Technical course students adopt methodical, rational strategies for Engineering Problem Solving (EPS) skills as their curriculum are ingrained with analytical thinking abilities in solving the problems innovatively. Thus, innovative skills are determined by personal traits such as self-confidence, self-determination, risk-taking, tolerance of ambiguity, the achievement motive of a person, creativity and trust in the organization. This empirical research identifies the relationship between innovative skills of technical students by developing a causal model that measures their personal traits, creativity and the trust in the organization. The methodology adopted is a survey data from technical course students in a Private University, India. The printed questionnaire was administered to students and their responses are analysed. The findings of this research study reveal that the personal traits of self-confidence and risk-taking have a significant influence on the innovative skills but lack of organizational trust does not support. The significance of this research recommends that Private University incubation centre must plan to develop awareness, conduct workshops on creativity and thus build a strong organizational trust in students, to enhance the innovative skills.


The physiological impact of non-ionizing radiation has long been considered negligible. However, here we use a carefully calibrated stimulation system that mimics the characteristics (isotropy and homogeneity) of electromagnetic fields present in the environment to measure changes in a molecular marker (mRNA encoding the stress-related bZIP transcription factor), and show that low amplitude, short duration, 900 MHz EMF evokes the accumulation of this mRNA. Accumulation is rapid (peaking 5-15 min after stimulation) and strong (3.5-fold), and is similar to that evoked by injurious stimuli.


I. INTRODUCTION According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR" or "Covenant"), "[e]veryone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression."1 Over 150 countries have ratified this agreement, but dozens have neither signed, ratified nor enforced it.2 In some of these countries, there are few strong free speech advocates. In others, free speech lobbies have failed for a variety of reasons-government officials may believe they already allow important speech to exist without punishment, struggle to draft or implement legislation given the ambiguous contours of free speech, or face strong anti-speech groups. In light of these conditions, I suggest that advocates for liberal free speech rules, as laid out in Article 19 of the ICCPR, should look to their courts for solutions. Foremost, courts may be uniquely positioned to enforce the ICCPR by relying on its language and reading an inherent right to political speech into the constitutions of their respective governments. In addition, judges, who in many countries receive life tenure and guaranteed salaries, do not face the same political pressure as legislators. Finally, courts have traditionally been instrumental in guaranteeing individual freedoms that might be politically contentious or amorphously defined. Thus, using courts to regulate Article 19 rights serves both strategic and normative goals: judges are more likely to recognize free speech rights by relying on international law, and they are better fit to do so. More specifically, I suggest that one country's growing experience with the enforcement of political speech guarantees-Australia's-serves as a useful case study to support these propositions. Free speech lobbies in Australia have failed. Instead, the nation's highest court, in accordance with international law, has recently recognized an implied right to political communication in its constitution, which itself contains no explicit individual guarantees. In doing so, albeit somewhat unintentionally, the High Court of Australia ("High Court") single-handedly brought Australia within the realm of ICCPR Article 19 compliance. With some qualifications, other nations can learn an important lesson from the Australian free speech experience, specifically as articulated by Justice Michael Kirby: courts may be particularly well suited to apply and enforce the ICCPR's core protections of speech. Part II reviews international free speech obligations under the ICCPR and countries' efforts to comply with them. Part III describes and analyzes Australia's struggle with judicial enforcement. Part IV argues that, as evidenced by this struggle, courts are particularly suited to enforce the free speech provisions of the ICCPR. II. INTERNATIONAL FREE SPEECH NORMS A. THE ICCPR: HISTORY AND APPLICATION Pursuant to a mandate in the UN Charter, the UN Economic and Social Council created the Commission on Human Rights ("Commission") in 1946.3 As its first task, the Commission created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ("UDHR"), a document containing principles that many scholars now consider customary international law.4 However, the UDHR does not contain any enforcement or interpretive mechanisms, and it is not sufficiently specific to bind nations. Thus, the Commission created the ICCPR, a comprehensive accord embodying in more detail many rights enumerated in the UDHR.5 The ICCPR took effect ten years following its 1966 adoption,6 after the requisite number of nations ratified it.7 Under Article 19 of the ICCPR, individuals have the rights to hold and express opinions of all kinds.8 A more restrictive proposal at the time would have limited the freedoms to "political liberty" and contained more exceptions allowing the suspension of speech rights.9 To presently qualify as an exception, the restriction must be established by law and necessary to serve a listed purpose-either "the respect of the rights or reputations of others" or "the protection of national security or of public order. …


The samples described here were DNA 35 base fragments thiol-grafted deposited on a thick gold layer. Although this experiment can be performed in air it is important to study such samples in a biosensor configuration, where the desired interaction between the grafted DNA and different analyte solutions can be characterised. The performance of the UVISEL Spectroscopic Phase Modulated Ellipsometer allows very sensitive and selective study of the kinetics and quantification of such interactions.


This article focuses on the views held by the early Bulgarian representative and interpreter of pragmatism Ivan Sarailiev (1887–1969) on the two trends of this doctrine – the method for ascertaining meaning proposed by Charles Sanders Peirce, and the theory of truth propounded by William James. Sarailiev applied and propagated the pragmatist ideas of the doctrine's founders in Bulgaria in the 1920s, and is thus one of the first followers of Peirce in Europe and the very first in Eastern Europe. How deep was Sarailiev's understanding of the two types of pragmatism? How did they shape his philosophy and what was their role? This article will try to address these questions as well as presenting the overall reception of pragmatism in Bulgaria in the Interwar period through Sarailiev who was its only serious proponent both at the time and long afterwards.


There is widespread support for a systemic risk regulator, in the United States and in Europe, but little agreement on which existing or new organization(s) should assume the task of regulating against systemic risk, the authority such a regulator should have, or the work such a regulator should undertake. In general, the debate about enhanced systemic risk regulation has been about whether central banks or other regulators should be required to assess systemic risk or such an assessment should be the job of others; whether a systemic risk regulator should also be a prudential regulator; and whether the regulator that assesses systemic risk should also have the authority to mandate changes in the financial markets or by financial institutions when dangers to the markets emerge. Much of this debate has been in the form of turf warfare between central banks and other regulators, and therefore the discussions have been less enlightened than one would have hoped given the magnitude of the problems uncovered during the financial meltdown of 2008. The author believes that any systemic risk regulator should be an independent agency without responsibilities that would conflict with its duties to examine and make recommendations with regard to systemic risks. Accordingly, the author recommends the creation of a new agency, independent of the Executive and Congressional Branches, which could investigate and analyze systemic risks and make recommendations to the President, Congress or individual regulatory agencies, including the Fed, for action. Given the complex structure of the European Union ("EU"), it would seem that a systemic risk regulator for Europe would similarly have to be an advisory body within the framework of the EU. The EU Commission has proposed such a regulator. This paper discusses what systemic risk is and the various proposals that have been made for a systemic risk regulator in the United States. Also discussed are the conflicts of interest between assessing systemic risk and acting as a prudential regulator. The consideration of similar issues in Europe are also addressed.


Evolve and resequence experiments have provided us a tool to understand bacterial adaptation to antibiotics by the gain of genomic mutations. In our previous work, we used short term evolution to isolate mutants resistant to the ribosome targeting antibiotic kanamycin. We had reported gain of resistance to kanamycin via multiple different point mutations in the translation elongation factor G (EF-G). Furthermore, we had shown that the resistance of EF-G mutants could be increased by second site mutations in the genes rpoD / cpxA / topA / cyaA. Mutations in three of these genes had been discovered in earlier screens for aminoglycoside resistance. In this work we expand on our understanding of these second site mutations. Using genetic tools we asked how mutations in the cell envelope stress sensor kinase (CpxAF218Y) and adenylate cyclase (CyaAN600Y) could alter their activities to result in resistance. We found that the mutation in cpxA most likely results in an active Cpx stress response. Further evolution of an EF-G mutant in a higher concentration of kanamycin than what was used in our previous experiments identified the cpxA locus as a primary target for a significant increase in resistance. The mutation in cyaA results in a loss of catalytic activity and probably results in resistance via altered CRP function. Despite a reduction in cAMP levels, the CyaAN600Y mutant has a transcriptome indicative of increased CRP activity, pointing to an unknown non-catalytic role for CyaA in gene expression. From the transcriptomes of double and single mutants we describe the epistasis between the mutation in EF-G and these second site mutations. We show that the large scale transcriptomic changes in the topoisomerase I (FusAA608E-TopAS180L) mutant likely result from increased negative supercoiling in the cell. Finally, genes with known roles in aminoglycoside resistance were present among the mis-regulated genes in the mutants.


For decades, America's older, undercrowded cities have struggled with neighborhoods beset by vacant houses that seemingly have no connection with a functioning real estate market. A nationwide foreclosure crisis has brought even greater attention to the need for inner-city communities to address vacant house nuisances. This paper argues that recent developments in property theory help us understand and complete reforms of legal remedies that address this continuing national need. Traditional, in personam code enforcement remedies emanate from a legal understanding of real estate ownership as the strongest of property-rule-protected entitlements. Local government authorities hold owners directly accountable for any failures to address specific property problems through imposition of fines and threats of contempt. These work fairly well against owners amenable to such pressures and for properties in functioning neighborhood real estate markets. But, in areas that have many abandoned properties, owners are unable to obtain the resources to complete repairs and, even in healthier neighborhoods, owners may strategically evade conventional enforcement or be genuinely incapable of fixing up the property or transferring it to someone who can. In situations where the property-rule entitlement itself prevents a solution, the ultimate real estate liquidation remedy of eminent domain may seem called for. This paper contends that condemnation, in that sense, should be set aside in favor of remedies that liquidate the owner's interest based upon failure to meet code obligations and/or pay property taxes. Recent scholarship in legal procedures that make use of the boundary area between property-rule and liability-rule entitlements show us the advantages of and design parameters for reforms to existing tax sale foreclosure laws and enactment of in rem code enforcement remedies that will facilitate reconnection of vacant properties with inner-city real estate markets.


Waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health care programs are serious problems, but so are the federal government's efforts to combat them. There are egregious cases of fraud, and those engaged in these criminal activities should be stopped and prosecuted. But an expanding dragnet for "health care criminals" is threatening and intimidating innocent doctors as well. It is creating an unhealthy climate of fear and defensiveness that is having an adverse impact on the medical profession. In its zeal to rid the nation's health care system of waste, fraud, and abuse, Congress has passed a blizzard of new federal criminal statutes targeting the health care industry, including those contained in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. Congress created new "health care" laws on top of the existing mountain of rules and regulations and funded an army of enforcement agents. The statutes are being enforced by hundreds of federal agents, armed with hundreds of millions of dollars in investigatory funds. This new army of law enforcement agents has been sweeping through hospitals and doctors' offices throughout the country to investigate a new class of "health care offenders." Mark L. Bennett Jr., an attorney with the firm of Bennett & Dillon, L.L.P. in Topeka, Kansas, says that health care has become the prosecution of choice for many U.S. attorneys: "At one point in time, drugs and drug offenders got the most attention from the authorities, then it was banking and savings and loan violations. Now ... one of the prosecutions of choice is fraud relating to the provision of medical services.... That's where the money is" (Bennett 1998: 1). The federal government uses the threat of prosecution and arbitrary penalties to collect excessive settlements from doctors "guilty" of clerical errors. Federal officials developed a crude system to extrapolate fines on doctors and hospitals. Any billing practice that established a physician as a financial outlier on a computer statistical analysis could lead to a payment audit. The audit may look at a fraction of the doctor's medical records, identify a percentage that have coding or billing errors, and then extrapolate the estimated overbillings to the whole practice based upon the sample. But Medicare enforcement officials do not stop there--they then may impose penalties as great as three times the total amount of those estimated overbillings. (1) Many of the nation's 650,000 physicians are living in fear that they could face armed federal agents, prosecution, and even jail time because of a dangerous new trend to criminalize the practice of medicine. "Demonizing the entire medical community with the broad brush of `fraud, waste and abuse' trivializes real fraud and sets up an adversarial tension in every patient-physician encounter," according to Nancy Dickey, M.D., former president of the American Medical Association (Dickey 1999). HIPAA Loads New Bullets into Enforcement Guns The national effort to target medical professionals began in earnest when the Clinton administration introduced the concept of "health care offenses" into the general public lexicon in its proposed 1993 Health Security Act. While the public rejected the draconian bill within less than one year, many of its enforcement provisions became law two years later as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, sponsored by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.). To the surprise of strong critics of the original Clinton health plan, congressional staff resurrected nearly identical language from many of the enforcement provisions in the 1993 Clinton bill and transplanted them into the Kennedy-Kassebaum legislation (see Appendix I). HIPAA broke ground in creating a new national health care fraud and abuse control program to coordinate federal, state, and local law enforcement efforts. …


Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) represents a reliable technology, ready for the market and able to compete with silicon solar cells for specific fields of application. Porphyrin dyes allow reaching high power conversion efficiency in conjunction with cobalt redox electrolytes due to larger open circuit potentials. The bigger size of the cobalt complexes compared to standard iodide/triiodide redox couple hampers its percolation through the meso-porous TiO2 network, thus impairing the regeneration process. In case of porphyrin dyes mass transport problems in the electrolyte need to be carefully handled, due to the large size of the sensitizing molecule and the bulky cobalt complexes. Herein we report the study of structural variations on porphyrin sensitizers and their influence on the DSSC performance with cobalt based redox electrolyte.


Real-world applications of mobile robotics call for increased autonomy, requiring reliable perception systems. Since manually tuned perception algorithms are difficult to adapt to new operating environments, systems based on supervised learning are necessary for future progress in autonomous navigation. Data labeling is a major concern when supervised learning is applied to the large-scale problems occuring in realistic robotics applications. We believe that algorithms for automatically selecting important data for labeling are necessary, and propose to employ active learning techniques to reduce the amount of labeling required to learn from a data set. In this paper we show that several standard active learning algorithms can be adapted to meet specific constraints characteristic to our domain, such as the need to learn from data with severely unbalanced class priors. We validate the solutions we propose by extensive experimentation on multiple realistic data sets captured with a robotic vehicle. Based on our results for the task of obstacle detection, we conclude that active learning techniques are applicable to our domain, and they can lead to significant reductions in the labeling effort required to use supervised learning in outdoor perception.


While theoretical models of conflict often treat actors as unitary, most self-determination groups are fragmented into a number of competing internal factions. This article presents a framework for understanding the "dual contests" that self-determination groups engage in—the first with their host state and the second between co-ethnic factions within groups. Using a new data set of the number of factions within a sample of self-determination groups from 1960 to 2008, the authors find that competition between co-ethnic factions is a key determinant of their conflict behavior. More competing factions are associated with higher instances of violence against the state as well as more factional fighting and attacks on co-ethnic civilians. More factions using violence increases the chances that other factions will do so, and the entry of a new faction prompts violence from existing factions in a within-group contest for political relevance. These findings have implications for both theory and policy.


The Gamma–Gamma distribution has recently emerged in a number of applications ranging from modeling scattering and reverberation in sonar and radar systems to modeling atmospheric turbulence in wireless optical channels. In this respect, assessing the outage probability achieved by some diversity techniques over this kind of channels is of major practical importance. In many circumstances, this is related to the difficult question of analyzing the statistics of a sum of Gamma–Gamma random variables. Answering this question is not a simple matter. This is essentially because outage probabilities encountered in practice are often very small, and hence, the use of classical Monte Carlo methods is not a reasonable choice. This lies behind the main motivation of this paper. In particular, this paper proposes a new approach to estimate the left tail of the sum of Gamma–Gamma variates. More specifically, we propose robust importance sampling schemes that efficiently evaluates the outage probability of diversity receivers over Gamma–Gamma fading channels. The proposed estimators satisfy the well-known bounded relative error criterion for both maximum ratio combining and equal gain combining cases. We show the accuracy and the efficiency of our approach compared with naive Monte Carlo via some selected numerical simulations.


Introduction Academic institutions in Africa often depend on international collaborators for their research agenda, scientific support and funding. For example, clinical research conducted by the College of Medicine (CoM), University of Malawi, is recognized to be of high quality. However, its research agenda has largely been developed, driven by and funded through its international collaborators (Europe and the US). Furthermore, the intellectual ownership of the research conducted in Malawi and elsewhere in Africa has remained with the collaborating institutes, as reflected in the main applicant on grant proposals and key authorship positions in publications (Kerac et al, 2009; Dorsey et al, 2007). The recent introduction of international standards such as Good Clinical Practice (GCP) has generally improved the quality of research. However, it has also amplified the complexity and costs of conducting research, further increasing the dependence of resource-limited academic institutions on their international collaborators. Traditional approaches to strengthening research capacity in developing countries have focused primarily on honing individual skills through training at the doctoral level in developed country institutions without preparing the environment at the home institution for the return of these skilled individuals (Sawyerr, 2004). These research capacity-building efforts have been unable to halt the brain-drain from African academic institutions to high-paying non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and institutions in the North. A combination of limited career opportunities, lack of institutionalised support for research and remuneration are major reasons young African academics do not return to their home countries after their training overseas (Sawyerr, 2004; University of Malawi, 2004). To build sustainable research capacity and local research ownership in developing countries, a management model is needed that comprehensively addresses the factors noted above (Figure 1). The CoM has established a Research Support Centre (RSC), which, in its first four years, has successfully addressed these issues. This manuscript describes the conceptual functions and achievements of the Malawian RSC, and proposes the RSC concept as a tool to develop sustainable research capacity in similar, research-limited academic institutions. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Research Support Centre (RSC) Concept and Functions There are four major elements of RSC functions that an African university may develop. Individual Support is focused on developing research skills by providing both faculty and students a package of logically sequenced courses, including research methodology and the conduct of research (e.g., protocol writing, project management, data management, and Good Clinical Practice [GCP]), and one-to-one consultations for statistical and epidemiological support. Clinical Trials Support is essential for the development of GCP-compliant protocols and the instruments to implement them. This includes support with relevant research regulatory guidelines, protocol submission to review committees, data and grants management, and trial coordination and monitoring by locally trained study coordinators and clinical research associates (CRAs). Training of local CRAs and study coordinators is an essential component of the RSC concept and a potential source of income. Research Information Support includes the development of research information (website and newsletter) and data management services, such as the RSC website (www. medcol.mw/rsc/). Grant Administration Support focuses on establishing sound pre- and postaward administrative, financial and project management. Critical to the success of these elements is the establishment or strengthening of the overall research governance, including the ethical review of research proposals. …


SUMMARY The effect of an a priori known 3-D crustal model in teleseismic tomography of upper-mantle structure is investigated. We developed a 3-D crustal P-wave velocity model for the greater Alpine region, encompassing the central and western Alps and the northern Apennines, to estimate the crustal contribution to teleseismic traveltimes. The model is constructed by comparative use of published information from active and passive seismic surveys. The model components are chosen to represent the present large-scale Alpine crustal structure and for their significant effect on the propagation of seismic wavefields. They are first-order structures such as the crust‐mantle boundary, sedimentary basins and the high-velocity Ivrea body. Teleseismic traveltime residuals are calculated for a realistic distribution of azimuths and distances by coupling a finite-difference technique to the IASP91 traveltime tables. Residuals are produced for a synthetic upper-mantle model featuring two slab structures and the 3-D crustal model on top of it. The crustal model produces traveltime residuals in the range between −0.7 and 1.5 s that vary strongly as a function of backazimuth and epicentral distance. We find that the non-linear inversion of the synthetic residuals without correcting for the 3-D crustal structure erroneously maps the crustal anomalies into the upper mantle. Correction of the residuals for crustal structure before inversion properly recovers the synthetic slab structures placed in the upper mantle. We conclude that with the increasing amount of high-quality seismic traveltime data, correction for near-surface structure is essential for increasing resolution in tomographic images of upper-mantle structure.


How is it that chimpanzees can learn to "speak" at a higher level than some so-called wolf children? What happened that day in the pumphouse, when Helen Keller suddenly grasped the meaning of words? And picture this: a father and mother who shun the advice of professionals, who doggedly force their way into the closed world of their autistic son, and who reverse his grim prognosis, revealing him to be gifted. How to explain? In this book, a philosopher combines these famous cases with a lifetime of study to examine the threshold of language--that point "between speech and not quite speech." He provides fascinating accounts of the deaf and blind Helen Keller, of chimpanzees like Washoe, and of feral children such as Victor, the "wild boy of Aveyron," putting a new spin on their stories. When does it start, he asks, that miracle most of us take for granted? Where does it come from, that uniquely human power to transform perception and action into thought and the singular activity we call speech? Here is evidence that, for chimp or child, the crucial factors in acquiring language have less to do with intellect and everything to do with social interaction. Here is confirmation that the "give-and-take, push-and-pull" of daily life forces virtually all of us to acquire language simply to live and work together. Author Jerry Gill offers no pat answers. Rather, he emphasizes imitation and reciprocity--for example, playing pat-a-cake with a baby--as essential to becoming part of a speaking community "and thereby becoming a human being." In addition, Gill gives dozens of examples to show how gesture and facial expression both create and change the meaning of language. In compelling fashion, he underscores the point that language acquisition can be fully understood only in terms of such physical and social activity. The author exposes the flaws of research focused mainly on mental processes and gives little credit to findings based upon artificially contrived experiments. With vigor, compassion, and a broad-minded humanism, these pages invite the reader to think again about how we say what we mean, how we mean what we say, and where it all starts in the first place. Valuable to students of psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and anthropology, the book will also appeal to general readers who welcome an opportunity to explore familiar things in a new and entirely enjoyable way.


Although mapping quantitative traits in inbred strains is simpler than mapping the analogous traits in humans, classical inbred crosses suffer from reduced genetic diversity compared to experimental designs involving outbred animal populations. Multiple crosses, for example the Complex Trait Consortium's eight-way cross, circumvent these difficulties. However, complex mating schemes and systematic inbreeding raise substantial computational difficulties. Here we present a method for locally imputing the strain origins of each genotyped animal along its genome. Imputed origins then serve as mean effects in a multivariate Gaussian model for testing association between trait levels and local genomic variation. Imputation is a combinatorial process that assigns the maternal and paternal strain origin of each animal based on observed genotypes and prior pedigree information. Without smoothing, imputation is likely to be ill-defined or jump erratically from one strain to another as an animal's genome is traversed. In practice, one expects to see long stretches where strain origins are invariant. Smoothing can be achieved by penalizing strain changes from one marker to the next. A dynamic programming algorithm then solves the strain imputation process in one quick pass through the genome of an animal. Imputation accuracy exceeds 99% in practical examples and leads to high-resolution mapping in simulated and real data. The previous fastest QTL mapping software for dense genome scans reduced compute times to hours. Our implementation further reduces compute times from hours to minutes with no loss in statistical power. Indeed, power is enhanced for full pedigree data.


Securing multicast communications in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) has become one of the most challenging research directions in the areas of wireless networking and security. MANETs are emerging as the desired environment for an increasing number of commercial and military applications, addressing also an increasing number of users. Security on the other hand, is becoming an indispensable requirement of our modern life for all these applications. However, the limitations of the dynamic, infrastructure-less nature of MANETs impose major difficulties in establishing a secure framework suitable for group communications. The design of efficient key management (KM) schemes for MANET is of paramount importance, since the performance of the KM functions (key generation, entity authentication, key distribution/agreement) imposes an upper limit on the efficiency and scalability of the whole secure group communication system. In this work, we contribute towards efficient, robust and scalable, secure group communications for MANETs, by extending an existing key agreement (KA) scheme (where all parties contribute equally to group key generation) –Hypercube to tolerate multiple member failures with low cost, through its integration with a novel adaptively proactive algorithm. We assume that the participating users have already been authenticated via some underlying mechanism and we focus on the design and analysis of a fault-tolerant Hypercube, with the aim to contribute to the robustness and efficiency of Octopus-based schemes (an efficient group of KA protocols for MANETs using Hypercube as backbone). We compare our algorithm with the existing approach, and we evaluate the results of our analysis. Through our analysis and simulation results we demonstrate how the new Hypercube algorithm enhances the robustness of the Octopus schemes maintaining their feasibility in MANETs at the same time.


Purpose We introduce FSL-MRS, an end-to-end, modular, open-source magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis toolbox. FSL-MRS provides spectroscopic data conversion, pre-processing, spectral simulation, fitting, quantitation and visualisation. Methods FSL-MRS is modular. FSL-MRS programs operate on data in a standard format (NIfTI) capable of storing single voxel and multi-voxel spectroscopy, including spatial orientation information. FSL-MRS includes tools for pre-processing of raw spectroscopy data, including coil-combination, frequency and phase alignment, and filtering. A density matrix simulation program is supplied for generation of basis spectra from simple text-based descriptions of pulse sequences. Fitting is based on linear combination of basis spectra and implements Markov chain Monte Carlo optimisation for the estimation of the full posterior distribution of metabolite concentrations. Validation of the fitting is carried out on independently created simulated data, phantom data, and three in vivo human datasets (257 SVS and 8 MRSI datasets) at 3T and 7T. Interactive HTML reports are automatically generated by processing and fitting stages of the toolbox. FSL-MRS can be used on the command line or interactively in the Python language. Results Validation of the fitting shows low error in simulation (median error 11.9%) and in phantom (3.4%). Average correlation between a third-party toolbox (LCModel) and FSL-MRS was high (0.53-0.81) in all three in vivo datasets. Conclusion FSL-MRS is designed to be flexible and extensible to new forms of spectroscopic acquisitions. Custom fitting models can be specified within the framework for dynamic or multi-voxel spectroscopy. FSL-MRS is available as part of the FMRIB Software Library.


We have investigated the modifications induced in the high-Tc superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212) by X-ray nanopatterning, which is an innovative, photoresist-free, direct-writing approach recently used to fabricate proof-of-concept electrical devices [Truccato et al., Nano Lett., 2016, 16, 1669]. By means of combined synchrotron microdiffraction and electrical transport measurements carried out on the same Bi-2212 microcrystal, we show that hard X-ray irradiation with fluences of the order of 1012 J m−2, corresponding to doses of the order of 1013 Gy, induces crystal fragmentation into multiple subdomains and decreases the carrier density of the system. We ascertain that the synergistic action of grain boundaries and of oxygen removal from the material dramatically changes the properties of Bi-2212 both in the normal and in the superconducting state. This special feature of X-ray nanopatterning introduces an opportunity that could be exploited to finely tune material structural defects according to the desired properties.


The fishery products are well known for their specific nutritional qualities and health authorities promote information campaigns to increase their consumption. Despite the important role in human diet, such foods may represent, to some extent, an exposure source to environmental pollution by lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. The toxic effect of these heavy metals and metalloids on human health is well established and their presence represents one of the main chemical risks associated with fishery products consumption. The aim of the present thesis was to provide an updated survey on the presence of these contaminants and to conduct a risk assessment on fishery products. The study was carried out in Sardinia on the coastal areas near mining territories (Sulcis-Iglesiente) and on more extensive stretches of the Mediterranean Sea. As an indication of environmental pollution various edible marine organism were monitored by the determination of contaminants bioaccumulation along the aquatic trophic chain. In addition data available from the Zooprofilattici Institutes laboratories were used to investigate the distribution of such contaminants in fishery products placed on the market. The level of exposure of the population was assessed using various approaches. Our research suggest that exposure assessment should be conducted taking into account risk/benefit ratio and differences in vulnerable groups, such as children and pregnant women, and dietary habits of coastal population.


Computing instruction typically lags " state of the art " hardware and software development. With the advent of dual and quad core processors, parallel processing has become common even economy lap top computers are dual core. Students need to be instructed on how to take advantage of this processing power. A common and easily developed software tool is the invocation of remote methods communicated via a threaded master. This paper shares the experiences of a project implemented by a student that compares compiled, hybrid, and scripted languages for distributing data among workers. The paper suggests projects of this type are easily within the grasp of students in a Data Structures or more advanced classes.


This article addresses haematopoiesis and specifically the development of dendritic cells (DC) in the mouse spleen. Evidence is presented that the spleen microenvironment makes a distinct contribution to haematopoiesis and supports the differentiation of haematopoietic progenitors to give a novel type of dendritic-like myeloid cell not previously reported. This novel subset appears to be unique in terms of cell surface marker phenotype and immune function. It was discovered in response to our search for an in vivo equivalent of a novel dendritic-like antigen presenting cell type that develops in long-term stroma-dependent spleen cultures which was pioneered in this lab. These cultures maintain self-renewing haematopoietic progenitor or stem cells (HPC/HSC), and support the development of this novel cell type and no other haematopoietic cells. We have now shown that infusion of isolated HSC/HPC from spleen into blood results in increased production of these cells over the more commonly described DC and myeloid subsets in spleen. While bone marrow is the primary site for haematopoiesis in adult mice, we now question the importance of spleen in haematopoiesis, particularly in regard to development of this novel antigen presenting cell type. The work described here relates to the differentiation of DC, and also to the concept of tissue-specific haematopoiesis leading to cells which mediate inflammation and immune responses.


Undernutrition contributes to the deaths of about 5.6 million children under five in the developing world each year. It can lead to poor school performance and dropout, it threatens girls' future ability to bear healthy children and it perpetuates a generational cycle of poverty. This volume of Progress for Children reports on the world's performance in improving nutrition in young children, a crucial step towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.


Research-quality far-infrared photoacoustic (PA) spectra are obtainable with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, the only changes with respect to conventional mid-infrared PA spectroscopy being the use of (1) a caesium iodide or polyethylene window on the PA cell, and (2) a mylar beamsplitter. Far-infrared PA spectra of several solids (bentonite, Fe+3-bentonite, and asbestos), in addition to the PA reference carbon black, have been recorded in this way. In order to improve signal-to-noise ratios in one of the spectra, we recorded ten interferograms under identical conditions; it was found that the average of the ten individually calculated spectra displays less noise and fewer spurious features than the spectrum obtained by first averaging the interferograms and then calculating a single spectrum. The results of this investigation demonstrate the feasibility of far-infrared PA spectroscopy, and illustrate that both experimental and computational procedures should be optimized in order to obtain the most satisfactory spectra.


Multimetallic cooperative binding of heteroallenes provides an attractive route to their activation, but the reduction of CS(2) at heterobimetallic sites, associating an electron-rich metal with a main group Lewis acid has not been explored. Here we show that the presence of a heterometallic U, K site plays an important role in the CS(2) reduction by uranium(iii) complexes of the electron-rich and the sterically demanding tris(tert-butoxy)siloxide ligand. Specifically, the ion-pair complex [K(18c6)][U(OSi(O(t)Bu)(3))(4)], 1, leads preferentially to the reductive disproportionation of CS(2) to K(2)CS(3) and CS. The crystal structure of the thiocarbonate intermediate complex [U(OSi(O(t)Bu(3)(4) (μ(3)-κ(2):κ(2):κ(2-)CS(3))K(2)(18c6)(2)], 2, isolated from the toluene reaction mixture has been determined. In contrast, the heterobimetallic complex [U(OSi(O(t)Bu(3)(4)K], 3, promotes preferentially the reductive dimerization of CS(2) to K(2)C(2)S(4) and K(2)C(3)S(5). The [K(2)C(2)S(4)(DMSO)(3)](n), 5, and [U(OSi(O(t)Bu)(3))(4)K(2)(C(3)S(5))](n), 6, polymeric compounds were isolated from this reaction and structurally characterized.


To realize graphene-based electronics, bandgap opening of graphene has become one of the most important issues that urgently need to be addressed. Recent theoretical and experimental studies show that intentional doping of graphene with boron and nitrogen atoms is a promising route to open the bandgap, and the doped graphene might exhibit properties complementary to those of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), largely extending the applications of these materials in the areas of electronics and optics. This work demonstrates the conversion of graphene oxide nanosheets into boron carbonitride (BCN) nanosheets by reacting them with B(2) O(3) and ammonia at 900 to 1100 °C, by which the boron and nitrogen atoms are incorporated into the graphene lattice in randomly distributed BN nanodomains. The content of BN in BN-doped graphene nanosheets can be tuned by changing the reaction temperature, which in turn affects the optical bandgap of these nanosheets. Electrical measurements show that the BN-doped graphene nanosheet exhibits an ambipolar semiconductor behavior and the electrical bandgap is estimated to be ≈25.8 meV. This study provides a novel and simple route to synthesize BN-doped graphene nanosheets that may be useful for various optoelectronic applications.


The industrial application of ionic liquids (ILs) requires the knowledge of their physical properties and phase behavior. This work addresses the experimental determination of the vapor−liquid equilibria (VLE) of binary systems composed of water + imidazolium-based ILs. The ILs under consideration are 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate, 1- butyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tosylate, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoroacetate, 1- butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methanesulfonate, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, which allows the evaluation of the influence of the IL anion through the phase behavior. Isobaric VLE data were measured at 0.05, 0.07, and 0.1 MPa for IL mole fractions ranging between 0 and 0.7. The observed increase in the boiling temperatures of the mixtures is related with the strength of the interaction between the IL anion and water. The Perturbed-Chain Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (PC-SAFT) was further used to describe the obtained experimental data. The ILs were treated as molecular associating species with two association sites per IL. The model parameters for the pure fluids and the binary interaction parameter kij between water and ILs were determined by a simultaneous fitting to pure-IL densities, water activity coefficients at 298.15 K and VLE data at 0.1 MPa. Pure-IL densities, water activity coefficients, and VLE data were well described by PC-SAFT in broad temperature, pressure, and composition ranges. The PC-SAFT parameters were applied to predict the water activity coefficients at infinite dilution in ILs, and a satisfactory prediction of experimental data was observed.


We introduce Deep Thermal Imaging, a new approach for close-range automatic recognition of materials to enhance the understanding of people and ubiquitous technologies of their proximal environment. Our approach uses a low-cost mobile thermal camera integrated into a smartphone to capture thermal textures. A deep neural network classifies these textures into material types. This approach works effectively without the need for ambient light sources or direct contact with materials. Furthermore, the use of a deep learning network removes the need to handcraft the set of features for different materials. We evaluated the performance of the system by training it to recognize 32 material types in both indoor and outdoor environments. Our approach produced recognition accuracies above 98% in 14,860 images of 15 indoor materials and above 89% in 26,584 images of 17 outdoor materials. We conclude by discussing its potentials for real-time use in HCI applications and future directions.


OBJECTIVES: Free radical scavengers can protect against the genotoxicity induced by chemical carcinogens by decreasing oxidative stress. The protective effect of the antioxidant melatonin was studied in the kidney and liver of rats treated with the kidney-specific carcinogen potassium bromate (KBrO(3)). The major endpoint of oxidative damage measured in this report was lipid peroxidation. METHODS: Four groups of male rats (controls, melatonin-injected [10 mg/kg x4], KBrO(3)-injected [100 mg/kg], and melatonin+-KBrO(3)) were used in the current study. The concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) were assayed as an index of oxidatively damaged lipid in the kidney and liver. RESULTS: Twenty-four hours after KBrO(3) administration, MDA levels were significantly increased in the kidney while the increase in the liver was not statistically significant compared to levels in control rats. The percentage increases in lipid peroxidation products were 32.8% and 12.6% for the kidney and liver, respectively. In rats given melatonin 30 minutes before KBrO(3), and three more times after KBrO(3) (i.e., every 6 hours), the increase in MDA levels was reduced in the kidney. Histopathological examination demonstrated marked changes in the structure of the kidney and slight changes in the liver. In the kidney, microscopic examination revealed atypical tubules, atypical hyperplasia, hyaline droplet degeneration, necrotic changes and stratified squamous cell metaplasia. Again, melatonin treatment inhibited the tissue damage associated with KBrO(3) administration. CONCLUSION: These results show that melatonin as an antioxidant and free radical scavenger can prevent oxidative stress induced by the carcinogen KBrO(3).


As a result of the International Indian Ocean Expedition, the bottom of the Indian Ocean is now one of the best known areas of the ocean floor. The Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge, a rugged mountain range, lies in the centre of the Indian Ocean. North-northeast trending fractures offset the axis of the ridge. In the Arabian Sea these fractures are right lateral; in the southwest Indian Ocean they are left lateral. Displacements range from a few miles* to over 200 miles. The northeast Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are occupied by huge abyssal cones built by sediments discharged from the Indo-Gangetic plain. Extensive abyssal plains lie seaward of the abyssal cones. In low latitudes smooth topography is characteristic of the continental rise, the abyssal cones, and the oceanic rises. However, near the polar front smooth c swale9 topography laps over the normally rugged Mid-Oceanic Ridge. This c swale5 smoothing appears the result of the higher organic productivity of the Antarctic seas. Microcontinents, mostly linear meridional ridges, are unique features of the Indian Ocean. These massive but smooth-surfaced blocks contrast markedly with the broad rugged Mid-Oceanic Ridge.


A low band gap liquid-processed Cu2ZnSn(Se1−xSx)4 (CZTSSe) kesterite solar cell with x ≈ 0.03 is prepared from earth abundant metals, yielding 10.1% power conversion efficiency. This champion cell shows a band gap of 1.04 eV, higher minority-carrier lifetime, lower series resistance and lower Voc deficit compared to our previously reported higher band gap (Eg = 1.15 eV; x ≈ 0.4) cell with similar record efficiency. The ability to vary the CZTSSe band gap using sulfur content (i.e., varying x) facilitates the examination of factors limiting performance in the current generation of CZTSSe devices, as part of the thrust to achieve operational parity with CdTe and Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGSSe) analogs.


Wide Area Differential GPS (WADGPS) aims at overcoming the main drawback of conventional DGPS, namely the limited range over which the differential corrections are valid, due to the rapid decorrelation of the error sources with increasing distance from the reference station to the user. In the WADGPS approach, error sources are generated for users over a large portion of the earth, such as a communication satellite's entire footprint, by separating and modelling the main sources of error in GPS measurements. This has the effect of eliminating the limit imposed on the validity of the corrections by the geographical or atmospheric environment. A main advantage of WADGPS is the fact that far fewer reference stations are needed to cover the same area, compared to conventional DGPS.

Interest in WADGPS has grown during the last few years, the use of WADGPS both for positioning accuracy requirements and the provision of integrity are being explored. Several research establishments have come up with their own WADGPS methodology and algorithms, all sharing a basic principle, namely the requirement that different error sources which affect GPS navigation are dealt with separately, and their spatial and temporal properties are investigated and modelled individually.

Research was carried out to develop an advanced method and the corresponding algorithms, which could provide a high precision WADGPS positioning service. The service would be suitable for single or dual frequency users, and could be introduced with very few reference stations. The two main components of the service are a precise, near real-time orbit determination of the GPS satellites, and an accurate estimation and modelling of ionospheric and tropospheric effects. Results from real data indicate that user position accuracy of the order of 2 m and 3 m (RMS) in plan and height components respectively, were achieved over user-reference distances ranging from 2,000 to 3,500 km.


The surge tank located at the upstream head of penstocks and shafts of hydropower plants is an effective measure to protect the headrace tunnels against high pressure fluctuations. It reflects the transient pressure waves that are generated by the variation of the flow discharge inside the powerhouse. The up- and down-surges inside the tank, as well as, the percentage of the transmitted pressure waves towards the headrace tunnel are significantly affected by the local hydraulic head losses situated at the entrance of the tank. The circular orifice diaphragm generates such a local head loss by contracting the flow inside the connection tunnel between the surge tank and the headrace tunnel. The diameter of the orifice is an important parameter to adjust in order to fulfill the hydraulic design criteria of the projects.The construction works to double the actual 240 MW capacity of the existent pumped-storage power plant FMHL (Forces Motrices Hongrin-Leman SA) in Switzerland are now ongoing. The capacity used will be 420 MW with 60 MW as reserve. This plant belongs to the shareholders: Romande Energie SA, Alpiq SA, Group E and the city of Lausanne. A consortium called "GIHLEM" composed of three international engineering companies Stucky Ltd, EDF and Emch+Berger have been mandated to carry out the final design and the tender documents and to assist the owner during the constructions works. These works include the construction of a new powerhouse and a surge shaft of 7.2 m of diameter connected to the headrace tunnel by mean of a tunnel 28.5 m long with 2.2 m of internal diameter. The numerical calculations of transient flows carried out on the waterway system have shown that additional losses are needed at the entrance of the new surge shaft to keep the transient pressures inside the latter above the minimum value of 10 m W.C. The preliminary value of the interior diameter of a thin steel diaphragm has been determined by using analytical formulations. This diameter has been then optimized by series of physical tests carried out on a model at the geometrical scale factor of 1/18.2 operated respecting the Froude similarity within acceptable Reynolds limits for turbulent flow. The model covers a short reach of the headrace tunnel, the connection tunnel and the surge shaft. Four splits of flow directions at the T-junction between the headrace and the connection tunnels were modeled. For each split, different discharge distributions between the three branches were tested.The first part of this paper presents a short description of the pumped-storage power plant. In the second part, the numerical model and its main results are presented. The third part provides the preliminary design of the diaphragm's diameter and the fourth part presents the results of the diameter optimization using the physical model tests. The conclusions are given in part five.


There is a need for compact, high-speed, and low-power vision systems for enabling real-time mobile autonomous applications. The best approach to achieve this is to implement the bulk of the application in hardware. Reconfigurable hardware meet these requirements without the limitation of fixed functionality that accompanies application-specific circuits. Resource constraints of reconfigurable hardware calls for optimized implementations i terms of resource usage with maintained performance. The research group in Robotics at Malardalen University is moving toward the completion of a reconfigurable hardware-platform for stereo vision, coupled with a compact embedded computer. This system will incorporate hardware-based preprocessing components enabling visual perception for autonomous machines. This thesis covers the reconfigurable hardware section of the vision system concerning the realization of scene depth extraction. It shows the advantages of image preprocessing in hardware and propose a resource optimized approach to stereo matching. The work quantifies the impact of reduced resource utilization and a desire for increased accuracy in disparity estimation. The implemented stereo matching approach performs on par with recent similar implementations in terms of accuracy, but excels in terms of resource utilization and resource sharing, as the external memory requirement is removed for larger images. Future work aims to further include processes for navigation, and structure and object recognition. Furthermore, the system will be adapted to real world scenarios, both indoors and outdoors.


Genotypic microbial resistance to antibiotics with intracellular targets commonly arises from mutations that increase the activities of transporters (pumps) that cause the efflux of intracellular antibiotics. A priori it is not obvious why this is so much more common than are mutations that simply inhibit the activity of uptake transporters for the antibiotics. We analyse quantitatively a mathematical model consisting of one generic equilibrative transporter and one generic concentrative uptake transporter (representing any number of each), together with one generic efflux transporter. The initial conditions are designed to give an internal concentration of the antibiotic that is three times the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The effect of varying the activity of each transporter type 100-fold is dramatically asymmetric, in that lowering the activities of individual uptake transporters has comparatively little effect on internal concentrations of the antibiotic. By contrast, increasing the activity of the efflux transporter lowers the internal antibiotic concentration to levels far below the MIC. Essentially, these phenomena occur because inhibiting individual influx transporters allows others to 'take up the slack', whereas increasing the activity of the generic efflux transporter cannot easily be compensated. The findings imply strongly that inhibiting efflux transporters is a much better approach for fighting antimicrobial resistance than is stimulating import transporters. This has obvious implications for the development of strategies to combat the development of microbial resistance to antibiotics and possibly also cancer therapeutics in human.


This paper investigates the use of GPS to assist with the marking and reporting of lanes cleared of mines in preparation for a military amphibious assault. The feasibility of using GPS, inertial navigation systems (INS), GPS/INS, GPS translators, radar, laser, and videometric technologies is included in the concept study. Sensor data from the mentioned devices have potential for enhancing overall system performance and/or mission success during shallow-water mine countermeasure operations. The main objective of the study is to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the various sensor technologies as regards cost, accuracy, ruggedness, size, weight, power, and other considerations. With regard to GPS, dynamic robustness and vulnerability aspects are reviewed. Both differential and absolute GPS positioning accuracy are discussed for present and future systems within the constraints of the amphibious application. A discussion of the background for the study and the assumed scenario and environment for the operation is presented. Recommendations and conclusions are given.


In quantitative discrete-event simulation, the initial transient phase can cause bias in the estimation of steady-state performance measures. Methods for detecting and truncating this phase make calculating accurate estimates from the truncated sample possible, but no methods proposed in the literature have proved to work universally in the sequential online analysis of output data during simulation. This report proposes a new automated truncation method based on the convergence of the cumulative mean to its steady-state value. The method uses forecasting techniques to determine this convergence, returning a truncation point when the cumulative mean time-series becomes sufficiently horizontal and flat. Values for the method's parameters are found that adequately truncate initialisation bias for a range of simulation models. The new method is compared with the sequential MSER-5 method, and shows to detect the onset of steady-state more effectively and consistently for almost all simulation models that are tested. This rule thus appears to be a good candidate as a robust sequential truncation method and for implementation in sequential simulation research packages such as Akaroa2. Acknowledgements I would like to wholeheartedly thank my supervisors Krzysztof Pawlikowski and Don McNickle for their encouragement and valuable feedback throughout the duration of this project.


Introduction The gastrointestinal tract is colonized by an extraordinarily large number of commensal microbes and is constantly exposed to ingested antigens and potential pathogens. Regulation of intestinal tolerance thus represents the main task of the immune system of the gut mucosa. Accumulated evidence suggests that gut commensals contribute to the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis, partly through their ability to control the differentiation of effector T lymphocytes in the mucosa and to modulate inflammatory responses through the induction of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) production. Tissue-resident mononuclear phagocytes (MNPs), including macrophages (MPs) and dendritic cells (DCs), are specifically equipped to detect a wide range of microbial signals and to capture, process, and present extracellular antigenic material to T lymphocytes. MNPs have been shown to contribute to the maintenance of intestinal immune tolerance through the induction or expansion of Tregs in the intestine. Despite their key role in microbial sensing and immune tolerance, the cellular and molecular cues that translate microbial signals into immunoregulatory MNPs in the intestine are not completely understood. ILC3 translate microbial cues into immunoregulatory signals in the intestine. Microbial cues sensed by intestinal MPs lead to IL-1β release. IL-1β engages IL-1R on ILC3, promoting Csf2 release. ILC3-derived Csf2 triggers DC and MP production of regulatory molecules (i.e., RA and IL-10), which, in turn, promotes the induction and expansion of regulatory T cells. Csf2-primed DCs and MPs promote Treg homeostasis locally and in mesenteric lymph nodes. ILC3 translate microbial cues into immunoregulatory signals in the intestine. Microbial cues sensed by intestinal MPs lead to IL-1β release. IL-1β engages IL-1R on ILC3, promoting Csf2 release. ILC3-derived Csf2 triggers DC and MP production of regulatory molecules (i.e., RA and IL-10), which, in turn, promotes the induction and expansion of regulatory T cells. Csf2-primed DCs and MPs promote Treg homeostasis locally and in mesenteric lymph nodes. Rationale The cytokine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), recently renamed Csf2, is a key determinant of myeloid lineage differentiation and is required for the optimal function of tissue MNPs. Recent results from our laboratory revealed that although Csf2-deficient mice have normal numbers of lymphoid tissue-resident DCs, they display significantly reduced numbers of steady-state nonlymphoid tissue-resident DCs in the small intestine, including the lamina propria CD103+CD11b+ DC subset implicated in the induction of lamina propria Tregs. These results prompted us to further explore the contribution of Csf2 to intestinal immune homeostasis in vivo. We used detailed profiling studies and functional immune assays of the MNP and lymphocyte compartment in the gut, as well as genetically engineered mice that lack Csf2 or the transducer Myd88 specifically in MNPs or lymphocytes, to explore the role of MNPs in the maintenance of immune homeostasis in the gut. Results Our results revealed a crosstalk between IL-1β–secreting MPs and Csf2-producing RORγt+ type 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3) in the intestinal mucosa. Microbiota-driven IL-1β production by MPs promoted the release of Csf2 by ILC3, which in turn controlled DCs and MPs to maintain colonic Treg homeostasis. Ablation of Csf2 reduced DC and MP numbers and impaired their ability to produce regulatory factors such as retinoic acid (RA) and IL-10, leading to disrupted Treg homeostasis in the large intestine. Conversely, administration of Csf2 cytokine increased Treg frequency in the gut. Most notably, cell type–specific ablation of IL-1 receptor (IL-1R)–dependent signaling in RORγt+ ILC3 abrogated oral tolerance to dietary antigens and compromised intestinal immune homeostasis in vivo. Although the reduction in Treg numbers was mostly observed in the large intestine, adoptive transfer studies in Csf2–/– mice revealed impaired Treg differentiation both in the small and large intestine, suggesting that Csf2-dependent MNP immunoregulatory functions control Treg induction in both tissues. Conclusion This study established the commensal-driven MNP-ILC-Csf2 axis as a key regulator of intestinal T cell homeostasis in the mouse intestine. Disturbance of this axis radically altered MNP effector function, resulting in impaired oral tolerance to dietary antigens. These results represent an important advance in our understanding of how commensal microbes can regulate host intestinal immunity and may inform the design of novel immunotherapies for patients with inflammatory intestinal diseases with impaired GM-CSF function. Gut Immune Tolerance With the constant assault of food antigens and its billions of resident microbes, the gut is an important site of immune tolerance. By studying specific intestinal immune cell populations in genetically modified mice, Mortha et al. (10.1126/science.1249288, published online 13 March; see the Perspective by Aychek and Jung) found that gut macrophages produce the cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) in response to signals derived from the microbiota. IL-1 acts on type 3 innate lymphoid cells in the intestine, which then produce the cytokine, colony-stimulating factor 2 (Csf2). Csf-2, in turn, induces myeloid cells (including dendritic cells and macrophages) to produce regulatory factors like retinoic acid and interleukin-10, which support the conversion and expansion of regulatory T cells, a population of cells known to be critical for maintaining immune tolerance in the gut. Myeloid cells, innate lymphoid cells, and the cytokines they secrete cooperate to maintain immune tolerance in the gut. [Also see Perspective by Aychek and Jung] The intestinal microbiota and tissue-resident myeloid cells promote immune responses that maintain intestinal homeostasis in the host. However, the cellular cues that translate microbial signals into intestinal homeostasis remain unclear. Here, we show that deficient granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) production altered mononuclear phagocyte effector functions and led to reduced regulatory T cell (Treg) numbers and impaired oral tolerance. We observed that RORγt+ innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are the primary source of GM-CSF in the gut and that ILC-driven GM-CSF production was dependent on the ability of macrophages to sense microbial signals and produce interleukin-1β. Our findings reveal that commensal microbes promote a crosstalk between innate myeloid and lymphoid cells that leads to immune homeostasis in the intestine.


In many domains of embedded systems, the increasing performance demands are tackled by increasing performance capacity through the use of multicore technology. However, adding more processing units also introduces the issue of task allocation - decisions have to be made which software task to run on which core in order to best utilize the hardware platform. In this paper, we present an optimization mechanism for allocating tasks to cores of a soft real-time embedded system, that aims to minimize end-to-end response times of task chains, while keeping the number of deadline misses below the desired limit. The optimization relies on a novel heuristic that proposes new allocation candidates based on information how tasks delay each other. The heuristic was evaluated in a series of experiments, which showed that it both finds better allocations, and does it in fewer iterations than two heuristics that we used for comparison.


The present thesis outlines our latest findings on the reactivity of the Burgess reagent with oxiranes. Structural, mechanistic, and computational studies are presented. Included is the development of a (-)-menthyl version of the Burgess reagent and its application to the synthesis of enantiomerically pure ~-amino alcohols. This methodology has been exploited in the formal enantiodivergent synthesis of the (+)and (-)-isomers of balanol. Also described is a second generation approach to both balanol enantiomers; each commencmg with the chemoenzymatic dihydroxylation of bromobenzene. This study also describes the steric and functional limitations of the toluene dioxygenase-mediated oxidation of benzoate esters. The metabolite derived from ethyl benzoate was employed in a formal synthesis of oseltamivir. Finally, several synthetic approaches to oseltamivir and its analogs are presented, each proceeding through a different vinyl aziridine derived from bromobenzene and ethyl benzoate.


The Forward Error Correction (FEC) Framework document (RFC 6363)
defines the FEC Framework Configuration Information necessary for the
FEC Framework operation. This document describes how to use signaling
protocols such as the Session Announcement Protocol (SAP), the Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP), the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP),
etc. for determining and communicating the configuration information
between sender(s) and receiver(s). This document doesn't define
any new signaling protocol. This document is not an Internet Standards
Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.


The age‐associated decline of adult stem cell function is closely related to the decline in tissue function and age‐related diseases. However, the underlying mechanisms that ultimately lead to the observed functional decline of stem cells still remain largely unexplored. This study investigated Drosophila midguts and found a continuous downregulation of lipoic acid synthase, which encodes the key enzyme for the endogenous synthesis of alpha‐lipoic acid (ALA), upon aging. Importantly, orally administration of ALA significantly reversed the age‐associated hyperproliferation of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and the observed decline of intestinal function, thus extending the lifespan of Drosophila. This study reports that ALA reverses age‐associated ISC dysfunction by promoting the activation of the endocytosis–autophagy network, which decreases in aged ISCs. Moreover, this study suggests that ALA may be used as a safe and effective anti‐aging compound for the treatment of ISC‐dysfunction‐related diseases and for the promotion of healthy aging in humans.


Proxy temperature reconstructions indicate a dramatic cooling from the Cenomanian
to Maastrichtian. However, the spatial extent of and mechanisms responsible for this cooling
remain uncertain, given simultaneous climatic influences of tectonic and greenhouse
gas changes through the Late Cretaceous. Here we compare several climate simulations of
the Cretaceous using two different Earth system models with a compilation of sea-surface
temperature proxies from the Cenomanian and Maastrichtian to better understand Late
Cretaceous climate change. In general, surface temperature responses are consistent between
models, lending confidence to our findings. Our comparison of proxies and models confirms
that Late Cretaceous cooling was a widespread phenomenon and likely due to a reduction in
greenhouse gas concentrations in excess of a halving of CO 2 , not changes in paleogeography.


The community group in Desa Arjowilangun most affected by the impact of the 2008/09 global financial crisis (GFC) is the families of male migrant workers (TKI) employed in the export-oriented manufacturing industry in South Korea. Although none of these workers has returned home because of the crisis, the money that they send has gone down by 25%–50% due to the reduction in their official working hours, and the reduction or even removal of overtime. Even so, this situation has had no impact on fulfillment of the basic needs of their families because the amount of money that the families receive is still sufficient for them to meet daily needs and because the TKI families generally have other sources of income from agriculture, livestock raising, or other businesses. During the past year, the socioeconomic situation of the Arjowilangun community has been relatively stable and economic activities have continued to expand. The drop in turnover in such trading activities as the sale of mobile phones and pre-paid voucher, and the currency exchange business has been caused more by increased competition in the sale of phone and the presence of services fast money transfer from abroad.


Mangroves are prone to bearing frequently the full brunt of hurricanes and tropical storms. The extent of destruction and early regeneration are widely studied. The purpose of this study was to add a long‐term view of mangrove regeneration and assess the potential effects on mangrove horizontal zonation patterns of catastrophic destruction. Hattie, a category five hurricane, hit the Belizean coast in 1961. It passed directly over the Turneffe Atoll where our study area, Calabash Cay, is located. At four sites on this island, we analyzed mangrove forest structure along transects parallel to the shoreline within zones delineated by species dominance and tree height. We propose an index based on the Simpson index of diversity to express changes in the heterogeneity of the species dominance. Physical–chemical parameters and nutrient availability were also measured. The destruction levels were estimated by analysis of the distribution of diameter at breast heights of the bigger trees in the inland zones. Variations in species dominance among sites and zones could be explained by interactions of various factors. Further, different levels of destruction between the two sides of the island had a significant effect on current patterns of species and structural zonation at Calabash. We conclude that disturbance regime in general should be considered as a factor potentially influencing mangrove horizontal zonation patterns.


With immense globalization and the fast growth of technologies, the world is now running with the real time technologies which means the communication made over the internet and the data is fetched simultaneously from the website. There are different websites which include the vulnerability of hosting the suspicious activities like hosting of the Malware or Worm which cause serious effect on the running system. Malware is such a threat which is injected silently and creates a massive affect on the system by creating different types of syndrome on the system like the system slow down, unexpected shut down and even the data breach. Data breach is actually the main target of the hackers through which the hacker steals data from the database and flies off. This is because of unsecured network protection and unreliable software hosting on system. So, to make the system secure over the network the protection should be upgraded with new approach so that the unauthorized access to the network can be restricted. As the hackers leave no stamp for their identification, so after the data breach takes place, the IP of the hacker cannot be recognized. This is the reason for which the hackers are hard to be recognized. There are different approaches to prevent the suspicious access but most of them are basically cracked by the data hijackers. In this paper, the discussion and the approach are made through which the unauthorized access can be obstructed and thereby the probability of hijacking of the host system can be minimized by using the Artificial Neural Network.


Education in Saudi Arabia has received considerable attention from the government in the hope of finding strategies to improve the performance of schools, which is essential for economic development. However, education in Saudi Arabia has been criticised due to the quality of teachers, their salary, and the curricula and resources used (Khashoggi, 2014; Lindsey, 2010). Although the international literature reviews important issues of efficiency in education, there are few research projects which studies the efficiency challenges and constraints pertinent to Saudi schools in depth. The purpose of this research is to use Operational Research (OR) models focused on assessing and improving the performance of private schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially the Riyadh districts. A set of models are developed based on 57 schools for descriptive efficiency measurement and 12 schools for prescriptively improving the performance. Data collection was implemented through the Quality and Planning Department of the Saudi Ministry of Education who liaised with the school managers. In terms of model formulation, the techniques of: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for measuring efficiency, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for ranking priority of the criteria of improving school performance, and Goal Programming (GP) for improving the efficiency of schools are used in a combined framework. A subsidiary Goal Programming model for resolving the inconsistencies in the AHP preferences is also used. The results that can be obtained from building these models can be beneficial for parents, schools, and governments. Efficient schools yield better outcomes and support a higher quality of education, which increases the knowledge and skills of students. Those students will then contribute more effectively to the future development of their countries. In addition, high-performing schools delivering high levels of education to students can encourage the economic growth of a nation.


This paper examines whether bank finance is a substitute or complementary to trade credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region of the Visegrad Group – the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic. This paper uses the data set provided by the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey that was conducted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank during the period from 2012 to 2014. Using a sample of 1,140 firms, it was discovered that firms having an overdraft facility from banks use more trade credit, and this supports the complementary theory of bank credit and trade credit. Moreover, the results suggest that companies that are younger, innovative, risky, with a concentrated ownership structure and operated by an experienced manager use more trade credit to purchase their material inputs and services. However, the results also show that service-oriented firms use less trade credit than manufacturing firms.


Though accounting for less than 1 percent of U.S. livestock industry receipts, sheep and goat operations are still important to the economies of several states in the Southern Plains, Mountain States and Pacific regions. Revenues from sales of lambs and culled ewes amount to more than three-fourths of the total receipts in the sheep industry. However, nearly 4 percent of the animals in the sheep industry are lost each year. Most of this loss is from predation. Predators include coyotes, domestic dogs, big cats, foxes and bears, and eagles. Predator losses are concentrated in the Southern Plains, Pacific States and Mountain regions, due to a high concentration of both sheep and predators in these regions. Most previous studies have looked at the direct loss from predation. We used the Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN) procedure to construct an input-output (I-O) model of the 10 USDA farm production regions to look at some of the indirect effects associated with predation. The direct value of all sheep and lambs lost due to predation for 1999 was simulated using this I-O model and the regional economic impact evaluated. The simulated impact of predator losses on the U.S. sheep industry showed that a $16 million direct loss in sheep and lambs due to predation results in a more than $12 million additional income loss over the rest of the economy. The economies of the Mountain States, Southern Plains and Pacific were most affected.


Educational policymakers struggle to find ways to improve the quality of the teacher workforce. The early career period represents a unique opportunity to identify struggling teachers, examine the likelihood of future improvement, and make strategic pre-tenure investments in improvement as well as dismissals to increase teaching quality. To date, only a little is known about the dynamics of teacher performance in the first five years. This paper asks how much teachers vary in performance improvement during their first five years of teaching and to what extent initial job performance predicts later performance. We find that, on average, initial performance is quite predictive of future performance, far more so than typically measured teacher characteristics. Predictions are particularly powerful at the extremes. We employ these predictions to explore the likelihood of personnel actions that inappropriately distinguish performance when such predictions are mistaken as well as the much less discussed costs of failure to distinguish performance when meaningful differences exist. The results have important consequences for improving the quality of the teacher workforce.


One of the challenges of computer vision is that the information we seek to extract from images is not even defined for most images. Because of this, we cannot hope to find a simple process that produces the information directly from a given image. Instead, we need a search, or an optimization, in the space of parameters that we are trying to estimate.
In this thesis, I introduce two new optimization methods that use graph algorithms. They are characterized by their ability to find a global optimum efficiently. Each method defines a graph that can be seen as embedded in a Euclidean space. Graph-theoretic entities such as cuts and cycles represent geometric objects that embody the information we seek.
The first method finds a hypersurface in a Euclidean space that minimizes a certain kind of energy functional. The hypersurface is approximated by a cut of an embedded graph so that the total cost of the cut corresponds to the energy. A globally optimal solution is found by using a minimum cut algorithm. In particular, it can globally solve first order Markov Random Field problems in more general cases than previously known. I prove that the convexity of the smoothing function in the energy is essential for the applicability of the method and provide an exact criterion in terms of the MRF energy.
An optimal cycle in a Euclidean space can be found efficiently by the second method proposed here. It uses a minimum ratio cycle algorithm to find a cycle with minimum energy in an embedded graph. In the case of two dimensions, the energy can depend not only on the cycle itself but also on the region defined by the cycle. Because of this, the method unifies the two competing views of boundary and region segmentation.
I demonstrate the utility of the methods in applications with the results of experiments in the areas of binocular stereo, image restoration, and image segmentation. The image segmentation, or contour extraction, experiments are carried out in various situations using different information such as motion, stereo, and intensity.


Architect Richard S. Requa traveled Spain and the Mediterannean, documenting authentic architecture. Together with The Monolith Portland Cement Co., Requa published his portfolio of images in 1926, helping to fuel architecture's Spanish Revival movement (1915-1940) throughout the Pacific Coast and Florida. His images were "selected and arranged especially for use in developing a logical and appropriate style of architecture for California and the Pacific Southwest," and they had a profound influence as they were widely distributed to design professionals as well as schools and libraries. Besides providing a wealth of inspiration regarding overall architecture, the nearly 200 images also provide intimate detailing of balconies, doors, hardware, and architectural motifs, and serve as a wonderful resource for historians and restoration experts. Because Spanish Revival is enjoying a resurgence in popularity, the timing of this inspirational re-issue will aid, once again, in focusing on the native roots of the widely loved school of architecture.


INTRODUCTION
The Physical Activity Questionnaire for children and adolescents (PAQ-C & PAQ-A) has been widely used in research and field settings. However, there is a lack of information about its final score meaning.

OBJECTIVE
To determine PAQ-C and PAQ-A score cut-off values using physical activity (PA) thresholds objectively measured as reference criteria.

METHODS
146 children (n = 83 boys, n = 63 girls) and 234 adolescents (n = 115 boys, n = 119 girls) participated in this study. Accelerometers (Actigraph GT3X) were used to assess objectively PA during one-week, afterwards PAQ was filled by the participants. As participants met or not the international PA recommendations for total, moderate-vigorous (MVPA) or light PA, three categorical variables of two levels were created. ROC curves procedure were carried out to obtain score cut-off points for identifying the positive category recommendation.

RESULTS
ROC curves analysis estimated 2.75 and 2.73 score cut-off points to discriminate > 60 minutes of MVPA for PAQ-A and PAQ-C respectively (PAQ-A AUC = 0.68, p < 0.001 and PAQ-C; AUC = 0.55, p > 0.05). Also 60 minutes of MVPA was achieved with a total volume of 10,664 steps/day in children and 9,701 steps/day in adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that PAQ-A can be a useful tool to classify adolescents as active or inactive following international recommendations as criteria. However, we could not find a significant cut-off for PAQ-C score.


The objective of this review is to determine the effects of perioperative sedatives and anesthetics in surgical patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on respiratory events, medication requirements, hemodynamics, pain, emergence, and hospital stay. We searched The Cochrane CENTRAL Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from 1950 to June 2010 for relevant articles. All prospective and retrospective studies were eligible for inclusion if the effects of perioperative administration of sedation and anesthetics on medication requirements, pain, emergence, hemodynamics, respiratory events, and length of hospital stay in OSA patients were reported. The search strategy yielded 18 studies of 1467 patients. Of these, 456 patients were documented as having OSA. Few adverse respiratory effects were reported. Eight out of 700 (1.14%) patients undergoing middle ear surgery with midazolam and fentanyl had impaired upper airway patency and were retrospectively diagnosed as having OSA by polysomnography. Also, intraoperative snoring causing uvular edema in the postoperative period was described in an OSA patient undergoing upper limb surgery when propofol was administered with midazolam and fentanyl for sedation. A decrease in oxygen saturation in the postoperative period was described with propofol and isoflurane in 21 OSA patients undergoing uvulo-palato-pharyngoplasty and tonsillectomy surgery (P<0.05). Perioperative alpha 2 agonists were shown to decrease the use of anesthetics (P<0.05), analgesics (P=0.008) and anti-hypertensives (P<0.001) in OSA patients. Contradictory reports regarding emergence occurred with intraoperative dexmedetomidine. Intraoperative opioids decreased the analgesic consumption (P=0.03) and pain scores (P<0.05) in the postoperative period. There was limited data on the length of hospital stay. There were few adverse effects reported when patients with known OSA underwent elective surgery with the currently available sedatives and anesthetics. Adverse events were reported with midazolam. However, the quality and number of patients in the studies were limited. There is a need for further trials with large numbers and uniform reporting of outcomes.


This book is intended for readers who already have knowledge of devices and circuits for radio-frequency (RF) and microwave communication and are ready to study the systems engineering-level aspects of modern radio communications systems. The authors provide a general overview of radio systems with their components, focusing on the analog parts of the system and their non-idealities. Based on the physical functionality of the various building blocks of a modern radio system, block parameters are derived, which allows the examination of their influence on the overall system performance. The discussion is complemented by tutorial exercises based on the Agilent SystemVue electronic system-level (ESL) design software. With these tutorials, readers gain practical experience with realistic design examples of radio transmission systems for communications and radar sensing. The tutorials cover state-of-the-art system standards and applications and consider the characteristics of typical radio-frequency hardware components. For all tutorials, a comprehensive description of the tasks, including some hints to the solutions, is provided. The readers are then ableto perform these tasks independently. A complete set of simulation models and solutions to the tutorial exercises is given.


In a KTa1-xNbxO3 optical beam deflector, light rays are bent by a space charge formed by electrons that are injected through an electrode and captured by crystal defects. For complete device control, it is important to evaluate the space charge. We propose an optical method for measuring charge density distributions that utilizes the electrooptic (EO) effect of the material. With this method, electron accumulation caused by a screening effect was commonly observed near the cathode. The electron accumulation region extended toward the anode as the applied voltage and permittivity increased. This method can be applied to any EO materials that exhibit space charge distributions.


The study employs a qualitative approach, using 44 semi-structured interviews with internet users, in order to compare the perceptions of adolescents, young adults and adults towards the information seeking process and their information seeking behavior. When it comes to experience with information technology, most scholars refer to actual uses, the confidence in technology use, and skills or digital literacy. Recent studies questioned this definition, arguing that the experience with information technologies is not only about the actual uses, but also how users experience it. In addition, very little consideration has been given to the fact that the different experience that different age groups have with information technologies can explain much of the information seeking behavior differences. Five themes emerged from the interviews: different perceptions of information, the role of negative emotions in the information seeking process, beliefs towards passive and incidental information seeking behavior, selection of information and information evaluation. The theoretical contribution of this study is in re-conceptualizing the role of experience with information technologies as part of the existing models of information seeking behavior. Based on their shorter experience with information seeking processes adolescents presented a less matured understanding of information, and reported on less structured seeking behavior than adults. This practice was led by intense emotions, often depended on the algorithm, and required more sophisticated ad-hoc evaluation criteria. Adults reported on a more structured and conservative strategies, which they believed protected them from wasting time, and kept them in much more control over the process.


Nowadays, the presence of distributed generation (DG) is steadily growing. This growth can produce significant effects on the costs incurred by distribution system operators (DSOs). This impact can be particularly negative if DG keeps playing a passive role, not reacting to network conditions. However, the implementation of advanced response options or active network management (ANM) may mitigate the adverse effects of large DG penetration levels. This paper considers the adoption of ANM planning strategies and provides an estimate of the distribution network costs reduction that can be achieved through the implementation of advanced response options. Two large-scale distribution planning models, called reference network models (RNMs), have been used to calculate these cost estimates. Three actual distribution areas are studied, taking into account different scenarios of load and DG for each one of them. These areas are located in The Netherlands, Germany and Spain and were chosen to reflect a wide range of different types of consumers, load concentration and DG technologies.


Increased railway patronage worldwide is putting pressure on rolling stock and infrastructure to operate at higher capacity and with improved punctuality. Condition monitoring is seen as a contributing factor in enabling this and is highlighted here in the context of rolling stock being procured with high capacity data buses, multiple sensors and centralised control. This therefore leaves scope for advanced computational diagnostic concepts. The rail vehicle bogie and associated wheelsets are one of the largest and most costly areas of maintenance on rolling stock and presented here is a potential method for real time estimation of wheel-rail contact wear to move this currently scheduled based assessment to condition based assessment. This technique utilises recursive 'grey box' least squares system identification, used in a piecewise linear manner, to capture the strongly discontinuous nonlinear nature of the wheel-rail geometry.


Maintaining an intact nutrient supply in the food system flown on spacecraft is a critical issue for mission success and crew health. Ground-based evidence indicates that some vitamins may be altered and fatty acids oxidized (and therefore rendered useless, or even dangerous) by long-term storage and by exposure to radiation, both of which will be issues for long-duration exploration missions in space. In this study, the stability of nutrients was investigated in food samples exposed to spaceflight on the Intl. Space Station (ISS). A total of 6 replicates of 5 different space food items, a multivitamin, and a vitamin D supplement were packaged into 4 identical kits and were launched in 2006 on the space shuttle. After 13, 353, 596, and 880 d of spaceflight aboard the ISS, the kits were returned to Earth. Nine replicates of each food item and vitamin, from the same lots as those sent into space, remained in an environmental chamber on Earth to serve as controls at each time point. Vitamins, hexanal, oxygen radical absorbance capacity, and amino acids were measured in identical-lot food samples at each time point. After 596 d of spaceflight, differences in intact vitamin concentrations due to duration of storage were observed for most foodstuffs, but generally, nutrients from flight samples did not degrade any faster than ground controls. This study provided the 1st set of spaceflight data for investigation of nutrient stability in the food system, and the results will help NASA design food systems for both ISS and space exploration missions.


Few years ago, the department of computer science of the University Magdeburg invented a completely new diploma programme called 'computational visualistics', a curriculum dealing with all aspects of computational pictures. Only isolated aspects had been studied so far in computer science, particularly in the independent domains of computer graphics, image processing, information visualization, and computer vision. So is there indeed a coherent domain of research behind such a curriculum? The answer to that question depends crucially on a data structure that acts as a mediator between general visualistics and computer science: the data structure "image".

The present text investigates that data structure, its components, and its application conditions, and thus elaborates the very foundations of computational visualistics as a unique and homogenous field of research. Before concentrating on that data structure, the theory of pictures in general and the definition of pictures as perceptoid signs in particular are closely examined. This includes an act-theoretic consideration about resemblance as the crucial link between image and object, the communicative function of context building as the central concept for comparing pictures and language, and several modes of reflection underlying the relation between image and image user.

In the main chapter, the data structure "image" is extendedly analyzed under the perspectives of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. While syntactic aspects mostly concern image processing, semantic questions form the core of computer graphics and computer vision. Pragmatic considerations are particularly involved with interactive pictures but also extend to the field of information visualization and even to computer art. Four case studies provide practical applications of various aspects of the analysis.