R Purpose: To argue for the need to generate a third-order cybernetics to deal with the problematics of second-order cybernetics. R Problem: The recent exponential increase in the use of the internet and other "media" to influence and shape dominant cultural experiences via "virtual reality" exploits a core facility of human psychology - that of being able to accept "substitutions" for the "Real Thing." In this paper, I want to raise some basic questions and dilemmas for our living in the space of a third-order contextualisation that uses "virtuality" in an ever-increasing manner for the configuring and homogenisation of human experiences. In doing so, I also raise the question of the need for us to develop an adequate model of a "third-order cybernetics" for dealing with the ways in which human experience is contextualised and configured by phenomena that constitute the third-order system. R Solution: Ernst von Glasersfeld's work makes it clear that psychologists and others enter into a great deal of confusion when they use terms like "self," "consciousness," "emotions," "memory," "the environment," and even "experience," because, as he points out, there is no convincing model for any of these commonly taken-for-granted phenomena of human living. His writings are taken as a unique source for the generation of an effective third-order cybernetics where the need for constant self-critical monitoring in regard to psychological praxis and third-order phenomena may take place. "Self-critical monitoring" means, in the first place, monitoring in a critical manner our tendencies to take for granted the notion of "self." One of the main problematics to deal with in secondorder cybernetics is the way that "subjectivity" is taken for granted. R Benefits: The temptation to collapse back down from a second-order cybernetics to first-order cybernetics will be resolved by creating an effective platform for third-order cybernetics that problematises the issue of "subjectivity" of the observer in the secondorder cybernetics framework. This involves putting into question many of the common assumptions held about "who" it is that makes the observations at the second-order cybernetics. In other words, I attempt to highlight what is problematic regarding the observer's subjectivity and how this analysis of what is taken for granted by the second-order cybernetics framework creates the basis of a framework for a third-order cybernetics. R Key words: Subjectivity, observer, self, rational knowing.


Mega constellations will be operational within a few years and will increase tenfold the current number of active satellites. Each constellation will contain hundreds to thousands satellites typically in orbits from 1100km to 1400km. In order maintain a mega constellation, multiple satellites are launched while other are actively lowered after a service time of 5-7 years. The installation and replacement of satellites is a challenging problem for space traffic management, space situational awareness and a potential threat for orbits becoming unfeasible for thousands of years. The major concern here is the generation of space debris from collisions among the satellites, break ups of the satellites or collisions with already existing space debris, which will add to the already existing population of space debris objects.
At the Institute of Physics at the German Aerospace Center new technologies are developed and investigated for the detection and ranging of space debris with optical ground stations. In contrast to well-known orbits of satellites, which are routinely tracked by stations within the ILRS network, the orbits of space debris given by their TLE data from the NORAD catalogue are inaccurate and deviate up to kilometres in each direction. This inaccuracy is insufficient for precise orbit determination and hence collisional warnings. However, at our ground station Uhlandshohe-Forschungsobservatorium (UFO) we successfully demonstrated a tracking algorithm with an uncertainty of 2arcsec using TLE data for coarse guidance and the solar reflection for tracking. While tracking an object in LEO, we can also determine the slant range with a time of flight (ToF) measurement using the fundamental line at 1064nm of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser at repetition rates up to 5kHz. Instead of guiding the light along a Coude path, the most common approach, we chose the unconventional approach to guide the light from the source to the transmitter via a passive fiber. The emitted pulse energy is as high as 20µJ with a full beam divergence of 80 arcsec/ 400µrad, which leaves room for further improvements, but cooperative targets in orbits of 6000km like LAGEOS II were successfully tracked and ranged. This allows upgrading already existing optical ground stations with a cost efficient laser ranging system, since all components are commercially available.
A new laser station is currently under construction to deliver higher pulse energy along a Coude path and to deliver a concept for a fast deployable laser ranging station as a building block of a network of laser ranging stations. Each station is built into a standard 20ft ISO container containing a 17inch telescope on an agile mount with an encoder resolution of 26bit In addition each station is equipped with a stare and chase system for detecting unknown objects down to a size of 30cm in LEO. The entire station can be remotely controlled by our proprietary software, such that an operator can run campaigns like bi-static campaigns with two of our own stations independently of any preliminary information from a catalogue, support flight manoeuvres and to support the improvement of orbital elements in a catalogue.


In 2014, the decision of the European Court of Justice in Google Spain SL v. Agencia Espanola de Proteccion de Datos ("Google Spain") set off a firestorm by holding that the fair information practices set forth in EU Directive 95/46/EC, which is probably the most influential data privacy text in the world, require that Google remove from search results links to websites that contain true information. Google Spain held that the Directive gives persons a "right to be forgotten." As a result of Google Spain, Google has processed 703,910 requests to remove 1,948,737 URLs from its search engine, and some 43.2% of these URLs have been erased from searches made under the name of the person requesting removal. The world-wide influence of Google Spain is likely to become even greater when the EU promulgates it General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") in 2018.
At stake in Google Spain were both privacy values and freedom of expression values. Google Spain inadequately analyzes both. With regard to the latter, Google Spain fails to recognize that the circulation of texts of common interest among strangers makes possible the emergence of a "public" capable of forming "public opinion." The creation of public opinion is essential for democratic self-governance and is a central purpose for protecting freedom of expression. As the rise of American newspapers in the 19th and 20th Century demonstrates, the press underwrites the public sphere by creating a structure of communication that is responsive to public curiosity and that is independent of the content of any particular news story. Google sustains the virtual public sphere by creating an analogous structure of communication. Even though Google is not itself an "author," it should nevertheless have been accorded the same legal status as traditional press.
With regard to privacy values, EU law, like the law of many nations, recognizes two distinct forms of privacy. The first is data privacy, which is protected by Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Data privacy is safeguarded by fair information practices designed to ensure (among other things) that personal data is used only for the specified purposes for which it has been legally gathered. Data privacy operates according to an instrumental logic, and it applies whenever personal information is processed. Its object is ensure that persons retain "control" over their personal data. Google Spain interprets the Directive to give persons a right to have their personal data "forgotten" or erased whenever it is "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purposes of the processing at issue carried out by the operator of the search engine." It is not necessary to show that the processing of such data will cause harm.
In contrast to data privacy, Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is entitled "Respect for Family and Private Life." Article 7 is to be understood analogously to the interpretations of Article 8 of the European Convention by the European Court of Human Rights. Article 7 of the Charter accordingly protects the dignity of persons by controlling inappropriate communications that threaten to degrade, humiliate or mortify them. The privacy at issue in Article 7 follows a normative logic that prevents harms to personality caused by violations of civility rules. Article 7 enshrines the same privacy values as those safeguarded by the American tort of public disclosure of private facts. It protects what we may call "dignitary privacy." Throughout the world, courts protect dignitary privacy by balancing the harm a communication may cause to the integrity of a person against the importance the communication may have to the public discourse necessary for democratic self-government.
The instrumental logic of data privacy is inapplicable to public discourse, which is why both the Directive and GDPR contain derogations for journalistic activities. The communicative action characteristic of the public sphere is made up of intersubjective dialogue, which is antithetical both to the instrumental rationality of data privacy and to its aspiration to ensure individual control of personal information. It was therefore a mistake for Google Spain to apply the fair information practices of the Directive to the Google search engine. But the Google Spain opinion also invokes Article 7, and in the end the opinion creates doctrinal rules that are roughly reminiscent of those used to protect dignitary privacy. The Google Spain opinion is thus deeply confused about the kind of privacy it wishes to protect. It is impossible to ascertain whether the decision seeks to protect data privacy or dignitary privacy.
Google Spain is ultimately pushed in the direction of dignitary privacy because it is well understood how the requirements of dignitary privacy may be reconciled with the requirements of public discourse. Although the normative logic of dignitary privacy may be in tension with freedom of expression, it is not, like the instrumental logic of data privacy, incompatible with freedom of expression. Insofar as freedom of expression is valued because it fosters democratic self-government, public discourse cannot serve as an effective instrument of self-governance without a modicum of civility. Yet the Google Spain decision recognizes dignitary privacy only in a rudimentary and unsatisfactory way. It inadequately theorizes both the harms potentially caused by Google links, and the contributions made by such links to public discourse. If it had more clearly focused on the requirements of dignitary privacy, moreover, Google Spain could not so sharply have distinguished Google from the underlying websites to which Google links refer. Google Spain would not have been able blithely to outsource the enforcement of the right to be forgotten to a private corporation like Google.


We consider the problem of predicting faults in deployed, large-scale distributed systems that are heterogeneous and federated. Motivated by the importance of ensuring reliability of the services these systems provide, we argue that the key step in making these systems reliable is the need to automatically predict faults. For example, doing so is vital for avoiding Internet-wide outages that occur due to programming errors or misconfigurations.


A critical aspect of social sustainability is how society encourages and supports marginalised young people to fulfil their potential. Knowledge about young people's hopes for the future may help society to better engage with them in order to maximise their participation in creating sustainable futures. There is however little engagement with the full range of marginalised young people's hopes and ideas about the future because much of the effort to assist them has been invested in both etiological and corrective strategies. This paper is based on research with Australian marginalised young people who attended specialised educational institutions because of exclusion from mainstream schooling. The research asked young people how they experienced or imagined hope and the future. A range of methods were used to gather this information including bio photography (or photo-elicitation), individual and group interviews, and art work. The young people were treated as research assistants rather than problems to be solved by research. They were encouraged to think about hope and the future in utopian ways, that is without the constraints of practical reality. The work produced by them formed the basis of a museum exhibition, entitled 'Hope' at the 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts. Analysis of the young people's accounts of hopefulness and the future shows the importance of personal connections to places and significant others. Underlying some constructions of the future are stands of resistance to ways in which young people have been stereotypically constructed by mainstream society. Young men and women both display ways in which they comply and resist dominant gender scripts. The paper will conclude with some implications for policy and practice when working with marginalised young people that may encourage hope and engagement


Since the description of the Semantic Web paradigm in 2001, technology has been proposed to allow its deployment and use. However, there is not yet any large and widely deployed set of semantically annotated Web resources available. As a result, it is not possible to evaluate the use of the technology in a real environment, and several assumptions about how the Semantic Web should work are emerging. In order to further investigate these assumptions and the related technology, we propose a simulation and evaluation platform. The platform provides tools to create Semantic Web simulations using different technologies for different purposes, and to evaluate their performance. In this paper we introduce the model of the platform and describe the current implementation. The implementation facilitates the integration of technology for an essential operation on the Semantic Web, namely Semantic Web service discovery. We illustrate the use of the platform in a case study by implementing a Semantic Web where the Jade multi-agent platform provides the framework to describe the agents, and a number of existing Semantic Web technologies are embedded in agent behavior.


A monumental, wholly accessible work of scholarship that retells human history through the story of mankind's relationship with the sea. An accomplishment of both great sweep and illuminating detail, The Sea and Civilization is a stunning work of history that reveals in breathtaking depth how people first came into contact with one another by ocean and river, and how goods, languages, religions, and entire cultures spread across and along the world's waterways. Lincoln Paine takes us back to the origins of long-distance migration by sea with our ancestors' first forays from Africa and Eurasia to Australia and the Americas. He demonstrates the critical role of maritime trade to the civilizations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley. He reacquaints us with the great seafaring cultures of antiquity like those of the Phoenicians and Greeks, as well as those of India, Southeast and East Asia who parlayed their navigational skills, shipbuilding techniques, and commercial acumen to establish vibrant overseas colonies and trade routes in the centuries leading up to the age of European overseas expansion. His narrative traces subsequent developments in commercial and naval shipping through the post-Cold War era. Above all, Paine makes clear how the rise and fall of civilizations can be traced to the sea.


Th e karstic fi ssure fi lling of Almenara-Casablanca-3, dated from the latest early Pleistocene, has furnished the following fauna of anurans and squamate reptiles: cf. Discoglossus (Alytidae), Pelobates cultripes (Pelobatidae), Pelodytes cf. P. punctatus (Pelodytidae), Bufo bufo and Bufo sp. (Bufonidae), Pelophylax cf. P. perezi (Ranidae), Blanus cinereus (Blanidae), Chalcides cf. Ch. bedriagai (Scincidae), indeterminate small lacertids (Lacertidae), Natrix natrix, Coronella girondica, Rhinechis scalaris and Malpolon monspessulanus (Colubridae) and Vipera latasti (Viperidae). Th is faunal association might have been contemporaneous with climatic conditions slightly cooler and moister than those occurring at present in the area, and it suggests an open forest environment of Mediterranean type, with some free water points.


-In this paper we reported nano-crystalline cobalt ferrite powders were synthesized using co-precipitation method at 600 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C. The structural, morphological and magnetic properties of the powders were investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Infrared spectral analysis data between 200 and 1000 cm-1 defined the intrinsic cation vibrations of the characteristic spinel structure system. The saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) of the CoFe2O4 were found to be in the range of 94-33 emu/g, which is still in the range of hard ferrite. The observed variation in saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanence magnetization as a function of increasing the temperature and grain size of samples. From this point of view, nano-scale size of nanoparticles makes them efficient for using in borehole stability maintaining for enhancing oil and gas recovery efficiency improvement. The large value of magnetic pressure (-2.95699) are expected to be useful in oil recovery applications. It has also been found that the choice of nanoparticles for application in oil recovery depends on nature, magnetic and electric properties of the reservoir rock.


Bilirubin is a natural end-product of heme metabolism, and it has been traditionally used as a diagnostic marker in hepatobiliary diseases and its related complications. Recently, accumulating data have demonstrated that serum bilirubin has anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive functions in the human body. In this review, we summarized the studies concerning serum bilirubin and its effects on various diseases, as well as its clinical implications. We found that serum bilirubin is closely related to human health. However, the results from available studies are heterogonous, most likely due to the presence of some confounding factors, which interfere the association between bilirubin and human disease have. Therefore, there is immense need of larger, prospective and possibly randomized controlled studies to clearly delineate the role of bilirubin in various disease processes.


The study focused on the characterization and quantification of the effects of coccidiosis on intensive rearing of Clarias gariepinus production. The first phase of works, performed on 117 specimens of C. gariepinus consisted of the collection of oocysts of Coccidia which served as inoculum. The experimental phase was conducted on 81 juvenile of C. gariepinus divided into three groups (T, I and II) including 27 fish specimens per group. Group T served as control group; groups I and II were infected orally with respectively 600 and 500 oocysts from the inoculum. The results show a high parasite load in adult specimens of C. gariepinus harvested in the wild. The collection of oocysts has allowed to identify four (04) species of Cyclospora and two (02) species of Eimeria. After infection of juvenile of C. gariepinus, the presence of lesions including intestinal congestion and stomach distension indicates the pathogenic effects of the infestation. The performance analysis showed that the weight of juvenile from control group is significantly higher (p <0.001) than those from infected groups I and II at D7, D14 and D21. Groups I and II also show weight loss at D7 and D21, characterizing negative specific growth rate (SGR), particular for group II. Infestation rates of groups I and II are respectively 33.33% and 29.62%. These results show a real impact of coccidiosis on juvenile of C. gariepinus bred in captivity, including the effectiveness of heavy infestation and deteriorating of growth performance of fish.


I: Charles Olson (1910-1970) was such a scholarly poet that the first critical monograph devoted to him, by Robert von Hallberg, carries the apt title Charles Olson: The Scholar's Art (1978). (1) Because Olson was an avid researcher--ferreting out Melville's annotated copies of Shakespeare, digging with gusto into the bowels of archives, and reading voraciously in a range of fields such as history, linguistics, geography, and archeology--and because, like Ezra Pound, he insisted on basing the truth claims in his poetry, essays, and letters on the fruits of his research, Olson's critics have tended to follow his own lead in discussing the many influences on his work. Taking their cues also from the prodigious labors of Olson scholars George Butterick and Ralph Maud, his critics have busied themselves with tracing the impact on his work of the huge library of texts he is known to have consulted. (2) Critical attention to Olson's reading, annotation, and advocacy of texts in this library has produced much admirable work; the time has come, though, for an opening out in the exploration of intellectual, esthetic, and political traditions from which he drew. It is important to move beyond trends of thought represented in his library, in order to measure him against other significant figures and movements. (3) This more expansive approach to Olson can free his work from the grip of a coterie that has persistently claimed it and can help present its acute insights, brilliant formulations, and methodological breakthroughs to a larger world. (4) One of the major modern philosophers whom Olson can fruitfully meet in dialogue is the pragmatist John Dewey (1859-1952). Although there is no mention of Dewey in Olson's published work, in the sources for his work identified by Butterick and Maud, or in the critical literature (aside from one significant contribution by fellow poet Robert Duncan, discussed below), Dewey was, during the Great Depression when Olson was in his twenties and acquiring his intellectual proclivities, a towering figure in American philosophy and education and one of the most prominent left--leaning intellectuals. For a young man whose political, pedagogical, and esthetic interests had a populist and pragmatist flavor, exposure to Dewey would have been unavoidable. In early 1931, at the same time as the appearance of the "Objectivists" issue of Poetry (edited by Louis Zukofsky), Dewey gave the William James Lectures at Harvard (published in 1934 as Art as Experience), formulating a full-fledged pragmatist esthetics that is in many ways consonant with Objectivist poetics. (5) Olson did not attend Dewey's lectures nor did he read at the time the issue of Poetry that launched the Objectivist movement, but his debt to Objectivism has been long established. Likewise, his explicit reliance on Alfred North Whitehead's 1929 Process and Reality has received ample treatment. (6) In order to assess fully what Olson took from the poetry and theory of this period, one would need to supplement Zukofsky's poetics and Whitehead's processoriented philosophy with Dewey's esthetics. In addition, an understanding of Dewey is imperative for gauging Olson's crucial role as final rector of Black Mountain College, an institution modeled specifically on Deweyan principles of education. Most basically, though, Dewey can be seen as the signal pragmatist precursor for Olson's attempts to unite art and experience in a more holistic model of culture than the hierarchical and alienated one that prevailed after World War II. Like Dewey, Olson emphasized the importance of direct experience over received knowledge; valued the rough, unpolished quality of vernacular creation over the normative esthetics of cultural institutions; believed in the pedagogical effectiveness of both experience and art; and saw artistic form as arising out of fully engaged experience. The essay that follows explores in particular three topics that bring Olson and Dewey into dialogue: 1) the gains to be made by including Art as Experience within the Objectivist background out of which Olson's poetry and poetics arose; 2) the meanings that these (and other) thinkers give to the concept of "experience" and how its loss and attempted recapture governs their work; and 3) their shared conviction that experience can only be reclaimed through a new attention to the senses, which belief has influenced not only a number of poets who came after Olson but also the entire movement of performance art. …


Dust has been implicated as a major contributor to the increased incidence of respiratory disorders among pig workers. Unlike gaseous contaminants, dust is not uniformly distributed within pig buildings. Dust spatial distribution is an important variable in the understanding of dust transportation and the implementation of appropriate control strategies. There is a lack of data on dust spatial distribution in livestock con"nement buildings because of a lack of adequate sampling techniques. In this project, a multi-point sampler was used to measure the dust spatial distribution in a mechanically ventilated pig building. Experimental results show that there was a high variation in the dust spatial distribution within the mechanically ventilated pig building. Ventilation rate and diurnal change of weather a!ect the dust spatial distribution. It was shown that dust source control such as oil sprinkling at regular frequencies was an e!ective measure to control the dust levels. Room air cleaning such as dedusters can be used to reduce dust concentration and change dust spatial distribution.


The study of automobile aerodynamic noise is a field that has grown rapidly in the past decade. Automobile manufacturers and independent researchers now have a better understanding of the mechanisms of automobile aerodynamic noise. Methods of making wind noise measurements have been improved. Some fundamental wind noise reduction measures have been developed. In this paper, the basic mechanisms of automobile aerodynamic noise generation are explained. Current wind noise measurement instrumentation and techniques are reviewed. Some wind noise reduction measures found on today's automobiles are discussed. Finally, a prediction method for an idealized case of automobile aerodynamic noise is shown. Knowledge of these advances will help automobile manufacturers to design quieter vehicles.


The celebrated PageRank algorithm has proved to be a very effective paradigm for ranking results of web search algorithms. In this paper we refine this basic paradigm to take into account several evolving prominent features of the web, and propose several algorithmic innovations. First, we analyze features of the rapidly growing "frontier" of the web, namely the part of the web that crawlers are unable to cover for one reason or another. We analyze the effect of these pages and find it to be significant. We suggest ways to improve the quality of ranking by modeling the growing presence of "link rot" on the web as more sites and pages fall out of maintenance. Finally we suggest new methods of ranking that are motivated by the hierarchical structure of the web, are more efficient than PageRank, and may be more resistant to direct manipulation.


State health departments funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Program collaborate with multiple partners to develop and implement comprehensive obesity prevention and control programs. A mixed-methods evaluation of 28 state programs over a 5-year period assessed states' progress on program requirements, including developing statewide partnerships and coordinating with partners to support obesity prevention and control efforts. States with greater partnership involvement leveraged more funding support for their programs, passed more obesity-related policies, and were more likely to implement obesity interventions in multiple settings. Case studies provided guidance for establishing and maintaining strong partnerships. Findings from this study offer emerging evidence to support assumptions about the centrality of partnerships to states' success in obesity program development and implementation and related health promotion activities.


RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION AND COPARENTING OVER THE TRANSITION TO PARENTHOOD: DEPRESSION, DIVISION OF LABOR, AND CHILD TEMPERAMENT AS MODERATORS Jessica Block Old Dominion University, 2016 Director: Dr. James F. Paulson The transition to parenthood is a uniquely important time in the human experience. New parents must reorganize their patterns of behavior and respective roles in order to include and care for a new child. Parents' ability to navigate this process has great implications for child adjustment and healthy development. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association of relationship satisfaction over the transition to parenthood and early coparenting interactions. The archival data utilized were collected as part of a longitudinal study of first time parents funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in 2011. This study assessed three dimensions of coparenting, cooperation, warmth, and verbal sparring, which were coded during videotaped family sessions at 3 months postpartum. Relationship satisfaction was measured during the 3 trimester of pregnancy and at 1 month postpartum. Depression, division of labor in the household, and child temperament have also been associated with relationship satisfaction and coparenting. The ability of these factors to act as moderators impacting the strength of the association between relationship satisfaction and coparenting for first time parents was assessed. Findings indicated that father variables, such as father relationship satisfaction and father depression were important factors in the development of coparenting. Father depression interacted with father relationship satisfaction to predict all three coparenting variables. For fathers without depressive symptoms, relationship satisfaction significantly predicted coparenting; however, this was not the case for the fathers with depressive symptoms. Results suggest that if a father is depressed satisfaction in his relationship may not prevent the development of poor coparenting. Mother violated expectations for the division of labor positively predicted mother relationship satisfaction and difficult child temperament negatively predicted father relationship satisfaction as expected. These variables were not found to impact the strength of the association between father or mother relationship satisfaction and coparenting. The family systems and clinical implications of these findings were discussed and future directions for research were identified.


The 18th-century French philosopher Denis Diderot - the principal intelligence behind the "Encyclopedie" and the author of idiosyncratic fictional works such as "Jacques the Fatalist" and "Rameau's Nephew" - is also considered by many to have been the first great art critic. Until now, however, Diderot's treatises on the visual arts have been available only in French. This two-volume edition makes his art-critical texts available in English. Diderot's works are among the most provocative and engaging products of the French Enlightenment. Moreover, their ruminations on many issues of perennial interest (invention versus convention, nature versus culture, and technique versus imagination; the complex relations) between economic reality and artistic achievement give them a rare pertinence to current debates on the nature and function of representation. All the celebrated pieces included: the rhapsodic dream meditation inspired by Fragonard's "Coresus and Callierhoe"; the incident packed "excursion" through a set of landscapes by Joseph Vernet; the evocative consideration of the nature of ruins and historical nostalgia prompted by the first showing of works by Hubert Robert. These famous passages are considered in their proper context. The book also includes brief introductory texts and annotations by John Goodman that clarify the many references to contemporary Parisian culture, as well as an introduction by Thomas Crow that sets the texts in their historical and art-historical context.


The impact of equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) on the microstructure of an Al-Cu-Mg alloy has been investigated using transmission electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. A combination of an ultrafine-grained and bimodal structure was observed in the alloy as a result of ECAP processing. The ECAP-processed samples after tensile tests and cyclic loads have demonstrated an enhanced ultimate tensile strength and fatigue endurance limit in comparison with the properties of the samples subjected to the standard T6 treatment.


The topological model for spatial objects identifies common boundaries between regions, explicitly storing adjacency relations, which not only improves the efficiency of topologyrelated queries, but also provides advantages such as avoiding data duplication and facilitating data consistency. Recently, a compact representation of the topological model based on planar graph embeddings was proposed. In this article, we provide an elegant generalization of such a representation to support hierarchies of vector objects, which better fits the multi-granular nature of spatial data, such as the political and administrative partition of a country. This representation adds a small space on top of the succinct base representation of each granularity, while efficiently answering new topology-related queries between objects not necessarily at the same level of granularity.


The purpose of this study is to focus attention on the types of individuals and groups that are prone to terrorism in an effort to understand better the terrorism phenomenon. The study examines the relevant literature and assesses the current knowledge of the subject. The study seeks to describe theories of terrorism and psychological profiles of foreign terrorists individuals and selected groups. The article also deals with assessing the latest literature on psychological aspects of terrorism, including the newest findings on terrorists decision-making process, cognitions, and personality.


In a recent referendum, the citizens of Oklahoma overwhelmingly approved a State constitutional amendment providing that the courts of the State "shall not consider international law or Sharia law" in rendering their decisions. The amendment's exclusion of Sharia law has garnered most of the media attention, but more consequential by far is the measure's directive to the State courts to disregard international law. Similar measures have been proposed in other States, some of them merely barring consideration of Sharia law or foreign law, but others barring consideration of international law as well. These measures are clearly unconstitutional insofar as they would prohibit the State courts from enforcing one of the two main forms of international law -- treaties -- as the U.S. Constitution by its terms requires State courts to give effect to the nation's treaties, "any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." But the federal Constitution does not expressly address the status of the other principal form of international law -- customary international law, or the unwritten law that governs the relations among states and "results from a general and consistent practice of states followed by them from a sense of legal obligation." These proposed State laws thus starkly raise the question whether the States may prohibit their courts from giving effect to the United States' obligations under customary international law. This article offers a critique of the intermediate positions and, in the process, explicates and defends the modern position. Critics of the modern position often describe it as the claim that customary international law has the force of federal law always and for all purposes. But this uncompromising conception of the modern position is a phantom. Adherents of the modern position have always accepted that not all of customary international law binds foreign states or the federal Executive as a matter of U.S. domestic law. The heart of the modern position is that customary international law binds State actors and thus preempts State law applicable to State officials and private parties. The basic case for the modern position relies on an inference from the constitutional structure very similar to the one advanced by Bellia and Clark: Violations of customary international law risk retaliation against the nation as a whole. Permitting States to violate it allows States to externalize the costs of such violations, thus likely producing excessive violations. Part I explicates and offers a preliminary defense of the modern position. It sets forth the affirmative case for the modern position based on constitutional structure, original intent, and pre- and post- Erie doctrine, responding to arguments put forward in the initial wave of revisionist scholarship, but deferring to part II responses to criticisms raised by scholars advancing intermediate positions. Part I shows that the basic structural case for the modern position was well understood by the Founders. Viewed in the light most favorable to the revisionist view, the evidence of original intent and the pre-Erie cases reflect two contending positions. The first is that the Constitution itself preempts State conduct that violates the state-to-state portion of the law of nations. The other is that customary international law had the status of general common law. Before Erie, the general common law was understood as different from either federal or State law, but was closer in operation to modern-day federal law than to modern-day State law. No one claimed that customary international law had a status comparable to modern-day State law. Part II examines the intermediate positions and concludes that all but that of Bellia and Clark suffer from fundamental flaws. Ramsey's concept of "nonpreemptive federal law" is another name for State law. Thus, Ramsey's approach would replicate one of the problems that most concerned the Founders--the lack of federal judicial power to prevent or remedy violations of customary international law by the States. Young's proposal to employ choice-of-law rules to determine the applicability of customary international law satisfies Erie's requirement that all law applied in this country's courts be either State or federal, but only because choice-of-law rules are themselves creatures of either State or federal law. To the extent that Young would relegate the applicability of customary international law to State choice-of-law rules, his proposal would present severe difficulties stemming from the indeterminacy and inappositeness of such rules, and, like Ramsey's approach, would reproduce the problem that most concerned the Founders. Young's approach would alleviate these problems by allowing for the use of federal choice-of-law rules in some contexts, but he emphasizes that such rules would be applicable very rarely. Aleinikoff's approach would violate the one principle that all agree Erie establishes: that the substantive law applied in the State and federal courts must be the same. The intermediate position of Bradley, Goldsmith, and Moore is problematic because it would place inapposite limits on the judiciary's ability to enforce customary international law as federal law. The intermediate approach proposed by Bellia and Clark is thoroughly convincing, but it is not really intermediate. Their structural argument for according preemptive force to some customary international law is basically the same as the strongest argument for the modem position. The flaw in their argument is that they do not take it far enough. Their structural argument actually provides substantial support for most of the modern position. Part III reconsiders the modem position in the light of the revisionists' argument that the customary international law of today differs in important respects from the state-to-state branch of the law of nations as known to the Founders and as it existed before Erie. The revisionists' concerns about the indeterminacy of customary international law and the loosening of the requirements for recognizing such law have some validity and relevance, but these concerns can be adequately addressed by restricting the range of customary norms having preemptive force to those that satisfy a heightened standard of clarity and acceptance. The revisionists' concerns about the new subjects addressed by customary international law -- in particular, the fact that such law now addresses how a nation treats its own citizens-does not warrant any additional restriction. The final part of the article addresses a seldom-analyzed aspect of the revisionist position--the claim that norms of customary international law that lack the force of preemptive federal law may be given the force of State law through incorporation by State legislatures or courts. The author argues that, for straightforward reasons, the States lack the power to make norms of customary international law applicable to foreign states or officials or federal officials. A State's incorporation of such norms against its own officials or against private parties would pose a less obvious structural problem: because customary international law evolves through the accumulation of state practice and opinio juris, State court decisions regarding the content of such law could, in combination with the acts of other States and foreign states, eventually result in the crystallization of norms of customary international law that the federal government does not support, or the erosion of norms that the federal government does support. State court decisions regarding the content of customary international law thus interfere with the federal executive branch's recognized power to speak for the United States at the international plane regarding the content of such law. This structural problem can be addressed either by denying the States the power to incorporate norms of customary international law or by recognizing the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to review decisions of the State courts regarding the content of customary international law even when such law is relevant to the case only because it has been incorporated as State law. The author concludes that the latter solution is preferable and that such review would be consistent with Article III.


This paper looks at the Eritrean state-making process in light of the 1998–2000 Eritreo-Ethiopian war and its aftermath. Three historical layers are discussed as determining the workings of the present Eritrean state. Their most important legacies are concerns around territorial integrity coupled with a deep mistrust of the international community, and a political system based on mobilisation coupled with authoritarian control. The war had two major consequences for the Eritrean polity: It led to many ruptures within the state, and it re-enforced deeply held suspicions towards the main international actors engaged in finding a sustainable solution. The latter's involvement has resulted in a stalemate. Looking into the future, in a best-case scenario, pressure will be put on Ethiopia to accept once and for all its boundary with Eritrea as defined by international law. At the same time, this could open the way for domestic change towards constitutional government in Eritrea. At present, lacking a base for mutual engagement, future prospects for both countries, but more so for Eritrea, look bleak.


A radiographic 'false negative' or a case which has been 'missed' can be categorised in terms of errors of search (where gaze does not fall upon the abnormality); detection (a perceptual error where the abnormality may be physically 'seen' but remains undetected) and misinterpretation (a perceptual error whereby an abnormality, although detected, is not deemed worthy of further assessment). This study aims to investigate perceptual errors in mammographic film-reading and will focus on the later of the two error types, namely errors of misinterpretation and errors of non-detection. Previous research has shown, on a self-assessment scheme of recent and difficult breast-screening cases, that certain feature types are susceptible to errors of misinterpretation and others to errors of non-detection. This self assessment scheme, 'PERFORMS' (Personal Performance in Mammographic Screening), is undertaken by the majority (at present over 90%) of breast-screening mammographers in the UK Breast Screening Programme. The scheme is completed biannually and confidentially and participants receive immediate and detailed feedback on their performance. Feedback from the scheme includes information detailing their false negative decisions including case classifications (benign or malignant), feature type (masses, calcification, asymmetries, architectural distortions and others) and case perception error (percentage of misinterpretation and percentage of non-detection). Results from a recent round of PERFORMS (n=506), revealed that certain feature types had significantly higher percentages of error overall (including architectural distortion and asymmetries), and that these feature types also showed significant differences for error type. Implications for real-life screening practice were explored using real-life self-reported data on years of screening experience.


In this thesis, a precise finite element model (FEM) of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer is developed. Trough the results of the FEM, an equivalent circuit model of a transducer is built which enables high efficient design of transceiver front-end integrated circuit with a better known transducer behavior. Consequently, more realistic simulation results of the overall system can be obtained. The FEM model is created in the ANSYS environment and all simulations are done in 3D. The model can also be used to determine the proper parameters (e.g. radius, thickness, gap height) for the target of operation without fabrication. The equivalent circuit that is constructed over the Mason model is improved for immersion applications with modeling the radiation impedance with an RLC circuit and defining an effective transformer ratio value. Modeling results match actual measurements with a very good accuracy.


AbstractGreen property design has been increasingly popular in line with the promotion of sustainable development. While property design in traditional practice has contributed greatly to the improvement of living standards, the practice has been criticized for not incorporating principles of sustainable development in the property design process. This paper examines the applicability of various green property design technologies in developing cities with reference to the Chinese real estate industry. The study finds that various technologies have different degrees of applicability in different regions or cities. This understanding leads to analysis of strategies for choosing effective green property design technologies. A questionnaire survey, interviews, and four case studies are conducted. The authors observe that developers and consumers have a passion for green property design. The findings also suggest that currently green property design is primarily applied to high-class residential buildings. Lim...


Halonitromethanes (HNMs) in drinking water are increasingly becoming a public concern due to their high health risks, so development of a sensitive method for their analysis has become a priority. Liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) method is dominantly used in current studies regarding HNMs. However the sensitivity is far from ideal. The present study aims to investigate the factors that may influence the extraction efficiency during HNM analysis by LLE method, and as a result develop a more sensitive extraction method for HNM determination. Results showed that the dose of sodium sulfate exerted the most significant influence, followed by copper sulfate, while the pH and manual shaking times have little effect. Under the suitable conditions (for extracting HNMs in 45 mL water: pH = 3.5–5, CuSO 4 = 1.0 g, Na 2 SO 4 = 6 g, shaking times = 120–180), the correlation coefficients ( r ) of the calibration curves for nine HNMs were all more than 0.9925. The method detection limit (MDL) ranged from 0.017 to 0.217 μg L −1 with an average of 0.076 μg L −1 , which was dominantly lower than the method reported. The recovery (spiked blank samples: 98–108%; spiked tap water: 81–120%) and precision (relative standard deviation: 0.46–6.72) also showed good reliability and reproducibility of the method. Finally, the developed method was applied to the determination of HNMs in real water samples.


Attempts to introduce amidino ligands into Transition metal carbonyl and non carbonyl systems are described, and a new synthetic route to transition metal methyleneamino complexes is explored. Reaction of lithiodiaryl -acetamidines and -benzamidines with Re(CO) (_5)X (X = C1,Br) produced carbamoyl type complexes, Re(CO)(_4)(CONR-CR'-NR) containing a bidentate carbamoyl-amidino ligand. These complexes could be decarbonylated, forming the chelated amidino complexes Re(CO)(_4)(RN-CR'-NR) by heating. The chelated amidino complexes were also prepared by the direct action of lithioamidines on the rhenium carbonyhalide dimer [Re(CO)(_4)X](_2), and by the reaction of n-butyllithium with the simple two electron donor monodentate amidine complexes, Re(CO)(_4)(Amidine)X. Complexes containing ortho-metallated diaryl -formamidino, -acetamidino and -benzamidino ligands were prepared by the action of the parent amidine on Re(CO)(_5)X or Re(CO)(_4)(Amidine)X in refluxing monoglyme. These complexes also contained a simple two electron donor monodentate amidine. The acetamidine and formamidine derivatives formed six membered ortho-metallate rings, the benzamidines forming either five or six membered ring complexes. In contrast, refluxing Re(CO)(_4)(Amidine)X with PPh(_3) in monoglyme produced a chelated amidino species, Re(C0)(_3)(PPh(_3))(RN-CR'-NR). The reaction mechanisms for the formation of the above complexes, and their probable bonding modes are discussed. Interconversions between many of the species were possible. FeCl(_2) reacts with lithiodiarylamidines to produce [Fe(amidino)(_3)](_n) type complexes. The acetamidines and formamidines form monomeric complexes (with a probable tris chelate structure), and the benzamidine forms both a monomeric and an oligomeric/polymeric complex. FeCl reacts similarly with lithiumdi-p-tolylacetamidine, both monomeric and oligomeric/polymeric [Fetamidine)(_2)](_n) species being produced. The complexes are paramagnetic, the Fe(III) species have magnetic moments that suggest they contain five unpaired electrons. Nucleophilic attack by n-butyllithium at the carbon atom of [CpMo(CO)(AsPh(_3)) (NCPh) ](^+) did not produce a methyleneamino complex. Free nitrile was liberated in the reaction, and dimeric molybdenum complexes were produced.


The durability and resistance to degradation of plastics have generated a disposal problem in the environment. In this study, biodegradability of low density polyethylene (LDPE) with Hibiscus mucilage was studied. Samples with different concentrations of Hibiscus mucilage (as 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%) were prepared. Glycerol as a plasticizer and Fe2SO4 as a pro-oxidant are used. The effect of mucilage concentrations on the mechanical properties (tensile strength and elongation), melt flow rate and density of the blended materials were studied. The biodegradation of the blends in soil was studied as a weight loss after two, four and six months. The results shown that with increase of mucilage content the biodegradability of the blends increased. The biodegradation of the samples in soil burial after six months revealed that the weight of the blends decreased with the increase of mucilage concentrations.


We report the fabrication of large, laser-formed refractive microlens arrays on doped borosilicate glass. Tuning the laser heat-source properties was found to give precise control over the melt process and the resulting lenslet geometries. Measurements of focal length, index, and surface shapes show excellent uniformity across these arrays.


This study is an holistic analysis of population, socio-economic development and the environment (PDE) in a case study of an arid island state, Cape Verde. It describes and analyzes the dynamics of: how population change leads to economic reaction; how economic activities are shaped and/or constrained by the natural environment; how the environment influences the population and its society.

The study rests on two tiers of research. The first is an historical analysis of the case country with qualitative and statistical detail, contained in five chapters: history; population; social factors: economy; and environment. It includes a demographic method to analyze effects of mortality increase; and to estimate migration and fertility. The second tier is simulation modeling, contained in three chapters: on other models; the PDE model; and the scenarios. The PDE simulation model combines multi-state population projection; a semi-equilibrium input-output model; and a water and agriculture model. The model is used to make an historical scenario and future scenarios of the case country. This dual approach combines the detail and the nuances which are visible to the human mind's interpretation of a field of Facts with the mathematical consistency that the computer contributes.

A study of Cape Verde provides insights to the role of emigration, remittances and foreign aid in development. It also analyzes the effects of having a pool of fixed renewable natural resources (rain-water) and of competition in an economy that is largely determined by external forces. It shows some dynamics of limitation that can be over-looked in the study of larger countries, but which are present in some form in every region.


This study illustrates the presence and importance of an international perspective for educators in higher education. Taking into consideration the growth of internationalization in higher education, it is necessary to observe how Schools of Education incorporate that focus into their curriculum. In this study, the panelist investigates the extent to which a university School of Education in the United States has internationalized the curriculum for educators, both in theoretical discussions and in practice. The questions at hand are to discover how a school of education incorporates an international focus to the curriculum. What challenges do they encounter? What is the evolution and development of integrating that international focus? What are the faculty and student perceptions of the international focus, and the importance of such, within the curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate level? Additionally, how does a school of education-sponsored study abroad opportunity contribute to the international focus of the curriculum? This case study of one university's School of Education seeks to offer insight into the internationalization process for educators through faculty and student interviews, analysis of websites, policies, and syllabi, and participant observation in a School of Education sponsored study abroad. Findings reveal a productive tension between a focus within teacher education at the local level, and internationalizing the experience which informs their teaching.


We investigate adaptive buffer management techniques for approximate evaluation of sliding window joins over multiple data streams. In many applications, data stream processing systems have limited memory or have to deal with very high speed data streams. In both cases, computing the exact results of joins between these streams may not be feasible, mainly because the buffers used to compute the joins contain much smaller number of tuples than the tuples contained in the sliding windows. Therefore, a stream buffer management policy is needed in that case. We show that the buffer replacement policy is an important determinant of the quality of the produced results. To that end, we propose GreedyDual-Join (GDJ) an adaptive and locality-aware buffering technique for managing these buffers. GDJ exploits the temporal correlations (at both long and short time scales), which we found to be prevalent in many real data streams. We note that our algorithm is readily applicable to multiple data streams and multiple joins and requires almost no additional system resources. We report results of an experimental study using both synthetic and real-world data sets. Our results demonstrate the superiority and flexibility of our approach when contrasted to other recently proposed techniques.


Rh-based catalysts have shown promise for the direct conversion of syngas to higher oxygenates. Although improvements in higher oxygenate yield have been achieved by combining Rh with metal oxide promoters, details of the structure of the promoted catalyst and the role of the promoter in enhancing catalytic performance are not well understood. In this work, we show that MoO3-promoted Rh nanoparticles form a novel catalyst structure in which Mo substitutes into the Rh surface, leading to both a 66-fold increase in turnover frequency and an enhancement in oxygenate yield. By applying a combination of atomically-controlled synthesis, in situ characterization, and theoretical calculations, we gain an understanding of the promoter-Rh interactions that govern catalytic performance for MoO3-promoted Rh. We use atomic layer deposition to modify Rh nanoparticles with monolayer-precise amounts of MoO3, with a high degree of control over the structure of the catalyst. Through in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy, we find that the atomic structure of the catalytic surface under reaction conditions consists of Mo-O species substituted into the surface of the Rh nanoparticles. Using density functional theory calculations, we identify two roles of MoO3: first, the presence of Mo-O in the catalyst surface enhances CO dissociation and also stabilizes a methanol synthesis pathway not present in the unpromoted catalyst; and second, Mo-O promotes adsorption of hydrogen resulting in enhanced hydrogenation rates of reaction intermediates.


Cardiolipin (CL) is the signature phospholipid of mitochondrial membranes, where it is synthesized locally and plays an important role in mitochondrial bioenergetics. Previous studies in the yeast model have indicated that CL is required for optimal iron homeostasis, which is disrupted by a mechanism not yet determined in the yeast CL mutant, crd1Δ. This finding has implications for the severe genetic disorder, Barth syndrome (BTHS), in which CL metabolism is perturbed because of mutations in the CL-remodeling enzyme, tafazzin. Here, we investigate the effects of tafazzin deficiency on iron homeostasis in the mouse myoblast model of BTHS tafazzin knockout (TAZ-KO) cells. Similarly to CL-deficient yeast cells, TAZ-KO cells exhibited elevated sensitivity to iron, as well as to H2O2, which was alleviated by the iron chelator deferoxamine. TAZ-KO cells exhibited increased expression of the iron exporter ferroportin and decreased expression of the iron importer transferrin receptor, likely reflecting a regulatory response to elevated mitochondrial iron. Reduced activities of mitochondrial iron–sulfur cluster enzymes suggested that the mechanism underlying perturbation of iron homeostasis was defective iron–sulfur biogenesis. We observed decreased levels of Yfh1/frataxin, an essential component of the iron–sulfur biogenesis machinery, in mitochondria from TAZ-KO mouse cells and in CL-deleted yeast crd1Δ cells, indicating that the role of CL in iron–sulfur biogenesis is highly conserved. Yeast crd1Δ cells exhibited decreased processing of the Yfh1 precursor upon import, which likely contributes to the iron homeostasis defects. Implications for understanding the pathogenesis of BTHS are discussed.


The viral potassium channel Kcv from Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1 (PBCV-1) is with only 94 amino acids minimal in size. Indeed, Kcv is one of the smallest potassium channels known so far, but still exhibits almost structural and functional hallmarks of complex potassium ion channels. Here we analyse the importance of the two transmembrane domains (TMD) for channel function. Using an alanine-scanning approach in combination with yeast complementation and electrophysiological recordings, we identified crucial important sites in both TMDs, which are important for channel function. Many of the key amino acids are located in the outer transmembrane domain and are essential for the correct positioning of the protein in the lipid membrane. Snorkeling effects in KcvPBCV-1 are nonessential for a proper channel function: A lysine near the water/lipid interface in a TM segment is able to snorkel. This snorkeling can increase the hydrophobic length of TM segments and helps to span the lipid membrane. Computational studies of KcvPBCV-1 have shown that the lysine at position 29 in the TMD1 has to be deprotonated for proper channel function. Extensive mutational studies of the lysine at position 29 in KcvPBCV-1 have shown that all amino acid exchanges, with exception of proline, are allowed at this position. This means that KcvPBCV-1 indeed tolerates a neutral amino acid in this position without loosing function. However, when the equivalent lysine, which is highly conserved in viral channels, is substituted by alanine in the related channels KcvMT325 or KcvATCV-1, these channels loose their function. The latter two channels do not have the cytosolic N-terminal domain, which is essential in KcvPBCV-1. We therefore propose that the snorkeling effect is becoming essential in the structural context of the Kcv channels without cytosolic N-terminus, and that this feature is not crucial for the functionality of KcvPBCV-1. Aromatic amino acids in the TMD1 are crucial for the anchoring of the protein in the lipid membrane: TMD1 contains several aromatic amino acids. According to the structural model of Kcv, these aromatic side chains are facing towards the lipid membrane and anchor the channel in the membrane. The anchoring is also reflected in the distribution of the b-factors of Kcv, which are a measure for the flexibility or rigidity of the amino acids. The N-terminus of Kcv and the first half of the TMD1 exhibit high b-factors and are flexible; the rest of the TMD1, starting from His17, is rigid with low b-factors. The alanine exchange experiments underscore the functional importance of this anchoring. An exchange of the aromatic residues in TMD1 beginning with His17 greatly reduces or abolishes channel function. These negative effects on channel function can be explained by a decreased anchoring of the protein in the membrane. The π-stack between the two TMDs stabilises the spatial structure of the channel: Alanine-scanning mutagenesis together with information on the three dimensional structure of Kcv identified intramolecular interactions between the TMD1 (Phe30) and the TMD2 (His83). A π-π-interaction between aromatic rings in TMD1 and TMD2 generates a tight connection (π-stack) between the two TMDs and coordinates them into the correct position. A mutation of one of the π-stack-partners leads nearly in all cases to the loss of the channel function. Only substitutions in one partner amino acid (Phe30), which also allow π-stacking interactions (Try, Met), are still able to maintain channel function. The results of these experiments imply that the intramolecular contact between the TMDs is essential for function. The position of the π-stack in the channel model suggests, that the rigid part of TMD1 allows the stabilising of the upper part of TMD2 via this connection. The C-terminal amino acid influences the potassium concentration in the cavity: Mutations of the last C-terminal amino acid of the TMD2 in KcvPBCV-1 affect the activity of the channel. Computational data of the potassium concentration profiles of the different mutants predict that these mutations influence the internal potassium concentration of the channel. These changes do not occur, as expected, directly at the mouth of the channel but in the cavity. A theoretically predicted depletion or accumulation of potassium in the cavity, as a result of a mutation of the terminal amino acid, generates channels, which show in the experiments either a lower or no activity. Therefore, small changes in the amino acid sequence could cause drastic effects in the global K+ concentration distribution in the channel and, therewith, influences channel function. The good agreement between theory and experiment suggests that an optimal K+ concentration is essential for a proper channel function; a too high or too low K+ concentration leads to reduced or no channel function. Furthermore, the results reveal the quality of the homology model of Kcv, which enables us to find long-term interactions between the C-terminus and the cavity, an interaction, which is independent on the salt bridges at the cytosolic entrance of the channel.


This paper studies the impact of Argentina trade liberalization during the nineties on the industry wage premium structure. We find that accounting for unobserved timeinvariant industry characteristics is crucial. When we do not control for industry fixed effects, we find that workers in protected sectors receive lower wages. However, introducing industry fixed effects reverses the results; tariff protection creates sector specific rents that are in part translated to workers in terms of greater wages. Since Argentina's tariff structure during this period protected relatively more sectors employing higher proportions of skilled workers, nineties trade policy may have had an adverse effect on Argentina's income distribution


A widely-tunable and power-scalable clock generator for ultra-low power (ULP) applications is presented. Benefitting from a novel self-adjustable loop frequency response, the proposed phase-locked loop based clock generator exhibits a tuning range of three decades. Implemented in 0.13 µm CMOS, the circuit occupies 0.06 mm2, while its power dissipation is 9 pW/Hz, proportional to the output clock frequency with 350 nW stand-by power. The circuit remains stable with scalable dynamics for frequency steps (upward and downward) as large as a factor of ×1024. The presented clock generator has been designed to be compatible with subthreshold source-coupled logic (STSCL) topology that can be used for ultra-low power applications such as in bio-medical systems.


Ephemeral highlighting uses the temporal dimension to draw the user's attention to specific interface elements through a combination of abrupt onset and gradual fade-in. This technique has shown promise in adaptive interfaces, but has not been tested as a dynamic visual encoding to support information visualization. We conducted a study with 32 participants using subgraph highlighting to support path tracing in node-link graphs, a task abstracting a large class of visual queries. The study compared multiple highlighting techniques, including traditional static highlighting (using color and size), ephemeral highlighting (where the subgraph is emphasized by appearing first, and the rest of the graph fades in gradually), and a combination of static and ephemeral. The combination was the most effective visual cue: it always performed at least as well or better than static highlighting. Ephemeral on its own was sometimes faster than the combined technique, but it was also more error prone. Self-reported workload and preference followed these performance results. Author


Blood transfusion is an integral part of the supportive care of patients with sickle cell diseases. The hazards of red blood cell alloimmunization and delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions (DHTRs) complicate the treatment of patients with sickle cell diseases, particularly since such reactions may be misinterpreted as a pain crisis, and, as a result, specific transfusion serologic studies may not be performed. The frequency of alloimmunization in this population has been the subject of several reports; however, the frequency of DHTRs is unknown. To determine the frequency of this event, we retrospectively reviewed the medical and transfusion service records of all adult patients with sickle cell diseases transfused during the six-year period from January 1980 to December 1985. Seventy-three adult patients with sickle cell diseases received transfusions. The prevalence of recognized DHTR was three (4%) of 73. Red blood cell alloimmunization was seen in 22 (30%) of 73 of the patients. The calculated risk of alloimmunization was 3.1% per unit of blood. These observations suggest that alloimmunization and clinically apparent DHTRs occur more frequently in patients with sickle cell diseases and support pretransfusion testing for at least Rh and Kell red blood cell antigens in patients who are at high risk of such events (patients who have formed an alloantibody or who are being enrolled in a transfusion program).


In 2010, there were more nuclear power units under construction worldwide than in any year since 1988. Even before Fukushima, however, status indicators for the international nuclear industry were showing a negative trend. Fewer countries are operating nuclear fission reactors for energy purposes than in previous years, and many countries are now past their nuclear peak. Worldwide nuclear production is generally declining, and many new projects are experiencing construction delays. Even if reactors can be operated for an average of 40 years, 74 new plants would have to come on line by 2015 to maintain the status quo, which is impossible given current constraints on fabricating reactor components. Developments in Asia, particularly in China, do not fundamentally change the global picture. The dramatic post-Fukushima decisions in two of the four largest economies, Japan and Germany, and in several other nuclear countries could accelerate the decline of a rapidly aging industry.


I present two case studies supporting the assertion that type-based methods enable effective certified programming. By certified programming, I mean the development of software with formal, machine-checked total correctness proofs. While the classical formal methods domain is most commonly concerned with after-the-fact verification of programs written in a traditional way, I explore an alternative technique, based on using dependent types to integrate correctness proving with programming. I have chosen the Coq proof assistant as the vehicle for these experiments. Throughout this dissertation, I draw attention to features of formal theorem proving tools based on dependent type theory that make such tools superior choices for certified programming, compared to their competition.
In the first case study, I present techniques for constructing certified program verifiers. I present a Coq toolkit for building foundational memory safety verifiers for x86 machine code. The implementation uses rich specification types to mix behavioral requirements with the traditional types of functions, and I mix standard programming practice with tactic-based interactive theorem proving to implement programs of these types. I decompose verifier implementations into libraries of components, where each component is implemented as a functor that transforms a verifier at one level of abstraction into a verifier at a lower level. I use the toolkit to assemble a verifier for programs that use algebraic datatypes using only several hundred lines of code specific to its type system.
The second case study presents work in certified compilers. I focus in particular on type-preserving compilation, where source-level type information is preserved through several statically-typed intermediate languages and used at runtime for such purposes as guiding a garbage collector. I suggest a novel approach to mechanizing the semantics of programming languages, based on dependently-typed abstract syntax and denotational semantics. I use this approach to certify a compiler from simply-typed lambda calculus to an idealized assembly language that interfaces with a garbage collector through tables listing the appropriate root registers for different program points. Significant parts of the proof effort are automated using type-driven heuristics. I also present a generic programming system for automating construction of syntactic helper functions and their correctness proofs, based on an implementation technique called proof by reflection.


Abstract The Auk Field is located in Block 30/16 at the western margin of the Central Graben. Block 30/16 was awarded in June 1970 to Shell/Esso, and the discovery well 30/16-1 spudded in September 1970. The well found oil in a complex horst block sealed by Upper Cretaceous chalk and Tertiary claystones. The field contained an original oil column of up to 400 ft within Rotliegend sandstones, Zechstein dolomites, Lower Cretaceous breccia and Upper Cretaceous chalk. Production by natural aquifer drive commenced from a steel platform in 1976, initially from the Zechstein carbonates and now predominantly from the Rotliegend sandstone. Artificial lift was installed in 1988 helping to maintain production at economic levels past the year 2000. A complex reservoir architecture with cross flow between the Rotliegend and Zechstein reservoirs, a strong aquifer causing early water breakthrough via faults, and a limited seismic definition led to significant production variations from the initial forecasts. Equally important for the field, horizontal well technology opened up additional reserves and accelerated production from the complex Rotliegend reservoir; the most recent volumetric estimate for the total field predicts an ultimate recovery of 151 MMBBL for the existing wells from a STOIIP of 795 MMBBL. Full field reservoir simulation and 3D seismic data acquisition took place since mid 1980s but only recently resulted in a satisfactory understanding of the reservoir behaviour. The field is situated about 270 km ESE from Aberdeen in 240-270 ft of water. It covers a tilted horst block with an area of 65 km2, located at the western margin of the Central Graben. The Auk horst is bounded on the west by a series of faults with throws of up to 1000 ft, the eastern boundary fault has a throw of 5000 ft in the north reducing in throw southwards. The best reservoir lithology in the Zechstein is a vuggy fractured dolomite, and in the Rotliegend dune slipface sandstones provide the majority of the production. Both reservoirs and the overlying Lower Cretaceous breccia shared a common FWL at 7750 ft TVDss. The 38° API oil with a GOR of 190 SCF/STB was sourced from organic-rich Kimmeridge Clay.


An embryonic stem (ES) cell line stably expressing lacZ under the control of an endogenous promoter has been isolated and used as a marker to follow the fate of ES cells injected into blastocysts and morulae, before midgestation. The results show a multisite pattern of blastocyst colonization by ES cells deposited into the blastocoel cavity and a low degree of mingling between ES cells and ICM cells. Furthermore, analysis of dispersal of ES cell descendants in postimplantation chimaeric embryos showed that colonization can be highly variable from one region of the embryo to another. In contrast, a high and reproducible degree of chimaerism was obtained when the ES cells were injected at the morula stage prior to ICM formation.


In this paper, a mathematical model of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is utilized and an optimization problem is proposed, with the final goal of implementing an optimal 900-day structured treatment interruption (STI) protocol. Two type of commonly used drugs in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTI) and protease inhibitors (PI), are considered. In order to solving the proposed optimization problem an adaptive memetic algorithm with population management (AMAPM) is proposed. The AMAPM uses a distance measure to control the diversity of population in genotype space and thus preventing the stagnation and premature convergence. Moreover, the AMAPM uses diversity parameter in phenotype space to dynamically set the population size and the number of crossovers during the search process. Three crossover operators diversify the population, simultaneously. The progresses of crossover operators are utilized to set the number of each crossover per generation. In order to escaping the local optima and introducing the new search directions toward the global optima, two local searchers assist the evolutionary process. In contrast to traditional memetic algorithms, the activation of these local searchers is not random and depends on both the diversity parameters in genotype space and phenotype space. The capability of AMAPM in finding optimal solutions compared with three popular metaheurestics is introduced. Keywords—HIV therapy design, memetic algorithms, adaptive algorithms, nonlinear integer programming.


This chapter provides a survey of established molecular approaches as well as emerging ones for studying microbial communities in gastrointestinal systems. Whole-genome typing methods are cost-effective alternatives for assessing genetic relatedness. These molecular techniques provide more specificity than phenotypic identification of culturable microbes and include pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), rep-PCR, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and octamer-based genome scanning (OGBS). The genotyping method used in recent years for Enterobacteriaceae has been a PCR-based technique using primers targeting repetitive sequences (rep-PCR), which also produces numerous DNA fragments that are separable by electrophoresis. MLST is another PCR-enabled genotyping method that has found widespread use for subtyping a variety of pathogens. The technique is an extension of multilocus enzyme electrophoresis and was first described in 1998 using Neisseria meningitidis as an example. OBGS, a powerful method enabled by genome sequence information, was developed as a result of determining the complete genome sequence of Escherichia coli. Researchers using molecular community fingerprinting methods can rapidly infer the genetic composition or community structure following the analysis of a region of amplified DNA. All community fingerprinting methods begin with extraction of total genomic DNA from the sample. Direct DNA extraction followed by PCR amplification and subsequent restriction digestion is the basis for (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). The greatest challenge to microbial community analysis is linking the community structure at the phylogenetic level with its metabolic potential and subsequent functionality in the environment being studied.


Scientists and society increasingly rely on streaming data from electronic sensors to assess, model, and forecast environmental changes. Because analyses of time-series data require uninterrupted data streams or datasets, scientists regularly fill gaps in the data by substituting modeled values. As modeling increases in complexity, the provenance metadata needed to describe and define processes used to model data and create derived datasets quickly exceeds the capacity of individual flags or groups of flags to annotate individual data values. In theory, necessary provenance metadata could be captured in narrative form, but the time and effort required to do so are prohibitive. A system that can capture provenance metadata automatically and allow scientists to query them for useful details is what scientists really need. In this paper we describe a system that uses LittleJIL, a process programming language, to rigorously define modeling and data-derivation processes, and a mathematical graph structure – a Data Derivation Graph (DDG) – that precisely describes execution histories. Our system and approach support understanding the (potentially) different processes used to create data values, reasoning about the soundness of these processes, and helping to ensure that the data processing in sensor networks is reliable and reproducible. Keywords—provenance metadata, scientific workflow, sensor network, Little-JIL


Abstract We present an analysis of a unique 3D survey that allows us to relate the deep structure of the crystalline crust to the shallow structure of the overlying, potentially hydrocarbon-rich sedimentary basins. The survey is located over the Gjallar Ridge, Mid-Norway, and extends from a Moho-level reflector at around 15 km depth to polygonal faulting and diapiric structures at or near the seabed. 3D visualization techniques using seismic workstations and the Cave immersive environment have been used to illustrate the geometries of these features. The deep reflector is correlated with the top of a deep, high-density, high-velocity body that is interpreted to indicate the presence of magmatic underplating and is intimately related to localized uplift of the Gjallar Ridge. Abundant high-amplitude reflectors in the deep Cretaceous sections of the survey are interpreted as sills emplaced during the Palaeocene magmatic event and are therefore interpreted to be coeval with the magmatic underplate. In contrast, the shallow parts of the survey have numerous gas-charged mud diapirs and an extensive network of polygonal faults extending to the seabed. Study of such very deep or very shallow features is not standard industry practice. However, the intention here is to demonstrate that, by utilizing the full volume of 3D seismic data, it is not only of scientific interest but also results in a greater understanding of the tectonic history of a hydrocarbon prospect.


Information on the abundance and distribution of cetaceans is essential to management and conservation and necessary to assess mortality trends and anthropogenic impacts for stock assessment. Linetransect aerial surveys (n = 45) were conducted to assess bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) abundance, distribution, and group composition in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) estuary system, Florida, from 2002 to 2004. Calves composed 9.41% of all known age class animals sighted. Multiple covariate distance sampling was used to estimate abundance. Abundance estimates varied seasonally, ranging between 362 (95% CI = 192 to 622; summer 2003) and 1,316 dolphins (95% CI = 795 to 2,061; winter 2002-2003), with a mean abundance of 662 dolphins (95% CI = 544 to 842). Abundance estimates for the Mosquito Lagoon sub-basin exhibited the greatest seasonal variability. Seasonal differences in abundance within strata suggest seasonal movement patterns. This study provides the first abundance estimate for IRL dolphins in over 30 y. Further studies that investigate evidence of influx/efflux are needed to better understand the population biology of IRL dolphins.


In this paper, we propose a new eccentricity- based anomaly detection principle and algorithm. It is based on a further development of the recently introduced data analytics framework (TEDA - from typicality and eccentricity data analytics). We compare TEDA with the traditional statistical approach and prove that TEDA is a generalization of it in regards to the well-known "nσ" analysis (TEDA gives exactly the same result as the traditional "nσ" analysis but it does not require the restrictive prior assumptions that are made for the traditional approach to be in place). Moreover, it offers a non-parametric, closed form analytical descriptions (models of the data distribution) to be extracted from the real data realizations, not to be pre-assumed. In addition to that, for several types of proximity/similarity measures (such as Euclidean, cosine, Mahalonobis) it can be calculated recursively, thus, computationally very efficiently and is suitable for real time and online algorithms. Building on the per data sample, exact information about the data distribution in a closed analytical form, in this paper we propose a new less conservative and more sensitive condition for anomaly detection. It is quite different from the traditional "nσ" type conditions. We demonstrate example where traditional conditions would lead to an increased amount of false negatives or false positives in comparison with the proposed condition. The new condition is intuitive and easy to check for arbitrary data distribution and arbitrary small (but not less than 3) amount of data samples/points. Finally, because the anomaly/novelty/change detection is very important and basic data analysis operation which is in the fundament of such higher level tasks as fault detection, drift detection in data streams, clustering, outliers detection, autonomous video analytics, particle physics, etc. we point to some possible applications which will be the domain of future work.


Magnetic recording has been the dominant recording technology for information storage since the invention of the computer. The first commercial IBM computer (Ramac) in 1965 consisted of 50 hard disks having a diameter of 24 inches (» 610 mm). The total capacity was 5 Mbytes and an access time of about 1 second. In 1994 there were 3.5 inch (» 89 mm) hard disks on the market having a capacity of more than 1 Gbyte with an access time of 6-11 seconds. Formally the 10.5 inch disk (» 267 mm) had a drive volume of 30 litres and a weight of 36 kg. The present 3.5 inch disks are housed in a drive volume of 0.6 litre and have a weight of 1 kg. The demand from the user is for compacter information carriers. Smaller formats are useful and can be produced more cheaply. For such developments knowledge and expertiese of the many relevant subjects is needed like the mechanics of the recording system, the intelligent electronic system, new knowlegde in the area of heads and, last but not least, a better knowledge of the interface between head and medium. The combined approached of all these types of knowledge have lead to the realisation of the 1 Gbit/inch2 systems. The availability of the thin-film media was essential to reach this goal. The research described in this thesis is focussed on the limited facts determining the maximum bit density in thin-film media based on Co-Cr-(X) alloys. Microstructural aspects like crystal size, texture and chemical composition play an important role and are mainly determined by the deposition process and its parameters. The magnetic properties and behaviour of the thin-film media are strongly related to the microstructure and chemical composition and homogeneity. The compositional separation (CS patterns) play a very important role in the magnetization behaviour of the thin-film media. NMR techniques are used to discover the chemical inhomogeneities (chapter 5). The linear bit length approaches the fundamental dimension of the microstructure (crystal size) as the bit density becomes larger (= smaller bits). Because the medium noise is mainly related to the number of individual crystals participating in one bit, the crystal size (diameter) should become smaller and smaller by increasing density. Intimate knowledge about the relation between microstructure, deposition technology and magnetic behaviour is necessary in order to tailor media to ensure the correct recording properties. One of the macroscopical measurements used for obtaining information about local behaviour is the study of the rotational hysteresis loss obtained from torque experiments (see chapter 4). The questions still remaining: are the magnetic properties, measured macroscopically, relevant for understanding the behaviour at nano level? And what can we learn from the hysteresis loop, measured with a VSM (obtained from about 1010 crystals), about the local magnetic behaviour of a small bit consisting of about 100 crystals? A preliminary start has been made in chapter 6 by studying Co-Cr thin films having perpendicular anisotropy. The use of a Magnetic Force Microscope is extremely important for obtaining information on a bit scale. A more correlated study between this type of experimental research, micromagnetic simulations and recording experiments can bridge the cap between macro-and micro-magnetic behaviour. The thesis has shown that using the right deposition technology, suitable materials and advanced analysing methods can offer some design parameters for developing thin-film media for high density recording.


At a time of growing concern over the rising costs and long-term environmental impacts of the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy, wind energy has become an increasingly important sector of the electrical power industry, largely because it has been promoted as being emission-free and is supported by government subsidies and tax credits. However, large numbers of bats are killed at utility-scale wind energy facilities, especially along forested ridgetops in the eastern United States. These fatalities raise important concerns about cumulative impacts of proposed wind energy development on bat populations. This paper summarizes evidence of bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in the US, makes projections of cumulative fatalities of bats in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands, identifies research needs, and proposes hypotheses to better inform researchers, developers, decision makers, and other stakeholders, and to help minimize adverse effects of wind energy development.


Evidence from epidemiological studies and a human intervention trial indicates that selenium (Se) may have chemopreventive activity in humans. This report summarizes a workshop held by the National Cancer Institute to address the use of naturally occurring Se compounds in future cancer chemoprevention trials. Differences in the metabolism of inorganic and organic Se compounds can be seen both in the biochemical handling of these forms and in their kinetics in humans. Long-term supplementation could result in greater increases in muscle stores for organic rather than inorganic forms. Because of long half-lives, trials may have to be of long duration to assess efficacy and safety. The optimal size of dose for supplementation is controversial with respect to both efficacy and safety. In China, selenosis was observed in some individuals with a sustained intake of at least 750 micrograms/day but was not observed among others with intakes exceeding 1 mg. These levels exceed the reference dose, a measure of the maximal safe intake, which is 350 micrograms/day. A large-scale Se human intervention trial in the United States suggests no harm due to long-term Se intake of more than 200 micrograms/day. Se deficiency has been shown to have deleterious effects on the immune system, allowing, for example, a benign form of the Coxsackievirus to become virulent in mice. These recent results may provide an explanation of earlier findings showing a protective effect of elevated Se intakes against a mouse mammary tumor virus. Additional studies on the use of Se as a chemopreventive agent in man seem warranted.


Road safety advertisers need to include fear reduction in fear-based advertisements to improve road safety behavioural outcomes. When designing advertisements containing relief components to reinforce safe driving attitudes and practices, there should be greater emphasis on formative research, such as pre-testing advertising concepts to ensure the correct advertising execution is achieved. Defining and selecting target audiences on current attitudes and behaviours, such as offenders (brand loyals), conformers (other brand loyals) and vacillators (switchers), is recommended. Finally, moving beyond the simplistic categorization of fear-based advertising according to 'levels' of fear to a new focus on 'patterns' of fear, which requires the inclusion of a 'fear reduction' mechanism, should increase the effectiveness of road safety advertising.


The lifetime risk of dying due to pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa is 1 in 22. Many of these pregnancies are unintended. Long acting reversible contraception (LARC) has great potential in reducing these pregnancies as they are highly effective and do not rely a great deal on compliance and correct use. They have better continuation rates than short term hormonal contraception and as per definition require administration less than once per cycle or month. Despite these obvious advantages they remain largely underutilized even in developed countries even though being more cost effective. Lack of knowledge and myths amongst women and health professional remain a barrier to their use especially in adolescents at risk for unintended pregnancy. The World Health Organization (WHO) Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use provides guidance to health professionals in selecting the appropriate contraception for women. The LARC methods include copper intrauterine devices (Cu - IUDs), levonorgestrel- intrauterine systems (LNG-IUS), progestogen-only injectable contraceptives (POIC), progestogen-only subdermal implants and combined vaginal rings.


Macromedia announced the latest version of its flagship multimedia authoring environment, Macromedia Director MX, in late November at a $1,199 price point ($399 for users upgrading from versions 8.0 or 8.5). Director MX for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide makes the perfect accompaniment for readers looking to quickly get up-to-speed on the new versioni??s seamless integration with the Macromedia Flash MX product family, advanced debugging capabilities, new Object Inspector, support for both QuickTime 6 and Mac OS X, and more! Like the other books in Peachpiti??s popular Visual QuickStart series, this one uses dozens of screenshots in each chapter accompanied by simple, step-by-step instructions to guide readers through the complexities of creating Director MX "movies" for CD-ROM and the Web. Whether they use the book as a tutorial or reference, readers learn in no time how to combine bitmap graphics, digital video, sound, and text into creative interactive multimedia productions. Completely revised and updated with brand-new graphics, this book covers features new to Macromedia Director MX, for both the Windows and Macintosh platforms.


This paper introduces our system at NLPTEA2020 shared task for CGED, which is able to detect, locate, identify and correct grammatical errors in Chinese writings. The system consists of three components: GED, GEC, and post processing. GED is an ensemble of multiple BERT-based sequence labeling models for handling GED tasks. GEC performs error correction. We exploit a collection of heterogenous models, including Seq2Seq, GECToR and a candidate generation module to obtain correction candidates. Finally in the post processing stage, results from GED and GEC are fused to form the final outputs. We tune our models to lean towards optimizing precision, which we believe is more crucial in practice. As a result, among the six tracks in the shared task, our system performs well in the correction tracks: measured in F1 score, we rank first, with the highest precision, in the TOP3 correction track and third in the TOP1 correction track, also with the highest precision. Ours are among the top 4 to 6 in other tracks, except for FPR where we rank 12. And our system achieves the highest precisions among the top 10 submissions at IDENTIFICATION and POSITION tracks.


Tax salience reflects the extent to which consumers take into account the after-tax cost of a good or service prior to making their consumption decision. Recent empirical work on tax salience has revealed something that is perhaps intuitive, but nevertheless important to the design of sin taxes. Taxpayers are more likely to make consumption decisions based on pre-tax rather than post-tax prices when the salience, or visibility, of a tax is diminished. Thus, consumers are less likely to change their demand for a particular product if shelf prices are tax-exclusive rather than tax-inclusive. Economically, this makes low salience taxes mimic some of the benefits of taxes on inelastically demanded goods. Because a taxpayer's demand change in response to a tax increase is diminished, the deadweight loss generated by the imposition of the tax can be reduced. Notwithstanding the potential for efficiency gains, politicians and academics alike have expressed various fairness, distributional, and normative concerns regarding the use of low salience taxes. In fact, a number of countries already require tax-inclusive pricing for consumer products in order to purportedly preserve consumer awareness and transparency.In contrast, I argue that lawmakers should not rush to reject tax-exclusive pricing outright and should continue to explore the benefits of low salience taxes in select situations. To the extent lawmakers are able to minimize economic distortions the concerns that have been expressed are not always fatal. I develop a new analytical rubric for tax salience, and determine that the appropriate use of salience for any particular tax is dependent on a number of factors. These factors include the price elasticity of demand, the potential for countervailing income effects, and whether the tax is intended to raise revenue or modify taxpayer behavior. As a normative matter, I find that selectively implemented low salience taxes can be beneficial. However, I do not believe they should be universally implemented in sin tax design. In fact, in another expansion on the current literature, I argue that in certain situations lawmakers may best benefit from high salience taxes. I propose that these taxes may have efficiency benefits when lawmakers are seeking to influence taxpayer behavior. Ultimately, while it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions regarding the optimal use of tax salience given that many empirical and theoretical aspects of salience have yet to be developed, the empirical work done to-date suggests that the impact of tax salience on tax design may be significant and is worth exploring.