In this work we consider the problem of an optimal geographic placement of content in wireless cellular networks modelled by Poisson point processes. Specifically, for the typical user requesting some particular content and whose popularity follows a given law (e.g. Zipf), we calculate the probability of finding the content cached in one of the base stations. Wireless coverage follows the usual signal-to-interference-and noise ratio (SINR) model, or some variants of it. We formulate and solve the problem of an optimal randomized content placement policy, to maximize the user's hit probability. The result dictates that it is not always optimal to follow the standard policy "cache the most popular content, everywhere". In fact, our numerical results regarding three different coverage scenarios, show that the optimal policy significantly increases the chances of hit under high-coverage regime, i.e., when the probabilities of coverage by more than just one station are high enough.


Land belongs to the entire people with the State as the representative owner. This study explores the relationship between urban land use transformation and property rights over 15 years by studying in detail the spatial and property history of a particular area, and tracing transformations in urban spatial to the major factors influencing property owners who caused or permitted these changes to occur. This case study will be conducted in the Central Business Area of the district 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, where zoning systems controlled, and continue to control, the kinds of land uses and therefore, the private construction appearance to answer the question whether the property rights in Hochiminh City have characteristics that are similar to property rights in general. Methods used to study the pattern of land cover change and property boundary changes over time are aerial photo interpretation and geographic system analysis (GIS). Processes driving urban spatial transform through the agency of property owners and tenants were studies using project development process and urban censuses for the area, content analysis of 26 questionnaires and local newspapers, interviews, and property title searches. The detailed study drew on the legal and regulatory context for development of property rights in land and spatial, and on the history of construction and of planning in the central area. Outcomes are obtainable in a series of maps of land and property change in 15 years. Housing changed from first storey house to fourth storey house up to complex commercial-residential, and property holdings shifted from small to very large parcels. The pitch is trying to explore the real estate properties as a pattern on the landscape and a set of dynamic human relationships, repeated negotiation, dispute resolution, and uncertainties. Freehold other than simple ownership is shown to be important in urban spatial change. Multiple factors, which include property rights, gentrification, are shown to work together and to cause urban spatial transformation. The recent study concludes that the regular negotiations about property rights in real estate property, both formal and informal, make a major contribution to how people assume about property and what kinds of property uses to make of it. The study suggests that examining planning as a property process and recognizing it as part of a larger negotiation process with respected to property rights, will improve the success of planning implementation.


Immigrant workers seeking employment through informal day labor networks must continually reinvent themselves in rapid-fire job interviews with potential employers. In these gatekeeping encounters, employers and workers use various techniques to construct rapport and co-membership. Drawing on ethnographic research with Latino workers, employers, and their intermediaries (language brokers) in Tucson, Arizona, my findings suggest that it is possible for employers to manipulate rapport and co-membership to demonstrate solidarity or, conversely, to justify workers' mistreatment. This chapter builds on previous literature on gatekeeping encounters (Fiksdal 1990; Kerekes 2006) that examined interviewees' strategies for influencing interview outcomes. By focusing on the discursive techniques employers use (e.g. linguistic accommodation), I argue that the semiotic resources of rapport and co-membership may be used to demarcate social distance or exploit vulnerable workers.


Background Excessive dynamic knee valgus may leave athletes prone to serious knee injuries. The Star Excursion Balance Test (StarReach) is an objective clinical test, well applicable for non-clinicians, to identify athletes with ankle instability, but it's potential to detect athletes with reduced knee control has not been examined. Objective To compare StarReach test performance with subjective assessment of dynamic knee valgus during a single-leg squat in female athletes. Design Controlled, laboratory study. Setting Norwegian female elite team handball and football. Participants This study is part of an ongoing cohort study aimed at investigating risk factors for non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Since 2007, a total of 321 handball and 246 football players (22±4 years) have been included. Main outcome measures A physiotherapist assessed how well players stabilised their knees while performing a single-leg squat, and scored their performance as 'good', 'reduced' or 'poor'. Maximum reach distances in the StarReach test were measured on both feet in the antero-, medio- and posterolateral directions. A total of 440 players were tested. Results StarReach test performance (reach distance adjusted for leg length) was significantly better for those players who were scored with 'good' versus 'poor' knee stability (p<0.01): anterolateral direction 100.1 cm (SD 8.7 cm) vs 92.0 (9.4) right and 93.4 (6.4) vs 88.7 (7.3) left knee; mediolateral 96.7 (6.7) vs 91.0 (7.8) right and 97.1 (6.2) vs 90.3 (6.9) left knee; posterolateral 105.7 (6.5) vs 98.9 (8.7) right and 106.0 (6.2) vs 98.7 (7.8) left knee. However, correlation coefficients between objective and subjective tests varied between 0.18 and 0.32 for knee stability. Conclusion Poor relationships between StarReach-test performance and subjective scores illustrate why these two tests cannot be used interchangeably to assess knee stability. Further investigations are needed to determine whether any of these tests can predict increased knee injury risk.


The day after the death of Jose Palma (1876—1903), El Renacimiento featured his last verses, an unfinished poem that was entitled "El dolor era el pensamiento fijo de su mente" (Pain was the lasting thought of his mind). This article analyzes the poetic and human career of Jose Palma within a context, that of the "Philippine Generation of '98", especially the revolutionary success which was aborted by an American colonial alienation. Hence, at present, the works of the author of the Philippine national anthem are practically unknown, even if almost one hundred million Filipinos sing the national anthem every day in translated versions. Consequently, the poetics and historical context that generated the Himno Nacional Filipino are compromised. In order to comprehend the cultural scenario during which the Philippine Revolution arose, this paper will analyze the poetic features that distinguished Jose Palma's works, and the gloomy conundrum exposed in his literary testament.


This paper discusses the establishment of a governance framework to secure the development and deployment of "good AI", and describes the quest for a morally objective compass to steer it. Asserting that human rights can provide such compass, this paper first examines what a human rights-based approach to AI governance entails, and sets out the promise it propagates. Subsequently, it examines the pitfalls associated with human rights, particularly focusing on the criticism that these rights may be too Western, too individualistic, too narrow in scope and too abstract to form the basis of sound AI governance. After rebutting these reproaches, a plea is made to move beyond the calls for a human rights-based approach, and start taking the necessary steps to attain its realisation. It is argued that, without elucidating the applicability and enforceability of human rights in the context of AI; adopting legal rules that concretise those rights where appropriate; enhancing existing enforcement mechanisms and securing an underlying societal infrastructure that enables human rights in the first place, any human rights-based governance framework for AI risks falling short of its purpose.


In response to NASA's announced requirement for Earth hazard monitoring sensor-web technology, a multidisciplinary team involving sensor-network experts (Washington State University), space scientists (JPL), and Earth scientists (USGS Cascade Volcano Observatory (CVO)), have developed a prototype of dynamic and scalable hazard monitoring sensor-web and applied it to volcano monitoring. The combined Optimized Autonomous Space - In-situ Sensor-web (OASIS) has two-way communication capability between ground and space assets, uses both space and ground data for optimal allocation of limited bandwidth resources on the ground, and uses smart management of competing demands for limited space assets. It also enables scalability and seamless infusion of future space and in-situ assets into the sensor-web. The space and in-situ control components of the system are integrated such that each element is capable of autonomously tasking the other. The ground in-situ was deployed into the craters and around the flanks of Mount St. Helens in July 2009, and linked to the command and control of the Earth Observing One (EO-1) satellite.


There is a substantial literature examining coordination in public goods games. We conducted an experiment to explore how varying patterns of thresholds affect the willingness of subjects to contribute to a public good. We had subjects play a multiperiod game where each subject was allocated an initial point endowment, told a threshold for the group and had to choose how much to contribute to the common pot. Each period is identical, except for the possibility of having a different threshold, which is always stated before the players make their contributions. We found that while contributions are similar for the increasing and decreasing threshold group types when thresholds were low, a sizeable gap opens up around the average threshold size. We found that for nearly every threshold, it is more profitable to be in an increasing than in a decreasing threshold group type. Early cooperation seems to facilitate the achievement of harder-to-reach thresholds, which require considerable contributions from all members of the group. These findings are also very robust in the regression specifications. Our findings shed light on the role of past cooperative success and threshold patterns on subsequent willingness to cooperate.


This study is concerned with the interaction of six torsional modes in a composite axisymmetric waveguide whose interfaces are sinusoidally corrugated in the axial direction. The modes are interacting when two resonant conditions on the codirectional modes and a Bragg condition occur simultaneously. In light of the weakness of the interface corrugations, the perturbation method of multiple scales is used to derive the mode coupling equations. A novel numerical scheme for two‐point boundary‐value problems is used to solve the coupled amplitude equations. The power reflection coefficient of a filter section is then calculated for the cases of uniform, tapered, and chirped corrugations. An optimal filter is realized by combining both taper and chirp thus producing a nearly ideal characteristics.


We study the ultra slow roll model in the context of stochastic inflation. Using stochastic δ N formalism, we calculate the mean number of e-folds, the power spectrum, the bispectrum and the stochastic corrections into these observables. We reproduce correctly the known leading classical contributions to these cosmological observables while we show that the fractional corrections to cosmological observables induced from stochastic dynamics are at the order of power spectrum. In addition, we consider a hypothetical setup containing two absorbing barriers on both sides of the field configuration and calculate the probability of first boundary crossing associated with the classical motion and quantum jumps. This analysis includes the limit of Brownian motion of the quantum fluctuations of a test scalar field in a dS spacetime.


"Mathematics, Science, and Postclassical Theory" is a unique collection of essays dealing with the intersections between science and mathematics and the radical reconceptions of knowledge, language, proof, truth, and reality currently emerging from poststructuralist literary theory, constructivist history and sociology of science, and related work in contemporary philosophy. Featuring a distinguished group of international contributors, this volume engages themes and issues central to current theoretical debates in virtually all disciplines: agency, causality, determinacy, representation, and the social dynamics of knowledge. In a substantive introductory essay, the editors explain the notion of 'postclassical theory' and discuss the significance of ideas such as emergence and undecidability in current work in and on science and mathematics.Other essays include a witty examination of the relations among mathematical thinking, writing, and the technologies of virtual reality; an essay that reconstructs the conceptual practices that led to a crucial mathematical discovery - or construction - in the 19th century; a discussion of the implications of Bohr's complementarity principle for classical ideas of reality; an examination of scientific laboratories as 'hybrid' communities of humans and non-humans; an analysis of metaphors of control, purpose, and necessity in contemporary biology; an exploration of truth and lies, and the play of words and numbers in Shakespeare, Frege, Wittgenstein, and Beckett; and a final chapter on recent engagements, or non-engagements, between rationalist/realist philosophy of science and contemporary science studies. This book is a revised and expanded version of a previously published issue of South Atlantic Quarterly. It will be of interest to readers involved in the fields of literary and cultural theory, and the history, philosophy, and sociology of science. Contributors include: Malcolm Ashmore, Michel Callon, Owen Flanagan, John Law, Susan Oyama, Andrew Pickering, Arkady Plotnitsky, Brian Rotman, Barbara Herrnstein Smith, John Vignaux Smyth, and E. Roy Weintraub.


The knee ligament most susceptible to injury is the anterior cruciate.2˒5˒8 Detection of a ruptured ACL tear is pivotal in the course of injury care and management process.8 The gold reference standard for diagnosing an ACL tear has been arthroscopic evaluation.2˒5 However, a MRI may be used as an alternate because it is non-invasive, and it has a sensitivity and specificity of 98% and 94%.2˒5 Before the gold reference standard is used, a combination of physical examinations must be performed. The three physical examinations chosen by surgeons because of the exams' highly researched validity are the Lachman test, Anterior Drawer test, and the Pivot shift. 2˒5˒6˒8 In 2005, a clinical exam called the Lelli test or Lever Sign test was created by Alessandro Lelli of Bologna, Italy.2˒10 The Lelli test was designed to forgo the factors that negatively influence the results of the previously listed tests. Since there has been little research, the test's validity has not been verified. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to: review the literature over the Lelli test, understand how it is used by medical professionals in different clinical settings, identify how diagnostic accuracy of the examination compares to other trusted exams, provide exact instructions on the proper methods to perform the exam, and create an educational video. METHODS A literature review of 10 articles was performed to identify patient population, methods, diagnostic accuracy, and limitations of each study. The procedure was noted and used in the creation of an educational video to teach the technique to the public. Participants were chosen from local areas, consisting of athletic trainers at the high school and collegiate level as well as orthopedic surgeons. Participants were only asked to participate in a short video interview. Informed consent was obtained before the interview process. Interviews displayed the participant's: history with exam, implementation of the Lelli test in the clinical setting, trust in the supporting evidence of the exam, preference and trust when comparing all four exams, sideline exam procedure, preference in sideline exams and explanation, and patient observations. CONCLUSION The review of literature was inconsistent. Several identified the Lelli test to be high in sensitivity and low in specificity, a few found sensitivity and specificity to be equal or near equal, and a few found specificity to be higher than sensitivity. There were many limitations in the studies. Examples are: small sample sizes, lower number of acute injuries, few partial tears, differences in techniques, low number of female participants, and absence of specificity. Thus, the test should be labeled as experimental until future research, correcting the mistakes from previous studies, can be conducted. Researchers will begin the interview process in March.


This paper presents an all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) that features separate use of integer and fractional parts for the phase digitization in the feedback path. This separation simplifies the circuit implementation allowing reduced power consumption and silicon area. The proposed arrangement frees the ADPLL from potential metastability hazard during fine-tuning operation. Furthermore, it eliminates spurious tones associated with frequency reference retiming. In addition, the ADPLL employs an original frequency calibration technique that allows an extremely fine calibration resolution with minimized calibration time. Theoretical analysis is provided for both the architectural modification and frequency calibration technique. The ADPLL has been implemented in a 65-nm CMOS. Its simulation and measurement results are presented.


This study examined the meaning-making and psychosocial processes of five female legacy students at Bucknell University, each of whom having had at least one parent graduate from the institution. With a research philosophy, design, and methodology rooted in qualitative inquiry and phenomenology, inductive data analysis led to three primary categories that underscored legacy identity development. The first, Paradox of Influence and Identity, revealed through six themes nuanced experiences of separation-individuation. Second, Teaching and Learning, comprised of five themes, illuminated the impact of family — and of Bucknell parent alumni in particular — on their children's internal working models. Lastly, Bucknell — the Environmental Context and the five themes grouped therein highlighted the contributions of University community members, and of the campus culture and climate itself, to the co-construction of psychosocial formation. A tentative outline of grounded theory was offered, which explored categorical relationships; Paradox of Influence and Identity emerged as the dominant phenomenon, informing and being reinforced by the data of Teaching and Learning and Bucknell — the Environmental Context. Provisional intervention strategies for student affairs practice, in the contexts of academics, residential life, and career development, were discussed. Further, triangulated research is needed to substantiate and evolve the findings and theoretical model of this thesis.


Two ubiquitin-like molecules, Atg12 and LC3/Atg8, are involved in autophagosome biogenesis. Atg12 is conjugated to Atg5 and forms an approximately 800-kDa protein complex with Atg16L (referred to as Atg16L complex). LC3/Atg8 is conjugated to phosphatidylethanolamine and is associated with autophagosome formation, perhaps by enabling membrane elongation. Although the Atg16L complex is required for efficient LC3 lipidation, its role is unknown. Here, we show that overexpression of Atg12 or Atg16L inhibits autophagosome formation. Mechanistically, the site of LC3 lipidation is determined by the membrane localization of the Atg16L complex as well as the interaction of Atg12 with Atg3, the E2 enzyme for the LC3 lipidation process. Forced localization of Atg16L to the plasma membrane enabled ectopic LC3 lipidation at that site. We propose that the Atg16L complex is a new type of E3-like enzyme that functions as a scaffold for LC3 lipidation by dynamically localizing to the putative source membranes for autophagosome formation.


There is a growing narrative that the outcome of the UK referendum on European Union membership was the product of disenfranchisement and disillusionment wrought by the uneven consequences of economic restructuring in different UK regions, cities and communities. Those most likely to vote 'leave' were concentrated among those 'left behind' by globalisation, whilst those voting 'remain' were clustered within more affluent areas and social groups. These uneven geographies of leave and remain voting have been taken to reveal two diametrically opposed groups in British politics, obscuring the messy and contradictory ways in which votes are cast. In seeking to bring these complexities to light, this paper explores the motivating factors behind the Brexit vote amongst older working-class white men in Sunderland, England. The paper shows how economic stagnation and the experience of different forms of marginality led to a nostalgia for times past and a mistrust of political elites amongst this cohort. The paper documents how the feelings expressed by research participants became linked to the European Union project and its real and perceived impacts on the local area. In doing so, it shows that the referendum shaped and changed the electorate by asking them to align themselves with those either for or against Britain's membership of the EU. The paper concludes by reflecting on the possibilities for creating an inclusive form of politics that treats different responses to the referendum question as the basis for an open conversation about democracy and democratic ideals.


The objective of this paper is to present the results of a class developed with routines in Java language, and contribution of OpenCV library, for analysis and extraction of metadata from images. To evaluate the developed class, three different figures were produced in cardstock and their perimeters were measured with a millimeter ruler. Then these figures were scanned for further image analysis with aid of the developed class. The images of the figures were initially saved in BMP format. After it, each of the images in BMP format were saved in JPG and PNG file formats resulting, at the end, on nine images. The validation of the correct extraction of the image metadata and so the perimeter value of the object was performed by comparing the valuesobtained by direct measurement perimeter of the figure, with a millimeter ruler, and the values obtained with digital image processing, counting the contour pixels of the image of the figure, and using the image resolution, one of the extracted metadata. For the edge detection and counting of the contour pixels of object, the algorithms cvFindContours() and cvContourPerimeter(), of OpenCV library, were used. It was obtained, for the worst case, a percentage error of 8.0 %, for images with BMP and PNG format. Therefore, the developed class presents satisfactory results and is recommended to extract and calculate measures of an object present in the image.


Building on their earlier work, Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that an apparently nontoxic cellular "energy blocker" can eradicate large liver tumors grown in rats. Six months to more than a year after treatment was stopped, the rats are still cancer free. While the results are dramatic, clinical trials with the chemical, 3-bromopyruvate, are likely some years away, says the study's leader, Young Ko, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiology and biological chemistry. If tests in the lab continue to be promising, however, the chemical or one like it may become an option for treating advanced liver cancers and perhaps other tumors in people. "Liver cancer usually isn't detected in people until it's difficult or impossible to treat, and many other aggressive cancers spread to the liver, so we need more treatment options," says Peter Pedersen, Ph.D., professor of biological chemistry in the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences at Johns Hopkins. "The compound Dr. Ko tested in animals targets a fundamental process cancer cells need to survive, can kill big tumors, and appears so far to have little or no effect on normal tissues." In fact, Ko says she hasn't been able to find a toxic dose of the compound, which blocks the two ways cancer cells make energy. In earlier experiments with rabbits with liver cancer, reported in 2002, no obvious toxic effects were seen, either. There is a patent pending on possible cancer applications of the compound. While the details of normal cells' protection are still unclear, the scientists suggest cancer cells well-known appetite for sugar might be behind their demise. Ko, who first studied the compound as a graduate student at Washington State University in 1990 and initiated its study at Hopkins, has shown that it completely blocks cancer cells' conversion of sugar into usable energy, a process necessary to fuel the cells' functions and growth. "We believe this is the first time that a drug has blocked both ways cancer cells make energy and are very happy that it seems so effective against advanced liver cancers," says Ko. "Usually researchers don't try to attack advanced cancers because success seems unlikely. But these are the very cancers we must learn to defeat if we are to win the war on cancer." Sugar, or glucose, is brought into cells and converted into useable energy, a molecule called ATP, by either of two processes. Another product of this conversion, a molecule called lactate, is then taken out of the cell by specialized transporters. But because cancer cells use so much more sugar and make so much more lactate than normal cells, the researchers suggest cancer cells may be riddled with more of the "two-way streets" that transport lactate. And because 3-bromopyruvate looks very similar to lactate, it might travel those same roads, sneaking into cancer cells like a Trojan horse, suggests Ko. In her latest experiments, described in the Nov. 5 issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications and available online now, Ko found that treating rat liver cancer cells with 3-bromopyruvate halted the cells' production of ATP within 30 minutes, and visual evidence of the cells' self-destruction was apparent almost immediately. Four times as much of the compound was necessary to begin decreasing ATP production in normal liver cells. Turning to animal studies, Ko injected rat liver cancer cells into either the abdomen or the upper back of 33 rats. Nineteen of the animals received daily injections of the compound into the tumor site for five days or longer, which caused all of the cancers to disappear within four weeks. The rats otherwise appeared unaffected, although Ko will examine the animals when they are euthanized -- probably for old age. The 14 untreated animals that served as controls were euthanized within 10 days because of their tumors' rapid growth. To be sure that the compound had completely eradicated the tumors in the treated animals, Ko and Pedersen collaborated with radiologist Martin Pomper, M.D., Ph.D., Yuchuan Wang, Ph.D., and James Fox. They used radioactive glucose to take PET scans of four of the rats and found that "hot spots" of high uptake disappeared within a few weeks of treatment. PET scans are commonly used to diagnose or stage cancers in people because of tumors' appetite for glucose. Ko is now studying the compound's effects on human cancer cell lines in the lab, and will begin studying it in animal models of breast cancer shortly. The researchers also are planning to examine the compound's effects in an animal model of an aggressive non-liver cancer that spreads to the liver. The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Johns Hopkins Department of Radiology. Authors on the paper are Ko, Wang, Pomper, Pedersen, Barbara Smith, David Rini, Michael Torbenson and Joanne Hullihen, all of Johns Hopkins.


Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, we have conducted a blind redshift survey in the 3 mm atmospheric transmission window for 26 strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) selected with the South Pole Telescope. The sources were selected to have S1.4 mm  >  20 mJy and a dust-like spectrum and, to remove low-z sources, not have bright radio (S843 MHz  <  6 mJy) or far-infrared counterparts (S100 μm  <  1 Jy, S60 μm  <  200 mJy). We robustly detect 44 line features in our survey, which we identify as redshifted emission lines of 12CO, 13CO, C i, H2O, and H2O+. We find one or more spectral features in 23 sources yielding a ∼90% detection rate for this survey; in 12 of these sources we detect multiple lines, while in 11 sources we detect only a single line. For the sources with only one detected line, we break the redshift degeneracy with additional spectroscopic observations if available, or infer the most likely line identification based on photometric data. This yields secure redshifts for ∼70% of the sample. The three sources with no lines detected are tentatively placed in the redshift desert between 1.7  <  z  <  2.0. The resulting mean redshift of our sample is = 3.5. This finding is in contrast to the redshift distribution of radio-identified DSFGs, which have a significantly lower mean redshift of = 2.3 and for which only 10%–15% of the population is expected to be at z  >  3. We discuss the effect of gravitational lensing on the redshift distribution and compare our measured redshift distribution to that of models in the literature.


The exponential downscaling of the feature size has enforced a paradigm shift from computation-based design to communication-based design in system on chip development. Buses, the traditional communication architecture in systems on chip, are incapable of addressing the increasing bandwidth requirements of future large systems.
Networks on chip have emerged as an interconnection architecture offering unique solutions to the technological and design issues related to communication in future systems on chip. The transition from buses as a shared medium to networks on chip as a segmented medium has given rise to new challenges in system on chip realm.
By leveraging the shared nature of the communication medium, buses have been highly efficient in delivering multicast communication. The segmented nature of networks, however, inhibits the multicast messages to be delivered as efficiently by networks on chip. Relying on extensive research on multicast communication in parallel computers, several network on chip architectures have offered mechanisms to perform the operation, while conforming to resource constraints of the network on chip paradigm. Multicast communication in majority of these networks on chip is implemented by establishing a connection between source and all multicast destinations before the message transmission
commences. Establishing the connections incurs an overhead and, therefore, is not desirable; in particular in latency sensitive services such as cache coherence.
To address high performance multicast communication, this research presents Quarc, a novel network on chip architecture. The Quarc architecture targets an area-efficient, low power, high performance implementation. The thesis covers a detailed representation of
the building blocks of the architecture, including topology, router and network interface.
The cost and performance comparison of the Quarc architecture against other network on chip architectures reveals that the Quarc architecture is a highly efficient architecture.
Moreover, the thesis introduces novel performance models of complex traffic patterns, including multicast and quality of service-aware communication.


This thesis draws on Film Adaptation Studies and Irish Diaspora Studies, two interdisciplinary fields that are fundamentally concerned with the concept of 'origin'. It focuses specifically on the notion of the 'unacknowledged adaptation', namely films that do not declare formally their status as adaptations. In terms of Irish Diaspora Studies, my interest lies in the phenomenon of the 'hidden' Irish diaspora in England. This thesis will offer a new perspective on the significance of the 'unacknowledged adaptation' by creating a parallel between a film's ambiguous enunciation of its sources and the ambivalent national identity of its characters.Drawing on critical methodologies from film adaptation studies, postcolonial studies, and diaspora studies, I seek to create a rigorous analytical framework for exploring the notion of the 'hidden' Irish diaspora in the 'unacknowledged adaptation'. This framework specifically combines the theories of postcolonial and diasporic theorist, Homi Bhabha (1994) and film adaptation theorist, Kamilla Elliott (2003), each of whom respectively undermines claims of pure cultural identities and aesthetic forms in order to foreground the notion of 'hybridity'. Combining the theories of Elliott and Bhabha not only enhances discussions on hybridity, but it also enables the recognition of a process of adaptation and of diasporic identities that would otherwise be left unacknowledged.Focusing on three case studies, Mary Reilly (dir. Stephen Frears, 1996), Liam (dir. Stephen Frears, 2001), and Breakfast on Pluto (dir. Neil Jordan, 2005), this thesis argues that the obscuring of origins in these films not only paradoxically draws attention to the act of adaptation, but it also serves to highlight themes of diaspora. I argue that the cultural hybridity evoked in the film adaptations is specifically signalled through word/image hybridity: the syntactical relationship between the word and the image enables the emergence of a liminal space 'in-between' the designations of identity, thus creating a hybrid dialectic that functions to draw attention to the act of concealing origins.


The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating as aerial base stations (BSs) has emerged as a promising solution especially in scenarios requiring rapid deployments (e.g., in the cases of crowded hotspots, sporting events, emergencies, and natural disasters) in order to assist the ground BSs. In this paper, an analytical framework is provided to analyze the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) coverage probability of UAV assisted cellular networks with clustered user equipments (UEs). Locations of UAVs and ground BSs are modeled as Poison point processes, and UEs are assumed to be distributed according to a Poisson cluster process around the projections of UAVs on the ground. Initially, the complementary cumulative distribution function and probability density function of path losses for both UAV and ground BS tiers are derived. Subsequently, association probabilities with each tier are obtained. SINR coverage probability is derived for the entire network using tools from stochastic geometry. Finally, area spectral efficiency (ASE) of the entire network is determined, and SINR coverage probability expression for a more general model is presented by considering that UAVs are located at different heights. Via numerical results, we have shown that UAV height and path-loss exponents play important roles on the coverage performance. Moreover, coverage probability can be improved with smaller number of UAVs, while better ASE is achieved by employing more UAVs and having UEs more compactly clustered around the UAVs.


Nature uses an Mn cluster for water oxidation, and thus, water oxidation using Mn clusters is interesting when used in artificial water-splitting systems. An important question is whether an Mn cluster is a true catalyst for water oxidation or not. Herein, an Mn–K cluster was investigated for electrochemical water oxidation to find the true and the kinetically dominant catalyst using X-ray absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electrochemical methods. The experiments showed that conversion into nanosized Mn oxide occurred for the cluster, and the nanosized Mn oxides are the true catalyst for water oxidation.


This paper studies the relationship between abilities, schooling choices, and black-white differentials in labor market outcomes. The analysis is based on a model of endogenous schooling choices. Agents' schooling decisions are based on expected future earnings, family background, and unobserved abilities. Earnings are also determined by unobserved abilities. The analysis distinguishes unobserved abilities from observed test scores. The model is implemented using data from the NLSY79. The results indicate that, even after controlling for abilities, there exist significant racial labor market gaps. They also suggest that the standard practice of equating observed test scores may overcompensate for differentials in ability.


Abstract Practical projects around the world are exploring and prefiguring ecologically feasible futures. The ideas informing these initiatives are familiar from degrowth discourses. But particularly where activists hail from the professional middle-classes of wealthy cities - architects, designers and other 'creatives' in Helsinki for example - they risk being dismissed by the media as well as by academics as vacuous life-style experimenters. Looking at Finland, the sense that this activity is not truly political or transformative can be further enhanced by activists' own reluctance to enter into explicitly political debate and their preference for discussing futures in the neutral language of science. Connecting today's situation to precursors in the 1960s, however, we can see how these local projects are embedded in local political culture, including a Finnish tendency to play up scientific rationality as a tool for managing collective affairs. This contrast with many other degrowth discourses shows the significance of local histories in influencing the space available for people to work out alternatives to the status quo. Keywords: social movements; Finland; urban/DIY activism; design


Abstract The minerals responsible for the magnetic properties of the Late Triassic Lunde Formation have been examined using a combination of magnetic mineral extraction, microscopy and rock magnetic measurements. The magnetic mineralogy is controlled by the depositional environment and the effects of diagenesis, by a process of differential preservation and modification of the original detrital minerals. The magnetic susceptibility and remanence properties of the sediments are strongly influenced by the proportion of silt and clay sized clastic material, which contains most of the magnetic minerals. Paramagnetic minerals, both of depositional origin and produced during diagenesis, are largely responsible for the magnetic susceptibility. A suite of residual ferrimagnetic oxides (chromite and Mn-substituted magnetite) is responsible for the remanence properties in grey sandstones, because most of the originally deposited magnetic Fe-Ti oxides have been removed by reducing conditions during diagenesis. However, a small number of reddened horizons preserve a higher proportion of original detrital Fe-Ti oxides (ferrimagnetic ilmenite, ferrimagnetic chromite and magnetite), although authigenic hematite has replaced most of the original mineralogy in the reddened horizons. Magnetic oxide inclusions in quartz and feldspars are important contributors to the remanence signal, particularly in horizons which have a low content of discrete detrital ferrimagnetic grains, either through diagenetic dissolution, or paucity of the silt and clay fraction. Within the grey sandstones, the Triassic palaeomagnetic signal is carried by magnetite as inclusions in detrital silicates, with a contribution from detrital ferrimagnetic chromite. A model of the effects of diagenesis on the magnetic mineralogy in deeply buried sequences is proposed.


Before Julia Child introduced the American housewife to France's cuisine bourgeoise, before Alice Waters built her Berkeley shrine to local food, before Wolfgang Puck added Asian flavors to classical dishes and caviar to pizza, the restaurateurs and entrepreneurs of the early twentieth century were changing the way America ate. Beginning with the simplest eateries and foods and culminating with the emergence of a genuinely American way of fine dining, Repast takes readers on a culinary tour of early-twentieth-century restaurants and dining. The innovations introduced at the time-in ingredients, technologies, meal service, and cuisine-transformed the act of eating in public in ways that persist to this day. Illustrated with photographs from the time as well as color plates reproducing menus from the New York Public Library's Buttolph Menu Collection, Repast is a remarkable record of the American palate.


Modeling hydrologic dynamics behavior in shallow water table settings provides unique challenges for integrated hydrologic models. The Integrated Hydrologic Model (IHM), a comprehensive distributed‐parameter model, was developed based on deterministic and physically based soil and vegetative properties. In the paper, the IHM was compared with the popular MIKE SHE model in the study of a shallow water table site in west‐central Florida. The theoretical basis and integration pathways of IHM are discussed. The models were compared in terms of their performance in predicting streamflow and water table depth. Performance was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R2) and the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (Ens). The P factor and R factor were used as uncertainty statistics, comparing observed data with the 95% prediction band. Both models performed reasonably well and reliably in predicting monthly water table depth and streamflow, with acceptable R2 values (0.49–0.86) and Ens values (0.41–0.78) over a 3‐yr period. Overall, MIKE SHE was the more robust model, producing slightly better streamflow predictions than IHM. However, there was no major difference in the ability of the models to predict depth of the water table, using existing parameter sets. The generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) was used to quantify parameter sensitivity and the uncertainty of predictions made by the IHM and MIKE SHE models. A sensitivity analysis (SA) was conducted in the form of Sobol's method with first‐ and second‐order sensitivity indices, based on the Ens values for the two models. Pair‐wise correlations between parameters as well as uncertainties associated with equifinality in model parameter estimation were also explored. It is concluded that both models performed adequately after calibration, and parameter identification in both was subject to considerable uncertainties.


South Asia has become a major center of attention on the world stage with the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan since 9/11, the ongoing concern over Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan, and India's emergence as a regional economic power. In addition, the age-old problems of South Asia - mass poverty, poor infrastructure, misgovernance, rampant corruption, political uncertainty, and regional wars - add to the increased interest in the region. Incorporating the most current information available, the expert international contributors to this handbook examine the economies and geo-political developments of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan. They focus on three core areas of importance: trade and development in the post-WTO era of globalization; macroeconomic adjustment and economic growth; and poverty, governance, the war on terror, and social indicators. With its cutting edge analysis, the handbook is an essential reference for all students, researchers, and practitioners dealing with the region.


CONTEXT
Gait termination time (GTT) has been used to predict falls in older adults but has not been explored in the sport rehabilitation setting. The incorporation of a concurrent cognitive task as a complex measure of gait in this clinical population could lead to better health-related outcomes.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the effect of planned and unplanned gait termination with and without a concurrent cognitive task on reaction time (RT), gait velocity, and GTT.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional.

SETTING
Laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS
Twenty young adults (females 60.0%, age 20.1 [0.9] y, height 169.5 [8.8] cm, mass 67.4 [10.8] kg).

INTERVENTION
Participants completed 6 planned and 6 unplanned gait termination trials on an instrumented gait mat with and without a cognitive task.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The authors measured RT (s), gait velocity (m/s), GTT (s), and normalized GTT (s2/m). A 2 (motor) × 2 (cognitive) repeated-measures analysis of variance (α = .05) was used; significant interaction effects were explored using Bonferroni-corrected t tests (α < .008).

RESULTS
Participants walked more slowly during dual-task trials compared with single-task trials (F1,19 = 4.401, P = .050). Participants walked significantly more slowly with a cognitive task during planned (P < .001, mean difference = -0.184 m/s, 95% CI, -0.256 to -0.111) and unplanned (P = .001, mean difference = -0.111 m/s, 95% CI, -0.173 to -0.050) gait termination. Participants walked significantly more slowly (P < .001, mean difference = -0.142 m/s, 95% CI, -0.210 to -0.075) when performing the most difficult task, unplanned termination with a cognitive task, than when performing the least difficult task, planned termination with no cognitive task. We observed a cognitive task main effect such that adding a cognitive task increased RT (F1,19 = 16.375, P = .001, mean difference = -0.118 s, 95% CI, -0.178 to -0.057) and slowed normalized GTT (F1,19 = 5.655, P = .028, mean difference = -0.167 s2/m, 95% CI, -0.314 to -0.020).

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, participants displayed more conservative gait strategies and slower RT, normalized GTT, and gait velocity as task difficulty increased. More investigation is needed to truly understand the clinical meaningfulness of these measures in athletic injuries.


The microbial remineralization of high molecular weight dissolved organic carbon (DOC) begins with extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis, since macromolecules must be hydrolyzed to produce substrates sufficiently small to cross microbial membranes. In order to investigate substrate and size-class related patterns in extracellular enzymatic activity in the water column, potential hydrolysis rates of 4 polysaccharides (xylan, laminarin, pullulan, and fucoidan) were measured at stations in the Delaware River, Bay, and shelf. Potential hydrolysis rates of xylan and laminarin var- ied by station and season, but xylan hydrolysis rates typically exceeded those of laminarin by factors of 2 to 10. In contrast, pullulan and fucoidan hydrolysis rates were (with a single exception for fucoidan) essentially zero for all seasons and stations. Size fractionation experiments showed that most xylan- and laminarin-hydrolyzing activity was associated with the > 0.45 µm size fraction. The contribution of free dissolved enzymes (the < 0.2 µm fraction), however, was at times substantial. In September, when potential activities of both enzymes were at a maximum, the free-enzyme fraction contributed 48 to 69% of the xylan-hydrolyzing activity at the freshwater and midbay stations, and nearly 100% of the laminarin-hydrolyzing activity at the midbay and plume stations. These spatial and temporal variations in the contributions of free enzymes to laminarin and xylan hydrolysis may help to explain the decoupling of measurements of specific enzyme activities from large-scale mea- surements of total microbial populations. The contrasting behaviors of laminarin, xylan, pullulan, and fucoidan, all of which are soluble polysaccharides, suggest that certain types of polysaccharides may resist hydrolysis by planktonic microbial extracellular enzymes and, therefore, are relatively unavail- able as substrates to the planktonic community.


Considering the problems of small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery using traditional viral and nonviral vehicles, a new siRNA delivery system to enhance efficiency and safety needs to be developed. Here human ferritin‐based proteinticles are genetically engineered to simultaneously display various functional peptides on the surface of proteinticles: cationic peptide to capture siRNA, tumor cell targeting and penetrating peptides, and enzymatically cleaved peptide to release siRNA inside tumor cell. In the in vitro treatment of poly‐siRNA‐proteinticle complex, both of the tumor cell targeting and penetrating peptides are important for efficient delivery of siRNA, and the red fluorescent protein (RFP) expression in RFP‐expressing tumor cells is notably suppressed by the delivered siRNA with the complementary sequence to RFP mRNA. It seems that the human ferritin‐based proteinticle is an efficient, stable, and safe tool for siRNA delivery, having a great potential for application to in vivo cancer treatment. The unique feature of proteinticles is that multiple and functional peptides can be simultaneously and evenly placed and also easily switched on the proteinticle surface through a simple genetic modification, which is likely to make proteinticles appropriate for targeted delivery of siRNA to a wide range of cancer cells.


Activation and nuclear translocation of the immune-response transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) depends on signals that emanate from a variety of cell-surface receptors. Two membrane-proximal caspase-recruitment proteins, CARMA1 and Bcl10, form part of the chain of signaling events, but other critical remaining steps in the pathway have yet to be established. Ruefli-Brasse et al. (see the Perspective by Yu and Lenardo) show that the caspase-like protein, paracaspase, is essential for lymphocyte function and acts downstream of CARMA1 and Bcl10. Impaired paracaspase-dependent activation of the kinase complex that normally facilitates NF-κB activation caused T and B cells from paracaspase-deficient mice to respond poorly to receptor signals. A. A. Ruefli-Brasse, D. M. French, V. M. Dixit, Regulation of NF-κB-dependent lymphocyte activation and development by paracaspase. Science 302, 1581-1584 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text] L. Yu, M. J. Lenardo, Paracaspase connection. Science 302, 1515-1516 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are thought to be caused mostly by genetic factors with an additional contribution from unidentified environmental risk factors. Identifying these environmental risk factors could improve both prevention and development of therapeutics, but the nature of these factors is not well understood.

Clues to the identification of one environmental risk factor come from studies of a specific set of genetic diseases in which the frequency of autism or ASD is significantly increased. These diseases include tuberous sclerosis (40–50% of afflicted individuals have autism), type 1 Neurofibromatosis (a several-fold increase in frequency of autism in afflicted individuals), and autism with macrocephaly (Mansheim, 1979; Gillberg and Forsell, 1984; Goffin et al., 2001). As has been noted previously by several others (for example, see Kelleher and Bear, 2008), the genes affected in these disorders, Tsc1/Tsc2, Nf1, and PTEN, respectively, each encode inhibitors of a specific signaling pathway called the PI3K/Tor pathway (Hay and Sonenberg, 2004). Nf1 encodes a Ras GTPase activator protein, which reduces the ability of Ras to activate the lipid kinase PI3K (Xu et al., 1990; Rodriguez-Viciana et al., 1994). PTEN encodes a lipid phosphatase that opposes the effects of PI3K. Tsc1/Tsc2 encode pathway inhibitors that are negatively regulated by PI3K activity (Manning et al., 2002). One effect of PI3K/Tor activity is increased mRNA translation, which is mediated by activation of the translation initiation activator eIF-4E. This observation is of interest because a fourth disease gene that increases the frequency of autism, Fragile X, encodes a translational inhibitor that might oppose the effects of eIF-4E (Brown et al., 1982; see Figure Figure1).1). Thus, mutations in any of these four genes both increase mRNA translation and increase the incidence of autism.

Figure 1

Activation of the Pi3K/Tor pathway by insulin and glutamate. The relationships among the genes described in the text are shown. Proteins shown in red are PI3K/Tor pathway inhibitors, and autism is associated with loss of function mutation in these genes, ...

Other evidence supports the idea that hyperactivation of the PI3K/Tor pathway causes autism and ASD. Recently, Neves-Pereira et al. (2009) suggested that translocations or point mutations that hyperactivate eIF-4E are causal for autism. In addition, studies of copy-number variants associated with autism revealed that hyperactivated PI3K variants were found in numbers far in excess of those expected by chance (Serajee et al., 2003; Cusco et al., 2009).

In neurons, the PI3K/Tor signaling pathway affects a form of synaptic plasticity that has been implicated in autism (Bear et al., 2004). This form of synaptic plasticity is called long term depression (LTD) mediated by metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR), which are G protein coupled receptors for which glutamate is ligand. The best characterized example of mGluR-LTD occurs at the synapse between the Schaffer collaterals and CA1 pyramidal cells of the hippocampus. At this synapse, mGluR-LTD induction requires dendritic protein synthesis (Huber et al., 2001), activation of both PI3K and Tor (Hou and Klann, 2004), and ultimately internalization of AMPA-type glutamate receptors (Snyder et al., 2001). In addition, loss of Fmr1, the protein affected in Fragile X, increases the magnitude of mGluR-LTD (Huber et al., 2002; Waung and Huber, 2009) suggesting that Fmr1 normally functions to inhibit LTD by inhibiting translation of specific dendritic messages. These observations and others have led to the proposal that at least some of the deficits in autism might reflect increased sensitivity to mGluR-LTD induction (Bear et al., 2004; Kelleher and Bear, 2008) as a consequence of hyperactivation of the PI3K/Tor pathway.

The PI3K/Tor pathway is the major intracellular effector of insulin signals, and insulin signaling is predicted to activate the PI3K/Tor pathway in a manner similar to the genetic changes described above (Scott et al., 1998). Insulin can cross the blood–brain barrier (Schwartz and Porte, 2005) and insulin receptors are present and can regulate synaptic activity in relevant portions of the brain, including the hippocampus, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex (Zhao et al., 2004, 2006; Dou et al., 2005). Furthermore, Huang et al. (2004) reported that insulin application evokes a LTD of synaptic activity (insulin-LTD) in the hippocampal CA1 region that is very similar mechanistically to mGluR-LTD: insulin-LTD, like mGluR-LTD, requires PI3K and Tor activity, dendritic protein synthesis, and removal of AMPA receptors from the cell surface. Thus, it appears that insulin is capable of activating the precise cellular pathway implicated in autism. For these reasons I hypothesize that insulin signaling contributes to development of autism in genetically susceptible individuals by contributing to PI3K/Tor pathway activation in neurons.

In further support of this hypothesis, Gardener et al. (2009) recently reported that in a large meta-analysis of maternal factors linked to autism, gestational diabetes was associated with the greatest increase (twofold) in incidence of autism. Although insulin does not cross the placenta, the elevation of fetal blood glucose levels as a consequence of maternal diabetes is predicted to increase fetal insulin secretion, and thus hyperactivate the fetal PI3K/Tor pathway. Another strong risk factor was advanced parental age, which may be a consequence of an age-dependent impairment of glucose tolerance short of diabetes. Furthermore, preliminary studies indicated that administration of a "ketogenic diet," in which calories from carbohydrates are replaced with calories from fat, was therapeutic in individuals with autism and ASD (Evangeliou et al., 2003). This effect might result from the strong suppression of insulin secretion that accompanies this diet (Volek et al., 2008), which is predicted to attenuate activation of the PI3K/Tor pathway.

The incidence of gestational diabetes has recently increased (Ferrara et al., 2004), an increase that might be associated with the increased incidence in impaired glucose tolerance and hyperinsulinemia in the general population. Although the reported incidence of autism and ASD has also increased, it is not yet clear if this represents a true increase or rather a consequence of greater awareness and broader diagnostic criteria. However, if a true increase in the incidence of autism is occurring, then this increase could be a consequence of the increased incidence in hyperinsulinemia in the general population.

Thus this hypothesis provides a mechanism for previously unexplained observations concerning the occurrence and treatment of autism as well as for any true increase in the incidence of autism and ASD that might be occurring. This hypothesis also raises new possibilities for prevention and therapeutic intervention for autism.


ABSTRACT Images of atoms, molecules and other nanoscale objects constitute one of the principal ways of communicating scientific knowledge about nanotechnology, both within and beyond the scientific community. This paper reports on four kinds of insights from studies of nano images: (1) a critical epistemology of these images; (2) aesthetic interpretations intended to counterbalance problems identified in the epistemology; (3) comparisons with issues of visualization from other scientific areas; and (4) a consideration of how persons in the public interpret artistic pictures of nanobots. These insights demonstrate how the humanities and social sciences contribute to the understanding of nanotechnology.


Robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS) has many benefits for patients. However, loss of haptic feedback in the technique is a major limitation to surgeons since extensive applied force due to the lack of haptic feedback may cause unrecognized tissue damage. Also a surgical simulator without touch sensation is less adequate to train medical students to handle tissue safely. Various previous studies have reported the quantified tissue damage resulting from mechanical compression such as due to a surgical instrument grasping tissue; however, most of them require in-vitro bench work analysis, which limits their application in clinical conditions. This work provides a nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis of the grasper-tissue interaction to predict the reaction force on grasper jaws and degree of damage inside tissue. It also investigates the effects of the boundary conditions and material properties of the FE model on the simulated von Mises stress value and tissue damage. Four FE models were analyzed: two-dimensional (2D) plane strain model, 2D plane stress model, full three-dimensional (3D) model, and 3D thin membrane model. Our study shows that for integrated von Mises stress and tissue damage computations, the 3D thin membrane model yielded results closest to the full 3D analysis and required only 0.2% of the compute time. Then the 3D thin membrane model was used further to extract the three descriptors (length, width and depth) of tissue deformation. Correlations between applied force from in vitro experiments and tissue models validate the ability to predict force from deformation. Finally, a wide range of grasper-tissue interfaces were evaluated regarding tissue damage magnitude and grasp quality. By comparing the results with previously published studies, we confirmed that the computational methodology is useful for researchers to develop and test various designs of graspers, reducing the need for time-consuming and expensive in vivo experiments. The results presented in this study can guide engineers to design surgical instruments to improve patient safety. Additionally it is useful for improving the surgical simulator performance by reflecting more realistic tissue material property and displaying tissue damage severity.


Acoustic leak detection for steam generators of sodium fast reactors have been an active research topic since the early 1970s and several methods have been tested over the years. Inspired by its success in the field of automatic speech recognition, we here apply hidden Markov models (HMM) in combination with Gaussian mixture models (GMM) to the problem. To achieve this, we propose a new feature calculation scheme, based on the temporal evolution of the power spectral density (PSD) of the signal. Using acoustic signals recorded during steam/water injection experiments done at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), the proposed method is tested. We perform parametric studies on the HMM+GMM model size and demonstrate that the proposed method a) performs well without a priori knowledge of injection noise, b) can incorporate several noise models and c) has an output distribution that simplifies false alarm rate control.


Though urban agriculture (UA), defined here as growing of crops in cities, is increasing in popularity and importance globally, little is known about the aggregate benefits of such natural capital in built‐up areas. Here, we introduce a quantitative framework to assess global aggregate ecosystem services from existing vegetation in cities and an intensive UA adoption scenario based on data‐driven estimates of urban morphology and vacant land. We analyzed global population, urban, meteorological, terrain, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) datasets in Google Earth Engine to derive global scale estimates, aggregated by country, of services provided by UA. We estimate the value of four ecosystem services provided by existing vegetation in urban areas to be on the order of $33 billion annually. We project potential annual food production of 100–180 million tonnes, energy savings ranging from 14 to 15 billion kilowatt hours, nitrogen sequestration between 100,000 and 170,000 tonnes, and avoided storm water runoff between 45 and 57 billion cubic meters annually. In addition, we estimate that food production, nitrogen fixation, energy savings, pollination, climate regulation, soil formation and biological control of pests could be worth as much as $80–160 billion annually in a scenario of intense UA implementation. Our results demonstrate significant country‐to‐country variability in UA‐derived ecosystem services and reduction of food insecurity. These estimates represent the first effort to consistently quantify these incentives globally, and highlight the relative spatial importance of built environments to act as change agents that alleviate mounting concerns associated with global environmental change and unsustainable development.


Assessments of the NJARE and other agricultural economic journals by faculty in the Northeast Region were contrasted to those made by faculty in other regions. Faculty in the Northeast judged the NJARE to be of high professional quality and personal usefulness and felt that the NJARE had made substantial quality improvements. A strong regional character in the NJARE was evidenced by low journal participation rates by faculty in other regions, Impacts of recent changes in the Journal and the need for future assessments were discussed.


This dictionary contains terms concerning veterinary medicine in general, infectious, parasitic and non-infectious diseases, and anatomy and physiology of domestic animals. These veterinary terms formerly appeared in the "Dictionary of Animal Production Terminology" of the European Assocation for Animal Production, published by Elsevier in 1985. During the preparation of a new edition of this dictionary, it was decided due to the increasing specialization in animal production and of the associated terminology, to divide it into two volumes, one devoted to animal husbandry terms and the other to veterinary terms. Consequently, specialists in animal production and in animal health who have to work in many languages should consult not only the present volume, but also its companion volume which deals with animal production. The dictionary will be a valuable reference tool for all those engaged in animal health who have to work in four languages.


The second edition of The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Collected and Selected Works greatly expands the range of one of the oldest continuously published reference works in the United States. Granger's performs a valuable service for librarians by helping people locate poems when they have limited information about them, and by helping them locate poems by author or by the subjects they are interested in. Each edition of Granger's includes title, first line, author, and subject indexes for over 300 poetry collected and selected works on library shelves. In total, the second edition includes 315 works, by 266 different poets, locating more than 65,000 poems by title, first line, author, and subject. Included in this edition are the works of many of the major American and British poets of the last thirty years, such as Robert Pinsky, Seamus Heaney, and Paul Muldoon; important twentieth-century American poets, such as Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker, and Robert Penn Warren; twentieth-century foreign poets in new translations, such as Eugenio Montale and Paul Celan; and diverse poets from all times and places, collected in new editions, such as Cold Mountain, Jones Very, and Guido Cavalcanti. An expanded Subject Index contains more than 4,400 subjects, including many new subjects relating to specific people, places, or events from the history and culture of the twentieth century. Langston Hughes's poems on the Scottsboro case and the Spanish Civil War are as easy to find as Wallace Steven's poems about perception and Yusef Komunyakaa's poems about jazz.


Songs are not only the soundtracks of man's life, the melodies about his acts, reality, feelings, and state of mind ensnaring every aspect of his everyday life as well as the society he lives in, but they are also medicine that heal one - even if for just a moment - from anguish, pain, the chores of life. In times of suffering and famine, songs about food bring a dream of abundance with their vivid tone, chasing rhythm, and with their excessive enumeration of various dishes; however, they do not represent a state of happiness, rather, they reflect the unbearable pain the yearning for food and filling up the stomach bring about. Nevertheless, these songs were a kind of mental therapy, to release one from suffering. The present paper explores these songs on food, utilizing various papers written on this topic, as well as the results of diachronic and synchronic sociohistorical research.


The article argues that Meillassoux's 'After Finitude' underestimates the nature and profundity of Hume's sceptical challenge; it neglects the fact that Hume's scepticism concerns final causes (and agrees fundamentally with Bacon and Descartes in this respect), and that in Hume even the operations of reason do not furnish entirely a priori knowledge. We contend that Hume himself institutes a form of correlationism (which in part showed Kant the way to counter the sceptical challenge via transcendental idealism), and sought not merely to abolish the 'principle of sufficient reason' but to salvage it in a weak form, in turning his attention to the grounds for our beliefs in necessity. We argue further that the 'mathematizability' of properties is not a sufficient criterion to yield realist, non-correlational knowledge, or to demonstrate the 'irremediable realism' of the 'ancestral' statement. Finally, we contend that Meillassoux himself relies on a certain 'Kantian moment' which exempts the reasoning subject from otherwise 'omnipotent' chaos, and that ultimately the 'speculative materialist' position remains exposed to the original Humean sceptical challenge.


BACKGROUND
Alkylating agents, such as cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide, play a major role in the improved survival of children and young adults with bone and soft tissue sarcoma. However, there is still controversy as to their comparative anti-tumour efficacy and possible adverse effects.

OBJECTIVES
To compare the possible effectiveness of cyclophosphamide with that of ifosfamide for paediatric and young adult patients with sarcoma.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2008, issue 4), MEDLINE/PubMed (from 1966 to November 2008) and EMBASE/Ovid (from 1980 to November 2008) with pre-specified terms. In addition, we searched reference lists of relevant articles, conference proceedings and ongoing trial databases.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or controlled clinical trials (CCTs) comparing cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide for the treatment of different types of sarcoma in paediatric and young adult patients (aged less than 30 years at diagnosis). Chemotherapy other than either cyclophosphamide or ifosfamide should have been the same in both treatment groups.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently performed the study selection.

MAIN RESULTS
No studies meeting the inclusion criteria of the review were identified.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
No RCTs or CCTs comparing the effectiveness of cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide in the treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcoma in children and young adults were identified. Therefore no definitive conclusions can be made about the effects of cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide in these patients. Based on the currently available evidence we are not able to give recommendations for clinical practice. More high quality research is needed.


In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.


ABSTRACT Aim: PCa is among the most common cancers. It is the cause of death in half of cases diagnosed. Data on elderly men, especially ≥80, is limited. We describe the patient and disease characteristics and the primary cause of death (PCa versus non-PCa) in patients (pts) diagnosed when aged ≥ 80 and compare them with pts diagnosed at the age of 70-79 using data from a large clinical registry. Methods: Data for elderly men (≥ 70 yrs) with PCa were obtained from SA-PCCOC (a longitudinal, observational registry of biopsy-proven PCa cases, throughout the Australian state of South Australia since 1998) including cause of death. Proportions were compared using a Chi squared test. A multivariable model used logistic regression to assess the variables: age at diagnosis, clinical stage and Gleason score at biopsy. Results: There were 601 pts in the ≥ 80 group (median age at diagnosis 84, range 80-101) and 1232 pts aged 70-79 (median age at diagnosis 74, range 70-79). At data cut-off, 431(72%) had died in the ≥ 80 group; 187 (43%; 95% CI 39-48%) caused by PCa. In the 70-79 group, 290 (24%), had died with PCa as the primary cause in 142 (49%; 95% CI 43-55%). Pts were more likely to die if diagnosed with PCa when over 80 compared to those aged 70-79 at diagnosis [OR 8.24; 95% CI 6.56-10.33]. We did not observe a statistically significant difference in the distribution of cause of death between the two groups (PCa versus non-PCa) [OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.59-1.09]. In pts aged ≥80, a Gleason score >7 at diagnosis was associated with death caused by PCa (p = 0.01); however this was not significant in multivariable analysis [OR 1.2; 95% CI 0.62-2.33]. In pts aged 70-79, death due to PCa was associated with clinical stage 3 [OR 3.56; 95% CI 1.19-11.44, p = 0.03], and Gleason score >7 [OR 3.01; 95% CI 1.22-7.66, p = 0.02] in multivariable analysis. Conclusions: A large proportion of elderly men with PCa are likely to die from the disease. The proportion of elderly men (≥80 years) dying from PCa is similar to those aged 70-79. To our knowledge this is the first study focusing on the population of pts older than 80 with PCa. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


The considerable quantities of dead wood in the intertidal zone of mature mangrove forests are tunnelled by bivalves of the family Teredinidae. When the surface of heavily tunnelled wood is broken open, cryptofauna are able to use tunnels as refuges. In this study, the exploitation of this niche during low tide by the dartfish Parioglossus interruptus was investigated. The major- ity of tunnels offer a close fit falling within the range of typical dartfish diameters. The fish found within wood tended to be smaller than fish found swimming between mangrove roots at high tide. Dartfish were found in tunnelled wood even where it was emersed for over 11 h d �1 , but favoured wood in the lower intertidal. Within the wood, daytime thermal maxima were reduced by 6.5°C compared with adjacent tidepools. Wind-tunnel observations indicated that this lowering could be due to evaporative cooling. However, dartfish were found to be notably tolerant of high tempera- tures, with a critical thermal maximum that exceeded temperatures reached in tunnelled wood and pools. Nonetheless, such tolerance may impose a metabolic cost that would be reduced by occupying tunnels. Teredinid tunnels are also likely to give dartfish protection from desiccation and predation. During high-tide, free-swimming dartfish were observed to favour areas of Rhizo - phora roots over open creeks. In aquaria, fish swam actively during the day, but took refuge in teredinid tunnels at night. Sampling of wood at low tide and direct observations at high tide indi- cate that a substantial proportion of the dartfish population takes refuge in wood during low tide. Thus, teredinid-tunnelled wood is a key low-tide refuge especially for younger fish, which would otherwise be exposed to predators. This study provides an example of a mechanism whereby mangrove forests support intertidal biodiversity.


In the Hybrid wireless network on distributes system play a vital role now a day but using distributed system in hybrid wireless network, we propose a new Distributed Cooperation and Diversity combining framework. Our focus is on heterogeneous networks with devices equipped with two types of radio frequency (RF) interfaces: short-range high-rate interface (e.g., IEEE802.11), and a long-range low-rate interface (e.g., cellular) communicating over urban Rayleigh fading channels. Within this framework, we propose and evaluate a set of distributed cooperation techniques operating at different hierarchical levels with resource constraints such as short-range RF bandwidth. We propose a Priority Maximum-Ratio Combining (PMRC) technique, and a Post Soft- Demodulation Combining (PSDC) technique. We show that the proposed techniques achieve significant improvements on Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Bit Error Rate (BER) and throughput through analysis, simulation, and experimentation on our software radio test bed. Our results also indicate that, under several communication scenarios, PMRC and PSDC can improve the throughput performance by over an order of magnitude.


In their initial judgment of the European Council meeting in Brussels, CEPS Director Daniel Gros and Assonime Managing Director Stefano Micossi find the agreement reached by the Heads of State and Government a positive development on balance. In this new CEPS Commentary, they note approvingly that much of the substance of the Constitutional Treaty has been preserved. They point to a promising feature to be seized upon, which is the two-treaty structure: one containing institutional provisions and the other, implementing legislation, which may open the way to partisan political debates about policies within the Union.


Design exibility and power consumption in addition to the cost, have always been the most important issues in design of integrated circuits (ICs), and are the main concerns of this research, as well. Energy Consumptions: Power dissipation (P ) and energy consumption are - diss pecially importantwhen there is a limited amountof power budgetor limited source of energy. Very common examples are portable systems where the battery life time depends on system power consumption. Many different techniques have been - veloped to reduce or manage the circuit power consumption in this type of systems. Ultra-low power (ULP) applications are another examples where power dissipation is the primary design issue. In such applications, the power budget is so restricted that very special circuit and system level design techniquesare needed to satisfy the requirements. Circuits employed in applications such as wireless sensor networks (WSN), wearable battery powered systems [1], and implantable circuits for biol- ical applications need to consume very low amount of power such that the entire system can survive for a very long time without the need for changingor recharging battery[24]. Using newpowersupplytechniquessuchas energyharvesting[5]and printable batteries [6], is another reason for reducing power dissipation. Devel- ing special design techniques for implementing low power circuits [79], as well as dynamic power management (DPM) schemes [10] are the two main approaches to control the system power consumption. Design Flexibility: Design exibility is the other important issue in modern in- grated systems.


This survey article discusses the results of research into the influence of context on visual and especially on auditory word recognition. In auditory word recognition the main problem is the lack of phonetic invariance in the realization of words. Context helps to minimize this problem.Word recognition appears to be influenced by semantically related words occurring in prior context. There is some evidence that foreign language listeners, like very young native speakers, make more use of context than adult native speakers. Syntax seems to play a role in word recognition, too, as does the context following the word in question.


Foodborne illnesses are a burden on public health and contribute significantly to the large numbers of mortality and morbidity in India. Common forms of foodborne diseases in India are due to bacterial contamination of foods. Foodborne illnesses are also a preventable and underreported public health problem. Currently, there is no national foodborne disease surveillance system available to enable effective detection, control and prevention of foodborne disease outbreaks. In addition, progress in Indian infrastructure has been painstakingly slow in recent years. Despite these challenges, the Government of India enacted the Food Safety and Standards Act in 2006 as a form of public health promotion in the area of food safety. Unfortunately, policy-making in India has frequently been characterized by a failure to anticipate needs, impacts, or reactions, which could have reasonably been foreseen, thus impeding economic development. India's policymaking structures have difficulties formulating the "right" policy and adhering to it. Hence, refining the policy-making competence of India's senior civil servants and the elected officials in Government may improve the structure involved in public policy-making in India. Furthermore, coordination can be achieved by addressing social ecological factors in pursuit of behavioral changes. Other actions to further evidence-based policy include preparing and communicating data more effectively, using existing analytic tools, conducting policy surveillance, and tracking outcomes with different types of evidence.


The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child includes children's right to participation in processes that affect them. In this article we caution that in order to give real content to participation, it is necessary to understand what participation is and to acknowledge the problematic nature of the concept. We then demonstrate, by considering a number of international and African studies, the kinds of issues that have undermined the implementation of participatory initiatives for both adults and children. Subsequently we explore the way in which participation has become a central tenet of cooperative developmental government through what has, especially at the local level, become known as governance. We argue that for these opportunities to become a reality and for citizens to benefit from the governance model, a strong and organised civil society that moves beyond the limitations of confrontational protest politics and engages with the state without becoming co-opted, is the way forward. Increased inefficiency on the part of local governance structures has led to increasing disillusionment by citizens, especially younger people. The final section of the paper deals with this disaffection through a focus group interview with a small number of Grade 12 learners from Grahamstown/Rhini. The interviews reveal a level of cynicism and lack of interest in participation in governance structures, such as ward meetings, among the learners interviewed.


This thesis explores synthesis by example as a paradigm for rendering real-world phenomena. In particular, phenomena that can be visually described as texture are considered. We exploit, for synthesis, the self-repeating nature of the visual elements constituting these texture exemplars. Techniques for unconstrained as well as constrained/controllable synthesis of both image and video textures are presented.
For unconstrained synthesis, we present two robust techniques that can perform spatio-temporal extension, editing, and merging of image as well as video textures. In one of these techniques, large patches of input texture are automatically aligned and seamless stitched with each other to generate realistic looking images and videos. The second technique is based on iterative optimization of a global energy function that measures the quality of the synthesized texture with respect to the given input exemplar.
We also present a technique for controllable texture synthesis. In particular, it allows for generation of motion-controlled texture animations that follow a specified flow field. Animations synthesized in this fashion maintain structural properties like local shape, size, and orientation of the input texture even as they move according to the specified flow. We cast this problem into an optimization framework that tries to simultaneously satisfy the two (potentially competing) objectives of similarity to the input texture and consistency with the flow field. This optimization is a simple extension of the approach used for unconstrained texture synthesis.
A general framework for example-based synthesis and rendering is also presented. This framework provides a design space for constructing example-based rendering algorithms. The goal of such algorithms would be to use texture exemplars to render animations for which certain behavioral characteristics need to be controlled. Our motion-controlled texture synthesis technique is an instantiation of this framework where the characteristic being controlled is motion represented as a flow field.*
*This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer.


This paper examines the existing literature on trade liberalisation and itseffect on the economies of developing countries. It will also briefly examine the theory of comparative advantage which is seen as justification for global trade liberalisation under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation. This process is also associated with greater openness, economic interdependence and deepening economic integration with the world economy. The study is important because once again the international institutions strongly advocate trade and financial liberalisation in developing countries. The proponents of trade liberalisation argue that multilateral trade negotiations would achieve these goals, and poor countries particularly would benefit from it. However, such policies may increase vulnerability and make developing countries further hostages of international finance capital. Adoption of open market policies in agriculture would also mean the abandoning of self-reliance and food sovereignty, which may have wider consequences in terms of food shortages, food prices and rural employment.


This paper aims to show that FDI decisions are largely political decisions made by organisational members and affected by contextual factors and the nature of the organisation's power relationships. Furthermore, the study explores the uses of management accounting information in the FDI process. The current paper is a case study of the decision making process of a Greek manufacturing company which invested in the Balkans during the 1990s. The organisational control mix initially focused to explicit references to the company's ideology but developed to one using formal, financially quantifiable information. The analysis illustrates that conflict and political behaviour emerge during strategic decision-making tasks in response to changing environmental conditions. The paper concludes that the change of the business affected by the FDI increased the influence of both the formal management control systems and those who controlled them.


Objective: This study is projected to check the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress in the patients of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) undergoing hemodialysis at centers in Hyderabad and investigate the reasons behind it. Methodology: This observational, multi-center study comprised of a sample of 100 patients of ESRD undergoing hemodialysis selected (via simple random sampling) from different hospitals of Hyderabad. The data was collected using interview based structured questionnaires, after taking informed consent, from 1st Dec 2014 to 10th Feb 2015. Levels of depression, anxiety and stress were gauged using the DAS scale approved by the Australian Center for Posttraumatic Mental Health. Results: According to the mean scores obtained, moderate levels of depression and stress while severe levels anxiety prevailed. 69% patients declared diet control rules as bothersome. Although, 50% of respondents were on dialysate for more than a year and 83% underwent dialysis twice per week yet the mean levels of serum albumin and urea were not within normal range. Conclusion: On the basis of this result we come to know that great numbers of patients of ESRD undergoing hemodialysis were suffering from anxiety depression and stress and uremia.


Vascular cysts of the adrenal gland are rare heterogeneous group of lesions with an autopsy incidence of 0.06%. They have female preponderance with most common presentation being pain abdomen. Cysts of the adrenal glands are classified as (a) parasitic cysts (b) epithelial cyst (c) pseudocyst and (d) endothelial cysts. Out of these endothelial cysts constitute about 84% of the cases. As the clinical features and radiological findings of these lesions are nonspecific, a proper histological examination along with immunohistochemistry are necessary for a definitive diagnosis. Here, we report two cases of vascular endothelial cyst of the adrenal gland to emphasize the histomorphological and immunohistochemical features of these lesions.


In this work we extend a previously proposed NMF-based technique for speech enhancement of noisy speech to exploit a Hidden Markov Model (HMM). The NMF-based technique works by finding a sparse representation of specrogram segments of noisy speech in a dictionary containing both speech and noise exemplars, and uses the activated dictionary atoms to create a time-varying filter to enhance the noisy speech. In order to take into account larger temporal context and constrain the representation by the grammar of a speech recognizer, we propose to regularize the optimization problem by additionally minimizing the distance between state emission probabilities derived from the speech exemplar activations, and a posteriori state probabilities derived by applying the Forward-Backward algorithm to the emission probabilities. Experiments on Track 1 of the 2nd CHiME Challenge, which contains small vocabulary speech corrupted by both reverberation and authentic living room noise at varying SNRs ranging from 9 to -6 dB, confirm the validity of the proposed technique.


Access to water is a significant twenty-first century concern but the right to it, couched in the context of the human rights discourse, while often able to assist with short-term solutions, particularly in developing countries, lacks the longer-term ability to protect ecosystem services. The right to a healthy environment, by contrast, is much broader in its reach and has potential to provide for longer-term and broader solutions to development challenges, particularly for countries emerging from war and conflict. This article draws on the situation in South Sudan to explore and critique the utility of the right to water in post-conflict resolution efforts. Given that the White Nile, and water more generally, was central to the violence that led to South Sudan's independence from Sudan, water continues to be a currency (for consumption and also for the agricultural sector) in addition to oil, which is a major source of income for the new country. Article 41 of the Transitional Constitution for South Sudan provides for the protection of the environment, which this paper argues, is more in line with the human right to a healthy environment and is more suited to long-term developments; not just of South Sudan's economy but also to its peace-building agenda. South Sudan is likely to be much better served by continuing to build momentum around initiatives that take account of access to water in the broader context of protecting the environment that it is sourced from. In this sense, the article provides a critique of the utility of the right to water discourse as a means of ensuring that people in developing countries have access to it. It argues that the use of the language and discourse of the right to water must at times be subservient to other kinds of rights, especially if the water right is likely to be narrowly interpreted, prohibiting ecological considerations from being properly taken into account.


This paper notes the impact of language choice in a brand name on consumer's response. This was measured based on three different language based brand names in the same product category (coffee). The brand names were Aik Cheong, Kopimas, and Power Root, representing Chinese, Malay, and English language respectively. Speech Accommodation Theory (SAT) is used as the basis for this paper as it indicates that a group prefers its own language and will respond positively. Data was collected from Chinese respondents throughout Malaysia using a survey. Questions were from past measurement scales utilizing a 6 point forced scale. The findings indicate that respondents preferred English and Chinese language brand name over Malay language brand name and there was no difference in response for English and Chinese language brand name. Malay language was the least preferred. This paper is limited by the method, breath and scope of data collection.


Several studies have analysed liquidity across a trading day, and have documented that bid-ask spreads exhibit a U-shaped pattern, with spreads wider at the start and end of the trading day, whilst spreads are tighter in the middle of the day. This pattern has been attributed to inventory holding costs, the specialist's market power and adverse selection risk. On the 2nd April, 2001, several stocks on the Italian Bourse switched from an auction market to a specialist market. This provides a natural experiment where intraday spreads across different market structures can be compared. Results indicate that volume, volatility and bid-ask spreads exhibit the U-shaped intraday pattern both before and after the structural change. While time-weighted spreads are consistently higher throughout the trading day under the specialist structure, the specialists ability to offer price improvement with the best quotes results in the 'real' cost of trading being lower under a specialist system. These results are robust to the size of the firm, the event window around the structural change, as well as overall market-wide changes.


This paper presents a case study on the severely degraded Boksburg Lake's (Gauteng, South Africa) social–ecological system, and on an environmental-education initiative that aimed to support the lake's transformation with a view to its improved social and ecological well-being. In this case study, three key characteristics of the initiative which appeared to support the transformative process are discussed, namely: 1. Learning was aligned with the local social–ecological context; 2. Human-to-human and human-to-ecological connections were encouraged; and 3. The youth played a key role in initiating and effecting transformation. Apparent consequences of this particular environmental-education approach include: local people becoming involved and invested in an environmental-education process that was highly meaningful to them; a deeper connection being nurtured among participating stakeholders, as well as between the youth and Boksburg Lake; a collective identity being adopted to bring about change; knowledge of Boksburg Lake's social– ecological system being strengthened; acknowledgement of personal culpability in the lake's degradation; many of the youths changing their negative environmental practices; and local stakeholders, including the youth, engaging in collective action to reclaim Boksburg Lake. Furthermore, a range of new practices emerged from the Schools for a Sustainable Environment (SSE) initiative. The literature is drawn on to explain the possible consequences of this initiative. Through this paper, it is hoped that environmentaleducation practitioners will be provided with useful conceptual tools to support their work.


Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a membrane in response to osmotic pressure caused by an imbalance of molecules on either side of the membrane. Osmoregulation is the process of maintenance of salt and water balance (osmotic balance) across membranes within the body's fluids, which are composed of water, plus electrolytes and nonelectrolytes. An electrolyte is a solute that dissociates into ions when dissolved in water. A non-electrolyte, in contrast, doesn't dissociate into ions during water dissolution. Both electrolytes and non-electrolytes contribute to the osmotic balance. The body's fluids include blood plasma, the cytosol within cells, and interstitial fluid, the fluid that exists in the spaces between cells and tissues of the body. The membranes of the body (such as the pleural, serous, and cell membranes) are semi-permeable membranes. Semi-permeable membranes are permeable (or permissive) to certain types of solutes and water. Solutions on two sides of a semi-permeable membrane tend to equalize in solute concentration by movement of solutes and/or water across the membrane. As seen in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\), a cell placed in water tends to swell due to gain of water from the hypotonic or "low salt" environment. A cell placed in a solution with higher salt concentration, on the other hand, tends to make the membrane shrivel up due to loss of water into the hypertonic or "high salt" environment. Isotonic cells have an equal concentration of solutes inside and outside the cell; this equalizes the osmotic pressure on either side of the cell membrane which is a semi-permeable membrane.


We report on the instantaneous detection of the ablation rate as a function of depth during ultrafast microdrilling of metal targets. The displacement of the ablation front has been measured with a sub-wavelength resolution using an all-optical sensor based on the laser diode self-mixing interferometry. The time dependence of the laser ablation process within the depth of aluminum and stainless steel targets has been investigated to study the evolution of the material removal rate in high aspect-ratio micromachined holes.


People are neither completely rational, nor completely random in their decisions. Rather, they exhibit predictable biases that not only make it less likely that they will achieve their own stated desires, but also complicate the design and efficiency of public policy. These are some of the insights of the emerging applied behavioural sciences. With some notable exceptions, these insights have not always filtered through to policy formulation. Policy related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians is one example of an area where insights from the applied behavioural sciences have the potential to improve the quality of policy decisions. A large amount of government funds is spent on Indigenous people reflecting a high degree of disadvantage. This paper provides new data and insights to understand the patterns and factors associated with decisions made by Indigenous people, thereby helping to improve the effectiveness of Indigenous policy.