The article postulates the necessity of an affirmative conception on teaching and critically analyses some conceptions considered negative according to teaching as transmission of knowledge. In this way, the article supports that the "New School" and Constructivism establish a dichotomy between the transmission of knowledge by the teacher and the effort for intellectual autonomy by the learner, leaving teaching in a secondary place and depriving the teachers role of its characteristics. The article still analyses some postulates defended by Vigotski and his followers, which read to an opposite direction, far from those ideas defended by the "New School" and Constructivism.


One of the most influential publications on land-use change is a small booklet, published by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme (HDP). It was written -- as its subtitle says -- as a "proposal for an IGBP-HDP Core Project" on "Relating Land Use and Global Land-Cover Change". The booklet can be seen as some kind of programmatic statement to guide international collaborative research on global land-use change. Unfortunately, the publication promotes a rather biased view of global land-use change. Using questionable statistics the authors conclude that the main focus of research should be the detailed investigation of changes in the rural land use. Urban areas and their infrastructures are considered irrelevant. As a consequence almost all attention is given to arable cultivation and livestock production -- with some interest left over to the forest sector. Population growth and the associate rising food demand are usually considered the main driving forces of global land-use change.

In this chapter I will argue that rural land use is only one of the processes which are shaping the globe's land cover. There are other and probably more important land-use changes which are caused by urbanization, infrastructure expansion, industrial production, or changes in consumption patterns and lifestyles. These changes in build-up land might affect only relatively small areas -- as compared to the huge areas of forests and agricultural land. But they are often much more persistent and intrusive. Once a patch of land is sealed off by tons of concrete or highway pavement it is extremely difficult if not impossible to transform it back into a natural ecosystem. Once a valley was filled up with giga-tons of water for a reservoir or a gigantic hole was dug in an open pit mine, we have an almost irreversible land-cover modification.

Moreover, I will claim that agricultural land-use change is not only caused b increasing food demand due to population growth (as people usually assume) but also by changes in lifestyles and food preferences which are driven b economic modernization and urbanization. The paper presents FAO data whic indicate that probably some 20 percent of the arable land world-wide is alread cultivated for lifestyle-related products, such as drugs, tobacco, coffee, tea sugar beet, sugar cane, cocoa, or cotton. There is a trend towards animal-base food in many parts of the world, notably in China where per capita meat consumption has significantly increased during the past 20 years. In Europe Western Asia, and Northern America changing food preferences have cause growing demand for vegetable oils. These are just the most obvious examples o certain (feed) crop areas, such as the expansion of soybean production i Brazil or the increase of oil crops cultivation in Europe Changes in rural land-use are often caused by driving forces which emanat from the urban centers of industrialized countries.


The idea of political control dominates our understanding of both what administrative law does and what it should do. This emphasis on political control, however, downplays the important ways that administrative law facilitates resistance to political control in administrative agencies. In this article, I offer studies of two instances in which agencies harnessed the power of seemingly standard administrative law litigation to resist the imposition of policies by political leadership. I classify these kinds of modes of resistance as instances of "litigation-fostered bureaucratic autonomy" and flesh out the mechanisms that drive the process. Acknowledging the role of such modes of resistance is critical to administrative law scholarship insofar as it casts some doubt on the empirical underpinnings of a principal-agent understanding of the function of administrative law. It also poses a potential challenge to the democratic justification of the administrative state, though I ultimately conclude that modes of resistance such as that demonstrated by litigation-fostered bureaucratic autonomy can help curb the excesses of political principals and encourage public-interest-minded deliberation about issues that are both highly technical and value laden.


Abstract Conclusion: Combination therapy corticosteroids plus an oral antioxidant L-N-acetylcysteine (LNAC) was associated with improved hearing over corticosteroids alone, particularly at the 6-month follow-up and at high frequencies (i.e. 4000 Hz). This is the first report of a beneficial effect of LNAC in sudden idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss (SISNHL). Objective: To determine the association between antioxidant treatment and functional outcomes in SISNHL. Methods: This was a case-control study of adult patients with SISNHL, treated with oral prednisone plus intratympanic dexamethasone either alone or in combination with LNAC. The outcome measure was change in pure-tone thresholds at 500–4000 Hz. Hearing recovery was also recorded as the percentage of subjects with final pure-tone threshold average (PTA) within 50% of the difference between the initial value of the affected ear and the value of the unaffected ear. Comparisons were made between combination (corticosteroids plus LNAC) and single (no LNAC use) therapy groups. Results: At 6 months, the mean PTA improvements were 26.1 dB and 15.1 dB for the combination and single therapy groups, respectively (p = 0.046). Higher gains at 4000 Hz were noted with LNAC use. The percentage of patients with at least 50% recovery was 63% and 35% for the combination and single therapy groups, respectively (p = 0.0319).


Experiments were carried out in a drop tube furnace to investigate the effects of biomass/coal co-firing and air staging on NO emission and combustion efficiency. NO and CO emissions along the height of the furnace were monitored by a gas analyzer, and the content of unburned carbon (UBC) in fly ash was also tested. Results showed that NO emission from straw or wood combustion only account for 1/3 or 1/2 that from coal combustion, respectively. Under the conditions of biomass co-firing, the increase in blending ratio had a positive effect on the reduction of NO emission and combustion efficiency. Moreover, results of air-staging combustion showed that for coal combustion, air staging notably reduced NO emission and combustion efficiency. For biomass combustion, the effect was slight. Synergetic analysis indicated that there was an optimum biomass co-firing ratio around 0.4, when the positive synergetic effects on reducing NO emission and UBC were the most significant. When the co-firing ratio exceeded this optimum value, further increasing the co-firing ratio had little influence on NO emission and combustion efficiency. After air staging was adopted, the degree of synergetic effect on NO emissions was reduced while that of UBC was increased.


The 1998 Statute of the International Criminal Court was the realization (albeit imperfect) of the oldest and longest-postponed item on the UN agenda, a judicial arm that could enforce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention. For scholars studying this slow but crucial development in the international law of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, here is the essential documentary history: the draft statutes of 1951, 1953, 1981 and 1994, along with various related reports, the 1998 Statute and commentary by Professor Bassiouni, who chaired the Drafting Committee of the 1998 Statute.


This paper explores whether a significant long-run relationship exists between money and nominal GDP and between money and the price level in the Venezuelan economy. We apply time-series econometric techniques to annual data for the Venezuelan economy for 1950 to 1996. An important feature of our analysis is the use of tests for unit roots and cointegration with structural breaks. Certain characteristics of the Venezuelan experience suggest that structural breaks may be important. Since the economy depends heavily on oil revenue, oil price shocks have had important influences on most macroeconomic variables. Also since the economy possesses large foreign debt, the world debt crisis that exploded in 1982 had pervasive effects on the Venezuelan economy. Radical changes in economic policy and political instability may have also significantly affected the movement of the macroeconomy. We find that a long-run relationship exists between narrow money (M1) and nominal GDP, the GDP deflator, and the CPI when one makes allowances for one or two structural breaks. We do not find such long-run relationships when broad money (M2) is used.


Teaching Software Engineering at the undergraduate and graduate levels often lacks the emphasis on models and practices that support software process improvement, such as Capability Maturity Model (CMM), ISO(International Organization for Standardization) 9000-3, and Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination (SPICE). The Software Engineering Institute's CMM is widely adapted and has received great publicity in the software development industry. The goals of this research project are to conduct a literature survey of industrial experiences with CMM; investigate the status of teaching CMM practices for software process improvement; and draw a recommendation on teaching CMM as a part of Software Engineering or Project Management courses. A listing of colleges and universities that teach CMM practices is provided.


The aim of this study is to highlight the appearance of deterioration resulting from weathering effects on the beech wood used in the ornamentation of wooden window grilles (Mashrabiya) in the Mosque of Prince Hassan, in Akhmim-Sohag and in the Mosque of Khawand Asalbay, in Fayoum, Egypt. This wood was accurately examined with a Digital microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to diagnose the deterioration processes on the surface of the wood. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) was used to identify the changes in the main components of the beech wood resulting from weathering factors. The chromatic change of the beech wood surface was measured by spectrophotometer and the results were calculated by using the CIE-L*a*b* system. Results showed the physical and chemical changes that had occurred in the degraded beech wood. The results helped to develop a treatment plan using already experimented materials that do not harm the wooden artifacts.


During the spring of 1982 a new container terminal was under construction at the Port of Haina, Dominican Republic. Changes in design conditions due to damages to the protective breakwaters at the port entrance required modifications to the design of slope protection under the pier. The stabilization of the rubble slope was, in fact, a stop gap measure in that repairs would be instituted on the breakwaters in the near future. Due to a lack of suitable stone, the location of structural elements already in place and severe time constraints, an asphalt coating over relatively light weight rubble was selected to armor the slopes under the pier. The asphalt coating was prepared in a locally available batching plant and placed on-site using a crane equipped with a 4 cubic yard bucket. As a result of the use of the asphalt coating, construction delays were minimized and adequate slope protection was provided for the container pier without extensive design modifications. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the use of asphalt in the construction of shore protection facilities in the context of the site specific application at the Port of Haina.


OBJECTIVE
To study clinical prostate cancer in this locality with particular interest in incidence, clinical presentation and treatment.

DESIGN
A descriptive prospective study.

SETTING
Kenyatta National Referral and Teaching Hospital affiliated to College of Health Sciences of the University of Nairobi between November 1998 and October 1999.

PATIENTS
Sixty five patients with clinical prostate cancer were included in the study.

RESULTS
Age was reliably confirmed in 64 out of the 65 patients. 87.5% of the patients were aged over 61 years with a peak incidence in the 66-70 year age group and a mean age of 67 years. Crude hospital incidence of 76.5 patients per 100,000 patients and a crude hospital death rate of 5.8 patients per 100,000 patients is reported. The majority of patients (87.5%) presented late with advanced disease stages III(C) and IV(D) prostate cancer.

CONCLUSION
The crude hospital incidence of cancer of the prostate is on the increase in this locality with a finding of 76.5 per hundred thousand patients, higher than that reported by earlier researchers in this locality and elsewhere. This study suggests that prostate cancer incidence and the magnitude of risk in our locality must have been grossly underestimated in the past. The prostate cancer rate in Kenyans may be as great as noted in black men in the United States, Jamaica, Nigeria and Cameroon which may suggest some common enhancing genetic predisposition. There is need to further investigate this phenomenon. Cancer of the prostate in this locality presents late with clinically advanced disease.


This guide is intended to help you know more about Library and Internet resources in the area of Environmental Science. Use this guide as your starting point, come to the Library or Ask a Librarian for more resources and help.


Coastal dune evolution results from a complex balance between beach and dune budgets, wind and wave activity, and a number of other factors which vary over different temporal and spatial scales. Traditional approaches based on instantaneous transport equations are insufficient to predict sediment input to the foredunes at medium scales, and inferring information at larger scales from short-term experiments results problematic without knowledge of the timing and magnitude of particular transport events. There is a need to explore different ways to model aeolian activity at a scale of months to years, where most management practices take place. Challenges consist in developing appropriate instrumentation, methodologies to analyze the output data, and theoretical frameworks where to place new modeling approaches. This paper summarizes the efforts taken at Greenwich Dunes (Canada) to develop strategies to quantify/model sediment input to the foredune at a medium scale. Fieldwork consisted on the deployment of a remote sensing station based on digital cameras and coupled with anemometers and safires. Data was processed using ArcGIS 9.2 and PCI Geomatica 9.1, and managed by an ArcCatalog Geodatabase. Time series covered factors such as shoreline position, fetch distances, or maps of surficial moisture content. Modelling followed two steps: an initial filtering technique that isolated potential transport events and determined when transport took place, and a second stage that calculated their magnitude while keeping the spatial and temporal variability of the factors involved. Filters included the presence of ice/snow, the range of wind angles that potentially deliver sediment to the dunes, a minimum threshold wind speed, and a maximum percentage of surficial moisture content, all of which could shut down aeolian sediment transport. Preliminary results show that this modeling approach can produce improved predictions of annual sediment supply to the foredune compared to models based on wind speed and direction only.


On 20 December 2011 the European Commission published its proposals for two new procedural directives on public procurement, one to replace Public Sector Directive 2004/18 and one to replace Utilities Directive 2004/17, with the stated aims of "simplification" and "flexibilisation" (sic) of the rules to improve value for money. However, following the pattern of the previous reforms in 2004, whilst the proposals do indeed provide for some additional flexibility, they have at the same time in many respects introduced more rigidity and burdensome requirements for Member States. Furthermore, these and other changes proposed will result in a set of rules which is vastly more complex than the current regime that the proposals purport to simplify.

In this context, this article proposes a simple blueprint for reforming the directives to in the shape of a single directive for all regulated contracts that is based on the Utilities Directive, although with some modifications. Such an approach will afford the flexibility necessary for Member State to promote their own procurement policies, including value for money, in an appropriate way - in particular, it will allow Member States to authorise use of procedures involving negotiation, allow them to take account of the significant benefits of qualification systems, and facilitate cost-effective approaches to advertising contracts. Further, it will greatly reduce the complexities and uncertainties that apply under the current regulatory regime. This will result both from the greater simplicity of the content of the utilities rules as compared with the rules that apply under the other directives, and from the very existence of a single regime, which, inter alia, will eliminate the need to operate under multiple regimes and to determine the boundaries between them. Thus this approach will promote both the flexibility and simplification objective of the current reform agenda whilst at the same, it is submitted, providing a suitable framework of rules for promoting the single market in public procurement in the EU.


Bruker is a performance leader in life science and analytical systems. For over 50 years, Bruker has provided the best technological solutions for each analytical task. Our trusted solutions encompass a wide number of analytical techniques ranging from Magnetic Resonance to Mass Spectrometry and Gas Chromatography, to Microanalysis, Optical and X-Ray Spectroscopy. These market and technology leading products are driving and facilitating many key application areas such as life science research, pharmaceutical analysis, applied analytical chemistry applications, materials research, and nanotechnology, clinical research, molecular diagnostics and homeland defense.


Human resource information (HRI) is information such as head count, fluctuation, age distributions or results from employee surveys which is available to an organization. Despite being a high-priority issue for practitioners and researchers, this topic remains far from reaching a level at which the users of HRI – mostly managers and senior executives – are satisfied and perceive HRI as effective and useful for decision making. This is due to a knowledge gap regarding which relevant attributes HRI needs to possess. In order to fill this gap, we built on theoretical arguments from the information systems literature and integrated them into an HRI success model with the key variables ease of use, information quality, perceived usefulness, user information satisfaction and information use. This model was tested among 179 managers in Swiss banks, and structural equation modeling provided clear support for it. In particular, information quality was a key determining factor for both user information satisfaction and information use, and there was a weak link between user information satisfaction and actual HRI use. Both academics and practitioners might benefit from this model by achieving a deeper understanding of the key factors and interdependencies leading to successful HRI.


Many readers of Pediatrics may have only a dim idea of the combative arena in which environmental research is conducted. Probably, very few have had the experience of being investigated for scientific misconduct. My aim in reviewing these two topics is to provide a preventive road map to others and to reveal some inadequacies and inequities in the investigative process. It is necessary, to accomplish this, to be direct and specific. Tact is sacrificed here for the sake of clear instruction.
 In 1972 I published 700 words in Nature reporting that Philadelphia inner-city children had higher dentine lead levels than suburban children.1 The paper suggested that the tooth might be a useful marker to estimate body lead burden after exposure had ended. I did not know then that I was taking the first step toward being investigated for scientific misconduct by my university and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Scientific Integrity.
 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asked me to present the 1972 tooth lead paper in Amsterdam at an international meeting on lead. I was unprepared by my past attendance at pediatric meetings for what I encountered there. This was no scholarly debate on the toxicology and epidemiology of lead; this was war. The speakers did not behave like academics hoping to embellish their reputations by parading the results of their last 6 months in the lab. These stakes were much higher.
 Arrayed against each other were a small and defensive group of environmentalists and health scientists on one side, and on the other the representatives of the gasoline companies, including such formidable entities as EI DuPont, Associated Octel, Dutch Shell, and Ethyl Corporation of America.


A series of recent papers has called for multiple radiocarbon dates on planktic foraminifera to assess stratigraphic continuity in deep-sea sediment cores. This recommendation comes from observations of anomalous 14C dates in planktic foraminifera from the same stratigraphic level. Potential reasons include bioturbation, downslope transport, secondary calcification, carbonate dissolution, and differential preservation. In this study, paired 14C dates on dissolution-susceptible Globigerinoides ruber and dissolution-resistant Neogloboquadrina dutertrei are used to evaluate a Gulf of Mexico sediment core. Fourteen of 15 pairs (between 8815 and 12,995 uncorrected 14C yr BP) yield concordant uncorrected 14C ages (mean difference −2 ± 75 yr), attesting to continuous deposition at high accumulation rates (>35 cm/kyr). For 1 pair, N. dutertrei is nearly 1000 yr younger, which is difficult to explain by any combination of dissolution and bioturbation or downslope transport, given the excellent carbonate preservation and persistent laminations. The concordant ages underscore the utility of paired 14C dates in planktic foraminifera as a means of assessing stratigraphic continuity in deep-sea sediment sequences.


We have used powder blasting as a technique to structure brittle materials like glass using an erosion resistant mask. The study of the erosion rate shows that the erosion of glass is maximum at a normal incidence of the powder beam while the erosion rate of metals and elastomers is minimum. A metallic contact mask is very resistant, easy to use, but its resolution as defined by its manufacturing process (laser ablation) is limited. The resolution of the mask depends on the thickness of the metal piece. However due to the stress generated by the powder blasting technnique, the metal mask used must have an important thickness (about 0,5 mm), which limits the resolution (50 μm). The photolithographic masking method we developed allows to increase the resolution. We have demonstrated that the erosion resistance of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an elastomer very frequently used in microsystems realisation is excellent, and that the use of a photosensitve epoxy resist like SU8 allows to define high-resolution structures. The replication quality is good as the majority of structures defined in PDMS have the same size compared to the features defined by the SU8. In our process, the SU8 is patterned into a mould structure that is filled with PDMS. The SU8, has a similar erosion behavior as glass and is quickly removed by powder blasting. The resolution of the process determined by the particle size ; we have used particles with 10 μm diameter to explore the ultimate limits of powder blasting. The study of the etching by powder blasting shows that the etching rate changes with the width of the channel and the etching time. Furthermore, dimensions of channels or hole structures change during powder blasting, they are increased by the underetching effect. This underetching depends on the depth of the channels and can induce changes in resolution.The erosion mask resistance is function of the thickness of the mask, of the etching time and of the applied pressure. We typically have chosen a PDMS mask thickness of 50 μm. When the applied pressure of the powder jet increases, the PDMS erosion is more important. When an energetic particle impacts on the PDMS, the glass underneath the mask can be damaged and the resolution of the structures is decreased. Experimentally, this PDMS/SU8 mask is resistant and efficient for an applied pressure up to 200 kPa and for a glass erosion depth of 300 μm for large channels. The minimum feature size is 20 μm, but this depends also on the shape ; for example triangular holes are only well defined for a minimum dimension of 60 μm.


Goethite (α-FeOOH) is a common nanocrystalline antiferromagnetic mineral. However, it is typically difficult to study the properties of isolated single-crystalline goethite nanoparticles, because goethite has a strong tendency to form particles of aggregated nanograins often with low-angle grain boundaries. This nanocrystallinity leads to complex magnetic properties that are dominated by magnetic fluctuations in interacting grains. Here we present a study of the magnetic properties of 5.7 nm particles of goethite by use of magnetization measurements, inelastic neutron scattering and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The 'ultra-small' size of these particles (i.e. that the particles consist of one or only a few grains) allows for more direct elucidation of the particles' intrinsic magnetic properties. We find from ac and dc magnetization measurements a significant upturn of the magnetization at very low temperatures most likely due to freezing of spins in canted spin structures. From hysteresis curves we estimate the saturation magnetization from uncompensated magnetic moments to be σs = 0.044 A m2 kg−1 at room temperature. Inelastic neutron scattering measurements show a strong signal from excitations of the uniform mode (q = 0 spin waves) at temperatures of 100–250 K and Mössbauer spectroscopy studies show that the magnetic fluctuations are dominated by 'classical' superparamagnetic relaxation at temperatures above ∼170 K. From the temperature dependence of the hyperfine fields and the excitation energy of the uniform mode we estimate a magnetic anisotropy constant of around 1.0 × 105 J m−3.


This paper reports on the geographic extension of the Human Development Index from 177 (a several-year plateau in the United Nations Development Programme's HDI) to over 230 economies, including all members and associate members of ESCAP. This increase in geographic coverage makes the HDI more useful for assessing the situations of all economies – including small economies traditionally omitted by UNDP's Human Development Reports. The components of the HDI are assessed to see which economies in the region display relatively strong performance, or may exhibit weaknesses, in those components. Middle-HDI economies in the region are found to generally lag their peers in GDP per capita, exceed many of their peers in literacy, and slightly lag many of their peers in life expectancy. High-HDI economies in the region tend to parallel their global peers with HDI normally being pulled up by income and literacy, and pulled down by life expectancy. Some lesser-developed economies slightly lead their developmental peers in life expectancy, while a few lag their peers in literacy and/or income. A plot of the Connection Index vs. Basic HDI indicates that Asian-Pacific developing economies tend to lag their global developmental peers in individual connectivity. Suggestions on using the HDI to support strategizing development policies and programmes are offered. The paper also offers thoughts on possible intellectual extensions, in the direction of a Human Security Index, which the author recently described elsewhere.


This paper reviews some key contributions to econometric analysis of human fertility in the last 20 years, with special focus on discussion of prevailing econometric modeling strategies. We focus on the literature that highlights the role of the key drivers of the birth outcomes, including age at entry into motherhood, the number of children, and the time between births. Our overall approach is to highlight the use of single equation reduced form modelling, which has important advantages but has the limitation of typically being unable to shed light on detailed causal mechanisms through which exogenous factors such as birth control and infant mortality, and policy variables such as child allowances and tax incentives, impact fertility. Structural models that embed causal mechanisms explicitly are better suited for this objective. We start with a description of the subject matter, including a brief review of existing theories of fertility behaviour and a detailed discussion of the sources of data that are available to the analyst. At this point we stress the intrinsic dynamic nature of fertility decisions and how such dynamics create data with empirical features that pose important challenges for modelling. Once the nature of the problem and the characteristics of the data are spelled out, we proceed to review the different econometric approaches that have been used for modelling fertility outcomes with cross-section and panel data. JEL codes: C21, C23, C41, J13.


Moraga Commons Skatepark is located in the East Bay Area, of Northern California. An affluent small town, the skatepark serves as a great outdoor space where kids can exercise and enjoy. Originally built in 2003, Moraga Skatepark has been my second home ever since I started skateboarding. Myself, along with others, have noticed specific aspects of the skatepark that are poorly designed. In addition, the park has experienced general wear and depreciation from years of use. I wanted to create a potential improvement plan that would include slight skatepark design changes and ultimately addition of park amenities to improve the overall experience and atmosphere of the park.


ABSTRACT Generally, hypertension control programs are cost-effective, including in low- and middle-income countries, but country governments and civil society are not likely to support hypertension control programs unless value is demonstrated in terms of public health benefits, budget impact, and value-for-investment for the individual country context. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) established a standard, simplified Global HEARTS approach to hypertension control, including preferred antihypertensive medicines and blood pressure measurement devices. The objective of this study is to report on health economic studies of HEARTS hypertension control package cost (especially medication costs), cost-effectiveness, and budget impact and describe mathematical models designed to translate hypertension control program data into the optimal approach to hypertension care service delivery and financing, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Early results suggest that HEARTS hypertension control interventions are either cost-saving or cost-effective, that the HEARTS package is affordable at between US$ 18-44 per person treated per year, and that antihypertensive medicines could be priced low enough to reach a global standard of an average <US$ 5 per patient per year in the public sector. This health economic evidence will make a compelling case for government ownership and financial support for national scale hypertension control programs.


A high degree of real-time interconnectedness can aid information transmission, particularly in disaster situations. However, it can have substantial negative consequences when information is emotionally laden and transmits these emotions, particularly the emotion of panic, to the individual across social media in an already grave situation. Prior research has shown that information laden with emotion spreads through social network faster than otherwise. Hence, we highlight the need to understand and curtail potentially panic-causing information, without compromising on good quality information from being available for effective crisis communication and management. With this research, we present the necessity of detecting the panic potential of social media messages, and aim to address two research questions: What are the features, and metrics necessary, to compute and evaluate the panic potential of a social media message (respectively)? Our planned analysis takes the case of the Munich shooting incident, 2016, based on user tweets immediately after the incident. Different features and evaluation metrics are proposed and discussed. The work aims to detect panic potential of messages in social media networks during disasters.


This paper specifically deals with the different policies and technical frameworks at a Regional Internet Registry (RIR) level in terms of anti-spam measures. It also exposes the issue of spam from an Internet registry perspective, as an important element of the Internet technical infrastructure. We found out that, an RIR itself is not mandated to fight spam but it maintains a registry that is of paramount importance for traceability of Internet Number Resources ownership information. The paper starts with describing the challenges faced by operators followed by the different sources of spam. It then exposes the different mechanisms deployed by RIRs but importantly, this paper shows how those mechanisms either technical or policy-oriented are mostly underutilised, although they are operational. The latter is achieved by taking AFRINIC, the African RIR as case study.


Background: Healthcare providers work increasingly under a variety of shift work systems to cover the continuous care required by patients. However, the effects of shift work on patient and provider outcomes in healthcare settings has not been systematically evaluated. Objective: To identify and analyse the available evidence on the effect of shift length (8-h vs 12-h shifts) on quality of patient care and healthcare provider outcomes. Methods: Systematic searching of eight online databases, key governmental/organisational websites and academic journals with ancestry search of relevant articles (limited to articles published in English and Spanish). Results: Of 562 articles that were retrieved from 20 446 titles identified through database and manual searches, 27 satisfied the inclusion criteria, of which 15 were rejected because of low methodological quality. The 12 final studies included cross-sectional/survey (7), before–after (3) and prospective cohort (2) designs. The main primary outcomes evaluated were: (1) quality of patient care and (2) healthcare provider outcomes. The results were equivocal. With respect to the effect of shift length on quality of patient care, two studies found that errors and near errors were associated with working longer shifts, and another study reported decreased patient complications and length of stay with longer shifts. Specific healthcare provider outcomes such as health complaints, well-being, drug and alcohol consumption, stress and job satisfaction were mostly evaluated by single studies and therefore there was insufficient evidence from which to draw conclusions. Conclusions: Methodological quality of the studies generally was low and results equivocal with insufficient evidence to determine the effects of shift length on quality of patient care and healthcare provider outcomes. Clearly, robust well-designed studies are needed to examine the effect of shift length on patient and healthcare provider outcomes.


1. Introduction to Microelectronics. Introduction. The Digital Inverter. Microelectronic Sensing Systems. Memories. 2. Semiconductor Physics and IC Technology. Pure Semiconductors. Generation, Recombination, and Thermal Equilibrium. Doping. Carrier Transport. Silicon Integrated Circuit Technology. C Resistors. 3. pn Junction and MOS Electrostatics. Applied Electrostatics. Carrier Concentration and Potential in Thermal Equilibrium. The PN Junction in Thermal Equilibrium. The PN Junction Under Reverse Bias. Depletion Capacitance. The MOS Capacitor: A First Pass. The Electrostatics of the MOS Capacitor. Capacitance of the MOS Structure. 4. The MOS Field-Effect Transistor. Introduction. Device Physics of MOSFET: Drain Current and Channel Charge. MOSFET Device Physics: A First Pass. MOSFET Device Physics: the Gradual Channel Approximation. MOSFET Circuit Models. Level I DC Model 35. 5. Digital Circuits Using Mos Transistors. Logic Concepts. Inverter Characteristics. MOS Inverter Circuits. CMOS Inverter Analysis. Static CMOS Logic Gates. Dynamic Logic. Pass Transistor Logic. 6. The pn Junction Diode. pn Diode Circuit Symbol and Terminal Characteristics. Integrated Circuit pn Diodes. The pn Junction Diode: A First Pass. pn Junction Diode Circuit Models. SPICE Model of the pn Junction Diode. Device Physics of the pn Junction Diode: Non-Equilibrium Minority Carrier Recombination. The Continuity Equation. Minority Carrier Distributions and Current Components: A Second Pass. Diode Applications. 7. The Bipolar Junction Transistor. Introduction. Bipolar Junction Transistor Physics: A First Pass. Reverse Active and Saturation Operating Regions. The Ebers-Moll Equations. Small-Signal Model of the npn BJT. BJT Device Physics. Lateral pnp Bipolar Transistor. SPICE Models for Bipolar Junction Transistors. 8. Single-State Bipolar/MOS Transistor Amplifiers. General Amplifier Concepts. Common-Emitter Amplifier-Introduction. Common-Source Amplifier-Introduction. Current Source Supplies. Common-Source Amplifier with Current Source Supply. Common-Emitter Amplifier with Current Source Supply. Improved Transconductance Amplifier with Emitter Degeneracy Resistor. Common-Base/Gate Amplifier. 9. Multistage Amplifiers. MOS Multistage Amplifiers-Small Signal Description. BiCMOS Multistage Amplifiers-Small Signal Description. BiCMOS Multistage Amplifiers-Small Signal Description. Direct-coupled Amplifiers-Large Signal Analysis. DC Voltage and Current Sources. A Two-Stage Transconductance Amplifier. Analysis of a BiCMOS Voltage Amplifier. Exercise and Problems. 10. Frequency Response. Bode Plots. Device Models for Frequency Response Analysis. Short-Circuit Current Gain. Voltage Gain Amplifiers. Frequency Response of Common-Collector/Drain Voltage Buffer. Common-Base/Gate Amplifier-Current Buffer. Frequency Response of Multistage Amplifiers. 11. Differential Amplifiers. General Concepts for Differential Amplifiers. Small Signal Analysis of Differential Amplifiers. Two-Port Model for the Differential Amplifier. Frequency Response of Differential Amplifiers. Differential Amplifiers with Single-Ended Outputs. Large Signal Analysis of Differential Amplifiers. Exercises and Problems. 12. Feedback and Operational Amplifiers. Introduction: Amplifier Models and the Feedback Concept. Frequency Response of Feedback Amplifiers. Large-Signal Benefits of Feedback. Practical Feedback Amplifiers. Integrated Operational Amplifiers. BiCOMS Operational Amplifiers. 13. MOS Memories. Memory Classification. MOS Memory Architecture. Memory Cells. Sense Amplifiers. Address Decoders and Buffers. SRAM Design Example. Exercises and Problems.


In his book Final Judgment , Alan Paterson outlines how the organisation and working methods of the Law Lords and their successor the Supreme Court of the UK have evolved over the years. He compares particularities concerning inter alia judicial appointments, the role of judicial assistants and the occurrence of dissenting opinions to the characteristics of supreme courts' functioning in other common law jurisdictions, such as the United States, Canada and Australia. From a continental-European perspective, Paterson's analysis regarding the mechanism of leave to appeal and the collegial interaction between the Justices of the Supreme Court in this context is of particular interest in light of a recent procedural reform concerning case selection at the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Supreme Court of the Netherlands).


Abstract : Airborne aerosols contaminate satellite imagery, making it difficult for analysts to characterize surface targets. The amount of contamination is due to aerosol loading, best quantified by aerosol optical depth (AOD). Level 2 AERONET data provides "ground truth" AOD measurements. Unfortunately, targets are not likely to be near an AERONET station. This thesis examines two methods of quantifying AOD in lieu of AERONET data: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) AOD retrievals and Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) AOD forecasts (with MODIS data assimilation). Over the Persian Gulf and Japan, MODIS accurately retrieved AOD at 0.55 micrometers wavelength. MODIS may have accurately retrieved AOD over Korea, but uncertainty in the retrieval was high due to a small sample size. Over West Africa, MODIS underestimated AOD. Over the Persian Gulf and Japan, NAAPS accurately estimated AOD at 0.55 micrometers. Over Korea, the model displayed mixed results. Finally, over West Africa, NAAPS tended to underestimate AOD.


The tremendous growth in high-bandwidth applications and consequent increase in power consumption has underscored the importance of energy efficient design strategies for backbone optical networks. In this paper, we exploit the knowledge of the demand holding timesto obtain more power efficient grooming. We consider time-varying, periodic traffic, where the setup and tear-down times of the demands may be fixed or vary within a larger time window. The problem of joint scheduling (in time) and traffic grooming, with the goal of minimizing energy consumption for sliding demands, has not been considered previously. We first present an efficient integer linear program formulation for scheduling and allocating resources to a single subwavelength traffic demand, such that incremental energy consumption due to the new de-mandisminimized. Next, weextend theproposed approach and present a new heuristic that jointly performs scheduling and resource allocation for a large set of periodic demands with the goal of reducing the overall energy consumption of the network for the entire demand set. Through simulations, we demonstrate that significant energy savings can be achieved by considering the demand holding time and show that joint allocation of demands yields additional improvements.


Colloidal crystals of rhodamine labeled silica spheres dispersed in chloroform have been studied with fluorescence confocal scanning laser microscopy. We report the first determination of the three‐dimensional crystalline stacking in the bulk of a concentrated dispersion. The structure was found to consist of a random stacking of close‐packed planes. The results are compared with light scattering experiments.


Anthropogenic and biogenic gas emissions contribute to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). When present, soot particles from fossil fuel combustion can acquire a coating of SOA. We investigate SOA-soot biogenic-anthropogenic interactions and their impact on ice nucleation in relation to the particles' organic phase state. SOA particles were generated from the OH oxidation of naphthalene, α-pinene, longifolene, or isoprene, with or without the presence of sulfate or soot particles. Corresponding particle glass transition (Tg) and full deliquescence relative humidity (FDRH) were estimated using a numerical diffusion model. Longifolene SOA particles are solid-like and all biogenic SOA sulfate mixtures exhibit a core-shell configuration (i.e. a sulfate-rich core coated with SOA). Biogenic SOA with or without sulfate formed ice at conditions expected for homogeneous ice nucleation, in agreement with respective Tg and FDRH. α-pinene SOA coated soot particles nucleated ice above the homogeneous freezing temperature with soot acting as ice nuclei (IN). At lower temperatures the α-pinene SOA coating can be semisolid, inducing ice nucleation. Naphthalene SOA coated soot particles acted as ice nuclei above and below the homogeneous freezing limit, which can be explained by the presence of a highly viscous SOA phase. Our results suggest that biogenic SOA does not play a significant role in mixed-phase cloud formation and the presence of sulfate renders this even less likely. However, anthropogenic SOA may have an enhancing effect on cloud glaciation under mixed-phase and cirrus cloud conditions compared to biogenic SOA that dominate during pre-industrial times or in pristine areas.


Hardware accelerators are often used in cryptographic applications for speeding up the highly arithmetic-intensive public-key primitives, e.g. in high-end smart cards. One of these emerging and very promising public-key schemes is based on hyperelliptic curve cryptosystems (HECC). In the open literature only a few considerations deal with hardware implementation issues of HECC. Our contribution appears to be the first one to propose architectures for the latest findings in efficient group arithmetic on HEC. The group operation of HECC allows parallelization at different levels: bit-level parallelization (via different digit-sizes in multipliers) and arithmetic operation-level parallelization (via replicated multipliers). We investigate the trade-offs between both parallelization options and identify speed and time-area optimized configurations. We found that a coprocessor using a single multiplier (D=8) instead of two or more is best suited. This coprocessor is able to compute group addition and doubling in 479 and 334 clock cycles, respectively. Providing more resources it is possible to achieve 288 and 248 clock cycles, respectively.


Textual conversational agent or chatbots' development gather tremendous traction from both academia and industries in recent years. Nowadays, chatbots are widely used as an agent to communicate with a human in some services such as booking assistant, customer service, and also a personal partner. The biggest challenge in building chatbot is to build a humanizing machine to improve user engagement. Some studies show that emotion is an important aspect to humanize machine, including chatbot. In this paper, we will provide a systematic review of approaches in building an emotionally-aware chatbot (EAC). As far as our knowledge, there is still no work focusing on this area. We propose three research question regarding EAC studies. We start with the history and evolution of EAC, then several approaches to build EAC by previous studies, and some available resources in building EAC. Based on our investigation, we found that in the early development, EAC exploits a simple rule-based approach while now most of EAC use neural-based approach. We also notice that most of EAC contain emotion classifier in their architecture, which utilize several available affective resources. We also predict that the development of EAC will continue to gain more and more attention from scholars, noted by some recent studies propose new datasets for building EAC in various languages.


Cape Verde's history of colonial neglect, drought, famine, and forced migration—coupled with its arid climate, poor resource base, and dependence upon foreign aid—has turned migration into a structural survival strategy. Cape Verdean identity is thus marked by a collective looking forward toward other geographical locations where relatives and friends have made a new home, and a collective looking backward—to relatives and friends left behind in what becomes an imaginary and desired homeland. Wherever Cape Verdeans are located, their identity claims are conditioned by this double-sided gaze: looking outwards toward the influences of other locations and of the external categorizations Cape Verdeans are subjected to by others, and looking inwards toward a more intimate "homing" space of memory, meaning, and self-ascription. The article explores these processes through a discussion of the challenges posed to young Cape Verdeans pursuing education in northern Portugal and examines how identity claims are constructed through nation, citizenship, and personhood, elucidating the ways in which these may become intertwined in processes of diasporization and of creolization. Cape Verde offers a paradigmatic case for distinguishing between creolization and creoleness since an analytical usage of the concept "creole" may be used to deconstruct normative interpretations of the term creole in social and political practice.


The third edition of Community Organizing and Community Building for Health and Welfare provides new and more established ways to approach community building and organising, from collaborating with communities on assessment and issue selection to using the power of coalition building, media advocacy, and social media to enhance the effectiveness of such work. With a strong emphasis on cultural relevance and humility, this collection offers a wealth of case studies in areas ranging from childhood obesity to immigrant worker rights to health care reform. A "tool kit" of appendixes includes guidelines for assessing coalition effectiveness, exercises for critical reflection on our own power and privilege, and training tools such as "policy bingo." From former organiser and now President Barack Obama to academics and professionals in the fields of public health, social work, urban planning, and community psychology, the book offers a comprehensive vision and on-the-ground examples of the many ways community building and organising can help us address some of the most intractable health and social problems of our times.


We have every reason to believe that equal amounts of matter and antimatter were produced in the early universe. Moreover, theory predicts that the laws of physics make no distinction between the two. In this light, the fact that the observable universe is overwhelmingly dominated by matter is inexplicable. ALPHA is an international project located at CERN involving approximately 40 physicists from 15 different institutions in 7 countries. The primary goal of the collaboration is to study the antihydrogen atom at the highest level of precision possible, and thereby enable comparisons between hydrogen and antihydrogen. Through these comparisons it hopes to improve our understanding of the distinction between matter and antimatter, and perhaps shed some light on the puzzle of why we live in a matter dominated universe. The hyperfine energy intervals of ground-state hydrogen and antihydrogen represent an opportunity for a precision comparison. A discrepancy between the energy levels of these two atomic systems would indicate a major revolution in physics, and in our understanding of the universe. This thesis describes and interprets the first proof-of-principle spectroscopic measurements performed on magnetically trapped antihydrogen atoms. The experiments were performed by the ALPHA collaboration using microwave radiation tuned to induce transitions between hyperfine levels of ground state antihydrogen atoms. Our observations confirm that positron spin resonance transitions between hyperfine levels of ground state antihydrogen are consistent with expectations for hydrogen to within 4 parts in 103. The hyperfine splitting of ground state antihydrogen atoms is also constrained to 1420± 85 MHz.


Source-normalization (SN) is an effective means of improving the robustness of i-vector-based speaker recognition for under-resourced and unseen cross-speech-source evaluation conditions. The technique of source-normalization estimates directions of undesired within-speaker variation more accurately than traditional methods when cross-source variation is not explicitly observed from each speaker in system development data. Source normalization can be incorporated into Within Class Covariance Normalization (WCCN) as an effective preprocessing step to Probabilistic Linear Discriminant Analysis (PLDA) based speaker recognition with i-vectors. This paper proposes to extend the application of sourcenormalization to the reduction of language-dependence in PLDA speaker recognition by normalising for the variation that separates languages. Evaluated on the NIST 2008 and 2010 speaker recognition evaluation (SRE) data sets, the proposed Language Normalized WCCN (LN-WCCN) provides relative improvements of 26% in minimum DCF and 14% in EER under multilingual scenarios without detriment to common Englishonly conditions. LN-WCCN is also shown to significantly improve calibration performance when calibration parameters are learned from scores mismatched to evaluation conditions.


A 58-year-old woman suffering from delusional parasitosis tried to kill her general practitioner. Her husband shared in her beliefs but lost all delusional conviction after she was compulsorily admitted to a special hospital. The case illustrates the intractable nature and potential dangerousness of some of these cases, and their affinity to paranoia.


Abstract Using four waves of the European Social Survey (179,273 individuals from 29 countries) the authors analyze the association of reduction of income inequality by governmental taxes and transfers (redistribution) with subjective well-being. Their results provide evidence that people in Europe are negatively affected by income inequality, whereas reduction of inequality has a positive effect on well-being. Since the authors simultaneously estimate the effects of income inequality and its reduction, their results might indicate that not only the outcome (inequality), but also the procedure (redistribution) that leads to the outcome influences subjective wellbeing. Their results also show that the positive effect of redistribution is stronger for less affluent members of the society and left-wing oriented individuals. While post-government inequality seems to have no significant effect in Western Europe, its impact is negative and highly significant in Eastern Europe.


This senior project report describes the process of designing a unipolar inverter. This high low, unipolar inverter utilizes switches in which a pair operates in high frequency while a second pair operates in low frequency. The purpose of this project is to convert a range of high DC voltage and convert it to an AC output voltage of 120 Vrms with a power rating of 100 W. Nonetheless, this particular unipolar method of implementing pulse width modulation results in harmonics at multiples of the fundamental frequency leading to easier filtering. However, the switching loss increases because of the complex switching circuitry. Overall, this report focuses on the design, construction, and testing aspect of the inverter project.


Planck has mapped the intensity and polarization of the sky at microwave frequencies with unprecedented sensitivity. We use these data to characterize the frequency dependence of dust emission. We make use of the Planck 353 GHz I, Q, and U Stokes maps as dust templates, and cross-correlate them with the Planck and WMAP data at 12 frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz, over circular patches with 10° radius. The cross-correlation analysis is performed for both intensity and polarization data in a consistent manner. The results are corrected for the chance correlation between the templates and the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background. We use a mask that focuses our analysis on the diffuse interstellar medium at intermediate Galactic latitudes. We determine the spectral indices of dust emission in intensity and polarization between 100 and 353 GHz, for each sky patch. Both indices are found to be remarkably constant over the sky. The mean values, 1.59 ± 0.02 for polarization and 1.51 ± 0.01 for intensity, for a mean dust temperature of 19.6 K, are close, but significantly different (3.6σ). We determine the mean spectral energy distribution (SED) of the microwave emission, correlated with the 353 GHz dust templates, by averaging the results of the correlation over all sky patches. We find that the mean SED increases for decreasing frequencies at ν< 60 GHz for both intensity and polarization. The rise of the polarization SED towards low frequencies may be accounted for by a synchrotron component correlated with dust, with no need for any polarization of the anomalous microwave emission. We use a spectral model to separate the synchrotron and dust polarization and to characterize the spectral dependence of the dust polarization fraction. The polarization fraction (p) of the dust emission decreases by (21 ± 6)% from 353 to 70 GHz. We discuss this result within the context of existing dust models. The decrease in p could indicate differences in polarization efficiency among components of interstellar dust (e.g., carbon versus silicate grains). Our observational results provide inputs to quantify and optimize the separation between Galactic and cosmological polarization.


Despite the discovery of ion channels that are activated by protons, we still know relatively little about the signaling of acid pain. We used a novel technique, iontophoresis of protons, to investigate acid-induced pain in human volunteers. We found that transdermal iontophoresis of protons consistently caused moderate pain that was dose-dependent. A marked desensitization occurred with persistent stimulation, with a time constant of ∼3 min. Recovery from desensitization occurred slowly, over many hours. Acid-induced pain was significantly augmented in skin sensitized by acute topical application of capsaicin. However, skin desensitized by repeated capsaicin application showed no significant reduction in acid-induced pain, suggesting that both capsaicin-sensitive and insensitive sensory neurons contribute to acid pain. Furthermore, topical application of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) significantly attenuated acid-evoked pain but did not affect the heat pain threshold, suggesting a specific interaction between NSAIDs and peripheral acid sensors. Subcutaneous injection of amiloride (1 mm) also significantly inhibited the pain induced by iontophoresis of acid, suggesting an involvement of acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) receptors. Conversely, iontophoresis of acid over a wide range of skin temperatures from 4 to 40°C produced only minor changes in the induced pain. Together these data suggest a prominent role for ASIC channels and only a minor role for transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor-1 as mediators of cutaneous acid-induced pain.


Biosorption of heavy metals can be an effective process for the removal and recovery of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. In this paper uranium biosorption by protonated, Ca-pretreated and non-pretreated Cystoseira indica algae biomass was investigated in a batch system. The results of the kinetic studies showed that the sorption of uranium on protonated and non-pretreated biomass followed pseudo-second order kinetics. The effect of pH on the equilibrium uranium sorption capacity of Cystoseira indica exhibited that highest uptake occurred at pH 4 at a solution with 350 mg/l uranium concentration. At various initial uranium concentrations from 50 to 1000 mg/l, batch sorption equilibrium at 30oC was reached within 3 hrs and the sorption isotherms were interpreted in terms of the Langmuir and Freundlich models. Equilibrium data fitted very well to Langmuir model for all studied forms of Cystoseira indica algae. The Freundlich isotherm cannot fit as well as the Langmuir model the equilibrium data of protonated and non-pretreated Cystoseira indica algae. The maximum uranium adsorption capacity on the Ca-pretreated, protonated and non-pretreated Cystoseira indica algae predicted by Langmuir isotherm at pH 4 and 30oC was 454.5, 322.58 and 224.67 mg/g respectively.


: The purpose of this study was to determine the phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility patterns, extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) genes and genotypic profiles of ESBL-positive Escherichia coli strains isolated from urine samples obtained from outpatients with urinary tract infection in Turkey. A total of 120 E. coli strains during 2017, 2018, and 2019 (40 patients per year) were examined for antibiotic susceptibility patterns by disc diffusion method, for ESBL genes using PCR and sequencing and for molecular typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) method. The isolates were evaluated for their sensitivity to 21 different antibiotics. Four different antimicrobial resistance patterns were determined according to antibiotic susceptibility status of the isolates. The β-lactamase genes detected in the isolates were CTX-M-15 + OXA-1 (n= 14), CTX-M-15 (n= 24), TEM-1 + CTX-M-15 (n= 52), TEM-1 + SHV-12 (n=6), SHV-12 1 (n= 6), TEM-1 + CTX-M-1 (n= 6), TEM-1 + CTX-M-16 (n= 6) and TEM-1 + CTX-M-9 (n= 6). The CTX-M-15 was the most prevalent ESBL enzyme in the isolates. As a result of PFGE analysis performed by XbaI enzyme restriction process, one major PFGE profile and three main groups (Group I-II-III) were observed. While antibiotic resistance profiles of the strains showed four groups (RI-RII-RIII-RIV), PFGE band profiles showed a major group (90% similarity ratio). High ESBL production and decreased susceptibility to broad-spectrum cephalosporins were observed in E. coli strains. In addition, PFGE analysis showed high clonal similarity among E. coli isolates.


Rice is the most important crop for food security and livelihoods of the rural population in Bihar, India. In spite of good soil and water resources, rice water productivity (WP) is very low in Bihar. Trends in WP and key factors influencing WP over 20 years (1991–2010) in 11 Bihar districts were analysed using panel data to help elucidate reasons for low WP values. The annual average rice yield of 938 kg/ha, WP of 0.22 kg/m3, and marginal physical productivity (MPP) of 249 g/m3 are very low in Bihar compared to both the national average for India and other rice growing areas in the world. Rice WP and MPP were higher for the garma (dry) season than for the kharif (monsoon) season. Temporal analysis showed that WP was slowly declining in most districts, while spatial analysis showed a significant variation in WP across the districts. Regression analysis showed that the availability of irrigation facilities, occurrence of flood and drought, and cropping intensity had significant influence on rice WP. Causes for temporal and spatial changes in WP are highlighted and actions to improve rice WP in Bihar are suggested.


In this research we investigate how the conductivity of graphene changes in response to mid-infrared photoexcitation. Our p-type sample was formed through chemical vapor deposition. Pump/probe methodology produced the time-resolved Terahertz transmission, from which the photoconductivity was calculated. We probed the sample with energies above and below the Fermi energy, which was determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Our results support a model in which heating of the electron gas, leading to high carrier scatt ering rates, is responsible for a decrease in conductivity. We observe this negative photoconductivity at all pump energies, allowing us to rule out the possibility of population inversion to explain the results.


ABSTRACT In 1909, with two companions Swiss meteorologist Alfred de Quervain travelled to the Uummannaq area of west Greenland, to the same area investigated by Erich von Drygalski in 1892–1893. A major objective was to investigate the changes in the nearby outlet glaciers since Drygalski's visit. Man-hauling sledges, de Quervain and his companions also made a sortie into the interior of the ice cap, penetrating to a distance of about 100 km and to a height of about 1700 m. Having thus whetted his appetite, in1912 de Qervain mounted a further expedition aimed at making a crossing of the ice cap, only the second after that of Fridtjof Nansen in 1888, and along a trajectory significantly further north. De Quervain hoped to determine the shape and height of the ice cap along this trajectory. With three companions and using dog-sledges de Quervain set off from the Disko Bugt area of west Greenland and crossed the ice cap to the area of Ammassalik (now Tasiilaq) on the east coast. In 31 days on the ice the party travelled some 640 km, reaching a maximum altitude of 2510 m. A comprehensive range of scientific observations was effected en route. A support party of three men remained at the western edge of the ice cap for the summer to conduct meteorological and glaciological studies. Thereafter two of this group spent the winter of 1912–1913 at the Danish Arctic Station at Godhavn as guests of Morten Porsild to conduct aerological studies using pilot balloons and, to a lesser degree, captive balloons. All quotations in this paper are translated from the German by the author. This article is the first English-language account of de Quervain's expeditions.


Abstract Previous research shows that individuals with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism tend to have impaired processing of humor and laugh at things that are not commonly found funny. Here the relationship between humor styles and the broader autism phenotype was investigated in a sample of the general population. The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) and the humor styles questionnaire (HSQ) were administered to six hundred US participants recruited through an Internet-based service. On the whole, high scores on AQ were negatively related to positive humor styles and unrelated to negative humor styles. However, AQ subscales representing different autism-spectrum traits exhibited different patterns. In particular, the factor "poor mind-reading" was associated with higher scores on negative humor styles and the factor "attention to detail" was associated with higher scores on all humor styles, suggesting a more nuanced picture of the relationship between autism-spectrum traits and humor.


Classical heuristic search algorithms find the solution cost of a problem while finding the path from the start state to a goal state. However, there are applications in which finding the path is not needed. In this paper we propose an algorithm that accurately and efficiently predicts the solution cost of a problem without finding the actual solution. We show empirically that our predictor makes more accurate predictions when compared to the bootstrapped heuristic, which is known to be a very accurate inadmissible heuristic. In addition, we show how our prediction algorithm can be used to enhance heuristic search algorithms. Namely, we use our predictor to calculate a bound for a bounded best-first search algorithm and to tune the w-value of Weighted IDA*. In both cases major search speedups were observed.


Abstract Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues in The Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University in Bloomington conducted fieldwork in metropolitan police departments across the United States. Their findings in support of community policing dealt a blow to the popular belief that consolidation and centralization of services was the only way to effectively provide citizens with public goods. However, subsequent empirical literature suggests that the widespread implementation of community policing has been generally ineffective and in many ways unsustainable. We argue that the failures are the result of strategic interplay between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies that has resulted in the prioritization of federal over community initiatives, the militarization of domestic police, and the erosion of genuine community-police partnerships.


This study is an empirical testing of equity market timing and capital structure at firms which are doing IPO 2001 and 2002. The aims of this study are to test about the effect of equity market timing to capital structure and to test the persistency of the effect of equity market timing to firm's capital structure in Indonesia. This study also used control variable, that asset tangibility, size and profitability. To analyze the data, this study used multiple regressions with SPSS 16.0 to test independent and dependent variables. The result suggest that the equity market timing has not significantly negative effect to the firms' capital structure which used IPO 2001 and 2002 that are listed in BEI, and the effect of equity market timing to the firms' capital structure are not persistent that the negative effect of equity market timing to the firms' capital structure disappear within third years after IPO.


Morgellons disease is an emerging multisystem illness characterized by unexplained dermopathy and unusual skin- associated filament production. Despite evidence demonstrating that an infectious process is involved and that lesions are not self-inflicted, many medical practitioners continue to claim that this illness is delusional. We present relevant clinical observations combined with chemical and light microscopic studies of material collected from three patients with Morgellons disease. Our study demonstrates that Morgellons disease is not delusional and that skin lesions with unusual fibers are not self-inflicted or psychogenic. We provide chemical, light microscopic and immunohistological evidence that filaments associated with this condition originate from human epithelial cells, supporting the hypothesis that the fibers are composed of keratin and are products of keratinocytes.


A woman who has experienced an unintended pregnancy and chooses to place the child for adoption is known as a birthmother. When faced with an unintended pregnancy, women typically have three courses of action. They may choose to parent the child, terminate the pregnancy, or place the child for adoption. There is limited research on birthmothers themselves or societal perceptions of them. When it comes to societal perceptions of abortion, religiosity is a significant factor. Contrary to popular belief, many of the women who choose to abort do so in order to preserve the lives of their families. Single mothers are judged as poor workers due to their devotion to their children, a viewpoint that is compounded if the mother is black. This indicates that race may also play a role in perceptions of birthmothers. This research aimed to discover public perceptions of birthmothers and test factors that might contribute to those perceptions namely, abortion opinions. This study utilized data collected from a previous study with an online survey of 501 students from a university population conducted in the spring of 2015. Survey questions were open ended, multiple choice, and Likert scale. This study discovered that opinions of birthmothers are largely positive and that opinions on abortion may have a link with opinions of birthmothers. The findings of this study are important because there is minimal research on birthmothers and it helps shed light on public perceptions of this marginalized group. Research has shown that many birthmothers experience a lack of social support that could be remedied from programming that helps these women cope within society and efforts to educate the public about them.


This paper describes an integrated security administration for global organizations and electronic government systems. It integrates certification systems, authorization systems, registration systems and smart card systems. Many organizations today are having departments all over the world. Employees, employers and customers have to access information located in different countries. This complicates management of security systems for the organizations. The challenges that the organization face include providing authentication, authorization, protection of information, non-repudiation, integrity, privacy and other security services in the global environment. Today, organizations usually install certification, authorization, smart card, and registration systems and apply them separately without sharing common data and without any common security administration procedures. Thus, a new employee or citizen, who needs registration services, a smart card, a public key certificate, and authorization attributes must usually identify her multiple times and must perform registration procedure at four different administration stations. In this research, we designed an integrated security administration procedure for all four-security systems, where we register users only once and the four security systems share all relevant security data and procedures. Therefore, the new integrated security administration is more efficient than existing procedures and it is simpler to manage and saves administration costs. This system bases on the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). SAML is an XML-based framework for exchanging security information. The research has achieved two goals: functional integration of data and security administration procedures and visual integration through a common security administration interface. These results are of high interest and importance when managing different components of an integrated security system.KEYWORDSPKI System, authorization, SAML, Directory system, smart card system, certification authority and attribute authority


Integrative taxonomy (IT) is becoming a preferred approach to delimiting species boundaries by including different empirical criteria. IT methods can be divided into two types of procedures both of which use multiple kinds of evidence: step-by-step approaches test hypotheses by sequential evaluation in a hypothetic-deductive framework, while model-based procedures delimit groups based on statistical information criteria. In this study we used a step-by-step approach and a Gaussian clustering (GC) method to test species boundaries in the northernmost species of the Liolaemus montanus group. We used different methods based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data, morphological measures and niche envelope variables. In contrast with GC, our step-by- step approach shows that one Andean population (Abra Apacheta) previously considered part of L. melanogaster, is actually nested within another clade; another Andean species, L. thomasi, is equivocally shown to be either a distinct species or conspecific with L. ortizi; and an additional Andean population (Abra Toccto) is delimited by concordance among most lines of evidence and different methods as a distinct lineage. However, one of the oldest and low-elevation populations (Nazca) is strongly delimited by all data sets and IT procedures as a new lineage distinct from any currently recognized species.


Streaming potential in rocks is the electrical potential developing when an ionic fluid flows through the pores of rocks. The zeta potential is a key parameter of streaming potential and it depends on many parameters such as the mineral composition of rocks, fluid properties, temperature etc. Therefore, the zeta potential is different for various rocks and liquids. In this work, streaming potential measurements are performed for five rock samples saturated with six different monovalent electrolytes. From streaming potential coefficients, the zeta potential is deduced. The experimental results are then explained by a theoretical model. From the model, the surface site density for different rocks and the binding constant for different cations are found and they are in good agreement with those reported in literature. The result also shows that (1) the surface site density of Bentheim sandstone mostly composed of silica is the largest of five rock samples; (2) the binding constant is almost the same for a given cation but it increases in the order K Me (Na + ) < K Me (K + ) < K Me (Cs + ) for a given rock. References Corwin R. F., Hoovert D.B., 1979. The self-potential method in geothermal exploration. Geophysics 44, 226-245. Dove P.M., Rimstidt J.D., 1994. Silica-Water Interactions. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 29, 259-308. Glover P.W.J., Walker E., Jackson M., 2012. Streaming-potential coefficient of reservoir rock: A theoretical model. Geophysics, 77, D17-D43. Ishido T. and Mizutani H., 1981. Experimental and theoretical basis of electrokinetic phenomena in rock-water systems and its applications to geophysics. Journal of Geophysical Research, 86, 1763-1775. Jackson M., Butler A., Vinogradov J., 2012. Measurements of spontaneous potential in chalk with application to aquifer characterization in the southern UK: Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology & Hydrogeology, 45, 457-471. Jouniaux L. and T. Ishido, 2012. International Journal of Geophysics. Article ID 286107, 16p. Doi:10.1155/2012/286107. Kim S.S., Kim H.S., Kim S.G., Kim W.S., 2004. Effect of electrolyte additives on sol-precipitated nano silica particles. Ceramics International 30, 171-175. Kirby B.J. and Hasselbrink E.F., 2004. Zeta potential of microfluidic substrates: 1. Theory, experimental techniques, and effects on separations. Electrophoresis, 25, 187-202. Kosmulski M., and Dahlsten D., 2006. High ionic strength electrokinetics of clay minerals. Colloids and Surfaces, A: Physicocemical and Engineering Aspects, 291, 212-218. Lide D.R., 2009, Handbook of chemistry and physics, 90th edition: CRC Press. Luong Duy Thanh, 2014. Electrokinetics in porous media, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Luong Duy Thanh and Sprik R., 2016a. Zeta potential in porous rocks in contact with monovalent and divalent electrolyte aqueous solutions, Geophysics, 81, D303-D314. Luong Duy Thanh and Sprik R., 2016b. Permeability dependence of streaming potential coefficient in porous media. Geophysical Prospecting, 64, 714-725. Luong Duy Thanh and Sprik R., 2016c . Laboratory Measurement of Microstructure Parameters of Porous Rocks . VNU Journal of Science: Mathematics-Physics 32, 22-33. Mizutani H., Ishido T., Yokokura T., Ohnishi S., 1976. Electrokinetic phenomena associated with earthquakes. Geophysical Research Letters, 3, 365-368. Ogilvy A.A., Ayed M.A., Bogoslovsky V.A., 1969. Geophysical studies of water leakage from reservoirs. Geophysical Prospecting, 17, 36-62. Onsager L., 1931. Reciprocal relations in irreversible processes. I. Physical Review, 37, 405-426. Revil A. and Glover P.W.J., 1997. Theory of ionic-surface electrical conduction in porous media. Physical Review B, 55, 1757-1773. Scales P.J., 1990. Electrokinetics of the muscovite mica-aqueous solution interface. Langmuir, 6, 582-589. Behrens S.H. and Grier D.G., 2001. The charge of glass and silica surfaces. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 115, 6716-6721. Stern O., 1924. Zurtheorieder electrolytischendoppelschist. Z. Elektrochem, 30, 508-516. Tchistiakov A.A., 2000. Physico-chemical aspects of clay migration and injectivity decrease of geothermal clastic reservoirs: Proceedings World Geothermal Congress, 3087-3095. Wurmstich B., Morgan F.D., 1994. Modeling of streaming potential responses caused by oil well pumping. Geophysics, 59, 46-56.


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate equine livery yard owners' opinions of emergency conditions, and to identify factors influencing emergency decision making in the horse. Background: There is limited data on horse owners' opinions and decision making in emergency conditions. Evidentiary value: An online questionnaire was distributed to UK livery yard owners accredited with the British Horse Society. There were 104 survey participants, who represented experienced owners with responsibility for care of a number of horses. Methods: The questionnaire consisted of open and closed questions on participants' demographics, their experiences and opinions of the most common equine emergency conditions, and emergency decision making. Descriptive data analysis included frequency ranking and categorisation of free text responses. Results: The majority of respondents had kept horses for more than 10 years (97%), and reported previous experience of emergency conditions (99%), predominantly colic (96%) and wounds (92%). Participants considered that the most common emergency conditions were colic (98%), wounds (49%) and fractures (22%), and the most concerning conditions were colic (94%), lameness (36%) and wounds (21%). Factors believed to be important in emergency decision making were: degree of pain, likelihood of condition resolving, and severity of disease. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of colic and wounds as emergency conditions in the horse, and describes factors considered important in emergency decision making. Application: The outcomes identify where research and clinical resources should be targeted to improve emergency care for horses. The results were used to inform a survey of the wider horse population.


The theme of my dissertation is emerging capital markets behavior. I utilize three approaches: institutional, experimental and econometric to study the impact of reforms on capital allocation and stock market operation.In Chapter one, using a unique data set on Chinese provincial savings and investment, I prove that the torrent of reports about the inadequacies of the Chinese financial system, accompanied by studies claiming product and capital market segmentation, overlooks real achievements. While my aggregate results parallel those of Boyreau-Debray and Wei (2002) and others, I am able to assess the impact of financial innovation on capital flows outside the government allocation mechanism. Stripping out foreign funds, government appropriations, and officially influenced bank loans, I discover that inter-provincial commercial capital flows present a strong trend toward market integration and their mobility pattern starts to bear resemblance to interstate flows in the U.S. and other advanced nations. This result undercuts the widespread view of China's economy as lacking in domestic integration. Several emerging capital markets have adopted legally separated share markets (LSSM) in which local firms market separate claims to the same underlying dividend flow to two distinct sets of investors, domestic shareholders trading "A" shares with domestic currency and foreign investors trading "B" shares with foreign currency. I utilize an experimental approach to show that information transference across these segmented markets may have caused the covariance in A and B shares' price movements. Our hypothesis is that. My results not only suggest that there is indeed information transmission across LSSM, but also indicate that the quality and clarify of signals sent out by the market with more information directly impacts the success of information transference. Chapter 3 takes an empirical approach to study the risk and return relationships of A and B shares with a standard CAPM model. I utilize CAPM models to directly estimate the betas of A and B shares listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange. I find that domestic investors price asset risk as predicted by CAPM models, but foreign investors do so only for large and prominent Chinese firms with significantly better performance.


This study describes and demonstrates the Website Information Content Survey (WICS), which is intended to provide practitioners and researchers with a means of systematically describing website information content. In an exploratory survey of twenty business-to-consumer websites across five e-commerce domains, we demonstrate how the survey can be used to make cross-website comparisons that can identify potential gaps in a website's information content. The results of this study offer actionable guidance to practitioners seeking to match their website's information mix to customer's demands for product, company, and channel information. The WICS tool enables future investigation of hypothesized relationships between website information content and user-website interaction outcomes.


Indoor and outdoor localization of mobile robots using wireless technologies is very attractive in many applications as cooperative robotics. Wireless networks can be successfully used not only for communication among heterogeneous vehicles (e.g., ground, aerial) but also for localization. This paper introduces an approach for the indoor/outdoor localization of a mobile robot using IEEE 802.15.4a devices with ranging capability based on Symmetrical Double-Sided Two Way Ranging (SDS-TWR). This technique tries to overtake the limitations of the classical one Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) (e.g., Wi-fi mapping) that does not ensure good performance especially in structured environments. The set of these devices allows to create a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) that is suitable for cooperative tasks where the data link is fundamental to share data and support the relative localization. In this paper an Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is introduced as a possible technique to improve the localization in both outdoor and indoor environments also in real time due to a reduced computational complexity. The proposed approach allows to model the bias of ranging data considering also the faults in the measurements. The obtained results put in evidence the necessity of further ranging data to obtain centimetric accuracy and precision of localization that actually is rated to 1m.


This article is devoted to a compilation of recent results about collective vibrations in nuclei. We will describe different approaches to study mesoscopic systems such as nuclei which are at the limit between quantum mechanics of small systems and statistical mechanics of large systems. We will focus on solutions of the many-body problem such as the time dependent mean-field methods, the small amplitude response and its extensions. In particular we will discuss the quantification of periodic orbits, the boson mappings and the variational approximations in the boson space and the stochastic mean-field approaches. We will then discuss how a nucleus may self-organize in collective motion. We will discuss the nature, the structure, the dynamics and the properties of collective vibrations in cold or hot nuclei and in stable or unstable situations. For stable vibrations, we will study their energy and their damping. Then we will discuss multiphonon excitations, their properties and their excitations stressing that these states are a direct demonstration of the vibrational nature of giant resonances. As far as hot resonances are concerned, we will show how their characteristics are deeply related to the properties of the nuclei at high temperature. Finally in the presence of instabilities, we will discuss the relation between unstable modes and the phase diagram of nuclear matter. We will underline their role in the dynamics of first order phase transition such as in the spinodal decomposition of infinite as well as finite systems. All these points will be illustrated considering experimental results obtained in heavy ion reactions.


Unlike the revolutionary advances in the anodes of lithium-ion batteries from Li intercalation materials to Li alloy and/or conversion reaction materials, the development of the cathode is still dominated by the Li intercalation compounds. Transition metal ions are essential in these cathodes as the rapid redox reaction centers, and one of the biggest challenges for the TM-based cathodes is the capacity and power fading especially at an elevated temperature, which is directly associated with the dissolution–migration–deposition (DMD) process of TMs from the cathode materials. This process not only alters the surface structure of the cathode materials, but more importantly, changes the SEI composition at the anode side. There is no doubt that the TM-DMD issue should be addressed thoroughly to unlock the potential of these compounds to enable a prolonged battery lifetime. This review article mainly focuses on research activities with regard to the DMD process in TM-based cathode materials. In the first four sections, we choose Mn-based cathodes as an example to discuss how Mn DMD relates to the capacity fade of the cell, and what possible approaches might suppress the DMD process by modification of the electrode or electrolyte. In the fifth section, we discuss the TM DMD process in Ni-, Co-, Fe- and V-containing cathode materials. This article reviews the frontier electrochemical research on TM-based cathodes and summarizes the progress and challenges, thereby helping to advance future R&D of LIBs.


Based on the cellular and molecular level similitude law, discovered by one of the authors, an original homeopathic anti-cytolytic was developed. Administered to patients with chronic B and C hepatitis, the product has determined a significant decrease in serum ALT levels or its normalization. The action was due to increased resistance of the liver cell to viral aggression. Following the interruption of the hepatitis disease process in its first phase of cytolysis, it is expected that the other phases (inflammation and fibrosis) to be decelerated or stopped. The results demonstrate the correctness of the working hypothesis and represent an argument for the existence of the law of similarity at cellular and molecular level, evidence of the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies in underweight doses and the accuracy of the Nanofarmacologie term, given to Homeopathic Pharmacology.


In the past twenty years, both Canada and the United States have witnessed a significant degree of conflict over language issues. Since the passage of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, there has been growing debate about the consequent politicization of the courts and their role in democratic politics. This issue is joined in Canada because English and French are the only two "official" languages, although others are spoken by linguistic minorities and native peoples. In the United States, English was not codified as the "official" language until recently when, at last count, twenty-seven states have enacted laws proclaiming English their official language. The U.S. Supreme Court probably is the most activist high court tribunal on earth, with Canada's fast becoming a runner-up.(1) Barely a decade after the Charter's passage, Mandel characterized its impact as the "legalization of politics" in Canada,(2) and Peter Russell, another Canadian judicial scholar, believes that "the importance of judicial review in Canada at the present time equals if it does not exceed its importance in the United States."(3) Morton and Knopff go even further, calling it a "Charter Revolution" because "Canadian politics has been replaced by a regime of constitutional supremacy verging on judicial supremacy. On rights issues, judges have abandoned the deference and self-restraint that characterized their pre-Charter jurisprudence and become more active players in the political process."(4) Indeed Alan Cairns anticipated far reaching political consequences from a Charter that designates group entitlements for certain minorities. "The Charter is more than an instrument that hands out abstract rights equally to all Canadians and is indifferent to their various statuses defined by gender, ethnicity, official language status, and the presence or absence of disabilities. In fact it specifically mobilizes Canadians in terms of these categories. It encourages Canadians to think of themselves for constitutional purposes as women, as official-language minorities, as disabled, or as ethnocultural Canadians."(5) To this extent Les Pal agrees: "The advent of the Charter in 1982 therefore did not so much create new groups as new opportunities, though some organizations were spawned specifically to pursue new litigation strategies related to the Charter's equality provisions."(6) It was not long before the Canadian Supreme Court broadcast its intentions in no uncertain terms. In Law Society of Upper Canada v. Sapinker (1984), the Supreme Court declared that its Charter jurisprudence would be "large and liberal" in scope, a welcome signal to advocacy groups who were organizing a litigation campaign. Thus, the distinction between judicial activism or restraint is largely framed in terms of the relationship between the judiciary and the popularly elected branches. By judicial activism Kenneth Holland means "a court's attitude toward the traditional policy-making institutions and its willingness to enforce claims against them."(7) Canadian legal scholars Rainer Knopff and F.L. Morton agree, explaining that "judicial activism refers to the disposition to interpret rights broadly and to enforce them vigorously against the other branches of government...judicial self-restraint, by contrast, connotes a judicial predisposition to find room within the constitution for the policies of democratically accountable decision makers."(8) The contemporary political problem is that Canadian law and constitutionalism erect firm guideposts on language policy to guide judicial, executive, and legislative decision-makers, but language remains an unsettled area of constitutional and statutory law in the United States. In this divergent legal milieu, we examine whether their respective high courts have adopted a stance of activism or restraint with regard to language policy. Overview of Canadian National Language Policy Section 133 of the 1867 British North America Act, the founding constitutional document, permitted the use of either French or English in the national Parliament, the Quebec legislature, and their respective courts, and required laws and records to be maintained in both languages. …


Sand animation is a performance art technique in which an artist tells stories by creating animated images with sand. Inspired by this medium, we have developed a new multi-touch digital artistic medium named SandCanvas that simplifies the creation of sand animations. SandCanvas also goes beyond traditional sand animation with tools for mixing sand animation with video and replicating recorded free-form hand gestures. In this paper, we analyze common sand animation hand gestures, present SandCanvas's intuitive UI, and describe implementation challenges we encountered. We also present an evaluation with professional and novice artists that shows the importance and unique affordances of this new medium.


Cluster headache (CH) is a stereotyped primary headache characterized by strictly unilateral severe orbital or periorbital pain and categorized as either episodic or chronic (1,2). Its prevalence is 0.1% (3). Oxygen and sumatriptan are the treatments of choice for individual attacks, whereas verapamil, lithium, corticosteroids and other neuromodulators can suppress attacks during cluster periods (1). All standard medication treatments may be ineffective. Surgical treatment may be an option for medication non-responders, including deep brain (4) or occipital nerve stimulation (5). However, serious complications from brain surgery, including death, can occur (6). An Internet survey of 53 CH patients reported on claims that psilocybin is better at aborting acute attacks than either oxygen or sumatriptan and that LSD and psilocybin are both better at triggering and extending remission than standard drugs (7). However, due to hallucinogenicity and the absence of established medical indication, these drugs are criminalized and placed within the most restrictive Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, which sanctions only limited research use. Although the hallucinogenic properties of LSD and psilocybin are undesirable from both regulatory and patient safety perspectives, it was unclear to us at the outset whether a non-hallucinogenic analog could also provide meaningful relief to CH patients. To address the question of whether the CH relief associated with these two structurally diverse compounds is related to the mechanisms triggering intoxication, we decided to investigate the efficacy of a nonhallucinogenic analog of LSD. LSD's hallucinogenic effects are completely lost when the double bond in the D ring is saturated and with substitution at R2 (e.g. by bromination in 2-bromo-LSD) (BOL-148) (8). BOL-148 has been studied in volunteers (up to 20mg per os) (9) and in patients suffering from vascular headaches but not, apparently, in patients with CH (9,10). These past studies concluded that BOL-148 is non-toxic and non-hallucinogenic. Only very mild side effects, if any, have been observed, when given in the dose range used in our project (30mg/kg/body weight) (9). No long-term behavioral or psychological effects from BOL-148 have been reported from past studies with more than 300 healthy, normal subjects (11), and 30mg BOL-148 administered daily over four to five weeks failed to alter active psychosis in chronically ill schizophrenic women (12).


Block 16/17 is located in the UK Sector of the South Viking Graben adjacent to the Fladen Ground Spur. The block has yielded four major oil fields to date, and the principal reservoir is the Upper Jurassic Brae Formation. Relative uplift of the basin margin associated with the onset of a major extensional phase during the Oxfordian, and related seismic activity, generated gravity and turbidity flows which deposited coarse submarine conglomerates at the base of the graben boundary fault scarp. The distribution of these deposits has been controlled in part by the presence of transfer faults which cross-cut the graben boundary fault system. Transfer faults reflect the older structural grain of the area, which was mainly Caledonide and Tornquist. Detailed interpretation of a 3D seismic dataset has identified locations for possible submarine fan feeder channels. These are interpreted to be 'canyon-like' features located high on the terrace and closely controlled by major transfer faults. Such structural channelling has produced 'shadow zones', which are areas relatively starved of coarse clastic input in the basin. The geometry of the graben boundary footwall varies along-strike, and has influenced the lithofacies associations within the Brae Formation.