Merjanski, Kiril Valtchev. M.A., Department of History, Wright State University, 2006. The Secret Serbian-Bulgarian Treaty of Alliance of 1904 and the Russian Policy in the Balkans before the Bosnian Crisis. The two Serbian-Bulgarian treaties, concluded simultaneously in 1904, and known in the literature under the common name of "The Secret-Serbian-Bulgarian Treaty of Alliance of 1904" are the specific topic of this thesis. These treaties between the Kingdom of Serbia and the Principality of Bulgaria contained political, military and economic provisions aimed not only against the Ottoman Empire (a common rival of both countries), but also against Austria-Hungary. A significant feature of these treaties was their obvious pro-Russian orientation, shaped in provisions like unification of the telegraphic systems of both countries with that of Russia as well as the requirement for Russian arbitration between Bulgaria and Serbia if they were not able to reach agreement about the partition of the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire by themselves. Considering all this, with some of their provisions the Serbian-Bulgarian Treaties of 1904 resembled in many ways the Treaty of 1912 between the above-mentioned Balkan countries, which became the backbone of the creation of the Balkan League. The creation of the latter, on the other hand, was a significant step toward the breakdown of equilibrium in Eastern Europe, eventually leading to the outbreak of the First Balkan War, with its well known larger consequences. Seen in this light, the significance of the Serbian-Bulgarian Treaties of 1904 could be defined also as evidence that the Russian policy of creating alliances between the small Balkan Slav States, aimed not only against the Ottoman Empire, but also against AustriaHungary, and, in this way, "encircling" the latter, could be dated from before the Bosnian Crisis (1908), as opposed to the prevailing attitude in the existing literature, that the Bosnian Crisis itself was the turning point of Russian foreign policy in this direction. Analyzing the military and other clauses of the Serbian-Bulgarian Treaties of 1904, their secret character, and the role of some Bulgarian statesmen, politicians and diplomats (especially of the Bulgarian Prince Ferdinand I), this thesis seeks to reveal how their successful negotiation was ever possible, in spite of the fact that in 1904 Bulgaria was ruled by the People's Liberal Party, a party with a pro-Austrian orientation. This orientation was clearly in opposition to a close rapprochement with the new pro-Russian, internationally isolated Serbian regime, established with a very bloody coup d'etat in 1903. In revealing this, this thesis also seeks to define the ways by which the Bulgarian and Serbian Foreign policies were subjected to those of Russia even at the time, when, because of its disastrous engagement in the Far East, the Russian Empire was seemingly abandoning its active policy in the Balkans. Initiated by the Bulgarian Prince Ferdinand and conducted by means of secret diplomacy by some Bulgarian and Serbian politicians, diplomats and military men with firm PanSlavic affiliations, this pro-Russian Serbian-Bulgarian rapprochement allowed not only the conclusion of the secret treaties of 1904, but eventually proved to be disastrous for the European peace.


Molecular cues guide the general direction of axon travel between brain areas, but correlated activity likely refines the final connections. To test whether neurons that "fire together, wire together," Ruthazer et al. redirected axons growing from the frog eye so that both eyes would innervate the same optic tectum. In this competitive situation, eye-specific regions were set up in the tectum. Thus, higher correlation among same-eye axons led to connections being formed in adjacent territory. Axons in regions dominated by opposite-eye innervation showed a higher rate of elimination of new branches. A computer simulation reproduced the generation of eye-specific territories resulting from these differing addition and elimination rates. E. S. Ruthazer, C. J. Akerman, H. T. Cline, Control of axon branch dynamics by correlated activity in vivo. Science 301, 66-70 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


We decompose permanent earnings risk into contributions from hours and wage shocks. To distinguish between hours shocks, modeled as innovations to the marginal disutility of work, and labor supply reactions to wage shocks we formulate a life-cycle model of consumption and labor supply. Both permanent wage and hours shocks are important to explain earnings risk, but wage shocks have greater relevance. Progressive taxation strongly attenuates cross-sectional earnings risk, its life-cycle insurance impact is much smaller. At the mean, a positive hours shock of one standard deviation raises life-time income by 10%, while a similar wage shock raises it by 12%.


Polyether and polyether/ester based TPU (thermoplastic polyurethanes) were investigated with wide-angle XRD (X-ray diffraction) and SAXS (small angle X-ray scattering). Furthermore, SAXS measurements were performed in the temperature range of 30 °C to 130 °C. Polyether based polymers exhibit only one broad diffraction signal in a region of 2 θ 15° to 25°. In case of polyurethanes with ether/ester modification, the broad diffraction signal arises with small sharp diffraction signals. SAXS measurements of polymers reveal the size and shape of the crystalline zones of the polymer. Between 30 °C and 130 °C the size of the crystalline zone changes significantly. The size decreases in most of investigated TPU. In the case of Desmopan 9365D an increase of the particle size was observed.


The north bank of the Thames near Cannon Street Station was occupied by some of London's most prominent buildings in both the Roman and Medieval periods. Substantial stone walls revealed at the site in 1969 were initially interpreted as part of a Roman townhouse attached to the "Governor's Palace" building complex to the west. In 1994-7 new excavations uncovered a prehistoric marsh, a riverside quay dated to AD 84 and a revetment constructed in c. AD 100-200. Later Roman buildings were recorded on terraces overlooking the Thames. Two of these buildings predated the townhouse, and one of these may have been a goldworker's premises. Important new evidence for the groudd plan and use of the later townhouse has revealed that it developed separately from other large Roman buildings to the west. Part of a Tuscan order column recovered from the site suggests that the building had some architectural pretensions and a high status. In the late 4th century the townhouse was demolished and the settlement abandoned. The first evidence of reoccupation at the site took the form of early 11th century pitting succeeded by sunken-floored or cellared buildings. The walls of the 14th century Pountney's Inn, later the Manor of the Rose, were recorded along Suffolk Lane. This volume presents the results of the archaeological work at this important site in a chronological narrative supported by many detailed illustrations and specialist reports.


The present study, being part of a wide research program carried by the University of Bologna (Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geo-Ambientali and Dipartimento di Archeologia) together with the Soprintendenze of Emilia-Romagna and Veneto, is aimed at examining the manufacturing and circulation of Greek Italic amphorae in the Adriatic area. This represents an essential step for the historical and archaeological reconstructions and in particular for:

- the identification of local manufacturing though the archaeometric comparisons between ceramic samples and raw materials

- the reconstruction of the ancient routes connecting different areas of the Roman world

The examined archaeologic sites are representative of the main manufacturing areas in the Adriatic region both along the Italian and Albanian coasts: Adria, Cattolica, Rimini, Spina , Suasa and Phoinike. Notably, the Adriatic region not only represents the manufacturing area, but also coincides with the source area where the raw materials were collected.
Archaeometric analyses of representative samples from the different areas of interests, were performed adapting the analytical tecniques used in mineralogy, petrography and geochemistry, to the study of ancient archaeological finds. These data were combined with the ones obtained from the analysis of clays, aimed at characterizing the nature of the raw materials.
As a whole, an integration of these data with the available archaeologic observations led to significant advances in the scientific knowledge about of the main types of amphoric manufacturing and distribution in the Adriatic region.
In particular, a local manufacturing is suggested for all the archaeological finds from Cattolica and for the main part of the archaeological finds from Suasa. Moreover, the occurrence of commercial routes between the sites of Rimini and Suasa and between Adria, Spina and Suasa is evidenced. On the contrary, for the amphorae from Phoinike a provenance from the examined sites is very unlikely.


The fundamental goal of competition law is to support productivity and innovativeness; in fact, the short-term effect of enforcement actions is often a reduction in product prices. This book reports the findings of consumer market studies into a range of goods and services in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It finds a pervasive lack of competition in those markets, which not only reduces the standard of living of consumers, including poor and vulnerable groups, but also softens the incentives on firms to improve the efficiency of their operations and the quality of their products


This research explores the business model (BM) evolution process of entrepreneurial companies and investigates the relationship between BM evolution and firm performance. Recently, it has been increasingly recognised that the innovative design (and re-design) of BMs is crucial to the performance of entrepreneurial firms, as BM can be associated with superior value creation and competitive advantage. However, there has been limited theoretical and empirical evidence in relation to the micro-mechanisms behind the BM evolution process and the entrepreneurial outcomes of BM evolution. This research seeks to fill this gap by opening up the 'black box' of the BM evolution process, exploring the micro-patterns that facilitate the continuous shaping, changing, and renewing of BMs and examining how BM evolutions create and capture value in a dynamic manner. Drawing together the BM and strategic entrepreneurship literature, this research seeks to understand: (1) how and why companies introduce BM innovations and imitations; (2) how BM innovations and imitations interplay as patterns in the BM evolution process; and (3) how BM evolution patterns affect firm performances.

This research adopts a longitudinal multiple case study design that focuses on the emerging phenomenon of BM evolution. Twelve entrepreneurial firms in the Chinese Online Group Buying (OGB) industry were selected for their continuous and intensive developments of BMs and their varying success rates in this highly competitive market. Two rounds of data collection were carried out between 2013 and 2014, which generates 31 interviews with founders/co-founders and in total 5,034 pages of data. Following a three-stage research framework, the data analysis begins by mapping the BM evolution process of the twelve companies and classifying the changes in the BMs into innovations and imitations. The second stage focuses down to the BM level, which addresses the BM evolution as a dynamic process by exploring how BM innovations and imitations unfold and interplay over time. The final stage focuses on the firm level, providing theoretical explanations as to the effects of BM evolution patterns on firm performance.

This research provides new insights into the nature of BM evolution by elaborating on the missing link between BM dynamics and firm performance. The findings identify four patterns of BM evolution that have different effects on a firm's short- and long-term performance. This research contributes to the BM literature by presenting what the BM evolution process actually looks like. Moreover, it takes a step towards the process theory of the interplay between BM innovations and imitations, which addresses the role of companies' actions, and more importantly, reactions to the competitors. Insights are also given into how entrepreneurial companies achieve and sustain value creation and capture by successfully combining the BM evolution patterns. Finally, the findings on BM evolution contributes to the strategic entrepreneurship literature by increasing the understanding of how companies compete in a more dynamic and complex environment. It reveals that, the achievement of superior firm performance is more than a simple question of whether to innovate or imitate, but rather an integration of innovation and imitation strategies over time. This study concludes with a discussion of the findings and their implications for theory and practice.


The Director of Financial Enquiries. A Study of the Treasury Career of R. G. Hawtrey, 1919-39.
In 1904 Ralph George Hawtrey, a Cambridge Mathematics graduate, entered the Treasury as Second Class Clerk. Apart from one year of secondment he was to remain employed by the Treasury until 1947. His career progress was modest. He never achieved a position of high administrative responsibility. Only in 1919, at the age of forty, did he achieve the grade of Assistant Secretary. In this position, as Director of Financial Enquiries within the Finance Division of the Treasury, he had no administrative responsibility, but was required to prepare reports on matters of his own choosing or as directed by his Treasury superiors. In his remaining 28 years at the Treasury he made no further career progress. As such, his was an unremarkable career.
His career was only remarkable because, after entering the Treasury, he took up an interest in the subject of Economics – he became a self-taught economist. Having developed his economic understanding through his experiences within the Treasury, it owed little to any previously existing 'school'. Thus, in 1913, in his first book Good and Bad Trade, he was able to produce the first complete monetary explanation of the trade cycle. His standing as an economist rose even as his civil service career halted. In 1919 he produced a book Currency and Credit which became a standard university text on monetary economics for over a decade. He was appointed visiting Professor of Economics at Harvard for 1928-9, was elected to a fellowship of the British Academy in 1935, appointed Professor of International Economics at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1947, knighted (for 'services to Economics') in 1956, and elected to an Honorary Fellowship of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1959. As an economist of standing he used his position in the Treasury to criticise the policy-making authorities.
The Financial Enquiries Branch, for which Hawtrey was responsible, has commonly been described as a 'backwater' – removed from centre of economic decision-making. Likewise, within studies of the Treasury, there has been a tendency to deprecate Hawtrey as a figure of fun; partly on account of personal inefficiencies and eccentricities, and partly on account of a certain 'unworldliness', with his views being tied too closely to his economic theory and divorced from the traditional culture within which the Treasury and the Bank of England had been accustomed to operate.
This thesis will examine the way in which, as an economist, Hawtrey used his position within the Treasury to criticise, and attempt to change, policy. It will concentrate on his differences with the advice of other economists and his differences with the policies of the Treasury and the Bank of England.
The findings of this study are that while much of the criticism of Hawtrey's career may be true, there were times when Hawtrey was both persuasive and influential. Much of his influence stemmed from his relationship with senior members of the Treasury administration, and whilst there were times when senior staff respected his judgement, there were times when his views ran contrary to the ethos of the Treasury and were ignored. However, even when he was ignored, as he often was, Hawtrey's criticisms drew attention to the wider implications of policy in such a way that he can be seen as acting as the Treasury's 'conscience'. As such, his influence was often not directly on policy but, more subtly, upon the way in which the Treasury's perception of its responsibilities changed.


Postmodern entrepreneurial organizations are ever more engaged in strategic business networking. It i s argued in the paper that openness to strategic networking should be considered a core feature of emerging entrepreneurial companies of our days. The theoretical basis and conceptual framework for the evaluation of an organization's openness to strateg ic business networking are presented in the paper. The following key preconditions for strategic networkin g are elaborated and discussed: specialization is a d river for networking; standardized and open processes and systems in the organization facilitate easy coordin ation and tuning with partnering organizations' processes and systems; a developed IT infrastructure is a precondition for seamless communication; cooperative organizational culture is nurtured within organizat ions in which top management values networking.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Growing evidence of the relationship between poor antiplatelet response and occurrence of clinical events elicited the need of monitoring the response which has not been part of our daily practice. We present our initial experience with a new point-of-care antiplatelet-function test (VerifyNow assay) in neurointerventional procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among the 106 consecutive patients from July 2006 to April 2007, ninety-eight met the inclusion criteria. Our preferred antiplatelet regimen was aspirin (325 mg daily) and clopidogrel (300 mg of loading dose followed by 75 mg daily) starting 5–10 days before the procedure. The test results were reported as aspirin-reaction unit (ARU) for aspirin and P2Y12 reaction units (PRU), baseline (BASE), and percentage inhibition for the P2Y12 assay and were summarized as mean ± SD of the values. We analyzed the effects of several factors of poor clopidogrel response (<40% inhibition). The occurrence of thrombotic events was recorded. RESULTS: The mean ARU of aspirin assays was 438.3 ± 47.9 (range, 350–632), and the response was poor in 2 patients (2.1%). For clopidogrel, the mean of the BASE, PRU, and percentage inhibition was 356.8 ± 56.3 (range, 234–495), 198.9 ± 104.4 (range, 8–401), and 45.2 ± 27.1% (range, 0–98), respectively. Forty-two patients (42.9%) showed poor response. Multivariate analysis showed greater body weight (81.9 Kg ± 19.1 kg versus 69.9 ± 15 kg) in the poor-response group. All 3 cases of intraprocedural thrombosis (3.1%) were observed only in the poor-response group. CONCLUSION: We observed a high frequency of poor clopidogrel responses in the neurointerventional setting. Routine monitoring of the drug response would be helpful for the early identification of poor antiplatelet responders so that we may modify the regimen and/or treatment plan.


United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed in November 1967, in the wake of the Six Day War, is widely regarded as among the most important ever. But its meaning is also the most debated. The resolution famously called for "Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict." The meaning of this provision – in particular, the extent of the required withdrawal – has been contested ever since. This article presents new evidence on the resolution's meaning – an issue that has gained new relevance amidst current diplomatic efforts for a Security Council resolution that could effectively supersede 242. The article does not engage all the myriad disputes and questions about the resolution, nor aim at a comprehensive evaluation of it. Rather, it adds two important but previously unappreciated dimensions that bear on how 242 should be read. First, the article examines the meaning of 242's withdrawal provision by comparing it to all other such territorial withdrawal demands issued by the Security Council. It finds that the language of 242 differs notably from the other 18 distinct territorial withdrawal demands, all of which explicitly require a complete withdraw from the territory in question. An examination of these resolutions supports the view that 242's unusual wording was a meaningful and substantive drafting choice. Second, the article examines contemporaneous understandings in the United Nations about the rules concerning territorial. Discussions in the International Law Commission, involving the leading international law jurists of the post-WWII era, demonstrates that it was generally agreed that the U.N. Charter introduced a new prohibition on territorial changes as a result of war, a principle referred to in the preamble of 242. Yet the same discussions also make clear that this rule was understood to have significant limitations and exceptions.


Gencos, in a restructured power system, try to schedule their generators' maintenance in order to maximize their profit. Besides, Unit Maintenance Scheduling (UMS) as a mid-term plan has a significant effect on the Genco's profit in a power market. In a regulated power system, UMS is usually determined by a central system, such as System Operator (SO). On the other hand, in a de-regulated power system, UMS is determined through multiple interactions between the market players, mainly Gencos and SO. Considering these, it would be a desire to solve both short term and mid-term problems, in a single framework. In this case, Gencos can offer a price curve with an outlook to mid-term goals in a game-theoretic approach. The approach would be based on some predictions of parameters such as production cost factors. This article, addresses the uncertainty in the cost factors of a Rival-Genco in a fuzzy game theoretic scheme and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Planners and lawyers engaged in the formulation and implementation of plans affecting the environment should have a working knowledge of the legal principles affecting those plans. They should also be familiar with the principles of environmental law. However, environmental law has not been a traditional part of the curriculum of law schools. Many practicing lawyers have never taken a course in environmental law; nor have many of the judges charged with deciding cases whose outcome may have consequences for the environment. In the interest of counteracting this lack of knowledge, Legal Foundations of Environmental Planning integrates excerpts from more than seventy-five court case rulings to illustrate the system of environmental laws and the problems of enforcement. Dedicated specifically to discussions on legal theories and procedures, air pollution, water pollution, and control of population growth and distribution, this sourcebook also includes an extensive glossary of environmental terms. It is a valuable aid for students, legal specialists, public officials, environmental professionals, and urban planners.


Background: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a disease with metabolic consequences and is associated with decreased levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Aim: To investigate whether continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) increase IGF-1 in patients with OSAS. Methods: Consecutive patients with OSAS were recruited from a sleep clinic and IGF-1 was measured before initiation of CPAP and at follow-up after 4.8±2.4 months. Patients compliant to CPAP treatment (usage >4 hours/night) were compared with those considered to be non-compliant (usage Results: Complete data were obtained from 70 subjects (men 85.7%, age 55.8±11.9 years, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) 42.5±21.1, Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) 12.2±4.5). In those compliant to CPAP (n=41), there was an increase in IGF-1 with 22.1±25.3 ng/ml compared to 2.3±23.4 ng/ml in the non-compliant group (n=29) (P=0.0014). In multivariate analysis adjusting for gender, age, body mass index (BMI), average saturation during the night recording and AHI, there was a correlation between an increase in IGF-1 levels and compliance to CPAP (β-coefficient 27.4; 95% CI: 15.4-39.4), change in BMI (β-coefficient -6.8; 95% CI: -11.1- -2.6) and change in HbA1c (β-coefficient -1.7; 95 CI: -3.3- -0.06). Conclusion: CPAP >4 hours/night increases serum levels of IGF-1 in patients with OSAS.


Reduction of storm-water volumes through infiltration is becoming a commonly applied practice in the effort to mitigate the negative hydrologic impacts commonly associated with land development. The hydrologic impacts generally include increases in both the volume and peak flow rate of runoff along with an associated decrease in groundwater recharge. Infiltration best management practices (BMPs) are the foundation of many low impact development and Green infrastructure practices. As the movement to volume reduction is a relatively recent concept, there remains a lack of detailed long-term monitoring data to support the implementation of storm-water infiltration BMPs. Two storm-water infiltration BMPs on the campus of Villanova University located in Southeastern Pennsylvania have been continuously monitored to determine the long-term and seasonal variation related to the engineered infiltration of storm-water runoff. The analysis of continuous monitoring data indicates that both BMPs show considerable seasonal variation but exhibit no evidence of a systematic decrease in performance to date. The seasonal variation of the BMPs is explained primarily by the temperature dependency of the viscosity of water.


In this article, we present a multivariate Bayesian analysis of the relationships, in preschool children, between environmental pathways of exposure to a nonpersistent pesticide, chlorpyrifos, and its corresponding biomarker in urine, trichloropyridinol. The analysis uses the 3 years of data from the Pesticide Exposures of Preschool Children Over Time study. Hierarchical Bayesian analysis of pathways of exposure has gained popularity in recent years, where missing and censored data are modeled, and measurement and regression errors are accounted for in a single hierarchical statistical model. Here we consider multivariate pathways, where chlorpyrifos and its metabolite trichloropyridinol are modeled jointly in the environmental media. In this article, we analyze each of the three years of the study, focusing on the within‐year multivariate nature of the Pesticide Exposures of Preschool Children Over Time data set. We present the results in a way that allows for an easy comparison of the fitted parameters over time. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Building Better Vaccines In the past few years, several highly potent, broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) specific for the gp120 envelope protein of HIV-1 have been discovered. The goal of this work is to use this information to inform the design of vaccines that are able to induce such antibodies (see the Perspective by Crowe). However, because of extensive somatic hypermutation, the epitope bound by these antibodies often does not bind to the germline sequence. Jardine et al. (p. 711, published online 28 March; see the cover) used computational analysis and in vitro screening to design an immunogen that could bind to VRC01-class bNAbs and to their germline precursors. Georgiev et al. (p. 751) took advantage of the fact that only four sites on the HIV viral envelope protein seem to bind bNAbs, and sera that contain particular bNAbs show characteristic patterns of neutralization. An algorithm was developed that could successfully delineate the neutralization specificity of antibodies present in polyclonal sera from HIV-infected patients. An algorithm predicts the neutralization specificity of sera from HIV-infected individuals. [Also see Perspective by Crowe] Serum characterization and antibody isolation are transforming our understanding of the humoral immune response to viral infection. Here, we show that epitope specificities of HIV-1–neutralizing antibodies in serum can be elucidated from the serum pattern of neutralization against a diverse panel of HIV-1 isolates. We determined "neutralization fingerprints" for 30 neutralizing antibodies on a panel of 34 diverse HIV-1 strains and showed that similarity in neutralization fingerprint correlated with similarity in epitope. We used these fingerprints to delineate specificities of polyclonal sera from 24 HIV-1–infected donors and a chimeric siman-human immunodeficiency virus–infected macaque. Delineated specificities matched published specificities and were further confirmed by antibody isolation for two sera. Patterns of virus-isolate neutralization can thus afford a detailed epitope-specific understanding of neutralizing-antibody responses to viral infection.


Liquid/liquid extraction (LLE) is one of the most industrially relevant separation methods, successfully leveraging the variable solubility of solutes (or their complexes) between two immiscible solvents. Independent of the relative solubilities of those solutes and complexes (which determine their distribution between phases), the dynamics of phase transfer processes are impacted by the molecular interactions and structure of those species at the interface. A simple example includes the formation and extraction of water-extractant adducts observed in the ternary water/organic/tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) system. Despite its implications for LLE, a detailed description of the structural and dynamic mechanisms by which such adducts are formed at the interface is not established. Describing that process requires connecting the evolving interfacial molecular organization in the presence of surfactants to dynamic surface fluctuations and interfacial heterogeneity. Herein, molecular dynamics simulation is combined with state-of-the-art network theory analysis to reveal features of interfacial structures and their relationship to the extraction of water in the water/n-hexane/TBP system. Surfactant adsorption enhances interfacial roughness which in turn causes directly interfacial water to become less connected through hydrogen bonding to subjacent layers, particularly upon formation of the water-bridged TBP dimer adduct. Furthermore, heterogeneity within the interface itself is enhanced by surfactant adsorption and serves as the basis for the formation of protrusions of water into the organic phase at the extremes of surface fluctuations. These features disproportionately incorporate the water-bridged TBP dimer and are the primary means by which water is transferred to the organic phase. This work presents for the first time a holistic understanding of how interfacial heterogeneity and spatial fluctuations become amplified in the presence of surfactants, enabling water extraction into the organic phase. It further affords the opportunity to study how solution conditions can control interfacial behavior to create more efficient solvent extraction systems.


In recent years, China has experienced severe air pollution with adverse health consequences, as exemplified by recent reports of extremely high PM2.5 levels in northern cities such as Beijing. PM2.5 sample measurements have identified coal burning as a significant primary pollutant source in China, especially when coal is used as a major heating fuel in the winter. As urbanization and household income rises and demand for thermal comfort increases, the growth in coal use by the building sector, particularly for winter heating, will make buildings an increasingly significant source of PM2.5 emissions. In addition, building electricity consumption's contribution to indirect PM2.5 emissions generated by coal-fired boilers in the power sector is also often overlooked. This paper quantifies the current and potential contribution of China's building sector to PM2.5 emissions and co-benefits of energy efficiency, fuel switching and pollution control technologies on PM2.5 emissions reduction. A bottom-up accounting model is developed and used to quantify commercial and residential buildings' coal demand for heating and electricity generation. The model then characterizes the current coal-based heating (e.g., district heating, combined heat and power generation, small-scale coal-fired boilers) and power generation technologies to estimate direct PM2.5 emissions. The results underscore the important impact of energy efficiency on not only energy savings and CO2 emissions reduction, but also on improved air quality in terms of lowered PM2.5 emissions.


At the interface between evolutionary biology and developmental biology is the so-called field of evolutionary developmental biology ('evo-devo' in short). This field asks how different adult animals (species) came into being by heritable changes during their embryonic development. One way to study this question is a comparative analysis of genes that are important for the development of different species. Many genes appear to be conserved during evolution, i.e. the same gene can have a comparable role during the development of very different species. This developmental genetic unity underlying very different animals has puzzled evolutionists as well as developmental biologists. It has led to two main questions:
-what aspects of gene function can be considered as conserved, thus evolutionary very ancient, perhaps even ancestral to metazoans (or bilaterians)?
-how can such different animals be generated from such similar sets of genes?
This study is involved with the phylum Mollusca (snails, slugs, octopuses and the like). Very little is known on the genetics of early development of molluscs. Data on the role of genes during the development of molluscan animals, therefore, is likely to provide new insights and will contribute to answering the abovementioned questions.
The study organism of this thesis is the gastropod mollusk Patella vulgata. Orthologs (gene homologs) of seven genes are described: snail, twist, orthodenticle, orthopedia, engrailed, dpp en hedgehog. The question asked is in this thesis is: what insights do we obtain when we broaden our comparative analysis of the role developmental genes play to molluscs?
The research on these seven genes has given a number of new insights. One is a better understanding on what role of these genes has been conserved during evolution. It is very likely that the common evolutionary ancestor to all animals already had these genes with these particular functions.
Despite the fact that many animals have genes in common, often with the same function, not all animals are alike. The research described in this thesis contributed to our understanding of this apparent paradox. A gene can have a certain function, which allows it to contribute to the development of very different structures or organs. For example, the engrailed gene is involved in generating boundaries between groups of cells. During development, cells expressing the engrailed gene form a compartment excluding other, neighbouring cells that form another compartment (and do not express engrailed). Both compartments become different parts of the adult organism. In the fruitfly, for example, engrailed plays a role in boundary formation between segments, the 'building blocks' of the body of the fly. But also in molluscs, such as Patella, engrailed is involved in boundary formation, namely between cells that form the shell and the surrounding cells that do not contribute to shell formation.
The fact that such very different structures such as segments in flies and shells in snails use the same gene for their formation can thus be explained by the fact that engrailed is a 'boundary formation' gene. This is the way evolution creates different animals from the same set of genes: by recombining similar building blocks in new ways, new structures can be formed, a phenomenon called 'tinkering' (or 'bricolage').


In this paper I introduce Te Whaariki, Aotearoa-New Zealand's early childhood education curriculum document (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 70). I consider how Te Whaariki can be used by teachers as an ethical guide to accessible and inclusive curriculum and pedagogy. I describe Te Whaariki and its innovative and emancipatory approaches to curriculum, learning, teaching, inclusion and diversity in Aotearoa – New Zealand. A strong aspect of inclusion and diversity in Te Whaariki and this paper is the bi-lingual and bi-cultural journey of the curriculum's development, philosophy and content. The Principles and Strands of Te Whaariki reflect a commitment to equity, multiplicity, lived experience and relationships within early childhood education settings. The strongly ethics-based approach contained within Te Whaariki makes space for and can guide teachers, families and communities to create thinking, practices and educational environments that are transformative and inclusive of all children.


To achieve walking and push recovery successfully, a biped robot must be able to determine if it can maintain its current contact configuration or transition into another one without falling. In this study, the ability of a humanoid robot to maintain single support (SS) or double support (DS) contact and to achieve a step are represented by balanced and steppable regions, respectively, as proposed partitions of an augmented center-of-mass-state space. These regions are constructed with an optimization method that incorporates full-order system dynamics, system properties such as kinematic and actuation limits, and contact interactions with the environment in the two-dimensional sagittal plane. The SS balanced, DS balanced, and steppable regions are obtained for both experimental and simulated walking trajectories of the robot with and without the swing foot velocity constraint to evaluate the contribution of the swing leg momentum. A comparative analysis against one-step capturability, the ability of a biped to come to a stop after one step, demonstrates that the computed steppable region significantly exceeds the one-step capturability of an equivalent reduced-order model. The use of balanced regions to characterize the full balance capability criteria of the system and benchmark controllers is demonstrated with three push recovery controllers. The implemented hip–knee–ankle controller resulted in improved stabilization with respect to decreased foot tipping and time required to balance, relative to an existing hip–ankle controller and a gyro balance feedback controller.


This image essay brings together notions of dehydration and lostness in outback walking (based on personal experience) with its ecological counterpoint of the rapid change occurring in our world today. Analogical comparisons are drawn between the point where walking loses its rhythm (because of exhaustion) with ecosystems that, too, appear to have lost their way. Questioning whether it is only through rhythmic walking that positive states can occur, it is proposed that walking out-of-step leads to contrapuntal adjustments that can reinvigorate creative practice, utilising the same 'adjustment to failure' strategies critical to the experimental nature of contemporary art practice. The continual fine-tuning required for traversing rough ground also reflects the dynamic nature of ecosystems, which are permanently adjusting to change. Recent ecological theory's focus on complex adaptive systems – and resilience rather than stability – means that our responses to ecosystems and the pressures we are placing upon them, must be dynamic, responsive and contingent. Does the sharpness of being without water focus us on the shifting socio-ecological conditions ahead? Walking and bodily sensitisation to place opens us up to different spatial and temporal scales. In making linkages with disability philosophy and research into community inaction in the face of climate change, it is argued that the inflection or break-in-step of a resilient style of walking can also be employed for creative socio-ecological change.


The representation of objects is the building block of higher-level concepts. Infants develop the notion of objects without supervision. The prediction error of future sensory input is likely the major teaching signal for infants. Inspired by this, we propose a new framework to extract object-centric representation from single 2D images by learning to predict future scenes in the presence of moving objects. We treat objects as latent causes of which the function for an agent is to facilitate efficient prediction of the coherent motion of their parts in visual input. Distinct from previous object-centric models, our model learns to explicitly infer objects' locations in a 3D environment in addition to segmenting objects. Further, the network learns a latent code space where objects with the same geometric shape and texture/color frequently group together. The model requires no supervision or pre-training of any part of the network. We created a new synthetic dataset with more complex textures on objects and background and found several previous models not based on predictive learning overly rely on clustering colors and lose specificity in object segmentation. Our work demonstrates a new approach for learning symbolic representation grounded in sensation and action.


This paper provides the first causal evidence on the impact of college advisor quality on student outcomes. To do so, we exploit a unique setting where students are randomly assigned to faculty advisors during their first year of college. We find that higher advisor value-added (VA) substantially improves freshman year GPA, time to complete freshman year and four-year graduation rates. Additionally, higher advisor VA increases high-ability students' likelihood of enrolling and graduating with a STEM degree. Our results indicate that allocating resources towards improving the quality of academic advising may play a key role in promoting college success.


The accessibility of amino groups in postsynthetically functionalized mesoporous silica MCM-41, MCM-48, and SBA-15 is investigated by reaction with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). The quantitative analysis of the surface-grafted amino groups in relation to the amount of coupled FITC over a wide range of loadings affords information about potential pore blocking. In the pore diameter domain of 3−4 nm, the actual pore size of materials with a one-dimensional channel system (MCM-41) strongly affects the FITC coupling yield and the distribution of the anchored fluorescein moieties. In the case of SBA-15 (7.6 nm pore diameter), the accessibility of the grafted amino groups is similar to what is expected for a material with a completely open surface. However, grafting in the intrawall micropores of SBA-15 leads to a substantial fraction of inaccessible amino groups. As a direct consequence of short channel lengths and large external surface area, excellent accessibility is also observed for nanometer-sized M...


Shuttle lidar measurements of magnesium-ion (Mg+) number density in the ionosphere (80-500 km) have been numerically simulated. A set of recently defined system parameters are used to assess the system performance. These simulations take into account the saturation effect of atomic absorption due to the high intensity of the laser, which is seen to be important in making near-field or daytime measurements. When the saturation is important, a calibration procedure must be used to correct the systematic error introduced by this effect. Both the nadir- and zenith-viewing configurations have been considered because the altitude of the Shuttle was assumed to be 300 km. The background level in these two configurations is discussed, and we show that the background level for zenith-viewing with the assumed lidar system parameters is negligible. The calibration of the lidar system parameters by means of Rayleigh backscattering from atmospheric molecules in the stratosphere is examined. This method is shown to require extra care because of the wavelength used (2796 A), which lies within a strong absorption band of ozone causing large transmission errors. The Shuttle lidar capability for Mg(+) measurement is compared with the requirements for conducting scientific investigations in the thermosphere.


The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines the key political, social and economic rights of EU citizens and residents in EU law. In its present form it was approved in 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. However its legal status remained uncertain until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2009. The Charter obliges the EU to act and legislate consistently with the Charter, and enables the EU's courts to strike down EU legislation which contravenes it. The Charter applies to EU Member States when they are implementing EU law but does not extend the competences of the EU beyond the competences given to it in the treaties. This Commentary on the Charter, the first in English, written by experts from several EU Member States, provides an authoritative but succinct statement of how the Charter impacts upon EU, domestic and international law. Following the conventional article-by-article approach, each commentator offers an expert view of how each article is either already being interpreted in the courts, or is likely to be interpreted. Each commentary is referenced to the case law and is augmented with extensive references to further reading. Six cross-cutting introductory chapters explain the Charter's institutional anchorage, its relationship to the Fundamental Rights Agency, its interaction with other parts of international human rights law, the enforcement mechanisms, extraterritorial scope, and the all-important 'Explanations'.


The 2. 8 MW Mt. Elbert Conduit Hydropower Project, developed by STS Energenics Ltd. Inc. , will begin operation mid-October, 1985. The powerhouse has been constructed and the turbine and generator installed. The construction crew is now completing the final installation of the penstock which will connect the outlet works of the dam to the power plant. The project is being completed on schedule - a feat directly attributable to the early establishment of a good working relationship with the Bureau of Reclamation. This paper discusses some of the working arrangements between STS Energenics and the Bureau which allowed the project to be successfully developed.


UNC-8 and MEC-4 are two members of the degenerin/epithelial Na+ channel (DEG/ENaC) family of voltage-independent Na+ channels that share a high degree of sequence homology and functional similarity. For example, both can be hyperactivated by genetic mutations [UNC-8(d) and MEC-4(d)] that induce neuronal death by necrosis. Both depend in vivo on chaperone protein MEC-6 for function, as demonstrated by the finding that neuronal death induced by hyperactive UNC-8 and MEC-4 channels is prevented by null mutations in mec-6. UNC-8 and MEC-4 differ functionally in three major ways: 1) MEC-4 is calcium permeable, whereas UNC-8 is not; 2) UNC-8, but not MEC-4, is blocked by extracellular calcium and magnesium in the micromolar range; and 3) MEC-6 increases the number of MEC-4 channels at the cell surface in oocytes but does not have this effect on UNC-8. We previously reported that Ca2+permeability of MEC-4 is conferred by the second transmembrane domain. We show here that the extracellular "finger" domain of UNC-8 is sufficient to mediate inhibition by divalent cations and that regulation by MEC-6 also depends on this region. Thus, our work confirms that the finger domain houses residues involved in gating of this channel class and shows for the first time that the finger domain also mediates regulation by chaperone protein MEC-6. Given that the finger domain is the most divergent region across the DEG/ENaC family, we speculate that it influences channel trafficking and function in a unique manner depending on the channel subunit.


One way of approaching disruptive behaviour in schools is to pathologise the miscreants. Working within this paradigm, schools seek to discourage misconduct via concrete mechanisms such as control, discipline and exclusions. While sometimes helpful, these strategies fail to consider other less obvious dynamics and group processes complicit in precipitating misbehaviour. Reconceptualising disruptive behaviour from a group analytic perspective can offer an alternative formulation and suggest alternative strategies for promoting cooperative behaviour. This article, structured around an incident of mayhem in a school, demonstrates how concepts borrowed from group analytic theory can illuminate other hitherto unconscious dynamics contributing to disruptive behaviour. The paper illustrates the utility of group analytic theory in educational settings and contributes to the ongoing debate about the legitimacy of applying psychoanalytic concepts to understand socio-cultural phenomena.


The prevailing binding of SOAP to HTTP specifies that SOAP messages be encoded as an XML 1.0 document which is then sent between client and server. XML processing however can be slow and memory intensive, especially for scientific data, and consequently SOAP has been regarded as an inappropriate protocol for scientific data. Efficiency considerations thus lead to the prevailing practice of separating data from the SOAP control channel. Instead, it is stored in specialized binary formats and transmitted either via attachments or indirectly via a file sharing mechanism, such as GridFTP or HTTP. This separation invariably complicates development due to the multiple libraries and type systems to be handled; furthermore it suffers from performance issues, especially when handling small binary data. As an alternative solution, binary XML provides a highly efficient encoding scheme for binary data in the XML and SOAP messages, and with it we can gain high performance as well as unifying the development environment without unduly impacting the Web service protocol stack. In this paper we present our implementation of a generic SOAP engine that supports both textual XML and binary XML as the encoding scheme of the message. We also present our binary XML data model and encoding scheme. Our experiments show that for scientific applications binary XML together with the generic SOAP implementation not only ease development, but also provide better performance and are more widely applicable than the commonly used separated schemes


The fact that every individual has a different sense of humor and it varies greatly from one person to another means that it is a challenge to learn any individual's humor preferences. Humor is much more than just a source of entertainment; it is an essential tool that aids communication. Understanding humor preferences can lead to improved social interactions and bridge existing social or economic gaps. In this study, we propose a methodology that aims to develop a recommendation system for jokes by analyzing its text. Various researchers have proposed different theories of humor depending on their area of focus. This exploratory study focuses mainly on Attardo and Raskin's (1991) General Theory of Verbal Humor and implements the knowledge resources defined by it to annotate the jokes. These annotations contain the characteristics of the jokes and also play an important role in determining how alike these jokes are. We use Lin's similarity metric (Lin, 1998) to computationally capture this similarity. The jokes are clustered in a hierarchical fashion based on their similarity values used for the recommendation. We also compare our joke recommendations to those obtained by the Eigenstate algorithm (Goldberg, Roeder, Gupta, & Perkins, 2001), an existing joke recommendation system that does not consider the content of the joke in its recommendation.


Background: Given the limited efficacy of current pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder (MDD) and the historical decline in antidepressant development, there is increasing clinical urgency to develop more effective treatments. Objectives: To synthesize findings from clinical psychology and affective neuroscience related to the construct of emotional temperament; to examine the effects of antidepressants on the temperament dimensions of positive (PA) and negative affectivity (NA); and to propose a biobehavioral research paradigm for the treatment of MDD. Methods: We begin with an introduction to PA and NA, which emphasizes their construct development, historical context, and relevance to psychopathology. We then review studies of antidepressant effects on PA and NA, and explore two related hypotheses: (1) Cause‐correction: The antidepressant response may fundamentally occur through changes in emotional temperament, with subsequent spread to syndrome or symptom changes; (2) preferential effects: Antidepressants with different mechanisms of action may have preferential effects on PA or NA. Results: Preliminary findings appear to support the cause‐correction hypothesis; there is insufficient clinical evidence to support the preferential effects hypothesis. Conclusions: PA and NA are biologically based temperament dimensions, which modulate emotional, motivational, and behavioral responses to positive and negative incentives. They can be altered by antidepressants, and may independently contribute to depression improvement. In addition, the distinct biobehavioral features of PA and NA suggest that combined pharmacological and cognitive–behavioral treatments targeting these dimensions may have specific, and perhaps, synergistic antidepressant effects.


We report two new eclogite localities (at Kanayamadani and Shinadani) in the high‐P (HP) metamorphic rocks of the Omi area in the western most region of Niigata Prefecture, Japan, which form part of the Hida Gaien Belt, and determine metamorphic conditions and pressure–temperature (P–T) paths. The metamorphic evolution of the eclogites is characterized by a tight hairpin‐shaped P–T path from prograde epidote–blueschist facies to peak eclogite facies and then retrograde blueschist facies. The prograde metamorphic stage is characterized by various amphibole (winchite, barroisite, glaucophane) inclusions in garnet, whereas the peak eclogite facies assemblage is characterized by omphacite, garnet, phengite and rutile. Peak P–T conditions of the eclogites were estimated to be ~600°C and up to 2.0 GPa by conventional cation‐exchange thermobarometry, Ti‐in‐zircon thermometry and quartz inclusion Raman barometry respectively. However, the Raman spectra of carbonaceous material thermometry of metapelites associated with the eclogites gave lower peak temperatures, possibly due to metamorphism at different conditions before being brought together during exhumation. The blueschist facies overprint following the peak of metamorphism is recognized by the abundance of glaucophane in the matrix. Zircon grains in blueschist facies metasedimentary samples from two localities adjacent to the eclogites have distinct oscillatory‐zoned cores and overgrowth rims. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U–Pb ages of the detrital cores yield a wide range between 3,200 and 400 Ma, with a peak at 600–400 Ma. In the early Palaeozoic, proto‐Japan was located along the continental margin of the South China craton, providing the source of the older population of detrital zircon grains (3,200–600 Ma) deposited in the trench‐fill sediments. In addition, subduction‐related magmatism c. 500–400 Ma is recorded in the crust below proto‐Japan, which might have been the source for the younger detrital zircon grains. The peak metamorphic age was constrained by SHRIMP dating of the overgrowth rims, yielding Tournaisian ages of 347 ± 4 Ma, suggesting subduction in the early Carboniferous. Our results provide clear constraints on the initiation of subduction, accretion and the development of an arc‐trench system along the active continental margin of the South China craton and help to unravel the Palaeozoic tectonic history of proto‐Japan.


This paper considers the regression model with a slowly varying (SV) regressor in the presence of a unit root in serially correlated disturbances. This regressor is known to be asymptotically collinear with the constant term; see Phillips (2007). Under nonstationarity, we find that the estimated coefficients of the constant term and the SV regressor are asymptotically normal, but neither is consistent. Further, we derive the limiting distribution of the unit root test statistic. We may here observe that the finite sample approximation to the limiting one is not monotone and it is poor due to the influence of the collinear regressor. In order to construct a well-behaved test statistic, we recommend dropping the constant term intentionally from the regression and computing the statistics, which are still consistent under the true model having the constant term. The powers and sizes of these statistics are found to be well-behaved through simulation studies. Finally, these results are extended to general Phillips and Perron-type statistics.


The analysis of a two-dimensional scanner lens based on a triple lens system for a laser with a wavelength of 1.06 μm is performed. The first chapter indicates the scope and features of f-theta lenses. In the second chapter the initial conditions for the design of f-theta lens are given. In the third part, the simulation results, showing the parameters and efficiency of the system for 2 types of construction are given. The parameters and efficiency of the system are demonstrated. For each system, the optimal parameters are calculated, and the technical criteria for the possible application are outlined. The geometrical characteristics of the systems are shown, lens materials are described. A variant with a distortion of 0.0035% with a maximum focal spot of 24.9 μm was obtained.


Opinions about Synge's work vary from redundant noise to van-guardist art, or the embodiment of the spirit of the Nation. The literary mask created by Yeats and the disparaging caricature his opponents publicised, have barred access to the unbiased study of his work documents. Synge's plays changed the course of the emerging National Theatre. Yeats's plays were attacked for not serving well enough the nationalist cause, but Synge's were seen by nationalists as working completely on the other side of the fence. This argument and the poetical fallacy of Synge's political inactivity are here reappraised.

For the nationalists both his witting silence and his social and family background caused aggravation which found opportunity to be voiced at each production of his plays. What still disturbs in the plays is the interaction between individuals and social groups. The exchanges between characters, the progress or stasis of individual characters through the play, the continual change of perspective forced on the audience, these are the features that still strike a controversial note today.

Synge is here seen as a "colonizer who refuses" as he frees himself from family strict rule. The first two chapters analyse the historical and personal evolution towards a native Irish Theatre in English. The following chapters study the process by which each play diverts the expectations it arouses in the audience, following the genesis of each play through its source material when possible, to see how some controversial images and dialogues were arrived at, where they acquired their polemic weight.

This part of the study focuses on the writing methods of Synge, and the "reading formation" of the public. The grotesque style of the plays and prose is found to be similar in tone to the Rabelaisian grotesque: both share the hope of regeneration in life's forces and nature, as opposed to a strict Christianity. Synge's use of grotesque shattered aesthetic and philosophical expectations in his intellectual audience, causing the anger among the nationalists and the literary coterie. The particular depiction of women's roles in his plays are compared with Victorian and modern patterns of female behaviour.

In the plays Nature is seen not as the bucolic "locus" for philosophical self-contemplation, but as nurturer and threat for its original dwellers. The knowledge of and closeness to the forces of Nature elicit respect for outsiders as possessing a valuable culture, either in isolation or organised in marginal societies. The outcasts in Irish society are given an articulate voice in Synge's plays: beggars, vagrants, tinkers, the blind and women. In all plays strong female characters assert themselves in unorthodox ways, defying custom and legend. The use of legend in his last play shows Synge as heralding the end of a mythologising era, presenting legendary events issuing not from fate but personal heroic decision, that of a woman who choses her life and death, following her own values.


Only a few studies, conducted in Sweden, assessed factors associated with the presence of atypical moles in the general population. We conducted a population-based, case-control study in New Hampshire, USA, to identify factors associated with atypical moles. In our study, atypical moles affected 14% of the study population. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) was 0.34 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.14-0.80) for those with the highest adulthood recreational sun exposure, relative to the lowest. The OR for any freckles, compared to none, was 2.24 (95% CI = 1.18-4.25). We found a linear relationship between the number of benign moles and the presence of atypical moles (p for trend = 0.0001). The OR was 7.34 (95% CI = 3.03-17.80) for > 15 benign moles, relative to 0-4. Our data indicate that freckles and benign moles, which may reflect melanocytic inducibility, are strongly associated with atypical moles. The inverse association with sun exposure should be considered with caution.


The authors investigate regional variations in culinary culture by constructing a flavor network of food ingredients, based on shared flavor compounds, and comparing this network to recipe data. They show that Western and Eastern cuisines differ in their compound sharing patterns. The findings show, in particular, that only Western cuisines support the hypothesis that foods sharing flavor compounds are more likely to taste well together. Using additional data the authors investigate the validity of this hypothesis further and suggest a new, more specific version of the hypothesis, which holds for a particular subset of compounds.


This article looks at the economic impact of electrification in the United States to gain insights about the possible consequences of today's information technologies. A close study reveals that electrification significantly raised productivity growth by spurring a redesign of the optimal factory but, strikingly, neither the firms producing the new technology, nor those using it, were able to increase their share of profits in GDP. The authors conclude that even in the unlikely event that the internet and IT matches electricity in economic terms, the only unambiguous beneficiaries would probably be consumers who are able to enjoy lower prices of goods and services and newer products.


Evaluation of soiling loss on photovoltaic (PV) modules in a geographical location involves collecting data from a fielded PV system of that location. This is usually a time-consuming and expensive undertaking. Hence, we propose collecting dust samples from various location of interest, preferably from the module surface, and use them as dust samples so that the soiling experiments can be conducted in the laboratory. In this work, a low-cost artificial dust deposition technique is utilized that could be used to deposit dust on a module surface in a controlled manner, which helps in predicting soiling loss associated with various dust properties, including densities, chemical compositions, and particle sizes. The soil samples covering diverse climatic conditions and six different geographic locations covering all of India were collected and investigated. Soiling loss on a silicon solar cell with Mumbai dust (17.1%) is about two times that of Jodhpur dust (9.8%) for the same soil gravimetric density of 3 g/m2. The dust collected from Mumbai showed the highest spectral loss, followed by Pondicherry, Agra, Hanle, Jodhpur, and Gurgaon. The worst affected module technology was amorphous silicon (17.7%), followed by cadmium telluride (15.7%), crystalline silicon (15.4%), and CIGS (14.5%) for the same density (1.8 g/m2) of dust from Mumbai.


Hydrogen-deuterium exchange experiments were performed at temperatures between 973 and 1223 K on a Dora Maira pyrope and on two pyrope samples from mantle xenoliths. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of hydrogen in the natural Dora Maira and xenolith pyropes are different, with several OH bands between 3600 and 3650 cm-1 and between 3510 and 3575 cm -1 , respectively. The self-diffusion of deuterium in Dora Maira pyrope is given by D = D 0 exp [-140 ± 38 kJmol -1 /RT] with log D 0 (m 2 /s) = -5.8 ± 1.9. This activation energy for diffusion is identical to those measured in diopside and olivine, but the pre-exponential term D 0 is one to two orders of magnitude smaller. This suggests that the mechanism of hydrogen self-diffusion in the pyrope structure is similar to that for other upper mantle mineral structures, such as olivine and pyroxene. In contrast to the Dora Maira pyrope, for the two pyrope crystals extracted from xenoliths, the total concentration of hydrous species is not preserved during H-D exchange experiments; dehydration occurs concurrently with deuteration. This renders the analysis of the kinetics of H-D exchange difficult. In the pyropes from mantle xenoliths, the kinetics of dehydration under reducing conditions is close to that for hydrogen dehydrogenation from experiments performed in air by Wang et al. (1996). This suggests that hydrogen exchange in mantle pyropes may be independent of the oxygen fugacity.


Headway is for students who want to use English accurately and fluently, and to communicate with ease in both social and everyday situatiuons. This latest addition to the Headway family offers the beginner and false beginner all the best features of the Headway package plus the newer features of `Everyday English' sections, an integrated vocabulary syllabus, and revision and self-access sections after every four units.


Comparisons of New Zealand dairy sheep farm systems are currently lacking. The aim of this preliminary study was to evaluate the effects of different management systems on the behaviour and milk production of East Friesian cross-bred sheep at different stages of lactation. Two study groups were evaluated. In study group 1, a mob of 479 mixed-age, mid-lactation ewes were housed 24 h/day, and a separate mob of 473 mixed-age, mid-lactation ewes were managed in a hybrid system (housed between morning and afternoon milkings; grazed lucerne overnight). Both received a total mixed ration (TMR) indoors. In study group 2, a mob of 604 mixed-age, late-lactation ewes grazed pasture 24 h/day, and a separate mob of 452 mixed-age late-lactation ewes were in a hybrid system, grazing pasture overnight. For both study groups, individual milk yield, walking distance, lying time, live weight (LW), and body condition score (BCS) were recorded. All sheep gained BCS and LW except fully grazed late-lactation ewes. For study group 1, fully housed ewes in mid-lactation lay down less during the day, but more overnight compared to those in the hybrid system, likely due to the latter grazing overnight. Lying bout times were similar between groups, while milk yield was 29% less in housed ewes compared to the hybrid ewes. For study group 2, grazing ewes in late-lactation lay down more, had longer lying bouts, and walked further daily than those in the hybrid system, but both late-lactation treatment groups had similar milk yields. In summary, the hybrid management system seems to improve milk yield in mid-lactation compared to the fully housed system, whereas there was no difference between the hybrid and fully grazed systems in late-lactation. Lying behaviour and walking distances (group 2 only) differed among different systems, however, it is unclear what this means in terms of animal welfare, and warrants further investigation.


Background: Management of postoperative pain after caesarean section (C/S) requires a balance between pain relief and undesirable side effects of drugs and technique. In order to improve postoperative pain management after caesarean section, we compared intravenous patient controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) with our current hospital practice, which is continuous opioid infusion. Method: We enrolled one hundred and twenty patients in our prospective randomized trial after an uneventful elective caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia. All patients received 0.5 mg/kg bolus of pethidine on first complaint of pain or at 120 minutes after institution of spinal anaesthesia. Depending upon the randomization, Group P received IV-PCA with 0.15 mg/kg bolus pethidine with 10-minute lockout and Group C received continuous pethidine infusion at a rate of 0.15 mg/kg/hr. Statistical analysis: For qualitative variables means and standard deviations were computed and analyzed by T-test, Mann Whitney U test and repeated measures ANOVA. Frequency and percentages were computed for qualitative data and analyzed by Chi-Square and Fischer exact test. A p-value of less than 0.05 was treated as significant. Results: The numeric rating score for pain, need for rescue analgesia and incidence of nausea and vomiting was significantly lower (p-value < 0.001) in IV-PCA group as compared to continuous infusion group at 6, 12 and 24 hours postoperatively, 98% of the patients were satisfied with pain management in Group P as compared to 70% (p < 0.001) in Group C. Conclusion: Our results showed improved pain control, less need for rescue analgesia for breakthrough pain, lower incidence of nausea and vomiting and greater patient satisfaction with IV-PCA. In the absence of preservative free narcotics for intrathecal use, postoperative pain management can be significantly improved by using IV-PCA instead of continuous opioid infusion in patients undergoing caesarean section.


A tri-modal multi-threshold CMOS (MTCMOS) switch design is presented. Similar to the conventional MTCMOS switches, the tri-modal switch comes in two flavors: header and footer. The tri-modal switch provides three different power modes for the underlying circuit: active, drowsy, and sleep. The ability of data retention in the drowsy mode makes the proposed tri-modal switch an excellent candidate for implementing data-retentive power gating designs. We will see that three different low-power design schemes, namely data-retentive power gating, multi-drowsy mode structures, and on-chip dynamic voltage scaling, are implemented using the proposed tri-modal switch. We show that our proposal introduces superior low-power solutions across various circuit operating modes using a single circuitry.


Citizens expect their governments to lead on sustainability. But from largely disappointing international conferences like Rio II to the U.S. s failure to pass meaningful climate legislation, governments progress has been lackluster. That s not to say leadership is absent; it just often comes from the bottom up rather than the top down. Action on climate, species loss, inequity, and other sustainability crises is being driven by local, people s, women s, and grassroots movements around the world, often in opposition to the agendas pursued by governments and big corporations. These diverse efforts are the subject of the latest volume in the Worldwatch Institute s highly regarded "State of the World" series. The 2014 edition, marking the Institute s 40th anniversary, examines both barriers to responsible political and economic governance as well as gridlock-shattering new ideas. The authors analyze a variety of trends and proposals, including regional and local climate initiatives, the rise of benefit corporations and worker-owned firms, the need for energy democracy, the Internet s impact on sustainability, and the importance of eco-literacy. A consistent thread throughout the book is that informed and engaged citizens are key to better governance. The book is a clear-eyed yet ultimately optimistic assessment of citizens ability to govern for sustainability. By highlighting both obstacles and opportunities, "State of the World 2014" shows how to effect change within and beyond the halls of government. This volume will be especially useful for policymakers, environmental nonprofits, students of environmental studies, sustainability, or economics and citizens looking to jumpstart significant change around the world."


Predicting customer purchase behaviour is an interesting and challenging task. In e-commerce context, to tackle the challenge will confront a lot of new problems different from those in traditional business. This study investigates three factors that affect purchasing decision-making of customers in online shopping: the needs of customers, the popularity of products and the preference of the customers. Furthermore, exploiting purchase data and ratings of products in the e-commerce website, we propose methods to quantify the strength of these factors: (1) using associations between products to predict the needs of customers; (2) combining collaborative filtering and a hierarchical Bayesian discrete choice model to learn preference of customers; (3) building a support vector regression based model, called Heat model, to calculate the popularity of products; (4) developing a crowdsourcing approach based experimental platform to generate train set for learning Heat model. Combining these factors, a model, called COREL, is proposed to make purchase behaviour prediction for customers. Submitted a purchased product of a customer, the model can return top n the most possible purchased products of the customer in future. Experiments show that these factors play key roles in predictive model and COREL can greatly outperform the baseline methods.


Abstract Mathematical programming was used to optimise utility efficient deficit irrigation schedules for maize in Vaalharts, based on certainty equivalence assuming an exponential utility function. Total gross margin risk resulting from production risk of alternative deficit irrigation practices was quantified using an irrigation simulation model and stochastic budgeting procedures. Results showed that the portfolio of irrigation schedules for a risk averse farmer may include schedules with high production risk, due to the interaction of resource use between alternatives when water is limited. Owing to the difficulty of implementing the best portfolio of irrigation schedules, the optimised schedules may best be used to benchmark the efficiency of second best alternatives that are easier to implement. Ignoring risk may underestimate the value decision-makers attach to the security of water supply and policy-makers should take cognisance of this result.


The book is focused on regression models, specifically generalized linear models (GLM). It is intended for biology students and scholars and requires only basic statistical knowledge, gained e.g. in an one-semester course of biostatistics. The text includes a minimum of statistical theory and eighteen real examples from biology. Each example consists of a description of a problem, aims, development of statistical models, analysis, diagnosis, and conclusion. Analysis is performed using R. All examples were selected to show a variety of problems and potential pitfalls that can arise during statistical analysis. At the same time, examples show how to think about the statistical models and how to use them. Analyses can be practised by readers using the data that come with the book.


Tutankhamun is the most iconic and recognized figure from ancient Egypt but remains embroidered and hyperbolized. There has been little to no recognition or consensus within scholarly communities of his disability or how his disability may have factored into his personal, political, religious, and social roles within Egyptian society. Instead, he remains the perfect face of a pharaoh. There has been little consideration or research into whether his tomb was adapted to fit his needs as a disabled man. This article explores how Tutankhamun ̓s tomb was perhaps modified to fit his needs as a disabled man, through an examination of the tomb layout, certain artifacts, botanical materials, artwork, and other grave goods. It also posits that disability need not be hyperbolized into an all or nothing proposition, and his injuries and death may have been caused by a confluence of events.


The idea that living things and the atmosphere, oceans, and soils comprise an interactive, self-regulating system-the Gaia concept-was first proposed nearly thirty years ago. Since then researchers have been seeking new connections between life and the global environment. David Schwartzman contributes to that search by examining how the Earth's biosphere regulates itself over geologic time. Emphasizing long-term geologic trends-not the short-term perturbations that have received so much media attention (e.g., the so-called greenhouse effect), the author presents and elucidates his theory of biospheric evolution. Life, Temperature, and the Earth updates and modifies important aspects of the Gaia hypothesis in light of geochemical, geophysical, mathematical, and paleontological data that were either ignored or unavailable at the time the hypothesis was developed. Schwartzman argues that the Earth's climatic temperature has been biologically regulated amidst the backdrop of variable volcanic outgassing and an evolving sun. The key to this regulation-discussed here in depth-has been the progressive increase in life's promotion of weathering on land over geologic time. The book is the first to take note of strong evidence for much higher temperatures prior to about two billion years ago and their role in constraining the evolution of microbes and delaying the emergence of complex multicellular life. Schwartzman sets the stage by introducing his theory of biospheric evolution and outlining the development of the Gaia concept during the 1980s and 1990s. He then presents a systematic exposition of the weathering process, discussing the habitability of the Earth over geologic time and the role of such abiotic factors as tectonics and the carbon geodynamic cycle in climatic evolution. The final third of the book turns to a reinterpretation of the surface temperature history of the Earth, positing a much warmer Precambrian Earth surface than conventionally believed and discussing the implications of this fact to evolutionary biology and bioastronomy (the search for life elsewhere in the universe). Determining the history of climate and investigating the self-organization of the biosphere, Life, Temperature, and the Earth explores the very foundations of environmental science and illuminates the evolution of life itself.


This paper examines the values and value systems of business students from a private mid-western university using the Rokeach Value Survey and the Musser and Orke Typology of Personal Values. The findings of this study are compared with the results of studies in the latter part of the 1990's and early 2000 in order to provide some insights regarding generational differences. There is evidence of changes in several individual variables during the past decade. For example, the value with the greatest change is National Security. Students in 2010 place more importance on this value than did the students in 1998. We also see a change in value systems where students are more concerned with achieving social goals through competence than with achieving social goals for moral reasons. Implications for accounting educators and practitioners are offered.


Abstract Typically, the role of the human resource management (HRM) department does not involve investigation of misconduct beyond operational matters, it is not thought of as important to the risk management process. This article addresses how the HRM department can play a major role in internal investigations by developing policies and procedures, training employees in their use, as well as being called on to be an active participant in investigations. It is argued that efforts such as this, when supported by the "tone at the top," can assist in creating and sustaining an organizational culture that discourages misconduct. The human resource management (HRM) department can play an important role in internal investigations from the initial complaint through to its resolution. Though not usually thought of as a major player in reducing an organization's risk exposure, the HRM department sometimes finds itself front-and-center in addressing employee misconduct. And, how these matters are handled can profoundly affect an organization, its members, and its reputation. Primary functions typically ascribed to an HRM department include recruiting, screening job applicants, managing payroll and benefits, maintaining fair employment practices documentation, and conducting training and development (Dessler, 2009). While typically not considered as being involved in risk management (a function usually relegated to finance and accounting), the HRM department can contribute to reducing an organization's risk exposure due to employee misconduct through developing policies and procedures to address misconduct, publicizing them, and training employees in their implementation. Misconduct in organizational settings creates risk exposure that may create severe, and sometimes, irreparable damage. The ill-fortunes of Enron and WorldCom are well-known examples of the devastating impact from when employees cross the line. However, these are not isolated instances. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (2008a) estimated that nearly 7% of an organization's annual income is lost due to fraud-related activities. And, according to another recent study, employees reportedly observed, on average, nearly three instances of organizational misconduct in the preceding year. The range of misconduct included falsifying records, stealing, lying, and engaging in abusive or intimidating behavior or discrimination (Anreoli & Lefkowitz, 2008). Furthermore, these acts of malfeasance are found across many professions (Coburn, 2006). Upon observing misconduct, an employee (or other organizational stakeholder) might decide to bring it to attention of organizational authorities. After deciding to report an offense, the human resource management (HRM) department may be the recipient of a formal complaint. Depending on the size and resources available to the organization, and the nature of the matter, the complaint might be passed on to an internal investigation group. However, if such resources are limited, nonexistent, or the offense is within its purview, the HRM department will be involved in the complaint's investigation (Cook, 2008). 1 Thus, those in the HRM department must be knowledgeable about aspects of investigation, including documenting complaints, interviewing complainants, witnesses, and suspects, collecting and preserving evidence, and deciding when to involve others in the process. However, the HRM department may not be the first place an employee goes with a complaint. The employee may confide in a coworker or perhaps their supervisor, and the response they receive, may impact the employee's decision regarding how to proceed with the complaint. Particularly with respect to supervisory notification, how the complaint is addressed could have significant legal ramifications. Thus it is important for supervisors, as well as rank-and-file employees, to be knowledgeable about organizational policies for handling misconduct complaints. …


This chapter presents an operational version of regional security complex theory (RSCT). RSCT provides a conceptual frame that captures the emergent new structure of international security (1 + 4 + regions): hence our title Regions and Powers . As we have shown, RSCT has a historical dimension that enables current developments to be linked to both Cold War and pre-Cold War patterns in the international system. It contains a model of regional security that enables one to analyse, and up to a point anticipate and explain, developments within any region. RSCT provides a more nuanced view than strongly simplifying ideas such as unipolarity or centre–periphery. But it remains complementary with them, and provides considerable theoretical leverage of its own. In an anarchically structured international system of sufficient size and geographical complexity, RSCs will be an expected substructure, and one that has important mediating effects on how the global dynamics of great power polarity actually operate across the international system. This makes the theory interoperable with most mainstream realist, and much liberal-based, thinking about the international system. In another sense, the theory has constructivist roots, because the formation and operation of RSCs hinge on patterns of amity and enmity among the units in the system, which makes regional systems dependent on the actions and interpretations of actors, not just a mechanical reflection of the distribution of power. Wendt (1999: 257, 301), for example, makes the connection explicit, pointing out that his social theory can be applied to regional security complexes.


SUMMARY Objectives Lower back pain is one of the most common complaints among the general population and among health professionals. Multiple workplace-related risk factors may contribute to back pain among physicians. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of lower back pain among medical residents of different medical specialties and to evaluate the relevant risk factors. Methods A Dutch Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (DMQ) was completed by 125 medical residents. Part I concerned general demographic information, part II evaluated workplace-specific factors, and part III assessed the individual characteristics of lower back pain. Results The overall prevalence of lower back pain among residents was 56.8%, with 45.1% of men and 76.5% of women reporting lower back pain. A total of 94.4% of affected individuals believed that their lower back pain was related to their current job, and 72.6% claimed that the onset of lower back pain occurred after beginning medical work. Statistical analysis revealed a significant correlation between lower back pain and certain risk factors, such as working in the same position for long periods, repetitive movement (bending, twisting) of the lumbar region, working in uncomfortable postures, stress, walking, and standing for long periods. However, no significant relationship was found between lower back pain and heavy lifting, smoking, or prolonged sitting. The role of exercise as a protective factor in reducing the incidence of lower back pain was supported by the statistical analysis. Conclusions The prevalence of lower back pain among residents is high and is associated with a number of workplace-related risk factors.


While it is well known that a Turing machine equipped with the ability to flip a fair coin cannot compute more that a standard Turing machine, we show that this is not true for a biased coin. Indeed, any oracle set X may be coded as a probability pX such that if a Turing machine is given a coin which lands heads with probability pX it can compute any function recursive in X with arbitrarily high probability. We also show how the assumption of a non- recursive bias can be weakened by using a sequence of increasingly accurate recursive biases or by choosing the bias at random from a distribution with a non-recursive mean. We conclude by briefly mentioning some implications regarding the physical realisability of such methods.


Etched Al of uniform quality is obtained at a const. rate by pptg. Al(OH)3 from the bath with simultaneous regeneration of the NaOH or KOH. The pptn. is promoted by addn. of Na2CO3. Filterability of the ppt. is improved by the addn. of complexing agents, e.g. Na gluconate. Thus, water 12 m3 at 40-60 Deg, Na2CO3 1000, NaOH 280, and Na gluconate [527-07-1] 6 kg were placed into container, dild. to 20 m3, mixed, and heated to .apprx.70 Deg. Hot etching was done at 70-75 Deg, pH 11.7 +- 0.1, and 6.5 +- 0.5 g Al/m2-min for 1-10 min. After treatment of .apprx.5000 m2 of Al, pptn. of Al(OH)3 began. The solid content was allowed to increase to .apprx.350 kg (corresponding to the treatment of another 5000 m2 of Al), and was then kept at 250-500 kg by continuous or batchwise filtration. The filter cake was washed with water, and the filtrate and wash water were recycled. The bath was maintained by periodic addn. of water, Na2CO3 100, NaOH 50, and Na gluconate 2 kg. [on SciFinder (R)]


Representing emotional expressions in text-to-speech synthesis is an interesting subject. The ultimate purpose of our research is to develop an automatic reading system which reads text aloud such as novels with emotion. Our strategy for constructing the system is that we classify the emotion of a text in perspective based on the distribution of emotional words, and classify the emotion of a sentence based on the emotion of nouns, adjectives or verbs composed in the sentence instead of understanding the meaning of the text, and synthesize speech using partially optimum prosodic parameters.


In Africa staple cereal foods are often eaten along with the African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs) rendering meals rich in micronutrients. To increase the mineral micronutrient value, it is imperative to intensify their cultivation given their under-utilized diversity, neglect until needed, slow rate of incorporation into crop value chains for lack clear micronutrient nutrition driven agenda. As a way of focusing on their ionomic nutraceutic attribute potential, the first objective was to investigate accession ionome differentials on the basis a soil mineral criterion.The second objective was to determine a method for variation assessment of ionomic micronutrient dense variants in key Kenyan local vegetables. Four ALVs species constituting 25 accessions were collected in short season rains of 2003 from north and souther stretch of western Kenyaand in early Long rains of 2004 from south eastern Kenya. A stratified sampling design organized had three collection points per farm; on three farms per site; and at three sites per phyto-region. ALV samples together with accompanying soils were Energy Dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysed. The data were used, first, for ionomically differentiating populations by way of singling out respective element influenced accession differentials (SELIACDs). Second, elements were jointly resolved into multi-element influenced accession differentials (MELIACDs). Agro-edaphic effects on population ionome niching were assessed using analysis of variance and graphical aids. Geometric means were generated and awarded nutrametric merit scores to allow for nutrametric grading of accessions. Results suggest a great deal of ionomic phenotypic plasticity among the local vegetable accessions as a function at scale of farm, site and/or region soils. The SELIACD method was useful for piecemeal separation of accession on a single element basis but which method would require the development of a selection index with a certainty of a significant genetic gain at the onset. The joint MELIACD and the nutrametric grading methods are proposed as a promising basis for prebreeding tool prioritization given the XRF-analytic novelty and the emerging interest in ALV nutraceutical cropping.


The effects of wine closures on the sensory properties and aroma profiles of fresh Chardonnay wines were evaluated after four years of bottle storage. Natural cork closure, technical cork closure, Nomacorc light, Nomacorc classic and Nomacorc premium were investigated. Among these wines sealing with different closures, the physicochemical parameters of the wine samples showed no significant differences, except that of the free and total sulphur dioxide. Nomacorc light with the highest OTR (oxygen transition rate) had the least residual free sulphur dioxide. Most of volatiles were generally stable, and seven compounds (acetoin, 1-butanol, 2-phenylethanol, 1-pentanol, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, 2-nonanol and ethyl decanoate) were significantly affected by the wine closures. The sensory analysis revealed that cork closures preserved more fruity/flowery characters of the fresh wines after four years' storage, as well as cork-tainted off-flavour. Two synthetic closures (Nomacorc light, Nomacorc classic) imparted some grilled attributes to the wines. Nomacorc premium highly reserved the fruity/flowery flavour without cork contamination or oxidised toasted characters.


The history of alternative transportation fuels is largely a history of failures. Niche fuels such as liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) have persisted here and there over the years, but never captured significant market penetration for a sustained period. The two exceptions are ethanol in Brazil, made from sugar cane, and ethanol in the US, made from corn. For both these cases, the fuel was heavily subsidized and protected for decades. They are now commercially successful, though at relatively small volumes, and will remain so as long as oil prices remain high. The real lesson is that success came only after decades of durable policy and subsidies, high oil prices and, in the case of Brazil, a committed automotive industry (first building dedicated ethanol vehicles and then after their failure following a decade later with flexible fuel vehicles). Will hydrogen succeed, where so many previous alternatives have failed? Will hydrogen be able to elicit durable policy support, as did ethanol in Brazil and the US? Might hydrogen succeed on a grand scale, where others have not?


Due to the strong dependence of electronic properties on the local bonding environment, a full characterization of the structural dynamics in ultrafast experiments is critical. Here, we report the dynamics and structural refinement at nanosecond time scales of a perovskite thin film by combining optical excitation with time-resolved X-ray diffraction. This is achieved by monitoring the temporal response of both integer and half-integer diffraction peaks of LaVO3 in response to an above-band-gap 800 nm pump pulse. We find that the lattice expands by 0.1% out of plane, and the relaxation is characterized by a biexponential decay with 2 and 12 ns time scales. We analyze the relative intensity change in half-integer peaks and show that the distortions to the substructure are small: the oxygen octahedral rotation angles decrease by ∼0.3° and La displacements decrease by ∼0.2 pm, which directly corresponds to an ∼0.8° increase in the V-O-V bond-angles, an in-plane V-O bond length reduction of ∼0.3 pm, and an unchanged out-of-plane bond length. This demonstration of tracking the atomic positions in a pump-probe experiment provides experimentally accessible values for structural and electronic tunability in this class of materials and will stimulate future experiments.


This paper gives a theoretical basis for a new method for determining the relaxation characteristics of collective electronic excitations in small metallic particles, based on measurement of the fluorescence spectrum of localized plasmons. The method is applied to an island film consisting of sodium particles about 10 nm across. The film was created by thermal sputtering in vacuum onto a fused quartz substrate. The width of the linear absorption spectrum of the film reached 0.5 eV because of scatter of the particles in shape and size. When the film was excited with picosecond pulses of neodymium-laser radiation, it was possible to distinguish the incoherent part of the scattering at frequencies close to the second-harmonic frequency of the exciting radiation. The spectrum of this radiation, which is interpreted as the fluorescence of plasmons excited in resonance particles, has been recorded for the first time. The relaxation time of the plasmons is determined from the width of the fluorescence spectrum. © 2004 Optical Society of America


This newly designed field guide features descriptions of 524 species of butterflies. One hundred color photographs as well as 348 color range maps accompany the species descriptions. The 541 color paintings clearly show even the most minute field marks. Introductory chapters include information on butterfly gardening, habitats, and conservation.


We study three fundamental statistical-learning problems: distribution estimation, property estimation, and property testing. We establish the profile maximum likelihood (PML) estimator as the first unified sample-optimal approach to a wide range of learning tasks. In particular, for every alphabet size $k$ and desired accuracy $\varepsilon$:
$\textbf{Distribution estimation}$ Under $\ell_1$ distance, PML yields optimal $\Theta(k/(\varepsilon^2\log k))$ sample complexity for sorted-distribution estimation, and a PML-based estimator empirically outperforms the Good-Turing estimator on the actual distribution;
$\textbf{Additive property estimation}$ For a broad class of additive properties, the PML plug-in estimator uses just four times the sample size required by the best estimator to achieve roughly twice its error, with exponentially higher confidence;
$\boldsymbol{\alpha}\textbf{-Renyi entropy estimation}$ For an integer $\alpha>1$, the PML plug-in estimator has optimal $k^{1-1/\alpha}$ sample complexity; for non-integer $\alpha>3/4$, the PML plug-in estimator has sample complexity lower than the state of the art;
$\textbf{Identity testing}$ In testing whether an unknown distribution is equal to or at least $\varepsilon$ far from a given distribution in $\ell_1$ distance, a PML-based tester achieves the optimal sample complexity up to logarithmic factors of $k$.
With minor modifications, most of these results also hold for a near-linear-time computable variant of PML.