The gain of thermal infrared instruments in the 2–25 μ m wavelength range from Antarctica is summarized by comparing three parameters: the ambient temperature; the atmospheric transparency, with perceptible water vapor content (PWV) in particular; and the image quality. For the 2 m class infrared telescope projects at Dome C the estimated mid infrared point source sensitivity can be compared to the sensitivities reached at 10 m class telescopes elsewhere. This comparison favors a thermal IR instrument at Dome C with focus on key science cases; two examples are: i) Survey type projects, such as mid infrared photometric imaging or spectro–polarization campaigns of YSO. Or ii) monitoring and rapid response observations on the Galactic Centre, the LMC, SN or GRB.


In 2005 there was statistical evidence of an increasing number of children in the Northern Territory (NT) suspected of (or actually) suffering abuse and/or neglect. Placing the underlying cause of this increase within an ecological framework, provision of supportive services to assist families 'at risk' of harming their children could mitigate the extent of abuse. Child and Family Health nurses (CFHNs) may be an untapped resource to provide those services. The study hoped to provide mechanisms for CFHNs to engage in interdisciplinary and cross-agency collaborative practices and to deliver improved early intervention to vulnerable families. This thesis describes a qualitative multi-method study conducted in three phases. An exploratory study was conducted to provide baseline data to inform an action research approach to address any 'problem issues' uncovered. The study design was modified due to complex political and bureaucratic changes that impeded the progress of the action research phase. An explanatory case study was then conducted to gain information about the practice directions and policy environment of the health and social care services available to vulnerable families. Interviews with child health and child protection leaders/experts provided data for this case study. Supplementary data were gathered from a purposeful sample of relevant documents to contextualise the information gained in the case study interviews and identify rapidly changing directions in health and social care policy during this period. The ability of CFHNs in the NT to extend their role into an early intervention service to support vulnerable families remains problematic without human and financial resources made available for this to occur. Interdisciplinary practices across health and social care services remain limited and there is little local cross-agency understanding of the potential of the CFHN role. The voice of nurses in policy development and leadership positions influencing child health services is limited. In other places in Australia and internationally, the role of CFHNs is more fully developed in supporting vulnerable families and mitigating the ecological risks of child abuse and neglect.


It is found that when a light beam is incident on a one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC) containing a defect layer, the lateral shifts of both the reflected and the transmitted beams are greatly enhanced near the defect mode of the 1DPC, whose location depends on the angles at a fixed frequency. The effect was studied by use of a Gaussian beam. The giant lateral displacement is due to the localization of the electromagnetic wave.


In this research, four methods of in situ measurement of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) including the Guelph permeameter (GP), auger hole (AH), original Porchet (OP), and saturated Porchet methods were compared for a silt loam soil. The representative Ks in a drainage system was also determined as a reference value. The mean values of Ks for the GP, AH, OP, SP, and drainage system methods were 1.18, 1.06, 1.85, 1.18, and 1.08 m d−1, respectively. Furthermore, the GP and OP methods had the highest and lowest coefficients of variation at 42.1 and 24.2%, respectively. The difference in Ks values among all methods except SP and GP and the difference in CV values between GP and OP were statistically significant at the 0.01 level of probability. The direct measurement from the drainage system resulted in Ks values of 0.584, 0.915, 1.019, and 0.915 times that of the OP, SP, AH, and GP methods, respectively. The results of the SP, GP, and AH methods were very similar to that obtained from direct measurement of the drainage system. Results showed that the AH and GP methods are the best methods for measuring Ks in the presence and absence of a water table, respectively, with −1.85 and 9.26% difference, respectively, compared with the reference method. Therefore, in regions with a high water table, the AH method is suitable, and for a low water table, the GP method is recommended.


OF THESIS This thesis takes as a focal point an important Archbishop of the Greek community in Venice, Meletios Typaldos, who lived in the turbulent era of the late seventeenthearly eighteenth century (1651-1713). An enquiry into the course of his life was deemed worthy of scholarly research: first, because he had not been till now adequately investigated; second, because he is a multi-faceted personage who is highly representative of the ambiguities of that historical period but also clearly and sophisticatedly involved in them. In addition, a study of his life and work reveals a great deal about the religious and cultural beliefs and bias of the flourishing Greek Diaspora of Venice during this historical period. The dissertation investigates initially the political background within which Venice played a crucial role. Moreover, it brings to the fore the religious conflicts of the era as well as the renewal of the theological and philosophical ideas related to scholastic Aristotelism, derived from the teachings at Padua University which spread to the territory of the city-state of Venice. The emphasis in the dissertation is to focus on the impact that these ideas had on the beliefs and views of Typaldos. Principally, the thesis disambiguates the initiatives of Meletios Typaldos who, as head of the Orthodox Church in Venice, planned to convert the Orthodox Greeks to Catholicism without taking into consideration the church body, i.e., the Greek Orthodox clergy and congregation. In contrast to the prevailing view that his ambition to become a cardinal drove him to the acceptance of the Catholic doctrine, this dissertation argues that Typaldos' activities were inspired by his desire to play a crucial role in a Uniate Church under the Pope's auspices, with the ultimate ambition to convert all Greeks to it. Finally, specific attention has been given to the resistance of the Greeks of Venice to Typaldos' plans. After examining the evidence, the thesis concludes that the will of the Greek Confraternity to maintain its social independence -that was guaranteed by the Venetian state and its passionate desire to maintain unchanged the Confraternity's Greek ethnic and religious identity are the main causes that determined its reactions against Typaldos. The conflict between the Archbishop and leadership of the Greek community ended in Typaldos' excommunication by the Patriarchate of Constantinople and, with the loss of his leadership, the decline of the Greek Community of Venice.


Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases that degrade extracellular matrix proteins and play a role in various pathological conditions such as inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. PURPOSE: The current study investigated the responses of MMP-1, -2, and -9 in obese men over a 24-hour period after undergoing different intensities (low vs. high) of cycling exercise. METHODS: Fifteen sedentary (physical activity < 2 days/week) obese [body mass index (BMI) > 30kg/m2] men between the ages of 18 and 30 years participated in the study. Each participant completed a similar volume (average energy expenditure ~ 300 kcal) of cycling exercise at 2 different intensities in random order [low intensity: 50% of maximal heart rate and high-intensity: 80% of maximal heart rate] on a separate occasion. Fasting overnight blood samples were collected at baseline, immediate post exercise (IPE), 1-hour post exercise (1-PE), and 24-hours post exercise (24-PE) for each exercise intensity trial to examine the responses of MMP-1, -2, and -9. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was used to determine the mean differences in intensity and time on MMP-1, -2, and -9. If necessary, the Sidak's multiple pairwise comparisons and a follow-up Simple effects test were employed as a post-hot test (p < 0.05). RESULTS: No change was found in MMP-1 following either lowor high-intensity exercise over the 24-hr period. During the low-intensity exercise trial, MMP-2 at 24-hr PE (72.68±6.43 ng/mL) was significantly lower than IPE (87.23±8.02 ng/mL, p=0.008) and 1-hr PE (92.01±7.99 ng/mL, p=0.011). During the highintensity exercise trial, MMP-9 at IPE (54.19±9.16 ng/mL) was significantly higher than PRE (30.48±5.86 ng/mL, p =0.008), 1-hr PE (34.82±5.08 ng/mL, p=0.040), and 24-hr PE (31.03±4.82 ng/mL, p=0.006). Additionally, MMP-9 at 24-hr PE (31.32±4.82 ng/mL) was significantly lower than PRE (41.43±5.86 ng/mL, p=0.009) during the low-intensity exercise trial. CONCLUSION: Both MMP-2 and -9, but not MMP-1, significantly increased immediately following exercise, which then returned to its baseline values post exercise. This exercise-induced acute change in MMP-2 and MMP-9 was dependent upon exercise intensity since MMP-2 changed with low-intensity exercise, whereas MMP-9 was altered following highintensity exercise. Additionally, MMP-9 at 24 hours decreased after 24 hours following low intensity exercise. Thus, the current study suggests that the responses of MMP-2 and MMP-9 to exercise are dependent on exercise-intensity, and low-intensity exercise may favorably influence cardiovascular health by lowering both MMP-2 and MMP-9 in obese men.


The aim of my study was to analyze the impact of selective logging on plant and bird diversity in East Kalimantan. The impact of logging on plant communities was studied in a forest (in the process of FSC certification) that has been logged selectively 1, 5 and 10 years previously compared to a primary forest site. The stem densities of trees in the primary forest were significantly higher compared to the three selectively logged forest sites. Stem densities of saplings were equivalent in all four forest sites. Seedling stem densities were significantly higher in the forest site logged 10 years previously compared to the primary forest. The "heavy hardwood" class, represented by a certain abundance of stems and species richness, was significantly lower in the forest sites selectively logged 1 and 5 years ago compared to the primary forest site. Stems with a higher abundance in the selectively logged forest sites generally belonged to the "light wood" class.

I also studied the impact of logging on bird communities in East Kalimantan. My study compared secondary forest sites with relatively undisturbed primary lowland dipterocarp rain forest sites of East Kalimantan. All birds were identified during point counts in all sites; in the selective logging concession in a primary site and in selectively logged forest sites in the Berau district, a primary site in Sungai Wain and a disturbed site in Pusrehut Kutai Kartanegara. I found a significantly higher abundance of birds in the terrestrial foraging layer in primary forests as compared to secondary forests. I also found a significantly higher abundance of birds of the frugivorous/insectivorous guild and of endemic insectivorous birds in the primary forest.


The naive Bayes classifier has proved to be very effective on many real data applications. Its performance usually benefits from an accurate estimation of univariate conditional probabilities and from variable selection. However, although variable selection is a desirable feature, it is prone to overfitting. In this paper, we introduce a Bayesian regularization technique to select the most probable subset of variables compliant with the naive Bayes assumption. We also study the limits of Bayesian model averaging in the case of the naive Bayes assumption and introduce a new weighting scheme based on the ability of the models to conditionally compress the class labels. The weighting scheme on the models reduces to a weighting scheme on the variables, and finally results in a naive Bayes classifier with "soft variable selection". Extensive experiments show that the compressionbased averaged classifier outperforms the Bayesian model averaging scheme.


Chronic non-healing wounds form a medical need which will expand as the population ages and the obesity epidemic grows. Whilst the complex mechanisms underlying wound repair are not fully understood, remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton plays a critical role. Elevated expression of the actin cytoskeletal protein Flightless I (Flii) is known to impair wound outcomes. To determine if Flii is involved in the impaired healing observed in chronic wounds, its expression in non-healing human wounds from patients with venous leg ulcers was determined and compared to its expression in acute wounds and unwounded skin. Increased expression of Flii was observed in both chronic and acute wounds with wound fluid and plasma also containing secreted Flii protein. Inflammation is a key aspect of wound repair and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis revealed Flii was located in neutrophils within the blood and that it co-localised with CD16+ neutrophils in chronic wounds. The function of secreted Flii was investigated as both chronic wound fluid and Flii have previously been shown to inhibit fibroblast proliferation. To determine if the inhibitory effect of wound fluid was due in part to the presence of Flii, wound fluids were depleted of Flii using Flii-specific neutralizing antibodies (FnAb). Flii depleted chronic wound fluid no longer inhibited fibroblast proliferation, suggesting that Flii may contribute to the inhibitory effect of chronic wound fluid on fibroblast function. Application of FnAbs to chronic wounds may therefore be a novel approach used to improve the local environment of non-healing wounds and potentially improve healing outcomes.


The use of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) in optical communications networks has so far been limited due to their inherent large noise figure (NF) compared to Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifiers. Therefore improvement of the noise performance of SOAs is critical to their widespread adoption in future networks. We propose to reduce the NF of the SOA by introducing a lasing cavity lateral to the axis of amplification of the device. The carrier density within the cavity is clamped at the lasing threshold. It is thus possible to engineer the carrier density distribution along the active waveguide by controlling the cavity design. According to our simulations, some of the cavity designs lead to a reduction of the noise figure in this novel SOA.


The Medical Technologies Advisory Committee (MTAC) is the driver of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Medical Technologies Evaluation Programme (MTEP). This aims to identify novel devices and diagnostics with plausible claims for advantages to patients and/or to the NHS. If evaluation supports the claims made by manufacturers for their products then their use will be promoted by NICE guidance. Typically, medical technologies guidance will state that 'the case for adoption is supported by the evidence' and specify the advantages and the cost savings of adopting the product, compared with current management. The guidance may also recommend specified research and the programme has capacity to foster research into promising technologies.

The MTEP considers all kinds of medical devices and diagnostics. These include genetic tests used for a medical purpose, software and certain other products, such as those produced by tissue engineering. Its design involved extensive consultation with a great variety of interested parties, including manufacturers, clinicians, commissioners of healthcare, health service managers and patients.

The programme deals with single technologies (products) and does not undertake evaluation of whole 'classes' of similar technologies. The aim is to provide guidance relatively quickly—ideally for novel devices and diagnostics that offer a 'step-change' in management. It is not practical to perform evaluations including a range of technologies (precisely which ones? what about those coming to market thereafter? will all the manufacturers wish to be involved?) and to deliver clear guidance in a reasonable time frame. However, products may be 'routed' (see below) into other NICE programmes that do evaluate multiple technologies.

Some clinicians have found the 'single product' principle difficult to accept. It is different to what they have expected from NICE in the past, but it has been introduced with a new aim in mind. Clinicians have been concerned about …


Microbial diversity encompasses the whole of the Earth's biosphere and is incredibly vast. The microbial diversity of three disparate micro-environments using two culture-independent techniques (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and 454-pyrosequencing) were revealed. Five commercially available DNA polymerase (pol) enzymes were assessed in determining the bacterial community generated in sandy soil. The V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene was targeted for amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Using a PCR-DGGE approach, different DNA pols exhibited differences in the DGGE profiles produced. Both high-fidelity DNA pols Ex Taq™ Hot Start (HS) and Platinum® Pfx detected greater microbial diversity present within sandy soil than the other DNA polymerase enzymes.

We employed Ex Taq™ HS to characterise the microbial communities present in two chronic respiratory tract diseases, non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (nCFBR) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Seventy individuals expectorated sputum, and using 16S and 28S rRNA PCR-DGGE polymicrobial communities were revealed. From the 70 patients investigated, 20 presented with symptoms consistent with an exacerbation, the remainder being clinically stable. Demographic and culture data were used in constrained ordination analyses to identify any significant associations between these data and changes in the sputum microbiota. The data presented indicates that bacterial lung communities in adult nCFBR patients have distinct differences between exacerbating and clinically stable episodes. Persistent colonisation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa is significantly associated with reduced lung function, and is negatively correlated with Haemophilus influenzae carriage. Bacterial communities seem to be predominantly assembled by stochastic processes. Fungal taxa present were scarce.

Stable COPD populations have been previously investigated using culture-dependent techniques. Eleven clinically stable COPD patients had a bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid taken from the right lower lobe. Both 16S and 28S rRNA PCR-DGGE was performed on all clinical samples from extracted DNA. Co-migration of bands was then compared to a 16S and 28S standard ladder consisting of pure cultivars. Additionally, execution of 454-pyrosequencing and interrogation of the V3-V5 region of 16S rRNA genes resulted in 1799 unique OTUs being identified. Dominant bacterial genera identified were Streptococcus, Arthrobacter, and Staphylococcus respectively. Bacterial taxa identified were then subjected to multivariate statistical analysis to identify relationships between the microbial communities and patient phenotypes. Metagenomic analysis demonstrated that heterogeneous bacterial populations exist in all eleven individuals. This preliminary study shows that the lungs of COPD sufferers are colonised with multiple species of bacteria and demonstrate that a complex microbial community is present. Furthermore, bacterial phylotypes resolved to class-level indicated three potential drivers of community structure within the COPD lung microbiome: lung function, moderate and severe COPD progression, and smoking status in cohort. The identification of a greater number of bacterial taxa was also apparent in culture-negative patients using both PCR-DGGE and 454-pyrosequencing approaches.


Mycoplasmas are a common cause of pneumonia in humans and animals, and attempts to create vaccines have not only failed to generate protective host responses, but they have exacerbated the disease. Mycoplasma pulmonis causes a chronic inflammatory lung disease resulting from a persistent infection, similar to other mycoplasma respiratory diseases. Using this model, Th1 subsets promote resistance to mycoplasma disease and infection, whereas Th2 responses contribute to immunopathology. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the capacity of cytokine-differentiated dendritic cell (DC) populations to influence the generation of protective and/or pathologic immune responses during M. pulmonis respiratory disease in BALB/c mice. We hypothesized that intratracheal inoculation of mycoplasma Ag–pulsed bone marrow–derived DCs could result in the generation of protective T cell responses during mycoplasma infection. However, intratracheal inoculation (priming) of mice with Ag-pulsed DCs resulted in enhanced pathology in the recipient mice when challenged with mycoplasma. Inoculation of immunodeficient SCID mice with Ag-pulsed DCs demonstrated that this effect was dependent on lymphocyte responses. Similar results were observed when mice were primed with Ag-pulsed pulmonary, but not splenic, DCs. Lymphocytes generated in uninfected mice after the transfer of either Ag-pulsed bone marrow–derived DCs or pulmonary DCs were shown to be IL-13+ Th2 cells, known to be associated with immunopathology. Thus, resident pulmonary DCs most likely promote the development of immunopathology in mycoplasma disease through the generation of mycoplasma-specific Th2 responses. Vaccination strategies that disrupt or bypass this process could potentially result in a more effective vaccination.


Infection of human or murine cells with murine leukemia viruses rapidly increases the expression of a number of genes that belong to the immunoglobulin superfamily and are involved in T-lymphocyte activation, including the class I major histocompatibility complex antigens. We have reported recently that the long terminal repeat (LTR) of Moloney murine leukemia virus encodes a trans activator which induces transcription and expression of class I major histocompatibility complex genes and certain cytokine genes. The portion of the LTR responsible for trans activation was mapped by deletions to lie within the U3 region. We demonstrate here that a transcript is initiated within the U3 region and that its presence correlates with the trans-activating activity. Analysis of the LTR region reveals a potential internal promoter element for RNA polymerase III transcription within the U3 region. Studies with polymerase inhibitors suggest that this LTR transcript, designated let (LTR-encoded trans activator), is a product of RNA polymerase III. The mechanisms whereby RNA leukemia viruses cause lymphoid neoplasia after a long latent period have been extensively studied but are only partially understood. The region of the LTR identified here as being important in trans activation has recently been shown to be a critical determinant of the leukemogenicity and latency of Moloney murine leukemia virus. These findings suggest a novel mechanism of retrovirus-induced activation of cellular gene expression, potentially contributing to leukemogenesis.


The Chlamydomonas monoica Strehlow zygospore is a dormant heavily walled spore adapted to survive extreme environmental conditions. The zygospore wall is multilayered and includes an acetolysis‐resistant component related to the general class of compounds referred to as sporopollenin. Germination of the zygospore requires induction and completion of nuclear meiotic divisions, cytokineses to produce the four vegetative progeny cells, and breakdown of the zygospore wall to allow progeny release. Analysis of zygospore wall breakdown by transmission electron microscopy of synchronously germinating zygospores revealed differences in the timing and nature of disintegration of the various wall layers. Breakdown of the outer trilamellar sheath occurred within 6 h after light induction, concomitant with the onset of prophase I. At the same time, stored lipid bodies were consumed and replaced by large cytoplasmic vacuoles. Degradation of the inner more massive wall layer was initiated several hours later at about the time of the second meiotic division. In areas beneath breaks in the trilamellar sheath, a fibrous electron opaque bridge of wall material was retained whereas degradation of the remainder of the inner layer progressed. Finally, disintegration of this bridge material, after the completion of the meiotic divisions and synthesis of progeny cell walls, resulted in the opening of large slits in the trilamellar sheath, allowing escape of the flagellated vegetative progeny. The chloroform resistance typical of mature zygospores was lost at approximately the same time that the initial breaks in the trilamellar sheath were detected but before disintegration of the inner wall layer(s).


A major problem on the Internet is automated computer programs abusing services intendedto be used only by humans. Therefore, a method is needed to separate computersfrom humans. Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and HumansApart, or CAPTCHA, is a term used to describe a test that is difficult for computers andeasy for humans to pass and that can be generated and graded automatically. Most of theCAPTCHA schemes currently in use rely on some kind of image or audio recognitionproblem, making them unavailible to the visually and/or audially impaired. Additionally,visual CAPTCHAs can currently be broken with alarmingly high success rates. We proposea CAPTCHA scheme based purely in the text domain which we have named SentenceFirst CAPTCHA. The problem imposed on the users consists of classifying stochasticallygenerated sentences by fluency and legibility and pairs of sentences by semantic coherence.This scheme was implemented and tested by means of several surveys. The answers wereanalysed and the results show that this could very well be a feasible CAPTCHA scheme.


ABSTRACT: This study involved 27 geriatric patients with asymptomatic chronic bacteriuria; all had indwelling Foley catheters. The treatment regimens (daily oral dosage) were: methenamine mandelate (MM) granules, 4 gm; MM, 4 gm, plus ascorbic acid, 4 gm; and MM, 4 gm, plus ascorbic acid, 4 gm, plus cranberry cocktail, 1 liter—administered according to a cross‐over design. Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli were the most common urinary organisms. Proteus organisms were more often found in alkaline than in acidic urines, but the type of pathogen had no influence on urinary pH. Urinary formaldehyde concentration [HCHO] was lower in patients with Proteus infection (17.7 μg/ml) than in those with Pseudomonas (21.9 μg/ml) or E. coli infection (21.8 μg/ml). However, for Proteus infection, [HCHO] was higher in patients receiving MM plus ascorbic acid than in those receiving MM alone. Addition of cranberry cocktail to ascorbic acid did not enhance urinary pH, [HCHO] or methenamine efficacy. Our data suggest that in Foley catheter patients with chronic asymptomatic bacteriuria secondary to Proteus, Pseudomonas or E. coli infection, the type of urinary pathogen or the urinary pH cannot be used to predict the efficacy of methenamine therapy either with or without urinary acidifying agents.


Intensification of agriculture since the 1950s has enhanced the availability, competitive ability, crude protein content, digestibility and extended growing seasons of forage grasses. Spilled cereal grain also provides a rich food source in autumn and in winter. Long‐distance migratory herbivorous geese have rapidly exploited these feeding opportunities and most species have shown expansions in range and population size in the last 50 years. Results of long‐term studies are presented from two Arctic‐breeding populations, the Svalbard pink‐footed goose and the Greenland white‐fronted goose (GWFG). GWFGs have shown major habitat shifts since the 1950s from winter use of plant storage organs in natural wetlands to feeding on intensively managed farmland. Declines in local density on, and abandonment of, unmodified traditional wintering habitat and increased reproductive success among those birds wintering on farmland suggest that density‐dependent processes were not the cause of the shift in this winter‐site‐faithful population. Based on enhanced nutrient and energy intake rates, we argue that observed shifts in both species from traditionally used natural habitats to intensively managed farmland on spring staging and wintering areas have not necessarily been the result of habitat destruction. Increased food intake rates and potential demographic benefits resulting from shifts to highly profitable foraging opportunities on increasingly intensively managed farmland, more likely explain increases in goose numbers in these populations. The geographically exploratory behaviour of subdominant individuals enables the discovery and exploitation of new winter feeding opportunities and hence range expansion. Recent destruction of traditional habitats and declines in farming at northern latitudes present fresh challenges to the well being of both populations. More urgently, Canada geese colonizing breeding and moulting habitats of white‐fronted geese in Greenland are further affecting their reproductive output.


In this project I describe the status of inverse kinematics research, with the focus firmly on the methods that solve the core problem. An overview of the different methods are presented Three common methods used in inverse kinematics computation have been chosen as subject for closer inspection. The three methods are described in some detail. An analysis is performed where the three methods are compared, and benchmarked against each other. I conclude which of the methods are the most promising and what their respective forces, weaknesses and prospects are. All figures shown are made using the test suite, developed in this project and in [4]. Source code developed for this project includes the CCD method , improvements on the BFGS method and Jacobian inverse originally developed in [4]. 1


How the Earth's earliest crust was formed and when present-day plate tectonics (i.e., subduction) and life commenced remain fundamental questions in Earth sciences. Whereas the bulk composition of the crust is similar to that of rocks generated in subduction settings, it does not necessarily follow that melting and crust formation require subduction. Many workers suggest that subduction may have only commenced toward the end of the Archean or later. Here we observe that both the stratigraphy and geochemistry of rocks found in Quebec, Canada, that have been variously argued to be 4.4 or 3.8 Ga in age, closely match those from the modern-day Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc. We suggest that this geochemical stratigraphy might provide a more robust test of ancient tectonic setting than individual chemical or isotopic signatures in rocks or detrital minerals. If correct, the match suggests that at least some form of subduction may have been operating as early as the Hadean or Eoarchean. This could have provided an ideal location for the development of first life.


Sectionalizers and tie points can be employed for service reliability enhancement in primary distribution systems. In this paper an efficient method for simultaneous allocation of sectionalizers and tie points is presented. Costs of switches, tie lines and outage costs are considered in objective function. Also practical limitation in restriction of available budget for installation of switching devices is considered. Genetic algorithm is used for optimization. Effectiveness of the proposed approach is shown by various application studies on a distribution system with satisfactory results.


Synopsis Certain classical differential expressions which are singular at a finite end-point (or at an interior point) can be represented as regular, scalar quasi-differential expressions, the best-known examples being the Boyd Equation and Laplace Tidal Wave Equation. We show here that in all such cases the domains of the minimal and maximal operators in the appropriate weighted Hilbert space , for the regularised expression, coincide with the corresponding domains for the expression in its original, singular form. This is contrasted with a known property of the corresponding expression domains. Whereas for an expression M, the operator domains contain only functions y for which both y and My lie in the appropriate Hilbert space, the expression domain comprises a much larger set of functions with no such restrictions beyond those necessary for My to exist as a function. In the second-order case, the expression domain of the regularisation of a singular expression is known to be a strict subset of the original expression domain, contrasting with the results proved here for the operator domains.


Purpose

Services are highly important in a world economy which has increasingly become service driven. There is a growing need to better understand the possibilities for, and requirements of, designing modular service architectures. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the roots of the emerging research stream on service modularity, provide a concise overview of existing work on the subject, and outline an agenda for future research on service modularity and architecture. The articles in the special issue offer four diverse sets of research on service modularity and architecture.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is built on a literature review mapping the current body of literature on the topic and developing future research directions in service modularity and architecture.

Findings

The growing focus on services has triggered needs to investigate the suitability and implementation of physical-product-focused modularity principles and theories in service contexts, and to search for principles/theories that enhance services. The expanding research stream has explored various aspects of service modularity in empirical contexts. Future research should focus on service-specific modularity theories and principles, platform-based and mass-customized service business models, comparative research designs, customer perspectives and service experience, performance in context of modular services, empirical evidence of benefits and challenges, architectural innovation in services, modularization in multi-provider contexts, and modularity in hybrid offerings combining service and tangible product modules.

Originality/value

Nine areas are recommended for further research on service modularity and architecture. The introductory piece also discusses the roots of service modularity and provides an overview of current contributions.


The structural and functional modeling of a specific group of non-heme iron enzymes by the synthesis of small synthetic analogues is the topic of this thesis. The group of non-heme iron enzymes with the 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad has recently been established as a common platform for the activation of dioxygen in Nature. The oxidative transformations catalyzed by these enzymes are very diverse and many of them are unprecedented in synthetic organic chemistry. This makes this group of enzymes an attractive target for synthetic modeling studies. A new family of biomimetic N,N,O ligands that accurate model this facial triad has been developed. Structurally characterized copper complexes showed the potential of the new ligands as mimics of the facial triad. Mononuclear iron complexes of these ligands were also synthesized and in this way accurate models of the active sites of these enzymes were obtained. For instance, model complexes of the enzyme-substrate complexes of extradiol cleaving catechol dioxygenases were built and the reactivity of these complexes showed that the compounds were able to mimic the enzymes both in structure and function. Very accurate models of the closely related intradiol cleaving catechol dioxygenases were also synthesized with a slightly modified ligand system. These studies provided further insight into the factors governing the respective selectivities of these interesting enzymes. Furthermore, the reactivity of several non-heme iron complexes as oxidation catalysts was explored. Non-heme iron model complexes of the 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad structural motif proved to be interesting oxidation catalysts and displayed both epoxidation as well as cis-dihydroxylation activity. Other catalysts showed promising reactivities in the oxidation of alkanes and alkenes. All complexes were characterized by variety of techniques including UV-Vis, IR, EPR spectroscopy, magnetic and mass spectrometric measurements, and X-ray crystal structure determinations. In the last part of the thesis, the focus is shifted to the exploration of the coordination of the new ligands with the transitions metals zinc and copper. The obtained results show that the ligands are quite versatile and interesting reactivities were discovered. The zinc complexes for instance mediate the conversion of pyruvate, an important metabolic junction, to oxalate. The copper complexes converted tetrachlorocatechol, a persistent organic pollutant, to chloranilic acid via an oxidative double dehalogenation. Both of these discovered reactivities are unprecedented.


Theoretical models of person perception (e.g., the Schematic Model of Person Perception, Warr & Knapper, 1968) have conceptualised the range of stimuli a perceiver will use to form an impression of a target and their subsequent responses to these stimuli. The main aim of this thesis was to examine person perception in sports interactions. Specifically, the aims were to examine a) the stimuli sports performers attend to b) the attributive, expectancy and affective responses sports performers develop to initial impressions c) the influence of initial impressions on attributions for an opponent's performance and d) the influence of initial impressions on a performer's attention and competitive sports performance. Study one of this thesis presents qualitative research highlighting the range of stimuli available to tennis performers, common attributive responses and reported impacts of an impression on a performer's state, expectations and performance. Study two provides empirical support for the suggestion that performers experience attributive and expectancy responses to their opponents' body language. Specifically, when a potential opponent displayed positive body language, participants rated both episodic and dispositional judgements significantly more positively than when negative body language was displayed. When the potential opponent's body language was positive participants' expectations of the opponent's performance, their own performance and the demands of a match were rated as significantly greater than when negative body language was displayed. When the potential opponent's body language was positive participants' expectations for the overall outcome of a match were rated significantly lower than when negative body language was displayed. Study three shows that, despite performance specific stimuli becoming available later in the interaction, an initial impression influences how an opponent's performance is judged. Specifically, when a potential opponent displayed positive body language his technique, power and movement were rated significantly higher than when negative body language was displayed. Study three also highlights how person perception can influence how a performer's attributes his or her opponent's performance. Study three showed that when a potential opponent displayed positive body language a successful performance was attributed to greater levels of skill and when negative body language was displayed a successful performance was attributed to luck. Study four demonstrates that an opponent's prior performance record can prompt a significant affective response, with participants given stimuli showing their opponent had won all previous competitions reporting significantly greater levels of cognitive anxiety. Participants given stimuli showing their opponent had won all previous competitions of a golf putting game also showed a significant decrease in competition scores from a baseline measure, indicating that an initial impression of an opponent influenced the perceiver's performance of a fine motor skill. The opponent's prior performance was seen to influence the amount of time a performer spends attending to their opponent's stimuli, with participants given no prior performance information attending to their opponent's subsequent neutral stimuli for significantly longer durations than participants provided with prior performance stimuli. Overall the research presented in this thesis provides support for the use of the Schematic Model of Person Perception (Warr & Knapper, 1968) as a theoretical basis of investigation in sports-specific person perception research. Initial support is given to the proposal that person perception can be a significant factor in a performer's judgements of an opponent, expectations, affective state and attentional style prior to performing.


This paper presents a robust controller design method for linear time-invariant SISO systems based on an optimization approach. The task is to enlarge real stability radius to counter plant parameter perturbations by using extra degree of freedom of the controller parameters in the pole placement scheme. The formula for the real stability radius is known as an infimum of a certain function and that makes its gradients discontinuous. It is shown that by some manipulations, the considered problem can be converted to a nonlinear optimization problem, to which a gradient-based optimization method becomes applicable. The case of complex stability radius is also considered, which is less sharp as a robust stability index than the real counterpart, but has a much simpler form. Numerical examples for both cases are presented to show that they actually work, and some comparisons are discussed, leading to a suggestion on the effective uses of these two stability radius computation methods.


The mammalian innate immune system is activated by foreign nucleic acids. Detection of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) in the cytoplasm triggers characteristic antiviral responses and macrophage cell death. Cytoplasmic dsDNA rapidly activated caspase 3 and caspase 1 in bone marrow–derived macrophages. We identified the HIN-200 family member and candidate lupus susceptibility factor, p202, as a dsDNA binding protein that bound stably and rapidly to transfected DNA. Knockdown studies showed p202 to be an inhibitor of DNA-induced caspase activation. Conversely, the related pyrin domain–containing HIN-200 factor, AIM2 (p210), was required for caspase activation by cytoplasmic dsDNA. This work indicates that HIN-200 proteins can act as pattern recognition receptors mediating responses to cytoplasmic dsDNA.


Abstract.
 Many marine benthic metazoans must stabilize themselves upon the seafloor for survival, and as a result their morphologies are controlled in part by local substrate conditions. The Agronomic Revolution (AR), spurred by increasing vertical bioturbation during the Ediacaran—Cambrian transition, permanently altered the nature of shallow marine substrate conditions and led to a major shift in adaptive strategies among benthic metazoans. These ecological and evolutionary changes, known as the Cambrian Substrate Revolution (CSR), are generally understood from observations of benthic metazoan fossils across the Ediacaran/Cambrian boundary, but the timing and geographic extent of this transition are less well known. This analysis attempts to constrain the temporal and spatial pattern of the AR and CSR by performing a global-scale paleoecological analysis of the adaptive strategies of benthic fauna living during the Cambrian. This analysis focused on Burgess Shale-type (BST) faunas because of their exceptional preservation, and was conducted through direct observation of fossil specimens, analysis of data compiled from the Paleobiology Database, and literature review. From these analyses, faunal groups are assigned a metric, the Substrate Adaptability Index (SAI), that relates the overall affinity the fauna demonstrates toward either Proterozoic-style (SAI=0) or Phanerozoic-style (SAI= 1) substrate conditions. The results of this analysis demonstrate that most early and middle Cambrian faunas were mixtures of Phanerozoic- and Proterozoic-style adaptive strategists, suggesting that Proterozoic-style substrates were still influential in controlling adaptive strategies in marine environments until at least that time. This is further supported by ichnofabric analysis of many of these localities, where overall bioturbation levels are exceedingly low, indicating a lack of mixed-layer development and the prevalence of firm Proterozoic-style substrates well into the Cambrian.


The objective of this thesis was to develop an electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based
nanofiber that has unique properties as an electrode material. Stabilizing, carbonizing, and
chemical activation of these nanofibers can help to improve meso-porous carbon for the
application as carbon-based electrodes. The study includes two main parts.
In part I, nanofibers were electrospun under different electrospinning conditions, such as
applied voltage and the distance between the spinneret and the target, to determine the best
process conditions. Then, the PAN nanofibrous mats were stabilized in air, carbonized in inert
atmosphere (argon), and activated using a potassium hydroxide (KOH) chemical method. During
the chemical activation, carbonized nanofibers were immersed in an aqueous KOH solution.
In part II, the structure and morphology were studied using scanning electron microscopy
(SEM). The diameter of the nanofibers was measured and monitored as a function of the applied
voltage, distance between the spinneret and the target, and the chemical (KOH) treatment.
Porosity of carbon-based nanofibers has been studied by weighing the nanofibrous mat after
absorption of isopropanol. Porosity by chemical treatment improved from 60% to 90%, thus
providing a higher contact area, which is an important factor for electrodes. As a result of the
physical and chemical treatments, wettability of the electrospun nanofibers varied from
hydrophobicity with a contact angle of 150° to superhydrophilicity with a contact angle of 20°.
The electrochemical performance of the electrodes was tested by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in a
hydrochloric acid (HCl) aqueous solution in the presence of an Fe(III)/(II) redox couple. Results
showed that the prepared sample has a smaller ∆Ep unlike the carbon felt, which is an indicator
of a more active PAN carbonized nanofiber in comparison to the felt. Carbon nanofiber (CNF)
samples have a higher peak current, which indicates a higher surface area.


This project involved the gathering of information on the Robotic Dog (hereafter referred to as "the dog" or "the robot") and then updating it so that it can be understood by future researchers. This was done by updating the old functionality and restoring some of the original functions of the robot. The aim of this project was to fix the robot so that is was in a state that would allow for new development of its systems.

The development of wireless communication was done to improve the viability of programming the robot whilst it is moving. This will help students and staff in being able to better adapt control structures while the robot is moving. This was done so that if, in the future, the robot is removed from the harness the robot will still be able to be communicated with.

The remodelling of the solenoid setup will prevent interruption in the control system being caused by malfunctioning cards. This will help in debugging because wiring diagrams for both the card and its interface are now available on the Engineering Network. This also applies to the wiring diagrams done for the Analogue to Digital converter and the I²C interface.

This system should now be in a state that it can be used for teaching biologically inspired control systems to students. The system can be modified to incorporate new sensors so that, in the future, different types of control can be implemented on the device.


[1] A multimode, two-moment aerosol model has been incorporated in the NCAR CAM3 to develop an interactive aerosol–climate model and to study the impact of anthropogenic aerosols on the global climate system. Currently, seven aerosol modes, namely three for external sulfate and one each for external black carbon (BC), external organic carbon (OC), sulfate/BC mixture (MBS; with BC core coated by sulfate shell), and sulfate/OC mixture (MOS; a uniform mixture of OC and sulfate) are included in the model. Both mass and number concentrations of each aerosol mode, as well as the mass of carbonaceous species in the mixed modes, are predicted by the model so that the chemical, physical, and radiative processes of various aerosols can be formulated depending on aerosol's size, chemical composition, and mixing state. Comparisons of modeled surface and vertical aerosol concentrations, as well as the optical depth of aerosols with available observations and previous model estimates, are in general agreement. However, some discrepancies do exist, likely caused by the coarse model resolution or the constant rates of anthropogenic emissions used to test the model. Comparing to the widely used mass-only method with prescribed geometric size of particles (one-moment scheme), the use of prognostic size distributions of aerosols based on a two-moment scheme in our model leads to a significant reduction in optical depth and thus the radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) of particularly external sulfate aerosols. The inclusion of two types of mixed aerosols alters the mass partitioning of carbonaceous and sulfate aerosol constituents: about 35.5%, 48.5%, and 32.2% of BC, OC, and sulfate mass, respectively, are found in the mixed aerosols. This also brings in competing effects in aerosol radiative forcing including a reduction in atmospheric abundance of BC and OC due to the shorter lifetime of internal mixtures (cooling), a mass loss of external sulfate to mixtures (warming), and an enhancement in atmospheric heating per BC mass due to the stronger absorption extinction of the MBS than external BC (warming). The combined result of including a prognostic size distribution and the mixed aerosols in the model is a much smaller total negative TOA forcing (� 0.12 W m �2 ) of all carbonaceous and sulfate aerosol compounds compared to the cases using one-moment scheme either excluding or including internal mixtures (� 0.42 and � 0.71 W m �2 , respectively). In addition, the global mean all-sky TOA direct forcing of aerosols is significantly more positive than the clear-sky value due to the existence of low clouds beneath the absorbing (external BC and MBS) aerosol layer, particularly over a dark surface. An emission reduction of about 44% for BC and 38% of primary OC is found to effectively change the TOA radiative forcing of the entire aerosol family by � 0.14 W m �2 for clear-sky and � 0.29 W m �2 for


The purpose of this research is to engage with the cultural body and its intersection with the digital technology used in my studio practice. The discourses surrounding my digital studio practice such as new media, information, and malleability are entangled with a body that is inscribed,
socially constructed, and produced. These discourses however, are not only applicable to the body and technology in contemporary culture. As this thesis argues, new media, information, and malleability can inscribe and produce an historical body. The historical body and technology that is
used to demonstrate this intersection is that of Albrecht Durer's Draughtsman Drawing a Reclining Nude. This image contextualises the trajectory of a body and technology meme from 1525 through to the ideology of Herrenvolk in Nazi Germany, and then on to the default facial array underpinning contemporary aesthetic surgery of choice.
The approach used to establish the uncanny parallels between two widely separated forms of studio practice draws upon the qualitative methodology of reflective practice. Reflective practice allowed the researcher to learn from a variety of experiences and apply these immediately to the construction of both the text based and image based
components of this thesis.
There are two major conclusions from this research. Firstly, that the body reconfigured in contemporary culture by aesthetic surgery has its origins in the default facial array which is informed by the idea of racial purity
evident in the inscribed body of Herrenvolk, and it is Herrenvolk that can be traced back to Draughtsman Drawing a Reclining Nude. Secondly, the technology of the grid seen in Draughtsman Drawing a Reclining Nude and the computer used in my studio practice are linked by the similarity in
their cultural and ideological coding, and the way in which they code both artist and subject reflexively.


The potential of television satire, an important means of denunciation of abuses of power and incompetence by politicians, can be limited in post-authoritarian democracies, where previous arrangements between political elites and media may hinder what satirists can say and to whom. Drawing from the literature on satire in post-authoritarian regimes and on the liberalization of Mexican media, we explain the surge of satire in Mexican broadcast television and its limits. A further qualitative analysis of 274 jokes uttered in satirical shows broadcast between 1995 and 2019 demonstrates that, while the liberalization process fostered satirical expressions about the abuse of power, incompetence, and frivolity of politicians, the remaining instrumentalization practices led to self-censorship, officialdom, and futile humor. Hence, we conclude that the political-economic conditions that played a part in the political transition influenced the scope of Mexican television satire.


Side-channel analysis has become a well-established topic in the scientific community and industry over the last one and a half decade. Somewhat surprisingly, the vast majority of work on side-channel analysis has been restricted to the "use case" of attacking cryptographic implementations through the recovery of keys. In this contribution, we show how side-channel analysis can be used for extracting code from embedded systems based on a CPU's electromagnetic emanation. There are many applications within and outside the security community where this is desirable. In cryptography, it can, e.g., be used for recovering proprietary ciphers and security protocols. Another broad application field is general security and reverse engineering, e.g., for detecting IP violations of firmware or for debugging embedded systems when there is no debug interface or it is proprietary. A core feature of our approach is that we take localized electromagnetic measurements that are spatially distributed over the IC being analyzed. Given these multiple inputs, we model code extraction as a classification problem that we solve with supervised learning algorithms. We apply a variant of linear discriminant analysis to distinguish between the multiple classes. In contrast to previous approaches, which reported instruction recognition rates between 40-70%, our approach detects more than 95% of all instructions for test code, and close to 90% for real-world code. The methods are thus very relevant for use in practice. Our method performs dynamic code recognition, which has both advantages (only the program parts that are actually executed are observed) but also limitations (rare code executions are difficult to observe).


Flexible components are widely used in the automotive and aerospace industries. However, the low rigidity of workpiece and large quantities of material removal in machining process leads to the instability of the process such as chatter and deformation. Chatter is a detrimental phenomenon resulting from dynamic interaction between machining tool and workpiece. It can cause poor surface quality and reduced productivity, and thus become one of the main limitations to achieve high productivity and good surface quality. Meanwhile, the varying cutting forces during machining can excite cutter and part structures and lead to significant deflections. For these reasons, machining of flexible components has been a research emphasis of both industrial and academic researchers for many years. Plenty of studies have been carried out to solve these problems, and most proposed studies focused on how to predict, identify, prevent and supress chatter and deformation. This paper reviews the progress of relevant research and classifies the existing strategies developed to ensure stable machining of flexible components. The most appropriate technique for each specific problem is selected and discussed considering various aspects of machining.


Rig Diagnostic Tools is a suite of applications designed to allow an operator to monitor the status and health of complex networked systems using a unique interface between Java applications and UNIX scripts. The suite consists of Java applications, C scripts, Vx- Works applications, UNIX utilities, C programs, and configuration files. The UNIX scripts retrieve data from the system and write them to a certain set of files. The Java side monitors these files and presents the data in user-friendly formats for operators to use in making troubleshooting decisions. This design allows for rapid prototyping and expansion of higher-level displays without affecting the basic data-gathering applications. The suite is designed to be extensible, with the ability to add new system components in building block fashion without affecting existing system applications. This allows for monitoring of complex systems for which unplanned shutdown time comes at a prohibitive cost.


We identify an exogenous source of variation in exposure to campaign advertising in the 2000 presidential election, based on residence in battleground states. If exposure to campaign advertising makes a potential voter significantly more likely to vote, then we should see significantly greater turnout in battleground states. We do not. This result is robust to several specifications and evident in a natural experiment consisting of New Jersey residents. Conditional on existing campaign targeting strategies, campaigns do not affect the turnout decisions of the voters we study.


In an effort to keep up with a world of too much, life hackers sometimes risk going too far.Life hackers track and analyze the food they eat, the hours they sleep, the money they spend, and how they're feeling on any given day. They share tips on the most efficient ways to tie shoelaces and load the dishwasher; they employ a tomato-shaped kitchen timer as a time-management tool.They see everything as a system composed of parts that can be decomposed and recomposed, with algorithmic rules that can be understood, optimized, and subverted. In Hacking Life, Joseph Reagle examines these attempts to systematize living and finds that they are the latest in a long series of self-improvement methods. Life hacking, he writes, is self-help for the digital age's creative class.Reagle chronicles the history of life hacking, from Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack through Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Timothy Ferriss's The 4-Hour Workweek. He describes personal outsourcing, polyphasic sleep, the quantified self movement, and hacks for pickup artists. Life hacks can be useful, useless, and sometimes harmful (for example, if you treat others as cogs in your machine). Life hacks have strengths and weaknesses, which are sometimes like two sides of a coin: being efficient is not the same thing as being effective; being precious about minimalism does not mean you are living life unfettered; and compulsively checking your vital signs is its own sort of illness. With Hacking Life, Reagle sheds light on a question even non-hackers ponder: what does it mean to live a good life in the new millennium?


This book addresses an under-researched area of modernist studies, reconsidering modernist attitudes towards feeling in the light of the humanities' turn to affect. The eleven original chapters and chapter-length introduction consider the affective dimensions of a range of forms and media – including literature, architecture, philosophy, dance, visual art, and design – tracing modernism from its origins in the nineteenth-century to its afterlives in the postwar period. Modernism and Affect engages with contemporary theories of affect but also turns to a surprisingly wide range of theoretical models – including psychoanalysis, phenomenology, critical theory and poststructuralism – as it emphasises the complexities of modernist affect and emotion.


The focus by investment practitioners on the impacts of non-traditional environmental and governance issues has intensified in recent times as a result of global events. Most studies examine the relationship between environmental social governance (ESG) factors and portfolio returns. This article extends those studies by analyzing the impacts on stock valuation and operating performance of U.S. listed companies. Using a multifactor framework, the article provides evidence of a significant positive relationship between particular ESG rating criteria and both return on assets and market-to-book-value measures, supporting the theory that Corporate Social Performance is positive for Corporate Financial Performance. Analysis also shows that employment conditions are a more relevant influence than other stakeholder criteria and that a company's involvement in more general non-stakeholder-related social issues contributes negatively to both operating performance and stock return.


Why study prosecution witnesses? The earliest origins of the thesis can be located in my professional involvement in a debate that was being held within Bedfordshire Police regarding the performance of the Force in detecting crime. The detection rate had always been the one indicator traditionally used to show the performance of a police force and Bedfordshire was achieving little in the way of success compared to other forces. The detection rate for crime was remaining consistently low and in a number of categories of crime was actually falling. The force, concerned about these issues, had set up a number of working parties to tackle the problems. As a member of one group, I became involved in the fundamental debate about what factors contributed to the overall detection process. Issues such as the use of informants, scientific evidence, house to house enquiries and other procedures were all discussed. One area which appeared to justify further research related to the role of the prosecution witness and their contribution both in providing the police with information and ultimately in securing a successful conviction at court. It has become a truism to note that the police would be unable to detect many crimes if it were not for either the public directly reporting the incident or subsequently that the witnesses were questioned about the case by police officers. The public's evidence forms a crucial element in building up the prosecution case. The lay witness thus plays a major role in the acquirement of evidence and in securing a conviction for those cases where there is sufficient evidence to submit the case file to the Crown Prosecution Service (henceforth CPS). Subsequently discussions were held with a number of groups and individuals within the justice system such as Victim Support, police officers, the courts' administrative and professional staff and the CPS. The consensus of opinion indicated that there were several issues relating to lay prosecution witnesses that justified further investigation. Accordingly there needed to be a move away from the original narrow focus on the practicalities of increasing the detection rate, to a more in-depth and far ranging study that would explore the hidden and uninvestigated 'career' perceptions of the lay prosecution witness. Preliminary discussions had revealed that many criminal justice professionals considered that the experience of being a witness was not a particularly pleasant one. It also seemed that there might be parallels between the experiences of lay witnesses in Bedfordshire and some of the findings of writers such as Shapland et al (1985) who had studied victims over a decade previously. There was a current and widely expressed belief that witnesses often found the experience uncomfortable and difficult, and so would not want to repeat the process. It appeared that potential witnesses were also being dissuaded from contacting the police because of perceptions or knowledge that they held about the experience. As the initial research progressed a number of themes began to emerge for example, how did the prosecution witness both relate to and fit into the justice system and what impact did the rise of public sector consumerism have on the witness? Other issues included examining the reasons behind the sudden political and media interest in the intimidation of witnesses in the mid 1990's in Britain and finally the tripartite relationship of the police, CPS and the witness appeared to be an important topic for examination. An initial literature search indicated that little had been written by criminologists and social scientists directly on the subject of witnesses as a 'stand alone group. Rock (1993: 4) had also drawn attention to this fact although this must be tempered by the recognition that considerable research had been carried out on a number of the other consumer groups that had connections with the Criminal Justice System (henceforth CJS). The defendants had always had some criminological interest shown in them (see, for example, McConville et al, 1991, Bottomley et al.t 1991, Hood, 1992, Sanders, 1994). Victims as a group had also captured the 'criminological imagination', at least in the last two to three decades with work being carried out on their experiences under the broad stance of 'Victimology' (see, for example, Shapland et al., 1985, Maguire and Pointing, 1988). It appeared, however, that there were few references directly on lay witnesses (but see, Ash, 1972, Raine and Smith, 1991, Rock, 1993, 1994, Maynard, 1994). It was thus decided to carry out a comprehensive study of the processing of the lay prosecution witness. This would be from the time the witness first entered the system to the completion of his or her evidence within a CJS dominated by a largely administrative and professionally based organisation. The research would examine the issues from a broad social policy based focus and would be driven by broader intellectual questions rather than the original limited pragmatic focus on detection rate issues. The research being undertaken would seek to open up the closed world of the witness to further academic scrutiny and debate. The thesis is structured as follows, chapter 1 sets out the main objective of the study. It presents the key areas of research together with what the study hopes to achieve. It explains why a number of witness groups were excluded from the study and explains the role of the police in the research. Chapter 2 reviews the relevant research and literature on the three groups that make up the 'occasional lay users' of the CJS, namely the defendants, the victims and the witnesses. The research on defendants is particularly interesting as it supplies us with the notion of the 'lay actor' in the CJS. Victimology contributes research on victims that draws some important parallels with this particular study of witnesses. This is followed by an examination of the key texts already written on the witness. In chapter 3 the various research techniques used in the study are discussed including their incorporation into the methodological approach of triangulation' (Denzin, 1970). Chapter 4 presents the reader with a chronological account of the process a prosecution witness goes through and how a trial is constructed. It starts from when the witness initially contacts or is contacted by the police, right the way through to when they are dismissed from their duties and responsibilities as a witness by the court. Chapter 5 presents the results of the substantive research carried out on a sample of witnesses who attended Luton Crown Court. Chapter 6 examines some of the wider issues of consumerism and the growth of community action that may directly impinge on the witness process. Finally, chapter 7 concludes the thesis with an overview of the key issues that have been identified regarding the routine processing of the lay prosecution witness.


Five days of treadmill training in rats leads to increased muscle size and running time. This was used to examine the effect of exercise on circulating insulin-like growth factor I [IGF-I; radioimmunoassay (RIA)], local muscle (hindlimb) IGF-I (by RIA), and muscle IGF-I mRNA (by ribonuclease protection assay). Eight-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups: control (n = 10); single-exercise test (n = 10), untrained but with one maximal exercise test at the end of the study; and training (n = 16), trained for 5 days and one maximal exercise test on day 6. There were no differences among the groups with respect to circulating IGF-I. Muscle IGF-I protein in trained rats (4.2 +/- 1.5 ng/g of muscle tissue) was significantly greater than both control (0.27 +/- 0.1 ng/g) and single-exercise test (0.62 +/- 0.19 ng/g, P < 0.05 by analysis of variance). There was no difference among the groups in IGF-I mRNA gene expression. These data suggest that there is an early, marked, local muscle increase in IGF-I protein in response to exercise. This increase, however, may not be related to increased muscle IGF-I gene expression. Moreover, the IGF-I response was probably local in nature since it was not matched by any increase in circulating IGF-I.


Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 340T returned to the 1.4-km-deep Hole U1309D at Atlantis Massif to carry out borehole logging including vertical seismic profiling (VSP). Seismic, resistivity, and temperature logs were obtained throughout the geologic section in the footwall of this oceanic core complex. Reliable downhole temperature measurements throughout and the first seismic coverage of the 800–1400 meters below seafloor (mbsf) por tion of the section were obtained. Distinct changes in velocity, resistivity, and magnetic susceptibility characterize the boundaries of altered, olivine-rich troctolite intervals within the otherwise dominantly gabbroic se-quence. Some narrow fault zones also are associated with downhole resistivity or velocity excursions. Small deviations in temperature were measured in borehole fluid adjacent to known faults at 750 mbsf and 1100 mbsf. This suggests that flow of seawater remains active along these zones of faulting and rock alteration. Vertical seismic profile station coverage at zero offset now extends the full length of the hole, including the uppermost 150 mbsf, where detachment processes are expected to have left their strongest imprint. Analysis of wallrock properties, together with alteration and structural characteristics of the cores from Site U1309, highlights the likely interplay between lithology, structure, lithospheric hydration, and core complex evolution.


This paper qualitatively evaluates the application of blockchain technology for three energy efficiency use cases. To achieve the Sustainable Development Agenda, energy efficiency improvements have to double by 2030. However, the adoption of energy efficiency interventions is slow due to several market barriers. Blockchain technology is a nascent technology with the potential to address these barriers or even fundamentally change energy system designs, by enabling transparent, decentralised, and tamper-resilient systems. Nevertheless, a blockchain application comes with trade-offs and needs to be considered on a case by case basis. In this paper, we examine the benefits and constraints of a blockchain application for three different approaches to achieving energy efficiency: (i) peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading; (ii) White Certificate Scheme (WCS); and (iii) Energy Service Companies (ESCOs). For each of these cases, we apply a decision framework to assess blockchain feasibility and outline a potential blockchain-based design. The analysis shows that blockchain functions are case dependent and that an application creates different governance and system designs due to varying case characteristics. We discuss how the identified blockchain adoption barriers can be overcome and stress the need for policy action to advance the development of pilot studies. By decentralising system governance, blockchain enables innovative designs that can accelerate the implementation of energy efficiency interventions.


Ground moving target indication (GMTI) using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is studied in this paper. For systems using long integration time relative speed between the target and the SAR platform has to be included in the detection algorithm. A separation between the true relative speed and the relative speed used in the SAR process will cause unfocused targets. Unfocused targets decrease the detectability. In the detection phase of SAR moving targets blind hypothesis on relative are used. The step size between the hypotheses or the quantization step in relative speed is a trade off between the number of hypotheses to test and detectability. A large number of tests will increase detectability but will also increase computation load and vice versa. The importance of relative speed increases as the azimuth integration time gets larger. Long integration time is associated with low signature moving targets detection in strong clutter environment and especially for SAR GMTI at low frequencies. In this paper we determine the optimum quantization of relative speed for moving target detection. The optimum quantization is derived from the moving target impulse response. By using the optimum quantization the computation burden in SAR GMTI is reduced and the detectability secured


This article focuses on investment skill and presents several important discussion points. The first and most preliminary point is that skill is rare, hard to quantify, and takes many forms. A second point addresses the main insights of the efficient market view of the world—that there are no market inefficiencies and markets are unpredictable. These insights do not rule out skill, rather they tell us what skill is not. The article then separates the notion of market efficiency from the myth that investors are totally rational, and the idea that markets are unpredictable from the myth that markets follow a random walk. The article then draws a distinction between skill and "investment systems" and between skill and performance. The author concludes that an efficient view of markets does not rule out skill, but does rule out the myth that skill can be detected from historical performance alone and that it is a reliable predictor of future success.


There is a long-standing debate about the appropriateness of different research paradigms and methods for studying organizations. This is taken up in the Strategic Management Journal (Rouse & Daellenbach, 1999, 2002), in a series of special issues of MIS Quarterly (Orlikowski & Barley, 2001) and in papers in other journals (Mackenzie & House, 1978; Meredith, Raturi, Amoako-Gyampah, & Kaplan, 1989; Modell, 2010; Pfeffer, 1993; Richards, 2002; Richardson & Robinson, 2007; Scapens, 2008; Vaivio & Siren, 2010). Some argue for a more in-depth approach to research using qualitative and interpretive methods. The outcome of the methodology debate is an increasing acceptance of qualitative methods.

In the past, qualitative research, employed manual techniques for processing data. Researchers were the principal actor in coding, sorting and interpreting data, though some research assistance, often unacknowledged, may have been employed. However, along with increased acceptance of the use of qualitative research has come development of tools that automate various aspects of qualitative research activity. Yet, the use of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) by qualitative researchers remains contentious (King, 2010) and little discussed.

This article argues that use of qualitative research tools can affect the outcomes of research projects in ways that researchers may not have considered, and the findings from research where such tools have been used may be qualitatively different from findings derived from research where no tools have been used to automate coding and analysis processes. Such differences may be due to a capacity to conduct complex analyses more easily (Hutchison, Johnston, & Breckon, 2010); to manage very large data sets (Holstein & Gubrium, 2003); or they may be due to unanticipated processes (Davidson & Skinner, 2010), unnecessary complexity, or data corruption. There is a need for critical discussion about the impact of CAQDAS, and its potential to affect - possibly detrimentally - research outcomes (Blismas & Dainty, 2003).


A new hierarchical method for the Monte Carlo simulation of random fields called the Fourier?wavelet method is developed and applied to isotropic Gaussian random fields with power law spectral density functions. This technique is based upon the orthogonal decomposition of the Fourier stochastic integral representation of the field using wavelets. The Meyer wavelet is used here because its rapid decay properties allow for a very compact representation of the field. The Fourier?wavelet method is shown to be straightforward to implement, given the nature of the necessary precomputations and the run-time calculations, and yields comparable results with scaling behavior over as many decades as the physical space multiwavelet methods developed recently by two of the authors. However, the Fourier?wavelet method developed here is more flexible and, in particular, applies to anisotropic spectra generated through solutions of differential equations. Simulation results using this new technique and the well-known nonhierarchical simulation technique, the randomization method, are given and compared for both a simple shear layer model problem as well as a two-dimensional isotropic Gaussian random field. The Fourier?wavelet method results are more accurate for statistical quantities depending on moments higher than order 2, in addition to showing a quite smooth decay to zero on the scales smaller than the scaling regime when compared with the randomization method results. The only situation in which the nonhierarchical randomization method is more computationally efficient occurs when no more than four decades of scaling behavior are needed and the statistical quantities of interest depend only on second moments.


The hydrobiid snail and grass shrimp hosts of the microphallid trematode Microphallus turgidus are found in specific microhabitats. The primary second intermediate host of this parasite is the grass shrimp Palaemonetes pugio. The behavior of trematode cercaria often reflects the habitat and behavior of the host species. The objective of my study was to examine the behavior of M. turgidus in relation to the microhabitat selection of the second intermediate host. To do so, I established a behavioral ethogram for the cercariae of M. turgidus and compared the behavior of these parasites to the known host behavior. I tested the phototactic, geotactic, and chemical responses of the parasite. When M. turgidus cercariae are placed in a half covered Petri dish I predicted that the cercariae would have negative phototaxis. For the control experiment, in the absence of light, I predicted an equal distribution of cercariae throughout the entire Petri dish. I also predicted that the cercariae would prefer the bottom of the water column, and that their behavior would change in response to chemicals in shrimp conditioned water. Both the phototaxis and geotaxis trials used lighted conditions as the experimental and unlighted conditions as the control. The phototaxis trials were performed using a half covered Petri dish and the geotaxis trials used a graduated cylinder. The chemical response trials used water from a container which housed grass shrimp for 72 hr or unconditioned water for the control. The behavioral ethogram was based on the data of the chemical response trials. The majority of M. turgidus cercariae swam horizontally towards the covered side of the Petri dish for both lighted and unlighted trials, however a significantly higher percentage of cercariae swam horizontally towards the covered side of the Petri dish during the lighted trials suggesting that light affects the horizontal distribution of cercariae. Microphallus turgidus was also found to prefer the bottom of the water column in both lighted and unlighted trials. The behavior of the cercariae was not affected by shrimp-conditioned water. The ethogram showed that cercaria spent the largest percentage of time swimming on the bottom. The bottom dwelling behavior of M. turgidus cercariae corresponds to the demersal behavior of P. pugio . The cercariae do not appear to use chemical cues to find the host directly, rather the innate search pattern allows M. turgidus cercariae to find areas where the probability of encountering the primary host is highest. My findings show that the behavior of M. turgidus cercariae follows the demersal behavior of the grass shrimp P. pugio and may explain why this host is so frequently and heavily infected.


A zone of active seabed erosion has been identified in the northwestern Rockall Trough using seismic reflection profiles and cores. The region from George Bligh Bank to Rockall Bank has been subject to vigorous bottom-current activity, for at least the last 35 Ma. Bottom currents originate from southward flowing North Atlantic Deep Water, in water depths of 500–2000 m. Acoustic character mapping reveals a zone of erosion extending over 8500 km2 along the northwestern margins of the trough. The erosion surface is characterized by an acoustically reflective seabed, with occasional parallel to transparent reflectors. These are the result of strong bottom-currents exposing the underlying volcanic basement, drift sequences and fan sediments. The erosion surface is covered by a <10 m veneer of Quaternary sediment. The majority of the basin consists of well-stratified, parallel Quaternary drift and hemipelagite sequences. Along the western margin of the trough, these sediments form broad-sheeted drifts. Eocene sediments adjacent to George Bligh Bank have been exposed by strong bottom-currents for the last 35 Ma, compared with the flanks of Rockall Bank, where sedimentation was intermittent. Core sampling from George Bligh Bank and Rockall Bank recovered Quaternary gravelly–sandy muds interpreted as gravel lags, and muddy sandy contourites, overlying early–mid-Eocene aged sediments. The gravels represent the influence of a strongest North Atlantic Deep Water flow, winnowing coarse sediment into 'lags', commonly preserved within sandy contourite sequences.


This study examines the influences on fluid flow within a shale outcrop where the networks of two distinct paleoflow episodes have been recorded by calcite-filled veins and green alteration halos. Such direct visualization of flow networks is relatively rare and provides valuable information of fluid-flow behavior between core and seismic scale. Detailed field mapping, fracture data, and sedimentary logging were used over a 270 m2 (2910 ft2) area to characterize the paleo–fluid-flow networks in the shale. Distal remnants of turbidite flow deposits are present within the shale as very thin (1–10 mm [0.04–0.4 in.]) fine-grained sandstone bands. The shale is cut by a series of conjugate faults and an associated fracture network, all at a scale smaller than seismic detection thresholds. The flow episodes used fluid-flow networks consisting of subgroups of both the fractures and the thin turbidites. The first fluid-flow episode network was mainly comprised of thin turbidites and shear fractures, whereas the network of the second fluid-flow episode was primarily small joints (opening mode fractures) connecting the turbidites. The distribution of turbidite thicknesses follows a negative exponential trend. which reflects the distribution of thicker turbidites recorded in previous studies. Fracture density varies on either side of faults and is highest in an area between closely spaced faults. Better predictions of hydraulic properties of sedimentary-structural networks for resource evaluation can be informed from such outcrop subseismic scale characterization. These relationships between the subseismic features could be applied when populating discrete fracture networks models, for example, to investigate such sedimentary-structural flow networks in exploration settings.


Abstract
This thesis explores the issue of 'empowerment', which is often seen as a key question for
media education. The fIrst two chapters are a literature review. Chapter 1 critically
discusses how the concept of empowerment might be constituted in the discourses of
critical pedagogy. Following this, Chapter 2 discusses the kinds of empowerment offered
by three different models of media education (,critical analysis of the media', 'media
production as 'self-expression", and 'media production training'), focusing on the
pedagogic processes and the kinds of legitimate knowledge and skills offered in handbooks
for teachers. Chapter 3 explores the complexity of empowerment in media education from
a more learner-centred perspective on education and a sociocultural perspective on
classroom practices, drawing on two distinctive areas of study: audience research and
situative learning theory.
Three data analysis chapters follow Chapter 4, which discusses the methodology and
methods used in collecting and analysing the data collected. Chapter 5 analyses a school
context where 'critical media analysis' is presented as the 'official critical discourse' to
make students into media critics. Chapter 6 discusses a youth project context where rules
for media production are emphasised, while the professed aim is to empower young people
to express their own voice in the process of training them as media producers. In both
cases that I observed, the kinds of competence or legitimate knowledge and skills that the
students were required to achieve were presented fundamentally as non-negotiable.
Pursuing the questions raised in the previous two chapters in a context where the reading
and writing sides of media education are brought together, Chapter 7 discusses how
individual students with different background knowledge can be empowered in actual
learning situations and what might be the role of the teacher in doing so. Based on such
classroom research, this thesis argues that empowerment in media education needs to be
reconsidered in relation to the ways in which teaching and learning actually take place and
how the teacher and the students are positioned in relation to particular abilities and
knowledge about the media.


Introduction: Since the first COVID-19 cases were reported, the disease's clinical and epidemiological characteristics have continuously been studied, although they have not been yet defined. Objective: To estimate the epidemiological profile of pediatric patients with COVID-19, as well as their clinical, laboratory and radiological characteristics. Materials and methods: A living systemic review was conducted in the PubMed, Scopus and SciELO databases. Observational studies describing clinical, radiological, and laboratory characteristics of pediatric patients with COVID-considered for the search; there were no language restrictions. Government, epidemiological, and pre-print papers were also considered. Meta-analyses of single proportion (frequentist approach) and two proportions (Bayesian method) were carried out. The study registration and protocol are available at https://osf.io/y43wm and https://osf.io/r8ktv, respectively. Results: 13 studies, with a total of 9 152 patients, were retrieved. The Bayesian meta-analysis reported that males are more affected by the disease: OR 1.24 (HDI95%: 1.09-1.4). The proportion results calculated by means of the frequentist meta-analysis are: 52% cough (95%CI: 50-55), 0% death (95%CI: 0-0.1), 16% high aspartate transaminase levels (95%CI: 13-19), and 60% lung changes observed in chest X-ray (95%CI: 57-64). Conclusions: Based on the current data, it is not possible to describe accurately the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in the pediatric population. However, evidence suggests that males are more affected by the disease and that lung alterations in imaging studies are more frequent than clinical signs such as cough and fever. Laboratory test results are not conclusive and show that different organs and systems of the human body may be affected by SARS-CoV-2. The results reported here must be compared to prospective controlled studies conducted in larger samples and a more rigorous design.


Wood is one of the most popular and desirable building materials on the contemporary scene, its special qualities serving as a reminder of our connection to the physical world in an era where virtual reality has crept into almost every facet of day-to-day life. Featured here are over thirty examples of the most expressive and inventive uses of wood in design and architecture from all over the world. An inviting fireplace perch set beneath shelves of natural maple that stretch to the ceiling; a striking geometric studio sits nestled, half-hidden amidst the swampy creeks and overgrown scrub oaks that grow along Florida's eastern seaboard. In over 360 spectacular photos, from Tadao Ando's Museum of Wood to Edward Cullinan's Westminster Lodge, each building is remarkably fresh and distinctly original. A gorgeous addition to the bookshelf of any architect, builder, or lover of beautiful design, Wood serves not only as a document of present ingenuity in the craft, but as a signpost pointing toward an entirely new direction in architecture.


THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF THE AGED CARE NURSE The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe and interpret the common, shared meanings of the experience of aged care nμrsing from the perspective of the registered nurse working in a nursing home. There are insufficient registered nurses being attracted into aged care, with resulting difficulties in maintaining regular staffing levels in nursing homes. Previous studies conducted in Australia have predominantly used quantitative research methods to investigate various influences on the recruitment and retention of aged care nurses. These studies do not take into account the practitioners' perceptions of their experience of aged care nursing. A purposive sample of 15 registered nurses was interviewed and the resulting data were analysed using phenomenology to identify thematic structures of the experience of aged care nursing. The NUD.IST qualitative data analysis software package was used as an analysis tool. Significant statements were coded, patterns and relations between categories were identified and the categories were clustered into conceptual, hierarchical themes. Four major themes emerged as being central to the experience of aged care nursing Gratification, Rapport, Non-productivity and Conflict. While constraints and obstacles to productivity and personal and political conflict may be seen as the negative aspects of aged care, these experiences were relieved by uplifiting events described within the framework of resident care and rapport, and collegial suppQrt. 1he nature of aged care nursing is • both complex and ambiguous but nurses have readily identified the interwoven threads of the experience. Findings from this study will increase the depth of understanding of aged care nursing and hence contribute to the development of a nursing home environment which enriches the experience of both nurse and resident.


Part I deals with the estimation of money demand functions. Several non-structural interpretations of the conventionally estimated functions are surveyed and discussed (Chapter 1). An application to Italian data is then presented, focusing on two such interpretations. First (Chapter 2), the role of expectations in determining money demand behaviour is assessed. Since monetary policy regimes have a direct effect on the time-series properties of interest rates, the identification of clear regime changes may provide a powerful test of forward-looking models of money demand. An expectations model is constructed, which is stable in the face of the Italian monetary policy regime change in 1970, when traditional backward-looking money demand functions show remarkable instability. Second (Chapter 3), the existence of multiple long-run relations among the variables relevant to money demand is shown to create problems for the interpretation of single-equation estimates. To obtain a satisfactory specification of the long-run relations and the short-run dynamics of the system around equilibrium, a sequential procedure is devised and applied. In Part II, the controversy between "real" and "monetary" theories of fluctuations is examined (Chapter 4). A "monetary" equilibrium model of the cycle is constructed, extending the original Lucas "island" framework to allow for a powerful role for stabilization policy. The implications of alternative monetary policy regimes are derived and tested on U.S. data, comparing two periods (1922-1940 and 1952-1968) with a different policy stance. Chapter 5 investigates the relative importance of the "money" and "credit" channels of monetary transmission for Italy in the 1982-1994 period, using a structural VAR methodology. Monetary policy is effective, though not through a "credit channel", and independent disturbances to credit supply have sizeable real effects. In Chapter 6 the focus is shifted to anticipated fiscal policy actions and their effect on consumption. A long series of pre-announced income tax changes is examined for the U.K.. Consumption reacts to such fiscally-induced disposable income changes only at the implementation dates.


Treatment of human glomerular basement membrane (GBM) with 4 M guanidine HCI resulted in a preferential extraction of noncollagenous components including laminin, fibronectin, entactin, and heparan sulfate proteoglycan, whereas effective solubilization of type IV collagen required exposure to denaturing solvents in the presence of reducing agents. The guanidine HCI–solubilized constituents were identified by immunochemical procedures after resolution by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, CL-6B filtration, and DEAE-cellulose chromatography. Two immunologically related heparan sulfate proteoglycans (Mr ∼350,000 and 210,000) were observed by electrophoresis, with the higher-molecular-weight form being predominant. An examination of the two proteoglycans after heparitinase digestion or chemical deglycosylation indicated that heparan sulfate chains and other carbohydrate units are attached to core proteins with Mr ∼140,000 and 110,000, respectively. Radioimmunoassays indicated that human diabetic GBM contained significantly lower (P < .005) amounts of heparan sulfate proteoglycan and laminin with average values that were 30 and 60%, respectively, of nondiabetic controls; the fibronectin content of the diabetic GBM, however, was not significantly different from the normal. These findings, together with previous studies showing increases in GBM collagen, indicate that an alteration in the macromolecular architecture of this basement membrane occurs in diabetes that may be responsible for the filtration defect and the ultimate glomerular occlusion.


Abstract  Chloranthaceae is one of the earliest diverging angiosperm families and is comprised of approximately 75 species in four genera (Chloranthus, Sarcandra, Ascarina, and Hedyosmum). This family has received considerable attention because of its seemingly primitive morphology, disjunct tropical distribution in Asia and America, and extensive fossil record from the Early Cretaceous. In the present study, we reconstructed the phylogeny of Chloranthaceae based on a combined dataset of three plastid DNA regions and 56 species. We then estimated divergence times in the family using two relaxed molecular clock methods (BEAST and penalized likelihood). We focused on testing the influence of fossil taxa in calibrating the molecular phylogeny, and on assessing the current taxonomy of the family in light of the phylogenetic results. Our results indicate that most intrageneric divisions within Ascarina and Hedyosmum are not monophyletic. The results from the dating analysis suggest that the Hedyosmum‐like fossil Asteropollis represents a stem lineage of Hedyosmum, as has been suggested previously from morphological analyses. In contrast, our results indicate that the Chloranthus‐like fossil Chloranthistemon, previously suggested on morphological grounds to be a stem relative of Chloranthus, may, instead, belong to the branch leading to the clade Chloranthus+Sarcandra. The median crown ages of Chloranthus, Sarcandra, Ascarina, and Hedyosmum estimated in the BEAST analysis were 26.3, 9.5, 31.0 and 45.8 million years ago (Ma), respectively, whereas the divergence between Chloranthus and Sarcandra, the splitting of Ascarina with the former two genera, and Hedyosmum separating from the three genera were estimated to 63.8, 95.7 and 111.1 Ma. The present study sheds further light on the temporal evolution of Chloranthaceae and exemplifies how molecular dating analyses may be used to explore alternative phylogenetic placements of fossil taxa.