The objective of this explorative study is to show that it is highly relevant to integrate cultural and personal body images into the ethical debate on human enhancement. The current debate has little attention for the motivations to make use of technology to alter the human body, such as cultural images of the human body. As a consequence, the debate risks to alienate from its central moral issue. Human enhancement is often understood as the technological interventions in the human body to improve human form and functioning without the medical indication to do so. An exploration of the different topics that receive attention in the ethical debate shows that there is no consensus about the core moral issues concerning enhancement. Within the debate, two interpretations of enhancement seem to be intertwined. One merely sees enhancement as the result of specific technologies. The other interpretation sees enhancement merely as a pursuit of (body) improvement. Especially when we understand enhancement as a pursuit of body improvement people's motivations to alter themselves, their body images should be taken into consideration. One could even argue that enhancement, as the pursuit of improvement, is a cultural body image. Based on phenomenological, social scientist and feminist studies I display what I understand body images to be. Body images are cultural phenomena containing all attitudes and values concerning human bodies. These phenomena include the interrelationships between personal body images and cultural body images. Feminist and disability studies show us that body images are not merely contingent, but come into existence through cultural production. That statement introduces some interesting issues related to ethical deliberations. Two central issues are reflected upon. First, the complex relationship between body images and human action raises the question whether we can change or modify existing body images. The use of enhancement technologies itself implies that one can actively change ones body image. Is it also possible to alter pervasive cultural ideals of "normalcy?? On which levels are we able to act and on which are we not? Second, the notion of vulnerability is reflected upon. Do body images lead to vulnerability? Is vulnerability a moral issue? And finally, when do the vulnerabilities caused by the cultural production of body images evoke moral issues? A list of questions is presented that can be applied in concrete situations to inquire when body images lead to vulnerabilities that are morally problematic. This study detects the questions that need to be raised in order to understand to what extent the investigated connection between body images and enhancement raises issues of moral responsibility. The problem is that the cultural production of body images is a complex process. It is not possible to appoint one single responsible actor. How could we reflect upon moral responsibility in such a complex situation? Which issues of moral responsibility in relation to body images should be dealt with within the context of enhancement? A society that wishes to act responsibly in relation to enhancement technologies needs to reflect upon those questions.


During the 1980s many economists started to use the term globalisation as a catchword for an increased interaction between countries in world trade. The literature does not provide a clear definition of globalisation. We set up a number of criteria and formulate hypotheses about globalisation that we explore for Swedish export flows during the years 1965-2000. Globalisation, in this study, is referred to as increases in country diversity, extended transport radii, less effect of distance on trade flows, and the ratio of exports to the importing countries' incomes. The results from the empirical analysis do not support the hypotheses of increasing trade globalisation It is rather the case that export flows are becoming more internationally regionalised.


The 52s is a contemporary African American vernacular martial art that developed, according to oral tradition, as an effective means of defense in prison settings. Yet, in 52s, effectiveness is not good enough. Comments by resource persons assert that sick (destructive) hands must harmonize with sweet (artistic) moves. The competent fighter must maintain composure and control while destroying an opponent. Drawing techniques from literally any source available, including boxing, Asian martial arts, folk styles of combat, and dance, this "martial bricolage" is characterized by strategies, rhythms, and attitudes based in the interplay of the sick and the sweet. Comparable tensions are evident in urban folk games (slap "boxing"), dance (uprocking, break dancing), and verbal arts (freestyle rap). This article examines the aesthetic principles shared by these martial, ludic, and performance genres.


We identify the causal effect of mothers' mental health during early - and soon after pregnancy on a range of child psychological, socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes measured between ages 4-16. Results suggest a negative effect on children's psychological and socio-emotional skills in early childhood, but these effects fade-out between the ages of 11-13. We find no significant effect on cognitive outcomes. The fade-out of effects may be partly explained by compensatory behaviour of parents, as we find that mental health during or soon after pregnancy raises breastfeeding and improves measures of interaction between mother and child.


The foundation of property law has been much debated in recent years, as several scholars have sought to provide a theoretical alternative to what they call the dominant, "law-and-economics" approach to property. In place of the law-and-economics approach, these scholars advance a new theoretical approach, which I call "the new progressive property." At its core, this new approach favors rules thought to promote the collective well-being of the larger community while ensuring that relatively disadvantaged members of society have access to certain basic resources. This Article explores the boundaries and practical implications of the new progressive property. To do so, I focus on two potential examples of this theoretical approach related to low-income housing: the federal Section 8 housing voucher program and local rent-control ordinances. I argue that Section 8 is a better example than rent control of the new progressive-property approach, even though rent control has previously been identified as a practical example of the new progressive property and Section 8 has not.I then turn to examine a deep conflict at the intersection of Section 8 and rent control, which presents an important opportunity to further test and refine the new progressive property. In particular, I argue that this underexamined low-income housing conflict provides good reasons to abandon rent control, even from a progressive-property perspective. In addition, the low-income housing conflict between Section 8 and rent control sheds light on the ambiguous relationship between law-and-economics analysis and the progressive-property framework. More specifically, I argue that the conflict between rent control and Section 8 demonstrates that even the most basic law-and-economics tools must be incorporated into a progressive-property framework to achieve the ends of the new progressive property.


Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robots (SRMRs) are assemblies of autonomous robotic units, referred to as modules, joined together using active connection mechanisms. By changing the connectivity of these modules, SRMRs are able to deliberately change their own shape in order to adapt to new environmental circumstances. One of the main motivations for the development of SRMRs is that conventional robots are limited in their capabilities by their morphology. The promise of the field of self-reconfigurable modular robotics is to design robots that are robust, self-healing, versatile, multi-purpose, and inexpensive. Despite significant efforts by numerous research groups worldwide, the potential advantages of SRMRs have yet to be realized. A high number of degrees of freedom and connectors make SRMRs more versatile, but also more complex both in terms of mechanical design and control algorithms. Scalability issues affect these robots in terms of hardware, low-level control, and high-level planning. In this thesis we identify and target three major challenges: (i) Hardware design; (ii) Planning and control; and, (iii) Application challenges. To tackle the hardware challenges we redesigned and manufactured the Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robot Roombots to meet desired requirements and characteristics. We explored in detail and improved two major mechanical components of an SRMR: the actuation and the connection mechanisms. We also analyzed the use of compliant extensions to increase locomotion performance in terms of locomotion speed and power consumption. We contributed to the control challenge by developing new methods that allow an arbitrary SRMR structure to learn to locomote in an efficient way. We defined a novel bio-inspired locomotion-learning framework that allows the quick and reliable optimization of new gaits after a morphological change due to self-reconfiguration or human construction. In order to find new suitable application scenarios for SRMRs we envision the use of Roombots modules to create Self-Reconfigurable Robotic Furniture. As a first step towards this vision, we explored the use and control of Plug-n-Play Robotic Elements that can augment existing pieces of furniture and create new functionalities in a household to improve quality of life.


Ronald W. McNew Agricultural Statistics Laboratory University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 72701 Cowpea is an important legume food crop that is commonly grown in Arkansas and numerous other southern states. The application of biotechnological approaches for the improvement of U.S. cowpea genotypes is currently not possible due to the lack of a regeneration and transformation system. Therefore, the first priority of our research efforts is the development of a plant regeneration system that willfacilitate plant transformation studies. In an effort to optimize the media requirements for tissue culturing cowpea, we evaluated the in vitro response of shoot tip and leaf disk explants to various levels of Murashige and Skoog (MS) macro and micro nutrients, vitamins, and iron. One commercial cultivar,Early Scarlet (formerly 91-135), and one advanced Arkansas breeding line,91-245, were used as tissue sources. Shoot tips were cultured on media augmented with 5 mg/L kinetin and 0.01 mg/L naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA).Multiple shoots were produced from shoot tips, and these grew well when cultured on fullstrength MS. However, increasing MS levels to 1.5 times the standard concentration induced taller shoots from both genotypes. Leaf disks were cultured on MS media supplemented with 0.5 mg/L benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 1mg/L 2,4dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Callus proliferation was greatest on media containing fullstrength MS supplemented with 0.5 mg/L BAP and 1 mg/L 2,4-D. The effects of the media constituents were genotype dependent, with Early Scarlet generally producing larger shoots and greater amounts of calli. The results obtained from this study demonstrate that the plant genotype and growth hormones have the greatest influence on cowpea growth in vitro. Therefore, in developing a cowpea regeneration system, itwillbe necessary to test numerous genotypes incombination with various growth regulators. To improve regeneration frequencies the media components can be optimized for the genotypes of interest.


Hydrophobic interaction plays an important role in biology, daily lives, and a variety of industrial processes such as flotation. While the mechanisms of hydrophobic interactions at molecular scale, as in self-assembly and micellization, is relatively well understood, the mechanisms of macroscopic hydrophobic interactions have been controversial. It is, therefore, the objective of the present work to study the mechanisms of interactions between macroscopic hydrophobic surfaces in H-bonding liquids, including water, ethanol, and water-ethanol mixtures. The first part of the present study involves the measurement of the hydrophobic forces in the thin liquid films (TLFs) confined between two identical hydrophobic surfaces of contact angle 95.3 using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The measurements are conducted in pure water, pure ethanol, and ethanol-water mixtures of varying mole fractions. The results show that strong attractive forces, not considered in the classical DLVO theory, are present in the colloid films formed with all of the H-bonding liquids tested. When an H-bonding liquid is confined between two hydrophobic surfaces, the vicinal liquid molecules form clusters in the TLFs and give rise to an attractive force. The cluster formation is a way to minimize free energy for the molecules denied of H-bonding with the substrates. Thus, solvophobic forces are the result of the antipathy between the CH2and CH3-coated surface and H-bonding liquid confined in the film. A thermodynamic analysis of the solvophobic forces measured at different temperatures support this mechanism, in which solvophobic interactions entail decreases in the excess film enthalpy and entropy. The former represents the energy gained by building clusters, while the latter represents loss of entropy due to structure building. Thus, hydrophobic interaction may be a subset of solvophobic interaction. The solvophobic forces are strongest in pure water and pure ethanol, and decrease when one is added to the other. Adding a very small amount of ethanol to water sharply reduced the solvophobic force due to the adsorption of the former with an inverse orientation. An exposure of the OH-group toward the aqueous phase decreases the antipathy between the surface and H-bonding liquid and hence causes the hydrophobic (or solvophobic) forces to decrease. The second part of the study involves the measurement of the hydrophobic forces in the wetting films of water using the force apparatus for deformable surfaces (FADS). This new instrument recently developed at Virginia Tech is designed to monitor the deformation of bubbles to determine the surface forces in wetting films. In effect, an air bubble is used a force sensor. The measurements have been conducted with gold, chalcopyrite, and galena as substrates. The results obtained with all three minerals show that hydrophobic force increases with increasing water contact angle, suggesting that hydrophobic forces are inherent properties of hydrophobic surfaces rather than created from artifacts such as preexisting nanobubbles and/or cavitation. A utility of the intrinsic relationship between hydrophobic force and contact angle is to predict flotation kinetics from the hydrophobicity of the minerals of interest.


The structure of a comprehensive research project into mine fires study applying the Ventgraph mine fire simulation software, preplanning of escape scenarios and general interaction with rescue responses is outlined. Some outcomes from a project funded by the Australian Coal Association Research Program and substantial mining company site support are described. Mine site testing has allowed the approach to be introduced in the most creditable way. The project has assisted the Australian coal mining industry to attain an improved position in their understanding of mine fires and the use of modern advances to preplan actions to be taken in the advent of mine fires and possible emergency incidents. Work undertaken at individual mines is discussed as examples. Most Australian mines of reasonable size currently use a ventilation network simulation program. Under the project a small subroutine has been written to transfer the input data from the existing mine ventilation network simulation program to Ventgraph. This has been tested successfully. To understand fire simulation behaviour the mine ventilation system must first be understood correctly. The simulation of safe escape scenarios as part of emergency evacuation is described. Approaches to improving the ability of all levels of the mine workforce to evacuate mine workings in the safest way are examined, developed through pre-learning of appropriate escape strategies. The effect of use of a GAG inertisation unit to smother a fire after personnel have been withdrawn is examined. Work undertaken with appropriate bodies during preplanning and subsequently during the course of a mine rescue and recovery emergency exercise is discussed. Some comments have been made on the ventilation aspects of the emergency exercise from observations made during the course of the incident. Some of these are set down as observations and some were personal comments from participating individuals. A key aspect of the software is the ability to model fires in a mine and the consequent effects of control measures such as ventilation changes and the introduction of inertisation using the GAG engine. Management is provided with a pre-emptive tool that gives ability to have control measures such as emergency seals or doors in place, as well as a predictive tool for analysing actions prior to implementation in the event of a fire.


Raft is a consensus algorithm for managing a replicated log. It produces a result equivalent to (multi-)Paxos, and it is as efficient as Paxos, but its structure is different from Paxos; this makes Raft more understandable than Paxos and also provides a better foundation for building practical systems. In order to enhance understandability, Raft separates the key elements of consensus, such as leader election, log replication, and safety, and it enforces a stronger degree of coherency to reduce the number of states that must be considered. Results from a user study demonstrate that Raft is easier for students to learn than Paxos. Raft also includes a new mechanism for changing the cluster membership, which uses overlapping majorities to guarantee safety.


Abstract. Observed reductions in Earth's surface temperature following explosive volcanic eruptions have been used as a proxy for geoengineering of climate by the artificial enhancement of stratospheric sulfate. Earth cools following major eruptions due to an increase in the reflection of sunlight caused by a dramatic enhancement of the stratospheric sulfate aerosol burden. Significant global cooling has been observed following the four major eruptions since 1900: Santa Maria, Mount Agung, El Chichon and Mt. Pinatubo, leading IPCC (2007) to state "major volcanic eruptions can, thus, cause a drop in global mean surface temperature of about half a degree Celsius that can last for months and even years". We use a multiple linear regression model applied to the global surface temperature anomaly to suggest that exchange of heat between the atmosphere and ocean, driven by variations in the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), has been a factor in the decline of global temperature following these eruptions. The veracity of this suggestion depends on whether sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic, sometimes called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, but here referred to as Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV), truly represents a proxy for the strength of the AMOC. Also, precise quantification of global cooling due to volcanoes depends on how the AMV index is detrended. If the AMV index is detrended using anthropogenic radiative forcing of climate, we find that surface cooling attributed to Mt. Pinatubo, using the Hadley Centre/University of East Anglia surface temperature record, maximises at 0.14 °C globally and 0.32 °C over land. These values are about a factor of 2 less than found when the AMV index is neglected in the model and quite a bit lower than the canonical 0.5 °C cooling usually attributed to Pinatubo. This result is driven by the high amplitude, low frequency component of the AMV index, demonstrating that reduced impact of volcanic cooling upon consideration of the AMV index is driven by variations in North Atlantic SST that occur over time periods much longer than those commonly associated with major volcanic eruptions. The satellite record of atmospheric temperature from 1978 to present and other century-long surface temperature records are also consistent with the suggestion that volcanic cooling may have been over estimated by about a factor of 2 due to prior neglect of ocean circulation. Our study suggests a recalibration may be needed for the proper use of Mt. Pinatubo as a proxy for geoengineering of climate. Finally, we highlight possible shortcomings in simulations of volcanic cooling by general circulation models, which are also being used to assess the impact of geoengineering of climate via stratospheric sulfate injection.


Optical waveguides are fabricated in Nd3+:Y3+:SrF2 crystals by a 1-kHz femtosecond laser using the double-line approach. Waveguides with different separations (10, 15, and 20 \mm m) between two consecutive optical breakdown tracks are produced, and their optical performances are explored by end-fire coupling to 780-and 532-nm lasers. Propagation loss of the waveguide with 20-\mm m separation is estimated. The microphotoluminescence and micro-Raman spectra indicate that the original fluorescence and lattice structure of the Nd3+:Y3+:SrF2 crystals are well preserved in the waveguide. Therefore, the obtained waveguide structures are promising candidate for application in integrated waveguide lasers.


Public policies encourage the service system to work in new ways to promote health and increase social equality. This paper presents four categories that show the character of the low-threshold services in Norwegian family centres from the professionals' and parents' perspectives, focusing on accessibility and participation: easy access, low level of bureaucracy, collaborative competences and inclusive arena. This paper is based on an inductive study in three municipalities that have chosen to establish family centres as interdisciplinary co-located services that aim to offer low-threshold services for children and their families. Data were generated through a fieldwork, and participatory observation and interviews were the main source of data. The methodological framework for the analysis was grounded theory, in which the data generation and analysis interchanged throughout the study, and theoretical sampling set the focus for the fieldwork. Exploring the actor's perspective highlighted both strengths and challenges with the low-threshold services in the family centres. The four elements presented emphasize that the value of these low-threshold services are not found in one single hallmark; rather, the value depends on an interaction between different elements that must be addressed when establishing, evaluating and developing low-threshold services in family centres.


Energy requirements for successful defibrillation shocks are arrhythmia specific. However, it remains unclear why probability of shock success decreases with increase in arrhythmia complexity. We hypothesize that this is due to differences in transmural postshock behavior. To test this hypothesis, we assess shock efficacy in a bidomain defibrillation model of a 4mm thick slice of canine ventricles. Shocks are applied between an RV cathode and a distant anode to terminate one of two types of arrhythmias: VT (single scroll wave) or VF (multiple scroll waves). The ED50 shock strength for VT is found to be 13% less than that for VF. The results demonstrate that an isoelectric window in the range of 34 to 43ms exists following both failed shocks and those that succeed in Type B defibrillation for both VT and VF. Further, shocks given in VT result in longer isoelectric window durations as compared to shocks in VF. Analysis of the results demonstrates that the shock induces strong virtual electrode polarization on the slice surfaces that rapidly diminishes in tissue depth. We find that transmural excitable pathways allowing wavefront propagation leading to breakthrough on the surface are formed earlier following shocks given in VF as compared to VT.


Patulin is a mycotoxin that can be found in many apple products all over the world. It has been well-known for many decades and is nowadays one of the most regulated mycotoxins in food. Today when fruit and vegetables are traded internationally more than ever before, the quality of the goods might fall victim for careless storage during logistics. Still, with natural resources becoming scarce, we need to take care of what we got in our reach. Maybe at some point in the future we might have to find a usage for a shipment of apple juice contaminated with patulin. In this study, we focus on finding ways to decrease the amount of patulin in apple juice. By inoculation apples with the mold Penicillium expansum, 3 grades of decay were produced in the fruits. Diameters of lesion that the infection reached were sorted into 25 mm, 35 mm and 45 mm. Using a household fruit juicer these 3 grades of infected apples were juiced separately, to produce 3 juices containing different amounts of patulin. Having these 3 juices, using 5 treatments found in commercial juicing businesses (unfermented, pasteurized, fermented with commercial yeast strains Safale S-04 or Safale US-05, or spontaneously fermented by wild Saccharomyces cerevisiae) could prove if there were any process that would reduce the patulin concentration. Using a common extraction method and a HPLC analysis with a UV diode array detector at 276 nm, it was concluded that both the commercial yeasts lowered the concentration significantly if compared to the unfermented and the pasteurized. A significant difference in patulin concentration was concluded between the 3 degrees of lesion, where the highest grade of decay (45 mm lesion diameter) had the highest levels of patulin in its juice and the lowest grade of decay (25 mm lesion diameter) resulted in the lowest patulin concentration.


Temporal profile distortions reduce excitation efficiency and image quality in temporal focusing-based multiphoton microscopy. In order to compensate the distortions, a wavefront sensorless adaptive optics system (AOS) was integrated into the microscope. The feedback control signal of the AOS was acquired from local image intensity maximization via a hill-climbing algorithm. The control signal was then utilized to drive a deformable mirror in such a way as to eliminate the distortions. With the AOS correction, not only is the axial excitation symmetrically refocused, but the axial resolution with full two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) intensity is also maintained. Hence, the contrast of the TPEF image of a R6G-doped PMMA thin film is enhanced along with a 3.7-fold increase in intensity. Furthermore, the TPEF image quality of 1μm fluorescent beads sealed in agarose gel at different depths is improved.


International Center for Tropical Agriculture Since 1967 / Science to cultivate change www.ciat.cgiar.org According to climate model predictions, most parts of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will see significant temperature increases and changes in precipitation by 2050. In Guatemala, Colombia, and Jamaica, for example, such shifts will pose serious challenges for food supply chains in the face of increasing demand. If crop production is allowed to fall behind, this will not only lower national income and private sector growth but also jeopardize the food security and livelihoods of thousands of smallholder farmers. Policy makers must begin now to minimize the socio-economic impacts of climate change through a coordinated effort to identify pro-active options for adaptation, which take into account the different impacts and degrees of vulnerability across locations, crops, supply chains, and cultures. Andreas Benedikter, Peter Läderach, Anton Eitzinger, Simon Cook, Audberto Quiroga, Antonio Pantoja, and Michele Bruni Global Climate Change and Food Supply Chains: Policies for Collective Adaptation


Databases are an important part of today's IT infrastructure: both companies and state institutions rely on database systems to store most of their important data. As we are more and more dependent on database systems, securing this key facility is now a priority. Because of this, research on fault-tolerant database systems is of increasing importance. One way to ensure the fault-tolerance of a system is by replicating it. Replication is a natural way to deal with failures: if one copy is not available, we use another one. However implementing consistent replication is not easy. Database replication is hardly a new area of research: the first papers on the subject are more than twenty years old. Yet how to build an efficient, consistent replicated database is still an open research question. Recently, a new approach to solve this problem has been proposed. The idea is to rely on some communication infrastructure called group communications. This infrastructure offers some high-level primitives that can help in the design and the implementation of a replicated database. While promising, this approach to database replication is still in its infancy. This thesis focuses on group communication-based database replication and strives to give an overall understanding of this topic. This thesis has three major contributions. In the structural domain, it introduces a classification of replication techniques. In the qualitative domain, an analysis of fault-tolerance semantics is proposed. Finally, in the quantitative domain, a performance evaluation of group communication-based database replication is presented. The classification gives an overview of the different means to implement database replication. Techniques described in the literature are sorted using this classification. The classification highlights structural similarities of techniques originating from different communities (database community and distributed system community). For each category of the classification, we also analyse the requirements imposed on the database component and group communication primitives that are needed to enforce consistency. Group communication-based database replication implies building a system from two different components: a database system and a group communication system. Fault-tolerance is an end-to-end property: a system built from two components tends to be as fault-tolerant as the weakest component. The analysis of fault-tolerance semantics show what fault-tolerance guarantee is ensured by group communication based replication techniques. Additionally a new faulttolerance guarantee, group-safety, is proposed. Group-safety is better suited to group communication-based database replication. We also show that group-safe replication techniques can offer improved performance. Finally, the performance evaluation offers a quantitative view of group communication based replication techniques. The performance of group communication techniques and classical database replication techniques is compared. The way those different techniques react to different loads is explored. Some optimisation of group communication techniques are also described and their performance benefits evaluated.


This paper studies local economic impacts of the increases in trade barriers associated with Brexit. Predictions of the local impact of Brexit are presented under two different scenarios, soft and hard Brexit, which are developed from a structural trade model. Average effects are predicted to be negative under both scenarios, and to be more negative under hard Brexit. The spatial variation in negative shocks across areas is higher in the latter case as some local areas are particularly specialised in sectors that are predicted to be badly hit by hard Brexit. Areas in the South of England, and urban areas, are harder hit by Brexit under both scenarios. Again, this pattern is explained by sector specialisation. Finally, the areas that were most likely to vote remain are those that are predicted to be most negatively impacted by Brexit


The global Late Maastrichtian non-avian dinosaur apparent biodiversity is extensively surveyed for the first time. It amounts to 104 species (including unnamed forms) in 2010. The real biodiversity being obscured by taphonomical biases and the scarcity of the continental fossil record, a species-area relationship is used to estimate it. The results show that several hundreds (between 628 and 1078) non-avian dinosaur species were alive in the Late Maastrichtian, which is almost an order of magnitude above previous estimates. Because of the complex Late Cretaceous palaeobiogeography, discussions about dinosaur extinction should be based on this estimated real global biodiversity, not on the apparent biodiversity of a single area. Given the mean duration of dinosaur genera (7.7 Ma), the presence of so many dinosaur species in the Latest Cretaceous is consistent with the termination of most lineages at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (the Late Maastrichtian sub-stage is 2.8 m.y. long). The Late Maastrichtian dinosaurian biodiversity is therefore consistent with the sudden extinction of the group following the Chicxulub impact.


In recent years, there has been a growing interest towards the use of transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDS). However, a great challenge in this arena is the formidable barrier posed by the skin that can limit permeation of therapeutic agents. Therefore, there is a need for novel strategies or enhancement techniques to deliver the drug across the skin. The use of hot melt extrusion technology (HME) to prepare these TDDS is also generating considerable interest in the pharmaceutical field. This work combines these interests through preparation of several hot melt extruded formulations screened for their potential for transdermal development. A substantial database has been generated on physicochemical characteristics of these formulations with a prime focus on their in vitro drug release and permeation properties.

Processing parameters (temperature, heating duration and mixing speed) for preparing hot melt extruded compositions comprising ibuprofen (model drug) and various carrier excipients were established with minimal thermal degradation. Ibuprofen displayed a plasticizing effect enough to perform extrusion. HME processing facilitated the formation of solid solutions and dispersions. The feasibility of delivering ibuprofen from Eudragit RS PO-based extruded patches was investigated. The formation of solid solutions with high drug loading (35% w/w) was achieved in relatively stable extruded Eudragit RS PO matrices under dry conditions. However, these systems were associated with limited drug release. This has given the way to explore the effect of addition of release modifiers (sucrose, methylcellulose, Xantural®75, Pluronic® F127, Gelucire 44/14) and hydration influence. Gelucire 44/14 containing formulations emerged as the most satisfactory systems which
improved in vitro drug permeation profiles significantly by means of hydration. Intriguing structural changes upon hydration are believed to facilitate drug release as observed from the medicated and non-medicated formulations. These include consistency changes, softening of the extruded films and surface imperfections. Similar changes were detected in vivo using non-medicated Eudragit RS PO/Gelucire 44/14 carrier extruded systems after human skin occlusion. This employed strategy holds the promise for potential of a novel transdermal drug delivery activated by hydration.


Plant Anti-Insect Armaments Because individual plants are unable to relocate, they are subject to extreme selection by the insects feeding upon them. One means by which plants suppress herbivory is to produce toxic compounds to deter feeding (see the Perspective by Hare). Agrawal et al. (p. 113) compared pesticide–treated or untreated evening primroses. Over 5 years of pesticide treatment, the production of defensive chemicals in the fruit reduced and flowering times shifted, and the primrose's competitive ability against dandelions improved. Züst et al. (p. 116) examined large-scale geographic patterns in a polymorphic chemical defense locus in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and found that it is matched by changes in the relative abundance of two specialist aphids. Thus, herbivory has strong and immediate effects on the local genotypic composition of plants and traits associated with herbivore resistance. Protecting the common evening primrose from being eaten by insects alters its phenotype in only five growing seasons. Insect herbivores are hypothesized to be major factors affecting the ecology and evolution of plants. We tested this prediction by suppressing insects in replicated field populations of a native plant, Oenothera biennis, which reduced seed predation, altered interspecific competitive dynamics, and resulted in rapid evolutionary divergence. Comparative genotyping and phenotyping of nearly 12,000 O. biennis individuals revealed that in plots protected from insects, resistance to herbivores declined through time owing to changes in flowering time and lower defensive ellagitannins in fruits, whereas plant competitive ability increased. This independent real-time evolution of plant resistance and competitive ability in the field resulted from the relaxation of direct selective effects of insects on plant defense and through indirect effects due to reduced herbivory on plant competitors.


Excavations at a site on the outskirts of San Bias, on the south-central coast of Nayarit, Mexico (1967-8) yielded an obsidian cruciform artifact in stratigraphic context, associated with artifacts of the locally defined San Blas complex. Radiocarbon analysis of marine shell samples collected above, below, and two meters to the north of the obsidian cruciform, has produced raw determinations of 2675±80, 2640±85, and 2605±80 radiocarbon years respectively. This is one of the rare instances in which a cruciform has been found in fairly reliable dated context, adding to present under-standings of cruciform date as well as distribution, potentially important for problems of West Mexico-American Southwest prehispanic contacts.


In predicting the magnitude of the labor supply response to taxation, the standard lifecycle labor supply model distinguishes between unanticipated and anticipated changes in the after-tax return to working. Exploiting age-eligibility rules for claiming a dependent on a tax return facilitates a comparison of the labor supply outcomes of households who are equivalent but for the tax schedule they face. I find that the quasi-random assignment to a tax schedule without an age-eligible dependent corresponds to a decrease in mothers' labor supply by about 40 hours per year and to no discernible effect for fathers. While having an age-ineligible dependent results in a 0.5 percentage point, or 0.3%, average decrease in a household's net-of-tax rate, further analysis of average tax rates suggests that the variation in marginal tax rates does not fully explain mothers' labor supply responses. This finding militates against interpreting this large response as an intertemporal elasticity and subsequently presents a puzzle for the lifecycle labor supply model.


Contemporary literature in cybernetic culture reveals a rise of technological beings of cyborgs and disembodied selves as post-gender bodies on the Net. While Donna Haraway defines the "cyborg" as a hybrid of machine and organism and, hence, a gender-free entity in cybernetic culture, human beings interacting during online communication are often conceived as disembodied selves, thus devoid of any gender identity. The problematic condition of the negation of gender is, however, an oversight of the nature of 'sexuality' and sexual 'subjectivity' of human beings in cybernetic culture. Nevertheless, images in science fiction films and chat forums in Internet communication not only reveal diverse sexual identities, thus challenging the absence of gender in cyberspace, but manifests kinesthetic features in the
embodiment of cybersexuality.

 In this thesis, I theorize and
inaugurate 'kineticism' as the structural condition and state of existence of human body and sexuality, and its subversive potential for sexual emancipation in cyberspace. The word 'kineticism' is intended to suggest the system of ideas and condition of 'motion' that denote the 'structure' and 'mode of existence' as manifested in
the 'choreography' and
'tectonics' of cyberbodies. To support my point of view, I will be drawing upon the theoretical perspectives of postmodernism and cyberfeminist theory. For the
purpose of conducting this research, I will be employing a qualitative
methodology of critical discourse analysis. As for the sources of this research, I would be using theoretical texts as found in both print and online publications as well as images in cyberpunk films and digital art in new media
culture.

 Deconstructing ideological notions of fixed sexuality and gender in human society, this research discovers and affirms a kinetic sexuality in cyberbodies. Introducing 'kineticism' as the 'structural condition' and 'mode of existence' of embodiment and sexuality in cyberspace, this thesis will not only contribute an original theoretical knowledge of sexual
subjectivity and emancipation of human bodies in digital culture but
offer a critical advancement of contemporary social and feminist theory as well.

 (Full Text: 27535 words / 121 pages)


We present a practical, differentially private algorithm for answering a large number of queries on high dimensional datasets. Like all algorithms for this task, ours necessarily has worst-case complexity exponential in the dimension of the data. However, our algorithm packages the computationally hard step into a concisely defined integer program, which can be solved nonprivately using standard solvers. We prove accuracy and privacy theorems for our algorithm, and then demonstrate experimentally that our algorithm performs well in practice. For example, our algorithm can efficiently and accurately answer millions of queries on the Netflix dataset, which has over 17;000 attributes; this is an improvement on the state of the art by multiple orders of magnitude.


The paper by Gimeno et al provides a comparison of sickness absence between 15 European Union (EU) countries. According to this study, 14.5% of employees were absent at least one day in the past 12 months by an accident at work, by health problems caused by the work, or by other health problems. For Finnish employees, for instance, this percentage was 24%, the highest among the 15 EU countries; in the UK it was 11.7%. These figures are much lower than those reported previously. A population based survey of Finnish employed workforce aged 25–64 carried out in 2000 found that 45% of employees took sickness absence during the past six months. Correspondingly, a population based survey of 5400 British adults aged 15–64 reported that 30% of working adults took time off work in the past year because of their health or feelings. Three large cohort studies from Finland and the UK have used absence records instead of self-reports. In 2000, 58% of 77 850 municipal employees participating in the 10 town study took at least one sickness absence day; the same percentage was obtained in the Hospital Personnel Study for 30 864 hospital workers aged 15–65. In the Whitehall II study of over 10 000 British civil servants aged 35–55, 57% of men and 76% of women recorded sick leave 12 months prior to the study entry in 1985–88. Based on these national studies, we suspect that the figures presented by Gimeno et al are underestimates of actual absence frequency in the EU countries. Data on sickness absence were derived from face-to-face interviews that were carried out at the participant's home, a rarely applied assessment strategy for sickness absence. It is possible that the wording of the question led people to report sickness absence only when they believed it to be work related. The authors note that low response rates in some countries and healthy worker effect are potential sources of bias. We feel that the data presented by Gimeno et al are far too preliminary to be the basis of any policy at this stage or of conclusions regarding differences in absence frequency between nations. We fully agree with their recommendation for further research on sickness absence in EU countries.


We observe the rotational Doppler shift of an orbital angular momentum (OAM)-carrying white-light beam after it is backscattered from a rotating object. Unlike the well known linear shift, this rotational shift is independent of the optical frequency, and hence each spectral component of the scattered light is shifted by the same value. Consequently, even a white-light source can give rise to a single-valued frequency shift. We show that the size of this shift is proportional to the OAM of the light and that superpositions of different OAM states give rise to multiple frequency sidebands. The observability of this rotational shift for white-light illumination highlights the potential for the rotational Doppler effect to form the basis of a rotational sensor for the remote detection of spinning objects.


Living with sickle cell disease (SCD) can be a significant adversity due to disease-related symptoms and complications. Compounding these challenges, SCD predominantly affects ethnic minority populations already vulnerable to societal stigmatization, discrimination, and health disparities. It is important to recognize the negative impact of this chronic illness on psychosocial functioning; however, there is value in utilizing a strengths-based approach to determine how to promote adaptation to a challenging life-long disease. The current study explored the association among pain characteristics, adolescent, caregiver, and family protective factors, and functioning outcomes. Another primary aim of this study was to apply the protective factor model of resilience based in resilience theory to pediatric SCD by evaluating the moderating effect of adolescent, caregiver, and family protective factors on the relation between SCD pain burden and functioning outcomes. 93 12to 18-year-olds with SCD and their caregivers were recruited from a large Southeastern children's hospital. Adolescents completed measures assessing pain intensity and frequency, general and pain-specific protective factors, and functional outcomes. Caregivers completed measures assessing demographic and disease variables, psychological flexibility, and family functioning. Correlation analyses revealed that the majority of variables were related in expected directions and supported previous research. Adolescent protective factors were generally associated with one another and increased functional ability and quality of life. With the exception of family functioning, caregiver and family variables were not related to primary outcomes. After controlling for demographic, pain, and disease variables, moderation analyses showed that adolescent pain acceptance buffered the relation between SCD pain burden and quality of life. Contrary to hypotheses, moderating effects were not significant for the remaining adolescent, caregiver, and family protective factors. Findings highlight the importance of continuing to identify individual, caregiver, family, and broader environmental protective factors and evaluate resilience mechanisms among adolescents with SCD. Pain acceptance may also be a critical variable to target in future pain-focused interventions. Utilizing a strengths-based approach might lead to novel clinical avenues to empower youth to positively adapt to a chronic illness characterized by pain. INDEX WORDS: Resilience, Adolescents, Sickle cell disease, Pain management EXPLORING RESILIENCE AND ADAPATATION IN ADOLESCENTS WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE


Bacterial biomass, metabolic condition, and activity were measured over a 16-month period in the surface sediments of the following four field sites with differing dissolved organic matter regimes: a woodlot spring seep, a meadow spring seep, a second-order stream, and a third-order stream. Total bacterial biomass was measured by lipid phosphate and epifluorescence microscopic counts (EMC), and viable biomass was measured by 14C most probable number, EMC with 2-(p-iodophenyl)-3-(p-nitrophenyl)-5-phenyl tetrazolium chloride reduction, and ATP. Bacterial metabolic condition was determined from the percentage of respiring cells, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations, and adenylate energy charge. Activity measures included 14C-lipid synthesis, 32P-phospholipid synthesis, the rate of uptake of algal lysate dissolved organic carbon, and respiration, from which biosynthesis was calculated (dissolved organic carbon uptake corrected for respiration). Total bacterial biomass (from EMC) ranged from 0.012 to 0.354 μg of C/mg of dry sediment and was usually lowest in the third-order stream. The percentage of cells respiring was less than 25% at all sites, indicating that most bacteria were dormant or dead. Adenylate energy charge was measured only in the third-order stream and was uniformly low. Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations were greater in the woodlot spring seep than in the second- and third-order streams. Uptake of algal lysate dissolved organic carbon ranged from undetectable levels to 166 mg of C � m−2 � h−1. Little community respiration could be attributed to algal lysate metabolism. Phospholipid synthesis ranged from 0.006 to 0.354 pmol � mg of dry sediment−1 � h−1. Phospholipid synthesis rates were used to estimate bacterial turnover at the study sites. An estimated 375 bacterial generations per year were produced in the woodlot spring seep, and 67 per year were produced in the third-order stream.


When it comes to network security, many users and administrators are running scared, and justifiably so. The sophistication of attacks against computer systems increases with each new Internet worm. What's the worst an attacker can do to you? You'd better find out, right? That's what Security Warrior teaches you. Based on the principle that the only way to defend yourself is to understand your attacker in depth, Security Warrior reveals how your systems can be attacked. Covering everything from reverse engineering to SQL attacks, and including topics like social engineering, antiforensics, and common attacks against UNIX and Windows systems, this book teaches you to know your enemy and how to be prepared to do battle. Security Warrior places particular emphasis on reverse engineering. RE is a fundamental skill for the administrator, who must be aware of all kinds of malware that can be installed on his machines -- trojaned binaries, "spyware" that looks innocuous but that sends private data back to its creator, and more. This is the only book to discuss reverse engineering for Linux or Windows CE. It's also the only book that shows you how SQL injection works, enabling you to inspect your database and web applications for vulnerability. Security Warrior is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book covering the art of computer war: attacks against computer systems and their defenses. It's often scary, and never comforting. If you're on the front lines, defending your site against attackers, you need this book. On your shelf--and in your hands.


For the nearest years the design load level for offshore structures in Arctic regions is likely to be controlled by first-year sea ice ridges and rubble fields if the icebergs are not present in the area. Drifting ridges may hit fixed or moored surface structure such as platforms or ships, or they may gouge the seabed endangering pipelines and wellheads. Both the temporal and spatial properties of the consolidated layer and the unconsolidated part (the ice rubble) of the ice ridge are important input into ridgeload models. A better understanding of the ice rubble behaviour will enable us to determine the ice-ridge load more accurately. This thesis deals with two separate but connected subjects, namely: the ice strength field heterogeneity of both first-year sea ice ridge and level ice and the mechanical behaviour of the ice rubble.Field mechanical testing of first-year sea ice by uniaxial compression has been done in order to improve the knowledge of the ice fields strength heterogeneity. The inplane ice strength non-homogeneity of different ice fields on the landfast level ice in the Spitsbergen fjords were investigated. A typical ice strength variability was found to be about 20-40% for the vertical ice samples and 10-20% for the horizontal ones. The weak zones were found within the entire ice fields. It was established that the strength of the ice samples taken from a certain depth from the ice cover surface at the different locations of the same ice field varied by a factor of 3 to 4. Furthermore, two first-year sea ice ridges have been examined with respect to the 2D spatial strength distribution: one in the North-western Barents Sea and one in the Arctic Ocean nearby Spitsbergen. The ice ridges are characterized by high strength heterogeneity of 40-55%, where the ice strength varied more than 3 times along both vertical and horizontal directions.Special Finite Difference program "Inhomogeneity" was used to study the influence of the ice strength heterogeneity on the ice loads. It was shown that the ice heterogeneity might be one of the reasons for the scale effect.In order to investigate the nature of freeze bonds between the ice blocks, series of field and laboratory small scale tests were conducted with submerged ice blocks. The small scale field tests were carried out in Adventfjorden on Spitsbergen. An opening was made in the landfast level ice. The level ice was sawed into cubic blocks which then were submerged down into the water. Some of the ice blocks were cut in two parts and then frozen together in order to simulate the freeze bonds between the ice blocks. The other blocks were submerged without forming the adfreeze bond. In addition to that, laboratory tests with both artificial ice (fresh and sea water) and natural sea ice were conducted in the cold laboratories at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). The temporal development of the freeze bonding strength and the local strength of the ice blocks in the ice rubble, their changes with block size, confinement and ice properties were studied. The average freeze bonding strength from the field tests was found as 32 ± 18 kPa after 48 hours of submerging. The corresponding freeze bonding strength from the laboratory tests was 67 ± 52 kPa for the natural sea ice and 274 ± 142 kPa for the artificial freshwater ice within 60 hours of testing. Moreover, the ratio of freeze bonding strength to the strength of the submerged ice was found in the range of 0.008 to 0.082 with an average around 0.03 after 48 hours of submerging in the field. The corresponding strength ratio varied from 0.14 to 0.38 for the artificial fresh water ice and from 0.015 to 0.40 for the sea ice within 60 hours of testing in the laboratory.A pseudo-discrete continuum model has been developed to study the behaviour of the ice rubble and in particularly its initial failure mechanism that is associated with the breakage of the freeze bonding contacts (rubble skeleton). The model is a combination of discrete particle assembly generation and Finite Element analysis of this assembly. The model provides a possibility to simulate the contacts between the ice blocks. A parametric analysis simulating 2D direct shear tests shows that the pseudo-discrete continuum model is very sensitive to both strength and morphology of the freeze bonds between the ice blocks. An attempt to extend the model to study large deformations within the ice rubble (that is associated with rotation, rearrangement of the ice blocks and their breakage) was considered.


Eucalyptus plantation forestry in Western Australia (WA) is a relatively young industry and by the end of 2008, the total plantation estate (softwood and hardwood) was over 950 000 ha. The predominant plantation species is Eucalyptus globulus, native to south-eastern Australia. In Western Australia (WA), the most serious foliar disease of eucalypt plantations is Mycosphaerella Leaf Disease (MLD). However, little systematic sampling for MLD has been carried out in WA to determine its impact on plantations, yields, species involved or whether they are introduced or not. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate MLD in south-western Australia with a particular focus on the species diversity, taxonomy and the impact on early growth on E. globulus.

The increase in the number of Mycosphaerella and Teratosphaeria species associated with Mycosphaerella leaf disease (MLD) in E. globulus plantations in WA in the past decade has raised concern about the possible movement of pathogens between the native forests and plantations and vice versa. A survey of necrotic leaf spots collected from plantation and endemic eucalypts from WA and Queensland was conducted. Overall, ten new Eucalyptus host records for Mycosphaerella/ Teratosphaeria species were isolated from WA and five from Queensland. Significantly, M. nubilosa was isolated from E. grandis x resinifera and E. urophylla x globulus in WA. This is the first time M. nubilosa has been isolated from Eucalyptus hosts within the series Resinifera (see Chapter 2).

An assessment of the number of fungi that may be contributing to MLD in E. globulus plantations in WA was undertaken (Chapter 3) and the changes in the number of species and their incidence since the first surveys were conducted. Four new records of Mycosphaerella were identified in this study; M. ellipsoidea, P. fori, M. suttoniae and M. tasmaniensis. Mycosphaerella ellipsoidea and P. fori are first records for Australia, and M. suttoniae and M. tasmaniensis are first records for WA. The current work shows an increase in the number of Mycosphaerella species associated with plantation eucalypts in WA and Australia. With the exception of M. cryptica, none of these species were known in WA prior to the commencement of large-scale E. globulus plantations, and with M. cryptica as the exception, none have a known impact on the major native eucalypts in the region.

The ITS region of the type material of T. parva, M. grandis and M. gregaria using culture and herbarium specimens was sequenced and compared to existing sequences from GenBank (Chapter 4). This was the first study to examine and sequence the type material of M. grandis, T. parva and M. gregaria. As the sequences of the ITS region of M. grandis and T. parva were identical it was concluded that M. grandis be reduced to synonymy with T. parva. Mycosphaerella aurantia, M. buckinghamiae and M. africana also match the type sequence of M. gregaria. Therefore, these should all be synonymised to M. gregaria. Also, this study was the first to describe ITS sequence variation within the same Mycosphaerella isolate.

The aim of Chapter 5 was to identify the infection pathway at the leaf surface using scanning electron microscopy and to determine the pathogenicity of M. marksii on E. globulus. The use of glycerol as a surfactant and its effect on ascospore viability was also assessed. However, this study was unable to confirm pathogenicity of M. marksii on E. globulus seedlings under laboratory conditions. However, M. marksii ascospores were able to germinate and enter E. globulus stoma 3–6 days after initial infection.

Species-specific primers were successfully designed and tested for three Mycosphaerella species that occur on E. globulus in WA (Chapter 6). Meteorological conditions appeared to determine the defoliation of juvenile foliage and not MLD as levels of MLD remained relatively low throughout the trial period. The MLD levels increased throughout spring as warm wet conditions favoured the development of disease especially on the flush of new juvenile foliage. Also, new foliage emerged after late summer rainfall. As disease pressure mounted, the trees responded through defoliation. As temperatures increased and the juvenile foliage aged, there is likely to have been an increase in the defoliation of leaves. Therefore, by mid-summer defoliation levels reached a similar level to disease and insect damage. Following leaf defoliation and the emergence of new juvenile and adult leaves, the relative amount of disease on the trees decreased. This is because most of the disease was present on the older juvenile foliage which was shed. Field observations can be a reliable indication of disease progression. Although field observations at a branch level over exaggerated levels of MLD when there was a higher level of foliage, there was still a similar trend in the amount of disease when compared to the ASSESS program. Some experience in disease monitoring would indicate a more accurate assessment of MLD. It is interesting to note that the assessors tended to overestimate disease when MLD was at a higher level, and this also included the author.

Infection studies of Uwebraunia dekkeri were conducted to confirm how this species enters E. globulus leaves and to determine its pathogenicity (Chapter 7). This study demonstrated that conidia of U. dekkeri could infect E. globulus leaves and that it is not a hyperparasite of M. cryptica or M. nubilosa. Conidiogenesis was both percurrent and sympodial and the phenomenon of anastomosis was observed for the first time on the leaf surface.

The impact that MLD has on the wood volume has previously not been investigated in WA (Chapter 8). Through the application of pesticides and fungicides in the early stages of establishment at two plantations near Albany, tree volumes were significantly increased. However, the increase in wood volume would be offset by the pesticide and application costs. This study demonstrated that monitoring for pests and disease would be more effective than spraying of chemical treatments for the first three years. The regular use of chemical treatments is expensive to maintain and is proving to be environmentally unacceptable by some communities. This study also showed that spraying for low levels of MLD had little effect on disease incidence and/ or volume increase in E. globulus plantations in WA. The most important factors for a healthy plantation appear to be site selection, preparation and tree genetics.

This study was the first to investigate the impact of MLD on the growth of Eucalyptus globulus plantations in WA. As part of this study, the biology, taxonomy and pathogenicity of the main species present in WA were investigated. The key findings were: i) the number, abundance and distribution of Mycosphaerella/ Teratosphaeria species in WA is not static and plantations should be continually monitored for the presence of new potentially threatening species; ii) spraying for MLD, although effective in reducing the prevalence and impact on growth, was not economically viable; and iii) intragenomic variation of the ribosomal genome may explain sequence variation observed in single spore isolates of Mycosphaerella/ Teratosphaeria and this has taxonomic implications. Further work would identify the impact the new records are having on the plantation estate and also if these species have the potential to spread into the neighbouring endemic forests. This study has provided a broader understanding of MLD in WA and the development of tools that could be used for further study.


CALL FOR PAPERS The fourth revolution of industry (Industry4.0) is reshaping all the segments of industries. Pulled by grand social challenges, automation technologies are dramatically "spilling out" from the traditional scenarios such as factories and workshops to all the scenarios of our everyday life. The traditional research areas of biomedical engineering and health informatics for the aging population have gained unprecedented interests from the automation industry. Cross disciplinary synergy of expertise and deep convergence of the three subjects, the research landscape is being reshaped both in academia and industry towards the rapid development of health engineering, an emerging interdisciplinary field for the predictive, preventive, precise and personalized medicine. More powerful tools from process or factory automation such as distributed control systems (DCS) and robotics are penetrating into biomedicine and healthcare applications. For example the R&D on robotics for biomedicine and healthcare becomes more and more active in the recent years. The goal of this special section is to critically review the advancement in the convergence of automation technology, biomedical engineering and health informatics, identify the gaps between the state-of-the-art of research and industrial demands, and envision the directions for future research. The application scenarios can cover single or multiple scenarios of health engineering such as primary care, preventive care, predictive technologies, hospitalization, home care, and occupational health. We focus on the cross disciplinary approaches, solutions, and initiatives rather than single disciplinary ones. Topics include but are not limited to: Control theories and tools for modelling, simulating and optimizing healthcare processes Collaborative robots for laboratory, surgery, rehabilitation, emergency, and home care Flexible, wearable, and implantable robots for prognosis, diagnosis, treatment, and medication Automation systems aided by biomedical sensing devices for occupational safety and health Assistive technologies for ageing population in living spaces and working spaces Deterministic communications and controls in remote surgery and telemedicine Digital hospitals powered by advanced sensing, identification, tracking, communication and recognition Cyber-Physical-Systems approach in the engineering of high complexity medical instruments Cyber-Physical-Systems approach in pharmaceutical management and healthcare logistics Precision medicine powered by data analytics, unobtrusive monitoring and Artificial Intelligence


This paper presents a novel method for 3D surface reconstruction based on a sparse set of 3D control points. For object classes such as human heads, prior information about the class is used in order to constrain the results. A common strategy to represent object classes for a reconstruction application is to build holistic models, such as PCA models. Using holistic models involves a trade-off between reconstruction of the measured points and plausibility of the result. We introduce a novel object representation that provides local adaptation of the surface, able to fit 3D control points exactly without affecting areas of the surface distant from the control points. The method is based on an interpolation scheme, opposed to approximation schemes generally used for surface reconstruction. Our interpolation method reduces the Euclidean distance between a reconstruction and its ground truth while preserving its smoothness and increasing its perceptual quality


SSRs have proved to be the most powerful tool for variety
identification in groundnut of similar origin, and have much potential
in genetic and breeding studies. To facilitate SSR discovery in
groundnut, we proposed a highly simplified SSR isolation protocol based
on multiple enzyme digestion/ligation, mixed biotin-labeled probes and
streptavidin coated magnetic beads hybridization capture strategy. Of
the 272 colonies randomly picked for sequencing, 119 were found to have
unique SSR inserts.


Botswana has had the highest rate of per capita growth of any country in the world in the last 35 years. This occurred despite adverse initial conditions, including minimal investment during the colonial period and high inequality. Botswana achieved this rapid development by following orthodox economic policies. How Botswana sustained these policies is a puzzle because typically in Africa, 'good economics' has proved not to be politically feasible. In this Paper we suggest that good policies were chosen in Botswana because good institutions, which we refer to as institutions of private property, were in place. Why did institutions of private property arise in Botswana, but not other African nations? We conjecture that the following factors were important. First, Botswana possessed relatively inclusive pre-colonial institutions, placing constraints on political elites. Second, the effect of British colonialism on Botswana was minimal, and did not destroy these institutions. Third, following independence, maintaining and strengthening institutions of private property were in the economic interests of the elite. Fourth, Botswana is very rich in diamonds, which created enough rents that no group wanted to challenge the status quo at the expense of 'rocking the boat'. Finally, we emphasize that this situation was reinforced by a number of critical decisions made by the post-independence leaders, particularly Presidents Khama and Masire.


Hayden White is celebrated as one of the great minds in the humanities. Since the publication of his groundbreaking monograph, Metahistory, in 1973, White's work has been crucial to disciplines where narrative is of primary concern, including history, literary studies, anthropology, philosophy, art history, and film and media studies. This volume, deftly introduced by Robert Doran, gathers in one place White's important-and often hard-to-find-essays exploring his revolutionary theories of historical writing and narrative. These texts find White at his most essayistic, engaging a wide range of topics and thinkers with characteristic insight and elegance. The Fiction of Narrative traces the arc and evolution of White's field-defining thought and will become standard reading for students and scholars of historiography, the theory of history, and literary studies.


Toxoplasma gondii infection provides a clinically important, and experimentally tractable, system for exploring the delicate balance of interactions between a pathogen and its host, resulting in the long-term survival of both. Many studies have shown that this parasite is susceptible to, and can actively manipulate a variety of innate and acquired immune responses. It also known that the nature of these responses is likely to be critical in distinguishing between the development of acute disease, chronic, asymptomatic infection, and parasite clearance. However, the factors responsible for controlling these diverse outcomes are still unclear. This dissertation explores the establishment of T. gondii infection after invasion of the small intestine and the host's cellular response to parasites at this site. Ex vivo visualization of infection in whole tissue explants using fluorescently tagged parasites and deep-imaging techniques reveals a significantly more complex process of interaction within the small intestine than previously appreciated. After crossing the intestinal epithelium to enter the lamina propria, T. gondii parasites remain confined to the area surrounding the initial site of invasion rather than rapidly disseminating to the tissues, producing spatially restricted plaques and a high mucosal burden relative to non-mucosal tissues. The host response to T. gondii plaques is similarly striking and include a massive influx of LysM+ cells into the infection plaque. In contrast, while CD11c+ dendritic cells are recruited to the infected region, they appear to be absent from the plaque itself; perhaps reflecting host efforts to control parasite replication and block dissemination, and/or parasite efforts to modulate the host response. Activation of CD8+ T cells, which are critical for the control of replicating parasites, in response to parasitederived antigen was also examined. Transgenic T. gondii lines engineered to target the model antigen ovalbumin to various intraand extracellular locales demonstrate that entry into the processing pathway requires extra-parasitic antigen, indicating that these antigens are processed for MHC I presentation without entry into degradative organelles. These studies provide new insights into host-pathogen interactions, helping to elucidate the means by which T. gondii parasites establish infection and how host cells respond and control parasite infection. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor David Artis Second Advisor John M. Murray This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/366 Third Advisor E. John Wherry


Abstract Objective The present commentary introduces a Health Evidence Network (HEN) report that synthesises evidence of front-of-pack food labelling (FOPL) policy development and implementation across the European Region. Design Countries were identified as having policies on interpretive FOPL from the WHO databases of Member State policies and online repositories of global food policies. For each identified country, evidence published from 1 January 1980 to 31 March 2018 was retrieved from peer-reviewed and grey literature. Extracted data were cross-checked with in-country representatives to ensure completeness and accuracy. Setting WHO European Region, spanning fifty-three countries. Results Fifteen countries had a government-endorsed policy on interpretive FOPL. Thirteen of these countries had introduced endorsement logos, while only three labelling systems provided an indicator for unhealthfulness. Common steps were identified in FOPL policy development, including: establishing FOPL as a nutrition policy priority; engaging stakeholders and the public; and collecting formative evidence on which to base the labelling system. Few countries had outlined formal provisions for evaluation of FOPL systems. The HEN report describes seven considerations for the adoption/review of FOPL policies to ensure these achieve the population nutrition aims of FOPL. These considerations relate to supporting consumer use and understanding of the labelling, policy feasibility and credibility, and ensuring policy implementation and accountability. Conclusions The HEN report encourages countries to consider FOPL policy that is applied widely across all products and provides negative evaluative judgements, possibly combined with positive indicators. Implementation provisions should drive widespread uptake of the system and allow for formal evaluation of impact.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the hypothesis that fluid intelligence in older adults is associated with the ability to benefit from cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), but unrelated to the ability to benefit from non-directive supportive counselling (SC).

METHOD
A sample of 32 older adults who had completed a randomized controlled trial course of either CBT (N = 16) or SC (N = 16) for anxiety disorders took part in the study. The Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) test was used to assess fluid intelligence. The Beck Anxiety Inventory change scores between pre-treatment and post-treatment were used as an index of ability to benefit from therapy. A measure of depressive symptomatology was also administered to control statistically for the effects of depression on intellectual functioning.

RESULTS
The results for the SC group showed a significant and positive association between fluid intelligence scores and anxiety change scores, such that older adults with higher levels of fluid intelligence demonstrated the most benefit from this intervention. In contrast, there was no significant association between level of fluid intelligence and ability to benefit from therapy in the CBT group.

CONCLUSION
CBT for anxiety disorders is suitable for older adults, irrespective of their fluid intelligence, while the nature of SC may render it more sensitive to level of fluid intelligence.


The estimation of motor state variables is an important criterion in the drive performance, especially for high accuracy required, for that reason it"s-necessary to estimate rotor-position-continuously not for sixty-electrical-degrees as in most existing methods. In this work the speed and position for the rotor of Permanent Magnet Brushless DC Motor (PMBLDCM) was estimated by using extended Kalman filter (EKF), this work is divided into two parts, the first one deals with design and simulation of PMBLDCM with EKF as an estimator, the results are introduced by manually selected EKF parameters (Q & R) matrices, The second one deals with investigation the performance of the use of PSO technique to optimize the performance and operation of EKF, the main use of PSO here is to optimize value for EKF parameters (Q and R), the results proved that by tuning the EKF parameters by PSO the estimated values for speed and position is very-close-to the actual value-(estimation-accuracy is increased). The resultant error clearly decreases when tuned by EKF parameters for example at full load case the speed RMS error is 0.24 for 10μs sampling time, although the RMS error is 9 for 10μs sampling time trial and error selected EKF parameters.


Problem: Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are an emerging form of crowdfunding for blockchain-based startups. While ICO design varies greatly in practice, many service-based platforms (e.g., Ethereum), use "uncapped" structures that forego limits on token supply, subjecting early investors to dilution risk. In this paper, we examine the conditions under which such ICOs are optimal and provide guidance for their optimal design.

Relevance: Despite their popularity in practice, uncapped ICOs are understudied and not as well understood as their capped counterparts.

Methodology: We model game-theoretic interactions among various stakeholders in an infinite-horizon setting with network effects, taking account of operational details.

Results: We show that uncapped ICOs weakly dominate capped ones in the context of service platforms. In terms of design, a platform commission and regulation are generally "substitutes" when it comes to overcoming moral hazard, but can also be combined to make ICOs more accessible, especially for platforms with high initial setup costs. ICO accessibility can also be increased by employing a dual token offering (security & transaction tokens), at the cost of reduced expected profit.

Implications: The paper provides a theoretical underpinning for the use of uncapped ICOs in practice. At a high level, it shows that ICOs succeed more easily in the presence of regulation, and platforms with low (high) setup costs should preferably issue utility (dual token) type ICOs.


Studies of the groundwater flow and quality around the lakes Bredvatten and Lysevatten have shown, that the increased concentrations of aluminum in acid lake water is caused by acid groundwater, and hence of leaching of aluminum into the groundwater. The increased aluminum concentration was later shown to be a major factor in the widespread ecosystem changes occurring in lakes and water systems. When a similar, but even more pronounced soil- and groundwater acidification occurred via oxidation of accumulated sulfur to sulfuric acid and thereby releasing several soil minerals to the groundwater, a number of regional investigations were carried out on wells and groundwater systems in different provinces in southern Sweden. The widespread problem with acid groundwater and thus acid tap water, made clear in these studies, shows that several thousand individual households have already acute problems with their drinking water and corroding metalpiping. The acidification of the groundwater has caused health problems by elevated metal concentrations and economic problems for house owners in an even more pronounced way than acidification of the surface water systems (lakes and rivers). These effects also show how severely affected the lime poor natural ecosystem has become through our own and other countries9 airborne acid pollutants.


Retirement planning is an issue that must be tackled early and solved backward. It must be tackled early because little can be done if an individual is not on the right path and has only a few years left to work. It must be solved backward because it makes little sense to aim for a portfolio that may not be able to sustain the desired lifestyle in retirement. This article introduces an approach that integrates the working period and the retirement period; leads individuals to consider all relevant variables at the beginning of their journey; and enables them to start saving early to build a target portfolio designed specifically to sustain a desired retirement. The analytical framework introduced yields closed-form solutions for the target retirement portfolio and the contributions that need to be made during the working years to hit that target. The framework proposed is illustrated with an empirical base case, sensitivity analysis, and Monte Carlo simulations. TOPICS: Long-term/retirement investing, portfolio management, retirement, wealth management Key Findings • Retirement planning must be tackled early and solved backward. • It starts with an estimation of the withdrawals needed to sustain a desired lifestyle in retirement; continues with the determination of the target retirement portfolio needed to sustain those withdrawals; and ends with the contributions needed to build that portfolio. • This article introduces a theoretical framework and an empirical illustration designed to help individuals get on the right path.


The Bloch impedance is studied and used to understand the properties of the absorption loss in one-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) composed of air and metal-based double-negative metamaterials. We find that as the frequency increases across the zero-¯ n gap of the considered structures, the modulus of the Bloch impedance always decreases from a maximum to a minimum value. On the other hand, the frequency dependence of the phase angle of the Bloch impedance is greatly influenced by the ratio of the electric to the magnetic damping coefficient γe∕γm of the metamaterials. When the phase angle of the Bloch impedance reaches maximum inside the zero-¯ n gap, the impedance mismatch between the incident medium and the considered PC becomes greatest, the reflection will be strongest and a minimum absorption will be observed. As γe∕γm increases, the frequency corresponding to the minimum absorption shifts from the lower to the upper gap edge. We also show that the main characteristics of both the Bloch impedance and the absorption loss are insensitive to the geometrical parameters. Our study offers a valuable reference in the designs of zero-¯ n gap with optimized properties. © 2013 Optical Society of America


We describe the fabrication of a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator in LiNbO(3) by femtosecond laser micromachining, which is composed of optical waveguides inscripted by a femtosecond laser and embedded microelectrodes subsequently fabricated using femtosecond laser ablation and selective electroless plating. A half-wave voltage close to 19 V is achieved at a wavelength of 632.8 nm with an interaction length of 2.6 mm. This simple and cost-effective technique opens up new opportunities for fabricating integrated electro-optic devices.


Abstract The starting point for the research has been the list of 147 banking crises within the period 1976–2011 prepared by the International Monetary Fund. The countries with crises have been analysed with respect to publicly available World Bank indicators in the periods of three years before the crises. The machine learning methodology for subgroup discovery has been used for the analysis. It enabled identification of five subsets of crises. Two of them have been identified as especially useful for the characterization of EU countries with banking crises in the year 2008. Fast growing credit activity is characteristic for the first subgroup while socioeconomic problems recognized by non-increasing quality of public health are decisive for the second subgroup. Comparative analysis of EU countries included into these subgroups demonstrated statistically significant differences with respect to World Bank good governance indicator values for the period before the crisis. Control of corruption, rule of law, and government effectiveness are the indicators which are statistically different for these sets of countries. The significance of the result is in the segmentation of the corpus of countries with banking crises and the recognition of connections between banking crises, socioeconomic problems, and governance effectiveness in some EU countries.


There was a time in the history of GM when it was the largest corporation in the US. The history of GM also shows that it was the single largest employer in the world. The announcement of GM's bankruptcy on June 1, 2009 shocked the world and had a tremendous impact on the United States economy. Looking back at the history of GM, there were many indicators which suggested the fate of the company. There were several internal factors that answer the question, what went wrong with GM. These internal factors are management arrogance, not meeting customer demands, the costs and demands of unions, poor forecasting, and internal controls on accounting standards. Similarly, there were several external factors that answer the same question, which include increased competition and loss of market share, rising gas prices and environmental friendliness, and the costs and burdens of meeting government regulations and restrictions. This paper will explore and answer the following questions: What are the fundamental causes of GM's problems? What can be learned from GM's mistakes and experiences? How and why an industrial icon came to ruin?


Mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer contracts are widely regarded as problematic because they limit consumer's access to judicial forums, to fair procedures, and potentially to any kind of remedy. But rather than looking at consumers as a group, I examine which sub groups of consumers are affected by this limitation more than others. I argue that in most circumstances, access to courts benefits the elite, not the weak. It is a species of open-access policy that has an unintended regressive effect. Paradoxically, rules that limit the use of pre-dispute arbitrations clauses hurt, rather than protect, weaker consumers, as they mandate a regressive reallocation. I also consider the role of class actions, and whether weak consumers are potentially the indirect beneficiaries of class action litigation. This argument has theoretical merit, but it, too, is limited in ways that are often unappreciated. † Leo Herzel Professor of Law, The University of Chicago Law School. I am grateful to Oren Bar-Gill, Ryan Bubb, Horst Eidenmuller, Fernando Gomez, Barak Richman, and Gerhard Wagner for commenting on an earlier draft, and to Irit Brodsky for research assistance.. 2 Access to Justice [February 11


A compact micro-optical interferometer is presented that combines two optical 90° hybrids or, alternatively, four delay interferometers into one interferometer structure sharing one tunable delay line. The interferometer can function as a frontend of either a coherent receiver or of a self-coherent receiver by adjusting the waveplates and the delay line. We built a prototype on a LIGA bench. We characterized the device and demonstrated its functionality by successful reception of a 112 Gbit/s signal.


Abstract In the past 40 years, the practice of psychiatry has changed dramatically from asylums to community care to personalized home-based treatments. The personal history of working in various settings and changing NHS indicates that an ability to change one's clinical practice is a critical skill. Being a migrant and an International Medical Graduate brings with it certain specific challenges. Personal histories provide a very specific account that is inherently incomplete and perhaps biased, but personal accounts also give history a tinge that academic accounts cannot. In this account, changes in the NHS have been discussed with regards to changes in clinical care of patients with psychiatric disorders as well as research and training.


The project shows that the working environment is rarely the sole cause of early retirement, but working environment factors may explain a large fraction of the transition to disability pension in particular. Several working environment predictors of early retirement are well-documented in the Nordic countries, but workplace policies and activities to retain older workers rarely aim to improve the working environment. There may be great potentials in developing workplace interventions which combine prevention of working environment risk factors (e.g. risk factors for accidents, strenuous work/high physical work demands, insufficient recovery between work shifts, quantitative work demands, conflicts at work and bullying/harassment, and age discrimination) with increment of job satisfaction through increased control/influence, possibilities for development and recognition from management.


In a unanimous opinion in McDonnell v. United States, the Supreme Court invalidated the conviction of the former Governor of Virginia on charges of bribery and called attention to the critical role that bribery laws play in democratic government. Bribery laws fulfill this function by determining what actions of governmental officials are, and are not, for sale. Bribery laws also undergird the Court's campaign finance cases. Campaign finance doctrine rests on the assumption that a legitimate campaign contribution is distinguishable from a bribe, at least in theory. But is it? In order to answer this question, we need a theory of bribery. This is no easy task. This article offers a new theory of bribery according to which agreements to exchange official acts for something else only constitute bribery when the value exchanged for the political act is something external to politics. According to this "external value" account, trading a legislative vote for money is bribery while trading it for another vote is not. An "external value" theory of bribery explains why campaign contributions are controversial. Contributions can be seen as money or politics. However recent Supreme Court cases treat giving money to the campaigns of political candidates and elected officials as a central form of political participation. But if the campaign contribution is a purely political act, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish a campaign contribution from a bribe.


Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) requires instructors, planners, managers and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of this activity to disclose any real or apparent conflict of interest (COI) they may have as related to the content of this activity. All identified COI are thoroughly vetted and resolved according to PIM policy. PIM is committed to providing its learners with high quality activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest.


Within the next decade it is likely that largescale energy extraction of tidal energy at specific sites will be undertaken. Arrays of multiple devices will be installed in order to generate meaningful quantities of power to the electrical grid. Much research has now begun to focus on understanding of the effects tidal turbines have on the surrounding flow environment. This will ensure that tidal farms can be strategically positioned to achieve the maximum possible power output in any given tidal site. The objective of the analysis presented in this paper is to investigate the flow acceleration effects which occur in a tidal channel as the position of a tidal array is altered relative to the side channel boundary. Experiments involving porous actuator fences in a circulating water channel are described, and the data from these experiments is used to illustrate how the flow regime can change as a tidal array moves closer to a solid boundary. Results indicate that considerable flow acceleration can occur in certain circumstances which for full-scale arrays could affect sediment transport and marine flora and fauna. Thus arrays must be carefully located to minimise any negative impacts on the surrounding environment. This work is ongoing and aspires to shape the development of larger arrays in the medium to long term


What motivates political actors with diverging interests to respect the Supreme Court's authority? A popular answer is that the public serves as the guardian of judicial independence by punishing elected officials who undermine the justices. Curbing the Court challenges this claim, presenting a new theory of how people perceive the Supreme Court. Bartels and Johnston argue that, contrary to conventional wisdom, citizens are not principled defenders of the judiciary. Instead, they seek to limit the Court's power when it suits their political aims, and this inclination is heightened during times of sharp partisan polarization. Backed by a wealth of observational and experimental data, Bartels and Johnston push the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical boundaries of the study of public opinion of the courts. By connecting citizens to the strategic behavior of elites, this book offers fresh insights into the vulnerability of judicial institutions in an increasingly contentious era of American politics.


Under the traditional method of valuation, risk is implicit within the initial yield which is used to capitalise the net income into perpetuity. The yield is derived from the risk free rate, usually long-dated gilts, plus a risk premium (Hoesli and MacGregor, 2000). Where the risks are seen to be high, a higher risk premium should be added. Individual differences in the investments characteristics, such as covenant strength, are taken into account by subjective yield adjustments. The initial yield is obtained from sales comparables, with potentially only limited knowledge of the fine details associated with the transaction, such as the covenant strength default rating. This paper considers whether covenant strength risk is explicitly accounted for in the selection of the initial yield when valuing a commercial property investment, and if so, whether the associated risk premium can be directly calibrated to the credit score. The research extends previous work by the authors on Property Risk Scoring, which involves the analysis and scoring of the total risk of the property asset (Hutchison et al. 2005). his paper presents analysis of ICC credit scores of the top 25 retailers in the UK over the period 2002 to 2006, plus a case study approach to the covenant strength variability of two shopping centres to illustrate the key issues in calibrating the covenant strength risk premium when a composite initial yield is used. The paper also considers the manner in which covenant strength risk is reported to clients.


: Australian small business enterprises, operated as exempt proprietary companies, are exposed to numerous statutory requirements. The Corporations Law Simplification Taskforce has proposed a number of changes with the stated objective of minimising the statutory burdens faced by small business. One of the recommendations of the taskforce is that most exempt proprietary companies be exempted from the requirement to supply key financial data in annual returns lodged with the Australian Securities Commission. This paper provides a review of the existing statutory responsibility for exempt proprietary companies to prepare annual returns including key financial data and lodge them with the ASC. A common justification offered for the introduction and continued maintenance of annual reporting requirements has been the protection of the public interest. The "public choice" theory of regulation provides alternative explanations for the regulation, including the promotion of producer interests or the promotion of the interests of the regulatory agency responsible for the administration of the legislation, the Australian Securities Commission, and other government departments such as Attorney-General's, Finance and Treasury. The existence of alternative explanations raises the possibility that the regulation is not motivated exclusively by the public interest. Indirect evidence of the usefulness of the annual reporting requirements was gathered with a consideration of the quality of the key financial data disclosed in annual returns. More than 40% of the annual returns lodged by a sample of exempt proprietary companies, during the years 1986 to 1989, contained key financial data which was inconsistent with being extracted from a properly prepared balance sheet (where assets minus liabilities equal shareholders' equity). The possibility that the maintenance of annual reporting requirements is not in the public interest, and the limited reliability of key financial data disclosures made, offers some support for the recent recommendations of the Corporations Law Simplification Taskforce that annual reporting requirements for small business enterprises be modified.


Critical readings of "chick lit" are typically limited to a framework that understands the popular fiction genre as a sign or symptom of "postfeminism" in the U.S. In its readings of chick lit in general, and of South Asian American chick lit as a particular women of color subgenre, this essay steps away from the framework of postfeminism that so dominates academic and popular discussions of chick lit, and instead uses critical race and transnational feminist critique to foreground questions of race, nation, empire, and political economy. Beginning with transnational and critical race feminisms in this way illuminates not only the operations of chick lit and the middle-class neoliberal subjects it produces, but also interrogates the ways in which hegemonic feminisms in the U.S. (as exemplified by chick-lit criticism) continue to disregard such questions. We analyze South Asian American chick-lit novels through sites—consumption, marriage, and realism—that are central to neoliberal subject-making, and that highlight the ways in which the novels work to produce a (trans)national, racialized, feminine subject embedded within neoliberalism, heteronormativity, and racism. At the same time, we explore contradictions in the production of such subjectivities, thus underscoring ways in which capital and neoliberalism are incomplete formations, and reimagining the possibilities and limitations for representations of subjectivity in the context of neoliberal capitalism and globalization.