In this paper, we investigate the application of data mining to existing techniques for quality control/anomaly detection on weather sensor observations. Specifically we adapt the popular Barnes Spatial interpolation method to use time-series distance rather than spatial distance to develop an online algorithm that uses readings from similar stations based on current and historical observations for interpolation and we demonstrate that this new algorithm exhibits less model error than the Barnes Spatial interpolation-based method. We focus on interpolation, which is a basis for this popular quality control method and other related methods, and examine a dataset of over 233 million temperature observations from California and surrounding areas. Our approach shows improved performance as indicated by mean squared error reduced by approximately one half for predicted values versus reported values.


The expected permittivity and third-order nonlinear susceptibility of a composite consisting of semiconductor nanorods (NRs) dispersed in a polymer host are derived using a generalized Maxwell Garnett model under various NR axis orientation statistics, achieved by an aligning electric field. The semiconductor NRs are analyzed as prolate spheroids and modeled as more realistic capsule shapes. From the angular distribution function of the NRs, the composite macroscopic characteristics are found for low filling fractions. As the alignment field strength increases, the composite optical properties asymptotically converge toward the nematic case. Aligning fields of order 107  V/m are required for the optical properties to increase to half the value between random orientation and nematic array composites.


A complete set of laboratory investigations, including bleeding time, PFA-100 closure times, factor VIII (FVIII) coagulant activity (FVIII:C), von Willebrand factor (VWF) ristocetin cofactor (VWF:RCo), collagen binding (VWF:CB), antigen (VWF:Ag) and propeptide (VWFpp), ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation (RIPA), multimeric analysis of VWF and the response of FVIII:C and VWF parameters to desmopressin (DDAVP), is necessary to fully diagnose all variants of von Willebrand disease (VWD) and to discriminate between type 1 and type 2 and between severe VWD type 1 and type 3. The response to DDAVP of VWF parameters is normal in pseudo VWD (mild VWF deficiency due to blood group O), in mild VWD type 1 and in carriers of recessive severe VWD type 1 and 3. The response to DDAVP is rather good but restricted followed by increased clearance in dominant type 1/2E, good but transient in mild type 2A group II, good for VWF:CB, with only poor response for VWF:RCo in 2M and 2U, poor in 2A group I, 2B, 2C and 2D, and very poor or non-responsive in severe recessive VWD type 1 and 3. Homozygosity or double heterozygosity for nonsense (null) mutations in the VWF gene result in recessive VWD type 3. The combination of a nonsense and missense mutation or of two missense mutations (homozygous or double heterozygous) may cause recessive severe VWD type 1. Recessive VWD type 2A subtype IIC (2C) is caused by homozygous or double heterozygous gene defects in the D1–D2 domain. Homozygosity or double heterozygosity for a FVIII binding defect of the VWF is the cause of recessive VWD type 2N (Normandy) characterized by low FVIII:C, mild or moderate VWF deficiency and normal VWF multimers. Dominant VWD type 1/2E is a mixed quantitative and qualitative multimerization defect caused by a heterozygous cysteine mutation in the D3 domain resulting in abnormal multimerization with a secretion and clearance defect of VWF not due to increased proteolysis. Dominant VWD type 1 Vicenza is a qualitative defect with normal secretion but rapid clearance with equally low levels of FVIII:C, VWF:Ag, VWF:RCo, VWF:CB and the presence of unusually large VWF multimers in plasma due to a specific mutation (R1205H) in the D3 domain. Dominant VWD type 2M and 2U are caused by loss-of-function mutations in the A1 domain resulting in quantitative/qualitative deficiencies with a selectively decreased platelet-dependent function with decreased VWF:RCo but normal VWF:CB, a relative decrease in large VWF multimers and the presence but relative loss of large VWF multimers. VWD type 2A and 2B show loss of large VWF multimers due to increased proteolysis. Dominant type 2A is caused by heterozygous missense mutations in the A2 domain. VWD type 2B is due to gain-of-function mutations in the A1 domain and differs from 2A by a normal VWF multimeric pattern in platelets and increased RIPA. DDAVP response curves and VWFpp/Ag ratios contribute to the diagnostic differentiation of VWD type 1 and 2. Rapid clearance of VWF after DDAVP with increased VWFpp/Ag ratios >10 appears to be diagnostic for VWD Vicenza. VWD type 1/2E due to the mutations in the D3 domain uniformly show increased VWFpp/Ag ratios ranging from 3.2 to 4.69 indicating clearance of the VWF/FVIII complex. Normal VWFpp/Ag ratios in mild VWD type 1 with mutations in the D1-D2 and the D4-B-C domains reflect a synthesis/secretion defect.


The European and Asian financial crises are the two most recent major regional crises. This paper compares their origins and evolution. The origins of the two sets of crises were different in some respects, but broadly similar. The two sets of crises also shared similarities in their evolution, but here the differences were more significant. The European crisis countries received more external financial support, despite the fact that they involved more solvency issues while the Asian crises involved more liquidity issues. On balance, the reform programs in the European crises were less demanding and rigorous than in the Asian crises. Partly as a consequence, the negative impacts on the global economy have been larger. Author Edwin M. Truman draws three lessons from this analysis: First, history will repeat itself; there will be other external financial crises. Second, other countries have a stake in appropriate crisis management. Third, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other countries were mistaken in treating the European crises as individual country crises rather than as a crisis for the euro area as a whole that demanded policy conditionality on all members of the euro area.


Numerous human genetic diseases are caused by mutations that give rise to aberrant alternative splicing. Recently, several of these debilitating disorders have been shown to be amenable for splice-correcting oligonucleotides (SCOs) that modify splicing patterns and restore the phenotype in experimental models. However, translational approaches are required to transform SCOs into usable drug products. In this study, we present a new cell-penetrating peptide, PepFect14 (PF14), which efficiently delivers SCOs to different cell models including HeLa pLuc705 and mdx mouse myotubes; a cell culture model of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD). Non-covalent PF14-SCO nanocomplexes induce splice-correction at rates higher than the commercially available lipid-based vector Lipofectamine™ 2000 (LF2000) and remain active in the presence of serum. Furthermore, we demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating this delivery system into solid formulations that could be suitable for several therapeutic applications. Solid dispersion technique is utilized and the formed solid formulations are as active as the freshly prepared nanocomplexes in solution even when stored at an elevated temperatures for several weeks. In contrast, LF2000 drastically loses activity after being subjected to same procedure. This shows that using PF14 is a very promising translational approach for the delivery of SCOs in different pharmaceutical forms.


The performance of a screen type solar air collector of different uniform mesh sizes and without a glass cover is investigated theoretically. Formulation of simultaneous radiation and convection heat transfer for a semi-steady condition in an isotropic, absorbing set of wire screens is presented. Both colimated and diffuse radiant heat fluxes are incident on the screens, causing absorption, reflection (scattering), emission and heating, the screens, which in turn heat the circulated air , flowing normal to their surfaces. In the analysis, the interspacing of screens is chosen such that natural convection currents are prohibited. A set of theoretical equations is developed and solved numerically to obtain the temperature of the air at each screen level, and that leaving the collector. The results indicate that the performance of this type of collector could be further improved if the screens are designed such that the porosity of the upper layers is higher than that of the lower ones.


A hidden Markov model is developed to simulate tropical cyclone intensity evolution dependent on the surrounding large-scale environment. The model considers three unobserved (hidden) discrete states of storm intensity change and associates each state with a probability distribution of intensity change. The storm's transit from one state to another is described as a Markov chain. Both the intensity change and state transit components of the model are dependent on environmental variables including potential intensity, vertical wind shear, relative humidity, and ocean feedback. This Markov Environment-Dependent Hurricane Intensity Model (MeHiM) is used to simulate the evolution of storm intensity along the storm track over the ocean, and a simple decay model is added to estimate the intensity change when the storm moves over land. Data for the North Atlantic (NA) basin from 1979 to 2014 (555 storms) are used for model development and evaluation. Probability distributions of 6- and 24-h intensity change, lifetime maximum intensity, and landfall intensity based on model simulations and observations compare well. Although the MeHiM is still limited in fully describing rapid intensification, it shows a significant improvement over previous statistical models (e.g., linear, nonlinear, and finite mixture models).


The author contemplates an actual problem of corruption of officials in modern societies. As a basis of the article the analysis of the most typical corruption crimes is taken. Being based on some documentary sources, the author comes to a conclusion of insufficiency of mechanisms of legal regulation in the specified sphere. The article is intended for all kinds of readers.


Wide rural areas are often short of basic communication facilities and suffer from harsh geographic and climatic environments. Wireless networks which offer ease of operation and low maintenance cost appears to be a fast and feasible choice for service operators to install their individual networks. We first propose a refined wireless networking method to foster communication construction in rural areas. A one-pipe- four-layer wireless simulation model, called Service Model, is highlighted in the paper to implement the network planning method. The Service Model collects raw data from given rural areas and abstracts these data by Bowing them through four technical layers to form the predicted technical wireless network. Thereafter, a software simulation environment, BrwsLi, is coded in freeware Scilab to realize the Service Model for the sake of instantiation. This simulation environment is able to set up a specified rural network by constructing topology for the network on the depicted areas, simulate the network traffic, and evaluate network performance and economic efficiency. The Newcastle region in Kwazulu-Natal of South Africa is chosen as the sample of real-world cases to demonstrate how to practically apply Service Model and present how to operate BrwsLi properly.


Abstract: Very little attention has been paid to the effect disabilities have on the process of information retrieval, particularly those most likely to be effected, namely the print disabled. By print disabled we mean either blind or dyslexic people. While some attention has been paid to the needs of blind people, little or no attention has been paid to the information seeking needs of dyslexic people. The purpose of this proposed study is to examine the effect of dyslexia on information retrieval and ultimately to develop interfaces and tools which will help such users to improve their information seeking experience.


Ultrasound-modulated optical tomography based on the measurement of laser-speckle contrast was investigated. An ultrasonic beam was focused into a biological-tissue sample to modulate the laser light passing through the ultrasonic column inside the tissue. The contrast of the speckle pattern formed by the transmitted light was found to depend on the ultrasonic modulation and could be used for imaging. Variation in the speckle contrast reflected optical inhomogeneity in the tissue. With this technique, two-dimensional images of biological-tissue samples of as much as 25 mm thick were successfully obtained with a low-power laser. The technique was experimentally compared with speckle-contrast-based, purely optical imaging and with parallel-detection imaging techniques, and the advantages over each were demonstrated.


In this paper, we demonstrated a unique and simple method for fabricating colloidal particles of complex structures using oil-in-water emulsion droplets as confined geometries. A variety of structural motifs were produced using binary colloids of microspheres of polystyrene (PS) or silica and nanosized particles as the second component. When PS or silica microspheres and PS macromolecules were dispersed in oil-in-water emulsion droplets, particles with well-coordinated patches were obtained because the PS macromolecules partially covered the microsphere clusters. When silica or gold nanoparticles were dispersed together with the PS microspheres in oil-in-water emulsion droplets instead of PS macromolecules, composite particles with patches were obtained. In this case, silica or gold shell structures with well-coordinated windows were produced by selectively removing the large PS microspheres from the organic−inorganic composite clusters.


This dissertation is an exploration of the practice of social digital gaming, using a mixed methods approach with complementary data and analytical methods. The main themes are the prevalence and meaning of gamers' experiences of social gaming and the underlying structures limiting or assisting social gaming, both material and social. Applying an everyday perspective, focus is on gamers' day-to-day practices and experiences. Studies I and II enquire into relational aspects of social gaming based on interviews and survey data. Study III investigates the relationship between game design and gamer agency and its importance for social interaction with strangers, using in-game participant observation. Lastly in Study IV, building on interviews, female gamers come to the fore as their gender construction in an online game is examined with the aim of understanding the connection between online and offline.The main result concerns how social gaming takes place in various social relations. How gaming comes to be―what it means―is dependent on the relations between gamers, be they family members, real life friends, Internet friends or strangers. In these interactions, gender and sexual identity are realized; in the relations between gamers, physical proximate or online. Finally, virtuality is shown to be a social accomplishment of the people engaging in games rather than a property of the games themselves.Focus on the relational unveils how gaming comes to be in the process of interaction, a process at the same time dependent on underlying structures, i.e. games as designed platforms with certain affordances for social behaviour. We are able, thus, to reconcile the social constructivist position that (social) gaming is created in the relations between gamers engaging in games with the more formalist approach that games are rule based structures. Games create a foundation for interaction that can further develop into the creation/maintenance of relationships and identity.


We propose a novel method of controlling a multi‐phase fluid so that it flows into a target shape in a natural way. To preserve the sharp detail of the target shape, we represent it as an implicit function and construct the level‐set of that function. Previous approaches add the target‐driven control force as an external term, which then becomes attenuated during the velocity projection step, making the convergence process unstable and causing sharp detail to be lost from the target shape. But we calculate the force on the fluid from the pressure discontinuity at the interface between phases, and integrate the control force into the projection step so as to preserve its effect. The control force is calculated using an enhanced version of the ghost fluid method (GFM), which guarantees that the fluid flows from the source shape and converges into the target shape, while achieving a more natural animation than other approaches. Our control force is merged during the projection step avoiding the need for a post‐optimization process to eliminate divergence at the liquid interface. This makes our method easy to implement using existing fluid engines and it incurs little computational overhead. Experimental results show the accuracy and robustness of this technique. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


COUNTERINSURGENCY (COIN) is defined as those military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency. It includes strategic and operational planning; intelligence development and analysis; training; materiel, technical, and organizational assistance; advice; infrastructure development; tactical-level operations; and many elements of psychological operations. Generally, the preferred methods of support are through assistance and development programs. Leaders must consider the roles of military, intelligence, diplomatic, law enforcement, information, finance, and economic elements in counterinsurgency. Arriving in November 2006, Headquarters, 1st Cavalry Division, serving as the headquarters for Multi-National Division-Baghdad (MND-B), assessed the situation in the area of East Rashid as one that was primarily sectarian strife between Sunni and Shi 'a extremists. To achieve the primary goal of restoring security, MND-B developed a strategy that focused on the protection of the Iraqi populace.1 The Division's focus shifted from transitioning operations to Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) to protecting Iraqis. However, it took more than a new division strategy to bring security to this particular Baghdad neighborhood. It took a partnership that empowered the residents to work together for their families and neighbors. One of the key elements of the MND-B plan was to use Soldiers from "surge brigades," including those yet to arrive in theater. Other key components of the strategy included placing large numbers of barrier walls throughout the city, hiring local citizens to protect their own communities, and increasing the Soldier presence in Baghdad neighborhoods.2 By June of 2007, attacks against the city's population decreased by 58 percent. However, attacks against coalition forces within Baghdad increased by 59 percent during the same timeframe. The new strategy required a more aggressive posture to minimize attacks on Iraqi and coalition forces as well as bring stability to the community.3 Arriving in January 2007 as part of the "surge," the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, assumed the responsibility for West and East Rashid Security Districts of Baghdad. In mid May, the 1st Light Reconnaissance Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (1-4 Cavalry) "Raiders," assumed responsibility for the northeast part of the East Rashid Security District. This article chronicles how 1-4 Cavalry successfully implemented the concepts found in Field Manual (FM) 3-24, Counterinsurgency, in order to protect residents of East Rashid and defeat AI-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). In February 2006, AQI terrorists destroyed the golden dome of the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, one of the holiest Shi'a mosques in Iraq.4 This single act of violence led to a wave of sectarian strife and widespread destruction that pitted Sunni against Shi'a. The demographics of Baghdad shifted. Armed groups began to "cleanse" their communities of anyone with differing religious beliefs. AQI and other extremist groups arose from this instability to establish a strong foothold inside many Baghdad neighborhoods. In time, the security situation in the capital grew unstable, and fear spread in the neighborhoods. The conflict in Iraq has been referred to as a counterinsurgency. However, the classic COIN model does not completely fit. In actuality, the situation was - and still is - more dramatic and complex. The major and obvious difference was the sectarian nature of the conflict. AQI terrorized the Shi'a population with vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, suicide bombers, and other forms of violence and intimidation. In retaliation, Shi'a death squads kidnapped, tortured, and expelled Sunni residents. Shi'a extremists kidnapped and killed many of the former Sunni military officers living in the Saydiyah neighborhood of West Rashid.5 In the Doura community in East Rashid, AQI and other Sunni extremists groups killed or expelled Shi'a residents. …


Objective: To investigate the expression of lncRNA Novlnc6 in patients with different diseases and to explore the correlation between expression level of lncRNA Novlnc6 and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).
Methods: Plasma samples were prepared using the blood extracted from 28 CAD patients and plasma samples of 28 healthy people as well as patients with a variety of different diseases. In addition, the heart tissues were collected from both the lesion area and surrounding healthy area of 7 patients with CAD. The expression levels of lncRNA Novlnc6 in plasma and heart tissue were detected using quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).
Results: The expression of lncRNA Novlnc6 were significantly decrease in the plasma of patients with CAD and dilated cardiomyopathy compared with the healthy control, while the decrease in CAD patients were significantly higher than that in dilated cardiomyopathy patients. lncRNA Novlnc6 in plasma showed high storage stability and freeze-thaw stability. The expression of lncRNA Novlnc6 was down regulated in both plasma and heart lesion tissues. However, the decrease in plasma was significantly higher than that in heart lesion tissues.
Conclusion: The down regulation of lncRNA Novlnc6 in plasma can be used as a biomarker for the diagnosis of CAD.


The most recent Congressional Budget Office forecast for the federal budget estimates that the federal deficit will decline to about 1 percent of GDP a decade from now. But this essentially rosy forecast is predicated on the expiration of all current temporary tax policies – in particular, the 2001/03 personal income tax cuts – and a reversion to pre-2001 tax law. We argue that revenue collections of the same magnitude as those projected by the CBO are necessary over the medium term. But certain aspects of current tax law are problematic, and the efficiency and equity of current law's scheduled post-2012 tax system can readily be improved.We therefore develop an alternative post-2012 personal income tax regime, the "Better Base Case." This proposal contemplates modifying current law by limiting personal itemized deductions to a 15 percent tax rate benefit, and then "spending" the resulting incremental revenues to (1) permanently patch the AMT, (2) tax dividends at the same preferential rates as net capital gains, (3) restore the estate tax to 2009 rates and exclusion and (4) restore the child credit to its current levels. Using the Tax Policy Center's microsimulation model, we demonstrate that this package of reforms is revenue neutral compared with current law, and is slightly more progressive in its distribution of tax burdens. We further consider the political economy implications of the proposal, and conclude that the Better Base Case is a logical and feasible next step in the evolving debate over the size and financing of the federal government.


Today, the majority of prostate tumors are detected at early stages with uncertain prognosis. Therefore, we set out to identify early predictive markers of prostate cancer with aggressive progression characteristics. We measured the expression of microRNAs (miRNA) using qRT‐PCR in formalin fixed and paraffin embedded prostatic tissue samples from a Swedish cohort of 49 patients with prostate cancer and 25 without cancer and found seven of 13 preselected miRNAs to discriminate between the two groups. Subsequently, four discriminatory miRNAs were combined to a quota, denoted the miRNA index quote (miQ); ((miR‐96‐5p × miR‐183‐5p)/(miR‐145‐5p × miR221‐5p)). The advantage of using a quote is increased discrimination, no need for house‐keepings, and most important it may be an advantage considering the heterogeneity of the disease. miQ was found to successfully predict diagnosis (p < 0.0001) with high accuracy (area under the curve, AUC = 0.931) that was verified in an independent Dutch cohort and three external cohorts, and significantly outperforming prostate‐specific antigen. Importantly, miQ also has prognostic power to predict aggressiveness of tumors (AUC = 0.895), metastatic statues (AUC = 0.827) and overall survival (p = 0.0013, Wilcoxon test HR = 6.5, median survival 2 vs. 5 years), verified in the Dutch cohort. In this preliminary study, we propose that miQ has potential to be used as a clinical tool for prostate cancer diagnosis and as a prognostic marker of disease progression.


INTRODUCTION Since the end of the Cold War, there has been renewed interest in what is now called 'non-traditional' security issues. As late as 1985, the old cold warrior George Kennan wrote in Foreign Affairs, identifying the threat to the world environment as one of the two supreme dangers facing mankind. But it was really in the post Cold War era that the world saw a dramatic increase in international activity around environmental issues. The United Nations Environmental Program has reported that about 170 treaties have been negotiated in recent years on various issues of the global environment. (1) The link between environment and security is still being worked out. The Stockholm Conference on Environmental Stress and Security in 1988 stated that: "So far, most of these statements of interconnections between environmental destruction and security are hypothetical. There is thus a need for sound empirical research to find out whether these hypotheses are valid or should be scrapped as only 'apparent truths'. (2) Mark Halle notes that "the relationship between environment and security feels right. It seems intuitively correct to assume a direct correlation between environmental degradation on the one hand and social disruption and conflict on the other." (3) The moderate critic (4) regards this linkage between security and environment as "insights without evidence" while the hard-line critic calls it "muddled thinking". (5) As stated in the Stockholm Conference, intuition should be corroborated with empirical research. There is, however, a sizeable literature that seeks to broaden the definition of security to include environmental concerns. Along with many others the United Nations Security Council states: "The absence of war and military conflicts amongst States does not itself ensure international peace and security. The non-military sources of instability in the economic, social, humanitarian and ecological fields have become threats to peace and security." (6) VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORIES ON ENVIRONMENT A number of International Relations Theories can be applied to the issue of environment. Many of these theories only deal with the environment indirectly and peripherally. But it is useful to review the expanding literature of international-relations theory as it relates to the environment. Realism: The two central concepts of Realist theory are power and the national interest. The international society is an anarchical state-system. The system is therefore a self-help one. Realism assumes that states and their populations need natural resources to survive. There is a competition between states for these scarce resources. War is often the result of such competition and conflict. It leads to "the struggle for power and peace," as Hans Morgenthau put it. (7) Extreme versions of Realism, such as the geopolitical theories of major-general Karl Haushofer, look at the security implications of strategic raw materials. Both German and Japanese expansion in the 1930s was partly a search for raw materials. Some see President George Bush's intervention in Iraq as an attempt to secure the oil resources of the Middle East. Malthusianism: Thomas Malthus, an 18th century English cleric, believed that because population grew in geometric progression and food production followed arithmetic progression, there would come a time when population growth would inevitably outstrip a country's food production and starvation would result. Although this did not happen because of technological progress, Malthusianism breathes through many arguments of global environmental politics. Some examples are The Club of Rome's Limits to Growth and Paul Ehrlich's famous 1968 book The Population Bomb. Indeed, the opposite is true today. Instead of a population explosion we see the signs of a population implosion. There is a severe decline in the fertility rate in the rich countries and also a decline in the rate of population growth in the developing world. …


The density of Verticillium dahliae (causal agent of Verticillium wilt of cotton) microsclerotia was monitored over a 7-yr period in fields located in the Southern High Plains of Texas. Included in the project were eight sites that were essentially in continuous cotton (short to no rotation from cotton); six sites that were planted with hosts for V. dahliae approximately 50 to 71% of the time (intermediate rotation from cotton); and 12 sites that were primarily planted to grain crops (< 2 cotton crops) (long rotation from cotton). There was a decline in the density of microsclerotia at a rate of 1.4 microsclerotia (MS)/cm 3 soil per year in fields that were in a long rotation from cotton, but no consistency in microsclerotia dynamics in the intermediate and short rotations from cotton over time. There was an average of 6.7, 6.9, and 26.1 MS/cm 3 soil, for the long, intermediate, and short/no rotation from cotton, respectively, in the tested sites. Irrigation rate was associated positively with microsclerotia density for both continuous cotton and in a cotton/cotton/ sorghum rotation. Microsclerotia density was correlated (R 2 = 0.23) with the incidence of wilt when combined across 26 sites. In sites that have a high density of microsclerotia, it might be necessary to manage irrigation to create a less conducive environment for wilt development, rather than using crop rotation to reduce microsclerotia density.


This article considers the performance of the MOA* multiobjective search algorithm with heuristic information. It is shown that in certain cases blind search can be more efficient than perfectly informed search, in terms of both node and label expansions.

A class of simple graph search problems is defined for which the number of nodes grows linearly with problem size and the number of nondominated labels grows quadratically. It is proved that for these problems the number of node expansions performed by blind MOA* grows linearly with problem size, while the number of such expansions performed with a perfectly informed heuristic grows quadratically. It is also proved that the number of label expansions grows quadratically in the blind case and cubically in the informed case.


In this paper, we present an observability analysis of a vision-aided inertial navigation system (VINS) in which the camera is downward looking and observes a single point feature on the ground. In our analysis, the full INS parameter vector (including position, velocity, rotation, and inertial sensor biases) as well as the 3D position of the observed point feature are considered as state variables. In particular, we prove that the system has only three unobservable directions corresponding to global translations along the x and y axes, and rotations around the gravity vector. Hence, compared to general VINS, an advantage of using only ground features is that the vertical translation becomes observable. The findings of the theoretical analysis are validated through real-world experiments.


Climate change scenarios predict negative impacts on agriculture in the southern Mediterranean regions. Preparedness for increasingly frequent droughts requires a good knowledge on how chronic water shortages may affect production and cropping systems. This work investigates recent variations in agricultural production and in cropping practices in Tunisia as induced by a rapidly changing environment. Using production statistics and climatic records over the period 1984-2005, our analysis shows that variation of the agricultural production could be explained by the Standardized Precipitation Index (R≤ = 0.45), and that resilience to drought could be evaluated in the same manner. Data from surveys was used to identify adjustments adopted by farmers under the pressure of water scarcity in semi arid (Nabeul) and arid (Medenine) environments. Contrasting changes in croppi ng systems seem to be taking place for both regions. Contrast is also observed between irrigation strategies adopted by farmers. In Nabeul, large citrus growers having access to water from canal tend to over irrigate whenever water is available in order to minimize risks of water delivery failure from public networks. In contrast small farmers using shallow wells in Medenine seek practices such as deficit irrigation and intercropping in order to optimize water use. It is our view that options to face drought under increasing environmental stress should have a dynamic nature integrating adaptive practices used by farmers.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Rain-fed lowland rice commonly encounters stresses from fluctuating water regimes and nutrient deficiency. Roots have to acquire both oxygen and nutrients under adverse conditions while also acclimating to changes in soil-water regime. This study assessed responses of rice roots to low phosphorus supply in aerated and stagnant nutrient solution.

METHODS
Rice (Oryza sativa 'Amaroo') was grown in aerated solution with high P (200 micro m) for 14 d, then transferred to high or low (1.6 micro m) P supply in aerated or stagnant solution for up to 8 d.

KEY RESULTS
After only 1 d in stagnant conditions, root radial oxygen loss (ROL) had decreased by 90 % in subapical zones, whereas near the tip ROL was maintained. After 4 d in stagnant conditions, maximum root length was 11 % less, and after 8 d, shoot growth was 25 % less, compared with plants in aerated solution. The plants in stagnant solution had up to 19 % more adventitious roots, 24 % greater root porosity and 26 % higher root/shoot ratio. Rice in low P supply had fewer tillers in both stagnant and aerated conditions. After 1-2 d in stagnant solution, relative P uptake declined, especially at low P supply. Aerated roots at low P supply maintained relative P uptake for 4 d, after which uptake decreased to the same levels as in stagnant solution.

CONCLUSIONS
Roots responded rapidly to oxygen deficiency with decreased ROL in subapical zones within 1-2 d, indicating induction of a barrier to ROL, and these changes in ROL occurred at least 2 d before any changes in root morphology, porosity or anatomy were evident. Relative P uptake also decreased under oxygen deficiency, showing that a sudden decline in root-zone oxygen adversely affects P nutrition of rice.


Diprosopus [4] is a congenital defect also known as craniofacial duplication. The exact description of diprosopus refers to a fetus [5] with a single trunk, normal limbs, and facial features that are duplicated to a certain degree. A less severe instance is when the fetus [5] has a duplicated nose and the eyes are spaced far apart. In the most extreme instances, the entire face is duplicated, hence the name diprosopus, which is Greek for two-faced. Fetuses with diprosopus often also lack brains (anencephaly), have neural tube [6] defects, or heart malformations. In some cases, if the brain is formed, it may have duplicated structures. Most infants with diprosopus are stillborn and there are fewer than fifty cases documented since 1864.


The mining industry can greatly benefit from automation. A great deal of work has been done on this subject and is still ongoing. With automation comes the possibility for optimization, because more information is available, and actions can be repeated with more accuracy. Many factors in an underground environment make mining automation a challenging prospect. These factors include the difficulty and cost of installing the needed infrastructure. The work described in this dissertation focuses on a mining setup where vehicles such as LHDs and trucks are used to collect and transport ore underground. Considerable progress has been made in automating underground vehicles, and successful tests have been done underground. The next obvious step is to find ways of using the increased data to optimize the decisions that are made with regards to the dispatching of the vehicles. Possible solutions to the problem of optimizing the autonomous vehicle dispatch system in an underground mine are investigated. Possible optimization strategies are evaluated using a simulated environment. In the simulated environment a block cave mine is modelled, and the simulation setup is discussed in detail. The operation of a block cave mine as it is operated currently is simulated to obtain a benchmark for the evaluation of further results. The simulation results for the developed strategies are evaluated against specific criteria, and indicate definite improvements on current methods used in mines. Some important things that must be kept in mind for the physical implementation of the dispatching strategies, as well as mining automation in general, are also discussed.


Form, Art and the Environment: Engaging in Sustainability adopts a pluralistic perspective of environmental artistic processes in order to examine the contributions of the arts in promoting sustainable development and culture at a grassroots level and its potential as a catalyst for social change and awareness.ăăThis book investigates how community arts, environmental creativity, and the changing role of artists in the Polis contribute to the goal of a sustainable future from a number of interdisciplinary perspectives. From considering the role that art works play in revealing local environmental problems such as biodiversity, public transportation and energy issues, to examining the way in which artists and art works enrich our multidimensional understanding of culture and sustainable development, Form, Art and the Environment advocates the inestimable value ofart as an expressive force in promoting sustainable culture and conscious development. Utilising a broad range of case studies and analysis from a body of work collected through the international environmental COAL prize, this book examines the evolution of the relationship between culture and the environment. This book will be of interest to practitioners of the environmental arts, culture and sustainable development and students of Art, Environmental Science, and International Policy and Planning Development.


The authors demonstrate dual frequency switching in a cubic blue phase liquid crystal. The dual frequency blue phase was prepared by adding a strongly twisting chiral dopant to a dual-frequency nematic liquid crystal mixture. The crossover frequency appeared at few hundred kHz in the blue phase, and sub-millisecond response was obtained for dual-frequency operation, which was comparable to conventional voltage operation. This new class of material is advantageous over conventional blue phases in polarization-independent phase modulation devices, since a larger lattice deformation can be obtained.


Context. The Galilean satellites are thought to have formed from a circumplanetary disk (CPD) surrounding Jupiter. When it reached a critical mass, Jupiter opened an annular gap in the solar protoplanetary disk that might have exposed the CPD to radiation from the young Sun or from the stellar cluster in which the Solar System formed. Aims. We investigate the radiation field to which the Jovian CPD was exposed during the process of satellite formation. The resulting photoevaporation of the CPD is studied in this context to constrain possible formation scenarios for the Galilean satellites and explain architectural features of the Galilean system. Methods. We constructed a model for the stellar birth cluster to determine the intracluster far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field. We employed analytical annular gap profiles informed by hydrodynamical simulations to investigate a range of plausible geometries for the Jovian gap. We used the radiation thermochemical code PRODIMO to evaluate the incident radiation field in the Jovian gap and the photoevaporation of an embedded 2D axisymmetric CPD. Results. We derive the time-dependent intracluster FUV radiation field for the solar birth cluster over 10 Myr. We find that intracluster photoevaporation can cause significant truncation of the Jovian CPD. We determine steady-state truncation radii for possible CPDs, finding that the outer radius is proportional to the accretion rate Ṁ0.4. For CPD accretion rates Ṁ < 10−12 M yr−1, photoevaporative truncation explains the lack of additional satellites outside the orbit of Callisto. For CPDs of mass MCPD < 10−6.2 M , photoevaporation can disperse the disk before Callisto is able to migrate into the Laplace resonance. This explains why Callisto is the only massive satellite that is excluded from the resonance.


This study examines three phonemes /ae/, /ɑ/, and /ɔ/ as performed in a dialect instruction tape for actors and compares them to a natives speaking group from a study done by Hawkins and Midgley 2005. Weinreich 1968 argues that when two language groups are similar, learners gloss over close similarities. Based on this, I hypothesize that /ɑ/ will be least on target as it represents a small shift, while /ae/ and /ɔ/ will be faithful representations. The near-opposite proved true, with all of the performed vowels patterning as a statistically different group than the native speaking data. Based on the results of this study, I discuss performance in context of conscious and unconscious speech and the control a human has over his ability to achieve a new phoneme in a scenario where hypercorrection phenomena are quite common. I also argue that the nature of the performer-audience relationship has an impact on the performance, both in terms of the goals of performance and the abilities of the performer.


This title explores the implications of our animal origins and posthuman futures for our understanding of our humanity and our relations with other species. "Beyond Human" investigates what it means to call ourselves human beings in relation to both our distant past and our possible futures as a species, and the questions this might raise for our relationship with the myriad species with which we share the planet. Drawing on insights from zoology, theology, cultural studies and aesthetics, an international line-up of contributors explore such topics as our origins as reflected in early cave art in the upper Palaeolithic through to our prospects at the forefront of contemporary biotechnology. In the process, the book positions 'the human' in readiness for what many have characterized as our transhuman or posthuman future. For if our status as rational animals or 'animals that think' has traditionally distinguished us as apparently superior to other species, this distinction has become increasingly problematic. It has come to be seen as based on skills and technologies that do not distinguish us so much as position us as transitional animals. It is the direction and consequences of this transition that is the central concern of "Beyond Human"


Art and its Shadow is an extraordinary analysis of the state and meaning of contemporary art and film. Ranging across the work of Andy Warhol, cyberpunk, Wim Wenders, Derek Jarman, thinking on difference and the possibility of a philosophical cinema, Mario Perniola examines the latest and most disturbing tendencies in art.Perniola explores how art - notably in posthumanism, psychotic realism and extreme art - continues to survive despite the hype of the art market and the world of mass communication and reproduction. He argues that the meaning of art in the modern world no longer lies in aesthetic value (above the art work), nor in popular taste (below the art work), but beside the artwork, in the shadow created by both the art establishment and the world of mass communications. In this shadow is what is left out of account by both market and mass media: the difficulty of art, a knowledge that can never be fully revealed, and a new aesthetic future.


Treatment of mice with hydroxyurea to selectively kill all cycling cells has been used to study population dynamics and life expectancy of "natural" immunoglobulin‐secreting cells in the bone marrow and spleen of nonimmunized animals. The results show that 50 to 90% of those cells are eliminated 2 to 3 days after one cycle of hydroxyurea administration, demonstrating their recent origin from cycling precursors. Using a protocol of long‐term hydroxyurea treatment which abrogates cell production from the cycling precursors compartments, it was shown that "natural" immunoglobulin‐secreting cells have a very short half renewal time, in the range of 15–60 h.


This sixth edition of International Financial Reporting and Analysis has been fully updated for new international requirements reflecting changes in the IASB and IFRS whilst maintaining its effective conceptual approach in international reporting standards. New real world illustrations have been added and real life company accounts have been updated to include a wider range of companies from across the globe, ensuring this edition is truly international. This edition also comes with CourseMate and a companion website including PowerPoint slides, an Instructor's Manual, a comprehensive Testbank and solutions to the end of chapter questions.


The evaluation by the logistics performance of the countries/regions/cities and making necessary improvements has great importance according to the evaluation. The aim of this study is to rank regions in Turkey by logistics performances. For this purpose, the weighting of the criteria have been determined using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Then, the logistics performances of the regions in Turkey are evaluated through TOPSIS method. The order of the regions is listed Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean, Black sea, Central Anatolia, South-eastern Anatolia and lastly Eastern Anatolia Regions, respectively.


The FCC in the U.S. has recently increased the amount of spectrum available for wireless broadband data services by permitting unlicensed access to television white-spaces. While this additional unlicensed spectrum allows for market expansion, it also influences competition among providers and can increase congestion (interference) among consumers of wireless services. We study the value (social welfare) obtained by adding unlicensed spectrum to an existing allocation of licensed spectrum among incumbent Service Providers (SPs). We assume a population of customers who choose a provider based on minimum delivered price. Here, delivered price is the price of the service plus a congestion cost, which depends on the number of subscribers in a band. For the model considered, we find that the social welfare depends on the amount of additional unlicensed spectrum, and can actually decrease over a significant range of unlicensed bandwidths.


A major class of nicotinic receptors in the nervous system is one that binds α-bungarotoxin and contains the α7 gene product. PC12 cells, frequently used to study nicotinic receptors, express the α7 gene and have binding sites for the toxin, but previous attempts to elicit currents from the putative receptors have failed. Using whole-cell patch-clamp recording techniques and rapid application of agonist, we find a rapidly desensitizing acetylcholine-induced current in the cells that can be blocked by α-bungarotoxin. The current amplitude varies dramatically among three populations of PC12 cells but correlates well with the number of toxin-binding receptors. In contrast, the current shows no correlation with α7 transcript; cells with high levels of α7 mRNA can be negative for toxin binding and yet have other functional nicotinic receptors. Northern blot analysis and reverse transcription-PCR reveal no defects in α7 RNA from the negative cells, and immunoblot analysis demonstrates that they contain full-length α7 protein, although at reduced levels. Affinity purification of toxin-binding receptors from cells expressing them confirms that the receptors contain α7 protein. Transfection experiments demonstrate that PC12 cells lacking native toxin-binding receptors are deficient at producing receptors from α7 gene constructs, although the same cells can produce receptors from other transfected gene constructs. The results indicate that nicotinic receptors that bind α-bungarotoxin and contain α7 subunits require additional gene products to facilitate assembly and stabilization of the receptors. PC12 cells offer a model system for identifying those gene products.


There are many proposed mechanisms by which single cells can be trapped; among them is the through-hole membrane for the characterization of individual microorganisms. Due to the small scale of the fabricated pores, the construction of through-hole membranes on a large scale and with relatively large areas faces many difficulties. This paper describes novel fabrication methods for a large-area, freestanding micro/nano through-hole membrane constructed from versatile membrane materials using through-hole membranes on a microfluidic chip (THMMC). This process can rapidly (<20 min) fabricate membranes with high fidelity multiscale hole size without residual layers. The through-hole site was easily customizable from the micro to the nanoscale, with a low or high aspect ratio giving rise to reliable membranes. Also, the rigidity and biocompatibility of the through-hole membrane are easily tunable by simple injection of versatile membrane materials to obtain a large area (up to 3600 mm2). Membranes produced in this manner were then applied as a proof of concept for the isolation, cultivation, and quantification of individual micro-algal cells for selection with respect to the growth rate, while controlling the quorum sensing mediated metabolic and proliferative changes.


One of the strategies in the establishment of in vitro oxidative stress models for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), is to induce neurotoxicity by amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides in suitable neural cells. Presently, data on the neurotoxicity of Aβ in neural cells differentiated from stem cells are limited. In this study, we attempted to induce oxidative stress in transgenic 46C mouse embryonic stem cell-derived neurons via treatment with Aβ peptides (Aβ1-42 and Aβ25-35). 46C neural cells were generated by promoting the formation of multicellular aggregates, embryoid bodies in the absence of leukemia inhibitory factor, followed by the addition of all-trans retinoic acid as the neural inducer. Mature neuronal cells were exposed to different concentrations of Aβ1-42 and Aβ25-35 for 24 h. Morphological changes, cell viability, and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were assessed. We found that 100 μM Aβ1-42 and 50 μM Aβ25-35 only promoted 40% and 10%, respectively, of cell injury and death in the 46C-derived neuronal cells. Interestingly, treatment with each of the Aβ peptides resulted in a significant increase of intracellular ROS activity, as compared to untreated neurons. These findings indicate the potential of using neurons derived from stem cells and Aβ peptides in generating oxidative stress for the establishment of an in vitro AD model that could be useful for drug screening and natural product studies.


This thesis is concerned with the upgrades to the Photovoltaic Trough array now installed at the Murdoch campus. The array was originally installed in Rockingham as a single 80 panel array. The project was taken over by the engineering department to restore its functionality as a teaching resource. As part of the relocation the array of panels was split into 3 smaller systems. A Large array with 40 panels and 2 smaller arrays with 8 panels each. The key components of this project were to design, implement and test control systems on the 3 arrays.

The project consisted of two basic streams of work. The Large array being the first stream which required more implementation and testing to revive the existing control system by using the old controller with new wiring and some minor upgrades to the way it operates. The second stream involved the designing of a new control system for the two identical smaller systems from the ground up. This required a bit of problem solving adapting left over structural components to work with VSD's directly mounted to the axis of the system. The two streams ran in parallel with downtime in one utilised in the other.

The large array control system at the end of this project is now tracking the sun again. This stream of the process is now complete with the array ready to be connected to inverters to convert their generated power into useable power by the electricity grid. This stream of the project was prioritised over the smaller arrays stream as other projects are reliant on the completion of this part such as the connection of the inverters.

The small array stream has been extensively designed and is nearly ready to move onto the implementation phase. Due to the time constraints of the technical staff at the University, manufacturing will be delayed until the completion of the new engineering building. Documentation of the work undertaken will help any future projects complete the small system for use as a teaching resource.


This thesis explores the politics of economic adjustment in South Korea and Malaysia. Empirically, it examines how Korea and Malaysia responded to the East Asian financial crisis. A widespread perception is that Korea pursued orthodox policies (the Washington consensus) while Malaysia used unorthodox policies (the post-Washington consensus). However, this interpretation exaggerates the divergence in macroeconomic adjustment policies (e.g., different exchange rate regime policy and their relationship with the IMF), thereby underestimating the 'policy' convergence in macroeconomic stabilisation and structural reform at least from late 1997 to mid-1998. For this reason, this thesis explores the convergence and divergence in a balanced perspective. Theoretically, it interprets why the 'policy' convergence emerged between Korea and Malaysia from an ideational perspective. The convergence was caused, in part, by economic ideas - the Washington consensus or neoliberalism - that prevailed among both the international financial institutions (IFIs) and national policy makers. The consensus de-legitimised the existing economic system by attributing the underlying causes of the financial crisis to structural weaknesses in the financial and corporate sectors. In addition, the consensus provided a far-reaching blueprint for institutional change. This is why both countries embraced neoliberal policies particularly in structural reform, irrespective of IMF interventions. The emphasis on economic ideas does not mean that ideational approaches overlook the role of interests and institutions. Vested interests - big business and organised labour - and state capacity had a considerable impact on policy-making. Thus ideas-oriented approaches are complementary to - rather than conflicting with - interest-oriented and institution-oriented approaches.


The SALSA (Sensors and Apps for Languages in Smart Areas) project, a winner of the Open University's MK:Smart Open Challenge awards, is investigating how a smart city infrastructure can enable the provision of highly accurate, location-based learning activities for language learners, particularly recent migrants who have a real need to learn the language of their new home.

Second language acquisition is perceived by adult migrants themselves, as well as host governments, "as a crucial factor for socio-economic and cultural integration" 1. The city is a rich environment for language learning, providing opportunities for learning through observation, conversation, and social interaction during daily activities 2.

 Providing learning activities accessed on smartphones, mobile ICT devices that are owned by and familiar to many migrants, enables the city to become an educational environment for an audience who may struggle to attend classroom based language courses at fixed times and places due to family and work related constraints1. Learning activities provided on smartphones enable personalised and flexible educational approach for a heterogenous group of learners, with differing needs and abilities 3. Language learning educators identify that location-based and context-sensitive resources and activities are a powerful resource for learners 4; and the mobility of smartphones makes them a particularly suitable platform for this mode of learning.

SALSA (http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/salsa/ ) is exploring the use of Bluetooth beacons placed around the city to trigger location-based learning resources in an app on learners' smartphones. Once a learner has downloaded the app to their smartphone, they will be notified when they are near to a beacon and offered the opportunity to engage with a context-relevant learning activity stored in the app. Beacons are a low cost technology suitable for large scale deployment, transmitting a simple identifier that is interpreted by a smartphone app to trigger a predefined action, such as presenting the user with sample phrases suitable for the context, a listening exercise, or prompts for reflection.

No network connection is required to engage with the learning activities, which enables the system to work indoors as well as outside, and at no network cost (a key consideration for low-income and internationally transient users). Beacons enable highly accurate identification of relative smartphone location, allowing for a density of different resources to be triggered in the same area, hence have been employed in scenarios such as providing information about exhibits in galleries, and guiding visually impaired customers through the London Underground (http://www.bbc.com/news/health-31754365 ). As a wireless technology they enable a discrete engagement with learning activities for situations where they may choose not to explicitly engage with a trigger such as a QR code printed on a poster: the user is prompted by a notification to their smartphone similar to an SMS, with an onscreen message and optional phone vibration.

Because a beacon only broadcasts an identifier which is then interpreted by the app on the user's phone, no data about who is receiving the signal and acting upon it is collected by default. This offers users an anonymous interaction, which may be valued by groups of users such as recent migrants who can be sensitive to perceived privacy issues. As part of the SALSA project we are exploring users' perceptions of the privacy aspects of location-triggered technologies; investigating how we might both ensure user privacy, yet also consider potential methods of collecting usage data to improve user experience (e.g. by personalizing learning resources based on their previous activities) and optimisation of service provision (placing of beacons, revision of learning activities to reflect users' needs).

SALSA is a small scale pilot project currently in progress in Milton Keynes, and will report on theoretical work ,and initial findings from the field trials that are about to commence in Spring 2015. The trials will gather attitudinal, usability and learning-effectiveness data from a range of current adult English language learners who live or work in the town, and aim to inform educators, city planners, and policy makers about the benefits and challenges of implementing location-based language learning service utilizing smart city infrastructures.

1. Kluzer, S., Ferrari, A., and Centeno, C. Language learning by adult migrants: policy challenges and ICT responses. Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Seville, Spain, 2011.

2. Kukulska-Hulme, A., & Bull, S. (2009). Theory-based support for mobile language learning: noticing and recording. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 3(2), p. 12–18.

3. Gaved, M., Jones, A., Kukulska-Hulme, A. and Scanlon, E. A citizen-centred approach to education in the smart city: incidental language learning for supporting the inclusion of recent migrants. International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence 3, 4 (2012), p. 50–64.

4. Edge, D., Searle, E., Chiu, K., Zhao, J., & Landay, J. (2011). MicroMandarin: mobile language learning in context. Proc. CHI2011, ACM Press (2011), p. 3169-3178.


Abstract It is well known that the sample variance of a tally mean in Monte Carlo (MC) eigenvalue calculations is biased because of the intercycle correlations of the fission source distribution (FSD). This paper proposes the history-based batch method as a new method that can eliminate the dependency between samples and thereby estimate the real variance of the mean of the MC tally directly from routine cycle-by-cycle MC eigenvalue calculations. The new method estimates the real variance of the MC tally by the sample variance from tally estimates of the history-based batch defined as a set of histories with the same ancestor fission neutrons determined at the first active cycle MC run. The batch averages of the MC tally necessary for this estimate are obtained by correcting the individual tallies with the batch specific weight factors that are derived from independent FSD normalization of each individual batch. Diagnostic methods are also devised for small-batch-size problems, which one may encounter in applying the history-based batch method. The effectiveness of the history-based batch method is examined as a function of the dominance ratio and the batch size for the weakly coupled fissile array problems in comparison with those of bias estimation methods currently available. Its validity is also investigated in terms of the fuel storage facility problem exhibiting a slow source convergence.


This doctoral thesis is comprised of five parts. The first three parts concern signal processing and electromagnetic modelling of multiport antennas. The last two parts concern signal processing and transmission line theory applied to wave splitting on transmission lines. In Part I, the spherical vector wave expansion of the electromagnetic field is used to completely characterize a multiport antenna. A general framework for modelling an antenna configuration based on measurement data and numerical computation is obtained. The generic electromagnetic model for arbitrary multiport antennas or vector sensors is applied in direction of arrival (DOA) estimation. Next, in Part II using the generic electromagnetic model (from Part I), we obtain the Cramer–Rao bound (CRB) for DOA and polarization estimation using arbitrary multiport antennas. In the Gaussian case, the CRB is given in terms of the transmission matrix, the spherical vector harmonics and its spatial derivatives. Numerical examples using an ideal Tripole antenna array and a non-ideal Tetrahedron antenna array are included. In Part III, the theory of optimal experiments is applied to a cylindrical antenna near-field measurement setup. The D-optimal (determinant) formulation using the Fisher information matrix of the multipole coefficients in the spherical wave expansion of the electrical field result in the optimal measurement positions. The estimation of the multipole coefficients and corresponding electric field using the optimal measurement points is studied using numerical examples and singular value analysis. Further, Part IV describes a Digital Directional Coupler (DDC), a device for wave splitting on a transmission line. The DDC is a frequency domain digital wave splitter based on two independent wide-band measurements of the voltage and the current. A calibration of the digital processor is included to account for the particular transmission line and the sensors that are employed. Properties of the DDC are analyzed using the CRB and an experiment where wave splitting was conducted on a coaxial–cable is accounted for. Finally, in Part V the DDC has been designed and implemented for wave splitting on a medium voltage power cable in a power distribution station using low cost wide–band sensors. Partial discharge measurements are conducted on cross–linked polyethylene insulated power cables. The directional separation capabilities of the DDC are visualized and utilized to separate multiple reflections from partial discharges based on the direction of travel.


The utility of value-added estimates of teachers' effects on student test scores depends on whether they can distinguish between high- and low-productivity teachers and predict future teacher performance. This article studies the year-to-year variability in value-added measures for elementary and middle school mathematics teachers from five large Florida school districts. We find year-to-year correlations in value-added measures in the range of 0.20.5 for elementary school and 0.30.7 for middle school teachers. Much of the variation in measured teacher performance (roughly 3060 percent) is due to sampling error from noise in student test scores. Persistent teacher effects account for about 50 percent of the variation not due to noise for elementary teachers and about 70 percent for middle school teachers. The remaining variance is due to teacher-level time-varying factors, but little of it is explained by observed teacher characteristics. Averaging estimates from two years greatly improves their ability to predict future performance.


Freedom of information legislation came into effect in the UK in 2005. All universities that receive block grants from the Higher Education Funding Councils in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are subject to the legislation. Recent cases where universities have received requests for data and other information generated by researchers, working in areas such as climate, have given rise to controversy and widespread concern in the research community. This paper examines some of those concerns, relating to responsibilities for the ownership and holding of information, for data and records management, and for the handling of requests under the legislation. It also considers the implications relating to personal data, and to information that may affect the commercial interests of universities operating in a competitive environment, or the interests of the many other organisations which may be involved in research partnerships with universities; and it outlines concerns about the possible impact on quality assurance, peer review, and scholarly discourse. Finally, the paper emphasises the need for support and training for researchers so that they become more aware of the legislation and its implications, and how to deal with requests when they arise.


One of the most vexing questions in hermeneutics is whether it can be critical-whether it can engage in critique. In Part I of this Article, I show how within legal hermeneutics the element of critique is present even within those forms of legal interpretation most adherent to stances of "understanding." Here I concentrate on the work of Robert Bork and Justice Antonin Scalia and demonstrate how distance, separation, critique is present within their theories. In Part II, I reverse emphases and show how elements of "understanding" persist within legal theories most avowedly reliant on forms of "explanation." My exemplar here is work of Judge Richard Posner. In Part III, I explore Judge Posner's larger critique of much contemporary legal theory, in particular his criticisms of what he calls "top down" theory and "bottom up" theory. My claim here is that the dialectic between understanding and explanation that forms the character of hermeneutics (explored in Parts I and II) responds to Posner's critique. Finally, in Part IV, I assess the import for law of its being a product of both understanding and explanation. If anthropologist Clifford Geertz differentiates between "an experimental science in search of law" and "an interpretive one in search of meaning," how is it possible to recover a sense of "law" within the legal domain that encompasses both? To address this issue, I briefly advert to some work in evolutionary theory by biologist Ernst Mayr. Mayr claims that evolutionary biology itself does not proceed on the basis of deterministic "laws." Mayr's example from within the natural sciences reinforces the point that there are other forms of "explanation" than nomological explanation, explanation by "law." Mayr's work also provides a useful counterpoint to Posner, who invokes evolutionary biology as a more nomological form of explanation. My thesis, then, is that there is a fundamental dialectic between understanding and explanation: each lies at the heart of the other.


The study of dynamic spatial and social phenomena in cities has evolved rapidly in the recent years, yielding new insights into urban dynamics. This evolution is strongly related to the emergence of new sources of data for cities (e.g. sensors, mobile phones, online social media etc.), which have potential to capture dimensions of social and geographic systems that are difficult to detect in traditional urban data (e.g. census data). However, as the available sources increase in number, the produced datasets increase in diversity. Besides heterogeneity, emerging social urban data are also characterized by multidimensionality. The latter means that the information they contain may simultaneously address spatial, social, temporal, and topical attributes of people and places. Therefore, integration and geospatial (statistical) analysis of multidimensional data remain a challenge. The question which, then, arises is how to integrate heterogeneous and multidimensional social urban data into the analysis of human activity dynamics in cities?  To address the above challenge, this thesis proposes the design of a framework of novel methods and tools for the integration, visualization, and exploratory analysis of large-scale and heterogeneous social urban data to facilitate the understanding of urban dynamics. The research focuses particularly on the spatiotemporal dynamics of human activity in cities, as inferred from different sources of social urban data. The main objective is to provide new means to enable the incorporation of heterogeneous social urban data into city analytics, and to explore the influence of emerging data sources on the understanding of cities and their dynamics.  In mitigating the various heterogeneities, a methodology for the transformation of heterogeneous data for cities into multidimensional linked urban data is, therefore, designed. The methodology follows an ontology-based data integration approach and accommodates a variety of semantic (web) and linked data technologies. A use case of data interlinkage is used as a demonstrator of the proposed methodology. The use case employs nine real-world large-scale spatiotemporal data sets from three public transportation organizations, covering the entire public transport network of the city of Athens, Greece.  To further encourage the consumption of linked urban data by planners and policy-makers, a set of webbased tools for the visual representation of ontologies and linked data is designed and developed. The tools – comprising the OSMoSys framework – provide graphical user interfaces for the visual representation, browsing, and interactive exploration of both ontologies and linked urban data.  After introducing methods and tools for data integration, visual exploration of linked urban data, and derivation of various attributes of people and places from different social urban data, it is examined how they can all be combined into a single platform. To achieve this, a novel web-based system (coined SocialGlass) for the visualization and exploratory analysis of human activity dynamics is designed. The system combines data from various geo-enabled social media (i.e. Twitter, Instagram, Sina Weibo) and LBSNs (i.e. Foursquare), sensor networks (i.e. GPS trackers, Wi-Fi cameras), and conventional socioeconomic urban records, but also has the potential to employ custom datasets from other sources.  A real-world case study is used as a demonstrator of the capacities of the proposed web-based system in the study of urban dynamics. The case study explores the potential impact of a city-scale event (i.e. the Amsterdam Light festival 2015) on the activity and movement patterns of different social categories (i.e. residents, non-residents, foreign tourists), as compared to their daily and hourly routines in the periods  before and after the event. The aim of the case study is twofold. First, to assess the potential and limitations of the proposed system and, second, to investigate how different sources of social urban data could influence the understanding of urban dynamics.  The contribution of this doctoral thesis is the design and development of a framework of novel methods and tools that enables the fusion of heterogeneous multidimensional data for cities. The framework could foster planners, researchers, and policy makers to capitalize on the new possibilities given by emerging social urban data. Having a deep understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of cities and, especially of the activity and movement behavior of people, is expected to play a crucial role in addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization. Overall, the framework proposed by this research has potential to open avenues of quantitative explorations of urban dynamics, contributing to the development of a new science of cities.


Aims: To assess the relationship between depression and the vision-related quality of life in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Methods: The study included 144 patients diagnosed as having RP. The mean age of the patients was 38.5 (SD 13.3) years, and 42% of the subjects were women. They answered the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ) to assess the vision-related quality of life and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to assess depressive symptoms. Patients were classified into groups with and without depression according to the BDI score. The NEI-VFQ composite and subscale scores were compared between groups. The correlations between the BDI and the NEI-VFQ, weighted visual acuity (WVA) and functional vision score (FVS) were investigated. Results: The depressed group had significantly less subjective visual function compared with the non-depressed group. A negative correlation was observed between the BDI and the NEI-VFQ scores, while no correlation was found between the BDI score and WVA or FVS. Conclusion: The RP patients with depression had poorer vision-related functions compared with those patients without depression, which cannot be explained by the visual acuity. Interventions to diagnose and treat depression are necessary to enhance the overall quality of life in RP patients.


This paper develops a model of an open economy containing both sectors in which wages are market-determined and sectors with wage-setting arrangements. A portion of the latter group of sectors coordinate their wages, taking into account that their collective actions influence the equilibrium inflation outcome in an environment in which the central bank engages in discretionary monetary policymaking. Key predictions forthcoming from this model are (1) increased centralization of wage setting initially causes inflation to increase but then results in an inflation dropoff, (2) a greater degree of centralized wage setting reduces the inflation-restraining effect of greater central bank independence, and (3) increased openness is more likely to reduce inflation in nations with less centralized wage bargaining. Analysis of data for seventeen nations for the period 1970-1999 provides generally strong and robust empirical support for all three of these predictions


This paper proposes PriView, a privacy-preserving technique for querying third-party services from mobile devices. Classical private information retrieval (PIR) schemes are difficult to deploy and use, since they require the target service to be replicated and modified. To avoid this problem, PriView utilizes a novel, proxy-mediated form of PIR, in which the client device fetches XORs of dummy query responses from each of two proxies and combines them to produce the required result. Unlike conventional PIR, PriView does not require the third-party service to be replicated or modified in any way. We evaluated a PriView implementation for the Google Static Maps service utilizing an Android OS front-end and Amazon EC2 proxies. PriView is able to provide tunable confidentiality with low overhead, allowing bandwidth usage, power consumption, and end-to-end latency to scale sublinearly with the provided degree of confidentiality.


When used together effectively, computer-aided design (CAD) and geospatial information systems (GIS) have a solid track record for streamlining decision making and reducing inefficiencies in the design, planning, and execution of critical operations and projects. And a growing number of engineering tasks in numerous fieldsincluding design, architecture, construction, and asset managementnow require the knowledge of many interrelated yet disconnected CAD/GIS tools and task-specific software. A multidisciplinary resource delineating existing and emerging solutions for CAD/GIS integration issues, CAD and GIS Integration provides a clear understanding of the state of the art in this area of growing importance. It brings together in-depth descriptions of existing and emerging techniques, methodologies, and technologies to examine approaches that enable data and operations interoperability between CAD/GIS. Starting with a review of fundamental concepts and theories, the book: Addresses contemporary issues and challenges Provides a collection of helpful methodologies, techniques, and technologies for integrating CAD and GIS Presents balanced coverage of CAD and GIS technologies and applications Highlights emerging trends in CAD/GIS integration Explores the state-of-the-art in the application of CAD and GIS technologies, data, and operations for decision making From early developments to current trends and future directions, this concise resource allows you to get up to speed quickly on what it takes to get the most of these two dynamic technologies. Numerous example applications of effective CAD/GIS integration provide the understanding needed to improve designs, make better decisions, and reduce or even eliminate costly errors in your next project.


Soil salinity disturbs the equilibrium between reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and removal, leading to a dramatic increase in ROS concentration and oxidative damage. Enzymatic scavenging is one of the two main mechanisms involved in ROS detoxification in plants. This study has investigated the role of major antioxidant (AO) enzymes in mitigating salinity-induced oxidative stress in plant shoots. Firstly, two barley varieties were used to evaluate the activity of major AO enzymes in different leaves and at different times after salt treatment. Our results showed that AO enzyme activities had strong tissue and time specificity. A further study was conducted using six barley varieties contrasting in salinity tolerance. AO enzyme activities and proline contents were measured in the third leaves of seedlings after plants were treated with 240 mm NaCl for 10 days. No significant correlation was revealed between leaf AO activity and either plant grain yield or plant survival rate under salt stress. In contrast, a significant increase in leaf proline content under salt stress was found in all sensitive varieties, while in most tolerant varieties, salt stress did not change leaf proline level. It is concluded that although salinity induces changes in leaf AO enzyme activities, the changes cannot be used as biochemical indicators in breeding for salinity tolerance.


The diffusion coefficient--a measure of dissipation, and the entropy--a measure of fluctuation are found to be intimately correlated in many physical systems. Unlike the fluctuation dissipation theorem in linear response theory, the correlation is often strongly non-linear. To understand this complex dependence, we consider the classical Brownian diffusion in this work. Under certain rational assumption, i.e. in the bi-component fluid mixture, the mass of the Brownian particle $M$ is far greater than that of the bath molecule $m$, we can adopt the weakly couple limit. Only considering the first-order approximation of the mass ratio $m/M$, we obtain a linear motion equation in the reference frame of the observer as a Brownian particle. Based on this equivalent equation, we get the Hamiltonian at equilibrium. Finally, using canonical ensemble method, we define a new entropy that is similar to the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy. Further, we present an analytic expression of the relationship between the diffusion coefficient $D$ and the entropy $S$ in the thermal equilibrium, that is to say, $D =\frac{\hbar}{eM} \exp{[S/(k_Bd)]}$, where $d$ is the dimension of the space, $k_B$ the Boltzmann constant, $\hbar $ the reduced Planck constant and $e$ the Euler number. This kind of scaling relation has been well-known and well-tested since the similar one for single component is firstly derived by Rosenfeld with the expansion of volume ratio.


Abstract: In SE Siberia, carbonate formations with δ13Ccarb values ranging between −12‰ and −7‰ (V-PDB) and Sr concentrations of up to 2.5% occupy an area of 40 000 km2. Several successions exceed 1000 m in thickness and represent the world's largest known exposures of sedimentary carbonates exhibiting extreme depletion in 13C. The carbonates were deposited on a carbonate platform evolving from a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic ramp to a carbonate ramp, and then from a peritidal rimmed shelf to a deep-water open shelf. All sequences reveal a facies-independent, upward rise in marine δ13Ccarb from −12‰ to −7‰. The trend and magnitude of the values mimic those that are characteristic of the 600–550 Ma Shuram–Wonoka isotope event. A coincident stratigraphic rise in 87Sr/86Sr from 0.70802 to 0.70862 in several sections of limestones, containing 4400 μg g−1 Sr on average, is considered to be by far the best available constraint on a temporal variation of seawater isotopic composition through the Late Ediacaran. If the greatest temporal rate of change in seawater 87Sr/86Sr observed in the Cenozoic is applied to the Siberian sections, the calculated minimum duration for the Suram–Wonoka event is 10 Ma. Supplementary material: XRF and ICP-AES analysis, C, O and Sr isotopic data are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18324.


Cobalt-Rich Manganese Deposits (CRMD) is one of underwater mineral resources which is cobalt supply. In order to mine this CRMD efficiently, it is important to understand such engineer properties of CRMD and their substrates, as P-wave velocity, specific gravity, strengths and so on. But these engineering properties have not been well known yet. Because the layer of CRMD is not thicker then 10 centimeter, it is difficult to examine ordinary strength tests such as compression test, tensile test and so on.In this paper, to suggest the way to estimate engineering properties, two hardnesses which are applied to metal materials and specific gravity, porosity and P-wave velocity are measured, and relationship between these two hardnesses and these three properties is examined. One of two hardnesses is Shore hardness test that is the one of dynamic hardness test and the other is Micro-Vickers hardness test that is the one of static hardness test. And more, to suggest the way of continuous estimation of engineering properties, reflection coefficient at the surface of CRMD and their substrates is measured, and relationship between hardnesses and their coefficient is examined. Consequently, the followings become clear.1) Micro-Vickers hardness of CRMD and their substrates has no connection with specific gravity, porosity and P-wave velocity. But Shore hardness is closely connected with these three engineering properties.2) Reflection coefficient of CRMD and their substrates is closely connected with Shore hardness, specific gravity and porosity. It is possible to estimate the engineering properties of CRMD and their substrates using the reflection coefficient.


Despite the great advances in microbial ecology and the explosion of high throughput sequencing, our ability to understand and integrate the global biogeochemical cycles is still limited. Here we propose a novel approach to summarize the complexity of the Sulfur cycle based on the minimum ecosystem concept, the microbial mat model and the relative entropy of protein domains involved in S-metabolism. This methodology produces a single value, called the Sulfur Score (SS), which informs about the specific S-related molecular machinery. After curating an inventory of microorganisms, pathways and genes taking part in this cycle, we benchmark the performance of the SS on a collection of 2,107 non-redundant RefSeq genomes, 900 metagenomes from MG-RAST and 35 metagenomes analyzed for the first time. We find that the SS is able to correctly classify microorganisms known to be involved in the S-cycle, yielding an Area Under the ROC Curve of 0.985. Moreover, when sorting environments the top-scoring metagenomes were hydrothermal vents, microbial mats and deep-sea sediments, among others. This methodology can be generalized to the analysis of other biogeochemical cycles or processes. Provided that an inventory of relevant pathways and microorganisms can be compiled, entropy-based scores could be used to detect environmental patterns and informative samples in multi-genomic scale.


Managing Intellectual Property is about using Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) to protect an innovative concept in order to produce commercial advantage software. Software engineering can be viewed as IPR's from both ethical and legal perspectives. As systems are deployed into real-world use, legal issues of intellectual property rights and liability will play an increasing role in shaping the industry. This paper develops a conceptual framework for the legal issues affecting intellectual property rights and liability of software engineering products. IPR's protection legislation has carried on at a speed never before known, but in judicial practice, there are still a lot of issues worth exploring in software infringement claim.


The availability of Internet connections in K-12 classrooms is increasing, yet the use of such resources continues to be low. One explanation may be teachers' attitudes toward the use of web resources due to lack of opportunities for teacher to collaborate on integrating web resources into classroom practices. The hypothesis tested in this research was that teachers who discussed how to use web resources during computer-mediated communications would have higher attitudes toward the use of web resources in their classrooms than teachers who did not. The results of this research, as described in an adoption of innovations framework, demonstrated that teachers who participated in discussions had significantly higher attitude scores toward the use of web resources thus were more likely to adopt such innovations. Powerful new technologies exist that can enhance instruction and learning, yet these new world wide web technologies are not being widely used by K- 12 public school teachers (Wiburg, 1997). Teachers are not readily choosing to incorporate web resources into their teaching even though these new resources have been empirically shown to facilitate student interactivity (Hardin & Ziebarth, 1995; Owston, 1997), increase mental functioning (Conlon, 1997), and promote social interaction (Kagan & Widaman, 1987; Sharan & Kussell, 1984; Slavin, 1983). The plausibility of the argument that web resources are not used in classrooms because web technology is not available is quickly diminishing as web technology initiatives explode in the school systems (Becker, 1998). Technology skills and integration training is rapidly becoming a priority in many school districts reducing the claim that teachers do not know how to use these new tools. Why then, are teachers not readily using these resources in the classroom? A possible explanation may be related to the teacher's mental state of readiness to adopt this new innovation. This state of readiness is the teacher's attitude toward the use of the web resources in the classroom. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the use of focused teacher conversations about integrating web resources into the classroom using computer-mediated communications would affect teachers attitudes toward the use of web resources in their classrooms. If provided with opportunities to discuss technology integration with peers through electronic means would there be a difference in the attitude of teachers toward using web resources in their teaching? Specifically, * Is there a difference in teachers' attitude toward the use of web resources between teachers who participate in computer-mediated communications on using web resources in the classroom with their peers and those who don't? * Is there a difference in teachers' beliefs, feelings, or intended future use of web resources between teachers who participate in computer-mediated communications on using web resources in the classroom with their peers and those who don't? Literature Review Thomas & Znaniecki (1918) defined attitude as a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is related. Zimbardo & Leippe (1991) more recently defined attitude as an evaluation disposition toward some object based upon cognitions, affective reactions, behavioral intentions, and past behaviors. Attitude is an informed predisposition to respond and is comprised of beliefs, feelings and an intent for action. Thus, teachers who believe that the use of web resources will benefit classroom teaching and learning, feel that web resources are good, and intend to use web resources have a positive attitude toward such resources and are more likely to attempt incorporating them into their teaching. The Role of Attitude in Adopting Innovations Rogers (1995) suggested that the first step in adopting an innovation, such as web technology, was to be exposed to information and develop knowledge about the innovation. …


The purpose of this exercise is to let students experience a few biases that can be deleterious to strategic decision-making. In particular, students are induced to fall into a confirmatory trap, and to experience other biases such as anchoring and sampling bias. Although the exercise can be performed individually, it is a better vehicle to explore how some team-level dynamics and structural choices can either increase or reduce the probability of falling into such biases. The exercise creates a situation that mirrors the one leading to the Challenger disaster.


The design methodology described in this paper takes a substantial shift from conventional methods. Traditionally sizing is based on the worst expected load scenario. By contrast to this conventional passive approach the method presented here replaces passive member strategically with active elements (actuators) which are only activated when the loads reach a certain threshold. The structure can withstand low level of loads passively. Above the threshold, actuation comes in to allow the structure to cope with high but rare loading scenarios. Active control introduces operational energy consumption in addition to the energy embodied in a passive design. In this paper we use this dual design to minimize the overall energy required by the structures. This methodology has been used on a simple truss structure and it was showed that it allows significant weight saving compared to conventional passive design. We extend the application of the methodology to a more complex 3D structure. It is confirmed that an optimum activation threshold exists that leads to design that minimises the total energy of the structure. Compared to an optimised passive design we show that the total energy saving is 10-fold.


Galileo images of Gaspra make it possible for the first time to determine a main-belt asteroid's photometric properties accurately by providing surface-resolved coverage over a wide range of incidence and emission angles and by extending the phase angle coverage to phases not observable from Earth. We combine Earth-based telescopic photometry over phase angles 2° ≤ α ≤ 25° with Galileo whole-disk and disk-resolved data at 33° ≤ α ≤ 51° to derive average global photometric properties in terms of Hapke's photometric model. The microscopic texture and particle phase-function behavior of Gaspra's surface are remarkably like those of other airless rocky bodies such as the Moon. The macroscopic surface roughness parameter, θ = 29°, is slightly larger than that reported for typical lunar materials. The particle single scattering albedo, ω0 = 0.36 ± 0.07, is significantly larger than for lunar materials, and the opposition surge amplitude, B0 = 1.63 ± 0.07, is correspondingly smaller. We determine a visual geometric albedo pv = 0.22 ± 0.06 for Gaspra, in close agreement with pv = 0.22 ± 0.03 estimated from Earth-based observations. Gaspra's phase integral is 0.47, and the bolometric Bond albedo is estimated to be 0.12 ± 0.03. An albedo map derived by correcting Galileo images with our average global photometric function reveals subdued albedo contrasts of ±10% or less over Gaspra's northern hemisphere. Several independent classification algorithms confirm the subtle spectral heterogeneity reported earlier (S. Mottola, M. DiMartino, M. Gonano-Beurer, H. Hoffman, and G. Neukum, 1993, Asteroids, Comets, Meteors, pp. 421-424; M. J. S. Belton et al., 1992, Science 257, 1647-1652). Whole-disk colors (0.41 ≤ λ ≤ 0.99 μm) vary systematically with longitude by about ±5%, but color differences as large as 30% occur locally. Colors vary continuously between end-member materials whose areal distribution correlates with regional topography. Infrared: violet (0.99:0.41-μm) color ratios on Gaspra are strongly correlated with local elevation, being largest at lower elevations and smaller at higher elevations. No correlation was detected between elevation and the green:violet (0.56:0.41-μm) color ratio. Bright materials with a strong 1-μm absorption occur primarily in association with craters along ridges, while darker materials with 30% weaker 1-μm signatures occur downslope. The variations of color and albedo cannot be easily explained by grain-size effects alone or by differences in photometric geometry. The trends observed are consistent with those revealed by laboratory studies of the effects of comminution, glass formation, and segregation of metal from silicate components in chondritic meteorites and also in some silicate mixtures. The relative importance of these various processes on Gaspra remains to be determined.


This study attempted to analyze and synthesize the concepts of sport and metacritical aesthetics and to utilize that philosophical base from which to speculate on the nature of a metacritical aesthetic of sport. Tao complementary tools of philosophical research were utilized: "theory building" as described by Fraleigh (1970), and "analysis of the structure of knowledge" as developed by Gowin (1969). Fraleigh's design outlined steps or elements with which general and particular phenomena of interest are examined for consistency with and derivation from an existing philosophic statement. Gowin's methodology, which suggested the positing of a series of telling and connecting questions to explore a philosophical concept, was utilized to identify the germinal issues. The philosophical and experimental literature of aesthetics and sport was examined to identify the major ideas and concepts associated with the general phenomenon of interest, sport; the source philosophy, metacriticism; and with the particular phenomenon of interest, an aesthetic of sport.