Strontium barium niobate (SBN) is a tungsten bronze family ferroelectric which shows promising thermoelectric properties under reducing conditions. It is found here that the enhanced electrical conductivity of oxygen-deficient SBN correlates with the formation of a NbO2 secondary phase. The effects of the reducing environment and the NbO2 phase formation are studied via a detailed defect chemistry analysis. Increasing amounts of the NbO2 phase are accompanied by an interesting mechanism where the A-site occupancy of the SBN matrix increases. The resulting donor defects source the large carrier concentrations which cause the enhanced electrical conductivity necessary for thermoelectric performance. In investigation of the phase equilibria, it is found that a solid solution between (Sr0.6,Ba0.4)Nb2O6 and (Sr0.6,Ba0.4)1.2Nb2O6 exists and that the A-site filling is found to occur at more modest reduction conditions in Sr- and Ba-rich compositions. Finally, thermogravimetric analysis of the reoxidation process is performed, and the results suggest that the A-site filling is compensated ionically. Not only do the presented results explain the enhanced electrical conductivity of oxygen-deficient strontium barium niobate but also modification of the site occupancies by reduction and reoxidation may widen the design space for property modification in tungsten bronze-structured materials in general.


1.	Cost-effective reduction of uncertainty in global biodiversity indicators is a central goal of conservation. Comprising a sixth of the 74,000+ species currently on the IUCN Red List, Data Deficient species contribute to considerable uncertainty in estimates of extinction risk. Estimating levels of risk in Data Deficient species will require large resources given the costs of surveys and Red List assessments. Predicting extinction risk from species traits and geographical information could provide a cheaper approach for determining the proportion of Data Deficient species at risk of extinction.
2.	We use double sampling theory to compare the cost-effectiveness of predictive models and IUCN Red List assessments for estimating risk levels in Data Deficient terrestrial mammals, amphibians, reptiles and crayfish. For each group, we calibrate Machine Learning models of extinction risk on species of known conservation status, and assess their cost and reliability relative to field surveys followed by Red List assessments.
3.	We show that regardless of model type used or species group examined, it is always more cost-effective to determine the conservation status of all species with models and assess a small proportion of species with IUCN criteria (double sampling), rather than spend the same resources on field surveys and Red List assessments alone (single sampling).
4.	We estimate that surveying and re-assessing all Data Deficient species currently listed on the IUCN Red List (12,206 species) with IUCN criteria would cost a minimum of US $323 million. Double sampling reduces the cost of determining the proportion of Data Deficient species at risk of extinction by up to 68%, because less than 6% of Data Deficient species would need to be surveyed and assessed with IUCN criteria.
5.	Synthesis and applications. Double sampling with models cost-effectively estimates extinction risk levels in poorly-known species, and can be used to reduce the impact of uncertainty in the Red List and Red List Index. We provide recommendations for uptake by managers and a sampling planner spreadsheet. Double sampling could be applied more widely in ecology and conservation to formally compare the cost-effectiveness of sampling methods differing in cost and reliability.


Increased penetration of nanotechnology into consumer products has caused concern over potential exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) across the product life cycle. A nano-enabled product (NEP) at its end of life may undergo thermal degradation in an incineration facility. Even though efforts have been made to understand the thermal decomposition behavior of various industrially relevant nano-enabled thermoplastics and associated life cycle released particulate matter (LCPM), critical questions such as the effect of nanofiller loading and impact of the host polymer matrix on environmental health and safety (EHS) implications are still open. Here, we employed the recently developed Harvard Integrated Exposure Generation System (INEXS) to study the effect of nanofiller loading and polymer matrix on by-products of this highly important end-of-life process using industrially relevant polymers. Increased nanofiller loading affects the particle number concentration, size, and released nanofiller amounts in both released LCPM (aerosol) and residual ash. On the other hand, changing the polymer matrix in the presence of the same nanofiller conditions influences not only the particle concentration, size and morphology but also the chemical composition and morphology of the residual ash. The overall chemistry of the released LCPM appears to be governed by the host polymer matrix. These findings are critical for understanding the mechanisms behind the release of ENMs incorporated in NEPs and associated EHS implications and can be used for safer-by-design formulations. Further toxicological studies are warranted in order to assess possible EHS implications during the thermal decomposition of NEPs.


In this paper, we investigate the problem of asynchronous coded caching in fog radio access networks (F-RANs). To minimize the fronthaul load, the encoding set collapsing rule and encoding set partition method are proposed to establish the relationship between the coded-multicasting contents for asynchronous and synchronous coded caching. Furthermore, a decentralized asynchronous coded caching scheme is proposed, which provides asynchronous and synchronous transmission methods for different delay requirements. The closed-form expression of the fronthaul load is established for the special case where the number of requests during each time slot is fixed, and the upper and lower bounds of the fronthaul load are given for the general case where the number of requests during each time slot is random. The simulation results show that our proposed scheme can create considerable coded-multicasting opportunities in asynchronous request scenarios.


This thesis describes the theoretical study and numerical simulation of spin-torque oscillators (STOs) based on a typical giant magnetoresistance (GMR) trilayer spin valve system and magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) structure. Theory predicted that a spin-polarized current can exert a torque on a nano-scale magnet. This torque can excite magnetization precessional motion with a steady microwave frequency ranging from 5 to 40 GHz that is tunable by adjusting current and applied magnetic field. The quality factor Q can be as high as 18,000. The high Q value and the current tunability of these STOs suggest their potential application in microwave signal processing. However, the very limited power output (typically less than 1 nW) has to be improved dramatically up to about 1 mW for any realistic application. In our STO model, typical trilayer spin valve device structures have been adopted, with one 'fixed' and one 'free' ferromagnetic layer separated by a nonmagnetic spacer. The dynamics of the 'free' layer magnetization is determined by the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert-Slonczewski (LLGS) equation. To study the temperature effects on spin torque valve behavior, we model the thermal fluctuations by adding a Langevin random field into the effective field in the LLGS equation. The added thermal field is a fluctuating random field whose statistical properties obey the Gaussian distribution. The capacitance effect on the microwave power spectra of an STO was initially investigated with thermal fluctuation. Here, an ideal capacitance is connected in parallel with the STO to represent the intrinsic capacitance of the structure or that of connecting leads, and a dc current source is applied. The emitted power at a given frequency is derived by Fast Fourier Transform, and the data are fitted to a Lorentzian profile, from which the quality factors Q are calculated. In the presence of thermal fluctuations, the microwave power spectrum gets broadened with increasing temperature. We have found that the capacitance effect does influence the stability of the system, and it can improve the Q factor value of the STO element even in the presence of thermal fluctuation. It is hence possible that one of the underlying reasons for the high quality factors observed in experiments may be ascribed to either intrinsic or extrinsic sources of capacitance in parallel with the STO. Apart from the thermal stability, we studied the capacitive tuning effect on oscillation frequencies. The LLGS equation has been developed to simulate the dynamics of precessional modes in the case of MTJ by adding a perpendicular term in the Slonczewski 'in-plane' spin-torque term. It is found that the oscillation frequency only varies with the values of capacitance, and will not change much with the temperature in both GMR and MTJ based situations. The precessional mode is determined by the applied dc current and the oscillation frequencies can be tuned by varying the capacitance. For the 'in-plane' (IP ) precessional mode, an increase in capacitance would bring about a decrease in oscillation frequency for the GMR configuration; for the 'out-of-plane' (OOP ) mode, the frequency shifts in the opposite way. For MTJ, the frequency does not vary monotonically with capacitance, which is quite an unexpected result. When the dc current is just below the IP/OOP critical region, where only IP precessional mode is expected, it is found that the mode can be switched to OOP with increasing capacitance. An analytical theory has been borrowed to explain the mechanism.


The dielectric constant of a uniform unsupported or embedded layer is shown to satisfy a cubic equation with coefficients determined by the angle of incidence and the measured complex ellipsometric ratio ρ = rp/rs. Analytic inversion is thus possible. The consequence of measurement errors on the deduced dielectric constant and layer thickness is explored.


In the process of financial markets integration, this research was conducted to investigate the phenomenon of the transmission of stock return volatility among stock market in five ASEAN countries. Those were Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. The research was important because when the interdependence of financial markets had increased, changes in asset prices in the market were not only influenced by the shock in the market but also by its response to asset price volatility that occurred in other countries. Information about the volatility spillover between markets was important for investors to the portfolio selection process. Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) method was used on a daily time series stock return data obtained by accessing www.bloomberg.com. The result indicates that the shock in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines stock market will be transmitted to the Indonesia Stock Market with an asymmetric pattern. It has increased intensity after the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community in December 2015.


THE CLINICAL UTILITY OF MOLECULAR TYPING OF MULTIPLY-RESISTANT PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA IN CHILDREN WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS Ruth Ann Luna, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010 Major Director: William Korzun, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences Chronic infection with P. aeruginosa is expected in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), but the ability to delay, prevent, or better manage infection with multiply-resistant P. aeruginosa (MRPA) can potentially increase quality of life and extend survival. The Texas Children's Hospital CF Care Center has identified an endemic MRPA strain (dominant clone), and this study aimed to identify risk factors for acquisition of the clone as well as determine differences in patient outcome associated with subsequent infection with the clone. The study included 71 patients with CF with documented MRPA infection. Designation of patients as members of the dominant clone or a non-dominant clone group was based on molecular typing by rep-PCR of MRPA isolates from respiratory cultures. Patient data was collected from Port CF, the national patient registry of the CF Foundation. Patient demographic information and clinical parameters prior to MRPA infection were analyzed by logistic regression as potential risk factors. Differences in patient outcome including change in BMI, change in FEV1, and hospitalization rate were evaluated by MANOVA. Recent hospitalization (< 90 days) was a statistically significant (p = 0.035) risk factor for acquisition of the dominant clone. Patients hospitalized < 90 days prior to MRPA diagnosis were four times more likely to be infected with the dominant clone, and patients hospitalized 91-180 days prior were almost three times more likely. Increased hospitalization rates were seen in the dominant clone group both pre(11 more days/year) and post-infection (14 more days/year) as compared to the non-dominant clone group. Patients infected with the endemic strain exhibited poorer outcomes in terms of nutritional status (3.73% decrease/year in BMI %ile) and lung function (3.7% decrease/year in FEV1 %ile). Significant overlap in hospitalization episodes of patients known to be infected with the dominant clone and patients subsequently infected with the dominant clone was observed. Recent hospitalization was a significant risk factor for infection with the dominant MRPA clone, and following infection, patients infected with the endemic strain exhibited declines in nutritional status and lung function and increased hospitalization rates. The results suggest potentially increased virulence and transmissibility of the endemic MRPA


Water is essential for economic growth, human health, and the environment. Yet governments around the world face significant challenges in managing their water resources effectively. The problems are multiple and complex: billions of people are still without access to safe water and adequate sanitation; competition for water is increasing among the different uses and users; and major investment is required to maintain and improve water infrastructure in OECD and non-OECD countries. This OECD series on water provides policy analysis and guidance on the economic, financial and governance aspects of water resources management. These aspects generally lie at the heart of the water problem and hold the key to unlocking the policy puzzle.


We consider a model of the Universe in which the matter content is in the form of discrete islands, rather than a continuous fluid. In the appropriate limits the resulting large-scale dynamics approach those of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe. The optical properties of such a space-time, however, do not. This illustrates the fact that the optical and "average" dynamical properties of a relativistic universe are not equivalent, and do not specify each other uniquely. We find the angular diameter distance, luminosity distance, and redshifts that would be measured by observers in these space-times, using both analytic approximations and numerical simulations. While different from their counterparts in FRW, the effects found do not look like promising candidates to explain the observations usually attributed to the existence of dark energy. This incongruity with standard FRW cosmology is not due to the existence of any unexpectedly large structures or voids in the Universe, but only to the fact that the matter content of the Universe is not a continuous fluid.


Problem This dissertation studies the nature of Jesus' ascension to heaven and its role in the argument of Hebrews. Method The study consists of an analysis of those passages in which Jesus' ascension is referred to directly (Heb 1:6; 4:14-16; 6:19-20; 9:11-14, 24; 10:19-22) and a study of the imagery Hebrews uses to couch its theology, giving special attention to the role of this imagery in the progression of the argument. The study is both exegetical and theological in nature, seeking to provide an analysis of specific passages as well as systematization of their import. Results The six passages that refer explicitly to Jesus' ascension in Hebrews (1:6; 4:14-16; 6:19-20; 9:11-14, 24; 10:19-22) associate the ascension with different aspects of Jesus' achievements. Hebrews 1:6 relates the ascension with Jesus' enthronement (also 4:14-16); 6:19-20, with his appointment as high priest; 9:11-14, 24 and 10:19-22, with the inauguration of the new covenant. All of these events form part of Jesus' exaltation at the right hand of God (1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2) and contribute to his identity as "Son." These achievements of Jesus have an intriguing similarity to the achievements of righteous Davidic kings in the Hebrew Bible: After ascending the throne, the righteous Davidic king would (1) renew the covenant between God and the nation, (2) cleanse the land, (3) build or repair the temple, (4) reform the cult and reorganize the priests and Levites, (5) promote the reunification of Israel, and (6) achieve rest by defeating the enemies. Finally, the rise to power of the Davidic king often coincides with (7) the emergence of a faithful priest. The Hebrew prophets and those early Jewish documents that continue to hold fast to a Davidic hope project these achievements into the future and elevate them to an eschatological dimension. Hebrews argues that Jesus fulfilled these expectations: Jesus is the "son" enthroned at the right hand of God (1:3, 5-6), he has defeated "death," the enemy (2:14-16), built the "house of God" (3:1-6; 8:1-5), and provided "rest" for his people (4:1-10). His ascension to the throne implies as well the emergence of a new faithful priest of the order of Melchizedek (chaps. 5-7) and a reformation of the cult—specifically of the law of sacrifices (9:24-10:18) and priesthood (7:13-28). The new king cleanses his people (9:11-14), mediates a new covenant (9:15-23), and reforms the cult by establishing one sacrifice that is effective "once for all" (9:24-10:18) and multiple spiritual sacrifices (13:10-16), all of which conclude in a joyous celebration at Mount Zion (12:22-29)—as the reforms of ancient Jewish kings did. In other words, the study suggests that Hebrews conceives the ascension as the inauguration of Jesus' office as "Son" at the "right hand of God" (Heb 1:3, 13; 4:14-16; 8:1-2; 10:12-13; 12:1-2) and that it understands the title "Son" as the fulfillment of the promise made to David (2 Sam 7:12-15) which is claimed for Jesus explicitly in Heb 1:5. Chapter 1 states the problem and analyzes the two answers that have been offered in scholarly literature (the Day of Atonement and the Inauguration of the Sanctuary as typologies or analogies to Jesus' ascension). It also introduces the delimitations and methodology of the study. Chapter 2 presents the findings regarding the expectations of the rule of righteous Davidic kings both in the Hebrew Bible and early Jewish documents. Chapter 3 analyzes the ascension passages in Hebrews and their relationship to the fulfillment of the expectations regarding a future righteous Davidic king. Chapter 4 presents the results of the study. Conclusion Davidic traditions function as an essential subtext of Hebrews and provide the necessary force to its hortatory argument. The author of Hebrews argues that Jesus' exaltation in heaven as the eschatological Davidic king brings about the fulfillment of God's promises for his people: entrance into rest, an intercessor, cleansing from sin, and the restoration of the covenant. On the other hand, Jesus' exaltation also demands their allegiance to him; otherwise, they will suffer the judgment of God. He exhorts them, then, to "hold fast the confession" so that they may inherit the promises of God.


Multi-period theoretical models of renewable insurance display front-loaded premium schedules that both cover lifetime total claims of low-risk and high-risk individuals and provide an incentive for those who remain low-risk to continue to purchase the policy. In practice, however, an age profile of premiums that decreases with age might result in relatively high premiums for younger individuals which they may consider unaffordable. In this paper, we use medical expenditure data to estimate an optimal competitive age-based premium schedule for a benchmark renewable health insurance policy. We find that the amount of prepayment by younger individuals that would be necessary to cover future claims is mitigated by three factors: high-risk individuals will either recover or die, low-risk expected expense increases with age, and the likelihood of developing a high-risk condition increases with age. Although medical cost growth over time increases the amount of prepayment necessary, the resulting optimal premium path generally increases with age. We also find that actual premium paths exhibited by purchasers of individual insurance with guaranteed renewability is close to the optimal schedule we estimate. Finally, we examine consumers' gain in expected utility associated with the guaranteed renewability feature.


Biomedical manufacturing, which has seen rapid growth over the past decade, is an emerging research area for the manufacturing community. This growth trajectory is exemplified and coupled with a broadening scope of applications with biomedical manufacturing technology, including advancements in the safety, quality, cost, efficiency, and speed of healthcare service and research. The goal of this topical review is to offer a comprehensive survey of the current state-of-the-art in biomedical manufacturing and to summarize existing opportunities and challenges as a basis to guide future research activities in this emerging area. This article categorizes the key manufacturing process types that are currently being leveraged for the biomedical field of use, including machining, joining, additive manufacturing, and micro-/multi-scale manufacturing. For each of these manufacturing processes, notable applications are cited and discussed to provide insights and perspectives into how manufacturing processes can play an integral role in creating new and more sophisticated healthcare services and products.


This paper addresses the controversial issues of improving the reading skills of young learners through technology-assisted reading programmes. On reporting the results of primary school learners from grade 2 to grade 7 who participated in a computer-based reading programme for seven months, we try to answer the critical questions of whether computer-assisted reading programmes should be embraced or avoided. We also have looked at the possible benefits of such an intervention apart from the improvement of reading skills. The poorly developed reading skills of South African learners slowly became evident over the last couple of years as teachers, parents, employers and professionals were confronted with this ongoing crisis. The Department of Education (DoE) stated that the South African youth do not read as well as their foreign counterparts and actions were put in place to address the growing problem. However, despite this acknowledgement, decision makers are still indecisive in effectively addressing the problem. Many theories exist on why children are reading impaired and who should accept responsibility for it. Data of the findings in this paper was collected over a period of seven months and reflects the reading results of learners who followed a combination of a computer-based reading programme, visual accuracy and visual memory computer exercises as well as the application of specific paper-based activities. Groups were small, with continuous personal intervention and communication from the facilitator with each learner. This paper also qualitatively reflects on the additional benefits or negative experiences of learners who participated in the electronic reading programme. The qualitative data was accumulated from interviews with learners and teachers involved. The efficacy of the reading programme was evaluated through continuous assessment of learners' performance on different aspects of reading, including reading speed, reading comprehension, spelling and language. The reading results obtained were compared with the initial reading assessment before implementing the programme. The overall experience of learners who participated in this programme provided valuable information in evaluating the reading programme as a whole. Results obtained from this study indicate that improvement in reading speed, comprehension and spelling was unique to every learner individually. The benefits beyond the improvement of reading skills obtained as a result of the programme encompass many areas of the learners' development, such as social learning, collaborative learning, finer perceptual motor skills, confidence and a general improvement in marks in other subjects. This paper attempts to provide insights into the value and challenges of computer-assisted reading for primary school learners and into the importance of adapting teaching methods in response to a crisis.


Introduction: Preterm birth rates and maternal and neonatal mortality remain concerning global health issues, necessitating improved strategies for testing therapeutic compounds during pregnancy. Current 2D or 3D cell models and animal models often fail to provide data that can effectively translate into clinical trials, leading to pregnant women being excluded from drug development considerations and clinical studies. To address this limitation, we explored the utility of in silico simulation modeling and microfluidic-based organ-on-a-chip platforms to assess potential interventional agents. Methods: We developed a multi-organ feto-maternal interface on-chip (FMi-PLA-OOC) utilizing microfluidic channels to maintain intercellular interactions among seven different cell types (fetal membrane-decidua-placenta). This platform enabled the investigation of drug pharmacokinetics in vitro. Pravastatin, a model drug known for its efficacy in reducing oxidative stress and inflammation during pregnancy and currently in clinical trials, was used to test its transfer rate across both feto-maternal interfaces. The data obtained from FMi-PLA-OOC were compared with existing data from in vivo animal models and ex vivo placenta perfusion models. Additionally, we employed mechanistically based simulation software (Gastroplus®) to predict pravastatin pharmacokinetics in pregnant subjects based on validated nonpregnant drug data. Results: Pravastatin transfer across the FMi-PLA-OOC and predicted pharmacokinetics in the in silico models were found to be similar, approximately 18%. In contrast, animal models showed supraphysiologic drug accumulation in the amniotic fluid, reaching approximately 33%. Discussion: The results from this study suggest that the FMi-PLA-OOC and in silico models can serve as alternative methods for studying drug pharmacokinetics during pregnancy, providing valuable insights into drug transport and metabolism across the placenta and fetal membranes. These advanced platforms offer promising opportunities for safe, reliable, and faster testing of therapeutic compounds, potentially reducing the number of pregnant women referred to as "therapeutic orphans" due to the lack of consideration in drug development and clinical trials. By bridging the gap between preclinical studies and clinical trials, these approaches hold great promise in improving maternal and neonatal health outcomes.


Thermal balancing and reducing hot-spots are two important challenges facing the MPSoC designers. In this work, we model the thermal behavior of a MPSoC as a control theory problem which enables the design of an optimum frequency controller without depending on the thermal profile of the chip. The optimization performed by the controller is targeted to achieve thermal balancing on the MPSoC thermal profile to avoid hotspots and improve its reliability. The proposed system is able to perform an on-line minimization of chip thermal gradients based on both scheduler requirements and the chip thermal profile. We compare this with state of the art thermal management approaches. Our comparison shows that the proposed system offers a better both thermal profile (temperature differences higher than 4° C have been reduced from 27.9% to 0.45%) and performance (up to 32% task waiting time reduction).


Abstract Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have shown promise as a means to meet the challenge of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. A problem that has surfaced is the inabilty of schools to sustain PLCs. This project study examined leadership characteristics of elementary school principals in selected school districts to determine how these characteristics shape organizational culture and provide support for sustaining professional learning communities. At the center of this initiative have been the school principals and their leadership skills. The theoretical underpinnings of this study were based on the work of DuFour and DuFour, which places leadership of the principal at the forefront of successful school improvement. A mixed-methods approach with a sequentialtransformative strategy was used. Quantitative data were collected by administering the Leadership Capacity School Survey to 30 elementary principals. Descriptive statistics were used to determine which of Lambert's six critical constructs were most and least commonly practiced among the schools in the study. Qualitative data gathered through a focus-group discussion were analyzed through the typological process. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicated that broad-based, skillful participation in the work of leadership (Construct 1) was the most important leadership construct to the success of sustaining PLCs. The outcome of this project study was a professional-development model that will provide knowledge and understanding of the key leadership elements needed to develop an environment for sustaining PLCs. The potential social impact of this study includes improved student achievement as a result of improved leadership by principals.


We present two elegant solutions for modeling continuous-time dynamics, in a novel model-based reinforcement learning (RL) framework for semi-Markov decision processes (SMDPs), using neural ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Our models accurately characterize continuous-time dynamics and enable us to develop high-performing policies using a small amount of data. We also develop a model-based approach for optimizing time schedules to reduce interaction rates with the environment while maintaining the near-optimal performance, which is not possible for model-free methods. We experimentally demonstrate the efficacy of our methods across various continuous-time domains.


It has Long been recognized that the movement of Littoral material takes place, in the main, in the onshore regions of a beach where breaking of waves occurs. Waves whose crests in deep water make an angLe o(a with the shore Line, and which break at an angLe C*© , are the mam source of energy for the generation of the forces which manifest themselves in Long-shore currents and the resulting LittoraL transport. This littoraL materiaL is put into motion before, during and after breaking but it is extremeLy difficult to separate the effects of the forces and currents in these three zones. In what foLlows the authors have attempted to measure the intensity of the current around the breaking zone in a highLy ideaLized beach model in which the shore Line is straight, has a constant beach sLope, 0, and is attacked by waves of constant deep-water wave-height, HQ, and period, T. During refraction and shoaLing the angLe of the wave-crests with the shore-Line is reduced from o<o to «s and during this process some of the deep-water energy being transmitted shorewards may be dissipated by friction. The exact vaLue of c*e is a function of ota , H0/L0 , and the friction Loss, but wiLL increase, both theoretscaLLy and experimentally, with increasing H0/L0 , as shown by Brebner and Kamphuis (1963). Based on the angLe of breaking, «*<B , the wave-steepness at breaking, Hg/Lg, the depth of breaking dg, and the beach sLope, 0, it is possibLe to formuLate relationships for the Long-shore current, vj^, using the prmcipLe of conservation of energy and momentum and the principle of continuity.


There are two distinct types of vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN), which differ in their clinical presentation, aetiology, pathogenesis and histological/immunophenotypical features. One form driven by high-risk human papilloma virus infection usually occurs in young women and has been termed classic or usual VIN (uVIN). The other, not related to viral infection, occurs in postmenopausal women with chronic skin conditions such as lichen sclerosus and lichen simplex chronicus and is termed differentiated or simplex-type VIN. The latter is the precursor lesion of the most common type of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in the vulva, namely keratinizing SCC (representing 60% of cases). In contrast, uVIN usually gives rise to basaloid or warty SCC (40% of cases). The histological features of uVIN are similar to those of high grade lesions encountered in other lower anogenital tract sites (hyperchomatic nuclei with high nuclear to cytoplasmic ratios and increased mitotic activity). However, differentiated VIN has very subtle histopathological changes and often escapes diagnosis. Since uVIN is driven by high-risk human papilloma virus infections, p16 immunohistochemistry is diffusely positive in these lesions and is characterized with a high Ki-67 proliferation index. In contrast, differentiated or simplex-type VIN is consistently negative for p16 and the majority of the cases harbour TP53 mutations, correlating with p53 positivity by immunohistochemistry.


BACKGROUND
Partial liver transplantation from live donors is now widely performed to compensate for the shortage of deceased donors' organs. Operative microscopy is often used to achieve hepatic artery anastomosis. Here we report our experience of hepatic artery reconstruction using loupe magnification.

MATERIAL/METHODS
We used operative microscopy (12-16× magnification) in our early experience. We changed to loupe magnification (3.5×) in 43 cases. Reconstructions were done with continuous, end-to-end anastomoses with 8-0 nylon and a 3.5× loupe was used for the arterial anastomosis.

RESULTS
The mean follow-up time was 8 months. There were no cases of hepatic artery thrombosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Hepatic artery reconstruction in living donor liver transplantation with continuous end-to-end suturing using loupe magnification can yield good results.


Gaussian traffic models are capable of representing a broad variety of correlation structures, ranging from short-range dependent (e.g. Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type) to long-range dependent (e.g. fractional Brownian motion, with Hurst parameter H exceeding 1/2). This note focuses on queues fed by a large number (n) of Gaussian sources, emptied at constant service rate nc. In particular, we consider the probability of exceeding buffer level nb, as a function of b. This probability decaying (asymptotically) exponentially in n, the essential information is contained in the exponential decay rate I(b). The main result of this note describes the duality relation between the shape of I(.) and the correlation structure. More specifically, it is shown that the curve I(\cdot) is convex at some buffer size b if and only if there are negative correlations on the time scale at which the overflow takes place. Abstract Gaussian traffic models are capable of representing a broad variety of correlation structures, ranging from short-range dependent (e.g. Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type) to long-range dependent (e.g. fractional Brownian motion, with Hurst parameter H exceeding 12 ) . This note focuses on queues fed by a large number ( n ) of Gaussian sources, emptied at constant service rate nc . In particular, we consider the probability of exceeding buffer level nb , as a function of b . This probability decaying (asymptotically) exponentially in n , the essential information is contained in the exponential decay rate I ( b ). The main result of this note describes the duality relation between the shape of I ( · ) and the correlation structure. More specifically, it is shown that the curve I ( · ) is convex at some buffer size b if and only if there are negative correlations on the time scale at which the overflow takes place.


In the situations more than 40% of households renting living rental house and more than 80% of rental housing family living in rental housing that multi-housing owner supply, it is important to keep stable rental housing stock using change multi-housing owner into leasing businessman of rental housing market. This study set the rental housing business revenue base on structural profit model and analyzed the influence of each factor in the model. In leasing revenue results expected rental rate more than the sale price inflation was found to affect. This long-term lease to do business during the lease rental operators can realize profits and gains from rental business that you do not rely too heavily on the trade shows can be developed as a companion of the housing market shows that there is.


This study demonstrates enhancement of in-device electro-optic activity via a series of theory-inspired organic electro-optic (OEO) chromophores based on strong (diarylamino)phenyl electron donating moieties. These chromophores are tuned to minimize trade-offs between molecular hyperpolarizability and optical loss. Hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) measurements demonstrate that these chromophores, herein described as BAH, show >2-fold improvement in β versus standard chromophores such as JRD1, and approach that of the recent BTP and BAY chromophore families. Electric field poled bulk devices of neat and binary BAH chromophores exhibited significantly enhanced EO coefficients (r33) and poling efficiencies (r33/Ep) compared with state-of-the-art chromophores such as JRD1. The neat BAH13 devices with charge blocking layers produced very large poling efficiencies of 11.6 ± 0.7 nm2 V-2 and maximum r33 value of 1100 ± 100 pm V-1 at 1310 nm on hafnium dioxide (HfO2). These results were comparable to that of our recently reported BAY1 but with much lower loss (extinction coefficient, k), and greatly exceeding that of other previously reported OEO compounds. 3 : 1 BAH-FD : BAH13 blends showed a poling efficiency of 6.7 ± 0.3 nm2 V-2 and an even greater reduction in k. 1 : 1 BAH-BB : BAH13 showed a higher poling efficiency of 8.4 ± 0.3 nm2 V-2, which is approximately a 2.5-fold enhancement in poling efficiency vs. JRD1. Neat BAH13 was evaluated in plasmonic-organic hybrid (POH) Mach-Zehnder modulators with a phase shifter length of 10 μm and slot widths of 80 and 105 nm. In-device BAH13 achieved a maximum r33 of 208 pm V-1 at 1550 nm, which is ∼1.7 times higher than JRD1 under equivalent conditions.


: In "Agonism as Deliberation" (Knops 2007) I suggest a reconciliation between Mouffe's agonist version of democracy, adjusted to preserve consistency, and deliberation. Here I reply to two subsequent criticisms of this project: Gürsözlü (2009) and Fives (2009). Although both hold agonism and deliberation incompatible impossible, they do so from opposing perspectives. Gürsözlü defends Mouffe's agonism as distinct and coherent on the basis of what he considers a correct understanding of her concept of hegemony. Fives argues Mouffe's approach is separate but incoherent, and should be rejected. Against these two conflicting positions, I seek to demonstrate not only that integration between agonism and democracy is possible, but that it has distinct benefits for both agonism and deliberative theory. Divested of its contradictory assertion that universal rational consensus is impossible in principle, agonism can be interpreted as theory of the moment of difference within a broader deliberative dialectic that seeks to move from more to less partial consensus. Conceived in this way, we can better appreciate how these two approaches can complement one another, in pursuing shared goals, rather than the static and unnecessary opposition offered by the two critics I address here.


This study deals with the Tiagba lagoon bay eutrophication modeling by using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), principally by using Multilayer Back-propagation based on Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. 10 or 11 inputs variables, temperature (T), pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), NH4 , NO3 and PO4 , monthly precipitation (MP), monthly debit of river Bandama (DBan), suspended matters (SM), transparence (Trans), date of sampling (DS) were used respectively for static and dynamic modeling, while one output variable (chlorophyll a) was considered for the both case. For optimization of the ANN, it was shown that the architecture 10-11-1 was the most suitable for the static modeling of chlorophyll a while the 11-11-1 architecture was the best for dynamic modeling. The validation of these models was performed by analyzing the residues. It was found that theses residues were well distributed between 0.3 and 0.4% and followed a normal law according the Henry representation in the both case. So the models obtained were suitable for the prediction of the chlorophyll a an evolution in relation of the above variables. Key words— pollution, eutrophication modeling, MLPBP, L-M algorithm, Tiagba's lagoon bay, Cote d'Ivoire.


Aberrant diffuse expression of p63 in prostate carcinoma cells is a rare and poorly understood phenomenon. We studied 19 cases of prostate cancer with aberrant diffuse expression of p63 on needle biopsy and reviewed the subsequent radical prostatectomies in 6 cases. In 19/21 cases, 100% of the cancer nuclei stained intensely for p63, with 70% staining in the remaining 2 cases. Two additional radical prostatectomies with aberrant p63 staining with no needle biopsies available for review were also analyzed. On the hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides, 19/21 cases (90.5%) showed a distinctive morphology composed predominantly of glands, nests, and cords with atrophic cytoplasm, hyperchromatic nuclei, and visible nucleoli. Needle biopsy cases ranged from Gleason patterns 3 to 5 with tumor identified on one or more cores, ranging from a minute focus to 80% of the core. In all 8 radical prostatectomies p63 positive cancer was present, with in 2/8 cases both p63 positive cancer and usual p63 negative acinar prostate cancer. In all 8 cases, the tumors were organ confined with negative margins and there was no seminal vesicle involvement or lymph node metastasis. The presence of p63 positive atypical glands with an infiltrative pattern and perineural invasion on radical prostatectomy confirmed the needle biopsy diagnosis of carcinoma. Rarely, prostate cancer can aberrantly express diffuse p63 staining in a nonbasal cell distribution leading to the erroneous diagnosis of atrophy or atypical basal cell proliferation. The diagnosis of prostate cancer is based on the morphology and confirmed by the absence of high molecular weight cytokeratin staining and positivity for α-methylacyl-CoA racemase in the atypical glands. Pathologists need to be aware of this rare and unusual phenomenon, which is a potential pitfall in prostate cancer diagnosis.


Stellar populations contain the most important information about star cluster formation and evolution. Until several decades ago, star clusters were believed to be ideal laboratories for studies of simple stellar populations (SSPs). However, discoveries of multiple stellar populations in Galactic globular clusters have expanded our view on stellar populations in star clusters. They have simultaneously generated a number of controversies, particularly as to whether young star clusters may have the same origin as old globular clusters. In addition, extensive studies have revealed that the SSP scenario does not seem to hold for some intermediate-age and young star clusters either, thus making the origin of multiple stellar populations in star clusters even more complicated. Stellar population anomalies in numerous star clusters are well-documented, implying that the notion of star clusters as true SSPs faces serious challenges. In this review, we focus on stellar populations in massive clusters with different ages. We present the history and progress of research in this active field, as well as some of the most recent improvements, including observational results and scenarios that have been proposed to explain the observations. Although our current ability to determine the origin of multiple stellar populations in star clusters is unsatisfactory, we propose a number of promising projects that may contribute to a significantly improved understanding of this subject.


Abstract Glomerular filtration (kidney clearance) of glucose occurs at high glucose concentrations. Thus, the applicability of glomerular filtration terms in models of insulin and glucose pharmacodynamics (PD) should be investigated. To evaluate such a term, data from 36 insulin sensitivity tests on 12 participants with type 2 diabetes in an Atkins diet intervention study was analysed using three PD models. The models include the dynamic insulin sensitivity and secretion test (DISST) model the DISST model with an added glomerular filtration rate (GFR) term and the well-known Minimal Model (MM). The identified insulin sensitivity values and simulation fit-to-data residuals are analysed to test performance and differences. The Minimal Model produced the best fit-to-data with a median residual of 0mmol/L and IQR of -0.13, 0.18mmol/L. Both DISST models also produced residuals with a median of 0mmol/L but an IQR of approximately -0.41, 0.37mmol/L. However, the DISST derived sensitivity values were considerably more in accordance with expected trends, showing the expected 20-50% increase in sensitivity for most subjects due to the intervention. In contrast, the Minimal Model repeated the variable trade-off issue previously recorded for this model with insulin resistant participants. The Minimal Model sensitivity values were effectively random, and did not capture observable changes in insulin sensitivity of glucose clearance. The addition of a GFR term had a positive impact on the identified insulin sensitivity by shifting some values more toward expected and observable behaviour. However, more data must be made available for an exhaustive investigation of the applicability of this term for this type of usage.


'Medieval and Historical Bindings in a Modern Design (Czech Republic)' consists of twelve hand-bound volumes of varying sizes, nine of which were made especially for the exhibition in 2006.

Commissioned by the Society for Czechoslovakian Bookbinders for the Lanskroun Castle Gallery and timed to open at the launch of its 5th Annual conference, nine new volumes were exhibited with 3 earlier pieces, all exploring the efficacy of historic binding techniques for contemporary bound volumes.

The binding of the volumes involved a number of research challenges and, in particular, to obviate the problem which occurs in single sheet binding. Single sheet bindings do not offer the opportunity of being sewn through the centre of a folded section and this can result in the swelling at the spine of the book. By adapting compression techniques from both English and German binding (medieval and later) the problem of swelling was resolved. A slight inner gutter bevel was seated again text thread swelling.

The exhibition also contained examples of the rounding and backing technique. This was particularly important in the medieval period and beyond for books that needed to be put on upright display or sacramental purposes or when they were being read either upright or opened flat. An example of the rounding and backing technique in the exhibition was used to bind a copy of the King James' Bible which the researcher decorated in gold tooled in Cambridge Panel Design.

The exhibition also demonstrated the use of other historical materials and techniques recast into contemporary binding, all opening happily for reading. These included the use of transparent and veiled vellum, blind tooling and silk binding.

After Lanksroun, the exhibition moved to The Museum of Book Binding at Lockett in the Czechoslovakian Republic.

Three volumes were acquired by the Dodd Research Centre at the University of Connecticut, USA.


An asynchronous optical sampling scheme based on four-wave mixing (FWM) in highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) is experimentally demonstrated. Based on this scheme, 10-GHz input pulse train with 1.8-ps pulse width is successfully sampled in 100-m HNLF. A single pulse at 10 GHz with 2.3-ps pulse width is rebuilt by using a 50-MHz frequency tunable free-running fiber laser as the sampling pulse source (SPS). 40-GHz pulse train is used as the input signal. The rebuilt waveforms, together with the low-jitter eye diagram, are also presented.


Plasmonic microscopy is a powerful tool for nanoscopic bio and chemical sample analysis due to its high sensitivity. Here, we demonstrated the quantitative amplitude- and phase- contrast imaging capabilities of plasmonic microscopy through holographical reconstructions of the interferometric plasmonic patterns. Operating interferometric plasmonic microscopy over the surface plasmon resonance angle separates twin images, and allows for accurately mapping the amplitude and phase of surface plasmon fields. The unique capabilities enable direct visualization of complex surface plasmon fields without the need for nanoscopic probes, and high-spatial-resolution imaging of nanoparticles. The proposed technology is a promising platform for nanoplasmonic study and for various sensing purposes.


We tackle the task of semi-supervised video object segmentation, i.e. segmenting the pixels belonging to an object in a video using the ground truth pixel mask for the first frame. We build on the recently introduced one-shot video object segmentation (OSVOS) approach which uses a pretrained network and fine-tunes it on the first frame. While achieving impressive performance, at test time OSVOS uses the fine-tuned network in unchanged form and is not able to adapt to large changes in object appearance. To overcome this limitation, we propose Online Adaptive Video Object Segmentation (OnAVOS) which updates the network online using training examples selected based on the confidence of the network and the spatial configuration. Additionally, we add a pretraining step based on objectness, which is learned on PASCAL. Our experiments show that both extensions are highly effective and improve the state of the art on DAVIS to an intersection-over-union score of 85.7%.


Identifying genomic regions underlying adaptation in extant lineages is key to understand the trajectories along which biodiversity evolves. However, this task is complicated by evolutionary processes that obscure and mimic footprints of positive selection. Particularly the long-term effects of linked selection remain underappreciated and difficult to account for. Based on patterns emerging from recent research on the evolution of differentiation across the speciation continuum, I illustrate how long-term linked selection affects the distribution of differentiation along genomes. I then argue that a comparative population genomics framework that exploits emergent features of long-term linked selection can help overcome shortcomings of traditional genome scans for adaptive evolution, but needs to account for the temporal dynamics of differentiation landscapes.


Increasing interest in alternative fuels for gas turbines has motivated research in gaseous fuels other than natural gas. Methane enriched with hydrogen or diluted with carbon dioxide are of considerable interest. The latter seems quite relevant for development of technologies such as oxyfuel combustion for carbon capture and storage in order to control temperatures in the combustion chamber. Thus, this paper presents an experimental study on the combustion of methane-carbon dioxide mixtures at atmospheric conditions. Gas mixtures have been examined by using different levels of premixing with different injection strategies with and without swirl and with and without central injection. A 20 kW burner has been used to investigate the flame stability and emissions performance by using these blends to examine the effect of CO2 addition. The burner configuration consisted of a centre body with an annular, premixed gas/air jet introduced through five, 60° swirl vanes. A TESTO 350XL gas analyzer was used to obtain NOx and CO emission trends to characterize all the injection regimes whilst using different fuel blends. CH chemiluminescence diagnostics was also used and correlated to the levels of emissions produced during the trials. The resulting images were analysed using Photron FASTCAM PFV ver 220.127.116.11 software and MATLAB R2015a. CO2 dilution decreased flame stability and operability range. The introduction of CO2 reduces temperatures in the combustion zone thus causing a reduction in emissions of nitrous oxides across all equivalence ratios. CO emissions also decreased with a limited (15%) CO2 addition. In terms of injection regimes, the outer purely premixed injection regime has lower NOx and CO, as expected. CH chemiluminescence distribution indicated that pure methane with central injection produced high fluctuation in CH production. The use of central premixed injection produces the most chaotic CH production case, possibly as a consequence of production of radicals in the central recirculation zone.


In a publication by Felson (1994:4) on crime and everyday life, the author informs the reader of fallacies about crime. The so-called ingenuity fallacy reflects the general view that criminals are brilliant and daring. An example of such ingenuity is the case of Professor Moriarty - a character in the Arthur Conan Doyle series on the adventures of Sherlock Holmes - who is descriptionbed as an evil and brilliant daredevil, whom Holmes can catch only after an epic struggle.


NASA's Planetary Science Division supports the geologic mapping of planetary surfaces through a distinct organizational structure and a series of research and analysis (R&A) funding programs. Cartography and geologic mapping issues for NASA's planetary science programs are overseen by the Mapping and Planetary Spatial Infrastructure Team (MAPSIT), which is an assessment group for cartography similar to the Mars Exploration Program Assessment Group (MEPAG) for Mars exploration. MAPSIT's Steering Committee includes specialists in geological mapping, who make up the Geologic Mapping Subcommittee (GEMS). I am the GEMS Chair, and with a group of 3-4 community mappers we advise the U.S. Geological Survey Planetary Geologic Mapping Coordinator (Dr. James Skinner) and develop policy and procedures to aid the planetary geologic mapping community. GEMS meets twice a year, at the Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March, and at the Annual Planetary Mappers' Meeting in June (attendance is required by all NASA-funded geologic mappers). Funding programs under NASA's current R&A structure to propose geological mapping projects include Mars Data Analysis (Mars), Lunar Data Analysis (Moon), Discovery Data Analysis (Mercury, Vesta, Ceres), Cassini Data Analysis (Saturn moons), Solar System Workings (Venus or Jupiter moons), and the Planetary Data Archiving, Restoration, and Tools (PDART) program. Current NASA policy requires all funded geologic mapping projects to be done digitally using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. In this presentation we will discuss details on how geologic mapping is done consistent with current NASA policy and USGS guidelines.


The belief that certain disorders will produce specific patterns of cognitive strengths and weaknesses on psychological testing is pervasive and entrenched in the area of clinical neuropsychology, both with respect to expectations regarding the behaviour of individuals and clinical groups. However, there is little support in the literature for such a belief. To the contrary, studies examining patterns of cognitive performance in different clinical samples without exception find more than one pattern of test scores. Lange (2000) in his comprehensive analysis of WAIS-R/WMS-R data for a large sample of mixed clinical cases found that three to five profiles described variations in test performances within clinical diagnoses. Lange went on to show that these profiles occurred with approximately equal frequency in all diagnostic groups. He additionally found four profiles in an exploratory analysis of WAIS-III/WMS-III data from a similar sample. The goals of the current dissertation were to: a) replicate Lange's findings in a larger clinical sample; b) extend the scope of these findings to a wider array of psychological tests; and c) develop a method to classify individual cases in terms of their psychological test profile. The first study assessed 849 cases with a variety of neurological and psychiatric diagnoses using hierarchical cluster and K-Means analysis. Four WAIS-III/WMS-III profiles were identified that included approximately equal numbers of cases from the sample. Two of these profiles were uniquely related to two of Lange's profiles, while the remaining two demonstrated relationships with more than one of Lange's clusters. The second study expanded the neuropsychological test battery employed in the analysis to include the Trail Making Test, Boston Naming Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and Word Lists from the WMS-III reducing the number of clinical cases to 420. In order to compensate for the impact of the reduced number of cases and increased number of variables on potential cluster stability, the number of test score variables was reduced using factor analysis. In this manner the 22 variables were reduced to six factor scores, which were then analysed with hierarchical cluster and K-Means analysis yielding five cognitive profiles. The third study examined the potential clinical utility of the five cognitive profiles by developing a single case methodology for allocating individual cases to cognitive profiles. This was achieved using a combination of a multivariate outlier statistic, the Mahalanobis Distance, and equations derived from a discriminant function analysis. This combination resulted in classification accuracies exceeding 88% when predicting the profile membership based upon the K-Means analysis. The potential utility of this method was illustrated with three age-, education-, gender-, and diagnostically-matched cases that demonstrated different cognitive test profiles. The implications of the small number of cognitive profiles that characterise test performance in a diverse sample of neurological and psychiatric cases as well as the clinical utility of an accurate classification method at the individual case level was discussed. The role of such a classification system in the design of individualised rehabilitation programmes was also highlighted. This research raises the intriguing possibility of developing a typology based on human behaviour rather than a medical nosology. In effect, replacing the medical diagnosis so ill-suited to encompassing the complexities of human behaviour, with a more appropriate "psychological diagnosis" based on cognitive test performance.


This article examines cultural participation, its metrics and 'drivers' as they are defined through cultural programming for the London 2012 Olympics. The meanings and interpretation of these terms are considered by examining the development of an evaluation framework for the We Play programme in the North West of England, an initiative funded by Legacy Trust UK and part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. It argues that in spite of the dissonance between arts and sports within Olympics programmes and claims of the deleterious impact on arts funding, particular within the regions, London 2012 has engendered creative programming which strategically deploys the Cultural Olympiad to satisfy local cultural policy objectives as well as meeting broader interests in 'legacy' from the Games. Such ambitions require the development of appropriate methodologies for understanding arts participation and engagement for the purpose of evaluation and evidence-based policy making, a particular challenge for such a complex range of activities, sites and settings for arts participation.


This paper is based on an ongoing research program examining the implementation of instructional design and technology in university teaching as well as in faculty migration from a distance education design model to an online learning design model. The purpose of this paper is to substantiate an emerging online learning trend termed blended online learning, based on a synthesis of existing research and new findings from a three-year, multi-case study. Blended online learning, as defined here, was borne out of an intensive, iterative cycle of rapid prototyping-based design research and is seen as a combination of both blended learning and online learning, i.e. the simultaneous and complimentary integration and implementation of an asynchronous-mode learning environment (i.e. a learning management system, or LMS) and a synchronous desktop conferencing environment (i.e. a virtual classroom). Previous research by the author defined the context, parameters and methodology of this study and identified specific design problems encountered by faculty when designing and developing courses for off-campus outreach. This paper takes a step back and observes how distance education as a field is losing impetus as online learning is gaining momentum.


The aim of this thesis is to incorporate the results of Experientialism in the domain of
Human-Computer Interaction. The purpose is twofold: on the one hand it shows how some
concepts of Experientialism like metaphor, image-schema, stories or conceptual integration
may be used to explain where some concepts of HCI come from. On the other hand it uses the
same conceptual background to support the design activity: the same concepts of
Experientialism may be employed to build new conceptual artifacts in order to design User
Interfaces and application software in general. One of the most fruitful ideas Experientislim
may offer is conceptual integration as the basis upon which to construct new design solutions.

Notwithstanding the pervasive use of metaphor in everyday language and even in HCI texts,
there is a considerable amount of criticism regarding the use of metaphor in designing user
interfaces based on the assumption that this practice may be the origin of troubles when using
such software products. That is why one of the chapters is aimed at showing that not only the
use of metaphor is pervasive in HCI but even the use of figurative language as well. Not only
figurative language is usually employed but it is even one of the main tools for conceptualising
new ideas and concepts required in the activity of software development.

The Thesis proposes a framework aimed at designing User Interfaces based on the concepts
of Experientialism. The proposal integrates two phases (analysis and design) the same way as
most of software development methods do, trying to profit on the broad scope of the cognitive
processes such as image-schema, metaphor and conceptual integration. These general concepts
may be well suited to build conceptual models upon which to elaborate the user interfaces and
the optirnalizy principles proposed to study the suitability of conceptual integration may be also
used as validity criteria to evaluate such design artifacts.

In order to validate such a proposal, the Thesis shows how to use the framework in two
different situations: i) to explain why a problem such as the Mac trashcan -used to eject
diskettes- is not a problem of using metaphors but an unfortunate design decision, and ii) to be
applied in the design of a new User Interface.

Other concepts of Experientialism are proposed in capturing user requirements. The concept
of story is the ground on which to build scenarios or use cases, as stories are a more general
cognitive process and a form of telling things at a more general level. That is why the user
stories may be mapped to use cases, as both are essentially different type of stories and the
capture of requirements is a way of specifying one type of stories (use cases) based on the
original stories (user stories).


The writer analyzed the function of gratitude expressions and gratitude responses that occurred in the film "Raising Helen" as well as each function of gratitude expressions and gratitude responses that might occur the most-frequently. The writer was interested in analyzing the expressions of gratitude and gratitude responses because it is interesting that the gratitude expressions have various functions not only to show appreciation and politeness but also it can express irony, sarcasm and brusqueness. The writer also analyzed the gratitude responses because the writer would like to know the functions of gratitude responses. The writer analyzed the gratitude expressions and gratitude responses based on gender because female and male have different ways of thinking. The writer would like to know whether there are similarities and differences between male and female in expressing their gratitude and responding it. The writer chooses the film "Raising Helen" because this film contains various functions of gratitude expression that happen in the daily conversation. Furthermore, the setting of the film is about the conversation among family, friends, and relatives so that it is easy to understand the story. The writer took some theories from three linguists: Aijmer (1996), Searle (1969) and Coulmas (1981). This research was a qualitative descriptive research. The writer got the data from the utterances from 15 chapters of the film "Raising Helen" that she got from the internet. From her analysis, she found there were the same functions of gratitude expressions in this film as stated in Aijmer?s theory, except the negative request. The writer found that there were combinations of two functions of gratitude expressions in one utterance. Moreover, the writer found that there were two other functions of gratitude expression from Aijmer?s theory that appeared in the data that are, making a request and accepting an explanation. The writer found the function of gratitude response that was used the most frequently was recognizing the gratitude and relieving the speaker of its burden" by female and male characters. The writer found that the response of gratitude expression would occur if there was a favour happened in the conversation between the speaker and the hearer. Finally, the writer concluded that the speaker both female and male expressed gratitude because of various functions depending on the situation and the kind of the favour as well as the response itself.


We use a fully coupled, three-dimensional, finite-element method to study the evolution of the surface-tension-driven instabilities of a liquid layer that lines an elastic tube, a simple model for pulmonary airway closure. The equations of large-displacement shell theory are used to describe the deformations of the tube and are coupled to the Navier–Stokes equations, describing the motion of the liquid. The liquid layer is susceptible to a capillary instability, whereby an initially uniform layer can develop a series of axisymmetric peaks and troughs, analogous to the classical instability that causes liquid jets to break up into droplets. For sufficiently high values of the liquid's surface tension, relative to the bending stiffness of the tube, the additional compressive load induced by the development of the axisymmetric instability can induce non-axisymmetric buckling of the tube wall. Once the tube has buckled, a strong destabilizing feedback between the fluid and solid mechanics leads to an extremely rapid further collapse and occlusion of the gas-conveying core of the tube by the liquid. We find that such occlusion is possible even when the volume of the liquid is too small to form an occluding liquid bridge in the axisymmetric tube.


This report discusses the issues involved with determining whether the Arecib Ionospheric Observatory is more cost-effective than replacing it with newer, available technology. The Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory is a radio and radar telescope located in Barrio Esperanza, Arecibo, Puerto Rico. In 2005-2006, NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST) conducted a Senior Review of its portfolio of facilities and reported that the scientific value of the Arecibo was modest when compared to other existing and proposed projects and recommended decreasing the telescope's annual $12.0 million budget to $9.0 million in FY2009, and securing partnerships for the remaining necessary funding.


This article is based on an empirical study which examined the issues
of organization and coordination of global production and trade for the
case of trade between Uganda and Europe.Respective experiences of
34 exporters in Uganda and 19 importers in Europe were documented
through in-depth interviews and consequently analyzed. The article
discusses matters of cooperation between the exporters and importers and
points to its significance for upgrading and enhancing competitiveness of
the exporters studied. It further identifies firm level 'soft competitiveness
factors' (SCFs) of Ugandan exporters and discusses their relevance
for the firms' performance in Global Value Chains. The findings reveal
that deficiencies in SCFs can have damaging effects, and vice-versa.
Possession of the SCFs can yield significant competitive advantage for
exporters and help to strengthen the relationship with the importers.
Findings of ill-treatment of exporters by their importers highlight a
particular kind of challenge that is often overseen in the debate about
exports of African firms: the challenge regarding business behaviours,
practices, and ethics including the ability to engage in relations with
foreign buyers and leverage resources, knowledge and generally
cooperation from them, first, and the general issue of problematic business
practices in the global economy, second. The article policy recommends
Policy, practice and research should focus on economic, political, social,
cultural and institutional factors that impact on local levels of SCFs; to
improve and help exporting enterprises in Africa to survive and succeed
in GVCs, within the context of the state of the moral economy in global
capitalism.


An adequate measure of translation transformations is a distinctive feature of a good translation. It allows to realise the two major requirements to the target text – equivalent regulatory effect of source and target texts and maximum possible semantic and structural similarity of source and target texts. A faithful translation should be made in keeping with the three principles determining the adequate measure of transformations in translation: the motivation principle, the minimalism principle and the boundedness principle. A particular research interest is taken in the degree of translation transformations in the science text in conformity with these principles. To produce a quality translation with (an) identical pragmatic effect, the translator should clearly define the measure of translation transformations – when certain translation modifications are necessary and admissible. It is important for translators to be knowledgeable about the functions of each determinant principle and avoid unmotivated transformations, reasonable but excessive modifications, and motivated transformations that go beyond the admissible translation limits. The translator should also avoid extremes – literal and free translations, which hamper the perception of the text. The adequate measure of translation transformations is in the middle between literal and loose translations. To take an appropriate translation solution, the translator of a science text should be trained in using translation techniques and bring the source text in conformity with the norms of the language of science. A specific admissible measure of transformations in translation is impossible to determine as it varies in different text genres and different contexts. The translator should be competent enough in the branch of knowledge the translation text belongs to. Our analysis of the Ukrainian translation of the history (historical) monograph "The Celts: A Chronological History" by Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, aims to establish the degree of semantic and structural divergences between the source and target texts and to evaluate the translation solutions that were used to achieve the pragmatically equivalent translation.


Cooperative communications using the Alamouti space-time block code (STBC) has been mentioned intensively. However, to our knowledge, an in-depth error performance analysis for a space-time coded cooperative communications system, where each node acts as both a source node and a relay node for its partner, has not been reported. Intuitively, cooperative communications would not always be better than direct transmission, but only under certain conditions. This paper first derives an exact performance analysis of the Alamouti STBC cooperative communications for a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) constellation, which could be extended to a higher density modulation scheme. This mathematical analysis facilitates the source nodes to decide pro-actively whether cooperative communications or direct transmission should be used, depending on the channel conditions between the sources themselves and the channel conditions between the sources and the destination. The anterior knowledge of which transmission mode should be used before nodes actually engage in cooperation is useful to keep system operations as simple as possible, while assuring that cooperative communications is definitely beneficial once it is in place. The analytical error performances are then verified by simulations and in-depth discussions on the simulation results are presented.


Thornton Niven Wilder's early dramatic works display a keen interest in free artistic expression not yet tempered by the theatricality of his later plays. These plays clearly demonstrate Wilder's search for the right form, and show him to be motivated by a desire to express man's spiritual state. Wilder published numerous works, winning many awards and world-wide acclaim. However, this study will consider only his early dram~tic work and follow the development of a major concern of his: explaining life in order to give a sense of the unity of the universe and to fashion an adjustment between the physical world and the transcendent, the here and the hereafter, the human and the divine.


The factors shaping people's preferences for municipal labor income tax rates in Sweden are assessed using survey data. The tax rate actually faced by the respondents does not have explanatory power for their attitudes toward the tax rate. The hypothesis that this small or nonexistent effect of the actual tax rate is caused by a Tiebout bias finds no support, yet instrumental variable estimations indicate that the actual municipal tax rate may be of importance for attitudes toward the tax rate. Also, people with higher education, people who regularly read a newspaper, people who agree with the political left, and people who state that they are satisfied with their municipal services are less likely to want to decrease the municipal tax. People with low income, people who claim to have a low level of knowledge about society, and people who agree with the political right are conversely more likely to want to decrease the municipal tax. © School of Taxation and Business Law (Atax), Australian School of Business The University of New South Wales.


We present results of high-intensity measurements of the two-beam coupling gain coefficient and the photorefractive grating response time in barium titanate (BaTiO3). For hole-dominated BaTiO3 the gain coefficient is observed to decrease with intensity in the megawatt-per-square-centimeter range, because of intensity-dependent photocarrier competition, and is also seen to reverse signs above a critical intensity determined by the crystal doping. Significant two-beam coupling is observed to develop transiently during a single pulse of 15-ns duration. An analytical theory, valid at high intensity, is developed that includes the effects of simultaneous electron and hole photoconductivities and carrier saturation. The analysis predicts the experimentally observed strong intensity dependence in the two-beam coupling gain coefficient, including its reversal in sign.


A tunable and differential treatment of security is needed to achieve the best possible balance between security and performance for wireless applications. In this paper, we present a tunable encryption service that is based on a selective encryption paradigm in which applications can request a desired encryption level. Encryption levels are selected at the inception of a session, but can be changed at any time during its lifetime. In the paper, a prototype implemented on top of the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is described and an initial performance evaluation is presented. The results demonstrate that the proposed service offers a high degree of security adaptiveness at a low cost


In this work, we report a hydrothermal route to synthesize hierarchical TS-1 zeolites with abundant mesopores (5–40 nm) inside the zeolite crystals by using polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDADMAC) as a mesopore-directing template. The textural parameters of the hierarchical TS-1 zeolites can be adjusted by changing the amount of PDADMAC in the synthesis system; in particular, a hierarchical TS-1C sample with abundant and uniform mesopores (around 10 nm) can be obtained by optimizing the amount of PDADMAC. The resultant hierarchical TS-1 zeolite exhibits excellent catalytic activity in the oxidation of bulky organosulfur compounds. Moreover, the hierarchical TS-1 catalysts possess high structural stability and can be easily recycled without any post treatment. This work demonstrates a facile route to synthesize hierarchical TS-1 zeolites with abundant intracrystalline mesopores by using a cheap and easily available mesoporous template, which will open new perspectives for the potential application of hierarchical TS-1 zeolites in catalytic oxidation of bulky organic compounds.


Trachyspermum ammi (L.) Sprague is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the family Apiaceae and is mostly administered for stomach disorders. During the present research work, cold maceration and Microwave Assisted Extraction (MAE) of T. ammi Sprague was done by using methanol, dichloromethane and n-hexane separately as extracting solvents. For cold maceration, 2, 4, 6, 18 and 24 hours of time durations were used for each solvent. Maximum extract (50mg/g) was obtained at 18 hours of cold maceration with methanol, while maximum phenolics were also obtained from the same extract, which were calculated to be 170.89µg/g equivalent of Gallic acid. For Microwave Assisted Extraction, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180seconds of time durations for microwaves irradiations were used at power levels 200W, 500W, 800W and 1000W. Maximum extract (35mg/g) was obtained at 90 seconds with methanol at power level 800W, while maximum phenolics were obtained after 30 seconds of MAE in methanol (196.90µg/g). Hence, it is concluded that cold maceration has better extraction efficiency for extracts of T. ammi than MAE. It was also concluded that the amount of phenolics were obtained in a higher quantity by MAE of T. ammi, as compared to the cold maceration in the lesser time of extraction.


In this paper we present the FPGA implementation of a multi-antenna Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transmitter and receiver featuring a closed-loop (CL) communication scheme. The PHY-layer development follows the specifications of the mobile WiMAX standard, whereas the limited MAC functionality is using custom specifications. In the implemented CL scheme, the transmitter applies a Transmit Antenna Selection (TAS) decision based on the instantaneous Channel State Information (CSI), which is calculated at the receiver and fed back to the transmitter. The RTL implementation addresses the challenge of efficiently accommodating two transmission schemes with optimal reuse of FPGA resources. The adaptive subcarrier allocation can be thoroughly evaluated only when prototyped in a real-time platform, such as the one described in this paper. The results verified that the CL system is performing better than its open-loop counterpart.


Emerging distributed in-memory computing frameworks, such as Apache Spark, can process a huge amount of cached data within seconds. This remarkably high efficiency requires the system to well balance data across tasks and ensure data locality. However, it is challenging to satisfy these requirements for applications that operate on a collection of dynamically loaded and evicted datasets. The dynamics may lead to time-varying data volume and distribution, which would frequently invoke expensive data re-partition and transfer operations, resulting in high overhead and large delay. To address this problem, we present Stark, a system specifically designed for optimizing in-memory computing on dynamic dataset collections. Stark enforces data locality for transformations spanning multiple datasets (e.g., join and cogroup) to avoid unnecessary data replications and shuffles. Moreover, to accommodate fluctuating data volume and skeweddata distribution, Stark delivers elasticity into partitions to balance task execution time andreduce job makespan. Finally, Stark achieves bounded failure recovery latency byoptimizing the data checkpointing strategy. Evaluations on a 50-server cluster show that Stark reduces the job makespan by 4X and improves system throughput by 6X compared to Spark.


Along the base of Little Bahama Bank and out into the northeastern Straits of Florida in depths of 600 to 700 m, the research submersible Alvin encountered an extensive area of rocky mounds that are hundreds of metres long and as high as 50 m. The larger mounds are elongated in the direction of northerly bottom flow. They are composed of surface-hardened concentric crusts of submarine-lithified muddy to sandy carbonate sediment upon which a dense and diverse community of benthic organisms such as crinoids, corals, and sponges attach. Many of the organisms grow oriented into the prevailing northward current. The crusts are cemented in varying degree by micritic magnesian calcite and are intensively bored by endolithic organisms. Excavation of the softer undercrust by currents and (or) organisms can produce stromatactoid voids. It appears that these deep mounds are biohermal in nature and constructed in situ by the subsea lithification of successive layers of trapped sediment and deposited skeletal debris. The term "lithoherm" is proposed to describe the mounds. These and the hardgrounds between them indicate that subsea lithification aids in the accretion of the flanks of carbonate platforms. Micritic carbonate build-ups similar to lithoherms have been recognized in the geologic record. The mounds of the Waulsortian bank margin offer one possible ancient analog.


A complete sequence of mineral assemblages ranging from late diagenesis to the epizone has been identified in Triassic rocks from "intermediate units" between the Alpujarride and the Malaguide complexes (Betic Cordillera, Spain). These units appear as a set of tectonic slices, the uppermost showing lithological characteristics similar to the Malaguide complex, which change as depth increases, towards lithologies typical of the Alpujarride complex. The study was carried out by X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, electron microprobe and X-ray fluorescence. The mineralogical composition shows a clear vertical evolution: A dickite-bearing assemblage, characteristic of the upper slices is replaced by sudoite ± pyrophyllite-bearing assemblages, these by trioctahedral chlorite-rich assemblages, and finally by paragonite-bearing assemblages. Examination of bulk-rock chemistries indicates that most of the mineralogical changes are the result of the increasing metamorphic grade, with the exception of chloritoid; its growth does appear to be partly controlled by the rocks chemistry (it is Al 2 O 3 dependent). The evolution of the metamorphic assemblages occurred prior to emplacement of the slices by thrusting and reveals a progressive transition in metamorphic grade between both complexes, although some discontinuities in the KI values between consecutive slices are observed.


This paper advocates the promotion of teaching word-attack skills, among other reading skills, in a beginners' Japanese program. The paper argues that even first-year students with limited knowledge of kanji (Chinese characters) can use such strategies successfully, and that formal training in such skills helps foster autonomous readers who approach reading tasks with a positive attitude. The feasibility of teaching word-attack skills to beginners is supported by the results obtained in an experiment conducted in the introductory Japanese course at the Australian National University (ANU). The paper takes a detailed look at various word-attack skills used by students in this experiment, in the light of universal reading strategies as well as strategies specific to reading in Japanese.


New satellite and in situ observations show large intraseasonal (10–60 day) variability of surface winds and upper-ocean current in the equatorial Indian Ocean, particularly in the east. An ocean model forced by the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) wind stress is used to study the dynamics of the intraseasonal zonal current. The model has realistic upper-ocean currents and thermocline depth variabilities on intraseasonal to interannual scales. The quality of the simulation is directly attributed to the accuracy of the wind forcing. At the equator, moderate westerly winds are punctuated by strong 10–40-day westerly wind bursts. The wind bursts force swift, intraseasonal (20–50 day) eastward equatorial jets in spring, summer, and fall. The zonal momentum balance is between local acceleration, stress, and pressure, while nonlinearity deepens and strengthens the eastward current. The westward pressure force associated with the thermocline deepening toward the east rapidly arrests eastward jets and, subsequently, generates (weak) westward flow. Thus, in accord with direct observations in the east, the spring jet is a single intraseasonal event, there are intraseasonal jets in summer, and the fall jet is long lived but strongly modulated on an intraseasonal scale. The zonal pressure force is almost always westward in the upper 120 m, and changes sign twice a year in the 120–200-m layer. Transient eastward equatorial undercurrents in early spring and late summer are associated with semiannual Rossby waves generated at the eastern boundary following thermocline deepening by the spring and fall jets. An easterly wind stress is not necessary to generate the undercurrents. Experiments with a single westerly wind burst forcing show that apart from the intraseasonal response, the zonal pressure force and current in the east have an intrinsic 90-day time scale that arises purely from equatorial adjustment.


This article reports on a new empirical study evaluating crime concentration at places in a post-socialist city. We use principles of the law of crime concentration at places and the Cambridge Crime Harm Index to measure crime count and crime harm concentration at the level of street segments. The research found differences between crime concentration in a post-socialist city and crime concentration reported by recent studies from US or UK cities. Both crime and harm concentration are consistently less spatially clustered than expected by the theory in a post-socialist city. This finding has significance for both international criminology and national policing authorities, because the success of place-based policing is highly dependent on strong spatial clustering of crime. The study underlines the importance of experimental criminology and theory testing for the transfer of crime prevention approaches from their original contexts.


The face of early childhood education continues to change. In Australia, the national early childhood guidelines, Early Years Learning Framework (2009) and the National Quality Framework have articulated and defined the work of early years' educators in a range of areas, including literacy. Both frameworks state that their aim is to maintain the focus of the Development Strategy provide all Australian children with an educational foundation to support them throughout their lives. In this climate, and some years after the implementation of these guidelines, it seems timely to examine the literacy programmes, practices and perspectives of prior-to-school environments as they prepare children to transition to the early years of primary school. This paper reports on the findings of a study that aimed to explore the nature of literacy programmes, practices and perspectives, and in particular how such programmes support educators and children in one prior-to-school setting, as they prepare to transition to the first year of formal schooling. Analysis of the experiences offered in prior-to-school centres revealed a number of learning experiences that illustrated Bernstein's notion of visible and invisible literacy learning pedagogies. It was found that viewing these learning experiences along a continuum from invisible to visible pedagogical practices was a useful framework for categorising the range of experiences in which the children engaged. It is suggested that such a continuum would be a useful framework for both prior-to-school and kindergarten teachers to better support children as they transition across settings. However, we must add a caveat, namely, that such a framework should not lead to increase pressure on prior-to-school settings to increase 'visible pedagogical practices' in order to 'teach' literacy skills.


The Volterra theory can be used to mathematically model nonlinear dynamic components such as analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). This paper describes how frequency-domain Volterra kernels of an ADC are determined from measurements. The elements of the Volterra theory are given, and practical issues are considered, such as methods for signal conditioning and finding the appropriate test signals scenario and suitable sampling frequency. The results show that, for the used pipeline ADC, the frequency dependence is significantly stronger for second-order difference products than for sum products and the linear frequency dependence was not as pronounced as that of the second-order Volterra kernel. It is suggested that the Volterra kernels have the symmetry properties of a specific box model, namely, the parallel Hammerstein system.


Huntington's Disease (HD) is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by alterations in the huntingtin gene (htt). Transcriptional dysregulation is an early event in HD progression. Protein acetylation and methylation particularly on histones regulates chromatin structure thereby preventing or facilitating transcription. Although protein acetylation has been found to affect HD symptoms, little is known about the potential role of protein methylation in HD pathology. In recent years, a series of proteins have been described that are responsible for methylating and demethylating histones as well as other proteins. We carried out systematic genetic interaction studies testing lysine and arginine methylases and demethylases in a Drosophila melanogaster HD model. We found that modulating methylation enzymes that typically affect histone positions H3K4, H3K36 or H3K79 had varying effects on HD pathology while modulating ones that typically affect constitutive heterochromatin marks at H3K9 and H4K20 generally had limited impact on HD pathology. In contrast, modulating enzymes acting on the facultative heterochromatin mark at H3K27 had specific effects on HD pathology, with reduction of the demethylase Utx rescuing HTT induced pathology while reducing PRC2 complex core methylase components led to more aggressive pathology. Further exploration of the mechanism underlying the methylation-specific interactions suggest that these lysine and arginine methylases and demethylases are likely exerting their influence through non-histone targets. These results highlight a novel therapeutic approach for HD in the form of Utx inhibition.


Routing in Ad hoc Networks has received a significant amount of attention. In recent years, the focus of research has been in on-demand (or reactive) routing protocols due to the recognition that these protocols have the potential to achieve higher levels of scalability than proactive routing strategies. However, most on-demand routing protocols proposed to date attempt to increase routing efficiency by using existing knowledge about the destination or by increasing the stability of the routes. Little research has been done to reduce route discovery overhead when no previous destination information is available. We present a number of different strategies, which encourage a more distributed and localised approach to route discovery by allowing each intermediate node during route discovery to make forwarding decisions using localised knowledge and self-selection. The use of self-selection for route discovery enables nodes to independently make route request (RREQ) forwarding decisions based upon a selection criterion or by satisfying certain conditions. The nodes which do not satisfy the selection criterion do not rebroadcast the RREQs. This provides a more effective and efficient search strategy than the use of traditional brute force blind flooding. We implemented our self-selecting route discovery strategies over AODV using the GloMoSim network simulation package, and compared the performance with existing routing protocols. Our simulation results show that a significant drop in the number of control packets can be achieved by giving each intermediate node more authority for self-selection during route discovery. Furthermore, a significant increase in routing performance is achieved as the number of nodes in the network is increased.


The engineering of Ag-specific T cells by expression of TCR genes is a convenient method for adoptive T cell immunotherapy. A potential problem is the TCR gene transfer into self-reactive T cells that survived tolerance mechanisms. We have developed an experimental system with T cells that express two TCRs with defined Ag-specificities, one recognizing a tumor-specific Ag (LCMV-gp33), the other recognizing a self-Ag in the pancreas (OVA). By using tumor cells expressing high and low amounts of Ag and mice expressing high and low levels of self-Ag in the pancreas (RIP-OVA-Hi and RIP-OVA-Lo), we show that 1) tumor rejection requires high amount of tumor Ag, 2) severe autoimmunity requires high amount of self-Ag, and 3) if Ag expression on tumor cells is sufficient and low in the pancreas, successful adoptive T cell therapy can be obtained in the absence of severe autoimmunity. These results are shown with T cells from dual TCR transgenic mice or T cells that were redirected by TCR gene transfer. Our data demonstrate that the approach of adoptively transferring TCR redirected T cells can be effective without severe side effects, even when high numbers of T cells with self-reactivity were transferred.


Nation branding is a rapidly developing practice for promoting images of a nation-state for tourists or investors, sometimes with the secondary goal to foster nation building. It has also attracted a fair amount of scholarly attention. Analyses have focused on various themes, including national identity and neoliberal approaches to nation building. Given that the practice of nation branding presupposes the orchestration of mediated campaigns, surprisingly few studies have specifically focused on the role of the media. This article argues that a focus on the media (as technologies and organizations) can shed light on the dynamics of nation branding. The article reviews previous research, then presents a specific case of nation branding in Ukraine. This case study reveals the different types of media involved and how this involvement may have varied consequences for the analysis of branding campaigns.


We present 3D 'zoom-in' simulations of the formation of two molecular clouds out of the galactic interstellar medium. We model the clouds – identified from the SILCC simulations – with a resolution of up to 0.06 pc using adaptive mesh refinement in combination with a chemical network to follow heating, cooling and the formation of H2 and CO including (self-) shielding. The two clouds are assembled within a few million years with mass growth rates of up to ∼10−2 M⊙ yr−1 and final masses of ∼50 000 M⊙. A spatial resolution of ≲0.1 pc is required for convergence with respect to the mass, velocity dispersion and chemical abundances of the clouds, although these properties also depend on the cloud definition such as based on density thresholds, H2 or CO mass fraction. To avoid grid artefacts, the progressive increase of resolution has to occur within the free-fall time of the densest structures (1–1.5 Myr) and ≳200 time-steps should be spent on each refinement level before the resolution is progressively increased further. This avoids the formation of spurious, large-scale, rotating clumps from unresolved turbulent flows. While CO is a good tracer for the evolution of dense gas with number densities n ≥ 300 cm−3, H2 is also found for n ≲ 30 cm−3 due to turbulent mixing and becomes dominant at column densities around 30–50 M⊙ pc−2. The CO-to-H2 ratio steadily increases within the first 2 Myr, whereas XCO ≃ 1–4 × 1020 cm−2 (K km s−1)−1 is approximately constant since the CO(1−0) line quickly becomes optically thick.