With the growth of international trade and the perfection of world capital markets, economic globalization has become an irreversible trend. In response to the tide of change concurrent with economic globalization, for the last three decades China has been pursuing a policy of reform and opening up to the outside world, and it has successfully made the historic transition from a central planning economy to a socialist market economy. China's economy has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2007, China's GDP accounted for over 5 percent of the world economy, whereas it was only 1 percent in 1978. In 2007, China's share of global trade jumped to about 8 percent, whereas it was less than 1 percent in 1978. Meanwhile, China's development has boosted the growth of the global economy and trade. China now contributes to over 10 percent of the global economic growth and over 12 percent of the global trade expansion (1). It has become increasingly integrated into the global trading system. As far as the legislative aspects are concerned, since joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Chinese government has conducted a major legislative overhaul and improved the transparency of the procedures. More than 3,000 laws, regulations, rules, and judicial interpretations relating to WTO matters were reviewed, 830 pieces of which were discontinued or repealed. A series of regulations concerning the liberalization of foreign investment and the improvement of market access were subsequently issued, and some service sectors, such as banking, security, insurance, transportation, and tourism, were opened up further to foreign companies. More significantly, China has made great progress in putting in place a modem, transparent, and effective IP system (including patent system), which paves the way for the integration of China into the global economy. Integration into the Global Economy The Chinese government has always attached a great deal of importance to IP protection. To date, China has entered nearly all major international conventions and treaties concerned with patent rights, such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (PCPIP), the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purpose of Patent Procedure (Budapest Treaty), and the Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification (IPC). Especially in the past several years, by revising the patent law and strengthening enforcement of that law, China has achieved a great deal of success in constructing a patent system that meets the requirement of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement (2). China's Patent Law, promulgated March 12, 1984 and effective April 1, 1985, was revised on September 4, 1992 (effective January 1, 1993) and August 25, 2000 (effective July 1, 2001), respectively. The draft of its third revision is expected to be finalized soon. The latest patent legislation has further enhanced protection of patent rights in every aspect and has brought China's patent system fully in line with the levels of patent protection required by the TRIPS Agreement. Table 1 illustrates the extent to which China's patent protection conforms to the TRIPS Agreement. 1. Scope of Protection.--Under the 1985 Patent Law, patent rights were granted only for processes used in producing chemical compounds, but not for the compounds themselves, while in the 1993 Amendment, the scope of patent protection was expanded to "foods, beverages and condiments, pharmaceutical products and substances by means of a chemical process." This amendment brought the Patent Law into alignment with the requirements set out in Article 65.2 and 65.4 of the TRIPS Agreement (2) before China's acceptance into the WTO. 2. Protection Term for Inventions.--Under the 1993 Amendment, the term of protection for an invention patent was extended from 15 years to 20 years from the filing date, which is similar to the provision in the TRIPS Agreement that the term of protection for an invention patent shall not be less than 20 years from the filing date. …


The problem of part definition, description, and decomposition is central to the shape recognition systems. In this dissertation, we develop an integrated framework for segmenting dense range data of complex 3-D scenes into their constituent parts in terms of surface and volumetric primitives. Unlike previous approaches, we use geometric properties derived from surface, as well as volumetric models, to recover structured descriptions of complex objects without a priori domain knowledge or stored models.
To recover shape descriptions, we use bi-quadric models for surface representation and superquadric models for object-centered volumetric representation. The surface segmentation uses a novel approach of searching for the best piecewise description of the image in terms of bi-quadric (z = f(x, y)) models. It is used to generate the region adjacency graphs, to localize surface discontinuities, and to derive global shape properties of the surfaces. A superquadric model is recovered for the entire data set and residuals are computed to evaluate the fit. The goodness-of-fit value based on the inside-outside function, and the mean-squared distance of data from the model provide quantitative evaluation of the model. The qualitative evaluation criteria check the local consistency of the model in the form of residual maps of overestimated and underestimated data regions.
The control structure invokes the models in a systematic manner, evaluates the intermediate descriptions, and integrates them to achieve final segmentation. Superquadric and bi-quadric models are recovered in parallel to incorporate the best of the coarse-to-fine and fine-to-coarse segmentation strategies. The model evaluation criteria determine the dimensionality of the scene, and decide whether to terminate the procedure, or selectively refine the segmentation by following a global-to-local part segmentation approach. The control module generates hypotheses about superquadric models at clusters of underestimated data and performs controlled extrapolation of the part-model by shrinking the global model. As the global model shrinks and the local models grow, they are evaluated and tested for termination or further segmentation.
We present results on real range images of scenes of varying complexity, including objects with occluding parts, and scenes where surface segmentation is not sufficient to guide the volumetric segmentation. We analyze the issue of segmentation of complex scenes thoroughly by studying the effect of missing data on volumetric model recovery, generating object-centered descriptions, and presenting a complete set of criteria for the evaluation of the superquadric models. We conclude by discussing the applications of our approach in data reduction, 3-D object recognition, geometric modeling, automatic model generation, object manipulation, and active vision.


People smuggling is considered a current fastest growing transnational crime. It involves a myriad of countries, as well as numerous routes which are continuously growing over time. This is possible is also due to the fact that the developments of technology has helped the smugglers to conduct their activities, for example, such as the use of complex navigational equipment. It is believed that the number of illegal migrants via land, sea and air are around 30–40 million people out of approximately 191 million legal migrants worldwide. States in Southeast Asia have taken measures to combat the problems of people smuggling. The Bali Process has been one of the most important Forums in addressing the issue of people smuggling. This paper explores legal frameworks at international and regional levels in order to address the current legal measures in place to combat people smuggling. Furthermore, challenges in its implementation, as well as its adequacy, will also be discussed.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the term Slow Tech as a way of describing information and communication technology (ICT) that is good, clean and fair. These are technologies that are human centred, environmentally sustainable and socially desirable. Design/methodology/approach – The paper's approach is based on a qualitative discourse that justifies the introduction of Slow Tech as a new design paradigm. Findings – The limits of the human body, and the need to take into account human wellbeing, the limits of the planet and stakeholders' interests in decision making, all suggest the need for a new paradigm, Slow Tech, in the design of ICT and ICT systems. Three scenarios are described as case studies. Practical implications – In order to prepare the next generation of researchers and computer professionals, many different actions need to be taken. Universities and colleges need to redesign education programmes for computer scientists and engineers by introducing subjects related to the social and ethical implications of computing (currently, only few countries, like the UK, have already done this), and computer professionals' associations need to introduce a code of ethics or ethical analysis into their members' career development. As a result, future computer professionals who are familiar with the Slow Tech approach will be able to collaborate much more easily across the kind of cross disciplinary teams suited to design human centred, sustainable and desirable technologies. Social implications – Rather than simply focusing on the role of computer professionals, all members of society are called to play a new role in the design of future ICT scenarios. Starting a societal dialogue that involves computer professionals, users, researchers, designers, ICT industrialists, and policy makers is very much needed. Originality/value – The value of this paper is in its call for reflection followed by action. Based on an holistic approach to the design of new ICT systems, the paper advocates a new starting point for systems design: it should be based on a long-term view of the desirability and social importance of technologies, their environmental impact and sustainability, and the fairness and equity of the conditions of workers involved in the computing manufacturing processes.


: The Rancho La Brea tar pits represent a collection of Pleistocene fossils from an unusual sedimentary environment. A taphonomic analysis of a single tar seep, Pit 91, reveals a complex history of deposition and diagenesis for specimens found there. Radiometric dating of 46 bones from Pit 91 documents at least two episodes of deposition, one from 45,000 to 35,000 yr and another, shorter interval from 26,500 to 23,000 yr. Interestingly, the law of superposition was not upheld consistently in this case study, as some younger bones were found at a greater depth than older bones, implying that taphonomic time averaging took place. Bones are distributed as disarticulated elements in two large concentrations that span both depositional episodes. In general, long bones are oriented horizontally, with little or no preference for cardinal orientation. Degree of weathering or abrasion is not correlated with depth. Bone-on-bone contact (pit wear), however, increases with depth, suggesting possible compaction of bones through time. These a for the ABSTRACT The Rancho La Brea tar pits represent a collection of Pleistocene fossils from an unusual sedimentary environment. A taphonomic analysis of a single tar seep, Pit 91, reveals a complex history of deposition and diagenesis for specimens found there. Radiometric dating of 46 bones from Pit 91 documents at least two episodes of deposition, one from 45,000 to 35,000 yr and another, shorter interval from 26,500 to 23,000 yr. Interestingly, the law of superposition was not upheld consistently in this case study, as some younger bones were found at a greater depth than older bones, implying that taphonomic time averaging took place. Bones are distributed as disarticulated elements in two large concentrations that span both depositional episodes. In general, long bones are oriented horizontally, with little or no preference for cardinal orientation. Degree of weathering or abrasion is not correlated with depth. Bone-on-bone contact (pit wear), however, increases with depth, suggesting possible compaction of bones through time. These results, combined with the disarticulation common to nearly all recovered specimens, suggest a postentrapment journey for the bones unique to asphalt deposits.


Fluid diffusion in glassy polymers proceeds in ways that are not explained by the standard diffusion model. Although the reasons for the anomalous effects are not known, much of the observed behavior is attributed to the long times that polymers below their glass transition temperature take to adjust to changes in their condition. The slow internal relaxations of the polymer chains ensure that the material properties are history-dependent, and also allow both local inhomogeneities and differential swelling to occur. Two models are developed in this thesis with the intent of accounting for these effects in the diffusion process. In Part I, a model is developed to account for both the history dependence of the glassy polymer, and the dual sorption which occurs when gas molecules are immobilized by the local heterogeneities. A preliminary study of a special case of this model is conducted, showing the existence of travelling wave solutions and using perturbation techniques to investigate the effect of generalized diffusion mechanisms on their form. An integral averaging method is used to estimate the penetrant front position. In Part II, a model is developed for particle diffusion along with displacements in isotropic viscoelastic materials. The nonlinear dependence of the materials on the fluid concentration is taken into account, while pure displacements are assumed to remain in the range of linear viscoelasticity. A fairly general model is obtained for three-dimensional irrotational movements, with the development of the model being based on the assumptions of irreversible thermodynamics. With the help of some dimensional analysis, this model is simplified to a version which is proposed to be studied for Case II behavior.


This study is the first thorough method optimisation for accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from chemically dried compost. For PCBs, optimised solvent composition, temperature, pressure, number of static cycles, duration, and flush volume were as follows: toluene/acetone 1 : 3 (v/v), 120°C, 2000 psi, 3 × 5 min, and 50%, respectively. Limits of quantification and method precision were between 0.16 and 2.46 µg kg−1 dw and 6–17% respectively for individual PCBs. Absolute recoveries of isotope-labelled extraction standards used for each of the analytes ranged from 65 to 105% and relative recoveries were between 85 and 99%. The method proofed to be robust and was successfully applied to different compost samples. The optimisation of PAHs extraction was performed and resulted in the following conditions: solvent: hexane/acetone 1/3 (v:v), temperature: 140°C, pressure: 1500 psi, extraction time: 3 × 5 min, and 50% flush volume. Limits of detection and method precision for individual PAHs were between 1.1 and 37.2 µg kg−1 dw and 12–34% respectively. Absolute and relative recoveries ranged from 24 to 68% and from 85 to 99%, respectively. Optimal extraction conditions for PAHs were more difficult to determine due to the inhomogeneous distribution of PAHs in samples. However, the method appeared to be feasible and suggestions for further improvements are presented.


From the Publisher:
As American and coalition troops fight the first battles of this new century -- from Afghanistan to Yemen to the Philippines to Iraq -- they do so in ways never before seen. Until recently, information war was but one piece of a puzzle, more than a sideshow in war but far less than the sum total of the game. Today, however, we find information war revolutionizing combat, from top to bottom. Gone are the advantages of fortified positions -- nothing is impregnable any longer. Gone is the reason to create an overwhelming mass of troops -- now, troop concentrations merely present easier targets. Instead, stealth, swarming, and "zapping" (precision strikes on individuals or equipment) are the order of the day, based on superior information and lightning-fast decision-making. In many ways, modern warfare is information warfare.
Bruce Berkowitz's explanation of how information war revolutionized combat and what it means for our soldiers could not be better timed. As Western forces wage war against terrorists and their supporters, in actions large and small, on several continents, The New Face of War explains how they fight and how they will win or lose. There are four key dynamics to the new warfare: asymmetric threats, in which even the strongest armies may suffer from at least one Achilles' heel; information-technology competition, in which advantages in computers and communications are crucial; the race of decision cycles, in which the first opponent to process and react to information effectively is almost certain to win; and network organization, in which fluid arrays of combat forces can spontaneously organize in multiple ways to fight any given opponent at any time.
America's use of networked, elite ground forces, in combination with precision-guided bombing from manned and unmanned flyers, turned Afghanistan from a Soviet graveyard into a lopsided field of American victory. Yet we are not invulnerable, and the same technology that we used in Kuwait in 1991 is now available to anyone with a credit card and access to the Internet. Al Qaeda is adept in the new model of war, and has searched long and hard for weaknesses in our defenses. Will we be able to stay ahead of its thinking? In Iraq, Saddam's army is in no position to defeat its enemies -- but could it defend Baghdad? As the world anxiously considers these and other questions of modern war, Bruce Berkowitz offers many answers and a framework for understanding combat that will never again resemble the days of massive marches on fortress-like positions. The New Face of War is a crucial guidebook for reading the headlines from across our troubled planet.


OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence rates and risk factors for development of diabetic retinopathy in Oklahoma Indians. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Cohort follow-up study with baseline examination between 1972 and 1980 and follow-up examination between 1987 and 1991. Mean ± SD follow-up time was 12.8 ± 1.7 yr. Eleven Indian Health Service facilities (clinics and hospitals) in Oklahoma participated in the study. Study participants were a quasirandom sample of 1012 American Indians (379 men, 633 women) in Oklahoma with NIDDM, 927 of whom received a detailed eye examination at baseline. The mean age of participants was 52 yr with a duration of diabetes of 6.9 yr at baseline. The average quantum of Indian blood was 92% (77% full blood). At follow-up, 515 (55.6%) were alive, 408 (44.0%) were deceased, and 4 (0.4%) could not be traced. Of the living participants, 380 (73.8%) underwent an ophthalmoscopic examination. RESULTS The incidence of retinopathy among the participants who were free of disease at baseline and who survived the follow-up interval was 72.3%. By multivariate analysis, significant independent predictors of retinopathy recorded at baseline were FPG level, therapeutic regimen, systolic blood pressure, and duration of diabetes. FPG levels ≥ 11.1 mM (200 mg/dl) increased the risk of retinopathy 1.7 times that for levels < 7.8 mM (140 mg/dl). Insulin use was associated with a 20% greater incidence. Hypertension was a particularly significant risk factor for those with lower FPG levels. CONCLUSIONS Given that NIDDM is reaching epidemic proportions in Oklahoma Indians and that most may be afflicted with retinopathy, frequent ophthalmological examinations are clearly indicated for this high-risk population. The role of intervention, namely glycemic and hypertensive control, deserves further study.


ABSTRACT In many societies, people with cognitive disability have been presumed to lack reasoned decision-making capacity. Consequently, substituted decision-making laws and practices have traditionally authorised some people such as parents, guardians or medical professionals, to make decisions on their behalf. Several countries are now moving towards an alternative supported decision-making paradigm whereby people with different cognitive abilities are supported to make decisions that reflect as much as possible their 'will, preferences and rights'. In this paper we examine how geographical thinking about temporalities might illuminate some of the legal, ethical and practical complexities of supported decision-making. The paper draws on qualitative data from interviews with people with intellectual disabilities or acquired brain injury, and those who support them in making decisions. We examine how temporal scales and boundaries shape the determination of decision-making capacity; how decision-makers' 'will and preferences' are interpreted by supporters; and how the labour of support for decision-making is organised. We argue that further geographical engagement with supported decision-making can help significantly advance this important disability rights agenda.


Two studies were conducted investigating the relationship between the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) scales and well-being measures in British (N = 179) and Russian (N = 289) student samples. On the basis of person-oriented approach, a cluster-analysis operationalization of Balanced Time Perspective (BTP) using ZTPI was proposed and validated, demonstrating more evidence for its validity than the previously suggested cut-off-point approach. Four distinct time perspective patterns were discovered in both samples: future-oriented, present-oriented, balanced and negative. The clusters revealed significant differences in well-being, with members of the BTP cluster demonstrating the highest scores in both samples. The relationship between ZTPI and Temporal Life Satisfaction Scale in the British sample was found to be non-uniform for past, present and future. Based on these findings, a distinction between three aspects of time perspective is theoretically proposed, and its implications for the future development of the ZTPI are discussed.


Nitrification, the chemoautotrophic process via which ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N) is converted to nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), is an important nitrogen (N) transformation in stream ecosystems. Experimental addition of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) has been shown to inhibit rates of nitrification, and rates have been stimulated by NH4-N addition. Insights regarding the role of particulate organic matter (POM) in this scenario could further enhance our understanding of linkages between ecosystem carbon (C) and N cycles. Hugh White Creek, a headwater stream located in the southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, USA, receives large amounts of allochthonous POM inputs each fall. To address the effects of these inputs on nitrification, I conducted a seasonal survey of organic matter standing stocks and nitrification rates along with experimental manipulation of dissolved C and N supplies in stream sediment microcosms to determine: 1) how rates of nitrification compare across seasons, and 2) to what extent nitrification rates are influenced by seasonal changes in standing stocks and relative abundances of both sedimentary and dissolved forms of C and N. Rates of nitrification were most closely and positively related to rates of ammonification, which, in turn were negatively related to C:N of fine benthic organic matter (FBOM). Uniform additions of C and N throughout the year had different effects on rates of nitrification and ammonification due to their changing relative importance as sediment organic matter stocks were depleted and underwent changes in quality. Slow rates of nitrification for much of the year could be attributed to large quantities of C relative to N in stream sediments. To the extent that changes in OM stocks dictate change in C and N availability, seasonal patterns in OM dynamics represent changes in ecosystem structure relevant to rates of nitrification, emphasizing the importance of terrestrial/aquatic linkages for predicting rates of N transformation in aquatic ecosystems.


Reinsurance is the primary source of interconnectedness in the insurance industry. As such, reinsurance connectivity provides a transmission mechanism for financial shocks and potentially exposes insurers to contagion and systemic risk. In this paper, connectivity within the U.S. property-casualty (P/C) reinsurance market is modeled as a network. We model the network of all primary insurers and reinsurers in the market. We analyze all bilateral reinsurance counterparty relationships (domestic and foreign) of U.S. P/C insurers, and we model both intra- and inter-group transactions. We extend the prior literature by providing a detailed examination of the reinsurance network structure, including network density, network components, centrality of individual insurers, and sub-network analysis for top insurers and for insurance groups. Our analysis of contagion and insolvency risk reveals that even the failure of the top 10 in-degree or in-strength insurers with 100 percent loss given default would not lead to widespread insolvencies in the U.S. P/C insurance industry.


We have analyzed the timing properties of the Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 766 observed with XMM-Newton during the PV phase. The source intensity changes by a factor of 1.3 over the 29,000 second observation. If the soft excess is modeled by a black body component, as indicated by the EPIC pn data, the luminosity of the black body component scales with its temperature according to L ~ T^4. This requires a lower limit 'black body size` of about 1.3*10^25 cm^2. In addition, we report the detection of a strong periodic signal with 2.4*10^-4 Hz. Simulations of light curves with the observed time sequence and phase randomized for a red noise spectrum clearly indicate that the periodicity peak is intrinsic to the distant AGN. Furthermore, its existence is confirmed by the EPIC MOS and RGS data. The spectral fitting results show that the black body temperature and the absorption by neutral hydrogen remain constant during the periodic oscillations. This observational fact tends to rule out models in which the intensity changes are due to hot spots orbiting the central black hole. Precession according to the Bardeen-Petterson effect or instabilities in the inner accretion disk may provide explanations for the periodic signal.


In addition to being viewed as a provider of sleeping accommodations, a lodging organization could also be viewed as a provider of tourists' experiences or even tourist destinations. For example, to some potential guests, a lodging organization may simply symbolize a supplier of overnight sleeping accommodations. To others it may symbolize facilities for. meetings, for recreational experiences, or both. Still other members of the lodging organization's task environment (the actors, organizations, and institutions with whom the business interacts) may view the business differently based on the impact the business has on their organizations. For example, to the cruise. industry the lodging organizations may symbolize a substitute service and therefore, competition. This paper offers a paradigm for defining lodging organizations based on their relative degree of institutionalization within the tourism environment. Zucker (1980) proposed that the degree of institutionalization was a function of: 1) the degree to which subjective understandings are seen as part of the external world; and 2) the degree to which the acts are repeatable by other actors without changing the 8 meaning. It is therefore proposed that as a lodging organization begins to be viewed by the actors, organizations, and institutions within the tourism phenomenon, as not only a provider of sleeping accommodations, but of tourism experiences and even, of tourists' destinations in themselves, the lodging organization begins to take on its own institutional status apart from other tourism phenomena in the environment in which it is located. It is further proposed that, as a lodging organization begins to develop facilities, services and technologies whose meanings are replicated outside of the context of a specific socio-geographic environment, the organization enhances its institutional status.


: The physicochemical quality of groundwater of one of the five aquifers of the coastal region of Pointe-Noire, aquifer AQ1 is the subject of this study. Water of 18 wells was taken during the year 2014. 13 variables were given in the water samples: pH, C.E, T, Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + , HCO 3- , Cl - , SO 42- , NO 3- , TDS and TH. The pH lies between 4.26 and 7.10. 88.88% of the wells have pH lower to 6.5, which show the acid character. 83.33% of analysed water are fairly mineral-bearing (C.E < 300 µ S cm -1 ). On the other hand 16.67% of these water wells (PU1, PU4 and PU17) present an accentuated mineralization. The multivariate statistical methods have been used in this study. Ascending hierarchical classification gave two groups of water well. Except for the temperature and pH, the other variables discriminate the two groups. The factorial analysis highlighted two factors which account for 80.61% of the total variance. The first factor (62.87%) shows the mineralization and the hardness water. The second factor (17.74%) highlights the dissolution of carbonated minerals of magnesium and the character slightly acid of water.


This paper reviews how team projects are integrated into learning with enhanced outcomes. CAPSIM is a business simulation software used by many universities to 'develop and assess business acumen in an interactive, real-world environment' (www.capsim.com). Two universities came together into one CAPSIM shell, which offered a unique opportunity to study team project-based learning; the e-learning environment; and the assessment methodology of Tuckman and Jensen's (1977) stages of team development and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Strategic management simulations online is a learning-by-doing tool where university students can learn how to work on team projects. Employing the online technology of CAPSIM, using team building skills, and offering self-assessment of management styles while working on a team project based learning program creates a dynamic learning environment for the students that prepares them for the realities of the workplace. This project enhanced student leadership styles, developed teamwork skills, and provided an environment rich for building successful project-based learning teams.


The discourse of participation in and about Brazil has contributed to the wider discourse of the public sphere. As an occasion to revise the general concept of the public sphere, it carries its own limitations as well. The public sphere is an arena where citizens come together to discuss matters of general interest and through this discussion are then able to influence the state. The concept public sphere is a challenged concept and is often called exclusive and "unrealistic." One scholar revises this challenged concept, Leonardo Avritzer, author of Democracy and the Public Space in Latin America. Avritzer's revision claims to take the revision further in the direction of participatory, democratic publics. Yet it adds an administrative dimension to the public sphere that is problematic both conceptually and practically. It allows for state control of the public sphere in the name of "accountability" and "democratic elitism." The paper offers a critique of such a revision by showing that accountability means elite governance through a reduction of participation to administered publics as a false "necessity."


An electrochemical study of the cathodic reduction of copper(II) and iron(III) ions on covellite and pyrite electrode surfaces has been carried out using rotating disk electrodes in acidic chloride solutions. The results of linear sweep voltammetric measurements have revealed that reduction of copper(II) ions on both mineral surfaces can be enhanced by a typical EC'(electrochemical/chemical) or catalytic mechanism in which the product copper(I) ions, are reoxidised in a rapid chemical reaction with iron(III) ions. Fe(III) + Cu(I) ⇆ Fe(II) + Cu(II) In the case of covellite, the catalytic effect is substantial with a significant positive shift in the mixed potential in the presence of both ions. An estimate of the magnitude of the catalytic effect using conventional EC theory for a rotating disk and published data for the rate of oxidation of copper(I) by iron(III) is consistent with the observed effect. It is suggested that the effect on the leaching rate of covellite in such solutions at ambient temperatures will not be significantly affected by the presence of this catalytic process given that the mixed potentials occur in a potential region in which the rate of anodic dissolution of the mineral is largely independent of potential. The effect is less substantial in the case of pyrite and a more extensive study of the effects of varying concentrations of chloride, copper(II) and iron(III) ions has given results which are also qualitatively consistent with those predicted from the theory in that the concentration of copper(II) has a greater effect than that of iron(III) on the catalytic currents. The practical significance is expected to be minimal in the case of pyrite for which higher potentials are required than those at which copper(II) is electrochemically active.


Objective To confirm and to characterize the increase in emergency department (ED) visits related to the use of synthetic cannabinoids (SC) Introduction On October 2016, the Indian Ocean Regional Health Agency was alerted about an increase in ED visits related to adverse reactions associated with use of SC on Mayotte Island. In this context, an investigation based on a syndromic surveillance system was implemented by the regional unit of the French national public health agency. Methods An extraction of anonymized records routinely collected by the syndromic surveillance system (1) was carried out from January 1st, 2012 to October 30, 2016. ED visits related to the consumption of SC were identified from ICD-10 codes of the principal diagnostic according to two levels of confidence: - a probable case was defined as ED visit coded X69 (Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to other and unspecified chemicals and noxious substances). This code has been implemented specifically by ED physicians since august 2015; - a suspect case was defined as ED visit coded: F11 (Mental and behavioral disorders due to use of opioids), F12 (Mental and behavioral disorders due to use of cannabinoids), F16 (Mental and behavioral disorders due to use of hallucinogens), F18 (Mental and behavioral disorders due to use of volatile solvents), F19 (Mental and behavioral disorders due to multiple drug use and use of other psychoactive substances). Based on these data, an epidemic curve and a descriptive analysis of ED visits were carried out. Results In total, 146 ED visits related to adverse events associated with use of SC were registered from January 1 st , 2012 to October 30, 2016. The epidemic curve shows two waves between 2015 and 2016 with a particularly high peak in August 2015 (Figure 1). In total, 49% (n=72/146) of these ED visits were probably related to adverse reactions associated to use SC and 51% (n=74/146) meet to the suspect case definition. On the surveillance period, men represented 84% of the patients (n=122) and median age (min – max) was 23 (8-62) years old. When the severity score variable was filled (n = 138), a vital emergency was reported for 4% (n = 5) of patients and 19% of patients were hospitalized. Conclusions Data from syndromic surveillance system allowed to confirm an increase in ED visits related to adverse reactions associated with use of SC in Mayotte Island. To our knowledge, it's the first time that an outbreak related to use SC is described in the Ocean Indian areaThis phenomenon was particularly marked in 2015 with a peak of ED visits on August 2016. After this outbreak, the regional unit of the French national public health agency recommended the pursuit of the coding X69 in principal diagnosis with the following case definition: any patient with an adverse reaction attributed to synthetic cannabinoid use whether suspected by the medical team or declared by the patient himself or if the patient is in possession of the substance; and to raise awareness ED physicians to the notification of these poisonings to the Regional Addictive Surveillance Center. In conclusion, the young population, weakened by a precarious socio-economic situation, is a target for new synthetic drugs and a threat to public health. This emerging risk in Mayotte must be taken into account and must be actively monitored. In this context, collaborative work with the emergency services must continue in parallel with targeted prevention measures. References 1. Vilain P, Maillard O, Raslan-Loubatie J, Abdou MA, Lernout T, Filleul L. Usefulness of Syndromic Surveillance for Early Outbreak Detection in Small Islands: The Case of Mayotte. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics. 2013;5(1):e149.


We study the gradient flow model of the Landau-de Gennes energy functional for nematic liquid crystals at the isotropic-nematic transition temperature on prototype geometries. We focus on the three-dimensional droplet, the disc and the square with Dirichlet boundary conditions and different types of initial conditions, with the aim of observing interesting transient dynamics which may be of practical relevance. We use a fourth-order Landau-de Gennes bulk potential which admits isotropic and uniaxial minima at the transition temperature. For a droplet with radial boundary conditions, a large class of physically relevant initial conditions generate dynamic solutions with a well-defined isotropic-nematic front which propagates according to mean curvature for significant times. We introduce radially symmetric obstacles into the droplet and prove the existence of pulsating wave solutions of the gradient flow model in certain parameter regimes. The average velocity of the pulsating wave is determined by some critical forcing which can be verified numerically. On the unit disc, we make a distinction between planar and non-planar initial conditions and minimal and non-minimal Dirichlet boundary conditions. Planar initial conditions generate solutions with an isotropic core for all times whereas non-planar initial conditions generate solutions that escape into the third dimension. Non-minimal boundary conditions result in solutions with boundary layers. These solutions can have either a largely nematic interior profile or a largely isotropic interior profile, depending on the initial conditions. On the square, we provide an analytic description of the Well Order Reconstruction solution first reported numerically by Kralj and Majumdar in 2014. We interpret the Well Order Reconstruction solution as a critical point of a related scalar variational problem and prove that the solution is globally stable on small domains. We use the gradient flow model of the Landau-de Gennes energy to numerically study the emergence of new solution branches from the Well Order Reconstruction solution. We conclude this thesis by studying a triple phase Landau-de Gennes model with a sixth-order bulk potential which admits isotropic, uniaxial and biaxial minima at a special temperature known as the triple point temperature. For some model problems, we can use asymptotic methods to prove that isotropic-uniaxial, uniaxial-biaxial and isotropic-biaxial fronts propagate according to mean curvature and to prove an angle condition that holds when the fronts intersect at a triple junction. We corroborate our formal calculations with a numerical investigation of the full Landau-de Gennes gradient flow system.


Title of dissertation: MODELING PLASMA TRANSPORT AND WAVE GENERATION DURING IONOSPHERIC MODIFICATION EXPERIMENTS Aram Vartanyan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Dissertation directed by: Professor Konstantinos Papadopoulos Department of Physics and Astronomy Research on ionospheric modifications led to numerous studies of practical importance. This thesis highlights work carried out on this subject. Following an overview of plasma physics and ionospheric modification in Chapter 1, three main topics are discussed. Chapter 2 examines the effects of long-term HF heating of the ionosphere. It was found that the plasma expands and transports along Earth's magnetic field line, resulting in the formation of plasma "tubes" referred to as artificial ionospheric ducts. While a computational model of HF-heated plasma transport was previously presented, experimental observations of artificial ducts and comparison against the model were missing. A study was conducted by performing several ionospheric heating experiments at the HAARP facility during different ionospheric conditions and times of day, and recording their effects with instruments on-board overflying satellites. The work culminated in the first large collection of satellite observations of HF-induced ionospheric ducts and plasma transport. Modeling comparisons against a representative subset of observations established the basic physics picture of ducts and their physical characteristics. Moreover, we present the first observations of HF wave focusing by ionospheric density depletions. Chapter 3 deals with the study of Ionospheric Current Drive (ICD), a method for generating Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) and Extreme Low Frequency (ELF) waves using modulated heating of the F region ionosphere. A wave generation/propagation model of ICD had been presented along with successful proof of concept experiments. However test comparisons of observations and theory had not been performed. To this end, we carried out a set of parameter-sweep simulation studies that reveal the conditions for maximum generation efficiency. With these considerations, we show that the frequency dependence of the generated wave amplitudes predicted by the model is in qualitative agreement with the proof of concept experimental results. Future work will be necessary to fully understand the frequency response of ICD generated waves. Chapter 4 deals with the generation of Very Low Frequency (VLF) electromagnetic ("whistler") waves. Artificial whistler waves were known to be generated by modulated heating of the polar electrojet. We present the very first clear experimental observations of whistler waves generated by continuous heating of the upper ionosphere. The proposed generation mechanism relies on parametrically excited Lower-Hybrid (LH) waves and their non-linear conversion to whistler waves. After generalizing an existing LH-whistler conversion model, we present simulation results that are in good agreement with the observed whistler wave spectrum. A combination of the qualitative discussions and simulation results explains major peculiarities observed in the spectrum. With regard to the first topic, the author took part in experimental planning, processed satellite data, performed simulation runs of an adopted plasma transport computational model, and compared simulation results with satellite observations. In the second topic the author adopted the ICD generation computational model, performed parameter-sweep simulation runs, and compared simulation results with experimental observations. In the last topic, the author took part in experimental planning, processed satellite data, wrote and benchmarked a computational code for an adopted mathematical model of LH-whistler conversion, performed simulation runs after generalizing the computational model, and compared simulation results against satellite observations. MODELING PLASMA TRANSPORT AND WAVE GENERATION DURING IONOSPHERIC MODIFICATION EXPERIMENTS


A human erythrocyte membrane glycoprotein of 205,000 mol wt (gp205) has been identified as the C3b receptor of the erythrocyte, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN), B lymphocyte, and monocyte. Initially, gp205 was sought and characterized as a constituent of the human erythrocyte membrane that can impair activation of the alternative complement pathway by inducing loss of function of the properdin-stabilized amplification C3 convertase (C3b,Bb,P) through displacement of Bb from C3b and by promoting cleavage-inactivation of C3b by C3b inactivator. These inhibitory activities of gp205 suggested that this membrane glyeoprotein had an affinity for C3b and prompted an analysis of its possible identity as the C3b receptor of human peripheral blood cells. The F(ab')2 fragment of rabbit IgG anti-gp205 inhibited the formation of rosettes with sheep EC3b of human erythroeytes, B lymphocytes, monocytes and PMN in a dose-response manner; the 50 percent inhibitory doses were 0.13/μg/ml, 0.90 μg/ml, 1.25 μg/ml, and 1.20 μg/ml of F(ab')2, respectively. Anti-gp205 did not impair the formation of rosettes by monocytes and B lymphocytes with sheep EC3bi or with EC3d. Scatchard analysis of the number of specific (125)I-F(ab')(2) anti-gp205 binding sites/cell revealed 950 sites/erythrocyte, 21,000 sites/cell of B lymphocyte preparation, 57,000 sites/PMN, and 48,000 sites/monocyte, indicating that the higher concentrations of antibody that had been required for inhibition of rosette formation by the nucleated cells reflected larger numbers of receptors on these cells. Direct evidence for the identity of gp205 as the C3b receptor of the four cell types was obtained when detergent-solubilized membrane proteins of the surface-radioiodinated cells were reacted with anti- gp205 and the immunoprecipitate was analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. In each instance, the antigenic material reacting with anti-gp205 represented a single protein with an apparent 205,000 mol wt. Thus, gp205 is the C3b receptor of human erythrocytes, PMN, B lymphocytes, and monocytes.


Soft tissue sarcomas and glioblastomas are two deadly tumors that are characterized by aggressive overproliferation, and regions of severe intratumoral nutrient and oxygen deprivation. The mechanisms by which tumors evade proliferation control signals and survive in a hostile microenvironment are active areas of investigation. This work describes two projects investigating loss of proliferation control in soft tissue sarcoma, as a result of Hippo pathway deregulation, and mechanisms of survival under stress in glioblastoma, as a result of decreased microRNA-124 (miR-124) levels. First, we demonstrate that the Hippo pathway is deregulated in soft tissue sarcoma patient samples, leading to overexpression of the Hippo effector YAP. YAP, a transcriptional coactivator, binds to TEAD proteins in the nucleus and controls the transcription of multiple pro-proliferation and anti-apoptosis targets, including the transcription factor FOXM1. Interestingly, we show that FOXM1 physically interacts with the TEAD/YAP complex, creating a powerful pro-proliferation complex. FOXM1 genetic deletion and pharmacologic inhibition resulted in decreased sarcoma tumor size, suggesting that FOXM1 inhibition is a viable potential sarcoma treatment. Second, we show that ectopically expressing miR-124 in glioblastoma cells leads to increased cell death. We identify three factors (SERP1, TEAD1, and MAPK14) as direct miR-124 targets and partial effectors of cell survival under stress. Inhibition of these targets recapitulates the miR-124 cell death phenotype under stress, and decreased glioma growth in vivo. Importantly, miR-124 ectopic expression results in increased survival in an in vivo orthotopic intracranial glioma model, suggesting that expression of miR-124, or inhibition of its downstream targets, is an attractive way of targeting glioblastoma cells residing in hypoxic/ischemic regions, and ultimately a method of investigating novel glioblastoma treatments. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor Celeste Simon


The political attention paid to moral values - in the context of the high profile fights over abortion, homosexuality, and abstinence education - has developed over the past quarter century in ideological terms as though race and class no longer existed. In fact, the changing understandings that attend family formation reflect a long term shift in the pathways to middle class life which has created a new technocratic elite - an elite that invests heavily in both men and women's advanced degrees, and has remade family life to its advantage. The success of the new model, which we call the "blue family paradigm," and the sexual revolution at its core undermines what had once been consensus support for traditional values (which we will call "the red family paradigm"), and for the structure of family life following from abstinence to courtship to marriage. The result of the tensions between these family ideals has been a moral backlash. In this Article, we highlight the tensions between the two family models, focusing on contraception, and critique the class-based nature of the results. We argue that the politicization of family issues has produced its own "vicious cycle" of moral concern, draconian changes that disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable Americans, and a new round of moral panic justifying further punitive measures, as the initial restrictions (such as closing abortion clinics and slashing family planning funds) make matters worse. We conclude that the "culture wars" are very much about class, and yet they are framed as a fight between two relatively privileged groups, in which class implications of the struggle disappear from sight. This Article argues that only by making these class implications visible - for low income, middle class, and wealthy individuals - can we design more effective interventions that can break the cycle.


The papers in the sixteenth volume of the National Bureau of Economic Research's Innovation Policy and the Economy offer insights into the changing landscape of innovation by highlighting recent developments in the financing of innovation and entrepreneurship and in the economics of innovation and intellectual property. The first chapter, by Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, explores the process of experimentation in the context of financing of technology start-ups by venture capitalists. The second, by Yael Hochberg, also analyzes the role of entrepreneurial experimentation by systematically examining the rise of start-up accelerators. The third chapter, by Heidi Williams, studies the relationship between the strength of intellectual property rights and innovation. The fourth paper, by Fiona Scott Morton and Carl Shapiro discusses recent changes to the patent system and whether they align the rewards from intellectual property with the marginal contributions made by innovators and other stakeholders. The final chapter, by Karim Lakhani and Kevin Boudreau, focuses on the potential use of field innovation experiments and contests to inform innovation policy and management. Together, these essays continue to highlight the importance of economic theory and empirical analysis in innovation policy research.


This paper presents a comparison study in which several partners have applied methods to quantify uncertainty on production forecasts for reservoir models conditioned to both static and dynamic well data. A synthetic case study was set up, based on a real field case. All partners received well porosity/permeability data and 'historic' production data. Noise was added to both data types. A geological description was given to guide the parameterization of the reservoir model. Partners were asked to condition their reservoir models to these data and estimate the probability distribution of total field production at the end of the forecast period. The various approaches taken by the partners were categorized. Results showed that for a significant number of approaches the truth case was outside the predicted range. The choice of parameterization and initial reservoir models gave the largest influence on the prediction range, whereas the choice of reservoir simulator introduced a bias in the predicted range.


This study presents a floristic-taxonomic treatment of Psidium in the state of Espírito Santo, and is a result of fieldwork combined with analyses of herbarium specimens. Fourteen species of the genus were recognized in Espírito Santo state (P. brownianum, P. cattleianum, P. cauliflorum, P. guajava, P. guineense, P. longipetiolatum, P. myrtoides, P. oblongatum, P. oligospermum, P. ovale, P. rhombeum, P. rufum P. sartorianum, and Psidium sp.), accounting for about 34% of the species richness estimated for the genus in the Atlantic Rainforest biome. The species occur predominantly in lowland forests up to 700 meters above sea level. These areas are highly threatened due to urbanization of coastal areas and agricultural expansion in the state Espírito Santo. Therefore, the conservation of Psidium species in this state requires the creation of more lowland protected areas.


Critical thinking is defined as a basic skill for nurses which leads to the best performance based on the best existing evidence. Although acquisition of this skill is highly emphasized, still there is no single definition for it. considering importance of critical thinking in performing nursing clinical care, current study was conducted aiming at investigating critical thinking progressive trend among nursing students in a nine-year period using library approach. Methods: This systematic research was conducted by search in Magiran, Iran Medex, and SID databases within 2001-2011. The author used critical thinking and nurse as key terms and found 15 research papers to critical thinking in nursing students and three review papers. Also, some papers on critical thinking in medical and paramedical students in Iran were also searched, examined, and compared. Other data bases such as Elsevier and PubMed were also used for enrichment of the discussion. Discussion: In terms of historical trend, critical thinking in nursing students has shown no progress within ten-year period (2001-2011) and generally no progress was observed in critical thinking based on standard tests (Watson Glaser test and California critical thinking skills test and Cornell critical thinking test) in the research works conducted in various Iranian universities. This trend is not specific to nursing students and it was also observed in other medical and paramedical fields. It seems that various factors are involved in this situation including lack of identical definition of critical thinking, lack of appropriate tools for evaluation of critical thinking needed in clinic, lack of regular, comprehensive, and purposeful plan in teaching critical thinking, and ambiguity in aspects of critical thinking in the view of clinical instructors and trainers. It seems that aspects of clinical critical thinking and its teaching and evaluation methods are not detailed and clear in Iran. It is suggested that clinical critical thinking and its aspects are investigated from the perspective of clinical instructors so that all nursing faculties teach critical thinking based on a specified and organized plan.


Abstract Zeta potential measurements are common in nanotoxicology. This research probes the effects of pH and time on nanoparticle zeta potential, agglomerate size, and cellular viability. The nanoparticles TiO2, Fe2O3, Al2O3, ZnO, and CeO2, were titrated from pH 12.0–2.0. The isoelectric points (IEP) of the nanoparticles were near neutral with the exception of TiO2 (IEP = 5.19) and Fe2O3 (IEP = 4.24). Nanoparticle agglomerates were largest at the IEP. TiO2 and Fe2O3 increased in zeta potential and agglomerate size over time; while Al2O3 and ZnO displayed little change. CeO2 increased in zeta potential; however, the net charge remained negative. Cytotoxicity studies revealed that TiO2 and Fe2O3 caused decreasing cellular viability over 48 h. Al2O3, ZnO, and CeO2 cellular viability remained similar to control. Results indicate that alterations in the pH have a large effect on zeta potential and agglomerate size which may be used as a predictive measure of nanotoxicity.


Equipment calibration is essential to the pressuremeter test procedure in order to obtain meaningful results. This paper assesses the accuracy of the standard calibration procedures for a monocell pressuremeter probe. The probe was inserted into sets of instrumented aluminum tubes of various lengths and diameters. The pressure distribution acting against the cavity wall was determined for different levels of probe inflation. Continuous information about the inflation resistance of the probe was also obtained as well as the correlations between the applied pressure, the volume of fluid injected, and the average probe diameter. A more reliable procedure for membrane reaction calibration is then recommended, as well as a new volumetric correction for end perturbations. The influence of low temperatures on the overall behavior of the equipment is also discussed.


Simple models of complex phenomena provide powerful insights and suggest low-level mechanistic descriptions. The Earth system arises from the interaction of subsystems with multi-scale temporal and spatial variability; from the microbial to continental scales, operating over the course of days to geological time. System-level homeostasis has been demonstrated in a number of conceptual, artificial life, models which share the advantage of a thorough and transparent analysis. We reintroduce a general model for a coupled life-environment model, concentrating on a minimal set of assumptions, and explore the consequences of interaction between simple life elements and their shared, multidimensional environment. In particular stability, criticality and transitions are of great relevance to understanding the history, and future of the Earth system. The model is shown to share salient features with other abstract systems such as Ashby's Homeostat and Watson and Lovelock's Daisyworld. Our generic description is free to explore high-dimensional, complex environments, and in doing so we show that even a small increase in the environmental complexity gives rise to very complex attractor landscapes which require a much richer conception of critical transitions and hysteresis


The International Conference on Greek Linguistics is a biennial meeting on the study and analysis of Greek (Ancient, Medieval and Modern), placing particular emphasis on the later stages of the language. The papers included in these volumes were presented originally at the ICGL12 held by the Chair for Modern Greek Studies and the Center for Modern Greece (CeMoG) at the Freie Universitat Berlin from 16-19 September 2015 and cover all areas of linguistic analysis (applied linguistics, computational linguistics, conversation analysis, corpus linguistics, dialectology, discourse analysis, historical linguistics, morphology, neurolinguistics, phonetics, phonology, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, semantics, sociolinguistics, syntax, etc.) focusing on any period in the history of the Greek language.


In her second novel, Behind the Moon (2000), Hsu-Ming Teo explores the identity construction of three teenage friends and how they defy the notion of the "ideal" Australian as a heterosexual, Protestant, white, English-speaking, Australian-born of British ancestry young adult person. Set in the western suburbs of Sydney in the 1990s, the three friends are an example of the multicultural society of the time: Justin Cheong, the son of a Chinese-Singaporean family who arrived in Australia with the Business Migration Programme; Tien Ho, a refugee girl of Chinese-Vietnamese and Afro-CajunCreole-American ancestry; and Nigel "Gibbo" Gibson, the son of an Anglo-Australian father and an English mother. The novel tackles different relations among these characters and their families during their teenage years and especially as young adults. This paper seeks to analyse the evolution of the identities of Justin, Tien and "Gibbo" through the notions of belonging, gender construction and sexuality. In order to do so, the main theories applied will be the insights on homosexuality and on masculinities of Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (1995) and Raewyn W. Connell (1995) and Manuel Castells' (2010) identity construction theory


The attitudes that bilingual teachers have toward the use of foreign languages seem to have an effect on the success of bilingual education programs. In this study, our purpose is to shed light on how often bilingual teachers in New York City use Spanish in their everyday lives, and to examine their attitudes toward the use of Spanish in the U.S. Overall, results indicate only moderate frequencies of use of Spanish in everyday life among bilingual teachers. In addition, the study shows that bilingual teachers have a favorable attitude toward the use of Spanish in the U.S. However, bilingual teachers whose first language is English seem to have a more favorable attitude than those whose first language is Spanish. Among the native Spanish speakers, those born abroad show a more favorable attitude than those born in the U.S. Although no group seems to favor the use of lexical borrowings and code-switching, bilingual native Spanish-speaking teachers born in the U.S. seem to have a less favorable attitude than native Spanish-speaking teachers born abroad. In addition, native Spanish-speaking teachers born abroad seem to have a less favorable attitude toward lexical borrowings and code-switching than U.S.-born teachers whose first language is English. Recommendations for the training of bilingual teachers are discussed in the conclusions of the study.


A key question is how do business models ensure that new high-tech innovations are responsible, benefit society and are well aligned to regional policy? This is an increasingly important question for policy-makers and high tech small firms in Northern Ireland. The question is important because although innovation adoption in high-tech small firms (HTSFs) has long been a United Kingdom and European priority, and despite decades of attention, there is still a dearth of innovative HTSFs and, worryingly low participation levels of HTSFs in United Kingdom and European Research & Development and innovation funding programmes. To capitalise on emerging high-tech markets, it is imperative that HTSFs have the capacity to exploit these new opportunities and crucially, to contribute to the development of a modern economy. Research carried out by Ulster University Business School in European projects investigated how policy can help address the dearth of SMEs in European and national innovation funding programmes. The growth of innovative HTSFs has the potential to contribute to both the economic and social development of a regional economy. However, the mainstream business model frameworks that are used to develop value propositions of high-tech innovations are exclusively focused on the corporate perspective and do not encompass the benefit to society. This presentation addresses these issues and looks at how the research findings might influence the development of policy in Northern Ireland. Finally, this presentation looks ahead to ongoing engagement with the SME sector in Northern Ireland including the creation of the Centre for SME Development, located in the Ulster University Business School. This presentation was delivered in the Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings, Stormont Estate and the event was opened by Nelson McCausland MLA.


THE EXPERIENCE OF DECISION MAKING IN ADOLESCENT FEMALES AND YOUNG WOMEN WITH MOBILITY LIMITING DISORDERS By Bernice Balzer Allen, Ph.D., R.N. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2005 Director: Kathleen J. Sawin, DNS, CPNP, FAAN, Associate Professor Emerita, School of Nursing Young women with mobility limiting disorders face many challenges as they move through adolescence into young adulthood. In addition to the challenges of this developmental period, they must consider their disability as they manage their lives. Competent decision making is a foundational skill for self-management and for transition in adulthood. It is also a protective factor for resilience. There is little research on decision making in adolescents with disabilities. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the decision making experiences of female adolescents and young women with mobility limiting disorders. Theoretical underpinnings for the study included Resilience Theory and Phenomenology. Phenomenological methodology guided data collection and analysis. Study participants included six young women between the ages of 16 and 25 who met established inclusion criteria. Participants were interviewed using an interview schedule. Transcripts ofthe audiotaped interviews were analyzed for themes. An individual profile of decision making in self-management for each participant was developed from analysis of interviews. A composite depiction of the phenomenon of decision making in selfmanagement was developed from analysis of the participant profiles. The following conclusions were drawn from the composite depiction. Decision making in self-management is a dynamic, developmental process that encompasses choices across many dimensions of life activities. Parents' attitudes and expectations can have significant influence on the development of decision making in young women with mobility limiting disorders. Having or taking the opportunity to make decisions may contribute to the development of decisional competence and independence. Barriers, such as social stereotypes and lack of community resources, influence decision making. The ability of the study participants to "see past the disability" creates a broader vision of opportunities for decision making to achieve their goals. The results of this research should be useful to nurses and other health professionals as they collaborate with adolescents with disabilities and their families in fostering and supporting competent decision making in self-management. Future research is recommended on decision making in specific dimensions of self-management such as socialization and, using quantitative and qualitative methods to compare this phenomenon in adolescents with and without disabilities and between genders. Chapter 1: Background and Significance


"The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan has been at the center of attention since the US led war on terror in late 2001.The fierce fighting between Pakistan military and non state militant groups in FATA and PATA regions has resulted in one of the biggest internal displacement of people in the history of Pakistan. The local communities had no alternative except becoming IDPs to escape from the conflict zone. According to an estimate, there were nearly three million inhabitants from FATA and KPK, by the end of 2009, which had moved to take refuge in the IDP camps or hosting communities.

Initially both the state and humanitarian organizations responded to this grave humanitarian issue; however, there is still a wide gap between needs and service delivery. The issues of improper coordination among different organizations and untrained staff have also been highlighted by numerous field reports"


Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging aims at recovering the shape of objects hidden outside the direct line of sight of a camera. In this work, we report on a new approach for acquiring time-resolved measurements that are suitable for NLOS imaging. The system uses a confocalized single-photon detector and pulsed laser. As opposed to previously-proposed NLOS imaging systems, our setup is very similar to LIDAR systems used for autonomous vehicles and it facilitates a closed-form solution of the associated inverse problem, which we derive in this work. This algorithm, dubbed the Light Cone Transform, is three orders of magnitude faster and more memory efficient than existing methods. We demonstrate experimental results for indoor and outdoor scenes captured and reconstructed with the proposed confocal NLOS imaging system.


Empathy is a diverse and complex phenomena by which humans relate their experiences to one another. This work explores empathy as a resource for engineering educators attending to student emotion within an engineering design environment. Our research setting takes place in a 3-credit pedagogy seminar (EDCI488E) for undergraduate engineering peer educators who are teaching concurrently in a first-year engineering design course (ENES100). The pedagogy seminar is modeled after the Learning Assistant Program developed at University of Colorado-Boulder. The seminar focuses on engineering content and pedagogy relevant to teaching engineering design (i.e. design thinking, reflective decision-making, and teamwork and collaboration). Our research analyzes for how empathy impacted peer educators' teaching practices in the seminar. Using field notes, coursework, and videotapes of the pedagogy seminar, we analyzed the peer educators' speech, gesture, and actions in video-recorded data. We present a case study of a role play activity in the seminar in which peer educators simulated giving feedback and critique to ENES100 students during a design review. We specifically analyze how a focal peer educator utilized empathy to recognize a tension between productive student learning and student emotion. Empathy supported the focal peer educator in developing new teaching moves that responded to the pseudo-student's emotions. Our analysis focuses on identifying features of her empathetic practice, and how such features could support a variety of teaching moves.


Many situations in human life present choices between (a) alternatives beneficial to an individual and (b) alternatives that are less beneficial to the individual, but could be beneficial if chosen by many individuals. Choices of the latter alternative are generally considered cooperative. Taking the supposition that a lack of cooperation between and amongst societies lies behind many crises of the 21st century as its point of origin, the paper takes a two-step approach to shed light on the Nordic cultural-evolutionary puzzle of managing to maintain a dynamic equilibrium between competition and cooperation. First, the paper suggests cooperation as a valuable temporally extended pattern of behavior that may be learned and maintained over an individual's lifetime. Second, the paper examines how Norwegian and Swedish culture fosters a commitment to extended patterns of cooperative behavior. By means of interpreting successful Scandinavian cultural characteristics in the light of selection of behavior both during phylogeny and during ontogeny, the paper derives hypotheses about functional relations between behavioral and environmental events that make for the success of the Nordic nations and which might inspire policy development in other countries.


Many-to-Many Invocation (M2MI) is a new paradigm for building secure collaborative systems that run in true ad hoc networks of fixed and mobile computing devices. M2MI is useful for building a broad range of systems, including service discovery frameworks; groupware for mobile ad hoc collaboration; systems involving networked devices (printers, cameras, sensors); and collaborative middleware systems. M2MI provides an object oriented method call abstraction based on broadcasting. An M2MI invocation means ``every object out there that implements this interface, call this method.'' M2MI is layered on top of a new messaging protocol, the Many-to-Many Protocol (M2MP), which broadcasts messages to all nearby devices using the wireless network's inherent broadcast nature instead of routing messages from device to device. In an M2MI-based system, central servers are not required; network administration is not required; complicated, resource-consuming ad hoc routing protocols are not required; and system development and deployment are simplified.


The total energy and indoor thermal environment of an office building, which aims at the net-zero energy building, were measured and analysed. The annual total primary energy consumption of 'Measurement' was smaller than the value of 'Calculation' at design phase and achieved net-zero. The result of analysis of the thermal environment shows that the comfortable thermal environment was maintained. Also, the insulation performance and heat balance of the vacuum glazed windows in winter was evaluated. The overall heat transfer coefficients calculated by using the monitoring data were almost equal to the rated overall heat transfer coefficient and the high insulation performance of vacuum glazed windows was maintained even in the second year's operation. In addition, the amount of heat gain due to solar radiation on the window surface was much larger than the amount of heat loss due to transmission. The vacuum glazed windows with high thermal insulation performance on the south side can reduce the heating load and contribute to the achievement of net-zero in the buildings.


The semantics of UML [3] is for a large part given in English. The drawback of Eng-lish is its ambiguity, which makes it unclear and ambiguous. But the benefits of Eng-lish are its power and flexibility, which allow it to deal with a slightly inconsistent terminology. Formalizing UML will imply recognizing the occurrences of these in-consistencies and coping with them in a systematic way. In this paper, we show some problems with the UML terminology and we propose an approach to deal with these problems.


This article explores story and science as products of human cultures, imagination, and innovation, using the recent emergence of heroism research as a case study. Drawing on in-depth interviews with experts in the field of heroism studies and beyond, the paper investigates interdisciplinary perspectives on heroism, and explores synergies between language used in the biological sciences and the hero's journey story arc. Story and metaphor are found to be important methodological tools in participants' contemporary research practices. The hero's journey, in particular, emerges as an interpretive apparatus that can inform interdisciplinary, novel and creative research practices, and facilitate the breakdown of increasingly dissolving disciplinary boundaries. The compatibility of narratives of heroism and biology indicated in this qualitative study is a promising platform for re-introducing diverse ways of knowing and ameliorating the split between competing knowledge cultures in contemporary scholarship.


Abstract. The paper presents the transport module of the System for Integrated modeLling of Atmospheric coMposition SILAM v.5 based on the advection algorithm of Michael Galperin. This advection routine, so far weakly presented in the international literature, is positively defined, stable at any Courant number, and efficient computationally. We present the rigorous description of its original version, along with several updates that improve its monotonicity and shape preservation, allowing for applications to long-living species in conditions of complex atmospheric flows. The scheme is connected with other parts of the model in a way that preserves the sub-grid mass distribution information that is a cornerstone of the advection algorithm. The other parts include the previously developed vertical diffusion algorithm combined with dry deposition, a meteorological pre-processor, and chemical transformation modules. The quality of the advection routine is evaluated using a large set of tests. The original approach has been previously compared with several classic algorithms widely used in operational dispersion models. The basic tests were repeated for the updated scheme and extended with real-wind simulations and demanding global 2-D tests recently suggested in the literature, which allowed one to position the scheme with regard to sophisticated state-of-the-art approaches. The advection scheme performance was fully comparable with other algorithms, with a modest computational cost. This work was the last project of Dr. Sci. Michael Galperin, who passed away on 18 March 2008.


Determinantal Point Processes (DPPs) have attracted significant interest from the machine-learning community due to their ability to elegantly and tractably model the delicate balance between quality and diversity of sets. We consider learning DPPs from data, a key task for DPPs; for this task, we introduce a novel optimization problem, Contrastive Estimation (CE), which encodes information about "negative" samples into the basic learning model. CE is grounded in the successful use of negative information in machine-vision and language modeling. Depending on the chosen negative distribution (which may be static or evolve during optimization), CE assumes two different forms, which we analyze theoretically and experimentally. We evaluate our new model on real-world datasets; on a challenging dataset, CE learning delivers a considerable improvement in predictive performance over a DPP learned without using contrastive information.


We would like to report a female infant (initially breast fed and subsequently formula fed) who had received two 1 mg doses of vitamin K orally, and presented at 9 weeks of age with large haematomas at the sites of her primary immunisations. Her weight had dropped from the 25th to 50th centile at birth to the 2nd centile. Her haemoglobin was 720 g/l, white blood cell count 13×10 9 /l, platelet count 523×10 9 /l, prothrombin time >10 seconds (normal range 0.8–1.2), activated partial thrombo-plastin time 109.4 seconds (normal range 24.0–34.0), and fibrinogen 4.5 g/l (normal range 1.7–4.5). She received 1 mg of vitamin K intravenously and repeat coagulation screen was then normal. Sweat osmolality was 110 mmol/l (normal range 17–80) and 105 mmol/l on repeat testing. No chymot-rypsin activity was found in the faeces. DNA analysis confirmed homozygosity for delta F 508. Vitamin K deficiency can occur in undiag-nosed cystic fibrosis (CF) infants due to mal-absorption of fat soluble vitamins. It is uncommon, since vitamin K is given to all newborns in the UK. As universal screening for CF is not undertaken in the UK, asympto-matic CF patients can be missed and a bleeding diathesis may be the presenting symptom. Torstenson and colleagues 1 reported three cases of severe life threatening bleeding subsequently diagnosed as CF in infants less than 6 months of age, and Rashid and colleagues 2 found that 78% of pancreatic insufficient patients had PIVKA-II concentrations >3 µg/l. Deficiency of vitamin K in children with CF may be due to inadequate dietary intake, mal-digestion, and malabsorption. 3 Decreased intestinal synthesis of vitamin K 2 following diarrhoeal disease or antibiotic administration can also be a contributing factor. Our patient developed vitamin K deficient coagulopathy despite receiving oral supplementation and vitamin K from formula feed. The vitamin K deficiency can be attributed to malabsorption secondary to CF and emphasises the need to consider CF as a differential diagnosis in bleeding diathesis presenting in the first year of life. If a universal neonatal screening programme for diagnosing CF had been in place, a potentially life threatening complication may have been prevented. References 1 Torstenson OL, Edson JR, Warwick WJ. Cystic fibrosis presenting with severe hemorrhage due to vitamin K malabsorption: a report of three cases. Improving mental health through parenting programmes: are the results valid? We read the article by Patterson et al with interest. 1 Firstly, the …


This work presents a novel method for the identification of specificity residues in two component systems based on the discovery of graphlet signatures. We use network representations of 3-D structures and sequence of proteins, experimental data and graph-based learning to detect graphlet signatures that potentially are responsible for phosphotranfer specificity between Histidine Kinase (HK) and Response Regulator (RR) domains. This approach is applied to the system of HK and RR in E. coli. Structural regions were found for Histidine Kinases RstB and Response Regulator RstA and confirmed using experimental data. In addition, some hypothetical regions of specificity were proposed to explain cross talk between the HKs that phosphorylate YhfA and the RRs that interact with UhpB. Such an approach offers the ability to identify domain specificity residues in two component systems in silico.


Women and Entrepreneurship comes from two authors with especially rich experience in this field of research. Embracing experience in a range of developed and developing countries and examining both dependent and independent roles, Beatrice Avolio and Mirjana Radovi-Markovi profile women entrepreneurs and consider their motivations, together with the obstacles and challenges that they face and often overcome. A focus on emerging forms of entrepreneurship leads to a concentration on what is happening in newly developing economies, with a major case study set in a South American context. The authors deal in particular with how rural entrepreneurship, virtual entrepreneurship, and project-based and home-based businesses particularly lend themselves to providing opportunities for women. The authors' findings reveal that increased participation of women in business leadership has brought about completely new ways of business communication; new business strategies and company development models; and is imposing a new behavioural style on businesses. What is particularly encouraging is the evidence that female kinds of durability, persistence and intuition are producing business advantage. This means that the authors can clearly identify success factors and propose guidelines for the benefit of female entrepreneurs, female-led businesses, and business in general. This book will serve the needs of an academic audience of researchers in the growing field of studies into entrepreneurship; as well as those teaching or studying business or women's studies topics. It will of course appeal particularly to women owning and running businesses, or aspiring to do so.


To report a combined ascending aorta and aortic arch hybrid repair, we performed off-pump with no aortic graft replacement. A 65-year-old man, developing progressive recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, underwent a computed tomography (CT) angiography detecting nonpatent residual ductus Botalli aneurysm and ascending aorta aneurysm. Due to severe multimorbidities, a less-invasive alternative was elaborated. In a first step, appropriate proximal landing zone for aortic stent grafting was achieved by ascending aorta diameter reduction, with epiaortic wrapping, and debranching the supra-aortic trunks. In the second step, endovascular stent grafts were deployed from proximal ascending aorta to descending aorta, excluding the ductus Botalli aneurysm. Six-month follow-up CT shows ductus Botalli aneurysm exclusion, stable stent graft position, and ascending diameter and patent and stenosis-free supra-aortic grafts. This case supports this alternative treatment to open aortic repair under circulatory arrest and deep hypothermia, especially in those patients considered unfit for such invasive treatment.


Tailor's bunion, also called a bunionette, is an enlargement of the fifth metatarsal bone at the base of the little toe. The metatarsals are the five long bones of the foot. The enlargement that characterizes a tailor's bunion occurs at the metatarsal "head," located at the far end of the bone where it meets the toe. Tailor's bunions are not as common as bunions, which occur on the inside of the foot, but both are similar in symptoms and causes.


Burroughs Live gathers all the interviews, both published and unpublished, given by William Burroughs, as well as conversations with well-known writers, artists, and musicians such as Tenessee Williams, Timothy Leary, Patti Smith, Keith Richards, Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, and Gregory Corso. The book provides a fascinating account of Burroughs's life as a literary outlaw. Illuminating many aspects of his work and many facets of his mind, it brings out his scathing humor, powerful intelligence, and nightmarish vision.


Disease detection at the molecular level is driving the emerging revolution of early diagnosis and treatment. A challenge facing the field is that protein biomarkers for early diagnosis can be present in very low abundance. The lower limit of detection with conventional immunoassay technology is the upper femtomolar range (10−13 M). Digital immunoassay technology has improved detection sensitivity three logs, to the attomolar range (10−16 M). This capability has the potential to open new advances in diagnostics and therapeutics, but such technologies have been relegated to manual procedures that are not well suited for efficient routine use. We describe a new laboratory instrument that provides full automation of single-molecule array (Simoa) technology for digital immunoassays. The instrument is capable of single-molecule sensitivity and multiplexing with short turnaround times and a throughput of 66 samples/h. Singleplex and multiplexed digital immunoassays were developed for 16 proteins of interest in cardiovascular, cancer, infectious disease, neurology, and inflammation research. The average sensitivity improvement of the Simoa immunoassays versus conventional ELISA was >1200-fold, with coefficients of variation of <10%. The potential of digital immunoassays to advance human diagnostics was illustrated in two clinical areas: traumatic brain injury and early detection of infectious disease.


Objectives This study compared the effects of individual and group training on general health and stress of parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.Method A sample of 75 parents of children referring to Autistic Children Foundation (including 50 parents in two experimental groups and 25 parents in control group) was taken into account. Sample parents were selected through Accessible Sampling Method.Results In order to diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorders, questionnaires such as Goldberg–Williams' (1998), General Health, Abedin's (1993) Stress, and Gars' (1995) (Gilliam) were used while in order to analyze the gathered data, the correlation method (comparison of pre-test and post-test means), independent t- (comparison of control and experimental groups) and one-way covariance (a survey of effects left by individual and group training methods on parents with emphasis being laid on control and experimental groups) were used.Discussion There was no difference between parents receiving training in group and those receiving training in individual form. With respect to the correlation between general health and stress levels, both group and individual trainings resulted in a raise in general health and stress levels of parents.


In this paper, we combine ideas from machine learning (ML) and operations research and management science (OR/MS) in developing a framework, along with specific methods, for using data to prescribe optimal decisions in OR/MS problems. In a departure from other work on data-driven optimization and reflecting our practical experience with the data available in applications of OR/MS, we consider data consisting, not only of observations of quantities with direct effect on costs/revenues, such as demand or returns, but predominantly of observations of associated auxiliary quantities. The main problem of interest is a conditional stochastic optimization problem, given imperfect observations, where the joint probability distributions that specify the problem are unknown. We demonstrate that our proposed solution methods, which are inspired by ML methods such as local regression, CART, and random forests, are generally applicable to a wide range of decision problems. We prove that they are tractable and asymptotically optimal even when data is not iid and may be censored. We extend this to the case where decision variables may directly affect uncertainty in unknown ways, such as pricing's effect on demand. As an analogue to R^2, we develop a metric P termed the coefficient of prescriptiveness to measure the prescriptive content of data and the efficacy of a policy from an operations perspective. To demonstrate the power of our approach in a real-world setting we study an inventory management problem faced by the distribution arm of an international media conglomerate, which ships an average of 1bil units per year. We leverage internal data and public online data harvested from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Google to prescribe operational decisions that outperform baseline measures. Specifically, the data we collect, leveraged by our methods, accounts for an 88\% improvement as measured by our P.


On 14 March 2013, the National Green Tribunal of India passed an order in an ongoing statutory appeal against the environmental approval granted to a hydropower project. The order related to the preliminary issue of condoning a delay in the filing of the appeal. The Tribunal attributed a significant part of the delay to the nondisclosure of complete information regarding the approval. The delay in filing was condoned as concerned authorities had not complied with the relevant environmental regulations. Although the order did not address the merits of the case, it is of great significance for the Indian environmental justice system since it grapples with one of the key hurdles in the regime – poor access to information – and thus has the potential to transform the environmental regulatory space by making it more transparent. Environmental decision-making processes, particularly in the developing countries, are often opaque and inaccessible. India's experience in striving to improve its processes may thus provide useful lessons for other jurisdictions.


The tradition of giving finds itself in every religious text across the world. There seem to be few other principles which are so globally accepted. Whether it is the Zakat, the Islamic practice of giving and consequent self-purification, or the Dāna, the practice of giving in both Hinduism and Buddhism, the concept of gratuitous transfer of wealth to the less privileged strikes a common chord between the three most popular religions in Asia.This paper seeks to first identify the traditions relating to charity within religious texts such as the Hadith, the Manusmriti and the Tipataka. In the absence of institutions, including the concept of the corporation, during the time when such religious texts were envisaged, the directions mandating charity are by default, applicable to individuals. This paper goes on to examine the creation of the modern-day corporation through the lens of independent corporate personality as well as a nexus of contracts. Arguing further that -- in the absence of a large number of shareholders, Asian corporations tend to be family and individual driven -- such families and individuals may have a propensity to inculcate their individual traditions into inanimate and juristic bodies such as the corporations they run and control. As a result, this paper finally considers whether the tradition of giving, as mandated by religion may be a significant factor to boost Corporate Social Responsibility. While most Asian countries have some form of voluntary guidelines on corporate social responsibility, mandatory laws relating to CSR have been passed in Indonesia and India. A recent report even suggests that Asian consumers would be willing to spend more on products manufactured by socially responsible companies. This paper posits that a tradition of giving, spurred by religious mandate, does make CSR far more relevant in Asia.


The immune responses which drive the earliest selection of viral adaptations in heterosexual transmission provide insights into the responses most important for acute natural control of founder viruses, which should be harnessed by preventative vaccines. Similarly, those viral adaptations which revert early after transmission will reflect sites of strong constraint against escape from natural and vaccine-induced responses. Here we characterize in detail the virological and immunological events in an individual who presented with HIV (subtype A) infection only days after epidemiologically proven sexual transmission, and pre-seroconversion (Fiebig stage II). Quantitative changes to intra-patient viral sequences were evaluated with deep pyrosequencing of full-length HIV-1 genomes in both donor and recipient.

 Longitudinal Sanger and FLX 454 sequencing of HIV-1 was performed on 8 plasma samples from day 13 to 467 post-transmission. HIV-specific CD8 T cell responses were evaluated in 9 PBMC samples (day 35-656) using HLA-class 1 matched peptides in the IFNg ELISpot assay. The donor and recipient shared an HLA-C allele (HLA-C*04) but were discordant at all other HLA class I loci. Evolution of escape in an immunodominant HLA-B*1503-restricted Nef WL9 epitope was detected on day 264 and was present in 41% of viral quasi-species at day 264. T cell responses were detected prior to sequence change and decreased thereafter. Sequence change and CD8 T cell responses were also detected in relation to other published HLA-restricted epitopes. However, early reversion and subsequent re-selection was observed at position 133 of Nef which is not within a known epitope but corresponded to a HLA-C*0401 associated polymorphism in population-based studies. Overall, IFNg responses were detected to 3 of 28 HIV-1 peptides tested on day 35 but broadened to 20 responses while infection became established and reached peak viral load on day 383. T cell responses declined after commencement of antiviral therapy.

Adaptive viral changes and reversions in early HIV-1 infection occur at novel sites not captured in immunological studies of chronically infected individuals. This data suggests the presence of novel immune hierarchies and escape mutations in early infection, which may be applied to HIV vaccine design against founder viruses.


Assessments of localized ecological and environmental impacts of charcoal production including effects on soils at kiln sites is seldom undertaken, with more emphasis being placed on the global effects of the practice such as forest degradation and deforestation. A study was undertaken in Narok, Eldoret, Moiben, and Turbo in Kenya on known charcoaling sites to investigate the impact of charcoal production on the soil chemical characteristics. Composite soil samples from 12 sampling points for all study sites were taken randomly at a depth of 0–15 cm. The samples were conditioned and analyzed for pH, particle size, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), extractable phosphorus, organic carbon, nitrogen, and exchangeable bases. A comparison of the soil properties between undisturbed sites and charcoaling sites showed significant differences for all chemical properties except CEC, Mg, and K. For the Moiben site, only the pH showed no significant difference (p < 0.05).  The observed high carbon content reduced with time for the one year following charcoaling activity and was attributed to soil erosion since charcoal production activities reduced the sites vegetation cover. Most chemical changes positively enhanced the nutrients content and availability, but were short lived probably due to soil erosion.  These results demonstrate the need to adopt technologies with minimum impact on the soil, or a shift to centralized production sites outside forest ecosystems or farmlands.


The present article aims to bring into discussion the process of globalization - as central phenomenon of the 21st century. The areas of intervention where globalization is being noticed are various, from early history to the present day, in economics, marketing, IT, the educational system, politics, business, etc. The main idea that we want to set forth is the way globalization occurs in the economy, in general, and in some countries of the world (such as Bulgaria) and in Romania, especially, as well as the manner through which they succeed or not to take advantage of the effects of globalization. More or less, we depend on globalization, and the process of globalization and its impact in our times can be more or less controlled.


Early on the morning of January 7, 2007, University of Tennessee student Channon Christian and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom disappeared from the parking lot of a Knoxville apartment complex. According to police reports and court documents, the couple was carjacked, kidnapped, and subjected to hours of physical and mental torture before they were killed. Five people were arrested in the following weeks in connection with the crimes – four black men and one black woman. Both Christian and Newsom were white. The unusual circumstances of these crimes and the racial divisions between the victims and perpetrators drew a lot of attention from community members and local news media around Knox County. This study used content analysis to examine how WBIR-TV, the highest-rated local television news station in the Knoxville market, presented its nightly 6 p.m. coverage of the murder trials of the three male perpetrators eventually convicted of murder – Letalvis Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson and George Thomas. Individual news stories were coded for both components (video, sound, still images) and content (descriptive words and phrases). The findings determined that race played less of an explicit role in the daily news coverage than expected. However, WBIR presented viewers with dual frames in its coverage. The first, a narrative frame, concentrated on daily courtroom activities. Video used in the coverage showed viewers a second frame centered on the victims' families. These elements contributed to the construction of cognitive webs for newscast viewers, aided by WBIR's use of a template familiar in television news crime coverage.