This thesis investigates text memorization, a widely used yet under-explored language practice in foreign language teaching and learning in mainland China. The inquiry was conducted along two lines: to conceptually examine a number of issues central to the understanding of the practice of text memorization in the Chinese context, and empirically inquire into Chinese learners/teachers' practices and perceptions of the inclusion of text memorization in foreign language learning and teaching. The review of literature shows that (text) memorisation had been widely practiced in other parts of the world until recently, including the Anglophone west. By challenging the belief that emphasis on memorisation stifles and creative thinking, which is believed to be one of the key aims of Western education, I argue that memorisation or memorised knowledge is not only legitimate in but constitutes an important part of learning. I also demonstrate that Confucius' theory of learning, which allows the coexistence of emphasis on memorisation and critical thinking arguably can be of relevance to education in the 21st century. Also advanced in the conceptual study is the argument that the methodological considerations underlying ALM (Audio Lingual Method), despite its western origin, match up to some fundamental Chinese conceptions of learning and teaching. The empirical study reported in this thesis addresses the need for a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the practices and beliefs of Chinese learners and teachers regarding the use of text memorization in foreign language learning and teaching. This study bases its methodology on semi-structured interviews complemented by small-scale surveys. The data was collected from a group of Chinese learners (N=42) and teachers (N=20) affiliated with 10 schools and 6 universities at three different educational levels, i.e. junior high, senior high and college, which constitute the major part of foreign language education in China. Data collection was mainly based in a single Chinese inland capital city and lasted for one year and two months involving two fieldwork trips to China. Analyses of the data lead to two major findings. First, both learners and teachers hold overwhelmingly positive perceptions of the use of text memorization in foreign language learning and teaching. The practice was perceived to be beneficial not only because it assists learning in a number of ways but because it builds the learners' sense of achievement and confidence. Second, the informants' positive beliefs about text memorisation, though context-constrained, might be more attributable to their perception of benefits to their language learning and teaching than to the view that the practice is consistent with traditional Chinese culture and values. In sum, this inquiry promotes a 'different-rather than-deficit' perspective in understanding Chinese learners and their learning practice as well as problematizing the uncritical assumptions about the negative impact of a Confucian philosophy of education.


Molecular communications (MolCom) has been established as one of the novel interdisciplinary research themes with strong impact on science and technology in the last five years. For this reason, in 2016 the European Project CIRCLE (Coordinating European Research on Molecular Communications) started organizing an annual event, named Workshop on Molecular Communications , to encourage strategic development of molecular communications research in Europe with a focus on broadening the reach of the community into adjacent disciplines, such as synthetic biology, systems biology, pharmacology, inter/intra cellular communications, chemical networks, and communications engineering. The third edition of the Workshop on Molecular Communications was organized by the IDLab—Department of Information Technology of the Ghent University—IMEC on April 4–6, 2018. The workshop has provided the research community with an opportunity to meet and share their research, vision and experience in the area of molecular communications across different disciplines. In addition to invited talks and tutorials, the technical program committee accepted 19 extended abstracts for oral presentation. Among them, a total of four papers were selected for publication in this special section of IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience after a subsequent IEEE independent peer review process. Moreover, three additional papers were selected to be included in the special issue among those submitted to it through the open call, totaling seven accepted papers for this special issue. The Guest editors sincerely thank all the participants for their appreciated contributions.


Optical Kerr effect (OKE) spectroscopy is a widely used technique for probing the low-frequency, Raman-active dynamics of liquids. Although molecular simulations are an attractive tool for assigning liquid degrees of freedom to OKE spectra, the accurate modeling of the OKE and the motions that contribute to it relies on the use of a realistic and computationally tractable molecular polarizability model. Here we explore how the OKE spectrum of liquid benzene, and the underlying dynamics that determines its shape, are affected by the polarizability model employed. We test a molecular polarizability model that uses a point anisotropic molecular polarizability and three other models that distribute the polarizability over the molecule. The simplest and most computationally efficient distributed polarizability model tested is found to be sufficient for the accurate simulation of the many-body polarizability dynamics of this liquid. We further find that the atomic-to-molecular polarizability transformation approximation [Hu et al. J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 7837-7849], used in conjunction with this distributed polarizability model, yields OKE spectra whose shapes differ negligibly from those calculated without this approximation, providing a substantial increase in computational efficiency.


SHORT NOTE

On January 11, 1996 an extremely unusual recording was made by the Geological Survey of Canada's seismograph network. We have identified the source, and, to our knowledge, this is the first recording of its type. The purpose of this short note is to document this extremely rare seismogram.

On January 11, 1996 at approximately 3:45 pm local time (23:45 UT), the emergent onset of a significant seismic event was noticed at the station ALB of the Western Canadian Telemetered Network (WCTN). This seismic station, operated by the Geological Survey of Canada, is located on central Vancouver Island, above the Cascadia subduction zone. It consists of a short-period vertical seismometer buried in a concrete vault, in a quiet wooded setting (Figure la). The instrumentation is not far from a local school on the outskirts of Port Alberni, British Columbia. The digital seismic signals are telemetered to the Pacific Geoscience Centre...


Background Lead-contaminated house dust is a major source of lead exposure for children in the United States. In 1999–2004, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected dust lead (PbD) loading samples from the homes of children 12–60 months of age. Objectives In this study we aimed to compare national PbD levels with existing health-based standards and to identify housing and demographic factors associated with floor and windowsill PbD. Methods We used NHANES PbD data (n = 2,065 from floors and n = 1,618 from windowsills) and covariates to construct linear and logistic regression models. Results The population-weighted geometric mean floor and windowsill PbD were 0.5 μg/ft2 [geometric standard error (GSE) = 1.0] and 7.6 μg/ft2 (GSE = 1.0), respectively. Only 0.16% of the floors and 4.0% of the sills had PbD at or above current federal standards of 40 and 250 μg/ft2, respectively. Income, race/ethnicity, floor surface/condition, windowsill PbD, year of construction, recent renovation, smoking, and survey year were significant predictors of floor PbD [the proportion of variability in the dependent variable accounted for by the model (R2) = 35%]. A similar set of predictors plus the presence of large areas of exterior deteriorated paint in pre-1950 homes and the presence of interior deteriorated paint explained 20% of the variability in sill PbD. A companion article [Dixon et al. Environ Health Perspect 117:468–474 (2009)] describes the relationship between children's blood lead and PbD. Conclusion Most houses with children have PbD levels that comply with federal standards but may put children at risk. Factors associated with PbD in our population-based models are primarily the same as factors identified in smaller at-risk cohorts. PbD on floors and windowsills should be kept as low as possible to protect children.


This study involves further development of a direct approach to optimization-based posture prediction by using multi-objective optimization (MOO). Human performance measures representing joint displacement and delta potential energy are aggregated to predict more realistically, how virtual humans move. It is found that potential energy does not govern independently human posture. Rather, it must be coupled with another objective to avoid non-unique solutions and to improve realism. In any case, it is more suitable when reaching behind the avatar. Thus, we refine the idea of task-based posture prediction, concluding that performance measures should depend not only on the task being completed but also on where the task is completed relative to the human. Pareto optimal sets are depicted using the weighted sum and weighted min-max methods for MOO. By leveraging a special form of Pareto optimal set, insight is gained concerning how the functions should be combined. We find that the two MOO methods perform equally well, and the general form of the sets is independent of the target (to be touched with the finger) location.


Title of dissertation: PIECES OF MUSIC: THE ONTOLOGY OF CLASSICAL, ROCK, AND JAZZ MUSIC Andrew Kania, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor Jerrold Levinson Department of Philosophy I investigate the nature of, and relationships between, works, performances, and recordings in the Western musical traditions of classical, rock, and jazz music. I begin in chapter one by defending the study of musical ontology against a recent attack by Aaron Ridley. This leads into a discussion of the appropriate methodology for investigating the ontology of art, and the reasons for doing musical ontology, particularly in a comparative way. In chapter two I review and reject several theories of what a classical musical work is. I defend the view that such a work is an abstract object – a type of performance – against several objections, most notably that abstract objects cannot be created, while musical works are. In chapter three I argue that classical recordings, as they are typically made, are correctly conceived of as giving access to performances of the works they purport to be of, despite the fact that they are not records of any single performance event in the studio. Before tackling rock and jazz, in chapter four I investigate the concept of a work of art in general, arguing that there are two necessary conditions an art object must meet to be a work: (1) it must be of a kind that is a primary focus of critical attention in a given art form or tradition, and (2) it must be a persisting object. I argue further that (i) there is no need to subsume all art under the work concept, and that (ii) drawing a distinction between works and other art objects need not lead to valuing the former over the latter. In chapter five, I argue that the work of art in rock music is a track for playback, constructed in the studio. Tracks usually manifest songs, which can be performed live. A cover version is a track (successfully) intended to manifest the same song as some other track. In chapter six, I discuss various proposals for the ontology of jazz. I argue that in jazz there are no works, only performances. PIECES OF MUSIC: THE ONTOLOGY OF CLASSICAL, ROCK, AND JAZZ MUSIC


We are performing a uniform and unbiased imaging survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC; ∼7° × 7°) using the IRAC (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 μm) and MIPS (24, 70, and 160 μm) instruments on board the Spitzer Space Telescope in the Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) survey, these agents being the interstellar medium (ISM) and stars in the LMC. This paper provides an overview of the SAGE Legacy project, including observing strategy, data processing, and initial results. Three key science goals determined the coverage and depth of the survey. The detection of diffuse ISM with column densities >1.2 × 1021 H cm-2 permits detailed studies of dust processes in the ISM. SAGE's point-source sensitivity enables a complete census of newly formed stars with masses >3 M⊙ that will determine the current star formation rate in the LMC. SAGE's detection of evolved stars with mass-loss rates >1 × 10-8 M⊙ yr-1 will quantify the rate at which evolved stars inject mass into the ISM of the LMC. The observing strategy includes two epochs in 2005, separated by 3 months, that both mitigate instrumental artifacts and constrain source variability. The SAGE data are nonproprietary. The data processing includes IRAC and MIPS pipelines and a database for mining the point-source catalogs, which will be released to the community in support of Spitzer proposal cycles 4 and 5. We present initial results on the epoch 1 data for a region near N79 and N83. The MIPS 70 and 160 μm images of the diffuse dust emission of the N79/N83 region reveal a similar distribution to the gas emissions, especially the H I 21 cm emission. The measured point-source sensitivity for the epoch 1 data is consistent with expectations for the survey. The point-source counts are highest for the IRAC 3.6 μm band and decrease dramatically toward longer wavelengths, consistent with the fact that stars dominate the point-source catalogs and the dusty objects detected at the longer wavelengths are rare in comparison. The SAGE epoch 1 point-source catalog has ∼4 × 106 sources, and more are anticipated when the epoch 1 and 2 data are combined. Using Milky Way (MW) templates as a guide, we adopt a simplified point-source classification to identify three candidate groups—stars without dust, dusty evolved stars, and young stellar objects—that offer a starting point for this work. We outline a strategy for identifying foreground MW stars, which may comprise as much as 18% of the source list, and background galaxies, which may comprise ∼12% of the source list.


Globalisation and rapid technology advancements are having a profound change on the competitiveness of local and global markets, and shaping the New Zealand marketplace. New Zealand companies are not just competing against other New Zealand companies, but are also competing against global companies. Competitive intelligence is critical for informing vital business decisions and potentially for the viability of a company. The purpose of this study was to research the state of competitive intelligence within the New Zealand private and public sectors and benchmark them against a similar study by Trengrove and Vryenhoek (1997). This research report further explores the relationship between knowledge management and competitive intelligence by examining the culture of competitive intelligence in an information (knowledge) economy through the analysis of competitive intelligence attitudes (Rouach and Santi 2001), 'Strategic Protection Factors' (Rothberg and Erickson, 2005), value and mindset of managing knowledge, and competitive intelligence within New Zealand companies.


This chapter is concerned with the origin and development of the English epistemic adverb maybe . Using various historical corpora, including the Helsinki Corpus and ARCHER as a baseline, we analyse a range of structures featuring the sequence ( it ) may be , paying special attention to those which may have contributed, in varying degrees, to the emergence of the adverb maybe . We argue that the development of maybe can be regarded as an instance of grammaticalization, whereby a matrix clause in a complementation structure ( it may be ( that ) … ) is downgraded to a parenthetical, thus losing its original clausal morpho-syntactic features, and eventually becoming an adverb. Therefore, the adverbialization of maybe seems to have followed a similar path of development to that of (quasi-)adverbs such as methinks and looks like . We also argue, however, that even though complement-taking-predicate clauses are the ultimate main source of the adverb, via an intermediate parenthetical stage, other constructions (e.g. it may be + phrasal constituent) may have played a role in its development.


In ruminants, mammary supply of substrate varies with rate of mammary blood flow and concentrations of blood substrates. Blood concentrations of most mammary substrates, except acetate and tryptophan, do not vary greatly with feed intake, short term. Fasting reduces mammary blood flow, whereas milking and injection of growth hormone or thyroxine increase flow. It is proposed that the fraction of cardiac output that perfuses the udder of lactating ruminants plays a role in regulation of nutrient partitioning between milk and body tissues. In fed animals this fraction is 15 to 16% of cardiac output, which declines on fasting to 8 to 9% and increases slightly following growth hormone treatment to 17.6%. Following realimentation of fasted cows or goats, mammary blood flow takes several hours to return to normal. Investigation of the mechanism of this response, in terms of the ability of the animal to recognize its nutritional status and partition nutrients accordingly, should prove fruitful to understanding causes of variations of milk production in response to feed quantity and quality. Several substrates show increased mammary arteriovenous difference with increasing blood concentrations. This may reflect differing ratios of blood flow:milk yield. The steep gradient of concentration of substrates across the mammary epithelial cell membrane suggests that a major impediment to substrate supply for milk synthesis is the rate of substrate transport across the membrane.


This book has two primary objectives: to teach the basic principles of programming in C and C++ as outlined in curricula at many leading universities, and to teach the basic constructs of the C language and the C++ language. In addition, this book is designed to be used in a programming course using the C or C++ languages. The concept of "learning by example" has been stressed throughout this book. Each chapter contains many examples, exercises and programs. These programs also demonstrate the general software engineering concepts and principles of good programming style.


Housing Policy in the UK, David Mullins and Alan Murie, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, 324 pp., £21.99 (p/b) Decent Homes for All: Planning's Evolving Role in Housing Provision, Nick Gallent and Mark Tewdwr-Jones, London and New York, Routledge, 2007, 300 pp., £27.99 (p/b) British Housebuilders: History and Analysis, Fred Wellings, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2006, 290 pp., £49.99 (h/b) For many years there were two key texts that anyone interested in the history and development of housing could refer to. One was Housing Policy: An Introduction, by Paul Balchin, and the other was Housing Policy and Practice by Peter Malpass and Alan Murie. They complemented each other, with Balchin's text dealing with housing via key topics and themes - housing investment, the housebuilding industry, private rented housing, etc. - and Malpass and Murie's approaching the subject from a historical perspective - the origins of housing policy, housing policy 1914-39, 1945-1979, etc. Between them, they provided most of the basic information required by practitioners and academics alike. Housing Policy in the UK is a successor to Malpass and Murie's text. It is organised into three main sections. Part One deals with the history of housing policy, which is covered in chapters 2-4. Chapters 5-10 explore the main changes in each of the principal housing tenures. Chapters 11-14 deal with links between housing policy and related issues such as housing and social care and neighbourhood renewal in the light of recent policy reforms. Other authors contribute chapters on social housing finance, housing and social care, social exclusion and neighbourhood renewal, and private-sector housing renewal. There is less emphasis on the historical development of housing policy than in some earlier editions of its predecessor, and a greater focus on current and emerging themes. While concentrating on housing policy in England, most chapters also make references to similarities and differences in other parts of the UK. Chapters 4, 12 and 13 are likely to be of greatest interest to town or spatial planners. Chapter 4 considers housing under Labour from 1997 to 2004. It highlights the continuity in policy from the 1980s and early 1990s with the emphasis on promoting home ownership, stock transfers, and an acceptance of public expenditure and taxation orthodoxy. But it also identifies new directions and innovations that impinge on housing policy and which were far less in evidence - or missing entirely - from earlier periods. These include the introduction of the minimum wage, working families tax credits, regionalisation, and the modernisation of public services. Chapter 12 deals with social exclusion and neighbourhood renewal. It considers the impact of damp housing, overcrowding, homelessness and fuel poverty on different social groups, as well as assessing the relationships between housing tenure and social exclusion. It describes some of the recent responses to social exclusion under New Labour, including New Deal for Communities, neighbourhood management, local strategic partnerships, the sustainable communities plan, and the housing market renewal pathfinders initiative, and concludes that policy makers need to recognise the role of housing in social exclusion, to avoid confusing neighbourhood management with housing management, and to see the importance of different spatial dimensions of social exclusion - subregional, regional and national. Chapter 13 rehearses recent changes to private-sector housing renewal, the effects of the 2002 regulatory reform order, measures to tackle privately rented accommodation (including housing in multiple occupation - HMOs), and approaches to dealing with low demand (including Housing Market Renewal Areas - HMRAs). It argues that HMRAs have brought subsidy and support to areas of low housing demand, but have done little to deal with the many thousands of dwellings in poor condition elsewhere: 'what is absent is a coherent policy that sets out the respective responsibilities of the state and private owners in relation to housing conditions'. …


This article describes the origins and uses of a classroom and workshop activity called "The Polak Game" or "Where do you Stand?". Over a dozen years of use to date, the game has provided a user-friendly structure for facilitating quite far-reaching conversation among foresight students and clients. Duration is flexible, but typically runs 30-60 minutes. It represents an effective and accessible approach to introducing "images of the future" as a basic property of both cultures and individuals, and so to pave the way for more advanced tools and frameworks. The article is in two parts, covering the experiences of the two authors.


Abstract. The role of mineral dust aerosol in the global radiative energy budget is often
quantified by the dust direct radiative effect (DRE). The dust DRE strongly
depends on dust aerosol optical depth (DAOD), therefore, DRE efficiency
(DREE = DRE / DAOD) is widely compared across different studies to eliminate
differences due to the various dust loads. Nevertheless, DREE is still
influenced by the uncertainties associated with dust particle size
distribution (PSD) and optical properties. In this study, we derive a global
clear-sky size-resolved DREE dataset in both shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) at top of
the atmosphere (TOA) and surface based on satellite observations (i.e.,
satellite-retrieved dust extinction spatial and vertical distributions). In
the DREE dataset, dust geometric diameter from 0.1 to 100 µm
is divided into 10 bins and the corresponding monthly mean DREE (with
respect to DAOD at 532 nm) for each size bin is derived by using the Rapid
Radiative Transfer Model (RRTM). Three sets of state of the art dust
refractive indices (RI) and two sets of dust shape models (sphere vs. spheroid) are adopted to investigate the sensitivity of dust DREE to dust
absorption and shape. As a result, the size-resolved dust DREE dataset
contains globally distributed monthly mean dust DREE at TOA and surface for
each of 10 size bins with 5∘ (longitude) ×2∘
(latitude) resolution as well as for each dust RI and shape combination. The
size-resolved dust DREE dataset can be used to readily calculate global dust
DRE for any DAOD and dust PSD, including the uncertainty in the DRE induced
by dust microphysical properties, (e.g., dust PSD, RI and shape). By
calculating dust DRE based on DAOD climatology retrieved from different
satellite sensors and based on different dust PSD, we find that uncertainty
in the spatial pattern of DAOD induces more than 10 % of the uncertainty
in SW dust DRE at TOA. The observation-based dust PSD induces around
15–20 % uncertainty in dust DRE at TOA and in the
atmosphere. The sensitivity assessments of dust DRE to dust RI and shape
further suggest that dust nonsphericity induces a negligible effect on dust
DRE estimations, while dust RI turns out to be the most important factor in
determining dust DRE, particularly in SW.


This study draws on in-depth semi-structured interviews with seventeen partnered mothers in Newcastle upon Tyne. All the study households contained a full time wage earner and had an income between 60 and 85% of the national median household income. The aims of the study were:
1) to establish how interviewees managed life on a limited income, both financially and emotionally
2) to investigate how this was connected to sources of household income, negotiations with their partner, and personal beliefs about money and gender
3) to discover how these women experienced and understood their own material deprivation and their role as household financial managers.

Previous studies of intra-household income have looked at the whole population or those on benefit, but mothers in this income bracket had never been studied before. Moreover, after a decade of tax credit reform and women-into-work policies significant changes in the financial circumstances of this group of households seemed likely. An approach which placed the lived experience of the interviewees at the centre of the study was taken, rooted in the feminist qualitative tradition. A new method for revealing the material deprivation of individual household members was also pioneered.

The key finding is that women in this income group were likely to be materially poor, although living in households officially defined as 'not poor', and the way they related to their money is similar to poor women in previous studies. This resulted both from the general inadequacy of household incomes and from the way resources were distributed within the household, with women often at the bottom of the spending hierarchy. Contrary to the findings of most previous studies, women did not 'tag' certain streams of household income, such as reserving Child Benefit for children; instead they ensured children were protected from material deprivation by their own sacrifices, sacrifices not always shared with their male partner. The lower the household income, the more likely this was to happen. Other findings include widespread desire to undertake paid work if it fitted around caring responsibilities, a marked decline in the proportion of household income from male earnings, a strong tendency for the mother to be the sole manager of household finances and therefore the carrier of resulting stress, and a powerful discourse that men could not be trusted with money which further increased women's burden of worry. The women interviewed had a high level of financial skill, demonstrating many strategies to make money stretch further, but usually resources were simply inadequate to meet all household needs. Policy recommendations recognise the vital importance of tax credits and argue for increasing household incomes through supporting good quality paid work that fits with caring responsibilities. It is argued that better measurement of intra-household income distribution is also needed. The cultural issues underpinning the unequal burden of self-sacrifice within families are harder to tackle, but some suggestions are made.


A previously reported study of the distribution and status of an endemic dragonfly in Missouri emphasized data collected by aerial netting and examination of specimens housed in the Wilbur Enns Museum of Entomology. Dip net samples were also taken, however, to find naiads of the target species at sites where adults might not have been found and to determine whether there were associated species. Forty-one collections were made in 32 Ozark streams between mid-May and early June 1999-2000. Of the 372 taxa identified, Psephenus herricki was the mostfrequently associated species. Six of the 32 streams either had not been sampled previously or the results have not been published. Three species (Paragordius varius, Haliplus confluentus and Haliplus deceptus) are first reports for Missouri.


Estimating equations have found wide popularity recently in parametric problems, yielding consistent estimators with asymptotically valid inferences obtained via the sandwich formula. Motivated by a problem in nutritional epidemiology, we use estimating equations to derive nonparametric estimators of a parameter depending on a predictor. The nonparametric component is estimated via local polynomials with loess or kernel weighting, asymptotic theory is derived for the latter. In keeping with the estimating equation paradigm, variances of the nonparametric function estimate are estimated using the sandwich method, in an automatic fashion, without the need typical in the literature to derive asymptotic formulae and plug-in an estimate of a density function. The same philosophy is used in estimating the bias of the nonparametric function, i.e., we use an empirical method without deriving asymptotic theory on a case-by-case basis. The methods are applied to a series of examples. The application to nutrition is called nonparametric calibration after the term used for studies in that field. Other applications include local polynomial regression for generalized linear models, robust local regression, and local transformations in a latent variable model. Extensions to partially parametric models are discussed.


Abstract. The need for a continuous evaluation of the state of preservation of civil infrastructures during their lifetime is increasingly requiring advanced monitoring technologies. The improvement of spatial and temporal resolution of the measurements is now one of the most significant achievement, especially for large infrastructures. Monitoring actions are necessary to maintain safety conditions by controlling the evolution of deformation patterns or detecting significant instabilities. Remote sensing technique such as Differential Interferometry by Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) allows identifying environmental vulnerability and potential damages on large road infrastructures thus contributing to plan and optimize maintenance actions. DInSAR data allow to highlight instability processes and to quantify mean deformation velocities and displacement time series. This information can be analysed considering geotechnical and structural characteristics and adopted to evaluate possible safety condition improvement and damage mitigation. Using proximal remote sensing techniques, such as Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR), it is possible to analyse the pavement conditions on 3D models derived from a dense point cloud acquired by Mobile Laser Scanner (MLS). By combining the DInSAR and LiDAR datasets a great improvement is expected in the capability to promptly identifying critical situations and understanding potential risks affecting extended road infrastructures. The principal aim of this paper is to provide a general overview of the most innovative remote sensing techniques for infrastructure safety condition assessments. Furthermore, a methodological approach to define a reliable procedure for data processing and integration is applied on a test area located in the municipality of Rome.


During the last three decades in the US, the older part of the population has become significantly richer, in contrast with the younger part, which has not. We show that demographics account for a significant part of this intergenerational wealth gap rise. In particular, we develop a general equilibrium model with an OLG structure which is able to mimic the wealth distribution of the household sector in the late 1980s, conditional on its age structure. Inputting the observed rise of life expectancy and the fall in population growth rate into the model generates an increase in wealth inequality across age groups which is between one third and one half of that actually observed. Furthermore, the demographic factors help explain the change of the wealth concentration conditional on the age structure; for example, they account for more than one third of the rise of the share of the elderly within the top 5% wealthiest households. Finally, consistent with a stronger life-cycle motive and an increase of the capital-labor ratio, the model produces an interest rate fall of 1 percentage point.


This work intends to shed light on the possible effects of higher education policy reforms on the distribution of wealth, specifically the implementation of free higher education, replacing tuition fees. A novel alternative for financing the reform is examined: a tax on the labor income of higher education graduates. The analysis is based on a quantitative OLG life cycle model, with heterogeneous agents, intergenerational links, incomplete financial markets, endogenous education decision, and general equilibrium in the determination of wages. The results indicate a slight decrease in wealth inequality, explained by an increase in enrollment, graduation and a smaller earnings premium for higher education. Preliminary Draft Do not distribute


Alkaloids often had pharmacological effects. The aim at this study is to increase some alkaloids in fenugreek. Callus induction occurred on cotyledon segments 5 mm long. Murshige and Skoog medium (MS) supplied with 1 mg.lˉ¹ of 2, 4 – D and 0.4 mg.lˉ¹ of kinetin was prepared. The best medium maintained callus was using MS medium supplied with 0.5 mg.lˉ¹ 2, 4-D and 0.5 mg.lˉ¹ kinetin. Callus formation was allowed to take place for a period of thirty days in the dark at 25°C±2. Calli were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).Methanol callus extract showed high concentrations of some alkaloids compared to the methanol extract of cotyledons. For increasing, the concentration of secondary metabolites, NaCl was added at concentrations 0, 1, 1.5 or 2 g.lˉ¹, sorbitol at concentrations 0, 7, 8 or 9 g.lˉ¹. NaCl at 2 g.lˉ¹ led to significant increase in trigonelline reaching 1354.72 µg per 100 mg fresh weight of callus. NaCl at 1g.lˉ¹ increased choline and carpaine reached 400.82, 483.92 µg.mlˉ¹ per 100 mg respectively. Treatment with 9 g.lˉ¹ sorbitol increased trigonelline and carpaine reached 1666.41, 742.67 µg per 100 mg respectively, while treatment 8 g.lˉ¹ sorbitol significantly increased in choline recorded 588.87 µg per 100 mg.


Formulating knowledge for use in AI Planning engines is currently some-thing of an ad-hoc process, where the skills of knowledge engineers and the tools they use may significantly influence the quality of the resulting planning application. There is little in the way of guidelines or standard procedures, however, for knowledge engineers to use when formulating knowledge into planning domain languages such as PDDL. Also, there is little published research to inform engineers on which method and tools to use in order to effectively engineer a new planning domain model. This is of growing importance, as domain independent planning engines are now being used in a wide range of applications, with the consequence that op-erational problem encodings and domain models have to be developed in a standard language. In particular, at the difficult stage of domain knowledge formulation, changing a statement of the requirements into something for-mal - a PDDL domain model - is still somewhat of an ad hoc process, usually conducted by a team of AI experts using text editors. On the other hand, the use of tools such as itSIMPLE or GIPO, with which experts gen-erate a high level diagrammatic description and automatically generate the domain model, have not yet been proven to be more effective than hand coding.

The major contribution of this thesis is the evaluation of knowledge en-gineering tools and techniques involved in the formulation of knowledge. To support this, we introduce and encode a new planning domain called Road Traffic Accidents (RTA), and discuss a set of requirements that we have derived, in consultation with stakeholders and analysis of accident management manuals, for the planning part of the management task. We then use and evaluate three separate strategies for knowledge formulation, encoding domain models from a textual, structural description of require-ments using (i) the traditional method of a PDDL expert and text editor (ii) a leading planning GUI with built in UML modelling tools (iii) an object-based notation inspired by formal methods. We evaluate these three ap-proaches using process and product metrics. The results give insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches, highlight lessons learned regarding knowledge encoding, and point to important lines of research for knowledge engineering for planning.

In addition, we discuss a range of state-of-the-art modelling tools to find the types of features that the knowledge engineering tools possess. These features have also been used for evaluating the methods used. We bench-mark our evaluation approach by comparing it with the method used in the previous International Competition for Knowledge Engineering for Plan-ning & Scheduling (ICKEPS). We conclude by providing a set of guide-lines for building future knowledge engineering tools.


Over the past ten years, black scholars in the field of English literature have identified a black literary tradition and developed critical strategies for studying that tradition from within black culture. And black historians have also been writing black history and American history from a black perspective. In the field of history, their works include Sterling Stuckey's Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America (1987) and Mary Berry's and John Blassingame's Long Memory: The Black Experience in America (1982), and in literary criticism, Houston Baker's Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American Literature: A Vernacular Theory (1984) and Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance (1987) and Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism (1988). By taking an insider's view of black cultural and literary traditions, these books offer insights that cannot be achieved through more conventional means. The success of an Afrocentric perspective in these fields invites black music scholarship to move beyond the standard approaches of musicology and ethnomusicology, by learning from the theoretical insights of black historians and literary scholars and applying that knowledge to the study of black music. For a glimpse of what existing theories of Afro-American history and letters offer to black music scholars, I will examine the hypothesis of Stuckey and the theory of Gates with musical implications in mind. In doing so, I will use Stuckey and Gates to read black music, Stuckey to read Gates, and Gates to read Stuckey, while recognizing that although literature, history, and music are all different things, certain aspects of black experience may be seen as common to all three. What I will propose here is a mode of inquiry that is consistent with the nature of black music, that is grounded in black music, and that is more appropriate than other, existing modes for the perception, study, and evaluation of black musical products. The Ring Shout: The Foundation of Afro-American Music One of the central tenets of Stuckey's Slave Culture is that "the ring shout was the main context in which Africans recognized values common to them--the values of ancestor worship and contact, communication and teaching through storytelling and trickster expressions, and of various other symbolic devices. Those values were remarkable because, while of ancient African provenance, they were fertile seed for the bloom of new forms" (Stuckey 1987, 16). The shout was an early Negro "holy dance" in which "the circling about in a circle is the prime essential" (Gordon 1981, 447). From contemporaneous descriptions of the shout we learn that the participants stood in a ring and began to walk around it in a shuffle, with the feet keeping in contact with or close proximity to the floor, and that there were "jerking," "hitching" motions, particularly in the shoulders. These movements were usually accompanied by a spiritual, sung by lead singers, "based" by others in the group (probably with some kind of responsorial device and by hand-clapping and knee-slapping). The "thud" of the basic rhythm was continuous, without pause or hesitation. And the singing that took place in the shout made use of interjections of various kinds, elisions, blue-notes, and call-and-response devices, with the sound of the feet against the floor serving as an accompanying device. (1) The shout has been identified as an African survival by Courlander (1963). The earliest on record in the United States dates from 1845 (Epstein 1977, 232), but the practice in this country clearly antedates that record. As Epstein, Courlander, and numerous other scholars have shown, all ring shouts had essentially the same elements, with variations manifesting themselves here and there depending on locale and other factors. From all accounts, the shout was an activity in which music and dance commingled, merged, and fused to become a single distinctive cultural ritual in which the slaves made music and derived their musical styles. …


Viewshed analyses are a potentially useful way of classifying landscapes for the purposes of geomorphometry as well more common applications in landscape evaluation, scenic quality assessment and associated comparative analyses (Fisher et al., 2004; Germino et al., 2001; Wilson et al., 2008; ). It is theoretically possible to quantify a landscape based on openness and the cumulative visibility of a range of geomorphometric indices such as slope, aspect, curvature, roughness, ruggedness, altitudinal range, peakiness, etc (Wood, 2002, Fisher et al., 2004). This can provide the user with an indication of both how open the terrain is and what the precise characteristics of a landscape are that are visible from any point on a terrain surface. This could be implemented using standard, off-the-shelf viewshed analysis tools available in most proprietary GIS software, but the processing overheads, particularly in regard to the extremely long run times involved, where t = years rather than hours or days, make this an impractical proposition even with the most powerful processors. Of course, parallelisation of viewshed algorithms has been shown to be effective in reducing the time required for such analyses (Ware et al., 1996; Kidner et al., 1997; Ware et al., 1998) and distributed GRID computing offers still further reductions in overall run times (Rana and Sharma, 2006), but these methods do not lend themselves easily to most users of desktop GIS. Much effort has been put into developing faster and more efficient viewshed tools in GIS (Huanping et al., 2007; Izraelevitz, 2003) using a variety of algorithms such as tracking in, tracking out, approximation of line of sight, reference plane and block partitioning. This paper describes an alternative approach that utilises a novel voxel-based viewshed algorithm that can significantly reduce overall run times to acceptable levels and allow interactive, real-time evaluation of viewsheds on a standard desktop PC with large terrain models consisting of several million cells.


The traditional plot of the logarithm of drainage capillary pressure versus the logarithm of effective water saturation provides a means of determining the pore size distribution index of sediments. However, due to certain factors such as the occurrence of pore lining clays that can be detached at high pressure gradients of flooding, this method can have a limitation. Also, possible deformation of core sample subjected to high centrifugal frequencies is another factor that can set a limitation to the applicability of this method. In this paper, we have reviewed literature to test the above two hypotheses. The results show that the accuracy of the log-log plot used by the petroleum industry for pore size distribution index determination is limited to clean sand systems where colloidal detachment from pore walls at high hydraulic gradients are no problem. This limitation requires screening of data to exclude affected portions.


In facial contouring surgery, surgeons operate the facial bone to correct bone morphology and thus achieve esthetic feminine face. To evaluate the face appearance after surgery and rehearse every surgical procedure in facial contouring surgery, simulations for tissue peeling, incising and suturing on the face together with bone burring and grafting on the facial bone are required. This paper presents a method that transforms respective tissue vertices to simulate tissue peeling. The transformation is based on specified incisions and clamps as in real facial contouring surgery. This paper also uses an auxiliary structure to represent and record tissue boundary changes inside the face. The elastic, partially plastic and plastic tissue deformation and wound formation during an incision can be simulated by manipulating these boundary changes. The incised wound recorded in the auxiliary structure is also manipulated to simulate tissue generation in wound healing during a suture. This volume manipulation method is combined with the reported method for bone burring and grafting simulations so that high-quality 3D images for illustrating surgical procedures both on the face and facial bone can be achieved. Simulations of two case examples including tissue peeling, incising and suturing procedures, and three modalities of facial contouring surgery demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and system.


Fundamental biological and biochemical studies, proteomics, practical nutrition-related and medical applications, all the research fields, where bioanalytical chemistry is an essential tool, constantly require the improvement of existing techniques of bioanalysis together with the development of new ones. To successfully meet and solve emerging scientific challenges, modern bioanalytical methodologies should provide high sensitivity, selectivity and efficiency of the analysis in combination with low sample consumption, fast experimental procedure and high throughput. This thesis presents various methods and tools that have been developed to address different aspects of bioanalytical chemistry starting from allergen detection in hypoallergenic alimentary products for food safety control and finishing with protein-ligand interaction studies. In all techniques described below, mass spectrometry (MS) was employed as a detection method owing to its exceptional selectivity and sensitivity, paired with rapid analyte identification. Immunoaffinity capillary electrophoresis (IACE) using magnetic beads as immunosupport was coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) MS to perform sensitive analysis of two major bovine milk allergens, beta-lactoglobulin and alpha-lactalbumin, for food safety and quality control. Then, the developed technique was extended to the performance of an effective component-resolved diagnostic of cow`s milk allergy using a tiny amount of patient blood serum, while offering the possibility of unusual allergen discovery and allergenomic studies. As sample pretreatment is the key step of all analytical procedures, a new on-chip technique named solid-phase extraction-gradient elution mass spectrometry (SPE-GEMS) was demonstrated for the effective sample purification, enrichment and fractionation followed by on-line electrospray ionization (ESI) MS detection. In this method, especially useful for proteomic studies, magnetic beads coated with reverse-phase chromatographic coating were used as SPE sorbent for the analysis of various peptide mixtures, providing an advantage of simple sorbent regeneration in a disposable manner. As a continuation of this project, described SPE-GEMS procedure was modified for processing more complex biological samples with their identification by tandem MS detection and, hence, was referred to as SPE-GEMS/MS. Due to the application of mesoporous silica shell magnetic core microspheres as a stationary phase, the new technique displayed high selectivity and sensitivity towards large hydrophobic peptides, which is a valuable characteristic for middle-down proteomic experiments. To ensure fast and high throughput experimental performance together with low sample consumption, the analytical procedure can be designed using droplet-based microfluidics. Therefore, a new way of coupling electrostatic-spray ionization (ESTASI) MS with a water-in-oil droplet system was realized via microchip with a spyhole. The developed system provided efficient analysis of the droplet content, without dilution or an additional oil removal step. It was successfully applied for the performance of single-phase reactions, as well as biphasic reactions, namely protein-ligand interaction between beta-lactoglobulin and acetate of liposoluble vitamin E.


Modeling fluid-structure interaction (FSI) in the vascular system is mandatory to reliably compute mechanical indicators in vessels undergoing large deformations. In order to cope with the computational complexity of the coupled 3D FSI problem after discretizations in space and time, a parallel solution is often mandatory. In this paper, we propose a new block parallel preconditioner for the coupled linearized FSI system obtained after space and time discretization. We name it FaCSI to indicate that it exploits the Factorized form of the linearized FSI matrix, the use of static Condensation to formally eliminate the interface degrees of freedom of the fluid equations, and the use of a SImple preconditioner for saddle-point problems. FaCSI is built upon a block Gauss-Seidel factorization of the FSI Jacobian matrix, and it uses ad-hoc preconditioners for each physical component of the coupled problem, namely the fluid, the structure and the geometry. In the fluid subproblem, after operating static condensation of the interface fluid variables, we use a SIMPLE preconditioner on the reduced fluid matrix. Moreover, to efficiently deal with a large number of processes, FaCSI exploits efficient single field preconditioners, e.g., based on domain decomposition or the multigrid method. We measure the parallel performances of FaCSI on a benchmark cylindrical geometry and on a problem of physiological interest, namely the blood flow through a patient-specific femoropopliteal bypass. We analyze the dependence of the number of linear solver iterations on the cores count (scalability of the preconditioner) and on the mesh size (optimality).


CONTEXT
Active physical training is commonly recommended for patients with chronic neck pain; however, its efficacy has not been demonstrated in randomized studies.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of intensive isometric neck strength training and lighter endurance training of neck muscles on pain and disability in women with chronic, nonspecific neck pain.

DESIGN
Examiner-blinded randomized controlled trial conducted between February 2000 and March 2002.

SETTING
Participants were recruited from occupational health care systems in southern and eastern Finland.

PATIENTS
A total of 180 female office workers between the ages of 25 and 53 years with chronic, nonspecific neck pain.

INTERVENTIONS
Patients were randomly assigned to either 2 training groups or to a control group, with 60 patients in each group. The endurance training group performed dynamic neck exercises, which included lifting the head up from the supine and prone positions. The strength training group performed high-intensity isometric neck strengthening and stabilization exercises with an elastic band. Both training groups performed dynamic exercises for the shoulders and upper extremities with dumbbells. All groups were advised to do aerobic and stretching exercises regularly 3 times a week.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Neck pain and disability were assessed by a visual analog scale, the neck and shoulder pain and disability index, and the Vernon neck disability index. Intermediate outcome measures included mood assessed by a short depression inventory and by maximal isometric neck strength and range of motion measures.

RESULTS
At the 12-month follow-up visit, both neck pain and disability had decreased in both training groups compared with the control group (P<.001). Maximal isometric neck strength had improved flexion by 110%, rotation by 76%, and extension by 69% in the strength training group. The respective improvements in the endurance training group were 28%, 29%, and 16% and in the control group were 10%, 10%, and 7%. Range of motion had also improved statistically significantly in both training groups compared with the control group in rotation, but only the strength training group had statistically significant improvements in lateral flexion and in flexion and extension.

CONCLUSIONS
Both strength and endurance training for 12 months were effective methods for decreasing pain and disability in women with chronic, nonspecific neck pain. Stretching and fitness training are commonly advised for patients with chronic neck pain, but stretching and aerobic exercising alone proved to be a much less effective form of training than strength training.


George Tucker (1775-1861) is particularly interesting and unusual among 19th-century American philosophers. An attorney and Congressman from Virginia, Tucker had a bent towards original thinking, which he expressed in a range of literary genres. He wrote the first biography of Thomas Jefferson, one of the first major histories of the United States, the first science fiction novel about the moon (Volume 3 in this collection), and the first southern US novel. He also wrote several influential books in economic thought and was a vocal opponent of slavery. While in Congress, he published a collection of essays on philosophical and political subjects, which attracted the attention of Jefferson who subsequently appointed him as the first professor of moral philosophy at the University of Virginia. Tucker believed that the state of philosophy in the United States was largely undeveloped and he attempted to address this deficiency. Near the end of his life he published a collection of pamphlets, lectures and essays on philosophy that he had written throughout his career. His essays grapple with many of the central problems of philosophy - such as the existence of the external world - in a


Introduction: Androgenic-anabolic steroids are rarely used by sportsmen who want to improve physical performance in competition sport. Despite that they are well aware of the side effects of anabolic steroids, many young athletes in Bosnia and Herzegovina without competition motivation come in temptation, trying to achieve better muscle proportion and physical performance unknowing consequence of side effects and what is hiding behind. Risk factors such as increasing of lipid levels and arterial hypertension are major factors which have important role in the Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and are responsible for occurrence of cardiovascular disease even causing a sudden death in young athletes. Objective: The aim of the study was to estimate the frequency of misusing of androgenic anabolic steroid drugs in young recreational sportsmen without competition motivation. This study will try to estimate vascular and lipid status, analyzing the side effects of steroids in young recreational athletes under the age of 35, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methods: The study included 70 individuals in period of 2010 till 2015 on recreational exercising program; 35 individuals misusing androgenic anabolic steroids during the period of 5 years were compared with 35 individuals which do not use androgenic anabolic steroids. Non-invasive methods were used in all individual (clinical examination and vascular ultrasound examination of vein system). The routine of training units in both groups was approximately two hours 4-6 times per week. Results: Final analysis has reveal that in androgenic anabolic steroids group in 18 individuals or 55.7% arterial hypertension with hyperlipidemia was more represented, compared with the group without using anabolic steroids, represented by 2 individuals or 5.7% and it was statistically considered significant by using p value less than 0.05. (p<0.05). Statistically dominant population using anabolic steroids drugs are males (100%) or 35 individuals; we did not find females using anabolic steroids and that is why our research was limited to male population. Conclusion: Recreational male sportsmen are dominant androgenic anabolic steroids misusers, trying to achieve better muscle proportion and physical performance, they neglect the anabolic steroids side effects which have devastating consequence on vascular system. Benefits of misusing drugs in recreational exercising program in young sportsmen are mostly connected with development of arterial hypertension and hyperlipidemia and the variety of serious health disorders, progressing the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease.


Preferential Services Liberalization offers the first, comprehensive analysis of the conditions that the World Trade Organization sets for preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in the area of services. Johanna Jacobsson provides an in-depth analysis of the relevant GATS rules, puts forward a practical method to analyze services PTAs, and applies the method to services agreements concluded by the EU. The result is a detailed examination of the legal criteria for services PTAs and methods to study them, combined with a better understanding of the level of liberalization reached by the EU and its member states. This book does go beyond the EU in analyzing the implications that multi-level governance has for international services liberalization. It proposes a new approach to study services commitments of any federal state and argues that lower levels of government should receive more attention in international negotiations over services trade.


Previous economic research shows that recessions lead to worsening substance abuse. In this paper we study the effect of recessions on admissions to specialty substance abuse treatment using administrative data between 1992 and 2015. Using data from Treatment Episode Data Set and a differences-in-differences empirical strategy, we find no evidence that recessions influence the overall number of admissions. However, we document substantial heterogeneity across drugs of abuse. Combining our findings with previous economic studies suggests that unmet need for substance abuse treatment increases during recessions.


PURPOSE
To investigate the imaging characteristics, prevalence, and clinical significance of arachnoid granulations in the transverse and sigmoid venous sinuses.

METHODS
We reviewed the imaging findings, clinical signs and symptoms, final diagnoses, and follow-up studies of 32 patients with 41 probable arachnoid granulations.

RESULTS
On CT scans, arachnoid granulations appear as well-defined filling defects, wholly or partly within a venous sinus, with the same density as cerebrospinal fluid. MR images show these entities as largely isointense with cerebrospinal fluid in all sequences. Linear variations of signal intensity within the granulations are thought to be fibrous septa or vessels. Calcification was present in 3 granulations and altered both CT density and MR signal intensity. The granulations appear as filling defects at MR angiography and at digital subtraction angiography. In some oblique MR angiographic projections, they appear elliptical and could be mistaken for thrombus. No clinical significance could be given to the existence of any of these arachnoid granulations. They occur in 0.3 to 1 of 100 adults in the population.

CONCLUSION
Arachnoid granulations in the transverse and sigmoid venous sinuses are common findings seen with thin-section imaging and are usually of no significance.


We propose a scheme to implement a quantum controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate between two four-level atoms inside the detuned optical cavity. The system state is evolved inside the decoherence-free (DF) subspace through stimulated Raman processes, which yields the desired unitary evolution operation for the CNOT. Our scheme is immune to decoherence due to dissipation of cavity excitation and spontaneous emission from the excited atomic level.


Successfully mining scholarly literature at scale is inhibited by technical and political barriers that have been only partially addressed by publishers' application programming interfaces (APIs). Many of those APIs have restrictions that inhibit data mining at scale, and while only some publishers actually provide APIs, almost all publishers make their content available on the web. Current web technologies should make it possible to harvest and mine the scholarly literature regardless of the source of publication, and without using specialised programmatic interfaces controlled by each publisher. Here we describe the tools developed to address this challenge as part of the ContentMine project.


The assessment of nutritional status of adults was carried out in two villages in Hulu Trengganu in 1982. The aims of
the study were to assess the extent of malnutrition among the adult population in the rural areas and to identity
socioeconomic variables which could significantly be related to their nutritional status. The study population consisted of
40 males and 67Jemales (N = 107) who were either heads of household or their spouses. The main indicator of
nutritional status employed in the study was body mass index of the respondents; however, other anthropometric
measurements were also considered.
Results of the study indicated that some degree of malnutrition was prevalent in the adult population; 16% of the
population under study weighed less than 70% standard and 57.5% of the males weighed less than 80% standard.
Based on the body mass index cut off point, it was found that 30.8% of the respondents were malnourishea. Hemoglobin
values also show that 38.5% the female respondents suffered from nutritional anemia (n = 62). More than half of the
females have hemotocrit values below normal (n = 62). Among the socioeconomic variables which had a significant
correlation with nutritional status were education, income and monthly food expenditure.


Perilipin 2, also known as Adipose differentiation-relation protein or PLIN2, is a lipid droplet-binding protein present in almost every tissue. The absence of PLIN2 upregulates hepatic very low-density lipoprotein secretion, relieves hepatosteatosis, and improves whole body insulin resistance in mice. Despite of the importance in mediating lipid metabolism, the regulation of PLIN2 itself remains largely unknown. Previous reports have shown that X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) is an important regulator of lipogenesis. XBP1 is a transcription factor that recognizes and binds to a consensus sequence, 5'-TGACGTGG-3'. Interestingly, when we looked through the promoter region of mouse Plin2 gene, we found that the consensus sequence is present in the Plin2 promoter. Therefore, we hypothesize that XBP1 might directly bind to Plin2 promoter and regulate the Plin2 expression. To test our hypothesis, we will perform the luciferase assay to examine whether the Plin2 promoter activity is regulated by XBP1. We first designed forward and reverse PCR primers, which include BglII and BamHI restriction enzyme sites respectively, to amplify the Plin2 promoter region (from -1100 to +40). We performed PCR and cloned the Plin2 promoter to a TA vector. The TA vector was then sequenced to exclude any point mutations. After sequencing, we sub cloned the Plin2 promoter into a vector containing a luciferase reporter. In the future, we will transfect 293T, a human embryonic kidney cell line, with the Plin2 promoterluciferase vector we generated. We will compare the Plin2 promoter activity by measuring the luminescence in the presence or absence of XBP1.


This work focused on the study of the influence of nitrogen content on the microstructure, chemical composition, mechanical and tribological properties of  TaN coatings deposited on 420 stainless steel and silicon samples (100) using the  magnetron sputtering technique. For the deposition of the TaN coatings an argon/nitrogen atmosphere was used, varying the flux of nitrogen between 12% and 25%. For coating's characterization, Scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Atomic force microscopy, X-Ray diffraction, Microraman spectroscopy, Micro-hardness tester and a ball on disc tribometer were used. A refining of the columnar structure of the coatings, accompanied by a decrease in their thickness with the increased nitrogen content was observed. Initially, fcc-TaN (111) cubic phase growth was observed, this phase was changed to the fcc-TaN (200) above N2 12%. For contents greater than N2 18%, another nitrogen-rich phase was formed and the system tended to amorphicity, particularly for coating with N2 25% content. TaN-1 sample deposited with N2 12% in the gas mixture presented the highest micro-hardness value of 21.3GPa and the lowest friction coefficient and wear rate of 0.02 and 1.82x10-7 (mm3/Nm), respectively. From the obtained results, an important relationship between the microstructural, mechanical and tribological properties of the coated samples and their nitrogen content was observed.


Concerned with maximizing engagement and minimizing exclusion for all students, this paper addresses the concept of diversity as it relates to differences in school communities. Aiming to illuminate the politics of normalcy for children, families and communities, the paper links teachers' knowledge and understandings to pedagogical practices for addressing non-normative constructions of families involving same-sex parenting and relationships. Drawing on selected data from interviews and reflective literacy activities conducted with a group of elementary school teachers, the paper is based on a qualitative study set in urban Western Australia.

 Framed within the broader politics of difference, the study was informed by Australian Commonwealth legislation, which does not legally recognize same-sex marriages, thus impacting negatively not only same-sex couples, but also on their children. Despite the publication of the Australian Human Rights Commission's 2007 report, which lead to the amendment of 84 laws discriminating against same-sex couples in areas such as taxation, employment and superannuation, samesex marriages are still prohibited in Australia. Furthermore, notwithstanding some judicial arguments, the absence of a constitutional Bill of Rights in Australia suggests that an implied right to equality for same-sex marriages is not guaranteed (Lindell, 2008).The legal recognition of same-sex relationships has increasingly emerged as a world-wide civil rights issue in the 21st century; nonetheless, in 2009, same-sex marriages have only been legally recognized in seven countries.

Framed by a political context which discriminates against human rights on the basis of sex, sexuality and gender identity in marriage, the study drew on theoretical frameworks elaborated by Foucault (1979, 1980, 1984) and queer theorists such as Britzman and Kumashiro. Britzman (1998) argued that queer theory offers possibilities for reflecting on the production of knowledge to unveil shifting boundaries of power, tensions and contradictions in pedagogy. From this perspective, Foucault's concept of regimes of truth is particularly useful for investigating fear, anxiety and contradiction observed in the production of normalcy and its systems of surveillance and regulation. For Kumashiro (2004), although no teaching approach is unproblematic, queer theory is especially pertinent for critiquing normalcy and reconceptualising ways of thinking about oppression, social justice and diversity in schools.

Schools can be viewed as systems aiming to maintain the status quo, despite social changes, such as increasing numbers of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families (Jeltova & Fish, 2005). To examine teacher discourses and pedagogical practices with reference to embracing diversity and challenging social injustice in the elementary school context, the analysis was inspired by the work of Gee (1990, 1999) and Bakhtin (1981). Drawing on viewpoints adopted by Britzman (1998, 1992) and Kumashiro (2000, 2001, 2004), the analysis unveiled a complexity of discourses about inclusion, exclusion and the teaching and learning of literacies in school communities. Specifically, a case study approach (see Gillham, 2000; Patton, 2002) interrogated the hetero-normative limits of teachers' understandings for using literacy resources to discuss same-sex parenting and family relationships in the classroom.

To maximize students' and families' engagement, results point to the need for redefining queer family constructions in local school settings, where sexual minorities can be embraced, rather than erased. The need for systemic change on a broader political and pedagogical level is also increasingly apparent. However, the critique of institutional regimes which normalize heterosexuality as natural (see Britzman, 1995; Martino, 2009) should be undertaken simultaneously with serious consideration for implementing effective student learning (see Athanases, 1996; Sumara et al., 2006).


This document guides readers through the steps to track contraceptive financing and finance processes. The guide provides information about financing schemes sources and agents and details how to collect and analyze data on how much funding was needed committed and spent for contraceptives. It also provides information to help users map the funding processes (including organizations involved funding decisions timing and potential bottlenecks) in order to determine when and to whom to advocate for adequate and timely funding for contraceptives. Finally the guide suggests various situations in which to use the finance tracking information to enhance advocacy and decisionmaking.


The Bristol doctor James Cowles Prichard (1786-1848) has enjoyed a glowing reputation. Late Victorians regarded him as the founder of British anthropology and, in the twentieth century, he has been considered as a precursor of Darwin. Nowadays his name is cited mainly in context of inquiries into the rise of racial theories. Prichard's own theoretical goal was simple: the son of Quaker parents, he attempted to establish that the Bible provided a correct account of the earliest history of humankind; above all it was his aim to prove once and for all the doctrine of monogenesis: the unitary origins of mankind. He single-handedly charted the waters of the pre-Victorian human sciences. Philology, anthropology, mythology, Biblical criticism, the philosophy of the human mind, comparative anatomy, physiology, and practical medicine - Prichard mastered subjects so diverse that his learning may be called truly universal. His views have often been misrepresented, however, and his opposition to racial thinking in particular has been underestimated. This book, the first study dedicated exclusively to Prichard, explores his notions of man's place in nature and puts them in the context of contemporary European learning.


When the real estate bust of the 1970s hit New York City, artists found their own mixed uses for the city's run-down lofts, abandoned piers, vacant lots, and deserted streets, and photographers and filmmakers documented their work. Gordon Matta-Clark turned a sanitation pier into the celebrated work Day's End, and Betsy Sussler filmed its making; Harry Shunk made a photographic series from Willoughby Sharp's Projects: Pier 18 (which included work by Vito Acconci, Mel Bochner, Dan Graham, Gordon Matta-Clark, and William Wegman, among others); Cindy Sherman staged some of her Untitled Film Stills on the same city streets. Mixed Use, Manhattan documents and illustrates the most significant of these projects as well as more recent works by artists who continue to engage with the city's public, underground, and improvised spaces. The book (which accompanies a major exhibition) focuses on several important photographic series: Peter Hujar's 1976 nighttime photographs of Manhattan's West Side; Alvin Baltrop's Hudson River pier photographs from 1975-1985, most of which have never before been shown or published; David Wojnarowicz's Rimbaud in New York (1978-1979), the first of Wojnarowicz's works to be published; and several of Zoe Leonard's photographic projects from the late 1990s on. The book includes 70 color and 130 black-and-white images; a special section on visual documentation of performances and related activities, arranged by artist Louise Lawler; Glenn Ligon's text piece, Housing in New York: A Brief History, 1960-2007 (2007); "Losing the Form in Darkness," an autobiographical story by David Wojnarowicz; and essays by prominent art historians.


This paper aims to make four main contributions to the already existing literature regarding relationship lending. The first is to provide Japanese empirical evidence from lender-side data to show that the utilization of soft information has a positive effect on the credit decision. As of 2008, more than 60% of all Mega and Regional banks, including both Tier I and Tier II classifications, and more than 50% of Community Banks and Credit Unions, utilize soft information in evaluating a borrower' s creditworthiness, which is further reflected in credit term decisions. However, these observations also run contrary to the current small business lending paradigm where Community Banks and Credit Unions focus on the utilization of soft information lending technologies, such as relationship lending, rather than hard-information technologies, such as the credit score (Berger and Udell, 2006). Amongst Japanese lenders, the soft information usage level is much smaller within Community Banks and Credit Unions compared to that found in the Mega banks and Tier I, Tier II Regional banks. The second contribution of this paper is to study the effects of an organizational structure on credit term decisions. The SMRJ survey data includes the lending managers' opinions regarding the influence soft information has on credit terms, such as the amount offered, the collateral amount, the interest rate, and the length of financing. We specifically viewed the amount offered as a function of the organization' s size. Here, we assume two things: 1) that large organizations have an hierarchical structure, and 2) that the soft information substance will become ineffective when it is transferred from the loan officers to the lending managers. The results, however, reveal that an organizational structure does not actually affect substantial lending decisions, and that the utilization of soft information in lending decisions requires a comparatively large organizational strength. In Japan, where there is a great number of Community Banks with a diversified organizational size, a differentiation in firm size leaves small Community Banks incapable of using soft information, while relatively large Community Banks are able to utilize soft information in a credit decision. Our third contribution is to study whether a standardized soft information list has an affect on shifting a loan officer' s assessment more towards relationship lending. Facilitating a standardized form actually limits soft information that is inherently diversified amongst borrowers. However, a lot of professional affiliations, such as the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accounts, and Government affiliations, such as the Ministry of Economic and Trade Industry, have proposed the facilitation of a standardized form to generate lender technologies used in relationship lending. We found that the standardized list curbs the affect of relationship lending upon the lending decision especially for the comparably larger structured banks. For small lenders, however, especially at the starting point, a standardized method would be beneficial in order to generate relationship lending technologies. Our final contribution is to pioneer an examination of systematic management effects on soft information utilization in substantial lending decisions. Such an analysis was not possible in earlier studies, because the organizational management is an inherent part of the organization' s strategy making it difficult to use outside information to assess whether lenders purposefully facilitate that management style or not. A comprehensive SMRJ survey would enable us to identify the form of systematic management. The results suggest that systematic management hinders the affects of relationship lending upon the lending decision. These results, however, appear to be limited to the comparatively larger structured banks. Systematic management would be beneficial for small lenders who have a lower soft information usage level, because it can be useful for implanting soft information in a loan officers' common practice in accessing borrowers and assessing their creditworthiness.


RIVEREDGE TOWNSHIP was founded in 1926 by residents in the western section of BROOK PARK Village who were dissatisfied with the results of a bitterly fought local election. The township encompassed a narrow 48-acre strip of land bounded by the Rocky River, the CLEVELAND-HOPKINS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, the NASA LEWIS RESEARCH CENTER, and Interstate 480 and took its name from its location at the edge of the river. It was once known as the smallest township in the state of Ohio.In 1932, the township acquired 40 acres north of the airport from the city of Cleveland in order to secure additional federal funding for the construction of the Brookpark Road Bridge which connected Riveredge with PARKVIEW VILLAGE across the Rocky River Valley. Shortly thereafter, however, Riveredge was divided in two when the city of Cleveland annexed township land for airport expansion. While Brook Park annexed the southern portion of Riveredge in 1950, the northern portion of the township no longer adjoined Brook Park and by law could not be annexed. Through the mid-1950s, Riveredge was little more than a truck farm (see AGRICULTURE). In 1956, John Baluh purchased the Fischer family land holdings for $70,000. A grocer by trade, Baluh invested in real estate, promoting mobile homes as an affordable housing alternative. Riveredge became a privately owned trailer park, with 477 residents in 243 mobile homes. Its population grew forty-fold after 1960. The township boasted a volunteer fire department and a police department with a reputation for strict enforcement of traffic laws. When Riveredge went into default in 1978, its fire department was replaced by service from Cleveland and FAIRVIEW PARK. The township also lost its police force when Cuyahoga County officials refused to renew Riveredge's federal grant. Area students attended school in the Berea School District. The city of Cleveland purchased the 48-acre township in 1983 for use as an airport noise buffer zone. However, the city of Fairview Park contested the acquisition by formally annexing Riveredge so as to prevent the expansion of airport runways and changes in flight patterns that would adversely affect its residents. With neither side willing to yield, the ensuing legal battle over the fate of Riveredge Township lasted for nine long years, reaching the Ohio Supreme Court twice. The two cities finally came to an agreement in 1992, dividing the uninhabited township.


This paper introduces lanthanide-doped ceria nanoparticles as silicon solar cell back-side coaters, showing their influence on the solar cell efficiency. Ceria nanoparticles can be synthesized to have formed oxygen vacancies (O-vacancies), which are associated with converting cerium ions from the Ce4+ state ions to the Ce3+ ones. These O-vacancies follow the rule of improving silicon solar cell conductivity through a hopping mechanism. Besides, under near-ultra violet (near-UV) excitation, the reduced trivalent cerium Ce3+ ions are directly responsible for down converting the un-absorbed UV wavelengths to a resultant green photo-luminescence emission at ~520 nm, which is absorbed through the silicon solar cell's active layer. Adding lanthanide elements such as Neodymium "Nd" as ceria nanoparticle dopants helps in forming extra oxygen vacancies (O-vacancies), followed by an increase in the number of Ce4+ to Ce3+ ion reductions, thus enhancing the conductivity and photoluminescence down conversion mechanisms. After introducing lanthanide-doped ceria nanoparticles on a silicon solar cell surface, a promising enhancement in the behavior of the solar cell current-voltage curve is observed, and the efficiency is improved by about 25% of its initial value due to the mutual impact of improving both electric conductivity and optical conversions.


This study aims to clarify the underlying conceptual structure of Adorno's theoretical position with regard to both philosophy and art and to examine the expectation of philosophical aesthetics. I introduce Aesthetic Theory from a morphological point of view and claim that the form and structure of this unfinished text reveals a great deal about the book, as it exemplifies Adorno's theory of meaning. I claim that for Adorno dialectic is better thought of not in its Hegelian form but as a Kantian antinomy. This is because the dialectical oppositions he identifies cannot be resolved under the capitalist conditions of the administered world. I claim that philosophy understood as the construction of a form of totality, the constellation, provides the key to understanding Adorno's theory of meaning. This theory consists of three linked concepts: midpoint, constellation and
parataxis. I further claim that for Adorno art and philosophy are structured in the same way. Adorno has in effect developed a conception of art that depends for its ultimate justification on the concept of rank as explicated by the completion of the work of art by philosophy. Art and theory are thus entwined in a mimetic relationship. I claim there is a temporal dichotomy at the centre of Adorno's conception of the work of art, that it is both transient and absolute. This antinomy is what makes the work of art a paradoxically absolute commodity precisely because Adorno's concept of the work of art is modelled on the commodity form. I claim that Adorno's conception of the artwork as an instant is clearly closely related, in a structural and conceptual sense, to his conception of how philosophy works. Truth for Adorno is always located in the present instant. My textual analysis leads me to claim that for Adorno a utopian element is involved in writing a negative dialectical text. Finally, I claim that a theory of the art form in all its different typologies is best suited to carry out detailed critique and theoretical reflection on contemporary art. Philosophical aesthetics can only supply an historical perspective.


textabstractDespite the successful linear sequencing of the human genome its three-dimensional structure is widely

unknown, although it is important for gene regulation and replication. For a long time the interphase nucleus has

been viewed as a 'spaghetti soup' of DNA without much internal structure, except during cell division. Only

recently has it become apparent that chromosomes occupy distinct 'territories' also in interphase. Two models for

the detailed folding of the 30 nm chromatin fiber within these territories are under debate: In the Random-

Walk/Giant-Loop-model big loops of 3 to 5 Mbp are attached to a non-DNA backbone. In the Multi-Loop-

Subcompartment (MLS) model loops of around 120 kbp are forming rosettes, which are also interconnected by

the chromatin fiber. Here we show with a comparison between simulations and experiments an interdisciplinary

approach leading to a determination of the three-dimensional organization of the human genome:

For the predictions of experiments various models of human interphase chromosomes and the whole cell nucleus

were simulated with Monte Carlo and Brownian Dynamics methods. Only the MLS-model leads to the

formation of non-overlapping chromosome territories and distinct functional and dynamic subcompartments in

agreement with experiments. Fluorescernce in situ hybridization is used for the specific marking of chromosome

arms and pairs of small chromosomal DNA regions. The labeling is visualized with confocal laser scanning

microscopy followed by image reconstruction procedures. Chromosome arms show only small overlap and

globular substructures as predicted by the MLS-model. The spatial distances between pairs of genomic markers

as function of their genomic separation result in a MLS-model with loop and linker sizes around 126 kbp. With

the development of GFP-fusion-proteins it is possible to study the chromatin distribution and dynamics resulting

from cell cycle, treatment by chemicals or radiation in vivo. The chromatin distributions are similar to those

found in the simulation of whole cell nuclei of the MLS-model. Fractal analysis is especially suited to quantify

the unordered and non-euklidean chromatin distribution of the nucleus. The dynamic behaveour of the chromatin

structure and the diffusion of particles in the nucleus are also closely connected to the fractal dimension. Fractal

analysis of the simulations reveal the multi-fractality of chromosomes. First fractal analysis of chromatin

distributions in vivo result in significant differences for different morphologies and might favour a MLS-model-

like chromatin distribution. Simulations of fragment distributions based on double strand breakage after carbon-

ion irradiation differ in different models. Here again a comparison with experiments favours a MLS-model.


Abstract With 10% of trees (> 8,000 species) threatened with extinction there is an urgent need for botanical gardens to protect threatened trees in dedicated conservation collections. Species conservation is mentioned in the mission statements of most major botanical gardens, yet the actual conservation value of existing ex situ tree collections is low. We conducted interviews with members of the botanical garden community and organized a symposium at the 5th Global Botanic Gardens Congress to identify challenges and collect recommendations to improve living ex situ tree collections. We summarize and evaluate this information to facilitate gardens becoming more effective agents for global tree conservation. Experts agree that gardens offer valuable strengths and assets for tree conservation. Some challenges exist, however, including a lack of strategic conservation focus, collection management limitations, gaps in fundamental biological information for trees, and a lack of global coordination. Solutions are offered to facilitate gardens and arboreta of all sizes to participate more effectively in tree conservation. Prioritizing genetically diverse tree collections, participating in conservation networks, developing tree-specific conservation models and guidelines, and strengthening tree science research efforts are a few examples. Most importantly, a more coordinated global effort is needed to fill knowledge gaps, share information, and build conservation capacity in biodiversity hotspots to prevent the loss of tree species.


Abstract:
 The tribe Mutisieae (excluding Barnadesieae) traditionally comprises 84 genera and approximately 900 species in three subtribes: Gochnatiinae, Mutisiinae, and Nassauviinae. We examined whole and fractured pollen grains of 51 genera from these subtribes by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM). Additionally, we also examined 11 genera (Adenocaulon, Berardia, Brachylaeana, Cratystylis, Dipterocome, Eriachaenium, Gymnarrhena, Hesperomannia, Hoplophyllum, Tarchonanthus, and Warionia) whose tribal positions have been controversial. We present detailed tables of pollen characters for each taxon and 13 plates of SEM photos ofrepresentative taxa. We also provide limited discussion of pollen variation in the subbribes Gochnatiinae, Mutisiinae, and Nassauviinae and the tribal and subfamilial placement of the 11 problematic genera.


Due to the kindness of Mr. Y. Therezien, Ingenieur-hydrobiologiste of the Centre Technique Forestier Tropical at Tananarive, Madagascar, the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie received at several occasions freshwater Crustacea from Madagascar. Two previous reports (Holthuis, 1964, 1965) dealt with the crayfishes and the atyid shrimps of these collections. Among the fresh-water Palaemonid prawns a new species of Macrobrachium was found, which is the subject of the present note. It is a great pleasure to dedicate this beautiful species to Mr. Therezien. Macrobrachium therezieni new species River of Maningory, Fenerive district, Tamatave province, eastern Madagascar; 16 February 1961; Y. Therezien, no. 9. — 1 adult male (holotype); Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, reg. no. Crust. D. 21234. Andevoranto, sous-prefecture Brickaville, Tamatave province, eastern Madagascar; 22 September 1963; Y. Therezien, no. 37. — 5 males (paratypes); Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, reg. no. Crust. D. 21235. Description. — The holotype, an adult male, has the carapace 25 mm long (including the rostrum); its total length is about 60 mm. In the paratypes, all of which are males, the carapace length varies between 25 and 30 mm, the total length between 56 and 63 mm. The rostrum is rather high and straight; it reaches slightly beyond the antennular peduncle, but fails to reach the end of the scaphocerite. The midrib is curved slightly up at the end, but the upper margin of the rostrum is straight or slightly convex. The dorsal margin of the rostrum bears 12 to 15 teeth, the first four of which are placed on the carapace behind the orbit. The first tooth is placed in the anterior third of the carapace; it is separated


Computers and digital instruments change the way we think about ourselves and other people, demonstrated by an example with a girl who imagined that she had a computer in her brain where she could click on "Music" in the menu to hear music. This chapter argues that good music technology should allow play and unpredictable events and support a balance between challenge and ability. Digital instruments should also make it possible to revise and develop musical compositions. Musicking and music creation with digital tools may be vital for children and young people in need of special support, although many children would use any tool available, including their own imagination and fantasy. Musical activities are closely related to play and flow and have measurable biological effects, which makes musicking not only a matter of aesthetics and learning, but also of health and well-being. (Less)


The Panel has been asked to assess the possible risks to human health from the consumption of foods contaminated with mercury and methylmercury, based on intake estimates for Europe and the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) established recently by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Mercury is an environmental contaminant that is present in fish and seafood products largely as methylmercury. Food sources other than fish and seafood products may contain mercury, but mostly in the form of inorganic mercury. Based on the available data the contribution to methylmercury exposure from these foods is considered to be insignificant. Inorganic mercury in food is considerably less toxic than methylmercury. Methylmercury is highly toxic particularly to the nervous system, and the developing brain is thought to be the most sensitive target organ for methylmercury toxicity. The JECFA established a Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) of 1.6 μg/kg body weight based on two epidemiological studies that investigated the relationship between maternal exposure to mercury and impaired neurodevelopment in their children. A previous evaluation by the (U.S.) National Research Council (NRC) established an intake limit of 0.7 μg/kg body weight per week. The estimated intakes of mercury in Europe varied by country, depending on the amount and the type of fish consumed. The mean intakes were in most cases below the JECFA PTWI but the average intake in some countries exceeded the U.S.-NRC limit. High intakes may also exceed the JECFA PTWI. A probabilistic analysis of the French data indicated that children are more likely to exceed the PTWI than adults. Intake data from a recent large survey in Norway indicate that the intakes derived from the analysis of the SCOOP data (scientific co-operation on questions relating to food) may overestimate the true intakes of methylmercury for some countries, when the type of fish consumed consists of species with a relatively low concentration of methylmercury. There may be population-groups in Europe with a frequent consumption of large predatory fish, which are at the top of the food chain (for instance swordfish and tuna) which often have a higher concentration of methylmercury. These population-groups may therefore have higher dietary intakes than those found in populations with a high intake of fish containing low levels of methylmercury. Because the intake estimates for high consumers are close to the PTWI established by the JECFA, and exceed the limit established by the U.S.-NRC, reliable intake data should be established from studies focused on women of childbearing age. Methylmercury toxicity has been demonstrated at low exposure levels, and exposure to this compound should therefore be minimized, while recognising that fish constitutes an important part of a balanced diet.


We propose UCBMQ, Upper Confidence Bound Momentum Q-learning, a new algorithm for reinforcement learning in tabular and possibly stage-dependent, episodic Markov decision process. UCBMQ is based on Q-learning where we add a momentum term and rely on the principle of optimism in face of uncertainty to deal with exploration. Our new technical ingredient of UCBMQ is the use of momentum to correct the bias that Q-learning suffers while, at the same time, limiting the impact it has on the second-order term of the regret. For UCBMQ, we are able to guarantee a regret of at most $O(\sqrt{H^3SAT}+ H^4 S A )$ where $H$ is the length of an episode, $S$ the number of states, $A$ the number of actions, $T$ the number of episodes and ignoring terms in poly-$\log(SAHT)$. Notably, UCBMQ is the first algorithm that simultaneously matches the lower bound of $\Omega(\sqrt{H^3SAT})$ for large enough $T$ and has a second-order term (with respect to the horizon $T$) that scales only linearly with the number of states $S$.


" You have to love what you are doing, this is really important, " said Dr. Luk. He reminded us that the attitude should be the highest regarded drive if you want to achieve. If you have the passion for your work, skills and knowledge will follow. Let us take being a doctor as an example, the skills and knowledge can be obtained through studying and continuous practices, provided that he or she loves treating patients. " I always believe that in the setting of a healthcare system, the most crucial driver is the satisfaction arisen from seeing the patients benefited from the treatment. Nothing else is more important than this, " he added.


Abstract : Many companies rely on historical data to build predictability models for cost/benefit justification of future projects. Unfortunately, for small companies, which generally do not have a process for collecting security data, the costs and the benefits of information security improvement projects have been very difficult to estimate and justify. In addition, detailed attack data are simply not available to be used as references in cost estimations. Given these difficulties, many small companies choose to ignore entirely the security vulnerabilities in their systems, and many suffer the consequences of security breaches and significant financial loss. Small companies that do implement security improvement projects often have problems understanding the cost structures of their improvement initiatives and how to translate risk exposures into costs that can be passed on to their customers. To deal with the aforementioned problems, this report describes a general framework for hierarchical cost/benefit analysis aimed at providing acceptable estimations for small companies in their information security improvement projects. The framework classifies misuse cases into categories of threats for which nationally surveyed risks and financial data are publicly available. For each category of threats, costs, benefits, baseline risks, and residual risks are estimated. The framework then generates all permutations of possible solutions and analyzes the optimal approach to maximizing the value of security improvement projects. The framework analyzes the problems from five dimensions: Total Implementation Costs, Total System Value, Net Project Value, Benefit/Cost Ratio, and Risk Exposures. The final proposed system will be derived from the comparisons of these dimensions, taking into consideration each company's specific situation. This report is one of a series of reports resulting from research conducted by the System Quality Requirements Engineering (SQUARE) Team.