There is an increasing global recognition that certain trademark laws may harm the free flow of information and ideas. Yet if a state reduces trademark rights to protect speech interests, this may raise concerns regarding that country's compliance with its international obligations to protect trademarks. This Article argues that the trademark provisions of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention) and Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) contain sufficient flexibility to allow member states to protect expression in their domestic trademark laws. If a state's speech-protective trademark laws are challenged before the World Trade Organization as violating the Paris Convention or TRIPS, WTO panels and the Appellate Body should narrowly interpret ambiguous international obligations to protect trademarks and avoid an activist interpretation of the provisions that adopts a particular solution to any conflict between trademark and free speech rights. To better protect speech interests in international trademark law, member states could amend the Paris Convention or TRIPS to explicitly require states to protect "the right to freedom of expression" when implementing their trademark obligations. States could also add specific permissive or mandatory exemptions for certain uses of a mark to the international trademark laws. This Article concludes that states should instead adopt speech-friendly trademark laws at the national level, evaluate whether these domestic laws properly balance trademark and free speech rights, and not pursue international reform until more states recognize that certain trademark laws can harm the right to freedom of expression.


Multilayer structures of AlxIn1-xAsySb1-y/GaSb (0.37 £ x £ 0.43, 0.50 £ y £ 0.52), grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaSb (100) substrates were characterized using variable temperature Hall and Shubnikov-de Haas techniques. For nominally undoped structures both p and n-type conductivity was observed. The mobilities obtained were lower than those predicted by an interpolation method using the binary alloys; therefore, a detailed analysis of mobility versus temperature data was performed to extract the appropriate scattering mechanisms. For p-type samples, the dominant mechanism was ionized impurity scattering at low temperatures and polar optical phonon scattering at higher temperatures. For n-type samples, ionized impurity scattering was predominant at low temperatures, and electron-hole scattering dominated for both the intermediate and high temperature range. Analyses of the Shubnikov-de Haas data indicate the presence of 2-D carrier confinement consistent with energy subbands in GaAszSb1-z potential wells. Epilayers of GaAs1-xSbx (0.19<x<0.71), grown by MBE on semi-insulating GaAs with various substrate orientations, were studied by absorption measurements over the temperature range of 4-300 K. The various substrate orientations were chosen to induce different degrees of spontaneous atomic ordering. The temperature dependence of the energy gap (Eg) for each of these samples was modeled using three semi-empirical relationships. The resulting coefficients for each model describe not only the temperature dependence of Eg for each of the alloy compositions investigated, but also for all published results for this alloy system. The effect of ordering in these samples was manifested by a deviation of the value of Eg from the value of the random alloy. The presence of CuPt-B type atomic ordering was verified by transmission electron diffraction measurements, and the order parameter was estimated for all the samples investigated and found to be larger for the samples grown on the (111) A offcut orientations. This result strongly suggests that it is the A steps that contribute to the formation of the CuPt-B type ordering in the GaAs1-xSbx alloy system.


Records of trace gas composition of the atmosphere originating from mountain stations are difficult to interpret in terms of continental gas balances due to complex topography and local wind patterns. Kasprowy Wierch station, located in the High Tatra Mountains, Poland, provides datasets to European GHG databases and can be used for regional and continental balances of trace gases in Earth's atmosphere. Although it suffers from strong influence of local valley winds, the concentration record obtained at Kasprowy Wierch contains also a discernible fraction of methane (up to 100 ppb) emitted mainly by large regional source of this gas (Silesian Coal Basin) located ca. 150 km north-west of Kasprowy Wierch. Comparison of GOSAT satellite CH_4 record in the pixel including High Tatras at the level of 850 hPa with the data obtained at Kasprowy Wierch mountain station revealed surprisingly good correlation, even for relatively short time intervals.


In 1986 Joan Scott published "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis," an article examining the disconnect between the way in which gender is explored within the scholarship and gender history itself. In her work Scott operationalized gender as a framework. Utilizing Scott's framework, this historiographical analysis explores the question of gender as an analytical tool within the scholarship on 1930s Soviet Russia. Works produced prior to and post Scott's "calling" are categorized based upon a gender-based spectrum. Works are categorized as being: descriptive history exploring women; women's history; beyond women's history but short of gender history; and gender history. Situating the scholarship of 1930s Soviet Russia alongside Scott's conception of gender history allows for exploration of the evolution of gender- as an analytical tool utilized in the scholarship. Contrasting Scott's conception with scholars' usage of gender alludes to why gender, as a lens, is often overlooked.


Interest in new empiricisms and transdisciplinary methods has led many social inquirers to engage with 20th-century post-classical physical science. Many of these projects have focused on alternative matter–mind mixtures and in/organic variation, concerned that past theories of sociality have dismissed the vibrancy and animacy of the nonhuman material world. This paper explores the power of speculative fiction to help us rethink empiricism in posthuman ecologies of the Anthropocene, in the midst of post-truth conditions and growing science denialism. We foreground speculative fiction as a way to open up scientific imaginaries, rethinking the relationship between nature, technics, and human "sense" making. We show how such texts offer alternative images of research methods for studying pluralist ecologies and new forms of worldly belonging.


Objective: The study goal was to test whether induced stress during driving could be measured at the event level through electrodermal activity responses. Background: Stress measured in simulation scenarios could thus far show an overall change in the stress state, but not be well attributed to acute stressful events. Driving simulator scenarios that induce stress measurable at the event level in realistic situations are thus warranted. As such, acute stress reactions can be measured in the context of changing situational factors such as fatigue, substance abuse, or medical conditions. Method: Twelve healthy female participants drove the same route numerous times in a driving simulator, each time with different random traffic events occurring throughout. During one of the scenarios, unknown to the participants, 10 programmed neutral traffic events occurred, whereas in another scenario, at the same location, 10 stressful events occurred. Results: Electrodermal response results showed both effects of scenario type and of events. The amplitude of the electrodermal response was significantly correlated with subjective stress experience. Conclusion: We conclude that our developed ecological driving simulation scenarios can be used to induce and measure stress at the event level. Application: The developed simulator scenarios enable us to measure stress reactions in driving situations at the time when the event actually happens. With these scenarios, we can measure how situational factors, such as fatigue or substance abuse, can change immediate stress reactions when driving. We can further measure more specifically how induced driving stress can affect physical and mental functioning afterward.


Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) of the elbow is localised most commonly at the capitellum. It is a localised condition of the subchondral bone which may result in segmentation and separation. Irreversible changes, pain, restriction of motion and limitation of activities may result because of this. Elbow OCD afflicts athletes in the second decade, especially adolescents engaged in repetitive elbow overuse such as gymnasts, pitchers and swimmers. A high index of suspicion is warranted to prevent delay in the diagnosis. Imaging studies begin with standard elbow radiographs, but in later stages MRI or CT scan are indicated. Lesions are classified as 'stable' or 'unstable'. In general stable lesions are treated conservatively, whereas unstable lesions are indicated for surgical management. Geographical variation exists in techniques for arthroscopic procedures for OCD of the elbow. In Europe and the USA most surgeons use classic arthroscopic debridement and microfracturing for lesions which are not amendable to a solid fixation, whereas in Australia some surgeons use dry arthroscopy for optimal assessment of the articular surface and the presence or absence of subchondral bone. In Japan fixation of the OCD with bone pegs is favoured. Numerous other surgical techniques have been reported, including internal fixation of large fragments and osteochondral autograft transfer. The aim of this article is to explore OCD of the elbow with regard to aetiology, clinical presentation, the diagnostics prior to the intervention, the different surgical techniques, possible complications and pitfalls, clinical outcome and future directions.


Kim Simon will introduce Canadian Gallery TPW in as an institution and share a thread of her curatorial work investigating an ethics of showing and looking in relation to the aesthetics of troubling images. In relation to this research, Simon will discuss her exhibitions and discursive programs looking at work by Polish artist Artur Zmijewski, American documentary photographer Eric Gottesman, filmmaker Renzo Martens, and a group exhibition looking at the relation between difficult knowledge, narrative abstraction, affect and thought (in works by Chanarin and Broomberg (UK), Jannicke Laker (Norway), Ken-Gonzales Day (US), John Moore (US) and Paolo Canevari (It).

Kim Simon is Curator of Gallery TPW in Toronto. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit venue for photographic practices, TPW is committed to a media-specific but now expanded mandate, addressing the vital role that images play in contemporary culture and exploring the exchange between photography and time-based media.


Multi-agent online learning revolves around multiple interacting agents that make sequential decisions online, each concerned with maximizing their individual rewards (which, a priori, typically depend on the actions of all other players). In this paper, we consider a model of multi-agent online learning where the game is not known in advance, and the agents' feedback is subject to both noise and delays. Motivated by its strong no-regret properties, we first focus on a class of learning algorithms known as online mirror descent (OMD), and we show that, even in the presence of noise, the induced sequence of play converges to Nash equilibria in a wide class of continuous games, provided that the feedback delays faced by the agents are synchronous and bounded. Subsequently, to tackle fully decentralized, asynchronous environments with unbounded feedback delays, we propose a variant of OMD which we call delayed mirror descent (DMD), and which relies on the repeated leveraging of past information. With this modification, the algorithm converges to Nash equilibria almost surely, even in noisy environments with no feedback synchronicity assumptions, and with feedback delays growing at a superlinear rate relative to the game's horizon.


Background A triaxial accelerometer with an algorithm that could discriminate locomotive and non-locomotive activities in adults has been developed. However, in the elderly, this accelerometer has not yet been validated. The aim were to examine the validity of this accelerometer in the healthy elderly, and to compare the results with those derived in a healthy younger sample. Methods Twenty-nine healthy elderly subjects aged 60–80 years (Elderly), and 42 adults aged 20–59 years (Younger) participated. All subjects performed 11 activities, including locomotive and non-locomotive activities with a Douglas bag while wearing the accelerometer (Active style Pro HJA-750C). Physical activity intensities were expressed as metabolic equivalents (METs). The relationship between the METs measured using the Douglas bag and METs predicted using the accelerometer was evaluated. Results A significant correlation between actual and predicted METs was observed in both Elderly (r=0.85, p<0.001) and Younger (r=0.88, p<0.001). Predicted METs significantly underestimated compared with actual METs in both groups (p<0.001). The mean of the errors was −0.6±0.6 METs in Elderly and −0.1±0.5 METs in Younger. The degree of underestimation increased with increasing METs in Elderly (p<0.001). A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that predicted METs, age, and weight were related to actual METs in both groups. Conclusion The degree of correlation between predicted and actual METs was comparable in elderly and younger participants, but the prediction errors were greater in elderly participants, particular at higher-intensity activities, which suggests that different predicting equations may be needed for the elderly.


The aim was to determine, already at the design stage, the interior noise level in a new small aircraft. The noise predictions were based on full-scale measurements on an existing model. A number of models for the prediction of velocity levels of a fuselage excited by turbulent boundary layers are discussed. Predicted results are compared to the result of in-flight measurements. It is found that the Corcos model gives the best agreement with the measured results. It is found that the velocity level of the plate elements of the fuselage very much depends on the speed of the aircraft. An increase of the speed by 10% increases the plate velocity level by 3dB. The velocity level is also strongly dependent on the plate thickness. An increase of the thickness by 50% will decrease the velocity level by 5dB. Small variations of other parameters like width and height and curvature of plate have only a very marginal effect on the plate velocity in the frequency range of interest. However, the acoustic power radiated into the aircraft cabin depends on the plate velocity of the fuselage as well the sound radiation properties of the plate structure. In the frequency, range of importance for the A-weighted noise level in the cabin the sound radiation ratio is increased as the plate thickness is increased. The noise level in the cabin is thus reduced much less than the velocity level of the fuselage by increasing the plate thickness. An increase of the width and length of plate elements reduces the sound intensity radiated by a plate. A combination of increased width and length and thickness of plate can result in a reduced noise radiation from the fuselage and thus in a reduced interior noise level.


Abstract The last study on n-alkanes in surface sediments of Taihu Lake was in 2000, only 13 surface sediment samples were analysed, in order to have a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of n-alkanes in the surface sediments of Taihu Lake, 41 surface sediment samples were analyzed by GC-MS. C10 to C37 were detected, the total concentrations of n-alkanes ranged from 2109 ng g−1 to 9096 ng g−1 (dry weight). There was strong odd carbon predominance in long chain n-alkanes and even carbon predominance in short chain n-alkanes. When this finding was combined with the analysis results of wax n-alkanes (WaxCn), carbon preference index (CPI), unresolved complex mixture (UCM), hopanes and steranes, it was considered that the long chain n-alkanes were mainly from terrigenous higher plants, and that the short chain n-alkanes mainly originated from bacteria and algae in the lake, compared with previous studies, there were no obvious anthropogenic petrogenic inputs. Terrestrial and aquatic hydrocarbons ratio (TAR) and C21−/C25+ indicated that terrigenous input was higher than aquatic sources and the nearshore n-alkanes were mainly from land-derived sources. Moreover, the distribution of short chain n-alkanes presented a relatively uniform pattern, while the long chain n-alkanes presented a trend that concentrations dropped from nearshore places to the middle of lake.


In this paper we study the problem of large-scale resource congestion from the control and regulation point of view. Applications and services running in large-scale shared infrastructures like Grids or PlanetLab have di erent resource usage pro les and di erent resource
consumption strategies according to their speci c requirements. However, users of these types of infrastructure tend to prefer a subset of available nodes to execute their tasks. As a result, this pattern of user
behaviour usually leads to an unfair distribution of work between nodes -i.e some nodes are highly loaded while the others remain almost idle. We finnd that most current research focuses on short-term and per-resource scheduling, and the issue of efficient resource allocation in the long-term and system-wide is not yet appropriately studied. Thus, there is a need
for controlling, distributing and limiting the capacity of each participant to consume resources considering the state of the system as a whole. Our main contribution is the introduction of a novel macro-scheduling (long-term and system-wide) mechanism for resource capacity self-regulation in which virtual currency or money is used as a tool to govern resource and service usage in massively distributed settings, which are otherwise hard to control. We show by simulation that our approach successfully
redistributes the load in a fair and economically-efficient manner.


During the past decade of European economic integration vastly worse standards have emerged in work conditions, industrial relations, and social welfare in Eastern Europe than in the West. Area scholars explain this divide by labor weakness caused by the ideological legacy of communism, and do not problematize the impact of transnational capital. In contrast, this essay argues that the reason why the European social model has not traveled to the East is that its socio-economic foundations, the industrial building blocks of the historical compromise between capital and labor, have not traveled either. In the West, the compromise had been rooted in capital-intensive consumer durables industries, such as car-manufacturing, and their suppliers. These sectors brought together organized and vocal labor with businesses willing to accommodate workers' demands, because for them labor had been less a problem as a cost-factor and more important as factor of demand. However, the main driving force of the eastward expansion of European capital has been the relocation of labor-intensive activities where business relies on sweating masses of workers, whose importance as consumers is marginal, and who are weak in the workplace and the marketplace. With this general conceptualization of how the emerging new European division of labor constrains the social aspects of East European market societies as a background, the essay studies the cases of Hungarian electronics and Slovak car industries in order to better understand how particular features of various leading sectors mediate the general pattern.


We propose a novel search technique called IteMinder that helps users find property in a room using passive RFID and an autonomous robot. First, we attach RFID tags to the target items and at typical locations in a room. We also attach an RFID reader and a laser rangefinder to the robot. The robot can move around the entire room automatically while avoiding obstacles using the laser rangefinder. When the robot finds a tagged item, it uploads the tag ID and location information to the database. Users can then browse target items and their locations on a common web browser.


Typically, certain grammatical features are associated with one particular lexical category rather than some other category. Nouns can be modified by numerals or adjectives, can take determiners like demonstratives or possessive attributes, can be inflected for number, case, etc. Verbs, by contrast, take markers of tense, aspect, modality and can be negated, etc. But cross-linguistic observations show that one and the same linguistic expression can also be associated with more than one grammatical category. For example, in many languages there are forms that serve the expression of verbal tense or aspect in some of their uses but behave like lexical verbs in other uses; adpositions may be homophonous with nouns, or relative clause markers with demonstratives, etc. In many of these cases, grammaticalization theory has been used to account for such situations.The present paper argues that this framework is also able to explain connections between linguistic structures that appear to be entirely unrelated to one another. Such a case of "categorial misbehavior" is reported from the Walman language of Papua New Guinea, where two 'and'-conjunctions that have the function of conjoining noun phrases have the morphological structure of transitive verbs. Drawing on typological evidence from a number of genetically and areally unrelated languages, the paper proposes a reconstruction of the situation in Walman based on regularities of grammatical change. The main goal of the paper is to argue that grammaticalization theory can provide explanations that appear to be beyond the potential of other linguistic frameworks. Such explanations are external rather than internal, and they are restricted to the question of why languages are structured the way they are, that is, they concern neither the question of how people use their language nor what knowledge they have about their language.


BACKGROUND: Inflammatory cytokines, including tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin (IL)-1 beta, have been implicated as primary mediators of intestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease. AIM: To investigate the in vitro effects of oxpentifylline (pentoxifylline; PTX; a phosphodiesterase inhibitor) on inflammatory cytokine production (1) by peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and (2) by inflamed intestinal mucosa cultures from patients with Crohn's disease and patients with ulcerative colitis. METHODS: PBMCs and mucosal biopsy specimens were cultured for 24 hours in the absence or presence of PTX (up to 100 micrograms/ml), and the secretion of TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-6, and IL-8 determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). RESULTS: PTX inhibited the release of TNF-alpha by PBMCs from patients with inflammatory bowel disease and the secretion of TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta by organ cultures of inflamed mucosa from the same patients. Secretion of TNF-alpha by PBMCs was inhibited by about 50% at a PTX concentration of 25 micrograms/ml (IC50). PTX was equally potent in cultures from controls, patients with Crohn's disease, and those with ulcerative colitis. The concentrations of IL-6 and IL-8 were not significantly modified in PBMCs, but IL-6 increased slightly in organ culture supernatants. CONCLUSIONS: PTX or more potent related compounds may represent a new family of cytokine inhibitors, potentially interesting for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.


Bioethanol conversions has long been considered as a possible solution for whey utilization. The existence of wild ethanol-fermenting yeasts that able to hydrolyze lactose become an important thing. Aims of the research was to isolate and identified the potential ethanol-fermenting yeasts from mozzarella cheese whey. Research done experimentally and analyzed descriptively. Yeast candidates isolated from mozarella cheese whey with pour plate method and purified on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) with the addition of 3% Yeast Extract and 10 ppm of Amoxycillin. The candidates were tested to stress tolerance towards various sugar and ethanol contents. Ethanol-fermenting yeast candidates tested in converting whey into bioethanol by inoculating 2% isolates into mozzarella cheese whey and incubated in room temperature (26-28°C) for 48 hours, then the ethanol contents tested by Gas Chromatography. The isolate that gave the highest ethanol contents identified using RapID Yeast Plus System. Results showed that there are 5.8 x 105 cfu/ml yeasts population in mozzarella cheese whey with four isolates that has different macroscopic character. Four candidate showed endurance towards 30% sugar and 20% ethanol contents and isolate W2 chosen as best isolate that produce the highest ethanol contents of 1,515.973 ppm. RapID Yeast Plus System has identified the isolate W2 has 96.43% similarity with Candida lambica .


This study was conducted to investigate the free radicals scavenging activity and cytoprotective effects of Lactobacillus plantarum YS-1 Fermented Soy Milk (FSM-LPYS1) in Caco-2 human colon adenocarcinoma cells damaged by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidation. FSM-LPYS1 showed a remarkable in vitro activity against 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and hydroxyl radical (•OH). FSM-LPYS1 significantly decreased the levels of intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, and enhanced the activities and expression levels of Catalase (CAT), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in H2O2-treated Caco-2 cells (p<0.05). FSM-LPYS1 also reduced the protein levels of IL-8 and NF-κB in Caco-2 cells. These results clearly indicated that FSMLPYS1 had impressively scavenged free radicals and were able to reduce the H2O2-induced oxidative damage in Caco-2 cells by reducing the intracellular ROS generation, restraining lipid peroxidation, and by raising the endogenous antioxidant enzyme activity. In addition, the FSM-LPYS1 could also reduce the H2O2-induced inflammation reaction. FSM-LPYS1 is a functional food which has antioxidant properties and it can be used as high quality soybean processing food for exploitation of health benefits.


Visual stimuli consisting of two alternating trains of high-frequency square-wave pulses of the same time-average luminance were presented monocularly to human observers. Two stimulus sizes were used, which subtended visual angles of 12° and 4.3°. In many cases the observers perceived flicker even when each train of pulses by itself appeared fused. The results of the present experiments show that perception of flicker with this type of stimulus pattern depends critically on two variables: (1) the difference t1−t2, where t1 and t2 denote the periods of single pulses in the two trains; (2) the combinations of T1 and T2, where T1 and T2 denote the durations of the two trains. The results with the 12° field show some remarkable differences from the results with the 4.3° field, thus, confirming the findings of numerous earlier studies that in many visual tasks the central fovea behaves differently from larger areas around it. The model of de Lange was checked by Fourier analysis of the data. This analysis shows that de Lange's model can be adequately fitted to the data for the 4.3° field, but not for the 12° field. In the case of the 4.3° field, the amplitudes of the second Fourier component are, for many of the data, at or near the threshold values of their corresponding fundamental components. This means that the possibility of a contribution from the higher harmonics to the threshold of flicker cannot be neglected.


Book synopsis: Currently, lone mothers and their children make up almost 20 per cent of families with dependent children in the UK, a threefold increase since 1970. Yet, while they are often cited by politicians as both a symptom and cause of social breakdown, relatively little is known of the causes, consequences and conditions of lone motherhood in Britain and throughout Europe.

Good Enough Mothering? provides accounts of historical patterns of mothering and ideologies of the family with cross-national comparisons of policies and experience of lone motherhood in developed and developing countries. Countries include: Britain, US, Norway, South Africa, Kenya, Thailand, India, Brazil and the Caribbean. This engaging edited collection will appeal to students of social policy, women's studies and social work.


This article reports on a workshop in which translators explored how particular iconic features present in a literary text might be translated into another language. In advance of the workshop the participants translated two short passages from Tobias Hill's novel The Hidden into (mostly) their own native language; their translations preserved the text's iconic features as fully as possible. The article starts with a brief introduction highlighting the iconic features in the passage. It focuses on those parts of the two passages that turned out to be not only most interesting from an iconic point of view but also the most challenging to translate since their iconic features could not always be transferred into the target language in a straightforward way. The languages involved were Dutch, German, Japanese, Polish (2 versions), Serbian, and Swedish. Apart from discussing the translations and the translation difficulties, a further aim was to find out whether we can distinguish any general or language-specific strategies in translating iconic features involving sound, (morpho)syntax or the lexicon.


Summary • Several studies have demonstrated the involvement of soil-borne Phytophthora species, especially Phytophthora quercina , in European oak decline. However, knowledge about the pathogenicity of P. quercina in natural forest soils is limited. • The short-term effects of two south-Swedish isolates of P. quercina on root vitality of Quercus robur seedlings grown in two different soils, one high pH, nutrient-rich peat‐sand mixture and one acid, nitrogen-rich but otherwise nutrient-poor forest soil are described. Pathogenicity of P. quercina was tested using a soil infestation method under a restricted mesic water regime without prolonged flooding of the seedlings. • There was a significant difference in dead fine-root length between control seedlings and seedlings grown in soil infested with P. quercina . Trends were similar for both soil types and isolates, but there was a higher percentage of fine-root die-back and more severe damage on coarse roots in the acid forest soil. No effects on aboveground growth or leaf nutrient concentration between control seedlings and infected seedlings were found. • The results confirm the pathogenicity of south-Swedish isolates of P. quercina in acid forest soils under restricted water availability. Stress-induced susceptibility of the seedlings and/or increased aggressiveness of the pathogen in the forest soil are discussed as key factors to explain the difference in root die-back between soil types.


An experimental investigation of possible anomalous heat production in a special type of reactor tube named E-Cat HT is carried out. The reactor tube is charged with a small amount of hydrogen loaded nickel powder plus some additives. The reaction is primarily initiated by heat from resistor coils inside the reactor tube. Measurement of the produced heat was performed with high-resolution thermal imaging cameras, recording data every second from the hot reactor tube. The measurements of electrical power input were performed with a large bandwidth three-phase power analyzer. Data were collected in two experimental runs lasting 96 and 116 hours, respectively. An anomalous heat production was indicated in both experiments. The 116-hour experiment also included a calibration of the experimental set-up without the active charge present in the E-Cat HT. In this case, no extra heat was generated beyond the expected heat from the electric input. Computed volumetric and gravimetric energy densities were found to be far above those of any known chemical source. Even by the most conservative assumptions as to the errors in the measurements, the result is still one order of magnitude greater than conventional energy sources.


We discuss an experimental scheme to create a low-dimensional gas of ultracold atoms, based on inelastic bouncing on an evanescent-wave mirror. Close to the turning point of the mirror, the atoms are transferred into an optical dipole trap. This scheme can compress the phase-space density and can ultimately yield an optically driven atom laser. An important issue is the suppression of photon scattering due to ''cross talk'' between the mirror potential and the trapping potential. We propose that for alkali-metal atoms the photon scattering rate can be suppressed by several orders of magnitude if the atoms are decoupled from the evanescent-wave light. We discuss how such dark states can be achieved by making use of circularly polarized evanescent waves.


Painted equestrian portraits of Louis XIV: on the criss-crossing of genres.
During forty years in the second half of seventeenth century, Louis XIV transformed and appropriated a traditional pattern of a portrait of power. The equestrian portrait, celebrated in European court art since the middle of the sixteenth century, became one of the incarnations of the figure of the King of France, through three models of representation successively employed by artists: a canonical model of painted equestrian portrait, then a historical contextualisation of the portrait, and eventually an allegorical or mythical image. Within those three types, there is a real variety of production. Depicting this evolution enables to consider not only the transformation of an artistic model, but also of its political appropriation. With equestrian painted portraits, painters, emulating each other, participated also in a 'fabrication' of an image of absolute king, military chief and ruler of the state. Subtly, the equestrian image moves the image of Louis XIV toward a timeless dimension, where his actions are not related as factual data, but as symbol of his royal quality.


Hyperacute rejection of a porcine organ by higher primates is initiated by the binding of xenoreactive natural antibodies of the recipient to blood vessels in the graft leading to complement activation. The majority of these antibodies recognize the carbohydrate structure Gal(alphal,3)Gal (gal epitope) present on cells of pigs. It is possible that the removal or lowering of the number of gal epitopes on the graft endothelium could prevent hyperacute rejection. The Gal(alpha1,3) Gal structure is formed by the enzyme Galbeta1,4GlcNAc3-alpha-D-galactosyltransferase [alpha(1,3)GT; EC 22.214.171.124], which transfers a galactose molecule to terminal N-acetyllactosamine (N-lac) present on various glycoproteins and glycolipids. The N-lac structure might be utilized as an acceptor by other glycosyltransferases such as Galbeta1,4GlcNAc 6-alpha-D-sialyltransferase [alpha(2,6)ST], Galbeta1,4GlcNAc 3-alpha-D-Sialyltransferase [alpha(2,3)ST], or Galbeta 2-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase [alpha(1,2)FT; EC 22.214.171.1241, etc. In this report we describe the competition between alpha(1,2)FT and alpha(1,3)GT in cells in culture and the generation of transgenic mice and transgenic pigs that express alpha(1,2)Fr leading to synthesis of Fucalpha,2Galbeta- (H antigen) and a concomitant decrease in the level of Gal(alpha1,3)Gal. As predicted, this resulted in reduced binding of xenoreactive natural antibodies to endothelial cells of transgenic mice and protection from complement mediated lysis.


The acquisition of materials for scholars in today's library is frequently a matter left primarily to the subject specialist in our large U.S. research institutions. The development of online tools to facilitate choices made by users, but still core to academic collections, has greatly expedited the job of selecting materials in relevant fields. This paper explores the results of a pilot project involving a patron-driven acquisitions plan currently evolving at one major research institution. Analyzing those items purchased for the subject area of political science, both through the program and by the subject specialist, the authors present a comparison of statistics related to circulation, subject emphasis, and consortial holdings. The authors suggest that this collection model is one part of an ever growing suite of services designed to meet "just in time" user needs and is a tool in the development of policies for consortial purchases.


[1] Annual precipitation in the central and southern warm-desert region of North America is distributed climatologically between summer and winter periods with two prominent dry periods between them. We used energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from eddy covariance along with standard meteorological and soil moisture measurements at a semiarid savanna in southern Arizona, United States, to better understand the consequences of warm or cool season drought on ecosystem CO2 exchange in these bimodally forced water-limited regions. Over the last 100 years, this historic grassland has converted to a savanna by the encroachment of the native mesquite tree (Prosopis velutina Woot.). During each of the 4 years of observation (2004–2007), annual precipitation (P) was below average, but monsoon (July–September) P was both above and below average while cool-season (December–March) P was always less than average by varying degrees. The ecosystem was a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere, ranging from 14 to 95 g C m � 2 yr � 1 with the strength of the source increasing with decreasing precipitation. When the rainfall was closest to the long-term average in its distribution and amount, the ecosystem was essentially carbon neutral. Summer drought resulted in increased carbon losses due mainly to a shortening of the growing season and the length of time later in the season when photosynthetic gain exceeds respiration loss. Severe cool season drought led to decreased spring carbon uptake and seemingly enhanced summer respiration, resulting in conditions that led to the greatest annual net carbon loss.


We present a new neural text to speech (TTS) method that is able to transform text to speech in voices that are sampled in the wild. Unlike other systems, our solution is able to deal with unconstrained voice samples and without requiring aligned phonemes or linguistic features. The network architecture is simpler than those in the existing literature and is based on a novel shifting buffer working memory. The same buffer is used for estimating the attention, computing the output audio, and for updating the buffer itself. The input sentence is encoded using a context-free lookup table that contains one entry per character or phoneme. The speakers are similarly represented by a short vector that can also be fitted to new identities, even with only a few samples. Variability in the generated speech is achieved by priming the buffer prior to generating the audio. Experimental results on several datasets demonstrate convincing capabilities, making TTS accessible to a wider range of applications. In order to promote reproducibility, we release our source code and models.


Historically, computed tomography reconstructions from truncated projection data have been considered non-unique. However, several recent results suggest that if the density of the object is known on some small region within the region of interest (ROI) then a unique and stable reconstruction of the complete ROI may be possible. Unfortunately, prior knowledge of the exact density of an object being scanned is uncommon, and as such an experimentally determined estimate must be used in its place. This estimate will naturally contain errors. We have performed several reconstruction simulations to establish the sensitivity of the proposed algorithm to errors in the prior knowledge. Our results suggest that the most important element of the prior knowledge is its mean value, while perturbations of the details cause fewer problems in the reconstructed images.


Policy-making is embedded in politics, but an increasing number of issues, like obesity, tobacco control, or road safety, do not map well on the major dimensions of political conflict. This article analyzes the enactment of restrictions on smoking in bars and restaurants in 29 European countries – a conflictual issue which does not fit easily traditional party ideologies. Indeed, the comparative empirical analyses demonstrate that government ideological positions are not associated with the strictness and the timing of adoption of the smoking bans. On the other hand, economic factors like the scale of tobacco production in a country, smoking prevalence in society and public support for tough anti-smoking policy are all significantly related to the time it takes for a country to adopt smoking bans, and to the comprehensiveness and enforcement of these restrictions. In addition, horizontal policy diffusion is strongly implicated in the pattern of policy adoptions.


Background: Diffusion tensor (DT) MRI enables quantification of the severity of brain and cervical cord pathology in multiple sclerosis (MS). Objective: To investigate DT MRI patterns of cervical cord damage in patients with benign MS (BMS) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS), in order to achieve a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the development of irreversible disability in MS. Methods: Conventional and DT MRI scans of the cervical cord and brain were acquired from 40 BMS patients, 28 SPMS patients and 18 healthy individuals. Cervical cord and brain mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) maps were created and average MD and FA were calculated. Cross sectional cord area (CSA) was also computed. Results: 37 (92%) BMS patients and all (100%) SPMS patients had macroscopic cervical cord lesions. Compared with healthy individuals, BMS patients had higher average cord MD while SPMS patients had higher average cord MD, lower average cord FA and lower average CSA. Compared with BMS patients, SPMS patients had lower cord average FA and lower average CSA. In MS patients, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was correlated with CSA (r = −0.47, p<0.0001), average cord FA (r = −0.37, p = 0.002) and brain T2 lesion volume (LV) (r = 0.34, p = 0.005). A multivariate regression model identified CSA, average cord FA and brain T2 LV as variables independently influencing the EDSS score (r = 0.58, p<0.0001). Conclusions: Cervical cord damage outside focal macroscopic lesions is limited in patients with BMS. The assessment of cord and brain pathology provides complementary information to improve the understanding of disability accumulation in MS.


Pesticides are potentially toxic compounds to humans and other living beings, which are indispensable for pests removal in agriculture worldwide. The result of their overuse is the inevitable contamination of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The need for degradation of these compounds has been subject of several studies. The enzymatic biodegradation of synthetic pesticides by microorganisms is an important strategy for removing these pollutants from the environment. Marine fungi are an excellent source of highly oxygenated bioactive compounds with huge potential to biotransform xenobiotics such as pesticides. Thus, the objective of this project was to study the biotransformation of the organophosphate pesticide methyl parathion using fungi of marine origin isolated from the ascidian Didemnum ligulum. Initially, 17 fungi strains have undergone screening on agar culture medium containing different pesticide concentrations (120 mg/L, 240 mg/L and 360 mg/L), and the three strains that showed the greatest growth diameter of the colony, were subjected to culture in a liquid medium to quantify the possible degradation of the methyl parathion. For these strains, the eficiency of degradation was monitored by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Methyl parathion was almost completely degraded in 20 days, but there was no significant difference between the reactions with the fungi strains and the abiotic control. The microorganisms, however, showed ability to metabolize p-nitrophenol, the main degradation product of methyl parathion. In conclusion, these three marine fungi, identified as two strains of Penicillium citrinum and one strain of Fusarium proliferatum, have proven to be important sources to study xenobiotic biotransformation.


Information frictions make non-simultaneous exchange risky, particularly across borders. Therefore, many countries insure cross-border exchange. We investigate the effects on firm trade, jobs, value added and productivity, using uniquely detailed, comprehensive and longitudinal transaction-level Swedish data on insurance and granular data on exporters and foreign buyers. For identification, we employ matching and differencein- difference and fuzzy regression discontinuity estimators and exploit a quasi-natural experiment. We find strikingly heterogeneous effects across firm size and response variables. The strongest positive effects are for small traders and new users. Overall, the evidence suggests a causal link from export insurance to firm performance.


The entorhinal cortex (EC) is among the earliest brain areas to deteriorate in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the extent to which functional properties of the EC are altered in the aging brain, even in the absence of clinical symptoms, is not understood. Recent human fMRI studies have identified a functional dissociation within the EC, similar to what is found in rodents. Here, we used high-resolution fMRI to identify a specific hypoactivity in the anterolateral EC (alEC) commensurate with major behavioral deficits on an object pattern separation task in asymptomatic older adults. Only subtle deficits were found in a comparable spatial condition, with no associated differences in posteromedial EC between young and older adults. We additionally link this condition to previously reported dentate/CA3 hyperactivity, both of which were associated with object mnemonic discrimination impairment. These results provide novel evidence of alEC-dentate/CA3 circuit dysfunction in cognitively normal aged humans.


Rainbows, coronas and glories are caused by the scattering of sunlight from water droplets in the atmosphere. Although these optical phenomena are seen fairly frequently, even scientifically minded people sometimes struggle to provide explanations for their formation. This paper offers explanations of these phenomena based on numerical computations of the scattering of a 5 fs pulse of red light by a spherical droplet of water. The results reveal the intricate details of the various scattering mechanisms, some of which are essentially undetectable except in the time domain. © 2011 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 010.1290, 240.6690, 290.4020, 320.2250.


The LGBT movement is facing a crucial dilemma. Although the movement presents itself as a coalition of gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals, many Americans accept and approve of the former (LG), but not the latter (T). Opponents of LGBT rights have capitalized on this social and political disconnect in local ballot measure campaigns, convincing voters to repeal sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws by highlighting that the statutes also contain gender identity protections. There is thus a sufficiently large gap between the identity categories that lesbian and gay legal victories have not built support for transgender rights, and yet they are integrated enough that one can be deployed against the other.
Drawing on extensive original primary source research — including archival materials, newspaper articles, television advertisements, legislative histories, and court filings — this Article uncovers the debates, conflicts, and decisions that shaped the place of transgender rights within the coalition, and argues that national LGBT rights organizations' legal strategies inadvertently contributed to this contemporary disconnect. This Article demonstrates why it is so important for LGBT rights groups to address this problem by chronicling anti-transgender rhetoric in local ballot measures, where citizens are increasingly voting to repeal LGBT rights. It concludes by identifying several options for how LGBT rights groups can eliminate the gap between lesbian/gay and transgender, which it uses to develop a taxonomy of social movement mobilization.


You may not have heard of the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) or its professional certifications, but they're becoming an important part of proving professional competence in the Linux operating system. That aside, LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell is a fantastic introductory Linux book, well suited to introducing a curious newcomer to the environment and bringing an intermediate user up to expert status. The book is organized around the LPI's published standards for two Level 1 exams (exams 101, which deals with key commands and file-system concepts, and 102, which places more emphasis on hardware, networking, and shell scripting). The organization works well even if you're not specifically preparing for either exam. LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell assumes nothing in early chapters, going so far--to cite one example--as to walk readers through the concept of commands with parameters separately from the concept of commands alone. Later, the pace picks up, and strategic advice is substituted (such as how to partition a disk for maximum speed and reliability) for "type-this" instructions. Throughout, the book makes effective use of O'Reilly's time-tested and remarkably clear format for presenting Unix commands and configuration files. Each chapter concludes with a series of exercises designed to help you discover behaviors on your own, and includes the practice questions you expect in a test-prep aid. --David Wall Topics covered: The knowledge that's tested on the Linux Professional Institute's exams 101 and 102, which includes everything from basic Linux commands and concepts to installation of the operating system, essential network configuration, and kernel recompilation.


A proof of the Pontryagin duality theorem for locally compact abelian (LCA) groups is given, using category-theo-retical ideas and homological methods. The proof is guided by the structure within the category of LCA groups and does not use any deep results except for the Peter-Weyl theorem. The duality is first established for the subcategory of elementary LCA groups (those isomorphic with T* Θ Z J 0 R k φ F, where T is the circle group, Z the integers, R the real numbers, and F a finite abelian group), and through the study of exact sequences, direct limits and projective limits the duality is expanded to larger subcategories until the full duality theorem is reached.


OF THESIS REDUCED TILLAGE AND LIVING MULCHES FOR ORGANIC VEGETABLE PRODUCTION Reduced tillage and living mulches are alternative management strategies that can improve soil quality by minimizing disturbance and building soil organic matter. Weed suppression by these two practices alone is often insufficient to avoid crop yield losses, but their performance in an integrated system is not well understood. This project investigated the production of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in conventional tillage and strip tillage with a living mulch of teff (Eragrostis tef Zucc.) and Korean lespedeza (Kummerowia stipulacea Maxim.). Yields of pepper and bean were generally higher under conventional tillage without living mulch. Weed biomass was not influenced by tillage, and was adequately suppressed by teff in a year when conditions for teff growth were favorable. Mowing appeared to suppress weed growth but not living mulch growth. Soil nitrate and ammonium concentration was generally higher under conventional tillage without living mulch. Delaying living mulch seeding by 15 days after crop establishment generally did not affect weed suppression or crop yield. Soil aggregate stability was not consistently affected by tillage or living mulch. Increased mowing frequency, living mulch planting delay, or distance between the crop row and the living mulch may be necessary to achieve acceptable yields with living mulches.


Rural areas in South Africa have unique conditions such as remoteness and scarcity of reliable public facilities. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) introduced into these areas must be suitable for these conditions. Using a user-centred design approach based on Participatory Design and Action Research, we have developed a telemedicine application for a rural village in the Eastern Cape. This paper describes how we determined the requirements and design for the application and why we chose Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) combined with a store and forward approach to achieve our telemedicine goals. We present an overview of the methodology we are using, describe the software application we have developed and mention several challenges we have faced to date. Finally we conclude that VoIP and store and forward technologies are appropriate to the South African rural situation.


Collaboration support consists of process and (optionally) technology support. For these two types of support we can distinguish a design task (to design the process and the technology), an application task (to apply the process and to use the technology) and a management task (to manage the implementation and control of the process and to manage the maintenance of the technology). In our interviews we found that in many organizations only one role is distinguished for collaboration support; a facilitator. The facilitator often does the design and execution of the collaboration process and in many cases also takes care of the project management (e.g. acquisition of sessions, management of facilitation team and business administration) and technology application (operating the technology). External roles are often the design of the technology and the maintenance of the technology (hardware & software maintenance).


Using data from a large cross-section of British establishments, we ask how different firm characteristics are associated with the predicted benefits to organizational performance from using team production. To compute the predicted benefits from using team production, we estimate structural models for financial performance, labor productivity, and product quality, treating the firm's choices of whether or not to use teams and whether or not to grant teams autonomy as endogenous. One of the main results is that many firm characteristics are associated with larger predicted benefits from teams to labor productivity and product quality but smaller predicted benefits to financial performance. For example, this is true for union recognition as measured by the number of recognized unions in an establishment. Similarly, when a particular firm characteristic is associated with lower benefits from teams to labor productivity or product quality, the same characteristic is frequently associated with higher predicted benefits to financial performance. This is true for the degree of financial participation and employee ownership and also for establishment size and a number of industries. These results highlight the advantages of analyzing broader measures of organizational performance that are more inclusive of the wide spectrum of benefits and costs associated with teams than the labor productivity measures frequently studied in the teams literature. JEL Categories:


The aim of this study was to examine postnatal islet and beta-cell expansion in healthy female control mice and its disturbances in diabetic GIPRdn transgenic mice, which exhibit an early reduction of beta-cell mass. Pancreata of female control and GIPRdn transgenic mice, aged 10, 45, 90 and 180 days were examined, using state-of-the-art quantitative-stereological methods. Total islet and beta-cell volumes, as well as their absolute numbers increased significantly until 90 days in control mice, and remained stable thereafter. The mean islet volumes of controls also increased slightly but significantly between 10 and 45 days of age, and then remained stable until 180 days. The total volume of isolated beta-cells, an indicator of islet neogenesis, and the number of proliferating (BrdU-positive) islet cells were highest in 10-day-old controls and declined significantly between 10 and 45 days. In GIPRdn transgenic mice, the numbers of islets and beta-cells were significantly reduced from 10 days of age onwards vs. controls, and no postnatal expansion of total islet and beta-cell volumes occurred due to a reduction in islet neogenesis whereas early islet-cell proliferation and apoptosis were unchanged as compared to control mice. Insulin secretion in response to pharmacological doses of GIP was preserved in GIPRdn transgenic mice, and serum insulin to pancreatic insulin content in response to GLP-1 and arginine was significantly higher in GIPRdn transgenic mice vs. controls. We could show that the increase in islet number is mainly responsible for expansion of islet and beta-cell mass in healthy control mice. GIPRdn transgenic mice show a disturbed expansion of the endocrine pancreas, due to perturbed islet neogenesis.


In child abuse cases involving multiple fractures, prosecutors and investigators are increasingly facing a relatively new defense. In some jurisdictions, judges are allowing defense medical experts to testify that infants have not been abused, but instead suffer from a mild form of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) or a purported variant of OI, Temporary Brittle Bone Disease (TBBD). These diagnoses are offered in cases where the injuries are highly specific for abuse because they involve: (1) fractures typical of abuse in different stages of healing; (2) infants who have tested negative for conventionally diagnosable metabolic bone diseases (including OI); and (3) infants whose bones do not continue to fracture after they are placed in protective custody. 2 It is critically important for doctors, investigators and prosecutors to be able to distinguish bone disease from abuse because OI is the most frequent medical/legal defense in suspected cases of child abuse.3 This article will provide a brief and general overview of what is currently known and accepted in the medical literature about OI, and then examine more controversial diagnoses such as TBBD. Finally, strategies for prosecutors will be discussed for dealing with bone disease defenses.


CHARACTERIZATION OF BONE MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND MICROSTRUCTURE IN OSTEOGENESIS IMPERFECTA/ BRITTLE BONE DISEASE John Robert Jameson, B.S. Marquette University, 2014 Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disorder primarily associated with mutations to type I collagen and resulting in mild to severe bone fragility. To date, there is very little data quantifying OI cortical bone mechanics. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate bone microstructure, mineralization, and mechanical properties in adolescents with OI. Characterization studies were performed on small osteotomy specimens obtained from the extremities during routine corrective surgeries. Nanoindentation was used to examine the longitudinal elastic modulus and hardness at the material level for mild OI type I vs. severe OI type III. Both modulus and hardness were significantly higher (by 7% and 8%, respectively) in mild OI cortical bone compared to the more severe phenotype. Lamellar microstructure also affected these properties, as the younger bone material immediately surrounding osteons showed decreased modulus (13%) and hardness (11%) compared to the older interstitial material. A high resolution micro-computed tomography system utilizing synchrotron radiation (SRμCT) was described and used to analyze the microscale vascular porosity, osteocyte lacunar morphometry, and bone mineral density in OI vs. healthy individuals. Vascular porosity, canal diameter, and osteocyte lacunar density were all two to six times higher in OI cortical bone. Osteocytes were also more spherical in shape. Finally, three-point bending techniques were used to evaluate the microscale mechanical properties of OI cortical bone in two different orientations. Elastic modulus, flexural yield strength, ultimate strength, and crack-growth toughness were three to six times higher in specimens whose pore structure was primarily oriented parallel vs. perpendicular to the long bone axis. There was also a strong negative correlation between the elevated vascular porosity of OI cortical bone and its elastic modulus, flexural yield strength, and ultimate strength. This relationship was independent of osteocyte lacunar density and tissue mineral density. In summary, these findings highlight new material and microstructural changes within OI cortical bone that help contribute to its fragility. They also underscore a deep connection between bone structure and mechanical integrity at multiple length scales.


Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that significantly affects patients' quality of life. The myriad complexities of the disease, including its nonmotor manifestations, are beginning to be more fully appreciated, particularly in regard to the emotional and social effects of PD. Considering that both motor and nonmotor manifestations of PD significantly influence the health outcomes and conditions of patients, and their health-related quality of life (HRQOL), we collected qualitative data from patients with PD, as well as caregivers of persons with PD having cognitive impairment, to assess their perceptions of the impact of PD on HRQOL. Methods: We conducted eight focus groups and five one-on-one interviews in English and in Spanish between March 2007 and February 2008. Three of the focus groups were conducted with a total of 15 caregivers; the remaining focus groups and all interviews were conducted with 48 PD patients. Study participants were asked about the challenges that PD patients may experience, particularly pertaining to physical functioning, the impact of PD on their emotional status, and social functioning. Results: Based on analysis of the transcripts, we identified seven overarching domains or themes that reflect patients' perspectives on living with PD, ie, physical functioning, social and role functioning, emotional impact, fears and uncertainty about the future, stigma and other feelings about PD, coping mechanisms, and benefits of having PD. Conclusion: We underscore the salient aspects regarding the physical effects of PD along with its nonphysical ramifications, offering perspectives into the experience of PD and suggestions on how PD patients and their caregivers may cope with the disease.


This study focuses on the imperial capitals of Rome, Chang'an and Luoyang, during a period in which transformations of political institutions, imperial ideologies, and religious beliefs occurred on both sides of Eurasia. In the centuries between 210 BC and AD 220 Rome and China became the world's largest agrarian states, and their capital cities were shaped for the first time to be symbols of the power of their imperial systems. The physical features of the capitals, more than any other urban centre, became integral components of the ideological, socio-political and cultural dynamics of the two empires, which they reflected through their design and location in the urban landscape.
This thesis aims to further the understanding of the relationships between the cultural, political and social institutions and processes existing in the Han and Roman empires, and the physical structures and internal organization of their capital cities. It will apply a contextual, comparative methodology, specifically tailored to its scope and aims to the available historical and archaeological data relating to city planning principles and models, infrastructure, economic, and ritual architecture of the three capitals. The analysis of the material has been undertaken on the different but complementary levels of the specific monuments, the cities as whole units, and the imperial systems in which they were created. This research explores the extent to which the context-specific combination of a series of factors common to both empires, among them symbolism, practicalities, economy, religion and social status, drove the construction and transformation of the selected urban elements. Through a comparative analysis this study not only uncovers similarities and differences in the material structures of Rome, Chang'an and Luoyang, but it also highlights unique aspects of the relationship between imperialism and urban form that could not be detected by investigating each context in isolation.


Identifying individuals with hereditary syndromes allows for improved cancer surveillance, risk reduction, and optimized management. Establishing criteria for assessment allows for the identification of individuals who are carriers of pathogenic genetic variants. The NCCN Guidelines for Genetic/Familial High-Risk Assessment: Colorectal provide recommendations for the assessment and management of patients with high-risk colorectal cancer syndromes. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on criteria for the evaluation of Lynch syndrome and considerations for use of multigene testing in the assessment of hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes.


A data hiding technique in a sound wave imperceptibly can be used for a communication system beyond the audio watermarking. The transmitter with a loudspeaker can send the data by playing the sound wave, and the receiver like mobile phone can detect the message using a microphone. This paper proposes an acoustic data transmission system based on the modulated complex lapped transform (MCLT). In the proposed system, data is embedded in an audio wave file by modifying the phases of the MCLT coefficients of the audio wave. The perceived quality of the data-embedded audio wave is almost similar as the original audio. The proposed system is sufficient to deliver short text messages without any additional hardware devices.


This paper investigates the impact of social media interactions on the use context of enterprise systems (ES) at a global telecommunications company based in Europe. We conducted a detailed field study of users in three countries who execute tasks collectively using social media capabilities within their ES. The findings provide rich insights into these social media interactions, their influence on ES users' sense of 'presence' and their impact on the completion of tasks. Our key research contribution is to introduce the idea of 'virtual co‐presence' as a means of understanding the digitally mediated presence of ES users. In addition, we demonstrate how virtual co‐presence and the relationships afforded by social media shape ES users' interactions and collective completion of tasks in a dispersed work context. Drawing on the insights gained from the effect of virtual co‐presence on ES users, the paper outlines some implications for the theory and practice of collective work in ES use.


INTRODUCTION
Audiovisual simulations of real-life driving (ie, driving simulators) have been used to assess neurologic dysfunction in a variety of medical applications. However, the use of simulated driving to assess neurologic impairment in the setting of liver disease (ie, hepatic encephalopathy) is limited.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this analysis was to develop a scoring system based on simulated driving performance to assess mild cognitive impairment in cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy.

METHODS
This preliminary analysis was conducted as part of the Hepatic Encephalopathy Assessment Driving Simulator (HEADS) pilot study. Cirrhotic volunteers initially underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests to identify those cirrhotic patients with mild cognitive impairment. Performance during an audiovisually simulated course of on-road driving was then compared between mildly impaired cirrhotic patients and healthy volunteers. A scoring system was developed to quantify the likelihood of cognitive impairment on the basis of data from the simulated on-road driving.

RESULTS
Mildly impaired cirrhotic patients performed below the level of healthy volunteers on the driving simulator. Univariate logistic regression and correlation models indicated that several driving simulator variables were significant predictors of cognitive impairment. Five variables (run time, total map performance, number of collisions, visual divided attention response, and average lane position) were incorporated into a quantitative model, the HEADS scoring system. The HEADS score (0-9 points) showed a strong correlation with cognitive impairment as measured by area under the receiver-operator curve (.89).

CONCLUSION
The HEADS system appears to be a promising new tool for the assessment of mild hepatic encephalopathy.


Sediments of Hakon Mosby Mud Volcano (HMMV) are characterized by different microbial communities, which are oxidizing methane that is advectively transported to the sediment surface. Combined molecular and geochemical data reveal the presence of anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in Beggiatoa and Pogonophera sediment areas whereas aerobic oxidation of methane is observed in the thermal center of HMMV. The activity is limited in each case to a narrow subsurface sediment horizon whereas the deeper layers are mostly inactive. Evidence for AOM is provided by lipid biomarker and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses, targeting microbial consortia of sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanotrophic archaea. The archaea detected could be assigned to a new group affiliated with Methanosarcinales, which is distinct from known phylogenetic groups involved in AOM (i.e., ANME1, ANME2). Comparative analyses show a correlating vertical distribution pattern with a sharp decline of sulfate concentration, biomarker concentration, aggregate number and AOM rate. A similar biogeochemical scenario is observed at the thermal center where, in contrast, aerobic methanotrophic gamma-proteobacteria dominate the microbial community. Biomarker analyses suggest that these bacteria are close relatives of known Methylomonas species. Without the processes of methane oxidation, the emission of methane to the hydrosphere would be even greater. Thus, the activity of the various microbial communities is an effective biological filter for methane seepage at HMMV.


French thinkers such as Lacan and Derrida are often labelled as representatives of 'poststructuralism' in the Anglophone world. However in France, where their work originated, they use no such category; this group of theorists – 'the poststructuralists' - were never perceived as a coherent intellectual group or movement.

Outlining the institutional contexts, affinities, and rivalries of, among others, Althusser, Barthes, Foucault, Irigaray, and Kristeva, Angermuller – drawing from Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital and the academic field – insightfully explores post-structuralism as a phenomenon. By tracing the evolution of the French intellectual field after the war, Why There is No Poststructuralism in France places French Theory both in the specific material conditions of its production and the social and historical contexts of its reception, accounting for a particularly creative moment in French intellectual life which continues to inform the theoretical imaginary of our time.


The genetic architecture of ischemic stroke is complex and is likely to include rare or low frequency variants with high penetrance and large effect sizes. Such variants are likely to provide important insights into disease pathogenesis compared to common variants with small effect sizes. Because a significant portion of human functional variation may derive from the protein-coding portion of genes we undertook a pilot study to identify variation across the human exome (i.e., the coding exons across the entire human genome) in 10 ischemic stroke cases. Our efforts focused on evaluating the feasibility and identifying the difficulties in this type of research as it applies to ischemic stroke. The cases included 8 African-Americans and 2 Caucasians selected on the basis of similar stroke subtypes and by implementing a case selection algorithm that emphasized the genetic contribution of stroke risk. Following construction of paired-end sequencing libraries, all predicted human exons in each sample were captured and sequenced. Sequencing generated an average of 25.5 million read pairs (75 bp×2) and 3.8 Gbp per sample. After passing quality filters, screening the exomes against dbSNP demonstrated an average of 2839 novel SNPs among African-Americans and 1105 among Caucasians. In an aggregate analysis, 48 genes were identified to have at least one rare variant across all stroke cases. One gene, CSN3, identified by screening our prior GWAS results in conjunction with our exome results, was found to contain an interesting coding polymorphism as well as containing excess rare variation as compared with the other genes evaluated. In conclusion, while rare coding variants may predispose to the risk of ischemic stroke, this fact has yet to be definitively proven. Our study demonstrates the complexities of such research and highlights that while exome data can be obtained, the optimal analytical methods have yet to be determined.


: Periodontal disease is one of the most common chronic diseases in adults. It is an inflammatory disease affecting the soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity. It is associated with various risk factors. Tobacco is one of the potent risk factors for periodontal disease. The aim of the present study was to find the impact of smoking on periodontal health. A retrospective study was conducted using the case records of patients in a private institution between June 2019 to March 2020. A total of 200 male patients (Group 1: 100 smokers; Group 2: 100 non-smokers) were recruited. Data regarding the periodontal status of the patients were collected from their records. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done using SPSS software. The present study showed that smokers had a high prevalence of periodontitis (37.5%) when compared to non-smokers (8.5%). Whereas, non-smokers had a high prevalence of gingivitis (41.5%) when compared to smokers (12.5%). Also, there was a statistically significant association between smoking and periodontal health (p=0.000). The findings of the present study showed that smokers had increased risk of periodontitis than non-smokers.


Literature of the city and the city in literature are topics of major contemporary interest. This volume enhances our understanding of Chaucer's iconic role as a London poet, defining the modern sense of London as a city in history, steeped in its medieval past. Building on recent work by historians on medieval London, as well as modern urban theory, the essays address the centrality of the city in Chaucer's work, and of Chaucer to a literature and a language of the city. Contributors explore the spatial extent of the city, imaginatively and geographically; the diverse and sometimes violent relationships between communities, and the use of language to identify and speak for communities; the worlds of commerce, the aristocracy, law, and public order. A final section considers the longer history and memory of the medieval city beyond the devastations of the Great Fire and into the Victorian period. Dr. Ardis Butterfield is Reader in English at University College London. Contributors include: Ardis Butterfield, Marion Turner, Ruth Evans, Barbara Nolan, Christopher Cannon, Derek Pearsall, Helen Cooper, C. David Benson, Elliot Kendall, John Scattergood, Paul Davis, and Helen Phllips.


The scale-up design of a spacer-filled disk-type membrane module has been conducted by using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technique. A three-dimensional CFD technique was used to analyze fluid flow in the membrane module, permeate flux, permeate volumetric flow rate and the distribution of permeation rates on the membrane surfaces. The numerical results showed that there were variations in the volumetric flow rate and permeation rates with different membrane module sizes. As radius ratio of the collection tube to radius of the spacer-filled disk-type membrane module was smaller than 0.162, a series of membrane module could be considered instead of large membrane module sizes based on the same total membrane areas. Microscopic understanding derived from the CFD analysis can improve the design of collection tubes, spacer thicknesses and membrane module sizes to enhance module performance and assist the construction of new designs.


ABSTRACT — Knee pathologies including focal cartilage injuries, osteoarthritis (OA), and ligament injuries are common. The poor regeneration and healing potential of cartilage has led to the search for other treatment modalities with improved healing capacity. Furthermore, with an increasing elderly population that desires to remain active, the burden of knee pathologies is expected to increase. Increased sports participation and the desire to return to activities faster is also demanding more effective and minimally invasive treatment options. Thus, the use of biologic agents in the treatment of knee pathologies has emerged as a potential option. Despite the increasing use of biologic agents for knee pathology, there are conflicting results on the efficacy of these products. Furthermore, strong data supporting the optimal preparation methods and composition for widely used biologic agents, such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC), largely remain absent from the literature. This review presents the literature on the most commonly employed biologic agents for the different knee pathologies.


The literature examining the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and wages has fairly consistently found that BMI has a negative impact on earnings for women, and less (if any) consequences for men. In this paper, we relax the assumption -- largely unquestioned in this research -- that the conditional mean of wages is linear or piecewise linear in body mass index (BMI). Using data from the 1986 and 1999-2005 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we estimate semi-parametric wage models that allow earnings to vary with BMI in a highly flexible manner. For women, the results show that earnings peak at levels far below the clinical threshold of "obesity" or even "overweight". For men, our main estimates suggest a reasonably flat BMI-wage profile that peaks early in the "overweight" category. However, the results of instrumental variables (IV) models or specifications focusing on long-lags of BMI are more similar to those for women. The findings for females (and the IV estimates for males) suggest that it is not obesity but rather some other factor -- such as physical attractiveness -- that produces the observed relationship between BMI and wages. We also provide non-parametric estimates of the association between BMI and health expenditures, using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. These cast further doubt on the hypothesis that the wage penalties associated with increasing BMI occur because the latter serve as an index for underlying medical costs.


Using recently developed Monte Carlo methodology, this paper investigates the effect of dynamics and simultaneity on the finite sample properties of maximum likelihood and instrumental variables statistics for testing both nested and non-nested hypotheses. Numerical-analytical approximations (response surfaces) to the unknown finite sample size and power functions of those statistics are obtained for dynamic one-and two-equation models. The results illustrate the value of asymptotic theory in interpreting finite sample properties and certain limitations for doing so. Two practical finite sample results arise: the F form of the Wald statistic is strongly favored over its chi-squared form; and the effects of "large-sigma" and a small effective sample size are particularly pronounced for Sargan's (1958) instrumental variables statistic and Ericsson's (1983) Cox-type instrumental variables statistic. Re-examining Pesaran and Deaton's (1978) empirical example illustrates the additional information gained from the instrumental variables statistics.


Particle systems, commonly associated with computer graphics, animation, and video games, are an essential component in the implementation of numerical methods ranging from the meshfree methods for computational fluid dynamics and related applications (e.g., smoothed particle hydrodynamics, SPH) to minimization methods for arbitrary problems (e.g., particle swarm optimization, PSO). These methods are frequently embarrassingly parallel in nature, making them a natural fit for implementation on massively parallel computational hardware such as modern graphics processing units (GPUs). However, naive implementations fail to fully exploit the capabilities of this hardware. We present practical solutions to the challenges faced in the efficient parallel implementation of these particle systems, with a focus on performance, robustness, and flexibility. The techniques are illustrated through GPUSPH, the first implementation of SPH to run completely on GPU, and currently supporting multi-GPU clusters, uniform precision independent of domain size, and multiple SPH formulations.


Beginning in the 1930s, the federal government adopted programs and policies toward safe and decent housing for all. The initiatives included the creation of the Federal Housing Administration that, among other things, spurred mortgage lending by guaranteeing mortgage loans to lowand moderate-income borrowers. The creation of the secondary mortgage market by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ("GSEs") helped provide more liquidity for loan originators. However, somewhere along the way, these GSEs lost their way, as they pursued profitability without regard to risk and heedlessly bought mortgages without considering quality. The overabundance of poor quality mortgages led to the housing market crisis in 2008, and the GSEs faced ruin when the millions of mortgagors who took out loans defaulted. When the federal government intervened to rescue the GSEs, a new mission and attitude emerged-not one of furthering housing, but of self-preservation. This new attitude was revealed in heavy-handed policies calculated to recoup losses, but not to keep borrowers in their homes. Legislation enacted in the wake of the crisis invested a federal conservator with draconian powers, seemingly unchecked by state law constraints on lenders' remedies or notions of fairness. The mission became reducing portfolios by auction sales of the properties to investors, while the foreclosed owners had to pay the amounts owed on the mortgages to keep their homes. The impacts of these policies were felt disproportionately by minority borrowers who originally had been offered more onerous mortgage terms on the basis of inflated appraisals. Early attempts by state and local authorities to temper the GSEs' hard march toward solvency were met with successful assertions of federal preemption. This Article explores these rulings and asserts that, rather than base challenges on subordinate state or local laws, a better and more viable course of action is through the assertion of co-equal federal laws.


Obesity is an established risk factor for hypertension. About 1 billion adults are overweight globally and numbers appear to be increasing. Stimulating endogenous activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass that has unprecedented metabolic capacity can combat obesity, reverse insulin resistance and reduce comorbidities. Renalase is a recently discovered flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent oxidase, predominantly secreted into the circulation from the kidney and regulates catecholamine degradation and metabolism. Renalase gene is also present in heart muscle, skeletal muscle and liver cells in humans, and in mouse testicles. Four isoforms of renalase gene has been identified in humans (hRenalase1 to hRenalase4), however only hRenalase1 is detected in human blood suggesting that hRenalase2 to 4 may have alternative function. Unlike the classical amine oxidases which are expressed intracellularly, renalase is present intracellularly and is also secreted into the circulation. Circulating renalase appears to mirror sympathetic tone, a brief increase in catecholamines results in significant up-regulation of renalase synthesis, secretion and activity. Catecholamines are principle activators of BAT thermogenesis and angiogenesis both in rodents and humans. Characterization studies in renalase‐knockout mice shows that these mice have about 25% reduced body weight compared to control, increased circulating catecholamines, are hypertensive, and have cardiovascular defects. Renalase‐knockout mice have activated sympathetic system and possibly have increased BAT activity as a result of elevated catecholamine's in the circulation. Our findings in adipose tissue demonstrate that the renalase gene and protein is expressed in both white and brown adipose tissue depots. Expression of renalase increases in BAT of mice during non-shivering thermogenesis and in diet-induced obese mice. The expression of renalase gene, protein and secretion are significantly higher in differentiated mature brown and white adipocytes compared to preadipocytes. Stimulation of mature brown adipocytes with norepinephrine, the main catecholamine released during cold induced non-shivering thermogenesis in vivo, results in significant increase in renalase expression suggesting the importance of renalase in non-shivering thermogenesis. In white adipocytes, renalase expression is up-regulated in response to treatment with obesity linked adipokines, specifically, leptin and insulin. We report renalase as a novel adipokine expressed and secreted from both BAT and WAT. From our preliminary findings and observations in renalase knockout mice having increased sympathetic activity and circulating catecholamines, we hypothesise "renalase regulates BAT development, thermogenesis and metabolism". Therefore further studies are needed in renalase knockout mice to understand the role of renalase in adipose tissue metabolism which could provide us clues on its role in obesity and insulin resistance. Understanding the mechanisms of renalase action may provide translational data that underpins future treatment in obesity associated cardio-metabolic complications.


This research investigates earth structure beneath the Southwest North America landmass, especially between Mexico and California. Models based on S wave velocities for this area were obtained by carrying out seismogram fitting in time domain and three Cartesian components simultaneously. The data used is from an event, coded as C052297B that occurred in the state of Guerrero, Mexico and it was fitted to synthetic data computed with the GEMINI program at TS network stations. Earth model IASPEI91 and SPREM were used as input to create the synthetic data. Real and synthetic seismograms were subjected to a low-pass filter with a frequency corner of 20 mHz. Waveform analysis results show very unsystematic and strong deviations in the waveform, arrival times, amount of oscillation and the height of the wave amplitude. Discrepancies are met on S, Love, Rayleigh and ScS waves, where the stations epicentral distances are below 300. Deviation in analysis waveform because of the usage of model 1-D of SPREM and IASPEI91, because the 1-D was a kind of average value an elastic property at one particular depth of global earth. With the method of waveform analysis we can see how sensitive waveform is to structures within the layers of the Earth. To explain the discrepancies, a correction to the earth structure is essential. The corrections account for the thickness of the crust, speed gradient of h, the coefficient for the h and v in the upper mantle for surface wave fitting, a small variation of the S speed structure at a layer under the upper mantle above 771 km for S wave fitting, and a small variation at the base the mantle layers for ScS wave fitting. At some stations, a correction for S speed structure have yielded P wave fitting. Results of this research indicate that the 1-D earth model obtained through seismogram fitting at every hypocenter-observation station pair is unique. The Swave velocity on the upper mantle has strong negative anomalies. This paper criticized the previous earth models in the same area, which have been published by other seismologists, by analyzing the seismogram of C052297B earthquake in the TS seismological network station.


In Christian Arabic Versions of Daniel, Miriam L. Hjalm provides an insight into the Arabic transmission of the biblical Book of Daniel with a focus on translation techniques used in the early manuscripts.


Modern convolutional networks, incorporating rectifiers and max-pooling, are neither smooth nor convex; standard guarantees therefore do not apply. Nevertheless, methods from convex optimization such as gradient descent and Adam are widely used as building blocks for deep learning algorithms. This paper provides the first convergence guarantee applicable to modern convnets, which furthermore matches a lower bound for convex nonsmooth functions. The key technical tool is the neural Taylor approximation -- a straightforward application of Taylor expansions to neural networks -- and the associated Taylor loss. Experiments on a range of optimizers, layers, and tasks provide evidence that the analysis accurately captures the dynamics of neural optimization. The second half of the paper applies the Taylor approximation to isolate the main difficulty in training rectifier nets -- that gradients are shattered -- and investigates the hypothesis that, by exploring the space of activation configurations more thoroughly, adaptive optimizers such as RMSProp and Adam are able to converge to better solutions.


Under DLR-contract, Giessen University and DLR Cologne are studying solar-electric propulsion missions (SEP) to the outer regions of the solar system. The most challenging reference mission concerns the transport of a 1.35-tons chemical lander spacecraft into an 80-R J circular orbit around Jupiter, which would enable to place a 375 kg lander with 50 kg of scientific instruments on the surface of the icy moon "Europa". Thorough analyses show that the best solution in terms of SEP launch mass times thrusting time would be a two-stage EP module and a triple-junction solar array with concentrators which would be deployed step by step. Mission performance optimizations suggest to propel the spacecraft in the first EP stage by 6 gridded ion thrusters, running at 4.0 kV of beam voltage, which would save launch mass, and in the second stage by 4 thrusters with 1.25 to 1.5 kV of positive high voltage saving thrusting time. In this way, the launch mass of the spacecraft would be kept within 5.3 tons. Without a launcher's C3 and interplanetary gravity assists, Jupiter might be reached within about 4 yrs. The spiraling-down into the parking orbit would need another 1.8 yrs. This "large mission" can be scaled down to a smaller one, e.g., by halving all masses, the solar array power, and the number of thrusters. Due to their reliability, long lifetime and easy control, RIT-22 engines have been chosen for mission analysis. Based on precise tests, the thruster performance has been modeled.


Information and communication technologies (ICT) are an essential portion of teaching learning process. The article  examines the use of the application of ICT tools in teaching mathematics and to identify the attitudes of teachers towards the use of ICT tools at Mid-Western University, Nepal. The result of the study indicated  the positive attitudes of teachers along with the need of the use of the ICT tools for professional development of teachers and increase the performance of the learners as the learners were found motivated by the recent development of the tools. However, the lack of knowledge to integrate the tools, availability of the resources, affordability by the learners and insufficient teacher training provisions were found as the barriers in the use of the tools


Approximate algorithms for structured prediction problems---such as LP relaxations and the popular alpha-expansion algorithm (Boykov et al. 2001)---typically far exceed their theoretical performance guarantees on real-world instances. These algorithms often find solutions that are very close to optimal. The goal of this paper is to partially explain the performance of alpha-expansion and an LP relaxation algorithm on MAP inference in Ferromagnetic Potts models (FPMs). Our main results give stability conditions under which these two algorithms provably recover the optimal MAP solution. These theoretical results complement numerous empirical observations of good performance.


It has been estimated that approximately 375,000 people experience knee injuries every year in the United States. The majority of the pathologies affect the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the medial collateral ligament (MCL). Thus, a thorough characterization of the mechanical properties of the ligaments is needed to understand the etiology of their injuries and to improve the strategies of their treatment. The first chapter of this dissertation offers a brief overview of the morphology and mechanics of the ligaments.Since injuries are estimated to occur at strain rates that range from 50%/s to 150,000%/s, studying the mechanical behavior of ligaments at various strain rates is imperative. In the second chapter, a structural constitutive model is formulated by taking into account the nonlinearity, anisotropy, incompressibility, and strain rate-related properties of the ligaments. The collagen fibers, which comprise the ligament, are assumed to be the only load-bearing component of the tissue. They are oriented in various directions, undulated in the stress-free configuration, and they gradually become straight upon deformation. Moreover, the collagen fibers are characterized by a Kelvin-Voigt-type viscoelastic behavior. The fiber spatial orientation and gradual recruitment are represented statistically by probability density functions. Published experimental data on the ACLs are used to assess the constitutive model. The most severe of the knee ligament injuries are partial and complete tears. Thus, there is a compelling need to understand the mechanical failure behavior of ligaments. In the third chapter, a structural constitutive model for the description of the ligament tensile properties is proposed. The model reproduces the three-regions of the nonlinear stress-strain relationship of ligaments. The collagen fibers contribute to the overall tissue's response after becoming taut and before failing and they are assumed to behave as a linear elastic material. The fiber recruitment and failure processes are stochastically defined. Available experimental data for the MCLs are employed to validate the constitutive relation. Furthermore, the generalization to a three-dimensional model is also given. Future research directions toward the development of a structural constitutive model for the subfailure behavior of ligaments are indicated in the fourth chapter and conclusions are drawn in the fifth chapter.


A new thin grating-insulator-metal (GIM) structure with ultra-broadband wide-angle perfect absorption is proposed, and a general approach to this kind of multilayered structure is investigated based on the rigorous coupled-wave analysis method and the transfer matrix method. On the basis of this approach, the electromagnetic field distributions in each layer and optical diffraction coefficients are derived theoretically. Compared with a metal–insulator–metal (MIM) structure, the GIM structure consisting of a metal grating on top of a low-loss dielectric layer and a bottom metal layer can achieve a higher absorption with the smaller thickness that attributes to the extraordinary optical transmission of the top grating layer and the cavity resonance of the middle insulator layer. By optimizing the structural and material parameters, the materials from top to bottom are selected as Mn-Al2O3-Mn, whose thicknesses are 10 nm, 65 nm, and 70 nm, respectively. With these optimum parameters, better performance with average absorption over 95% in the visible regime is obtained. Furthermore, this structure retains near-perfect broadband absorption for large incidence angles and different polarizations. The conclusions presented here could have potential applications in optical devices, such as optical displacement detection and visible light absorption.