Over the past decade value at risk (VaR) has become the most widely used technique for the quantification of market-risk exposure. VaR is a measure of the potential loss that may occur from adverse moves in market prices (interest rates, exchange rates, equity prices and so forth). The capacity for a VaR measure to accurately predict future risk exposures depends upon the forecasts of the volatility of market rates and the correlations between the various market rates (that is, the variance-covariance matrix) incorporated into the VaR model. In this paper we first present the results of tests of the stability of the variances, covariances and correlations for exchange rates and Australian interest rates. Secondly, we assess the performance of several time-series models that may be used to forecast the variance-covariance matrix. In particular three models for the variance-covariance matrix are considered: equally weighted historical variances and covariances, exponentially weighted averages of historical variances and generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH). We conclude that simple models perform as well as their more sophisticated GARCH counterparts.


Applications are deployed upon deep, diverse storage stacks that are constructed on-demand. Although many storage stacks share a common API to allow portability, application behavior differs in subtle ways depending upon unspecified properties of the underlying storage stack. Currently, there is no way to test whether an application will behave correctly on a given storage stack: corruption or data loss could occur at any point in the application lifetime.

We argue that we require an expressive language for specifying the complex storage guarantees required by different applications. The same language can be used to write a high-level specification capturing the design of different storage-stack layers. Given the required guarantees, and the storage-stack specifications, we can prove that stacks constructed dynamically (by composing different storage-stack layers) provide the guarantees required by the application.


The prospect of the population increasing by 10% by 2021 in the relatively dry southeast of England and the current drought have galvanised the government into establishing a Water Saving Group (WSG). The WSG is structured to build on and exploit a strong foundation of knowledge and experience of water efficiency developed over the last fifteen years. The paper expands on how the WSG is driving water efficiency and the part each stakeholder is taking in promoting water efficiency. The paper examines the importance of collaborations between the numerous organisations with a stake in the water industry of England and Wales and how different water efficiency challenges have been or might be resolved. To describe how the complex institutional structures in the UK interact to an international audience and highlight progress has lead the authors to consider actions by Leaders, Activists and Society.


The Rx locus in potato controls extreme resistance to most isolates of potato virus X (PVX). The resistance is expressed in whole plants and in protoplasts. Rx-mediated resistance in protoplasts causes reduced accumulation of all PVX RNA species, including the (-) strand RNA after a lag of 8 hr postinoculation. In work reported elsewhere, we have shown that the Rx-breaking property of PVXHB was associated with the coat protein gene of PVXUK3 and PVXCP4. Here, we describe how a frameshift mutation in the coat protein gene had no effect on Rx resistance breaking but compromised the Rx-mediated resistance to PVXCP4. We also describe how in coinoculation experiments, the Rx-mediated resistance could be induced to affect PVXHB or cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). In these experiments, PVXHB or CMV was coinoculated to protoplasts (Rx genotype) together with an isolate of PVX, which is affected by Rx. We interpret this data to indicate that Rx-mediated resistance is induced when the PVX coat protein is produced in the infected cells and that the induced resistance mechanism is effective against viruses unrelated to PVX.


The genome of mammals harbors chemical modifications at some cytosine residues in the form of a methyl group. These modified residues, termed 5'-methylcytosines, have been discovered more than 50 years ago (Hotchkiss 1948) and have since been shown to play important roles in the regulation of gene expression and in the execution of developmental programs. Patterns of cytosine methylation (also referred to as DNA methylation) are carefully set and preserved during cellular expansion and global methylation levels are well regulated throughout development. Changes in methylation patterns and levels have been associated with disease progression and death (Li et al. 1992; Okano et al. 1999; Ehrlich 2002). Specifically, elevated levels of global genomic methylation have been shown to play a role in the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes in many types of cancer (Ehrlich 2002). In contrast, reduced levels of methylation have been observed in a wide variety of tumors and complete demethylation in vivo causes embryonic death (Li et al. 1992; Ehrlich 2002).

In an effort to study the effect of changed methylation levels in vivo and its effect on disease progression, we developed a genetic approach to study the effect of hypomethylation during embryogenesis and adulthood. DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) is the major methyltransferase in mammals and genetic inactivation of the Dnmt1 gene causes demethylation that results in cell death in tissue culture and embryonic lethality of homozygous mutant mice at E8.5 (Li et al. 1992). In a first step, the 5' end of the Dnmt1 gene was characterized to determine the structure of a new oocyte-specific isoform found in oocytes and early embryos. Upon elucidation of the structure of this isoform, assays were developed to test its function in vivo. Loss of this oocyte-specific isoform protein resulted in hypomethylation of an IAP reporter element suggesting a role for this protein in early development. In contrast, the somatic Dnmt1 isoform, which is present in all somatic cells, was important for maintaining this IAP element methylated following implantation of the embryo and throughout adulthood. Reduced levels of Dnmt1 in adults caused global hypomethylation and resulted in the development of thymic lymphomas which displayed a duplication of chromosome 15 (trisomic 15). The c-myc oncogene, which resides on chromosome 15, was overexpressed, and a gene expression array analysis revealed that another oncogene, Notch-1, was also overexpressed in all tumors. Cooperation between those oncogenes has been previously shown to induce thymic lymphomas. Analysis of the Notch-1 locus demonstrated the presence of IAP insertions upstream of the oncogenic cytoplasmic domain capable of activating transcription of truncated oncogenic Notch-1. IAP elements were shown to be activated by hypomethylation albeit not as much as traditional mutagenic retroviruses. These results thus show that hypomethylation may induce tumorigenesis in this model following two mechanisms. First by inducing chromosome instability and second by creating insertional mutagenesis of defective retroviral elements such as IAPs. These results demonstrate for the first time that hypomethylation can directly induce tumorigenesis in mice and induce chromosome instability.


A northerly winter monsoon surge, which occurred on 15 December 2009 over the South China Sea (SCS), is studied by using satellite-based and ground-based remote-sensing data and an atmospheric numerical model. The remote-sensing data are from the advanced synthetic aperture radar (ASAR) onboard the Environmental Satellite (Envisat), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard the Terra satellite, the imager onboard the geostationary satellite MTSAT-1R (Multi-Functional Transport Satellite-1R) and the weather radar of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO). A northerly winter monsoon surge is a cold air outbreak associated with a northerly wind, the passage of a cold front from north to south and a strong drop in air temperature. The analyses of the weather radar and the MTSAR-1R images of 15 December show that the surge of 15 December was associated with a rain band and a cloud front travelling over the SCS in a southeastward direction. Due to the interaction of the cold air (13°C) with the warm water (19°C), they dissolved when they had reached an offshore distance of approximately 160 km. The high-resolution (150 m) ASAR image reveals fine-scale features of the wind field, in particular details of the wind front, such as embedded rain cells and atmospheric gravity waves. Quantitative information on the near-surface wind field is retrieved from the ASAR, and it is shown that the wind field associated with the surge is quite variable and that speeds up to 15 m s–1 are encountered in coastal wind jets. Finally, the remote-sensing data are compared with the simulation results of the pre-operational version of the Atmospheric Integrated Rapid-cycle (AIR) forecast model of the HKO. It is shown that, in general, the AIR model reproduces quite well the observational data.


Many studies into learners' ideas in science have reported that aspects of learners' thinking can be represented in terms of entities described in such terms as alternative conceptions or conceptual frameworks, which are considered to describe relatively stable aspects of conceptual knowledge that are represented in the learner's memory and accessed in certain contexts. Other researchers have suggested that learners' ideas elicited in research are often better understood as labile constructions formed in response to probes and generated from more elementary conceptual resources (e.g. phenomenological primitives or 'p‐prims'). This 'knowledge‐in‐pieces perspective' (largely developed from studies of student thinking about physics topics), and the 'alternative conceptions perspective', suggests different pedagogic approaches. The present paper discusses issues raised by this area of work. Firstly, a model of cognition is considered within which the 'knowledge‐in‐pieces' and 'alternative conceptions' perspectives co‐exist. Secondly, this model is explored in terms of whether such a synthesis could offer fruitful insights by considering some candidate p‐prims from chemistry education. Finally, areas for developing testable predictions are outlined, to show how such a model can be a 'refutable variant' of a progressive research programme in learning science.


Photoelectrochemical cells that efficiently split water into oxygen and hydrogen, "the fuel of the future", need to combine robust water oxidation catalysts at the anode (2H(2)O --> O(2) + 4H(+) + 4e(-)) with hydrogen reduction catalysts at the cathode (2H(+) + 2e(-)--> H(2)). Both sets of catalysts will, ideally, operate at low overpotentials and employ light-driven or light-assisted processes. In this Perspective article, we focus on significant efforts to develop solid state materials and molecular coordination complexes as catalyst for water oxidation. We briefly review the field with emphasis on the various molecular catalysts that have been developed and then examine the activity of molecular catalysts in water oxidation following their attachment to conducting electrodes. For such molecular species to be useful in a solar water-splitting device it is preferable that they are securely and durably affixed to an electrode surface. We also consider recent developments aimed at combining the action of molecular catalysts with light absorption so that light driven water oxidation may be achieved.


This paper presents the results of a packaging process based on the stencil printing of isotropic conductive adhesives (ICAs) that form the interconnections of flip-chip bonded electronic packages. Ultra-fine pitch (sub-100-mum), low temperature (100degC), and low cost flip-chip assembly is demonstrated. The article details recent advances in electroformed stencil manufacturing that use microengineering techniques to enable stencil fabrication at apertures sizes down to 20mum and pitches as small as 30mum. The current state of the art for stencil printing of ICAs and solder paste is limited between 150-mum and 200-mum pitch. The ICAs-based interconnects considered in this article have been stencil printed successfully down to 50-mum pitch with consistent printing demonstrated at 90-mum pitch size. The structural integrity or the stencil after framing and printing is also investigated through experimentation and computational modeling. The assembly of a flip-chip package based on copper column bumped die and ICA deposits stencil printed at sub-100-mum pitch is described. Computational fluid dynamics modeling of the print performance provides an indicator on the optimum print parameters. Finally, an organic light emitting diode display chip is packaged using this assembly process


Abstract Integrated gasification combined cycle power plants are being developed around the world to provide environmentally clean and efficient power generation from coal. As part of the UK's Clean Coal Power Generation Group, ALSTOM (formerly GEC ALSTHOM) has undertaken a detailed feasibility study on the development of a small-scale prototype integrated plant (PIP), based on the air-blown gasification cycle. In pursuit of this goal the ALSTOM Power Technology Centre (formerly the GEC ALSTHOM Mechanical Engineering Centre) has produced a comprehensive dynamic model and control philosophy for the PIP. The gasifier is one component of the model which, being a highly coupled multi-variable system with five inputs (coal, limestone, air, steam and char extraction) and four outputs (pressure, temperature, bed mass and gas quality), has been found to be particularly difficult to control. For this reason the gasifier, together with its associated control specification, operating constraints and various disturbance characteristics, has been selected as the subject for this control challenge. This paper provides a brief background to the problem and describes the control specification and closed-loop tests to be performed.


Enhanced data services through mobile phones are expected to be soon fully transactional and embedded within future mobile consumption practices. While private services will surely continue to take the lead, others such as government and NGOs will become more prominent m-players. It is not yet sure which form of technological standards will take the lead including enhance SMS based operations or Internet based specifically developed mobile phone applications. With the introduction of interactive transactions via mobile phones, currently untapped segment of the populations (without computers) have the potential to be accessed. Our research, as a reflection of the current market situation in an emerging country context, in the case of mobile phones analyzes the current needs or emergence of dependencies regarding the use of m/e-government services from the perspective of municipality officers. We contend that more research is needed to understand current preparatory bottlenecks and front loading activities to be able to encourage future intention to use e-government services through mobile phone technologies. This study highlights and interprets the current emerging practices and praxis for consuming m-government services within government.


It is difficult to determine the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Assessment of the clinicopathological and biological malignancy of HCC may help in determining treatment strategies and predicting outcome. The tumor DNA content, p53 protein expression, proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling index, and argyrophilic proteins of nuclear organizer regions were used as markers of biological malignancy. A correlation between these biological parameters and clinicopathological factors was sought. DNA aneuploidy was observed in 31 of 80 tumors (38.8%). Aneuploidy increased as differentiation decreased. The overall survival rate of patients with aneuploid tumors was significantly poorer than that of patients with diploid tumors. p53 overexpression was observed in 18 of 80 tumors (22.5%). The incidence of p53 positivity increased significantly with increasing tumor size and poorer differentiation. The overall survival rate of p53-positive patients was significantly worse than that of p53-negative patients. The proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling index and the mean number of argyrophilic proteins of nuclear organizer regions were higher in more poorly differentiated lesions. We conclude that DNA ploidy and p53 expression are useful prognostic indicators in HCC. Cell proliferation increases as HCC progresses. With progression, tumors tend to become more poorly differentiated.


Municipalities have historically enjoyed immense stability. This era of tranquility is over, and fiscal deterioration is accelerating. Policymakers and scholars have struggled to formulate debt restructuring options; almost all have embraced federal bankruptcy law. But this resource-draining process is not the fulcrum point for any meaningful solution to municipal demise. Indeed, for the vast majority of distressed municipalities, the lever of municipal recovery will not turn based on the solutions that have to date been offered. This Article radically shifts the municipal recovery debate by arguing that state law is the centralized point at which officials can exert the necessary amount of pressure to gain concessions from key creditor constituencies. To that end, I propose a comprehensive, fiscal monitoring system that identifies and then directs distressed municipalities into a dynamic negotiation model designed to restructure inveterate debt obligations. Animating this proposal is a more nuanced understanding of the Contracts Clause that allows a municipality to explore unilateral contract modification in an effort to facilitate consensual agreements with creditor constituencies.


Equations of light, propagating from quasar to observer on earth, are integrated in the time-dependent gravitational field of the solar system by making use of either retarded or advanced solutions of the Einstein field equations. This technique allows to separate explicitly the effects associated with the propagation of gravity from those associated with light in the integral expression for the relativistic time delay of light. We prove that the relativistic correction to the Shapiro time delay discovered by Kopeikin (ApJ, 556, L1, 2001) changes sign if one retains direction of the light propagation but replaces retarded with advanced solution of the gravitational field equations. Hence, this correction is due to the propagation of gravity and allows to measure its speed. Relativistic VLBI experiment conducted by Fomalont and Kopeikin in September 2002 proves that the propagation of gravitational field is characterized by the retarded potentials.


Two 1.3 m gravity cores of cohesive clayey silt with very high plasticity were raised from the north and south parts of the deep basin in Golfo San Matias, a gulf located about 900 km southwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rivers do not flow into this gulf, which has a maximum water depth of about 194 m. Movement of water between the gulf and the adjacent ocean is restricted by a sill at a depth of 60-66 m. Sediment grain-size averaged 47% clay, 50% silt, and 3% sand; montmorillonite is the predominant clay mineral. Water content ranged from 211% dry weight at the surface to 163% at the bottom of the cores, and averaged 186%. Liquid and plastic limits averaged 130% and 55%, respectively. Bulk density varied from 1.26 to 1.32 Mg/m 3 , and averaged 1.28 Mg/m 3 (1.28 g/cm 3 ). Shear strength ranged from 0.78 to 3.8 kPa, and averaged 2.2 kPa. Sediment sensitivity varied between 3 and 11, and averaged 6. Calcium carbonate content averaged 6%. Consolidation behavior, shown by sedimentation-compression curves, is unusual because the void ratio remained relatively constant at a value of about 5 with respect to increasing effective overburden pressure. From one laboratory consolidation test the compression index was about 2.4. The over consolidation ratio was computed to be 2.3, which is usual for a small burial depth. The distribution of the isobaths indicate probable movement of sediments originating from the Rio Negro or the Rio Colorado from west to east into the basin, which may be filling rapidly.


This is the second article of a series of two, aiming at constructing and studying motivic Galois groups in the context of triangulated motives. These motivic Galois groups were constructed in the first article and their algebras of regular functions were described concretely in terms of differential forms or algebraic cycles. In the present article, we gather important complements to the first one. In the first part of this article, we describe the link between the motivic Galois group and the usual Galois group of a subfield of ℂ. In the second part, we develop the basis of a theory of ramification for the motivic Galois groups by constructing motivic versions of the decomposition and inertia groups associated to a geometric valuation. We also introduce the relative motivic Galois group of an extension K/k which measures the difference between the motivic Galois groups of k and K. The latter is more accessible than its absolute counterpart. In effect, we show that it is a quotient of the pro-algebraic completion of the topological fundamental pro-group of a the pro-variety homk(K, ℂ), at least when the extension K/k is of finite type.


The sensitivity of the present interglacial climate to the ongoing anthropogenic-driven increase of atmospheric greenhouse gas poses a fundamental concern to modern society. The Mediterranean region is responding with a distinct change towards drier and warmer conditions, which affects also the hydrography of the entire basin and is likely to continue in the near future. Notably, changes occurring in the atmosphere/sea surface are rapidly transferred to the deep sea via an effective thermohaline circulation, led by processes acting in the eastern Mediterranean. This thesis rises from the need to advance our understanding of the sensitivity of the eastern Mediterranean region to perturbations in the atmosphere/ocean system during interglacial periods. In addition, it exploits the sensitivity of the basin's hydrography and climate to both high- to mid-latitude and tropical/subtropical systems in order to provide insights on large-scale teleconnections during periods of climate change. Investigations presented here specifically focus on the last two intervals of peak interglacial conditions, at times of substantial hydrological perturbations when extensive hydrographic changes led to the widespread deposition of organic-rich sediments (sapropels). Results for the last interglacial period indicate that ~124 ka BP, a large monsoon-fuelled freshwater injection along the North African margin substantially lowered the sea surface salinity (from 39 to 33 practical salinity units) in the Aegean Sea, a key site of deep-water overturning for the eastern Mediterranean. This change, in turn, triggered a rapid (~40 years) collapse of the Aegean deep-intermediate-water ventilation, promoting euxinic conditions – hostile to aerobic life – which expanded toward the photic layer within ~650 years, and subsequently propagated to the open eastern Mediterranean. Holocene Aegean records also reveal the occurrence of a monsoon-related freshwater disturbance – albeit far less intense – in the eastern Mediterranean during the early to middle Holocene interval of insolation/monsoon maximum (10 to 5.5 ka BP), which led to a less pronounced hydrographic response, with the "sole" stagnation of the deep-waters. Besides these dramatic changes in the basin's hydrography that are mainly tied to monsoon-forced perturbations in the eastern Mediterranean freshwater budget, the regional climate in the past – as well as today – appears intimately linked to variations in the high latitude atmospheric forcing, which dominates the winter regime. Accordingly, eastern Mediterranean records are here exploited as invaluable archives of past variability in the meridional extent of high latitude atmospheric circulation, i.e., the atmospheric polar vortex. Specifically, early Holocene records from the Aegean Sea bear witnesses of a particularly sharp Aegean cooling event between 8.3 and 8.15 ka BP, embedded within an underlying cooling episode of 8.6-8.0 ka BP. In both timing and duration, this sharp event agrees with the so-called "8.2 event" reported from several records from the wider North Atlantic region, which has been related to a brief weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Taken together, these results point to the exceptional sensitivity of the eastern Mediterranean Sea interglacial climate to climate forcing, with rapid responses to climate forcing, and propagation of the signals through the water column down to the deep sea and, in turn, affecting the entire ecosystem.


This paper is directed towards understanding damage initiation and failure progression in advanced nanostructured composite materials using molecular dynamics. The critical value of the J-integral (JI) at crack initiation is related to the fracture toughness of the material, where the subscript I denotes the fracture mode (I=1, 2, 3). Therefore, the J-integral could be used as a suitable metric for estimating the crack driving force as well as the fracture toughness of the material as the crack begins to initiate. However, for the conventional macroscale definition of the J-integral to be valid at the nanoscale in terms of the continuum stress and displacement fields and their spatial derivatives requires the construction of local continuum fields from discrete atomistic data, and using these data in the conventional contour integral expression for atomistic J-integral. One such methodology is proposed by Hardy that allows for the local averaging necessary to obtain the definition of free energy, deformation gradient, and Piola-Kirchoff stress as fields (and divergence of fields) and not just as total system averages. Further, the conventional isothermal definition of J-integral does not take into account the entropic contribution to the free energy, and consequently, may lead to significant over- estimation of the J-integral at the atomistic level, especially at finite temperatures. As a case study, the feasibility of computing the dynamic atomistic J-integral over the molecular dynamics (MD) domain at finite is evaluated for a graphene nano-platelet and the values are compared with results from linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) for isothermal crack initiation at 0 K and at 300 K. Good agreement is observed between the atomistic J and the LEFM results at 0 K, with predictable discrepancies at 300 K due to entropic effects, which have been discussed in detail in the paper. Issues regarding concurrent coupling of MD with continuum domain are also discussed in this paper.


ABSTRACT This article uses 1910 Japan–British Exhibition as a case study for examining the strategies employed by Japanese leaders to win Western acceptance for Japan as a 'great power' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Like other contemporaneous imperial powers, Japanese leaders employed colonial imagery and discourses of otherness at large expositions to raise their status compared to ostensibly inferior colonised peoples. This article argues that contrary to some previous assertions, Japan presented its history and traditional culture at Western expositions not as an intentional concession to Western Orientalism but rather in an attempt to show that an alternative path to modernity was possible. Though largely successful in winning Western recognition as an important empire, Japanese leaders were nonetheless unable to fully escape becoming victim to the very colonial tools they sought to employ.


In Brown and Levinson's (1978) seminal classification of positive politeness strategies, commiserating is listed in the subgroup referred to as human-relations wants. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of a corpus consisting of five Internet discussion boards has shown that it is also one of the most frequent positive politeness strategies used there. All the threads under examination are dedicated to the so-called women's topics, such as dieting, pregnancy, infertility or mothering. The members of these close-knit communities formed upon the boards find it necessary to express sympathy in order to enhance each other's (positive) face and avoid face-threatening acts arising from the sensitive nature of these topics. However, the analysis of the corpus has also revealed that to commiserate merely by saying they are sorry is not enough. The interlocutors find it necessary to add often complex redressive actions to boost the illocutionary force of their statements. Thus the aim of the paper is to explore the formulaic character of commiserations and categorise the numerous redressive actions following them, taking into account their two main functions, i.e. building rapport and facilitating smooth communication within online communities.


Extracted from text ... REGISTRAR PRIZE
25
Molecular biology and anaesthesia
FJ Mattheyse
University of Stellenbosch
Introduction
The field of physiological research is experiencing a shift in
emphasis towards explaining physiological processes in molecular
terms. This has been brought about by the need for such
explanation, but also because it has been made possible by development
in the field of Molecular Biology. This can roughly
be defined as describing cellular events in terms of molecular
events. All kinds of biological molecules are important, but proteins
and nucleic acids receive most of the attention.
Proteins
Proteins perform a large variety of functions, both intracellular ..


The pressing social problems we have are demanding that we build our capacity for meaning making to address them effectively. Meaning making at the edge of chaos is the type of meaning making we engage in when our current worldview is profoundly challenged by new information and experiences and, when the world is complex and chaotic, we are continually challenged and disoriented. This paper introduces the concept of meaning making at the edge of chaos and its theoretical basis in transformative learning theory, logotherapy, constructive developmental theory, complexity theory, chaos theory, and complex adaptive systems. In particular, it focuses on the concepts of disorienting dilemma, critical reflection, and the components of a meaning system derived from transformative learning theory. From logotherapy, it draws on the notions of will-to-meaning, meaning of life, and freedom of will. This paper includes the theory of the socialized, self-authoring, and self-transforming minds from constructive developmental theory. Finally, the concepts of nonlinearity, self-organization, emergence, learning, adaption, the butterfly effect, dissipative structures, and far-from-equilibrium are some key aspects from the world of complexity. These theories are integrated and form the basis for a model of meaning making at the edge of chaos.


The paper is a review of factors determining scientists' publication successes. It shows that taking into consideration individual characteristics like gender, age, experience, skills and motivation is not enough, and a lot is left for the impact of scientists' collaboration and their institutional surrounding. The authors argue that all of these factors should be included to explain research performance as they interact and together create resources available for researchers and motivation they face. Last but not least the role of government is important, as it is responsible for creating incentives and constrains to do researches and publish the outcomes.


The teaching of Israel at American universities has grown dramatically in recent years and has become "normalized" in the curriculum. A census was conducted at 316 schools to assess 2011-2012 course offerings related to Israel in order to analyze growth over time, characteristics of courses, and institutional characteristics that contribute to growth. Results indicate a small increase in Israel-focused courses between 2008-09 and 2011-12, following a two-thirds increase from 2005-06 to 2008-09. Courses were offered under a variety of disciplinary auspices including Jewish studies, political science, history, Hebrew, and other fields. The number of courses offered remained strong particularly at more prestigious schools with large Jewish populations. External support from programs that place or train qualified faculty yield more courses about Israel at their respective institutions, but the effect cannot persist without the continued presence of those faculty. A key focus of further research is to understand the impact of Israel courses on students and discourse about Israel.


© 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved. This chapter reviews the application of genomic approaches to understanding genotype-by-environment interactions (GEIs) in sexually selected traits. It focuses on gene expression because recent transcriptomic methods offer the best opportunities for new discoveries in this field. The chapter addresses methodological concerns, outline best practices for experimental design, and review predictions for transcriptome-by-environment interactions (TEIs) in sexually selected traits. It also focuses the very important, but still hazy relationship between the transcriptome and the phenotype, and what is expected about the relationship between TEIs and sexually selected traits. Behavioral transcriptomics is a particularly exciting area. In contrast to morphological phenotypes, where the relevant gene expression may occur at earlier developmental stages before the mature phenotype is expressed, the gene expression that underlies sex-specific mating behaviors may be confined to the adult.


This conceptual paper focuses on revealing challenges and offering concepts associated with the incorporation of the quality of experience (QoE) paradigm into the design of mobile video systems. The corresponding design framework combines application, middleware and networking layer in a unique cross-layer approach, in which all layers shall jointly analyse the quality of the video and its delivery in face of volatile conditions. Particular ingredients of the framework are efficient video processing, advanced realtime scheduling, and reduced-reference metrics on application and network layer.


The Economic Complexity (EC) approach (Hidalgo and Hausmann, 2009) offers a pathbreaking perspective into the study of economic development, by introducing new tools for economic analysis, such as the product space and sophistication indexes. A different strand of international economics literature has studied Global Value Chains (GVCs), highlighting their impact on countries the economic performance of countries. This paper jointly considers these two strands of literature by: i) providing a descriptive analysis on a set of selected chains through updated measures of the product space and of derived indexes; ii) proposing a new EC coherent GVC participation index; iii) applying the former contributions to the analysis of North African countries' GVC performance. From the latter analysis, strong differences between Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco emerge, as far as both current participation and future perspectives are concerned. Overall, the paper, by merging the two strands of literature, for the first time to our knowledge, highlights interesting opportunities for further developments in this direction. JEL Classification: F14, F43, C80, O10, O57, O55


Replacing photographic recording by electronic processing has some obvious advantages. An algorithm used for electronic speckle pattern photography is presented, and the reliability and accuracy is analyzed by using computer-generated speckle patterns. The algorithm is based on a two-dimensional discrete cross correlation between subimages from different images. Subpixel accuracy is obtained by a Fourier series expansion of the discrete correlation surface. The accuracy of the algorithm was found to vary in proportion to sigma/n(1 - delta)(2), where sigma is the speckle size, n is the subimage size, and delta is the amount of decorrelation, with negligible systematic errors. For typical values the uncertainty in the displacement is approximately 0.05 pixels. The uncertainty is found to increase with increased displacement gradients.


Video streaming over the Internet is rapidly rising in popularity, but the availability and quality of video content is currently limited by the high bandwidth costs and infrastructure needs of server-based solutions. Recently, however, cooperative end-system multicast (CEM) has emerged as a promising paradigm for content distribution in the Internet, because the bandwidth overhead of disseminating content is shared among the participants of the CEM overlay network. In this thesis, we identify the dimensions in the design space of CEMs, explore the design space, and seek to understand the inherent tradeoffs of different design choices.
In the first part of the thesis, we study the control mechanisms for CEM overlay maintenance. We demonstrate that the control task of neighbor acquisition in CEMs can be factored out into a separate control overlay that provides a single primitive: a configurable anycast for peer selection. The separation of control from data overlay avoids the efficiency tradeoffs that afflict some of the current systems. The anycast primitive can be used to build and maintain different data overlay organizations like single-tree, multi-tree, mesh-based, and hybrids, by expressing appropriate policies. We built SAAR, a reusable, shared control overlay for CEMs, that efficiently implements this anycast primitive, and thereby, efficiently serves the control needs for CEMs.
In the second part of the thesis, we focus on techniques for data dissemination. We built a common framework in which different CEM data delivery techniques can be faithfully compared. A systematic empirical comparison of CEM design choices demonstrates that there is no single approach that is best in all scenarios. In fact, our results suggest that every CEM protocol is inherently limited in certain aspects of its performance. We distill our observations into a novel model that explains the inherent tradeoffs of CEM design choices and provides bounds on the practical performance limits of any future CEM protocol. In particular, the model asserts that no CEM design can simultaneously achieve all three of low overhead, low lag, and high streaming quality.


Objective: This study aims to analyze the embolic activity in patients with calcified aortic stenosis who underwent aortic valve replacement using intra-aortic filtration with an EMBOL-X® System device (Edwards Lifesciences Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA). Methods: From January 2007 to July 2007, 13 consecutive patients with calcified aortic stenosis, who underwent isolated aortic valve replacement using intra-aortic filtration by an EMBOL-X® System for 5 minutes after aortic clamp release, were evaluated. Mean patient age was 63.7 years (range 34 to 79 years) and 61.5% were female. The mean bypass time was 60.2 ± 7.5 minutes (range 45 to 72 minutes) and the mean cross-clamp time was 50 ± 7.5 minutes (range 35 to 63 minutes). Following removal, each filter was fixed in formalin and analyzed macroscopically with the captured fragments being counted. Histological examinations of the captured material were performed. Results: There were no strokes or gross neurological events. There were no cases of postoperative renal failure." No deaths were reported during hospitalization. Particulate emboli were found in five (38.5%) of the filters. On histological analysis of the particulate emboli captured, two (40%) contained fibrin, two (40%) presented conjunctive tissue, one (20%) contained red blood cells and in two it was not possible to determine the nature of the particulates captured. Conclusion: The EMBOL-X® System device was effective in particulate emboli capture in aortic valve replacement surgery of patients with calcified aortic stenosis. Descriptors: Aortic valve stenosis/surgery. Embolism/ prevention & control. Stroke/prevention & control. Filtration/instrumentation. Heart valve prosthesis implantation.


Most countries, including the United States, have an array of greenhouse gas mitigation policies, which provide subsidies or restrictions typically aimed at specific technologies or sectors. Such climate policies range from automobile fuel economy standards, to gasoline taxes, to mandating that a certain amount of electricity in a state comes from renewables, to subsidizing solar and wind electrical generation, to mandates requiring the blending of biofuels into the surface transportation fuel supply, to supply-side restrictions on fossil fuel extraction. This paper reviews the costs of various technologies and actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our aim is twofold. First, we seek to provide an up-to-date summary of costs of actions that can be taken now using currently available technology. These costs focus on expenditures and emissions reductions over the life of a project compared to some business-as-usual benchmark—for example, replacing coal-fired electricity generation with wind, or weatherizing a home. We refer to these costs as static because they are costs over the life of a specific project undertaken now, and they ignore spillovers. Our second aim is to distinguish between dynamic and static costs and to argue that some actions taken today with seemingly high static costs can have low dynamic costs, and vice versa. We make this argument at a general level and through two case studies, of solar panels and of electric vehicles, technologies whose costs have fallen sharply. Under the right circumstances, dynamic effects will offer a justification for policies that have high costs according to a myopic calculation.


The volume of illegal material on file-sharing networks poses a challenge for investigators attempting to police such networks. We propose a novel approach that automates the resource intensive task of identifying previously unknown files of interest amongst hundreds of thousands of files shared on such networks. We also describe how this approach could be used to identify clusters of peers that might be closely related to each other, either as part of a syndicate, or as multiple personae of the same individual. Our approach is based on the collaborative filtering techniques typically used in recommender systems. In this study we find that we can successfully make use of collaborative filtering techniques to find new media belonging to specific categories of interest to an investigation of a peer-to-peer network, without having to examine filenames or file contents. We also find evidence that distance metrics from collaborative filtering could be useful in the clustering and identification of peers on file-sharing networks. Additionally, we describe an unsuccessful attempt at using collaborative filtering to predict the future file-sharing behaviour of peers.


This title presents a large variety of models and algorithms dedicated to the resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP), which aims at scheduling at minimal duration a set of activities subject to precedence constraints and limited resource availabilities. In the first part, the standard variant of RCPSP is presented and analyzed as a combinatorial optimization problem. Constraint programming and integer linear programming formulations are given. Relaxations based on these formulations and also on related scheduling problems are presented. Exact methods and heuristics are surveyed. Computational experiments, aiming at providing an empirical insight on the difficulty of the problem, are provided. The second part of the book focuses on several other variants of the RCPSP and on their solution methods. Each variant takes account of real-life characteristics which are not considered in the standard version, such as possible interruptions of activities, production and consumption of resources, cost-based approaches and uncertainty considerations. The last part presents industrial case studies where the RCPSP plays a central part. Applications are presented in various domains such as assembly shop and rolling ingots production scheduling, project management in information technology companies and instruction scheduling for VLIW processor architectures.


A new Tuner type for "Harmonic Tuning" is presented. It generates high VSWR at 2fo and 3fo as required for harmonic load pull. The new tuners can be precalibrated and appropriate interpolation routines ensure high-resolution coverage of 360 ° of harmonic reflection phase. The harmonic tuners use a proprietary resonant cavity as a variable probe, which covers instantaneous bandwidth of = 10% in the frequency range from 400 MHz to over 60 GHz. The new tuners can be built as "stand-alone two-harmonic frequency " units or they can be "combined with fundamental tuners". A new concept for tuner calibration allows us to fully characterize the harmonic and the "combo " tuners in about 4 to 8 minutes per frequency point (including fo, 2fo, 3fo). The new tuners permit to search and optimize the harmonic load and source impedance independently on fundamental tuning and provide test data for substantial design improvements in terms of Gain, PAE and Intermod.


Technologies capable of collecting and analyzing increasingly finer resolution observations of the environment are becoming common. The resulting new, often visual and digital, forms of representation blur the abstraction and the abstracted. I examine the role of visualization in science practice using a case study of microclimate effects on tree seedlings in a forest with 3D laser scanning and virtual reality technologies. I describe advantages such as continuity across multiple spatial scales, lively interactions, and new perspectives. In addition, I explore potential risks including a false sense of omnipotent control, incomplete representations, singular inscription, and limits to participation. I aim to develop a framework for ecologists to harness the opportunities of new visual technologies in a responsible practice that minimizes their risks.


We shed new light on the anchoring of long-term euro area inflation expectations since the crisis by using micro evidence from a new survey at high (weekly) frequency. We find that long-term inflation expectations remained well anchored to the ECB's inflation aim, which has acted as a focal point. By contrast, we find no evidence that professional forecasts (reported by Consensus Economics) acted as focal points. But there are subtle signs of long-term inflation expectations not being perfectly well-anchored. Using measures based on the distribution of inflation expectations from a quarterly survey, namely uncertainty based on the full distribution, the probability of expected long-term inflation lying between 1.5% and 2.5%, and the effect of short-term on long-term deflation risk, we find that long-term euro area inflation expectations have remained well-anchored, and have become better-anchored between 2011 and 2018.


Petrographic, geochemical and geochronological work on a metavolcanic suite interbedded in a metapelitic sequence of the Palaeozoic basement in the Peloritan Mountains (Sicily) is used to contribute to a better understanding of the pre-Variscan geodynamic evolution of the former Alboran microplate. Major and trace element data show that the volcanic suite consists of two main groups: an Intermediate Unit of andesites and dacites with volcanic arc affinity and a Felsic Porphyroid Unit of rhyolites with peraluminous composition. Isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry U–Pb analyses for single- and multigrain zircon fractions from four samples of the felsic porphyroids yield results that are tightly clustered on or near concordia giving Caradoc ages in the range of 456–452 Ma. The consistent morphological characteristics and oscillatory zoning of the zircons indicate single-stage magmatic crystallization. Xenocrystic zircon grains with ages of 1150 and 2015 Ma indicate that these rocks were developed upon a cratonic basement with Grenvillian and Transamazonian components, hence supporting a peri-Gondwanan origin. From the combined evidence we conclude that this portion of the Alboran microplate formed as a Mid-Ordovician volcanic arc in a sector of the peri-Gondwanan terranes that was affected by a tectonothermal Caradoc event.


The article presents the first comparative overview and analysis of clefting and related focusing strategies involving clauses with nominalizers in three (South) East Asian languages: Japanese, Burmese, and Mandarin Chinese. The three languages exhibit parametric variation as to whether focusing requires the overt partitioning into a focused cleft constituent and a background clause with a nominalizer (Mandarin) or not (Japanese, Burmese). A major finding is that syntactic partitioning is brought about in two different ways in the languages under discussion: Base-generated clefts (Japanese, Burmese) vs. movement clefts (Japanese, Mandarin). Semantically, cleft structures come with an exhaustive interpretation in all three languages. We hypothesize that, crosslinguistically, syntactic partitioning is a necessary, though not a sufficient condition for exhaustiveness effects with focus. Keywords: Cleft; exhaustiveness; partitioning; shi…de-cleft; nominalizer; East Asian; South East Asian; Mandarin Chinese; Burmese; Japanese


The use of face recognition technology in mobile apps and wearable computers challenges individuals' ability to remain anonymous in public places. These apps can also link individuals' offline activities to their online profiles, generating a digital paper trail of their every move. The ability to go off the radar allows for quiet reflection and daring experimentation — processes that are essential to a productive and democratic society. Given what we stand to lose, we ought to be cautious with groundbreaking technological progress. It does not mean that we have to move any slower, but we should think about potential consequences of the steps that we take.This Article maps out the recently launched face recognition apps and some emerging regulatory responses to offer initial policy considerations. With respect to current apps, app developers should consider how the relevant individuals could be put on notice given that the apps will not only be using information about their users, but also about the persons being identified. They should also consider how the apps could minimize their data collection and retention and keep the data secure. Today's face recognition apps mostly use photos from social networks. They therefore call for regulatory responses that consider the context in which users originally shared the photos. Most importantly, the Article highlights that the Federal Trade Commission's first policy response to consumer applications that use face recognition did not follow the well-established principle of technology neutrality. The Article argues that any regulation with respect to identification in real time should be technology neutral and narrowly address harmful uses of computer vision without hampering the development of useful applications.


Ahmedabad city in the State of Gujarat was one of the cities most affected by an epidemic of chikungunya. This paper attempts to document the epidemiological profile of chikungunya cases in the city of Ahmedabad in 2006. It also tries to study the economic burden of the disease on patients and understand their treatment-seeking behaviour. There was an average of 2.4 suspected chikungunya patients in a family of five members. Mean duration of illness was 19 days. Thirteen per cent of those suffering from chikungunya were admitted to hospital. The economic burden of chikungunya disease on a patient was US$ 28.5, out of which approximately US$ 15.4 was out-of-pocket expenditure on medical treatment, US$ 4.0 was on transportation. The average wage loss per patient (workers and non-workers) was US$ 10.4; with the average wage loss per worker being US$ 22.5. The cost of inpatient care was 1.5 times higher than the cost of outpatient care. An outbreak of an emerging disease creates unanticipated catastrophic health-care expenditure. Based on the study, the economic burden of chikungunya in Ahmedabad in 2006 (for 60 777 cases) was approximately US$ 1.7 million. The priorities when tackling such unexpected disease outbreaks should include strengthening of preventive and curative measures and continued research on the socioeconomic impact to help in policy-making and resource allocation.


Introduction Prior research shows that clinical demand and supplier capacity significantly affect the throughput and the wait time within an isolated unit. However, it is doubtful whether characteristics (i.e., demand, capacity, throughput, and wait time) of one unit would affect the wait time of subsequent units on the patient flow process. Focusing on cardiac care, this paper aims to examine the impact of characteristics of the catheterization unit (CU) on the wait time of cardiac surgery unit (SU). Methods This study integrates published data from several sources on characteristics of the CU and SU units in 11 hospitals in Ontario, Canada between 2005 and 2008. It proposes a two-layer wait time model (with each layer representing one unit) to examine the impact of CU's characteristics on the wait time of SU and test the hypotheses using the Partial Least Squares-based Structural Equation Modeling analysis tool. Results Results show that: (i) wait time of CU has a direct positive impact on wait time of SU (); (ii) capacity of CU has a direct positive impact on demand of SU (); (iii) within each unit, there exist significant relationships among different characteristics (except for the effect of throughput on wait time in SU). Conclusion Characteristics of CU have direct and indirect impacts on wait time of SU. Specifically, demand and wait time of preceding unit are good predictors for wait time of subsequent units. This suggests that considering such cross-unit effects is necessary when alleviating wait time in a health care system. Further, different patient risk profiles may affect wait time in different ways (e.g., positive or negative effects) within SU. This implies that the wait time management should carefully consider the relationship between priority triage and risk stratification, especially for cardiac surgery.


With the advent of commercial solid modelling systems some fifteen years ago the opportunity for three-dimensional parametric geometry was opened to industry. Today solid modelling systems are the dominating CAD tool among advanced engineering companies, but despite the time and money saving implications, industry has been slow to exploit the parametric capabilities of these systems.
One reason for the slow adoption of parametric modelling is that originally many solid modellers suffered from lack of stability under parametric changes. This situation is now changed and if a model in a modern CAD system collapses, this is usually due to modelling deficiencies rather than numerical failures. Straightforward dimensional variations rarely cause any problems, but to fully exploit the parametric capability for complex features with a variable topology, there is a need for a systematic approach to build stable and purposeful parametric models.
The purpose of this work is to discuss how different modelling approaches relate to the ease of use and robustness of the CAD model in terms of creating variants and product families. We use the term Design for Variability, DFV, for a modelling approach that ensures that parametric models are well suited for variation design.


Introduction Heterosexual HIV-1 transmission is an inefficient process with rates reported at <1% per unprotected sexual exposure. When transmission occurs, systemic infection is typically established by a single genetic variant, taken from the swarm of genetically distinct viruses circulating in the donor. Whether that founder virus represents a chance event or was systematically favored is unclear. Our work has tested a central hypothesis that founder virus selection is biased toward certain genetic characteristics. Fitter viruses (red) are favored more in woman-to-man (bottom curve) than in man-to-woman (top curve) transmission. The probability that a majority donor amino acid variant is transmitted is a function of relative fitness, here estimated by the frequency of the variant in the Zambian population. Even residues common in the population are less likely to be transmitted to healthy men than to women, indicative of higher selection bias in woman-to-man transmission. Rationale If HIV-1 transmission involves selection for viruses with certain favorable characteristics, then such advantages should emerge as statistical biases when viewed across many viral loci in many transmitting partners. We therefore identified 137 Zambian heterosexual transmission pairs, for whom plasma samples were available for both the donor and recipient partner soon after transmission, and compared the viral sequences obtained from each partner to identify features that predicted whether the majority amino acid observed at any particular position in the donor was transmitted. We focused attention on two features: viral genetic characteristics that correlate with viral fitness, and clinical factors that influence transmission. Statistical modeling indicates that the former will be favored for transmission, while the latter will nullify this relative advantage. Results We observed a highly significant selection bias that favors the transmission of amino acids associated with increased fitness. These features included the frequency of the amino acid in the study cohort, the relative advantage of the amino acid with respect to the stability of the protein, and features related to immune escape and compensation. This selection bias was reduced in couples with high risk of transmission. In particular, significantly less selection bias was observed in men with genital inflammation and in women (regardless of inflammation status), compared to healthy men, suggesting a more permissive environment in the female than male genital tract. Consistent with this observation, viruses transmitted to women were characterized by lower predicted fitness than those in men. The presence of amino acids favored during transmission predicted which individual virus within a donor was transmitted to their partner, while chronically infected individuals with viral populations characterized by a predominance of these amino acids were more likely to transmit to their partners. Conclusion These data highlight the clear selection biases that benefit fitter viruses during transmission in the context of a stochastic process. That such biases exist, and are tempered by certain risk factors, suggests that transmission is frequently characterized by many abortive transmission events in which some target cells are nonproductively infected. Moreover, for efficient transmission, some changes that favored survival in the transmitting partner are frequently discarded, resulting in overall slower evolution of HIV-1 in the population. Paradoxically, by increasing the selection bias at the transmission bottleneck, reduction of susceptibility may increase the expected fitness of breakthrough viruses that establish infection and may therefore worsen the prognosis for the newly infected partner. Conversely, preventive or therapeutic approaches that weaken the virus may reduce overall transmission rates via a mechanism that is independent from the quantity of circulating virus, and may therefore provide long-term benefits to the recipient if transmission does occur. HIV needs to be fit to transmit Although you might not think it, it's hard to catch HIV. Less than 1% of unprotected sexual exposures result in infection. What then leads to transmission? Carlson et al. determined the amino acid sequence of viruses infecting 137 Zambian heterosexual couples in which one partner infected the other (see the Perspective by Joseph and Swanstrom). The authors then used statistical modeling and found that transmitted viruses are typically the most evolutionarily fit. That is, compared to other viral variants in the infected person, the transmitted virus most closely matches the most common viral sequence found in the Zambian population. Science, this issue 10.1126/science.1254031; see also p. 136 An analysis of discordant couples reveals that transmitted HIV-1 viruses are typically the most evolutionarily fit. [Also see Perspective by Joseph and Swanstrom] Heterosexual transmission of HIV-1 typically results in one genetic variant establishing systemic infection. We compared, for 137 linked transmission pairs, the amino acid sequences encoded by non-envelope genes of viruses in both partners and demonstrate a selection bias for transmission of residues that are predicted to confer increased in vivo fitness on viruses in the newly infected, immunologically naïve recipient. Although tempered by transmission risk factors, such as donor viral load, genital inflammation, and recipient gender, this selection bias provides an overall transmission advantage for viral quasispecies that are dominated by viruses with high in vivo fitness. Thus, preventative or therapeutic approaches that even marginally reduce viral fitness may lower the overall transmission rates and offer long-term benefits even upon successful transmission.


The current master's degree qualification in Diagnostic Radiography at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) is research based and does seemingly not address the need for training in the specialisation fields of Diagnostic Radiography sufficiently. To address this problem, a needs assessment was conducted amongst qualified diagnostic radiographers in Bloemfontein and Kimberley by means of quantitative questionnaires, qualitative interviews and a focus group discussion. The main aim of the needs assessment was to determine the need for a postgraduate qualification for radiographers in the specialised fields. The possible structure of such a program and the preferred mode of delivery were also investigated. The results of the study emphasised the need for a structured postgraduate learning programme in the specialisation fields in Diagnostic Radiography in the region. Responding to this validated need for a structured postgraduate qualification at the CUT, the current master's degree was revised to accommodate the results of the study and it was proposed to the Professional Board for Radiography and Clinical Technology for approval.


Motivated by the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Asia over the last decade, this paper studies the challenges faced by the Asian "noodle bowl†—overlapping, multiple trade rules, regulations, and standards in Asia—in the process of regional and global trade integration. The paper first highlights the importance of trade and investment linkages among Asian economies that have formed Asian supply chains, called Factory Asia. It then considers ways and means of multilateralizing Asian trade regionalism by discussing the pros and cons of various approaches—such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-centered regional trade agreements, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, and cross-regional FTAs, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and a future Asia–European Union FTA. The paper emphasizes the promising role of inclusive Asian regionalism and the need to move to global integration.


Thiocarbamoyl benzotriazoles, as safe and easy-to-handle isothiocyanate equivalents, were quantitatively converted to N-monosubstituted thioureas by vapour digestion synthesis under an ammonia atmosphere. This simple, but timely process provided a synthetic platform that enabled the "slow" amination reaction to be successfully transformed into a rapid one aided by mechanochemical milling. The ammonium chloride/sodium carbonate equimolar mixture allowed in situ formation of ammonia under ball-milling conditions. This novel and green approach yielded aromatic and aliphatic primary thioureas in near-quantitative isolated yields with workup entirely based on using only water. In addition, the molecular and crystal structures of selected polyaromatic primary thioureas were determined from the synchrotron powder diffraction data.


The constructs of teacher cognition and teacher identity have recently gained considerable attention in second language teacher education research for their crucial roles in understanding teacher learning. While a number of current studies have examined the contributions of both constructs, the connections between cognition and identity are yet to be fully conceptualized. This article addresses this gap by drawing on the notion of identification to examine the identity construction and cognition development of 15 student teachers in the context of a postgraduate course on pronunciation pedagogy. Questionnaires, focus group interviews, observations, and semi-structured interviews were triangulated to obtain an in-depth understanding of the complex relations between identity formation and cognition growth. Findings revealed that identity construction--manifested through imagination of self and others, engagement and investment in the course, and alignment with course content--not only had a profound impact on participants' cognition development, but that these two constructs were intertwined in a complex and reciprocal relationship, fostering the process of student teachers' learning to teach pronunciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


The paper deals with insubordination phenomena in Siberian languages, focusing on Tungusic and Paleosiberian languages. It shows that Siberian languages, both Transeurasian/Macroaltaic and Paleosiberian, share a tendency to renew the finite verb forms through forms of nonfinite origin. This tendency can manifest itself either in the reanalysis of a nominal (participial) predicate as a verbal predicate (verbalization), or in the reanalysis of the erstwhile subordinate clause as a main clause (insubordination). Although the tendency for renewal of finite verb forms constitutes a general areal feature of Siberian languages, the outcome of these processes would be somewhat different, reflecting the difference in scenarios involved (insubordination proper vs. verbalization), as well as differences in the input structures.


Two models of affirmative action attitudes (i.e., group self-interest and racism beliefs) were examined among a sample of racially diverse college students. Open-ended questions were included to provide students an opportunity to elaborate on their beliefs about affirmative action and beliefs about the existence of racial discrimination. Findings from logistic regression analysis on a subsample (n 376) provide support for both models; race (a proxy for group self-interest) and racism beliefs (as measured by the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale [CoBRAS] and an the open-ended question) helped predict endorsement of affirmative action in theoretically expected ways. Asian, Latino, and Black students were more likely to view affirmative action as helpful compared to their White counterparts, and limited awareness of institutional racism (i.e., higher CoBRAS scores) was associated with antiaffirmative action arguments. Follow-up analysis, however, provided support for the superiority of the racism beliefs model as measured by the CoBRAS in predicting affirmative action beliefs over the group-interest model. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.


HgTe is a zincblende-type semiconductor with an inverted band structure. While the bulk material is a semimetal, lowering the crystalline symmetry opens up a gap, turning the compound into a topological insulator. The most straightforward way to do so is by growing a quantum well with (Hg,Cd)Te barriers. Such structures exhibit the quantum spin Hall effect, where a pair of spin polarized helical edge channels develops when the bulk of the material is insulating. Our transport data[1-3] provide very direct evidence for the existence of this third quantum Hall effect, which now is seen as the prime manifestation of a 2-dimensional topological insulator. To turn the material into a 3-dimensional topological insulator, we utilize growth induced strain in relatively thick (ca. 100 nm) HgTe epitaxial layers. The high electronic quality of such layers allows a direct observation of the quantum Hall effect of the 2-dimensional topological surface states[4,5]. Due to the screening properties of Dirac fermions, these states turn out to be decoupled from the bulk for a very wide range of densities[5]. This allows us to induce a supercurrent in the surface states by contacting these structures with Nb electrodes[6]. AC investigations indicate that the induced superconductivity is strongly influenced by the helical character of the charge carriers.


Prostaglandins are lipid autacoids derived from arachidonic acid. They both sustain homeostatic functions and mediate pathogenic mechanisms, including the inflammatory response. They are generated from arachidonate by the action of cyclooxygenase isoenzymes, and their biosynthesis is blocked by nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, including those selective for inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2. Despite the clinical efficacy of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, prostaglandins may function in both the promotion and resolution of inflammation. This review summarizes insights into the mechanisms of prostaglandin generation and the roles of individual mediators and their receptors in modulating the inflammatory response. Prostaglandin biology has potential clinical relevance for atherosclerosis, the response to vascular injury and aortic aneurysm.


A strong research record has evidenced that individuals tend to conform with a group's majority opinion. In contrast to existing literature that investigates conformity to a majority opinion against an objectively correct answer, the originality of our study lies in that we investigate conformity in a subjective context. The emphasis of our analysis lies on the "switching direction" in favor or against an item. In an online experiment, groups of five had to create a music playlist. A song was added to the playlist with an unanimous positive decision only. After seeing the other group members' ratings, participants had the opportunity to revise their own response. Results suggest different behavior for originally favored compared to disliked songs. For favored songs, one negative judgement by another group member was sufficient to induce participants to downvote the song. For disliked songs, in contrast, a majority of positive judgements was needed to induce participants to switch their vote.


In Malaysia, motorcycles represented more than halves of all registered vehicle population. In addition, motorcyclist contributed almost 70% of all injuries I accidents on Malaysian roads. This alarming figure warrants for some roads safety strategies targeted specifically on motorcyclists. An effective engineering approach to tackle this problem is by segregating these vulnerable roads users from other motorized traffic through the provision of an exclusive motorcycle lane. Prior to constructing an exclusive motorcycle lane, there is a need to understand the parameters involved in capacity analysis used to assess the supply side, quality of flow and also the design life of this facility. In order to comprehend the relative significance of these parameters, data were collected at five spots along the existing motorcycle track of Federal Highway Route 2. The Greenshields' method and multiple regression technique were then applied to scrutinize the data. The analysis resulted with the development of preliminary models on the relationships between flow, density and mean speed on motorcycle lanes. Further, a simple regression model that relates the saturation flow (capacity) and effective width of motorcycle lane was established.


A new model ("Coltrane": Copepod Life-history Traits and Adaptation to Novel Environments) describes environmental controls on copepod populations via 1) phenology and life history and 2) temperature and energy budgets in a unified framework. The model tracks a cohort of copepods spawned on a given date using a set of coupled equations for structural and reserve biomass, developmental stage, and survivorship, similar to many other individual-based models. It then analyzes a family of cases varying spawning date over the year to produce population-level results, and families of cases varying one or more traits to produce community-level results. In an idealized global-scale testbed, the model correctly predicts life strategies in large Calanus spp. ranging from multiple generations per year to multiple years per generation. In a Bering Sea testbed, the model replicates the dramatic variability in the abundance of C. glacialis/marshallae observed between warm and cold years of the 2000s, and indicates that prey phenology linked to sea ice is a more important driver than temperature per se. In a Disko Bay, West Greenland testbed, the model predicts the viability of a spectrum of large-copepod strategies from income breeders with a adult size ~100 µgC reproducing once per year through capital breeders with an adult size >1000 µgC with a multiple-year life cycle. This spectrum corresponds closely to the observed life histories and physiology of local populations of C. finmarchicus, C. glacialis, and C. hyperboreus. Together, these complementary initial experiments demonstrate that many patterns in copepod community composition and productivity can be predicted from only a few key constraints on the individual energy budget: the total energy available in a given environment per year; the energy and time required to build an adult body; the metabolic and predation penalties for taking too long to reproduce; and the size and temperature dependence of the vital rates involved.


A STUDY OF DRYING BEHAVIOUR OF POTATO SLICES By Joseph Kangogo Kipyakwai Potato (Solarium tuberosum) is an underexploited tuber with promising economic value and the potential to help ease the world food problem. It produces more calories per unit area of land than other tropical root crops and tubers. For practical and efficient utilization, it must be processed into ration dense, stable forms. A study was made to process the Desiree variety into dried slices which could be stored at tropical ambient conditions for at least one year. The quality of the air dried slices were evaluated. Results indicate this approach to be feasible. Forced-convection drying behaviour of potato slices was experimentally determined as a function of the drying air temperature, airflow rate and thickness of the slices under laboratory conditions. Drying of potato slices is an unsteady-state process under the control of diffusion rate of water through the slice surface. Therefore, temperature, thickness of the potato slices and the drying air flow rate control the drying rate, in tnis work, the initial thickness of potato slices was kept constant at 2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm and the effects of drying air temperature and airflow rate were investigated. Through the measurements of moisture content, colour and rehydration, actual drying behaviour of potato slices under different dryer conditions were determined. Colour and rehydraticn of the dried slices were used as criteria for the evaluation and determination of the optimum conditions. Statistical analysis of experimental data showed the drying air temperature had the greatest effect on drying rate and quality, followed by slice thickness; air mass flow rate had little effect on the thin-layer drying rate. Specifically, drying rate was inversely proportional to the square of slice thickness at constant drying air temperature. Three-term drying equation models developed using the statistical method of successive residuals were considered sufficient for practical applications. A thin layer drying equation that can predict drying behaviour of potato slices was also developed. The quality of the air dried slices were evaluated and a nonlinear model was developed for vitamin C degradation based on the applicability of the Arrhenius equation.


The Silurian myodocope ostracod Richteria migrans is reported from Arctic Russia, from Kotel'ny Island (New Siberian Islands) and the Taimyr Peninsula in strata of Ludfordian (late Ludlow, Late Silurian) age. These occurrences extend the biogeographical range of R. migrans from tropical to mid latitudes of the Early Palaeozoic Rheic Ocean in the palaeo-Southern Hemisphere, into subtropical regions of the palaeo-Northern Hemisphere on, or adjacent to, the Siberia Palaeocontinent. The new records reinforce the idea that R. migrans had wide dispersal capacity and probably possessed a pelagic lifestyle. It also endorses the use of R. migrans as a biostratigraphical marker fossil for the Ludfordian Stage, Ludlow Series, Upper Silurian.


When discussing wages, historians have traditionally concentrated on the level of wages, and much less on how people were paid for their work. Important aspects were thus ignored such as how frequently were wages actually paid, how much of the wage was paid in non-monetary form -- whether as traditional perquisites or community relief -- especially when there was often insufficient coinage available to pay wages. Covering a wide geographical area, ranging from Spain to Finland, and a wide time span, ranging from the sixteenth century to the 1930s, this volume offers fresh perspectives on key areas in social and economic history such as the relationship between customs, moral economy, wages and the market, changing pay and wage forms and the relationship between age, gender and wages.


With the growth of interest in small satellites (<10kg), there is a particular need to provide a propulsion element for this class of spacecraft. Microfabricated electrospray thrusters offer a solution to this problem. By using ionic liquids as the propellant solely ions can be emitted, resulting in a large specific impulse. The thrust from an individual emitter is though a fraction of a μN. However by using well-established MEMS technologies thousands of capillary emitters can be manufactured within an area of a few cm2, increasing the thrust to the mN level. We report on results from the Microthrust FP7 Project 1, where the aims are to manufacture and test a complete breadboard thruster system based upon microfabricated thruster chips, alongside the design of a flight system that could enable a CubeSat to leave earth orbit. Prior to this project we had developed a number of manufacturing processes for specific thruster elements. We report here on a new generation of microfabricated emitters, and their relative performance. The emitters consist of 70 μm high etched-Silicon capillaries with outer diameters tapering to less than 10 μm. Previous designs included 5 μm silica microspheres within the 18 to 24 μm internal diameter of the emitter to increase the hydraulic impedance. However the filling factor of these microspheres in individual emitters differed; therefore a new generation of emitters having more similar impedance and with 5 - 10 μm internal diameters and hole depths of 100 μm have been manufactured. Previously the etched-Silicon extractor chip was aligned to the emitter chip using 200 μm ruby spheres. Due to assembly difficulties this has been replaced with a polymer-based wafer bonding interface, allowing for simplified assembly and a wafer-scale fabrication process. These emitters have been tested in both uni-polar and bi- polar mode, using the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3- methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMI-BF4). The tests herein have been achieved without an acceleration stage. The Time-of-Flight data shows a mixed ion-droplet regime, approaching a Purely Ionic Regime (PIR) at low flow rates.


The aim of this study is to investigate changes in blood biochemical parameters in Ouled Djellal ewes during the peri-partum and dry periods. The study included thirty healthy ewes, blood samples were collected during three periods: one week before parturition, one week after parturition and three weeks after drying off. Results showed that ewes in late pregnancy have the highest blood cholesterol, triglyceride and albumin levels and the lowest glycaemia. Total protein concentration was significantly higher in dry period than on late pregnancy and on early lactation (p< 0,0001) whereas, urea concentration was significantly higher (p< 0,002) on early lactation compared to dry period. On the other hand, calcium levels increase significantly in late pregnancy and decrease significantly in early lactation. However, phosphorus level was significantly higher in dry period and the highest magnesium levels were recorded in late gestation. Current findings regarding blood parameters in late pregnancy, early lactation and dry period may expand the knowledge for interpretation of the metabolic profile in order to establish a diagnosis and a prognosis of reproductive and metabolic diseases in ewes during these periods.


The Convention on Biological Diversity requires that member nations establish protected area networks that are representative of the country's biodiversity. The identification of priority sites to achieve outstanding representation targets is typically accomplished through formal conservation assessments. However, representation in conservation assessments or gap analyses has largely been interpreted based on a static view of biodiversity. In a rapidly changing climate, the speed of changes in biodiversity distribution and abundance is causing us to rethink the viability of this approach. Here we describe three explicit strategies for climate change adaptation as part of national conservation assessments: conserving the geophysical stage, identifying and protecting climate refugia, and promoting cross‐environment connectivity. We demonstrate how these three approaches were integrated into a national terrestrial conservation assessment for Papua New Guinea, one of the most biodiverse countries on earth. Protected areas identified based on representing geophysical diversity were able to capture over 90% of the diversity in vegetation communities, suggesting they could help protect representative biodiversity regardless of changes in the distribution of species and communities. By including climate change refugia as part of the national conservation assessment, it was possible to substantially reduce the amount of environmental change expected to be experienced within protected areas, without increasing the overall cost of the protected area network. Explicitly considering environmental heterogeneity between adjacent areas resulted in protected area networks with over 40% more internal environmental connectivity. These three climate change adaptation strategies represent defensible ways to guide national conservation priority given the uncertainty that currently exists in our ability to predict climate changes and their impacts. Importantly, they are also consistent with data and expertise typically available during national conservation assessments, including in developing nations. This means that in the vast majority of countries, these strategies could be implemented immediately.


Orientation: Systematic and congruent organisational structures, systems, strategies and designs are necessary for the successful implementation of organisational development (OD) interventions. Research purpose: This article examines national and international OD practices. It assesses the effect of diverse cultures and cultural values for determining the effectiveness of OD interventions. Motivation for the study: Most organisational change and development programmes fail and only a few result in increased competitiveness, improvements and profitability. This emphasises the need for change interventions to give sufficient attention to leadership, cultures, managing change and adopting context-based OD interventions. Research design, approach and method: This article is a literature review of the current trends and research in the area of OD interventions. It synthesises the influence that cultures and cultural orientations have on determining which OD intervention strategies organisations should adopt in different cultures. Main findings: The analysis emphasises how important it is to achieve congruence between the OD interventions organisations select and their local cultures. Practical/managerial implications: It is important to note the evolving nature of the political and economic climates that influence national cultures and that they emphasise that interventions that reflect OD values, which are tailor-made and shaped to the needs of local cultures, are necessary. Contribution/value-add: This study links various OD interventions to Hofstede's dimensions for differentiating national cultures. It provides guidelines for aligning the practices and techniques of OD to the values and cultures of the organisations and societies in which they are to be implemented.


The Baie Verte Flexure is a regional structure defined by the change in trends of early Paleozoic rocks of the Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland. The flexure affects all major geological elements on the peninsula, including the Baie Verte Line, a fundamental polygenetic structural zone that juxtaposes continental polydeformed metaclastic rocks of the Fleur de Lys Supergroup, to the west, against inhomogeneously deformed ophiolites and volcanic rocks to the east. The tectonic history of both sequences has been a major point of contention in northern Appalachian geology; recognition of the flexure resolves this problem. Central to this problem has been the geological setting of an apparently isolated sequence of metaclastic rocks, the Ming9s Bight Group, that occurs in the midst of the ophiolite-volcanic terrane. Previous workers have assumed that the group, which is lithically and structurally similar to parts of the Fleur de Lys, is conformable with the adjacent ophiolitic-volcanic terrane. Delineation of features along the flexure clarifies the stratigraphic and structural relationships of the group. In particular, recognition of a continuous belt of Fleur de Lys rocks that wraps around the northern portion of the peninsula indicates that the Ming9s Bight Group forms part of the supergroup; in addition, the tracing of the Baie Verte Line around the flexure shows that the group is tectonically severed from the ophiolitic-volcanic terrane. The polydeformation of the Fleur de Lys rocks and northerly parts of the ophiolitic-volcanic terrane appears to have been inhomogeneous. Regional relationships and recent Ar 40 / Ar 39 ages indicate that rocks of the main Fleur de Lys outcrop belt were deformed mainly during the Taconic, whereas the Ming9s Bight Group and parts of the ophiolitic-volcanic terrane were affected by an Acadian event. This can be explained by two separate, noncoaxial events acting upon some pre-existing manifestation of the flexure, probably the irregular margin of the ancient continent. Relationships along the Baie Verte Flexure may reflect inherent complexities of larger flexures, salients, and recesses of the Appalachian Orogen and may be important to interpretation throughout the orogen.


In this thesis, we analyze high-permittivity dielectric waveguides for use as guiding structures of millimeter waves. Two basic geometries are considered: the circular and rectangular guides. In Part I, we describe the theory of round fibers surrounded by an infinite cladding. Millimeter wavelengths are comparable to the physical dimensions of the guide. Therefore, a large difference in permittivity between the core and the cladding is required in order to provide for a tight confinement of the fields. We present the results of computations of the propagation characteristics and losses of fibers of very high permittivity. We note that the distribution of the electromagnetic power between the core and the cladding can be deduced from the dispersion curves. Finally, we consider the feasibility of a dielectric fiber made of thallium bromide-iodide (KRS-5) for the long distance transmission of W-band signals (94 GHz). Using our measurements of the dielectric parameters of KRS-5, we find that the losses are several orders of magnitude higher than the losses of conventional metallic waveguides. In Part II, we analyze rectangular dielectric guides made of high-permittivity materials such as GaAs that would permit the fabrication of active devices directly into the transmission line. We present a new numerical technique base on finite-differences for computing the modes of dielectric guiding structures. This method is simple and efficient in computer storage and computational time. We use it to compute the modes of a rectangular dielectric waveguide and compare the numerical results to those obtained from Marcatili's closed-form solution. We find that this latter one is a good approximation for the dominant mode of a rectangular guide even when the permittivity of the guide is large compared to the outer medium. For higher order modes, Marcatili's solution predicts incorrect propagation curves. We have also observed the presence in our numerical solution of "spurious modes" that are thought to be due to the mathematical indefinitiveness of the problem. In Part III, we present a waveguide technique for the measurement of complex dielectric constants at millimiter wave frequencies: the shorted-waveguide method. Waveguide methods have been extensively used at lower frequencies but this is the first application at 94 GHZ. We use a novel sample preparation technique that allows for an accurate and gap-free positionment of a ductile dielectric material inside a metallic waveguide. We note that the correct choice of sample lengths is critical to the accuracy of the measurement of the loss tangent. Finally, we summarize the results of our measurement of the dielectric constant and loss tangent of thallium bromide-iodide (KRS-5) and thallium bromide-chloride (KRS-6).


An evaluation was conducted on a web-based e-learning system designed to facilitate integration of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) into the Civil Engineering curriculum. The principal goals of the evaluation were to determine the overall effectiveness of the system and to better understand underlying learning processes. Data were collected from 80 students who participated in a computer laboratory session involving a typical geotechnical exercise. Students rated their learning and motivation significantly higher than studying from the class text, and rated the lab's applicability to the "real world" significantly higher than the class text or lecture. Furthermore, students rated their knowledge of GIS significantly higher after the lab session. Qualitative analysis indicated that students were motivated to use the system in order to develop a broad overview of GIS, to learn specific GIS functionality, and as a method for on-going review of GIS.


Energy is a crucial input in the process of economic growth. Sustainable economic growth necessitates the sufficient and continuous availability of energy. Pakistan is confronting energy insecurity which is seriously hindering the economic development and this study is an attempt to investigate the relationship between energy security and economic growth. The major concern of energy security is associated with the availability of suitable energy supply in cheap and consistent way to fulfill energy demand in the future. In this study, the demand and supply gap of energy is used as a proxy variable for energy security. The data source is the Energy Information Administration (EIA) where data is available at disaggregate level for different sources of energy (i.e., oil, gas, coal and electricity) for the period of 1980 to 2012. Therefore, aggregate variables are generated by converting data into unified unit of measurement. The Error Correction Model (ECM) is used to analyze the short-run and long-run causality between energy gap and the economic growth. The results show that unidirectional causality runs from energy demand and supply gap to economic growth in short-run as well as in the long-run. This relationship is negative and statistically significant in both the short- run and the long run which indicates that low energy security (i.e., increasing energy gap) halts the economic growth of Pakistan. Consequently, the study concludes that government should focus on better management of energy demand and energy supply.


A tropical cyclone (TC) vortex is an immense, coherent, organized-convective system. Beneath this large-scale organization, is a litany of azimuthally asymmetric convective motions that exist on a spectrum of scales. These asymmetries are especially dominant during periods when the vortex undergoes critical transitions in its intensity and structure. However, the precise nature of influence of the organization of asymmetries on TC intensity change remains an enigma. The inherent difficulty in predicting their behavior is because asymmetries may arise due to different external or intrinsic sources and occur at different spatial and temporal scales while several complex mechanisms act near-simultaneously to dictate their evolution in time. As a result, multiple pathways are possible for a TC vortex that is influenced by these asymmetries. Our preliminary investigations using numerical models made it apparent that there wasn't a single, unifying way to address this problem. In this thesis, I outline multiple novel techniques of diagnosing and predicting which of the many pathways are likely for a TC vortex that is influenced by azimuthal asymmetries. First, using three-dimensional numerical simulations of a pair of sheared and non-sheared vortices, I demonstrate the diagnostic potential of the juxtaposition in the azimuthal phasing of: (i) the asymmetrically distributed vertical eddy flux of moist-entropy across the top of the boundary layer, and the radial eddy flux of moist-entropy within the boundary layer; and (ii) eddy relative vorticity, eddy moist-entropy, and vertical velocity throughout the depth of the vortex. Second, I introduce an energetics-based diagnostic framework that computes the energy transactions occurring at asymmetries across various length-scales in the wavenumber domain. By applying it to select cases, this thesis uncovers the relative importance of all the energy pathways that support or disrupt the growth of asymmetries within the vortex. Contrary to the traditional explanations of convective aggregation/disaggregation and axi/asymmetrization through barotropic mean-eddy transactions, my thesis reveals that the growth or disruption of asymmetries are predominantly due to (i) the baroclinic conversion from available potential to kinetic energy at individual scales of asymmetries and (ii) the transactions of kinetic energy across asymmetries of different length scales. Finally, this thesis introduces two further diagnostic frameworks targeted at tackling the problem of real-time forecasting of TC rapid intensity changes. The first is an empirical framework which examines symmetric and asymmetric convection and other state variables within the vortex, and in the environment across a suite of TCs and identifies a set of `important' variables that are significantly different during time periods that precede a rapid intensification as opposed to a rapid weakening. My framework then ranks the variables identified based on how significantly they influence a rapid intensity change in a TC and the amplification factor of any associated variability. We recommend that future observational, and consequent TC modeling and data assimilation efforts prioritize the highest ranked variables identified here. The second is a stochastic model wherein a scale-specific stochastic term is added to the equations describing the energy transactions within the TC vortex. By simulating a stochastic forcing that may arise from any scale, I compute the probability of the vortex transitioning into a rapidly intensifying or a rapidly weakening configuration across an ensemble of scenarios. In summary, this thesis introduces and applies a variety of diagnostic techniques that help determine the impact of azimuthal asymmetries on TC intensity evolution.