Hemicellulose is a valuable component of agro-food industrial wastes and used in various areas such as drug manufacture and food industry for encapsulation and emulsification. In this study, effects of raw material type, particle size, and extraction conditions (alkaline concentration, temperature, time) and methods (direct alkaline extraction, alkaline extraction after component removal and acidic extraction method) on hemicellulose yields were investigated. Sugar beet pulp and corn wastes were used as raw material. The alkaline method resulted in 40.2% pure extracts, while the acidic method gave only 27.4% purity in the same extraction conditions. The optimal extraction conditions were found as 30 °C temperature, 10% alkali (NaOH) and 24 h time (64.3%). It was also observed that removal of constituents such as fat, protein, starch and soluble sugar increased the purity of hemicellulose from 40.2% to 58.2% at the same conditions. The results indicated that using both low alkaline concentration and low temperature allows to recover higher-quality extracts.


Patients with malignant glioma have poor prognosis in spite of the advances in cancer therapy. Only 15% of the glioma patients survive more than five years after diagnosis. This is because the drug cannot reach the tumour site in sufficient amounts. The aim of this project is to investigate the hypothesis that nanoemulsion formulations play an effective role as drug-delivery vehicles for the treatment of glioma. Two commercially available nanoemulsion formulations (Clinoleic TPN 20% and Intralipid TPN 20%) were used in this experiment. They were first characterised based on their size, zeta potential, pH and storage stability. Paclitaxel was used as the anti-cancer agent and the methods of loading efficiency determination (via spectrophotometry analysis) and Tissue culture were utilised to measure the effect of the formulation on glioma cell lines (U87-MG- grade IV and SVGP12 - normal glial cells). Droplet size of the Clinoleic emulsion was increased from 254.1 nm to 264.7 nm when paclitaxel (6 mg/ml) was loaded into the formulation compared to drug-free formulation. Similarly with the Intralipid, the measured size was 283.3 nm and upon inclusion of 6mg/ml paclitaxel the size increased to 294.6 nm. The Polydispersity Index (PDI) of all the nanoemulsion formulations (Clinoleic and Intralipid) were lower than 0.2 irrespective of paclitaxel concentration indicating that all nanoemulsion formulations used were homogenous. The pH values for the Clinoleic formulations (7.1-7.5) were slightly higher (i.e. formulation's basicity was higher) than those of the Intralipid formulations (6.5-6.9). The Zeta Potential of Clinoleic has a greater negative value than that of Intralipid. The values for Intralipid are closer to neutral. When stored at 4 C and room temperature for two weeks major changes were observed in the characteristics of Intralipid formulations, but the Clinoleic formulations remained stable at both temperatures. In the Clinoleic formulations 70.4 - 80.2% loading efficiencies were observed for paclitaxel. Conversely, lower loading efficiencies were obtained for the Intralipid formulations, being 44.2 – 57.38 %. Clinoleic loaded with paclitaxel successfully decreased the U87-MG cell viability to 6.4 ± 2.3 %, while Intralipid loaded with paclitaxel lowered the cell viability to 21.29 ± 3.82%. On the other hand, both nanoemulsions are less toxic to the normal glial cells (SVG-P12), decreasing the cell viability to 25-35%. This study suggests that nanoemulsions are useful and potentially applicable vehicles of paclitaxel for treatment of glioma


Throughout history, libraries and books have played an integral part in people's cultural, political, and social development. Libraries earlier tended to serve an archival function. The role of the library and librarian was to store and provide access to materials, mostly books. The common view of libraries earlier was that they were storehouses of knowledge of civilization. However, a modern library, although still serving the archival function, also has an active, and assertive role in providing information to users. We live in a world in which increasing specialization is essential. Library could be a principal operator in promoting the intercommunication among the specialists. In this democratic age, all the people need a steady and balanced supply of reading material for their advancement of knowledge. University library has to satisfy the needs of the graduates, post-graduates as well as the requirements of the research scholars, and the much more complex and exacting demands of mature scholars and teachers.


To map the neural substrate of mental function, cognitive neuroimaging relies on controlled psychological manipulations that engage brain systems associated with specific cognitive processes. In order to build comprehensive atlases of cognitive function in the brain, it must assemble maps for many different cognitive processes, which often evoke overlapping patterns of activation. Such data aggregation faces contrasting goals: on the one hand finding correspondences across vastly different cognitive experiments, while on the other hand precisely describing the function of any given brain region. Here we introduce a new analysis framework that tackles these difficulties and thereby enables the generation of brain atlases for cognitive function. The approach leverages ontologies of cognitive concepts and multi-label brain decoding to map the neural substrate of these concepts. We demonstrate the approach by building an atlas of functional brain organization based on 30 diverse functional neuroimaging studies, totaling 196 different experimental conditions. Unlike conventional brain mapping, this functional atlas supports robust reverse inference: predicting the mental processes from brain activity in the regions delineated by the atlas. To establish that this reverse inference is indeed governed by the corresponding concepts, and not idiosyncrasies of experimental designs, we show that it can accurately decode the cognitive concepts recruited in new tasks. These results demonstrate that aggregating independent task-fMRI studies can provide a more precise global atlas of selective associations between brain and cognition.


The modern death penalty presents a puzzle: law and norms heavily constrain how American jurisdictions impose death sentences, but not how they select death-sentenced inmates for executions. In this Article, I explain why this strange void persists, argue that its presence undermines equality, and offer workable institutional responses. In short, I advance a comprehensive theory of the American execution queue—the process by which death penalty jurisdictions decide which condemned inmates will actually die. My first objective is explanatory. Because executing a death-sentenced inmate now entails both significant litigation and extensive coordination among under-motivated state institutions, the process takes ten times as long as it did fifty years ago. Modern executions have become "scarce," as American jurisdictions simply cannot kill all of their condemned offenders. Even though the state must make choices, there are no rules for choosing. Because there is little consensus around decision-making criteria, the process operates with few constraints. By the time the state must decide which condemned inmates to execute, the capacity of familiar decision-making criteria to meaningfully sort inmates by death-worthiness—things like offense conduct, blame, or future danger—has been exhausted during prior phases of the capital punishment sequence. My second objective is normative. I specify several preferred institutional design strategies, anchored to interests in legitimacy, transparency, fairness, and equality. First, jurisdictions should centralize the process by which they select death-sentenced inmates for executions; localities should have no role in setting execution dates. Second, a centralized entity should engage in administrative-law-like rulemaking in order to develop transparent, legitimate selection criteria. Third, jurisdictions should separate the power to determine execution priority from the power to schedule execution dates. By shifting to a centralized process grounded in transparent rulemaking and rational decision-making criteria, jurisdictions can curb the arbitrariness that plagues the existing system.


Governments have always been playing a central role for the provision and protection of critical infrastructures (infrastructures that are essential to national stability and security, such as energy, water or transport). Over the last decade, criticism on the increasing instability and vulnerability of these infrastructures emerged as they require special attention when it comes to modernization and protection, e.g. terrorism. Public-private partnerships open up public monopolies for competition and potential efficiency gains. In this paper, we show the risks and opportunities of including the private sector and consequently business interests on the example of transport infrastructure. We apply a novel institutional economic role model with which we can identify necessary roles (i.e. actions) for the provision and protection of critical transport infrastructure. We, then, provide a theory-driven discussion on the role of public and private actors. The results of our paper give an indication of the role of public policy for transport infrastructure. Taking a broader perspective, this paper will help to understand the effective ratio of public and private actions for the provision and protection of critical infrastructure.


Machine comprehension of text is an important problem in natural language processing. A recently released dataset, the Stanford Question Answering Dataset (SQuAD), offers a large number of real questions and their answers created by humans through crowdsourcing. SQuAD provides a challenging testbed for evaluating machine comprehension algorithms, partly because compared with previous datasets, in SQuAD the answers do not come from a small set of candidate answers and they have variable lengths. We propose an end-to-end neural architecture for the task. The architecture is based on match-LSTM, a model we proposed previously for textual entailment, and Pointer Net, a sequence-to-sequence model proposed by Vinyals et al.(2015) to constrain the output tokens to be from the input sequences. We propose two ways of using Pointer Net for our task. Our experiments show that both of our two models substantially outperform the best results obtained by Rajpurkar et al.(2016) using logistic regression and manually crafted features.


Background: This article seeks to examine factors that shape Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) engineering students' understanding of their future career choices. Moreover, given the promising and ambitious vision for growth in both TVET and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), as envisaged by the policy framework, White Paper on Post School Education and Training (PSET) aimed at addressing the challenges, amongst others, of youth unemployment. Objectives: The objective of this article is to ascertain factors that inform students' understanding of their future career prospects. Methods: In this research, qualitative self-administered, open-ended questionnaires were employed as a data collection tool to gather facts about students' beliefs, feelings and experiences regarding certain engineering programmes and services offered at TVET colleges. Consequently, purposive sampling was utilised to sample 113 engineering participants who voluntarily completed the questionnaires, which were organised to gather the required data. Results: The findings of the study point to divergent views, where some students felt very strongly that TVET engineering qualification leads to full employment because of the demand for this skill, while other students argued that the high rate of unemployment in South Africa is so deep such that even graduates irrespective of qualification are not guaranteed employment in South Africa. Conclusion: Consequently, the researchers believe that the TVET's learning programmes should be repositioned to articulate as a poor response to poor schooling in relation to labour market, amongst others, to ease school leavers into jobs or self-employment under conditions of widespread youth unemployment.


Together with OSIsoft LLC as its private sector partner and matching sponsor, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) won an FY09 Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The goal of the project is to commercialize Berkeley Lab's optimizing program, the Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM) using a software as a service (SaaS) model with OSIsoft as its first non-scientific user. OSIsoft could in turn provide optimization capability to its software clients. In this way, energy efficiency and/or carbon minimizing strategies could be made readily available to commercial and industrial facilities. Specialized versions of DER-CAM dedicated to solving OSIsoft's customer problems have been set up on a server at Berkeley Lab. The objective of DER-CAM is to minimize the cost of technology adoption and operation or carbon emissions, or combinations thereof. DER-CAM determines which technologies should be installed and operated based on specific site load, price information, and performance data for available equipment options. An established user of OSIsoft's PI software suite, the University of California, Davis (UCD), was selected as a demonstration site for this project. UCD's participation in the project is driven by its motivation to reduce its carbon emissions. The campus currently buys electricity economically through the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). The campus does not therefore face compelling cost incentives to improve the efficiency of its operations, but is nonetheless motivated to lower the carbon footprint of its buildings. Berkeley Lab attempted to demonstrate a scenario wherein UCD is forced to purchase electricity on a standard time-of-use tariff from Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), which is a concern to Facilities staff. Additionally, DER-CAM has been set up to consider the variability of carbon emissions throughout the day and seasons. Two distinct analyses of value to UCD are possible using this approach. First, optimal investment choices for buildings under the two alternative objectives can be derived. Second, a week-ahead building operations forecaster has been written that executes DER-CAM to find an optimal operating schedule for buildings given their expected building energy services requirements, electricity prices, and local weather. As part of its matching contribution, OSIsoft provided a full implementation of PI and a server to install it on at Berkeley Lab. Using the PItoPI protocol, this gives Berkeley Lab researchers direct access to UCD's PI data base. However, this arrangement is in itself inadequate for performing optimizations. Additional data not included in UCD's PI database would be needed and the campus was not able to provide this information. This report details the process, results, and lessons learned of this commercialization project.


The lack of alternatives and choices make sparse networks and peripheral regions
distinct. Travel choices are limited, as are employment and supplier choices. This
thesis is therefore concerned with whether cost benefit analysis techniques need to be
adapted so as to adequately deal with the appraisal of transport projects in these
areas. Specifically, improved treatment of scheduling costs, uncertainty and wider
economic impacts is proposed. A theoretical case is made for the inclusion of
scheduling costs and the cost of risk bearing by drawing on the literature on time use,
departure time choice, activity scheduling, risk premia and option values. Similarly a
theoretical case is made for the inclusion of efficiency gains from an expansion in
output in imperfectly competitive markets, an expansion of employment in the presence
of a labour market failure, and an increase in productivity in industry clusters.
A survey of ferry users and island residents in the Outer Hebrides finds evidence of
statistically significant costs associated with transport related constraints on activity
scheduling. These costs decrease non-linearly in the transport constraints - headway
and operating hours. A difficulty faced when estimating discrete choice models with
taste variation is a lack of knowledge of the distribution of willingness to pay. This
difficulty can be overcome through a mix of contingent valuation questions and stated
preference questions with fixed boundary values. Significant differences are found in
willingness to pay depending on whether the stated choice question is framed as per
trip or per year. In contrast to what might be expected from the options value literature,
no difference in the cost of risk bearing is found between a fixed link and a high quality
ferry service. Further empirical work identifies less than complete wage compensation
for commuting costs of workers in peripheral areas of Scotland. This indicates the
presence of a labour market failure arising through high job search costs in a thin
labour market.
The main conclusion of the thesis is that the scope of a cost benefit analysis should be
widened to include the studied effects. The case studies undertaken show that for
public transport projects the effects, in totality, can be a similar order of magnitude to
user benefits. Importantly, the large potential benefits from fixed links and the low
incomes evident in peripheral regions combine to make income effects important, when
calculating total economic welfare in these areas. Further research opportunities on
scheduling costs, risk premia and thin labour markets are identified.


Marina Milović , Saša Orlović , Tine Grebenc , Marko Bajc , Branislav Kovačević , Hojka Kraigher (2) Ectomycorrhizal communities are rarely studied on seasonal basis, especially in poplar plantations. In this study we analysed the ectomycorrhizal community in a mature twenty-year-old white poplar (Populus alba L.) plantation during four consecutive seasons. Using morpho-anatomical and molecular identification 30 taxa of ectomycorrhizal fungi were recorded of which 15 were identified to the species level, 12 to the genus level, 2 to the family, and one morphotype of ectomycorrhizae remained unidentified. The most abundant among identified ectomycorrhizal fungi were: Inocybe griseovelata, Inocybe splendens, Tuber rufum, and Tomentella sp. 2, which together represented up to 50% of all ectomycorrhizal root tips. The number of ectomycorrhizal fungal taxa and the percentage of vital ectomycorrhizal root tips were highest in winter and spring, respectively. The diversity indices of ectomycorrhizae, number of vital ectomycorrhizal root tips, and total fine roots in the studied poplar plantation did not differ between seasons. Ectomycorrhizal fungi belonging to Inocybaceae family and the short-distance exploration strategy were dominant in all four seasons. On the other hand, the abundance of ectomycorrhizal root tips belonging to the medium-distance exploration strategy type was significantly higher in spring in comparison with autumn and winter.


With digital communication technologies continuing to grow in performance and reliability, a fully digital substation automation system (SAS) with a sampled values based process bus has become a realisable prospect in the foreseeable future. This, however, demands additional work in engineering configurations and tightens the existing constraints on multi-vendor interoperability, network performance and time synchronisation. As a result, detailed testing and validation of SASs prior to installation is paramount. Integrated testing is the most comprehensive approach to test a SAS, as it evaluates the performance of multiple aspects of the system simultaneously. Real-time power system simulators can interface with multiple intelligent electronic devices in real-time via IEC 61850 station and process buses, while accurately simulating the electrical substation. Hence, they possess the unique capability to carry out closed-loop, integrated testing of SASs. This study presents a methodology to test a fully digital SAS using a real-time power system simulator. Particular emphasis is given on carrying out integrated system testing of a SAS in a laboratory environment. Example test scenarios are provided to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed testing approach.


Men and women with lower limb amputations struggle with managing the balance between prosthesis alignment and shoe heel rise. A novel prosthetic ankle-feet system is being developed to support a wider range of footwear options for men and women with lower limb amputations. Each rigid foot is customized to fit the footwear of choice and can be rapidly attached to (or released from) an ankle unit which remains attached to the prosthesis.
 The ankle unit has a mass of 318g and is small enough to fit in the design volume of a 22cm foot across a range of heel rises. The ankle uses elastomeric bumpers arranged in a wiper design to maximize space efficiency.
 Structural testing has shown that the 3D printed custom Nylon 12 feet withstood 4584N of forefoot loading without failure based on the ISO 10328 loading parameters, indicating suitable strength to support safe human use in the laboratory. The feet have a mass of 446g.
 Feedback from two women Veterans with lower limb amputations reinforced the importance of improving access to shoes with different heel rises. Future activities will include cyclic fatigue testing, additional weight reduction, and incorporating suggested design refinements.


Hierarchical Occlusion Culling for Arbitrarily-Meshed Height Fields. (May 2004) Paul Michael Edmondson, B.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. John Keyser Many graphics applications today have need for high-speed 3-D visualization of height fields. Most of these applications deal with the display of digital terrain models characterized by a simple, but vast, non-overlapping mesh of triangles. A great deal of research has been done to find methods of optimizing such systems. The goal of this work is to establish an algorithm to efficiently preprocess a hierarchical height field model that enables the real-time culling of occluded geometry while still allowing for classic terrain-rendering frameworks. By exploiting the planarmonotone characteristics of height fields, it is possible to create a unique and efficient occlusion culling method that is optimized for terrain rendering and similar applications. Previous work has shown that culling is possible with certain regularly-gridded height field models, but not until now has a system been shown to work with all height fields, regardless of how their meshes are constructed. By freeing the system of meshing restrictions, it is possible to incorporate a number of broader height field algorithms with widely-used applications such as flight simulators, GIS systems, and computer games.


Video feedback has been utilised in training situations across a range of professional disciplines such as medicine and psychotherapy, and its use in developing communication and selfassessment skills has also been experimented with in social work education. In particular, the Robert Gordon University is increasingly using video feedback to prepare and assess Social Work students in readiness for practice. In order to help in future course planning and delivery this study seeks to investigate the effectiveness of video feedback in improving communication skills amongst Social Workers in training. For such purposes eleven second year Social Work undergraduates were selected as participants in a pre-test post-test design intended to collect a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. Although video feedback did not result in any significant difference in outcomes, the results suggest an improvement in areas like self-efficacy and confidence and increased awareness of the importance of core communication skills. Further research is required to clarify the role of affective skills, e.g. empathetic attunement which should underpin the communication behaviours being measured. With an increased emphasis on the teaching and assessment of communication skills, the outcome of this research has wider implications for social work education in general.


This project describes the improvement process of a simulation model for mechanical presses with Dynamic Drive Chain® kit (DDC) developed by ABB SA.
Eccentric mechanical presses use a wheel of inertia combined with a clutch to descend, stamp and finally climb back to the top dead centre. In them, there is a limitation on the cycle time given by the speed at which the stamping is performed. This speed is defined by the quality of the stamp to be obtained and is directly related to the speed of the wheel, which is almost unchanged during the cycle.
DDC kit is a system that includes an additional press servomotor to provide control over the speed of ascent and descent of the slide and thus, reduce its cycle time and obtain other benefits.
Since the birth of DDC, a model was available to run simulations but it was difficult to adjust and the precision of the results was low. For that reason, it was decided to develop a new model that better represented the real system, in order to obtain more accurate results and, consequently, better define the requirements and specifications of new press systems.
During this project, it was analysed the operation of mechanical presses and DDC to then, perform a mathematical modelling of the different components and dynamics that characterize them. Once these models were developed, they were implemented in MATLAB®. This software offers a very powerful tool called Simulink, which serves as a basis for performing simulations and has been very useful when carrying out this project.
Next step was model validation. Results of both models, the former and the new one, were compared with real data. Improvements in the accuracy of the results have been remarkable, with a reduction of error of plus 50%.
Finally, an analysis of the feasibility of the project was performed, both financially and environmentally. The economic analysis consisted of calculating the costs of this project and the subsequent study and impact on investment. The environmental analysis has been done to see what influence may have the new model for future projects of DDC from a perspective of reducing the environment impact of these projects.


The wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical network (WDM-PON) has been generally regarded as a promising solution to the next-generation access network that will be required to deliver services over 40 Gb/s. However, fiber dispersion often limits the capacity and reach of WDM-PONs. Compared with dispersion compensation fiber, which is bulky and expensive with significant power loss, digital signal processing is a more suitable way to mitigate chromatic dispersion in PONs. Furthermore, expense is a critical concern in the WDM-PON, due to its need for a large number of lasers and a complex wavelength control mechanism. One practical solution is to reuse the downstream (DS) signal as the carrier for the upstream (US) modulation. In this case, the residual DS signal after remodulation can seriously degrade US transmission. In addition, system performance can be deteriorated by the unwanted reflection as uplinks and downlinks share one wavelength. In this paper, we propose using modified duobinary (MD) coding in the DS to improve its dispersion tolerance and reduce the crosstalk between DS and US induced by remodulation and reflection. MD is a correlative level code that can reduce signal bandwidth and achieve DC balance. We demonstrate a 15 km WDM-PON delivering a 40 Gb/s MD-coded signal in the downlink and a 10 Gb/s on-off keying signal in the uplink. Compared with no coding, the maximal allowable extinction ratio of the DS signal (ERd) is improved by 4 dB. Moreover, the reflection tolerance of the uplink and downlink is enhanced by 5 and 4 dB, respectively. In addition, investigations on the use of different equalizers in the DS to further suppress fiber dispersion confirm that the superior performance of nonlinear equalization in MD-coded transmission and that the network reach can be extended to 25 km by a nonlinear decision feedback equalizer.


The photonic interaction generally responsible for the electromagnetic trapping of molecules is forward-Rayleigh scattering, a process that is mediated by transition electric dipoles connecting the ground electronic state and virtual excited states. Higher order electric and magnetic multipole contributions to the scattering amplitude are usually negligible. However, on consideration of chiral discrimination effects (in which an input light of left-handed circular polarization can present different observables compared to right-handed polarization, or molecules of opposite enantiomeric form respond differently to a set circular polarization), the mechanism must be extended to specifically accommodate transition magnetic dipoles. Moreover, it is important to account for the fact that chiral molecules are necessarily nonspherical, so that their interactions with a laser beam will have an orientational dependence. Using quantum electrodynamics, this article quantifies the extent of the energetic discrimination that arises when chiral molecules are optically trapped, placing particular emphasis on the orientational effects of the trapping beam. An in-depth description of the intricate ensemble-weighted method used to incorporate the latter is presented. It is thus shown that, when a mixture of molecular enantiomers is irradiated by a continuous beam of circularly polarized light, a difference arises in the relative rates of migration of each enantiomer in and out of the most intense regions of the beam. As a consequence, optical trapping can be used as a means of achieving enantiomer separation.


Abstract A demonstration project was conducted to field-test guidelines for schools to use in responding to student threats of violence. Results from 188 student threats occurring in 35 schools over the course of one school year are described. School-based teams used a decision-tree model to evaluate the seriousness of a threat and take appropriate action to reduce the threat of violence. Using threat assessment guidelines, the majority of cases (70%) were resolved quickly as transient threats. More serious cases, termed substantive threats (30%), required a more extensive evaluation and intervention plan. Follow-up interviews with school principals revealed that almost all students were able to continue in school or return to school after a brief suspension. Only 3 students were expelled, and none of the threatened acts of violence were carried out. These findings indicate that student threat assessment is a feasible, practical approach for schools that merits more extensive study.


Increasing numbers of software vulnerabilities are discovered every year whether they are reported publicly or discovered internally in proprietary code. These vulnerabilities can pose serious risk of exploit and result in system compromise, information leaks, or denial of service. We leveraged the wealth of C and C++ open-source code available to develop a large-scale function-level vulnerability detection system using machine learning. To supplement existing labeled vulnerability datasets, we compiled a vast dataset of millions of open-source functions and labeled it with carefully-selected findings from three different static analyzers that indicate potential exploits. Using these datasets, we developed a fast and scalable vulnerability detection tool based on deep feature representation learning that directly interprets lexed source code. We evaluated our tool on code from both real software packages and the NIST SATE IV benchmark dataset. Our results demonstrate that deep feature representation learning on source code is a promising approach for automated software vulnerability detection.


To understand the cellular processes, knowledge of the localization and function of proteins are essential. There are several high throughput ventures examining the human proteome. However, there are some bottlenecks in these ventures. For example the production and expression of soluble proteins for analysis. Another obstacle for affinity proteomics is the generation of high quality antibodies, invaluable tools in biotechnological applications. The objective in this thesis was to facilitate protein purification and sample preparation before analysis and downstream applications. We also aimed to attain more information on what constitutes an ideal immunogen, and on how different immune systems respond to a common amino acid sequence. In one of the projects an automated purification set-up was developed to ensure high recovery of up to milligram amounts of protein with high purity. The system allowed up to 60 recombinant proteins to be purified under both native and denaturing conditions. In another project, the same developed set-up was additionally shown to work with an alternative chromatography resin with small adjustments. Instead of immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography, used in the first project, ion exchange chromatography was applied under denaturing conditions, with good results. To further automate the production line in high throughput projects, an automated sample preparation was set up for mass spectrometry and e.g. gel electrophoresis analysis. We showed that a crude cell lysate could be used as input in the magnetic bead based system, and totally absent from manual handling, the output was purified and buffer exchanged samples ready for mass spectrometry analysis, as well as a fraction of sample that could be used for complementary analyses, for example gel electrophoresis to determine the protein concentration and purity. The other objective was – as noted – to gain better comprehension of antibody generation to foreign proteins, and to shed more light over how to design a good antigen. First was a solubility assay developed that determined the remaining fraction of soluble protein after reduction of the concentration of denaturing agent. The assay was performed in a 96 deep well plate, and only instrumentation available in a standard laboratory was necessary. The fact that the assay could be automated on a pipetting robot, increased the throughput and reduced the necessary manual handling. Obtained information on antigen solubility was correlated to the cognate antibody titers. At average the antibody yield was higher when a soluble antigen was used for immunization. Also, the probability of failing in eliciting an immune response was increased if an insoluble antigen was used. However, the antibody titers in each solubility class were highly diverse, and thus also some insoluble antigens were found that provoked the immune system. To further examine the differences between different B cell repertoires, a massive epitope mapping was performed with more than 400 different antisera reacting to the same amino acid sequence. Antigenic hot spot regions were discovered, as well as regions depleted in antibody recognition. However, in one third of the antisera the most abundant antigenic region did not elicit any binding of antibodies. This further validates the conclusion that good antigen design is essential, however is it not certain the outcome of immunizations can ever be determined a priori due to the variability between hosts. An alternative to immunization is selection of affinity reagents by phage display. In the last project an initial parallelized set-up selected antibody fragments that showed high specificity and were compatible with several biotechnological applications, making the set-up a promising alternative to conventional immunization in proteome-wide endeavors.


The authors report on a design and demonstration of a quartic-style optical true-time-delay device based on a White cell. This device is designed for 81 sequential time delays with an incremental delay of 243 ps and a maximum delay of 19.683 ns. The time delays are implemented by free-space translations, with lens trains as needed for beam containment. A digital microelectromechanical tilting micromirror array is used to send the light into different delay paths


In this work, an integrative passive sampler based on a silicone membrane filled with a suspension of γ-Fe2O3 at pH 3.5 was developed. The novel device was calibrated for the measurement of microcystin concentrations in water. Laboratory calibration studies of the passive sampling devises under controlled conditions of temperature, water turbulence, and analyte concentration were conducted in order to establish how variable environmental conditions affect the novel sampler's performance. The chemical uptake of microcystin (MC)-RR, -LR, and -YR into the passive sampler remained linear and integrative throughout the 28-day exposure. The relative standard deviations of mean concentrations obtained using silicone-based sampler ranged from 1.42 to 3.74% for microcystin-LR, -RR, and -YR. The values for reproducibility from triplicate samplers ranged from 3.5 to 7.1% for microcystin-LR, -RR, and -YR. The detection limits on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with PDA detection for microcystins LR, RR, and YR were 24.7, 17.2, and 23.8 μg L−1 respectively, calculated as three times the signal to noise ratio. The rate of accumulation of most of the MC compounds tested was dependent on temperature and flow velocity. Furthermore, the sample matrix, e.g. humic substances, had no significant effect on the concentration of compounds trapped in the acceptor solution and once these MC compounds were trapped in the acceptor phase they did not diffuse back during the deployment period.


Differential conductance of the resonant-tunneling structure with a single impurity level studied in the current plateau regime undergoes fluctuations around a zero average manifesting the energy dependence of the local density of states in a disordered electrode. Although the rms value of dI/dV depends on disorder and barrier transparencies, it is almost independent of temperature and, as a function of bias voltage, has a correlation function scaled by the intrinsic width of the resonance, which can be regarded as a tool to measure this quantity beyond the main differential-conductance peak. The analysis is extended to the regime of classically high magnetic fields where both the amplitude and correlation magnetic field are expected to increase.


In order to have better insight into the physics of the urban wind turbines, a graphical user interface (GUI) that employs Open FOAM flow solver has been developed for industrial applications by Uppsala University with Spanish engineering company SOLUTE via EU framework as part of the WINDUR framework 7 project. Urban wind resource assessment for small scale wind applications present several challenges and complexities for that are different from large-scale wind power generation. Urban boundary layer relevant in this regime of flows have different horizontal profiles impacted by the buildings, low speed wind regimes, separation and different turbulence characteristics. This software addresses the project set-up and scientific visualization of the results for right investment decision needs. Preliminary numerical results will be presented for a test site in Huesca, Spain where a measurement campaign is undertaken to validate the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results.


This thesis aims to establish analytical frameworks to map urban growth patterns with spaceborne remote sensing data and to evaluate environmental impacts through Landscape Metrics and Ecosystem Services. Urbanization patterns at regional scale were evaluated in China's largest urban agglomerations and at metropolitan scale in Shanghai, Stockholm and Beijing using medium resolution optical satellite data. High-resolution data was used to investigate changes in Shanghai's urban core. The images were co-registered and mosaicked. Tasseled Cap transformations and texture features were used to increase class separabilities prior to pixel-based Random Forest and SVM classifications. Urban land cover in Shanghai and Beijing were derived through object-based SVM classification in KTH-SEG. After post-classification refinements, urbanization indices, Ecosystem Services and Landscape Metrics were used to quantify and characterize environmental impact. Urban growth was observed in all studies. China's urban agglomerations showed most prominent urbanization trends. Stockholm's urban extent increased only little with minor environmental implications. On a regional/metropolitan scale, urban expansion progressed predominately at the expense of agriculture. Investigating urbanization patterns at higher detail revealed trends that counteracted negative urbanization effects in Shanghai's core and Beijing's urban-rural fringe. Beijing's growth resulted in Ecosystem Services losses through landscape structural changes, i.e. service area decreases, edge contamination or fragmentation. Methodological frameworks to characterize urbanization trends at different scales based on remotely sensed data were developed. For detailed urban analyses high-resolution data are recommended whereas medium-resolution data at metropolitan/regional scales is suggested. The Ecosystem Service concept was extended with Landscape Metrics to create a more differentiated picture of urbanization effects.


This study's original contributions to knowledge are evidencing that:
a) There is the position of the listening artist that is a distinct practice to that of the sound artist, operating with quite different political, philosophical and aesthetic concerns. b) Sound art's canon of listening is insufficient for accounting for the range of listening at play in such practice.

This study contributes to sound art's debates on listening and advocates for the position of the listening artist. It begins with an overview of listening within sound art and explores the canon of listening within the discipline as associated with writers and practitioners such as Theodor Adorno, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Pierre Schaeffer and Hildegard Westerkamp. Using Scott's own work as a case study the efficacy and relevance of this canon to practice are critically appraised. The key finding from this initial research is that sound art's canonical listenings are relevant and useful in particular contexts but do not account for many of the social and inter-personal aspects of listening present in the works explored. This is due to many of the modes and strategies of listening in the canon being concerned with a musical understanding of listening as a means of following abstract sonic discourse, and also to a reliance on phenomenology as a heuristic tool for analysing this listening. These approaches result in a tendency to understand listening as an atomist process (Lipari, 2014) – a dynamic between an individual and a sound, based in notions of skill and technique – rather than a holistic 'back- and forth-' (Helin, 2012) between listeners, and with the wider social and political context that affords that listening.

The thesis goes on to propose a practice of listening that operates beyond sound art, one that can be accounted for through analysis of dialogical and participatory art practices (Kester, 2004. Bishop, 2012), communications studies (Bakhtin, 1975. Helin, 2012.), philosophy (Corradi Fiumara, 1995. Lipari, 2014), gender theory (Ratliffe, 2005. Lloyd, 2009), literary theory (Hume, 2012, Brittingham Furlonge, 2013) and artistic practice (Rajni Shah, Sonia Boyce, Ultra-Red). This position of the listening artist rejects modernist and post-modernist models of art-making and reception and embraces an approach based on communication and communality. The study proposes ways in which this listening praxis can critically engage with existing artistic practice, can be a methodology for developing new work and can constitute an artistic output in and of itself. Scott offers a number of his own projects as further case studies, exploring the nascent position of the listening artist within his work and analysing his own trajectory from being a sound artist to becoming a listening artist.


This is a study on the Canadian federal government's role as financier of feature length films. I argue this policy constitutes a rupture with the spirit of the Report of the 1949-1951 Royal Commission on the National Development of the Letters, Arts and Sciences. Traditionally the federal government abstained from participating in the production of feature length films, because these were deemed unworthy pillars of contemporary Canadian national culture; hence the critical juncture with the 1968 creation of the Canadian Film Development Corporation. The main objective of this study is to understand why the federal government helped develop a Canadian feature film industry. I am interested in the reason why the government felt that the creation of an institution was the best possible course of action through which to develop a feature film production industry in Canada. This study also seeks to understand whether or not Ottawa's support towards the features production industry in Canada is worthwhile. A historical analysis of the evolution of federal film policy will demonstrate this. Specifically, analytical tools from the historical variant of neo-institutionalism have been selected and will be applied in order to answer these questions. Hopefully this study will provide understanding of how Canadian cinema is made and in which direction this unique practice is headed.


In this paper a simple eye tracking and calibration approach for glasses-free stereoscopic 3D displays is presented that requires only one ordinary camera for tracking. The approach is designed for the use with parallax barrier based screens, but should with(out) limitations also be usable with other autostereoscopic screens. The robust eye tracking approach can easily be reimplemented and is based on well chosen search areas and parameters that were determined experimentally. Thanks to efficient eye position prediction delays can be eliminated that are normally a problem in realtime systems. The calibration approach allows us to calibrate the eye tracking camera to the 3D screen in a direct and simple way. Direct means that the calibration is realized pixel-wise and simple means that there is no need for a (complex) camera/screen model in contrast to many other calibration approaches. There is even no need to determine any camera parameter for calibration. The accuracy of the eye tracking approach and the eye position prediction is evaluated experimentally.


This Master thesis explores the socio-spatial impact of the short-term rental platform Airbnb in a central neighbourhood of Madrid. The rapid rise of Airbnb has expanded the use of residential apartments as transient hotel rooms, by activating an intense debate in Madrid and in other cities about the possible benefits and drawbacks of such new phenomenon. Opinions are diverse, some argue that the platform can be a catalyst for cities economy, while critics see it as a threat to housing affordability and local communities. Although a large number of researches have been conducted in order to better understand the phenomenon from an economic or sociological point of view, regarding the urban and architectural impact, the field of study is still weak and open to new contributions. From a cognitive perspective, the first part combines an accurate study of the Airbnb keys to success with the discussion of the key topics debated within the existing scientific literature, revealing that Airbnb can shift the balance within the economic, social and urban sphere without any physical action. By doing so, Airbnb actually enters the debate on tourism gentrification. In this context the thesis aims to investigate the Airbnb Effect through a multiscalar analysis of Madrid, going from the urban to the domestic scale. Through a quantitative analysis of the Airbnb data of Madrid, a number of key findings are outlined in order to allow a rather complete description of the phenomenon. Based on the results obtained, the analysis scale is restricted to the Lavapies neighbourhood. After a historical study of the neighbourhood's urban fabric, as well as an approximation to its complex multicultural legacy, the socio-spatial consequences of the presence of Airbnb will emerge. The impact is also measured at the building scale and further to that of the apartment. To do this, a traditional collective housing typology called Corrala has been chosen, while for what concerns the domestic scale, a series of representative case studies have been selected. The data findings show that Madrid has seen a strong increase in Airbnb listings in 2018, with a greater concentration in the inner city and especially in Lavapies, where the largest number of listings are located. Multi-listing owners play a key role in Madrid's Airbnb market by controlling almost half of the supply, despite being a small minority. This is easily identifiable even in the greater distribution of entire apartments compared to private rooms. Lastly, the potential profitability of an Airbnb apartment, depending on its surface, can also be up to three times greater than that obtained from the traditional rent. These results reflect the protests of the inhabitants of Lavapies against real estate speculation, outlining a context in which conflict is mixed with the new patterns of tourist consumption of space dictated by Airbnb. In addition, the impact of Airbnb at the building scale generates a further socio-spatial contrast. However, the apartments objects of the study show that on one hand, the sharing of the home persists, changing the way of inhabiting; on the other hand, in most cases, the home is specialized for tourism. In conclusion, a vision of contemporary inhabiting, adaptable to Airbnb and to the segmentation of contemporary life practices is proposed.


Poster presented at the 2018 Defence and Security Doctoral Symposium.Micro-UAVs of the size of an insect can be used to perform stealthy surveillance or to gather intelligence crucial to attack roles at a relatively short range and within enclosed spaces and buildings. Conventional radar systems have been optimised to detect and classify bigger targets and are not specifically designed to detect micro-targets of less than 5cm in size. Other micro-targets that are relatively small in size are the insect itself. Insect detecting, monitoring and tracking have been a great interest too until now, especially those that can caused harm to the agriculture and wide spread of diseases. It is important to detect at early stage rather than noticed it after the destructive happened. Most entomology radars that are being used now are pulsed signal wave radar, that are less efficient compared to continuous wave radar. A set of MATLAB simulations will be carried out to understand how to extract the Doppler as well as micro-Doppler signatures from these small targets, then to understand what sort of detection range can be achieved with current technology.


This paper illustrates the complicated process of formulating a library consortium in Sri Lanka, and the process of preliminary activities, selection of databases, awareness raising and training and the later developments are presented as a case study, using appropriate Tables, Figures and textual discussions. Insights are provided to the factors that contributed to the slow but steady establishment and development including the support of the top management of the University Grants Commission, participation of as many academics as possible and the collaborative nature of the implementation process. This is the first ever paper written on the formulation of the Sri Lankan consortium and the publishing will help many researchers to gain firsthand information about its beginnings. Also, the library leaders from other countries where the socio-economic and attitudinal conditions are similar can use the lessons learnt from this initiative for their benefit.


Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) is one of the most playful, life-affirming and awkward voices in twentieth-century music. His work resists easy stylistic categorisation or containment, yet its melodic richness and harmonic vitality are immediately appealing and engaging. Nielsen's symphonies, concertos and operas are an increasingly prominent feature of the international repertoire, and his songs remain perennially popular at home in Denmark. But his work has only rarely attracted sustained critical attention within the scholarly community; he remains arguably the most underrated composer of his international generation. This book offers a critical re-evaluation of Carl Nielsen's music and his rich literary and artistic contexts. Drawing extensively on contemporary writing and criticism, as well as the research of the newly completed Carl Nielsen Edition, the book presents a series of case studies centred on key works in Carl Nielsen's output, particularly his comic opera Maskarade, the Third Symphony (Sinfonia Espansiva), and his final symphony, the Sinfonia Semplice. Topics covered include his relationship with symbolism and fin-de-siecle decadence, vitalism, counterpoint, and the Danish landscape. Running throughout the book is a critical engagement with the idea of musical modernism - a term which, for Nielsen, was fraught with anxiety and yet provided a constant creative stimulus. DANIEL M. GRIMLEY holds a University Lectureship in Music at Oxford, and is the Tutorial Fellow in Music at Merton College and Lecturer in Music, Landscape at University College. His previous books include Grieg: Music, Landscape and Norwegian Identity (Boydell, 2006) and the Cambridge Companion to Sibelius (Cambridge University Press, 2004).


"Michael Pertschuk brings an insider's insight to the tumultuous years of the sixties and seventies, when the consumer protection bells rang from Washington throughout the land. An engrossing story of corporate versus consumer battles over health, safety, and the economic rights of Americans. The future of consumer justice is given wisdom by this eyewitness account." (Ralph Nadar). "This is a book that should be ready by everyone with a stake in regulation of business by bureaucrats in Washington. Whether you agree or disagree with his point of view - and I often disagree - you can always count on Mike Pertschuk to be provocative, stimulating, and certainly controversial." (Howard H. Bell, President, American Advertising Federation). "There is a lot of businessmen [sic] to disagree with in this book. It's troublesome and disturbing - not the least because Mike Pertschuk is a tough adversary. But any businessman [sic] - or citizen - who wants to know exactly how the politics of regulation work would be well advised to read this book - and be prepared." (George Koch, President and Chief Executive Officer Grocery Manufacturers of America). "Must reading for everyone who is a student of the consumer movement, past, present, and future, and its interaction with the government, media, private sector, et al. It is a superb 'How To' manual on tactics, and presents a rare inside look at how things really get done in that place called Washington, D.C." (Calvin Pond, Vice President, Public Affairs Division Safeway Stores, Inc.). "Pertschuk's book is outstanding; it is a beautiful blend of personal, firsthand observation and political and policy analysis." (Aaron Wildavsky, University of California, Berkeley). "A rare picture of how government works...sprightly, lucid, and appealing ...remarkably candid and honest, not only in revealing the labyrinthian interplays of politics but in disclosing the author's own attitudes and motives...An extraordinary document." (Charles Lindblom, Yale University). "There is no more controversial figure in Washington than Michael Pertschuk..." (Senator John Danforth).


Results of previous studies from North America reported that only 14 out of the 20 items from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) were required to assess negative affect, somatic symptoms, and anhedonia. However, it remains unclear whether this three-factor structure of the CES-D would be valid in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of the three-factor structure with a Korean version of the CES-D. The participants were Korean college students (N = 215), elementary school teachers (N = 234), and parents of elementary school students (N = 230). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine the scale's validity. Results indicated that the three-factor structure showed acceptable fit to data (comparative fit index = 0.95; root mean square error of approximation = 0.06). The findings indicated that the three-factor structure of the CES-D was valid in South Korea.


Chlamydia trachomatis infections represent the most common sexually transmitted diseases.The lack of growth of these microorganisms on common media and the roundabout research by immunofluorescence, has meant that, until now, these special-lived intracellular microorganisms have played a role probably underestimated in cases of infections affecting the sexual organs.The introduction of molecular biology has made possible their research in a much more simple, reliable and standardized methods. The study was carried out on endocervical samples, male urethral swabs and urine samples of men and women, determining the C. trachomatis DNA amplified using the BD ProbeTec ET system. This system uses technology SDA (Strand Displacement Amplification - Elongationcrowding of the blanks). The study was conducted from June 2008 to june 2009. Symptomatic and asyntptomatic patients residents in the provinces of Novara and the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola were considered. In this period 784 determinations were made in molecular biology. Chlamydia trachomatis was found in 26 cases equal to a percentage of 3.32%. While considering these preliminary data, however, we can estimate the rate of detection of C. trachomatis as a good starting point, because we have the impression that improved procedures particularly relate to the techniques for sampling and for storage and transport of the sample, can undoubtedly lead to much higher percentages.


OBJECTIVE
We determined the feasibility and outcomes of the Log Handwriting Program (Raynal, 1990), an 8-week training program based on task-specific practice of handwriting.

METHOD
We used a pretest-posttest design involving 16 first- and second-grade Australian students. Handwriting training sessions occurred in schools for 45 min per week over 8 weeks, in groups of 2 or 3. Weekly homework was provided. The primary outcome measure was the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (range = 0 to 34; Reisman, 1999). Legibility, form, alignment, size, spacing, and speed were measured.

RESULTS
All six assessment subscales showed statistically significant differences. Legibility improved by a mean of 4.1 points (95% confidence interval = 2.5 to 5.7); form, 5.3 points; alignment, 7.8 points; size, 7.9 points; and space, 5.3 points. Speed decreased by 3.9 points.

CONCLUSION
Preliminary evidence indicates that an 8-week Log Handwriting Program is feasible and improved handwriting in primary school children.


In this paper is presented an improved version of the overtopping formula by Lykke Andersen & Burcharth (2004) valid for berm breakwaters with initial slopes of 1:1.25. In the present paper guidelines is given on how to modify the formula to take into account the initial slope angle. Further the formula is improved so it gives reliable estimates also for more stable structures. The extension of the overtopping formula is based on analysis of front slope stability data from many different data sets. In most cases there is only a small difference between the Lykke Andersen & Burcharth (2004) formula and the present improved formula. However, for a more stable structure and low wave steepness the improved formula performs better. Six different data sets are used to study the validity of the Lykke Andersen & Burcharth (2004) formula, the present improved formula and the CLASH neural network model. The present improved formula seems to be the best choice. The CLASH NN-Model performs very well for berm breakwater data sets included in the fitting of the NN-Model, but much worse for those not included. This demonstrates some degree of overlearning of the neural network due to limited data for berm breakwaters.


From Raymond Briggs, author of The Snowman and inspiration for The Snowman and Snowdog, comes this collection of bloomin' brilliant Christmas jokes. The book also features some of Father Christmas' musings on what it's like to be him - for better or for worse - year in, year out. The perfect stocking filler gift, full of Christmas crackers to keep children laughing.


This paper presents some improvements on the optimization of hardware multiplication by constant matrices. We focus on the automatic generation of circuits that involve constant matrix multiplication, i.e., multiplication of a vector by a constant matrix. The proposed method, based on number recoding and dedicated common subexpression factorization algorithms, was implemented in a VHDL generator. Our algorithms and generator have been extended to the case of some digital filters based on multiplication by a constant matrix and delay operations. The obtained results on several applications have been implemented on FPGAs and compared to previous solutions. Up to 40 percent area and speed savings are achieved.


Ar/Ar in situ UV laser ablation of white mica, Rb–Sr mineral isochrons and zircon fission track dating were applied to determine ages of very lowto low-grade metamorphic processes at 3.5 ± 0.4 kbar, 280 ± 30 °C in the Avalonian Mira terrane of SE Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia). The Mira terrane comprises Neoproterozoic volcanic-arc rocks overlain by Cambrian sedimentary rocks. Crystallization of metamorphic white mica was dated in six metavolcanic samples by Ar/Ar spot age peaks between 396 ± 3 and 363 ± 14 Ma. Rb–Sr systematics of minerals and mineral aggregates yielded two isochrons at 389 ± 7 Ma and 365 ± 8 Ma, corroborating equilibrium conditions during very lowto low-grade metamorphism. The dated white mica is oriented parallel to foliations produced by sinistral strike-slip faulting and/or folding related to the Middle–Late Devonian transpressive assembly of Avalonian terranes during convergence and emplacement of the neighbouring Meguma terrane. Exhumation occurred earlier in the NW Mira terrane than in the SE. Transpression was related to the closure of the Rheic Ocean between Gondwana and Laurussia by NW-directed convergence. The Ar/Ar spot age spectra also display relict age peaks at 477–465 Ma, 439 Ma and 420–428 Ma attributed to deformation and fluid access, possibly related to the collision of Avalonia with composite Laurentia or to earlier Ordovician–Silurian rifting. Fission track ages of zircon from Mira terrane samples range between 242 ± 18 and 225 ± 21 Ma and reflect late Palaeozoic reburial and reheating close to previous peak metamorphic temperatures under fluid-absent conditions during rifting prior to opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean.


In this paper, the reverse-link interrogation range (RIR) of ultrahigh-frequency-band passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) is analyzed for single-input and single-output (SISO) and multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) systems with maximal-ratio combining in the pinhole channel, where each channel is modeled as an arbitrarily correlated Nakagami-m distribution. Under the assumptions of perfect channel estimation and no interference, the closed-form expression of average RIR is derived, involving various parameters, such as the number of antennas, correlation, reader structure, and Nakagami- m shaping factor. The results show that the employment of multiple antennas at a reader causes the received SNR to change favorably and contributes to the improvement of the average RIR. Particularly, for the bistatic structure and Rayleigh fading (m = 0 dB), a 3 × 3 MIMO-RFID system can achieve 60% gain in the average RIR compared to the SISO-RFID system. In order to consider more realistic environments, finally, we investigated the influence of interference and imperfect channel estimation on the average RIR of the MIMO-RFID system in the uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channel.


The thesis proposes a number of techniques for elaborating requirements constructively from high-level goals. The techniques are based on the KAOS goal-oriented method for requirements engineering. This method consists in identifying goals and refining them into subgoals until the latter can be assigned as responsibilities of single agents such as humans, devices and software. Domain properties and assumptions about the software environment are also used during the goal refinement process. The method supports the exploration of alternative goal refinements and alternative responsibility assignments of goals to agents. It also supports the identification and resolution of conflicts between goals, and the identification and resolution of exceptional agent behaviors, called obstacles, that violate goals and assumptions produced during the goal refinement process. The thesis enriches the KAOS framework through three kinds of techniques: (a) techniques for identifying agents, goal refinements, and alternative responsibility assignments, and for deriving agent interfaces from such responsibility assignments; (b) techniques for deriving operational requirements from goal specifications; (c) techniques for generating obstacles to the satisfaction of idealized goals and assumptions, and for generating alternative obstacle resolutions. The result is a coherent body of systematic techniques for requirements elaboration that are both theoretically well-founded (a formal model of agent is defined) and effective in practice (the techniques are validated on two real case studies of significant size: the London ambulance despatching system, and the Bay Area Rapid Transit train system).


The Approach/Avoidance Task (AAT; Rinck & Becker, 2007) assesses approach and avoidance motivational processes by requiring participants to respond to pictures by either pulling a joystick handle toward them or pushing it away. The amount of time required to execute these actions is the dependent variable. The rationale is that appetitive images should facilitate pull (i.e., approach) responses, whereas unpleasant images should facilitate push (e.g., avoid) responses. A small research literature attests to the AAT's validity in measuring approach/avoidance motivational processes (e.g., Wiers et al., 2010, 2011). Nevertheless, we deemed it important to empirically explore the extent to which the AAT is related to other implicit and explicit measures of responses to emotionally evocative, motivationally relevant stimuli. In this study, undergraduates completed an (a) AAT designed to measure approach/avoidance biases in relation to pictures of snakes or spiders, (b) an Implicit Association Test (IAT) designed to measure automatic evaluations of snakes or spiders, and (c) several self-report items designed to tap the cognitive, affective, and motivational elements of snake or spider fear. We expected that links between the AAT and these other measures would be modest, a pattern that would imply that the AAT taps affective/motivational processes that are separable from the psychological processes that lie at the heart of these other assessment tools. METHOD Forty-two undergraduates participated in the study for $10. The AAT presented participants with 30 pictures in each of four categories (images of food or babies, general threat-related scenes, neutral objects, and snakes or spiders). Half the pictures in each category were presented in landscape orientation; the other half were presented in portrait orientation. Upon picture onset, half of the participants were instructed to pull the joystick handle toward them in response to pictures presented in landscape and push the joystick handle away from them in response to pictures presented in portrait. The other half of the participants were given the opposite instruction. We followed standard procedures for the analysis of AAT data (Rinck & Becker, 2007). Our IAT measured the strength of associative links between snakes/spiders or butterflies and the concepts "approach" or "avoid." We followed standard procedures for the analysis of IAT data (Greenwald et al., 2003). Self-report items (7-point scale) were as follows: "If you encountered a snake/spider on the way home..." How would you feel? (affective) How long would it be before you could think about or focus on anything else? (cognitive) How strongly would you try to avoid it? (motivational). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Correlational analyses demonstrated, as predicted, that the AAT showed modest or near-zero links with the other explicit and implicit measures utilized here (IAT, r = -.02; affective self-report, r = -.06; cognitive selfreport, r = .29, p = .07; motivational self-report, r = .13, p = .43). These results suggest that the AAT, compared to the other measures used here, taps separable approach/avoidance motivational processes. Additional research might more rigorously evaluate this possibility by determining the unique contributions of these measures to the prediction of motivationally relevant behavior. This poster presentation is available at Fisher Digital Publications: http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/psychology_facpub/2 Disciplines Psychology Comments Poster presented at Faculty Scholarship Celebration, St. John Fisher College, October 25, 2012. This poster presentation is available at Fisher Digital Publications: http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/psychology_facpub/2 Does the Approach/Avoidance Task Correlate with Other Measures of Approach/Avoidance Processes? Ryan Thibodeau, Michael P. Callan St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY


Foxconn has responded to criticism from the ACFTU regarding its overtime policy in a public statement issued on February 4. Foxconn claims that it, along with the entire manufacturing industry, faces a dilemma in balancing workers' desire to put in significant overtime hours with state laws and regulations setting limits on the same. It further expressed surprise that the ACFTU would use the 2010 suicides to criticize Foxconn over its overtime policy and cast doubt on the ACFTU General-Secretary's understanding of opinions on overtime among Foxconn's workers. Foxconn invited the ACFTU's General-Secretary to make personal inspections of Foxconn's factories in order to gain a better understanding of the conditions there.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between smoking and socio-demographic and behavioral factors among undergraduate students in the area of health at the State University of Paraíba, Brazil. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted with a representative sample from each of the following courses: Dentistry, Nursing, Psychology, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy and Physical Education. A total of 492 students were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The chi-square and Fisher's Exact tests were used for statistical analysis at a 5% level of significance. Smoking prevalence was 5.7% and stress was the main reason for starting the habit (36.8%). In the multivariate analysis by logistic regression, the variables of gender, religious persuasion, semester attended in the course, and alcohol consumption were significantly associated with smoking (p<0.05). Although other studies reported a strong relationship between university students and smoking, the prevalence of smokers was low. Most of the variables studied revealed a correlation with smoking. Since smoking and alcohol consumption are the two major human addictions, this study suggests a bidirectional relationship between these variables.


Politics in Chad was militarized at the time of colonial conquest and has remained so ever since. Except for the French-supported candidacy of François Tombalbaye for the presidency in 1960, all other presidents of Chad have been connected to a coup d'état. All presidents in independent Chad have relied heavily on armed support, creating ample armies, feared presidential guards, and terrifying secret services. Proxy wars, political mistrust, economic opportunity-seeking, and strategic ever-changing armed alliances characterize Chadian politics. Flexibility and fluidity have embodied the heart of armed resistance in Chad since the establishment of the first important politico-military rebel movement Frolinat in 1966. In fact, for rebels and powerholders alike, the state is at its best when it is most fragile (in a Western sense). With fragility comes blurriness and flexibility and thus predation opportunities.
 During the Cold War, most of the various armed fractions were supported militarily and economically by either the United States and France or Libyan Colonel Gaddafi and the regime in Khartoum. During Habré's regime (1982–1990), the Cold War heated Chad. Fearing to lose Chad to the communists or "crazy" Colonel Gaddafi, the United States and France supported a brutal and ruthless Chadian president who ruled with terror and force.
 The current president, Déby, gained power in the wake of the Cold War and has managed to keep it ever since by cleverly changing his rhetoric from a hope for democracy to a fear of war, both internally and internationally. After starting to export oil in 2003, Chad has used petrodollars to upgrade its armed forces, both in numbers and in materiel. Since about 2010, Chad has been a prime EU- and US-financed antiterrorism force in the Sahel. With its courageous troops, especially the former Presidential Guard, transformed in 2005 to Direction Générale de Service de Sécurité des Institutions de l'État (DGSSIE) and from 2014 led by Mahamat Déby, son of President Déby, Chad's army has gained international fame. The Chadian army has benefited largely from the tactical training and military equipment provided by the United States and France in the name of antiterrorism. Thus, by the end of the 2010s, Chad had one of the best-equipped and trained armies in Africa.


An afternoon heavy rainfall event in northern Taiwan, observed on June 20, 2000 during the monsoon break, is investigated using surface observation and Doppler radar data and a nonhydrostatic model with a horizontal grid spacing of 1.33 km. Heavy rainfall was brought majorly by two precipitation systems, namely A and B. System A was initiated and developed in Taipei Basin, associated with a local wind convergence line. System B was formed on the western slopes south of Taipei Basin, extended northward of the Taipei Basin, and lasted for 4 h. The formation and maintenance mechanisms of the two systems are examined using sensitivity experiments in which the terrain of Central Mountain Range (CMR) or Yangmin Mountain (YM) located north of the Taipei Basin is removed or reduced. In addition, the effect of cold outflow from System A on System B is examined.The wind convergence line responsible for forming and maintaining System A is brought from the interaction between the prevailing southwesterly winds and the easterly/northeasterly flow caused by the terrain effect of CMR. Furthermore, the northeasterly onshore flow and the low-level northwesterly/northerly flow resulting from the prevailing southwesterly winds turning southward over southern YM, enhance System A inside Taipei Basin. System B is produced over relatively high sloped areas (elevations exceeding 200 m) in southwestern Taipei Basin by the prevailing southwesterly winds. Over relatively low lands (elevations less than 200 m), the cold outflow from System A inside Taipei Basin converges with the prevailing southwesterly winds and helps the maintenance of System B.


A surge of progress in both laser spectroscopy experiments and theoretical dynamics methods has facilitated new, highly detailed studies of water clusters. The geometrical structures and hydrogen-bond tunneling pathways of the water trimer, tetramer, pentamer, and hexamer systems have recently been characterized with global analysis of potential surfaces, diffusion Monte Carlo calculations, and far-infrared laser vibration-rotation tunneling spectroscopy. Results from these and other studies are yielding important insights into the cooperativity effects in hydrogen bonding, aqueous solvation, and hydrogen-bond network rearrangement dynamics, which promise to enhance our understanding of solid and liquid water behavior.


Stroke is one of the major causes of death and disability in developing countries. It takes place when the blood supply to a fraction of the brain is abruptly interrupted or severely reduced by, for instance, a blood clot. This is known as an ischaemic stroke. A number of studies indicate that deregulation of a set of cell cycle kinases has been implicated in neural death following an ischaemic insult and in neurodegenerative disorders. Overall the cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) and its two activators; the p35/p25 proteins, have been highlighted as critical players in neural survival, and potential mediators of angiogenesis. Hence, a detailed understanding of the mechanisms involving them in the pathogenesis of stroke can provide a platform for therapeutic intervention and potentially enable adoption of strategies to prevent the disease. The aim of the study was to identify key regulatory factors associated with Cdk5 signalling pathway during angiogenesis in a human brain microvascular endothelial cell line (hBMECs).
Two cell clones of hBMECs were generated by stable transfection; overexpression of wild-type human Cdk5 and CIP (Cdk5 inhibitory peptide). Cdk5 and p35 protein co-localisation were detected by Immunofluorescence analysis.
The findings suggest that the ratio of p35/p25 is altered in favour of p25 by hypoxia. It was able to cleave p35 into a p25, which reduce the migration. The overexpression of Cdk5 increased the ratios of p35/p25 under hypoxic condition. Activation of p35/Cdk5 signalling occurred at the expense of p25-Cdk5, therefore, may have a protective role against endothelial cells apoptosis in hypoxia and positively contribute to preserving cell motility and the proper spatial and temporal control of cytoskeletal dynamics, which is essential for sprout formation (angiogenesis). Here it is shown that the protective roles of CIP are mediated through the down-regulation of HSP-70 and active caspase-3 and up-regulation of the phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK). CIP was able to protect hBMECs against apoptosis, and to allow angiogenesis to continue effectively during hypoxia. Therefore, it may be considered a potential future protector therapeutic after stroke and other brain injury.


Over the last century, physiological signals have been broadly analyzed and processed not only to assess the function of the human physiology, but also to better diagnose illnesses or injuries and provide treatment options for patients. In particular, Electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure (BP) and impedance are among the most important biomedical signals processed and analyzed. The majority of studies that utilize these signals attempt to diagnose important irregularities such as arrhythmia or blood loss by processing one of these signals. However, the relationship between them is not yet fully studied using computational methods.
Therefore, a system that extract and combine features from all physiological signals representative of states such as arrhythmia and loss of blood volume to predict the presence and the severity of such complications is of paramount importance for care givers. This will not only enhance diagnostic methods, but also enable physicians to make more accurate decisions; thereby the overall quality of care provided to patients will improve significantly.
In the first part of the dissertation, analysis and processing of ECG signal to detect the most important waves i.e. P, QRS, and T, are described. A wavelet-based method is implemented to facilitate and enhance the detection process. The method not only provides high detection accuracy, but also efficient in regards to memory and execution time. In addition, the method is robust against noise and baseline drift, as supported by the results.
The second part outlines a method that extract features from ECG signal in order to classify and predict the severity of arrhythmia. Arrhythmia can be life-threatening or benign. Several methods exist to detect abnormal heartbeats. However, a clear criterion to identify whether the detected arrhythmia is malignant or benign still an open problem. The method discussed in this dissertation will address a novel solution to this important issue.
In the third part, a classification model that predicts the severity of loss of blood volume by incorporating multiple physiological signals is elaborated. The features are extracted in time and frequency domains after transforming the signals with Wavelet Transformation (WT). The results support the desirable reliability and accuracy of the system.


Information on populations that are food insecure at national and regional level, and changes in food security over time, are important in formulating policy and development interventions for food security. Sri Lankas's food security assessments have been based on composite indices constructed using variables that are direct or indirect determinants of food security. Such composite indices help compare relative food insecurity across geographic areas, and over time, but limit the assessment of the magnitude of the prevalence food insecurity. In this study using deprivation of food energy intake as an indicator of food insecurity, prevalence of food insecurity is measured as the food insecure proportion of populations in specific geographic areas at specific points in time. The probability density function of per capita food dietary energy intake is assumed to follow a lognormal distribution and prevalence of food insecurity is estimated as the proportion of the population whose per capita dietary energy intake per day is unsatisfied in relation to a recommended minimum level. The method was applied to primary data from the National Household Income and Expenditure Surveys conducted in the years 2006-2007 and 2009-2010. The derived food insecurity estimates were validated comparing with official estimates of expenditure poverty, nutritional outcomes and also with the findings from food security assessments based on composite indices, available in the literature. The analysis of prevalence estimates reveal insights on regional differences in food insecurity and changes over time, yielding important implications for policy. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljastats.v14i1.5875


Should the South African courts abolish the traditional imminence standard, something must be used to stand in its place. The identification of the various alternatives which have been suggested to replace imminence - most notably the establishment of the "reasonable woman standard" as advanced in the case of S v Engelbrecht 2005 (92) SACR 41 (W) - has moved the law of self-defence into the realm of subjectivity. The end result not only undermines self-defence as a justification defence, but is also unworkable for a number of reasons. For instance, utilising expert testimony to explain how the battered woman's syndrome affects individual perception would leave a judge with no meaningful way to determine if that abused woman's belief in the imminence of danger was reasonable, even if viewed from her distorted perspective. It is suggested that no reference need be made to the "reasonable battered woman", since South African courts already do this to a limited extent by taking a number of factors into account in determining if the abused woman acted reasonably. By rethinking certain factors in the situation as a set of relatively innocuous normative propositions, the abused woman's actions can be judged in accordance with standard propositions in the law of self-defence.


The effective susceptibility (that is, the magnetic moment divided by the external magnetic field) of a paramagnetic powder loosely packed into an ellipsoidal container has been measured against the vapour pressure of liquid helium, and hence, using the results of the preceding paper, against the susceptibility of the compact salt. The definition of the 'Curie' temperature scale is based on the latter, and it is found th at the correction to be applied in calculating the Curie temperature from the effective susceptibility of the powder agrees with that given by a theoretical expression derived from Breit's calculation of the demagnetizing field of a powder. This is of importance both in experiments using a loosely packed powder and in experiments using a paramagnetic powder mixed with a non-magnetic material.


There is still an ongoing debate about lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) (1–4). We read with particular interest Fitzgerald et al's recent paper that detailed eligibility for lung cancer screening using this method (5). Some observations in France about the related question of asbestos might give further useful insight into complicated questions relevant to lung cancer screening and its financial consequences.

In 2010–2011, the French National Authority for Health arbitrated a very broad debate between all interested parties (ie, patients, doctors, scientists, politicians and lobbyists, employers) concerning asbestos in the workplace (6). Chest CT was accepted as the standard imaging procedure (a former recommendation of X-rays was considered useless) to be carried out every 5 or 10 years, depending on the cumulative exposure at work – as assessed by an occupational health specialist – and at 20–30 years after the first year of exposure. This decision was based on the currently available medical evidence, but also on financial consequences, taking two aspects into consideration. First, all asbestos disorders diagnosed might be compensated, from cancer to asbestosis, this comprises all pleural disorders related to asbestos exposure, including plaques (based on the subsequent anxiety, and the higher probability of later cancer) (7); and a follow-up by a specialist is offered, taking into account the possibility of complications from "too much medicine" including aspecific pulmonary nodules) (8, 9). The second aspect was the asbestos companies' funding of consequences, based on the attributable fraction of risk in exposed individuals and populations.

Thus, we encourage consideration of the possibility of involving all stakeholders who might play a role in the etiology of lung cancer (directly or indirectly, asbestos and also tobacco companies), in order to decide who should assume the charges for all consequences of such screening.

 Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Richard Carter for helping us to improve the language of this work.

 Conflict of interest
Thomas Despreaux and Selene Ollivier have no relevant conflict of interest. Alexis Descatha has received fees from the National Health Insurance for work compensation for his expertise in the field (indemnity independent of any decisions he has made about accepting or refusing cases), and from Elsevier Masson as editor-in-chief of the journal Les Archives des Maladies Professionnelles et de l'Environnement. He is also an administrator for the Fond d'Indemnisation des Victimes de l'Amiante (Asbestos Victims Indemnisation Fund) as an unpaid expert.


Tight gas sands in Whicher
Range Field of Perth Basin show large heterogeneity in reservoir
characteristics and production behavior related to depositional and diagenetic
features. Diagenetic events (compaction and cementation) have severely affected
the pore system. In order to investigate the petrophysical characteristics,
reservoir sandstone facies were correlated with core porosity and permeability
and their equivalent well log responses to describe hydraulic flow units and
electrofacies, respectively. Thus, very tight, tight, and sub-tight sands were
differentiated. To reveal the relationship between pore system properties and
depositional and diagenetic characteristics in each sand type, reservoir rock
types were extracted. The identified reservoir rock types are in fact a
reflection of internal reservoir heterogeneity related to pore system
properties. All reservoir rock types are characterized by a compacted fabric
and cemented framework. But distribution and dominance of diagenetic products
in each of them depend on primary depositional composition and texture. The
results show that reservoir rock typing based on three aspects of reservoir
sandstones (depositional properties, diagenetic features and petrophysical
characteristics) is a suitable technique for depiction of reservoir
heterogeneity, recognition of reservoir units and identifying factors
controlling reservoir quality of tight sandstones. This methodology can be used
for the other tight reservoirs.


This thesis is concerned with the study of transient scattering of acoustic waves by an obstacle in an infinite domain, where the scattered wave is represented in terms of time domain boundary layer potentials. The problem of finding the unknown solution of the scattering problem is thus reduced to the problem of finding the unknown density of the time domain boundary layer operators on the obstacle's boundary, subject to the boundary data of the known incident wave. Using a Galerkin approach, the unknown density is replaced by a piecewise polynomial approximation, the coefficients of which can be found by solving a linear system. The entries of the system matrix of this linear system involve, for the case of a two dimensional scattering problem, integrals over four dimensional space-time manifolds. An accurate computation of these integrals is crucial for the stability of this method. Using piecewise polynomials of low order, the two temporal integrals can be evaluated analytically, leading to kernel functions for the spatial integrals with complicated domains of piecewise support. These spatial kernel functions are generalised into a class of admissible kernel functions. A quadrature scheme for the approximation of the two dimensional spatial integrals with admissible kernel functions is presented and proven to converge exponentially by using the theory of countably normed spaces. A priori error estimates for the Galerkin approximation scheme are recalled, enhanced and discussed. In particular, the scattered wave's energy is studied as an alternative error measure. The numerical schemes are presented in such a way that allows the use of non-uniform meshes in space and time, in order to be used with adaptive methods that are based on a posteriori error indicators and which modify the computational domain according to the values of these error indicators. The theoretical analysis of these schemes demands the study of generalised mapping properties of time domain boundary layer potentials and integral operators, analogously to the well known results for elliptic problems. These mapping properties are shown for both two and three space dimensions. Using the generalised mapping properties, three types of a posteriori error estimators are adopted from the literature on elliptic problems and studied within the context of the two dimensional transient problem. Some comments on the three dimensional case are also given. Advantages and disadvantages of each of these a posteriori error estimates are discussed and compared to the a priori error estimates. The thesis concludes with the presentation of two adaptive schemes for the two dimensional scattering problem and some corresponding numerical experiments.


We present the prototype of a ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ), which is based on a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of small, functional molecules. These molecules have a structure similar to those of liquid crystals, and they are embedded between two solid-state electrodes. The SAM, which is deposited through a short sequence of simple fabrication steps, is extremely thin (3.4 ± 0.5 nm) and highly uniform. The functionality of the FTJ is ingrained in the chemical structure of the SAM components: a conformationally flexible dipole that can be reversibly reoriented in an electrical field. Thus, the SAM acts as an electrically switchable tunnel barrier. Fabricated stacks of Al/Al2O3/SAM/Pb/Ag with such a polar SAM show pronounced hysteretic, reversible conductance switching at voltages in the range of ±2-3 V, with a conductance ratio of the low and the high resistive states of up to 100. The switching mechanism is analyzed using a combination of quantum chemical, molecular dynamics, and tunneling resistance calculation methods. In contrast to more common, inorganic material-based FTJs, our approach using SAMs of small organic molecules allows for a high degree of functional complexity and diversity to be integrated by synthetic standard methods, while keeping the actual device fabrication process robust and simple. We expect that this technology can be further developed toward a level that would then allow its application in the field of information storage and processing, in particular for in-memory and neuromorphic computing architectures.


In 2000 the UN Security Council declared HIV/AIDS a risk to national and international security. No region in the world is as affected by the pandemic as sub-Saharan Africa, which hosts 64% of the world's HIV/AIDS cases. In this thesis we take a close look at the security implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Theoretically based on alternative security approaches, such as the Copenhagen school, Human security and Health security, and particularly inspired by the health security works by Andrew Price-Smith, the link between AIDS and security is clarified and categorized through literature review. Thereafter this link is illustrated through a comparative case study of Zimbabwe and Botswana. The results show that HIV/AIDS has serious impacts on security in sub-Saharan Africa at various levels. By lowering life expectancy, increasing infant mortality, giving rise to poverty and a vast amount of orphans, and by weakening economy, state capacity, law-enforcement personnel and armed forces HIV/AIDS constitutes a considerable threat not only to personal and communal, but also to national and international security. Through the case studies it was found that HIV/AIDS seems to constitute a greater threat to states characterized by: low endogenous state capacity; low exogenous inputs; other intervening variables and low or non-existent political will.


Based on the author's own vivid experiences, The Cruel Sea is the nail-biting story of the crew of HMS Compass Rose, a corvette assigned to protect convoys in World War Two. Darting back and forth across the icy North Atlantic, Compass Rose played a deadly cat and mouse game with packs of German U-boats lying in wait beneath the ocean waves. Packed with tension and vivid descriptions of agonizing U-boat hunts, this tale of the most bitter and chilling campaign of the war tells of ordinary, heroic men who had to face a brutal menace which would strike without warning from the deep . . .


Matched-field methods concern estimation of source locations and/or ocean environmental parameters by exploiting full wave modeling of acoustic waveguide propagation. Because of the nonlinear parameter-dependence of the signal field, the estimate is subject to ambiguities and the sidelobe contribution often dominates the estimation error below a threshold signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To study the matched-field performance, three Bayesian lower bounds on mean-square error are developed: the Bayesian Crame/spl acute/r-Rao bound (BCRB), the Weiss-Weinstein bound (WWB), and the Ziv-Zakai bound (ZZB). Particularly, for a multiple-frequency, multiple-snapshot random signal model, a closed-form minimum probability of error associated with the likelihood ratio test is derived, which facilitates error analysis in a wide scope of applications. Analysis and example simulations demonstrate that 1) unlike the local CRB, the BCRB is not achieved by the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) even at high SNR if the local performance is not uniform across the prior parameter space; 2) the ZZB gives the closest MLE performance prediction at most SNR levels of practical interest; 3) the ZZB can also be used to determine the necessary number of independent snapshots achieving the asymptotic performance of the MLE at a given SNR; 4) incoherent frequency averaging, which is a popular multitone processing approach, reduces the peak sidelobe error but may not improve the overall performance due to the increased ambiguity baseline; and finally, 5) effects of adding additional parameters (e.g., environmental uncertainty) can be well predicted from the parameter coupling.


Middleware platforms must satisfy an increasingly broad and variable set of requirements arising from the needs of both applications and underlying systems deployed in dynamically changing environments such as environment monitoring and disaster management. To meet these requirements, middleware platforms must offer a high degree of configurability at deployment time and runtime. At Lancaster we use reflection, components and component frameworks, and middleware families as the basis of our approach to develop dynamically configurable middleware platforms. In our approach, components and component frameworks provide structure, and reflection provides support for dynamic configuration and extensibility for run-time evolution and adaptation. This approach however has contributed to make the development and operation of middleware platforms even more complex. Middleware developers deal with a large number of variability decisions when planning (re)configurations and adaptations. This paper examines how Model-Driven Engineering (MDE), Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) and System Family Engineering can be used to improve the development of middleware families, systematically generating middleware configurations from high level descriptions. We present Genie, a DSL-based prototype development-tool that supports the specification, validation and generation of artefacts for component-based reflective middleware. In particular, this paper describes how the Genie toolkit improves the development of the Gridkit middleware through the modelling and automated generation of middleware policies; that remove the complexity of handling large number of runtime adaptation policies.