This research project sets out to demonstrate that a contemporary application of
systematic drawing principles to the representation of natural environments could
extend beyond the linear conventions upon which these principles are founded, and
thereby produce dynamic and expressive interpretations of human and non-human
systems. The project was pursued through an exploration of themes central to
representation of natural environments. These include; the technologies of mapping
systems; the construction of temporal and spatial frameworks; the aesthetics of natural
environments; and concepts related to locality and placement. Research methods
included the reconstruction of optical devices, the undertaking of extensive field trips,
and the learning of new computer languages.
The background to the project is located in: the history of geometry and the concept of
the visual ray as first posited by Aristotle; the writings and research of Patrick
Maynard, who analysed the role of drawing in the construction of the modern
technological world; Manuel DeLanda's writings on Gilles Deleuze, and his concepts of
the manifold, intensive science, and virtual philosophy; the alternative mapping
strategies proposed by John Pickle; and the writings of Arnold Berleant who discussed
the aesthetics of natural environments. These concepts are drawn out contextually in
the exegesis through reference to visual artists involved in (re-)mapping their
environments; including Hamish Fulton and John Wolslely in relation to representation
of direct experience of being in the land; Bea Maddock's inverted geometric projection
of Tasmania; Mark Lombardi's visualisation of networks; and Daniel Crooks's temporal
re-mapping experiments.
The outcome of the research 1s a body of five artworks; Origin 2004-2008 [constant
change), Range 2006 [strange attractor), Sticks and Stones, Drowning by Numbers and
Source. These works were created in response to an analysis of conventional mapping
systems, and the limitations of their geometric and optical drawing methodologies in
visualising natural environments. The works in the thesis exhibition use various
strategies, based on the application of alternative mapping methodologies, which
engage the viewer in new temporal and spatial networks, and thus challenge
perceptions of what it is that constitutes experience of environment.


This dissertation studies multiagent agreement problems – problems in which a population of agents must agree on some quantity or behavior in a distributed manner. Agreement problems are central in many areas, from the study of magnetism (Ising model), to understanding the diffusion of innovations (such as the diffusion of hybrid corn planting in Illinois), to modeling linguistic change.
The thesis of this dissertation is that the ability for agents to optimally allocate resources towards (1) gaining information from which to infer the agreeing population's global agreement state ("information gathering") and (2) effectively using that information to make convergence decisions that move towards agreement ("information use"), are the fundamental factors that explain the performance of a distributed agreement-seeking collective, and that variations on these processes capture all prevalent styles of agreement problems.
In this dissertation we develop a taxonomic framework that organizes a wide range of agreement problems according to constraints on information gathering and information use. We explore two specific instances of agreement problems in more depth; the first modulates information gathering by constraining the ability of agents to communicate; the second modulates information use by constraining the ability of agents to change states.
An understanding of these two components will allow the application of insights from fields such as statistical physics, distributed algorithms, and multiagent systems to bear on language – and in turn carry insights from linguistic agreement to these fields. Note, however, that the purpose of this dissertation is not to model natural phenomena, but rather to explore, through abstract models, some of the fundamental processes that underlie natural phenomena.
Our first contribution is to develop the Distributed Optimal Agreement framework – a taxonomic framework through which we can formally identify potential constraints on the two processes of information gathering and use.
Our second contribution is to develop an understanding of the Fundamental Agreement Tradeoff, which is a relation between the effort an agent expends to gather information, the accuracy of the information gathered, and the amount of time it takes for a population to reach agreement.
We develop the Sampled Majority Vote process as a way to explore the fundamental agreement tradeoff by modulating the amount of effort an agent can expend, which in turn affects the accuracy of information gathered. We show, surprisingly, that a population can reach agreement quickly even with a minimal expenditure of effort. This result has impact for any setting in which communication is a resource intensive procedure (e.g., energy constrained sensor networks). We provide extensive numerical simulations of the Sampled Majority Vote process in a variety of settings. In addition, we analytically show that the Sampled Majority Vote process reaches agreement under a mean-field assumption.
Our third contribution is to study agreement in complex spaces with boundedly rational agents where there are significant restrictions on communication. We develop the Distributed Constraint Agreement problem (which itself is a type of agreement problem that can be captured by the DOA framework) in order to explore the impact of bounded rationality and communication on agreement in complex spaces.
As an example scenario we abstractly model the linguistic phenomenon of the Great English Vowel Shift (GEVS) – a shift in the pronunciation of certain vowels that took place between 1450 and 1750. We define a simple algorithm and through extensive simulation show that a vowel shift could have occurred if a new population of linguistic users, with slightly different pronunciations, entered the linguistic community. These results lend support to the "migration" hypothesis for the GEVS – that due to casualties from the Black Death the linguistic composition of upper class England changed to incorporate individuals with different pronunciations.
Together, these three contributions move us closer to forming a general theory of agreement.


When World War I broke out in Europe, South Africa was united in title only. The bitter memories of the Anglo-Boer War were now freshened by the Union Government's opinion that Britain's declaration of war automatically involved South Africa as a member of the British Empire. Certain leaders of the old republics had never reconciled themselves to the Imperial connexion however; among these was General J. H. de la Rey, one of the great republican heroes of the late war. In 1913 De la Rey, a serving Senator, had already begun to express publicly his desire for a resurrection of the republics. The outbreak of war in Europe was greeted by De la Rey as a heaven-sent opportunity for South Africa to divorce herself from the Empire. He was encouraged in this belief by the visions of the 'prophet' Nicolaas van Rensburg. Despite warnings from influential friends, De la Rey called a meeting of 800 burghers at Treurfontein in mid-August 1914. The result was anticlimactic, and De la Rey did not call for an armed protest against Botha's intention to collaborate with Britain. Yet by early September De la Rey was consorting with other dissident leaders and plans for a restoration of the republics continued. On 12 September he spoke in the Senate debate on the Union's projected action against the German colony of South West Africa. This speech was another anti-climax as the general maintained his equivocal public stance. Immediately after finishing his speech, De la Rey headed north, to meet Beyers in Pretoria on 15 September. Beyers and De la Rey left Pretoria by motor car that evening to talk with another republican sympathiser. Genl Kemp. On the same day the police along the Witwatersrand had mounted a large operation to capture the Foster gang, a group of three criminals wanted for the murder of three policemen. Road-blocks were set up to intercept the bandits' car. Already one tragedy had occurred when a certain Dr Grace had ignored a summons to halt at a road-block and had been shot dead. Unaware of the Foster-hunt, and evidently believing that the police were under orders to arrest them, Beyers and De la Rey failed to halt at three police blocks. At a fourth block, at Langlaagte, they again ignored a call to halt and shots were fired at the car's tyres. A richochet struck De la Rey and he died shortly afterwards, leaving unanswered the question of what role he had intended to play in the recent rebellion.


This study examines the impact of coal mining and coal seam methane (CSM)
extraction on the 'sense of place' of the people of the Gloucester Shire, New South
Wales. The findings derived from Gloucester inform an analysis of the potential for
recognising loss of 'place' as a social impact within social impact assessment (SIA).
This potential was considered within the geographic context of the Hunter Valley,
Gunnedah Basin, and Gloucester Valley, which constitute contiguous and related
regions subject to coal development. Previous research in similar contexts indicated
that a felt loss of place was likely. A methodology was adopted that combined
survey-based quantitative analysis, key informant interviews, and extensive
consideration of the literature of place and SIA. Results indicate that loss of place is
being felt strongly by the Gloucester community, although considerable divergence
exists in both felt loss of place and support for coal-related development.
Widespread dissatisfaction with the prevailing levels of community input into
development processes also emerged as a significant issue with particular
ramifications for the maintenance of place. While a substantial loss of place was in
evidence in Gloucester, the recognition of this loss as a social impact is suggested as
being hampered by mensuration difficulties, the diversity of 'place attachments',
and the nature of impact assessment decision-making. The establishment of placeconscious,
participatory SIA processes is suggested as an alternative mechanism for
mitigating place loss in the coal mining areas of the Hunter, Gunnedah, and
Gloucester regions.


We experimentally demonstrate the coupling of far-field light to highly confined plasmonic gap modes via connected nanoantennas. The excitation of plasmonic gap modes is shown to depend on the polarization, position, and wavelength of the incident beam. Far-field measurements performed in crossed polarization allow for the detection of extremely weak signals re-emitted from gap waveguides and can increase the signal-to-noise ratio dramatically.


Engaging Raymond Williams' argument (1977: 112) that "[a] lived hegemony is always a process ... [that] can never be singular," this paper examines contrary tendencies toward domination and autonomy in national debates about education, classroom-based reading practices, and students' formation of literate identities. In particular, I explore the dynamics of inequality and reflexivity through an ethnographic-and-discursive analysis of a US urban middle school undergoing pedagogical reform. The school presents a balance, roughly 50/50, of students living in poverty and not living in poverty and from majority and non-majority ethnoracial backgrounds. Because of statewide pressures to "improve test scores," the school has agreed to an ambitious English Language Arts curriculum initiative which encourages reflexive self-guidance among teachers and students. The paper presents analyses of public debates about literacy and of classroom interactional dynamics as well as case studies of 'struggling readers,' that is, young adolescent deemed unsuccessful at school literacy. The analysis of literacy debates focuses on the displacement of class and race "effects" in discussions of pedagogical reform. The classroom analyses focus on conditions of pedagogical inclusion and exclusion and the apparent role of class, race, and gender in such conditions. The case studies focus on the articulation of school and non-school literate identities and the role of class, race, and gender in those identities and their articulation.


Hillslopes are important for converting rainfall into runoff, influencing the terrestrial dynamics of the Earth's climate system. Recently, we developed a hybrid‐3‐D (h3D) hillslope hydrological model that gives similar results as a full 3‐D hydrological model but is up to 2–3 orders of magnitude faster computationally. Here h3D is assessed using a number of recharge‐drainage experiments within the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) with accurate and high‐resolution (both temporally and spatially) observations of the inputs, outputs, and storage dynamics of several hillslopes. Such detailed measurements are generally not available for real‐world hillslopes. Results show that the h3D model captures the observed storage, base flow, and overland flow dynamics of both the larger LEO and the smaller miniLEO hillslopes very well. Sensitivity tests are also performed to understand h3Ds difficulty in representing the height of the saturated zone close to the seepage face of the miniLEO hillslope. Results reveal that a temporally constant parameters set is able to simulate the response of the miniLEO for each individual event. However, when one focuses on the saturated zone dynamics at 0.15 m from the seepage face, a stepwise evolution of the optimal model parameter for the saturated lateral conductivity parameter of the gravel layer occurs. This evolution might be related to the migration of soil particles within the hillslope. However, it is currently unclear whether and where this takes place (in the seepage face or within the parts of the loamy sand soil).


Precarious employment
is a structural feature of work at the contemporary Western university which is
troubling given that employment insecurity is known to negatively affect the
health and wellbeing of employees. This qualitative multi-case study research
focuses on young peoples' lived experience of wellbeing as precarious academic
employees. Findings are generated from three rounds of in-depth interviews with
ten casual or fixed-term academics under the age of thirty, working at Monash
University in Australia. The theoretical framework for the thesis is
underpinned by a social-ecological approach (Bronfenbrenner, 1999) and informed
by concepts drawn from the work of Giddens (1984) (notably structuration,
ontological security, space and time) and Coser (1967) (the greedy
institution).
   This research demonstrates how structural aspects of work
intersect with the participants' agentic understandings and enactments of
being/becoming academics. Spatially, participants negotiated precariousness in
their day-to-day experience, living and working under conditions that
threatened their identities and constructions of an ongoing professional self.
An empirically derived typology highlights the ways participants enacted
being/becoming academics through everyday identity-forming practices in
relation to the structures of the greedy institution. The typology shows how
participants' actions were prescribed by the structural norms and values of
their working context, and illustrates the importance of ontological security
to a sense of wellbeing and self-cohesiveness.
   In terms of temporality, participants experienced what was
conceptualised as a 'continuous present' whereby their anticipated futures
appeared to be colonised by the present and always out of reach. In this
continuous present, participants existed in the present and lacked the feelings
of ontological security required to move into the future or make future
commitments. Participants engaged with future-orientation strategies to cope
with their experience of the continuous present, a state which compromised
their sense of being agentic decision-makers.
   This research contributes to knowledge by offering an
in-depth, socialised account of how precarious employment influences the lived
experiences and wellbeing of a
   distinctive group of young workers. Specifically, it advances
knowledge about the spatial and temporal dynamics that are generative of
employees' experiences of, and responses to, identity threats. The typology
extends understandings of how the recursive actions of multiple actors lead to
legitimated social practices which shape precarious work practices and norms.
The empirically derived future-orientations and conceptualisation of a
continuous present, extends understandings of how precarious employment affects
wellbeing across space-time boundaries. This research highlights the
experiences of the precarious workers who participated in the study and ends
with recommendations for change to support the wellbeing of present and future
precarious employees.


This paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine discursive representations of older people in Taiwanese newspapers. A total of 926 references to older people were sampled from 62 articles published in four Taiwanese newspapers from January to August 2013. The findings suggest that, older people were frequently allocated roles suggestive of dependency. Those portrayed in line with the positive golden ager stereotype were more likely to be treated as identifiable individuals, via referential strategies including nomination, titulation, functionalization, and honorifics. People of very advanced ages, meanwhile, were often discussed in the contexts of problems or tragedies. On the whole, negative stereotypes of older people were dominant within the sample, and appeared to be treated as more newsworthy. The articles occasionally reported positive experiences of aging, but implied that, these were exceptional. The nature of older age and aging as discursively constructed in Taiwanese newspapers appears to be problematic for those seeking to build a less ageist society in Taiwan.


Around the word, in developed as well as developing countries, libraries play an important role in the dissemination of knowledge. The availability of information resources can often mean the difference between poverty and prosperity, particularly in underdeveloped African communities. Rural Community Libraries in Africa: Challenges and Impacts investigates the relationship between local libraries and community development. From the historical roots of rural libraries to their influence on the literacy, economy and culture of the surrounding region, this book will present academics, researchers, and, most importantly, librarians with crucial insight into the tangible benefits of rural community libraries and the obstacles they must overcome.


Users with reduced physical functioning such as ALS patients need more time and effort to operate computers. Most of the previous assistive technologies use prefix based predictive text input algorithms. Prefix based predictive text entry is suitable for languages such as English where the average word length is approximately 5 characters. Other languages such as Norwegian and German have longer mean word lengths as words are combined into longer compound words and prefix approaches are thus less effective. This paper proposes a new abbreviation expansion algorithm. Users mentally determine an abbreviation of the word, typically comprising significant consonants and the system proposes words that contain the matched characters. The approach is non disruptive in that it does not require the user to learn a new system or abbreviation mnemonics, and it can be used with any text input device. The system is dynamic and adapts to the users style of abbreviated input. The algorithm is easier to implement than previous approaches and no a priori system training is required. Our experimental evaluations demonstrate that the algorithm achieves real time performance with modest computer hardware. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the 6th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion (DSAI 2015).


The words empower, accountability, and failure permeate the debate over public education, in the media, in political statements, and in the language of legal authority. This article examines how those words were used in the particular experience of Philadelphia, often described as the largest school reform effort in the history of public education. In 2001 and 2002, Philadelphia became a key battleground for the debate on education as the public school system was taken over by the state government and the governor proposed privatizing the entire school district. The arguments for privatization focused on the claimed failure of the schools and asserted that private management would provide accountability. The article examines the contrast between the reality and the rhetoric animating the debate. It analyzes the use of high-stakes testing as the sole determinant of failure; the likely effect of private management on the levels of accountability, particularly in light of the Philadelphia system's experience to date with the relative lack of accountability of charter schools, and evaluates the claims that privatization would empower parents. It concludes that the rhetoric of reform was used to try to individualize education with the goal of marketizing schooling to the detriment of more democratic reform ideas.


This study is designed to analyze the energy efficiency policies in seven countries that were successful in achieving low energy intensities or in reducing their energy intensity considerably. The study analyzes the evolution of the energy intensity of these countries from 1990 to 2007, identifying points of inflection in the progress towards improvements. Changes to the policy agenda immediately upstream are explored in an effort to identify cause and affect relationships in energy efficiency improvements. The cost of energy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as elsewhere, is an important policy issue, as shown by the concerns for energy affordability during the past harsh winter. Governments try to moderate the burden of energy expenditures that is experienced by households through subsidies to the energy providers, so that households pay tariffs below the cost recovery level for the energy they use. These subsidies result in significant pressures on government budgets when international prices rise. They also provide perverse incentives for the overconsumption of energy as households do not pay the true cost of energy, and therefore, have fewer incentives to save or to invest in energy efficiency. Balancing competing claims (fiscal and environmental concerns which would push for raising energy tariffs on the one hand, and affordability and political economy concerns which push for keeping tariffs artificially low on the other) is a task that policy makers in the region are increasingly unable to put off. Addressing this issue is all the more pressing as the ongoing crisis continues to add stress to government budgets, and that international energy prices remain high. While challenging, the reforms needed for this balancing act can build on much that has been learned in the last decade about improving the effectiveness of social assistance systems and increasing energy efficiency. This is the first report to assess, at the micro level for the whole region, the distributional impact of raising energy tariffs to cost recovery levels and to simulate policy options to cushion these impacts. In conclusion, this report highlights that countries face a difficult balancing act between fiscal and environmental concerns that call for raising energy tariffs to lower fiscal burdens and curb household consumption and concerns for the affordability of energy and the political economy of unpopular reforms.


This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the evolution of liquidity during the flash episode in sterling during the early hours of 7 October 2016. It examines a number of estimates both of the cost of trading, and the price impact of executed transactions. These include a variant of the 'volatility over volume' measure of liquidity based on transaction data, which provides a better proxy of illiquidity — as given by measures based on high-frequency limit order book data — than other summary measures of price impact. The paper also shows that the fall in the value of sterling during the initial part of the flash episode was consistent with the estimated impact on prices of a large number of individually small — but in aggregate large — volume of orders to sell sterling during a normally quiet period of the trading day. However, the subsequent change in price was larger than that consistent with the estimated impact on prices of observed orders to sell sterling. This might support the suggestion, which was included in the report on the episode provided by the Bank for International Settlements, that the move in sterling may have been amplified by the pause in trading on the CME futures exchange.


There has been much debate about the usefulness of state assessment as an instrument for reforming educational practice. Opponents of measurement-driven reform assert that high-stakes assessment creates negative side effects such as dumbing down the curriculum, de-skilling teachers, pushing students out of school, and generally inciting fear and anxiety among both students and educators (Darling-Hammond & Wise, 1985; Gilman & Reynolds, 1991; Jones & Whitford, 1997; Madaus, 1988a, 1988b; Shepard, 1989). According to the opponents of measurement-driven reform, these side effects outweigh any possible benefits of measurement-driven reform. Proponents of measurement-driven reform have argued that "if you test it, they will teach it" and that assessment can guide the educational system to be more productive and effective (Popham, 1987). These proponents of measurement-driven reform add that the recent development of performance-based assessment offers a technology for assessing higher-order skills and deeper understanding of content. This development improved the early, and often maligned, minimum competency tests that used only multiple-choice items (Baron & Wolf, 1996; Bracey, 1987a, 1987b; Rothman, 1995). Past research has emphasized the negative consequences of high-stakes attached to test results. In the 1980s and early 1990s, such high-stakes created pressures that encouraged teachers to place unprecedented omphasis on drill-based instruction, narrowing of content, and the regurgitation of facts (Corbett & Wilson, 1991; Smith, 1991). In addition, substantial teaching time was lost in test preparation activities--i.e., learning the test formats rather than additional content. However, the tests that were studied by educational researchers were multiple-choice, basic-skills-oriented tests, not the newer performance-based assessments (Firestone, Mayrowetz & Fairman, 1998). Performance-based assessments test student knowledge differently than multiple-choice, basic-skills tests. Multiple-choice tests only require students to fill in an oval; performance-based assessments require students to show their knowledge by constructing a response--i.e., writing an essay or showing how they solve a mathematical problem. This form of testing assesses higher level thinking skills while the other tests memorization (Rothman, 1995). Although the test format has changed, from all multiple-choice questions to some or all constructed response questions, the use of stakes as a way to exert significant influence on classroom learning and instructional practices has remained constant. These stakes have included incentives such as cash awards to schools or individual teachers who demonstrate high levels of student performance. They also have included consequences for schools, individual teachers, and students; these consequences include public reporting of test results, prevention of grade-to-grade promotion and high school graduation, and possible takeover of schools that continue to demonstrate low levels of student performance. These incentives and consequences are all based on one thing- the test score. But do these test results influence instructional practices? If so, in what manner? The point of this study is to answer these questions. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this study was to determine if the public release of student results on high-stakes, state-mandated performance assessments influence instructional practices, and if so, in what manner. This study was designed to answer the following questions: Central question: In what manner do the student results from high-stakes, state-mandated performance assessments influence instructional practices? Additional guiding questions include the following: 1. Have teachers changed their instructional practices since the public release of high-stakes, state-mandated student performance assessment scores? …


The number and variety of responses to Toni Morrison's 1987 novel Beloved are ample testimony to Morrison's ability to move her readers, to involve them and make them (as she claims) "part of the creative process" (Bonetti). In re visioning slave history through the story of Sethe, a woman who is haunted both by her past as a slave and by the violence she is driven to as a result of that past, Morrison has created her most complex and (with perhaps the exception of Tar Baby) most controversial work to date. The controversy stems in part from the power of the subject matter and the frankness with which Morrison addresses it, in part from the mystery surrounding the title character--an example of the deliberate ambiguity that has delighted and frustrated Morrison's readers throughout her career. Perhaps even more powerful than the story Morrison tells, however (and more potentially disturbing, for some readers), is the way she tells it, the innovative choices she makes that have driven many critics to find a new generic or structural model for their interpretations. In a 1983 interview with Kay Bonetti, Morrison talks about her struggle to write a new kind of novel: I wanted...the books...to have an effortlessness and an artlessness, and a non-book quality, so that they would have a sound.... And the closest I came, I think, to finding it was in some books written by Africans, novels that were loose...the kind that people could call unstructured because they were circular, and because they sounded like somebody was telling you a story. Yet you knew it was nothing simple, as simple as that--it was intricate.... I wanted the sound to be something I felt was spoken and more oral and less print. In responding to the charges of ambiguity levelled against her work, Morrison aligns her fictional craft with that of the musician: I don't want them [the novels] to be unsatisfying, and some people do find it wholly unsatisfying, but I think that's the habit, the literary habit, of having certain kinds of endings. Although we don't expect a poem to end that way, you know, or even music doesn't end that way, certain kinds of music. There's always something tasty in your mouth when you hear blues, there's always something left over with jazz, because it's on edge, and you're never satisfied, you're always a little hungry. (Bonetti) Morrison's equation of her art with both music and storytelling suggests that, as critics, we must come to her work with a new set of assumptions, based not on what Morrison calls the traditional "pyramid" form (with rising action, climax, denouement, etc.) but on forms arising from the oral tradition, in which song and story intertwine and are often inseparable. Anthony J. Berret, in a far-ranging discussion of the earlier novels The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Tar Baby, asserts Morrison's dependence on "music as a model for her writing" (268), and suggests that jazz in particular is central to Morrison's work. Other critics and reviewers note the "lyrical" quality of Morrison's prose as well, and if we are to find a way to deal with those elements of Morrison's fiction viewed by some readers as critical problems (her ambiguity, her loose, even "fragmented" narrative structure, her endless repetition of themes, images, whole stories), it seems obvious that music is an appropriate, if not the most appropriate, critical tool. While Judith Thurman's "operatic" perspective is a useful one, jazz is an even more revealing lens through which to view Beloved, in combination with the precepts of the oral tradition of performance from which jazz derives (see Stearns, among others). One element of Morrison's narrative style that may prove problematic for readers of Beloved is the way in which, while maintaining an omniscient point of view, Morrison shifts the narrative perspective from the consciousness of one character to that of another. …


Poverty is one of the most serious problems confronting paddy farmers worldwide, and Malaysia is not an exception. Off farm employment is an alternative strategy and it has a potential to improve the income and well-being of the paddy farmers. This study assessed the off-farm employment decision among 250 paddy farmers in Kemasin Semerak granary area. In specific, the study attempted to determine the relationship between the determinants of the off-farm and the off-farm participation decision. It was also undertaken to describe the characteristics of respondents and their status in the off-farm employment. Furthermore, it examined the income level of the farm households from the paddy farming and the off-farm employments as well as showed the effects of the off-farm employment to the paddy farmers, using the descriptive analysis and logit regression methods. The variables which were found to influence the likelihood of the paddy farmers to be engaged in the
off-farm employment included the farmers' age and gender, the number of dependants, as well as other income and farming types. From the study, it was evident that the farm size and education were not significant factors as no significant association was observed between them and the off-farm participation.


The aim of this paper is to explore whether support for the welfare state is lower if people are made aware of its costs. Using data from a series of survey experiments in the German Internet Panel, we analyse individual spending preferences for different areas of the welfare state and support for redistribution. Tax constraints lead to lower support for unemployment benefits and for redistribution. Tax constraints do not affect support for more spending on pensions, healthcare, and long-term care. We consider whether the effect of tax constraints varies with pre-existing political attitudes or with individual material circumstances. We find little evidence that a political ideology makes respondents more responsive to tax constraints. However, we find some support that low income respondents are less responsive to the tax constraint and maintain their high support despite its costs. Attitudes towards the welfare state are not independent of attitudes towards taxation, and we conclude that our understanding of public attitudes might considerably benefit from combining these different strands of the literature.


Background and Aims: Severe contamination with organic compounds and very high color is characteristic of yeast industry wastewater. Discharging this wastewater into the environment has adverse effects on the environment. The present study was conducted to determine the efficiency of the electrocoagulation (EC) using aluminum electrodes for the removal of color, turbidity, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from the baker's yeast industry wastewater. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the effect of current densities (60, 80, 100, and 120 A/m2) and reaction times (15, 30, 45, and 60 min) using aluminum electrode was investigated on removal efficiencies of COD, color, and turbidity. The pilot consisted of a reactor with a useful volume of 2.5 l of epoxy glass, a direct current power supply, and aluminum electrodes of 8 cm × 8 cm in diameter. Results: The highest removal efficiencies were obtained to be 83% for COD, 93% for color, and 96% for turbidity at density of 80 A/m2 and 45-min contact time (pH = 7). Under these conditions, the power and electrode consumption was 16.89 kWh and 94.3 g/m3, respectively, and the treatment cost of wastewater was estimated to be 1.5 $ per each cubic meter. Conclusion: The results showed that EC process using aluminum electrode is an appropriate and effective method for removing color, turbidity, and COD from baking industry wastewater.


Although social media use among religious communities is proliferating, significant gaps remain in our understanding of how religious minorities perceive social media in relation to their faith and community. Thus, we ask how individuals use religion to frame moral attitudes around social media for Jews and Muslims. Specifically, how does social media shape understandings of community? We analyze 52 interviews with Jews and Muslims sampled from Houston and Chicago. We find that Jews and Muslims view social media as a "double-edged sword"—providing opportunities to expand intracommunal ties and access to religious resources, while also diluting the quality of ties and increasing exposure to religious distractions. These findings help us understand what it is about being a religious minority in the US that might shape how individuals engage with social media. Moreover, they suggest that social media may be transforming faith communities in less embodied ways, a topic that is of particular relevance in our pandemic times.


This essay aims to shed light on the intriguing domains of archives through a cross-disciplinary approach encompassing Comparative Public Law, Legal History and Philosophy. The core subject matter tries to delineate both the potential within digital archives and their prospective contribution to information management, considering its quasi-exponential growth. To contextualize these traits a general reflection about past and contemporary institutional frames, coupled with a brief methodological excursus on technology, has been undertaken also in order to figure out how past experiences' resolutions may offer performative solutions to informational issues at any stage.


It is well known that vessels use sea water for ballasting. This process is a structural function that allows them to sail unloaded. The management of Vessels' Ballast Sea water has been recognized and identified by the shipping community, IMO and relative organizations, as an important pollutant issue. Biota that are transferred through ballast sea water, are discharged upon arrival thus creating serious environmental problems to the marine environment, by disrupting the existing ecological balance. This special kind of sea pollution causes enormous social, economic and environmental disturbance, degrading the local eco-systems and the adjacent human community. During the past 30 years, the Shipping Industry and relevant organizations are trying to find an effective single solution to this problem. EMSA and IMO have adopted relevant regulations, in order for ballast sea water to be treated, before discharge. This study analyzes and describes the need for on board ballast sea water treatment, as well as the various treating methods and systems. The IMO and other organizations demand the implementation of a number of regulations. They have been working on new ideas and their efficiency and availability. They also examine the necessary requirements of an on-board implementation system in connection to each ships specificities and and technical requirements. The analysis undertaken in this study aims at highlighting the main environmental issues and continues with a critical review of the main Alien Invasion Species (AIS) transported via ballast sea water. The second chapter looks into and analyzes various treatment methods and ballast water management issues, as well as several relevant ideas, in order o combat the AIS problem. IMO regulations' have evolved through several conventions and revisions, an issue examined in the third chapter. The fourth and final chapter of this thesis strives to identify and highlight the on-board implementation issues of a treatment system. More specifically, what are the impacts on the environment and how should the international maritime community react? What are the obstacles regarding the adaptation of the various treatment systems? These are some of the main questions that this study attempts to answer, always in accordance to the contemporary international legal status, as well as the existing scientific and technological developments. If the AIS issue is to be resolved on a global scale, then the shipping industry will have to adopt treatment systems that have proven to be profitable and appropriate both for the ship-owners and the vessel itself.


Ethnophysiography is a nascent discipline, one which draws on at least a half-dozen existing disciplines. These disciplines exist in productive tension, a tension which produces a range of possible answers to some central questions. These questions include: What is being analyzed? What issues arise when gathering data? How are questions framed to access data? What is the goal of ethnophysiography? How is human meaning connected to human expression, in the context of place language? What are the implications of applying the reconstructed data? And, if ethnophysiography is to be seen as a nascent discipline, how does it relate to other disciplines? This chapter expands on these questions that will help to develop and strengthen the concepts at the center of ethnophysiography, give it an identity, and suggest further research possibilities.


Four major storms that triggered debris flows in the Virginia‐West Virginia Appalachians provide new insights into the role of high-magnitude, low-frequency floods in longterm denudation and landscape evolution in mountainous terrain. Storm denudation in the Blue Ridge Mountain drainage basins is approximately an order of magnitude greater compared to basins located in the mountains of the Valley and Ridge province. This difference is probably the result of higher storm rainfall from the Blue Ridge storms. Radiocarbon dating of debris-flow deposits in the Blue Ridge indicates a debris-flow return interval of not more than 2‐4 k.y. in mountainous river basins. This finding, combined with measurements of basin denudation, suggests that approximately half of the long-term denudation from mechanical load occurs episodically by debris-flow processes. Although floods of moderate magnitude are largely responsible for mobilizing sediment in lowgradient streams, our data suggest that high-magnitude, low-frequency events are the most significant component in delivering coarse-grained regolith from mountainous hollows and channels to the lowland floodplains.


This study is part of a larger research program, commissioned by the global Challenge Program on Water and Food, investigating whether investments in social capital and collective action for water management can assist smallhold farmers in escaping poverty traps across a watershed. The main goal here is to assess the potential for change in livelihood outcomes that could result from any new cooperative efforts in water management. It does so by probing the dynamic relationship between water, livelihoods and poverty over the period from 1977 to 2002 in the Nyando River basin in western Kenya. The analysis finds that demographic and geographical conditions are principal drivers behind the dynamic patterns of poverty within the basin. Institutional changes consequential to the economic reforms of the 1990s combined with exogenous climatic shocks to deepen poverty substantially over the decade. The conclusion reached is that, while local group action is important for alleviating the most immediate conditions of poverty, wider structural reform is necessary to arrest the conditions that will otherwise reproduce poverty into the future.


In this paper, we study the distributed-duality-based optimization of a multisubchannel ad hoc cognitive radio network (CRN) that coexists with a multicell primary radio network (PRN). For radio resource allocation in multiuser orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MU-OFDM) systems, the orthogonal-access-based exclusive subchannel assignment (ESA) technique has been a popular method, but it is suboptimal in ad hoc networks, because nonorthogonal access between multiple secondary-user links by using shared subchannel assignment (SSA) can bring a higher weighted sum rate. We utilize the Lagrangian dual composition tool and design low-complexity near-optimal SSA resource allocation methods, assuming practical discrete-rate modulation and that the CRN-to-PRN interference constraint has to strictly be satisfied. However, available SSA methods for CRNs are either suboptimal or involve high complexity and suffer from slow convergence. To address this problem, we design fast-convergence SSA duality schemes and introduce several novel methods to increase the speed of convergence and to satisfy various system constraints with low complexity. For practical implementation in ad hoc CRNs, we design distributed-duality schemes that involve only a small number of CRN local information exchanges for dual update. The effects of many system parameters are presented through simulation results, which show that the near-optimal SSA duality scheme can perform significantly better than the suboptimal ESA duality and SSA-iterative waterfilling schemes and that the performance loss of the distributed schemes is small, compared with their centralized counterparts.


As technology scales down to the nanometer era, manufacturing defects are rapidly becoming a major concern in the design of electronic circuits. In this work, we present a defect-tolerant logic family constructed with CMOS cells. The basic idea of this approach is the construction of logic gates in which the outputs and their complementaries correct each other. We demonstrate, through circuit simulation using CMOS cells from a 65nm industrial process, that the proposed logic turns out to be a good compromise to construct robust circuits under the constraint of limited area overhead.


This report analyses the development and implementation of the European Union's policies in distance higher education 1957-2004; it identifies the actors involved in developing these policies; and it investigates the barriers to implementation in the form of the digital divide and attitudinal factors. From the 1960s, the pace of technological and economic change led to obsolescence of skills, and a demand for a more educated workforce. Distance education emerged in the 1960s and 70s as an instrument at national level to redress disadvantage, and to provide flexible, high-quality and cost-effective access to higher education to adults who were unable, for geographical, employment or personal reasons, to attend on-campus. The expansion of distance education led to the opening of a policy window in the 1980s with the Maastricht Treaty (1992) commitment to 'encouraging the development of distance education'. Supported by influential policy entrepreneurs and networks, distance education held centre stage in European Union education and training policy for a brief period in the early 1990s. However, by 2004, a form of policy amnesia had set in. Despite rhetorical references to social cohesion in the context of the Lisbon goals of making Europe the most competitive economy in the world, the original concept of distance education had been superseded by an unquestioning acceptance of ICTs as the solution to the problem of lifelong learning. Yet, analysis of the digital divide in Europe and a survey of student attitudes to ICTs and elearning, reveal formidable barriers to the adoption of technology-led solutions. The thesis concludes that the European Union has sought to encourage the use of technology in education and training. However, it has failed to encourage the flexibility in terms of time, place, pace, and indeed accessibility, which would enable adult students to participate in education on a truly lifelong learning basis.


Laufuti Stream, on the island of Taú , American Samoa, is a complex interrupted perennial stream, consisting of three accessible sections, lower Laufuti (perennial), middle Laufuti (intermittent), and upper Laufuti (perennial), and the inaccessible falls zone, a series of four sheer, intermittent waterfalls separating lower Laufuti from middle Laufuti. The macrofauna consists primarily of amphidromous species that are relatively common and widespread in the tropical Pacific. However, in comparison with stream communities on Tutuila, Laufuti is unusual. Its shrimp community is more diverse and abundant, dominated by Macrobrachium latimanus, a species neither widespread nor abundant on Tutuila. It also supports a relatively diverse, alien-free freshwater fish community of six species representing three families, Gobiidae, Eleotridae, and Anguillidae, including Anguilla megastoma, a species of limited occurrence on Tutuila. The fish community of Laufuti is similar to that of other tropical Pacific high-island streams in terms of dominant families, but zonation of macrofauna differs. There are no euryhaline fish species, and only Anguilla megastoma occurs above the falls zone. There are seven species of shrimps in lower Laufuti, but only Macrobrachium lar and M. latimanus occur above the falls zone. The severe dispersal barrier represented by the falls zone plus the absence of estuarine conditions, both products of the islands' geologic history, have produced a pattern of species distributions unlike that of most other tropical Pacific high islands.


Chile is often cited in education policy circles for its embrace about 30 years ago of a choice and market system in education, instituted by the military government and very much based on libertarian economic ideas. For example, each Chilean student received the same amount of funding regardless of background or need. As a result, in Chile today, public schools enroll only about half of all students, with the rest mainly in private schools that receive public subsidies, and about 8% in unsubsidized private schools. Chile now has some 11,000 schools for fewer than 4 million students, which means that the average school has only about 375 students; in the United States, the average elementary school has more than 470 students and the average high school more than 700 students. Chile's market system did nothing to decrease inequalities in education. Indeed, by 1990, it was clear that almost all very poor children were attending public schools, which also had much lower student outcomes (Raczynski & Munoz, 2007). Public schools are also less well-funded since they can't charge tuition, which subsidized private schools can. Also in the early 1980s, Chile moved much of the control over schooling from the national government to the 350 or so municipalities and to some 4,000 owners or operators of private schools that receive public subsidies (in most cases, owners operate only one school). Municipalities, for example, are responsible for hiring teachers and appointing principals, even though many municipalities may have virtually no education expertise in their staffs. In private schools, each owner hires and controls its own policy within broad national limits. Such decentralization makes it more difficult to address systemic quality issues in education because of the challenge of getting all or even most school managers moving in a common direction, because management skills are weak, and because schools don't want to share their successes since they compete with each other for students. Nonetheless, over the last 20 years, since the restoration of civilian rule in Chile, successive governments have been making efforts to improve education outcomes and decrease some of the inequality in the system. Overall spending on education increased substantially. The national government worked closely with teacher organizations to improve the attractiveness of teaching as a profession, including significant pay increases, and to develop a rigorous process for evaluating teachers with links to additional pay. Various programs were put in place to try to improve schooling outcomes in poor communities and in rural areas--many of which are also quite poor. These efforts have had some success. Chile has improved the qualifications and retention of teachers. More students go to school, stay on into secondary, and many more are graduating from secondary schools. According to Avalos (2010), outcomes improved and inequalities shrank in schools that were part of the improvement initiatives mentioned, but because these initiatives only involved relatively small numbers of schools, national results didn't change much. Chilean outcomes Education outcomes in Chile are not at all where they need to be. In the 2009 PISA results, Chilean students scored well below the OECD average, and inequalities related to students' background were substantially higher than the OECD average, though in both regards performance in Chile is better than its Latin American neighbors such as Brazil, Colombia, or Argentina. While Chile is wealthier than its neighbors, it has one of the highest levels of income inequality in Latin America. Chile's own internal student assessment also reveals both inadequate outcomes and high levels of inequality, with poor and rural students well behind their more advantaged urban counterparts. In the last few years, a nonprofit organization, Fundacion Chile (www.fundacionchile. …


Many real-time operating systems (RTOSes) offer very small interrupt latencies, in the order of tens or hundreds of cycles. They achieve this by making the RTOS kernel fully preemptible, permitting interrupts at almost any point in execution except for some small critical sections. One drawback of this approach is that it is difficult to reason about or formally model the kernel's behavior for verification, especially when written in a low-level language such as C.
 An alternate model for an RTOS kernel is to permit interrupts at specific preemption points only. This controls the possible interleavings and enables the use of techniques such as formal verification or model checking. Although this model cannot (yet) obtain the small interrupt latencies achievable with a fully-preemptible kernel, it can still achieve worst-case latencies in the range of 10,000s to 100,000s of cycles. As modern embedded CPUs enter the 1 GHz range, such latencies become acceptable for more applications, particularly when they come with the additional benefit of simplicity and formal models. This is particularly attractive for protected multitasking microkernels, where the (inherently non-preemptible) kernel entry and exit costs dominate the latencies of many system calls.
 This paper explores how to reduce the worst-case interrupt latency in a (mostly) non-preemptible protected kernel, and still maintain the ability to apply formal methods for analysis. We use the formally-verified seL4 microkernel as a case study and demonstrate that it is possible to achieve reasonable response-time guarantees. By combining short predictable interrupt latencies with formal verification, a design such as seL4's creates a compelling platform for building mixed-criticality real-time systems.


More and more users obtain new knowledge using e-learning systems, and often assess their understanding of this new knowledge using corresponding assessment items. However, the distribution of content items and assessment items in a learning object is tightly bound. To publish assessment items, independently of the corresponding content items, it is required to wrap these assessment items into separate learning objects, which introduces a large overhead. Moreover, current learning objects are closely coupled with their execution environment. A stand-alone and lightweight format to describe assessment items is needed. This way their publication is facilitated and their discoverability can be increased. This paper proposes some important features for such a format and introduces SERIF: a Semantic ExeRcise Interchange Format, whose underlying data model is based on the QTI data model, and that can be distributed into di erent RDF serializations. SERIF was applied successfully in three proof-of-concept applications, where we assessed how SERIF is decoupled from the execution environment and extendable to other content and interaction types. In future work, we will exploit its de ned semantics for automatic discovery and combination of assessment items.


We propose a policy improvement algorithm for Reinforcement Learning (RL) termed Rerouted Behavior Improvement (RBI). RBI is designed to take into account the evaluation errors of the Q-function. Such errors are common in RL when learning the Q-value from finite experience data. Greedy policies or even constrained policy optimization algorithms that ignore these errors may suffer from an improvement penalty (i.e., a policy impairment). To reduce the penalty, the idea of RBI is to attenuate rapid policy changes to actions that were rarely sampled. This approach is shown to avoid catastrophic performance degradation and reduce regret when learning from a batch of transition samples. Through a two-armed bandit example, we show that it also increases data efficiency when the optimal action has a high variance. We evaluate RBI in two tasks in the Atari Learning Environment: (1) learning from observations of multiple behavior policies and (2) iterative RL. Our results demonstrate the advantage of RBI over greedy policies and other constrained policy optimization algorithms both in learning from observations and in RL tasks.


High efficiency methods for DNA assembly are based on sequence overlap between fragments or Type IIS restriction endonuclease cleavage and ligation. These have enabled routine assembly of synthetic DNAs of increased size and complexity. However, these techniques require customisation, elaborate vector sets and serial manipulations for the different stages of assembly. We present Loop assembly, based on a recursive approach to DNA fabrication. Alternate use of two Type IIS restriction endonucleases and corresponding vector sets allows efficient and parallel assembly of large DNA circuits. Plasmids containing standard Level 0 parts can be assembled into circuits containing 1, 4, 16 or more genes by looping between the two vector sets. The vectors also contain modular sites for hybrid assembly using sequence overlap methods. Loop assembly provides a simple generalised solution for DNA construction with standardised parts. The cloning system is provided under an OpenMTA license for unrestricted sharing and open access.


It was recently proved that a sound and complete qualitative simulator does not exist, that is, as long as the input-output vocabulary of the state-of-the-art QSIM algorithm is used, there will always be input models which cause any simulator with a coverage guarantee to make spurious predictions in its output. In this paper, we examine whether a meaningfully expressive restriction of this vocabulary is possible so that one can build a simulator with both the soundness and completeness properties. We prove several negative results: All sound qualitative simulators, employing subsets of the QSIM representation which retain the operating region transition feature, and support at least the addition and constancy constraints, are shown to be inherently incomplete. Even when the simulations are restricted to run in a single operating region, a constraint vocabulary containing just the addition, constancy, derivative, and multiplication relations makes the construction of sound and complete qualitative simulators impossible.


While there has been a surge of articles on convergence diagnostic tools for MCMC on continuous stationary distributions and ordinal state spaces, Bayesian clustering has spawned demands for tools designed specifically for nominal finite state spaces — grouping space. To fill this gap we propose a simple quantitative convergence criterion for MCMC algorithms run on nominal state spaces that has an intuitive interpretation which is a one-dimensional goodness-of-fit statistic. We study the asymptotic behaviour of the statistic and estimate its variance using the regenerative simulation. The convergence assessment is performed via a formal statistical significance test. We study the performance of the proposed criterion via simulation. We finally consider the particular application of clustering of genetic mutants of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana.


Abstract The Sun River Bonebed is a monodominant assemblage of late juvenile lambeosaurine elements from the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of north-central Montana, United States. Detailed excavation revealed an unusual paleobiologic and depositional signature. Although the bonebed occurs in a succession of beds representing anastomosing stream deposits in a seasonal paleoenvironment, the assemblage consists of a conglomerate of bone and calcareous clasts in a matrix of silty mud and free-floating sand grains. Internally, the bed exhibits normal grading of bone and calcareous clasts, poor sediment sorting, and preferred orientation of elongate elements, all characteristics common to debris flow deposits. The mud-rich matrix, poor sorting, and graded clasts of the bonebed suggest the assemblage was entrained and deposited by a cohesive debris flow, perhaps initiated through entrainment of fine overbank sediment by a seasonal flood. Nearly complete skeletal disarticulation and weathering of some bones indicate a brief period of postmortem exposure prior to debris flow entrainment. Fracture styles suggesting fresh breaks and frequent abrasion may reflect pre-flow trampling or chaotic flow transport. A significant number of elements also exhibit wet rot. The uniformity in taphonomic effects among elements suggests a mass mortality event, a rarity for debris-flow-hosted bonebeds, though the specific cause of death is uncertain. The age class dominance is interpreted to reflect original paleobiology, rather than abiotic postmortem selection, and establishes the Sun River Bonebed as the first bonebed of predominantly late juvenile material, with no adult material, in the Two Medicine Formation.


Long-term variations of the Aleutian Low (AL) defined by the sea level pressure (SLP) minimum within the region of [30°N-60°N, 150°E-150°W] during winter (December-February) are investigated, using atmospheric reanalysis datasets. The intensity, latitudinal position, and longitudinal position of AL reveal different temporal variations: the longitudinal shift accompanies intensity variation with an interdecadal timescale (about 20 years), and the latitudinal shift does with a decadal timescale (about 10 years). The AL intensity variation and the longitudinal shift are related to activity of the Pacific/North American teleconnection pattern: in a strengthening (weakening) phase of AL, the AL shifts eastward (westward); westerlies strengthen (weaken), and both subtropical and subpolar gyres spin-up (spin-down) simultaneously. The latitudinal shift is associated with activity of the West Pacific teleconnection pattern. It is independent of the intensity variation of AL: when the AL shifts northward (southward), the westerlies correspondingly move northward (southward). Consequently, the gyre boundary, which is defined by the zero line of the Sverdrup stream function, also shifts northward (southward).The role of AL north-south shift on the upper oceanic variations is investigated by using a wind-driven hind-cast model. The oceanic Rossby wave formed as a result of the baroclinic response for the AL movement influences the sea surface temperature in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension region.


Book description: In recent decades, scholars working in postcolonial history have successfully challenged the primacy of Western historiography and its Eurocentric worldview. With Unsettling History, a group of historians extend that challenge to two central components of work in history: archiving and narrating. Archival resources, they argue, despite their air of impartiality, are the product of established interests and subject to various practices of selection, cataloguing, and preservation. Narrating, too, is more complicated than it might at first seem, especially as the range of genres available to the historians for presenting their findings has expanded in recent years.


Let X be a compact group. $(X) denotes the Banach algebra (point multiplication, sup norm) of continuous complexvalued functions on X A is any closed subalgebra of d(X) which is stable under right and left translations and contains the constants. It is shown, by means of the Peter-Weyl Theorem and some multilinear algebra, that the condition (*) every representation of degree 1 of X has finite image is necessary and sufficient that every possible A be self-ad joint. If X is connected, then (*) means that X is a projective limit of semisimple Lie groups; if X is a Lie group, then (*) means that X is semisimple. The Stone-Weierstrass Theorem then gives a quick classification of all possible algebras A on an arbitrary connected semisimple Lie group X.


Conventional analyses of the obstacles to contraceptive use in Africa focus on the social value attributed to high fertility, the fear of side effects and problems of accessing contraception. This article studies the range of situations that can lead to unplanned pregnancy and aims to identify the social rationales that foster such situations. Two hundred semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2006-2007 in the capitals of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Morocco and Senegal as part of the survey on Emergency Contraception in Africa (ECAF). The analyses reveal that simultaneously trying to observe reproductive and sexual norms – in which a double standard prohibits premarital sex for young women while endorsing the primacy of male sexual pleasure – leads to unprotected or poorly protected intercourse. While the factors are relatively similar in the four countries, the rigidity of the norms in question differs from one to another, notably with regard to premarital sexuality. Finally, the question of effective contraceptive use goes far beyond the issue of «unmet needs», a central concept in the literature which focuses on non-use of contraception.


Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by reversible bronchial obstruction, persistent bronchal hyperreactivity (BHR), inflammation and remodelation of the airways. Its pathogenesis is complex and multifactorial. Inheritance is not mendelian but poligenic. Five genomic regions are involved: 5q23-31, 12q15-24.1, 16p, 19q13 i 21q21. Contribution of heritable factors to asthmatic phenotype depends on the exposure to environmental agents that starts in pregnancy via maternal blood. Placenta is immunologicaly active and type Th2 cytokines predominate during pregnancy. Vaccination, antibiotics and good housing conditions reduce exposure to common microorganisms that otherwise direct postnatal development of the immune system towards protective pattern by means of Th1 cytokines, particularly IFN-g. Thus the type 2 cytokine pattern persists and favors allergic-type reactivity. Interaction of allergens with immunoglobulin E in early stage of allergic reaction releases histamin, leukotrienes and prostaglandin from mast-cells and eosinophils, resulting in bronchoconstriction, mucosal secretion and inflammation. In later stages infiltration with mast-cells, eosinophils, macrophages, CD4+ T-lymphocytes and neutrophils takes place in the airways. Allergen-specific CD4+ T-lymphocytes of allergic persons belong to the cytokine Th2 pattern and produce predominantly IL-4, IL-13 and IL-5 with almost no IFN-g. They initiate and maintain pathological changes in asthma. Structural changes called airway remodelation result from interaction of inflammatory mediators with stromal cells. Collagens I, II and III, fibronectin and tenascin are deposited into lamina reticularis beneath the basal membrane. Remodelation and inflammation of the airways cause bronchal hyperreactivity (BHR) and obstruction which impede expiration and cause wheezing. Inflammation and structural changes of the airways (demonstrated by biopsies of bronchal mucosa) precede clinical symptoms of asthma by a year or two. Bronchial obstruction and wheezing become manifest when remodelation has reached critical stage. Study of immunological factors is expected to elucidate pathogenesis of persistent inflammation and remodelation of the airways in asthma. That would help design new therapeutic strategies for treatment of persistent asthmatic conditions that do not respond to presently available therapy.


China was the world's third-largest producer of cars in 2006, and also the third-largest producer of "motor vehicles". Great Wall Motor Company Limited (GWM) is the largest privately-owned automotive manufacturer in China. It was among the Top 500 Enterprises of China in 2004 and one of the best brands in the national automobile range. One of the more prominent industries in South Africa is the automobile industry. A high level of customer service is of paramount importance due to the competitive nature of this industry. Poor service at GWM service centres has created a negative perception amongst customers. GWM service centres do not appear to provide a satisfactory level of service for customers. The purpose of the study is to investigate customer perceptions of service quality at GWM service centres in the greater Durban area. In this research, the literature survey defined the service quality "gap" at GWM service centres, identified the role of effective communication in the service delivery system, measured the variables affecting current service delivery using the SERVQUAL instrument, and prioritized the importance of the factors influencing service delivery at GWM service centres. The analysis of the results revealed important findings. The results demonstrated that, in each of the five SERVQUAL dimensions, there was a negative quality gap. Improvements are needed across all five dimensions. Specific recommendations have been made to improve the levels of customer service quality at GWM service centres.


Mathematicians considered lattices as early as the first half of the nineteenth century, e.g. Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss and Joseph-Louis Lagrange explored point lattices in small dimensions. After the pioneering work of Hermann Minkowski around 1900, lattices were extensively studied in the twentieth century until engineering applications in the areas of digital communications, data compression, and cryptography were recently discovered. Nowadays it is admitted that lattices are good for almost everything, including many new fields such as physical-layer security, post-quantum cryptographic primitives, and coding for wireless mobile channels. In this talk, after introducing the mathematical background for point lattices in multi-dimensional Euclidean spaces, we shall describe how lattices are used to guarantee reliable and secure communications. The talk will include strong technical material but it is intended to a large audience including engineers and scientists from all areas. The talk shall also present new results on lattices found in Qatar under projects NPRP 6-784-2-329 and NPRP 5-597-2-241 funded by QNRF. Lattices are mathematical structures with specific algebraic and topological properties. We consider the simplest form of lattices, i.e. lattices in real Euclidean spaces equipped with the standard scalar product. In communication theory, lattices can play different roles in the processing and the transmission of information. They are suitable for vector quantization of analog sources, for channel coding as coded modulations, and also for joint source-channel coding. In the recent literature, lattices are found to be good tools in network coding and secure coding at the physical layer. More information on lattice for communications can be found in [1] and references therein. A lattice is a Z-module of the Euclidean vector space R^N or equivalently it is a discrete additive subgroup of R^N. A new family of lattices, referred to as Generalized Low-Density Lattices (GLD) was built in Qatar. GLD lattices are obtained by Construction A from non-binary GLD codes. Their impressive performance and analysis can be found in [2]. In his seminal paper [3], Miklos Ajtai showed how lattices could be used as cryptographic primitives. Since Ajtai's result, lattice-based cryptography became very popular in the cryptography community. One important area is Learning With Errors (LWE), see [4]. LWE is a clear example of elementary mathematical problem with an algorithmically complex solution. Thanks to its intrinsic connection with lattice-based problems that are known to be hard also for quantum algorithms, LWE has raised much interest in the last decade, it is part of the so-called post-quantum cryptography. Another area in lattice-based cryptography is GGH. This is the first McEliece-like scheme for lattices, referred to as GGH cryptosystem, and was proposed by Goldreich, Goldwasser, and Halevi in 1997. GGH is a lattice equivalent of the McEliece cryptosystem based on error-correcting codes. Many other cryptosystems based on lattices were investigated and proposed by several researchers. In this talk, after presenting how lattices are used for reliable communications, we also present how lattices are used to secure data communications. The attached slides constitute a draft mainly focusing on the communication aspects of lattices. These slides will be completed by a second part on security based on lattices. [1] R. Zamir, Lattice Coding for Signals and Networks, Cambridge, 2014. [2] J.J. Boutros, N. di Pietro, and Y.C. Huang, "Spectral thinning in GLD lattices", Information Theory and Applications Workshop (ITA), La Jolla, pp. 1-9, Feb. 2015. Visit http://www.ita.ucsd.edu/workshop/15/files/paper/paper_31.pdf [3] M. Ajtai, "Generating Hard Instances of Lattice Problems," Proc. of the Twenty-Eighth Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, pp. 99-108. doi:10.1145/237814.237838, 1996. [4] V. Lyubashevsky, C. Peikert, and O. Regev, "A Toolkit for Ring-LWE Cryptography," in EUROCRYPT, pp. 35-54, 2013.


The haemophilia is a recessive disease tied to the X chromosome that generally men suffer. The genetic preimplantation diagnosis (GPD), the prenatal diagnosis and the molecular diagnosis of the mutations that cause haemophilia, are realized in isolated investigations (researches) in order to do primary prevention, provide advise to the carriers of the disease and their families, which has allowed to bring to the world children free of this disease and also to improve the quality of life of the affected ones. The hopeful procedures in gene therapy (GT) have shown great effectiveness. The intention is to achieve the normal production of the protein which is absent or it is altered in the affected ones, but at the moment the tests carried out in human beings are stopped. Here are other alternate therapies that although are in phase of investigation, would allow to obtain a production of protein to long term and which have been developed thanks to the understanding of the molecular nature of the coagulation factors.


Carbon markets have emerged globally as a central feature in market based strategies to address the climate crisis. Global trade in carbon is based on the premise that it is possible to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and stabilise the earth's climate, while at the same time generating new forms of capital accumulation. Amongst carbon market initiatives includes Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) type projects, that connect peasant and subsistence farmers in the south with northern consumers and industries. These projects are expanding on the African continent, giving rise to social, economic and ecological impacts. In this article we chart the responses of social movements to carbon markets. Through a study of selected NGOs active in carbon market campaigns in Uganda, we examine the strategies and tactics of movements in responding to the expanding carbon economy. Our findings demonstrate NGOs' approaches move between, and across, reformist and rebel (or radical) change agendas. Dominant strategies are directed towards reforming carbon markets and associated forestry governance. Meanwhile, a rebel, or radical change agenda – including rejecting the language and ideology of carbon trade, alongside building autonomous local level rights based movements – emerges in the constrained spaces of both privatised green economic governance and a militarised state. Given the constrained opportunities for radical movement organising, and the frequent institutionalization and limited influence of NGOs, increasing understandings of these radical change agendas and their contributions for re-imagining alternative sustainabilities is significant for scholars, activists and practitioners alike.


One of the tasks in contemporary biotechnology, pharmacology and other fields of human activities is to obtain biologically active substances from plants. They are very essential in the treatment of many diseases due to their actually high therapeutic value without visible side effects. However, sometimes the possibility of obtaining the metabolites is limited due to the reduction of wildgrowing plants. That is why the plant cell cultures are of great interest as alternative sources of biologically active substances. Besides, during the monitored cultivation, it is possible to obtain substances that are not synthesized by plants in nature. Isolated culture of Ajuga genevensis with high growth activity and ability of regeneration was obtained using MS nutrient medium. The agardiffusion method showed that aqueous extracts of callus culture revealed high antimicrobial activity towards various gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis A1WT; B. mesentericus WDCM 1873; Staphylococcus aureus WDCM 5233; Staph. citreus WT) and gramnegative (Escherichia coli WKPM M-17; Salmonella typhimurium TA 100) microorganisms. The broth dilution method revealed that the minimal and half maximal inhibitory concentration values against E. coli corresponded to the 70 μg/mL and 140 μg/mL concentration of the extract respectively. According to the photochemiluminescent analysis, callus tissue extracts of leaf and root origin showed higher antioxidant activity than the same quantity of A. genevensis intact plant extract. A. genevensis intact plant and callus culture extracts showed no cytotoxic effect on K-562 suspension cell line of human chronic myeloid leukemia. The GC-MS analysis showed deep differences between the qualitative and quantitative composition of callus culture and intact plant extracts. Hexacosane (11.17%); nhexadecanoic acid (9.33%); and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (4.28%) were the main components of intact plant extracts. 10Methylnonadecane (57.0%); methoxyacetic acid, 2-tetradecyl ester (17.75%) and 1-Bromopentadecane (14.55%) were the main components of A. genevensis callus culture extracts. Obtained data indicate that callus culture of A. genevensis can be used as an alternative source of biologically active substances. Keywords—Ajuga genevensis, antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, callus cultures.


Food products are increasingly being produced in vertically coordinated networks. While one could argue that supply chain networks and their management are of greater interest in the developed countries, in-depth interviews with agribusiness experts provide evidence that the interest in supply chain management is even greater in the transitional economies. A study of food businesses in Ukraine reveals a number of challenges and barriers supply chain networks face in the transitional economies, the most significant of which are cooperation and coordination issues.


A cloud computing cluster equipped with a deadline-aware job scheduler faces fairness and efficiency challenges when greedy users falsely advertise the urgency of their jobs. Penalizing such untruthfulness without demotivating users from using the cloud service calls for advanced mechanism design techniques that work together with deadline-aware job scheduling. We propose a Bayesian incentive compatible pricing mechanism based on matching by replica-surrogate valuation functions. User valuations can be discovered by the mechanism, even when the users themselves do not fully understand their own valuations. Furthermore, users who are charged a Bayesian incentive compatible price have no reason to lie about the urgency of their jobs. The proposed mechanism achieves multiple desired truthful properties such as Bayesian incentive compatibility and ex-post individual rationality. We implement the proposed pricing mechanism. Through experiments in a Hadoop cluster with real-world datasets, we show that our prototype is capable of suppressing untruthful behavior from users.


Understanding the vulnerability of marine calcifiers to ocean acidification is a critical issue, especially in the Southern Ocean (SO), which is likely to be the one of the first, and most severely affected regions. Since the industrial revolution, ~30% of anthropogenic CO2 has been absorbed by the global oceans. Average surface seawater pH levels have already decreased by 0.1 and are projected to decline by ~0.3 by the year 2100. This process, known as ocean acidification (OA), is shallowing the saturation horizon, which is the depth below which calcium carbonate (CaCO3) dissolves, likely increasing the vulnerability of many resident marine calcifiers to dissolution. The negative impact of OA may be seen first in species depositing more soluble CaCO3 mineral phases such as aragonite and high-Mg calcite (HMC). Ocean warming could further exacerbate the effects of OA in these particular species. Here we combine a review and a quantitative meta-analysis to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge about skeletal mineralogy of major taxonomic groups of SO marine calcifiers and to make projections about how OA might affect a broad range of SO taxa. We consider a species' geographic range, skeletal mineralogy, biological traits, and potential strategies to overcome OA. The meta-analysis of studies investigating the effects of the OA on a range of biological responses such as shell state, development and growth rate illustrates that the response variation is largely dependent on mineralogical composition. Species-specific responses due to mineralogical composition indicate that taxa with calcitic, aragonitic, and HMC skeletons, could be at greater risk to expected future carbonate chemistry alterations, and low-Mg calcite (LMC) species could be mostly resilient to these changes. Environmental and biological control on the calcification process and/or Mg content in calcite, biological traits, and physiological processes are also expected to influence species-specific responses.


This reading is about the psychological study of the family with a cross-cultural comparative orientation. It attempts to provide answers to some basic questions regarding the family in context whether there are systematic global changes in the family, what might be some of the important factors that characterize family and family change, and how they function. A model of family change is proposed to address these questions and to shed light on the variations in family patterns in different socio-cultural-economic contexts. These patterns also help understand the development of the self in family and society. It is proposed that the modernization hypothesis of 'converging on the Western pattern' with socio-economic development around the globe is not being supported by the research results from various countries. Instead, a synthetic family pattern of emotional/psychological interdependence is emerging across different contexts, as it best satisfies the two basic human needs for autonomy and relatedness. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol6/iss3/1


The history of warfare is grittier and more complex than that portrayed by the jingoistic news reels of old. So too, the history of veterans benefits is much more checkered and conflicted than might be suggested by slogans welcoming home the nation's heroes. Understanding the history and origins of a complex administrative area such as veterans law is vitally important to good practice and thoughtful scholarship. However, because attorneys were not involved in the system for generations while it evolved during two centuries without the oversight of judicial review, very few practitioners or scholars today have any direct experience with veterans benefits in the era before the creation of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in 1988 - or even access to someone with such experience. This lack of institutional memory can be a serious handicap because the Veterans Judicial Review Act did not reinvent the veterans benefits system, but merely placed an independent, federal court above a system with a long history of policy conflicts and a well established political dynamic. Although this article tells the story of veterans benefits in the United States chronologically from the Revolutionary War through the Agent Orange Act of 1991, each subsection has its own narrative and offers a lesson about the politics and policy that still drive veterans law today. Ultimately, veterans law continues to weigh competing policy justifications, search for the proper roles of readjustment and long-term benefits, and struggle with its deep ties to both politics and medicine.


The fine mid-infrared absorption features of dimethyl methylphosphonate vapor have been characterized by using Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, and the nitrous oxide was used for calibration purpose. The results show that the main P-O-C and P=O bonds related absorption bands of dimethyl methylphosphonate vapor are peaked at 1050.01 and 1275.76 cm^(-1) respectively, those two bands show continuous characteristics at resolution of 0.125 cm^(-1).


This document describes and discusses the textual encodings of the
Public-Key Infrastructure X.509 (PKIX), Public-Key Cryptography
Standards (PKCS), and Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS). The textual
encodings are well-known, are implemented by several applications and
libraries, and are widely deployed. This document articulates the de
facto rules by which existing implementations operate and defines them
so that future implementations can interoperate.


Context: The problem this thesis address is concerned with experimental software engineering and is associated with validity of the studies with students as subjects. Often in software engineering experiments students are used because students are easily available and are willing to participate in experiment studies, professionals are rarely available to participate in research study and there are several benefits of using students as research subject.The validity of experiments studied with students are questioned because students are less experienced and skilled compared to professionals. Objectives: The goal of this research is to find evidence whether or not the research studies with students as subjects can be trusted to get valid results. Identify factors that influence the results of experiment studies with students. Identify the ways to improve the validity of experiment studies with students. Methods: In this systematic literature review a number of article sources are used, including Compendex, Inspec, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Springer Link. Experiment studies in software engineering are selected after reading titles and abstracts to decide whether the articles are relevant to the subject. Snowball sampling is done to identify several experiment studies that address same research problems. Results: It is found that graduate students serve as good proxies to study professional practices compared to undergraduate students, because there are significant differences between result/findings of studies with undergraduate students as subjects and studies with professionals as subjects. The following factors influencing the results of experiment studies are identified: Number of subjects, Task related knowledge, Motivation levels of subjects, Training provided, Task related experience and Incentives or grades given for participation in the experiment. This study also identifies some problems with the way of conducting and reporting experiments in software engineering. Addressing these problems could improve the validity of experiment studies with students. Conclusion: The results indicate that students can be used to study professional practices but they cannot be said true for all areas and problems of software engineering because the results of experiment studies with different type of subjects in different area and problems are varying. Which means that whether or not students could be used to study a professional practice depends upon the research problems being studied, type of students subjects chosen for the study, difference between students chosen and professionals to whom the results/findings will be generalized. We conclude that graduate students serve as good proxies to study professional practices compared to undergraduate students. The cumulative experience or overall industry or academic experience of subjects does not seem to be affecting the result/findings of experiment studies unless the overall experience includes task related experience. Even though the study identified above mentioned factors that influences the results/findings of experiment studies there still might be few factors which the study might have failed to identify due lack of data. We suggested improvements for reporting that could improve the comparability of studies.


No cultural phenomenon of the 1970s and 1980s in Britain was more curious than the Raj revival, with its slew of films and fictions, its rage for memorabilia of imperial rule in India, and its strange nostalgia for a time and a world long since past. Today, with the arrival of so-called postcolonial studies, that revival lives on in a strange afterlife of critical study. Writing some years before Raj nostalgia became all the rage, and out of the rather different political and intellectual climate of 1960s national liberation struggles, Benita Parry produced what remains one of the landmark studies of British attitudes towards India. Available for the first time in Paper, Delusions and Discoveries authoritatively surveys the mix of racist and jingoistic prejudices that dominated the writings of Anglo-Indians from Flora Annie Steele and Maud Diver to Kipling and beyond. The book also includes treatments of more liberal thinkers like Edmund Candler, Edward James Thompson and E. M. Forster, as well as a new preface by the author situating her work in relation to recent studies of the culture of colony and empire.


Habitat structure increases the persistence of many extinction-prone resource–consumer interactions. Metapopulation theory is one of the leading approaches currently used to explain why local, ephemeral populations persist at a regional scale. Central to the metapopulation concept is the amount of dispersal occurring between patches, too much or too little can result in regional extinction. In this study, the role of dispersal on the metapopulation dynamics of an over-exploitative host–parasitoid interaction is assessed. In the absence of the parasitoid the highly vagile bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus, can maintain a similar population size regardless of the permeability of the inter-patch matrix and exhibits strong negative density-dependence. After the introduction of the parasitoid the size of the bruchid population decreases with a corresponding increase in the occurrence of empty patches. In this case, limiting the dispersal of both species decouples the interaction to a greater extent and results in larger regional bruchid populations. Given the disparity between the dispersal rates of the two species, it is proposed that the more dispersive host benefits from the reduction in landscape permeability by increasing the opportunity to colonise empty patches and rescue extinction prone populations. Associated with the introduction of the parasitoid is a shift in the strength of density-dependence as the population moves from bottom–up towards top–down regulation. The importance of local and regional scale measurements is apparent when the role of individual patches on regional dynamics is considered. By only taking regional dynamics into account the importance of dispersal regime on local dynamics is overlooked. Similarly, when local dynamics were examined, patches were found to have different influences on regional dynamics depending on dispersal regime and patch location.


This article draws on Māori claims to fisheries in Aotearoa New Zealand as well as their opposition to the establishment of a large scale marine protected area, to question whether commoning, as a conceptual frame, can account for indigenous resistances in ocean environments. It argues that the theorisation of horizontal collective activism, an emphasis on a politics of relationality encompassing humans and non-humans and the potential for transformative practice in commonings, is congruent with the indigenous sociality mobilised by Māori in relation to their seascapes. As an analytical tool, however, commoning pays inadequate attention to inegalitarianism. Inequality may amplify, for instance, in the process of claiming indigenous rights, or it may otherwise be reconfigured as it articulates with the imperative of neoliberal environmental capitalism. Property – alienated, usurped or reappropriated – while considered a reductive representation of the commons is, at least for indigenous peoples, a crucial feature of struggles, a phenomenon clearly articulated in Māori claims to fisheries and marine spaces.


In the global world of the twenty-first century, martial arts are practised for self-defense and sporting purposes only. However, for thousands of years, they were a central feature of military practice in China and essential for the smooth functioning of society. This book, which opens with an intriguing account of the very first female martial artist, charts the history of combat and fighting techniques in China from the Bronze Age to the present. This broad panorama affords fascinating glimpses into the transformation of martial skills, techniques and weaponry against the background of Chinese history, the rise and fall of empires, their governments and their armies. Quotations from literature and poetry, and the stories of individual warriors, infuse the narrative, offering personal reflections on prowess in the battlefield and techniques of engagement. This is an engaging and readable introduction to the authentic history of Chinese martial arts.


From the Publisher:
Remember Lewis Carroll's popular tale, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? Well, Alice is back in a Wonderland you won't believe! American McGee's Alice features an all-new Alice struggling to save Wonderland from the hands of the evil Queen of Hearts. The third-person adventure game features creepy new locations, frightening enemies, and puzzles that will make your head spin. Inside American McGee's Alice: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, you'll find:

In-depth info on all Toys—from the killer Vorpal Blade to the powerful Jackbomb
Comprehensive combat tactics and gameplay training
Thorough details on each character, including Alice and the Queen of Hearts
Exhaustive puzzle solutions
Vital walkthroughs of every land—from the Village of the Doomed to Queensland


The rising antagonistic attitudes and tension between the Malay majority and ethnic and religious minorities in Malaysia since 2007 is intriguing because it has occurred when society experienced an unprecedentedly large-scale and assertive multi-ethnic pro-democracy movement. This article argues that precisely these assertive and confident civil and political societies -and their emphasis on equal rights and equitable development for all Malaysians – have put the traditional Malay and religious elites on the defensive. The pro-democracy movement and the prospects of regime change have threatened not only the party-dominant regime but also – and more importantly – the constitutional and institutional foundations of ethnic exclusivism and privileges. Moreover, two Malay-based parties, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), are viewed as giving too many political concessions to the non-Malay communities to gain an electoral advantage, making the traditional Malay and religious elites even more defensive of their position and power. As a result, religious issues are excessively politicised, further deteriorating the already complicated inter-ethnic relations of the country. The prospects for achieving a democratic regime and society appear grim, although hopes have run high since the electoral rise of the multi-ethnic opposition.