International agricultural trade regulation is once again at the heart of the Doha Development Round's collapse. Even if a deal had been reached on the basis of the Draft Modalities on Agriculture, it is not clear that a fundamental problem would be resolved: the relationship between trade and non-trade concerns, crucially the protection of the environment. Currently, members can use domestic support measures for non-trade objectives, but only if they do not impinge significantly on free trade in agricultural products; an ethos reiterated in the Draft Modalities. However, if the ultimate goal of the Agreement on Agriculture is to reduce agriculture support and protection over time so that distortions to the market are removed, it is difficult to reconcile this goal whilst the Agreement simultaneously allows members to use trade-distorting measures to support non-trade objectives. Even if one accepts that the Agreement on Agriculture's goal is freer trade and not free trade per se, this inconsistency is not removed, as a decision still needs to be made regarding what level of 'protection' is acceptable at any given time during the operation of the existing rules. Despite suggested changes to the levels of protection in the Draft Modalities, there seems no indication what this acceptable level might be. Until a decision is made to this effect, a conflict exists within the Agreement and the current tension between members will remain. This article argues that the problem is not the existence of a balance between removing trade barriers whilst protecting non-trade concerns, but rather the theoretical approach driving conclusions about how that balance should be achieved. In addition to moving towards a general commitment to the reduction in agricultural support measures, the Agreement on Agriculture also emphasises the need to achieve a 'fair and market-oriented trading system' 'having regard to non-trade concerns'. Current thinking assumes that fairness is achieved by interpreting rules on the basis of an economic efficiency rationale (free trade): this approach is not inevitable, however, but only reflects contemporary views of trade rules' purpose and how they should be interpreted in the light of that purpose. As our views of trade rules' purpose changes, so the theoretical underpinnings driving the rules' interpretation evolve. This article proposes such an evolution.


The book proposes a profound rethink of the complex relationship between Europe—defined here as the European Union and its members—and the states of the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Europe's 'southern neighbours'. These relations are examined through a borderlands prism that conceives of this interaction as one between an empire of sorts that seeks to export its order beyond the border, and the empire's southern borderlands. Focusing on trade relations on the one hand, and the cooperation on migration, borders, and security on the other, the book revisits the historical origins and modalities of Europe's selective rule transfer to MENA states, the interests underwriting these policies, and the complex dynamics marking the interaction between the two sides over a twenty-year period (1995–2015). It shows that within a system of structurally asymmetric economic relations from which Europe and MENA elites benefit the most, single MENA governments have been co-opted into the management of border and migration control where they act as Europe's gatekeepers. Combined with specific policy choices of MENA governments, Europe's selective expansion of its rules, practices, and disaggregated borders have contributed to rising socio-economic inequalities and the strengthening of authoritarian rule in the 'southern neighbourhood', with Europe tacitly tolerating serious violations of the rights of refugees and migrants at its fringes. Challenging the self-proclaimed benevolent nature of European policies and the notion of 'Fortress Europe' alike, the findings of this study contribute to broader debates on power, dependence, and interdependence in the discipline of international relations.


Background and Objectives: Transdermal drug delivery system overcomes the difficulties associated with oral drug delivery and improves therapeutic efficacy and safety of drugs, as it is site-specific due to temporal placement of dosage form on the body that reduces both size and number of doses. Methods: In the present study effort was taken to formulate and evaluate Hydrogel based Transdermal patch of a selected NSAID. Nine formulations of matrix type hydrogel transdermal patches of Aceclofenac were prepared. Results: The pre formulation results obtained for all formulations were satisfactory. The drugexcipients compatibility study was also performed using FTIR and the results established that, there is no significant compatibility in drug and excipients. The physico –chemical properties such as physical appearance, thickness, weight variation, tensile strength, surface pH, swellability, water vapour transmission rate, percentage moisture uptake and folding endurance were evaluated. Conclusion: The in-vitro drug permeation studies of the prepared patches were conducted and finally the optimized formulation was selected.


What is the biggest difference between playing a game against a human or against a computer generated player? Why do many people believe it is more challenging to play with humans than playing with an artificial player? The big success of massive multiplayer games and the huge number of so-called "LAN parties", where players meet and play with each other, seems to be related to the human demeanor of the players. All this indicates, that the current state of game AI is unsatisfactory compared to the performance of human players. This paper introduces a tool for analyzing basic computer games with incorporated AI modules which store strategies for performing the behavior of artificial players. This sets the stage for a systematic evaluation and refinement of rule based game AI.


This presentation will explore the reintegration of the mosaic tile facade of the Playhouse (poolside guest house) at Shangri La, Doris Duke's Hawai`i home (now a center a center for the study of Islamic arts and cultures), using materials dramatically different from the original.  The original cut tile mosaics, commissioned in Iran in 1938, were executed using traditional materials and techniques, including a gypsum-rich mortar backing. The tiles were installed in 1940 atop a steep sea wall above constantly breaking surf and exposed to harsh sun and salt-laden wind.  By the late 1970's some sections of the decoration had deteriorated to the point of collapse. After numerous failed attempts at stabilization, the decision was made to de-install and replace approximately 30% of the tiles with a more durable facsimile. The decision-making process that led to the removal and replacement of this portion of the decoration was not taken lightly and was dominated by the structure's location above the rocky edge of the tropical Pacific Ocean. "In kind" replacement was explored and samples were procured from Iran, where cut tile mosaics are still manufactured; however, the results were not entirely satisfactory and it was feared that the same kind of deterioration would only happen again. The search for a suitable replacement material eventually led to the replication of the crisp, brilliant appearance of the original mosaic in glazed porcelain. Using a combination of careful measurements and high-resolution digital photography, a full-sized, distortion-free photographic image was generated. To avoid imposing a grid on the composition by printing on square stock porcelain, the full-sized image was separated into smaller individual shapes along the lines of the pattern and the stock tiles were cut using a water jet into unique, jigsaw puzzle-like pieces. The individual pieces were then digitally separated into color layers which could be used to generate masks and stencils for application of the custom formulated glazes. Each tile was fired individually for each for color, up to as many as six times. The resulting tiles effectively replicate the overall effect of the original cut tile mosaic at a short distance, but are easily distinguished from the original on close inspection, but in a material with a good track record in a harsh, sun-struck marine environment.
Click on Video link on the right to view presentation.


Background: Consumption of healthy diets that contribute with adequate amounts of fat and fatty acids is needed for children. Among Guatemalan children, there is little information about fat intakes. Therefore, the present study sought to assess intakes of dietary fats and examine food sources of those fats in Guatemalan children. Methods: The study subjects consisted of a convenience sample of 449 third- and fourth-grade schoolchildren (8-10 y), attending public or private schools in Quetzaltenango City, Guatemala. Dietary data was obtained by means of a single pictorial 24-h record. Results: The percentages of total energy (%E) from total fat, saturated fat (SFA) and monounsaturated fat (MUFA) reached 29%E for total fat and 10%E for each SFA and MUFA, without gender differences. %E from fats in high vs. lowsocio economic status (SES) children were significantly higher for boys, but not for girls, for total fat (p = 0.002) and SFA (p 97% of all groups consuming less than 1%E from this fats. Fried eggs, sweet rolls, whole milk and cheese were main sources of total fat and, SFA. Whole milk and sweet bread were important sources of n-3 FA for high- and low-SES boys and girls, respectively. Fried plantain was the main source of n-3 FA for girls in the high-SES group. Fried fish, seafood soup, and shrimp, consumed only by boys in low amounts, were sources of eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids, which may explain the low intakes of these nutrients. Conclusions: α-linolenic acid, EPA and DHA were the most limiting fatty acids in diets of Guatemalan schoolchildren, which could be partially explained by the low consumption of sources of these nutrients, particularly fish and seafood (for EPA and DHA). This population will benefit from a higher consumption of culturally acceptable foods that are rich in these limiting nutrients.


The starting point of any project is a need and a need is much more concrete and more definable: otherwise a project can never be well planned For a project to be successful, the needs of the beneficiaries has to be clearly analysed and understood for appropriate planning to take place (Swanepoel & de Beer 2006: 172). The main objective of this study is to determine the influence that the beneficiaries needs had on the project success or failure as perceived by both the beneficiaries (project participants) and the serving extension officers. The study revealed that 20.8% of the project participants and 30.2% of the extension officers indicated that the farmer's needs were only mostly met. Secondly, significantly more project participants (26.4%) than extension officers (13.6%) indicated that the choice of project content was based on calculated impact. A total of 56% extension officers and only 20% project participants indicated "other content of choice" as their most important option. The majority (52.4%) of both respondent categories indicated that the training received was very relevant. Project participants indicated a need for 25.25 mean days of training while extension officers indicated a need for 26.71 mean days of training. The majority (52.4%) of both respondent categories indicated that the training was very much relevant and at least 48% of both respondent categories indicated that the need assessment was done on continuous bases. A negative aspect is that 31% of all the respondents indicated that needs assessment was only done once a year while 12% indicated that there was no assessment done. The majority of project participants (73%) reported that they were consulted before the project started and only 7.1% reported that they were not consulted, while 38.3 % of both respondent categories indicated that the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method was used to assess their needs. The findings clearly indicate a significant association between farmer's needs and project failure or success. S.Afr. Tydskr. Landbouvoorl./S. Afr. J. Agric. Ext., Vol. 40, 2012: 76 – 90


Supplying high quality seed to rural farmers is the basic requirement for the sustainable development of agriculture in developing countries. The present study was conducted to examine the influence of  Lagenaria siceraria seed fermentation method on seed germination and vigor. Three seed fermentation methods (fermented in ambient air, plastic bag stored in ambient or in plastic bag buried) were tested on two cultivars during two years. Seed germination and vigor were better when fermentation was conducted in anaerobic, darkness, and at low temperature. Low seed quality was observed in unfermented seed, suggesting the occurrence of postharvest maturity in L. siceraria . Seed quality did not vary between cultivars. Regardless of the fermentation process and cultivars used, the best seed and seedling qualities were observed when the amount of rainfall during the experiment period was high, suggesting that wet soil is necessary for an on farm reliable evaluation of seed fermentation method in the bottle gourd L. siceraria . Keywords: Cucurbit, egussi , maturity, minor crops, oilseed, seedling, viability.


Using forced-choice and continuous measures, introductory psychology students reported highest interest for the topical areas of clinical and social psychology (over biological, cognitive, and developmental) and for the applied areas of education and health (over business, environment, and law) at both the beginning and end of semesters. Among other results, some topical interests related to particular applied interests, women preferred developmental psychology more than men, but most pretest gender differences in interests (e.g., in biology) disappeared statistically by the end of the semester. We compared our method and findings with earlier interest research, noting several methodological and analytical improvements and one limitation. We also discuss possible uses of the data in teaching introductory psychology and other survey courses. ********** Introductory psychology, like many large survey courses, is challenging to teach well (e.g., see Buskist & Wylie, 1998; Miller & Gentile, 1998). Introductory psychology covers all the major areas of psychology, and few instructors have extensive knowledge or training in more than one or two areas. This potential difficulty is highlighted by a survey of instructors and students who ranked "knowledgeable about topic" the most desired among 28 instructor qualities (Schaeffer, Epting, Zinn, & Buskist, 2003). Relatedly, the length of introductory psychology textbooks continues to grow (Griggs, Jackson, Christopher, & Marek, 1999). This amount of material is difficult to cover completely in a semester course and limits the time an instructor can devote to nonlecture activities (Miller & Gentile, 1998). The often large size of introductory psychology sections presents additional challenges, including trying to keep the attention or interest of so many students for an extended period (Buskist & Wylie, 1998). Regardless of class size, many students take the college-level course as a requirement and might not be inherently interested in the material. Miller and Gentile (1998) noted that "this diversity of needs and interests presents challenges to those teaching the course" (p. 89). To address the growing length of textbooks, many instructors exclude some text material (Miller & Gentile, 1998), but decisions on what to exclude can be difficult. To address interest level, and to increase learning and retention, many instructors elaborate on the material with examples and in-class activities. To maximize such efforts, however, instructors need class time and perhaps some expertise in the specific areas. It would be helpful and efficient in constructing examples and activities and possibly in coverage decisions if instructors had knowledge of students' course-related interests. Previous Interest Research Across earlier interest studies (Anderson, 1970; Brown, 1980; McKenzie & Cangemi, 1978; Ruch, 1937; Zanich & Grover, 1989), introductory psychology students consistently showed least interest in physiological topics. Additional or more specific conclusions are difficult to draw due to differing measures and differing results: Interest ratings varied for developmental psychology, psychological disorders, and some social psychology topics. In particular, whereas two studies reported high rankings for psychological disorders (Ruch, 1937 [see preface]; Zanich & Grover, 1989), Brown (1980) reported low to moderate interest in disorders across two student samples. Interest in social psychology topics varied between moderate and strong, with the social psychology chapter receiving only the median ranking among 15 chapters (Zanich & Grover, 1989). Further research can clarify these varying results. Several additional factors regarding earlier reports suggest a need for further research. Among methodological limitations, Brown (1980) noted that students may have rushed, "checking objectives on a hit-or-miss basis" (p. …


Title of dissertation: RELAXATION AND STIFFENING DYNAMICS OF A SINGLE SEMIFLEXIBLE POLYMER CHAIN Inuka D. Dissanayake, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006 Dissertation directed by: Professor Panagiotis Dimitrakopoulos Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Both synthetic and biological polymers are a challenge to study because of the many features and functional roles they carry. A good understanding of the macromolecule's dynamical properties is essential for biological processes such as the cytoskeleton dynamics of actin or in creating novel materials such as biodegradable nanocomposites. Here we focus on the Brownian dynamics of single semiflexible polymer chains, specifically the relaxation and stiffening behaviors. To date, the transient modeling of dilute solutions has concentrated mainly on flexible chains. Semiflexible polymers, with a persistence length comparable to or larger than their contour length show distinct properties in solution. Brownian dynamics simulations based on a discretized version of the KratkyPorod chain model were employed. First, the relaxation of a bead-rod polymer chain from an initially straight configuration was followed. Through a scalinglaw analysis, universal relaxation laws were determined covering all time scales. A correlation describing the properties studied by the single parameter of chain length was noticed. Based on this, we were able to confirm and explain the chain's stress and optical properties, as well as derive a nonlinear stress-optic law valid for semiflexible chains at any time period. Also, we determine the relaxation for long semiflexible chains exhibit two intermediate-time behaviors, as a result of the interplay of Brownian and bending forces on the link tensions. A second project involved the relaxation dynamics of a worm-like bead-spring chain. Existing relaxation simulations of this bead-spring model are limited to the stress behavior. Here we monitor the short and intermediate-time relaxation behaviors of a nearly extended semiflexible chain. We also look at the effects of the Kuhn length on a chain of constant length. Finally, the interesting behavior of the coil-helix-rod stiffening transition was studied. When subjected to external forces or a change in solution conditions the macromolecule may stiffen. Being able to control the chain stiffness is of technological importance especially for nanotechnology devices where the constraint of the walls limits the entropy available to the chain. We have successfully simulated the transient conformational behavior and subsequently understand the chain dynamics involved through analysis of the chain's length, width, and stress. RELAXATION AND STIFFENING DYNAMICS OF A SINGLE SEMIFLEXIBLE POLYMER CHAIN by Inuka D. Dissanayake Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2006 Advisory Committee: Professor Panagiotis Dimitrakopoulos, Chair Professor Sheryl H. Ehrman Professor Peter Kofinas Professor Luz Martinez-Miranda Professor Srinivasa R. Raghavan


[Extract] Indicators representative of ecosystem condition are required for the long-term monitoring of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in a Reef Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program (RIMREP), which tracks progress towards Reef 2050 Plan targets and objectives. Seagrass meadows are highly sensitive to climatic conditions and environmental pressures such as water quality, as seen through recent (past 10 years) changes in abundance in the GBR (McKenzie, et al., 2016). Due to these impacts, GBR seagrass meadows underwent a period of decline from 2009 to 2011. Widespread loss of seagrass occurred, but in 2015 many meadows had started recovering.

The storage reserves within seagrass rhizomes were tested for suitability as a complimentary indicator in the MMP/RIMREP because previous studies had suggested that they are good indicators. We set out to test the relationships between total non-structural carbohydrates (TNSC) and seagrass condition (i.e. trend in abundance, either declining pre 2011 or recovering post 2011), seagrass abundance, water temperature and daily light in a temporal analysis using linear models. Samples were collected quarterly from 2008 to 2015 from four locations (8 sites) for three species (917 samples in total) in the Wet Tropics and Burdekin regions. TNSC was significantly (p<0.001) lower pre 2011 during the period of decline (181and 192 mg gDW-1for intertidal sites pooled and subtidal sites pooled, respectively) than post 2011 during recovery (277 and 289 mg gDW-1) for H. uninervis. A similar trend was observed for T. hemprichii, which occurred at intertidal sites only (168 mg gDW-1 in decline and 208 mg gDW-1in recovery), but not for C. serrulata which had the fewest available data points. The differences were even greater when investigating individual sites. TNSC were also correlated (p<0.001) to seagrass abundance during both the decline and recovery phases. TNSC was positively correlated to water temperature, though the period being assessed was relatively mild in terms of temperature extremes. Therefore, light was the main pressure assessed in this project. A direct effect of light limitation (daily light, average of 30 days prior to TNSC collection) on TNSC was not observed, in fact there was a slight negative effect of light in some analyses. This was contrary to our hypothesis, as low light, at least in part, drove declines in seagrass abundance from 2009 –2011. In an additional spatial analysis, differences in TNSC among regions and habitat types were assessed from 39 sites collected in late 2014 across the GBR. This spatial analysis was carried out to explore representativeness of the sites used in the temporal analysis. There was little difference in TNSC among habitats; however, TNSC varied among NRMs and were lowest in the Mackay Whitsunday and Fitzroy NRMs.

This exploration of storage reserves, undertaken at a time of dynamic meadow changes, has yielded exciting results on their variation with meadow condition and abundance. However, we did not provide conclusive evidence to support the inclusion of TNSC as an indicator in monitoring programs such as the MMP at this stage, because the link to the main environmental pressure tested –light –was not demonstrated by this analysis. Irrespective of this, TNSC was an indicator of cumulative stress (being correlated to abundance and condition), but the specific pressure(s) could not be identified. This provides justification for further inquiry into the effect of other pressures (e.g. nutrients and flood plume exposure), other biological processes (e.g. reproduction and meadow expansion) and to obtain further data on other species.

We also tested the relationship between %cover and biomass, with the aim of developing biomass calibration formulae. Above-ground biomass and %cover was measured in seven mono-specific meadows for four species and four habitat types. Above ground biomass was highly correlated (p<0.001) to % cover, and the correlation was further improved (lower AIC) by factoring canopy height into the calibration. Even after canopy height was included in the calibration, canopy height strongly affected the calibration values and highlighted the importance of habitat/morphology-specific calibration formulae. Further work is required to capture all species and habitat/morphology combinations that are routinely monitored. With further work, these calibration values will enable integration among seagrass monitoring programs including Queensland Ports Seagrass Monitoring Program and GBR historical baseline data.


The success of cut chicken farm determined by three factors
important, namely: seed, feed and management. The third factor is has a very important role and interdependence. Among The third factor is the feed is 70 percent of the cost of chicken raising pcs.
Feed is the main obstacle in a poultry business. This
caused by the needs of most of the feed material to compete with human needs, so the price of feed from year to year tend to continue increased. Therefore, there is need for alternatives in the provision of feed to not compete with human needs, in addition to low cost, and also without ignoring the nutritional value of the feed.
One of the waste is still not exploited and treated with either by society is the waste that comes from restaurant waste or waste Warteg. Utilization of waste very good restaurant is done by the breeder, considering the price of feed factories relatively frequent and also increase
caused by the restaurant waste in general are the remnants
human food consumption is no longer in but still contains the value high nutrient that can be recycled into cattle feed. Waste restaurant generally consists of rice, vegetables, fish, meat, fruit that is no longer consumed by humans or that are not reused in the process of cook.
2 Restaurant waste is food scraps that are not human
re consumed, the waste has enough nutritional value of high and can be used as a broiler feed ingredient. In addition to nutritional value high, waste restaurant also has a variety of human foodstuffs very different, so that necessary classification and testing of waste nutrients
restaurant.
Waste restaurant has the same ingredients and mix
considerable amount of waste in the community is chicken soup restaurant, waste pecel restaurants, seafood retoran waste. The third restaurant waste has nutritional value (crude protein and crude fiber) different. This caused
because the building block of all three types of waste are very different restaurants as well.
Restaurant waste materials from a vegetable, will have a value of fiber High crude waste restaurant while having a rough protein high is made from restaurant waste materials from meat.


Hypoxia in the setting of liver disease is often multifactorial. Obstructive or restrictive lung disease, pleural effusions, and tense ascites are common underlying disorders. Less often observed and frequently unrecognized is hypoxia related to diffuse intrapulmonary shunting--the hepatopulmonary syndrome. Its etiology is unknown but may result from disordered gut peptide metabolism. Symptoms may be ameliorated by somatostatin and reversed by successful liver transplantation. Here we report a patient with severe hepatopulmonary syndrome who failed somatostatin therapy and declined liver transplantation. On her own the patient took large daily doses of powdered garlic (Allium sativum). She has experienced partial palliation of her symptoms and some objective signs of improvement over 18 months of continuous self-medication. The possible effects of garlic's main physiologically active compound, allicin, on gut peptide metabolism and pulmonary vasculature are unknown. This innocuous compound may deserve further investigation given the limited therapeutic options for this disorder.


This paper presents four novel area-efficient field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) bit-parallel architectures of finite impulse response (FIR) filters that smartly support the technique of symmetric signal extension while processing finite length signals at their boundaries. The key to this is a clever use of variable-depth shift registers which are efficiently implemented in Xilinx FPGAs in the form of shift register logic (SRL) components. Comparisons with the conventional architecture of FIR filter with symmetric boundary processing show considerable area saving especially with long-tap filters. For instance, our architecture implementation of the 8-tap low Daubechies-8 FIR filter achieves ~ 30% reduction in the area requirement (in terms of slices) compared to the conventional architecture while maintaining the same throughput. Two of the above-cited novel architectures are dedicated to the special case of symmetric FIR filters. The first architecture is highly area-efficient but requires a clock frequency doubler. While this reduces the overall processing speed (to a maximum of 2), it does maintain a high throughput. Moreover, this speed penalty is cancelled in bi-phase filters which are widely used in multirate architectures (e.g., wavelets). Our second symmetric FIR filter architecture saves less logic than the first architecture (e.g., 10% with the 9-tap low Biorthogonal 9&7 symmetric filter instead of 37% with the first architecture) but overcomes its speed penalty as it matches the throughput of the conventional architecture.


Natural volumetric media have phase functions which typically are sharply peaked in the forward scattering direction, with backscatter accounting for only a few percent of the total angular redistribution from a single scattering event. This property has been exploited in the past in the small-angle approximation for radiative transfer, successfully for many engineering and science applications. The small-angle approximation also robustly describes the multiple-forward-scattered behavior of the light field many scattering lengths into the participating medium, including the asymptotic regime, in agreement with experimental measurements and computationally intensive simulations. Physically, the important missing ingredient not found in the small-angle approximation is occasional large angle scatters that reverse the propagation direction of some of the light. This paper introduces a quantitative model of multiple scattering which contains both the multiple-forward-scatter character and a few large-angle scattering events. The model is derived directly from the Green's function representation of radiative transfer, and path integrals are used to construct the appropriate form of the small angle approximation. The model is suitable for media that have internal structure. This paper reports on a work in progress, presenting the model but no rendered results.


Regulatory agencies around the world have found sucralose to be a safe ingredient for use in food. A recent review by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) hypothesized that sucralose use in foods heated during their manufacture might pose a health risk, by resulting in the formation of certain chlorinated compounds; specifically, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinateddibenzofurans (PCDFs) and/or free or bound 3-monochloropropanediol (3-MCPD), some of which are considered potential carcinogens. The BfR further encouraged the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which is in the process of conducting a staged re-evaluation of a range of food additives, including sucralose, to specifically address their hypothesis. This paper reports the results of new studies requested by EFSA to analyze for the presence of PCDDs, PCDFs and 3-MCPDs in a range of foods. As requested, foods were prepared with typical sucralose use levels and thermally processed under typical food processing conditions. The presence of the compounds of interest were analyzed using validated and accepted analytical methods (e.g. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS)). The results of these new analytical studies show no evidence for the formation of these compounds due to sucralose presence. This paper also reports a critical analysis of the studies cited in the BfR review as the basis for its hypothesis. This analysis shows that the cited studies do not represent food manufacturing conditions and are thus not reliable for predicting the fate of sucralose in foods. This work reaffirms that sucralose is safe for use in food manufacture, including when heating is required.


"The virtual world" can be said to encompass a great many things: the Internet as a whole, specific spaces therein, the simulacra of media imagery in general, or video gaming specifically. The emancipatory potential of the whole enterprise has long arrested feminist theorists (Haraway 1990; Stone 1995; Turkle 1995), and some reflect on the history of feminist interventions into the virtual as evincing a dichotomy between "utopian" and "dystopian" thinking (Boyd 2001; Magnet 2007). However, I would challenge the idea that the distinction is so clean. This dichotomous abstraction obscures the complex perspective often sketched by so-called dystopian cyberfeminist theorists. Lisa Nakamura (1995), for instance, was an early theorist who suggested that there was a profound continuity between the physical world and the virtual one. She showed, with sobering ethnographic examples from the online roleplaying game LambdaMOO, that the balance of power in the world seeped into the World Wide Web; what disrupts the "dystopia" narrative, however, is that this complex understanding of power was not intended to be pessimistic. Toward the end of her paper, Nakamura offered her hope that the players themselves would push back against the boundaries being constructed in the virtual world. Eagerly seizing on the rich stable of metaphors that technology offered, Nakamura said each act of roleplay that countered the "Orientalized theatricality" of racist/sexist play was a "bug" that would "[jam] the ideology machine."What is roleplaying and how can it do this? Roleplaying is something that instantiates what "utopian" cyberfeminists dreamed of: creating a character of your own design that you then perform and embody in virtual social space. But to understand its emancipatory potential, and the possibilities it raises as a "third way" between the false dichotomy of u/dystopia, we have to rediscover Hilary Rose's Laboratory of Dreams - a vivid workshop where feminist science fiction became enchanting feminist theory. We must also survey pen-and-paper roleplaying games (an excellent summary thereof can be found in Dormans 2006). Such games render social construction richly visible through their heavy emphasis on character, imagination, and story, which all work together as part of a process of constant enactment and engagement; a perpetual process of 'becoming.'I will begin by elaborating on the history of the Laboratory of Dreams concept and its roots in feminist science fiction, then move into a brief autoethnographic discussion that illustrates a defiant becoming in the midst of oppressive virtual space, finally moving into an analysis of the roleplaying game (RPG) Eclipse Phase as something that builds on "becoming" and institutionalizes it in a way many other RPGs simply do not. Like literary science fiction, roleplaying is always moving toward something new, iterating through never ending phases that progress one's character toward an infinite horizon. The enchantingly creative art that inheres to creating a new world and fully human characters within it fires the imagination anew as regards this world. The warnings of earlier cyberfeminist theorists are vital to keep in mind - the whole purpose of this essay is to combine an emancipatory project with their nuanced understanding of the pitfalls and continuity of power, not to fall into the trap of Utopia. But in the process I hope to show how Nakamura's "ghost in the machine" is rising in virtual space and that instituting feminist roleplaying games as a new laboratory of dreams can build on this hopeful trend.The Laboratory of DreamsIn many ways, feminist science fiction is the historical antecedent to the avowedly feminist roleplaying games I hope to see created. For feminist scholar Hilary Rose, science fiction was an important issue to take on in her book Love, Power, and Knowledge (1994) precisely because it spoke to a passionate urgency and the need to imagine the world for which feminists were fighting. …


Results from a year-long sediment-trap study provide the first direct observations of seasonal variability in sediment fluxes to the sea floor in Santa Barbara Basin, offshore California, and are used to evaluate varve formation in this basin. Sediment fluxes throughout the year are dominated by lithogenic material; biogenic sediments (primarily silica) are of secondary importance. We conclude that the combination of high lithogenic fluxes and low biogenic fluxes during the fall-winter period results in the deposition of dark laminae. The onset of upwelling and high surface productivity in the spring results in high biogenic silica fluxes that last into the summer. The relative contribution of silica to the total sediment flux is highest during this spring-summer period, and we suggest that light laminae are formed at that time. This is consistent with previous suggestions that sediment input is the primary factor controlling varve formation in this basin.


In 2007 the project with the renewal of the Vasa Park in Stockholm won the Siena Prize. The architects responsible for the project described how they aimed for upgrading the park within its historical framework. Since the project was a renewal and not a restoration of the park, I thought it would be interesting to study how the architects proceeded with this work. The aim of this essay has therefore been to examine how the last renewal of the Vasa Park has chosen to approach the history of the place. To understand the historical development of the park and how the renewal project was carried out, I started with a literature survey consisting of books, the program of the renewal and articles about the project. This was followed by site visits to get a sense of the place. Based on the collected information, I tried to interpret how the architects related to the history of the Vasa Park. The great importance of children's games and sports received increased attention during the period when the park was built. These thoughts were reflected in the very first design of the park and were developed even more during the 1900's. During the last renewal these features have become more distinctive while others have gone lost. The focus of the renewal was to adapt the park to current needs rather than preserve its historical design. This was an attitude I perceived had many similarities with Sven-Ingvar Andersson's restoration principle of free renewal, which purpose is to recreate the atmosphere and experience of the place, rather than its original shape.


This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to understand the experience of 10 later-life mothers who had a first child at age 35 or older and were in the process of raising a teenager. Data were collected with semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic coding. Initial findings suggest maternal age contributes to a positive parenting outcome due to life experience, emotional maturity and financial security. Drawbacks include fatigue and reduced fertility that limited family size, as well as competing life stages such as retirement and college. Older mothers felt in the mainstream. Clinical implications are discussed.


Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (α) is commonly engaged to measure the reliability in social, behavioural and education sciences. It is found to be observed that every study call for measuring a construct through multiple items. The estimation methods of Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (α) and McDonald's Omega coefficient (ω) absolutely considers that data is complete and normally distributed. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (α) relies on assumptions, whereas McDonald Omega coefficient (ω) is relying on fewer and better realistic assumption/s than the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (α). The impact of item deletion has been not observed on population reliability if Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (α) item deleted, but in case of McDonald Omega coefficient (ω), it reflects true population estimates of reliability through the removal of certain scale of item.Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (α) shall be replaceable with McDonald's Omega coefficient (ω) and it is strongly recommended to use in place of McDonald's Omega coefficient (ω). Literature Review of Cronbach Alpha Coefficient (α) and McDonald's Omega Coefficient (ω) has been carried out by me to implement the McDonald's Omega Coefficient (ω) concept in the analysis of my research work data/responses.This concept is applicable, wherever the responses from a sample (i.e., out of universe) is required to be collected for analysis and to conclude (i.e., to arrive at decision) at a particular issue in under mentioned study area/s and they are business management (human resources, marketing etc.), medical (virus, diabatology, aids etc.,), arts, science, engineering (civil, mechanical etc.)


Developing persuasive and consistent models of educational performance has proved elusive. Existing modelling suggests no clear relationship between resources and student performance. This mirrors observed policy outcomes. A possible explanation is that the achievement process is a complicated interactive one such that simple linear additive formulations break down. This analysis presents a stylized model of achievement where unmeasured teacher quality interacts with both resources and specific educational programs. Standard econometric analyses then replicate the aggregate findings in the literature. A policy implication is that finding 'best practices' may fail without recognition of the fundamental interactions. Copyright (c) Scottish Economic Society 2004.


Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles are used for the synthesis of various materials. The nanoparticles, when entering into the environment, affect aquatic life. Their antibacterial properties deter the biological treatment process of wastewater treatment plants. The study focuses on the effectiveness of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes for the removal of ZnO nanoparticles. In this study, a commercial membrane was used for the separation of ZnO nanoparticles in the presence of natural organic matter (NOM) and alkalinity. Membrane flux and retention were studied for different concentrations of ZnO (1 mg/L, 10 mg/L, and 100 mg/L). Bare and fouled membranes were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). At higher concentrations (>10 mg/L), ZnO nanoparticles tend to aggregate and increase in size, resulting in 95 to 98% retention. Further, the presence of NOM and alkalinity enhances particle–particle interactions and thereby promotes nanoparticle aggregation, which shows better retention even at lower concentrations (1–10 mg/L).


If real progress is to be made in 2005 on reducing poverty through trade, the EU must look towards its longer-term enlightened interests and rein in its search for short-term commercial advantage. To contribute to global prosperity and security, including Europe's, it should start actively backing developing countries' concerns at the G8, the WTO, and beyond. This paper sets out what Oxfam believes the EU should do in the run-up to the WTO Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December 2005.


The philosophical world has come to associate Gadamer's notion of understanding with a "fusion of horizons" (Horizontverschmelzung). Every introduction to Gadamer's philosophy places a heavy emphasis on this phrase, and Gadamer's most influential critics tend to focus closely on the notion as well. The image of fusion appears to many of Gadamer's critics (from Betti and Hirsch,1 to Habermas,2 to those of a Nietzschean-Derridean orientation such as Bernasconi3 and Caputo)4 to be fundamentally opposed (in various ways) to difference, tension, and even plurality: It appears to always make "one" out of "two," and even force "two" into "one" in a way that ultimately does violence to otherness, alterity, or resistance. Critics see it as a unifying and homogenizing force that aims to do away with a diversity of perspectives - a process in which one horizon is taken over or assimilated by another dominating one so that a totalized, univocal, or static end may be reached. Though I am as mesmerized as the next reader by Gadamer's image of the fusion of horizons, I suspect that the image considered alone is much too susceptible to misinterpretation: We would do well in avoiding a misrepresentation of that "event" of understanding that constitutes Gadamer's account and practice of hermeneutics if we move beyond our fixation on the fusion of horizons, and expand our focus so that Gadamer's more pervasive concept throughout Truth and Method - "play"(Spiel) - may come into view. Recognizing Gadamer's notion of understanding as "play" will allow us to see more clearly the way in which understanding always remains a dynamic process in which difference is the life-blood. It will also allow us to retrieve the context in which we can better grasp the meaning of the fusion of horizons. In referring to "play" in the context of art alone, much of the secondary literature on Gadamer discusses the concept only in its local relevance.5 Those who sense that its significance might stretch beyond the experience of artworks to, at least, the reading of texts, still find its larger implications to be vague or merely "suggestive," and in need of further explication.6 I would like to claim here that "play" has a global relevance in philosophical hermeneutics and show that "play" elucidates the very structure of understanding in general - that understanding which stretches through all of our hermeneutic experience, including our encounters with art, text, tradition in any of its forms, and with others in dialogue. Essential to Gadamer's concept of play, as he explains at the outset of his discussion of the ontology of the work of art in Truth and Method1 is that play is not a subjective act or attitude - not something that happens in the mind, impulses, or conduct of the subject - but is, rather, an activity that goes on in-between the players, reaches beyond the behavior or consciousness of any individual player, and has a life, meaning, essence, or spirit of its own that emerges from the players' engagement in their back-and-forth movement. This "spirit" of a particular occurrence of play is what Gadamer calls the true subject or "subject matter" (Sache) of play: It is the meaning of the play, which reaches presentation (Darstellung) only in and through the players' pattern of movement (Bewegungsordnung). The spirit, subject matter, or meaning of play, according to Gadamer, is the game itself (das Spiel selbst), which has the character of an "event" (Geschehen). Crucial to Gadamer's notion of play as "event" is that it is a process whose character is fundamentally dynamic. Gadamer perceives that what is essential to the definition of "play" is the spontaneous back and forth movement (Bewegung) that continually renews itself: it is the occurrence of this movement that goes on in-between the players that constitutes play. Because of this, we can see that play itself cannot be a solitary event. The movement of play itself requires a respondent for the motion to continue and the game to go on. …


A new generation UV absorber is obtained by microwave-heating-assisted hydrothermal synthesis: [Hgua](2)·(Ti(5)O(5)F(12)). The structure of this hybrid titanium(IV) oxyfluoride is ab initio determined from powder X-ray data by combining a direct space method, Rietveld refinement [orthorhombic, Cmm2, a = 22.410(1) Å, b = 11.191(1) Å, c = 3.802(1) Å], and density functional theory geometry optimization. The three-dimensional network is built up from infinite inorganic layers (∞)(Ti(5)O(5)F(12)) separated by guanidinium cations. The theoretical optical gap (3.2 eV) estimated from density of state calculations is in good agreement with the experimental gap (3.3 eV) obtained by UV-vis diffuse reflectivity. The optical absorption is mainly due to O(2p) → Ti(3d) and F(2p) → Ti(3d) transitions at higher energies. The refraction index is low in the visible range (n ≈ 1.9) compared to that of TiO(2) and, consequently, [Hgua](2)·(Ti(5)O(5)F(12)) shows a good transparency adapted to UV shielding. Under UV irradiation at 254 nm for 40 h, the white microcrystalline powder turns to light purple-gray. This color change is caused by the reduction of Ti(IV) to Ti(III), confirmed by magnetic measurements.


Background:  Diabetes has a significant impact on the impaired function of the reproductive system in the testis.Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of curcumin from turmeric on structural changes of testicular tissues and microvasculature in STZ-induced diabetic rats.Methods: Rats were injected with a single dose of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg BW) to induce a diabetic condition. Three days after the injection, rats with a blood sugar level > 250 mg/dl were considered diabetic. Rats were allocated to one of three groups, diabetic (DM), diabetic rats receiving curcumin (DMC) (200 mg/kg BW), and control (C). Testicular tissues were studied eight weeks after the treatment using the histological technique. Testicular microvasculature was examined using the vascular corrosion cast technique under a scanning electron microscope (SEM).Results: The testicular tissue of DM group showed damaged seminiferous tubules, spermatocytes, and spermatids with necrosis and germ cells degeneration. Destruction of testicular arteries and veins in pampiniform plexus were demonstrated. The destroyed capillaries, arterioles, and venules demonstrated stenosis and shrinkage. The vessel diameter in all DM groups decreased. In the DMC group which received curcumin, the appearance of all seminiferous tubules, spermatogenic, and sertoli cell was normal. The reconstruction and restoration of testicular artery, pampiniform plexus, capillary network, arterioles, and venules were clear. As a result of curcumin supplementation, the standard and healthy testis microvasculature was restored. The DMC vessels diameter increased back to a quasi normal condition, particularly at the artery, arteriole, and capillary levels.Conclusions: The results provided evident for effects of curcumin could be associated with recovering and improvement of the testicular tissues and microvasculatures in diabetic condition.Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Streptozotocin, Curcumin, Testis, Microvasculature, Vascular corrosion cast, Scanning electron microscope


Research in reversal learning has mainly focused on the functional role of dopamine and striatal structures in driving behavior on the basis of classic reinforcement learning mechanisms. However, recent evidence indicates that, beyond classic reinforcement learning adaptations, individuals may also learn the inherent task structure and anticipate the occurrence of reversals. A candidate structure to support such task representation is the hippocampus, which might create a flexible representation of the environment that can be adaptively applied to goal-directed behavior. To investigate the functional role of the hippocampus in the implementation of anticipatory strategies in reversal learning, we first studied, in 20 healthy individuals (11 women), whether the gray matter anatomy and volume of the hippocampus were related to anticipatory strategies in a reversal learning task. Second, we tested 20 refractory temporal lobe epileptic patients (11 women) with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis, who served as a hippocampal lesion model. Our results indicate that healthy participants were able to learn the task structure and use it to guide their behavior and optimize their performance. Participants' ability to adopt anticipatory strategies correlated with the gray matter volume of the hippocampus. In contrast, hippocampal patients were unable to grasp the higher-order structure of the task with the same success than controls. Present results indicate that the hippocampus is necessary to respond in an appropriately flexible manner to high-order environments, and disruptions in this structure can render behavior habitual and inflexible. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Understanding the neural substrates involved in reversal learning has provoked a great deal of interest in the last years. Studies with nonhuman primates have shown that, through repetition, individuals are able to anticipate the occurrence of reversals and, thus, adjust their behavior accordingly. The present investigation is devoted to know the role of the hippocampus in such strategies. Importantly, our findings evidence that the hippocampus is necessary to anticipate the occurrence of reversals, and disruptions in this structure can render behavior habitual and inflexible.


The overarching focus of this thesis is the institutional (and policy) consequences of European integration for the Republic of Croatia. So far, most research on 'candidate Europeanisation' has focused on the impact of EU conditionality on the domestic polity, politics, and policy domains of the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe. This study extends candidate-state Europeanisation research further to the South-East corner of the continent. Unlike the other Western Balkan states, Croatia is very close to concluding its entry talks and hence becoming the 28th EU member-state. Yet Croatia's bid for EU membership has been the most challenging, draconian and uncertain in the history of EU enlargement. The time is thus ripe for an appraisal of the EU's impact on Croatia's institutional context. The present study employs a historical variant of rational choice institutionalism in politics, answering acclaimed scholars' call for more 'pluralist' theorising in social sciences in general, and more explicit, history-sensitive and time-oriented theorising in Europeanisation research in particular. In this study, the historical perspective - encapsulated in the notion of 'institutional evolution' - helps make sense of the processes of 'politicisation', 'resilience' and 'institutionalisation' which have thus far been neglected in writing on 'candidate-state Europeanisation'. The present study inquires into four Croatian institutions and two policies: civil service, administrative procedures and justice systems, and territorial set-up, as well as regional policy and decentralisation. In terms of research design, a 'bottom-up-down' framework is employed here, aiming at providing a 'rounded' explanation of the phenomenon of domestic institutional development under EU conditional incentives. Overall, both the historical and empirical chapters suggest a 'sluggish' pattern of institutional development in Croatia, persisting resilience to change and therefore 'shallow' Europeanisation effects. That being said, the present study exposes the limits of the transformative power of the EU.


&NA; Crop insurance premium subsidies affect patterns of crop acreage for two reasons. First, holding insurance coverage constant, premium subsidies directly increase expected profit, which encourages more acreage of insured crops (direct profit effect). Second, premium subsidies encourage farms to increase crop insurance coverage. With more insurance coverage, farms obtain more subsidies, and farm revenue becomes less variable as indemnities offset revenue shortfalls, so acreage of insured crops likely increases (indirect coverage effect). By exploiting exogenous policy changes and using approximately 180,000 county‐crop‐year observations, we estimate the sum of these two effects of premium subsidies on the pattern of U.S. acreage across seven major field crops. We estimate that a 10% increase in the premium subsidy causes a 0.43% increase in the acreage of a crop in a county holding the premium subsidy of its competing crop constant. Taking into account the small share of premium subsidies in expected crop revenue, this subsidy impact is analogous to an own‐subsidy acreage elasticity of 1.24, which exceeds own‐price acreage elasticity estimates in the literature. One explanation for the larger acreage response to premium subsidies is that insurance causes an indirect coverage effect in addition to a direct profit effect.


The new combination Eucalyptus gunnii subsp. divaricata (McAulay & Brett) B.M.Potts comb. & stat. nov. is introduced for the Miena form of the Tasmanian cider gum Eucalyptus gunnii Hook.f., once described as a separate species, E. divaricata McAulay & Brett. This subspecies occurs on the Central Plateau of Tasmania, where it intergrades clinally with E. gunnii subsp. gunnii and E. archeri. Core populations of this subspecies are among the most frost-resistant of E. gunnii sens. lat., have juvenile foliage of interest for floriculture and have been exploited historically for their sweet sap. However, high mortality of trees in the last decade, coupled with only rare seedling recruitment and poor seed crops, is threatening the long-term survival of this taxon in the wild. E. gunnii subsp. divaricata qualifies as Endangered under Commonwealth and Tasmanian legislation.


Data derived from the literature supplemented by examination of specimens in collections show that 481 species of fish live in the fresh and brackish inland waters of Suriname, with 394 of these restricted to fresh waters. These 481 species represent 16 orders and 64 families. orders with the largest numbers of freshwater species in the Surinamese inland fish fauna are the Siluriformes (157 species), Characiformes (147 species), Perciformes (40 species), Gymnoti - formes (21 species) and Cyprinodontiformes (21 species). at the family level, the Characidae has the greatest number of freshwater species (83 species), followed by the Loricariidae (60 species), the Cichlidae (30 species), the Callichthyidae (23 species), the Heptapteridae (19 species) and the Anostomidae (17 species). Present data indicate that 25 of the species are known solely from locations within Suriname and 89 species solely in Surinamese river systems including the Maro wijne/Mana and Corantijn watersheds which in part extend into French Guiana and Guyana, respectively. Of 481 total spe- cies, 187 (38.9%) were based on type series that originated within Suriname. Continued descriptions of new species from the inland waters of Suriname demonstrate that the present total most likely distinctly underestimates the specieslevel diversity of the fish fauna. In terms of species per square kilometer, the presently documented richness of the Surinamese freshwater fish fauna is comparable to, or even greater than, the richness of fish faunas of several other tropical South american countries.


The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) administers the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). OSHA specific workplace and health standards do expressly preempt the entire field of workplace safety and health law, but where such standards do not exist or states developed their own OSHA plans, nor does it merely set a floor either. A type of "hybrid federalism" has been established. Here, by "modified" or "hybrid" federalism, this article refers to a strong federal-based field preemption approach to labor and employment law issues, but tied to a conflict preemption approach. Applying this hybrid preemption approach to the employee right to disconnect problem provides the best opportunity to address the growing epidemic of overwork through electronic communications in the United States.

This hybrid approach has two essential characteristics under OSHA. First, as a default standard, a federal general duty clause that requires all covered employers to maintain a workplace free of hazards that may cause serious injury or death and cannot be feasibly abated. Second, OSHA also has promulgated specific workplace safety and health standard over the last five decades that set more detailed and specific requirements for numerous health or safety dangers in the workplace. The specific standards occupy the field and all contrary state or local safety and health regulations are preempted. Yet, employers can still seek a permanent variance from any OSHA standard if they can establish that they have another method to achieve the same goal as the permanent standard. Second, the OSHAct also permits states to develop their own plans and submit them for approval to OSHA. Twenty-seven states have taken advantage of this option to one degree or another and have plans approved by OSHA. While these state-approved plans must be "at least as effective" as the federal OSHAct, some states, like California and Virginia, have been more aggressive in regulation and have regulated areas that the federal OSHAct has not. This Article maintains that a combination of general duty clause federal enforcement and individual state enforcement is the most effective way of providing a broad-based right to disconnect standard until a federal permanent standard can be promulgated.


A study comparing the speed, accuracy, and user satisfaction of three different touch screen strategies was performed. The purpose of the experiment was to evaluate the merits of the more intricate touch strategies that are possible on touch screens that return a continuous stream of touch data. The results showed that a touch strategy providing continuous feedback until a selection was confirmed had fewer errors than other touch strategies. The implications of the results for touch screens containing small, densely-packed targets were discussed.


Soil moisture is a critical process in the water cycle and its assessment is of paramount importance to forecast changes in the water balance of a region. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology overcomes the limitations of point data by producing a tridimensional view of subsurface characteristics with a large economy of time, logistic, data processing and analysis. The purpose of this research is to study soil moisture under different land use/land covers (LULC) at the Little river watershed, near Tifton, Georgia collecting point data using a hand carried Theta probe (TP), and tridimensional data using a GPR equipment. Two sampling sites and six different land uses were analyzed in this project taking simultaneous samples with both instruments. Sub-surface tri-dimensional maps of 30x30m fields 1m depth were collected in three fields under different land use and vegetation cover. Transects of 30m and 1m depth were collected, one per field, for three additional fields under different land use and vegetation cover. Visualization tools and statistical analysis are used to compare subsurface profiles and soil moisture within and among land uses. Preliminary results showed that subsurface soil in agriculture fields is highly stratified in patterns that can be the result of disturbance caused by agriculture equipment and practices and that affect the homogeneous distribution of soil moisture. These results are important to show a predominant role of ground disturbance in the soil moisture behavior.


The document presents the methodology elaborated by JRC within the framework of its participation to the work of the Smart Grids Task Force, Expert Group on Smart Grid Infrastructure Deployment (Expert Group 4). The then adopted Regulation 347/2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure provides for the establishment of a EU-wide list of "Projects of Common Interest", a label identifying key energy infrastructure projects in EU. Within this framework, Expert Group 4 had the mandate to define an evaluation framework for projects proposals in the field of smart grids. On the basis of its experience on Cost Benefit Analysis of smart grid projects, JRC developed a multi-criteria assessment framework including: a) a checklist to check that project proposals meet the requirements set out by the Regulation; b) a techno-economic assessment through Key Performance Indicators to capture the key features of each project; c) a Cost Benefit Analysis of each projects.


Cities can play a key role in mitigating climate change impacts, as they represent two thirds of the world's energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents a model-based approach to support cities in the challenge of including energy issues in early stage urban planning. Recognizing that successful planning must rely on highly integrated solutions, this paper aims, through its approach, to better understand and reinforce links between generally fragmented sectors, scales, stages and disciplines. Considering the planning framework of the Swiss canton of Geneva, the main planning instruments are presented and an in-depth analysis of the urban and energetic goals and constraints is carried out. Linking the disciplines of planning and optimization, a Mixed Integer Linear Programing (MILP) model is formulated to identify optimal energy strategies, as well as to provide insights on the urban layout, distribution and size of buildings. Additionally, this approach aims to overcome one of the difficulties of early stage planning, where information regarding energy is scarce. In this regard the proposed methodology generates building information based on available data and constraints. The simultaneous consideration of multiple scales allows to assess the interactions of building scale decisions with overall district energy supply alternatives. The resulting depiction and quantification of trade-offs should allow planners to anticipate optimal energy system configurations and adapt their plans accordingly.


The Chinese stock market is rapidly developing and is becoming one of the wealth management investment centres. Recent legislation has allowed wealth management products to be invested in the Chinese stock market. By taking data from St. Louis Fed and analysing the Chinese stock market using the Hurst exponent, which was calculated by using two methods, and fractional Brownian motion, it is proved that the Chinese stock market is not efficient. However, further analysis was directed to finding its equilibrium state by using logistic difference and a differential equation. To achieve more precise movement, a stochastic logistic and delayed logistic differential equation have been implemented which are driven by fractional Brownian motion. As there is no explicit solution to a delayed differential equation using the Stratonovich integral, a method of steps has been used. A solution has been obtained that gives the equilibrium state of the Chinese stock market. The following solution is only for a Hurst exponent that is higher than 1/2. If Hurst exponent is close to 1/2, then Brownian motion is an ordinary one and the equilibrium solution is different. Sensitivity analysis in that case has been conducted in order to analyse possible stationary states. The main conclusion is that the Chinese stock market is still not mature enough to be efficient, which represents a hidden risk in wealth management investing. A new approach to valuing the efficiency of the market by using nonlinear dynamics and system analysis has been proposed.


In diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), reliable fiber tracking results rely on the accurate reconstruction of the fiber orientation distribution function (fODF) in each individual voxel. For high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI), deconvolution-based approaches can reconstruct the complex fODF and have advantages in terms of computational efficiency and no need to estimate the number of distinct fiber populations. However, HARDI-based methods usually require relatively high b-values and a large number of gradient directions to produce good results. Such requirements are not always easy to meet in common clinical studies due to limitations in MRI facilities. Moreover, most of these approaches are sensitive to noise. In this study, we propose a new framework to enhance the performance of the spherical deconvolution (SD) approach in low angular resolution DWI by employing a single channel blind source separation (BSS) technique to decompose the fODF initially estimated by SD such that the desired fODF can be extracted from the noisy background. The results based on numerical simulations and two phantom datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves better performance than SD in terms of robustness to noise and variation in b-values. In addition, the results show that the proposed method has the potential to be applied to low angular resolution DWI which is commonly used in clinical studies.


Hasiuk and Lohmann (2008) present a geochemical study of cement and crinoid remains from the much studied Mississippian Muleshoe mud mound, New Mexico, U.S.A. They deduce Mississippian paleocean chemistry from data on altered cement and crinoids that are assumed to have recrystallized in sea water and retained their original marine chemistry. It is surprising in this context that they present data for just one brachiopod, as brachiopods are accepted as one of the most reliable marine proxies! They do not discuss the interpretation of Muleshoe brachiopod data made by Wu and Chafetz (2002). The latter authors differentiate intermound from mound brachiopods by their {delta}13C values; higher mound values are thought to be due to seepage of 13C-enriched waters produced by methanogenic bacteria. The Muleshoe mound is interpreted by Stanton et al. (2000) as being deposited in water ~ 200 m deep in the dysoxic oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ). Consequently, can Muleshoe carbonate influenced by methane seepage and deposited in the OMZ be regarded as an appropriate choice of material for an open marine proxy?


Shock waves resulting from asteroidal and laboratory impacts convert sp2-bonded graphitic material to sp3-bonded diamond. Depending on the shock pressure and temperature conditions, complex nanostructures can form that are neither graphite nor diamond but belong to the diaphite material group, which are characterized by structurally intergrown layered sp2- and sp3-bonded carbon domains. Our ultrahigh-resolution transmission electron microscopy images combined with density functional theory calculations demonstrate that diaphites have two related but distinct structural families. Here, we describe diaphite nanostructures from natural and laboratory shocked samples, provide a framework for classifying the members of these materials, and draw attention to their excellent mechanical and electronic material properties.


Rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa are typically underserved by financial services. Mobile money brings a substantial reduction in the transaction costs of remittances. We follow the introduction of mobile money for the first time in rural villages of Mozambique using a randomized field experiment. We find that mobile money increased migration out of these villages, where we observe lower agricultural activity and investment. At the same time, remittances received and welfare of rural households increased, particularly when facing geo-referenced village-level floods and household-level idiosyncratic shocks. Our work suggests that mobile money can accelerate urbanization and structural change in Sub-Saharan Africa.


Among Darwin's brilliant ideas was his (1871) conception of animal communication signals as adaptive characteristics of a species. The idea was subsequently taken up by the ethologists of Europe in the 1930s (Lorenz, Tinbergen, and von Frisch in particular) in their studies of animal signaling systems in nature. For many subsequent researchers, human language was the implicit model for an animal communication system. Although not expecting the same level of complexity, these researchers assumed that animal signals transmitted information from sender to receiver that was honest, and that benefitted them both. However, the honest signaling/mutual benefit view was challenged by new researchers steeped in the sociobiology and behavioral ecology movement of the 1960s. The emphasis on competition in this new field inspired these researchers to reconceive the animal signaling process as one in which the sender manipulates the receiver to the sender's advantage. This view was challenged in turn when researchers recognized that the receiver was not a passive party in the interaction, but fully capable of manipulating the sender to its advantage. The communication interaction can be viewed as an arm's race. The handicap principle—the idea that honesty in signaling can be maintained if signals are costly—is one way the receiver may gain an edge in this competition. Eventually, game theory considerations led to the development of a revised perspective in which signals evolve only when both the sender and the receiver benefit on average, and where signals are honest on average. Researchers examining a particular signaling system's signals these days ask not are the signals honest, but how reliable are the signals.


[1] Measurements from the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program's 2004 Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment (M-PACE) provide a unique opportunity to study poorly understood ice formation processes in mixed-phase stratocumulus. Using meteorological, aerosol, and ice nucleus measurements to initialize large-eddy simulations with size-resolved microphysics, we compare predicted liquid and ice mass, number, and size distribution with observations from a typical flight. We find that ambient ice nuclei appear insufficient by a few orders of magnitude to explain observed ice, consistent with past literature. We also find that two processes previously hypothesized to explain the discrepancy, shatter of freezing drops and fragmentation during ice-ice collisions, were not significant sources of ice based on parameterizations from existing studies. After surveying other mechanisms that have been hypothesized to explain ice formation in mixed-phase clouds generally, we find two that may be strong enough: (1) formation of ice nuclei from drop evaporation residuals, a process suggested by sparse and limited measurements to date, and (2) drop freezing during evaporation, a process suggested only by inference at this time. The first mechanism can better explain the persistence of mixed-phase conditions in simulations of less vigorous stratus observed during the Beaufort Arctic Storms Experiment (BASE). We consider conditions under which emission of nuclei from the ocean surface or activation through cloud-phase chemistry could provide alternative explanations for M-PACE observations. Additional process-oriented measurements are suggested to distinguish among ice formation mechanisms in future field studies.


BACKGROUND
In dilated cardiomyopathies (DCMs) changes in expression of protein-coding genes are associated with reverse remodeling, and these changes can be regulated by microRNAs (miRs). We tested the general hypothesis that dynamic changes in myocardial miR expression are predictive of β-blocker-associated reverse remodeling.

METHODS
Forty-three idiopathic DCM patients (mean left ventricular ejection fraction 0.24 ± 0.09) were treated with β-blockers. Serial ventriculography and endomyocardial biopsies were performed at baseline, and after 3 and 12 months of treatment. Changes in RT-PCR (candidate miRs) or array-measured miRs were compared based on the presence (R) or absence (NR) of a reverse-remodeling response, and a miR-mRNA-function pathway analysis (PA) was performed.

RESULTS
At 3 months, 2 candidate miRs were selectively changed in Rs, decreases in miR-208a-3p and miR-591. PA revealed changes in miR-mRNA interactions predictive of decreased apoptosis and myocardial cell death. At 12 months, 5 miRs exhibited selective changes in Rs (decreases in miR-208a-3p, -208b-3p, 21-5p, and 199a-5p; increase in miR-1-3p). PA predicted decreases in apoptosis, cardiac myocyte cell death, hypertrophy, and heart failure, with increases in contractile and overall cardiac functions.

CONCLUSIONS
In DCMs, myocardial miRs predict the time-dependent reverse-remodeling response to β-blocker treatment, and likely regulate the expression of remodeling-associated miRs.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01798992.

FUNDING
NIH 2R01 HL48013, 1R01 HL71118 (Bristow, PI); sponsored research agreements from Glaxo-SmithKline and AstraZeneca (Bristow, PI); NIH P20 HL101435 (Lowes, Port multi-PD/PI); sponsored research agreement from Miragen Therapeutics (Port, PI).


To date, there has been no demonstration of a transition metal laser that uses a glass host. Calculations show that if reasonable pump power could be confined to the small cross-sectional area of a fibre optic core, the threshold pump power could be brought down to a realistic level for laser action. A transition metal fibre laser, if practicable, would make a cheap, compact and highly tunable laser source in the near infrared. This project comprised two parts. Firstly, spectroscopy and developmental work on a host glass identified as being an excellent prospect for a Cr3+ fibre laser. Secondly, the spectroscopic investigation of a new family of glass found to host Cr4+. Lithium lime silicate (LLS) glass was identified as an excellent prospect for a Cr3+ fibre laser. Not only possessing suitable thermal properties for fibre drawing, LLS had a radiative quantum efficiency (QE) measured as 15% - a very high figure for Cr3+ doped glass. It absorbed in two broad bands, 400-500nm and 600-750nm and the emission spectrum was also extremely broad, extending between 700nm and 1050µm. The upper state lifetime was about 35 µs and the peak cross-section of emission was found to be 6 x 10-21cm2. The LLS composition was optimised in terms of its spectroscopy and thermal properties and a fibre was fabricated. An excited state absorption (ESA) investigation was performed on the fibre - this is believed to be the first report of an ESA experiment on transition metal doped glass. Unfortunately, the fibre quality was not sufficient to make a realistic attempt at a demonstration of a fibre laser. There are very few glasses known to host Cr4+, and none of these have thermal properties suitable for fibre drawing. This thesis reports the discovery that sulphide chalcogenide glasses, which are stable enough for fibre drawing, also host the chromium (IV) ion. A wide range of sulphide based glass was fabricated and the spectroscopic investigation revealed the QE to be low, ranging from 0 to 3%. The absorption spectra typically extended between 600nm and 1300nm and the emission between 0.8µm and 1.5µm. As the samples were warmed up from liquid nitrogen to room temperature, the peak of emission experienced a remarkable blue shift of up to 400nm owing to a site-dependent non-radiative decay mechanism. The upper state lifetime was found to be about 1 µs. Despite the low QE and short lifetime, calculations suggest that laser action in a low-loss narrow-cored fibre might still be feasible. However, the lifetime cross-section product for arsenic trisulphide, the best of the glasses tried, was about a factor of six times smaller than the Cr3+ doped LLS.


Scholars have not paid much attention to the shādūf and they often describe it without studying the historical developments of the mechanical principles upon which its functioning is based. However, this water lifting device plays a very important role in the emergence of some basic concepts of mechanics: equilibrium and the law of the lever. This paper looks at the history of these concepts in relation to the use of the shādūf and pulley. It allows us to identify a set of basic principles that we can find both in theoretical works (the oldest surviving text is the Pseudo-Aristotelian Mechanical Problems 300 BC) and in books more focused on the practical applications of such principles.


A three-phase analysis of the Vitek ESBL test and a double-disk (2 disk) test was performed to assess their ability to detect extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) in members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. In the first two phases involving detection of ESBLs in 157 stains processing well-characterized beta-lactamases, sensitivity and specificity were found to be 99.5 and 100%, respectively, for the Vitek ESBl test and 98.1 and 99.4%, respectively, for the 2-disk test. In the third phase, in which the ability of each test to detect ESBLs in 295 clinical isolates was assessed, there was only one false positive (Vitek ESBL test). Across all three phases, the Vitek ESBL test was found to be much easier to perform than the 2-disk test. The latter also involved subjective interpretation of results. There were a total of 176 Escherichia coli and 157 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates and less than 40 isolates of each of 14 other species evaluated. In a supplemental study of Klebsiella oxytoca, an organism possessing a chromosomal beta-lactamase similar to an ESBL, the Vitek ESBL test was found to be capable of detecting hyperproduction of this enzyme in strains of this species as well. These data indicate that the Vitek ESBL test is reliable for the detection of ESBLs in E. coli and K. pneumoniae, the two species in which ESBLs are most common, and of hyperproduction of the K. oxytoca beta-lactamase, a situation which engenders a level of resistance to this species similar to that seen with ESBLs.


The synthesis is described of a porphyrin alcohol (22) which has a structure very similar to that of porphyrin a(2). The model porphyrin was resolved by separation of its camphanate esters. Ozonolysis of the 2-nitrobenzoate of each enantiomer in tritiated form gave a derivative of 2-hydroxypentanedioic acid whose configuration was determined by dilution analysis. It is demonstrated that correlation of the stereochemistry of porphyrin a with that of the model (22) will be possible by means of the 1H and 19F n.m.r. spectra of the corresponding esters with (–)-3,3,3-trifluoro-2-methoxy-2-phenylpropanoic acid.


In summary, the presented thesis analyzes two distinct economic subjects: security of supply in natural gas markets and greenhouse gas abatement potentials in the residential heating market. These subjects considered both reflect key points in the triangle of energy policy and are both associated with transnational market failures within energy markets. The security of supply analyses in an intermeshed network are approached from a rather normative, top-down perspective of a social planner. On the contrary, the analyses of greenhouse gases emitted by households are positive analyses of consumer choices. The normative analyses of security of supply in natural gas markets and the positive analyses on greenhouse gas abatement in the residential heating market are organized in two parts of the thesis. 1. Normative analyses - Security of supply in natural gas markets:
The two papers of the first part of the dissertation thesis are based on a normative approach with the European natural gas market and infrastructure model TIGER that allows for security of supply analyses. The general idea behind the modeling approach is based on the assumption of a social planner and finds an efficient utilization of the natural gas infrastructure. More precisely, the security of supply analyses conducted in the first part of the thesis refer to scenario simulations of disrupted supply routes in the European natural gas network. The effects of these security of supply scenarios on the usage of other infrastructure components, on marginal supply costs and disruptions to consumers are investigated.
2. Positive analyses of greenhouse gas abatement potentials - Econometric modeling of consumer choices and evaluation of public policies:
The second part of the thesis includes two positive analyses which investigate household choices to derive greenhouse gas abatement potentials. In the residential heating market, the energy efficiency level exhibited and the type of energy carrier used are determined by investment decisions and significantly affect the level of greenhouse gas emissions. Major investment decisions of households concern investments in heating systems and in dwelling insulation. The investment decision of heterogenous households is not strictly driven by monetary objectives but also by non-monetary preferences. Hence, understanding household behavior is crucial for the development of targeted policies in greenhouse gas abatement. In the third paper of the thesis, micro-economic greenhouse gas abatement curves are derived theoretically and numerically by applying the dynamic microsimulation model (DIscrHEat) for the residential heating market, which integrates a discrete choice estimation of household behavior by using data on actual heating choices. The last paper is a panel data analysis of the effectiveness of subsidies on residential investments in energy efficiency and on energy consumption applying a differences-in-differences-in-differences approach.


I saw them sitting on the bench, side-by-side, outside the Cancer Care building. Adem was staring into the distance. His father, Brent, was leaning forward, with his head resting in his hands. Without asking, I knew they had received the terrible news that we had all dreaded. Adem's disease had not responded to the latest salvage chemotherapy. His acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was multirelapsed, persistent and refractory. There were no other treatment options available. He was 18 years of age.

The father and son 'team' were away from home during Adem's lengthy treatment and spent most of their days at the hospital (in the inpatient or outpatient areas). The rest of the family came to visit each weekend so that they could spend time together. Over a period of almost 2 years Adem and Brent formed close relationships with everyone in Cancer Care including patients, families, nurses, doctors, allied healthcare professionals, kitchen staff, patient support staff, administration staff and the even the cleaners. They remained positive, open and warm throughout the difficult journey of cancer treatment. Figure 1 displays a photo of Adem's warm smiling face. Anyone they met was an instant friend who they wanted to get to know and help in any way possible. Cancer Care was like a second home, and within the professional boundaries, we were the makeshift 'family' they lived their lives with each day.

During his treatment, after receiving many blood donations, Adem and his family founded 'Team Adem'; a blood donation community and charity organisation to help support people living with haematological malignancies. 'Team Adem' was, and continues to be, a huge success. The community, patients, families and staff from the hospital became involved. Adem and his family's enthusiasm to help others was contagious.

Shortly after receiving the devastating news of his persistent disease, Adem released a …


extract] To comment upon the various hearings of FCT v Mitchum in boxing style, 'Mr Mitchum suffered a low blow in the first round, yet recovered to deliver a second round knock down and a lucky third round knock out.' The case focused on the derivation and source of income under s25 (1)(b) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), (ITAA) and the provision of dependent services under Article IX (2) of the Switzerland/Australian Double Taxation Agreement. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the High Court would have reached a similar ruling in FCT v Mitchum if Article 17 of the United States/ Australia Double Taxation Agreement had been in effect.


OBJECTIVE
Accumulating evidence suggests that hyperandrogenemia may be a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) in women. The present study was carried out to test the hypothesis that hyperandrogenemia is associated with type 2 diabetes in women and thus may contribute to the increased risk of CHD in women with type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Sex hormones, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and risk factors for CHD were measured in 20 postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes and in 29 control subjects. All of the diabetic and control subjects were Hispanic women aged >55 years who were not taking hormone replacement therapy lipid-lowering drugs, or insulin and who were otherwise randomly chosen from a cohort of stroke-free subjects from the Northern Manhattan Stroke Study

RESULTS
Mean age, BMI, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, and smoking were not significantly different between cases and control subjects, but waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was significantly higher in the diabetic subjects (P = 0.01). The mean levels of free testosterone (FT) (P = 0.01), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (P<0.04), and estradiol (P = 0.01) (controlled for WHR) were significantly higher in the diabetic subjects; with the statistical outliers removed, the testosterone (P = 0.05) and androstenedione (P = 0.002) levels (controlled for WHR) were also significantly higher in the diabetic subjects. The mean levels of estrone, cortisol, and SHBG were not significantly different. The results were similar in the 10 diabetic subjects treated with diet only Significant positive correlations (controlled for age and BMI) were observed between FT or testosterone and cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and blood pressure.

CONCLUSIONS
Postmenopausal Hispanic women with type 2 diabetes had both hyperandrogenemia and hyperestrogenemia, and testosterone or FT correlated positively with risk factors for CHD. Hyperandrogenemia may be a link between diabetes and CHD in women.


Continuous monitoring of high pressure and high temperature in energy system applications has been a developing research area in today's energy sector. Multifunctional materials have the potential to provide real-time monitoring of structures where temperature and pressure sensing is critical to its performance and efficiency. In this study, multifunctional materials are studied by embedding piezoelectric materials with two ongoing technologies, woven fabric composites and additive manufacturing (AM). The AM technology allows the flexibility of embedding a sensor within the structure, all while not compromising the mechanical performance requirements. The "smart parts" are fabricated modifying the standard additive manufacturing process, using Electron Beam Melting and Selective Laser Melting, into a two stage fabrication in which a piezoelectric material is embedded in specific locations. Two case studies of "smart parts" are modeled, fabricated and analyzed in different conditions where the piezoelectric and pyroelectric response for pressure and temperature sensing are recorded. The design and performance of "smart parts" are compared to ideal conditions modeled in ABAQUS. The structural composition of smart parts showed a transition zone in the microstructure, indicating a change in mechanical behavior due to the "stop-andgo" process. Tensile results in cylindrical samples fabricated using "stop-and-go" process failed by brittle fracture near the interface where the second fabrication starts. However, the evaluation showed a voltage response that reached up to 6 V for the smart cylinders, and it generated 0.25 pA from the pyroelectric response on the smart tube. The smart parts demonstrate reliable methodologies that can be implemented as sensing components using the dielectric and pyroelectric response as temperature sensing mechanism, as well as piezoelectric response as pressure sensing mechanism. On the other side, the reinforcement with piezoelectric particles of woven fabric composites is achieved by a modified autoclave molding fabrication. The composites are fabricated with different weight percentages of PZT from 0% to 20%. These structures are analyzed in their mechanical integrity by three-point bend experiments which show a decrease in strength from 400 MPa to 250 MPa. The dispersion of particles verified the accumulation of epoxy in the depressions resulted from the intersection of the yarn and warp threads in these types of composites and was also confirmed by a


Enemy forces should not be able to pursue their way either by land, sea or air to the United States across Canadian territory. William Lyon Mackenzie King, 20 August 1938 [W]hat we have to fear is more a lack of confidence in the United States as to our security, rather than enemy action... If we do enough to assure the United States we shall have done a good deal more than a cold assessment of the risk would indicate to be necessary. Maurice Pope, April 1944THE CANADA-UNITED STATES DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP has been a real bargain for the Canadian government, allowing it to enjoy a level of security it could never have reached with its own resources. In return, Ottawa must make sure that its territory will not be used as a forward base or a port of entry for eventual enemies of the United States. The problem is that Canadians do not necessarily share either American perceptions of what constitutes a threat or their view of how a perceived threat should be countered. Consequently, the government of Canada often adopts defensive measures that it does not always consider necessary. Thus, according to Paul Letourneau and Michel Fortmann, when faced with a Pentagon 'which almost unilaterally defines the nature of the threat, Canada essentially tries to limit American ambitions, whilst preserving the friendly character of their exchanges.'(1) This was certainly an apt description of the situation that prevailed during the Second World War and the cold war. It is our contention that little has changed in the dynamics of the United States-Canadian defence and security relationship since the cold war ended. The risks of diverging in any meaningful way from what the United States expects of Canada are still considered far too great for any Canadian government to contemplate seriously.Since 1993, when the Liberal government came to power in Ottawa, bilateral relations between Canada and the United States have seemed to be nothing less than agreement and harmony, especially over questions of defence and security. Despite its rhetoric, which is full of references to the need for greater independence vis-a-vis the United States, the government of Jean Chretien has developed a good relationship with the administration of Bill Clinton in the United States.(2) Nevertheless, changes in United States threat perceptions and defence doctrines could force Canada to adopt measures that do not necessarily correspond to its priorities and might even conflict with some of its policies, notably in the areas of the fight against non-military threats and the defence of North American aerospace. Unfortunately, Canada has little choice. Refusal could endanger the very foundations of the American pillar of Canada's defence policy.DIFFERING PRECEPTIONS AND PRIORITIESThe different views of the two governments on what constitutes a threat and how to deal with it affect the grand orientations of Canadian and American security policies. United States strategic priorities have evolved over the last few years. The American government can hardly escape its 'international responsibilities,' that is, putting American interests first and protecting the country's dominant position, any more than it could during the cold war. Washington has no qualms about using force against perceived 'trouble-makers' such as Serbia, Iraq, or North Korea. But what changes the defence equation in the United States is the increasing number of insidious and unpredictable threats against its territory. Terrorism, drug trafficking, attacks against cyberspace, proliferation of missile technology, and sophisticated industrial spying have all become objects of increasing concern.Nobody should be surprised that more and more Americans worry just as much, if not more so, about the security of the territory of the United States itself as about protecting their international interests, or that an important segment of the political elite is turning toward isolationism and defence of the homeland. …