Modern optical systems are subject to very restrictive performance, size and cost requirements. Especially in portable systems size often is the most important factor, which necessitates elaborate designs to achieve the desired specifications. However, current designs already operate very close to the physical limits and further progress is difficult to achieve by changing only the complexity of the design. Another way of improving the performance is to tailor the optical properties of materials specifically to the application at hand. A class of novel, customizable materials that enables the tailoring of the optical properties, and promises to overcome many of the intrinsic disadvantages of polymers, are nanocomposites. However, despite considerable past research efforts, these types of materials are largely underutilized in optical systems. To shed light into this issue we, in this paper, discuss how nanocomposites can be modeled using effective medium theories. In the second part, we then investigate the fundamental requirements that have to be fulfilled to make nanocomposites suitable for optical applications, and show that it is indeed possible to fabricate such a material using existing methods. Furthermore, we show how nanocomposites can be used to tailor the refractive index and dispersion properties towards specific applications..


Abstract Now is a critical time to develop a patient‐centered care model in the field of orthopaedic surgery. Patient‐centered care is defined by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons as the provision of safe, effective, and timely musculoskeletal care achieved through cooperation between the orthopaedic surgeon; an informed, respected patient (and family); and a coordinated health care team. Patient‐centered care, a paradigm shift from diseasecentered care, is being championed by government agencies, patient advocacy groups, and insurance companies. Orthopaedic organizations must develop a comprehensive education program to provide surgeons the tools they need to navigate this paradigm shift.


A central challenge of developmental and evolutionary biology is to understand how anatomy is encoded in the genome. Elucidating the genetic mechanisms that control the development of specific anatomical features will require the analysis of model morphogenetic processes and an integration of biological information at genomic, cellular and tissue levels. The formation of the endoskeleton of the sea urchin embryo is a powerful experimental system for developing such an integrated view of the genomic regulatory control of morphogenesis. The dynamic cellular behaviors that underlie skeletogenesis are well understood and a complex transcriptional gene regulatory network (GRN) that underlies the specification of embryonic skeletogenic cells (primary mesenchyme cells, PMCs) has recently been elucidated. Here, we link the PMC specification GRN to genes that directly control skeletal morphogenesis. We identify new gene products that play a proximate role in skeletal morphogenesis and uncover transcriptional regulatory inputs into many of these genes. Our work extends the importance of the PMC GRN as a model developmental GRN and establishes a unique picture of the genomic regulatory control of a major morphogenetic process. Furthermore, because echinoderms exhibit diverse programs of skeletal development, the newly expanded sea urchin skeletogenic GRN will provide a foundation for comparative studies that explore the relationship between GRN evolution and morphological evolution.


Disordered hyperuniform heterogeneous materials are new, exotic amorphous states of matter that behave like crystals in the manner in which they suppress volume-fraction fluctuations at large length scales, and yet are statistically isotropic with no Bragg peaks. It has recently been shown that disordered hyperuniform dielectric two-dimensional (2D) cellular network solids possess complete photonic band gaps comparable in size to photonic crystals, while at the same time maintaining statistical isotropy, enabling waveguide geometries not possible with photonic crystals. Motivated by these developments, we explore other functionalities of various 2D ordered and disordered hyperuniform cellular networks, including their effective thermal or electrical conductivities and elastic moduli. We establish the multifunctionality of a class of such low-density networks by demonstrating that they maximize or virtually maximize the effective conductivities and elastic moduli. This is accomplished using the machinery of homogenization theory, including optimal bounds and cross-property bounds, and statistical mechanics. We rigorously prove that anisotropic networks consisting of sets of intersecting parallel channels in the low-density limit, ordered or disordered, possess optimal effective conductivity tensors. For a variety of different disordered networks, we show that when short-range and long-range order increases, there is an increase in both the effective conductivity and elastic moduli of the network. Moreover, we demonstrate that the effective conductivity and elastic moduli of various disordered networks derived from disordered 'stealthy' hyperuniform point patterns possess virtually optimal values. We note that the optimal networks for conductivity are also optimal for the fluid permeability associated with slow viscous flow through the channels as well as the mean survival time associated with diffusion-controlled reactions in the channels. In summary, we have identified ordered and disordered hyperuniform low-weight cellular networks that are multifunctional with respect to transport (e.g., heat dissipation and fluid transport), mechanical and electromagnetic properties, which can be readily fabricated using 3D printing and lithographic technologies.


A novel symmetry method for finding exact solutions to nonlinear PDEs is illustrated by applying it to a semilinear reaction-diffusion equation in multi-dimensions. The method uses a separation ansatz to solve an equivalent first-order group foliation sys- tem whose independent and dependent variables respectively consist of the invariants and differential invariants of a given one-dimensional group of point symmetries for the reaction- diffusion equation. With this group-foliation reduction method, solutions of the reaction- diffusion equation are obtained in an explicit form, including group-invariant similarity solutions and travelling-wave solutions, as well as dynamically interesting solutions that are not invariant under any of the point symmetries admitted by this equation.


Is there an economic rationale for pronatalist policies? In this paper we propose and analyze a particular market failure that may lead to inefficiently low equilibrium fertility and therefore to a need for government intervention. The friction we investigate is related to the ownership of children. If parents have no claim on their children's income, then the private benefit from producing a child may be smaller than the social benefit. We present an overlapping-generations (OLG) model with fertility choice and altruism, and model ownership by introducing a minimum constraint on transfers from parents to children. Using the efficiency concepts proposed in Golosov, Jones and Tertilt (2007), we find that whenever the transfer floor is binding, fertility choices are inefficient. We show how this inefficiency relates to dynamic inefficiency in standard OLG models with exogenous fertility and Millian efficiency in models with endogenous fertility. In particular, we show that the usual conditions for efficiency are no longer sufficient. Further, we analyze several government policies in this context. We find that, in contrast to settings with exogenous fertility, a PAYG social security system cannot be used to implement the efficient allocation. Rather, government transfers need to be tied to a person's fertility choice in order to provide incentives for child bearing, thus providing a justification for pronatalist policies.


Background and purpose: Sleep is necessary to maintain physical health. Every metabolic disorder especially obesity, can affect the quality and quantity of sleep. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sleep quality and quantity and obesity. Materials and methods: In this descriptive study, data of 3559 participants aged 20 to 70 years were collected from Yazd Health Study (YaS) using a researcher-made questionnaire. The obesity was determined based on BMI. Data was analyzed using Chi-square test, regression analysis and CI in SPSS V.18. Results: The participants were 49.5% male. The prevalence of obesity in males and females was 17.3% and 33.9%, respectively. The lowest rate of obesity was found in people aged 20 to 29 years (12%), and the highest rate was observed in those aged 60 to 69 years old (30.4%). The results showed that people with sleep less than six hours, and more than ten hours were 2 and 2.5 times more likely to become obese, respectively. Individuals waking up in an unwanted time of sleep –three times or more(47%), having more than three nightmares (33%), taking three or more sleeping pills (51%), and people who had more than 60 minutes delay in falling asleep (17%) were more at risk of obesity. Conclusion: Considering the importance of enough sleep, sleep hygiene practices are necessary to improve the quantity and quality of sleep in order to prevent obesity.


A variety of anatomical variation of paranasal sinus and nasal turbinates exist, as its development is a complex and long standing process. Computerized Tomography (CT) of the paranasal sinuses is a very valuable tool in diagnosing these variations. Preoperatively defining the anatomical variations of the intranasal structures is essential in performing the safe functional endoscopic sinus surgery and to avoid unnecessary complications. Several degrees and combinations of aplasias and hypoplasias have been reported. We report a case of 37-year-old male who presented with bilateral nasal block and rhinorrhea and his CT paranasal sinuses showed gross septal spur in left side, absence of right middle, inferior and superior turbinates, absent right ethmoid air cells, aplastic right frontal sinus, left concha bullosa with bilateral maxillary sinusitis.


Abstract Introduction. Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is important in diabetes management. Reliable and user-friendly instruments are essential. OneTouch Verio® is a new blood glucose concentration-measuring system designed to be used by patients with diabetes and healthcare professionals. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the analytical performance of the OneTouch Verio®. Method. The OneTouch Verio® was evaluated by the Scandinavian evaluation of laboratory equipment for primary healthcare (SKUP) according to a protocol based on ISO 15197 and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) quality goals. Blood samples were collected and measured on the OneTouch Verio® by laboratory personnel and patients with diabetes (n = 91, randomized into groups receiving personal training or mail instructions for the OneTouch Verio® system). Results were compared to a validated routine method, imprecision and bias were calculated. User-friendliness was evaluated with a questionnaire. Results. Quality specifications for blood glucose concentration monitoring systems according to ISO 15197 were fulfilled. The mean coefficients of variation (CV%) of repeatability was 3.4% when tested by laboratory personnel and within the goal of imprecision suggested by ADA. Mean CV% of repeatability for patient self-monitoring was 5.0% and 5.1% in the training- and the mail group, respectively. Total error was 6.4–10.0%. The OneTouch Verio® showed no hematocrit interference or variation between strip lots. Conclusion. The OneTouch Verio® displayed sufficient analytical quality and satisfactory user-friendliness. It is suitable for point-of-care testing of blood glucose concentration when handled by patients and healthcare professionals.


The present study was conducted to provide information about the upper water column distribution of living coccolithophores in the subtropical Gulf of Mexico. In total, 52 plankton samples from 6 stations collected in March 2006 were analysed. Coccolithophore standing crops range from zero in deep-water samples (200 m) to about 23 000 to 46 500 coccospheres per litre at intermediate water depths. From 39 identified taxa, only nine species contribute significant cell numbers of more than 1000 cells 1–1 and comprise more than 5 % of the communities in at least one sample. Emiliania huxleyi was the most abundant species throughout the stations with concentrations of up to 22 700 cells l–1. At all stations, a vertical succession of coccolithophore species was found. Umbellosphaera tenuis (type IV), Discosphaera tubifera, Rhabdosphaera clavigera and, as a minor component, species of the genus Syracosphaera, were mainly restricted to surface waters (≤50 m), all adapted to lower nutrient levels. The assemblage in the deep photic zone (50–150 m water depth) was composed mainly of abundant Florisphaera profunda, Gladiolithus flabellatus and Algirosphaera robusta indicating a tolerance of lower light availability. Thus, the vertical distribution of all coccolithophorid taxa, except the placolith-bearing species, in particular E. huxleyi, was probably controlled by upper photic-zone water temperature and stratification of the water column.


Atmospheric aerosol samples were studied during wintry conditions at three Hungarian locations (rural background, urban background, traffic site). Ratio of biomass burning and fossil fuel related aerosol were highly different at the sampling points. Cyto- and genotoxicity of the samples were measured by using "Pseudomonas putida" growth inhibition test and Ames test, respectively. Dominant particle emission sources were apportioned through tracer heavy metal content measurement, optically and thermo-optically methods. According to the results, both ecotoxicity parameters are strongly emission source dependent; the higher the ratio of the biomass burning related carbonaceous aerosol the higher the cytotoxicity and the higher the ratio of the fossil fuel related carbonaceous aerosol the higher the genotoxicity. Cytotoxicity showed positive correlation with carbonaceous aerosol related to biomass burning (R^2=0.74) and negative with lead content of the samples (R^2=-0.56). Genotoxicity showed positive correlation with carbonaceous aerosol related to traffic (R^2=0.42) and cadmium content of the samples (R^2=0.74). At the same time, it showed negative correlation with organic/elemental carbon ratio of the samples (R^2=-0.43).


When the receptor Notch binds to its ligands, Delta, Serrate, and Jagged, the receptor is clipped first in an extracellular domain and chopped again by the protease presenilin in an intracellular domain. This releases the soluble cytoplamic domain, which moves to the nucleus to activate gene transcription. Ikeuchi and Sisodia now report that similar processing appears to occur on the ligands Delta1 and Jagged2. In a mouse neuroblastoma cell line that stably expressed Myc-tagged Delta1, the authors observed the presence of a proteolytic fragment of Delta1 that was no longer present if cells were treated with a pharmacological inhibitor of the presenilin protease. Similar results were obtained with Jagged2. Furthermore, when human embryonic kidney cells were transfected with a construct in which Delta1 was fused with the Gal4VP16 transcriptional activator, transcription of a reporter plasmid was detected and such transcription was blocked by the protease inhibitor. Although activation of Delta or Jagged processing through interaction with Notch or a physiological effect of such signaling remains to be established, the findings prompt the intriguing speculation that Delta1 and Jagged2 could function as both ligands and receptors that transmit their own signals by a mechanism similar to that implicated in Notch signaling. T. Ikeuchi, S. S. Sisodia, The Notch ligands, Delta1 and Jagged2, are substrates for presenilin-dependent "γ-secretase" cleavage. J. Biol. Chem. 278, 7751-7754 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Abstract Although in many countries green roofs still appear to be a novelty, they are in fact a technology that has been known for centuries. During the past decade, urban policies and building regulations in many countries worldwide have led to an increase in the popularity of this technique, mostly due to the belief that green roofs play a key role in environmental restoration in areas where city growth has resulted in significant urban climate deterioration and an increase in the energy consumption of buildings. Until recently, the benefits of green roofs were more qualitative than quantitative in character and they were compared with the benefits of vegetation surfaces. During the past decade, a great number of studies in many different scientific fields have produced important knowledge concerning the actual performance of this green technology and have managed to quantify its performance through a mathematical or experimental approach. Recently, a number of computer models have been introduced that are expected to contribute more to our existing knowledge. The purpose of this study is to present the recent developments in green roof technology. This chapter focuses mainly on the contribution of green roofs to the energy consumption of buildings, but also reports the results of research relating to most of the other environmental benefits that are reported in literature.


The final edition of our journal for this year closes a few chapters in the history of the Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia and Analgesia (SAJAA), and heralds the start of an exciting future, with a new international publisher joining forces with Medpharm Publications, and Bruce Biccard becoming the new Editor-inChief. This will be my final editorial after 13 years at the helm, and it is a very sad one for me as we bid farewell and celebrate the life of our friend and publisher, Dr Douw Greeff. Douw died on 11 November, five days after celebrating his 40th birthday.


Background Insurance companies use medical information to classify the mortality risk of applicants. Adding genetic tests to this assessment is currently being debated. This debate would be more meaningful, if results of present-day risk prediction were known. Therefore, we compared the predicted with the observed mortality of men who applied for life insurance, and determined the prognostic value of the risk assessment. Methods Long-term follow-up was available for 62,334 male applicants whose mortality risk was predicted with medical evaluation and they were assigned to five groups with increasing risk from 1 to 5. We calculated all cause standardized mortality ratios relative to the Dutch population and compared groups with Cox's regression. We compared the discriminative ability of risk assessments as indicated by a concordance index (c). Results In 844,815 person years we observed 3,433 deaths. The standardized mortality relative to the Dutch male population was 0.76 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.73 to 0.78). The standardized mortality ratios ranged from 0.54 in risk group 1 to 2.37 in group 5. A large number of risk factors and diseases were significantly associated with increased mortality. The algorithm of prediction was significantly, but only slightly better than summation of the number of disorders and risk factors (c-index, 0.64 versus 0.60, P<0.001). Conclusions Men applying for insurance clearly had better survival relative to the general population. Readily available medical evaluation enabled accurate prediction of the mortality risk of large groups, but the deceased men could not have been identified with the applied prediction method.


High-resolution computational simulations of the vortical wake of a rotor operating both near to and within the vortex ring state have been conducted using Brown's vorticity transport model. The nonlinear vortex kinematics of the wake is exposed using three-dimensional visualizations of the simulated flow field. To reveal the vortex dynamics that underpin the highly unsteady flow within the vortex ring state, a rotor with just one blade was modeled. This blade was decoupled aerodynamically from the surrounding velocity field so that it acted merely as a source of trailed vorticity. The investigation identified a significant change in the dominant dynamics of the wake as it swapped fromthe tubular form that is characteristic of hover or very lowspeed descent into the toroidal geometry of the vortex ring state. Initial vortex 'pairing' leads to rotation of vortex filaments away from their original attitude. This phenomenon plays an important role in regulating the downwash that the rotor can produce and thus in precipitating the onset of the vortex ring state. The considerable and persistent coherence of the vortical structure of the wake when in the vortex ring state is revealed, despite these disturbances, as are themechanisms that lead to both small-scale and large-scale wake breakdown events. Simulations show the balance between the vortex pairing and short-wave instability modes to be different in the vortex ring state at high descent speed, where the wake lies above the rotor, compared to in the vortex ring state at low descent speed when the wake lies predominantly below the rotor. This yields subtle differences to the kinematics and structure of the wake in the two cases.


Two rather different topics are discussed with one common factor: they are driven by irregular influences. The first part considers the stochastic transition between potential minima over a maximum (barrier), and is treated as a Brownian motion description of reaction rates. We also discuss the related problem of "stochastic resonance", in which a small oscillating force synchronises transitions. In both these cases, the emphasis is on the formalism, and the relations between the two problems are stressed. The other type of problem considers growth and competition equations of macromolecules, relevant for early molecular evolution on the path to the first life. Selection rates are simple and straightforward as long as competition essentially concerns limited resources. The situation gets more complex, when molecules are considered co-operative, e.g. they can catalyse growth processes. This corresponds to the hypercycle concept of Eigen, and is also a scenario for a RNA world. Components that use the support from other components may thrive, but can lead to the extermination of an entire system as the supporters may decline in the competition. As in the first part, the emphasis is on the formalism. We also take up probability aspects and problems that appear together with small probabilities and possibilities of exponential growth. Finally, the possibility of saving the co-operativity by spatial structures are discussed.


The rapid urbanization has motivated extensive research on urban computing. It is critical for urban computing tasks to unlock the power of the diversity of data modalities generated by different sources in urban spaces, such as vehicles and humans. However, we are more likely to encounter the label scarcity problem and the data insufficiency problem when solving an urban computing task in a city where services and infrastructures are not ready or just built. In this paper, we propose a FLexible multimOdal tRAnsfer Learning (FLORAL) method to transfer knowledge from a city where there exist sufficient multimodal data and labels, to this kind of cities to fully alleviate the two problems. FLORAL learns semantically related dictionaries for multiple modalities from a source domain, and simultaneously transfers the dictionaries and labelled instances from the source into a target domain. We evaluate the proposed method with a case study of air quality prediction.


We are currently in the throes of a potentially huge paradigm shift in physics. Motivated by recent developments in string theory and the discovery of the so-called "string landscape", physicists are beginning to question the uniqueness of fundamental theories of physics and the methods by which such theories might be understood and investigated. In this colloquium, I will give a non-technical introduction to the nature of this paradigm shift and how it developed. I will also discuss some of the questions to which it has led, and the nature of the controversies it has spawned.


Aprotinin, the serine protease inhibitor that also inhibits glandular (urinary) kallikrein, or vehicle was infused into the aorta above the renal arteries of anesthetized pigs. Renal hemodynamic and functional parameters were followed over time and during hemorrhagic hypotension. Both renal cortical blood flow and glomerular filtration rate were maintained in vehicle-treated animals at mean arterial pressures as low as 70 mm Hg. As long as renal cortical blood flow and glomerular filtration rate were maintained during the progressive hypotension, urinary excretion rate of kallikrein (as defined by kinin-generating activity) was increased. In contrast, all aprotinin-treated animals had a decreased excretion rate, and the renal cortical blood flow declined with the mean arterial pressure during hemorrhage. The pattern of glomerular filtration rate and plasma renin activity was comparable in both aprotinin-treated and vehicle-treated hemorrhaged animals. Our findings suggest that the endogenous renal kallikrein-kinin system is required for functional renal vasodilatation to maintain renal cortical blood flow during hemorrhage and is therefore directly or indirectly responsible for adjustment of preglomerular resistance.


1 Abstract— Within the last several years, Recognition of Human's Facial Expression has been very active research area of computer vision. It has the important role in the human-computer interaction (HCI) systems. This paper proposes a novel fuzzy method for facial expression recognition on still images of the face. The new technique involves in extracting mathematical data from some special regions of the face and fed them to a fuzzy rule-based system. Fuzzification operation uses triangular membership functions for both input and output. The Distinct feature of a system is its simplicity and high accuracy. Experimental results on JAFFEE database indicate good performance of the developed technique.


Fresh air and good air quality can be obtained by a natural ventilation system, to fulfill the requirement of near natural conditions for the psychological health of mankind. A natural ventilation system is an ecological, energy saving system that also meets architectural standards. Natural ventilation design methods are presented in this paper. A natural ventilation system is designed in the DunHuang museum. Thermal dynamic simulation and CFD simulation were analyzed in the exhibition hall. The results show that, for the exhibition hall, indoor temperature can fulfill the occupant thermal comfort requirements through natural ventilation in transition season and in summer.


In late Middle Dutch, the temporal adverb dan "then" grammaticalized into an adversative coordinator ("but"), which remained in use up to the nineteenth century. This paper investigates how adversative dan can be deduced from earlier usages and why it later disappeared. The paper's first part discusses how temporal dan developed an exclusive function ("except"), from which the adversative use is derived. Semantic maps are used to represent the development, and to make clear similarities and differences with German and English cognates of dan (dann/denn and than/then respectively). The second part reports corpus studies of seventeenth and eighteenth-century letters and diaries, showing text type and frequency effects on the use of adversative dan, which led to its disappearance. This will be interpreted as a peculiar case of degrammaticalization, lacking semantic enrichment and syntactic flexibilization which normally accompany degrammaticalization. The case of dan suggests that text type and frequency are important factors in (de)grammaticalization.


Critics of fiction have long been aware that the romantic movement in Europe and America gave a powerful impulse to the art of fiction. The exact nature of that impulse has resisted analysis like so much associated with romanticism. In "Fiction as Knowledge" John McCormick reaches for precision, proposing that much of the vitality of modern fiction derives from romantic conceptions of history which made available to fiction not merely historical subject matter, but new perceptions of reality, present and past, that pervade the work of many of the greatest writers of the post-romantic period. Beginning with Herder and Hegel, McCormick describes those qualities in historical thought that were revolutionary in the early nineteenth century and rich in meaning for the future. Most prominent of these was the emergence of the idea of individuality, not only in society but also in history. The author demonstrates the vitality of the romantic impulse in the work of seven major novelists of the twentieth century. Marcel Proust's apprehensions of nature in his great novel are seen as Wordsworthian, while as the novel unfolds, history in the form of event and system of organization comes to dominate and to offer a paradigm of the workings of the post-romantic historical imagination. William Faulkner and Andr Malraux are shown to confront history directly, although they do not write "historical" fiction. Herman Broch, Robert Musil, and Henri de Montherlant, uncomfortable with traditional romantic attitudes, still make fullest use of Romantic historical insight to extend the range of fiction as knowledge. Ernest Hemingway, by contrast, is seen as intuitive, a pure product of his novelist's intelligence as opposed to his latter-day romantic anti-intellectualism. "Fiction as Knowledge" supplies critical insight into the form of the novel as well as into the seven novelists under discussion. Not least, the book is a warning against contemporary anti-historical bias and an appeal to the cultivation of historical consciousness. "John McCormick" is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Rutgers University, and Honorary Fellow of English and Literature at the University of York. He is the author of "George Santayana: A Biography, Catastrophe and Imagination, and The Middle Distance," by Transaction.


Prognostics is an emerging science of predicting the health condition of a system (or its components) based upon current and previous system states. A reliable predictor is very useful to a wide array of industries to predict the future states of the system such that the maintenance service could be scheduled in advance when needed. In this paper, an adaptive recurrent neural network (ARNN) is proposed for system dynamic state forecasting. The developed ARNN is constructed based on the adaptive/recurrent neural network architecture and the network weights are adaptively optimized using the recursive Levenberg-Marquardt (RLM) method. The effectiveness of the proposed ARNN is demonstrated via an application in remaining useful life prediction of lithium-ion batteries. *


According to the Response Styles Theory, the way in which an individual responds to depressed mood influences the duration and severity of one's depressed mood (NolenHoeksema, 1991). In particular, a ruminative response, or tendency to repeatedly think about the causes and consequences of one's depressed mood is hypothesized to worsen depressed mood (Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco & Lyubomirsky, 2008). Research examining the measure of rumination using the Ruminative Response Scale (Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991), Treynor, Gonzalez and Nolen-Hoeksema (2003) has yielded two distinct subtypes of rumination: brooding and reflection. Brooding was conceptualized as a maladaptive form of rumination, while reflection was thought to be more adaptive. While support for the maladaptive nature of brooding has generally been found, research on reflection has resulted in mixed findings. The goal of the present study was to examine the validity of reflection and reconcile prior mixed findings. Hypotheses were based on Treynor et al.'s (2003) conceptualization of reflection and prior findings. A diverse sample of adults from the US, were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and completed self-report measures. In line with hypotheses, significant positive correlations were found between reflection and depression, emotional processing, and certain subscales of mindfulness (FFMQ Observe& KIMS Observe, PHLMS awareness). In contrast with hypotheses, significant positive associations were found between reflection and negative problem orientation, and avoidant and impulsive/careless problem solving. In contrast with hypotheses, reflection was not associated with emotion regulation, curiosity/exploration, self-esteem, or positive affect. Also in contrast with hypotheses, problem solving did not moderate the relationship between reflection and depression.


We use two micro data sets that collect harmonized data across countries to investigate the effects of regulation on new businesses. We are able to distinguish between two types of entrepreneurs: those who start a business to pursue a business opportunity and those who start a business because they could not find better work. Irrespective of the measure of regulation we use, we always find a detrimental effect of regulation on entrepreneurship. While women are overall less likely to start new businesses, in more regulated countries women are pulled into entrepreneurship not to pursue a business opportunity but because they could not find better work. Moreover, regulation dampens the effects of self-assessed business skills and social networks. In more regulated economies, those with better business skills and those who know other entrepreneurs are less likely to become entrepreneurs to pursue a business opportunity. Tighter regulation also exacerbates fear of failure, further discouraging business start-up. All our estimates point to a negative effect of regulation.


Abstract. IODP Expedition 357 utilized seabed drills for the first time in the history of the ocean drilling program, with the aim of collecting intact sequences of shallow mantle core from the Atlantis Massif to examine serpentinization processes and the deep biosphere. This novel drilling approach required the development of a new remote seafloor system for delivering synthetic tracers during drilling to assess for possible sample contamination. Here, we describe this new tracer delivery system, assess the performance of the system during the expedition, provide an overview of the quality of the core samples collected for deep biosphere investigations based on tracer concentrations, and make recommendations for future applications of the system.


We study the relation between international mutual fund flows and the different return components of aggregate equity and bond markets. First, we decompose international equity and bond market returns into changes in expectations of future real cash payments, interest rates, exchange rates, and discount rates. News about future cash flows, rather than discount rates, is the main driver of international stock returns. This evidence is in contrast with the typical results reported only for the United States. Inflation news instead is the main driver of international bond returns. Next, we turn to the interaction between these return components and international portfolio flows. We find evidence consistent with price pressure, short-term trend chasing, and short-run overreaction in the equity market. We also find that international bond flows to emerging markets are more sensitive to interest rate shocks than equity flows.


Abstract. This paper presents a virtual methodology based on the generation of virtual models of stones in the context of the virtual laboratories for the acquisition and evaluation of competences in stones identification. The generation of the models is carried out using a procedure based on close-range photogrammetry that allows to obtain a scaled mesh models with radiometric information and low file weight. The proposed methodology has been designed ad-hoc following the economy, quality and reality criteria to ensure a good adequacy, guaranteeing an adequate adaptation to the teaching-learning process and the integration of the models into working packages, which can be easily integrated in earning management system (LMS) platforms. The generated 3D models have a high level of detail and enable the interaction to take measurements, make cross sections and use specific tools that allow the student to perform a thorough analysis and identification of the stone using free/open source software.


The Legitimacy of the Comic: Kierkegaard and the Importance of the Comic for His Ethics and Theology Will Williams, Ph.D. Mentor: Paul Martens, Ph.D. While some consider the comic to be a trivial subject, fit mainly for amusement or distraction, Soren Kierkegaard disagrees. This dissertation examines Kierkegaard's understanding of the nature of the comic and how he believes even the triviality of comic jest to be deeply tied to ethical and theological earnestness. First, I examine Kierkegaard's understanding of the comic, irony, and humor, drawing primarily from Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846). I argue that, for Kierkegaard, the comic is a contradiction or misrelation that is essentially though not absolutely painless, providing a "way out." The comic is a contradiction between norms, suggesting that it springs from one's perspective in a way that holds important implications for one's ethical and theological worldview. Kierkegaard believes that subjective development is closely tied to one's capacity to perceive the comic, making the comic both diagnostic of and formative for one's subjective state. For him, the Christian is far from humorless, instead having the maximum human capacity to perceive the comic. Next, I show that the previously argued conception of the comic can be found in other works by Kierkegaard: Prefaces (1844), Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits (1847), and the Corsair affair (c.1845-1848). Then, I examine representatives of the Deconstructionist tradition of reading Kierkegaard, namely Louis Mackey, Roger Poole, Elsebet Jegstrup, and Mark C. Taylor. I argue that, while they accurately perceive the widespread irony in Kierkegaard's corpus, they incorrectly conclude that such irony is a sign of his lack of earnest interest in philosophy and theology. Their conclusion stems from a misunderstanding of what Kierkegaard believes the nature of irony to be. Finally, I consider two contemporary representatives of the tradition of reading Kierkegaard theologically, namely Murray Rae and W. Glenn Kirkconnell. I argue that, while their instincts regarding Kierkegaard are generally preferable to those of the Deconstructionist tradition, they lack the latter's awareness of Kierkegaard's use of the comic and willingness to let it influence their conclusions. Their already significant arguments would, I suggest, be strengthened and extended with an increased appreciation for the legitimate function that Kierkegaard believes the comic to play for ethics and theology.


Development of the metanephric kidney depends on precise control of branching of the ureteric bud. Branching events represent terminal bifurcations that are thought to depend on unique patterns of gene expression in the tip compared with the stalk and are influenced by mesenchymal signals. The metanephric mesenchyme-derived signals that control gene expression at the ureteric bud tip are not well understood. In mouse Sall1 mutants, the ureteric bud grows out and invades the metanephric mesenchyme, but it fails to initiate branching despite tip-specific expression of Ret and Wnt11. The stalk-specific marker Wnt9b and the β-catenin downstream target Axin2 are ectopically expressed in the mutant ureteric bud tips, suggesting that upregulated canonical Wnt signaling disrupts ureter branching in this mutant. In support of this hypothesis, ureter arrest is rescued by lowering β-catenin levels in the Sall1 mutant and is phenocopied by ectopic expression of a stabilized β-catenin in the ureteric bud. Furthermore, transgenic overexpression of Wnt9b in the ureteric bud causes reduced branching in multiple founder lines. These studies indicate that Sall1-dependent signals from the metanephric mesenchyme are required to modulate ureteric bud tip Wnt patterning in order to initiate branching.


The practice of public relations in Asia, Australia and North America presents a greater growth opportunity than similar activities in the European Community, James C. Pritchitt said recently. In a January speech, the Australian consultant, who is 1992 president of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), challenged U.S. counselors to lead the way in developing public relations in the newly emerging democracies throughout the world. "Developed countries must recognize their responsibility to develop public relations in the new democracies of the world," Pritchitt advised practitioners during a visit to New York City. The trip marked his maiden voyage to the United States as IPRA's chief executive following his installation as the organization's president in London on Jan. 6. "America, as the cradle of public relations, has a special responsibility to help its development, both domestically and internationally," Pritchitt told an international audience at the United Nations on Jan. 10. "Increased use and better understanding of public relations among American enterprises has a flow-on effect to other countries. It's terrific to note the work being done by PRSA with the Russian public relations association and it would be great to see this extended to other countries." He sees PRSA and IPRA cooperating in the development and promotion of public relations worldwide. In the process of setting up public relations operations in other countries over the years, American companies have been largely "responsible for the international expansion of public relations," Pritchitt noted. But "worldwide development of public relations is very patchy," he observed. "There are no hard and fast rules." Eastern Europe and Asia - areas where "freedom of information has been suppressed"-are ripe for public relations development, he noted. Oddly enough, some developing countries are "quite sophisticated," the IPRA president said. The Nigerian public relations association, for example, gets a government grant. Practitioners in that country are licensed, Pritchitt reported. "It's a mistake to think of Africa as unsophisticated in public relations," he added. Uganda recently won a U.N. award for its public relations efforts against the spread of AIDS. "Worldwide, there is a great thirst for public relations knowledge," the Australian counselor told Public Relations Journal in a private interview at the New York City offices of Lobsenz-Stevens Inc. He views IPRA, with more than 1,000 members in 65 countries, as the leading organization to foster public relations growth around the world. In some countries, though, the practice of public relations is not so widely accepted as in others. "You have to take the national character into account, the size of the country and its media pool," Pritchitt advised. Somewhat surprisingly, the U.S. population "may be more suspicious of public relations" than citizens of many other countries, he noted. IPRA can focus attention on global issues, such as the environment, Pritchitt said. In fact, an IPRA task force has already developed global guidelines on the subject and will publish a Gold Paper on it this year. …


The authoritative, hands-on guide to advanced MySQL programming and administration techniques for high performance is here. MySQL Database Design and Tuning is the only guide with coverage of both the basics and advanced topics, including reliability, performance, optimization and tuning for MySQL. This clear, concise and unique source for the most reliable MySQL performance information will show you how to: Deploy the right MySQL product for your performance needs. Set up a performance management and monitoring environment using tools from MySQL. Implement the right indexing strategy Apply good performance strategy when developing software to work with the MySQL database. Configure dozens of variable to correctly tune the MySQL engine.If you deal with the intricacies and challenges of advanced MySQL functionality on a daily basis, you will be able to build on your knowledge with author Robert Schneider's real-world experiences in MySQL Database Design and Tuning.


International organizations (IOs) have been widely criticized as ineffective. Yet scholars and commentators assessing IO performance frequently look at the actions of those organizations in isolation and focus on traditional modes of governance such as treaties and inter-state dispute-resolution mechanisms. When commentators observe poor performance, moreover, they often call for strengthening those same activities. We call this reliance on traditional state-based mechanisms "International Old Governance" (IOG). A better way to understand and improve IO performance is to consider the full range of ways in which IOs can and do operate – including, increasingly, by reaching out to private actors and institutions, collaborating with them, and supporting and shaping their activities. Such actions are helping to develop an intricate global network of public, private and mixed institutions and norms, orchestrated by IOs (and states), that we call "Transnational New Governance" (TNG). With proper orchestration by "the state" (including IOs), TNG can ameliorate both "state failure" – the inadequacies of IOG – and "market failure" – the problems that result when the creation and evolution of norm-setting institutions is highly decentralized. Orchestration thus provides a significant way for IOs to improve their regulatory performance. Some IOs already engage actively with private actors and institutions – we provide a range of illustrations, highlighting the activities of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Yet there remains a significant "orchestration deficit" that provides real opportunities for IOs. We draw on the lessons of existing IO activities to suggest additional possibilities for improving IO performance.


Article history: Received 26 September 2014 Received in revised form 20 November 2014 Accepted 25 December 2014 Available online 2 January 2015


Fire sales that occur during crises beg the question of why sufficient outside capital does not move in quickly to take advantage of fire sales, or in other words, why outside capital is so slow-moving. We propose an answer to this puzzle in the context of an equilibrium model of capital allocation. Keeping capital in liquid form in anticipation of possible fire sales entails costs in terms of foregone profitable investments. Set against this, those same profitable investments are rendered illiquid in future due to agency problems embedded with expertise. We show that a robust consequence of this trade-off between making investments today and waiting for arbitrage opportunities in future is the combination of occasional fire sales and limited stand-by capital that moves in only if fire-sale discounts are sufficiently deep. An extension of our model to several types of investments gives rise to a novel channel for contagion where sufficiently adverse shocks to one type can induce fire sales in other types that are fundamentally unrelated, provided arbitrage activity in these investments is sourced from a common pool of capital.


US labor force participation has been weak in recent decades, especially during the recovery of the financial crisis of 2007–09. This paper examines several programs that governments in other advanced industrial countries have established to help jobless workers continue to seek employment, not drop out of the labor force, and ultimately find jobs. These programs more actively support out-of-work citizens by facilitating matches between workers and firms, helping workers in their job searches, and sometimes creating jobs when none are available in the private sector. The paper concludes that job placement services, training, wage subsidies, and other labor adjustment policies can be used to successfully help workers find employment and remain tied to the labor market. By contrast, direct job creation through public works projects and other government programs are less effective in helping workers over the long run.


This paper proposes an ultracapacitor (UC)-battery hybrid energy storage system (HESS) for electric vehicle based on asymmetric bidirectional Z-source topology. Compared with the conventional two-stage design, the HESS can be incorporated into the traction inverter system, leading to better performance and lower cost. The UC energy can be effectively utilized due to the buck/boost characteristic in the Z-source converter; meanwhile, the battery converter gets eliminated in this case. The assumption about the symmetry in the Z-source topology impendence network states for the conventional analysis no longer applies to the proposed HESS configuration. The asymmetric characteristic related with the uneven power distribution of UCs and battery is mathematically excavated in detail. The frequency dividing coordinated control is proposed to exploit the advantages of UCs and battery. The battery peak current estimation is then investigated. Finally, the steady performance and transient response in both traction and regenerative modes are verified by simulation and experimental results.


The return of high levels of emigration has become one of the most debated and sensitive social topics in Ireland in recent years. But Irish emigration continues to be discussed in the singular rather than the plural. This paper compares Irish emigration to other Eurozone states that also encountered serious economic difficulties following the onset of the global financial crisis to highlight international trends and specify national differences. All of the 'PIIGS' experienced increased emigration after the crisis. Yet Irish citizens left in much greater numbers per capita than their Eurozone counterparts, with only Portugal bearing any similarities. This was because Irish emigrants possessed valuable transnational human, cultural and social capital that enabled them to access liberal labour markets outside the Eurozone. They possessed skills desired by attractive destination states; they spoke the same language and shared similar cultural traits as their hosts; and they were able to call upon recently renewed Irish networks to further facilitate their move abroad.


Lost in Transition tells of ordinary lives upended by the collapse of communism. Through ethnographic essays and short stories based on her experiences with Eastern Europe between 1989 and 2009, Kristen Ghodsee explains why it is that so many Eastern Europeans are nostalgic for the communist past. Ghodsee uses Bulgaria, the Eastern European nation where she has spent the most time, as a lens for exploring the broader transition from communism to democracy. She locates the growing nostalgia for the communist era in the disastrous, disorienting way that the transition was handled. The privatization process was contested and chaotic. A few well-connected foreigners and a new local class of oligarchs and criminals used the uncertainty of the transition process to take formerly state-owned assets for themselves. Ordinary people inevitably felt that they had been robbed. Many people lost their jobs just as the state social-support system disappeared. Lost in Transition portrays one of the most dramatic upheavals in modern history by describing the ways that it interrupted the rhythms of everyday lives, leaving confusion, frustration, and insecurity in its wake.


Bacterial endophthalmitis is endogenous in 2-6% of cases and is frequently misdiagnosed initially. Klebsiella pneumoniae is being increasingly recognised as an aggressive causative organism, and it is particularly prevalent in Asian populations. We describe the case of a 71-year-old female of Southeast Asian origin with type 2 diabetes mellitus who presented with visual loss secondary to bacterial endophthalmitis and concomitant cerebral abscesses. Imaging revealed the probable primary source of infection to be a liver abscess. She developed retinal detachment and subsequently underwent an evisceration of her right eye. A Klebsiella spp. was identified from the eye tissue by 16S rRNA amplification. Klebsiella pneumoniae endophthalmitis has a characteristic disease phenotype and a particularly aggressive course with poor visual outcomes observed in most cases. This case highlights the risks of metastatic infection including bacterial endophthalmitis in association with Klebsiella infection.


Title of Document: ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL FINANCE Fernando Gabriel Im, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Directed By: Professor Carmen Reinhart, Department of Economics Professor Carlos Végh, Department of Economics In the first paper, I use industry-level data to investigate the impact of exchange rate arrangements on the productive structure of the economy. The identification strategy has similarities with the methodology followed in the literature on heterogeneous effects of financial development. A de facto exchange rate regime classification is used to sort pegs and floats. My findings suggest that industries that have higher working capital needs grow faster under exchange rate stability. A fixed exchange rate regime could lower currency or country risk, leading to greater availability of funds and a reduction in the cost of financing. Since loans are often denominated in foreign currency or indexed to the exchange rate in developing countries, firms with higher working capital needs would prefer exchange rate stability, which may lower interest rates in foreign currency and provide easier access to credit. The second paper investigates the behavior of output across large devaluations and depreciations. First, I define a currency crisis as an episode in which the nominal exchange rate increases by 15%. Then I proceed to classify them into devaluations and depreciations using Reinhart and Rogoff (2004) exchange rate classification. Once these episodes are sorted out, I analyze the behavior of output across them. As in previous studies, I find that the majority of the currency crisis episodes have been contractionary for 1970-2007. When I separate currency crisis episodes between devaluations and depreciations, I find that the former have been associated with larger output losses for middle income economies. These findings are consistent with the fact that middle income countries are often subject to currency mismatches. As a result, they may opt for an exchange rate regime that exhibits relatively more stability. This is well documented in Calvo and Reinhart (2002), a behavior they termed "fear of floating". However, in the case of a currency crisis, the negative impact on output growth is likely to be larger for countries that have adopted a fixed exchange rate regime. This result is also supported by the larger magnitude of the estimated output losses when we use a higher threshold to define currency crisis episodes. ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL FINANCE


A sign is an object which stands for another to some mind. I propose to describe the characters of a sign. In the first place like any other thing it must have qualities which belong to it whether it be regarded as a sign or not. Thus a printed word is black, has a certain number of letters and those letters have certain shapes. Such characters of a sign I call its material quality. In the next place a sign must have some real connection with the thing it signifies so that when the object is present or is so as the sign signifies it to be, the sign shall so signify it and otherwise not. [—] I shall term this character of signs their pure demonstrative application. In the 3rd place it is necessary for a sign to be a sign that it should be regarded as a sign for it is only a sign to that mind which so considers and if it is not a sign to any mind it is not a sign at all. It must be known to the mind first in its material qualities but also in its pure demonstrative application. That mind must conceive it to be connected with its object so that it is possible to reason from the sign to the thing. Let us now see what the appeal of a sign to the mind amounts to. It produces a certain idea in the mind which is the idea that it is a sign of the thing it signifies and an idea is itself a sign, for an idea is an object and it represents an object.


This ALL NEW ASM Handbook gives design, manufacturing, and material engineers a practical and comprehensive reference on the technologies and applications of induction heating and heat treatment. This book provides practitioners, students, engineers, and scientists the knowledge to more clearly understand and obtain solutions for typical induction heating problems that they encounter on an everyday basis. Continuing in the tradition of the ASM Handbook series, this Volume provides a unique combination of practical knowledge grasping ready-to-use diagrams, technical procedures, guidelines, and good practices with advanced theoretical knowledge emphasizing on specifics of induction processes compared to alternative technologies. An appreciable amount of material is devoted to practical aspects, including review of standard and customized induction equipment. Special attention is paid to describing quality assurance, process monitoring, maintenance and safety procedures, energy and environmental aspects, including control of magnetic field exposure and review of international standards and regulations. Written by internationally recognized experts, ASM Handbook Volume 4C covers the breadth and significance of induction heating and heat-treatment technologies and applications. Beginning with reviewing electrical, electromagnetic, heat transfer and material science fundamentals related to induction heating, along with coverage critical facets associated with this technology such as: Nonequilibrium nature of phase transformation and other metallurgical subtleties related to the specifics of induction hardening, tempering, stress relieving, heating prior to hot working and melting. Review of ASTM and SAE standards and guidelines in proper measuring of hardness case depth and heat affected zone. Pattern specification as well as issues and complications related to different hardness measuring techniques. Destructive and nondestructive testing. Selection of critical process parameters and inductor styles, heat pattern control, the use of magnetic flux concentrators, quench design subtleties as well as a review and explanation of common misconceptions and erroneous assumptions. Formation of residual and transient stresses and their impact on a performance of heat treated components. Temperature requirements for heating carbon steels, alloy steels, super alloys, titanium, aluminum and copper alloys and other materials prior to hot and warm working. Novel technological developments in heating billets, bars, tubes, rods and other metallic workpieces. Optimization procedures and strategies in obtaining optimal process control algorithms based on various technological criteria, real-life constrains and cost functions (e.g., maximizing throughput and temperature uniformity, energy effectiveness, minimizing required shop floor space and metal loss, etc.). Principles of multiobjective optimization of induction heating devices. Induction hardening of critical components, including gears, axle shafts, camshafts, crankshafts, and other components used in automotive and off-road machinery, aeronautic and aerospace engineering, farming, appliance, oil and gas industries. Failure analysis of induction heat treated components and comprehensive review of defects and abnormal characteristics. Good practices in designing and fabricating long-lasting induction coils and ways to avoid their premature failures. Special applications of electromagnetic induction, including melting glasses and oxides, optical fiber draw, nanoparticle heating and hyperthermia applications. Design principles and operation specifics of transistorized and thyristorized power supplies for induction heating needs. Modern computer modeling and specifics of simulation of induction thermal processes.


Challenges facing the scaling of microelectronics to sub-50 nm dimensions and the demanding material and structural requirements of integrated photonic and microelectromechanical systems suggest that alternative fabrication technologies are needed to produce nano-scale devices. Inspired by complex, functional, self-assembled structures and systems found in Nature we suggest that self-assembly can be employed as an effective tool for nanofabrication. We define a self-assembling system as one in which the elements of the system interact in pre-defined ways to spontaneously generate a higher order structure. Self-assembly is a parallel fabrication process that, at the molecular level, can generate three-dimensional structures with sub-nanometer precision. Guiding the process of self-assembly by external forces and geometrical constrains can reconfigure a system dynamically on demand. We survey some of the recent applications of self-as- sembly for nanofabrication of electronic and photonic devices. Five self-assembling systems are discussed: 1) self-assembled molecular monolayers; 2) self-assembly in supramolecular chemistry; 3) self-assembly of nanocrystals and nanowires; 4) self-assembly of phase-separated block copolymers; 5) colloidal self-assembly. These techniques can generate features ranging in size from a few angstroms to a few microns. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations and challenges facing self-assembly and some poten- tial directions along which the development of self-assembly as a nanofabrication technology may proceed.


1. Rhnull human erythrocytes lack all of the antigens of the Rh and LW blood group systems and have abnormal shape and an increased osmotic fragility. In this paper two murine monoclonal antibodies raised against intact human erythrocytes were used to investigate further the abnormalities in these cells. BRIC 125 reacts weakly with Rhnull erythrocytes and BRIC 69 does not react at all. The results showed that BRIC 125 reacts with a component of Mr 47,000-52,000 which has a substantial content of N-glycans. In contrast, BRIC 69 reacted with a band of Mr 31,000 together with a very diffuse band of Mr 35,000-52,000. Treatment of BRIC 69 immunoprecipitates with endoglycosidase F/peptidyl-N-glycosidase F resulted in the loss of both BRIC 69 reactive components and the appearance of a new band of Mr similar to that of the Rh(D) polypeptide. 2. BRIC 125 had a broad reactivity with cells in peripheral blood, whereas the reactivity of BRIC 69 was confined to erythrocytes. BRIC 125, but not BRIC 69, reacted with human kidney tissue and bound to endothelium in peritubular capillaries, arteries and veins as well as the epithelial tissue of distal tubules. BRIC 125 stained haemopoietic cells, foetal hepatocytes and megakaryocytes in foetal liver and sinusoidal cells, hepatocytes and portal tracts in adult liver. In contrast, BRIC 69 reactivity was confined to haemopoietic cells in foetal liver. The BRIC 125 epitope has a wide tissue distribution, suggesting the occurrence of a related group of polypeptides which have a general functional role on cell surfaces. 3. Rhnull erythrocytes are deficient in at least four different membrane polypeptides.


In the enigmatic lamellar cuprates, strong electronic correlations give rise to an insulating parent state from which superconductivity and eventually a Fermi-liquid-like metal emerge upon doping. At intermediate hole concentrations (p), the deviation from a linear-in-temperature planar resistivity (\rho $\propto$ T) upon cooling toward the superconducting state is associated with the opening of a 'pseudogap' in the antinodal regions of the Fermi surface. Contrary to common belief, we find in the pseudogap phase of structurally simple HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+\delta}$ that \rho $\propto$ T$^2$, as in the putative Fermi-liquid state at high doping. By combining these results with prior work for other cuprates, we are able to obtain the fundamental resistance per copper-oxygen plaquette in both the linear (\rho_S = A_{1S} T) and quadratic (\rho_S = A_{2S} T$^2$) regimes, with A_{1S} $\propto$ A_{2S} $\propto$ 1/p. Any theory for the cuprates can now be benchmarked against this simple universal behavior of the planar resistivity.


Most applications manipulate persistent data, yet traditional systems decouple data manipulation from persistence in a two-level storage model. Programming languages and system software manipulate data in one set of formats in volatile main memory (DRAM) using a load/store interface, while storage systems maintain persistence in another set of formats in non-volatile memories, such as Flash and hard disk drives in traditional systems, using a file system interface. Unfortunately, such an approach suffers from the system performance and energy overheads of locating data, moving data, and translating data between the different formats of these two levels of storage that are accessed via two vastly different interfaces. Yet today, new non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies show the promise of storage capacity and endurance similar to or better than Flash at latencies comparable to DRAM, making them prime candidates for providing applications a persistent single-level store with a single load/store interface to access all system data. Our key insight is that in future systems equipped with NVM, the energy consumed executing operating system and file system code to access persistent data in traditional systems becomes an increasingly large contributor to total energy. The goal of this work is to explore the design of a Persistent Memory Manager that coordinates the management of memory and storage under a single hardware unit in a single address space. Our initial simulation-based exploration shows that such a system with a persistent memory can improve energy efficiency and performance by eliminating the instructions and data movement traditionally used to perform I/O operations.


The debate over the prevalence of nation states as the main actors in the international arena has been going on for the past 40 years. This article focuses on a single aspect of the debate, namely the national sovereignty of states within the neoliberal investment regimes. The argument I make in this article is that while investment treaty-making in the past contributed to limiting the sovereign powers of governments in the domain of investment regulation, recent trends suggest that the states are actively seeking to increase their regulatory space. In order to demonstrate this, I develop a theoretical framework bases on the competing concepts of "right to regulate" and "investment protection". This framework is subsequently used to compare investment treaties signed in the 1990s with some of the most significant recently signed investment agreements. The analysis shows the way in which the more recent investment treaties increase the regulatory space of the states, which strengthens their national sovereignty.


This book argues that syntactic parameters are set in a principled fashion on the basis of overt functional morphology. The main focus of the book is on the different positions of the finite verb in the Germanic SVO languages. In addition, other syntactic phenomena (null subjects, transitive expletive constructions and object shift) and other language families (Romance, Semitic and Slavic) are discussed. A common explanation for all of the discussed phenomena is proposed: If and only if the features for "person" are distinctively marked by the agreement morphology, the agreement affixes are listed separately in the lexicon and project phrases of their own in syntax where they attract the verb to the head positions and allow the specifier positions to be filled by various phonologically (un)realized elements. Special attention is given to issues of historical development and child language acquisition.


Abstract Three new species of the genus Psalmopoeus Pocock, 1895 are described from Central America: P. copanensis sp. nov. from Honduras, P. sandersoni sp. nov. from Belize, and P. petenensis sp. nov. from Guatemala. The taxonomic placement of other species within the Reduncus Group is addressed: P. intermedius Chamberlin, 1940 is redescribed and its type locality discussed, P. reduncus (Karsch, 1880) is redescribed from a lectotype and paralectotype designated herein, P. maya Witt, 1996 is considered a species inquirenda based on the type series being absent from its stated repository, and additional morphological data for P. victori Mendoza, 2014 is detailed to complement the original description. Furthermore, a morphometric methodology for evaluation of female spermathecae is presented and its use in species delineation discussed.


This study examines the determinants of financial performance of commercial banks in Ethiopia by using panel data of banks over the period 2002-2013. Since the data is secondary in nature, the quantitative approach to research was considered. Besides, the fixed effect model was used. The fixed effect model is preferred to the random effect model based on the hausman specification test. Under this study, both internal and external factors were included. The internal factors used in this study include capital structure; Income Diversification, operating cost and bank size whereas the external factors are effective tax rate, real GDP growth and inflation. Moreover, ROA and NIM were used as the performance measure. Based on the regression result, all bank specific variables except bank size affect performance of the bank significantly but negatively. However, bank size affects performance significantly and positively. In addition to this, macro-economic factors have no significant effect on the performance of banks except the tax rate which negatively but significantly affects ROA.


Story Street for ages 4-7: * Ensures children progress at the right pace with supportive, gradual progression through carefully graded steps. * Provides engaging humour and lively fiction plots provided by top authors and illustrators enhance excellence and enjoyment in teaching and learning. * Includes varied fiction styles are introduced through fantasy, cliff-hanger, adventure and novelty format titles to motivate and maintain attention. * Promotes valuable awareness of community and citizenship as Story Street is modelled round a contemporary multi-cultural community and many titles are ideal for teaching citizenship and PSHE including issues that range from conservation to bullying. * Specific assessment activities to help teachers monitor children's reading progress and simple integration of assessment for learning throughout Story Street Teacher's Notes ensure children's reading and writing skills progress at word, sentence and text level. * Accessible Teaching Notes and Activity sheets ensure teachers, teaching assistants and parents are all able to contribute to teaching and learning with simple integration of assessment for learning * Covers ICT and literacy with vibrant talking books, author video clips and activities on CDROM for ages 5-7.


Non-indigenous plant species have been frequently reported as successful invaders in island environments, changing plant community composition and structure. This is the case of the sweet pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum), native from Australia, which is one of the most successful plant invaders in the Azores archipelago. Data extracted from recent forestry inventories were used to model and map the potential distribution of P. undulatum in São Miguel, the larger island of the Azores. Current distribution of P. undulatum is related to climate, altitude and some human activity effects. Further analysis of the areas under risk of invasion showed that protected areas are under potential threat, although only a few native forest remnants seem to be threatened due to future expansion of P. undulatum, since the current distribution of these native communities has been reduced due to clearing and competition with invasive plants. We discuss the threats that any further expansion of the species will represent for low-altitude native forests, as well as the utility of species distribution models in the assessment of the areas under risk of invasion. & 2009 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.


The Johannesburg Dome (JD) in the central Kaapvaal Craton (KC) is dominated by granitoid rocks of the tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) series. Based on modal analysis as well as a major and trace element investigation the JD granitoids could be subdivided into three main suites, i.e. a Tonalitic gneiss suite (TG) around the southern boundary, a Granodiorite to Adamellite Gneiss suite (GAG) across the northern part, and a Granodiorite/adamellite to Granodiorite suite (GG) occurring between the TG and GAG suites. These rocks are dominantly I-type and peraluminous with the tonalites (TG and partly the GAG suites) falling in the metaluminous field. TTGs of the JD are high-K calc-alkaline to calc-alkaline and are dominantly high silica rocks (~70 weight %), aluminous (Al2O3 >15wt%) with low Yb ( 30), high Na2O/K2O (>1), and have Na2O contents of between 3wt% and 5wt%, comparable to that of the average TTG. The JD tonalities (TG suite) have higher Al2O3, Sr, Na2O/K2O, Mg#, Ni, Cr and LILE contents compared to the more calc-alkaline granitoids (GG suite and trondhjemites of the GAG suite), which are typically richer in HREE (lower REE fractionation), Y and show a negative Sr and Eu anomaly. Other characteristic features of the JD TTG's include HFSE depletion and distinct enrichment of fluid sensitive elements such as Pb. The strongly fractionated REE pattern, high (La/Yb)N ratio and depletion in HREE (Yb) of the JD TTGs are characteristics shared with modern adakites. The TG suite most probably formed through melting of a subducted oceanic slab with the melt interacting with mantle peridotite during its accent through a thin mantle wedge. The remaining JD granitoids (GAG and GG) most probably formed through the remelting of a TTG protolith, which has a subducted slab and mantle wedge signature (similar to the TG suite).


Tuneable and stable surface-chemical gradients in supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) hold great promise for a range of applications in biological sensing and screening. Yet, until now, no method has been reported that provides temporal control of SLB gradients. Herein we report on the development of locked-in SLB gradients that can be tuned in space, time and density by applying a process to control lipid phase behaviour, electric field and temperature. Stable gradients of charged Texas-Red-, serine- or biotin-terminated lipids have been prepared. For example, the Texas-Red surface density was varied from 0 to 2 mol %, while the length was varied between several tens to several hundreds of microns. At room temperature the gradients are shown to be stable up to 24 h, while at 60 °C the gradients could be erased in 30 min. Covalent and non-covalent chemical modification of the gradients is demonstrated, for example, by FITC, hexahistidine-tagged proteins, and SAv/biotin. The amenability to various (bio)chemistries paves the way for novel SLB-based gradients, useful in sensing, high-throughput screening and for understanding dynamic biological processes.


We describe two new species of Willowsia : W. baoshanensis sp. nov. and W. zhaotongensis sp. nov. This is the first report of Willowsia from Yunnan Province, China. W. baoshanensis sp. nov. is mainly characterized by its chaetotaxy, W. zhaotongensis sp. nov. by its color pattern and chaetotaxy.


The resolution of a large complex financial organization (LCFO) presents numerous problems, including organizational complexity, opacity of positions, and conflicting legal jurisdictions. Of particular concern is the potential impact of large derivatives books. Widespread adoption of laws permitting close-out of derivatives contracts exempts these contracts from the usual stays that provide time for the orderly resolution of claims by the courts. Thus, a potentially significant part of the LCFO's assets and liabilities are exempted from normal bankruptcy procedures, creating the potential for a disorderly dismemberment of an insolvent LCFO. Nonetheless, however inconvenient they may be for bankruptcy administrators, the closeout netting privileges enjoyed by derivatives are essential to reducing legal uncertainty, increasing liquidity, and minimizing the systemic impact of large failures. The solution advocated in this paper is for regulators to provide "facilitated private resolution" for dealing with systemically important financial institutions, along the lines of the Long-Term Capital Management workout and the "London Approach" practiced in the last century. To make this early intervention effective, consolidated supervision is needed to ensure that comprehensive information is available and intervention takes place while the firm is still solvent.


This thesis is a compendium of research which brings together ideas from the fields of Complex Networks and Computational Neuroscience to address two questions regarding neural systems: 1) How the activity of neurons, via synaptic changes, can shape the topology of the network they form part of, and 2) How the resulting network structure, in its turn, might condition aspects of brain behaviour. Although the emphasis is on neural networks, several theoretical findings which are relevant for complex networks in general are presented -- such as a method for studying network evolution as a stochastic process, or a theory that allows for ensembles of correlated networks, and sets of dynamical elements thereon, to be treated mathematically and computationally in a model-independent manner. Some of the results are used to explain experimental data -- certain properties of brain tissue, the spontaneous emergence of correlations in all kinds of networks... -- and predictions regarding statistical aspects of the central nervous system are made. The mechanism of Cluster Reverberation is proposed to account for the near-instant storage of novel information the brain is capable of.


Comparing the narrativity of different texts within a given medium usually implies a focus on the narrated and how the story is structured by the discourse. Comparing the narrativity of different media, on the other hand, requires both an examination of the way the story is presented as well as of questions of mediacy and narrative agency. Addressing the second topic, this paper seeks to classify transmedial comparisons according to their criteria for evaluating narrativity and to examine positions which regard literature as a medium possessing a higher degree of narrativity or in a stricter sense than film and drama. Wolf Schmid's model of narrative constitution serves as a theoretical framework for the critical review of this claim, and the exceptional case of backward narration is discussed in exemplifying central points of the argument put forth here.


The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and article I, section 10 of the Minnesota Constitution protect an individual's privacy right from an unreasonable search or seizure. However, courts have upheld the constitutionality of some searches when an individual's expectation of privacy is outweighed by a legitimate governmental interest. In State v. Johnson, the Supreme Court of Minnesota considered whether a Minnesota statute violated an individual's right to privacy by authorizing DNA collection from an individual charged with a felony offense but convicted of a misdemeanor arising from the same conduct. The court held that the statute, as applied to the defendant in this case, did not violate the United States or Minnesota constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.


Thirty‐eight congenitally deaf children received the Nucleus multichannel cochlear prosthesis at NYU Medical Center prior to age five. Preoperative and postoperative evaluations included pure tone audiometry under earphones, warble tone audiometry in the sound field (amplification system preoperatively and implant postoperatively), and open set measures of word/sentence recognition. Tests administered included, but were not limited to, GASP words and sentences, PBK words (scored as words and phonemes) and Indiana phrases and were administered preoperatively and 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months postoperatively. Results indicated a significant improvement over time in the ability of the children to perceive words and sentences in the implant only condition. Percent correct scores improved with length of usage and increasing age, reflecting increased ability of the young children to perform the necessary tasks, in addition to developing speech recognition abilities. After using the device for two or more years the children had varying degrees of open set speech perception. These results demonstrate significant improvement in open set speech perception in congenitally deaf children implanted below the age of five.


The usage of the Boschplaat salt-marsh on Terschelling over a 30-year period by Brent Geese Brama b. bernic{a, is compared with that on improved grassland on Texel. Natural salt-marsh turns out to be a preferred spring staging habitat. Spring feeding on grassland is a new phenomenon. An exponential model shows that, with the increase in world population size of this subspecies, on the salt-marsh an asymptotic value in numbers has been reached, while on the grassland site further growth is still to be expected. Bird censuses, data on the proportion offirst-winter birds, survival estimates from colour-ringed birds, and re-sightings of individuals, have been used to predict the number to return to the same spring staging site next year. The return rate ofmarked birds in relation to spring body-mass has been compared for both study sites. Re-sightings ofmarked individuals show that site-tenac ity is high. However, there are clear differences between the Boschplaat salt marsh and the Texel grassland site. In springs following a good breeding season world population size has increased markedly, and competition on the salt-marsh is high. Particularly males with lower body-mass are less likely to return to the same salt-marsh in a subsequent spring. On the grassland site males are equally likely to return, irrespective their body-mass. In years fol lowing poor breeding this difference is not noticeable. Then, there is immi gration of new birds to the Boschplaat salt-marshes, while from Texel some emigration takes place. In late May males predominate on the grassland site, whereas the reverse is the case on the salt-marsh. In females survival is lower in the lightest category, but no differences in the rate of return between the two spring feeding habitats were apparent. Young birds spending their first spring on the grassland site are more likely to return, whereas those on the salt-marsh are seen more often elsewhere. This suggests that the salt-marsh area is filled to capacity in spring, making it hard for young birds to settle. The carrying capacity of salt-marsh in spring has been estimated by dividing the mean peak number of geese by the total suitable grazing area.


Cervicography is a technique for visual screening of uterine cervix images for cervical cancer. One of our research goals is the automated detection in these images of acetowhite (AW) lesions, which are sometimes correlated with cervical cancer. These lesions are characterized by the whitening of regions along the squamocolumnar junction on the cervix when treated with 5% acetic acid. Image preprocessing is required prior to invoking AW detection algorithms on cervicographic images for two reasons: (1) to remove Specular Reflections (SR) caused by camera flash, and (2) to isolate the cervix region-of-interest (ROI) from image regions that are irrelevant to the analysis. These image regions may contain medical instruments, film markup, or other non-cervix anatomy or regions, such as vaginal walls. We have qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated the performance of alternative preprocessing algorithms on a test set of 120 images. For cervix ROI detection, all approaches use a common feature set, but with varying combinations of feature weights, normalization, and clustering methods. For SR detection, while one approach uses a Gaussian Mixture Model on an intensity/saturation feature set, a second approach uses Otsu thresholding on a top-hat transformed input image. Empirical results are analyzed to derive conclusions on the performance of each approach.


This paper analyzes optimal spending, tax and financial policies in models of endogenous growth where public spending is productive. We extend previous work in four directions. First, we analyze optimal policies when the government is allowed to borrow and lend, rather than being restricted to run a balanced budget in every period. Second, we develop a model with a separate human capital accumulation sector. Therefore, the properties of optimal policies depend on whether government spending affects the productivity of the final goods sector or the human capital accumulation sector. Third, we consider the policy implications of alternative assumptions about which factor of production benefits from the external effects of productive public goods. Fourth, we study the implications of restrictions on the menu of tax instruments available to the policy maker. We contrast optimal tax rates on human and physical capital under different assumptions on technology and distribution. We analyze the welfare properties of public debt and assets.


A bold and seductive catalogue capturing for the first time Tracey Emin's ethereal and affecting works in neon. Language and the illumination of honesty are central to Tracey Emin's work in all mediums, from drawings to sculptures, tapestries, films, and paintings, but no part of her canon quite embodies her trademark style of bold, open, and provocative expression as profoundly as her works in neon. Collected here for the first such show in the United States, Emin's neon works are as ethereal as they are striking. The prevalent tones of clean whites and vibrant pinks soften the signature scrawl of her handwriting, inspiring a calm appreciation even before the pith and wit of her words hit home. Taken individually, the pieces are playful and questioning, confessional and challenging, invoking ruminations on the symbolism of language itself. Taken together, as this exhibition presents them, the neon works are a bright and haunting distillation of the themes that are at the heart of Emin's work. This beautifully illustrated catalogue presents 120 of Emin's neon works, introduced by essays from curator Bonnie Clearwater and the artist and writer Gary Indiana.


This study concerned the concept of teacher induction, understood globally as the process of initiating newly qualified teachers (NQTs) into their roles as effective teachers and members of a school organisation. Despite longstanding proposals advocating change for teacher induction in the Republic of Ireland, Ireland has no statutory provision for this and there remains a significant gap in the Irish literature about how induction is currently functioning. The research investigated primary level NQT induction using a qualitative multi-case study, interviewing principals and NQTs in eight schools. These interviews explored principals' rationales for providing induction and what they made available for their NQTs. NQTs' perceptions were then sought about the effectiveness of their induction. A conceptual framework for evaluating the components of an effective induction programme was adapted from the literature to enable focused critique of Ireland's provision and guidance for future developments.

Four typologies of school-based induction were chosen to categorise the data: laissez faire, collegial, competency based, and self-directing professional. In all but the last of these, a rhetoric–reality gap was found; resulting in unforeseen consequences such as conflicts of interest between principals and NQTs. Evolving from the critique and the typologies, a reconstructed framework of the components of effective induction was devised to align with perceived needs of principals and NQTs. This can aid policymakers and stakeholders in future planning for NQT induction in Ireland.


Visualization typically involves large computational tasks, often performed on supercomputers. The results of these tasks are usually analyzed by a design team consisting of several members. Our goal is to depart from traditional single-user systems and build a low-cost scientific visualization environment that enables computer-supported cooperative work in the distributed setting. A synchronously conferenced collaborative visualization environment would let multiple users on a network of workstations and supercomputers share large data sets, simultaneously view visualizations of the data, and interact with multiple views while varying parameters. Such an environment would support collaboration in both the problem-solving phase and the review phase of design tasks. In this article we describe two distributed visualization algorithms and the facilities that enable collaborative visualization. These are all implemented on top of the distribution and collaboration mechanisms of an environment called Shastra, executing on a set of low-cost networked workstations.<<ETX>>


In many scholarly disciplines, books - not articles - are the norm. As print runs become smaller, the question arises whether publishing monographs in open access helps to make their contents globally accessible. To answer this question, the results of multiple studies on the usage of open access books are presented. The research focuses on three areas: economic viability; optimization of open access monographs infrastructure and measuring the effects of open access in terms of scholarly impact and societal influence. Each chapter reviews a different aspect: book sales, digital dissemination, open licenses, user communities, measuring usage, developing countries and the effects on citations and social media.


Cavin, L. and Grădinaru, E. 2014. Dobrogeria aegyssensis, a new early Spathian (Early Triassic) coelacanth from North Dobrogea (Romania). Acta Geologica Polonica, 64 (2), 161–187. Warszawa. The Early Triassic witnessed the highest taxic diversity of coelacanths (or Actinistia), a clade with a single living genus today. This peak of diversity is accentuated here with the description of a new coelacanth discovered in the lower Spathian (Upper Olenekian, Lower Triassic) cropping out in the Tulcea Veche (Old Tulcea) promontory, in the city of Tulcea, in North Dobrogea, Romania. The bone remains were preserved in a block of limestone, which was chemically dissolved. The resulting 3D and matrix-free ossifications correspond mostly to elements of the skull and branchial apparatus. Posterior parietals, postparietal with associated prootic and basisphenoid allow a precise description of the neurocranium. Ossifications of the lower jaw, together with branchial and pectoral elements, complete the description of this coelacanth and support the coining of a new generic and specific name, Dobrogeria aegyssensis. A phylogenetic analysis of actinistians with the new species recovers clades which were found in most recent analyses, i.e. the Sasseniidae, the Laugiidae, the Coelacanthiformes, the Latimerioidei, the Mawsoniidae and the Latimeriidae, and identifies the new taxon as a non-latimerioid coelacanthiform.


Does economic inequality breed political violence? For almost half a century, scholars have tried to test this assumption, finding little empirical support for a statistical relationship between the two variables. This article provides a critical review of this literature, starting out with the link between so-called vertical (inter-individual) inequality and conflict. I argue that the lack of empirical results can largely be attributed to the almost exclusive focus on individual-level differences in terms of income or land. Group identity is critical to recruitment and maintaining allegiance to a military organization. Hence, we should focus the attention on the relevant form of inequality—that between groups, or so-called horizontal inequalities. In contrast to the studies focusing on vertical inequality, an emerging quantitative literature on horizontal inequalities and conflict has found a positive link, which is more in line with the evidence from several case studies. However, measuring horizontal inequalities is a clear challenge, and there is a need for additional studies to qualify the initial findings. I conclude by suggesting some avenues for future research.