The Tibetan Argali (Ovis ammon hodgsoni), a wild sheep of the subfamily Caprinae (Bovidae), primarily found in the Tibetan Plateau, is categorized as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. For the conservation of this species, we have achieved the cloning of a full-term live Argali lamb (died shortly after birth) from a male Argali cell line that has been cryopreserved for more than 20 years. While working towards the goal of cloning a live Argali, we also recognised the need to establish a reproductive herd of animals by producing both fertile males and females. However, as in the case of Argali, it is difficult, and in some cases impossible, to obtain male and female cell lines from an endangered mammalian species. Therefore, for demonstrating a proof of concept of using an assisted reproduction technology (ART) for the conservation of endangered species or reviving extinct species, we used the Argali as an experimental model to produce both fertile males and females through ART. The Sry gene plays a central role in mammalian sex determination: mutations in the Sry gene result in the development of XY females; in mice, Sry knockout (KO) results in fertile XY females. Therefore, we created sex-reversed Argali cell lines through the KO of the Sry gene. In parallel, for potentially comparing the fertility of sex-reversed XY females between the Argali and domestic sheep [Romney (Ovis aries)], we also knocked out the Sry gene in the domestic sheep. Specifically, we used the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas system to introduce mutations to the high-mobility group (HMG) box of the Sry gene. Skin fibroblasts from either adult Argali or Romney sheep were cultured in DMEM (HyClone) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). Cells were harvested at 100% confluence with 0.25% trypsin-EDTA and transfected with the CRISPR/Cas DNA constructs by using the Amaxa Nucleofector system. For each experiment, 106 cells were transfected with 5 μg of CRISPR/Cas DNA constructs. After 72 hours post-transfection, cells were harvested, with half being used for genomic DNA isolation (for examining KO efficiency) and the other half for limited dilution for obtaining single-cell-derived colonies. With the Surveyor assay and a restriction enzyme digestion assay (successfully knocked-out cells lose the Dde I site in the HMG box of the Sry gene, rendering resistance to Dde I digestion), we demonstrated that the Sry KO efficiency was about 10% both in Argali and Romney sheep. By screening single-cell-derived colonies from the transfected Romney sheep cells, an Sry-KO cell line harboring a 2-nucleotide deletion in the HMG box was successfully established. Multiple vials of cells from this Sry-KO cell line have been cryopreserved and will be used for animal cloning via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in the sheep-breeding season this fall.


The string of words, 'Philosophy of tort law' may seem like a random conjunction of academic topic nouns selected from columns in a word game. If the phrase has a comical ring, it is because tort law is among the most practical and least high-falutin' areas of law. Tort law deals with car accidents, medical malpractice, and defective lawn mowers, matters seemingly far from the celestial concerns of the philosopher. And so, like the lobster ice cream sold in a sea-faring tourist town, the existence of philosophy of tort law as a subject may seem to be proof that people will swallow just about anything that can be served up. This essay explains why, notwithstanding its uneasy seat between the esoteric and the banal, the philosophy of tort law is an important and genuine subject. The subject is important at three levels: the level of common law doctrinal and policy debate, the level of jurisprudence and legal theory, and the level at which jurisprudence contributes to moral and political philosophy more broadly. Probing the work of Epstein, Weinrib, Coleman, Fletcher, Perry, Ripstein, Keating, Goldberg and others, this essay sketches key contributions in all of these areas. It begins by arguing that, in connection with several live issues of tort law and policy, courts themselves reached difficult theoretical junctures within the past thirty years. These theoretical dilemmas quite naturally presented the legal academy with genuinely philosophical questions about the relation of fault to responsibility, and more generally about causation, duty, and several other highly contested concepts that virtually shout out for philosophical analysis. Second, it argues that certain fundamental debates within jurisprudence and legal theory have been most seriously developed within the philosophy of tort law: most particularly, the debate between utilitarians and deontologists on the nature of the normative framework embodied by private law, and the debate between instrumentalists and conceptualists on how best to interpret legal concepts. Third, it argues that philosophy of tort law has contributed substantially to two important aspects of moral and political philosophy more broadly: by enriching and exemplifying what it is crudely referred to as the 'contextuality' of moral reasoning, and by developing a notion of justice that is sophisticated, but distinct from distributive justice.


The northern branch of the worlds mid-ocean ridge system is located in the northern Norwegian-Greenland Sea (Fram Strait) and the central Arctic Ocean (Gakkel Ridge). The initial phase of the opening of the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean started some 55 Ma. While the timing and geometry of the opening of the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic are well known, this is not true for the Fram Strait. The Lena Trough, a mid-ocean ridge in the centre of the Fram Strait, is the only deep water connection of the Arctic Ocean, and believed to have played a critical role in the development of global climate. The lack of seismic and magnetic data in this critical area prevented any detailed model for the geodynamic history of this gateway.We present new geophysical data, which provides an enhanced model of the timing and geometry of the Fram Strait opening. Seismic data, together with new aeromagnetic information, show that the strait had opened already around 16 Ma as far south as 81°N. Then, the rift slowly propagated southwards, allowing the development of a shallow water connection between the Arctic and the North Atlantic. Large drift deposits are found on oceanic crust younger than 10 Ma, indicating the starting and continuous strong erosion of the surrounding shelves and those south of the gateway (e.g. Barents Sea, Svalbard). The new data show that the Fram Strait was in place long before the high frequency glacial/interglacial cycles started in the northern hemisphere at around 3 Ma. Furthermore, they indicate that although the gateway most likely played an important role in the long-term cooling of the northern hemisphere, it is unlikely to have been solely responsible for the intensification of the northern hemisphere glaciations in the Late Pliocene/Pleistocene.


Summary Abnormalities of Hageman factor dependent pathways have been described in a wide variety of human disease states. Congenital deficiencies of factor XII (Hageman trait) prekallikrein (Fletcher trait) and high molecular weight kininogen (Williams, Fitzgerald and Flaujeac traits) although resulting in profound in vitro changes, do not cause in vivo difficulties. In contrast, deficiency of Cl esterase inhibitor (hereditary angioedema) results in significant morbidity and mortality. Acquired diseases may exhibit decreased synthesis of these three proteins in cirrhosis and dengue fever. In vivo activation of factor XII initiated pathways occur in septic shock, disseminated or localized intravascular coagulation, typhoid fever, polycythemia vera, hyperbetalipoproteinemia, coronary artery disease, nephrotic syndrome, transfusion reactions, hemodialysis and extracorporeal bypass. Activation of both the intrinsic system and tissue mediators contribute to the vasomotor phenomena in carcinoid syndrome and postgastrectomy dumping. Roles for factor XII, prekallikrein and kininogen have been suggested in gouty arthritis, allergic disorders and cystic fibrosis but the evidence is not yet convincing in these disorders.


Underwater visual census (UVC) using SCUBA is a commonly used method for assessing reef fish communities. Evidence suggests, however, that fish avoid divers due to the sound of bubbles produced by open‐circuit SCUBA, and avoidance behaviour is more pronounced as fishing pressure increases. Despite the potential for producing biased counts and conclusions, these behavioural effects have rarely been quantified, especially when assessing the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs). To test the magnitude of avoidance behaviour, we surveyed fish populations inside and outside two MPAs in Guam, using two diving systems: standard open‐circuit (OC) SCUBA and a closed‐circuit rebreather (CCR) that produces no bubbles. Data were collected using a diver‐operated stereo‐video system (stereo‐DOV), which provided counts of relative abundance, measures of fish length and the minimum approach distance of the diver to a fish. Inside MPAs, fish surveys conducted with CCR recorded similar community metrics to fish surveys conducted with conventional OC SCUBA. In contrast, outside the MPAs, the bubble‐free diving system recorded 48% more species and up to 260% greater fish abundance. These differences reflected the ability of a diver wearing the silent CCR unit to sample the larger, most heavily targeted species that are shy of divers in fished areas. This difference was also large enough to change some results from 'reject' to 'accept' the null hypothesis of 'no significant differences exist between fished and protected areas'. The use of CCR for fish surveys clearly minimizes behavioural biases associated with fish avoiding open‐circuit SCUBA divers. We recommend the use of this bubble‐free diving system for surveys assessing reef fish populations, especially in areas where fish are heavily targeted by spearfishing. If fish behaviour is not accounted for, surveys using SCUBA could result in erroneous conclusions when comparing fished and protected areas. While the behaviour of fish towards divers is rarely mentioned in conclusions from studies using UVC, it is an important source of bias that should be acknowledged and minimized where possible.


Sox proteins are a family of transcription factors characterised by the presence of a conserved HMG box domain that mediates their binding to DNA. Ten groups of Sox proteins have been identified on the basis of their sequence similarities and named A-J. In particular, the SoxB1 subgroup is composed by highly conserved transcription factors that are involved in the differentiation of the cells towards a neural fate and the specification of neural tissue. During the embryonic development of several vertebrate species the first of the SoxB1 proteins to be expressed is Sox3, which is known to act both as a transcriptional activator and a transcriptional repressor at different stages of development. At the present time, little is known about the regulation of the balance between these two functions. Therefore, this study was aimed to identify the regions of Sox3 that are involved in its functioning as a repressor or as an activator. In order to meet this aim a deletion mutagenesis approach was developed to investigate how the deletion of different regions of Sox3 would have changed the protein's function. A specific cloning strategy was designed in order to obtain twelve Sox3 deletion mutants, each carrying a deletion of about 20 amino acids, so that the regions deleted covered most of the protein sequence. The effects caused by the over-expression of each deletion mutant were then tested on zebrafish embryos and compared to the effects of over-expression of the wild type Sox3. Western blot analysis confirmed that microinjection of all the mutants into 1- 4 cell stage embryos, as well as microinjection of wild type sox3, resulted in similar levels of protein expression at sphere stage. The embryos microinjected with sox3 deletion mutants showed different phenotypes at 24 hours post fertilization (hpf), confirming that they affected the functioning of the protein differentially. In order to investigate deeper these functional changes, microinjected embryos were analysed at earlier stage of development. In zebrafish, Sox3 acts as a repressor of the organizer formation at sphere stage. Analysis of the effects of over-expression of Sox3 deleted mutants on the expression of the organizer marker genes bozozok and goosecoid, and the comparison with the effects caused by the over-expression of wild type Sox3, led to the identification of protein regions involved in Sox3 transcriptional repressor function. Analysis of the ability of Sox3 deletion mutants to induce the transcription of a luciferase reporter gene, compared to the wild type Sox3, allowed the identification of regions of Sox3 involved with its transcriptional activator function. The data obtained allowed us to draw a presumptive functional map of Sox3. The consistency of this map with evidence found in the literature led to the formulation of different hypotheses that would explain the functions associated with the regions identified. These promising data provide a basis for future studies, which will be aimed to the validation of the hypothesis formulated and to the identification of the amino acid residues that are responsible for the functions mediated by the regions identified.


Today's increased service demands and the scrutiny placed upon public safety professionals have resulted in a growing need to master verbal conflict management skills. When negative verbal encounters escalate to the point where physical intervention is used, criticism often results when it is later discovered that there is little evidence of verbal de-escalation techniques employed by officers. This is particularly true when incident video and audio reviews are utilized. In some cases, it has become clear that the verbal actions of the public safety responders served to escalate the situation. Administrators are now asking, "is this an area in which the training tape has run out?" Have we adequately trained our personnel to successfully manage and respond to verbal confrontations in a professional manner? Surviving Verbal Conflict training provides public safety professionals with time-tested communication skills proven to help de-escalate volatile situations, safeguard fellow officers' emotional and professional well-being, and significantly enhance the agency's professional image. The course also provides opportunities for the participants to participate in practical skill building so that when they complete the two-day training they are well on their way to becoming more effective professionals in communication.


Why do countries give foreign aid? Although many countries have official development assistance programs, this book argues that no two of them see the purpose of these programmes in the same way. Moreover, the way countries frame that purpose has shaped aid policy choices past and present. The author examines how Belgium long gave aid out of a sense of obligation to its former colonies, The Netherlands was more interested in pursuing international influence, Italy has focused on the reputational payoffs of aid flows and Norwegian aid has had strong humanitarian motivations since the beginning. But at no time has a single frame shaped any one country's aid policy exclusively. Instead, analysing half a century of legislative debates on aid in these four countries, this book presents a unique picture both of cross-national and over time patterns in the salience of different aid frames and of varying aid programmes that resulted.


The paper discusses issues tied to technological progress in the field of medicine, with respect to the categories of: "interest of the individual", "common good" and "public interest". The author attempts to present potential moral and legal threats that can result from the application of the latest medical technologies. The paper points out fundamental problems related to technology, medicine, law, and ethics. The analysis performed by the author shows that the technological methods for "human enhancement" can yield great benefits not only from the standpoint of individual interests of patients, but also in the context of the common good and public interest. On the other hand, the transhumanist dreams of the "bionic man" (the "perfect man") collide with the current global situation, related to the coronavirus pandemic. The noticeable inefficiency of the healthcare system in that respect breeds doubts whether it will be possible, in the short-term perspective, to push back diseases and postpone the moment of death. It is important for the public interest to be understood properly: as the embodiment of the common good (that is, as a kind of a common denominator for the society), and not as the instrument for the fulfilment of the particular goals of the ruling majority. The development of civilization must be based on the universal, common values developed in the European culture. Technological progress in medicine should be accompanied by rational debate on its social costs and by genuine assessment or risks and threats (in the individual, social, civilizationational and cultural dimensions). Such debate is indispensable for the common good.


Williams v. Lee (1959) created a bridge between century-old affirmations of the immunity of Indian territories from state jurisdiction and the tribal self-determination policy of the twentieth century. It has been called the first case in the modern era of federal Indian law. Although no one has written a history of the case, it is generally assumed to be the product of a timeless and unquestioning struggle of Indian peoples for sovereignty. This Article, based on interviews with the still-living participants in the case and on examination of the congressional records, Navajo council minutes, and Supreme Court transcripts, records, and Justices' notes, reveals an unexpected complexity in both Indian and non-Indian contributions to the case and to the era in federal Indian policy in which it emerged. This history shows that both Williams and the policy developments that surrounded it emerged from consensus about the need for Indian equality and equal opportunity in the twentieth century, but Indian and non-Indian debate whether equality meant full assimilation and termination of the special legal status of tribes or continued respect for the ability of Indian peoples to govern themselves. This Article makes this debate concrete through the story of the Williams family, for whom the state collection action and the resulting seizure of the family sheep herd struck at the heart of Navajo lifestyle and culture. The Article further connects Williams to the momentous debates over African-American integration generated with Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Cooper v. Aaron (1958). Ultimately, I argue, Williams v. Lee and the


Modeling is a core practice in science and a central part of scientific literacy. We present theoretical and empirical motivation for a learning progression for scientific modeling that aims to make the practice accessible and meaningful for learners. We define scientific modeling as including the elements of the practice (constructing, using, evaluating, and revising scientific models) and the metaknowledge that guides and motivates the practice (e.g., understanding the nature and purpose of models). Our learning progression for scientific modeling includes two dimensions that combine metaknowledge and elements of practice—scientific models as tools for predicting and explaining, and models change as understanding improves. We describe levels of progress along these two dimensions of our progression and illustrate them with classroom examples from 5th and 6th graders engaged in modeling. Our illustrations indicate that both groups of learners productively engaged in constructing and revising increasingly accurate models that included powerful explanatory mechanisms, and applied these models to make predictions for closely related phenomena. Furthermore, we show how students engaged in modeling practices move along levels of this progression. In particular, students moved from illustrative to explanatory models, and developed increasingly sophisticated views of the explanatory nature of models, shifting from models as correct or incorrect to models as encompassing explanations for multiple aspects of a target phenomenon. They also developed more nuanced reasons to revise models. Finally, we present challenges for learners in modeling practices—such as understanding how constructing a model can aid their own sensemaking, and seeing model building as a way to generate new knowledge rather than represent what they have already learned. 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 632-654, 2009


Treatment of the scattering of radiation by a spherical concentric core–shell system as a problem of multiple scattering by two spheres leads to a fuller understanding of the physical processes that produce the scattered fields of such a particle. The problem of scattering from a sphere containing multiple spherical inhomogeneities must, as a special case, be reducible to the problem considered here. Such a reduction leads to an expression of the scattering coefficients of coated spheres solely in terms of the scattering coefficients associated with a homogeneous host and with an isolated core, in agreement with the multiple scattering treatment.


The detailed abundances of 23 chemical elements in nine bright red giant branch stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy are presented based on high-resolution spectra gathered at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and Magellan telescopes. A spherical model atmospheres analysis is applied using standard methods (local thermodynamic equilibrium and plane-parallel radiative transfer) to spectra ranging from 380 to 680 nm. Stellar parameters are found to be consistent between photometric and spectroscopic analyses, both at moderate and high resolution. The stars in this analysis range in metallicity from −2.9 < [Fe/H] <−1.3, and adopting the ages determined by Lemasle et al., we are able to examine the chemical evolution of Carina's old and intermediate-aged populations. One of the main results from this work is the evidence for inhomogeneous mixing in Carina and therefore for a poor statistical sampling of the supernova contributions when forming stars; a large dispersion in [Mg/Fe] indicates poor mixing in the old population, an offset in the [α/Fe] ratios between the old and intermediate-aged populations (when examined with previously published results) suggests that the second star formation event occurred in α-enriched gas, and one star, Car-612, seems to have formed in a pocket enhanced in SN Ia/II products. This latter star provides the first direct link between the formation of stars with enhanced SN Ia/II ratios in dwarf galaxies to those found in the outer Galactic halo (Ivans et al.). Another important result is the potential evidence for SN II driven winds. We show that the very metal-poor stars in Carina have not been enhanced in asymptotic giant branch or SN Ia products, and therefore their very low ratios of [Sr/Ba] suggests the loss of contributions from the early SNe II. Low ratios of [Na/Fe], [Mn/Fe], and [Cr/Fe] in two of these stars support this scenario, with additional evidence from the low [Zn/Fe] upper limit for one star. It is interesting that the chemistry of the metal-poor stars in Carina is not similar to those in the Galaxy, most of the other dwarf spheroidal galaxies, or the ultra faint dwarfs, and suggests that Carina may be at the critical mass where some chemical enrichments are lost through SN II driven winds.


Designing reward functions is difficult: the designer has to specify what to do (what it means to complete the task) as well as what not to do (side effects that should be avoided while completing the task). To alleviate the burden on the reward designer, we propose an algorithm to automatically generate an auxiliary reward function that penalizes side effects. This auxiliary objective rewards the ability to complete possible future tasks, which decreases if the agent causes side effects during the current task. The future task reward can also give the agent an incentive to interfere with events in the environment that make future tasks less achievable, such as irreversible actions by other agents. To avoid this interference incentive, we introduce a baseline policy that represents a default course of action (such as doing nothing), and use it to filter out future tasks that are not achievable by default. We formally define interference incentives and show that the future task approach with a baseline policy avoids these incentives in the deterministic case. Using gridworld environments that test for side effects and interference, we show that our method avoids interference and is more effective for avoiding side effects than the common approach of penalizing irreversible actions.


From the late 1870s to the early twentieth century, there was a steady stream of
international speakers from Britain who travelled what was almost an evangelical
circuit in south-eastern Australia. The argument of this thesis is that their impact has
been overlooked or underplayed, and, while it was variable, it was nonetheless
noticeable in various ways, both inside and outside the church community.
Using mainly newspaper reports from a wide range of religious and secular
newspapers, including reports sent back to England, but also biographies and
contemporary documents where available, Part 1 of the thesis examines the revivalist
networks which supported these evangelists, and the milieu into which they came.
Using a biographical approach, each evangelist's career and personality is briefly
considered, with special reference to his or her time in Australia. This part of the
thesis brings together information which in many cases has been scattered, obscure, or
unnoticed.
The thesis then examines in detail the style and content of these evangelistic meetings,
the impact of Sankey's gospel songs which these meetings introduced into Australia,
the influence of three of the speakers on social issues such as prostitution, and the
outcomes of these missions. The final chapter looks at both positive and negative
expectations of evangelistic meetings, and at the perceived outcomes.
The thesis argues that the short-term impact was probably the greatest, in terms of
attendance and publicity. The meetings were almost always crowded, and newspaper
reports, both secular and religious, were far more detailed and numerous than was
expected at the beginning of the research. In the longer-term, however, assessment of
the impact is more complex. It seems likely that most of the 'conversions' were from
those who were nominal believers already, or fringe members of churches. The
influence of the meetings was greatest in the denominations which supported them, as
might be expected.The thesis argues that the long-term impact of these meetings and their 'stars' can be
observed in the maintenance of church membership numbers, and the growth of some
denominations, in the pervasive influence of 'Sankey's' gospel songs in both
Christian and secular circles, in their contribution to the emergent campaigns for
temperance and social purity, in the large increase of overseas missions recruits in the
1890s, and in the Christian conferences and conventions which promoted unity and
holiness.


The author explains the political, psychological and ethical reasons for writing about promiscuity. His previous work on what is 'more-than-personal' embraced politics and spirituality in the context of psychotherapy. He sets this inquiry in the historical context of the fortieth anniversary of the 'sexual revolution' of the 1960s, reviewing critically the debate as to whether there was or was not a revolution. The manifold connections between sexual promiscuity and political critique are explored. This sets the scene for the location of promiscuous phenomena within a spiritual or transpersonal domain. Promiscuities (in the plural) rather than monolithic promiscuity are surveyed in terms of sex and sexual diversity. Promiscuity is reviewed in terms of imaginative process. Finally, the hypocritical attitudes towards promiscuity on the part of many (but not all) psychotherapists are explored with the intention of discovering the reasons for this phenomenon. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Oesophageal atresia (EA) and tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) is one of the congenital anomaly occurring in the newborns with the incidence of 1 in 2500 births seen worldwide. A retrospective review of newborns admitted to Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah (HSB) from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2009 was done. The objective was to look at the influence of birth weight, time of surgical intervention, presence of other congenital anomaly and presence of preoperative pneumonia to the immediate outcome (mortality) of the surgery. There were 47 patients with oesophageal atresia, out of which 26 (55%) were males and 21 (45%) females. The distribution of patients by race were 34 Malays (72%), 9 Chinese (19%) and 4 Indians (9%). The birth weight of the babies range from 0.8 kg to 4.0 kg and there was a significant association with the outcome of the surgery (p< 0.05). Most of the babies (20) were operated within 24 hours of presentation but there was no significant association to the outcome. 23 (49%) of them were born with congenital malformation and there was a significant association with the outcome of the surgery (p<0.05). Based on the chest roentgenogram, 20 (43%) of them had pneumonia with significant association with the outcome (p<0.05). The mortality rate is 23% and the causes of death were pneumonia (36%), renal failure (18%), cardiac malformation (18%) and multiple congenital malformations (28%). The outcome of EA and TEF is determined mainly by birth weight, congenital malformations and presence of preoperative pneumonia in HSB.


Summary The mechanism of ammonia excretion and sodium absorption was re-examined in trout using the isolated-perfused head preparation. Preliminary experiments in which ammonia concentration was increased on the blood side (internal) showed that ammonia and sodium transport was uncoupled. For ammonia excretion, our results showed that gill tissue endogenously produces ammonia. A correlation was demonstrated between ammonia excretion and the internal-external ammonia gradient. We conclude that diffusion in the form of NH3 was responsible for ammonia efflux and we were therefore able to estimate its diffusion coefficient (DNH3 = l-55xlO~ 6 cm 2 s~ 1 ) and permeability coefficient (6xlO~ 3 cms~ 1 ). This ammonia diffusion was shown to be modified according to the external proton availability. For sodium absorption, significant changes were caused by indirect modifications of intracellular pH brought about by addition of acetazolamide inside or ammonia outside or by acidification of the internal or external medium. The relationship between sodium and proton transport was further confirmed by the action of the drug amiloride and the measurement of H + excretion. A possible model representing sodium, proton and ammonia transport through the gill epithelium is proposed.


This chapter examines the dynamics of Europeanization of interest groups and social movements in European Union member states. European integration has influenced interest groups and social movements since the beginning of the process in the 1950s. However, transformation has been induced by other elements such as globalization or the transformation of the state. Drawing on findings from empirical studies, this chapter analyses the change in interests, strategies, and internal organizational structures of interest groups and social movements, both in the 'old' and 'new' member states. It shows that the Europeanization of interest groups and social movements is highly differentiated, according to public policy areas, group types, and national origins. It concludes in analysing more recent developments such as interest group and social movement reactions to austerity politics as well as Brexit.


In this paper, we study the support recovery guarantees of underdetermined sparse regression using the $\ell_1$-norm as a regularizer and a non-smooth loss function for data fidelity. More precisely, we focus in detail on the cases of $\ell_1$ and $\ell_\infty$ losses, and contrast them with the usual $\ell_2$ loss.While these losses are routinely used to account for either sparse ($\ell_1$ loss) or uniform ($\ell_\infty$ loss) noise models, a theoretical analysis of their performance is still lacking. In this article, we extend the existing theory from the smooth $\ell_2$ case to these non-smooth cases. We derive a sharp condition which ensures that the support of the vector to recover is stable to small additive noise in the observations, as long as the loss constraint size is tuned proportionally to the noise level. A distinctive feature of our theory is that it also explains what happens when the support is unstable. While the support is not stable anymore, we identify an "extended support" and show that this extended support is stable to small additive noise. To exemplify the usefulness of our theory, we give a detailed numerical analysis of the support stability/instability of compressed sensing recovery with these different losses. This highlights different parameter regimes, ranging from total support stability to progressively increasing support instability.


20 Large White x Landrace sows were kept throughout 4 parities on 1 of 2 exercise treatments, free (F) or restricted (R), imposed at 2 stages of the production cycle (namely gestation and farrowing/lactation), thus giving 4 treatments: FF, FR, RF and RR. During gestation, the sows were housed in cubicles - group a being tethered while group F were allowed unrestricted movement within the cubicle and dunging area. From day 110 of gestation to weaning, all sows were kept in the same farrowing house, group R in conventional crates, group F in strawed pens. Management of the sows was otherwise identical. All farrowings were monitored with regard to the duration of parturition and stillbirth rate, while various behavioural and physiological measurements were recorded as indicators of piglet viability. Observations were also made of now behaviour at various stages of the production cycle. There were significant (P< 0.001) behavioural differences in gestation with groups R and F spending 45% v. 25% of the time lying and 27% v. 42% in manipulating straw. There were also significant (P<0.001) differences in amount and type of locomotor activity with the restricted sows making more minor movements while the free sows made more pace movements. At farrowing, all sows showed increased restlessness but group a made more leg movements and exhibited significantly (P<0.01) more straining and quivering (both pre- and intrapartum) than group F, although the latter stood and nested more frequently during the farrowing process (P< 0.001). There were no significant differences between treatments during lactation. In terms of reproductive performance, the differences between treatments were non significant, but sows in pens (group F) farrowed more quickly (a mean birth interval of 21 v. 39 minutes), produced more live pigs (11.3 v. 10.5) and fewer stillborn pigs (0.5 v. 0.8) per litter, than sows in crates (group a). Group F sows also produced piglets which had been subjected to less hypoxia as evidenced by their lower (P <0-05) serum lactic acid levels at birth (140 v. 158 m.I.U./ml) although there were no significant differences between piglets of groups F and R in times taken to breathe following birth or (53 v. 45 seconds), to suckle (36 v. 32 minutes) or in plasma immunoglobulin levels at 36 hours post partum (41.5 v. 41.7 mg/ml). Neither were there any significant treatment effects on piglet growth rate and pre-weaning mortality.


Separation of concerns has long been an important strategy to deal with complexity when developing a system. Some concerns (like security) are scattered through the whole system, and different modules are tangled to such concerns. These concerns are known as cross‐cutting concerns. When the system in question is a business process, cross‐cutting concerns are aimed at being encapsulated by Aspect‐Oriented Business Process Modeling. However, the state‐of‐the‐art techniques in this field lack efficient mechanisms that (1) support composition of cross‐cutting concerns that can be defined in parallel to (a part of) a process model and (2) enable specifying both mandatory and optional cross‐cutting concerns. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a new Aspect‐Oriented Business Process Modeling approach. The approach is hybrid since it is based on declarative rules to relate imperative cross‐cutting concerns and imperative business process models. The approach is explained, formally grounded with precise semantics, and used accordingly to implement the artifacts that support modeling and enactment of business processes in the proposed fashion as a proof of concept. In addition, the approach is evaluated on the basis of the Technology Acceptance Model during a workshop session. The result shows that participants perceived the approach usable and easy to use.


The performance of a fully optimized optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM), based on null couplers and tilted Bragg gratings, is studied in detail. It is shown that maximization of the device performance involves three main optimization steps. First, the waveguide asymmetry (V/sub 2//V/sub 1/ ratio) should be optimized in order to minimize the extinction ratio of the unwanted mode at the null coupler waist. Second, the coupler taper shape should he optimized in order to further minimize the aforementioned extinction ratio. Third, the grating tilt angle and relative width can be also optimized to give negligible backreflections at the input port and minimize radiation losses. The results show that the proposed high-performance OADM configuration can meet stringent telecom specifications.


Introduction. Part I: Accounting and Bookkeeping Nonprofit Style. Chapter 1: The Nuts and Bolts of Nonprofi t Bookkeeping and Accounting. Chapter 2: Starting with Basic Bookkeeping and Accounting. Chapter 3: Introducing Financial Statements. Chapter 4: Keeping Good Records: Using a Manual System or Computer System. Part II: Balancing Your Nonprofit Books. Chapter 5: Setting up the Chart of Accounts for Nonprofits. Chapter 6: Recording Transactions and Journal Entries. Chapter 7: Balancing the Checkbook: Donations and Expenses. Chapter 8: Balancing Cash Flow: Creating an Operating Budget. Chapter 9: Staying in Nonprofi t Compliance. Part III: Accounting for Nonprofit Situations. Chapter 10: Introducing Federal Grants. Chapter 11: Tracking and Accounting for Federal Dollars. Chapter 12: Getting Ready for the Grant Audit. Chapter 13: Accounting for Payroll and Payroll Taxes. Chapter 14: Doing the Accounting for Tax Form 990. Part IV: Wrapping Up the Books. Chapter 15: Analyzing the Statement of Activities. Chapter 16: Reporting Financial Condition on a Statement of Financial Position. Chapter 17: Eyeing the Cash Flow Statement. Chapter 18: Organizing the Statement of Functional Expense. Chapter 19: Closing the Nonprofi t Books. Chapter 20: Preparing for an Accounting Audit. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 21: Ten Important Things to Know When Keeping Nonprofit Books. Chapter 22: Ten Tips to Keep Your Nonprofit Viable. Index.


This study examined the effectiveness of a 6-month strengths-based case management intervention with 45 Chinese participants with mental health problems in Hong Kong. Social workers provided service according to the strengths-based case management (SCM) model developed at the University of Kansas. Changes in participants' recovery components (Stage of Recovery Scale), mental health symptoms (GHQ), and satisfaction with life were assessed using a single group pretest and posttest design. Results suggest that participants had some improvement in their autonomy, hope, and overall well-being as well as satisfaction with life after receiving services. No significant improvements in the other recovery components and GHQ score were found. Significantly, a number of participants progressed from stages of being overwhelmed or struggling with disability to stages of living with or beyond disability. Strengths-based practice helped participants develop a transformed self which sees hope and possibility despite the vulnerabilities caused by their illness. Though further refinement and testing are vital, adoption of SCM in Hong Kong mental health services is promising.


Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory process involving complex interactions of modified lipoproteins, monocyte-derived macrophages or foam cells, lymphocytes, endothelial cells (ECs), and vascular smooth muscle cells. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a biologically active blood-borne lipid mediator, exerts pleiotropic effects such as cell proliferation, migration and cell-cell adhesion in a variety of cell types via five members of S1P-specific high-affinity G protein-coupled receptors (S1P1-S1P5). Among them, S1P1, S1P2 and S1P3 are major receptor subtypes which are widely expressed in various tissues. Available evidence suggest that S1P and HDL-bound S1P exert atheroprotective effects including inhibition of leukocyte adhesion and stimulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in endothelial cells (ECs) through the activation of Gi signaling pathway via S1P3 and probably S1P1, although there is still controversy. FTY720, the phosphorylation product of which is a high-affinity agonist for all S1P receptors except S1P2 and act as an immunosuppressant by downregulating S1P1 on lymphocytes, inhibits atherosclerosis in LDL receptor-null mice and apoE-null mice through the inhibition of lymphocyte and macrophage functions and probably stimulation of EC functions, without influencing plasma lipid concentrations. In contrast to S1P1 and S1P3, S1P2 facilitates atherosclerosis by activating G12/13-Rho-Rho kinase (ROCK) in apoE-null mice. S1P2 mediates transmigration of monocytes into the arterial intima, oxidized LDL accumulation and cytokine secretion in monocyte-derived macrophages, and eNOS inhibition and cytokine secretion in ECs through Rac inhibition, NF-κB activation and 3′-specific phosphoinositide phosphatase (PTEN) stimulation downstream of G12/13-Rho-ROCK. Systemic long-term administration of a selective S1P2-blocker remarkably inhibits atherosclerosis without overt toxicity. Thus, multiple S1P receptors positively and negatively regulate atherosclerosis through multitudes of mechanisms. Considering the essential and multi-faceted role of S1P2 in atherogenesis and the impact of S1P2 inactivation on atherosclerosis, S1P2 is a particularly promising therapeutic target for atherosclerosis.


Based on the reports suggesting that exposures to low doses of ionising radiation may impede tumour development and/or trigger the activity of natural anti-neoplastic defence mechanisms we demonstrate in the present study that single whole-body irradiations of mice with 0.1 or 0.2 Gy X-rays significantly decreased the number of the induced tumour colonies in the lungs and that the effect was accompanied by a marked stimulation of the Natural Killer (NK) cell- and macrophage-mediated lysis of susceptible tumour cells in vitro. The enhanced cytotoxicity of the two cell types coincided with the elevated expression of Fas ligand on NK lymphocytes as well as the increased production of nitric oxide, superoxide anions, and tumour necrosis factor-α in the activated macrophages. Importantly, suppression of the activity of NK cells or macrophages in vivo abrogated the anti-neoplastic effect of the low-level exposures to X-rays.


Abstract Complementary methods may be used to solve the neutron transport problem. When only a small amount of information is needed, the most efficient method is obviously Monte Carlo. However, when perfect knowledge of the full phase-space is required, it is worth using a deterministic technique. Nevertheless, this memory and CPU time intensive approach may soon overwhelm even the most powerful computer. To deal with these issues, an adapted mesh refinement transport scheme was developed that solely retains active areas of a geometry. The computer code Styx, built on this efficient set of numerical methods, specially designed and tuned to run on such a tree-based topology, is presented. A test case subset, representative of the wide spectrum of multidimensional applications it covers, is then analyzed.


The recent and dramatic changes in Tunisia since the Jasmine Revolution have brought new challenges for its citizens and for its women in particular. Tunisian women, long considered the most liberated in the Arab-Muslim world, are now seeing a growing conservative mind-set spreading across the country. The more frequent appearance of women wearing headscarves and men sporting beards in public, if only an outward symbol of Islam, is unusual behaviour in the traditionally secular, post-independent Tunisia. This more conservative phenomenon, although not the primary driver of the recent revolution, has secured a legitimate place in Tunisian society since January 2011. Many Tunisian feminists and NGOs fear that this legitimacy will eventually threaten women's active participation in public and private life, legally guaranteed through the 1956 Code of Personal Status (CPS). In this paper, we examine pre- and post-revolutionary Tunisia to understand the importance and influence of the rising tide of conservatism and its potential impact on women's rights. Two principle questions frame this study: (1) what factors have prompted the re-emergence of the more religiously based conservatism in secular Tunisia in recent years? and (2) will the new Tunisia safeguard the CPS through its transitional period and thereafter? The authors use an interdisciplinary approach in their study, integrating Tunisia's unique past – grounded in historical, political, and socio-economic events and conditions – with the interviews of 33 citizens prior to January 2011, and then evaluate the post-revolutionary events in light of the former. The analyses reveal that before January 2011, the more conservative behaviour was linked to the present-day challenges and global developments, and not necessarily to a deep-rooted Islamic practice and/or religiosity. Since the revolution, however, the legitimate acknowledgement of certain Islamic practices and movements, previously banned over a period of 50 years, has created an audible voice in the public arena which, in turn, has created a renewed and heightened concern about the possible deterioration of women's rights.


Attempts to mimic the band gap narrowing seen in anatase TiO 2 following C-doping of the lattice where the C arose from a melamine borate precursor were made in situations where the sol-gel mixture was directed towards rutile formation. The formed materials were characterised using XRD, BET, UV-Vis spectroscopy, XPS and TEM and their activities in promoting the photo-degradation of 4-chlorophenol were analysed. It was found that carbon was not doped into the lattice (in contrast to the situations where the sol-gel mixture was directed towards the precipitation of anatase TiO 2 ). In spite of how common reports of the preparation of C-doped TiO 2 using sol-gel processes have been, the presence of carbon dopant precursors in a crystallising sol does not necessarily result in the incorporation of C dopants within the final crystalline material, i.e. the nature of the condensing sol is also important. The presence of melamine borate did however increase the proportion of rutile in the final mixture (indeed in the presence of melamine borate the pure rutile phase was formed) and also resulted in materials with higher surface areas (as measured using BET). Furthermore, TEM has shown that rutile TiO 2 condensed in the presence of melamine borate had a much more distinct rod-like shape than that condensed in its absence (the latter being more spherical in shape). These materials, notwithstanding the absence of any dopant effect, demonstrated enhanced photocatalytic activity when compared with analogous materials prepared in the absence of melamine borate and this effect is ascribed to both their relatively larger surface areas and their specific shape. Therefore, we have serendipitously come across a method for improving the performance of rutile photocatalysts while searching for a method to generate C-doped rutile TiO 2 .


In the political context of the reauthorization of federal welfare reform legislation, a nationally representative sample of 1,570 adults in the United States completed a survey examining the factors that affect attitudes and policy preferences with regard to aid for low-income individuals and families in the United States. This study utilized an innovative survey technique, the factorial survey methodology (Rossi & Nock, 1982), which allows for the simultaneous experimental manipulation of a large number of factors through the use of a vignette. This research demonstrates how the portrayal of difficulties faced by people in need and the ways in which they attempt to overcome these difficulties affect support for policies designed to aid low-income individuals and families. In addition, this study of public attitudes considers the role that psychological orientations of the evaluators play in judgments of families in need. In this case, we examined how the evaluators' belief that the world is a just place influences their evaluations of deservingness. Consistent with our expectations, we found that the more efforts the vignette subject engaged in improving her situation, the less deserving of government benefits she was judged to be by respondents with a strong belief in a just world. The reverse was found among respondents with a weaker belief: more efforts were associated with greater judgments of deservingness.


This paper explores the ethical and legal pedagogy of the current debates on "reforming" Muslim societies, whether they claim to reform social and legal systems, reform educational institutions, or liberate Muslim women. Since these debates claim to achieve balance in global or domestic conflicts, I address the foundations of these debates by answering three questions: (1) Are the rationales for American and/or European governments' interventions justified?; (2) Can the discipline of civil law help in rethinking Islam for Muslims; and (3) Are Muslims themselves ready to critically address the use and misuse of Islam's primary sources (the Qur'an and particularly the Hadith) in their rethinking of Islam? I argue that rather than seeking to "reform others," in this case Muslims with an elitist attitude and sometimes violent interventions, we scholars of law and religion, scholars of Islam, policy-makers, and social justice researchers would be better off if: (1) we thought of Islam as a religio-moral rational worldview, rather than a set of laws, (2) we recognized Muslims as subject to historical transformation, like any other religious groups, and understood how they developed their present views of Islam, and (3) we considered our own real responsibilities to address the forms of global injustices as powerful shapers of world politics, particularly the politics of difference — the view that the "other" is inferior, and women's role as mostly complementary to men. These arguments will be developed by addressing (a) the limitations on "reforming" Muslim societies if one only continues the common debates and practices of what is known as "Islamic law" or "shari'a law," (b) the deficiencies in confusing Islamic guidelines with current customary and legal systems in Muslim societies, (c) the problems resulting from confusing Islamic principles in the Qur'an with their extrapolations in the Prophetic tradition (the Sunnah or Hadith) and especially with jurisprudence rulings (Fiqh) or customary practices ('Adat or 'Urf), and (d) the effects of Muslim women's absence in shaping Islamic thought, from the time of the first Muslim community about fourteen centuries ago.


Scanning the wavelength in high-birefringence fibers inherently measures the group delay difference, and not the phase delay difference, between the two polarization modes. Dispersion of the birefringence will result in a 10-20% error in fiber beat lengths interpolated from such measurements, even if only stress birefringence is present. Geometrical dispersion can introduce even larger errors in some fibers.


This letter addresses the joint subcarrier and power allocation problem in downlink multiuser OFDM cooperative networks. The sum of the logarithmic per user time-averaged bits-per-Joule is maximized. The optimization problem is decomposed into two subproblems. First, the solution for the subcarrier allocation considering the proportional fairness is obtained. Second, an alternating power allocation (PA) scheme with separate transmit power constraints at the source and relays is derived under frequency selective fading channels. Then the complexity of the proposed scheme is analyzed. Finally, numerical results present the convergence, energy efficiency and outage probability performance of the proposed scheme.


Life-Cycle Benefit-Cost Analysis of Safety Related Improvements on Roadways Jordan Browne Frustaci Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, BYU Master of Science The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) lists four different methods for determining the change in crash frequency in order of reliability. Currently, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) uses the fourth reliable method. The goal of this research was to develop a tool that the most reliable method mentioned in the HSM could be used to perform life-cycle benefit-cost analyses. A spreadsheet program was built that performs the HSM's Part C Predictive Method for 11 different roadway segment types mentioned in HSM using Excel macros and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming. Intersections were not included in this spreadsheet program as they were not included in the Utah Crash Prediction Model (UCPM) or the Utah Crash Severity Model (UCSM) at the time of this research. The methodology for analysis was set up to become part of the use of the models in selecting countermeasures. The concept and spreadsheet layout are discussed using the rural two-lane two-way (TLTW) highway spreadsheet as an example. Three examples are presented in this thesis, which are a case of rural TLTW highway, a case of five-lane urban arterial with a two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL), and a case of a freeway segment, each with two selected countermeasures to compare their benefit-cost ratios (BCRs). One important aspect associated with life-cycle benefit-cost analysis of safety related improvements is the cost of countermeasures. The spreadsheets developed in this research can predict the benefits associated with a countermeasure following the methods found in the HSM; however, it does not include a module to estimate costs associated with a countermeasure to be selected because costs of countermeasures are dependent on the way such improvements are included in construction contracts. The engineer should seek guidance from the cost estimate expert within the agency or outside consultants when determining the project costs.


This paper presents an efficient approach for generating suitable system architectures for embedded systems efficiently. Thereby, we focus on a joint generation of schedules and deployment for mixed-criticality multicore architectures using shared memory. The presented approach computes task and message schedules that are optimized with respect to a global discrete time base. As part of the solution, our approach generates an optimized assignment of tasks to computation resources (cores) concerning local memory constraints of cores and criticality constraints of tasks.This approach is integrated into the Auto FOCUS3 tool-chain, using a formally defined model of computation with explicit data-flow and discrete-time semantics to develop multi-criticality embedded systems. Our approach relies on a symbolic encoding scheme, based on a system model that is derived from the system architecture. This paper provides a formalization describing the scheduling problem as a satisfiability problem using boolean formulas and linear arithmetic constraints. A state-of-the-art satisfiability modulo theory (SMT) solver is used to compute the joint schedule and deployment for such architectures. This paper demonstrates that state-of-the art satisfiability modulo theory solvers can be used to efficiently compute (safety-oriented) deployments including real-time task and communication schedules for mixed-criticality applications.


Background: Post mastectomy pain syndrome is experienced by 20 to 30 % patient after breast surgery. Sectioning of the intercostobrachial nerve during breast surgeries is thought to be dominant cause this chronic neuropathic pain. We evaluate the role of preservation of intercostobrachial nerve in post mastectomy pain syndrome.
Method: Twenty patients were retrospectively divided into two groups. 08 patients in group A underwent preservation of intercostobrachial nerve and in Group B which included 12 patients nerve was sectioned. Pain assessment was done subjectively on 3 months and 6 months post-operatively by visual analogue scale.
Results: The average time taken for surgery in group a patient was 90 minutes and in group B was 82 minutes. The BMI was also slightly higher in group B patients. Difference in pain score was not stastically significant at the end of three months (p=0.052); however the difference in pain score was stastically significant at the end of 6 months (p=0.027) between the groups.
Conclusion: Preservation of intercostobrachial nerve prevents post mastectomy pain syndrome; however larger randomized studies are required for further verification of results.


In this paper a perception approach allowing for high distinctiveness is presented. The method works in accordance to the fingerprint concept. Such representation allows using a very flexible matching approach based on the minimum energy algorithm. The whole extraction and matching approach is presented in details and viewed in a topological optic, where the matching result can directly be used as observation function for a topological localization approach. The experimentation section will validate the fingerprint approach and present different set of experiments in order to explain practically the choice of different types of features.


Billions of euros could soon flow to scientists researching nextgeneration "green" technologies in Europe as the region moves to boost energy funding in an effort to catch up-and even possibly surpass- innovation front-runners Japan and the United States. The European Union has long been concerned with the steady decline in investments in energy research, down sharply from spending in the 1980s when Europe faced a major oil crisis. To reverse this trend, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, has drafted a financing plan that would triple the annual investment in energy research to 8 billion ($11.8 billion) from the current 3 billion, providing additional funding of 50 billion over the next 10 years. The Commission foresees the private and public sectors splitting the additional funds. The EU, in particular, would fund much of the long-term fundamental research where risks and costs are high through a range of measures, such as redirecting funds from some large Community-financed projects and tapping unused funds in others. Policy-makers in Brussels view the transition to a low-carbon economy as essential not only to combat climate change and guarantee the supply of affordable energy but, equally important, to ensure sustainable economic growth. The nascent green technology sector promises hundreds of thousands of new jobs and contracts in research, manufacturing and business. The move represents a huge step forward in implementing the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan), a cornerstone of the EU's energy and climate policy. Among the program's key goals: to have 20% of the region's overall energy consumption coming from renewable energy sources by 2020 and to cut greenhouse gases 80% by 2050. In a statement outlining its green energy research investment plan, the Commission speaks of the need to stimulate its "best brains to push back the frontiers of science in materials, in chemistry and physics, in nanotechnology and biotechnology and to find new and better ways of producing and consuming energy." The financing plan, originally due last year, was delayed partly because of the economic crisis, which required new thinking, and partly because of the additional time required to develop the technology roadmaps. Expected to be adopted later this year, it gives renewable energies, such as wind, solar and biomass, a top priority but also seeks innovation in areas such as carbon capture and storage (CSS), fusion energy, fuel cells, and a "new generation" of nuclear reactors. Euros for Solar, Wind Under the plan, solar power will receive 16 billion for developing new photovoltaic concepts and large industrial concentrating solar power (CSP) systems, contributing to 15% of EU's electricity in 10 year's time. Wind energy will receive 6 billion, which the Commission believes could produce a fifth of the region's electricity by 2020. The money would help fund the development of next-generation wind turbines and other systems for deployments offshore, where winds are stronger. Money would also be available for building between 5 and10 new testing facilities for new wind turbine components and up to 10 demonstration projects for next-generation turbines. Additionally, the plan earmarks 9 billion for bioenergy, which could account for 14% of the EU's energy. Another 2 billion would go to the development of smart grid systems to help integrate renewable energy sources. 11 Billion for "Smart Cities" In addition to renewables, CCS is set to receive 13 billion for up to 12 trial projects and nuclear research 7 billion. The plan also foresees 11 billion for the "Smart Cities" program. Under this initiative, between 25 and 30 cities would serve as examples for smart networks, a new generation of buildings and alternative transportation means. The goal is for low-carbon houses and transportation systems to emit 40% less greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 than they did in 1990, championing efficient, renewable energy usage. …


Purpose: In this study, a predictive model was generated to estimate the probability of hearing loss as a Result of acoustic neuroma radiosurgey in five fractions, since we have not seen any other published cochlea dose response model for five fractionsMethods: Cyberknife stereotactic radiosurgey at the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital was used in the treatment of 44 acoustic neuroma patients from 2003 to 2012. Toxicity was scored using Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) 3.0. Grade 1 toxicity was experienced by 2 patients; Grade 2 by 3 patients; and Grade 3 by 2 patients.The maximum cochlea doses and grade of the complications from cochlea were imported into the DVH Evaluator where the probit dose response model was fitted using the maximum likelihood algorithm. The model fitting parameters were optimized to provide the best fit to the observed complication data for hearing loss in one ear for acoustic Neuroma patients. Results: The two standard maximum point dose tolerance limits for cochlea in five fractions are Timmerman's 27.5Gy limit and the TG‐101 25Gy limit. From this dataset for Grade 3 complications the predicted risk level of these dose tolerance limits are 13.3% and 7.9%, respectively. For Grade 2 or higher events, the 5%, 10%, and 25% risk levels were estimated to be 11.4, 18.4, and 30.0Gy, respectively. For Grade 3 events, the 5%, 10%, and 25% risk levels were estimated to be 23.1, 26.1, and 31.2Gy. Conclusion: NTCP using cochlea maximum doses can be used to estimate the rate of hearing risk analysis from acoustic Neuroma Radiosurgery. More clinical data and further study will lead to refinement of the dose tolerance estimates.


In a 1935 paper, and in his book Theory of Probability, Jeffreys developed a methodology for quantifying the evidence in favor of a scientific theory. The centerpiece was a number, now called the Bayes factor, which is the posterior odds of the null hypothesis when the prior probability on the null is one-half. Although there has been much discussion of Bayesian hypothesis testing in the context of criticism of P-values, less attention has been given to the Bayes factor as a practical tool of applied statistics. In this paper we review and discuss the uses of Bayes factors in the context of five scientific applications. The points we emphasize are: from Jeffreys's Bayesian point of view, the purpose of hypothesis testing is to evaluate the evidence in favor of a scientific theory; Bayes factors offer a way of evaluating evidence in favor of a null hypothesis; Bayes factors provide a way of incorporating external information into the evaluation of evidence about a hypothesis; Bayes factors are very general, and do not require alternative models to be nested; several techniques are available for computing Bayes factors, including asymptotic approximations which are easy to compute using the output from standard packages that maximize likelihoods; in "non-standard" statistical models that do not satisfy common regularity conditions, it can be technically simpler to calculate Bayes factors than to derive non-Bayesian significance tests; the Schwarz criterion (or BIC) gives a crude approximation to the logarithm of the Bayes factor, which is easy to use and does not require evaluation of prior distributions; when one is interested in estimation or prediction, Bayes factors may be converted to weights to be attached to various models so that a composite estimate or prediction may be obtained that takes account of structural or model uncertainty; algorithms have been proposed that allow model uncertainty to be taken into account when the class of models initially considered is very large; Bayes factors are useful for guiding an evolutionary model-building process; and, finally, it is important, and feasible, to assess the sensitivity of conclusions to the prior distributions used.


EDUCATION IN TRANSITION: CHURCH AND STATE RELATIONSHIPS IN UTAH EDUCATION, 1888-1933 Scott C. Esplin Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations Doctor of Philosophy Utah's current educational systems were largely shaped by a transitional era that occurred during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A time when the region itself moved from territorial to state status, the dominant religion in the area, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), likewise changed in its role in Utah society. Previously dominating most aspects of life, the Church was forced to reevaluate its place in society due to greatly increased secular power and context. Educational changes, as harbingers of larger societal shifts, are illustrative of such paradigm changes. During the four decade period stretching from 1888 to 1933, the LDS Church experimented with several private educational endeavors, seeking to maintain its place in the changing Utah society. Originally opposed to public education, these experimental private schools eventually became part of the public system itself as the Church restructured its paradigm. St. George, Utah, like many of the LDS-dominated intermountain communities, experimented with these educational changes during this era. Key to this experimentation was the St. George Stake Academy, founded in 1888 as a religious alternative for the region's youth. Though challenged initially, the privately sponsored Church school grew as did its public counterparts during the early twentieth century. Eventually, this growth included expansion into post-secondary education, as the school became Dixie Normal College, Dixie Junior College, Dixie College, and ultimately Dixie State College. Such growing, however, brought increased financial need. Faced with rising costs and budgetary restraints caused by periods of economic depression, the LDS Church rethought its educational policy. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Church restructured its educational system, turning over to the state many programs originally intended as religious alternatives to public schools. This study traces the changing nature of education in Utah from 1888 to 1933, illuminating the process of paradigm change within religious organizations. Using St. George as the model, it tracks the roles the state and the LDS Church played in shaping the current educational structure, as both parties sought to understand their place in


This Essay crystallizes core elements of the major dispute resolution processes: litigation, arbitration and mediation. The purpose is both to clarify essential characteristics of and the role of the neutral in each process and to identify the relation of those characteristics and that role to a conception of "justice." The piece explores whether certain shifts in process characteristics or the neutral's role (for example, arbitration that is not voluntary or a mediator adopting an evaluative orientation) so fundamentally change the particular process as to compromise its relation to a compelling conception of fairness and justice.


Given a word w over a finite alphabet Sigma and a finite deterministic automaton A = , the inequality vertical bar delta(Q,w)vertical bar <= vertical bar Q vertical bar - k means that under the natural action of the word w the image of the state set Q is reduced by at least k states. The word w is k-collapsing (k-synchronizing) if this inequality holds for any deterministic finite automaton ( with k + 1 states) that satisfies such an inequality for at least one word. We prove that for each alphabet Sigma there is a 2-collapsing word whose length is vertical bar Sigma vertical bar(3)+6 vertical bar Sigma vertical bar(2)+5 vertical bar Sigma vertical bar/2. Then we produce shorter 2-collapsing and 2-synchronizing words over alphabets of 4 and 5 letters.


We investigate whether the willingness to take investment risk is a sex-linked trait and link the results to the country's gender equality regime. Our empirical analysis involves household data on financial asset holdings as well as on self-reported risk tolerance for Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Of those countries, Italy is by far the country with the greatest degree of gender inequality according to the 2009 Global Gender Gap Report. Two stages of building a portfolio of financial assets are analyzed. For the first-stage decision of whether to invest in risky assets in the first place, gender is found to have no effect in Austria, the Netherlands and Spain but does have an impact in Italy. However, even for Italy, it seems to be irrelevant in the second-stage decision about the share of wealth invested in the risky assets. We infer from these findings that, for countries with a high degree of gender equality, it is inappropriate to base financial advice primarily on gender.


[Book synopsis]

In 2014, the Bloomsbury Learning Environment (BLE) Consortium initiated a wide-ranging, two-year-long research and dissemination project focusing on the use of technology in assessment and feedback. Our aim was to understand and improve processes, practices, opportunities and tools available to the institutional members of the BLE Consortium. From the project, we produced three research papers investigating current practice and 21 case studies describing both technology-enabled pedagogy and technical development. Now presented as a free ebook, co-edited by Leo Havemann and Sarah Sherman, we offer the flavour of the variety and breadth of the BLE?s activities relating to the project theme as a contribution to the education sector?s widening conversation about the interplay of assessment, feedback, pedagogy and technology.


Context. The generation of X-rays in accreting T Tauri stars (TTS) is thought to be predominantly due to energy dissipation in magnetic fields, but alternative X-ray generation mechanisms have been proposed, such as heating in accretion shocks near the stellar surface, or in shocks forming in jets. Aims. We test models and trends discussed in the literature using X-ray data from the classical TTS T Tau. Methods. High-resolution spectroscopy from the Reflection Grating Spectrometers on XMM-Newton is used to infer electron densities, element abundances and the thermal structure of the X-ray source. We also discuss the ultraviolet light curve obtained by the Optical Monitor, and complementary ground-based photometry. A high-resolution image from Chandra constrains contributions from the two companions of T Tau N. Results. The X-ray grating spectrum is rich in emission lines, but shows an unusual mixture of features from very hot (≈30 MK) and very cool (1–3 MK) plasma, both emitted by similar amounts of emission measure. The cool plasma confirms the picture of a soft excess in the form of an enhanced Ovii/Oviii Lyα flux ratio, similar to that previously reported for other accreting TTS. Diagnostics from lines formed by this plasma indicate low electron densities (<∼10 cm−3). The Ne/Fe abundance ratio is consistent with a trend in pre-main sequence stars in which this ratio depends on spectral type, but not on accretion. Conclusions. On the basis of line density diagnostics, we conclude that the density of the cool "soft-excess" plasma is orders of magnitude below that predicted for an accretion shock, assuming previously determined accretion rates of (3−6) × 10−8 M yr−1. We argue that loading of magnetic field lines with infalling material suppresses the heating process in a part of the corona. We thus suggest that the X-ray production of T Tau is influenced by the accretion process although the X-rays may not form in the bulk of the accretion footpoints.


With recent developments in parallel supercomputing architecture, many core, multi-core, and GPU processors are now commonplace, resulting in more levels of parallelism, memory hierarchy, and programming complexity. It has been necessary to adapt the MILC code to these new processors starting with NVIDIA GPUs, and more recently, the Intel Xeon Phi processors. We report on our efforts to port and optimize our code for the Intel Knights Landing architecture. We consider performance of the MILC code with MPI and OpenMP, and optimizations with QOPQDP and QPhiX. For the latter approach, we concentrate on the staggered conjugate gradient and gauge force. We also consider performance on recent NVIDIA GPUs using the QUDA library.


Reproduced here are most of the lecture notes on domestic policy ("police") from Adam Smith's 1763–1764 course on jurisprudence at the University of Glasgow. The text comes from the edition of Edwin Cannan, published 1896 by the Clarendon Press at Oxford University. Smith steadily conveys the lesson that, as far as policy goes, the best available option is liberalization and freer enterprise. For example, he roundly endorses free banking, mentioning none of the exceptions found in The Wealth of Nations. The text provides a candid window on Smith's ideological sensibilities, and it should figure in to characterizations of Smith's liberalism.


Since the architecture of a software system constrains the quality attributes, the decisions taken during architectural design have a large impact on the resulting system. An architectural design method is presented that employs iterative evaluation and transformation of the software architecture in order to satisfy the quality requirements. Architecture evaluation is performed by using scenarios, simulation, mathematical modelling and experience-based reasoning. The architecture can be transformed by imposing an architectural style, imposing an architectural pattern, using a design pattern, converting a quality requirement to functionality and by distributing quality requirements. The method has evolved through its application in several industrial projects.


This work aims to study the improvement that has been achieved when replacing the traditional single-element (SE) receivers by imaging (IMG) receivers in line of sight (LOS) links, which can reduce the received ambient light noise, multipath distortion and co-channel interference. Also in non-directed non-LOS, the replacement of diffuse (DIF) transmitters by multi-beam (quasi-diffuse) (QDIF) transmitters has been studied; such replacement leads to reduction in the path loss. This study first based on making validation to a previous approximate and exact analysis to LOS and non- LOS links, and then a parametric study to some parameters has been made to check their effect on the link performance. We quantify the performance of the LOS and NLOS links using two main parameters; the reduction in the required transmitter power and high improvement in the signal to noise ratio (SNR).


Abstract. An operational data product available for both the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-20 (NOAA-20) platforms provides high-spatial-resolution infrared
(IR) absorption band radiances for Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) based on a VIIRS and Crosstrack
Infrared Sounder (CrIS) data fusion
method. This study investigates the use of these IR radiances, centered at
4.5, 6.7, 7.3, 9.7, 13.3, 13.6, 13.9, and 14.2 µm, to construct
atmospheric moisture products (e.g., total precipitable water and upper
tropospheric humidity) and to evaluate their accuracy. Total precipitable
water (TPW) and upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) retrieved from
hyperspectral sounder CrIS measurements are provided at the associated VIIRS
sensor's high spatial resolution (750 m) and are compared subsequently to
collocated operational Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and S-NPP VIIRS moisture products.
This study suggests that the use of VIIRS IR absorption band radiances will
provide continuity with Aqua MODIS moisture products.


Coral reefs along the Eastern Brazilian coast extend for a distance of 800 km from 12 degrees to 18 degrees S. They are the largest and the richest reefs of Brazil coasts, and represent the Southernmost coral reefs of the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Few reef surveys were performed in the 90's in reef areas of Bahia State, particularly in the Abrolhos reef complex, in the Southernmost side of the state. A monitoring program applying the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) protocol was initiated in 2000, in the Abrolhos National Marine Park, after the creation of the South Tropical America (STA) Regional Node of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) by the end of 1999. From that time up to 2005, nine reef surveys were conducted along the coast of the State of Bahia, including 26 reefs, with 95 benthic sites, 280 benthic transects, 2025 quadrats and 3537 stony corals. Eighteen of the 26 investigated reefs were assessed once and eight reefs of Abrolhos were surveyed twice to four times. The MDS ordination, analysis of similarity (ANOSIM, one way and two-way nested layouts) and similarity percentages (SIMPER) tests were applied to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of reef vitality. Four indicators of the coral vitality: live coral cover, the density of the larger corals (colonics > 20cm per reef site) and of the coral recruits (colonies < 2cm per square meter), and the percentage of macroalgae indicate that the nearshore reefs, which are located less than 5 km from the coast, are in poorer condition than the reefs located more than 5 km off the coast. A higher density of coral colonies, lower macroalgal index, higher relative percent of turf algae and higher density of coral recruits in offshore reefs compared to the nearshore reefs are the conditions that contribute more than 80% to the dissimilarity between them. The offshore reefs are in better vital condition than the nearshore reefs and have a set of vitality indices more closely related to the Northwestern Atlantic reefs than the nearshore reef. These have been most severely impacted by the effects of direct human activities such as cuthrophic waters associated with sewage pollution, higher sedimentation rates and water turbidity, inadequate use of the reefs and over exploitation of their resources. The implementation of a more effective coral reef monitoring program in Bahia is mandatory, in order to improve the strategies for protection and management efforts of the reefs.


I. INTRODUCTION II. MEXICO'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM A. Mexico's distinct legal evolution B. The unchecked power of the ministerio publico C. Too much corruption, too little public trust III. THE 2008 REFORMS A. The slow march toward reform B. U.S. influence on the reform process IV. MEXICAN LEGAL EDUCATION A. Obstacles to reform within Mexico B. Obstacles stemming from the United States V. REFORMING MEXICAN LEGAL EDUCATION A. Moving Away from Memorization B. Taking Another Look at Transnational Programs C. Working with U.S. Law Schools VI. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION "[Lucha libre] is a contest between two or more wrestlers who compete not as themselves but as characters that they (or their promoters) invent." (1) One of the most colorful images associated with Mexico is that of the masked luchador. Inside Mexico, luchadores are superstars, a unique mix of real-life superhero and movie star. El Santo [The Saint] was one of the biggest stars in the history of lucha libre, and his influence over Mexican culture extended far beyond the wrestling rings where he first became famous. He starred in close to sixty feature films in which he battled mummies, vampire women, and Martians--all while wearing his famous silver mask. (2) He took off that mask publicly for the first time in 1984; a week later, he had a heart attack and died. (3) Thousands attended his funeral and watched as he was buried-wearing his mask. (4) El Santo was a cultural icon, (5) but it is impossible to examine his cultural significance without acknowledging that of lucha libre itself. Of course, a large part of lucha libre is simple entertainment, "[b]ut what wrestling is above all meant to portray is a purely moral concept: that of justice." (6) The popularity of lucha libre should come as no surprise, then, in a country that has historically struggled to impose justice. (7) On June 17, 2008, Mexico took an unprecedented move toward strengthening its justice system by modernizing its trials and implementing true adversarial procedure. (8) Mexican president Felipe Calderon signed into law a constitutional amendment establishing three fundamental changes to Mexican criminal procedure: (1) Trials would be open to the public; (2) Trials would be adversarial in nature, not inquisitorial as had been tradition; and (3) Trials would be based on oral argument, not written memoranda (these changes are, collectively, the "2008 Reforms"). (9) Though these characteristics are taken for granted in U.S. trials, they had been absent from Mexico's "medieval" trial system until President Calderon was able to push through the constitutional reform--something his two predecessors had attempted but failed to do. (10) In those years of failed attempts, Mexican scholars and politicians who continued to push for reform were acutely aware of the U.S. legal system as a model. (11) As the most comprehensive legal changes made since Mexico's 1917 Constitution (the "1917 Constitution"), (12) the 2008 Reforms had many catalysts. However, one catalyst in particular stands out: The ever-present threat posed by the drug cartels in Mexico. Their influence is ubiquitous and pervades almost all levels of the justice system. (13) Those in a position to put cartel members in jail are faced with a foreboding choice: "plata o plomo" (silver or lead). (14) They can choose to receive either silver, in the form of a bribe, or lead, in the form of a bullet, from the drug gangs. (15) Many officials choose the silver. (16) Public knowledge of the widespread use of bribes has cultivated a general distrust in Mexico's criminal justice system. (17) To combat that, Mexico must foster faith in its legal institutions. (18) The 2008 Reforms represent a significant step in the right direction, but substantial changes must be made to Mexican legal education to ensure the reforms are enacted as planned. …


In this contribution a number of procedural issues related to the sentencing of child offenders and emanating from the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 are considered in some detail. As a general rule, the Act requires pre-sentence reports to be obtained from probation officers before sentencing any child offender, with only a limited number of exceptions. The article argues that the peremptory nature of the Act means that a probation report is always required, even if reports by other experts are also available. The exceptions are limited to instances other than those where the child offender is sentenced to any form of imprisonment or to residence in a care centre. The article addresses the question of whether or not the reference to imprisonment includes alternative imprisonment which is imposed only as an alternative to a fine. It suggests that alternative imprisonment should, generally, not be imposed on child offenders. When an exception is not prevented because of the sentence, a pre-sentence report may be dispensed with only when the offence is a schedule-1 offence (the least serious class of offences) or when obtaining a report would prejudice the child. It is argued that these exceptions are likely to occur rather rarely. A final aspect of the Act's provisions on pre-sentence reports is the requirement that reasons be given for a departure from the recommendations in a pre-sentence report. This requirement merely confirms the status quo. The Act permits the prosecutor to provide the court with a victim impact statement. Such a statement is defined in the Act. It is a sworn statement by a victim or someone authorised by the victim explaining the consequences to the victim of the commission of the crime. The article also addresses the issue of whether or not the child justice court might mero motu obtain a victim impact statement when the prosecution does not do so. Finally, the article addresses appeals against and reviews of the trial courts' sentences. It notes that appeal by the child offender is made somewhat easier, as some child offenders need not obtain leave to appeal. These include children under the age of 16, or older children sentenced to imprisonment. Again, the meaning of "imprisonment" is at least somewhat ambiguous. The provisions on automatic review have attracted considerable judicial attention already. The majority of these judgments confirmed the apparently clear wording of the Act, in terms of which the cases of all child offenders under the age of 16 should be reviewed regardless of whether they were legally represented or of the sentence imposed. In the case of child offenders aged 16 or 17, only custodial sentences are reviewable. The judgments which found this to be an incorrect interpretation are dealt with in some detail, with the conclusion that they were incorrectly decided.


We study the convergence of the integrals required to be evaluated in the surface integral equation (SIE) formulation (or method of moments) for simulating the optical response of plasmonic nanostructures. We analyze how the numerical quadratures used to compute the integrals affect the accuracy of the SIE matrix elements and, in turn, that of the relevant physical quantities calculated using the method. Based on these studies, we propose an optimized algorithm for evaluation of the integrals, which improves the accuracy of the results without significantly increasing the calculation overhead.


The recent arbitration award of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in the matter of "Kylie" / Van Zyl t/a Brigittes highlights an interesting dilemma: does a person who may broadly fall under the definition of an employee enjoy the protections of labour legislation if the service being rendered is unlawful? The Applicant was referred to as "Kylie" so that her identity could be protected for various reasons, one of which was that public disclosure of her true identity could jeopardise her work prospects both within the sex industry and elsewhere.


Ruemler, Shawn P. M.S., Purdue University, August 2016. Analyzing the Opinion of Industry Professionals on Model based Definition Datasets to Determine the Most Efficient Method. Professor: Dr. Nathan Hartman. Model based definition (MBD) has the engineering and manufacturing industries moving towards a model based enterprise (MBE) where traditional two dimensional (2D) drawings may one day no longer be needed. With MBD, the product data will be contained in the three dimensional (3D) computer aided design (CAD) model itself. MBD provides a wealth of benefits to users, including reduced time to market, product quality, and task efficiency. Even with all the benefits of MBD, there is still no best practice when it comes to implementing MBD. Different strategies of MBD datasets exist, however none have been compared to see which method is more efficient. This project will investigate different MBD datasets and survey industry professionals to get their opinions on the subject.


Cisplatin has been hypothesized to induce nephrotoxicity through triggering the apoptosis of tubular cells; however, the drug remains widely administered for the treatment of tumors. Recently, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been demonstrated to protect the kidney from the adverse effects induced by cisplatin. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of human adipose-derived MSCs (AD-MSCs) on kidney function and tubular cells. Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups, which included the healthy controls, those subjected to cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) for 24 h without subsequent treatment and those subjected to cisplatin-induced AKI for 24 h, followed by AD-MSC engraftment. The rats were sacrificed at day 5 and the effects were analyzed using various methods, including biochemical analysis, structural examination and cell tracking experiments. In addition, an in vitro experiment with NRK-52E cells was performed. The cells were divided into three groups, including the healthy control, cisplatin induction and cisplatin induction with co-culture of AD-MSCs, and were subsequently assessed with a Transwell assay. After culture for four days, the cells were lysed and the total protein extract was subjected to western blot analysis. Cisplatin-induced renal dysfunction and tissue damage was shown to recover following AD-MSC infusion, although there were few AD-MSCs observed around the injured kidney tubules in the kidney. When the cisplatin-treated NRK-52E cells were co-cultured with AD-MSCs, the activation of p38 and BAX were inhibited, while the expression of Bcl-2 was upregulated, as compared with the cisplatin-treated NRK-52E cells that were not co-cultured. Therefore, AD-MSCs were shown to markedly improve cisplatin-induced renal failure and tubular cells necrosis through the secretion of certain factors, which subsequently inhibited the apoptosis pathway in vitro. It was hypothesized that AD-MSC secretion was triggered by the injured tubular cells. Thus, AD-MSCs may be important for the therapy of patients with renal injury due to their antiapoptotic capacity.


Early life stages of anchovy were investigated in the Gulf of Tunis by means of four seasonal surveys carried out from summer 2002 to spring 2003. Anchovy eggs and larvae were found all year round, but they were much more abundant in spring and summer. In spring, the main spawning area was located in the north of the Gulf, to the west and southwest of Zembra Island. In summer, higher egg and larva abundances were also observed to the southwest of Zembra Island, but secondary spawning grounds were detected in the vicinity of the mouths of the Rivers Majreda and Meliane. No direct correlations between sea surface temperature (SST), salinity (SSS) and chlorophyll a and the horizontal distribution of eggs and larvae were observed. However, egg distributions in all seasons and larval distributions in summer and autumn were significantly related to depth. The temporal variation of temperature seems to control the spawning intensity and the beginning of spawning seems to be triggered by the increase in SST.


Increase of petroleum diesel usage and its environmental pollution necessitate the study of alternate fuel production. Vegetable oils are the viable alternate form of non-polluted, renewable fuel to diesel engines. In this work, the non-edible oil, neem (Azadirachta indica) was used to produce biodiesel by a two step transesterification process. The fuel properties of the biodiesel thus produced were determined by standard methods. It is further tested in a single cylinder diesel engine by mixing with petroleum diesel in various percentages. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and specific fuel consumption (SFC) of the engine running with biodiesel blends (10-50%) were compared with the petroleum diesel. The results have shown that the performance of the diesel engine was similar as that of normal diesel and thus the use of biodiesel in diesel engine is viable.


Spatial patterns of forest trees, stand level effects of cyclones, and factors affecting mortality and growth of individual trees were investigated in 20 experimental plots (0.5 ha) in North Queensland tropical rain forests, Australia. Cyclone disturbance has been recorded in individual plots for 20 times since establishment in 1971. Spatial point patterns of trees were mapped, and pair correlation and mark correlation function were used to investigate relationships between the trees. Effects of cyclones on stand level properties of the forests (total basal area, stem densities, stem size inequality, species diversity, recruitment, mortality) were estimated using generalised additive modelling. Factors affecting individual tree mortality and growth were analysed in generalised mixed effects modelling. The spatial pattern analysis showed minor changes of tree density and tree death in the forest spatial patterns following cyclones. The models revealed that the forest properties were changed significantly. Cyclones decreasing total basal area and increased tree mortality rates and number of abundant species. Higher mortality rates are likely influenced by individual tree characteristics of low wood density, negative growth rates and belonging to particular sets of families. Factors that increase growth rates are include higher crowding effects of tree density, cyclone occurrence, crowding effects by smaller trees, and trees of some families. Slower growth rates are likely influenced by higher wood density, higher surrounding basal area of competing trees and in certain families. From this research, evidence has found for cyclones to be a factor increasing stand level mortality rates but not individual tree mortality. The dynamics from individual trees in mortality and growth, forest spatial patterns and stand level properties has characterised the tropical rain forests of North Queensland in facing frequent cyclone disturbances.


This guide is about Library of Congress Classification System (LCC). LCC is what the Owen Hall Library & Learning Resource Center uses to shelve books. This will help you find where books are located.


This work presents a one-pot template-free synthesis, detailed characterization, growth mechanism and application of well-defined uniform monodisperse (BiO)2CO3 hierarchical hollow microspheres self-assembled with single-crystalline nanosheets. The synthesis was conducted by hydrothermal treatment of bismuth citrate and sodium carbonate in water. Time-dependent evolutions of phase structure, composition, and morphology were investigated systematically and revealed that the growth mechanism of such novel structures involved a unique multistep pathway. First, near amorphous particles were produced through reaction, nucleation, crystallization, and aggregation processes. Then, stacked embryos of intermediate (BiO)4CO3(OH)2 microspheres with attached particles were produced due to dissolution and recrystallization. Subsequently, stacked uniform solid microspheres with small particles attached on edges were generated by the consumption of particles through Ostwald ripening. The stacked microspheres further grew to form monodisperse hierarchical microspheres with a hole in the center, like flower buds. Finally, uniform monodisperse (BiO)2CO3 hierarchical hollow microspheres were produced through layers splitting. The aggregation of the self-assembled nanosheets contributed to the formation of 3D hierarchical architecture containing mesopores, which is favorable for efficient reactants transport and photo-energy harvesting. Furthermore, the band gap structure of (BiO)2CO3 was revealed by the experimental method combined with density functional theoretical calculation. As expected, the novel (BiO)2CO3 hierarchical hollow microspheres exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity due to the special hierarchical morphology, exceeding that of (BiO)2CO3 particles and commercial P25. The as-prepared uniform (BiO)2CO3 microspheres with well-defined hierarchical hollow structures are also ideal candidates for investigating their architecture-dependent performances in other areas, such as solar energy conversion, catalysis, electronics and so on.