The dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma source for biomedical application is characterized using optical emission spectroscopy, plasma-chemical simulation and voltage–current measurements. This plasma source possesses only one electrode covered by ceramic. Human body or some other object with enough high electric capacitance or connected to ground can serve as the opposite electrode. DBD consists of a number of microdischarge channels distributed in the gas gap between the electrodes and on the surface of the dielectric. To characterize the plasma conditions in the DBD source, an aluminium plate is used as an opposite electrode. Electric parameters, the diameter of microdischarge channel and plasma parameters (electron distribution function and electron density) are determined. The gas temperature is measured in the microdischarge channel and calculated in afterglow phase. The heating of the opposite electrode is studied using probe measurement. The gas and plasma parameters in the microdischarge channel are studied at varied distances between electrodes. According to an energy balance study, the input microdischarge electric energy dissipates mainly in heating of electrodes (about 90%) and partially (about 10%) in the production of chemical active species (atoms and metastable molecules).


The Big Sleep: Marlowe and Vivian practising kissing; General Sternwood shivering in a hothouse full of orchids; a screenplay, co-written by Faulkner, famously mysterious and difficult to solve. Released in 1946, Howard Hawks' adaptation of Raymond Chandler reunited Bogart and Bacall and gave them two of their most famous roles. The mercurial but ever-manipulative Hawks dredged humour and happiness out of film noir. 'Give him a story about more murders than anyone can keep up with, or explain,' David Thomson writes in his compelling study of the film, 'and somehow he made a paradise.'
 When it was first shown to a military audience The Big Sleep was coldly received. So, as Thomson reveals, Hawks shot extra scenes, 'fun' scenes, to replace one in which the film's murders had been explained, and in so doing left the plot unresolved. Thomson argues that, if this was accidental, it also signalled a change in the nature of Hollywood cinema: 'The Big Sleep inaugurates a post-modern, camp, satirical view of movies being about other movies that extends to the New Wave and Pulp Fiction.'


We have investigated 59 Becker muscular dystrophy patients, representing 56 independent mutations, to test the hypothesis of predictability of muscle dystrophin expression and clinical phenotype based on location of dystrophin gene mutations. Partial intragenic deletions and duplications account for 82% of the independent mutations, of which 76.7% were deletions and 5.3% duplications. Mutations in which boundaries could be defined, were of in-frame type (35 out of 37, 94.6%, with two exceptions. Eighty-two percent of mutations were located at the distal part of the rod domain (exons 45-60), 9% at domain I (promoter through exon 9) and 9% at proximal and central parts of domain II. Domain I deleted patients tended to have a worse clinical phenotype, with earlier presentation, faster progression rate and lower dystrophin expression, while distal rod domain deleted patients showed a more classic Becker muscular dystrophy phenotype. Between these two groups, only the differences in the immunohistochemical patterns of dystrophin expression and disease progression rate were statistically significant. Partial clinical and biochemical heterogeneity was observed in the distal domain II patient group, due to the presence of few patients covering the extremities of clinical severity. Two asymptomatic patients had deletions located in the central (exons 41-44) and distal parts (exons 50-53) of the rod domain. Severe myalgia and cramps were often reported as early onset symptoms (18 out of 59): no correlation was found between this symptomatology and the location of the mutation. Relative levels of muscle dystrophin correlated with immunohistochemical patterns of subsarcolemma staining. Dystrophin levels (as estimated by 30 kDa antibody immuno-reactivity) correlated with age of reaching a moderate degree of muscle involvement as well as with delay in reaching that stage, a parameter of disease progression rate. Our data confirm that different Becker muscular dystrophy gene in-frame mutations have different effects on dystrophin expression and clinical severity, indicating several functional roles of the dystrophin domains.


Little is known about how emerging nations, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (aka, B.R.I.C.), strategically use the international health community in order to strengthen their domestic HIV/AIDS programs. In this article, I introduce a new theoretical framework, strategic "receptivity" and "resistance," in order to explain how and why this process occurs. Brazil emerges as the most successful case of how this process leads to the formation of international partnerships and domestic policies strengthening its AIDS program, with India gradually building such a response, followed by China and Russia. This article closes with an explanation of how this strategic interaction reflects the growing independence and influence of BRIC while highlighting how this framework applies to other cases.


In the last few years, it has become apparent that traditional wavelet-based image processing algorithms and models have significant shortcomings in their treatment of edge contours. The standard modeling paradigm exploits the fact that wavelet coefficients representing smooth regions in images tend to have small magnitude, and that the multiscale nature of the wavelet transform implies that these small coefficients will persist across scale (the canonical example is the venerable zero-tree coder). The edge contours in the image, however, cause more and more large magnitude wavelet coefficients as we move down through scale to finer resolutions. But if the contours are smooth, they become simple as we zoom in on them, and are well approximated by straight lines at fine scales. Standard wavelet models exploit the grayscale regularity of the smooth regions of the image, but not the geometric regularity of the contours. In this paper, we build a model that accounts for this geometric regularity by capturing the dependencies between complex wavelet coefficients along a contour. The Geometric Hidden Markov Tree (GHMT) assigns each wavelet coefficient (or spatial cluster of wavelet coefficients) a hidden state corresponding to a linear approximation of the local contour structure. The shift and rotational-invariance properties of the complex wavelet transform allow the GHMT to model the behavior of each coefficient given the presence of a linear edge at a specified orientation --- the behavior of the wavelet coefficient given the state. By connecting the states together in a quadtree, the GHMT ties together wavelet coefficients along a contour, and also models how the contour itself behaves across scale. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the model by applying it to feature extraction.


The primary issue with respect to securing Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs) is that of ensuring network integrity even when the network is subject to attacks to break its connectivity. In this research report, we study how to secure the OLSR routing protocol . We first analyse the attacks that can be launched against the network integrity. We then present mechanisms for ensuring that only ``trusted'' nodes are admitted into the network and, subsequently, are the only nodes used to forward traffic. We also present mechanisms for detecting and dealing with scenarios where ``trusted'' nodes have become compromised.


Existing languages provide good support for typeful programming of standalone programs. In a distributed system, however, there may be interaction between multiple instances of many distinct programs, sharing some (but not necessarily all) of their module structure, and with some instances rebuilt with new versions of certain modules as time goes on. In this paper we discuss programminglanguage support for such systems, focussing on their typing and naming issues.We describe an experimental language, Acute, which extends an ML core to support distributed development, deployment, and execution, allowing type-safe interaction between separately-built programs. The main features are: (1) type-safe marshalling of arbitrary values; (2) type names that are generated (freshly and by hashing) to ensure that type equality tests suffice to protect the invariants of abstract types, across the entire distributed system; (3) expression-level names generated to ensure that name equality tests suffice for type-safety of associated values, e.g. values carried on named channels; (4) controlled dynamic rebinding of marshalled values to local resources; and (5) thunkification of threads and mutexes to support computation mobility.These features are a large part of what is needed for typeful distributed programming. They are a relatively lightweight extension of ML, should be efficiently implementable, and are expressive enough to enable a wide variety of distributed infrastructure layers to be written as simple library code above the byte-string network and persistent store APIs. This disentangles the language runtime from communication intricacies. This paper highlights the main design choices in Acute. It is supported by a full language definition (of typing, compilation, and operational semantics), by a prototype implementation, and by example distribution libraries.


Motivation The past decade has seen an exponential increase in biological sequencing capacity, and there has been a simultaneous effort to help organize and archive some of the vast quantities of sequencing data that are being generated. While these developments are tremendous from the perspective of maximizing the scientific utility of available data, they come with heavy costs. The storage and transmission of such vast amounts of sequencing data is expensive. Results We present Quark, a semi-reference-based compression tool designed for RNA-seq data. Quark makes use of a reference sequence when encoding reads, but produces a representation that can be decoded independently, without the need for a reference. This allows Quark to achieve markedly better compression rates than existing reference-free schemes, while still relieving the burden of assuming a specific, shared reference sequence between the encoder and decoder. We demonstrate that Quark achieves state-of-the-art compression rates, and that, typically, only a small fraction of the reference sequence must be encoded along with the reads to allow reference-free decompression. Availability Quark is implemented in C++11, and is available under a GPLv3 license at www.github.com/COMBINE-lab/quark. Contact email@example.com


We experimentally demonstrate for the first time switching of differential-phase-shift-keyed (DPSK) signals through a silicon photonic electrooptic microring switch. DPSK format has been shown to be robust to nonlinear effects, and has 3-dB improved receiver sensitivity with balanced detection compared to the on-off-keyed format. Moreover, an extension to multilevel phase-shift-keyed (PSK) format enables higher data bandwidth. Packetized transmissions of single- and multichannel 10-Gb/s DPSK signals are demonstrated. Error-free transmission and power penalties of less than 1.7 dB are achieved for all the examined wavelength channels, confirming format transparency of the microring switch for PSK format, and validating the use of DPSK signaling for photonic interconnection networks.


Biochemical and instrumental aspects of fibre-optic biosensor development are considered in this study. A sensing process must be capable of transducing the selective chemical binding event into an optical signal. A system showing sensitivity, high selectivIty and reversibility was derived from the fluorescence detection of acetylcholine receptor binding to agonist. Fluorescence enhancement was seen for systems where a fluorophore was non-specifically labelled to the receptor/membrane structure and also where only the lipid was fluorescent. The use of intensity ratios at different wavelengths allowed for internal calibration for instrumental drift. Instrumentation for optrode development in an intrinsic configuration was demonstrated by fluorescence from P¥rene labelled concanavalin A adsorbed to the surface of an optical fIbre.


A four-year time series (1994-1997) of groundfish trawl surveys performed within the European Union Project MEDITS (Mediterranean International Trawl Surveys), was analysed to identify and describe the fish assemblages along the continental shelf and slope of Tuscany and Latium (Italy), in the north-western Mediterranean. Cluster analysis was used to group samples with similar species composition in terms of abundance, biomass and frequency of occurrence. Results allowed the identification of four to five broad assemblages along the depth gradient: a strictly coastal group (< 50 m depth), two groups in the upper and lower part of the continental shelf (essentially 50-200 m), an epibathyal group (200-450 m) and a group derived from hauls made at depths greater than 450 m. Each assemblage corresponded to a faunistic association with relatively homogeneous and persistent species composition, biomass and density indices.


In this study, a decision support system has been developed for land mine detection and classification. Data obtained from detector based magnetic anomaly have been used to classify the land mines. With this classification, it is decided that whether obtained data belongs to a land mine or not, and the type of mine. The meta-heuristic k-NN classifier (HKC) has been used in developed decision support system. Consequently, it is seen that decision support system detects the presence of mines and decides the type of mine with 100% success for measurements in a certain range, and the proposed classifying method shows much higher performance than traditional instance-based classification method.


Rule sets are highly interpretable logical models in which the predicates for decision are expressed in disjunctive normal form (DNF, OR-of-ANDs), or, equivalently, the overall model comprises an unordered collection of if-then decision rules. In this paper, we consider a submodular optimization based approach for learning rule sets. The learning problem is framed as a subset selection task in which a subset of all possible rules needs to be selected to form an accurate and interpretable rule set. We employ an objective function that exhibits submodularity and thus is amenable to submodular optimization techniques. To overcome the difficulty arose from dealing with the exponential-sized ground set of rules, the subproblem of searching a rule is casted as another subset selection task that asks for a subset of features. We show it is possible to write the induced objective function for the subproblem as a difference of two submodular (DS) functions to make it approximately solvable by DS optimization algorithms. Overall, the proposed approach is simple, scalable, and likely to be benefited from further research on submodular optimization. Experiments on real datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.


Abstract. Headwater streams represent a substantial proportion of river systems and many of them have intermittent flows due to their upstream position in the network. These intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams have recently seen a marked increase in interest, especially to assess the impact of drying on aquatic ecosystems. The objective of this paper is to quantify how discrete (in space and time) field observations of flow intermittence help to extrapolate over time the daily probability of drying (defined at the regional scale). Two empirical models based on linear or logistic regressions have been developed to predict the daily probability of intermittence at the regional scale across France. Explanatory variables were derived from available daily discharge and groundwater-level data of a dense gauging/piezometer network, and models were calibrated using discrete series of field observations of flow intermittence. The robustness of the models was tested using an independent, dense regional dataset of intermittence observations and observations of the year 2017 excluded from the calibration. The resulting models were used to extrapolate the daily regional probability of drying in France: (i) over the period 2011–2017 to identify the regions most affected by flow intermittence; (ii) over the period 1989–2017, using a reduced input dataset, to analyse temporal variability of flow intermittence at the national level. The two empirical regression models performed equally well between 2011 and 2017. The accuracy of predictions depended on the number of continuous gauging/piezometer stations and intermittence observations available to calibrate the regressions. Regions with the highest performance were located in sedimentary plains, where the monitoring network was dense and where the regional probability of drying was the highest. Conversely, the worst performances were obtained in mountainous regions. Finally, temporal projections (1989–2016) suggested the highest probabilities of intermittence (> 35 %) in 1989–1991, 2003 and 2005. A high density of intermittence observations improved the information provided by gauging stations and piezometers to extrapolate the temporal variability of intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams.


Abstract Zillmann's mood-management theory (Zillmann, 1988) has acquired a prominent place in media psychology and makes reliable predictions about people's hedonistically motivated mood regulation via entertainment offerings. However, the full potential for explaining affect regulation through media usage has not been exhausted so far. Therefore, we aim at an integrative view of the field based on empirical findings from communication studies as well as on the background of contemporary theories of mood (regulation) and emotion (regulation). The purpose of this analysis is to argue towards an integrative theoretical perspective which considers both unconscious and conscious/reflected processes of affect regulation through media, supplements the hedonistic motive with other non-hedonistic, instrumental motives of affect regulation, looks at selection behavior as well as at other behavioral and cognitive strategies of affect regulation, and encompasses individual attributes (particularly those with affinity to affects).


This essay responds to an article by Professors Boudreau, Lupia, McCubbins, and Rodriguez (hereinafter "BLMRod") that was posted in Legislation and Statutory Interpretation Abstracts on July 26, 2007, (http://ssrn.com/abstract=997924) and that will appear in the San Diego Law Review, vol.44, no.2, 2007. The essay situates BLMRod's article in the context of recent efforts by a number of scholars to reclaim foundational legitimacy for intentionalism as an approach to construing statutes. The essay first applauds BLMRod's use of insights from communication theory to conceptualize statutes as compressed substantive or procedural commands that cannot be adequately understood without an appreciation for the compression process that generated them. The essay explores certain implications of this thematic focus. It discusses how the authors' approach may help clarify the status of legislative history as evidence of ascribed or imputed intent. It also suggests how that approach may enhance the value of legislative history when contrasted with key interpretive resources generated by the two other branches of government - i.e., the canons of construction and agency rules or adjudications. The essay then adopts a more critical perspective toward BLMRod's treatment of the compression (lawmaking) and expansion (law-interpreting) processes. It suggests that by viewing the compression process as essentially a majority party domain, the authors undervalue important congressional conversations involving minority party members, especially although not exclusively in the Senate. Further, the essay discusses how the architecture of congressional conversations may differ across subject matter areas more than the authors' basic model seems to contemplate. Finally, the essay addresses the process of expansion, particularly BLMRod's approach to conversations among a bill's coalition of supporting members. It suggests ways in which the authors' analysis of what motivates ardent and pivotal supporters, and how courts should treat these two key groups when elaborating the meaning of text, may be in need of some refinement.


With substance use disorder rates rising, there is an urgent need for new and effective treatment modalities. The utilization of nutrition services in addiction treatment has not been standardized, but there is a growing trend towards incorporating registered dietitian nutritionists into the treatment team. This comprehensive overview explores the impact of alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine, and opioids on nutritional status. This presentation places particular emphasis on gut health, microbiome, and associated neural interactions. Homeostatic and hedonic mechanisms of eating behavior are discussed in the context of eating disorders and food addiction. Given the current crisis of addictive disorders, consideration should be given to prioritizing efforts to improve eating habits and overall health in recovery programs. Guidelines for nutrition interventions will be proposed, and a summary of where more information is needed will point towards future directions.


In their 2012 work, Lope, Roque, and Tahara considered singular nonlinear partial differential equations of the form tu t  = F(t, x, u, u x ) where the function F is assumed to be continuous in t and holomorphic in the other variables. They have shown that under some growth conditions on the coefficients of the partial Taylor expansion of F as t -->0, the equation has a unique solution u(t, x) with the same growth order as that of F(t, x, 0, 0) . Koike considered systems of partial differential equations using the Banach fixed point theorem and the iterative method of Nishida and Nirenberg (1995). In this paper, we prove the result obtained by Lope and others using the method of Koike, thereby avoiding the repetitive step of differentiating a recursive equation with respect to x as was done by the aforementioned authors. Keywords: Singular partial differential equations, nonlinear, fixed point


Over the course of a two hundred year period, women's domestic labor gradually lost its footing as a recognized aspect of economic life in America. The image of the colonial "goodwife," valued for her contribution to household prosperity, had been replaced by the image of a "dependent" and a "non-producer." This book is a history of housework in the United States prior to the Civil War. More particularly, it is a history of women's unpaid domestic labor in the context of the emergence of an industrialized society in the northern United States. Boydston argues that just as a capitalist economic order had first to teach that wages were the measure of a man's worth, it had at the same time, implicitly or explicitly, to teach that those who did not draw wages were dependent and not essential to the "real economy." Developing a striking account of the gender and labor systems that characterized industrializing America, Boydston explains how this effected the devaluation of women's unpaid labor.


We examine the ways in which members of a small group coordinate their memories, bodies and language in a functional and goal-oriented manner when they are co-designing their dream house and then collaborative remembering that previous interactive encounter. Our analyses show the following: (1) participants structured collaborative design and collaborative remembering sessions in different ways (e.g. linear and sequential vs iterative and hierarchically structured, respectively); (2) higher degrees of knowledge building were temporally synchronized with higher degrees of interactivity during both tasks; (3) collaborative remembering did not only follow the spatial structure of successive elements of the dream-house design session, but it was also proceeded by associations between semantic elements of the discourse; and (4) participants collaboratively remember better what initially generated most joint activity during collaborative design. This research thus contributes to understanding of collaborative remembering processes with respect to a knowledge-rich collaborative task.


A combined NMR, computational, and HPLC study of the inclusion of aromatic and fluoroaromatic compounds in cyclodextrins has been carried out with the aim of studying this process as a model for carbohydrate···aromatic interactions. NMR experiments showed that although β-CD formed an inclusion complex with benzene, no stable inclusion adduct was formed with hexafluorobenzene. MM3* calculations confirmed these data and, when extended to naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, and their partially and fully fluorinated analogues, showed that β-CD formed inclusion adducts only with the hydrocarbons, whereas the partially fluorinated derivatives were shown to enter the cavity only with their non-fluorinated part, and the perfluoro compounds were not included. HPLC experiments, carried out by eluting these compounds through CD-modified HPLC columns, also confirmed these results, at least with the mono- and bicyclic arenes. Indeed, the elution of these derivatives showed that the efficiency of the inclusion, as determined by comparing HPLC retention times, decreased on passing from hydrocarbons to partially fluorinated compounds, and reached a minimum with perfluorinated derivatives. In contrast with this general trend, 1,2,3,4-tetrafluoroanthracene had longer retentions times on β- and γ-CD-modified HPLC columns than anthracene, possibly for solubility reasons. As a whole, these results were interpreted in terms of carbohydrate···aromatic interactions between the C5–H5 bonds on the hydrophobic faces of the sugars and the π electrons of the aromatic partner. The interactions seem to have an important dispersive component.(© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)


The Finnish concept of high activity nuclear waste disposal is based on deep geological storage in copper canisters with cast iron inserts. The development of disposal concept and final disposal in Finland is managed and organised by Posiva Oy. Disposal canisters will be embedded in Olkiluoto bedrock at a depth of approximately 400 metres. Therefore it is essential to inspect the canisters with non-destructive testing (NDT) methods as well as possible before the final disposal. The lid of the copper disposal canister for high activity nuclear waste is sealed with a weld. Before accepting the canister to the final disposal the weld is planned to be inspected by four nondestructive testing methods. These methods are ultrasonic testing (UT), radiographic testing (RT), eddy current testing (ET) and remote visual testing (VT) using cameras. The copper overpack and the lid are also inspected with multiple NDT methods; UT, ET and VT. The nodular cast iron insert is inspected with UT and VT. In this paper the four NDT inspection methods (UT, RT, ET, VT) for inspection of different parts of the disposal canister are presented in brief. All information in this paper is collected and summarised from public reports and from the procedures of each method and inspection records. All of the four NDT methods detect defects in slightly different directions and based on different physical principles. The four methods are therefore supplements to each other in inspection of different parts of the disposal canister.


Many severe immunologically-mediated adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have been recently shown to be specifically HLA Class I restricted. Abacavir hypersensitivity reaction (ABC HSR) has been strongly associated with HLA-B*57:01, and level 1a evidence now supports the routine use of HLA-B*57:01 testing as a screening strategy to predict and prevent ABC HSR. Other examples of severe HLA-mediated drug hypersensitivity include the association of HLA-B*15:02 and carbamazepine- associated Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN), HLA-B*58:01 and allopurinol associated HSR and SJS/TEN and HLA-B*13:01 in association with dapsone HSR. Although clinical, epidemiological and in vitro scientific studies have defined the specificity of the relevant HLA class I alleles for these ADRs they do not explain the low positive predictive value for the HLA allele in question for clinical disease. For instance only 55% of HLA-B*57:01 positive patients experience ABC HSR and only 3% of HLA-B*15:02 positive and HLA-B*58:01 positive individuals develop carbamazepine SJS/TEN and allopurinol SJS/TEN/HSR respectively. To explain this. we propose a heterologous immune model in which chronic prevalent viruses such as human herpes viruses sensitize and maintain a T-cell response that has the potential to cross-react with cells presenting the neo-antigen following drug ingestion. T-cell receptor repertoire usage may be restricted and oligoclonal as for carbamazepine induced SJS/TEN. For ABC, the heterologous immune model is supported by the rapidity of onset of the clinical syndrome (<5 days in 25% of patients) and the observation that ABC reactive memory CD8+ T-cells can be detected, without ABC driven expansion, in healthy HLA-B*57:01+ donors. In reference to this model, the potential immunopathogenetic basis and translational opportunities of different HLA-restricted drug HSR will be discussed.


Ferritin is an iron-storage globular protein with an ability to uptake, mineralize and release iron ions in a controllable manner. The globular hollow shell allows storage of mineralized iron, with several channels responsible for the transit of ions into the shell and out of it. Understanding of the detailed molecular functioning of ferritin is required for rational design of biomimetic conjugate nano-biosystems containing ferritin-like constituents. In this work, ferritin was investigated both numerically by all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and experimentally by Raman spectroscopy. Molecular dynamic simulations of a model system comprising iron ions (Fe) and a ferritin trimer expressing a three-fold channel responsible for the ion transport, have revealed a quick entering of ions in the channel. The transit of iron ions through the channel was thoroughly investigated. The transit was found to be driven by both electrostatic charge of ferritin, and interaction between the ions. Exit (expulsion) of an iron ion from the channel was observed at a condition that at least one more ion is present in the channel. Raman characterization of an iron-loaded ferritin solution revealed pronounced bands attributable to iron, as expected. However, Raman spectra of apoferritin, which does not contain an iron mineral, also exhibited similar bands. Based on the results of MD simulations, it was hypothesized that apo-ferritin retains iron ions in its three-fold channels, and these ions may produce the observed Raman bands. The study of molecular mechanisms involved in the iron ion transit elucidates the pathways of iron uptake and release in ferritin.


Accumulation of somatic mutations over time leads to tissue abnormalities, such as cancer. Somatic mutation rates vary across the genome in a cell-type specific manner, depending on the types of mutation processes1–7. Although recent studies have identified several determinants relevant to the establishment of the cancer mutation landscape8–13, these studies have yet to propose the major time point at which these factors come into play during cancer progression. Here, we analyzed whole genome sequencing data from two different types of precancerous tissues, monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis and Barrett's esophagus, and their matching cancer types along with 423 epigenetic features from normal tissues to determine the critical time point when chromatin features contribute to the formation of the somatic mutation landscape. Our analyses revealed that a subset of cell-of-origin associated chromatin features can explain more than 80% of the regional mutation variance for both types of precancerous tissues, comparable to the variance explained level for the genomes of matching cancer types. In particular, major significant chromatin features explaining the mutation landscape of Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma were derived from stomach tissues, indicating that mutation landscape establishment occurs mostly after environment-mediated epigenetic changes during gastric metaplasia. Analyses of the genome of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissues demonstrated that the proposed time point for mutation landscape establishment of Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma were specific to the occurrence of cell-type shift. Thus, our data suggest that the major time point for the mutation landscape establishment dictated by chromatin features is early in the process of cancer progression, and epigenetic changes due to environmental conditions at early stages can dramatically impact the somatic mutation landscape of cancer.


A study of synthetic routes leading to hydroxyalkaneboronic acids, which were expected to display some useful and interesting biological and chemical properties, has been carried out with reference to reaction sequences involving the hydroboration of alkenes and interaction of Grignard reagents with borate esters.

Hydroboration followed by redistribution with trimethylene borage was carried out on the O-tetrahydropyranyl ethers of prop-2-en1-ol, pent-4-en-1-ol, pent-4-en-2-ol, but-3-en-2-ol and pent-1-en-3-ol but in most cases a complex product mixture was obtained. However, 2-(3-[2 –tetrahydropranyloxy]propyl)-1,3,2-dioxaborinane was identified as the major component in the product mixture from 1-(2'-tetrahydropyranyloxy)-prop-2-ene. Evidence was obtained to show that these complex mixtures arose from interaction between trimethylene borate and the tetrahydropyranyloxy functionality. Some mechanistic rationalisation is proposed.

Hydroboration followed by equilibration and hydrolysis to a boronic acid was more successful and thus 5-hydroxypentaneboronic acid was prepared from 1-(2'-tetrahydropyranyloxy)-pent-4-ene, 3-hydroxybutaneboronic anhydride from 2-( 2 '-tetrahydropyranyloxy)-but-3-ene, and 3-benzyloxypropaneboronic acid from allyl benzyl ether, although the yields were low. Hydroboration followed by esterification with methanol was carried out on 1-(2'-tetrahydropyranyloxy)-pent-4-ene and dimethy1-1-(5-[2 –tetrahydropyranyloxy]-pentaneboronate was isolated.

The use of Grignard reagents with borate esters as a route to hydroxyalkaneboronic acids was less successful and no such compounds could be isolated by this preparative method. 1-Hexaneboronic acid and several of its ester derivatives were successfully prepared to check this synthetic route, and samples of 1-hexaneboronic acid were used to investigate the oxidative and hydrolytic stabilities of a typical alkaneboronic acid. The results showed that it was stable under normal storage conditions.

Before proceeding to the study of boronic acid syntheses involving the use of monosaccharide derivatives, a model system, 1,2-0-cyclohexylidene glycerol, was selected for the introduction of an unsaturated site using organocopper reagents. Thus, 1,2-,0-cyclohexylidene-3-
-deoxy-3-vinyl glycerol was shown to be formed by the action of divinylcopper lithium on 1,2-0- cyclohexylidene-3-deoxy-3-iode glycerol albeit in low yield and its separation and purification could not be effected.

A carbon chain extension process using l,2-0-cyclohexylidene-3-deoxy-3-iode glycerol was considered but an easier route to 1,2-0-cyclohexylidene-4-bromobutane-1,2-diol was devised starting from 4-bromobut-l-cae. Attempted boronic acid synthesis via a Grignard derivative of this compound was unsuccessful.

Three typical unsaturated monosaccharides namely, 3,4,6,-tri-0-acetyl-D-glucal, 6-deoxy-1,2:3,4-di-0-isopropylidene-B-L-arabino-bex-5-enopyranose and 1,2:5,6-di-0-cyclohexylidene-3-deoxy-X-D-
erythro-hex-3-enofuranose were synthesised and subjected to hydroboration-redistribution processes. Product mixtures were obtained, which were not considered in these cases to arise from interaction of protecting groups with trimethylene borate, and these mixtures were found to contain carbohydrate dioxaborinanes. The major product from the starting material 3,4,6-tri-0-acetyl-D-glucal was separated, purified, and characterised as a boron-containing monosaccharide.


Multiple antennas can greatly increase the data rate and reliability of a wireless communication link in a fading environment, but the practical success of using multiple antennas depends crucially on our ability to design high-rate space-time constellations with low encoding and decoding complexity. It has been shown that full transmitter diversity, where the constellation is a set of unitary matrices whose differences have nonzero determinant, is a desirable property for good performance. We use the powerful theory of fixed-point-free groups and their representations to design high-rate constellations with full diversity. Furthermore, we thereby classify all full-diversity constellations that form a group, for all rates and numbers of transmitter antennas. The group structure makes the constellations especially suitable for differential modulation and low-complexity decoding algorithms. The classification also reveals that the number of different group structures with full diversity is very limited when the number of transmitter antennas is large and odd. We therefore also consider extensions of the constellation designs to nongroups. We conclude by showing that many of our designed constellations perform excellently on both simulated and real wireless channels.


Background: The spectrum of thyroid disease varies from underactive thyroidism (hypo) to overactive (hyper) thyroidism. It is a common endocrine disease reported worldwide and leads to major consequences of the human body, if left untreated. Aim: The aim is to exhibit the spectrum of thyroid disorders based on age and sex during the period of study in the hospital. Settings and Design: This study was conducted in a teaching and medical college hospital in Kerala State during a time period of five years from April 2005 to March 2010. Materials and Methods: The medical records department follow the guidelines of World Health Organization-International Classification of Diseases (WHO-ICD)-10 for classification of diseases and collected data were analysed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS) package. Statistical Analysis: ′Z′ test applied for finding out the comparison of proportions. Results: Out of 1088 thyroid cases, 152 (14%) were males and 936 (86%) were females. In males and females, the highest proportion of cases was reported in 40-60 years, which accounted for 58 cases (38.2%) and 386 cases (41.2%), respectively. The age group <20 years only shows significant difference between male and female (P = 0.02). The most commonly observed type of thyroid disorder is non-toxic multinodular goiter (E04.2), which is 528 (48.5%). In females, the most common type of thyroid disorder is non-toxic multi nodular goitre (E04.2) and in males it is hypothyroidism, unspecified (E03.9) is 45 29.6%. Conclusion: Public awareness regarding the thyroid disorder is important especially among the females and untreated thyroid disease can produce serious consequences to the health.


The removal of atrazine and diuron, two widely used pesticides, was studied on three Powdered Activated Carbons (PAC) (kinetics and isotherms), and different adsorption models were tested: direct (saturation), Langmuir Freundlich, Adams–Bohart, Elovich, Kiselev and Fowler–Guggenheim. The results indicated that the PAC F400 from Chemviron was the best for adsorption of the two pesticides, according to its microporous structure. The Langmuir model seemed to be the best for calculating the maximal adsorption capacities and equilibrium constants. However, use of the other models showed that the adsorption was exothermic, and also realised the value of the equilibrium constant.


Many real-world product lines are only represented as nonhierarchical collections of distinct products, described by their configuration values. As the manual preparation of feature models is a tedious and labour-intensive activity, some techniques have been proposed to automatically generate boolean feature models from product descriptions. However, none of these techniques is capable of synthesizing feature attributes and relations among attributes, despite the huge relevance of attributes for documenting software product lines. In this paper, we introduce for the first time an algorithmic and parametrizable approach for computing a legal and appropriate hierarchy of features, including feature groups, typed feature attributes, domain values and relations among these attributes. We have performed an empirical evaluation by using both randomized configuration matrices and real-world examples. The initial results of our evaluation show that our approach can scale up to matrices containing 2,000 attributed features, and 200,000 distinct configurations in a couple of minutes.


With increasing autonomous features of vehicles, key issues of roboticand automotive engineering converge toward each other. Closing existing security gaps of device communication networks will be an enabling feature for connecting autonomously interacting systems in a more secure way. We introduce a novel approach for deriving a secret key using a lightweight cipher in the firmware of a low-end control unit. In this approach, we propose to use a non-standardized lightweight algorithm with unique hardware based parameters to prevent duplicate key generation. The randomness of the selected cipher was assessed by applying the NIST statistical test suite to produced key values. By evaluating the method on a typical low-end automotive platform, we could demonstrate the realistic applicability of the solution. The proposed method counteracts a known security issue in device communication between control units not only present in automotive solutions but also in the robotics domain. The security of the implemented solution has been compared to current automotive guidelines and recommendations for the security of resource constrained devices, also present in robotics. This approach allows low-end communication systems to be enhanced by messageand device authentication. Keywords– Lightweight Cryptography, Message Authentication, Robotic Network Security, Automotive Device Authentication, ARX Block Cipher, Electrical Control Unit


The present text attempts to sketch the premises of a discussion concerning the institutional crisis of philosophy in the Romanian educational system. Quantitative analyses are commented; also discussed are elements regarding the curricular integration of philosophy, aspects concerning the initial formation in philosophy and possibilities of insertion on the labor market. The article discusses some elements of the status of philosophy in high school, as well as the necessity of offering philosophy as a mandatory discipline in the curriculum, the necessity of taking several active measures to regain philosophy's specific place as formative discipline in the Romanian educational system. A distinct aspect concerns the discussion of the status of philosophy in relation to religion and ideology in the Romanian society.


Abstract. Bioavailable iron is an important micro-nutrient for marine phytoplankton and therefore critical to global biogeochemical cycles. Anoxic marine sediment is a significant source of Fe(II) to the ocean. Here, we investigate how the fluxes of Fe(II), both towards the sedimentary oxic layer and across the sediment-water interface, are impacted by the high concentration and flux of porewater sulfide in cold seep environments. We present new porewater data from four recently documented cold seeps around Svalbard as well as from continental shelves and fjords in northern Norway. We quantitatively investigated porewater data first by calculating the Fe(II) fluxes towards oxidized surface sediments and bottom water and, second, applied a transport-reaction model to estimate the mass balance of several key chemical species. Sedimentary sulfur speciation data from two of the sites were used to constrain Fe(II) consumption in the shallow sediments. We showed that the iron reduction zone is usually confined to the top 10 cm of the sediments from our studied sites due to high sulfate turnover and therefore high sulfide flux. Such a thin iron reduction zone allows proportionally more Fe(II) to reach the bottom water. Rapid precipitation of pyrite occurs at the base of the iron reduction zone, where the downward diffusing Fe(II) meets upward migrating hydrogen sulfide. Dissolved H2 released during pyrite formation stimulates a small but significant rate of sulfate reduction in the same horizon, which results in faster production of hydrogen sulfide and a positive feedback for iron reduction in the shallow sediment. Deeper in the sediment, where sulfate is actively consumed due to anaerobic methane oxidation, no apparent formation of pyrite is observed from the available measurements and our modeling results. This is mostly due to the relatively low availability of Fe(II) as a result of slower turnover of the less active iron mineral phases. Such an observation may contradict the use of pyrite abundance to deduce the sulfate-methane-transition-zone in past sedimentary records. A series of model sensitivity tests were performed to systematically investigate how the Fe(II) dynamics is impacted by higher deposition rate of iron (oxyhydr)oxides minerals on the seafloor and intensifying methane supply. We showed that the increases in iron reduction rate, pyrite formation rate, and Fe(II) flux are expected with higher seafloor iron (oxyhydr)oxides deposition initially. However, complicated feedbacks between Fe(II) production and sulfate reduction pose negative feedbacks to pyrite formation in the sediments. With a larger supply of methane, Fe(II) flux towards the oxic surface sediments is initially intensified by the higher production of hydrogen sulfide until such an interplay is too fast that essentially all reactive iron minerals settled on the seafloor dissolve immediately and dissolved iron is fixed through pyrite precipitation. Such an interplay between Fe(II) and sulfide determines the distribution of animals with chemoautotrophic symbionts which rely on sulfide as their energy source.


In recent years a growing number of social scientists have taken an interest in "the visual". These scholars have utilised and developed a wide range of different visual methodologies. The number of social scientists employing visual methodologies has grown to a point where there are now critical masses of scholars working on particular topics. Alongside this a number of practitioners working in visual arts have taken an interest in the issue of migration. This FQS special issue is devoted to the use of visual methodologies to explore the particular topic of migration and social division. In this introductory article the editors provide a brief introduction to research on "the visual" and research on migration and social division. We then go on to explore what the use of visual methodologies might contribute to research on migration and social division.
URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1002265


We consider selective classification, a term we adopt here to refer to 'classification with a reject option.' The essence in selective classification is to trade-off classifier coverage for higher accuracy. We term this trade-off the risk-coverage (RC) trade-off. Our main objective is to characterize this trade-off and to construct algorithms that can optimally or near optimally achieve the best possible trade-offs in a controlled manner. For noise-free models we present in this paper a thorough analysis of selective classification including characterizations of RC trade-offs in various interesting settings.


This memo describes an RTP Payload format for the High Quality (HQ)
profile of SMPTE Standard ST 2042-1 known as VC-2. This document
describes the transport of HQ Profile VC-2 in RTP packets and has
applications for low-complexity, high-bandwidth streaming of both
lossless and lossy compressed video. The HQ profile of VC-2 is
intended for low latency video compression (with latency potentially
on the order of lines of video) at high data rates (with compression
ratios on the order of 2:1 or 4:1).


In this work the adiabatic approximation is applied to the propagation of matter waves in confined geometries like those experimentally realized in recent atom optical experiments. Adiabatic propagation along a channel is assumed not to mix the various transverse modes. Nonadiabatic corrections arise from the potential squeezing and bending. Here we investigate the effect of the former. Detailed calculations of two-dimensional propagation are carried out both exactly and in an adiabatic approximation. This offers the possibility to analyze the validity of adiabaticity criteria. A semiclassical (sc) approach, based on the sc Massey parameter is shown to be inadequate, and the diffraction due to wave effects must be included separately. This brings in the Fresnel parameter well known from optical systems. Using these two parameters, we have an adequate understanding of adiabaticity on the system analyzed. Thus quantum adiabaticity must also take cognizance of the intrinsic diffraction of matter waves.


This paper uses new trade/new growth theories to better contextualise Global Value Chain (GVC) analysis of 'traditional' and 'non-traditional' agricultural trade. Research suggests that GVC governance structures may limit or enhance the applicability of new trade/new growth theories in terms of 'learning by doing'; and therefore the ability to value chain upgrade. This paper tries to bridge the current divergence between input:output and value distribution approaches to GVC analysis. The case is made that both aspects are central to understanding upgrading processes within agricultural GVCs and growth through trade.


For five days in July 1863, at the height of the Civil War, New York City was under siege. Angry rioters burned draft offices, closed factories, destroyed railroad tracks and telegraph lines, and hunted policemen and soldiers. Before long, the rioters turned their murderous wrath against the black community. In the end, at least 105 people were killed, making the draft riots the most violent insurrection in American history. In this vividly written book, Iver Bernstein tells the compelling story of the New York City draft riots. He details how what began as a demonstration against the first federal draft soon expanded into a sweeping assault against the local institutions and personnel of Abraham Lincoln's Republican Party as well as a grotesque race riot. Bernstein identifies participants, dynamics, causes and consequences, and demonstrates that the "winners" and "losers" of the July 1863 crisis were anything but clear, even after five regiments rushed north from Gettysburg restored order. In a tour de force of historical detection, Bernstein shows that to evaluate the significance of the riots we must enter the minds and experiences of a cast of characters--Irish and German immigrant workers, Wall Street businessmen who frantically debated whether to declare martial law, nervous politicians in Washington and at City Hall. Along the way, he offers new perspectives on a wide range of topics: Civil War society and politics, patterns of race, ethnic and class relations, the rise of organized labor, styles of leadership, philanthropy and reform, strains of individualism, and the rise of machine politics in Boss Tweed's Tammany regime. An in-depth study of one of the most troubling and least understood crises in American history, The New York City Draft Riots is the first book to reveal the broader political and historical context--the complex of social, cultural and political relations--that made the bloody events of July 1863 possible.


Abstract:  Maximum Mesozoic transgressions flooded many continental areas worldwide, forming a wide and shallow seaway on the Iberian Microplate during the Late Cretaceous. Several siliciclastic and mixed siliciclastic–carbonate units developed along the Iberian Massif (cratonic area) while, at the same time, epeiric carbonate platforms spanned Iberia. These siliciclastic deposits unconformably cover the Variscan basement, as well as the Permian and Triassic deposits. This study focuses on sandstone provenance in central Spain, in a transgressive, relatively quiet tectonic setting with a wide rock variety in the potential source areas. Results shown in this paper can be applied in analogue systems; transgressive sandstones often form important hydrocarbon reservoirs due to their high primary porosity. The Cretaceous siliciclastic deposits are included in four formations ranging in age from the Cenomanian to the early Coniacian. The deposits were initially of fluvial origin, followed by a coastal-tidal setting. Quantitative petrographic analysis of sandstones from these formations reveals compositional variations related to provenance and weathering degree. The oldest formation (Utrillas Fm.) was deposited on a paleorelief surface. Sandstone composition changes from arkosic sandstones in the depressed area (Petrofacies P1a) to younger quartzarenites when sediments were deposited on top of the paleotopographic high (Petrofacies P1b). Quartz grains in both sub-petrofacies are angular to subangular, and the framework is poorly sorted. Intense weathering conditions are deduced for Petrofacies P1b, manifested by grain infiltration, clay coatings, and the absence of plagioclase grains and alteration features on K-feldspars. All these observations have been related to wetter conditions during P1b deposition. Main source areas of the Utrillas Fm were Ordovician metasediments and orthogneisses, Permian volcanic rocks, and Triassic Buntsandstein facies. Petrofacies 2 encompasses the three coastal-tidal formations, constituted mainly by subarkoses generally showing a subangular and poorly sorted framework. The deduced source areas are mainly associated with Variscan granitoids, pre-Ordovician schists and paragneisses, and Ordovician metasediments. Glauconite and carbonate grains support intrabasinal inputs. The low degree of sorting of this petrofacies related to a low-energy sedimentary environment produced lower values of original porosity compared to transgressive sandstone hydrocarbon reservoirs. Also, intrabasinal inputs promoted carbonate cementation and contribute to almost occlude the porosity.


Mesoscale sea surface temperature (SST) variability plays an important role in shaping local atmospheric boundary layers through thermodynamic processes. This study focuses on the upscaling effects of mesoscale SST gradients in sensitive areas on the southern Africa regional atmospheric circulation. Using regional atmospheric model sensitivity experiments which differ only in the mesoscale SST forcing characteristics (either the full spectrum of SST variability or only its large‐scale components are included), we first quantify the importance of SST gradients on regional atmospheric conditions. Agulhas eddies and meanders influence the vertical air column up to the troposphere, and mesoscale ocean patterns significantly modify incoming landwards moisture fluxes. The austral summer mean state is then modified in terms of air temperature, cloud cover and mean rainfall, with notable differences in tropical rainbands over southwestern Africa. Mesoscale SST variability favours tropical–extra‐tropical interactions and cloudband development over the continent. These results stress the importance of high‐resolution ocean forcing for accurate atmospheric simulations.


Objective. To compare the skills in pelvic examination technique between students who have had training with professional patients and a control group of students trained using clinical patients. Design. Prospective controlled study. Setting. University hospital. Population. Students attending three consecutive courses in obstetrics and gynecology at Karolinska University Hospital. Methods. A study group of 53 students received training in pelvic examination with professional patients and was compared with a control group of 34 students who were trained using clinical patients. Main outcome measures. The students' skills in pelvic examination technique were examined by teachers in a practical test. Students' skills were also evaluated by the students themselves and by the patients who participated in the examination. Results. Students who had training with professional patients were more skilled in performing a pelvic examination and better prepared to examine their own patients than students trained using clinical patients. Conclusions. Training with professional patients is more effective in teaching pelvic examination technique than training with clinical patients. We recommend that the use of professional patients is considered in the training of medical students.


OBJECT
The authors retrospectively analyzed data on brainstem gangliogliomas treated in their department and reviewed the pertinent literature to foster understanding of the preoperative characteristics, management, and clinical outcomes of this disease.

METHODS
In 2006, the authors established a database of treated lesions of the posterior fossa. The epidemiology findings, clinical presentations, radiological investigations, pathological diagnoses, management, and prognosis for brainstem gangliogliomas were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS
Between 2006 and 2012, 7 patients suffering from brainstem ganglioglioma were treated at the West China Hospital of Sichuan University. The mean age of the patients, mean duration of symptoms prior to diagnosis, and mean duration of follow-up were 28.6 years, 19.4 months, and 38.1 months, respectively. The main presentations were progressive cranial nerve deficits and cerebellar signs. Subtotal resection was achieved in 2 patients, and partial resection in 5. All tumors were pathologically diagnosed as WHO Grade I or II ganglioglioma. Radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy were not administered. After 21-69 months of follow-up, patient symptoms were resolved or stable without aggravation, and MRI showed that the size of residual lesions was unchanged without progression or recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS
The diagnosis of brainstem ganglioglioma is of great importance given its favorable prognosis. The authors recommend the maximal safe resection followed by close observation without adjuvant therapy as the optimal treatment for this disease.


New Zealand has experienced poor productivity performance over the last two decades. Factors often cited as reasons behind this are the small size of the domestic market and distance to international partners and markets. While the distance reason is one that is fairly insurmountable, there are a number of other small advanced economies that also face similar domestic market constraints. This study compares the relative performance of New Zealand's firms to those economies using novel cross-country microdata from CompNet. We present stylised facts for New Zealand relative to the economies of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden based on average productivity levels, as well as benchmarking laggard, median and frontier firms. This research also employs an analytical framework of technology diffusion to evaluate the extent of productivity convergence, and the impact of the productivity frontier on non-frontier firm performance. Additionally, both labour and capital resource allocation are compared between New Zealand and the other small advanced economies. Results show that New Zealand's firms have comparatively low productivity levels and that its frontier firms are not benefiting from the diffusion of best technologies outside the nation. Furthermore, there is evidence of labour misallocation in New Zealand based on less labour-productive firms having disproportionally larger em - ployment shares than their more productive counterparts. Counter-factual analysis illustrates that improving both technology diffusion from abroad toward New Zealand's frontier firms, and labour allocation across firms within New Zealand will see sizable productivity gains in New Zealand.


In the heating and cooling sector, borehole heat exchangers (BHE) have become increasingly popular for supplying renewable energy. When grouped in compact arrays, BHEs represent suitable thermal energy storage systems for fluctuating heat sources such as solar energy or district heating grids. Tapping into greater depth allows for storage operation on a higher temperature level. This so called medium deep borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) requires negligible groundwater flow in the reservoir rock and the thermal insulation of the upper part of the boreholes to meet legal requirements and to improve the BHEs' performance. Medium deep BTES is characterized by a slow thermal response and a large storage capacity, which makes it particularly suitable for seasonal heat storage applications.
However, the economic feasibility of these systems is compromised by high investment costs, especially by the expensive drilling of the boreholes. Therefore, a priori numerical simulations of the storage operation are imperative for the systems' planning and design. Only fully discretized models can account for depth-dependent borehole properties like insulated sections, but the model setup is cumbersome and the simulations come at high computational cost. Hence, these models are often not suitable for the simulation of larger installations and are difficult to handle in mathematical optimization applications. This thesis presents a versatile tool for the simulation and optimization of medium deep BTES systems. The Borehole Heat Exchanger Array Simulation and Optimization tool (BASIMO) includes models for the three most common BHE types: U-pipe, double U-pipe and coaxial pipe BHEs. In a dual-continuum approach, the simulator couples a numerical subsurface model with an analytical solution for the BHEs, which allows for the efficient, but detailed consideration of the relevant thermo physical and operational parameters. With the presented tool, many aspects of BTES systems can be simulated and optimized.
The concept of medium deep BTES has not been put into practice so far. However, simulations yield promising results and show that large scale medium deep BTES can achieve more than 80 % storage efficiency. The performance is sensitive to many geological, material and operational parameters, but also to the interaction between the BHE array and the downstream heating system. Therefore, future research should focus on coupled simulations including the above ground facilities and, more importantly, on the realization of field experiments including first and foremost a pilot plant, which could help to push this promising technology to economic viability.


Large single crystals of a nonlinear optical material LaxYyScz(BO3)4 have been obtained by High Temperature Top-Seeded Solution Growth (HTTSSG). This material is very interesting due to its easy growth procedure, its non hygroscopic properties, a suitable hardness to be reliably cut and polished, a large transparency wavelength range and also good nonlinear properties with potential for UV generation. However, the crystals show inhomogeneities and growth imperfections which can be observed by light scattering and by Schlieren photography method. Chemical etching is used to reveal defects. Observed striations can be related to the growth of rhombohedral facets.


Abstract Background: Emerging adulthood presents unique challenges to smoking cessation that are not well understood. During this phase, smoking identities can develop that become obstacles for quitting, particularly in social situations where smoking is accepted and expected. Using a social identity approach, this study explores how social relationships and normative group behaviours can be barriers to transitioning from a smoker to non-smoker identity. Method: Six focus groups of five participants (N = 30) were conducted with participants aged 18-25 years (57% male). Participants' smoking status was ascertained to construct six groups, two each of daily smokers, occasional (non-daily) smokers, and ex-smokers. Results: Salient in-group identities invoked out-group comparisons that could create barriers to change including feeling conflicted about becoming a "non-smoker", and maintenance of pro-smoking group norms. Three subthemes were identified: 1) Managing the division between smoker and non-smoker groups; 2) The isolation associated with navigating others' expectations about quitting when attempting to quit; and 3) Encountering normative in-group smoking-related behaviours when attempting to quit. Conclusions: The transition from smoker to non-smoker, when understood from a social identity approach, is not straightforward. Identifying as a smoker can invoke negative judgements from non-smokers while, conversely, attempting to quit may lead to perceived rejection among smokers. Further research is needed to explore whether perceptions of social risk can be reduced by increasing the salience of a transitional "quitter" identity that helps to reduce the perceived gap between "smoker" and "non-smoker".


Construction of the Sobradinho Dam has had a strong environmental impact on the Lower São Francisco Sergipano ("LSFS") North-East Brazil ("NEB") region. No detailed studies of the floodplain areas were conducted prior to these changes, and there are thus no records of the floristic and faunal diversity extant in this ecosystem before the dam was built. One of the worst consequences in this region has been the onset of rodent outbreaks in rice crops. The climate in NEB is highly variable, and forecasts predict high temperatures in this semi-arid region. Based on the perspective of farmers who have witnessed these environmental changes and their repercussions, the aim of the present study was to determine the specific characteristics of rodent outbreaks, the rat predators present in the region, the floral diversity in cultivated areas prior to the changes, and the influence of anomalies in sea surface temperature (SSTs) on maximum and minimum temperatures in the LSFS in the state of Sergipe between 1978 and 2010, years in which rodent outbreaks occurred.


The recent surge of case studies in chaplaincy care raises challenges on the comparability of case studies and the degree to which they elucidate the relation between theory and practice. The Dutch Case Studies Project (CSP) addresses these and other issues by use of a set format and procedure and by evaluation in research communities of chaplains and academic researchers. We first place CSP in the context of Dutch chaplaincy and its recent history. The question of selection of a case for a case study then leads to a discussion of a number of methodological issues. That moves into an explanation of the following steps in the procedure: description, evaluation and finalization. Issues for further discussion and a conclusion complete the article.


Recent decades have witnessed the rapid expansion of interest in and research on the domestication of crop plants worldwide. These species are the basis of the rise to dominance of Homo sapiens over the last 10,000 years. New techniques in archaeology and the expansion of molecular genetics are uncovering abundant evidence to support or refute old hypotheses about human domestication of crops and creation of food production systems that fueled population expansions and linguistic diasporas, and to raise new hypotheses. In Amazonia and elsewhere in lowland South America, archaeologists are starting to examine these hypotheses in earnest, and geneticists are starting to generate data to identify crop origins and dispersals. Archaeologists now generally agree that Amazonia was inhabited by numerous advanced societies before European conquest, especially along the major white water rivers and in other favorable locations for food production, and that these societies had domesticated significant areas of numerous landscapes. This special section of Tipiti summarizes a set of presentations given during the recent 2 nd International Meeting on Amazonian Archaeology, held in Manaus, Amazonas, in September 2010. An overview of plant domestication opens the sequence, followed by new archaeobotanical evidence from the southeastern Colombian and central Brazilian Amazonia and from the southern savannas of Brazil, and new molecular genetic evidence about the origins of peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) and the dispersal of manioc (Manihot esculenta), maize (Zea mays), and peach palm in lowland South America.


The charge transport properties of 2,2′,6,6′-tetraphenyldipyranylidene (DIPO-Ph4), a large planar quinoid π-conjugated heterocycle, are investigated in field-effect transistor (FET) configuration and by conductive atomic force microscopy (c-AFM). The FET properties show a clear p-type behavior with a hole mobility up to 2 × 10−2 cm2 V−1 s−1 and on/off ratio of 104. The transfer characteristics Id/Vg present a clear hysteresis typical of a resistive memory effect. This memory effect is again observed by means of c-AFM in lateral mode using a nearby gold top-contact as the counter-electrode. The c-AFM current response recorded for variable distances d = 0.5–9.0 μm between the AFM tip and the top electrode shows a resistive switching behavior in the low-voltage 0.0–3.0 V region. Repeated "write-read-erase-read" cycles performed at low frequency reveal a non-volatile memory effect in the form of high-resistance and low-resistance states with a stable on/off ratio of 102 during cycling operation.


In their article "Video Games as Equipment for Living" Ronald Soetaert, Jeroen Bourgonjon, and Kris Rutten postulate that with the emergence of new media there is need of a re-evaluation of all modes of communication and the ways in which literacy is conceptualized. Drawing on the concept of multi-literacy they suggest a rhetorical/ anthropological meta-perspective to describe human beings as symbol using animals and focus on particular symbol systems: narrative, drama, and video games. Specifically, they focus on the perspective of drama as a tool to analyze cultural artifacts in general and video games — as a new art form — in particular. They implement Kenneth Burke's notion of the pentad to illustrate their perspective in two case studies, the video games Civilization and Heavy Rain . Soetaert, Bourgonjon, and Rutten illustrate how video games can be described as equipment for living because video game playing has become part of the many ways people create worlds and construct meaning and sense. Thus, they explore how new forms of media and art can be examined from the perspective of traditional disciplines such as rhetoric and anthropology and how rhetoric can transform itself in a digital world.


Part 1 of this chapter argues that the High Court of Australia's so-called "common sense test" of causation is an empty slogan, neither a test nor anything to do with common sense. For clarity of legal analysis the issue of whether a factor was involved with the existence of the relevant phenomenon (that is, the issue of factual causation) should be kept explicitly separate from the issue of the appropriate scope of legal responsibility for that phenomenon. Expressing the latter scope issue as a "causal" issue is obfuscating and should be abandoned. This Part also argues: that Australian courts should cease referring to the "scope of the duty"; that a factor should be recognised as a factual cause if it contributes in any way to the existence of the phenomenon in issue even if it is neither a "but for" nor a sufficient factor for the existence of that phenomenon; and that aspects of the civil liability legislation prompted by the Review of the Law of Negligence: Final Report (the "Ipp Report") can and should be ignored. Part II elaborates the "factual causation then scope-of-liability-for-consequences" approach with illustrations from the common law and under statute, including many of commercial cases.


Despite the fact that all African great apes have overlapping diets, they differ substantially in both biogeographical distribution and social organisation: Gorilla lives in relatively small, cohesive groups within a small biogeographical area while Pan is much more widely distributed and lives in large, fluid groups in which the members are rarely all together. In this study we use a modelling approach to identify possible causes and consequences of these differences. We use a time budget model which is based on the relationship between time available for various activities, group size, body mass and climate. We demonstrate the importance of body mass as a critical determinant for maximum ecologically tolerable group size as well as ape distribution patterns. In addition, we show that predation pressure may play a strong role in limiting the distribution of smaller-bodied apes (Pan). Predation pressure appears to be especially important if the apes opt for a fission–fusion strategy because it obliges them to maintain larger (sub-) groups. In effect, the apes appear to face a tradeoff between solving the predation problem by increasing body size (at the expense of reduced ecological flexibility) and going for ecological flexibility (but at some cost in terms of how they handle predation).


Although globalization has become one of the most salient issues in the study of international relations during the past few decades, its net effect on international conflict remains unexplored. I argue that although the manifold phenomena of globalization may conflict (i.e. produce both positive and negative influences), its overall consequences help foster a common peaceful disposition among national leaders who are then less likely to resort to arms in times of crisis. Based on a cross-sectional, time-series dyadic data analysis for 114 countries during the period from 1970 to 2001, this study reports that socio-economic and political globalization in its entirety generates a dampening effect on militarized interstate disputes. Even when common conflict-related control variables such as democracy, economic interdependence, joint membership in international organizations, and others are incorporated into the analysis, globalization emerges as the most powerful explanatory variable. Consequently, globalization when taken in its entirety represents an unambiguous force for interstate peace.


The 2004/05 hydrological year (October 2004 to September 2005) was characterized by intense dry conditions affecting most of western Europe (35°–55°N and 10°W–10°E). In Iberia the drought affected every month of this period, with the southern half of Iberia receiving roughly 40% of the usual precipitation by June 2005. Moreover, this episode stands as the driest event in the last 140 yr, producing major socioeconomic impacts particularly due to the large decrease in hydroelectricity and agricultural production in both Iberian countries (Portugal and Spain). To assess the atmospheric submonthly circulation associated with this drought an Eulerian [weather types (WTs)] and a Lagrangean (objective storm tracks) analysis were combined. There was a dramatic drop in "wet" WT frequency during winter, with less than 50% of the normal value, and a corresponding increase of "dry" WTs. The storm-track analysis reveals an impressive northward displacement of cyclone trajectories in the North Atlantic sector in winter months, resulting in an almost complete absence of cyclones crossing Iberia and western Europe. At the monthly scale, the intense drought in Iberia was due to a combination of different physical mechanisms. First, the scarce precipitation observed between November 2004 and January 2005 was associated with positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) indexes for these months. In February, the East Atlantic (EA) pattern seems to be the main driver. In March neither the negative NAO (1.8) nor the positive EA (1.1) are capable of explaining the large negative precipitation anomalies. However, it is shown that during March 2005, an intense and anomalous blocking was displaced southward of its usual location, inhibiting the occurrence of precipitation over Iberia and leading to a negative NAO index anomalously associated with low precipitation records.


Understanding species interactions and how they affect densities and distributions of organisms is a central theme in ecological research. Studying such interactions in an ecosystem context is challenging as they often depend on species-specific characteristics and rates that not only change during the ontogeny of an organism, but also are affected by the surrounding environment. This thesis focuses on two separate questions and study systems that highlight different aspects of how effects of predation can depend on environmental conditions. In the first part of the thesis, we studied how temperature affects attack rate and handling time, two ecological rates with profound importance for predator-prey dynamics. Using a metaanalysis, we first show that the currently dominating model for temperature dependence in predator-prey interactions, i.e. the Arrhenius equation, has weak support in available empirical literature. This suggests that we need new rules for how and when we can generalize on the temperature-dependence of intake rates. We then use a simple model and a series of experiments to demonstrate that differences in the relative physiological capacity between predator and prey can impose strong non-linear effects on temperature-response curves of attack rate. In the second part of the thesis, we study the role of predation along a benthic-pelagic habitat gradient in promoting divergence and resource polymorphism among prey. We show that presence of a large piscivorous predator, the northern pike (Esox lucius), induces dwarfs, giants or divergence into both ecotypes in populations of European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) depending on lake characteristics. Using dated introductions of whitefish as controlled natural experiments, we show that pike presence induces rapid life history divergence between pelagic and littoral habitat use strategies, and that this divergence can translate into partial reproductive isolation in a matter of decades. Our results demonstrate the potential for thresholds in a crucial ecological rate, setting the stage for tipping points with potentially far reaching implications for effects of warming on predator prey dynamics and ecosystem stability. Moreover, they illustrate the potentially drastic consequences of such tipping points by demonstrating the importance of a single predator species as a driving force behind the creation and maintenance of biodiversity in a natural system.


Abstract Research with crime victims suggests that victims seek participation and recognition in the justice system (Erez, 1999; Kilchling, 1995; Shapland, Willmore, & Duff, 1985; Wemmers, 1996). However, victim participation in the criminal justice system is a point of debate among scholars (Ashworth, 1993; Erez, 1999). Participation can take various forms: it can mean an active decision-making role or merely consultation and consideration (Edwards, 2004; Wemmers & Cyr, 2004). In addition, there is the question of how victims are affected by their participation. While victims in Canada are currently by and large excluded from the criminal justice process, their being outside the system does (to some extent) shelter them from the offender. This raises the question: when is participation helpful or therapeutic for victims and when is it harmful or antitherapeutic? Based on interviews with public prosecutors and victim support workers in the province of Quebec, this study explores the similarities and differences in the perceptions of these two key groups of professionals. Both prosecutors and victim support workers can be considered victims' allies in an adversarial justice system and the study reveals important similarities as well as differences between the two groups with respect to their perceptions of victim participation.


Symbiotic job scheduling improves simultaneous multithreading (SMT) processor performance by coscheduling jobs that have "compatible" demands on the processor's shared resources. Existing approaches however require a sampling phase, evaluate a limited number of possible coschedules, use heuristics to gauge symbiosis, are rigid in their optimization target, and do not preserve system-level priorities/shares.
 This article proposes probabilistic job symbiosis modeling, which predicts whether jobs will create positive or negative symbiosis when coscheduled without requiring the coschedule to be evaluated. The model, which uses per-thread cycle stacks computed through a previously proposed cycle accounting architecture, is simple enough to be used in system software. Probabilistic job symbiosis modeling provides six key innovations over prior work in symbiotic job scheduling: (i) it does not require a sampling phase, (ii) it readjusts the job coschedule continuously, (iii) it evaluates a large number of possible coschedules at very low overhead, (iv) it is not driven by heuristics, (v) it can optimize a performance target of interest (e.g., system throughput or job turnaround time), and (vi) it preserves system-level priorities/shares. These innovations make symbiotic job scheduling both practical and effective.
 Our experimental evaluation, which assumes a realistic scenario in which jobs come and go, reports an average 16% (and up to 35%) reduction in job turnaround time compared to the previously proposed SOS (sample, optimize, symbios) approach for a two-thread SMT processor, and an average 19% (and up to 45%) reduction in job turnaround time for a four-thread SMT processor.


The detection of squeezed optical fields generated by intracavity nonlinear-optical interactions is described. The relationship between quantum-statistical properties of the cavity mode and those of the field at a detector placed outside the cavity discussed. The detected field is composed of a source field from the cavity plus a free external field. The free field couples weakly to the cavity so that it is correlated with the source field. The photocurrent spectrum in optical homodyne detection is calculated, and the spectrum of squeezing is defined. This spectrum can be calculated entirely in terms of intracavity fields without requiring knowledge of the correlations between source and free-field contributions in the cavity output. This follows from an explicitly normally ordered, time-ordered treatment of the photodetection problem. Contrasting earlier treatments of photodetection for squeezed fields, in a normally ordered approach, shot noise arises naturally from the self-correlation of photocurrent for pulses. The derived spectrum is converted into nonnormally ordered, non-time-ordered form to recover the results of these earlier treatments and their interpretation of shot noise in terms of local-oscillator quantum noise, signal and quantum noise, and detector-efficiency quantum noise.


For much of its recent history, the Kachin State of northern Myanmar has been wrought with civil warfare that has come to define its image from the outside, as well as being a key signifier in the conceptual life worlds of many of its ethnic nationalities. While Myanmar is currently witnessing significant – if still uncertain – political and economic transitions, the Kachin State remains largely marginalized from these processes. Rather than an absence of state power, however, this marginalization had led to competing projects of statecraft vying over resources, military control and popular legitimacy in the highly fragmented territorialities. In this thesis I engage this complex landscape through the nexus of formal schooling, organized religion, and ethno nationalist politics. My primary ethnographic focus is on the emergence of several private ‐ schools led by a younger generation of Kachin educators. I am asking why these schools arose at this point in time and what has motivated their leaders to strive for institutional autonomy in settings long characterised by a scarcity of human and material resources. I argue that, in addition to their explicitly stated pedagogical aims, these initiatives are serving particular visions of social and political development, defined by Christian moralities and ethno nationalist ‐ ideologies. As such, their practice can be read as a form of critique towards the established systems of schooling and governance led by the central state of Myanmar, as well as that of the Kachin Independence Organization, the main contender for political self determination in the ‐ area. Decades of perceived marginalization of the Kachin populace of northern Myanmar are the principal motivator for the leaders of these educational projects. However, important points of tension also exist within the Kachin society itself, both in the fields of schooling and religion. A focus on the institutions of private education thus enables me to ask questions about the nature of local political authority, ethnic identification, and the influence of organized religion more generally. By employing a historical perspective to complement my ethnographic material, I am tracing the emergence of ideas, practices, and institutions of schooling that were born from the missionary encounter and decades of military conflicts. These, together with the more recent cosmopolitan ideas of modernity, lie at the heart of contemporary efforts to provide alternative paths to schooling, and to attain the dreams of social development for the Kachin society that the educators seek.


Results are presented of a search for the production of new particles decaying to pairs of partons (quarks, antiquarks, or gluons), in the dijet mass spectrum in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.0 inverse femtobarns, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2012. No significant evidence for narrow resonance production is observed. Upper limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the production cross section of hypothetical new particles decaying to quark-quark, quark-gluon, or gluon-gluon final states. These limits are then translated into lower limits on the masses of new resonances in specific scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. The limits reach up to 4.8 TeV, depending on the model, and extend previous exclusions from similar searches performed at lower collision energies. For the first time mass limits are set for the Randall-Sundrum graviton model in the dijet channel.


Obesity and weight gain are frequently associated with increases in blood pressure, driven in part by sympathoexcitation (1). Obesity also is linked with insulin resistance and is associated with ongoing public health concerns, including the so-called metabolic syndrome (2). Even small increases in plasma insulin concentration (as low as one-fifth of that achieved after a mixed meal) (3) have marked and potentially long-lasting sympathoexcitatory effects (4). Such findings have important implications for the fluctuations in circulating catecholamines and blood pressure that occur in the postprandial state, as well as for conditions with sustained hyperinsulinemia. Yet the question remains, what are the mechanisms driving sympathoexcitation with hyperinsulinemia?

In human studies, a systemic infusion of insulin has been shown to result in a gradual increase in muscle sympathetic nerve activity that remains elevated after plasma levels return to baseline (5). This finding supports the idea that insulin-mediated sympathoexcitation is the result of a central mechanism, requiring time for insulin to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Along these lines, recent data from animals suggest insulin acts within the arcuate nucleus to increase sympathetic activity via pathways including the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and the rostral ventrolateral medulla (6–8). These new ideas have important implications for the myriad of disorders related …


16. Abstract Transportation agencies use pavement management systems (PMSs) to make efficient decisions about allocating available resources to the maintenance, rehabilitation, and renewal of their roadway networks. One of the most costly parts of the PMS process is collecting pavement condition data. The efficiency and reliability of decisions made based on PMSs depend upon the quality of this data. Thus, transportation agencies need to ensure that dollars invested in this data are well spent, and pavement condition data has the level of quality necessary to meet PMS requirements. Therefore, assessing and improving the quality of pavement management data is a major challenge for both researchers and practitioners. This study advances the quality assessment of network-level pavement condition data by answering the following questions: (a) How can we identify potential errors in pavement condition data used in PMSs? (b) How do multiple dimensions of error detection affect our ability to detect errors? (c) How does the accuracy of pavement condition data impact predictions of future road network performance? And (d) How do we measure multiple quality dimensions of pavement condition datasets? First, this research devises and implements a computational method to identify potential errors in pavement condition data, integrating conventional statistical methods and heuristics. Second, the effect of considering multiple dimensions of error detection in pavement condition data was investigated. These dimensions are based on data properties, including time series trends in pavement condition data, variability within uniform performance families, and the consistency between several performance indicators. Third, this research presents a quantitative assessment of the impact of data accuracy on the estimated remaining service life (RSL) of a roadway network as an overall measure of network health. Finally, it provides metrics for measuring data quality dimensions for pavement condition datasets. The developed technique was validated using pavement condition field data for a road network in Texas. The technique has the advantage of differentiating between extreme yet valid data points and potential errors. In addition, accounting for several properties of pavement condition data to identify potential errors improves the results of this technique. It is hoped that this research will enable pavement engineers to identify potential errors in pavement condition data, and more effectively assure data quality.  17.


Abstract. In spring 2002, an atmospheric measurement site was established at the peak of Whistler Mountain in British Columbia, Canada to measure trace gases, particle chemistry and physics, and meteorology. This paper uses continuous measurements from March 2002 to December 2006 to investigate the influence of trans-Pacific transport and North American forest fires on both O 3 and CO at Whistler. Annual mean mixing ratios of O 3 and CO were 41 ppbv (monthly means of 35–48 ppbv) and 145 ppbv (monthly means of 113–177 ppbv) respectively with both species exhibiting an annual cycle of late-winter to early-spring maxima and summer minima. The absence of a broad summer O 3 peak differs from previously-reported high altitude sites in the western US. The highest monthly-averaged O 3 and CO mixing ratios relative to the 5-yr monthly means were seen in fall 2002 and spring 2003 with increased O 3 and CO of 10 % and 25 % respectively. These increases correspond to anomalously-high values reported at other Northern Hemisphere sites and are attributed to fires in the Russian Federation. Air mass back trajectory analysis is used to associate the mean enhancements of O 3 and CO with trans-Pacific transported or North American air masses relative to the Pacific background. Mean values of the enhancements for March to June in trans-Pacific air masses were 6 ppbv and 16 ppbv for O 3 and CO respectively. In summers 2002–2006, higher CO and O 3 mixing ratios were almost always observed in North American air masses and this relative enhancement co-varied for each year with the western US and Canada total wildfire area. The greatest enhancements in O 3 and CO were seen in 2004, a record year for forest fires in Alaska and the Yukon Territory with average O 3 and CO mixing ratios 13 and 43 ppbv above background values.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are expected to play a vital role in the exploration and monitoring of underwater areas which are not easily reachable by humans. However, underwater communication via acoustic waves is subject to several performance limitations that are very different from those used for terresstrial networks. In this paper, we investigate node placement for building an initial underwater WSN infrastructure. We formulate this problem as a nonlinear mathematical program with the objective of minimizing the total transmission loss under a given number of sensor nodes and targeted coverage volume. The obtained solution is the location of each node represented via a truncated octahedron to fill out the 3D space. Experiments are conducted to verify the proposed formulation, which is solved using Matlab optimization tool. Simulation is also conducted using an ns-3 simulator, and the simulation results are consistent with the obtained results from mathematical model with less than 10% error.


In the production of integrated circuits (e.g. computer chips), optical lithography is used to transfer a pattern onto a semiconductor substrate (wafer). For lithographic systems using light in the ultraviolet band (EUV) with a 13.5nm nm wavelength, only reflective optics with multi-layers can reflect that light by means of interlayer interference, but these mirrors absorb around 30% of the incident light. Depending on pattern and beam shape, there is a nonuniform light distribution over the surface of the mirrors. This causes temperature gradients and therefore local deformations, due to different thermal expansions. To improve the throughput (wafers per hour), there is a demand to increase the source power, that will increase these deformations even further. Active mirrors are a solution to correct these deformations by reshaping the surface. This thesis addresses the challenges to accurate deform a mirror with high repeatability, meeting the requirements for implementation in a lithographic illumination machine. The main design criteria are vacuum compatibility, actuator stroke and the distance between actuators. Four different experimental mirrors, with increasing complexity, are successfully designed, realized and validated. All mirrors are equipped with thermomechanical actuators to either bend, or axially deform them. These actuators are free from mechanical hysteresis and therefore have a high position resolution with high reproducibility. Extensive finite element analysis is done, to maximize actuator stroke and minimize input power. All mirrors are tested and validated with interferometer surface measurements and thermocouple temperature measurements. The first experimental mirror with one thermo-mechanical bending actuator is successfully built and tested (chapter 2). To obtain a high mirror deflection at a given inserted actuator power, aluminum is chosen as the actuator material. The mirror is made from Zerodur® like the mirrors in the first EUV lithographic demonstration machines. A mirror deformation of 4:7 nm/C is achieved, where the inserted actuator power is 0.044 C/mW, meaning 0:21 nm/mW. The measured characteristic time constant is 10 s, meaning that for a given input, 63% of the steady state stroke is reached within that time scale. All values are close to the predicted ones from the models and also meet the requirements for implementation. To further investigate the concept and to measure the mechanical and thermal actuator coupling, an experimental mirror with four actuators is designed, developed and validated (chapter 3). It is an extension of the mirror with one actuator. In a single actuator step-response, a mirror deflection of 3.4 nm/C is achieved. A design optimization is proposed and successfully tested which reduces the actuator coupling from 30% to 10%, while the mirror deflection at the same input is reduced to 55%. Actuator speed is demonstrated while simultaneously heating all actuators with 3mW, which correspond with a mirror deformation of 33 pm/s. When using an adaptive mirror in an EUV lithography system, actuator strokes of 1 nm/min are required. The demonstrated actuator speed of 33 pm/s = 2 nm/min meets that requirement. The third and fourth mirror have actuators placed perpendicular to the surface (chapter 4). By placing the actuators on a thin back plate, the force loop is localized and therefore a lower actuator coupling is achieved. The results obtained from the third mirror with 7 actuators are close to the predicted values from the static and thermal models. Based on these good results, this actuation principle is implemented in a smaller deformable mirror with 19 actuators inside a 25mm beam diameter. A linear relation between actuator power and temperature of 0.190 C/mW and between power and averaged interactuator stroke of 0.13 nm/mW is achieved. So, the successfully realized mirror deflection is 0:68 nm/ C and no hysteresis is observed. For both mirrors a support frame is developed, that minimizes introduced surface deformations by temperature variations. Thermal step responses are fitted and both heating and cooling characteristic time constants are 2:5 s. The thermal actuator coupling from an energized actuator to its direct neighbor is 6:0, to their neighbors it is 1:3%. The total actuator coupling is approximated around 10%, based on the good agreement between simulated and measured inter-actuator stroke. Finally, chapter 5 summarizes the main findings from the different deformable mirrors and compares them. Also, suggestions for future research are given for implementation into a lithographic machine.