The southern Yermak Plateau (northwest of Spitsbergen) was investigated with 11-12 kHz sidescan sonar and 3.5 kHz profiler to test whether thick Pleistocene ice streams ever calved into the Arctic Ocean and/or whether a continuous Arctic ice sheet existed. In either case, the ice would have grounded on the plateau crest on its way out of the Arctic. Several distinct sets of relict iceberg plowmarks were discovered at present water depths from less than 450 m to at least 850 m, perhaps recording the deepest iceberg keels known. The plateau crest (510-530 m) is nearly bare of plowmarks, perhaps because of beveling by an ice rise formed of grounding shelf ice. This implies continuous, 400-600-m-thick grounded ice, consistent with but not proving the postulated existence of an Arctic ice sheet. Most plowmarks are probably late Pleistocene products of the calving of Barents-Kara ice sheets into the Arctic Ocean. Plowmarks in 450-850-m-deep water require unusually deep ice-sheet grounding lines (e.g., Svyataya Anna Trough) and/or drat-increasing capsizing events, even if sea levels were 100-50 m lower than today. At water depths of 800 to 1800 m, the sidescan texture and topography suggest bottom currents descending the northeast slope of the plateau.


Uncontrolled hypertension is a major health problem among African Americans. Obesity, high sodium and low potassium intake, and inadequate physical activity have been identified as barriers to cardiovascular health in many African Americans. Thus, it is important to educate and counsel patients about lifestyle modifications, such as a low-sodium, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension)-type diet; regular aerobic exercise; moderation of alcohol consumption; and smoking cessation. All classes of antihypertensive agents lower blood pressure in African Americans, although some may be less effective than others when used as monotherapy. Most patients require combination therapy. Both patient barriers (such as lack of access to health care and perceptions about health and the need for therapy) and physician barriers (such as poor communication styles) contribute to the low rates of hypertension control in African Americans. Patient-centered communication strategies can help overcome these barriers and can improve compliance and outcomes. Such strategies include the use of open-ended questions, active listening, patient education and counseing, and encouragement of patient participation in decision making.


Call to Order Chair David Zgarrick (Northeastern) called the meeting to order at 1:30pm in the East Tower, Grand Ballroom A-C North of the Hyatt Regency Chicago Hotel in Chicago, Illinois on Monday, July 15,2013. Immediately following the Call to Order, Chair Zgarrick introduced the COF Administrative Board: Ginger Scott (Immediate Past Chair; West Virginia), Jennifer Trujillo (Secretary; University of Colorado), Robin Zavod (Chair-elect; Midwestern-Chicago), and Cecilia Plaza (AACP representative). Preliminary Quorum Committee Report Quorum committee members, Betsy Blake (South Carolina), Jeff Cain (Kentucky), and Amy Franks (Arkansas), reported that 42 institutional members were needed for a quorum and roughly 30 regular institutional members of the Association were present, not constituting a quorum. Report of the Chair Chair Zgarrick welcomed members and recognized and thanked those who served on committees and task forces on behalf of the COF. He thanked everyone who contributed to the work done by the COF this year, particularly the chairs of the committees and task forces. He thanked the COF administrative board members and Cecilia Plaza in particular. He highlighted the following changes that have been made this year. First, for the AACP Interim Meetings, starting in 2014, the COF Business Meeting will become the COF Forum. We will not conduct official COF business at those meetings. Next, the Teachers Seminar held every year at the AACP Annual Meeting will now be administered by the COF, starting in 2014. Next, the descriptions of the COF officer responsibilities are posted on the COF website. Lastly, there is a new AFPE Executive Director, Ellen Woods. Report of the Secretary Jennifer Trujillo reported that the minutes of the 2013 COF Interim Business Meeting held on February 12, 2013 in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico and the 2012 COF Annual Business Meeting held on July 16, 2012 in Kissimmee, Florida are both available via download from the COF webpage under governance on the AACP website. She also reported that the committee reports for this meeting as well as the Report of the Chief Science Officer Vincent Lau are all available on the COF webpage. After the quorum committee confirmed that a quorum had been met, the minutes were received and approved. Report on Board of Directors' Activities from COF Immediate Past Chair Ginger Scott presented highlights of the Board of Directors (BOD) meeting. Issues discussed included: 1. The Board approved the University of North Texas into associate level of institutional membership. The House accepted the Board's membership resolution Sunday morning. 2. The Board affirmed support of a "Leave a Legacy" campaign proposed by the Development Officers SIG to encourage planned giving at the college and school level. The SIG has established a working group to further develop the campaign and schools will receive materials from AACP later this year. 3. The IOM Fellowship funding campaign continues. We are most appreciative of the 45-50 schools that voluntarily added a contribution to the fellowship fund to their 2013 institutional dues payment. Forms to donate are available at the Registration desk. 4. The CAPE 2013 Educational Outcomes were released today at a standing room only session as well as on the AACP website. Kudos to the entire CAPE Panel and especially Chair Dr. Melissa Medina for this significant contribution to pharmacy education. 5. ACPE provided an update from their June Board meeting. There are 130 colleges and schools of pharmacy with some level of accreditation: 114 with full status, 15 candidate schools, and 1 pre-candidate school. Updates were provided on the release of the new CAPE 2013 Educational Outcomes and the timeline for the ACPE Standards revision. AACP will be conducting a survey of schools later this year to provide thoughtful input to ACPE on areas to consider for improving the administration of all aspects of program accreditation, including recommendations for AAMS, self-studies and site visits. …


Many inherited metabolic diseases (IMD) have cardiac manifestations. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of IMD in adult patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and cardiac rhythm abnormalities that require cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs). The study included a review of the medical files of patients aged 18 to 65 years who were followed in our cardiology department during the period 2010–2017. Metabolic explorations for Fabry disease (FD), mitochondrial cytopathies, and fatty-acid metabolism disorders were carried out in patients with unexplained etiology. The prevalence of IMD in patients with HCM was 5.6% (confidence interval (CI): 2.6–11.6). Six cases of IMD were identified: 1 mitochondrial encephalopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome, 1 Hurler syndrome, 2 Friedreich's ataxia, 1 FD, and 1 short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency. Three cases of IMD were identified in patients requiring CIEDs: 1 patient with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, 1 FD, and 1 short chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (SCAD) deficiency. IMD prevalence in patients with CIEDs was 3.1% (CI: 1.1–8.8). IMD evaluation should be performed in unexplained HCM and cardiac rhythm abnormalities adult patients, since the prevalence of IMD is relatively important and they could benefit from specific treatment and family diagnosis.


This book focuses on the successes and difficulties of nonlinear studies, particularly in the areas of Mind Sciences. It atttempts to answer the following questions: is an interdisciplinary contamination of complexity studies in different disciplines useful? Does this contamination originate in a transdisciplinary toolbox of methods and models which is worth calling it "Nonlinear Science"? What are the relations between the metaphoric approach and the mathematical approach in natural sciences and humanities? Complexity in the Life Sciences represents a fundamental workbench for these kinds of problems. The fascinating challenge in these areas is represented by studies on mind functioning.


We investigate hedge fund demographics using data from the Alternative Asset Center (AAC) and then hedge fund performance over the twelve years since inception of the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Indices (HFI, 1994–2005). We find that hedge funds are largely domiciled "offshore" while hedge-fund managers are located primarily in the United States, particularly New York, California, Illinois, Connecticut and Florida. We find that the annualized performance of hedge funds as an "asset class" is about the same as that of U.S. equities (S&P 500). That being said, the real benefit of hedge funds lies in risk management as the volatility of HFI is considerably lower than the stock market. We also find that most hedge-fund "styles" provide solid absolute and risk-adjusted returns and conclude that hedge funds have been a worthwhile investment vehicle for fund indexers and active investors.


Elizabeth Benger--influential abolitionist, champion of female genius, and writer of female biography in the early nineteenth century--signals a new kind of cultural orientation toward the past when she describes history as a "mournful . . . school of suffering" (A 34). Her sensitivity to the sorrowful lessons of that school is deepened by a particularly keen identification with the bodily pain of historical women undergoing legal persecution. Thus, in writing the history of Anne Boleyn, Benger initially "recoil[s]" at the "ignoran[t]" world of Tudor England (19) but then feels palpably touched by Anne Boleyn's physical duress after King Henry's legal sabotage of her engagement to Lord Percy: The long gallery she so often traversed with impatience, still seems to re-echo her steps. . . . In reverting to the tragical history of the passions, we cease to measure the distance that separates us from a departed age . . . we revert with lively interest to those records of suffering and feeling which can never become obsolete: the image of one, whose heart has long ceased to throb with human emotion, still speaks to our sympathies, and imperatively appeals to our pity or our justice. (150-51) This visceral connection with a distant age partakes of what Stephen Bann identifies as a new and pervasive desire to "touch" the past among many Romantic-era writers, painters, and antiquarians (Invention 109). Yet Benger's vivid impression of women's bodily pain seems more distinctive of an emergent feminizing approach to historical physicality, especially in her alertness to the often conflicting imperatives of pity and justice. Her sympathetic embodiment of female suffering under the rigors of masculine law actually typifies one of the more striking motifs in women's historical writing of the Romantic era. My topic queries this specific historicizing practice, which encapsulates the political strengths and liabilities of the period's female historiography, particularly in its relation to Romantic-era women's rights debates. I will focus on three examples representative of the similar yet divergent strategies in this gendered mode of historical embodiment: Ann Yearsley's 1791 historical play, "Earl Goodwin " Mary Hay's 1803 biographical essay on Joan d'Arc; and Benger's 1823 Memoirs of the Life of Mary, Queen of Scots. It will be useful to start by mapping out the general contours of Romantic-era women's historiography, which shaped the ground for these specific historical representations of legal violence practiced upon the female body. In his comprehensive survey of women Romantic-era writers, Stuart Curran stresses their "pervasive engagement with history" (191), notable in the writings of Catharine Macaulay, Helen Maria Williams, Hester Piozzi, Mary Wollstonecraft, Joanna Baillie, Maria Edgeworth, Anna Barbauld, Lucy Aikin, and, it would seem, the great majority of women writers of the time. Excellent studies by Gary Kelley, Nanora Sweet, Anne Wake, and Devoney Looser have begun to trace the various aesthetic and political strategies at work in these historical writings, establishing an important new foundation for the kind of analysis of women's discursive intervention in public sphere politics that Anne Mellor conducts in her new book, Mothers of the Nation. Yet we remain at a relatively early phase of theorizing the conceptual and ideological frameworks underpinning this massive historiographical investment, just as considerable work lies ahead on the multiple, often conflicting forms it could assume. I will briefly address the theoretical level of what we might now call an emergent feminist historiography, so as to posit an explanatory model for the particular records of suffering I will discuss in more detail. Historical modes of thought emerged in the later eighteenth century, to use Bann's phrase, as "the paradigmatic form of knowledge to which all others aspired" (Romanticism 4). The narrative ground of history, punctuated by dominant truth claims about past and present as well as by countering strokes "against the grain" of the official record, to use Walter Benjamin's phrase (257), consequently became one of the main discursive sites of contestation where Romantic-era ideologies of class, empire, nation, and gender clashed. …


In 2000, the European Society of Cardiology and American College of Cardiology issued a consensus document concerning the redefinition of myocardial infarction (MI). They proposed that the diagnosis of acute Ml should be based on the rise and fall of specific markers combined with at least one of the following: ischaemic symptoms, ECG changes consistent with ischaemia or infarction, or coronary intervention. The implications of this redefinition are widespread, and it has been met with mixed opinions from physicians. Here we present the results of a survey, sent to 1,000 consultants in cardiology and general medicine, concerning the availability and their use of cardiac markers and their current working diagnosis of Ml. Four case studies were included in the survey. Some 361 responses were analysed. Creatine kinase (CK) remains the most frequently used marker for the diagnosis of Ml, but 23% of consultants had moved to a definition based on troponins. Fourteen per cent of consultants no longer used CK in their practice. Ninety-two per cent of consultants had access to troponin assays. Definitions varied widely between consultants, even within individual hospitals, as did the responses to the case studies.


The use of an herbomineral formulation in the healthcare sector for different chronic diseases is gaining popularity due to its fewer side-effects, high safety profile, and cost effectiveness. A new proprietary herbomineral formulation was formulated, consisting of four essential ingredients viz. herbal (ashwagandha root extract) and minerals (zinc chloride, magnesium gluconate, and sodium selenate). The objective of this study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of the Biofield Energy Treated test formulation on female Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The test formulation was divided into two parts; one was represented as control, while the other part was treated with the Biofield Energy Healing Treatment remotely by renowned Biofield Energy Healers (The Trivedi Effect®) and defined as the Biofield Energy Treated formulation. The effect of the test formulation was monitored using humoral immune response, delayed type hypersensitivity, hematology, biochemistry, relative organ weight, and histopathology. The primary hemagglutination (HA) antibody titre level was significantly (p≤0.05) increased by 185.88% in the Biofield Energy Treated group (G3); while 41.18% increased in the untreated test formulation group (G4) as compared to the disease control group (G2). The secondary HA titre was significantly increased by 540% (p≤0.001) and 166.7% in the G3 and G4 groups, respectively as compared to the G2 group. The secondary HA titre was also increased significantly (p≤0.05) by 193% in the Biofield Energy Treated group per se at day -15 (G6), as compared to the G2 group. The paw volume data showed an alteration in the G3 and G6 groups as compared to the G2 group. The platelet count was significantly increased by 11.16% and 8.69% in the G3 and G4 groups, respectively as compared to the G2 group. The magnesium level was increased by 9.31% in the G3 group as compared to the G2 group. The uric acid was significantly reduced by 23.88% in the G3 group; while it was increased by 17.47% in the G4 group as compared to the G2 group. Since, the relative organ weight and histopathological findings did not produce any signs of toxicity as compared to the normal control group (G1). These data suggested that the Biofield Energy Treated herbomineral formulation was found to be safe and showed better immunomodulatory response as compared to the untreated formulation. Thus, it is assumed that the Biofield Energy Treated herbomineral formulation could be better and more useful to boost-up the immune system in healthy human and patients.


Historical narratives typically associate financial crises with credit expansions and asset price misalignments. The question is whether some combination of measures of credit and asset prices can be used to predict these events. Borio and Lowe (2002) answer this question in the affirmative for a sample of 34 countries, but the question is surprisingly difficult to answer for individual developed countries that have faced very few, if any, financial crises in the past. To circumvent this problem, we focus on financial stress and ask whether credit and asset price movements can help predict it. To measure financial stress, we use the Financial Stress Index (FSI) developed by Illing and Liu (2006). Other innovations include the estimation and forecasting using both linear and endogenous threshold models, and a wide range of asset prices (stock and housing prices, for example). The exercise is performed for Canada, but the methodology is suitable for any country that fits the above description.


Abstract Governments around the world are now beginning to seriously consider the use of measures of subjective wellbeing (SWB) – ratings of thoughts and feelings about life – for monitoring progress and for informing and appraising public policy. The mental state account of wellbeing upon which SWB measures are based can provide useful additional information about who is doing well and badly in life when compared to that provided by the objective list and preference satisfaction accounts. It may be particularly useful when deciding how best to allocate scarce resources, where it is desirable to express the benefits of intervention in a single metric that can be compared to the costs of intervention. There are three main concepts of SWB in the literature – evaluation (life satisfaction), experience (momentary mood) and eudemonia (purpose) – and policy-makers should seek to measure all three, at least for the purposes of monitoring progress. There are some major challenges to the use of SWB measures. Two related and well-rehearsed issues are the effects of expectations and adaptation on ratings. The degree to which we should allow wellbeing to vary according to expectations and adaptation are vexing moral problems but information on SWB can highlight what difference allowing for these considerations would have in practice (e.g. in informing prioiritisation decisions), which can then be fed into the normative debate. There are also questions about precisely what attention should be drawn to in SWB questions and how to capture the ratings of those least inclined to take part in surveys, but these can be addressed through more widespread use of SWB. We also provide some concrete recommendations about precisely what questions should be asked in large-scale surveys, and these recommendations have been taken up by the Office of National Statistics in the UK and are being looked at closely by the OECD.


As the scale and complexity of electronic designs increase, Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools become much more sophisticated and have to face incredible challenges to keep peace with increasing technology and time-to-market pressures. EDA tools have to own a lot of quality attributes such as performance, scalability, usability as well as functionality. Testing of EDA tools is not about avoiding crashes or core dumps, but it is about verifying tool's ability to work correctly on a wide range of input data, have higher capability to visualize and debug larger output dataset and to perform reasonably with less memory and time consumption [1]. The scope of testing in EDA tools is challenged by a constant increase in the tool's code complexity and the expanding number of configurations, flows, combinations and platforms they should support. With shrinking product development life cycles and increasing time to market constraints, a robust quantitative method is needed to judge the pre-release testing effectiveness. This paper presents a case study for the application of six-sigma DMAIC(Define, Measure Analyze, Improve and Control) methodology to understand the main problems with some EDA tools testing process, to analytically reach solutions, to identify opportunities for improvement and to quantitatively monitor the effectiveness of the proposed solutions.


We present a novel detection scheme for Fourier domain optical coherence microscopy (FDOCM). A Bessel-like interference pattern with a strong central lobe was created with an axicon lens. This pattern was then imaged by a telescopic system into the sample space to obtain a laterally highly confined illumination needle, extending over a long axial range. For increased efficiency, the detection occurs decoupled from the illumination, avoiding a double pass through the axicon. Nearly constant transverse resolution of ~1.5&mgr;m along a focal range of 200&mgr;m with a maximum sensitivity of 105dB was obtained. A broad bandwidth Ti:Sapphire laser allowed for an axial resolution of 3&mgr;m in air, providing the nearly isotropic resolution necessary to access the microstructure of biological tissues. Together with the speed- and sensitivity-advantage of FDOCT, this system can perform in vivo measurements in a minimally invasive way. Tomograms of the mouse mammary gland and the mouse follicle, recorded in vitro, revealed biologically relevant structural details. Images acquired with classical microscopy techniques, involving stained and fluorescent samples, validate these structures and emphasize the high contrast of the tomograms. It is comparable to the contrast achieved with classical techniques, but employing neither staining, labeling nor slicing of the samples, stressing the high potential of FDOCM for minimally invasive in vivo small animal imaging.


Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a complex, multi-system disorder that remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in pregnancy. Four main classes of dysregulation accompany PE, and are widely considered to contribute to its severity. These are abnormal trophoblast invasion of the placenta, anti-angiogenic responses, oxidative stress, and inflammation. What is lacking, however, is an explanation of how these themselves are caused. We here develop the unifying idea, and the considerable evidence for it, that the originating cause of PE (and of the four classes of dysregulation) is in fact microbial infection, that most such microbes are dormant and hence resist detection by conventional (replication-dependent) microbiology, and that by occasional resuscitation and growth it is they that are responsible for all the observable sequelae, including the continuing, chronic inflammation. In particular, bacterial products such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), also known as endotoxin, are well known as highly inflammagenic and stimulate an innate (and possibly trained) immune response that exacerbates the inflammation further. The known need of microbes for free iron can explain the iron dysregulation that accompanies PE. We describe the main routes of infection (gut, oral, urinary tract infection) and the regularly observed presence of microbes in placental and other tissues in PE. Every known proteomic biomarker of "pre-eclampsia" that we assessed has in fact also been shown to be raised in response to infection. An infectious component to PE fulfils the Bradford Hill criteria for ascribing a disease to an environmental cause, and suggests a number of treatments, some of which have in fact been shown to be successful. PE was classically referred to as endotoxaemia or toxaemia of pregnancy, and it is ironic that it seems that LPS and other microbial endotoxins really are involved. Overall, the recognition of an infectious component in the aetiology of PE mirrors that for ulcers and other diseases that were previously considered to lack one. Insight, innovation, integration Many descriptors of pre-eclampsia are widely accepted (e.g. abnormal trophoblast invasion, oxidative stress, inflammation and altered immune response, and anti-angiogenic responses). However, without knowing what causes them, they do not explain the syndrome. The Biological Insight of this manuscript is that there is considerable evidence to the effect that each of these phenomena (hence PE) are caused by the resuscitation of dormant bacteria that shed (known and potent) inflammagens such as LPS, often as a consequence of iron availability. PE is thus seen as a milder form of sepsis. The Technological Innovations come from the use of molecular markers (of microbes and omics more generally, as well as novel markers of coagulopathies) to measure this. The Benefit of Integration comes from bringing together a huge number of disparate observations into a unifying theme.


Background. In the community mental health field, occupational therapy students lack the capacity to prioritize referrals effectively. Objective. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a clinical decision-training aid on referral prioritization capacity. Design. A double-blind, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial was conducted using a judgment analysis approach. Setting. Each participant used the World Wide Web to prioritize referral sets at baseline, immediate posttest, and 2-wk follow-up. The intervention group was provided with training after baseline testing; control group was purely given instructions to continue with the task. Participants. One hundred sixty-five students were randomly allocated to intervention (n = 87) or control (n = 81). Intervention. Written and graphical descriptions were given of an expert consensus standard explaining how referral information should be used to prioritize referrals. Measurements. Participants' prioritization ratings were correlated with the experts' ratings of the same referrals at each stage of testing, as well as to examine the effect on mean group scores, regression weights, and the lens model indices. Results. At baseline, no differences were found between control and intervention on rating capacity or demographic characteristics. Comparison of the difference in mean correlation baseline scores of the control and intervention group compared with immediate posttest showed a statistically significant result that was maintained at 2-wk follow-up. The effect size was classified as large. At immediate posttest and follow-up, the intervention group improved rating capacity, whereas the control group's capacity remained poor. The results of this study indicate that the decision-training aid has a positive effect on referral prioritization capacity. Conclusions. This freely available, Web-based decision-training aid will be a valuable adjunct to the education of these novice health professionals internationally.


ABSTRACT RotaTeq (RV5) is a widely used live attenuated pentavalent rotavirus (RV) vaccine. Although fecal shedding of RV vaccine strains persists for long time periods, it is unclear how each vaccine strain replicates in intestinal tissue and is excreted in stool. To examine this issue, we established RV5 genotype-specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assays. Five real-time RT-PCR assays were designed for the VP7 gene in genotypes G1, G2, G3, G4, and G6. All assays exhibited excellent linearity, and the detection limit was 1 infectious unit (IU)/reaction for G2, G4, and G6 and 10 IUs/reaction for G1 and G3. No cross-reactivity was observed among G genotypes. The inter- and intra-assay coefficients of variation were less than 3%. The assays were used to examine 129 stool samples collected from eight infants who received RV5. In cases 1 and 2, who received three rounds of vaccination, RV shedding decreased gradually with the number of vaccinations. G1 and G6 shedding appeared to be predominant in comparison to shedding of the other genotypes. Patterns of fecal shedding of the five genotypes of vaccine viruses differed between the eight vaccine recipients. RV5 genotype-specific real-time RT-PCR assays will be useful to study the molecular biology of RV5 replication in infants and experimental animals.


The use of web services has been growing significantly, with increasingly large numbers of applications being implemented through the web. A difficulty associated with this development is the quality assurance of these services, specifically the challenges encountered when testing the applications - amongst other things, testers may not have access to the source code, and the correctness of the output may not be easily ascertained known as the oracle problem. Metamorphic testing MT has been introduced as a technique to alleviate the oracle problem. MT makes use of properties of the software under test, known as metamorphic relations, and checks whether or not these relations are violated. Since MT does not require source code to generate the metamorphic relations, it is suitable for testing web services-based applications. We have designed an XML-based language representation to facilitate the formalisation of metamorphic relations, the generation of follow-up test cases, and the verification of the test results. Based on this, we have also developed a tool to support the automation of MT for web service applications. This tool has been used in an experiment to test web services, the evaluation of which is reported in this paper.


Pulsar surveys offer a rare opportunity to monitor the radio sky for impulsive burst-like events with millisecond durations. We analyzed archival survey data and found a 30-jansky dispersed burst, less than 5 milliseconds in duration, located 3° from the Small Magellanic Cloud. The burst properties argue against a physical association with our Galaxy or the Small Magellanic Cloud. Current models for the free electron content in the universe imply that the burst is less than 1 gigaparsec distant. No further bursts were seen in 90 hours of additional observations, which implies that it was a singular event such as a supernova or coalescence of relativistic objects. Hundreds of similar events could occur every day and, if detected, could serve as cosmological probes.


The literature illustrates how media research on the energy question is characterized by a limited focus on separate energy options, resulting in a lack of research into the diversity of and mutual relations between various energy options. This paper reports on a quantitative content analysis of eight Belgian newspapers (N=1181), focusing on whether certain energy options are systematically more covered in certain regions, types of newspapers and/or types of newspaper sections. The results show that five energy options dominate the debate and that there are minimal differences per region, but remarkable differences between types of newspapers and newspaper sections.


The authors provide a brief review of how economists have dealt with art in their research and more popular writings, and then consider the case that has been made for using art and other visual materials in general education and—in very few cases—to teach economics. A new Web site on Art and Economics is introduced that makes it easier for economics instructors to find and use art with their students. They discuss several different ways of using the art in classes, and provide a table with over 50 paintings from the Introduction slide show at the Web site to illustrate the range of economic concepts and issues that can be taught with art.


Entrepreneurship can be categorised as necessity- and opportunity-driven based on the motivation of
the entrepreneurship (e.g., Reynold et al., 2001; Verheul et al., 2010). Extant studies have shown that
opportunity entrepreneurship is more desirable than necessity entrepreneurship (e.g., Harding, 2003;
Henrekson, 2004; Minniti et al., 2005) because opportunity entrepreneurship has a lower rate of
business failure (e.g., Harding, 2003; Minniti et al., 2005), more income (Block & Wagner, 2007) and
more positive effects on economic development (Acs V Acs, 2006). A shift of
entrepreneurship away from a necessity driver to opportunity driver has therefore been observed in
various contexts (Williams et al., 2006; Williams & Round, 2009; Williams &Williams, 2011).
However, little research has considered how necessity entrepreneurship has transitioned to subsequent
opportunity entrepreneurship, and what factors have determined this transition process. To overcome
the deficiency in research, this study aims to investigate the factors that drive the transition process
and the mechanism through which the transition process occurs.
This research was based in China, in which rapid economic growth has been gained and more than
100 million people have been involved in various entrepreneurial activities (Guthrie, 2009). In
addition, existing research tends to focus on developed countries while developing countries, such as
China in which the cultural values and institutional environment is significantly different from
developed countries, have been largely ignored (e.g., Chen & Francesco, 2000; Puffer et al., 2010).
This research is therefore expected to account for this unique research setting. A qualitative method
based on six case studies was adopted in the research. The data were collected through a triangular
method by using in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs and other related parties, and on-site
observation. These data were thematic-analysed to generate propositions. The findings show that the entrepreneurs were forced to involve in necessity-based start-ups mainly
by the difficulties faced by them in career development, financing and family matters while selfmotivations,
business opportunities and available resources were the major factors that facilitated the
transition process from necessity-based start-up to the subsequent opportunity entrepreneurship. The
findings also suggested that the transition from necessity entrepreneurship to subsequent opportunity
entrepreneurship involved a four-stage process, including the pre-venture stage, the necessity
entrepreneurship stage, the transition stage and the opportunity entrepreneurship stage. By exploring
the cases based on a culturally and institutionally different setting in China, this study suggests that, in
addition to the economic environment and personal situations of the entrepreneurs, cultural and
institutional factors also matter to their entrepreneurial activities. A mixed perspective is needed to
take into account the complicated environment facing the entrepreneurs.
This study contributes to the literature by taking into account the complicated environment factors of
China and identifying the mechanism through which the transition process from necessity-based startup
to subsequent opportunity entrepreneurship has occurred. This study also generates practical
implications for both novice and veteran entrepreneurs in progressing to an advanced level of
entrepreneurship. It is also suggested that favourable regulatory environment and government policies
are needed in order to facilitate the development of entrepreneurship. However, this study was
conducted in a culturally and institutionally unique setting of China. Therefore, the implications of the
findings are limited to such a setting, and caution is needed when applying the findings to different
settings.
Opportunities for future research have been identified in this study. Given the limitations of a crosssectional
method, a longitudinal study would provide additional insights for explaining the dynamism
of the transition process. In addition, future research could include entrepreneurs failed in the
transition process to provide an alternative perspective on the transition process. Further, future research based in different research settings are also suggested, which would help provide additional
evidence to support the findings of this study.


This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the core topics, theories and debates in modern social theory.

Fourteen chapters have been written by leading specialists in the field, providing up-to-date guidance on the full sweep of the modern sociological imagination, from the legacies of the classical figures of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel and Parsons to the work of cutting-edge contemporary theorists. Separate chapters discuss functionalism and its critics, interpretive and interactionist theory, historical social theory, western Marxism, psychoanalytic social theory, structuralism and post-structuralism, structure and agency theory, feminist social theory, postmodernism and its critics, and theories about globalization.

All chapters are supplied with questions for discussion, study boxes, guidance on further reading and useful website addresses. It is ideal for students of sociology and cultural studies pursuing foundational courses in the history and theory of social analysis, and is also accessible for the general reader.


Previous research has shown that riding with a steeper (81°) than normal (73°) bicycle seat tube angle (STA) can improve subsequent run performance during Olympic distance triathlon that involve a 1500 m swim, 40 km cycle and 10 km run. However, such races often utilise pacing strategies during the run phase that may have influenced previous findings. Conversely, Sprint distance triathlons (750 m swim, 20 km cycle and 5 km run) are generally performed at a higher intensity, both during the cycle and run legs. Few studies have focused on Sprint triathlons, therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect cycling with different STA's had on subsequent sprint triathlon running performance. Ten trained amateur male triathletes (34.8 ± 10.9 years), completed two 20 km time trials on a cycle ergometer, one with a STA of 73° and one with a STA of 81°. Both conditions were followed immediately by a 5 km treadmill based running time trial and were completed as fast as possible. Time (min:s), heart rate (Beats.min-1), oxygen consumption (ml.kg.min-1) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded for both run and cycle legs. Additionally, during the cycle leg, mean power output (W), mean cadence (rpm) and mean velocity (km.h-1) were recorded. For the run leg, velocity (m.s-1), stride length (SL, in m) and stride frequency (SF, in Hz) were additionally recorded. Running time improved significantly following cycling with the 81° STA compared to 73° STA (27:10 ± 3:09 vs. 27:59 ± 3:18 min:s respectively; p=.006; ES=0.25), along with running velocity (3.13 ± 0.37 vs. 3.04 ± 0.37 m.s-1 for 81° and 73° respectively; p=.007; ES=0.24). Stride length also increased significantly following the cycle with the 81° STA (2.20 ± 0.26 vs. 2.12 ± 0.27 m for 81° and 73° respectively; p=.007; ES=0.30). Overall cycle+run time was also significantly reduced in the 81° condition (63:31 ± 6:08 vs. 64:23 ± 5:10 min:s for
81° and 73° respectively; p=.042; ES=0.15). These results suggest that cycling on a bicycle with a steeper STA improves subsequent running and overall performance during a simulated sprint triathlon, possibly due to changes in lower limb biomechanics.


This study examines the state of transition to green economies in Africa. It dissects policy dilemma surrounding fiscal reforms towards green economy. Through empirical and theoretical framework, the study clarifies the ambiguity surrounding the concepts of 'green growth' and 'green economy', and contextualizes their usage in a manner that addresses Africa's needs for inclusive growth and sustainable development. Also, a proposed model on the logical complex of fiscal policy reforms on green economy demonstrates that institutional capacity, public perception; entrusted interest and governance are critical variables to address during fiscal policy reforms on green economy in Africa. Findings from the state of transition to a green economy reveal great potentials: in the East Africa, Kenya takes leading role; in the Southern Africa, South Africa and in the West Africa, Ghana. Nevertheless, further finding reveals that the transitions to green economy in Africa are still mainly financed through foreign assistance programmes. African governments and private-enterprises should take leading roles in the funding of green economy projects while complementing with foreign aids and expertise in order to guarantee sustainable policy implementation and inclusive growth for Africans.


A comprehensive examination of the synthesis of single chain polymer nanoparticles (SCPNs) from a copolymer of methyl acrylate (MA) and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) via the intra-chain urethane formation by using hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) as a cross-linker is described. By introducing model urethane, urea, and amine compounds, the resulting SCPNs were carefully characterized by NMR, DSC, IR and GPC. In addition to the advantages of using cheap and accessible commercially available materials, the effects of the long reaction time under high dilution or harsher heating conditions on the cross-linking chemistry are studied, providing clear limitations on the use of this chemistry for intra-chain collapse.


Genetic analysis provides an approach for identifying regulatory loci that govern the expression of specific genes within the context of the entire organism. Such analyses have defined two unlinked regulatory loci, termed raf and Rif, that modulate the levels of alpha-fetoprotein in liver. Of primary importance for the isolation and characterization of the raf product is to determine whether it is produced by the hepatocyte or whether it is produced by a different cell type. By means of analysis of alpha-fetoprotein expression in livers of embryo aggregation chimeras derived from mice of different raf genotypes it was possible to conclude that the product of the raf locus is expressed as a hepatocyte autonomous function that acts in trans to regulate the level of alpha-fetoprotein messenger RNA.


As the search for new pharmaceuticals continues our understanding of their operation grows. A result of this is that design of new drugs is more often being limited only by the ability of synthesis techniques to produce them. The development of new synthesis techniques is therefore always of great interest. Among these techniques is semiconductor photocatalysis, most well known for its use in the clean-up of contaminated water; however it is capable of a wide range of reactions, from oxidation to cyclisation. This study examined some of the factors and influences involved in the applications of the technique for the oxidation of alcohols to ketones. For the photocatalysis the steroid 6I²-hydroxy-3I±,5-cyclo-5I±-androstan-17-one was synthesised, a compound with suspected antiprogesterone properties. A feature of the compound is the presence of a cyclopropane group within the A ring. It was synthesised easily through normal techniques; the presence of the cyclopropane group however makes the safe oxidation of the compound a difficult task. The photocatalytic oxidation studies started with cyclohexanol as the base compound; this is the target area of the steroid without the influences of the other rings. Derivatives of cyclohexanol were used to study the effect of neighbouring groups on the reaction rate. The compounds used were 2-methylcyclohexanol, menthol, 2- chlorocyclohexanol and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthol; these being chosen to give a mixture of compounds with electron donating and electron withdrawing groups. It was found that the presence of electron donating groups gave a slower reaction rate while electron withdrawing groups gave a faster reaction rate. The reaction rate of 1.066x10-8 mol s-1 for the cyclohexanol dropped to 1.023x10-8 mol s-1 with the addition of the methyl group in 2-methylcyclohexanol. However the chloro group raised the rate to 1.689x10-8 mol s-1. The rate increased further due to the presence of the benzene ring in 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthol. These results showed the influence of induction on the compound, the groups affecting the electron density around the hydroxyl group. It was also found that the catalyst used had a large impact on the reaction rate; the anatase to rutile ratio had an effect but the major influence was the surface area of the catalyst. In cyclohexanol conversions of 41% were achieved with UV100 and 38% with PC500. The P25 gave a conversion of 43% but the Aldrich anatase just 25%. While the steroid could not eventually be oxidised photocatalytically a greater understanding was gained and a number of areas for further study found. The study did succeed in examining the influence of vessel absorption on the UV light reaching the sample, it also synthesised a steroid containing a cyclopropane group. The study also examined the effect of electron donating and withdrawing groups on the photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols. And finally it examined the effect of the catalyst used on reaction rate.


It is estimated that over a third of the diet in the Western world is made up of oils and fats, of which a prominent percentage is in the form of emulsion food products, including milks, creams, yoghurts, margarines, salad dressings, desserts, soups and cheese. Current processing techniques involve the extraction and refining of edible oils using high temperatures and organic solvents, followed by re-encapsulation of the oil, for incorporation into the required emulsion products. The research presented in this PhD thesis was performed within the auspices of the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) funded, Sustainable Emulsion Ingredients through Bio-Innovation (SEIBI) project, which involved collaboration with researchers from the University of Nottingham together with a consortium of industrial partners. SEIBI was initiated to investigate a novel processing route for the production of food-grade rape and sunflowerseed oil emulsions from aqueously extracted oil-bodies. Being less energy and chemical intensive, the novel process offered potential reductions in both greenhouse gas emissions and wider environmental impacts when compared with conventional processing. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) techniques, the environmental burdens of the aqueous oil-body extraction process were determined and compared with those of the existing technology route. To facilitate this, the research focussed on six key objectives, designed to both identify the environmental loads of the systems involved and scrutinise the impact of a number of methodological choices for LCA. These included choice of allocation method, normalisation, scaling issues distinct for novel processes and the extent to which the single-issue LCA variant, carbon footprinting could be used as an environmental indicator for the system. LCAs for four separate categories of product systems were developed encompassing seed oils, mayonnaises, aqueously extracted oil-body materials and mayonnaise-like oil-body emulsions. In addition to generating the environmental profiles required to fulfil the research objectives, the analysis of these models enabled the generation of original knowledge through the quantification of impacts for a range of processes that had either not previously been assessed or for which no published data could be found. The novel process was concluded as having clear potential for improved environmental performance over current technology even in its' pre-optimised, although the methodological choices examined were found to have profound effects on these and other results. Oil-body yield from seed was identified as key for optimisation to further maximise the environmental gains, with modest improvements, well within those theoretically possible being required for the novel process to better the environmental credentials of current technology in all key impact areas. The original outputs from this thesis will be of considerable use to developers involved in the continued advancement of the oil-body extraction technology, together with researchers within the edible oils and emulsions sector. In addition, the methodological outputs will help to inform LCA practitioners and developers in the continuing quest to understand the capabilities and limitations of this powerful analytical tool.


We measure the stellar mass surface densities of early-type galaxies by observing the micro-lensing of macro-lensed quasars caused by individual stars, including stellar remnants, brown dwarfs, and red dwarfs too faint to produce photometric or spectroscopic signatures. Instead of observing multiple micro-lensing events in a single system, we combine single-epoch X-ray snapshots of 10 quadruple systems, and compare the measured relative magnifications for the images with those computed from macro-models. We use these to normalize a stellar mass fundamental plane constructed using a Salpeter initial mass function with a low-mass cutoff of 0.1 M☉ and treat the zeropoint of the surface mass density as a free parameter. Our method measures the graininess of the gravitational potential produced by individual stars, in contrast to methods that decompose a smooth total gravitational potential into two smooth components, one stellar and one dark. We find the median likelihood value for the normalization factor by which the Salpeter stellar masses must be multiplied is 1.23, with a one sigma confidence range, dominated by small number statistics, of .


Background: Dosimetry in diagnostic radiology is fundamental to providing information to practitioners regarding the level of their doses and to ensure adequate optimization of the protection of patients presenting for radiological examinations. The introduction and implementation of diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) in diagnostic radiology has proven to be a potent tool for quality control and dose reduction. This has not been comprehensively addressed in Nigeria.
Objective: To carryout dose audit of patients presenting for common radiographic projections in select hospitals in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
Methodology: Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) were used to measure entrance surface dose (ESD) on 420 randomly selected adult patients presenting for x-ray examination of the chest PA/Lateral, skull PA/Lateral, lumbar spine AP/Lateral, abdomen and pelvic AP, respectively. Results were compared with existing literature.
Results: The range of the mean ESD determined for the study population on various x-ray examinations were: chest PA (0.44 – 0.9 mGy), and  lateral (0.9 – 1.5 mGy); skull PA (2.0 – 4.7 mGy), and lateral (1.7 – 3.4 mGy); lumbar spine AP (3.4 -7.8 mGy), and lateral (6.8 –11.3 mGy); abdomen AP (3.6 – 6.2 mGy); and pelvic AP (2.4 – 6.9 mGy). Comparison showed dose levels were below IAEA recommendations.
Conclusion: In the absence of arbitrary high doses, practice is generally safe and will not result in unwarranted hazards to the patients.


Igalo peloid is known for a number of therapeutic properties (resort of healing, cosmetic or aesthetic application) and its closeness of the sea, which makes the peloid extremely valuable. So far, the organic composition of the Igalo peloid was not investigated or determined. Also, there are studies for its medical application and biological activity, which are directly related to its chemical composition. In this paper we analyzed the content of organic compounds (fatty acids, proteins, amino acids, sugars) and we also listed their main and well-known biological, pharmaceutical and medical roles and purposes. For the purpose of this study, different analytical techniques were applied to the collected peloid, including extraction, chromatographic, electrophoretic and NMR techniques.


Fluid-Structure Interactions with Flexible and Rigid Bodies David Jesse Daily Department of Mechanical Engineering, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Fluid structure interactions occur to some extent in nearly every type of fluid flow. Understanding how structures interact with fluids and visa-versa is of vital importance in many engineering applications. The purpose of this research is to explore how fluids interact with flexible and rigid structures. A computational model was used to model the fluid structure interactions of vibrating synthetic vocal folds. The model simulated the coupling of the fluid and solid domains using a fluidstructure interface boundary condition. The fluid domain used a slightly compressible flow solver to allow for the possibility of acoustic coupling with the subglottal geometry and vibration of the vocal fold model. As the subglottis lengthened, the frequency of vibration decreased until a new acoustic mode could form in the subglottis. Synthetic aperture particle image velocimetry (SAPIV) is a three-dimensional particle tracking technique. SAPIV was used to image the jet of air that emerges from vibrating human vocal folds (glottal jet) during phonation. The three-dimensional reconstruction of the glottal jet found faint evidence of flow characteristics seen in previous research, such as axis-switching, but did not have sufficient resolution to detect small features. SAPIV was further applied to reconstruct the smaller flow characteristics of the glottal jet of vibrating synthetic vocal folds. Twoand four-layer synthetic vocal fold models were used to determine how the glottal jet from the synthetic models compared to the glottal jet from excised human vocal folds. The twoand four-layer models clearly exhibited axis-switching which has been seen in other 3D analyses of the glottal jet. Cavitation in a quiescent fluid can break a rigid structure such as a glass bottle. A new cavitation number was derived to include acceleration and pressure head at cavitation onset. A cavitation stick was used to validate the cavitation number by filling it with different depths and hitting the stick to cause fluid cavitation. Acceleration was measured using an accelerometer and cavitation bubbles were detected using a high-speed camera. Cavitation in an accelerating fluid occurred at a cavitation number of 1.


Abstract Foreign language teachers use online repositories on everyday basis to find appropriate activities for their lessons. The question is: How can content providers support them in finding exactly what they need and in retrieving high quality resources? This question has been discussed in the context of the European project "Open Discovery Space". The answers are: a taxonomy of searching mechanism and quality criteria of online resources from the methodologic point of view. Correspondingly, this paper introduces a classification of digital resources according to the four skills (speaking, writing, reading, listening/watching) and two language use types (grammar, vocabulary), representing the changing paradigm of foreign language teaching and learning. Further the paper identifies quality criteria for designing online learning materials with regard to content, methodology, technic and design. Finally, the findings are illustrated by an example of a learning scenario.


The purpose of this study is to measure the quality of distance education services received from educational institutions which are among the leading service enterprises. More specifically, the study aim to find out what the students' expectations are, to what extent the student expectations are met and whether or not the acquired findings vary according to demographical characteristics of students. Moreover, this study is an attempt to assess if there are any differences among similar higher education institutions that implement distance learning programs in terms of the perceived quality of their educational services. It is hoped to help improve the quality of existing higher distance education services by evaluations based on the results of a comparative study. Therefore, through the SERVQUAL methodology, the current study has focused on determining the level of satisfaction regarding expectations and perceptions of students as customers. The data in the study were collected through a survey administered to a total of 463 university students. The examination of partial SERVQUAL scores and relevant analyses indicate that expectations are not met for any of the five dimensions affecting service quality in the universities providing e-MBA education through distance learning.


The existence of higher education institutions (HEIs), dispersed in different locations throughout the country, is probably one of the most striking features associated with the expansion of this level of education in Portugal in the last 40 years. This phenomenon is particularly relevant since the level of qualification of the Portuguese active population remains small. The presence of HEIs causes very diverse effects of economic and social nature, which should be addressed as a whole (over the whole period of their occurrence). In confronting objectives of economic rationality and improvement of the qualification of Portuguese population, particularly of young people, it is important to discuss the possibility of a network of HEIs, at the same time, efficient and promoting territorial cohesion. In 2006, the OECD has pointed to the decline in demand associated with, among other factors, a sharp demographic contraction, in conjunction with the existence of an excess in installed supply, particularly in certain areas, in this level of education. In this scenario, it is now added a context of strong public budget constraints. A discussion of the characteristics of a network of HEIs, in terms of their efficiency and / or their contribution to territorial cohesion must take into account the supply available from the network, as well as the locations of the network. It is clear that the design of a network of HEIs is always political. Nevertheless, this decision making should be based on assumptions of a technical nature. A discussion of these assumptions is the goal we want to achieve with this paper.


Since their discovery, fullerenes and fullerene derivatives have been the subject of intense research because of their unique properties and potential applications. The combination of a network of conjugated double bonds with high electron affinity makes them good electron acceptors, so that, despite being described commonly as antioxidants in the biological literature, they may act mechanistically as oxidants. Because of their ability to accept electrons, fullerenes can quench reactive oxygen species (ROS), particularly free radicals, by accepting their unpaired electron. Overproduction of ROS interferes with cell signaling and apoptosis, as well as causing generalized damage to biomolecules, through their interaction with lipids, DNA and proteins, thereby contributing to chronic diseases. The pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-?B is known to be activated by ROS; modulation of NF-?B signaling is well established as a way to control inflammatory immune responses. Although there are numerous studies on the biological roles of fullerenes, their mechanism of action is poorly understood. The main focus of this research is to clarify redox properties and bioactivity of fullerene derivatives, including their fundamental redox properties, their interaction with NF-?B and their biocompatibility involving the possibility of ROS generation vs. elimination by free radical scavenging. Different C60 and C70 fullerene derivatives used in these studies include hydroxylated fullerenes (C60OHx and C70OHx), carboxyfullerene (C3), amphiphilic liposomal malonylfullerene (ALM), fullerene-tetraglycolate TGA and TTA, which were studied in comparison to common antioxidants such as ascorbic acid and N-acetyl cysteine. The results from the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay demonstrate that fullerenes are very poor reducing agents, whereas the results of electro-paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) confirmed their radical scavenging properties vs. superoxide ion. Taken together, the results of both studies (FRAP and EPR) emphasize the need to distinguish between antioxidant and antiradical properties of fullerenes, as the latter can occur via oxidation of free radical species. Regarding their potential future use in clinical applications, an important finding is that hydroxy and carboxy fullerene derivatives exposed to ambient conditions in living cells neither produce ROS nor cause any cytotoxicity at nanomolar to micromolar concentrations, as shown using proliferation assays and redox sensitive fluorescent dyes. On the other hand, TTA and C60OHx fullerenes were found to have a distinct effect on mitochondrial function of cells, implying their interference with proton transfer process of mitochondrial membrane. However, this effect is apparently not sufficient to decrease cell viability. The activity of fullerenes as potential anti-inflammatory drugs was investigated using several cell-based assays involving an NF-?B reporter gene assay, coupled with visualization of nuclear translocation of exogenous (transfected) NF-?B, achieved via a construct with the NF-?B p65 gene fused to green fluorescent protein. The fullerene derivatives C3 and C60OHx were found to be effective inhibitors of NF-?B driven gene expression at micromolar concentrations. However, unlike some antioxidants such as a-lipoic acid, they did not inhibit PMA-induced nuclear translocation of exogenous NF-?B even at high concentration (40 µM). Along with western blot analysis, this result strongly suggests that fullerene derivatives block NF-?B signaling downstream of the cytosolic activation pathway (the site of action of many antioxidants), possibly inhibiting NF-?B activation at a step penultimate to DNA binding in the nucleus (e.g., by interfering with the mandatory reduction of NF-?B by thioredoxin). These studies suggest that the molecular basis of action of water soluble fullerenes has both similarities and differences to typical antioxidants. Like many antioxidants, they are active as NF-?B inhibitors, suggesting a potential role as novel anti-inflammatory agents, as they have low overall toxicity. However, they have a distinct mechanism of action, such as scavenging free radicals by oxidation, and lack activity as direct reducing agents.


Regional studies are supporting foresters' perceptions that the site indices of British Columbia's old-growth stands are being underestimated. A provincewide paired-plot study resulted in old-growth site index adjustments for coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii), interior spruce (Picea glauca (Moench.) Voss, P. engelmannii (Parry) Engelm., and P. glauca x P. engelmannii), and interior lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Dougl.). The objective of this study is to develop adjustments for species not covered in the provincial project. Adjustments for the species in the provincial project are also derived for comparison purposes. The data for this study come from temporary and permanent sample plots with a veteran and a main stand component. The site indices for the two components were estimated and an adjustment equation for each species was derived using the two site indices in a linear regression analysis. The veteran component represents an old-growth stand and the main stand component represents a managed stand. The analysis showed that the veteran site indices were being underestimated. Some guidelines on the application of these adjustments to old-growth site indices are provided.


BitTorrent is a second generation Peer-to-Peer application that has been recently developed as an alternative to the classical client-server model to reduce the load burden on content servers and networks. The protocol relies on the use of swarming techniques for distributing content. No search functionality is built into the protocol, and the signaling is geared only towards an efficient dissemination of data. The paper reports on measurement and analysis of BitTorrent traffic collected at the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BIT), Karlskrona, Sweden. We measure and analyze data from local BitTorrent client sessions at BIT. The characteristics of the signaling traffic exchanged among the participating peers in a BitTorrent distribution swarm are investigated. A dedicated approach based on combining instrumentation at the application layer with flow identification and extraction at the transport layer is used for traffic measurements.


Educating future software engineers requires simultaneously to teach them theoretical aspects of software development and to develop their practical skills. A software development studio is a frequently used method that provides the environment where students can try different practices in the conditions similar to those observed in real software projects. The critical questions related to the organization of such studio are to what extent studio projects should be alike to projects developed by software development companies, and how to combine the goal of teaching students to deliver business value to a customer with the goal of trying out new methods without focusing on the risk of project failure? In the paper we share our experience and observations regarding implementation of software development studio at the university, in the way that it supports practicing some typical roles defined in software development methodologies, i.e., project manager, analyst, architect, and software developers.


On V.J. Day in Times Square, a sailor kissing a pretty girl he's never met before is caught in the act. Newly arrived European immigrants at Ellis Island gaze at the camera with a mix of apprehension and hope. A groundbreaking still life artfully eroticizes the curves and shadows of a twisted bell pepper. These are a few of the more than 150 photographs collected in "American Photography" that document a century of our national experience. Whether viewed as a purely artistic medium, a tool for influencing public opinion, or a recorder of events both public and personal, photography has been a powerful and intimate vehicle for communicating our values and our dreams. Focusing on one or more images for each year, this companion book to the PBS series considers some of the century's best-known photographs as well as everyday snapshots, examining the diverse roles photography has played in shaping our lives. From the one-dollar Brownie snapshot of a baby in 1900 to the awesome potential of computer-enhanced images at the brink of the millennium, "American Photography" covers a range of styles, formats, and subjects as diverse as the nation they sprang from. Richly detailed, authoritative, and abundantly illustrated, "American Photography" is a landmark look at the pictures we have taken, and where they have taken us.


The burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic means that more labor and financial resources are being dedicated to the procurement of antiretroviral (ARV) medicines for treatment. While patients, physicians, national governments and development partners are eager to see treatment programs expanded, rapid scaleup often results in circumstances whereby resources have to be spent quickly, and sometimes resources are added to systems that are already weak and vulnerable to corruption. Program expansion in these circumstances can result in more risk, waste and losses, especially in the procurement process. Transparency of ARV prices is the first step towards identifying and minimizing corruption in procurement. This U4 Brief describes how international partners and national procurement agencies have used information technology to improve transparency and increase accountability in procurement of HIV/AIDS medicines.


More and more people leverage the power of crowds to obtain solutions of their problems, and the number of microtask workers also increases rapidly on paid crowdsourcing marketplaces. However, there is an order of magnitude discrepancy between the population of Internet users (approximately 2 billions) and that of microtask workers (approximately 0.5 millions); we believe that a large number of potential workers are interested in microtasks but have not involved in paid crowdsourcing activities yet. In this paper, we conduct an Internet survey to investigate potential workers regarding their demographics, experiences in microtasks, preferences on tasks and rewards. We hope that our findings from this research are helpful for establishing a prosperous paid crowdsourcing environment.


Harmful insects include pests of crops and storage goods, and vectors of human and animal diseases. Throughout their history, humans have been fighting them using diverse methods. The fairly recent development of synthetic chemical insecticides promised efficient crop and health protection at a relatively low cost. However, the negative effects of those insecticides on human health and the environment, as well as the development of insect resistance, have been fueling the search for alternative control tools. New and promising alternative methods to fight harmful insects include the manipulation of their behavior using synthetic versions of "semiochemicals", which are natural volatile and non-volatile substances involved in the intra- and/or inter-specific communication between organisms. Synthetic semiochemicals can be used as trap baits to monitor the presence of insects, so that insecticide spraying can be planned rationally (i.e., only when and where insects are actually present). Other methods that use semiochemicals include insect annihilation by mass trapping, attract-and- kill techniques, behavioral disruption, and the use of repellents. In the last decades many investigations focused on the neural bases of insect's responses to semiochemicals. Those studies help understand how the olfactory system detects and processes information about odors, which could lead to the design of efficient control tools, including odor baits, repellents or ways to confound insects. Here we review our current knowledge about the neural mechanisms controlling olfactory responses to semiochemicals in harmful insects. We also discuss how this neuroethology approach can be used to design or improve pest/vector management strategies.


In this paper, we study the design of deep learning-powered iterative combinatorial auctions (ICAs). We build on prior work where preference elicitation was done via kernelized support vector regressions (SVRs). However, the SVR-based approach has limitations because it requires solving a machine learning (ML)-based winner determination problem (WDP). With expressive kernels (like gaussians), the ML-based WDP cannot be solved for large domains. While linear or quadratic kernels have better computational scalability, these kernels have limited expressiveness. In this work, we address these shortcomings by using deep neural networks (DNNs) instead of SVRs. We first show how the DNN-based WDP can be reformulated into a mixed integer program (MIP). Second, we experimentally compare the prediction performance of DNNs against SVRs. Third, we present experimental evaluations in two medium-sized domains which show that even ICAs based on relatively small-sized DNNs lead to higher economic efficiency than ICAs based on kernelized SVRs. Finally, we show that our DNN-powered ICA also scales well to very large CA domains.


How did thousands of Chinese migrants end up working alongside African Americans in Louisiana after the Civil War? With the stories of these workers, Coolies and Cane advances an interpretation of emancipation that moves beyond U.S. borders and the black-white racial dynamic. Tracing American ideas of Asian labor to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean, Moon-Ho Jung argues that the racial formation of "coolies" in American culture and law played a pivotal role in reconstructing concepts of race, nation, and citizenship in the United States. Jung examines how coolies appeared in major U.S. political debates on race, labor, and immigration between the 1830s and 1880s. He finds that racial notions of coolies were articulated in many, often contradictory, ways. They could mark the progress of freedom; they could also symbolize the barbarism of slavery. Welcomed and rejected as neither black nor white, coolies emerged recurrently as both the salvation of the fracturing and reuniting nation and the scourge of American civilization. Based on extensive archival research, this study makes sense of these contradictions to reveal how American impulses to recruit and exclude coolies enabled and justified a series of historical transitions: from slave-trade laws to racially coded immigration laws, from a slaveholding nation to a "nation of immigrants," and from a continental empire of manifest destiny to a liberating empire across the seas. Combining political, cultural, and social history, Coolies and Cane is a compelling study of race, Reconstruction, and Asian American history.


MISCELLANEOUSBernard LewisOxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, xii, 180pp, US$23.00, ISBN 0-19-514420-1Ninety per cent of this book consists of a study of interactions between Europe and the Ottoman Empire from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. After briefly describing the Ottoman expansion through southern Europe and the Balkans 'to the gates of Vienna,' Bernard Lewis discusses the difficulties the Turks subsequently experienced in coming to grips with new intellectual and other currents emanating from Europe. In one sphere after another the creativity and dynamism of Europe challenged the Turks - commerce and enterprise, science and technology, military organization and equipment, the measurement of time and space. Even more daunting was the dissemination of European thinking on political freedom, human rights, gender equality, a free press, and above all secularism. In the end, the challenges proved insurmountable, an increasingly moribund Ottoman empire shrank and then collapsed, and a triumphant Europe reasserted or asserted its control over most of the lands once ruled by the Sultan.So far, so good. Lewis brings to his task the scholarship and talents that have distinguished his work as a historian of the Middle East for over 50 years. (One of his early works, The Arabs in History, first published in 1950, is still widely read today, and deservedly so.) He demonstrates an impressive command of Turkish sources, illustrating his points with a judicious selection of extracts from Ottoman documents, memoirs, and letters. The writing is clear, elegant, and persuasive. While his judgements of Ottoman failings are often severe, they are neither unfounded nor unfair. Indeed, if this were all there was to this book, it could readily be saluted and recommended as a fine piece of historical writing.Unfortunately, Lewis has chosen to draw from his study a series of lessons and conclusions of supposedly contemporary relevance about what he calls 'the long struggle between Islam and Christendom.' In so doing, he manages to avoid neither of the twin pitfalls of oversimplification and overgeneralization.To portray the expansion of the Ottoman empire simply as a civilizational or ideological contest between the worlds of Christianity and Islam is at best misleading. As their empire spread, the Ottomans conquered as many Muslim Arab lands (from Baghdad to Mecca to Algiers) as they did Christian European lands. …


Effective coagulation is essential to achieving drinking water treatment objectives when considering surface water. To minimize settled water turbidity, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been adopted to predict optimum alum and carbon dioxide dosages at the Elgin Area Water Treatment Plant. ANNs were applied to predict both optimum carbon dioxide and alum dosages with correlation ( R 2) values of 0.68 and 0.90, respectively. ANNs were also used to developed surface response plots to ease optimum selection of dosage. Trained ANNs were used to predict turbidity outcomes for a range of alum and carbon dioxide dosages and these were compared to historical data. Point-wise confidence intervals were obtained based on error and squared error values during the training process. The probability of the true value falling within the predicted interval ranged from 0.25 to 0.81 and the average interval width ranged from 0.15 to 0.62 NTU. Training an ANN using the squared error produced a larger average interval width, but better probability of a true prediction interval.


Previous studies have indicated that HVI +b values of baled Upland cotton increase due to prolonged storage with uncontrolled temperature conditions. This change in +b is accompanied by decreases in reducing sugar content and pH. The present study attempts to elucidate the dependence of this trend on storage temperature and time, and to develop a model capable of predicting +b changes at any given temperature and time. A single bale of cotton was subjected to varying temperature and time conditions, and resultant values of reducing sugar content, pH, and +b were determined. Exponential regressions gave rate constants that were temperature dependent and obeyed the Arrhenius expression. A model was constructed that allows prediction of +b as a function of time and temperature. The model will be used as a basis for the construction of a more extensive model that can be used to predict color change in any Upland cotton based on initial +b, reducing sugar content, and pH values.


Redox flow batteries have shown outstanding promise for grid-scale energy storage to promote utilization of renewable energy and improve grid stability. Nonaqueous battery systems can potentially achieve high energy density because of their broad voltage window. In this paper, we report a new organic redox-active material for use in a nonaqueous redox flow battery, 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (PTIO) that has high solubility (>2.6 M) in organic solvents. PTIO exhibits electrochemically reversible disproportionation reactions and thus can serve as both anolyte and catholyte redox materials in a symmetric flow cell. The PTIO flow battery has a moderate cell voltage of ∼1.7 V and shows good cyclability under both cyclic voltammetry and flow cell conditions. Moreover, we demonstrate that FTIR can offer accurate estimation of the PTIO concentration in electrolytes and determine the state of charge of the PTIO flow cell, suggesting FTIR as a powerful online battery status sensor. This study is expected to inspire more insights in this under-addressed area of state of charge analysis aiming at operational safety and reliability of flow batteries.


This article argues that trade embargoes toward illegal settlements in occupied territories are an obligation under general public international law, when such trade primarily benefits the occupant. In this case, the self-executing duty of non-recognition applies. There is no need for an explicit trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council. For, transferring parts of an occupant's civilian population to occupied territories, and gaining economic benefits from occupation, both violate peremptory norms of public international law. Equally, withholding trade is also permitted under the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This article shows that according to Article XXVI.5.(a) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the GATT does not apply to illegal settlements. A WTO panel could reach this conclusion, either by denying jurisdiction through finding that the occupying State has no legal standing or by scrutinizing Article XXVI.5.(a) on its merits. However, if a panel would, erroneously, decide the GATT does apply to settlements; trade sanctions could still be allowed in a dispute settlement. This can be done by either accepting the relevant rules of public international law as an independent defense, or by using it in the interpretation of public moral and security exceptions under GATT Article XX and XXI.


The Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol (SRTP) is an Internet standards-track security profile for RTP used to provide confidentiality, integrity and replay protection for RTP traffic. We study the performance of SRTP when it is used to secure VoIP conversations. Experiments are conducted using snom and Twinkle softphones running on Windows and Linux platforms respectively and a bare PC softphone running with no operating system installed to provide a baseline. Pre-defined SRTP transforms based on AES counter mode encryption with a 128-bit key and HMAC-SHA-1 with a 32-bit authentication tag, as well as 192 and 256-bit AES keys and an 80-bit authentication tag are tested. Measurement of internal processing times for each operation in the SRTP protocol indicates that authentication processing is more expensive than encryption regardless of key or tag size. A comparison of jitter and delta (packet interarrival time) for secured and unsecured VoIP traffic reveals that the addition of SRTP protection to VoIP traffic over RTP has a negligible effect on voice quality. VoIP throughput with SRTP is about 2% more than with RTP alone since the insignificant increase in delay is offset by the small increase in packet size.


Translational medicine has excited expectations of the drug development process seeing better days. Hope is much needed, as the process in its current form is 'unsustainable'1 and its yield unimpressive. Only a small percentage of highly promising molecular discoveries find their way into a clinical trial and even a smaller percentage ends up in a pharmaceutical product marketed for clinical indications. Various reasons contribute to this problem ranging from purely biomedical, safety and efficacy ones, to merely commercial calculations. Large numbers of compounds are shelved because pursuing them is simply not a good business idea. Such decisions result in lost drugs from which patients could have benefited. This issue is unresolved but has not gone unnoticed and some initiatives have attempted to offer remedies by incentivising the pharmaceutical industry to open their libraries of unused compounds.2 Provided that companies or academic institutions are able to make an unused compound available, funds must be secured to support clinical trials and the process to keep it advancing  in the pipeline.

Masters and Nutt respond to this very issue of funding with a controversial suggestion.3 According to their 'plutocratic proposal' rich people who suffer from a disease, for which such an untested shelved compound is a good candidate, …


Multiple instrumental observations including GPS total electron content (TEC), foF2 and hmF2 from ionosondes, vertical ion drift measurements from Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System, magnetometer data, and far ultraviolet airglow measured by Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics/Global Ultraviolet Imager (TIMED/GUVI) are used to investigate the profound ionospheric disturbances at midlatitude and low latitude during the 14–17 July 2012 geomagnetic storm event, which was featured by prolonged southward interplanetary geomagnetic field component for about 30 h below −10 nT. In the East Asian/Australian sector, latitudinal profile of TEC variations in the main phase were characterized by three bands of increments and separated by weak depressions in the equatorial ionospheric anomaly (EIA) crest regions, which were caused by the combined effects of disturbance dynamo electric fields (DDEF) and equatorward neutral winds. In the recovery phase, strong inhibition of EIA occurred and the summer crest of EIA disappeared on 16 July due to the combined effects of intrusion of neutral composition disturbance zone as shown by the TIMED/GUVI O/N2 measurements and long‐lasting daytime westward DDEF inferred from the equatorial electrojet observations. The transit time of DDEF over the dip equator from westward to eastward is around 2200 LT. In the American longitude, the salient ionospheric disturbances in the summer hemisphere were characterized by daytime periodical intrusion of negative phase for three consecutive days in the recovery phase, preceded by storm‐enhanced density plume in the initial phase. In addition, multiple short‐lived prompt penetration electric fields appeared during stable southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz in the recovery phase and were responsible for enhanced the EIA and equatorial ionospheric uplift around sunset.


The enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) is a scavenger of superoxide radicals and protects the integrity of cell membranes. We previously reported that streptozotocin inhibits the SOD activity of erythrocytes and retinae in vivo and in vitro. We now report that the three major diabetogenic drugs, i.e., alloxan, streptozotocin, and Vacor (in order of increasing potency), interact with erythrocyte Cu-Zn SOD in vitro. Maximum inhibition of erythrocyte SOD of man, dog, rat, and cow is 40% and is achieved within 10 min. At submaximal doses the effect of the three drugs is additive. Inhibition induced by streptozotocin, but not by the other two agents, is reversible by dialysis. Alloxan (80 mg/kg), like streptozotocin, also inhibits erythrocyte SOD activity when injected i.v. into rats. Glucose or 3- o-methylglucose does not prevent SOD inhibition by alloxan or streptozotocin in vitro. Injection of glucose before alloxan prevents the development of diabetes, but does not prevent alloxan-lnduced inhibition of erythrocyte SOD. SOD is present in the islets of Langerhans of rats and dogs, as demonstrated by biochemical assay of isolated islets and by immunofluorescent staining of frozen pancreases. The specific activity of SOD in the islets exceeds that of the exocrine pancreas more than 100-fold. The islet SOD is of the Cu-Zn type, since it is inhibited by KCN, and not by chloroformethanol. The mobility of the islet enzyme on polyacrylamlde disc gel electrophoresis is different from that of erythrocyte SOD. Streptozotocin, alloxan, and Vacor Inhibit the activity of islet SOD in vitro; the rate and magnitude of inhibition is the same as that observed with erythrocyte SOD. The Mn SOD of liver mitochondria is not affected by the diabetogenic drugs. It is suggested that the inhibitory effect of the diabeto- genie drugs on islet cell SOD may contribute to their cytotoxicity, and that changes in the amount or activity of this protective enzyme in β-cells may play a role in determining their vulnerability to noxious agents.


PCRF is defined as an entity used for policy and QoS control for a converged network by 3GPP. Though there are elaborate procedures defined for policy and QoS control for session establishment, modification and deletion, however, there are no procedure defined which can help in improving the Quality of Experience (QoE) for an established session. The current paper focuses on tracking actual QoS which is being experienced by the user (termed as QoE in this paper) and defines procedures for Policy control entities in a 3GPP defined setup for RTP based Video and non-Voice Media session.


OBJECTIVE
To examine cognitive deficits in people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and their relationship to psychological status, CFS symptoms, and everyday functioning.

METHOD
The current study compared the cognitive performance (reaction time, attention, memory, motor functioning, verbal abilities, and visuospatial abilities) of a sample with CFS (n = 50) with that of a sample of healthy controls (n = 50), all of whom had demonstrated high levels of effort and an intention to perform well, and examined the extent to which psychological status, CFS symptoms, and everyday functioning were related to cognitive performance.

RESULTS
The CFS group showed impaired information processing speed (reaction time), relative to the controls, but comparable performance on tests of attention, memory, motor functioning, verbal ability, and visuospatial ability. Moreover, information processing speed was not related to psychiatric status, depression, anxiety, the number or severity of CFS symptoms, fatigue, sleep quality, or everyday functioning.

CONCLUSION
A slowing in information processing speed appears to be the main cognitive deficit seen in persons with CFS whose performance on effort tests is not compromised. Importantly, this slowing does not appear to be the consequence of other CFS-related variables, such as depression and fatigue, or motor speed.


Sildenafil citrate (SC) is the first choice drug for erectile dysfunction. Nevertheless, drug oral delivery is hampered by some obstacles including first pass metabolism, numerous side effects, relatively short duration and long onset of action. Furthermore, drug delivery formulation and transdermal application of SC is challenged by its amphoteric nature, low oil and water solubility, pH-dependent characteristics and poor membrane permeability. In this paper, relevance of nanomedicine to improve SC characteristics and transdermal permeation was assessed. SC-loaded self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) and nanoemulsions have been developed and appraised. Both nanocarriers encompassed the bioactive excipient, Cremophor RH40® as a surfactant. The nanocarriers encompassed an oil blend of Caproyl 90® and Maisine 35-1® and propylene glycol as a co-surfactant. Nanocarrier assessment was based on solubility studies, robustness to dilution, globule size analysis, cloud point measurement, transmission electron microscopy and in-vitro dialysis. Transdermal permeation study of nanocarriers and drug suspensions via human skin was performed using modified Franz diffusion assembly. SC-SNEDD system was robust to dilution in different media and folds of dilution, maintaining its nano-metric range. SC-nanoemulsion exhibited spherical shaped globules 70 nm in size. Cloud points of all dispersions formed were higher enough than 37°C. In-vitro release from both nanocarriers was significantly higher than drug suspension. Nanoemulsion elaborated could significantly enhance transdermal permeation of SC with higher initial permeation and prolonged release. Paradoxically, SC-SNEDDS exhibited scanty transdermal permeation that could be attributed to low water content of stratum corneum. Nanoemulsion and SNEDDS elaborated exhibited promising in-vitro characteristics for oral sildenafil citrate delivery whereas nanoemulsion elaborated was promising for SC transdermal permeation, as well.


This paper discusses the real options approach to investment. Real options facilitate an analysis of investment under uncertainty explicitly taking into account irreversibility of the investment decision and flexibility with respect to the investment timing. This is achieved by exploiting the analogy between a financial option and an investment project. We pinpoint the relation to traditional methods of capital budgeting as well as the special features of this concept, namely the exclusion of arbitrage opportunities and the independence of individual risk preferences. Analytical and numerical solution procedures for option pricing are presented. An application to investments in hog finishing illustrates the main ideas of the real options approach. It turns out that compared to traditional investment criteria, e.g. the net present value, the optimal investment trigger is considerably higher. Hence real options give an explanation for economic hysteresis. The reason for the increase of the investment trigger is that the opportunity to delay the investment decision, i.e. the value of waiting, causes opportunity costs that have to be covered by the expected investment returns. Finally model extensions, which consider different stochastic processes, compound real options, and competition, are discussed.


Dyrnaesite-(La), Na7.89(Ce0.94Ca0.06)Σ1.00(La1.14Ce0.40Pr0.10Nd0.24Ca0.12)Σ2.00(PO4)6 is orthorhombic, Pnma, a = 18.4662(7), b = 16.0106(5), c = 7.0274(2) Å, V = 2077.7(1) Å, Z = 4. The crystal structure is related to the group of Na3REE(XO4)2 compounds (with X = P, V, As), based on the aphthitalite/glaserite structural type. Dyrnaesite is distinct in having ordered Na vacancies, and a rare-earth element (REE) site occupied preferentially by Ce. This also distinguishes it from closely related vitusite-(Ce) [Na3REE (PO4)2]. The relation of their unit cells is: ad = bv, bd = 3av, cd = 1/2cv. The distinct Ce 4+ site in dyrnaesite(La) has smaller coordination with shorter bond lengths than the other REE site in the same structure or the REE sites in vitusite-(Ce). It is adjacent to the predominately vacant Na site, which in its turn has the largest coordination of all Na sites in the structure. REE sites, or Na sites in a [010] row (similar to [100] in vitusite(Ce)) assume two types of coordinations with and without mirror symmetry and two different configurations of surrounding PO4 tetrahedra. This summarizes the topological difference to vitusite-(Ce) where the corresponding coordinations are similar in the same row and intermediate in character to the two types in dyrnaesite-(La).


INTRODUCTION The United States is one of the world's leading producers of two chemically simple but crucially important gases, carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) and natural gas (C[H.sub.4]). (1) In terms of growth, the two industries are at opposite ends of the spectrum: the "industry" for capturing, sequestering, and storing C[O.sub.2] is incipient at best, whereas the natural gas industry is fully developed, having gone through almost a century of development, regulation, and restructuring. Natural gas is an integral part of the U.S. economy, accounting for almost a fifth of U.S. power generation, as well as being the major source of energy for residential heating purposes. (2) More impressively, the natural gas industry has an incredible infrastructure: over 420,000 natural gas wells in the United States alone (3) produce 18.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (4) that is transported through 285,000 miles of pipeline to its various users. (5) The United States also imports some 16% of its natural gas, nearly all of it from Canada via pipeline. (6) Somewhat ironically, it is the combustion of natural gas, along with all other fossil fuels, that has given rise to the infant industry of C[O.sub.2] capture and storage (CCS). CCS represents a major tool in the effort to reduce anthropogenic C[O.sub.2] emissions into the atmosphere, especially for the United States, which relies on fossil fuels for over 85% of its energy needs. (7) And while CCS is only one of a portfolio of measures being considered by policymakers, (8) because it can be used for any large point source of C[O.sub.2], ranging from coal-fired power plants (9) to cement production or the iron and steel industry, (10) CCS is '"the critical enabling technology" that can significantly reduce C[O.sub.2] emissions while still allowing the United States to rely on coal and other fossil fuels in the near future. (11) This is particularly salient for coal, given that the United States possesses the largest recoverable coal reserves on the planet. (12) Thus CCS presents what may be the most feasible and broadly applicable method for reducing C[O.sub.2] outputs that the United States currently possesses in the short- to medium-term. Many authors and institutions have focused on analyzing CCS because nearly all of the industry's pieces currently exist or are technologically feasible; all that is left is for someone to put them together. (13) It is at this point, however, that difficult questions arise: what will the CCS "industry" look like? Who will own the C[O.sub.2]? How will it be economically feasible? And how will the industry be regulated? While the natural gas industry is not the only analog to CCS, (14) a close examination of the industry and its lessons for CCS has yet to occur. This paper seeks to do exactly that: Part I contains a detailed case study of the natural gas industry and its past and present regulation; Part II gives a brief description of the CCS industry's various moving parts; Part III draws lessons from the case study to the CCS industry; and Part V offers some conclusions. I. THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY A. Present Industry Structure The natural gas industry is made up of a fairly straightforward structure, starting with natural gas production and processing. Though the discovery and processing of natural gas are deeply involved processes, they are outside the scope of the present analysis. (15) Thus the relevant analysis of the natural gas industry begins once the gas has been discovered, processed, pressurized, and ready for transport. 1. Pipelines Pipelines transfer natural gas from the major production and processing regions of the United States to the major consumption areas. (16) Figure 1 demonstrates this principle as well as the extent of the natural gas pipeline infrastructure. Pipeline costs vary widely: factors such as the area's congestion, terrain (e. …