A few years ago, respondents in developing countries had never used the internet or even had electricity to charge a cell phone; but now, respondents overwhelmingly report that they are using computers and cell phones to send e-mail, play games, access information, listen to music, bank, develop literacy skills, and enroll in e-courses. Developing countries are using cellular telephones and internet interconnectivity even more than countries nearly saturated with these devices and conveniences. What can we learn from African, Asian, South American, Middle Eastern countries and even island countries like Jamaica, Maldives and the Philippines? This collection of data comes at a critical time for exploring shifts in communication practices that are occurring in all nations. It introduces explanatory theory from a student's viewpoint to complete the BRICS country overview and add 18 countries worthy of observation. Some are carefully watched to see if they pass over into developed country status. All are experiencing infrastructure problems. Their technology in many cases is leapfrogging into usage patterns seen in the US, Canada, and Western Europe. The purpose of this scholarship is to acknowledge the uniqueness of culture in each of the countries observed without attempting to impose a western framework of interpretation upon the communication behaviors. This is exploratory research accomplished by many who spoke the language of the country they investigated. We hope that this book inspires continued dialogue on the influences of electronic communication and falls outside the purview of readers' daily lives, providing a window into these developing nations.


Cloud computing is a paradigm that has the potential to transform and revolutionalize the next generation IT industry by making software available to end-users as a service. A cloud, also commonly known as a cloud network, typically comprises of hardware (network of servers) and a collection of softwares that is made available to end-users in a pay-as-you-go manner. Multiple public cloud providers (ex., Amazon) co-existing in a cloud computing market provide similar services (software as a service) to its clients, both in terms of the nature of an application, as well as in quality of service (QoS) provision. The decision of whether a cloud hosts (or finds it pro?table to host) a service in the long-term would depend jointly on the price it sets, the QoS guarantees it provides to its customers, and the satisfaction of the advertised guarantees. In this paper, we devise and analyze three inter-organizational economic models relevant to cloud networks. We formulate our problems as non co-operative price and QoS games between multiple cloud providers existing in a cloud market. We prove that a unique pure strategy Nash equilibrium (NE) exists in two of the three models. Our analysis paves the path for each cloud provider to 1) know what prices and QoS level to set for end-users of a given service type, such that the provider could exist in the cloud market, and 2) practically and dynamically provision appropriate capacity for satisfying advertised QoS guarantees.


The past three years of the Obama Administration inevitably have elicited comparisons between the present day and the era of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. While frequently illuminating, such comparisons often overlook an important point that many may have forgotten: compared with the major reform initiatives undertaken during President Obama's tenure, a review of the roll call votes reveals that the measures enacted by the New Deal Congresses enjoyed a remarkable degree of bipartisan support. In addition, the Democrats enjoyed large majorities in the House of Representatives from 1933 forward, and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate after 1934.These dual luxuries of bipartisan support and electoral dominance had two important implications for the durability of New Deal legislation. First, they guaranteed that in the near term there would be no significant movement within Congress to repeal that legislation. Second, they ensured that if the Supreme Court held such legislation unconstitutional, Congress would get a second bite at the apple. In several instances in which the Hughes Court held that a legislative attempt to address a particular problem did not pass constitutional muster, the New Deal Congresses would have, and would take, the opportunity to reformulate the program to achieve the desired end through means consistent with prevailing constitutional doctrine.Neither of these conditions obtains today. Congressional Republicans are committed to substantial modification or outright repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and if the Court were to declare all of portions of that Act unconstitutional, there is virtually no chance that it would be enacted in anything like its current form by the present Congress. Moreover, polling data suggest that popular support for the Act is not nearly as strong as it was for programs challenged before the Court in 1937. Court decisions invalidating either the minimum wage or the Social Security Act would have frustrated both the legislative and the popular will. By contrast, polls show the American people favoring repeal or judicial invalidation of all or part of the Affordable Care Act, and the Act as a whole does not enjoy the support of the present Congress. A Court decision striking down the individual mandate therefore would be flouting neither the current congressional will nor present popular preferences. We should bear such important differences in mind when contemplating the extent to which the 1930s provide an illuminating analogy to our present circumstances.


In developing countries such as Malaysia, the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in increasing the country's economy. For the SMEs to remain competitive and to ensure their survival in the globalize era, the SMEs must continuously improve their manufacturing practices. The development of self assessment tool can facilitate the SMEs to benchmark their manufacturing practices and will help them in becoming more competitive.
Based on literature review, eight areas of manufacturing practices have been proposed for benchmarking and the areas have been validated by selected companies. The areas of manufacturing practices included in this tool are management practice, human resource, marketing strategy, quality, production process, customer focus, supply chain management, technology and product innovation.The development of this web-based tool used the Hypertext Preprocessor (Php), Structured Query Languages (SQL) scripting languages and Internet as a platform. The participating SMEs can log into the system and choose a particular area to be benchmarked. Based on the indicators that have been developed, summary of their performance and how they fare with others will be generated in the form of a graph. The graph clearly indicates the gaps in their practices. The SMEs can then make appropriate decisions on which areas to be improved, with those results.
The benchmarking tool system has been tested and validated by seven SMEs. From the companies' feedback, some improvements and modifications have been made on the system such as questionnaires, output results and company registration form. The system was developed in dual language (Malay and English) to facilitate SMEs benchmark in the company. It is hoped that the SMEs using this tool will become more aware of the importance of certain practices, facilitate SMEs to be more competitive and able to develop a culture of continuous improvement.


BackgroundThere has been increasing interest in the use of deep neural networks for de novo design of molecules with desired properties. A common approach is to train a generative model on SMILES strings and then use this to generate SMILES strings for molecules with a desired property. Unfortunately, these SMILES strings are often not syntactically valid due to elements of SMILES syntax that must occur in pairs.ResultsWe describe a SMILES-like syntax called DeepSMILES that addresses two of the main reasons for invalid syntax when using a probabilistic model to generate SMILES strings. The DeepSMILES syntax avoids the problem of unbalanced parentheses by only using close parentheses, where the number of parentheses indicates the branch length. In addition, DeepSMILES avoids the problem of pairing ring closure symbols by using only a single symbol at the ring closing location, where the symbol indicates the ring size. We show that this syntax can be interconverted to/from SMILES with string processing without any loss of information, including stereo configuration.ConclusionWe believe that DeepSMILES will be useful, not just for those using SMILES in deep neural networks, but also for other computational methods that use SMILES as the basis for generating molecular structures such as genetic algorithms.


Recently, several theoretical papers have derived relationships for fiber-optic transmission system performance in terms of associated physical layer parameters. At the same time, a large number of detailed experiments have been and continue being performed that demonstrate increasing capacities and unregenerated reach. We use this wealth of experimental data to validate the aforementioned relationships, and to propose a set of simple scaling rules for performance. We find that, despite substantial differences in experimental configurations, overall performance in terms of spectral efficiency and unregenerated reach is well explained by scaling rules. These scaling rules will be useful to carriers seeking to understand what they should expect to see in terms of network performance using deployed or easily accessible technology, which may be radically different from hero experiment results. These rules will also be useful to design engineers seeking cost effective tradeoffs to achieving higher performance using realistic upgrade strategies, and what might be encountered as a fundamental limit.


The type material of Cervus nippon Temminck, 1836, present in the Leiden museum, is re-examined ; a lectotype is chosen, and a new description of lectotype and paralectotypes is given. In an attempt to determine the exact type locality or localities, the type series is compared with published descriptions of Japanese Sika and with material present in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.). The characteristics of the type series are in good agreement with those of Sika from southern Japan; the lectotype closely agrees with specimens originating from the main islands of southern Japan (southern Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku) and may have come from the surroundings of Nagasaki (Kyushu) ; the remaining type series agrees better with specimens from the Goto Islands, where several Leiden specimens are known to have been collected. A revision of Cervus nippon of the main Japanese islands is given, 3 subspecies being recognized within this area.


The paper, which retains a hypothetical character, argues that Spinoza's propositions referring to God (or involving the use of the name 'God', essentially in the Ethics), can be read in a fruitful manner apart from any pre-established hypothesis concerning his own 'theological preferences', as definite descriptions of three 'ideas of God' which have the same logical status: one (akin to Jewish Monotheism) which identifies the idea of God with the idea of the Law, one (akin to a heretic 'Socinian' version of Christianity) which identifies it with the idea of Human Love, and one (akin to a form of Cosmotheism, rather than 'Pantheism') which identifies it with Nature. Evidence of this analytic tripartition can be found in the letter of the texts themselves. If accepted (at least as a thought experiment), it would carry three interesting consequences: 1) to renew our understanding of the theory of the 'three kinds of knowledge', which have obvious affinities with the three possible ways of understanding the idea of God; 2) to emphasize the critical move associated by Spinoza with each of the three ideas of God (passing from an anthropomorphic legislator to an impersonal command, passing from an imaginary community of similarities to a practical community of singularities, and passing from a teleological and harmonious idea of nature to a causal, even conflictual, idea of its infinite power); 3) to locate the essential ethical and political questions associated with religion on the 'vectors' which lead from one idea to another, and represent themselves practical conatus: obedience, utility, order. It is also assumed that such a reading enhances the relevance of Spinoza's philosophy with respect to contemporary debates about religion and secularism.


This thesis discusses how British Quaker women negotiated relinquishing their religiously prescribed Plain dress from 1860 to 1914 in the context of developments in Quaker feminine identity. This thesis approaches its subjects by examining the primary source of surviving Quaker garments in British dress collections. These items provide the basis from which research methodologies and the personal narratives of Quaker women and their case studies are developed. Surviving garments, alongside historical letters, diaries, religious texts, department store catalogues, photographs and period dress illustrations are analysed in order to understand how women Quakers practised their religion and organised their public appearance through dress during this period.
The original quality of this research is the outcome of an interdisciplinary approach. No other research project in the international dress history or religious history fields has discussed and critically considered the identity of British Quaker women through an analysis of their surviving clothing between 1860 and 1914. This aspect of British social history and therefore British identity has until now remained unexplored and unacknowledged.
By 1860 Quakerism had undergone extreme doctrinal upheaval, which had led to the abandonment of those rules which enforced Plainness of speech and apparel that same year. Even prior to 1860, this thesis reveals that some women were incorporating fashion into their religious Plain dress, by using fashionable silhouettes and high-quality fabrics albeit eschewing bright colours and ornamentation. After 1860 however, male and female Quakers had complete individual freedom of choice in their clothing.
During this period of religious turmoil, female Victorian Quakers vocalised a range of opinions on women's emancipation, education and welfare, on their role within the religious society and their opinions concerning dress through published correspondence in Quaker journals. This thesis identifies a variety of views concerning dress between 1860 and 1914, as Quaker women negotiated their individual freedom of choice in attire in a ternary manner. Moreover, this thesis proves that this ternary interpretation was acknowledged by Quakers themselves and discussed within Quaker journals in the 1860-1914 period.
Quakers of the period identified these ternary interpretations as ascetic, moderate and fashionable. This thesis proposes a new set of classifying terms, Non-Adaptive, Semi-Adaptive and Fully-Adaptive, in reflection of the extent to which Quaker women adapted their religious clothing to incorporate fashion alongside their differing interpretations of Quaker belief. Four case studies illustrate further these three adaptive interpretations, and show how individual Quaker women chose to present themselves to their religious community and wider society.


Abstract We analyze a two-period contest in which agents may become bankrupt at the end of the first period. A bankrupt agent is excluded from the contest in the second period of the game. We investigate the existence of a subgame perfect equilibrium in pure strategies. We distinguish between a borrowing equilibrium in which at least one agent might be bankrupted and a non borrowing equilibrium in which no agent is bankrupted. We prove that the former occurs when the agent taking loans is relatively poor and the future does not matter very much. This action represents the Despair Effect, in which severely handicapped agents take actions that jeopardize their existence in the long run but are currently helpful. We find conditions under which borrowing and non borrowing equilibria overlap and do not overlap. We provide an example in which no equilibrium exists.


This study investigates the nonlinear effects of local governments' performance of public services on citizen satisfaction in Japan. Citizen satisfaction data has been collected by many municipalities because it is regarded as a quantitative measure of citizen needs. Citizen satisfaction with services is generally assessed on a scale ranging from dissatisfaction to satisfaction, and there can be some variation between the effects of the quality of services in comparison with citizens' expectations based on their understanding of what the government should provide. In line with Kano's theory, we can say that with respect to the must-be quality of service, when the quality decreases in the low-quality condition, citizen dissatisfaction decreases at an accelerated pace. Regarding the attractive quality of service, citizen satisfaction rises significantly as the performance increases in the high-quality condition. On the basis of data gathered through an Internet survey in Japan, we explore the nonlinear effects of service performance on citizen satisfaction through a comparison of citizens' expectations on different levels of governments. This study found that clarity of service in areas under the authority of a broad regional government has more impact in terms of increasing satisfaction and decreasing dissatisfaction and that its nonlinear effects are more significant than for municipal services.


Humans are rapidly changing the nature of our planet in profound ways. Global changes include alterations to the vegetation cover of the land, the chemical composition of the earth's atmosphere, global climate and climate variability, and the rapid and extensive introduction of exotic species.

Australia's Wet Tropics are dominated by mountain ranges giving extremes of altitude from sea level to around 1600 metres. Most remaining rainforest in the Wet Tropics is above 300m and almost all species unique to this region are adapted to these cooler uplands. Temperature rises due to global warming would mean massive changes to these cool uplands, leading to loss of habitat. Consequently, the biological diversity and endemic species that are the keystone of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area are under severe threat.

Ecosystem processes and the provision of ecosystem services could also be severely affected by climate change, indicating how imperative it is to understand the processes that shape large scale regional ecological patterns over time. Only then can predictive tools be developed to enable realistic conservation planning for the unique ecosystems of the Wet Tropics and other rainforests in Queensland.


This thesis is concerned with exploring patients' experiences of using a diabetes eHealth system. The context of the study is the growth of interest in eHealth systems that focus on patient needs, alongside increasing home computer use and the rising incidence of chronic diseases, such as diabetes. I aim in this thesis to make a novel contribution to knowledge about how eHealth technology is experienced by patients with diabetes. The study takes the form of a qualitative enquiry into the use of a diabetes eHealth system by a group of patients and their healthcare practitioners at a primary care general practice in Northern England. Using symbolic interactionism as a methodological perspective and taking elements from grounded theory the study produces a theoretical framework based on a thematic analysis of participants' descriptions of their experiences of using the eHealth system.
A diabetes eHealth system was designed and built for the study, and 38 patients were recruited from a single GP practice using purposive sampling. Participants used the system for six months and were interviewed at the beginning, middle and end of the study period. Issues of surveillance, automation, endorsement and interaction influenced use and experiences of the system. Results from the study indicate that participants use and perceive the eHealth system as part of their diabetes management experience. My thesis is that the eHealth system is a boundary structure through which boundary objects, such as electronically formatted blood glucose readings, are created and shared across different social worlds. The eHealth system crosses the boundary between two spheres of an individual's diabetes management experience, the personal sphere of self-management, and the external sphere of seeking and receiving support from medical experts and others with diabetes. The co-location of these two spheres exposes participants to scrutiny but also opens up new possibilities for collaboration and learning.


The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding proteins (IGFBPs) modulate the actions of the insulin-like growth factors in endocrine, paracrine, and autocrine settings. Additionally, some IGFBPs appear to exhibit biological effects that are IGF independent. The six high-affinity IGFBPs that have been characterized to date exhibit 40-60% amino acid sequence identity overall, with the most conserved sequences in their NH2 and COOH termini. We have recently demonstrated that the product of the mac25/IGFBP-7 gene, which shows significant conservation in the NH2 terminus, including an "IGFBP motif' (GCGCCXXC), exhibits low-affinity IGF binding. The closely related mammalian genes connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) gene, nov, and cyr61 encode secreted proteins that also contain the conserved sequences and IGFBP motifs in their NH2 termini. To ascertain if these genes, along with mac25/IGFBP-7, encode a family of low-affinity IGFBPs, we assessed the IGF binding characteristics of recombinant human CTGF (rhCTGF). The ability of baculovirus-synthesized rhCTGF to bind IGFs was demonstrated by Western ligand blotting, affinity cross-linking, and competitive affinity binding assays using 125I-labeled IGF-I or IGF-II and unlabeled IGFs. CTGF, like mac25/IGFBP-7, specifically binds IGFs, although with relatively low affinity. On the basis of these data, we propose that CTGF represents another member of the IGFBP family (IGFBP-8) and that the CTGF gene, mac25/IGFBP-7, nov, and cyr61 are members of a family of low-affinity IGFBP genes. These genes, along with those encoding the high-affinity IGFBPs 1-6, together constitute an IGFBP superfamily whose products function in IGF-dependent or IGF-independent modes to regulate normal and neoplastic cell growth.


The skeletomuscular system of male terminalia in Evaniomorpha (Hymenoptera) is described and the functional morphology of male genitalia is discussed. Confocal laser scanning microscopy is the primary method used for illustrating anatomical phenotypes, and a domain-specific anatomy ontology is employed to more explicitly describe anatomical structures. A comprehensive data set of ceraphronoid male genitalia is analyzed, yielding the first phylogeny of the superfamily. One hundred and one taxa, including three outgroups, are scored for 48 characters. Ceraphronoidea are recovered as sister to the remaining Evaniomorpha in the implied weighting analyses. Numerous character states suggest that Ceraphronoidea is a relatively basal apocritan lineage. Ceraphronoidea, Ceraphronidae, and Megaspilinae are each retrieved as monophyletic in all analyses. Megaspilidae is not recovered as monophyletic. Lagynodinae is monophyletic in the implied weighting analyses with strong support and is a polytomy in the equal weighting analysis. Lagynodinae shares numerous plesiomorphies with both Megaspilinae and Ceraphronidae. Relationships among genera are weakly corroborated. Masner is sister of Ceraphronidae. Trassedia is nested within Ceraphronidae based on the present analysis. Because of this and numerous features shared between it and Ceraphron we transfer Trassedia from Megaspilidae to Ceraphronidae. Dendrocerus forms a single monophyletic clade, with modest support, together with some Conostigmus species. This result challenges the utility of such traditional diagnostic characters as ocellar arrangement and shape of the male flagellomeres. Aphanogmus is monophyletic in the implied weighting, but remains a polytomy with Ceraphron in the equal weighting analysis. Gnathoceraphron is always nested within a well-supported Aphanogmus clade. Cyoceraphron and Elysoceraphron are nested within Ceraphron and Aphanogmus, respectively. The male genitalia prove to be a substantial source of phylogenetically relevant information. Our results indicate that a reclassification of Ceraphronoidea both at the family and generic level is necessary but that more data are required.


Abstract High-pressure and high-temperature phase relations of FeTiO3 were investigated up to a pressure of about 74 GPa and 2600 K by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and analytical transmission electron microscopy. We conclude that FeTiO3 ilmenite transforms into the following phase(s) with increasing pressure: FeTiO3 (perovskite) at 20-30 GPa, Fe2TiO4 (Ca2TiO4-type) + TiO2 (OI-type) at 30-44 GPa and high temperature, FeO (wüstite) + TiO2 (OI) at 30-44 GPa and low temperature, and wüstite + FeTi3O7 (orthorhombic phase) above 44 GPa. Among these dense high-pressure polymorphs, FeTi3O7 is a new compound and its structure analysis was tried using particle swarm optimization simulation. This method successfully found a new high-density FeTi3O7 structure, and Rietveld refinement based on this model structure gave an excellent fit with the experimentally obtained X-ray diffraction pattern. This new high-density FeTi3O7 structure consists of polyhedra for monocapped FeO7 prisms, bicapped TiO8 prisms, and tricapped TiO9 prisms, which develop on the b-c plane and stack along the a axis. The dense compound assemblage found in FeTiO3 is promising for investigating the behavior of ABX3 compounds under ultrahigh pressures.


This thesis presents drawing as epistemology for morphology through the development and dissemination of drawing practices that extend understanding of, and engagement with, the diversity of natural form. The interpretation of the term 'morphology' is based on Goethe's original concept (1792) of morphology as the 'study of form and formative process'. This research is situated in the context of the emerging fields of 'Drawing Research', 'Art/Science' and the cross-disciplinary domain where contemporary art practice and education intersect (the 'educational turn'). Led by drawing practice, the methodology encompasses a set of experimental approaches including interdisciplinary collaboration, museum collection study, workshop design, and exhibition making. This mixed method approach is conducted within the context of scientific institutions like the Natural History Museum and Imperial College, London to address two research questions. The first asks what contribution an artist can make, especially through drawing in collaboration with scientific practices and instrumentation, on representations and forms of analysis and interpretation that could lead to new understandings of morphology (animal, mineral, vegetable) for both artists and scientists? The second asks what shared morphological characteristics (form and symmetry) of animal, mineral and vegetable species can be identified and represented through the process and object of drawing and whether this research can develop an extra-scientific model of classification that is complementary to the scientific approach?

This enquiry has contributed to the development of two interlinked bodies of artistic research (and two new terms and practices) 'Isomorphology': the observational study of the shared forms and symmetries of animal, mineral and vegetable species, and 'Isomorphogenesis': the systematic representation of dynamic form through drawing. These practices have been shared with artists, natural scientists, students and the general public through participatory workshops, conferences, publications and exhibitions. Early chapters provide examples of drawing as a 'way of knowing morphology' in the context of contemporary natural science and mathematics (empirical and conceptual), which are followed by a narrative of the development of 'drawing as a way of knowing' in my own artistic practice through the Isomorphology study. The later chapters then discuss the evolution of the Isomorphology concept and practice, as a shift from observation to abstraction first in the 'Goethe method' and later in the conceptual study of the dynamic nature of form 'Isomorphogenesis' (adding the 4th dimension of time). These chapters build a narrative, towards drawing as epistemology for a dynamic, processoriented morphology. This developmental series of empirical and conceptual drawing practice and theory brings my work with natural science (empirical) and mathematics (conceptual) together. The final chapter documents how this research is then shared as an experimental educational model through the Cornwall Morphology and Drawing Centre project.


This paper estimates rates of return to education in India by gender, caste, religion and age cohorts using data for the period 1983 to 2011-12. We estimate standard Mincerian wage equations separately for regular and casual workers. To account for the possibility of sample selection bias in Multinomial logit, Lee Procedure is used. The findings of the study show that the overall rates of return to education for regular workers are the highest for diploma, followed by graduation and above degree, secondary education; the returns to higher secondary, graduation and above degree are rising, but primary education is falling over the years; rates of return to education are increasing across the age cohorts. For casual workers, overall returns to primary and middle education are positive; while returns to secondary and higher secondary education are negative. Using quantile regression method, we found that the effect of education is not the same across the wage distribution. Returns differ considerably within education groups across different quantiles of the wage distribution. For regular workers, overall returns to secondary education is rising across the quantiles; while returns to higher secondary, diploma, graduation and above degree follow an inverted U-shape pattern. For casual workers, overall returns to primary and middle education are rising across the quantiles.


Active bending structures need materials with specific mechanical properties such as large admissible strain and sufficiently high stiffness to prevent buckling. This paper proposes to investigate the materials that could be used following Ashby's selection method. Then it focuses on the most affordable materials which are glass fibre reinforced polymers (GFRP) and natural fibre reinforced polymers (NFRP). As the initial selection is based on short term characteristics, the long term behaviour of fibre reinforced polymers is then addressed based on recent durability studies which are needed to ensure the performance, reliability and safety of a structure. It is shown that, depending on the loading type (tension, bending, torsion, alone or in combination…) and on the nature of the components (fibres, matrix and interfaces), the material undergoes several phenomena reducing its mechanical performances and potentially leading to its failure. Finally, this knowledge of the materials, which allows for a better understanding of the specific relation between the material and the active bending structures, is used to give a framework for stress limitations and recommendations for further optimisation of reliable structures.


Objective To develop a modelling framework which can simulate long-term quality of life, societal costs and cost-effectiveness as affected by sequential drug treatment strategies for ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods Discrete event simulation paradigm was selected for model development. Drug efficacy was modelled as changes in disease activity (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI)) and functional status (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI)), which were linked to costs and health utility using statistical models fitted based on an observational AS cohort. Published clinical data were used to estimate drug efficacy and time to events. Two strategies were compared: (1) five available non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (strategy 1) and (2) same as strategy 1 plus two tumour necrosis factor α inhibitors (strategy 2). 13 000 patients were followed up individually until death. For probability sensitivity analysis, Monte Carlo simulations were performed with 1000 sets of parameters sampled from the appropriate probability distributions. Results The models successfully generated valid data on treatments, BASDAI, BASFI, utility, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and costs at time points with intervals of 1–3 months during the simulation length of 70 years. Incremental cost per QALY gained in strategy 2 compared with strategy 1 was €35 186. At a willingness-to-pay threshold of €80 000, it was 99.9% certain that strategy 2 was cost-effective. Conclusions The modelling framework provides great flexibility to implement complex algorithms representing treatment selection, disease progression and changes in costs and utilities over time of patients with AS. Results obtained from the simulation are plausible.


This paper deals with the application of postcolonial theory to a commission of enquiry into the colonial history of Inuit in the Qikiqtani (Baffin) Region of Nunavut Territory. While the colonial history of the period 1950-1980 has been the focus of the commission, much attention has been directed at the fate of Inuit sled dogs. There are many reasons for this focus. If anything typifies the movement of Inuit from a world impregnated with ritual, relationship and meaning to one of impersonal, secular commodity relations, the fate of Inuit sled dogs is it. The replacement of the sled dog with the snow machine—what Sartre would call a 'practico-inert' manifestation of dead, and in this case imported, labour—was as existentially significant an act as one could imagine. The use of postcolonial theory in examining these transformations is explored. How the commodity has been treated (or largely ignored) by postcolonial theorists is examined and the claim made that in much postcolonial theorizing, the transformation from cultural to commodity forms, the role of the commodity, the nature of consumption and the role of community in the transformation from one form of capitalist production (and the logic that accompanies it) have often been overlooked, underplayed or aligned with what is heralded as fresh theoretical turf in an undeserving, celebratory way. Reference is made to the work of Spivak, Bhabha, Said, Derrida and precursors to postcolonial theory, particularly the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Franz Fanon.


Acid Rain Science and Politics in Japan is a pioneering work in environmental and Asian history as well as an in-depth analysis of the influence of science on domestic and international environmental politics. Kenneth Wilkening's study also illuminates the global struggle to create sustainable societies. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 ended Japan's era of isolation- created self-sufficiency and sustainability. The opening of the country to Western ideas and technology not only brought pollution problems associated with industrialization (including acid rain) but also scientific techniques for understanding and combating them. Wilkening identifies three pollution-related "sustainability crises" in modern Japanese history: copper mining in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which spurred Japan's first acid rain research and policy initiatives; horrendous post-World War II domestic industrial pollution, which resulted in a "hidden" acid rain problem; and the present-day global problem of transboundary pollution, in which Japan is a victim of imported acid rain. He traces the country's scientific and policy responses to these crises through six distinct periods related to acid rain problems and argues that Japan's leadership role in East Asian acid rain science and policy today can be explained in large part by the "historical scientific momentum" generated by efforts to confront the issue since 1868, reinforced by Japan's cultural affinity with rain (its "culture of rain"). Wilkening provides an overview of nature, culture, and the acid rain problem in Japan to complement the general set of concepts he develops to analyze the interface of science and politics in environmental policymaking. He concludes with a discussion of lessons from Japan's experience that can be applied to the creation of sustainable societies worldwide.


Abstract To gain further insight into the energy dissipation during the wood sawing process, a theoretical model has been developed. The model is based on the assumption that there are two basic causes for energy dissipation during sawing: the creation of a new surface and the compression of material below a saw tooth. It is assumed that both contributions can be dependent on the cutting angle (the angle between the fiber direction and the tangent to the path followed by a saw tooth) because a saw tooth changes its angle of attack during its way through a log. To determine this dependence of the dissipation on the cutting angle, a series of experiments with pine plank sawing were performed by means of different feeding rates and cutting angles while the electrical power supplied to the saw was measured. The parameters in the theoretical model were derived from the experimental findings. Finally, two tests were carried out under different conditions with respect to thickness and cutting angles and the validity of the model was confirmed concerning the prediction of the electrical power consumption.


The 39-item Parkinson's disease questionnaire (PDQ-39) is the most widely used patient-reported rating scale in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, recent studies have questioned its validity and it is unclear what scores represent. This study explored the possibility of regrouping PDQ-39 items into scales representing the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) components of Body Functions and Structures (BF), Activities and Participation (AP), and Environmental (E) factors. An iterative process using Rasch analysis produced five new items sets, two each for the BF and AP components and one representing E. Four of these were found to represent clinically meaningful variables: Emotional Impairment (BF), Gross Motor Disability (AP), Fine Motor Disability (AP), and Socioattitudinal Environment (E) with acceptable reliability (0.73–0.96) and fit to the Rasch model (total item-trait chi-square, 8.28–33.2; P > .05). These new ICF-based scales offer a means to reanalyze PDQ-39 data from an ICF perspective and to study its health components using a widely available health status questionnaire for people with PD.


The aim of this study was to contrast the prevalence of allergic symptoms in children living in urban and rural areas of Saudi Arabia and to investigate factors associated with any differences found. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted of a social class-stratified sample of 1,020 urban and 424 rural 12 yr old children, recording symptoms of current and past allergic disease and doctors' diagnoses, together with nationality and the fathers' educational level and occupations. A significantly greater prevalence of allergic symptoms was found in urban than in rural children and in Saudi than in non-Saudi Arab children. Males were more likely to have some respiratory symptoms and females had more eye and skin symptoms. Educational level and occupation of the father did not influence the likelihood of having symptoms. Logistic regression analyses showed that urban residence and Saudi nationality were the two main risk factors associated with asthmatic symptoms. There is likely to have been a recent increase in the prevalence of allergic disease in Saudi children associated with increased affluence, which has not affected non-Saudi migrants moving into the same environment to the same extent. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the environment, possibly through changes in lifestyle and patterns of infection, influences the expression of allergic disease.


Shipbuilding CAD/CAM systems are a rich source of data that can be consumed by other business processes. In shipbuilding, managing and tracking the procurement and consumption of materials via an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a critical portion of a shipyard's overall IT infrastructure. ERP systems are data hungry applications and while the technology to integrate these systems is usually available, an in-depth understanding of the shipyard's business processes and how those processes map onto an integration effort is a necessary, yet often lacking, component of a successful integration project. This paper outlines an effort, undertaken by ShipConstructor Software Inc. (SSI), to solve this challenge for a diverse array of shipbuilders.


The presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in colorectal cancer (CRC) has been associated with tumor initiation, metastasis, relapse, and resistance to chemotherapy and radio‐ therapy. Therefore, a better knowledge of the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of CSCs is required to develop treatments that are more effective. Like normal cells, cancer cells contain molecular clocks that generate circadian rhythms in gene expression and metabolic activity. Disruption of circadian rhythms has been linked to increased cancer risk, chemoresistance, and progression in CRC. CSCs also generate rhythms, which could be exploited with a chronopharmacological approach. Although the regulation of the expression of circadian rhythm genes appears to be mediated mainly by transcription–translation feedback loops, the existence of forms of nontranscription‐ al regulation has been demonstrated. Particularly, microRNAs (miRNA) and SIRT1 are significant players in regulating various aspects of the circadian clock function. Furthermore, miRNA acts as a regulator of cancer progression by regulating the CSC characteristics through SIRT1. These findings led us to hypothesize that there is a circadian rhythm of CSC markers regulated by miRNAs in CRC with SIRT1 acting as a mediator of miRNA activity. The pharmacological regulation of SIRT1, and therefore of the circadian machinery, could result in antiproliferative effects and increased sensitivity to antitu‐ mor treatments in CRC.


Since the late 20th century, scholarship in science education has made considerable shifts from cognitive psychology and individual constructivism toward sociocultural theories of science education as frameworks for science teaching and learning. By and large, this scholarship has attended to the ways in which both doing and learning science are embedded within sociocultural contexts, whereby learners are enculturated into scientific practices through classroom-based or scientific learning communities, such as through an apprenticeship model. Still, science education theories and practice do not systematically take into account the experiences, interests, and concerns of marginalized student groups within science and science education. Critical sociocultural perspectives in science education take up issues and questions of how science education can better serve the interests of marginalized groups, while simultaneously creating spaces for marginalized groups to transform the sciences, and science education.
 These shifts in science education scholarship have been accompanied by a similar shift in qualitative research methods. Research methods in science education are transitioning from a focus on positivistic content analysis of learners' conceptions of core ideas in science, toward more robust qualitative methods—such as design experimentation, critical ethnography, and participatory research methods—that show how learners' identities are constituted with the complex spaces of science classrooms, as well as within larger societal matrices of oppression. The focus of this article is to communicate these recent trends in sociocultural perspectives on science education theory, research, and practice.


Income per capita in Uganda has doubled in the last 20 years. This remarkable performance has been buoyed by significant aid flows and large external imbalances. Economic growth has been concentrated in non-tradable activities leading to growing external imbalances and a growing gap between rural and urban incomes. Future growth will depend on achieving sufficient export dynamism. In addition, growth faces a number of other challenges: low urbanisation rate, rapid rural population growth and high dependency ratios. However, both the dependency ratio and fertility rates have begun to decline recently. Rural areas are also severely overcrowded with low-productivity subsistence agriculture as a pervasive form of production. Commercial agriculture has great possibilities to increase output, but as the sector improves its access to capital, inputs and technology it will shed jobs rather than create them. These challenges combined tell us that future growth in Uganda will require a rapid rate of export growth and economic diversification. The country faces the prospect of an oil boom of uncertain size and timing. It could represent an important stepping stone to achieve external sustainability, expanded income and infrastructure and a greater internal market. However, as with all oil booms, the challenges include avoiding the Dutch disease, managing the inevitable volatility in oil incomes and avoiding inefficient specialisation in oil. Policies that set targets for the non-oil deficit could help manage some of these effects, but a conscious strategy to diversify would still be needed. The best strategy is therefore to use the additional oil revenue and accompanying investments to promote a diversification strategy that is sustainable. To determine how to encourage such a transformation, we draw on a new line of research that demonstrates how development seldom implies producing more of the same. Instead, as countries grow, they tend to move into new industries, while they also increase productivity in existing sectors. In this report, we analyse what those new industries might be for Uganda. To do so, we first look to those products which balance the desire to increase the diversification and complexity of production, while not over-stretching existing capabilities. These include mostly agricultural inputs, such as agrochemicals and food processing. In addition, Uganda should concurrently develop more complex industries, such as construction materials, that are reasonably within reach of current capabilities and will be in great demand in the context of an oil boom. Here, the fact that Uganda is landlocked and faces high import costs will provide natural protection to the expanding demand in Uganda and neighbouring countries. We conclude with a discussion of the government policies that will support Uganda in developing new tradable industries.


Nowhere are the effects of climate change more visible than in polar and mountainous regions. To initiate the Interregional Technical Co-operation Project INT/5/153 (2014-18) on Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Land-Water-Ecosystem Quality in Polar and Mountainous Regions (funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency and supported by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture), we built a database containing 769 of the most significant journal papers on the effects of climate change in polar and mountainous regions between 2000-2014 (up until the Fifth IPCC Assessment). Using the number of paper citations per year (CPY) we derive the top fifty most cited journal papers published in the 15-year period. Analysis of the focus of these 'top fifty' papers is compared to the IPCC Fifth Assessment (AR5) Report (IPCC, 2013) and the full database. Five categories emerged, and by combining the number of papers in each category with the average CPY for the category, research on the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems (E) in polar and mountainous regions dominated, research on the impact on water resources (W) was second, the impact on people's livelihood (P) third, with ice and snow (I) fourth and landscape (L) fifth. Landscape (L), in our view, appears to be under researched and is presumably included in the IPCC Terrestrial Ecosystems category. We propose that policy makers should note this under-representation of high impact research into landscape processes (erosion and deposition processes), which needs to be addressed in future. Key words: citation analysis; literature review; climate change impacts; polar regions; mountainous regions; livelihood adaptation; soil-water-ecosystem quality


One of the keys to understand coronal heating is to understand the (magnetic) structure of the atmosphere below the respective coronal features. The EUV emission lines formed in the thin transition region from the chromosphere to the corona present a sensitive tool to study the structure and dynamics of the lowermost corona and its connection to the chromosphere. Data from the SUMER spectrograph on SOHO show for the rst time that broad components are a common feature of emission line proles formed from some 40 000 K to 10 6 K. The contribution of that tail component to the total intensity of the line exhibits a trend with line formation temperature that peaks in the middle transition region with smaller contribution at high and low temperatures. The line width of the tail component shows a monotonic increase with temperature that is consistent with a passing Alfv en wave, which is in contrast to the trend in width of the line core. Together with previous observations this presents evidence that the line core and the tail component are formed in radically dierent physically regimes. It is proposed that these are small closed loops and coronal funnels, respectively, with the latter being the footpoints of large coronal loops. The new results on the structuring of the transition region will improve understanding on heating the corona and accelerating the solar wind.


This article examines the unit-root property of the Australian short- and long-term interest rates using unit-root tests that accommodate a single or two breaks under the null and/or alternative hypothesis. Two breaks in interest rates are found to coincide with the 1982/83 and 1990/91 recessions or the 1993 inflation targeting period. We further investigate the implications of these structural breaks on the cointegrating relationship implied by the single, linear expectations hypothesis of the term structure of interest rates. While there is evidence that the data are consistent with the expectations hypothesis at the shorter end of the term structure, breaks in interest rates generate a shift in the cointegrating relationship, thus altering the information content of the term structure. Failing to account for a regime shift in the cointegration regression, the data erroneously supports the expectations hypothesis at the longer end of the term structure. These results have profound implications for policy makers who may inadequately exploit the information content of the term structure to predict future changes in inflation.


Genomic selection in modern farming demands sufficient semen production in young bulls. Factors affecting semen quality and production capacity in young bulls are not well understood; DNA methylation, a complicated phenomenon in sperm cells, is one such factors. In this study, fresh and frozen-thawed semen samples from the same Norwegian Red (NR) bulls at both 14 and 17 months of age were examined for sperm chromatin integrity parameters, ATP content, viability, and motility. Furthermore, reduced representation bisulfite libraries constructed according to two protocols, the Ovation® RRBS Methyl-Seq System (Ovation method) and a previously optimized gel-free method and were sequenced to study the sperm DNA methylome in frozen-thawed semen samples. Sperm quality analyses indicated that sperm concentration, total motility and progressivity in fresh semen from 17 months old NR bulls were significantly higher compared to individuals at 14 months of age. The percentage of DNA fragmented sperm cells significantly decreased in both fresh and frozen-thawed semen samples in bulls with increasing age. Libraries from the Ovation method exhibited a greater percentage of read loss and shorter read size following trimming. Downstream analyses for reads obtained from the gel-free method revealed similar global sperm DNA methylation but differentially methylated regions (DMRs) between 14- and 17 months old NR bulls. The majority of identified DMRs were hypomethylated in 14 months old bulls. Most of the identified DMRs (69%) exhibited a less than 10% methylation difference while only 1.5% of DMRs exceeded a 25% methylation difference. Pathway analysis showed that genes annotated with DMRs having low methylation differences (less than 10%) and DMRs having between 10 and 25% methylation differences, could be associated with important hormonal signaling and sperm function relevant pathways, respectively. The current research shows that RRBS in parallel with routine sperm quality analyses could be informative in reproductive capacity of young NR bulls. Although global sperm DNA methylation levels in 14 and 17 months old NR bulls were similar, regions with low and varying levels of DNA methylation differences can be identified and linked with important sperm function and hormonal pathways.


A game-theoretic model is used to show that the balance-of-power mechanism has much greater formal power than hitherto understood. Under the strong assumption that all threatened countries must be able to function as crucial coalition partners in deterring any threat, all members of minimum winning coalitions are guaranteed not to lose any resources. Under the traditional, weaker assumption that some coalition must be available to deter any threat, even countries that are not members of minimum winning coalitions are guaranteed against losing any resources. These formal results are significant in two ways. First, they make it possible to reconcile apparently contradictory views in the literature, and to offer a satisfying intuitive interpretation of the balance-of-power mechanism. Second, they point to a variety of factors - operating both separately and interactively - that may cause the balance-of-power mechanism to fail. Examples are uncertainty combined with risk-loving preferences, conflict-averse preferences, offensive technological advantages, economic growth, and technological and political rigidities in the formation of alliances and rivalries. It is argued that efforts to test balance-of-power theory should focus on assessing the relative importance of such factors.


Background— The presence and extent of coronary artery calcium (CAC) are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular events. We determined whether information on the distribution of CAC and coronary dominance as detected by cardiac computed tomography were incremental to traditional Agatston score (AS) in predicting incident major coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods and Results— We assessed total AS and the presence of CAC per coronary artery, per segment, and coronary dominance by computed tomography in participants from the offspring and third-generation cohorts of the Framingham Heart Study. The primary outcome was major CHD (myocardial infarction or CHD death). We performed multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis and calculated relative integrated discrimination improvement. In 1268 subjects (mean age, 56.2±10.3 years, 63.2% men) with AS >0 and no history of major CHD, a total of 42 major CHD events occurred during median follow-up of 7.4 years. The number of coronary arteries with CAC (hazard ratio, 1.68 per artery; 95% confidence interval, 1.10–2.57; P=0.02) and the presence of CAC in the proximal dominant coronary artery (hazard ratio, 2.59; 95% confidence interval, 1.15–5.83; P=0.02) were associated with major CHD events after multivariable adjustment for Framingham risk score and categories of AS. In addition, measures of CAC distribution improved discriminatory capacity for major CHD events (relative integrated discrimination improvement, 0.14). Conclusions— Distribution of coronary atherosclerosis, especially CAC in the proximal dominant coronary artery and an increased number of coronary arteries with CAC, predict major CHD events independently of the traditional AS in community-dwelling men and women.


Background: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 there was a drastic reduction in the number of dengue cases in Sri Lanka, with an increase towards the end of 2021. We sought to study the contribution of virological factors, human mobility, school closure and mosquito factors in affecting these changes in dengue transmission in Sri Lanka during this time. Methods and findings: To understand the reasons for the differences in the dengue case numbers in 2020 to 2021 compared to previous years, we determined the association between the case numbers in Colombo (which has continuously reported the highest number of cases) with school closures, stringency index, changes in dengue virus (DENV) serotypes and vector densities. There was a 79.4% drop in dengue cases from 2019 to 2020 in Colombo. A significant negative correlation was seen with the number of cases and school closures (Spearmans r=-0.4732, p=<0.0001) and a negative correlation, which was not significant, between the stringency index and case numbers (Spearmans r= -0.3755 p=0.0587). There was no change in the circulating DENV serotypes with DENV2 remaining the most prevalent serotype by early 2022 (65%), similar to the frequencies observed by end of 2019. The Aedes aegypti premise and container indices showed positive but insignificant correlations with dengue case numbers (Spearman r= 0.8827, p=0.93). Conclusions: Lockdown measures, especially school closures seemed to have had a significant impact on the number of dengue cases, while the vector indices had a limited effect.


Objective: To study the psychosocial impact of hearing impairment on hearing-impaired patients and their spouses.
Materials and Method: In the first phase of the study, two questionnaires (HHIA and SOSHEAR) were initially translated using forward-backward translation techniques by four-panelists (2 panels for each level). The translated questionnaire was then reconciled and harmonized for cultural and content by the researchers and two expert panels before being piloted among 10 hearing impaired patients. At the present stage, the translated questionnaires were validated on 50 hearing-impaired subjects and 20 spouses with Cronbach's α (for internal reliability) and Pearson's correlation for (inter-item correlation). Subject were recruited from IIUM Hearing & Speech Clinic and several hearing centre in Kuantan and Selangor. In second phase, the validated questionnaires were later being given to the same participants (50 HI and 20 spouse) to determine the level of handicap for both population in regards to the hearing-impairment. For the third phase, 10 couples were recruited and the score for both questionnaires were analysed to study the relationship between hearing-impaired patients' handicap level and their spouses' third-party impairment.
Results and Discussion: Cronbach's α value were excellent for combined items in both questionnaires. There were a strong correlation between the total score of the combined items with each of the sub-scale scores for both HHIA-M and SOSHEAR-M. For the second and third phase, the data collection process were still ongoing and will be ready soon.
Conclusion: The preliminary finding suggest the translated version of HHIA-M and SOSHEAR-M have the potential to be a reliable and valid tool to evaluate the hearing handicaps among hearing-impaired patients and their spouses in Malaysia. A large sample of subjects are needed for further evaluation to support this notions.


This public-private infrastructure advisory facility (PPIAF) - funded report aims to discuss and disseminate information on how Islamic finance has been applied in infrastructure projects through public-private partnership (PPP) schemes, what the structural challenges and solutions are, and what can be done to deepen and maximize the use of Islamic finance for this purpose. This report has two broad dimensions. The first is to enhance the understanding of Islamic finance building blocks as they relate to financing infrastructure PPP projects, and the second, and perhaps less well understood, is to explore how the building blocks of Islamic finance can fit within a PPP context. This report paves the way for providers of Islamic finance capital to become partners in infrastructure development and thus contribute to its overall global financing pool.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the arginase inhibitory activity, antioxidant activity, and also pharmacognostical study of Sterculia macrophylla leaves. The main component of genus Sterculia was flavonoid that was well known to demonstrate arginase inhibitory activity. Methods: Sample was extracted gradually using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol solvents, subsequently. The n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol extract were determined for their arginase inhibitory activity. The most active extract was methanol extract. This extract was determined for its antioxidant activity, arginase inhibitory activity, identification of chemical compound, chromatogram profile and determined the content of total flavonoid. The leaves and powder of Sterculia macrophylla were identified with microscopic and macroscopic evaluation. Results: The most active extract was methanol extract with IC50 114,659 μg/mL for arginase inhibitory activity and IC50 78.47 μg/mL for DPPH scavenging activity. The secondary metabolite of methanol extract presence compound of alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin, terpene, and glycoside. The total flavonoid content was 141.10 mg/gram extract. The star-shape trichoma was identified as a specific fragment. Conclusion: The methanol extract of Sterculia macrophylla showed activity as arginase inhibitor and antioxidant.


This is a review essay of Randy Barnett's book Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty (Princeton University Press, 2004). I consider Barnett's libertarian theory of constitutional law in three stages. In Part I, I criticize the external theory of political legitimacy that Barnett applies to the Constitution. I argue that this theory had nothing to do with the actual reasons the Constitution was accepted as legitimate when it was ratified. In Part II, I focus on Barnett's theory of constitutional interpretation and his account of the necessary and proper clause, the foundation of the presumption of liberty. I also critique Barnett's treatment of the Lochner era. In Part III, I examine Barnett's approach to governmental power under the Constitution, particularly with respect to the commerce clause and the state police power.


The thesis critically appropriates the collaborative philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and
Felix Guattari to argue that the general tendency of capitalism is towards the
disintegration of high-level control structures (for instance, the nation-state). This
disintegration does not entail a movement towards total chaos or anarchy. I argue that
capital generates its own guidance mechanisms, but ones that act at a low-level, and
respond flexibly to changing conditions (an instance of micro-politics). One of the
difficulties of this project stems from the fact that the canon of philosophical discourse
itself operates as a high-level control structure. In Marx, the development of capital
is controlled by a secularized Hegelian dialectic that determines the outcome of capital
in socialism. For Freud, the low level organization of the unconscious is subjected to
high-level control through the universality of the Oedipus complex. By addressing the
need for new philosophical instruments to understand capitalism, the thesis produces
critiques of Marx and Freud, and advances a philosophy of economics by examining
the function of axiomatics. Moreover, in critiquing presupposed structures (for
example, the unconscious as a theatre of representation), the thesis argues for an
immanent system (mulliplicity) of interaction within capitalism.
The research undertaken to complete the thesis has consisted
of contemporary experiments in complexity theory, and current socio/economic
analyses of labour markets. Of particular interest has been the current deindustrialization
that has taken place in the west coast of the United States. With the
influx of a periphery into the core area of Los Angeles, the current role of urban
politics and minor literatures (most notably Shakur's autobiography) unleash desire
into the circuit of the city. I conclude with a re-examination of micro
political/economic movements that have manifested themselves into the economy of
Los Angeles. By decoding locally impoverished economic and cultural sectors,
emergent properties have sprouted by realigning subversive activity onto the apex of
capital (an immanence to capitalist processes).


In 1952 Bolivia was transformed by revolution. With the army destroyed from only a few days of fighting, workers and peasants took up arms to claim the country as their own. Overnight, the electorate expanded five-fold. Industries were turned over to worker organisations to manage, and land was distributed to peasant communities. Education became universal and free for the first time in the country's history. This volume, the result of a conference organised by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies of Harvard University and the Institute for Latin American Studies at the University of London, presents new interpretations of the causes of the events of 1952 and compares them to the great social transformations that occurred in France, Mexico, Russia, China and Cuba. It also considers the consequences of the revolution by examining the political, social and economic development of the country, as well as adding important insights to the analysis of revolution and the understanding of this fascinating Andean country.


Georges Seurat first employed his divisionist painting technique on A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884 beginning in October 1885. Painting with pigments representing colors seen in the visible spectrum that were minimally mixed on the palette and using divided brushstrokes, he aimed to impart luminosity to the surface and to explore 19 th century ideas of color theory, such as simultaneous contrast. Pigment analysis has disclosed that the brushwork containing zinc yellow has darkened significantly: Yellow, green-yellow, and orange brushstrokes have become brown, olive-green, and reddish brown, respectively. Additionally, the painting has further darkened due to the natural aging of the oil medium. By performing spectral reflectance measurements in-situ on darkened areas of the painting and on paint-outs of comparable unaltered colors, using Kubelka-Munk turbid media theory, imaging the painting with color-managed digital photography, and image editing with Adobe ® Photoshop ® , a digital version of the original, more luminous appearance of La Grande Jatte was simulated.


One of the key questions in particle physics today, is the origin of the electroweak symmetry breaking. The answer to this question will most likely be solved with the data provided by the Large Hadron Collider which started colliding protons in 2008. Many ideas have been posed to how particles gain their masses. The most promising of these ideas is the Higgs mechanism which predicts the existence of a new massive scalar boson, the Higgs boson. Since the discovery of a new particle consistent with a Standard Model Higgs boson was made on July 4 by the ATLAS and CMS experiment, the solution for the puzzle of the electroweak symmetry breaking might be very near. However, in order to fully claim a discovery of the Standard Model Higgs boson, the new particle has to be proven to be a scalar boson and its decay has to be observed in both bosonic and fermionic final states with the corrected branching ratios predicted by the Standard Model. So far the new boson has only been seen in the bosonic γγ, ZZ and WW final states, and the new particle is yet to be observed in any fermionic final state. Among the fermionic final states, the largest sensitivity is expected in τ+τ− and bb. In this thesis, a search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the fully hadronic τ+τ− final state is presented. In the selection of Higgs candidate events, a technique for recreating the rest frame of the τ -pairs is shown to be a powerful tool for discriminating between Higgs and background events. Using the reconstructed rest frame, a new mass estimation technique is developed and compared to the existing methods. Finally, an updated limit on the Higgs production cross section is derived using the data recorded by ATLAS during 2011, and compared to the existing ATLAS limit. The thesis is structured as follows: In the first part a brief introduction to the Standard Model including the Higgs mechanism is given, followed by a description on the production of Higgs bosons at the LHC in the Standard Model. The second part describes the ATLAS experiment in general, but a special emphasis is put on the SCT prompt calibration loop, which a great deal of the work of this thesis has gone into developing. The last part describes in the analysis of τ -pairs using the ATLAS detector. First, general description of the newly developed method for the rest frame reconstruction is given, followed by several chapters on the search for the Higgs boson in the τ+τ− final state. Here, the attention is put on mass estimation, background normalisation and evaluation of the theoretical uncertainties related


Defective insulin secretion and insulin resistance are the two hallmarks of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). The pathophysiology of the disease is not fully understood but genetic susceptibility for the disease is a new major player in the understanding of the underlying mechanisms. T2D research has in recent years invested tremendous efforts in identifying new risk variants for the disease. It has proven to be a great success, with about 40 new risk loci identified. This thesis describes the discovery and functional phenotype of one of these risk variants: the melatonin receptor 2 (MT2; MTNR1B). The overall aim was to understand the link between this genetic variation and the functional phenotype.
The initial finding of the risk variant in the MTNR1B gene was associated with increased fasting plasma glucose, impaired early insulin secretion, and increased risk of T2D. Also, risk variant carriers displayed increased mRNA expression of MTNR1B in islets, suggesting a direct inhibitory effect of melatonin on β-cells.
The confirmation and further characterization of melatonin receptor expression in pancreatic islets was completed in study II. Here, we could show that murine pancreatic islets express MT2 in β-cells, whereas melatonin receptor 1 (MT1) is localized in α-cells. After an intravenous glucose challenge, glucose elimination was unaltered in MT2 whole body knock out animals. In contrast, insulin secretion was elevated, particularly the first phase of secretion. This could in part be explained by an increased amount of pancreatic islets in these animals.
The two other knock out strains investigated – the MT1 knock out and the double knock out MT1/2 – displayed a more moderate phenotype. Whereas the MT1/2 mouse was very similar to wild type mice in all parameters of glucose homeostasis investigated, MT1 mice displayed a more diabetes-like phenotype, with elevated blood glucose levels after glucose challenge.
Taken together, findings in the MT2 knock out mice supported the model of a gain-of-function mutation in MT2/MTNR1B in humans in T2D. This results in increased expression of the receptor in β-cells, where it exhibits a direct inhibition of insulin release. With this, we have substantiated a possible link between the genetic risk variant and the functional phenotype of MTNR1B.


Skip-lot sampling plan serves as a cost-effective technique to manage the cost of performing frequent product inspections. As a powerful tool within a real-time quality management system, the ability to collect data which an optimize skip-lot sampling parameters affords manufacturers the luxury of lowering inspection expenses in various manufacturing units. The good quality of product can be produced in continuous improvement of production process in excellent quality history for suppliers. The procedures and necessary tables are provided for finding the respective plans for which sum of producer and consumer risks are minimized with acceptable and limiting quality levels which accounts for the prior distribution of process state for each lot and revenue received appreciably which reduces destructive testing.


Received: January 25, 2019 Accepted: February 20, 2019 Published: March 31, 2019 Volume: 2 Issue: 2 DOI: 10.32996/ijllt.2019.2.2.1 The present article sought to provide a comparison between The Sophoclean Trilogy and King Lear, respectively produced by Sophocles in the 5th century BC Greece and by William Shakespeare in 1606 at the end of the Elizabethan era in Britain. The comparison was set to investigate the two playwrights' adherence to the production of a good tragedy such as the one Aristotle described in his Poetics. Another attempt was to explain how tragedy evolved during Elizabethan times and measure the extent of deviation both from Aristotle's and Sophocles' conception of some essential tragic factors relating mostly to the hero's hamartia and fall, learning and recognition, fate and free will, retribution and redemption, in addition to diction and style. As the comparison showed, some changes were, indeed, made in the tragedy of King Lear, namely at the level of form, including, among others, the division of the play into separate Acts and Scenes, the breaking of the unity of Action, the increase of the number of characters, etc. At the level of content, the changes appear to have equally touched some important issues, namely the role of fate and prophecies, the characters' flaws, in addition to the nature of the relation between family members, to mention but a few changes. At a deeper level, however, Shakespeare's tragedy mostly remained faithful to its classical heritage, namely through the punishment of the bad and the gratifying of the good. The gods were always omnipresent and ready to reestablish the status quo, restore justice and bring back prosperity and peace, though sometimes in an incomprehensible way, especially when their action was coupled with fate and bad fortune. KEYWORD


SUMMARY Our goal is to introduce a more appropriate method of representing, generalising and comparing gaits; particularly, walking gait. Human walking gaits are a result of complex, interdependent factors that include variations resulting from embodiments, environment and tasks, making techniques that use average template frameworks suboptimal for systematic analysis or corrective interventions. The proposed work aims to devise methodologies for being able to represent gaits and gait transitions such that optimal policies that eliminate the inter-personal variations from tasks and embodiments may be recovered. Our approach is built upon (i) work in the domain of nullspace policy recovery and (ii) previous work in generalisation for point-to-point movements. The problem is formalised using a walking-phase model, and the nullspace learning method is used to generalise a consistent policy from multiple observations with rich variations. Once recovered, the underlying policies (mapped to different gait phases) can serve as reference guideline to quantify and identify pathological gaits while being robust against interpersonal and task variations. To validate our methods, we have demonstrated robustness of our method with simulated sagittal two-link gait data with multiple ground truth constraints and policies. Pathological gait identification was then tested on real-world human gait data with induced gait abnormality, with the proposed method showing significant robustness to variations in speed and embodiment compared to template-based methods. Future work will extend this to kinetic features and higher dimensional features.


Between the State and Islam, ed. by Charles E. Butterworth and I. William Zartman. Cambridge, UK and Washington, DC: Cambridge University Press and the Woodrow Wilson Center, 2001. viii + 244 pages. Contribs. to p. 248. Index to p. 256. $49.95 cloth; $18.95 paper. The Islamic Quest for Democracy, Pluralism, and Human Rights, by Ahmad S. Moussalli. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2001. 167 pages. Notes to p. 184. Sel. bibl. to p. 215. Index to p. 226. $55. Reviewed by Bruce Lawrence Both of the books under review were written and published before September 11, 2001. Like all other research and reflection on the Middle East, the Arab world, and Islam, they take on a different salience after September 11 th, in large part due to public reaction to the horrors of the events of that day. How Americans think about themselves and others is shaped and reshaped not just by the military war against Afghanistan and the domestic war against immigrants suspected of links to terrorism, but also by the propaganda war. The twin agenda of US officialdom has been to win the war abroad and to win the war at home - the latter to convince all citizens that American ideals of democracy and freedom require access to foreign oil, whether from Middle Eastern or Central Asian sources or, more likely, from both. Without the strategic priority of oil, there would be no terror; there would also be no war on terrorism. Yet, much of academic writing has painted Islam as the problem and Islamic terrorists as an especially nasty manifestation thereof. From Israel enthusiasts, such as Daniel Pipes and Bernard Lewis, to global theorists like Samuel Huntington and Francis Fukuyama, the constant refrain has been: the Muslim world is out of step with modernity; Western and Islamic civilizations will collide, perhaps even clash; and Islamofascism, in Fukuyama's infelicitous phrasing, will become the major barrier to the global triumph of democratic capitalism. It is against the backdrop of constant, relentless exposition of barbaric Islam, in visual no less than in print media, that one must make sense of the two books under review. In the aftermath of September 1I th - when Islam has become the enemy for many Americans, when a Nobel Prize laureate, V.S. Naipaul, is acclaimed for having lampooned Islam as an Arab religion fostering neurosis and nihilism (see Beyond Belief. Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples, 1998) - it is all the more important to hold on to a modicum of academic realism and historical proportionality. These two books provide both. Neither of these books will please those who want to wage a war on terrorism that fixes the blame for September 11 th on civilizational conflict or Islamo-fascism. Although they move in different directions, the two books focus on a common project: to disconnect the opposition of Islam and the West by showing how state and religion need to be rethought as the crucial indices for assessing the Muslim majority states of the Middle East and Asia. Their recurrent tone is to underscore forces of skepticism, liberty, and creativity that emerge in West and Central Asia throughout the l9th/20th centuries. They conjure a wide cast of characters whose life work and legacies exceed the diatribes of Pipes and Lewis even as they falsify the grand antinomies invoked by Fukuyama and Huntington. Between the State and Islam contains ten essays, framed by the two editors' very different approaches. Butterworth's essay is an insider's take on the academic battle for assessing political religion. Severely critiquing Mohammed Arkoun and Olivier Roy as vague and inconsistent in their approach to Islamism, Butterworth lauds John Esposito and John Voll for their exposition of particular Islamist spokespersons, among them Mawdudi, Hasan al-Turabi and Rachid Ghannouchi. In contrast, Zartman's essay concludes with a caveat against Islamism (arguing that it may, in fact, be incongruent with democracy, as the Algerian elections of 1991 demonstrated), at the same time that he confirms democracy as the wave of the future for Muslim as for non-Muslim polities (p. …


This paper presents a method for the automated detection of dropped objects in surveillance scenarios, which is a very important task for abandoned object detection. Our method works in single views and exploits prior information of the scene, such as geometry or the fact that a number of false alarms are caused by known objects, such as humans. The proposed approach builds dropped object candidates by analyzing blobs obtained with a multi-layer background subtraction approach. The created dropped object candidates are then characterized both by appearance and by temporal aspects such as the estimated drop time. Next, we incorporate prior knowledge about the possible sizes and positions of dropped objects through an efficient filtering approach. Finally, the output of a human detector is exploited over in order to filter out static objects that are likely to be humans that remain still. Experimental results on the publicly available PETS2006 datasets and on several long sequences recorded in metro stations show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Furthermore, our approach can operate in real-time.


This essay explores how a small diasporic Muslim community in the colonial era – known today as the Sri Lankan Malays – maintained its culture through the preservation of language, the transmission of literary and religious texts, the cultivation of genres and of a script. Beginning in the late seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth, the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) used the island of Ceylon as a site of banishment for those considered rebels in the regions under Company control in the Indonesian archipelago. Criminals from these territories were also sent to Ceylon, as were native troops who served in the Dutch army, and others employed in various capacities. After their takeover of the island in 1796, the British too brought to Ceylon colonial subjects from the archipelago and the Malay Peninsula, primarily to serve in their military. I examine issues of cultural encounter and religious developments through an analysis of a Malay manuscript written in Colombo in the early years of the nineteenth century. I emphasize the referencing of titles and names as well as the text's multilingual character. Through this discussion I question the notion of distinctly defined centres and margins as they pertain to the Sri Lankan Malays – situated physically and figuratively between the Malay and Arab worlds – and suggest that crossroads, connections and movement are more appropriate conceptual categories for considering their case.


Background Although diseases associated with microvascular endothelial dysfunction are among the most prevalent illnesses to date, currently no method exists to isolate pure endothelial cells (EC) from skeletal muscle for in vivo or in vitro study. Methodology By utilizing multicolor fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS), we have isolated a distinct population of Sca-1+, CD31+, CD34dim and CD45− cells from skeletal muscles of C57BL6 mice. Characterization of this population revealed these cells are functional EC that can be expanded several times in culture without losing their phenotype or capabilities to uptake acetylated low-density lipoprotein (ac-LDL), produce nitric oxide (NO) and form vascular tubes. When transplanted subcutaneously or intramuscularly into the tibialis anterior muscle, EC formed microvessels and integrated with existing vasculature. Conclusion This method, which is highly reproducible, can be used to study the biology and role of EC in diseases such as peripheral vascular disease. In addition this method allows us to isolate large quantities of skeletal muscle derived EC with potential for therapeutic angiogenic applications.


Dryness and fatigue are prevalent and debilitating symptoms in Sjogren's syndrome. In this thesis, consequences of dryness for patients' well-being and daily life functioning, and possible targets for treatment were described. In the first part of this thesis, an encompassing overview of the consequences of dryness from the perspective of the patients was revealed. The hierarchical overview comprised generic psychosocial consequences and disease-specific consequences including primary symptoms of eyes and mouth and hindered participation in social activities, intimacy problems, and somatic (systemic) symptoms. Second, the consequences of dryness with respect to crying problems were studied. Compared with demographically matched control participants, patients with Sjogren's syndrome reported lower crying sensibility and capability to cry with tears, a higher presence of bodily symptoms after crying, and a higher severity of suffering from a reduced capability to cry. The crying dimensions generally showed significant but weak associations with ocular dryness and mental well-being in patients. Third, consequences for emotional well-being of the hampered ability to cry are described. It was found that processing and regulating emotions generally did not deviate from normal with one exception: a relatively large number of patients, 22%, were alexithymic (i.e., had difficulty identifying and describing feelings and focusing on external events rather than inner experiences). Processing emotions more intensely or more deficiently and regulating emotions by more suppression was associated with worse mental well-being; virtually alike in patients and control participants. The second part of this thesis describes possible targets for treatment of fatigue in Sjogren's syndrome. Physical activity and physical activity cognitions were found to be independently associated with fatigue. Moreover, the combination of low physical activity and high activity avoidance was associated with both fatigue. These results suggest that fatigue in patients with Sjogren's syndrome might be reduced by targeting both physical activity and physical activity cognitions. In another study, we examined whether there were different psychological profiles (subgroups) in patients with Sjogren's syndrome, and how these profiles were related to fatigue. Four psychological profiles were identified using cluster analyses, a functional profile (in which 39% of the patients were grouped), an alexithymic profile (27%), a self-reliant profile (23%), and a dysfunctional profile (11%). Irrespective of the psychological profile of patients, the level of fatigue was substantially higher than in the general population. Patients with a dysfunctional or an alexithymic profile reported more fatigue than those with a self-reliant profile. Since cognitive behavioural therapy and graded exercise therapy are promising treatments in reducing fatigue, this thesis describes the development and feasibility of such an intervention for patients with Sjogren's syndrome. This intervention seemed convenient for people to follow and the participants in the first intervention group noted that it had changed their way of coping with fatigue. The next, ongoing, step is to conduct a randomised controlled trial examining whether a combination of cognitive behavioural group therapy and exercise therapy are effective in reducing fatigue in Sjogren's syndrome. Using information about psychological profiles of patients, treatment might be customized to make it effective and suitable for a large group of patients. This could improve the quality of life of patients with Sjogren's syndrome.


We analyze democratic accountability in open economies based on different hypotheses about political evaluations and government responsiveness. Specifically, we assess whether citizens primarily rely on government policies or if they focus on economic outcomes resulting from these policies to evaluate governments. Our empirical analysis relies on Bayesian structural vector autoregression models for the British economy, aggregate monthly measures of public opinion, and economic evaluations from 1984 to 2006. We find that voters continuously monitor and strongly respond contemporaneously to changes in monetary and fiscal policies, but less to changes in macroeconomic outcomes. Voters also respond to policies differently when institutions change. When the Bank of England became politically independent, citizens shifted their attention toward fiscal policy, and the role of monetary policy in their evaluations decreased significantly. Finally, politicians respond to voting behavior by adjusting their policies in a sensible way. When vote intentions and approval decrease, the government reacts to the public by adjusting fiscal policy and, before the Bank of England became independent, also monetary policy.


I N THIS ISSUE of the ARCHIVES, Morris and colleagues report data from a remarkable prospective study of Alzheimer disease (AD) in a biracial community in Chicago, Ill (815 people, aged 65-94 years). They found that subjects who ate fish once a week or more had a 60% lower risk for developing AD than those who consumed fish less frequently. The data were statistically adjusted to correct for the effects of age, sex, ethnicity, education, stroke, hypertension, heart disease, apolipoprotein E (apo E) genotype, total caloric intake, and consumption of other fats or vitamin E. Intake of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and docosahexaenoic acid (omega-3) was associated with a reduced risk of developing AD over the 4 years of the study. Intake of -linolenic acid or eicosapentaenpoic acid was not associated with disease after adjustment. Intake of -linolenic acid, found in vegetable oils and nuts, was protective only in people with the apoE 4 allele, and total n-3 fatty acid intake was protective only in women. These data and other work in the area suggest that consumption of PUFAs found in fish, vegetable oils, and nuts may reduce AD risk.


Score-based generative models can produce high quality image samples comparable to GANs, without requiring adversarial optimization. However, existing training procedures are limited to images of low resolution (typically below 32x32), and can be unstable under some settings. We provide a new theoretical analysis of learning and sampling from score models in high dimensional spaces, explaining existing failure modes and motivating new solutions that generalize across datasets. To enhance stability, we also propose to maintain an exponential moving average of model weights. With these improvements, we can effortlessly scale score-based generative models to images with unprecedented resolutions ranging from 64x64 to 256x256. Our score-based models can generate high-fidelity samples that rival best-in-class GANs on various image datasets, including CelebA, FFHQ, and multiple LSUN categories.


Arrays computations are at the core of numerical modelling and computational science applications. However, low-level manipulation of array indices is a source of program error. Many practitioners are aware of the need to ensure program correctness, yet very few of the techniques from the programming research community are applied by scientists. We aim to change that by providing targetted lightweight verification techniques for scientific code. We focus on the all too common mistake of array offset errors as a generalisation of off-by-one errors. Firstly, we report on a code analysis study on eleven real-world computational science code base, identifying common idioms of array usage and their spatial properties. This provides much needed data on array programming idioms common in scientific code. From this data, we designed a lightweight declarative specification language capturing the majority of array access patterns via a small set of combinators. We detail a semantic model, and the design and implementation of a verification tool for our specification language, which both checks and infers specifications. We evaluate our tool on our corpus of scientific code. Using the inference mode, we found roughly 87,000 targets for specification across roughly 1.1 million lines of code, showing that the vast majority of array computations read from arrays in a pattern with a simple, regular, static shape. We also studied the commit logs of one of our corpus packages, finding past bug fixes for which our specification system distinguishes the change and thus could have been applied to detect such bugs.


Four unique gas phase mechanisms for peptide bond formation between two glycine molecules have been mapped out with quantum mechanical electronic structure methods. Both concerted and stepwise mechanisms, each leading to a cis and trans glycylglycine product (four mechanisms total), were examined with the B3LYP and MP2 methods and Gaussian atomic orbital basis sets as large as aug-cc-pVTZ. Electronic energies of the stationary points along the reaction pathways were also computed with explicitly correlated MP2-F12 and CCSD(T)-F12 methods. The CCSD(T)-F12 computations indicate that the electronic barriers to peptide bond formation are similar for all four mechanisms (ca. 32-39 kcal mol(-1) relative to two isolated glycine fragments). The smallest barrier (32 kcal mol(-1)) is associated with the lone transition state for the concerted mechanism leading to the formation of a trans peptide bond, whereas the largest barrier (39 kcal mol(-1)) was encountered along the concerted pathway leading to the cis configuration of the glycylglycine dipeptide. Two significant barriers are encountered for the stepwise mechanisms. For both the cis and trans pathways, the early electronic barrier is 36 kcal mol(-1) and the subsequent barrier is approximately 1 kcal mol(-1) lower. A host of intermediates and transition states lie between these two barriers, but they all have very small relative electronic energies (ca. ± 4 kcal mol(-1)). The isolated cis products (glycylglycine + H2O) are virtually isoenergetic with the isolated reactants (within -1 kcal mol(-1)), whereas the trans products are about 5 kcal mol(-1) lower in energy. In both products, however, the water can hydrogen bond to the dipeptide and lower the energy by roughly 5-9 kcal mol(-1). This study indicates that the concerted process leading to a trans configuration about the peptide bond is marginally favored both thermodynamically (exothermic by ca. 5 kcal mol(-1)) and kinetically (barrier height ≈ 32 kcal mol(-1)) according to the CCSD(T)-F12/haTZ electronic energies. The other pathways have slightly larger barrier heights (by 4-8 kcal mol(-1)).


Applies linguistics methods for a richer understanding of literary texts and spoken language. "Dialect and Dichotomy" outlines the history of dialect writing in English and its influence on linguistic variation. It also surveys American dialect writing and its relationship to literary, linguistic, political, and cultural trends, with emphasis on African American voices in literature.Furthermore, this book introduces and critiques canonical works in literary dialect analysis and covers recent, innovative applications of linguistic analysis of literature. Next, it proposes theoretical principles and specific methods that can be implemented in order to analyze literary dialect for either linguistic or literary purposes, or both. Finally, the proposed methods are applied in four original analyses of African American speech as represented in major works of fiction of the American South Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Charles W. Chesnutt's "The Conjure Woman," William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury," and Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God.""Dialect and Dichotomy" is designed to be accessible to audiences with a variety of linguistic and literary backgrounds. It is an ideal research resource and course text for students and scholars interested in areas including American, African American, and southern literature and culture; linguistic applications to literature; language in the African American community; ethnicity and representation; literary dialect analysis and/or computational linguistics; dialect writing as genre; and American English."


This thesis provides a literary commentary on Dionysius of
Alexandria's Guide to the Inhabited World, verses 174-382.
The commentary focuses on two central aspects of the work.
First, it compares Dionysius' portrayal of the inhabited world with
representations by earlier and contemporary geographical authors, and
attempts to trace the sources of his geographical and ethnographical
material. Second, and more important for an understanding of the
poem as a whole, the commentary highlights the relationship of the
work to its poetic models. Dionysius drew much upon the work of
Hellenistic poets, such as Aratus and Apollonius Rhodius, as well as
upon Homer and Hesiod. I therefore focus largely upon the way in
which he used such models to produce a literary map of a timeless
world, consisting as much of the peoples and places of Greek myths as
of the peoples and places which his contemporaries might have
expected to encounter.
The introduction begins by examining the evidence for
Dionysius' life and other works, before outlining the structure of the
Periegesis itself. It then sets out the framework for the aims of the
commentary by providing accounts of the geographical tradition and
of the literary models on which Dionysius drew. Finally, the
introduction presents a brief history of the text of the Periegesis,
looking at the evidence of the manuscript tradition, the scholia, Latin
translations, Greek paraphrases, and the twelfth-century commentary
on the poem by Eustathius.
The commentary is accompanied by an English translation of
the entire poem, and by an appendix of Homeric hapax legomena
which occur within the verses studied in the commentary.