle community and industry competition level) and threats (decline in purchasing power, rising prices of basic necessities, rising energy costs and the existence of substitution products). The priority of marketing strategy of Factory Mini Chokato products is the process of production using the latest technology in order to increase production capacity and market demand and this is met with a priority value (0.286) using the expert choice in 2000 . Keywords : cocoa products, internal and external factors, SWOT, marketing strategy


Human adult stem cell expansion Transfused blood saves lives. Despite the widespread use of this critical resource, it is difficult to increase blood cell numbers outside of the body. By screening thousands of small compounds, Fares et al. identify a molecule that expands human stem cell numbers in cord blood. The researchers generate many variations of that molecule and show that one such compound provides even greater human blood cell expansion. If researchers can provide increased numbers of stem cells and progenitor cells, cord blood should find even greater use in the clinic. Science, this issue p. 1509 The self-renewal of human hematopoietic stem cells in vitrois enhanced by the pyrimidoindole derivative UM171. The small number of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in cord blood units limits their widespread use in human transplant protocols. We identified a family of chemically related small molecules that stimulates the expansion ex vivo of human cord blood cells capable of reconstituting human hematopoiesis for at least 6 months in immunocompromised mice. The potent activity of these newly identified compounds, UM171 being the prototype, is independent of suppression of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which targets cells with more-limited regenerative potential. The properties of UM171 make it a potential candidate for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and gene therapy.


Background Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a well-known but rare complication in patients (<1%) with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, current epidemiological data are quite scant. The aim of the present study was to describe potentially unrecognised risk factors. Patients and methods We performed a multicentre, retrospective case–control study in Mexico between 1999 and 2014. We included a total of 168 patients who accounted for 77 episodes of PRES, as follows: SLE/PRES, 43 patients with 48 episodes; SLE without PRES, 96 patients; and PRES without SLE, 29 patients. SLE diagnosis was considered when patients fulfilled ≥4 American College of Rheumatology criteria. PRES was defined by reversible neurological manifestations and MRI changes. Results Patients with SLE/PRES were younger, presented with seizures as the most common manifestation (81%) and 18% had the typical occipital MRI finding. Hypertension (OR=16.3, 95% CI 4.03 to 65.8), renal dysfunction (OR=6.65, 95% CI 1.24 to 35.6), lymphopenia (OR=5.76, 95% CI 1.36 to 24.4), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Activity Index ≥ 6 points (OR=1.11, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.22) and younger age (OR=0.86, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.91, p<0.001) were independent risk factors for development of PRES in SLE. Furthermore, dyslipidemia also characterised the association between PRES and SLE (OR=10.6, 95% CI 1.17 to 96.4). Conclusions This is the largest reported series of patients with SLE and PRES. We were able to corroborate the known risk factors for of PRES, and found two previously undescribed factors (lymphopenia and dyslipidemia), which suggests that endothelial dysfunction is a key element in PRES pathogenesis in lupus patients.


In this article, we use narratives of cultural identity among U.S. parents of children adopted from China to conceptually explore the ideas that underwrite socially intelligible kinship. Although these narratives address the cultural heritage of the child, we find that they also perform a kind of social labor. The ways adoptive parents respond to the "culture question" (their children's birth heritage) also speak to family identity in relation to a foundational imaginary of heteronormative kinship, namely, the equivalence of biological and social family origins. We assert that the "secret" of socially intelligible kinship is revealed in the shifting meanings of blood and social desire in ideas of kinship, which has important implications for new kinship studies as well as for adoption scholarship. [kinship, heteronormativity, adoption, culture, race, desire]


The market definition analysis endorsed by the 2010 Proposed Horizontal Merger Guidelines ("new HMGs") tends toward narrower relevant markets. Because the merging parties cannot point to the consumer gains outside of the narrowly defined product market, the new approach could lead to Section 7 liability for mergers that result in net increases in consumer welfare. This "out of market" efficiency problem obviously does not originate with the new HMGs, nor with the HMGs at all. However, the value of diversion approach to market definition is likely to dramatically increase its practical significance. Failure to incorporate "out of market" efficiencies into merger analysis flies in the face of the modern trend in favor of analyzing actual competitive effects rather than adopting simplifying and potentially misleading proxies. Further, the value of diversion approach adopted by the new HMGs is likely to increase the need for guidance on this score. This comment proposed that the new HMGs amend note 11 to make clear that they would not bring enforcement actions where the Agencies can prove anticompetitive effects in a narrower market, but where the evidence also supports the conclusion that out of market efficiencies are sufficient to eliminate consumer harm in the aggregate. A commitment to forbear from challenging mergers where out of market efficiencies outweigh anticompetitive effects merely updates the new HMGs in a manner consistent with the modern intellectual foundation of merger analysis.


With the social change brought on by the great migration of African Americans into the urban northeast after the Great War came the surge of a biracial sensibility that made America different from other Western nations. How white and black people thought about race and how both groups understood and attempted to define and control the demographic transformation are the subjects of this book. An account of the roiling environment that witnessed the shift from the multiplicity of white races to the arrival of biracialism, this book focuses on four representative spokesmen for the transforming age: Daniel Cohalan, the Irish-American nationalist, Tammany Hall man, and ruthless politician; Madison Grant, the patrician eugenicist and noisy white supremacist; W. E. B. Du Bois, the African-American social scientist and advocate of social justice; and Jean Toomer, the American pluralist and novelist of the interior life. Race, politics, and classification were their intense and troubling preoccupations in a world they did not create, would not accept, and tried to change.


The author argues that the science curriculum needs updating frequently to stress the best objectives, learning opportunities, and evaluation procedures. He further posits that there are selected parts of science instruction that need modification or change. ********** What are selected parts of science instruction that need modification or change? 1. Pupils should have ample opportunities to use a hands on approach in learning. When science experiments and demonstrations are in the offing, pupils with teacher assistance should plan and implement each experiment. Scientific equipment should be available as well as pupils/teachers bringing items from home to experiment and demonstrate vital concepts and generalizations. Thus, in a thematic science unit on "Batteries and Bulbs," each committee may be given a small battery, a bulb, and a piece of copper wire. Within the committee, pupils may manipulate the three above named objects so that the bulb lights up. They need to explain what a complete circuit is. A second battery may be provided to the committee in order to determine how to make the bulb burn brighter. A hands on approach in science is used in learning. 2. Pupils should attach meaning to what is being learned. Memorization of content is not adequate. Thus, depth learning needs to be stressed. Whatever is taught must be taught well. At the same time, pupils must be willing to reach out, cooperate, and contribute. Learning opportunities are successful to the degree that both the teacher and pupils work together for the success of any lesson or unit of study. The teacher, alone, cannot be effective in teaching unless pupils are challenged and attentive. The pupil, too, must desire that teachers be successful, by not disrupting nor hindering quality teaching. Parents, also, should cooperate to see that their offspring become good citizens with ethical behavior. Meaning in learning may then accrue with depth teaching and attentive learner behavior. In the unit, then, on "Batteries and Bulbs," a variety of learning opportunities should be in the offing so that pupils truly understood viable facts, concepts, and generalizations. Perhaps, in sequence, pupils are meaningfully engaged in actual parallel and series wiring in developing a complete circuit. Thus, pupils should understand the "how" and "why" of parallel and series wiring as they are actively involved in learning by doing. 3. Pupils need to perceive purpose in learning. Purpose indicates that pupils accept reasons intrinsically for learning. If pupils are studying the concepts of "magnetism" and "electricity", can they see reasons for these learnings? The science teacher may explain in a few sentences what the purpose is. Or, he/ she might ask questions of the learner so that the latter may clarify reasons for learning about "magnetism" and "electricity." Here the pupils may use bar magnets to establish ideas pertaining to the north and south pole of a magnet. Thus, a bar magnet may be suspended with the use of a tied string dangling in the air. A second bar magnet may be used to notice which side attracts and which repels when the opposite sides are near to the dangling bar magnet. Pupils then realize, through a series of experiments and observations that "like poles repel" whereas "opposite poles attract." Purpose for these learnings may then be emphasized through their many uses in society such as magnetic properties used to lift old cars and car bodies onto trucks for recycling. 4. Pupils need to attend to and be interested in learning. Interest is a powerful factor in learning. The science teacher needs to use learning opportunities which arouse pupil interest. Real problems using science equipment as materials of instruction plus quality methods of instruction should aid pupil interest in learning. Teaching to vital objectives can be interesting and challenging to pupils. The role of the teacher is to attempt to secure learner interest. …


This dissertation examines the thousands of Anglo-Americans who immigrated to Mexican Texas during the years following its independence from Spain. Long assumed to be the forbears of Manifest Destiny, it argues instead that these immigrants demonstrated a sincere desire to become Mexican citizens, that they were attracted to that country as much for its political promise as for its natural resources, and that they in fact shared more with their northern Mexican neighbors than with their compatriots in the northeastern United States. Drawing chiefly from the personal papers, diplomatic correspondence, and newspapers of Anglo settlers and their Mexican allies, this dissertation exposes a political irony at the heart of the United States' imperial rise that it had to do with that country's early political weakness, rather than Mexico's, and that the people most responsible for it were in fact trying to escape US dominion, not perpetuate it. It argues that Mexico offered a viable and attractive alternative to the US. Rather than seeing Mexico's commitment to regional sovereignty and local autonomy as its chief failure, this project argues that it was precisely what attracted these immigrants to Mexico and formed the basis of their loyalty. Yet, if Mexico's weak central government was its strength in the 1820's, it would be the source of conflict and secession by the 1830's and 1840's. But Mexico was not unique in this regard. Indeed, this project recasts the US Civil War as part of a longer and more expansive experiment in extreme federalism by arguing that Texans seceded from Mexico for many of the same reasons that they and the rest of the South would ultimately secede from the United States. Thus, throughout the early part of the nineteenth century, the dominant geopolitical arrangement of the northwestern hemisphere was not primarily national. Rather, the southern United States and northern Mexico formed a semi-autonomous region united by its inhabitants' shared commitment to regional sovereignty, martial citizenship, forced labor, and free trade; and one that presented the possibility of a geopolitical arrangement very different from that which ultimately emerged. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group History First Advisor Stephanie McCurry


The controller is a critical piece of the SDN architecture, where it is considered as the mastermind of SDN networks. Thus, its failure will cause a significant portion of the network to fail. Overload is one of the common causes of failure since the controller is frequently invoked by new flows. Even through SDN controllers are often replicated, the significant recovery time can be an overkill for the availability of the entire network. In order to overcome the problem of the overloaded controller failure in SDN, this paper proposes a novel controller offload solution for failure mitigation based on a prediction module that anticipates the presence of a harmful long-term load. In fact, the long-standing load would eventually overwhelm the controller leading to a possible failure. To predict whether the load in the controller is short-term or long-term load, we used three different classification algorithms: Support Vector Machine, k-Nearest Neighbors, and Naive Bayes. Our evaluation results demonstrate that Support Vector Machine algorithm is applicable for detecting the type of load with an accuracy of 97.93% in a real-time scenario. Besides, our scheme succeeded to offload the controller by switching between the reactive and proactive mode in response to the prediction module output.


Received: September 2012, Accepted: December 2013 Background: There are many controversies reported about the association between blood lead levels and blood pressure among lead exposed workers. Studies have suggested incorporating lifestyle factors along with blood lead levels. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of lead exposure on blood pressure changes among lead exposed workers in contemplation of lifestyle factors. Materials and methods: Study design is descriptive. Three hundred ninety one male lead exposed workers were enrolled. The subjects were categorized into four groups according to their blood lead levels by using quartile distribution. Blood lead levels were measured by using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Blood pressure was measured by using a standard mercury sphygmomanometer. Data were analyzed by using SPSS (Version 7.5). Results: The mean systolic blood pressure in quartile-2 blood lead levels and the prevalence of hypertensive in quartile-4 blood lead levels were significantly increased as compared to quartile-1 blood lead levels. Multiple regression analysis found no significant association between blood pressure and blood lead levels among lead exposed workers. The lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption, smoking, body mass index and chewing of tobacco products were significantly associated with blood pressure changes among lead exposed workers. Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that there was a significant association noticed between blood pressure and lifestyle factors.


Abstract Background and aims Social network use is widespread, and the study of Instagram seems to have captured more attention in recent years. However, scale development and validation in the field has fallen short of providing sound scales of Instagram motives and usage patterns that consider the uniqueness of Instagram-related behavior. This paper describes the development, psychometric and cross-cultural validation of two new measurement instruments: the "Instagram Motives Questionnaire" (IMQ) and the "Instagram Uses and Patterns Questionnaire" (IUPQ). Methods and results A preliminary set of items was developed for each questionnaire based on a previous qualitative interview study on Instagram motives, uses, and consequences. In the first study, the questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 312 participants aged 18–35 years (M = 23.81; SD = 4.49), and an exploratory factor analysis was performed. A parsimonious and interpretable 6-factor solution that displayed adequate factor loadings and adequate Omega coefficients for both instruments were found. In a second study, the two instruments and other measures of known social network usage correlates and mental health consequences were administered online to 1,418 English-speaking participants aged 18–34 years (M = 21.35; SD = 3.89). Both scales showed good psychometric properties and the factor structure identified in study 1 was reproduced through confirmatory factor analysis. Omega reliability coefficients were adequate. Finally, when performing multi-group CFA along with a French (n = 1,826) and a Spanish (n = 3,040) sample, language and gender invariance were supported. Correlations with other relevant measures indicate good convergent validity of both scales. Conclusions The present research provides psychometrically sound instruments for further investigations on Instagram use behaviors.


This book provides a state-of-the art overview of satellite archaeology and it is an invaluable volume for archaeologists, scientists, and managers interested in using satellite Earth Observation (EO) to improve the traditional approach for archaeological investigation, protection and management of Cultural Heritage. The recent increasing development of EO techniques and the tremendous advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have resulted primarily in Cultural Heritage applications. The book focuses on new challenging prospects for the use of EO in archaeology not only for probing the subsurface to unveil sites and artifacts, but also for the management and valorization as well as for the monitoring and preservation of cultural resources. The book provides a first-class understanding of this revolutionary scenario which was unthinkable several years ago. The book offers: (i) an excellent collection of outstanding articles focusing on satellite data processing, analysis and interpretation for archaeological applications, (ii) impressive case studies, (iii) striking examples of the high potential of the integration of multi-temporal, multi-scale, multi-sensors techniques. Each chapter is composed as an authoritative contribution to help the reader grasp the value of its content. The authors are renowned experts from the international scientific community.Audience: This book will be of interest to scientists in remote sensing applied to archeology, geoarcheology, paleo-environment, paleo-climate and cultural heritage.


We present an experiment designed for extracting construction candidates for a Swedish constructicon from text corpora. We have explored the use of hybrid n-grams with the practical goal to discover previously undescribed partially schematic constructions. The experiment was successful, in that quite a few new constructions were discovered. The precision is low, but as a push-button tool for construction discovery, it has proven a valuable tool for the work on a Swedish constructicon.


Current studies show that online hotel bookings are growing constantly as consumer increasingly uses Internet for the arrangement of their travel. One of the important factor in online hotel booking is the rating and review of past customers. However, the impact of online reviews are not fully explored in online hotel booking setting. For that purpose, we choose two most popular tourist destinations in the world: Paris and London. Our analysis shows that both stars ratings and customer reviews positively affect hotel pricing. Besides, high stars hotels benefit more from higher customer satisfaction. The implication of these results is that hotels should strive to please customer as their future revenue depends on the satisfaction of previous users. This study also guides hotel manager how to make price decisions of hotel room.


MECHANISTIC INVESTIGATION OF ASH DEPOSITION IN PULVERIZED-COAL AND BIOMASS COMBUSTION Shrinivas S. Lokare Department of Chemical Engineering Doctor of Philosophy This investigation details the effects of fuel constituents on ash deposition through systematic experimental and theoretical analyses of fundamental particle experiments and a suite of fuels with widely varying inorganic contents and compositions. The experiments were carried out in the Multifuel Flow Reactor (MFR) at Brigham Young University. Fuels included several biomass fuels (straw, sawdust and mixtures of strawsawdust with other additives such as Al(OH)3, CaCO3, etc.) and four commercially-used coals (Illinois#6, Powder River Basin – Caballo and Cordero, Blind Canyon, and Lignite – Beulah Zap). The data from the series of experiments quantitatively illustrate the effects of fuel properties, physical and/or chemical, on ash deposition rate mechanisms. In deposition investigation, the most significant deposition mechanisms in a general ash deposition model – inertial impaction, condensation and eddy impaction – were selected. In this PhD work, these three mechanisms are analyzed using simulation techniques such as Fluent and programming languages such as C++. The experimental data was collected for deposition rate measurements to provide a data set for the model validations except for eddy impaction. In this model analyses, the impaction efficiency model predictions from this work indicated lower impaction efficiencies than the traditional potential flow model presented by others (Israel 1983). The experimental data by others (Lokare 2003) and the data collected in this work support these predictions and present a new impaction efficiency correlation as a function of Stokes number. Similarly, the capture and condensation models perform well and are supported by the respective experimental data. The comprehensive ash deposition model predicts ash deposition rates within 10% of experimental data and is able to distinguish the role of various additives in recipe fuels combustion. As an additional results, NOX behavior of Illinois#6 and PRB (Caballo) in oxyfuel combustion show evidence of inherent NOX reducing feature of oxyfuel combustion.


A technically and economically feasible road user charging scheme should be based on quantities that are readily and accurately measurable, as well as being directly variable with the amount of road use and its impact on the environment and society. A key requirement for a pricing scheme is that the charging regime used should be easy for motorists to understand, but at the same time flexible enough for the operator to implement a wide range of policies to meet different aims. A set of variable road user charging indicators is identified herein by considering both the associated costs of a trip and the operational requirements for a feasible road pricing scheme. The study then focused on identifying a set of currently feasible technologies to measure these variables in real-time with high accuracy. Particular attention was paid to the need accurately to track vehicle movements and link these movements to geographical areas and road types, and the key pollutants and particulate matter, all of which have different potential effects that are in some cases dependent on location and time of emissions. Other issues, such as congestion measurement, are also discussed. (A)


Written by two leading historians of the age, this sumptuous account of life in the Burgundian Low Countries during the period from 1380 to 1530 is adorned by a magnificent range of illustrations, many of which are full-page and the majority of which are in colour. The volume is organised thematically, and the authors emphasise such important developments as the establishment of the civil state and the gradual laicisation of society. The materials of everyday life, political processes and the cultural and artistic efflorescence of the age are treated at length, and each is illumined by close integration with the illustrations. The work as a whole stands as a notable example of the harmonious fusion of text and pictures, and in its lavish format and splendour of production The Burgundian Netherlands stands as a superb example of the book-maker's craft.


The trend towards substitution of conventional transport fuels by biofuels requires additional water. The EU
aims to replace 10 percent of total transport fuels by biofuels by 2020. This study calculates the water footprint
(WF) of different transport modes using bio-ethanol, biodiesel or bio-electricity and of European transport if 10
percent of transport fuels is replaced by bio-ethanol. We compare results for Europe with similar goals for other
regions (Africa, Asia, Latin America, the former USSR, Australia and North America). In order to provide a
context, we compare results with WFs of food and cotton.
In general, it is more efficient to use bio-electricity and bio-ethanol than biodiesel. Transport per train or electric
car using bio-electricity (8-19 and 11-13 litres per passenger km) is more water efficient than transport by car
driven by bio-ethanol (36-212) or by airplane using bio-ethanol (65-136 litres per passenger km). For cars, we
find a range of a factor of ten between the most water-efficient car using bio-ethanol and the least efficient car
using biodiesel. When using bio-energy, freight can be transported in the most water-efficient way by ship or
train; airplanes are the least water efficient.
The European goal to have 10 percent biofuel in transport in 2020 will result in a water footprint of 62 Gm3 per
year. This is equal to about 10% of the current European water footprint of food and cotton consumption.
Differences in per capita energy use for transport among European countries, together with differences in
production systems, result in a broad range of transport-related WFs: from 60 m3 per year per capita in Bulgaria
to 500 m3 per year per capita in Finland. If the same 10% biofuel target would be applied in all other regions of
the world as well, the additional water footprint of China would be equivalent to 5% of the water footprint
related to food and cotton consumption, in the rest of Asia 3%, in Africa 4%, in Latin America 10%, in the
former USSR 22% and both in North America and Australia 52%. The global water consumption related to
biofuel-based transport in this scenario would be 9% of the current global water consumption for food and
cotton. The results show that a trend towards the increased application of biofuels in transport will substantially
enhance the competition for fresh water resources.


The cases of Karla Faye Tucker and Gary Graham represent two examples of the renewed public debate about the death penalty in the State of Texas, and how religion and race affect that debate. This article explores how the Tucker and Graham cases represent opposing possibilities for understanding contemporary narratives of the death penalty. Though the juxtaposition of these two cases is not completely symmetrical, if viewed as a kaleidoscope — a complex set of factors filtered through the shifting identities of the person who is at the center of the immediate case — the hidden operations of race and religion can be examined. Tucker and Graham, both prosecuted in Houston's Harris County and executed in relatively close proximity, demonstrate the function that race, religion and gender play in current death penalty politics. Thus, the death penalty cases of Karla Faye Tucker and Gary Graham inform an understanding of the intersection of race and gender in current death penalty narratives and the connection of those narratives to past tropes employed to justify the use of the death penalty, in spite of its discriminatory impact on blacks. In attempting to untangle the continuing impact of race and gender, the increased reliance on religious narrative can be understood in relation to the pro-death penalty arguments of the past.These simple syllogisms, constructed above in the words of Karla Faye Tucker and George W. Bush, logically demonstrate how individual opinions on the death penalty can work in different cases. However, the peculiarity of the supporters who came forward to ask for mercy in Tucker's case contradicts the idea that, at least for some, the identity of the defendant has no bearing on whether one supports or opposes the death penalty. Commentator Julie H. Patton objected to the emphasis on Karla Faye Tucker's gender instead of what she perceived to be the more important issue: the inherent evil of capital punishment. Patton predicted, "The protester who supported her [Tucker's] clemency because of her religious conversion will most likely not be there when the next inmate is walked to the death chamber." The cases of Tucker and Graham broke rank and captured the attention of both individual citizens as well as political and religious elites. However, the citizens, political and religious elites were not the same in the two cases, race being the clearest distinction.This article compares the Tucker and Graham cases and attempts to position them as opposing ends of a spectrum of possibilities of how religion may extend historical race and gender narratives into the present. By setting these cases at odds and adopting narratives that overlap gender and racial narratives, this article attempts to illuminate ways in which these cases help us understand how death row inmates may be able to rehabilitate themselves and, in a sense, cleanse their personas as if they were innocent. The reliance that contemporary narratives place on religion actually obscures or reiterates the more obvious racial and gendered character of past narratives to justify the death penalty. Religion is the new language of the death penalty, but it is not divorced from the old.


Today, role-based access control (RBAC) has become a well-accepted paradigm for implementing access control because of its convenience and ease of administration. However, in order to realize the full benefits of the RBAC paradigm, one must first define the roles accurately. This task of defining roles and associating permissions with them, also known as role engineering, is typically accomplished either in a top-down or in a bottom-up manner. Under the top-down approach, a careful analysis of the business processes is done to first define job functions and then to specify appropriate roles from them. While this approach can help in defining roles more accurately, it is tedious and time consuming since it requires that the semantics of the business processes be well understood. Moreover, it ignores existing permissions within an organization and does not utilize them. On the other hand, under the bottom-up approach, existing permissions are used to derive roles from them. As a result, it may help automate the process of role definition. In this paper, we present an unsupervised approach, called RoleMiner, for mining roles from existing user-permission assignments. Since a role, when semantics are unavailable, is nothing but a set of permissions, the task of role mining is essentially that of clustering users having the same (or similar) permissions. However, unlike the traditional applications of data mining that ideally require identification of nonoverlapping clusters, roles will have overlapping permissions and thus permission sets that define roles should be allowed to overlap. It is this distinction from traditional clustering that makes the problem of role mining nontrivial. Our experiments with real and simulated data sets indicate that our role mining process is quite accurate and efficient. Since our role mining approach is based on subset enumeration, it is fairly robust to reasonable levels of noise.


Populations of neurons in the neocortex can carry information with both the synchrony and the rate of their spikes. However, it is unknown whether distinct subtypes of neurons in the cortical microcircuit are more sensitive to information carried by synchrony versus rate. Here, we address this question using patterned optical stimulation in slices of barrel cortex from transgenic mouse lines labelling distinct interneuron populations: fast-spiking parvalbumin-positive (PV+) and somatostatin-positive (SST+) interneurons. We use optical stimulation of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) expressing excitatory neurons in layer 2/3 in order to encode a random 1-bit signal in either the synchrony or rate of activity in presynaptic cells. We then examine the mutual information between this 1-bit signal and the voltage and spiking responses in PV+ and SST+ interneurons. Generally, we find that both interneuron types carry more information than GFP negative (GFP-) control cells. More specifically, we find that for a synchrony encoding, PV+ interneurons carry more information in the first 5 milliseconds, while both interneuron subtypes carry more information than negative controls in their later response. We also find that for a rate encoding, SST+ interneurons carry more information than either PV+ or negative controls after several milliseconds. These data demonstrate that inhibitory interneuron subtypes in the neocortex have distinct responses to information carried by synchrony versus rates of spiking.


The National Environmental Law Association (NELA) and the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) have prepared Out of the blue to initiate public discussion about the future of Australia's oceans laws, planning and management. NELA is a multi-disciplinary national organisation with the objectives of furthering the role of environmental law in Australia and serving the needs of practitioners in law, planning, natural resources and environmental management, environmental science and environmental impact assessment to obtain and exchange information on issues relevant to environmental law and policy. One of its themes is to focus on the harmonisation of environmental laws across Australia. ACF is committed to inspiring people to achieve a healthy environment for all Australians. For 40 years ACF has been a strong voice for the environment, promoting solutions through research, consultation, education and partnerships. ACF works with the community, business and government to protect, restore and sustain our environment.


In standard economic theory, labor supply decisions depend on the complete set of prices: the wage and the prices of relevant consumption goods. Nonetheless, most of theoretical and empirical work ignores prices other than wages when studying labor supply. The question we address in this paper is whether the common practice of ignoring local price variation in labor supply studies is as innocuous as has generally been assumed. We describe a simple model to demonstrate that the effects of wage and non-labor income on labor supply will typically differ by location. We show, in particular, the derivative of the labor supply with respect to non-labor income will be independent of price only when labor supply takes a form based on an implausible separability condition. Empirical evidence demonstrates that the effect of price on labor supply is not a simple "up-or down shift" that would be required to meet the separability condition in our key proposition.