On 20 July 1969, the world stood still to watch 38-year-old astronaut Neil Armstrong become the first person ever to walk on the Moon. Perhaps no words in recent human history became better known than those few he uttered at that historic moment. Upon his return to Earth, Armstrong was honored and celebrated for his achievement. But he was also misunderstood. As authorized biographer James Hansen reveals in this fascinating and important book, it was the act of flying that had driven Armstrong rather than the pull of the destination, from his distinguished career as a fighter pilot in the Korean War right through to his most famous mission. Drawing on flight logs, family and NASA archives and over 125 original interviews with key participants, First Man vividly re-creates Armstrong's life and career in flying, from the heights of honor earned as a naval aviator, test pilot and astronaut, to the dear personal price paid by Armstrong and, even more so, by his wife and children, for his dedication to his vocation. It is a unique portrait of a great but reluctant hero.


Radio access technologies for mobile communications are characterized by multiple access (MA) strategies. Orthogonal MA techniques were a reasonable choice for achieving good performance with single user detection. With the tremendous growth in the number of mobile users and the new internet of things (IoT) shifting paradigm, it is expected that the monthly mobile data traffic worldwide will exceed 24.3 exabytes by 2019, over 100 billion IoT connections by 2025, and the financial impact of IoT on the global economy varies in the range of 3.9 to 11.1 trillion dollars by 2025. In light of the envisaged exponential growth and new trends, one promising solution to further enhance data rates without increasing the bandwidth is by increasing the spectral efficiency of the channel. Non-orthogonal MA techniques are potential candidates for future wireless communications. The two corner points on the boundary region of the MA channel are known to be achievable by single user decoding followed by successive decoding (SD). Other points can also be achieved using time sharing or rate splitting. On the other hand, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication which is an enabling technology for the IoT, enables massive multipurpose networked devices to exchange information among themselves with minor or no human intervention.
This thesis consists of three main parts. In the first part, we propose new practical encoding and joint belief propagation (BP) decoding techniques for 2-user MA erasure channel (MAEC) that achieve any rate pair close to the boundary of the capacity region without using time sharing nor rate splitting. While at the encoders, the corresponding parity check matrices are randomly built from a half-rate LDPC matrix, the joint BP decoder employs the associated Tanner graphs of the parity check matrices to iteratively recover the erasures in the received combined codewords. Specifically, the joint decoder performs two steps in each decoding iteration: 1) simultaneously and independently runs the BP decoding process at each constituent sub-graph to recover some of the common erasures, 2) update the other sub-graph with newly recovered erasures and vice versa. When the number of erasures in the received combined codewords is less than or equal to the number of parity check constraints, the decoder may successfully decode both codewords, otherwise the decoder declares decoding failure. Furthermore, we calculate the probability of decoding failure and the outage capacity. Additionally, we show how the erasure probability evolves with the number of decoding iterations and the maximum tolerable loss. Simulations show that any rate pair close to the capacity boundary is achievable without using time sharing.
In the second part, we propose a new cooperative joint network and rateless coding strategy for machine-type communication (MTC) devices in the multicast settings where three or more MTC devices dynamically form a cluster to disseminate messages between themselves. Specifically, in the basic cluster, three MTC devices transmit their respective messages simultaneously to the relay in the first phase. The relay broadcasts back the combined messages to all MTC devices within the basic cluster in the second phase. Given the fact that each MTC device can remove its own message, the received signal in the second phase is reduced to the combined messages coming from the other two MTC devices. Hence, this results in exploiting the interference caused by one message on the other and therefore improving the bandwidth efficiency. Furthermore, each group of three MTC devices in vicinity can form a basic cluster for exchanging messages, and the basic scheme extends to N MTC devices. Furthermore, we propose an efficient algorithm to disseminate messages among a large number of MTC devices. Moreover, we implement the proposed scheme employing practical Raptor codes with the use of two relaying schemes, namely amplify and forward (AF) and de-noise and forward (DNF). We show that with very little processing at the relay using DNF relaying scheme, performance can be further enhanced. We also show that the proposed scheme achieves a near optimal sum rate performance.
In the third part, we present a comparative study of joint channel estimation and decoding of factor graph-based codes over flat fading channels and propose a simple channel approximation scheme that performs close to the optimal technique. Specifically, when channel state information (CSI) is not available at the receiver, a simpler approach is to estimate the channel state of a group of received symbols, then use the approximated value of the channel with the received signal to compute the log likelihood ratio. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme exhibits about 0.4 dB loss compared to the optimal solution when perfect CSI is available at the receiver.


This paper studies the benefit for information providers in free public information disclosure in settings where the prospective information buyers are people. The underlying model, which applies to numerous real-life situations, considers a standard decision making setting where the decision maker is uncertain about the outcomes of her decision. The information provider can fully disambiguate this uncertainty and wish to maximize her profit from selling such information. We use a series of AMT-based experiments with people to test the benefit for the information provider from reducing some of the uncertainty associated with the decision maker's problem, for free. Free information disclosure of this kind can be proved to be ineffective when the buyer is a fully-rational agent. Yet, when it comes to people we manage to demonstrate that a substantial improvement in the information provider's profit can be achieved with such an approach. The analysis of the results reveals that the primary reason for this phenomena is people's failure to consider the strategic nature of the interaction with the information provider. Peoples' inability to properly calculate the value of information is found to be secondary in its influence.


Background: Overall perinatal mortality rates have fallen considerably in the past several decades but fetal deaths have not decreased as rapidly as the neonatal portion. In 2009, two-third of the stillbirths in the world occurred in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and 55% stillbirths occurred in rural families from these regions. Knowledge of the relative importance of the different causes of stillbirth and neonatal deaths in developing countries is still lacking. Objective: A retrospective to assess the extent of stillbirths in a teaching hospital located in rural area. To study various causative and contributing factors for stillbirths. Materials and Methods: All the case records of the deliveries occurred in the study setting during study period (April 2009 to March 2010) were evaluated with the help of a predesigned proforma. Total 3,458 deliveries occurred, of them 141 were stillbirths. Results: Total 75.6% stillbirths occurred to the women in the age group of 20-35 years. Most of the stillbirths were preterm (67.3%) as compared to term or post-date deliveries. Significant association was observed between gestational age and stillbirth. Total 82 (58.15%) babies had low birth weight. Maternal factors were responsible for majority of stillbirths (53.19%) while 34% stillbirths were idiopathic. Conclusion: More than half of the stillbirths were associated with maternal factors like pregnancy-induced hypertension, antepartum hemorrhage and anemia. Improvement in availing essential obstetric care can reduce the magnitude of stillbirths.


Cloud computing offers cost effective computational and storage services with on-demand scalable capacities according to the customers' needs. These properties encourage organisations and individuals to migrate from classical computing to cloud computing from different disciplines. Although cloud computing is a trendy technology that opens the horizons for many businesses, it is a new paradigm that exploits already existing computing technologies in new framework rather than being a novel technology. This means that cloud computing inherited classical computing problems that are still challenging. Cloud computing security is considered one of the major problems, which require strong security systems to protect the system, and the valuable data stored and processed in it. Intrusion detection systems are one of the important security components and defence layer that detect cyber-attacks and malicious activities in cloud and non-cloud environments. However, there are some limitations such as attacks were detected at the time that the damage of the attack was already done. In recent years, cyber-attacks have increased rapidly in volume and diversity. In 2013, for example, over 552 million customers' identities and crucial information were revealed through data breaches worldwide [3]. These growing threats are further demonstrated in the 50,000 daily attacks on the London Stock Exchange [4]. It has been predicted that the economic impact of cyber-attacks will cost the global economy $3 trillion on aggregate by 2020 [5]. This thesis focused on proposing an Intrusion Prediction System that is capable of sensing an attack before it happens in cloud or non-cloud environments. The proposed solution is based on assessing the host system vulnerabilities and monitoring the network traffic for attacks preparations. It has three main modules. The monitoring module observes the network for any intrusion preparations. This thesis proposes a new dynamic-selective statistical algorithm for detecting scan activities, which is part of reconnaissance that represents an essential step in network attack preparation. The proposed method performs a statistical selective analysis for network traffic searching for an attack or intrusion indications. This is achieved by exploring and applying different statistical and probabilistic methods that deal with scan detection. The second module of the prediction system is vulnerabilities assessment that evaluates the weaknesses and faults of the system and measures the probability of the system to fall victim to cyber-attack. Finally, the third module is the prediction module that combines the output of the two modules and performs risk assessments of the system security from intrusions prediction. The results of the conducted experiments showed that the suggested system outperforms the analogous methods in regards to performance of network scan detection, which means accordingly a significant improvement to the security of the targeted system. The scanning detection algorithm has achieved high detection accuracy with 0% false negative and 50% false positive. In term of performance, the detection algorithm consumed only 23% of the data needed for analysis compared to the best performed rival detection method.


Family VII. Asilidae.
This family comprises the well-known and universally
distributed "Robber Flies," so called on account of their
predaceous habits. The species are of medium or large
size, the head attached to the thorax by a slender neck ;
front excavated between the eyes, which are separated
in both sexes; thorax with well-developed bristles; wings
with the normal venation of the Brachyctra, posterior cells
five in number, the three basal cells always long.
The Asilidae are strongly-built predaceous flies, attacking
insects of widely differing orders. I have seen a
specimen of Asiliis alcetus having as its prey a dragonfly
very much larger than itself. In Tasmania the species
are only of moderate size, but on the mainland of Australia
some very large species occur, one of these - Phellus glaucus —being one of the largest known diptera.
Family VIII. BOMBYLIDAE
Moderate-sized or rather large sun-loving flies ; thoracic
bristles usually present, but these are often concealed under
dense furry pubescence; proboscis frequently much elongated;
legs thin and slender and almost without bristles;
wings with only three or four posterior cells.
Family IX. EMPIDAE The Empidae form a very large family of small flies of
inconspicuous appearance, which sometimes occur in
great abundance. They are predaceous in their
habits, preying on other diptera. Their habits are somewhat
diverse. Species of Hilara occur flying in numbers
over the surface of pools and streams, or, more rarely, over
the bare ground ; species of Empis may be found frequenting
flowers or dancing in the air ; those of Leptopeza frequenting
low vegetation. The greater number of Tasmanian
species occur in the spring time, whilst two species
are found in midwinter; during the height of summer but
few species are to be met with.
Family X. DOLICHOPODIDAE.
Most of the flies belonging to this family are partly or
altogether metallic green in colour, but this may be varied
with metallic blue, grey, or violet ; even the most soberly coloured
species usually exhibit at least a metallic tinge.
Frequently a great difference exists between the two sexes,
and owing to this fact, and also because the chief generic
and specific distinctions are shown by the male, I have,
with the exception of the unmistakeable genus Sciapus,
only described those species in which the male is known
to me. This gives a total of twelve Tasmanian species, but
this number is likely in the future to be greatly increased.
Family XI. PHORIDAE.
This family seems to be very poorly represented in
Australia, only five species having so far been described.
One of these is a curious, wingless form, discovered by Lea
in an ants' nest in Victoria, and described by him under
the name of Euterimorphin abdominalis. In Tasmania only
one species is at present known to occur.

Included at the end are an Addenda et Corrigenda for Part I and a systematic list of the species described in this paper.


This paper analyzes a unique dataset of art auctions on eBay. We study the behavior of buyers and sellers, demand and supply, by means of a novel structural estimation approach. Our empirical framework considers the process of arrival of new bidders as well as the distribution of bidder valuations of artworks being auctioned. We use this empirical framework to quantify the e(ect of market congestion, and congestion pricing strategies implemented by the market intermediary. Because we explicitly model the process of arrival of new bidders, we can estimate the e(ect of congestion pricing on the number of bidders, the distribution of bidders' valuations, and the final selling price. Using the structural model we can also measure the impact of congestion pricing on the revenues of the artists and the market intermediary, as well as its e(ect on consumer surplus. Our results indicate that the congestion pricing policy acts as a coordination mechanism that facilitates the match between buyers and sellers.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the potential use of fluorescent-labeled annexin V, anti-human fibrinogen antibody, and anti-human thrombospondin antibody for detection of the activation of equine platelets by use of flow cytometry.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Platelets obtained from 6 Thoroughbreds.

PROCEDURE
Flow cytometry was used to assess platelet activation as indicated by detection of binding of fluorescent-labeled annexin V, anti-human fibrinogen antibody, and anti-thrombospondin antibody to unactivated and ADP-, collagen-, platelet activating factor (PAF)-, and A23187-activated equine platelets. Human platelets were used as control samples. Determination of 14C-serotonin uptake and release was used to assess the extent of platelet secretion.

RESULTS
Anti-human thrombospondin antibody failed to bind to equine platelets. Annexin V bound to platelets activated with PAF or A23187 when platelets had undergone secretion. Anti-human fibrinogen antibody bound to ADP-, PAF-, and A23817-activated platelets, but binding was not dependent on platelet secretion. The extent of binding of anti-fibrinogen antibody was less in equine platelets, compared with that for human platelets, despite maximal stimulation.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Activation of equine platelets can be detected by use of fluorescent-labeled annexin V and anti-human fibrinogen antibody but not by use of anti-human thrombospondin antibody. These flow cytometric techniques have the potential for detection of in vivo platelet activation in horses at risk of developing thrombotic disorders.


Abstract. Angiosperms first appeared in the fossil record as pollen during the Valanginian—Hauterivian; they spread out of the tropics in the Aptian and Albian, and radiated in the Late Cretaceous. Despite these general patterns, details of the taxonomic, geographic, and ecological evolution of Cretaceous angiosperms are relatively poorly known because only a handful of Early and mid-Cretaceous macrofloras have been reported. This is the first detailed report of a fossil leaf flora from the Cedar Mountain Formation from the mid-Cretaceous of the Western Interior. We describe a flora that is overwhelmingly dominated by angiosperms (152 of 153 identified specimens are angiosperms) from the Albian—Cenomanian transition that is preserved in a clay- and carbonate-rich, lacustrine mudstone from the uppermost Cedar Mountain Formation of Emery County, Utah. We recognize 18 leaf morphotypes, all of which are dicotyledonous angiosperms. The majority of the Cedar Mountain morphotypes have taxonomic affinities with forms of similar age described from the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains and other localities from the Western Interior. From this, we infer that a relatively diverse angiosperm flora grew along the margins of a small pond on the coastal plain. Palynological preparations of the fossil matrix were barren; however, previous studies of other facies within the formation showed that both conifers and ferns were important components of the regional vegetation during Cedar Mountain time. The effective absence of conifers and ferns in this macroflora and low leaf mass per area values among the angiosperms measured suggests that even at the Early—Late Cretaceous transition, angiosperms had come to dominate some sites, particularly those that were disturbed or seasonally ephemeral, where fast-growth or seasonal deciduousness would have been favored.


This is a book review of Andrew Sharpe's "Transgender Jurisprudence: Dysphoric Bodies of Law." The Author discusses the contribution Sharpe makes to the transgender rights movement as invaluable for two reasons. First, it provides the first in-depth and full-length comprehensive treatment of the topic of transgender jurisprudence, and emerges as the foundational work by which others will be measured. Second, it exposes the homophobia underlying many of the key decisions, particularly in the area of marriage and family law, and provides an important link between the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movements which should not be ignored by activists from both worlds. The Author reports the book is broken down into three parts. In Part I, 'Approaching Transgender Bodies', Sharpe provides a comprehensive medical history of transgender in order to set the stage for the analysis of the non-marriage cases that follow, cases that take on the legal question of male/female status. In Part II, 'Homophobia as Subtext', Sharpe exposes the homophobia that serves as the subtext in cases involving marriages of trans gender people. In Part III, 'Sex: From Designation to Discrimination', Sharpe analyses cases involving discrimination against transgender litigants in which the court need not answer the question of what someone's sex is but rather whether transgender people fit into non-discrimination law. The Author concludes that Sharpe's most valuable contribution to transgender law is setting forth models by which virtually all transgender cases involving legal determinations of sex can be classified.


The dominant components of the mid-shore community of 4 sheltered, rocky shores in the south of the Isle of Man, UK, were surveyed. A 2-way factorial experiment to investigate the community structuring roles of Ascophyllum nodosum (hereafter AscophyUum) canopies and Patella vulgata grazing was undertaken at 1 site and monitored over a period of 6 yr. Removal of the canopy had a marked impact on the understorey community, with both direct and indirect effects. In contrast, the effect of limpet removal was limited, owing to the restriction of this grazer to small patches of bare substrate within a turf of red algae. The Ascophyllum canopy directly facilitated the presence of the red algal turf in the mid-shore; canopy removal resulted in bleachmg and death of turf species with a consequent loss of entrapped silt. This degradation of the turf resulted in an increase in the area grazed by limpets and a subsequent increase in limpet recruitment, proportional to the increased area of bare substratum. Thus, the AscophyUwn canopy indirectly limits the population of P. vulgata by facilitating the growth of a red algal turf. Eighteen months after Ascophyllum removal, a mixed canopy of Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus serratus developed. This acted in a similar manner to the original canopy, providlng shade for turf species, which resulted in restoration of the balance between algal turf and limpet grazing. Despite this, the red algal turf had not fully recovered 5 yr after it was originally bleached, illustrating the long-term effects of Ascophyllum canopy loss on this community. Removal of the canopy also resulted in high levels of Ascophyllum recruitment, but the slow growth rate of these juvenile plants meant that nearly 6 yr after canopy removal, an Ascophyllum canopy had still not developed. Nonetheless, we predict that Ascophyllum will eventually outcompete the established Fucus spp. canopy. Detailed exammation of the distribution of Ascophyllum juveniles suggests that the low density of juveniles in the natural population is due to a lack of substratum free from both limpets and space-occupying turf, rather than a direct effect of the canopy.


Background Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with emergent large-vessel occlusions (ELVO) has become the standard of care. A recent meta-analysis of the 5 randomized trials demonstrated that 46% of patients in the intervention arm achieved mRS of 0–2 at 3 months. Considering the fact that significant numbers of patients still have residual disability at three months despite MT, it is important to consider other modifiable variables that might improve functional outcomes in patients with ELVO. Successful reperfusion post MT is the strongest modified predictor of the outcome. Thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (TICI) grades are current standard of care for assessment of degree of reperfusion post MT. Recently conducted trials defined both TICI 2b and 3 grades as successful reperfusion. In this multicenter study we sought to evaluate if there are any differences in safety and effectiveness outcomes between ELVO patients who achieved TICI 2b and those who achieved TICI 3 reperfusion post MT. Methods We conducted an observational study on consecutive AIS patients with ELVO who underwent MT at 6 high-volume endovascular centers. Standard safety (3 month mortality, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage) and effectiveness (3 month functional independence: modified Rankin Scale scores of 0–2) outcomes were compared between patients who had TICI 2b and TICI 3 reperfusion post MT. Results The sample consisted of 583 patients with ELVO who underwent MT. A total of 416 patients achieved successful reperfusion (TICI 2b or 3) post MT. TICI 2b reperfusion was achieved in 216 (52%) patients [mean age 64±15, Male 50%, median NIHSS: 16 (IQR 12–20)], while 200 patients (48%) achieved TICI 3 reperfusion post MT [mean age 66±14, Male, 48%, median NIHSS 16 (IQR: 13–20)]. TICI 2b and TICI 3 reperfusion groups did not differ in terms of intravenous thrombolysis pretreatment (51% vs 56%, p=0.425), median onset to groin puncture time [minutes, median (IQR); 223 (157–318) vs 240 (176–311), p=0.850], median groin puncture to recanalization time [minutes, median (IQR); 38 (23–62 vs 41 (26–57), p=0.282) and 3 months mortality (22% vs 19%, p=0.523). TICI 3 reperfusion group had lower median discharge NIHSS [median (IQR) 3 (1–7) vs 5 (2-12), p=0.029), lower rates of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (6% vs 12%, p=0.035) and higher rates of functional independence at 3 months (55% vs 44%, p=0.050) compared to TICI 2b reperfusion group. In multivariate model after adjustment for potential confounders, TICI 3 reperfusion group was associated with greater neurological improvement during hospitalization (OR 1.009; 95% CI: 1.002–1.016, p=0.024), lower rates of sICH (OR 0.28; 95% CI: 0.10–0.78, p=0.027) and tended to have higher rates of 3 months functional independence (OR 1.80; 95% CI; 1.01–3.21, p=0.054) compared to TICI 2b group. Conclusions TICI 3 reperfusion appears to be associated with better early outcomes in comparison to TICI 2b reperfusion in ELVO Patients treated with MT. Future clinical trials involving ELVO patients should differentiate between these reperfusion groups in terms of safety and effectiveness outcomes. Disclosures N. Goyal: None. G. Tsivgoulis: None. D. Frei: None. A. Turk: None. B. Baxter: None. M. Froehler: None. J. Mocco None. M. Ishfaq: None. D. Hoit: None. J. Chang: None. L. Elijovich: None. D. Loy: None. R. Turner: None. J. Mascitelli: None. K. Espaillat: None. A. Alexandrov: None. A. Arthur: None.


This paper explores, through a company case study, the importance of innovation for the competitive development of a company and how the adoption of an open innovation strategy could be effective to face typical barriers associated with the implementation of such processes. The case analysis shows the importance of the University-Industry relationship and the relevant role that the government plays in fomenting these relationships. Likewise, we point out the value of adopting an integral vision of the innovation process that not only considers its technological dimension (new product development), but also the elements associated to marketing and organizational change practices. The case studied herein exemplifies the systemic character of innovation and the relevance it has for companies, particularly for SME's, to open its innovation strategy and integrate themselves with other actors to leverage its cognitive and financial resources as well as to explore new routes to bring the best of its internal technological capacities.


The flow curve of wormlike micelles usually exhibits a stress plateau σ* separating high and low viscosity branches, leading to shear‐banded flows. We study the flow of semidilute wormlike micellar systems in a confined geometry: a straight microchannel. We characterize their local rheology thanks to particle image velocimetry. We show that flow curves cannot be described by a simple constitutive equation linking the local shear stress to the local shear rate. We demonstrate the existence of nonlocal effects in the flow of wormlike micellar systems and make use of a theoretical framework allowing the measurement of correlation lengths.


Interpersonal ties and intra-group processes influence the ability of people to work together effectively as teams. In the context of the family business team, intra-group processes describe the interaction that takes place between the family members and the resultant psychological climate that exists in the family business. Given the increasing number of sibling teams among family businesses, as well as the challenges they face as team members, this study focuses on sibling teams in family businesses and the intra-group processes that influence their success. Consequently, the primary objective of this study is to identify and empirically test the intra-group processes influencing the effectiveness of sibling partnerships. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 1323 sibling partner respondents. The respondents were identified by means of a convenience snowball sampling technique, and the data were collected from 371 usable questionnaires. The empirical findings of this study show that the sibling relationship and fairness are important determinants of sibling team effectiveness.


In this paper we construct a geometric model for the thermodynamics of semiconductors with impurities, using a nonconventional model based on the extended irreversible thermodynamics with internal variables. For this purpose, we derive the transformation induced by the process and the dynamical system for a \textit{simple material element} of extrinsic semiconductors. Finally, we obtain the expressions for the entropy function, the necessary conditions for its existence and the entropy 1-form, starting point to investigate an extended thermodynamical phase space.


This paper challenges a popular explanation for 'original sin' – the default prone borrowing of long term debt in foreign exchange by emerging markets – that emphasizes the lack of credibility and commitment of governments, that prevents them from borrowing in their own currency. Basing our account on the history of emerging market borrowing in the nineteenth century, we offer an explanation based on historical path dependence. We document that almost all IPO's of governments in foreign markets were in foreign exchange, or with foreign exchange clauses, independent of those countries' institutional features. We show that a small number of countries could circulate debt denominated in their own currency in secondary markets, again irrespective of their constitutional setup. We argue that market liquidity can explain both phenomenon. Having an internationally circulating currency allows countries to circulate their debt in secondary markets. Going for an IPO in a large financial center, is an attempt to tap the greater liquidity of that center's money market and currency. It makes prefect sense to borrow then, in that center's currency. The evolution of vehicle currencies and liquid money markets has more to do with historical evolution of trade, going back to medieval times, rather than with institutional reform. Escaping from original sin requires that the country emerge as a leading economic power – a rare historical event, reserved for the U.S of the nineteenth century and Japan of the twentieth century.


PURPOSE
To evaluate quantitatively the apoptotic activity after intravitreal injections of pegaptanib sodium and bevacizumab in the rabbit retina.

METHODS
Different doses of bevacizumab (0.25, 0.625, 1.25, and 2.5 mg) and pegaptanib sodium (0.15, 0.3, and 0.6 mg) were injected intravitreally in 48 rabbits. The eyes were enucleated at different times for early studies at day 14 and for late studies at 3 months after a single injection or at 3 months, with 1 injection in each of the 3 months (day 90). The time course and dose-response of photoreceptor cells in the rabbit retina after intravitreal injection of bevacizumab or pegaptanib sodium were examined by histologic analysis with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, caspase-3 and -9 immunostaining, and in situ terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotin-deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL) of DNA fragments of paraffin-embedded sections.

RESULTS
No sign of retinal toxicity was seen in H&E stained histologic sections of eyes that had received bevacizumab or pegaptanib sodium. Nuclear DNA fragmentation in the outer retinal layers shown by the TUNEL method was evident in the high-dose groups (55.3% with 1.25 mg and 64.5% with 2.5 mg bevacizumab, and 48.5% with 0.6 mg pegaptanib sodium) at 14 days and also in the clinical dose groups (49.8% with three injections [1 each month] of 0.625 mg bevacizumab and 44.3% with 0.15 mg pegaptanib sodium) at 90 days. The ratios of TUNEL-positive cells in physiologic saline and the sham-control groups were 32.3% and 21%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Intravitreal injection of bevacizumab and pegaptanib sodium caused a significant increase in apoptotic activity in rabbit photoreceptor cells. However, although bevacizumab caused increasing apoptotic activity at higher doses, similar dose-dependent adverse effects were not evident for pegaptanib sodium.


The present study describes the seasonal distribution and abundance of brachyuran crab larvae from 5 families in lower Glacier Bay (SE Alaska, USA), and is one of the few field studies describing the entire pelagic phase of brachyuran larvae in Alaska. The larvae of most brachyuran species in Glacier Bay exhibited a highly seasonal pattern of abundance, which when first observed coincided with the onset of oceanographic conditions favorable to survival (high water temperature and abundant food supply). During May, larval abundance of Cancer magister increased by 63% rel- ative to the first sampling date, that of C. oregonensis by 92%, Fabia subquadrata by 69%, Pugettia spp. by 73%, and Majidae by 77%. The seasonal timing and larval duration of C. magister and 4 other species in Glacier Bay were compared with the same species at lower latitudes to substantiate the hypothesis that larval release time and duration are later and longer, respectively, with increasing latitude. The initial occurrence of zoeae is delayed by 3 to 4 mo relative to published release times in California, Oregon and Washington for these species. Further, the pelagic larval duration for C. mag- ister is approximately 30 d longer in SE Alaska than published larval durations in lower latitudes, suggesting that both these phenomena are a function of the cool water temperatures found in the former region.


In a world of accelerating change, educators, business leaders, environmentalists and scholars are calling for the development of systems thinking to improve our ability to take effective actions. Through courses in the K-12 grades, universities, business schools, and corporations, advocates seek to teach people to think systemically. These courses range from one-day workshops with no mathematics to graduate level courses stressing formal modeling. But how do people learn to think systemically? What skills are required? Does a particular type of academic background improve one's ability to think systemically? What systems concepts are most readily understood? Which tend to be most difficult to grasp? We describe initial results from an assessment tool or systems thinking inventory. The inventory consists of brief tasks designed to assess particular systems thinking concepts such as feedback, delays, and stocks and flows. Initial findings indicate that subjects from an elite business school with essentially no prior exposure to system dynamics concepts have a poor level of understanding of stock and flow relationships and time delays. Performance did not vary systematically with prior education, age, national origin, or other demographic variables. We hope the inventory will eventually provide a means for testing the effectiveness of training and decision aids used to improve systems thinking skills. We discuss the implications of these initial results and explore steps for future research. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In Finland, the indoor air conditions of 171 single-family buildings and 49 apartments in multi-family buildings have been studied in large research projects in collaboration with Tampere University of Technology and Helsinki University of Technology. This article deals with the results of moisture excess studied in these single-family buildings and apartments. Continuous field measurements up to 28 months enable to include two consecutive heating seasons in the analysis of the internal moisture excess. The higher 10% critical level during the cold period (Te ≤ 5°C) was between 3.4 and 4.9 g/m3 in Finnish heavyweight and lightweight single-family buildings and between 2.4 and 3.6 g/m3 in apartments of multi-family buildings. During the warm period (Te ≥ 15°C), the corresponding values were between 0.3 and 2.6 g/m3 for single-family buildings and 0.5 and 1.5 g/m3 for apartments. The number of occupants and the airtightness of different groups of external wall did not have influence on the average values of moisture excess. Slightly better ventilation air change rates were measured in apartments of multi-family buildings, where also the air change rates from supply–exhaust ventilation systems generally fulfilled the Finnish guideline value. The design values of moisture classes in EN ISO 13788:2012 were found difficult to apply for Finnish residential buildings. The upper limit value of humidity class 2 of EN ISO 13788:2012 is suitable for apartments in Finnish multi-family buildings, but too low for Finnish lightweight and heavyweight single-family buildings. Applying the design values of Finnish guidelines would be justified for the studied buildings almost at the full range of outdoor temperatures.


Echocardiograms were performed on premature infants with a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in order to assess the magnitude of the left-to-right shunt. Ten of 14 infants with a hemodynamically significant PDA required ligation because of intractable cardiac failure. Twenty infants served as controls. These consisted of seven infants without heart disease, ten infants who were examined echocardiographically after surgical ligation of a PDA, and three infants who were considered to have closed the PDA spontaneously prior to echocardiographic examination. We measured the left atrial (LA) and aortic root (Ao) diameters and an LA/Ao ratio was used to assess left atrial size.The LA/Ao ratio was 1.28 ± 0.23 (SD) in the group with PDA and 0.86 ± 0.10 in the control group. Infants who required surgical ligation all had an LA/Ao ratio above 1.15 (mean 1.38 ± 0.19). After ligation of the PDA the ratio returned to normal levels (0.87 ± 0.12).Sequential studies performed on seven infants demonstrated the usefulness of the LA/Ao ratio in following the changes in left-to-right ductus shunting and left ventricular failure as well as the effects of medical and surgical therapy. The LA/Ao ratio is helpful in differentiating infants with respiratory distress due to ductus shunting and left ventricular failure from intrinsic pulmonary disease.


This paper revisits and builds upon a prominent theme in First Monday's 2008 "Critical perspectives on Web 2.0" special issue: exploration and critique of the claim that Web 2.0 "... provides novel opportunities for the articulation of individual and collective social power by enhancing participation in media production and cultural expression" (Zimmer, 2008). This article refreshes the critique by examining how impediments to users' technical knowledge about how Web 2.0 platforms function affect user power. After reviewing how the scholarly literature on Web 2.0 accounts for the user knowledge/user power connection, this paper suggests Braman's (2006) concept of "informational power" as a useful heuristic for exploring how access to information about how Web 2.0 platforms function operates as a "genetic" facet of user power. Then, using Braman's framework, the article reviews two cases of struggle over informational power in regards to the Twitter platform: controversy over the Library of Congress Twitter archive and Occupy Wall Street protesters inaccurately accusing Twitter of censorship because of a misunderstanding about "Trending Topics." Through the application of Braman's framework to these cases, it becomes clear how users' prospects for developing technical knowledge about the platforms shape the limits and horizons of individual and collective power.


Abstract. Five years of PM 10 and PM 2.5 ambient air measurements at a roadside, an urban, and a regional background site in Leipzig (Germany) were analyzed for violations of the legal PM 10 limit value (EC, 1999). The annual mean PM 10 concentrations at the three sites were well below the legal threshold of 40 μg m −3 (32.6, 22.0 and 21.7 μg m −3 , respectively). At roadside, the daily maximum value of 50 μg m −3 was exceeded on 232 days (13% of all days) in 2005–2009, which led to a violation of the EC directive in three out of five years. We analysed the meteorological factors and local source contributions that eventually led to the exceedances of the daily limit value. As noted in other urban environments before, most exceedance days were observed in the cold season. Exceedance days were most probable under synoptic situations characterised by stagnant winds, low temperatures and strong temperature inversions in winter time. However, these extreme situations accounted for only less than half of the exeedance days. We also noticed a significant number of exceedance days that occurred in the cold season under south-westerly winds, and in the warm season in the presence of easterly winds. Our analysis suggests that local as well as regional sources of PM are equally responsible for exceedances days at the roadside site. The conclusion is that a combined effort of local, national and international reduction measures appears most likely to avoid systematic exceedances of the daily limit value in the future.


The mammary alveolar cell-T (MAC-T) cell line is able to uniformly differentiate and secrete casein proteins in response to dexamethasone, insulin and prolactin and is extensively used to study bovine mammary epithelial cell function. Growth hormone (GH) has been shown to increase milk protein synthesis both in vivo and in mammary cell models, and induce cytoskeletal rearrangement in 3T3 fibroblast cell line and a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line. Few studies have focused on identifying the mechanisms involved in differentiated MAC-T cells' response to GH. We tested the hypothesis that MAC-T cells would respond directly to GH and that the response would include alterations in milk protein gene expression, leading to a more appropriate model for mammary cell function than treatment with dexamethasone, insulin and prolactin alone. To identify mechanisms that are involved in MAC-T cells' response to GH, global protein was assessed through two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and differentially expressed proteins were identified through mass spectrometry. Differentiated cells expressed GH receptor mRNA, and addition of GH to the differentiation medium increased production of α-S1 casein and α-lactalbumin mRNA. Proteins that were differentially expressed are related to metabolism, the cytoskeleton, protein folding, RNA and DNA processing, detoxifying and calcium metabolism. These results indicate that GH is an important factor in inducing a lactogenic phenotype in the MAC-T cell line, and supports GHs involvement in differentiation, while altering cell metabolism in preparation for synthesis and secretion of milk components. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


This chapter presents a solution for the simulation of large memristive networks with SystemC-AMS. SystemC-AMS allows simulating memristors both on analogue level and on digital level to link analogue memristive devices to digital circuits and system level specifications. We investigate the benefits and drawbacks of a SystemC-AMS simulation compared to a simulation in SPICE. We show for the example of a two-layer memristive network emulating an optical flow algorithm by the detection of moving edges that large memristive networks can be simulated with a free available SystemC-AMS simulation environment, whereas free available SPICE simulation environment fails. However, it is also shown that commercial SPICE simulators are superior against current SystemC- AMS implementations concerning the size of simulated memristive networks. However, SystemC-AMS simulations of memristive networks offer both still more flexibility and similar run times compared to commercial SPICE simulators for small-sized memristive networks. The flexibility and the powerfulness of a SystemC-AMS solution is dem - onstrated for a complex network that solves edge detection, filtering and detecting of moving objects. The possible run times of the memristive network are determined in the SystemC-AMS simulation environment and are compared with an optical flow algorithm on classical hardware like a CPU and a GPU. non-linear behaviour disappears.


Lameness is a common problem in modern swine industry, affecting both animal welfare and economic profit for the farmer. Animal welfare may be affected due to pain and the resulting reduced mobility. A lame pig may not be able to reach feeding and drinking facilities and may have a higher risk to be overrun by penmates.The economic impact of lameness is caused by lower productivity and higher costs of treatment or early culling of affected animals . The aforementioned welfare and economic issues can be minimized if veterinarians provide evidence-based advice on interventions to treat and prevent lameness. These interventions need to be assessed using objective, sensitive and repeatable methods to quantify lameness. Traditionally, visual assessment of gait is used most often to quantify lameness. Although this method is fast and inexpensive, it has several drawbacks. Visual assessment may suffer from inherent subjectivity, is affected by observer bias and has limited intra- and inter-rater agreement, especially in untrained observers and in mild lameness. Pressure mats may provide a solution to this problem. They consist of many pressure sensors in a dense grid, which collect data on both loading and timing of gait. In this thesis, the use of pressure mats to detect and quantify lameness in pigs has been validated. The first part of the thesis explored influencing factors on pressure mat paramaters in healthy, growing pigs. Parameters of individual limbs were influenced by several factors such as velocity, measurement session and front-or hindlimb. Therefore, asymmetry-indices, comparing loading of limbs within one run, were used to minimize the effects of variations between runs. Asymmetry-indices of healthy pigs were repeatable, remained stable over time and were not influenced by velocity and front-or hindlimb. In the second part of the thesis, asymmetry-indices of lame and sound pigs were compared to each other. Limb loading of lame pigs was more asymmetric compared to sound pigs and correlated well with the sverity of the lameness. Also, the effect of a strong analgesic could be detected by the pressure mat, but not by visual inspection. Pressure mat analysis was therefor considered a sensitive and objective method to quantify lameness. In the third part of the thesis, with pressure mat analysis validated as a useful method, it was used to determine the effect of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) on experimentally induced osteoarthritis. Lameness was assessed on several timepoints. Only on the last timepoint, at day 56 post-induction of osteoarthritis, an effect of NSAID treatment was seen. In conclusion, pressure mat analysis of lameness in pigs provided a useful method to detect and quantify lameness in pigs under laboratory conditions.


Introduction: Over the years, the extraskeletal effects of Vitamin D (vit D) are gaining prominence. The role of vit D deficiency (VDD) in coronary artery disease (CAD) is conflicting. Hence, the present study was aimed to correlate serum vit D levels with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and Gensini score in CAD individuals. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 70 angiographically proven CAD individuals aged between 35 and 55 years of both sexes who presented with a history of myocardial injury or ischemia for the first time. The angiographic findings were graded using Gensini score. Serum vit D and hs-CRP were estimated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The average serum vit D level was 15 ng/mL, and the ratio of diabetes and nondiabetes individuals was 52:18. Among the 70 patients, 66% (n = 46) were deficient, 20% (n = 14) were insufficient, and 14% (n = 10) had normal vit D status. Although insignificant, vit D levels had negative correlation with Gensini score (r = −0.17, P = 0.14) and hs-CRP levels (r = −0.03, P = 0.77) which was not sustained after multivariate logistic regression. A significant negative correlation (r = −0.35, P = 0.01) was found between serum vit D status and duration of diabetes. Conclusion: VDD observed in diabetes individuals is inversely related to the duration of diabetes which incidentally is associated with CAD. Thus, screening for vit D status may be vital for the management of CAD particularly in diabetes individuals.


With the growing amount of connectome data being gathered, it behooves us to develop systems-theoretic methods to analyze this data so as to provide insights into the function of neuronal circuits. Here, we develop models and compute capacities for gap junction synapses. We develop information-theoretic lower bounds on computation speed arising from limitations of anatomical connectivity and physical noise. For the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, these bounds are predictive of biological timescales. Moreover, the hub-and-spoke architecture of C. elegans functional subcircuits are optimal under constraint on number of synapses.


As a study of the colonial situations of first millennium BC Sardinia, this book is as much an investigation into colonialism as a sociological category, as it explores the specific historical conditions of a particular region. Taking a fresh look at colonialism in Mediterranean archaeology from a so-called postcolonial point of view, it examined the archaeologically relevant features of this perspective in conjunction with other current ideas about society, human agency and material culture in order to sketch the contours of a postcolonial archaeology of colonialism.

These ideas are subsequently elaborated and practically applied in a detailed study of rural settlement in west central Sardinia. The archaeological evidence for this is provided by the (preliminary) results of the Riu Mannu survey carried out in west central Sardinia since 1992 as well as by a wealth of existing published and archived data. Considering themes such as the (re)creation of identities and cultural resistance, this study especially looks into the ways in which people deployed material culture and inhabited the landscape in order to cope with the colonial situations. Comparing these specific instances of colonialism finally leads to a consideration of historical contingency and structure in colonial situations and to an assertion of the centrality of identity in colonial situations.


Data mining approaches have been increasingly used in recent years in order to find patterns and regularities in large databases. In this study, the C4.5 decision tree approach was used for mining of Gene Logic database, containing biological data. The decision tree approach was used in order to identify the most relevant genes and risk factors involved in breast cancer, in order to separate healthy patients from breast cancer patients in the data sets used. Four different tests were performed for this purpose. Cross validation was performed, for each of the four tests, in order to evaluate the capacity of the decision tree approaches in correctly classifying 'new' samples. In the first test, the expression of 108 breast related genes, shown in appendix A, for 75 patients were used as input to the C4.5 algorithm. This test resulted in a decision tree containing only four genes considered to be the most relevant in order to correctly classify patients. Cross validation indicates an average accuracy of 89% in classifying 'new' samples. In the second test, risk factor data was used as input. The cross validation result shows an average accuracy of 87% in classifying 'new' samples. In the third test, both gene expression data and risk factor data were put together as one input. The cross validation procedure for this approach again indicates an average accuracy of 87% in classifying 'new' samples. In the final test, the C4.5 algorithm was used in order to indicate possible signalling pathways involving the four genes identified by the decision tree based on only gene expression data. In some of cases, the C4.5 algorithm found trees suggesting pathways which are supported by the breast cancer literature. Since not all pathways involving the four putative breast cancer genes are known yet, the other suggested pathways should be further analyzed in order to increase their credibility. In summary, this study demonstrates the application of decision tree approaches for the identification of genes and risk factors relevant for the classification of breast cancer patients


OBJECTIVE: The goal was to estimate the burden of allergic diseases associated with chlorinated pool exposure among adolescents. METHODS: We examined 847 students, 13 to 18 years of age, who had attended outdoor or indoor chlorinated pools at various rates. Of them, 114 had attended mainly a copper-silver pool and served as a reference group. We measured total and aeroallergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels in serum and screened for exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. Outcomes were respiratory symptoms, hay fever, allergic rhinitis, and asthma that had been diagnosed at any time (ever asthma) or was being treated with medication and/or was associated with exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (current asthma). RESULTS: Among adolescents with atopy with serum IgE levels of >30 kIU/L or aeroallergen-specific IgE, the odds ratios (ORs) for asthma symptoms and for ever or current asthma increased with the lifetime number of hours spent in chlorinated pools, reaching values of 7.1 to 14.9 when chlorinated pool attendance exceeded 1000 hours. Adolescents with atopy with chlorinated pool attendance of >100 hours had greater risk of hay fever (OR: 3.3-6.6), and those with attendance of >1000 hours had greater risk of allergic rhinitis (OR: 2.2-3.5). Such associations were not found among adolescents without atopy or with copper-silver pool attendance. The population attributable risks for chlorinated pool-related ever-diagnosed asthma, hay fever, and allergic rhinitis were 63.4%, 62.1%, and 35.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Chlorinated pool exposure exerts an adjuvant effect on atopy that seems to contribute significantly to the burden of asthma and respiratory allergies among adolescents.


The results of palaeontological (palynological and mollusc) and sedimentological analyses of the lower Miocene deposits from the Bingol minibasin, a part of the Sivas Basin, are exhibited to define the vertical shifts in sedimentation environments and plant covers, linking to eustasy. The presence of index species Corbulomya (Lentidium) aquitanica suggests an Aquitanian age for the studied succession, which can be divided into three informal units: a lower unit, a middle unit, and an upper unit. Fine-grained sediments of the lower unit were deposited in a low sea-level setting due to high quantities of terrestrial palynomorphs. This unit is overlain by the middle unit, coralgal limestone, which marks the first initiation of Aquitanian transgression. Continuing shallow marine settings in the upper unit gave rise to deposition of coarse to fine-grained sediments. Palynological data were recovered from the fine-grained sediments of the lower and upper units. A total of 35 spore and pollen taxa were recorded, including 2 spores from ferns, 5 gymnosperms, 26 angiosperms, 1 group of undifferentiated dinoflagellate cysts, and 1 fresh water alga of Botryococcus sp. The pollen spectrum is dominated by coniferous forest, mainly undifferentiated Pinaceae, and herbaceous communities including high quantities of Poaceae and Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae, with minor contributions of Ephedra sp., Caryophyllaceae, and Asteraceae subf. Asteroidae. High sea-level conditions, which started with sedimentation of the middle unit, survived during the deposition of the upper unit due to being overwhelmingly dominated by dinocysts. Thermophile plants including Avicennia sp., Engelhardia sp., Myrica sp., Sapotaceae, Cyrillaceae-Clethraceae, and Reveesia sp. along with relatively high quantities of xerophytes and the quantitative palaeoclimate values imply a subtropical and dry palaeoclimate.


Ab initio theoretical calculations of magnetic moments near the interfaces of 3d ferromagnetic transition metals were performed using the self-consistent interface Green's function technique based on linear-muffin-tin orbitals (LMTO) method within the tight-binding (TB) and atomic sphere approximation together with local-spin-density approximation. We have also made supercell spin-polarized (SP) band structure calculations of (1 0 0) Fe/Co interface in the framework of TB-LMTO method, in order to take into account structural deformations and estimate their influence on the magnetic moments near that interface. Our results for layer magnetic moments near Fe/Co, Fe/Ni and Ni/Co interfaces did not show any oscillating behavior, contrary to the recent findings for the magnetic moment profile near Fe/Co interface deduced from the perturbed angular correlation measurements of hyperfine fields. The reasons for this disagreement have been discussed and a comparison with earlier experimental and theoretical results was made.


Although the number of immigrant families is increasing in Finland, the research on their perspectives on early childhood and care (ECEC) services is scarce. The objective of this small-scale case study was to increase the understanding of immigrant families' perspectives on ECEC practices. Through the qualitative content analysis of interview-based data, four themes emerged as particularly important for working with immigrant families: (a) fostering dialogue and mutual understanding; (b) promoting cultural and linguistic diversity; (c) encouraging cooperative partnership; and (d) providing support and individualized attention. This study contributes to the development of more inclusive and supportive ECEC practices in order to better support families with immigrant backgrounds.


Electric Vehicles (EVs) are expected to contribute significantly to the reduction of CO2 emissions and other types of pollution within the next years. However, the concept of their ultra fast charging still poses demanding requirements, both in terms of the EV battery and the impact on the power grid. Towards this direction, emerging power electronics interfaces as well as energy storage technologies will play a significant role into making EV charging stations competitive with the existing gas station infrastructures. This paper focuses on the proposal of a power converter architecture, which aims for the interface between the three-phase medium voltage AC grid and the Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries. The transformerless AC/DC conversion stage motivates the choice of a suitable multilevel topology, namely the Cascaded H-Bridge Converter (CHB), where the medium voltage is split into several dedicated low voltage DC buses. At each of these levels, integrated stationary Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) play the role of power buffers, reducing thus the influence of the charging station on the distribution grid. The EV battery is then charged through parallel-connected isolated DC/DC converters, in order to achieve high currents and meet the standards for galvanic isolation.


Vocabulary development can be achieved by helping the foreign learner of English to acquire productivity and non-productivity in English derivation. In addition, the English productive derivatives should be given special attention in teaching to and learning by native-Arabic speakers because the Arabic language is a language of derivation and it is highly productive. This paper tests how the adult native-Arabic speakers learning English as a foreign language acquire English productive and non-productive derivatives. This will be done by comparing productivity in standard written Arabic and standard written English through contrastive analysis. The concept of contrastive analysis (CA) is initially called upon the fact that Arabic is a language of productive derivation while English is a language of more than one source of word-formation; borrowing, compounding and derivation. Moreover, productivity in English is not high. Secondly, morphology is subject to avoidance phenomenon by foreign learners. Hence, the predictive value of CA and also its testing in this paper should be very helpful for English teachers to native-Arabic speakers learning English and other foreign learners, language acquisition researchers, applied linguists, methodologists and textbook-writers.


A number of feasibility studies have proven the reliability of marine transportation for the Arctic. Current research and development in this field, especially in the USA and Canada, is hopefully going to provide a sound and technically logical, step by step development toward year round Arctic shipping. The basic problem facing any naval architect is designing the most cost-efficient ship which fulfills a number of requirements laid down by the customer. At the same time, the ship must meet all constraints imposed by safety rules, regulations and navigational restrictions. For an arctic ship, these constraints are numerous and also technically quite intricate. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the fundamental features of icebreaking ships and to describe a general design problem for such ships.


TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction I. Origins of Half-Human Creatures in the Plant Patent and Plant Variety Protection Acts and in the Corresponding Evisceration of the "Product of Nature" Doctrine A. The Plant Patent Act of 1930 and the Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970 B. The "Product of Nature" Doctrine C. The Ayahuasca Patent Case D. Naturally Colored Cotton II. The Moral Utility Requirement--The Frayed Connective Tissue of Patent Law A. Playing Dodge Ball--Chakrabarty B. Origins & Development of the Moral Utility Requirement III. Converging Socioeconomic, Safety, and Ethical Concerns? A. A Trilogy of Western Concerns B. Proposed Legal Changes 1. The Marshall Trilogy Connection 2. Possibilities Within the Moral Utility Requirement 3. Possibilities Within Prior Art--Three Illustrative Problems IV. Converging Solutions? A. Institutional and Attitudinal Conundrums B. Proposed Solutions for Indigenous Peoples INTRODUCTION On December 18, 1997, Stuart A. Newman, a professor of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College, and Jeremy Rifkin, (1) long-time biotechnology critic and President of the Washington, D.C.-based Foundation on Economic Trends, filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO"). The Newman-Rifkin patent application covered the first-time ever production of an animal-human "chimera" that could contain up to 50% human genetic material. Among those who heard of the application, a storm of controversy followed. Many in the media dismissed the application as yet another bizarre and irrelevant ploy of Jeremy Rifkin, whom some have characterized as being something of a gadfly. (2) Seemingly lost in all the brouhaha over Jeremy Rifkin being involved in the patent application was the background of Mr. Rifkin's co-applicant, Stuart Newman, who was on the Board of Directors of the Council for Responsible Genetics ("CRG") (3), and did not share Rifkin's previous notoriety. Just what is a chimera? According to ancient Greek mythology, (4) a chimera was a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. In more modern times, the word is most often used to refer to something that is illusory or does not exist. However, with changes in technology, the term chimera has also returned closer to its original mythological meaning, describing a monster that may actually exist. In this context, a chimera has been likened to a hybrid. In a hybrid, the male of one species is genetically crossed with a female of another species to produce the hybrid. A mule is an example of an animal hybrid. Hybrid corn is an example of a hybrid plant. It is produced by in-breeding corn, rather than using open pollination. (5) Hybrid mules are biologically sterile while hybrid corn is "economically sterile." That is, the yield on hybrid corn progressively deteriorates past the first generation such that farmers must go back each year to the first generation of the hybrid, (6) if they decide to grow hybrid corn in the first place. Because of its economic sterility, hybrid corn is valued for its ability to be produced in the massive quantities that are prized in industrialized agriculture. The very sterility of hybrid corn also makes it valuable to agribusiness because farmers must return again and again to buy seed to grow each crop. Significantly, hybrid corn also requires massive inputs (such as synthetic fertilizers damaging to the environment) to grow, further increasing the dependence of the farmer on industrial agribusiness. Hybrid plants, like industrial agribusiness, are relative newcomers to America, not becoming popular in the U.S. until the 1930s. This trend represents a significant change from the pre-1930s, when it was still common for American farmers to save their seed and produce crops without having to purchase many additional inputs such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides not produced already on the farm itself. …


Models of cancer cell population expansion assume exponential growth kinetics at low cell densities, with deviations from exponential growth only at higher densities due to limited resources such as space and nutrients. However, recent pre-clinical and clinical observations of tumor initiation or recurrence indicate the presence of tumor growth kinetics in which growth rates scale with cell numbers. These observations are analogous to the cooperative behavior of species in an ecosystem described by the ecological principle of the Allee effect. In preclinical and clinical models however, tumor growth data is limited by the lower limit of detection (i.e. a measurable lesion) and confounding variables, such as tumor microenvironment and immune responses may cause and mask deviations from exponential growth models. In this work, we present alternative growth models to investigate the presence of an Allee effect in cancer cells seeded at low cell densities in a controlled in vitro setting. We propose a stochastic modeling framework to consider the small number of cells in this low-density regime and use the moment approach for stochastic parameter estimation to calibrate the stochastic growth trajectories. We validate the framework on simulated data and apply this approach to longitudinal cell proliferation data of BT-474 luminal B breast cancer cells. We find that cell population growth kinetics are best described by a model structure that considers the Allee effect, in that the birth rate of tumor cells depends on cell number. This indicates a potentially critical role of cooperative behavior among tumor cells at low cell densities with relevance to early stage growth patterns of emerging tumors and relapse. Author Summary The growth kinetics of cancer cells at very low cell densities are of utmost clinical importance as the ability of a small number of newly transformed or surviving cells to grow exponentially and thus, to "take off" underlies tumor formation and relapse after treatment. Mathematical models of stochastic tumor cell growth typically assume a stochastic birth-death process of cells impacted by limited nutrients and space when cells reach high density, resulting in the widely accepted logistic growth model. Here we present an in-depth investigation of alternate growth models adopted from ecology to describe potential deviations from a simple cell autonomous birth-death model at low cell densities. We show that our stochastic modeling framework is robust and can be used to identify the underlying structure of stochastic growth trajectories from both simulated and experimental data taken from a controlled in vitro setting in which we can capture data from the relevant low cell density regime. This work suggests that the assumption of cell autonomous proliferation via a constant exponential growth rate at low cell densities may not be appropriate for all cancer cell growth dynamics. Consideration of cooperative behavior amongst tumor cells in this regime is critical for elucidating strategies for controlling tumor cell growth.


A study of the Sami burials on the territory of the Kolsky Bay was launched in 1976. All the material dates back to the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century. Collected skulls of 74 males and 51 females were compiled. We have investigated all the available material in the storage skulls. A homogeneity group analysis was conducted. Sami males from the settlement of Yoakanga and Chalmnu-Varre vary by range of facial skeleton forming parameters. Sami females from the settlement Yoakanga and Chalmnu-Varre vary by facial skeleton widths. Based on the characters of lifetime body length and the proportion indexes of extremities, the Sami are the most adaptable to living conditions of the Far North.


This article reviews the main influences on broad money growth since the onset of the global crisis, focusing on the impact of the Monetary Policy Committee's asset purchase programme (QE). The underlying weakness in money growth is likely to have reflected a combination of reduced nominal demand and a restructuring of banks' balance sheets. QE has played a key role in offsetting some of this weakness and in a way that has not depended on an increase in bank lending. The first two rounds of QE seem to have had a similar proportionate impact on the money supply, but there is some evidence that the transmission mechanism of QE may have been different over the two episodes.


Employee benefits are all forms of counter services granted by an entity in return to services given by the employees. This category includes only the benefits covered by the entity, not those from the state or the employee on the payroll. The employer counting and presenting all the benefits of the employees, including those provided on the basis of official programs or other official contracts between the entity and the individual employees, groups of employees or their representatives, those established on the basis of legal provisions or by contracts at the level of activity sector, through which the entities are required to contribute to national programs, as well as those resulting from unofficial practices give rise to an implicit obligation. Acknowledging and especially assessing these benefits are issues demanding special attention.


Quantum spin networks having engineered geometries and interactions are eagerly pursued for quantum simulation and access to emergent quantum phenomena such as spin liquids. Spin-1/2 centers are particularly desirable, because they readily manifest coherent quantum fluctuations. Here we introduce a controllable spin-1/2 architecture consisting of titanium atoms on a magnesium oxide surface. We tailor the spin interactions by atomic-precision positioning using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and subsequently perform electron spin resonance on individual atoms to drive transitions into and out of quantum eigenstates of the coupled-spin system. Interactions between the atoms are mapped over a range of distances extending from highly anisotropic dipole coupling to strong exchange coupling. The local magnetic field of the magnetic STM tip serves to precisely tune the superposition states of a pair of spins. The precise control of the spin-spin interactions and ability to probe the states of the coupled-spin network by addressing individual spins will enable the exploration of quantum many-body systems based on networks of spin-1/2 atoms on surfaces.


Rotating electric machines with operating voltage greater than 12 [kV] are an integral part of the installed base of electric generators in different countries. These voltages incorporate new challenges to be solved in maintenance practices. One of the most important challenges is the identification of the condition of the stator winding. For many years, the most commonly used monitoring techniques in electrical generators were off-line insulation measurements, especially in direct current. More recently, the use of on-line insulation monitoring techniques has enabled problems to be detected in advance, such as partial discharge measurement. This article presents the measurement of on-line partial discharges, as a condition monitoring technique for high voltage electric generators. It is also used for risk assessment and decision support for corrective actions. In the case study, it was evidenced that periodic monitoring is key during the operating time of the evaluated generator unit, which can be extended to other generators. The monitoring of on-line partial discharges allowed to know its condition and evolution through the trend in time.Keywords: Partial discharge, electric generator, failure mode, predictive maintenance, void.


Patterns in morphological variability have been the main basis for conventional genetic improvement program, particularly in selective breeding. Proper understanding on these patterns hence, is of crucial prerequisite before any scheme of breeding program is undertaken. This study was aimed to explore those morphological variations with emphasis on the assessment of among-population and among-trait variations and assessment of predictive traits that may serve for inter-population differentiation. A total 281 individuals representing four natural populations (Asahan, Ogan, Barito, and Ciasem) and one domesticated stock (GIMacro) were sampled and analyzed for variability in thirteen morphological traits. While descriptive analyses were applied to analyze both among-stock and among-trait variations, discriminant function analysis was used to search for the best traits for interpopulation differentiation. The relative variability, expressed in the coefficient of variation (CV), was used to compare the amount and patterns of morphometric variability both among traits and between stocks. Results showed that total body weight was the most variable trait while the length and meristic traits were of lower level. Discriminant analysis found that rostrum length and abdoment length to be the best morphological discriminators among intraspecific populations. However, the continuous natures of these traits make them have limited applicability for intraspecific population differentiation.


Lock-in occurs between many different types of flow instabilities and structural-acoustic resonators. Factors that describe the coupling between the fluid and structure have been defined for low flow Mach numbers. This paper discusses how different flow instabilities influence lock-in experimentally and analytically. A key concept to the lock-in process is the relative source generation versus dissipation. The type of fluid instability source dominates the generation component of the process, so a comparison between a cavity shear layer instability with a relatively stronger source, for example wake vortex shedding from a bluff body, will be described as a coupling factor. In the fluid-elastic cavity lock-in case, the shear layer instability produced by flow over a cavity couples to the elastic structure containing the cavity. In this study, this type of lock-in was not achieved experimentally. A stronger source, vortex shedding from a bluff body however, is shown experimentally to locks into the same resonator. This study shows that fluid-elastic cavity lock-in is unlikely to occur given the critical level of damping that exists for a submerged structure and the relatively weak source strength that a cavity produces. Also in this paper, a unified theory is presented based on describing functions, a nonlinear control theory used to predict limit cycles of oscillation, where a self-sustaining oscillation or lock-in is possible. The describing function models capture the primary characteristics of the instability mechanisms, are consistent with Strouhal frequency concepts, capture damping, and are consistent with mass-damping concepts from wake oscillator theory. This study shows a strong consistency between the analytical models and experimental results.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


In this paper, we describe a software infrastructure that unifies transactions and replication in three-tier architectures and provides data consistency and high availability for enterprise applications. The infrastructure uses transactions based on the CORBA object transaction service to protect the application data in databases on stable storage, using a roll-backward recovery strategy, and replication based on the fault tolerant CORBA standard to protect the middle-tier servers, using a roll-forward recovery strategy. The infrastructure replicates the middle-tier servers to protect the application business logic processing. In addition, it replicates the transaction coordinator, which renders the two-phase commit protocol nonblocking and, thus, avoids potentially long service disruptions caused by failure of the coordinator. The infrastructure handles the interactions between the replicated middle-tier servers and the database servers through replicated gateways that prevent duplicate requests from reaching the database servers. It implements automatic client-side failover mechanisms, which guarantee that clients know the outcome of the requests that they have made, and retries aborted transactions automatically on behalf of the clients.


Data races complicate programming language semantics, and a data race is often a bug. Existing techniques detect data races and define their semantics by detecting conflicts between synchronization-free regions (SFRs). However, such techniques either modify hardware or slow programs dramatically, preventing always-on use today. This paper describes Valor, a sound, precise, softwareonly region conflict detection analysis that achieves high performance by eliminating costly analysis on each read operation that prior approaches require. Valor instead logs a region's reads and lazily detects conflicts for logged reads when the region ends. We have also developed FastRCD, a conflict detector that leverages the epoch optimization strategy of the FastTrack data race detector. We evaluate Valor, FastRCD, and FastTrack, showing that Valor dramatically outperforms FastRCD and FastTrack. Valor is the first region conflict detector to provide strong semantic guarantees for data races with under 2X slowdown. We also show that Valor is an effective data race detector, providing an appealing cost‐coverage tradeoff compared with FastTrack. Overall, Valor advances the state of the art in always-on support for strong behavioral guarantees for data races, and in sound, precise race detection.


Through solving pretext tasks, self-supervised learning (SSL) leverages unlabeled data to extract useful latent representations replacing traditional input features in the downstream task. A common pretext task consists in pretraining a SSL model on pseudo-labels derived from the original signal. This technique is particularly relevant for speech data where various meaningful signal processing features may serve as pseudo-labels. However, the process of selecting pseudo-labels, for speech or other types of data, remains mostly unexplored and currently relies on observing the results on the final downstream task. Nevertheless, this methodology is not sustainable at scale due to substantial computational (hence carbon) costs. Thus, this paper introduces a practical and theoretical framework to select relevant pseudo-labels with respect to a given downstream task. More precisely, we propose a functional estimator of the pseudo-label utility grounded in the conditional independence theory, which does not require any training. The experiments conducted on speaker recognition and automatic speech recognition validate our estimator, showing a significant correlation between the performance observed on the downstream task and the utility estimates obtained with our approach, facilitating the prospection of relevant pseudo-labels for self-supervised speech representation learning.


Networked learning, conceived of as networks of people, informational resources and technologies, constitutes what has been termed a 'highly interwined' technology. In this paper we develop our earlier argument that sociotechnical networks can form the basis for a non-determinist theory of learning technology.

Firstly, we argue that Kling et al's sociotechnical interaction network (STIN) is compatible with a realist ontology, drawing on Fleetwood's 'ontology of the real' and Lawson's proposition of the social nature of the artefact in networks of 'positioned practices'. This, we suggest, gives a more secure basis for the STIN concept, and provides a clear alternative to actor network theory (ANT)-based views of sociotechnical networks which do not distinguish between the influence of human and material agents. This also, we argue, provides an alternative way of anchoring concepts from the social informatics literature, often influenced by Giddens' structuration theory, in ways that can help networked learning research.

Secondly, we explore some potential implications of such an approach for theories of networked learning and learning more widely. In particular, we suggest a possible ontology of elements of learning technology. The use of the word 'learning' here is somewhat problematic, as it is routinely used rather loosely to describe changes at multiple levels but which are likely to have rather different underlying mechanisms. A more thorough ontology of learning technology would allow us to distinguish between these uses and identify potentially distinct mechanisms at play in different forms and levels of learning.

Thirdly, we use this approach to explore how viewing learning technologies as sociotechnical networks helps to clarify our thinking about identities in social networking for personal, learning and professional purposes.


Determining the appropriate survey population and the commodity to be valued are among the most fundamental design decisions for stated preference (SP) surveys. However, often little information is available about who in the population holds measurable value for the resource (the extent of the market) and their perceptions regarding the scope of the resource to be valued (the extent of the resource). In this paper, we present a novel approach using cognitive mapping interview techniques to shed light on these design questions. The method also provides ancillary information that assists in the interpretation of information collected during focus groups and through SP survey administration. The approach was developed and tested as part of an ongoing study on environmental degradation associated with acidification in the Southern Appalachian Mountain region. Although damage from acidification in the study region is broad, it is not clear whether residents of this region care, in both a use and nonuse sense, about resources in their states of residence, in neighboring states, on public lands, or more broadly across the region. From a pilot study, we found that participants show a significant home-state preference in the number and size of natural areas that they value within the larger Southern Appalachian Mountain region. However, this preference is not strong enough to suggest that the market for improving these resources is solely constrained to residents of the state in which the resource is located.


While on a world-wide scale Hungary is a key greenhouse gas emitter neither on an
absolute nor on a per capita basis, Hungary recognizes the significance of
limiting its
greenhouse gas emissions. This paper is based on the Hungarian contribution to
a two-year, ten-country research effort, funded by UNEP, aimed at developing a
state-of-the-art methodology for the understanding of the economics of greenhouse gas abatement.
This paper concentrates on the challenges of the implementation of greenhouse gas
mitigation measures. While Hungary has an important cost-effective potential for
reducing the emission of carbon dioxide by improving energy efficiency, the
implementation of this mitigation strategy is a complex and challenging task. The
implementation and financing of energy efficiency measures require the
concerted
targeting of close to 4 million households, and a wide variety of actors, including
banks, the industry, government, international and multilateral organisations, and
NGOs. Thus, developing an implementation strategy requires a clear understanding of
the existing structures, barriers, and experiences to date. This paper provides a
strategic framework for the implementation of demand-side energy efficiency, and
examines a case study, the tool of energy efficiency labelling and standards, within this
framework.


Financial management in primary schools has changed in the UK with the introduction of the Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS). There is increasing delegation of financial responsibility to the management team in the school, increasing the role of the head teacher and the governing body as part of overall responsibility for the strategic direction of the school. This article draws on contemporary research from three case studies within one local authority based on interviews with three stakeholders: the head teacher; a member of the finance sub-committee of the governing body; and a local authority finance officer. Evidence is presented of how financial management responsibility is discharged and on the relationship between the three parties. It is found that financial management is increasingly being prescribed without clear guidelines. The article presents some implications and recommendations for governance arrangements, including consideration of how financial management might be made more effective.


This title carefully analyzes the Supreme Court from the nomination process to proposals for reform. The authors have designed this text to be used in two ways. First, it can be used as the """"main text"""" in a seminar on the Supreme Court. Second, it can be used as supplemental reading for any course in constitutional law, American history, American government or other similar courses in law, history or government that touch on the role of the Court. The accompanying instructor's manual will show how it can be used effectively for your course. In writing this book, the authors' goal has been to bring together selections from the best research published by legal academics and political scientists, along with thoughtful commentary by experienced Supreme Court practitioners and some primary materials, from congressional hearings and Court decisions, to show how the Supreme Court works as an institution.


Five textile specialists from various backgrounds came together to explore shared interests in Indian fabrics, histories, and architectural patterns. Guided by Rahul Jain's extraordinary scholarship and generosity, we visited weaving workshops producing exquisite fabric and metallic yarn in our quest to understand the naqsha system for drawloom patterning. In Cholapur and Varanasi, we studied drawlooms set up to weave velvet, lampas, and samite, and a distinguished naqshaband demonstrated the making of a naqsha that provides the design for drawloom lifts. We examined rare historic textiles in New Delhi's National Museum, Ahmedabad's Calico Museum of Textiles, Varanasi's Bharat Kala Bhavan Museum, and private collections. In Jaipur, we visited the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Nila House, Anokhi Farm, City Palace Museum, and Prince Albert Hall Museum, and in Ahmedabad, the National Institute of Design and the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Indigo Museum. At Patola House in Patan, we observed the preparation and weaving of double ikat. Our diverse perspectives resulted in a most enjoyable interdisciplinary traveling seminar. Come with us as we share our adventure in collaborative textile research.

Themes of inquiry:• Understanding the naqsha harness for the Indian drawloom • Examining relations between textiles and architecture • Using symmetry analysis to recognize pattern repeats • Considering fashion in India, an evolving tradition • Learning about the revival of natural indigo in India • Observing craft traditions preserved through development and sustainability

Our team: • Annin Barrett—textile artist and designer; instructor, fashion history and sustainable design • Carol Bier—curator, The Textile Museum (1984-2001); research associate (2001-2020); research scholar, Center for Islamic Studies, Graduate Theological Union • Anna Jolly—curator of textiles 1500-1800, Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg, Switzerland • Louise Mackie—curator emerita, Textiles & Islamic Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Royal Ontario Museum, and The Textile Museum • Barbara Setsu Pickett—associate professor emerita, Department of Art, University of Oregon


This extended abstract describes a sonification that was commissioned by a biologist/animal ecologist. The sonification was created with the software synthesis program SuperCollider [1]. The motivation for creating it was to pursue additional levels of engagement and immersion by supplementing the effects of visual plots, as well as to create an informative rendering of a multivariate dataset. The goal is for audiences, in particular students and laypeople, to readily understand (and hopefully find compelling) the phenomena being described. The approach is parameterbased, creating "sonic scatter plots" [2] in the same manner as work described in earlier publications [3], [4]. The work described here is a current experimental project that takes a sonic approach to describing the interactions of plant phenology and animal migrations in Greenland. This area is seen as a predictor of how climate change may affect areas farther south. There is concern about the synchronicity of annual caribou migrations with the appearance of plant food sources, as warmer temperatures may cause plants to bloom earlier and in advance of the caribou arrival at their calving grounds; depleted food availability at calving time can lead to lower populations of caribou. Parts of this sonification will be applied to a multi-year professional development workshop for middle and high school science teachers. It is hoped that sonifications of plant observations made by teachers and students will enhance student engagement, and possibly lead to greater degrees of understanding of phenology patterns.


Electrical and electronic equipment has infiltrated into every aspect of our lives, and created great waste problems. These problems have become popularized as electronic waste (e-waste) and received increasing attention both from the public and the govern-ment. This thesis concentrates on three different aspects of these problems: the definition of e-waste, the pattern of the global trade of e-waste, and China's e-waste problems and solutions.
Many countries' government documents related to e-waste have provided their own definitions of e-waste, but these definitions vary. This variety in e-waste definitions can bring significant problems (Khetriwal et al., 2011; Cantin and Bury, 2012; Milovantseva and Fitzpatrick, 2015). However, only a few researchers have focused on this area, and none of these studies have considered e-waste definitions other than the ones from the EU Directive and American states. This study collects formal e-waste definitions from countries all over the world, published in English or Chinese, and finds their differences mainly lay in two areas: 1) the approaches to defining their covered equipment; and 2) how the covered equipment becomes waste. The influences of these differences are that they determine a different overall nature of the e-waste issue in the jurisdiction where given regulations apply. Different definitions of e-waste lead to different e-waste volumes and compositions, different responsible parties, and different possible solutions. The differences show that e-waste has no natural definition, and that the e-waste problem is an indeterminate problem (Wynne, 1987).
Multiple e-waste problems have been caused by the international transfer of e-waste (BAN, 2002; Greenpeace International, 2005; Greenpeace, 2008; BAN, 2016). The second part of this research examines data from the United Nations COMTRADE database using a proxy method and analyzes the temporal pattern of the global trade of e-waste. This analysis results in three main findings: 1) the total international trade volume of at least certain types of e-waste has grown remarkably in the last 20 years, in which the summation of several of the biggest trade transactions account for the bulk of the total trade; 2) between 1996 and 2015, more than 80% of the international trade of e-waste measured by the COMTRADE data was intra-regional trade; and 3) the results of the trade data analysis can tell different stories when different categorization schemes for 'developing' and 'developed' countries are used to classify the trade data. Under the Basel Convention categorization scheme, the amount of the transfer of e-waste from developed countries to developing countries is very small, while under the World Trade Organization scheme (WTO), the volume of this type of trade is big and growing. These findings point to a broader problem than the specifics of either the Basel Convention or the WTO. It means not only the category of e-waste but also the categorization defined by the countries generate a fundamentally indeterminate waste management problem (more generally, see Wynne, 1987).
China has been famous as a global e-waste recipient with a terribly destroyed environment (Puckett and Byster, 2002; Tong and Wang 2004; Schwarzer et al., 2005; On-gondo, Willianms, and Cherrett, 2011; CNN, 2013), the second largest e-waste generator (Wei and Liu, 2012; StEP, n.d.), and the largest producer and consumer of electronic ap-pliances in the world (Chi et al., 2011). The third part of this thesis will comprehensively analyze the situation of China's e-waste problems and the effectiveness of China's policy solutions. This research finds that the volumes of e-waste generated inside China and e-waste already smuggled into China are both large and neither issue should be ignored by police makers. However, the Chinese government treats domestic e-waste and smuggled e-waste in completely different ways. For the domestic e-waste, China has successfully built a regulation system to control it. If collected under this system, China's formal e-waste disposal industry has the ability to dispose of more than 90% of its domestic e-waste. Even though problems still exist with this system (e.g., collection remains a prob-lem), the conclusion can still be drawn that the Chinese government has put great efforts into trying to control its domestic e-waste problem. Meanwhile, the e-waste already smuggled into China remains largely uncontrolled. China's policy approach toward its e-waste importation is a trade ban. This ban policy has not been replaced for nearly ten years and it appears to be not working well. This finding is supported by evidence coming from different sources. Every piece of e-waste already smuggled into China will end up in the informal e-waste disposal industry. The Chinese public as well as their government will still have to suffer environmental problems brought by this industry. The Chinese government still needs to take more actions to enforce domestic environmental laws that cover issues of environmental quality raised by the processing of e-waste already smuggled into the country.


This dissertation examines aspects of the interplay between computing and scientific practice. The appropriate foundational framework for such an endeavour is rather real computability than the classical computability theory. This is so because physical sciences, engineering, and applied mathematics mostly employ functions defined in continuous domains. But, contrary to the case of computation over natural numbers, there is no universally accepted framework for real computation; rather, there are two incompatible approaches –computable analysis and BSS model–, both claiming to formalise algorithmic computation and to offer foundations for scientific computing. The dissertation consists of three parts. In the first part, we examine what notion of 'algorithmic computation' underlies each approach and how it is respectively formalised. It is argued that the very existence of the two rival frameworks indicates that 'algorithm' is not one unique concept in mathematics, but it is used in more than one way. We test this hypothesis for consistency with mathematical practice as well as with key foundational works that aim to define the term. As a result, new connections between certain subfields of mathematics and computer science are drawn, and a distinction between 'algorithms' and 'effective procedures' is proposed. In the second part, we focus on the second goal of the two rival approaches to real computation; namely, to provide foundations for scientific computing. We examine both frameworks in detail, what idealisations they employ, and how they relate to floating-point arithmetic systems used in real computers. We explore limitations and advantages of both frameworks, and answer questions about which one is preferable for computational modelling and which one for addressing general computability issues. In the third part, analog computing and its relation to analogue (physical) modelling in science are investigated. Based on some paradigmatic cases of the former, a certain view about the nature of computation is defended, and the indispensable role of representation in it is emphasized and accounted for. We also propose a novel account of the distinction between analog and digital computation and, based on it, we compare analog computational modelling to physical modelling. It is concluded that the two practices, despite their apparent similarities, are orthogonal.