In Cambodia, as in many low‐income countries, private commercial providers play an important role in the
treatment of malaria.  To design effective interventions for improved access to accurate diagnosis and
effective malaria treatment, there is a need to understand retailers' behaviour and identify the factors that
influence their stocking and pricing decisions.  Private commercial retailers are the last link in a chain of
manufacturers, importers and wholesalers, and their supply sources are likely to have an important
influence on the price and quality of malaria treatment that consumers can access.  However, there is
limited rigorous evidence on the structure and operation of the distribution chain for antimalarial drugs that
serves the retail sector.
The ACTwatch Supply Chain Study, one of the ACTwatch project components, aims to address this gap by
conducting quantitative and qualitative studies on distribution chains for antimalarials in the ACTwatch
countries (Cambodia, Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia).
This report presents the results from qualitative interviews with antimalarial drug wholesalers, retailers and
other key stakeholders conducted in Cambodia between April and November 2009. A summary of the key
findings is given below.  To provide a complete description of the supply chain for antimalarial drugs, this
report should be read in conjunction with the report on the results of the structured supply chain survey also
conducted as part of this study [1], available at www.actwatch.info.
• As the bulk of antimalarial treatment is manufactured outside of the country, pharmaceutical importers,
including PSI/Cambodia, constitute a critical component of Cambodia's private sector distribution chain
for antimalarials by ensuring a regular national supply of antimalarials and also by facilitating their
distribution throughout the country. Non‐importing wholesalers also play a role in distributing
antimalarials, particularly to more remote areas and to retail outlet types not targeted by importers,
including more informal types such as drug shops, grocery stores, etc.
• The degree of competition varied by level in the distribution chain: at import level, competition was
restrained by sole distributor and like agreements between foreign manufacturers and domestic
importers, and also by a number of barriers to entry, including the costs of importing, the limited size of
the overall market and lack of access to capital. Competition was less restrained at lower levels of the
chain where the key barrier in theory to market entry was the difficulty of securing a license to operate,
though many believed it was a barrier easily circumvented.
• Commodities for malaria treatment, including ACTs and RDTs, were perceived to be generally available
in the private sector distribution chain; however, availability of ACTs and RDTs at lower levels of the
chain was poorer. At both wholesale and retail levels, stocking decisions were driven by perceived drug
quality, which was in turn affected by factors such as media promotion and social marketing targeting
wholesalers, retailers and consumers, as in the case of Malarine (the ACT brand socially marketed by
PSI/Cambodia). However, supplier stock outs of Malarine combined with its perceived side effects led
some providers to continue stocking alternatives treatments, including artemisinin monotherapies, even
though they were aware that sales of such products were prohibited.
• Most wholesalers and retailers purchased new stock from either one or two suppliers. When choosing a
supplier, factors considered were supplier selling prices, availability of delivery services, and perceived
knowledge/expertise of the supplier in the treatment of malaria. Offering credit facilities was also cited
as a strategy to attract custom, but access to supplier credit was perceived to be restricted to customers
known to suppliers.
2
• Retailers and wholesalers had similar price setting behaviours. Providers reported setting their price on
the basis of antimalarial purchase price and their price mark‐ups on the basis of transport costs. At the
top of the chain, importers considered a broader range of costs when setting prices, including overhead
and promotion costs among others. In addition, most providers admitted seeking profits, although many
argued that their pricing decision was constrained by the price set by other shops. Second and third‐
degree price discrimination strategies were commonly reported by both retailers and wholesalers who
varied prices on the basis of volume purchased and customer characteristics.
• Retailers employed a wide range of tactics to gain competitive advantage over other businesses, attract
consumers and generate demand. A retailer's reputation for delivering high quality treatment, reflected
in their length of operation in a market, positive consumer experiences, and through the provision of
'cocktail' therapies, was viewed as crucial to achieving this; however, providing added value services,
such as of blood diagnostic testing, was not. Nevertheless, RDTs were available from many outlets and
were perceived to be easy to use, although less precise than microscopy for confirming malaria
infection.


This collection of essays situates the study and practice of international mediation and peaceful settlement of disputes within a changing global context. The book is organized around issues of concern to practitioners, including the broader regional, global, and institutional context of mediation and how this broader environment shapes the opportunities and prospects for successful mediation. A major theme is complexity, and how the complex contemporary context presents serious challenges to mediation. This environment describes a world where great-power rivalries and politics are coming back into play, and international and regional organizations are playing different roles and facing different kinds of constraints in the peaceful settlement of disputes. The first section discusses the changing international environment for conflict management and reflects on some of the challenges that this changing environment raises for addressing conflict. Part II focuses on the consequences of bringing new actors into third-party engagement and examines what may be harbingers for how we will attempt to resolve conflict in the future. The third section turns to the world of practice, and discusses mediation statecraft and how to employ it in this current international environment. The volume aims to situate the practice and study of mediation within this wider social and political context to better understand the opportunities and constraints of mediation in today's world. The value of the book lies in its focus on complex and serious issues that challenge both mediators and scholars. This volume will be of much interest to students, practitioners, and policymakers in the area of international negotiation, mediation, conflict resolution and international relations.


The hookword method of learning foreign language vocabulary evolved by Paivio (1978) is far less widely known than the keyword method of Pressley and his associates and has been subject to very little experimantation. Furthermore, althought intended as a rehearsal and learning technique to be used by any individual learner independently of a teacher and any material constraints, virtually no attempt bas been made to implement it.
Originally developed for the learning of French vocabulary, the system was adapted by the author for use with Polish. Following a description of the method, it is shown how this adaptation was accomplished. A number of positive and neutral observations are listed which were recorded over the twelve-month period in which it was amployed; drawbacks of the method are then described and discussed.
The overall experience was positive in so far as it gave insights into the potential of imagery as a memory and learning aid and in that it substantially augmented and reinforced the author's Polish lexis at no cost to any other activity


Previous research found that crayfish (Cambarus chasmodactylus) may be engaged in a cleaning mutualism with ectosymbiotic worms (Annelida: Branchiobdellidae), yet mechanisms for symbiosis establishment and maintenance remain unknown. In addition, it is unclear why a co-occurring crayfish species (Orconectes cristavarius) hosts almost no worms. The research in this thesis seeks to answer some of these questions by incorporating field surveys with laboratory and field experiments to assess the influence of both partner control behaviors and environmental fouling on the interaction between crayfish and branchiobdellid worms.


The structure of Earth's critical zone, which is the interface between the solid Earth and its fluid envelopes and involves the coevolution of biota, soils, and landforms, is governed by processes important to hydrology, geology, biology, and atmospheric science [National Research Council, 2001] (Figure 1). Earth surface scientists have long recognized that temperature, chemical, and gravitational gradients drive energy and water fluxes, thus controlling systems evolution, but understanding the critical zone has been tackled primarily from disciplinary perspectives [Brantley et al., 2006]. Interdisciplinary research is needed, and many such efforts, such as the U.S. National Science Foundation's recent watershed-scale Critical Zone Observatories and the National Ecological Observatory Network, are in formative stages. By and large, these facilities focus on utilizing land surface complexity to elucidate process knowledge. Unfortunately, incorporating such complexity occurs at the expense of the control that characterizes true experimentation.


An explosion-proof UV/VIS sensor has been available even in sewer systems for some years for simultaneous measurement of CODeq, filtered CODeq, TSSeq and nitrateeq. This sensor allows in-situ real-time measurements with no sampling, no sample preparation and no reagents. Three case studies are presented in this paper using this UV/VIS sensor for longterm sewer monitoring issues whereby two different installation strategies are applied. The pros and cons of both different installation solutions are compared and different calibration results during dry and wet weather conditions and long-term operational sewer monitoring experiences are given in this paper.


Reading habits, accessing resources, and material preferences change rapidly in a digital world. University students, as digital natives, are accessing countless resources, from lecture notes to research papers electronically. The change of reading habits with a great scale has led to differentiation on accessibility of resources, archiving them and usage of related technologies. The purpose of this study is to examine the e-book usage preferences versus printed material along with reading habits in a context of different variables. Additionally, different uses of e-books in a variety of faculties have been the focus of this study. The participants comprised of 222 students, studying in 36 different universities across Turkey. A questionnaire was developed specifically for the study. The questionnaire consisted of three parts: Printed book reading habits, e-book reading habits (methods of reaching e-books, aim of usage etc.), and technological knowledge (e-book related tools and file formats etc.). According to the results of study, approximately 68% of university students stated that they read one book in a week and 62% indicated that they are e-book readers. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between social environment and reading habits of students. University students put forward accessibility advantage (68%) of e-book and stated that they mostly read e-book for research (81%). E-book format which is most commonly preferred among students is Portable Document Format (pdf) (73%), while the computer is the most commonly used e-book medium (60%).


Profitability and competitiveness cannot be gained without the proper utilization of workforce. Modern day organizations are experiencing difficulties to retain and engage their competent employee. The intention to quit or turnover intention of the employee has been a prime area of concern for the banks as the labour market exhibited a shortage of workforce that is competent as well as qualified. Banks witnessed a growing phase with intense competition from newly entered private and foreign banks. In this scenario employees may switch their jobs in the wake of better compensation and growth opportunities offered. Therefore, there is a need to study new and improved management concepts like workplace spirituality (WPS) to improve the workplace and make the employees more committed. This study explores the relationship of WPS on employee's behavioral outcomes like turnover intention in Pakistani banking sector. The mediation of psychological contract in this relationship is also the focus of this research. Top five banks have been chosen for the study. The selection of top five banks was based on the number of employees. The main focus of this research is to find out that how the concept of workplace spirituality can help the baking sector to lower down the turnover intention of their employees by fulfillment of the psychological contract in the context of Pakistani banking sector. Data were analyzed by using PLS-SEM as used by past researchers like Chin (2012). Sample size was 338 and questionnaire distribution was done in different branches of top five banks of Pakistan for the purpose of data gathering. Simple random sampling was used for distribution of questionnaire. Overall results show the positive linkage of WPS and psychological contract on the employee's turnover intention of banking employees. This research endeavor is an attempt to provide the useful insight into the concept of WPS, psychological contract and employees turnover intentions.


Fifty-two percent of Americans think most climate scientists agree that the Earth has been warming in recent years, and 47% think climate scientists agree (i.e., that there is a scientific consensus) that human activities are a major cause of that warming, according to recent polling (see http://www.pollingreport.com/enviro.htm). However, attempts to quantify the scientific consensus on anthropogenic warming have met with criticism. For instance, Oreskes [2004] reviewed 928 abstracts from peer-reviewed research papers and found that more than 75% either explicitly or implicitly accepted the consensus view that Earth's climate is being affected by human activities. Yet Oreskes's approach has been criticized for overstating the level of consensus acceptance within the examined abstracts [Peiser, 2005] and for not capturing the full diversity of scientific opinion [Pielke, 2005]. A review of previous attempts at quantifying the consensus and criticisms is provided by Kendall Zimmerman [2008]. The objective of our study presented here is to assess the scientific consensus on climate change through an unbiased survey of a large and broad group of Earth scientists.


Software estimation is the process of predicting the effort & cost required to develop software. This review paper provides a general overview of software estimation models and techniques. Models can be categorized as Size-Based, Function-Based, Learning-Based and Expertise-Based. Both Size-based and Function-based models can be termed as Parametric as they use a function or formula of fixed form for software cost/effort estimation. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. A key factor in selecting an estimation model is the accuracy of its estimates. Unfortunately, it is true that no single technique is best for all situations, and that a careful comparison of the results of several approaches is most likely to produce realistic estimates.


Oxytocin, a peptide that functions as both a hormone and neurotransmitter, has broad influences on social and emotional processing throughout the body and the brain. In this study, we tested how a polymorphism (rs53576) of the oxytocin receptor relates to two key social processes related to oxytocin: empathy and stress reactivity. Compared with individuals homozygous for the G allele of rs53576 (GG), individuals with one or two copies of the A allele (AG/AA) exhibited lower behavioral and dispositional empathy, as measured by the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test and an other-oriented empathy scale. Furthermore, AA/AG individuals displayed higher physiological and dispositional stress reactivity than GG individuals, as determined by heart rate response during a startle anticipation task and an affective reactivity scale. Our results provide evidence of how a naturally occurring genetic variation of the oxytocin receptor relates to both empathy and stress profiles.


The Indus-Yarlung suture zone, within the larger Indo-Asia collision zone in southern Tibet, is characterized by a central depression with two oppositely directed axial rivers: the eastward-flowing Yarlung River and the westward-flowing Indus River. The axial valley is flanked by high-elevation ranges of the southern Lhasa terrane to the north and the Tethyan Himalaya to the south. This study analyzes the detrital geochronological and thermochronological signatures of rivers draining into the Indus-Yarlung suture zone as a proxy for the timing of tectonic, magmatic, and erosional processes in southern Tibet. Zircon U-Pb ages reflect source area crystallization ages, and their distribution is proportional to the relative area of source rocks exposed in the catchment areas. Rivers draining the northern side of the collision zone are dominated by ages between ca. 40 Ma and ca. 60 Ma, similar to ages of rocks in the Gangdese arc, whereas one river sample draining the southern side records a Tethyan Himalayan signature characterized by age clusters at ca. 500 Ma and ca. 1050 Ma. U-Pb zircon ages from the modern drainages are similar to signals preserved in the Oligocene−Miocene Liuqu and Kailas basins, suggesting that the geology of the Cenozoic drainages was similar to modern, albeit with significant erosion in the Miocene. New apatite fission-track (AFT) ages from some of the same rivers show an early Miocene regional exhumation signature, which is interpreted to record regional uplift-induced erosion coupled with efficient river incision by the Indus-Yarlung fluvial system as a result of renewed underthrusting (following rollback) of India under Asia. Late Miocene (ca. 8 Ma) apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) ages are consistent with cooling and exhumation associated with E-W extension followed by a decrease in erosion after ca. 6 Ma.


Reactivation of latent infections with herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1), a neurotropic virus that targets sensory ganglia and causes cold sores, is associated with loss of sensation and tingling parasthesia around the original infection site that results from a reduction in the excitability of infected neurons. Storey et al. demonstrate a selective internalization of voltage-activated sodium channels in sensory neurons infected with HSV-1 that underlies this loss of excitability and may represent a previously unknown pathway for regulating sensory neuron activity. Using voltage-clamp analysis of dissociated rat dorsal root ganglion neurons, the authors found decreased tetrodotoxin-sensitive and -insensitive sodium current 24 to 48 hours after infection of the cells with HSV-1. Calcium and potassium currents were unaffected. The remaining sodium current showed no change in the voltage dependence of activation or steady-state inactivation, suggesting a loss of functional sodium channels. Immunofluorescent analysis demonstrated a decrease in both plasma membrane and total sodium channel density. Pharmacological analysis indicated that the HSV-1-mediated reduction in sodium current depended on endocytosis and required the expression of viral late proteins, but not viral encapsulation or egress. HSV-1 mutants that lacked the HSV-1 neurovirulence factor, infected cell protein 34.5, had no effect on sodium current. The authors concluded that HSV-1-induced internalization and degradation of sodium channels was responsible for the loss of sensory neuron excitability, and suggested that this represented HSV-1 interaction with a novel pathway mediating dynamic control of sensory neuron excitability. N. Storey, D. Latchman, S. Bevan, Selective internalization of sodium channels in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons infected with herpes virus-1. J. Cell Biol. 158, 1251-1262 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


South Africa's water law dispensation has changed dramatically with the promulgation of the National Water Act 36 of 1998.  The previous distinction between public and private water has been abolished and the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry has been appointed to act as trustee of the nation's water resources.  Through the working of section 4(4), exclusive rights of water use, which were in force before 1998, were replaced by water allowances, granted in the discretion of the relevant authority. The key issue, which is investigated in this article, is whether the state, through the provisions of the National Water Act, expropriated vested rights in property or whether such infringement merely constituted a deprivation. The new concept of property in terms of section 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the distinction between deprivation and expropriation are examined.  It is indicated that the concept of property in South African law has been extended to include not only ownership but also rights in property.  Existing water use rights, which were available to certain individuals in terms of the 1956 Water Act, can be classified as property. Section 25(1) authorises the infringement of private property in certain defined instances.  Despite the many academic works which define the difference between deprivation and expropriation as described in section 25(2), the Constitutional Court clarified this matter in First National Bank of SA Ltd t/a Wesbank v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Services 2002 7 BCLR 702 (CC).  Expropriation is described as a sub-category of deprivation.  Only when it has been established that the requirements of section 25(1) have been complied with, is the question of whether deprivation constitutes expropriation, asked. The requirements for deprivation, expropriation and inverse condemnation are discussed with reference to applicable case law. After the aim of the National Water Act was weighed up against the disadvantages which individuals suffer through the infringement of their vested rights, the conclusion was reached that the nation's need for sustainable water resources carries more weight than the individual's exclusive right of use of water.  A constitutionally valid deprivation has thus occurred.  Due to the fact that the state did not appropriate any rights in this process, the conclusion was reached that this provision does not amount to expropriation.  It does however appear that the provisions of the National Water Act can give rise to inverse condemnation or constructive expropriation in specific circumstances. In addition, three other strategies of strengthening international environmental governance should be pursued: First, the various international environmental treaty-making and treaty-implementation processes should be better harmonised or, at least, co-ordinated; in this context, UNEP is called upon to continue and intensify its efforts to enhance the synergies and linkages between multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) with comparable areas of focus, by prompting the respective MEA secretariats to enter into appropriate co-ordination arrangements and giving them full logistic support in this respect. Second, as many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have considerable knowledge and expertise in environmental and developmental matters, States should consider intensifying the partnership with them. States should, however, be empowered to make a selective choice among the mass of NGOs operating at international level. They should accept as partners only those NGOs which meet certain qualitative requirements. Third, as local governments are key components of national sustainable development strategies if such plans are to succeed, the existing local Agenda 21 processes should be expanded and intensified. In particular, supporting the direct engagement of local and sub-national institutions from around the world in international activities and partnerships is an important component of good international environmental governance.


With petroleum supplies dwindling, there is increasing interest in selective methods for transforming other carbon feedstocks into hydrocarbons suitable for transportation fuel. We report the development of highly productive, well-defined, tandem catalytic systems for the metathesis of n-alkanes. Each system comprises one molecular catalyst (a "pincer"-ligated iridium complex) that effects alkane dehydrogenation and olefin hydrogenation, plus a second catalyst (molecular or solid-phase) for olefin metathesis. The systems all show complete selectivity for linear (n-alkane) product. We report one example that achieves selectivity with respect to the distribution of product molecular weights, in which n-decane is the predominant high-molecular-weight product of the metathesis of two moles of n-hexane.


The correction of these power system distortions using neural networks is presented. A multi-layer neural network is trained (using error back propagation) to correct the distorted current waves. Based on the results obtained artificial neural network seems to offer a good solution for the important problem of correcting power system harmonic distortion.<<ETX>>


Shift handover is a process during which doctors can exchange information, authority and primary responsibility for patient care. The level of handover standardisation may vary across departments and hospitals, and handover may be affected by the context in which it occurs. If during handover communication doctors do not transfer information pertinent to a patient's care delivery, it may lead to unintended negative consequences.An explanatory, mixed-methods study, using the principles of critical realism was conducted to investigate whether or not similar barriers to effective shift handover communication between doctors identified in hospitals around the world are identified by doctors working in hospitals in the Czech Republic and to develop hypotheses regarding how various individual performance-, work environment- and system-related factors may collectively contribute to ineffective shift handover communication between doctors. In accordance with the principles of critical realism the study included theory-testing phases: (i) a critical review of literature; (ii) a cross-sectional questionnaire survey; and (iii) semi-structured interviews with doctors.The results of the study show that doctors working in hospitals in the Czech Republic identify similar barriers to effective shift handover communication between doctors identified in hospitals around the world. However, handover between the Czech Republic doctors has its own specific characteristics. The inadequacies of the social, systemic and environmental features that make up different contexts in which handover is conducted collectively contribute to ineffective shift handover communication. For example, a systemic feature (e.g. the absence of training), may lead to specific doctors' beliefs (e.g. handover is meaningless), which in turn trigger certainbehaviours (e.g. doctors go home without communicating either verbally or in writing the work carried out during the previous shift), that tend towards a particular kind of outcome (e.g. the absence of handover). Consequently, the division of barriers to handover into one-dimensional categories such as 'the individual performance', 'the system' or 'the social environment', has emerged as superficial as it does not adequately reflect the reality of the context and process of handover communication. Any interventions and programmes, which aim to enhance communication between doctors at shift handover, may need therefore to address the multidimensional nature of handover communication.


SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2012. Malaya, 1949. After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh, herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in Kuala Lumpur, in memory of her sister who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses, but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice 'until the monsoon comes'. Then she can design a garden for herself. As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to her sensei and his art while, outside the garden, the threat of murder and kidnapping from the guerrillas of the jungle hinterland increases with each passing day. But the Garden of Evening Mists is also a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? Why is it that Yun Ling's friend and host Magnus Praetorius, seems to almost immune from the depredations of the Communists? What is the legend of 'Yamashita's Gold' and does it have any basis in fact? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?


"No matter the scale -- kitchen, continent, or solar system -- invention grants us access to the frontiers of our understanding." (TED)


Mass-transport smoothing has been used to reduce the surface roughness of a gallium phosphide (GaP) microlens from 50.0 nm (rms) to 6.5 nm (rms) while preserving the original surface figure. The initial GaP surface was fabricated by dry-etch transfer of a polymer microlens into a GaP substrate. This result demonstrates that mass transport can significantly improve the performance of economically feasible high-refractive-index micro-optical elements having arbitrary surface profiles.


Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the most common isoform of non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy and is characterised by dilatation of LV chamber and systolic dysfunction, which leads to progressive heart failure and a high risk for fatal arrhythmias. Although clinical manifestations are similar, DCM is not a single stage of a disease spectrum but may include several undetermined aetiologies, such as chronic myocarditis, tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy, drug-induced cardiomyopathy, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, undiagnosed cardiac sarcoidosis and end-stage hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.1 Despite therapeutic advances in heart failure, the mortality and morbidity of DCM remain high. Therefore, identifying high-risk patients who are most likely to benefit from early aggressive therapies constitutes a crucial part of patient management. Several factors, such as age, sex, New York Heart Association functional classes, LVEF, QRS duration, exercise capacity and several blood biomarkers, have been associated with adverse prognosis in patients with DCM. However, the prediction of long-term prognosis remains difficult because of diverse background disorders, as mentioned above.

Recent advances in cardiac MR (CMR) imaging have enabled us to assess cardiac morphology, function and tissue characteristics both in ischaemic and non-ischaemic cardiomyopathies. Table 1 shows the different CMR sequences applied for the diagnosis and evaluation of DCM. CMR is now capable of identifying cardiac abnormalities not readily recognised by conventional imaging modalities.1 Among several techniques of MRI sequences, late gadolinium enhancement (LGE)-CMR relies on the delivery of intravenous gadolinium chelate to …


The distribution of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration across coastal waters was characterized based on the compilation of 3510 individual estimates of DOC in coastal waters worldwide. We estimated the DOC concentration in the coastal waters that directly exchange with open ocean waters in two different ways, as the DOC concentration at the edge of the shelf break and as the DOC concentration in coastal waters with salinity close to the average salinity in the open ocean. Using these estimates of DOC concentration in the coastal waters that directly exchange with open ocean waters, the mean DOC concentration in the open ocean and the estimated volume of water annually exchanged between coastal and open ocean, we estimated a median ± SE (and average ± SE) global DOC export from coastal to open ocean waters ranging from 4.4 ± 1.0 Pg C yr−1 to 27.0 ± 1.8 Pg C yr−1 (7.0 ± 5.8 Pg C yr−1 to 29.0 ± 8.0 Pg C yr−1) depending on the global hydrological exchange. These values correspond to a median and mean median (and average) range between 14.7 ± 3.3 to 90.0 ± 6.0 (23.3 ± 19.3 to 96.7 ± 26.7) Gg C yr−1 per km of shelf break, which is consistent with the range between 1.4 to 66.1 Gg C yr−1 per km of shelf break of available regional estimates of DOC export. The estimated global DOC export from coastal to open ocean waters is also consistent with independent estimates of the net metabolic balance of the coastal ocean. The DOC export from the coastal to the open ocean is likely to be a sizeable flux and is likely to be an important term in the carbon budget of the open ocean, potentially providing an important subsidy to support heterotrophic activity in the open ocean.


Written by the inventors of the technology, The Java Language Specification, Java SE 8 Edition is the definitive technical reference for the Java programming language. The book provides complete, accurate, and detailed coverage of the Java programming language. It fully describes the new features added in Java SE 8, including lambda expressions, method references, default methods, type annotations, and repeating annotations. The book also includes many explanatory notes and carefully distinguishes the formal rules of the language from the practical behavior of compilers.


Abstract: The influence of Beethoven on Eliot's Four Quartets is mediated by Wagner and Schopenhauer and relates fundamentally to the philosopher's understanding of instrumental music as expressing a universalised and abstract emotion. Schopenhauer's aesthetics are intimately connected with Wagner's treatment of the idea of absolute music — a discussion which begins in his early prose writings and culminates in his essay "Beethoven" (1870). At the origin of Wagner's thinking about absolute music is a striking metaphor: that of Beethoven as Columbus, exploring the sea of absolute music. This metaphor can be found at the heart of Four Quartets, powerfully connecting Eliot's poem with Beethovenian music and with a Schopenhauerian aesthetics that understands this music as inhabiting a realm beyond human affect and desire.


Produced easily by fermentation, ethyl alcohol has for at least 5 to 8 thousand years played a part in the development of human civilisation; as a medicine, as a substance endowed with religious significance, as a food and important element in many cuisines, as a fuel, as an economic good and as a disinhibiting/intoxicating drug used to aid social intercourse. It is in this last context that alcohol is most widely employed in the modern world. With the main exception of Muslim societies it is generally accepted as a legal 'social psychotropic' for adult use, that is as a self-purchased and self-administered substance taken by healthy individuals primarily for its mind affecting properties. Even in Britain, still one of the more sober of the developed nations despite a virtual doubling of per capita alcohol intake in the last quarter of a century, the scale of ethyl alcohol consumption can be seen to be enormous if compared to, for instance, that of medically legitimated drugs/medicines. The most frequently prescribed group of the latter substances are the benzodiazapine tranquillisers and hypnotics, some 30 million scripts for which were filled in 1979. The cost to the NHS (£1979) was a little over £30 million. In the same year the British population drank 40 million proof gallons of spirits, 1,500 million gallons of beer and 100 million gallons of wine. This is equivalent to over 17 pints of absolute (pure) alcohol for every individual aged over 15 in the country. The cost (£1979) to the public was almost £9,000 million. The use of any pharmacologically active substance to such a degree is likely to be associated with some forms of harm. In the case of 'drinking' these include mortality and morbidity from conditions like alcohol related liver diseases and peptic ulcers, the results of driving whilst intoxicated and the many economic and social burdens which may be inflicted on an individual and/or his or her family as a consequence of alcohol dependence. These factors are difficult to quantify accurately, but broad indicators include the estimate that the number of premature deaths associated with alcohol use in Britain is probably in the order of 5,000 to 10,000 per annum and official claims that between 500,000 and 750,000 people in England and Wales alone have some form of serious drink related problem. Even excluding intangible costs of suffering, government economists have recently suggested that the unwanted effects of alcohol consumption may lose the nation around £1,000 million (£1981) a year. Against this, of course, have to be balanced the desirable aspects of alcohol use. In an ideal world, it could be argued, scientifically acceptable techniques for quantifying the value of drinking and its linked costs would be developed and a policy for influencing alcohol use in the community aimed at optimising the welfare balance introduced. Much concern has been expressed to the effect that recent British policy has failed to control adequately the level of alcohol related harm. For example, an unpublished but widely seen report from the government's Central Policy Review Staff urged policy makers to introduce, on health grounds, increased taxes on alcoholic beverages, to encourage alcohol treatment facilities in workplaces and to amend the law to permit random breath testing for drivers. However, the barriers to establishing a rational approach to policy are significant. On the technical level, for example, the methods of quantifying the global social and economic benefits of this form of drug use are still relatively immature. Whilst at the political level, debate and decision making may be influenced by a number of powerful and conflicting interests. These include, first, those of the brewers, distillers and purveyors of alcohol beverages, who do not only contribute to the UK economy by providing up to 700,000 jobs but also export large quantities (about £1,000 million worth) of spirits and provide the State with a significant (currently £3,500 million plus) route for revenue raising. Second, those of the medical and allied professions and the UK Health Departments, which may be genuinely striving to increase the wellbeing of the population but which might sometimes appear to be a little authoritarian or paternalistic. And, third, those sections of the population who for religious or allied reasons believe that drinking is wrong per se. Against this background this paper seeks to clarify some of the issues relating to the consumption of alcohol in Britain. It describes recent thinking regarding the processes by which harm from the dependence on alcohol are induced, the nature of alcohol as a mind affecting drug and a cause of physical disorders and the various ways in which society and individuals may be protected against its ill effects. Special attention is paid to economic factors, although a wide range of social phenomena, such as the shifting pattern of alcohol consumption amongst the female population and the interaction between the use of medicines and social drugs, are touched on. The overall objective is to help to stimulate and inform public discussion of this important area and to identify those aspects of alcohol usage where disciplined scientific research needs to be further encouraged.


Academic attention has,in recent years, increasingly focused upon the Europeanization of national legal orders. The interaction of domestic and supranational standards, while often presented as problematic, enables national courts to use European law as a reference point against which to develop domestic principle and practice. The effects of such borrowing can be far-reaching. Courts may assume an enhanced institutional role relative to other branches of the State and individuals may benefit from the introduction of new remedies and principles of judicial review. This book examines the dynamics of the process whereby UK courts borrow principle and practice from European law. It argues that recent internal developments in UK law, notably the passage of the Human Rights Act, present new possibilities for legal integration. Although UK courts have already demonstrated a willingness to use European law creatively, the book suggests that integration has been unduly constrained by the previously unincorporated status of the ECHR and by the courts' justification for the reception of EU law. Focusing in particular on the principles of administrative law applied by courts in judicial review proceedings, the book highlights how the emergence of new principles of review has been frustrated by the courts' inability to view EU law and the ECHR as part of an interlocking whole. The book's central argument, therefore, is that the Human Rights Act, coupled with the more general programme of constitutional reform introduced by New Labour, now offers the courts the opportunity to reassess the nature of the interactive relationship that domestic law has with European law. UK Public Law and European Law: The Dynamics of Legal Integration will be of interest to public lawyers, European lawyers and political scientists alike. It offers a comprehensive overview of existing jurisprudence dealing with the reception of European law into the domestic order. More significantly, it places that jurisprudence within the wider context of legal and political change ongoing within and without the United Kingdom.


During the Great Migration, as black migrants moved north in search of warmer suns, they encountered, mostly for the first time, large Catholic populations tightly bound within their parish boundaries and a Catholic Church deeply mired in figuring out what it meant to be the universal church in a harshly segregated city. In response to this theological, moral, and social collision, a small contingent of black Catholics, along with a handful of white priests and eventually white lay people, debated and developed theological arguments for racial integration and for racial justice. Their sometimes radical ideas and their often radical actions proved deeply influential, affecting the lives of priests and bishops, laity and nuns, Protestants and Jews, and politicians and civil rights leaders. By the 1960s, various iterations of their beliefs had become standard within American Catholicism and within the nationwide civil rights movement as well. This manuscript tells the story of what I have labeled "Catholic interracialism" as it developed in Chicago in the minds of turn-of-the-century black Catholics like Dr. Arthur Falls, as it was broadened and tamed by white and black lay women working in Catholic settlement homes like the Southside's Friendship House, and as it matured chastened if still vibrant in the work of the Chicago Catholic Interracial Council, which was given impetus by laity like Peggy Roach and Mathew "Mat" Ahmann. As an idea to live up to, Catholic interracialism was never monolithic; it meant something different to African American middle-class Catholics, white priests, white Catholic radicals, and white Catholic liberals, and it changed from the Depression to the civil rights movement. My manuscript follows these twists and turns, telling untold stories and revealing hidden sources of courage, while showing that, for these Catholics, black and white, the core of their struggle was the foundational belief that all people were members of the Body of Christ and that all Christians should therefore work for justice. This manuscript, therefore, is a social history of an idea, showing how a simple idea like Catholic interracialism forged connections between race and religion throughout the twentieth century, unearthing the importance of religion in the long civil rights movement. And, for the vast majority of the story, in ways with nationwide significance, Chicago was the vital laboratory. Subject African American religion race civil rights urban north


A novel nanocomposite photo-curable material which can act both as a photoresist and a stress redistribution layer applied on the wafer level was synthesized and studied. In the experiments, 20-nm silica fillers were modified by a silane coupling agent through a hydrolysis and condensation reaction and then incorporated into the epoxy matrix. A photo-sensitive initiator was added into the formulation which can release cations after ultraviolet exposure and initiate the epoxy crosslinking reaction. The photo-crosslinking reaction of the epoxy made it a negative tone photoresist. The curing reaction of the nanocomposites was monitored by a differential scanning calorimeter with the photo-calorimetric accessory. The thermal mechanical properties of photo-cured nanocomposites thin film were also measured. It was found that the moduli change of the nanocomposites as the filler loading increasing did not follow the Mori-Tanaka model, which indicated that the nanocomposite was not a simple two-phase structure as the composite with micron size filler. The addition of nano-sized silica fillers reduced the thermal expansion and improved the stiffness of the epoxy, with only a minimal effect on the optical transparency of the epoxy, which facilitated the complete photo reaction in the epoxy.


A climatology of daytime midlatitude medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) observed by the Blackstone Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar is presented. MSTIDs were observed primarily from fall through spring. Two populations were observed: a dominant population heading southeast (centered at 147° geographic azimuth, ranging from 100° to 210°) and a secondary population heading northwest (centered at −50° azimuth, ranging from −75° to −25°). Horizontal velocities ranged from 50 to 250 m s−1 with a distribution maximum between 100 and 150 m s−1. Horizontal wavelengths ranged from 100 to 500 km with a distribution peak at 250 km, and periods between 23 and 60 min, suggesting that the MSTIDs may be consistent with thermospheric gravity waves. A local time (LT) dependence was observed such that the dominant (southeastward) population decreased in number as the day progressed until a late afternoon increase. The secondary (northwestward) population appeared only in the afternoon, possibly indicative of neutral wind effects or variability of sources. LT dependence was not observed in other parameters. Possible solar‐geomagnetic and tropospheric MSTID sources were considered. The auroral electrojet (AE) index showed a correlation with MSTID statistics. Reverse ray tracing with the HINDGRATS model indicates that the dominant population has source regions over the Great Lakes and near the geomagnetic cusp, while the secondary population source region is 100 km above the Atlantic Ocean east of the Carolinas. This suggests that the dominant population may come from a region favorable to either tropospheric or geomagnetic sources, while the secondary population originates from a region favorable to secondary waves generated via lower atmospheric convection.


Genetic variability is a prerequisite to crop improvement. The objective of the present study was to assess and quantify the genetic variability, estimate heritability and genetic advance for yield and yield contributing characters of released and pipeline chickpea varieties based on agro- morphological traits. A total of 16 chickpea materials (8 improved varieties, 7 advanced lines, and one local check) were planted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications at Shambu, Hawa Galan, Mata, Alaku Belle, and Badesso, in Western Ethiopia. Important agronomic data were collected and subjected to analysis using statistical analysis software (SAS). The combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated highly significant differences (P≤0.01) among chickpea genotypes for grain yield and other agronomic traits except for number of seed per pod and branch per plant, indicating the existence of ample genetic variability among present chickpea genotypes. Genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) for the character such as grain filling duration, days to flowering and hundred seed weight, showed very small difference demonstrating that the observed variations for these traits were mostly due to genetic factors with little impact of environment. The higher heritability coupled with higher genetic advance was noted for 100 seed weight, number of pods per plant, number of seed per pod and grain yield signifying the ease of phenotype-based selection for the improvement of those traits.

 Key words: Chickpea (Cicer airetinum L.), genetic variability, phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), selection.


Society's increasing reliance on digital communication networks is creating unprecedented opportunities for wholesale
surveillance and censorship. This thesis investigates the use of public networks such as the Internet to build
robust, private communication systems that can resist monitoring and attacks by powerful adversaries such as national
governments.
We sketch the design of a censorship-resistant communication system based on peer-to-peer Internet overlays in which
the participants only communicate directly with people they know and trust. This 'friend-to-friend' approach protects
the participants' privacy, but it also presents two significant challenges. The first is that, as with any peer-to-peer
overlay, the users of the system must collectively provide the resources necessary for its operation; some users might
prefer to use the system without contributing resources equal to those they consume, and if many users do so, the
system may not be able to survive.
To address this challenge we present a new game theoretic model of the problem of encouraging cooperation between
selfish actors under conditions of scarcity, and develop a strategy for the game that provides rational incentives for
cooperation under a wide range of conditions.
The second challenge is that the structure of a friend-to-friend overlay may reveal the users' social relationships to
an adversary monitoring the underlying network. To conceal their sensitive relationships from the adversary, the
users must be able to communicate indirectly across the overlay in a way that resists monitoring and attacks by other
participants.
We address this second challenge by developing two new routing protocols that robustly deliver messages across
networks with unknown topologies, without revealing the identities of the communication endpoints to intermediate
nodes or vice versa. The protocols make use of a novel unforgeable acknowledgement mechanism that proves that a
message has been delivered without identifying the source or destination of the message or the path by which it was
delivered. One of the routing protocols is shown to be robust to attacks by malicious participants, while the other
provides rational incentives for selfish participants to cooperate in forwarding messages.


The purposes of this study were (1) to describe the persons twenty-five and older entering the teacher education program and seeking certification, and (2) to compare the persons twenty-five and older with a "typical" group of persons under twenty-five with respect to (a) ability, as measured by the Cooperative School and College Ability Test, (b) factors for entering teaching, as measured by "Factors Influencing the Decision to Become a Teacher," (c) attitudes held toward teaching, as measured by the Kerlinger Education Attitude Scale, (d) professional aspirations, and (e) role expectations, as measured by the Teacher Practices. Questionnaire.


A total of 436 logs were used to create 20 engineered log jams (ELJs) in a 1.1 km reach of the Williams River, NSW, Australia, a gravel‐bed river that has been desnagged and had most of its riparian vegetation removed over the last 200 years. The experiment was designed to test the effectiveness of reintroducing woody debris (WD) as a means of improving channel stability and recreating habitat diversity. The study assessed geomorphic and ecological responses to introducing woody habitat by comparing paired test and control reaches. Channel characteristics (e.g. bedforms, bars, texture) within test and control reaches were assessed before and after wood placement to quantify the morphological variability induced by the ELJs in the test reach. Since construction in September 2000, the ELJs have been subjected to five overtopping flows, three of which were larger than the mean annual flood. A high‐resolution three‐dimensional survey of both reaches was completed after major bed‐mobilizing flows. Cumulative changes induced by consecutive floods were also assessed. After 12 months, the major geomorphologic changes in the test reach included an increase in pool and riffle area and pool depth; the addition of a pool–riffle sequence; an increase by 0.5–1 m in pool–riffle amplitude; a net gain of 40 m3 of sediment storage per 1000 m2 of channel area (while the control reach experienced a net loss of 15 m3/1000 m2 over the same period); and a substantial increase in the spatial complexity of bed‐material distribution. Fish assemblages in the test reach showed an increase in species richness and abundance, and reduced temporal variability compared to the reference reach, suggesting that the changes in physical habitat were beneficial to fish at the reach scale. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Environmental extremity or adversity is one of the dominant problems in world wide. For this, the main concern of ethics is to provide a crucial and a cogent remedy for sustainable development. Due to maximization of certain issues concerning sustainable development this paper intends to demonstrate virtue ethics as a method in terms of which such issues can be minimize. An appropriate structure for sustainable development can be attainable through the application of virtue ethics and its implementation in the daily life of human beings. Here we discuss about the virtue ethics which is considered as the character of human being that helps them in attaining a good life. Therefore, virtue ethics is important to study in order to establish a behavioural and habitual foundation that can be conducive for sustainable development. The prime motto of virtue ethics is to discover the protective and potential character of human being which can be more effective for sustainable development.


This thesis investigates issues of implementing virtual circuit switching in an ad–hoc network. Traditionally, an ad–hoc network uses datagram switching for transmitting a message which is many packets long. Two main challenges for implementing virtual circuit switching in an ad–hoc network are: (1) finding a medium access control (MAC) protocol that supports "virtual circuit" and (2) dealing with the rapid changes of network topology. A major advantage of using virtual circuit switching is its capability to provide Quality of Service during a communication session. Ad–hoc Virtual Switching Routing (AVSR) protocol is a cross–layered traffic control protocol developed to demonstrate virtual circuit switching in an ad–hoc network. It is a reactive routing protocol running over a self–administrative Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) MAC protocol. The evaluation of AVSR shows it is applicable to implement virtual circuit switching in an ad–hoc network, however its performance degrades significantly as the number of nodes/terminals in the network increases. The conclusion of this thesis gives recommendations for future research of virtual circuit switching in ad–hoc networks.


. The concept of resilience has evolved considerably since Holling's (1973) seminal paper. Different interpretations of what is meant by resilience, however, cause confusion. Resilience of a system needs to be considered in terms of the attributes that govern the system's dynamics. Three related attributes of social– ecological systems (SESs) determine their future trajectories: resilience, adaptability, and transformability. Resilience (the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks) has four components—latitude, resistance, precariousness, and panarchy—most readily portrayed using the metaphor of a stability landscape. Adaptability is the capacity of actors in the system to influence resilience (in a SES, essentially to manage it). There are four general ways in which this can be done, corresponding to the four aspects of resilience. Transformability is the capacity to create a fundamentally new system when ecological, economic, or social structures make the existing system untenable. The implications of this interpretation of SES dynamics for sustainability science include changing the focus from seeking optimal states and the determinants of maximum sustainable yield (the MSY paradigm), to resilience analysis, adaptive resource management, and adaptive governance.


The thesis aims to explore influence of impartiality of the Turkey's mediation efforts since 2002 in the conflicts of Israel-Syria and Israel-Palestine on the Turkey's mediation outcomes perceived by the disputants which are Israel, Palestine and Syria. This research examines the mediation process as a triangular process rather than dyadic by taking every disputants' perception towards the mediator into account. To this aim, comparative case study is used which is Turkey's mediation efforts in Syrian- Israeli and Israeli- Palestinian conflicts since 2002. The research consists of a textual analysis and in depth interviews. Most of the data used in this study derived from the official declarations of high level policy makers of Turkey, Israel, Palestine and Syria since 2002 as well as qualified newspaper accounts and academic writings. In order to complement those sources, interviews were conducted with the high level foreign policy makers of Turkey. Based on the research, the findings show that Turkey as a mediator could utilize its partiality by establishing a balanced relative bias towards disputants in order to achieve successful outcomes. Secondly, the distinction should be made between impartiality in attitude and impartiality in behavior. Accordingly, Turkey's impartiality in behavior, not necessarily impartiality in attitude; has a more positive influence on achieving successful outcomes.


An object type characterizes the domain space and the operations that can be invoked on an object of that type. In this paper we introduce a new property for concurrent objects, we call coverability, that aims to provide precise guarantees on the consistent evolution of the version (and thus value) of an object. This new property is suitable for a variety of distributed objects, including concurrent file objects, that demand operations to manipulate the latest version of the object. To preserve the order of versions, traditional approaches use locking, compare-and-swap (CAS), or linked-load/conditional-store (LL/SC) primitives to allow a single modification at a time on such objects. Such primitives however can be used to solve consensus, and thus are impossible to be implemented in an asynchronous, message-passing environment with failures. Coverability, relaxes the strong requirements imposed by stronger primitives, and allows us to define and implement consistent versioning in the aforementioned adversarial environment. In particular, coverability allows multiple operations to modify the same version of an object concurrently, leading to a set of different versions. Given an order of operations, coverability properties specify a single version in that set that any subsequent operation may modify, preserving this way the consistent evolution of the object. We first define versioned objects and then provide the specification of coverability. We then combine coverability with atomic guarantees to yield coverable atomic read/write registers; we show that coverable registers cannot be implemented by similar types of registers, such as ranked-registers. Next, we show how coverable registers may be implemented by modifying an existing MWMR atomic register implementation, and we continue by showing that coverable registers may be used to implement basic (weak) read-modify-write and file objects.


This volume represents an important new step forward in the fields of conflict resolution and peace studies. Its essays argue that, while conflict resolution is well equipped to bring about temporary settlements and brief periods of peace in volatile situations, conventional conflict resolution techniques are not capable of building long-term stability. Instead, the authors contend, practitioners of conflict resolution need to focus more on reconciliation (the restoration of confidence, friendship, and harmony between rivals) than on mere conflict resolution. Whereas traditional conflict resolution has focused primarily on halting quarrels with agreements between leaders on each side of a conflict, reconciliation techniques shift the focus in two ways. First, they take more of a grassroots approach, building agreement among the members of rival communities, not only between leaders. Second, reconciliation takes a long-term view of dispute resolution. While the authors acknowledge that the role of traditional conflict resolution is important in stopping violence and tension, they argue that, in order to achieve stable peace, negotiators and practitioners of conflict resolution must focus much more on what is to be done after an agreement among leaders is reached.


IPv6 is considered as the most promising approach to enable the interoperability of the future Internet of Things due to its ability to provide sufficient public addresses. At the same time, hierarchical machine-to-machine communications have been identified as the key driver to integrate various IoT applications. This article focuses on wrapping up these technologies to provide seamless and interoperable IoT communications. We first introduce the background and standard supports for IPv6-based hierarchical M2M communications. Then the challenges and existing solutions are investigated for the massive access of IPv6- based hierarchical M2M networks with heterogeneous IoT applications. To this end, a systematic distributed access control framework is proposed with the aim of improving the overall network performance, achieving fairness, and dealing with dynamic network conditions. In addition, the optimal control and potential algorithms for the proposed control framework are developed. The performance evaluation shows significant performance gains in terms of utility maximization, network fairness, and application differentiation.


This paper introduces a new mobile sensor scheduling problem involving a single robot tasked to monitor several events of interest that are occurring at different locations (stations). Of particular interest is the monitoring of transient events of a stochastic nature, with applications ranging from natural phenomena (e.g., monitoring abnormal seismic activity around a volcano using a ground robot) to urban activities (e.g., monitoring early formations of traffic congestion using an aerial robot). Motivated by examples like these, this paper focuses on problems in which the precise occurrence times of the events are unknown apriori, but statistics for their interarrival times are available. In monitoring such events, the robot seeks to: (1) maximize the number of events observed and (2) minimize the delay between two consecutive observations of events occurring at the same location. This paper considers the case when a robot is tasked with optimizing the event observations in a balanced manner, following a cyclic patrolling route. To tackle this problem, first, assuming that the cyclic ordering of stations is known, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution and show that the solution has desirable convergence rate and robustness. Our constructive proof also yields an efficient algorithm for computing the unique optimal solution with O(n) time complexity, in which n is the number of stations, with O(log n) time complexity for incrementally adding or removing stations. Except for the algorithm, our analysis remains valid when the cyclic order is unknown. We then provide a polynomial-time approximation scheme that computes for any ε > 0 a (1 + ε)-optimal solution for this more general, NP-hard problem.


Conventional multiprocessors mostly use centralized, memory-based barriers to synchronize concurrent processes created in multiple processors. These centralized barriers often become the bottleneck or hot spots in the shared memory. In this paper, we overcome the difficulty by presenting a distributed and hardwired barrier architecture, that is hierarchically constructed for fast synchronization in cluster-structured multiprocessors. The hierarchical architecture enables the scalability of cluster-structured multiprocessors. A special set of synchronization primitives is developed for explicit use of distributed barriers dynamically. To show the application of the hardwired barriers, we demonstrate how to synchronize Doall and Doacross loops using a limited number of hardwired barriers. Timing analysis shows an O(10/sup 2/) to O(10/sup 5/) reduction in synchronization overhead, compared with the use of software-controlled barriers implemented in a shared memory. The hardwired architecture is effective in implementing any partially ordered set of barriers or fuzzy barriers with extended synchronization regions. The versatility, scalability, programmability, and low overhead make the distributed barrier architecture attractive in constructing fine-grain, massively parallel MIMD systems using multiprocessor clusters with distributed shared memory. >


With the potential for long-term missions around the Earth's orbit, the Moon and Mars, some health issues such as the physiological effects of microgravity and radiation become a major concern for space crews. Long periods of microgravity are known to reduce bone density, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness. The calcium which is lost from bones can end up in kidneys, form kidney stones (KS) and eventually put astronauts at risk. For instance, 14 American astronauts suffered from urolithiasis (formation of KS) in the period between 2001-2006 [1]. These mineral deposits can travel through the urinary tract, causing intense pain. One of the most common types of KS is caused by the buildup of calcium oxalate, although calcium phosphate is also common [2]. This topic is in the agenda of different space agencies, although the experiments which are performed nowadays are normally based on clinical tests where microgravity conditions are simulated putting the astronauts at rest on a tilted bed [2]. In order to address the problematics of urolithiasis and its treatment for space crews, this work will focus on a physico-chemical study of this phenomenon. Specifically, the effectiveness of different drugs [3] and natural products on the dissolution of kidney stones will be analyzed. Clinical follow-ups or surgery are not feasible options during a long mission, and hence the interest to study remediation through reduction and/or elimination of the stones with a pharmaceutical treatment. The idea of this project is to study the nanoscale mechanisms of early stages of dissolution/precipitation of the phases present in KS under different conditions of pH and solution chemistry. This approach aims to develop an experimental basis to better understand the kinetics of drug-KS interaction and extrapolate the evolution in time in order to provide an assessment on potential health risks. Experimental techniques used in this work will include scanning electron microscopy (SEM), to carry out a preliminary characterization of KS surface and identify calcifying nanobacteria [4], as well as the atomic force microscope (AFM), to perform quantitative nanometrology studies on KS dissolution kinetics under controlled physico-chemical conditions. References cited: [1] Djojonegoro B., Jones J. (2006) Kidney Stones. In: The Longitudinal Study of Astronaut Health Newsletter , Vol. 14, Issue 2. From: lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/refs/LSAH/Vol_14_Issue_2_Dec_06.pdf [2] Monga M., Macias B., Groppo E., Kostelec M., Hargens A. (2006) Renal stone risk in a simulated microgravity environment: impact of treadmill exercise with lower body negative pressure. The Journal of Urology 176, Issue 1, pp. 127-131. [3] Whitson P.A. (2001) Renal stone risk during space flight: assessment and countermeasure validation. NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center From: www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/renal.html [4] Ciftcioglu N., Bjorklund M., Kuorikoski K., Bergstrom K., Olavi Kajander E. (1999) Nanobacteria: an infectious case for kidney stone formation, Kidney International, Vol 56, pp. 1893-1898


This article contributes to two debates about international relations (IR) as a discipline: first, how global is IR, and how is it structured? Second, what is the state of theory in IR? We conducted (co-) citation analyses of both Web of Science (WoS) and—for the first time— non-WoS publications from Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. With regard to the first question, we find that global IR resembles a core–periphery structure as a "hub and spoke" system whereby transatlantic core nodes are interconnected to each other and to some periphery nodes, while the periphery nodes are connected to the core but not to each other. IR scholarship in the periphery quotes the transatlantic theory cluster but is not linked to each other, not even in the same region. Knowledge produced in the periphery has to go through the transatlantic core in order to be recognized globally. As to the transatlantic core, we identify two major (co-) citation clusters: one committed to IR theory-building across issue areas from a variety of perspectives and the other focused on security studies with a strong emphasis on quantitative methods. With regard to the second question, global IR hangs together through references to the IR theory cluster consisting of North American and European authors who appear to define what IR theory is. Scholars in the periphery refer to this transatlantic IR theory cluster when engaging in theory-building. IR theories have become rather diverse and pluralistic, even in the core. While scholars still refer to the big "isms," they use them around the globe in a synthesizing manner.


In this paper we propose a fast optimization algorithm for approximately minimizing convex quadratic functions over the intersection of affine and separable constraints (i.e., the Cartesian product of possibly nonconvex real sets). This problem class contains many NP-hard problems such as mixed-integer quadratic programming. Our heuristic is based on a variation of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), an algorithm for solving convex optimization problems. We discuss the favorable computational aspects of our algorithm, which allow it to run quickly even on very modest computational platforms such as embedded processors. We give several examples for which an approximate solution should be found very quickly, such as management of a hybrid-electric vehicle drivetrain. Our numerical experiments suggest that our method is very effective in finding a feasible point with small objective value; indeed, we see that in many cases, it finds the global solution.


TMPRSS6 variants that affect protein function result in impaired matriptase‐2 function and consequently uninhibited hepcidin production, leading to iron refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA). This disease is characterized by microcytic, hypochromic anemia and serum hepcidin values that are inappropriately high for body iron levels. Much is still unknown about its pathophysiology, genotype–phenotype correlation, and optimal clinical management. We describe 14 different TMPRSS6 variants, of which 9 are novel, in 21 phenotypically affected IRIDA patients from 20 families living in the Netherlands; 16 out of 21 patients were female. In 7 out of 21 cases DNA sequencing and multiplex ligation dependent probe amplification demonstrated only heterozygous TMPRSS6 variants. The age at presentation, disease severity, and response to iron supplementation were highly variable, even for patients and relatives with similar TMPRSS6 genotypes. Mono‐allelic IRIDA patients had a milder phenotype with respect to hemoglobin and MCV and presented significantly later in life with anemia than bi‐allelic patients. Transferrin saturation (TSAT)/hepcidin ratios were lower in IRIDA probands than in healthy relatives. Most patients required parenteral iron. Genotype alone was not predictive for the response to oral iron. We conclude that IRIDA is a genotypically and phenotypically heterogeneous disease. The high proportion of female patients and the discrepancy between phenotypes of probands and relatives with the same genotype, suggest a complex interplay between genetic and acquired factors in the pathogenesis of IRIDA. In the absence of inflammation, the TSAT/hepcidin ratio is a promising diagnostic tool, even after iron supplementation has been given. Am. J. Hematol. 91:E482–E490, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


From the bestselling author of "Physics of the Impossible", Michio Kaku's "Parallel Worlds" takes us to the frontiers of scientific knowledge to explain the extraordinary nature - and future - of our universe. Imagine a future where we are not alone - where our universe is just one of countless parallel worlds, some strangely familiar, some almost unimaginable. And that, when planet earth finally runs down to a cold, dark wasteland, we will be able to escape into these new worlds and start again. Michio Kaku's thrilling guide to the galaxy shows us how it could happen sooner than we think - and the future for intelligent life is one of endless possibilities. "This book is absolutely impossible to put down ...if and when we do find out what the universe is, and how it was created, it's going to be absolutely mind-blowing". ("Independent on Sunday"). "One of the gurus of modern physics". ("Financial Times"). "An exhilarating read ...nobody who reads this book can be anything less than amazed by the possibilities it presents". ("Scotland on Sunday"). "The journey he takes the reader on is so picturesque and the conclusions so startling that you are gripped". ("Sunday Telegraph"). Michio Kaku is a leading theoretical physicist and one of the founders of string theory, widely regarded as the strongest candidate for the 'theory of everything'. He is also one of the most gifted popularizers of science of his generation. His books published by Penguin include "Parallel Worlds", "The Physics of the Future" and "The Physics of the Impossible". He holds the Henry Semat Professorship in Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York, where he has taught for over twenty-five years.


The purpose of this study is to find the factors that affect potential growth of Canadian firms. This study also seeks to extend the study of Mateev and Anastasov [1]. A sample of 164 Canadian firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange for a period of 3 years (from 2008-2010) was selected. This study applied co-relational and non-experimental research design. The findings of this paper show that potential growth of Canadian firms is affected by firm size, current liquidity, leverage, cash flow, age, and industry. This study contributes to the literature on the factors that affect potential growth of the firm. The findings may be useful for financial managers, investors, and financial management consultants.


This paper presents a review of literature pertaining to prediction of air flow in a room. The paper initially discusses various mathematical models adopted in previos studies and highlights the models best suited to evaluate heat transfer from a standalone water filled radiator heating system. The air flow equation accounting for forced and free convection used by computational systems is illustrated. Key parameters to be measured and used as boundary conditions are highlighted. Experimental methods and relevant systems and devices used to measure and quantify these have been summarized. An overview of the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) models and comparative study has been done to establish the best way forward.


The subject of this thesis is the development of a modern time-offlight
detector, a MRPC (Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber) for the Compressed Baryonic
Matter (CBM) experiment. The main goal of CBM is the investigation of the phase diagram
of strongly interacting matter in the region of the highest baryon densities. In order
to measure the necessary observables with unprecedented precision an excellent particle
identification is required. The key element providing hadron identification in heavy ion
reaction at incident energies between 2 and 35 AGeV is a 120 m2 large Time-of-Flight
(ToF) wall composed of MRPCs. The ToF-wall is subdivided in a high rate, an intermediate
rate and a low rate region. In this thesis we present a full-size demonstrator for the
intermediate rate region and for the low rate region. In-beam and cosmic ray tests demonstrated
that these fully differential prototypes fulfill the necessary requirements which are
a counter time resolution of about 50 ps, an efficiency above 95 %, a rate capability of
about 1 kHz/cm2 and a granularity between 25 - 50 cm2. Based on these counters the
so-called "outer ToF-wall" was designed in this work.


New class of nonlinear filters called Vector Median Rational Hybrid Filters (VMRHF) for multispectral image processing was introduced and applied to color image filtering problem. These filters are based on Rational Functions (RF). There are several advantages to the use of this function. First, it is a universal approximator and a good extrapolator. Second, it can be trained by a linear adaptive algorithm. Third, it has a best approximation for a specified function. The output is the result of vector rational operation taking into account three sub-functions, such as two vector median (VM) sub- filters and one center weighted vector median filter (CWVMF). It was shown that every sub-function will preserve details within its sub-window. These filters exhibit desirable properties, such as, edge and details preservation and accurate chromaticity estimation. The performance of the proposed filter is compared against widely known nonlinear filters for multispectral image processing such as: Vector median filters (VMF) introduced by Astola et al, which are derived as maximum likelihood (ML) estimates from exponential distributions, the class of directional-distance filters (DDF) introduced to study the processing of color image data using directional information. Experimental and comparative results in color image filtering show very good performance measures when the error is measured in the L*a*b* space. L*a*b* is know as a space where equal color differences result in equal distances, and therefore, it is close to the human perception of colors.


L ow back pain is a common health condition in working populations. Considering the lifetime prevalence of 60–85%, it will eventually affect almost everyone in life, men and women equally. In the majority of patients low back pain is a self-limiting condition, from which 90% of all patients are expected to recover in about six weeks. Hence, it has been suggested that prevention should focus more on preventing disability resulting from low back pain than on preventing the onset of back pain. As a result, duration of sickness absence is increasingly being used as a health parameter of interest to study the consequences of disability in occupational groups and to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention. Workers remaining off work after 2–3 months are responsible for the majority of the associated health care costs and have a substantial risk for long term disability. Thus, identifying those workers on sickness absence who are at risk for a longer period of sickness absence is essential for intervention purposes. In the past decades it has been well documented that physical load caused by lifting, awkward back postures, and whole body vibration is a risk factor for the onset and recurrence of low back pain. In the past 10 years the focus in aetiological research has slowly shifted from physical towards psychosocial and individual risk factors. It seems that psychosocial stress, for example, high job demands with low control, and psychological traits, for example, pain catastrophising and kinesiophobia, influence the occurrence of low back pain and play an important role in the transition from acute to chronic back pain. Moreover, there is sufficient evidence that physical, psychosocial, and individual risk factors are interrelated at any phase of low back pain. In fact, these risk factors may vary according to the severity and chronicity of low back pain. Knowledge about the interrelations between risk factors associated with different expressions of low back pain might be useful in developing intervention programmes aimed at both the worker and the workplace. Given this complex interaction among work related and individual risk factors for the occurrence of low back pain, it seems striking that most studies on prognostic factors for return to work have only identified disease related characteristics, such as pain intensity and functional status. In various randomised clinical trails the effectiveness of medical interventions on return to work have been studied, but the specific role of work related risk factors is hardly addressed. This makes one wonder whether the risk factors that cause the low back pain do matter at all in the process of returning to work after sickness absence due to low back pain. In most European countries and the United States treatment guidelines for low back disorders exist, but most guidelines have not addressed the specific contribution of work related interventions on the effectiveness on return to work. Hence, the question arises as to what instruments are available for the occupational physician to facilitate return to work of a worker with a sustained episode of low back pain. The limited evidence from longitudinal studies on the effectiveness of non-medical interventions on musculoskeletal disorders suggests that workplace adaptations may be beneficial. Intervention programmes on return to work after sickness absence due to low back disorders have shown that backschool types of interventions, regardless of type and contents of the programme, are effective in the subacute phase (after 60 days) of low back pain. 5 However, few studies have focused on return to work after sickness absence of 3–4 months. After this prolonged period, most workers on sick-leave will not be able to resume work without being supported by an intervention, either medical or non-medical. If medical interventions do not result in return to work, non-medical interventions seem to be the only option. In a promising study by Anema and colleagues, published in this issue, the effects of ergonomic interventions on return to work were evaluated across six different countries. The variation in the use of ergonomic interventions in these countries was large and seems to reflect differences in procedures enacted by the national social security systems, in legislation, and in available workers' compensation benefits schemes. However, despite these obvious problems in comparability this study showed that the combination in which interventions were imposed were more or less equal: at first there is adaptation of job tasks, secondly alteration of working hours, and finally, to a lesser extent, adaptation of the workplace. The results are somewhat surprising because workplace adaptations seem to be the most effective means of enhancing return to work after 3– 4 months of sick leave. This suggests that ergonomic interventions should start with workplace adaptation rather than adjusting job tasks and working hours. These interesting findings partly depend on the sample of workers studied, which was limited to workers who have returned to work for a long lasting period after being off work for 3–4 months due to low back pain. Hence, the factors that determined whether workers return to work at all or not have not been addressed. Another critical point of concern is that no information was present on whether the ergonomic interventions were applied before, during, or after work resumption. As a consequence, it is not known whether the ergonomic interventions resulted in a reduction in physical workload and whether a sustained compliance with the imposed ergonomic interventions contributed to the observed beneficial effect on return to work. Thus, as is acknowledged by the authors, the causal relation between the effect of ergonomic interventions and earlier return to work has yet to be established. Despite the limitations of this study, the crucial lesson learned is that ergonomic interventions may support return to work by changing the work environment of workers being on the threshold of disability. However, imposing ergonomic interventions, as being one of the many options of secondary prevention, will only be successful when all stakeholders in the rehabilitation process, such as employers, workers, and physicians, sufficiently attune their activities. A successful intervention also calls for a tailor-made approach to offer the highly vulnerable group of workers on long term sick leave due to low back pain a chance to resume work without relapse of their complaints. Due to lack of scientific information, it is still very difficult to distinguish between those ergonomic interventions that work for workers on long term sick leave and those that do not work. However, the current research on ergonomic interventions clearly shows that workers on sick EDITORIAL 287


Disease burden in urban sub-Saharan Africa is changing rapidly. Mortality and morbidity from chronic physical disease (e.g. heart, disease, stroke and cancer) is rising rapidly and believed to be as great as from infections (e.g. malaria, HIV and tuberculosis). Other increasing disease burdens in sub Saharan Africa include mental illness, substance abuse and accidents, especially road traffic collisions (RTC). Newspaper readership is rising in Uganda. This study used content analysis to examine health-related coverage in one major Ugandan newspaper (New Vision). 29 consecutive paper copies from September/October 2013 were examined independently by two researchers. Health-related articles were identified, counted and coded according to clinical content. Clinical and healthcare-related coverage was present in every edition and represented approximate proportions of 2.6% and 0.4% respectively of total newspaper content. Of 214 news articles identified, these covered the following clinical themes: general well-being (15.4%), healthcare services (14.5%), HIV (12.1%), violence/accidents (11.2%), chronic physical disease (11.2%), sexual, maternal and reproductive health (SMRH) (10.8%), non-HIV infective diseases (10.8), malnutrition (7.9%), substance misuse (3.3%) and mental health (2.8%). Coverage of RTCs, alcohol, smoking, and cancers other than of the breast and cervix was minimal. Health-related content was dominated by infections, healthcare quality, general wellbeing, SMRH and malnutrition. This does not represent the changing burden of disease in Uganda. There may be scope for targeted interventions with editors to promote coverage of growing challenges, including lifestyle advice to prevent chronic diseases.


Pumping of incident hydrogen and impurity ions by lithium enables control of the particle inventory and fueling profile in magnetic-confined plasmas, and may raise the plasma temperature near the wall. As a result, the density gradient is expected to contribute substantially to the free-energy, affecting particle and thermal transport from micro-turbulence which is typically the dominant transport mechanism in high-temperature fusion experiments. Transport in gyrokinetic simulations of density-gradient-dominated profiles is characterized by a small linear critical gradient, large particle flux, and preferential diffusion of cold particles. As a result, the heat flux is below 5/2 or even 3/2 times the particle flux, usually assumed to be the minimum for convection. While surprising, this result is consistent with increasing entropy. Coupled TEM-ITG (ion-temperature-gradient) simulations using ηe = ηi find η = ∇T/∇n ≈0.8 maximizes the linear critical pressure gradient, which suggests that experiments operating near marginal ITG stability with larger η would increase the linear critical pressure gradient by transferring free-energy from the temperature gradient to the density gradient. Simulations were performed with profiles predicted for the Lithium Tokamak Experiment (LTX) if ion thermal transport was neoclassical, while electron thermal transport and particle transport were a fixed ratio above the neoclassical level. A robust TEM instability was found for the outer half radius, while the ITG was found to be driven unstable as well during gas puff fueling. This suggests that TEM transport will be an important transport mechanism in high-temperature low-recycling fusion experiments, and in the absence of stabilizing mechanisms, may dominate over neoclassical transport. A diagnostic suite has been developed to measure hydrogen and impurity emission in LTX in order to determine the lower bound on recycling that can be achieved in a small tokamak using solid lithium coatings, assess its dependence on the operating condition of the lithium surface, and evaluate its impact on the discharge. iii Coatings on the close-fitting stainless-steel substrate produce a significant reduction in recyling, so that the effective particle confinement times are as low as .1 ms. Measurements of particle inventory in the plasma and hydrogen Lyman-α emission indicate that hydrogen recycling at the surface increases as subsequent discharges are performed; nevertheless, strong pumping of hydrogen is observed even after almost double the cumulative fueling is applied that should saturate the lithium coating to the penetration depth of hydrogen ions. Probe measurements show that when external fueling is terminated, the scrape-off-layer of discharges with fresh coatings decays to lower density and rises to higher electron temperature than for discharges with a partially-passivated surface, consistent with reduced edge cooling from recycled particles. Near the end of the discharge, higher plasma current correlates with reduced τ ∗ p and hydrogen emission, suggesting that discharges with fresh coatings achieve higher electron temperature in the core. A novel approach using neutral modeling was developed for the inverse problem of determining the distribution of recycled particle flux from PFC surfaces given a large number of emission measurements, revealing that extremely low levels of recycling (Rcore∼0.6 and Rplate∼0.8) have been achieved with solid lithium coatings. Together with impurity emission measurements, modeling suggests that during periods of particularly low electron density, influx of impurities from the walls contributes substantially to the global particle balance.


Self care is one of the options for parents in need of after school care for their children. In certain studies self care is seen as detrimental to development and academic performance, but in other studies children do fairly well notwithstanding their latchkey situation — self care could teach young people a sense of personal responsibility and self reliance. In this article we emphasise the negative influence of self care, especially for primary school children. The after-school hours alone at home can be very risky for children living in low income, dangerous, or disadvantaged environments. Children being left alone for more than three hours often present with low self esteem, low academic efficacy and high levels of depression. They are often not well adjusted and sometimes present with behavioural problems. Educators have expressed concern about the academic adjustment and achievement of self-care children. In this study we looked at the influence of a latchkey situation on children's relationships with parents and educators in connection with educational success. A qualitative research design was used with three cases of latchkey children, where parents, children, and their educators were interviewed.


Changes in bacterial genomes due to the integration of prophages have been proposed to be part of a symbiotic relationship. Prophage activity is common for bacterial pathogens in the fluctuating environment of animal hosts. Pathogenic bacteria have been found to have extensive variation of their bacterial cell boundary zone of components, which is the inherent interface for virulence properties of antigenicity, toxicity, and resistance. Prophages are a source of this variation, both through insertion of cargo genes via prophages into bacterial strains, and additional effects due to prophage insertions affecting the overall genomic structure. The latter scenario of genomic reorganization effects has not been well explored. Our hypothesis on genomic reorganization effects was that prophage integration sites would adaptively associate with locations of cell boundary genes occurring outside the prophage insertion sites. Using clusters of orthologous groups (COG) designations, we investigated how prophage insertions collocate with COG-based categories of genes into chromosomes of pathogenic versus nonpathogenic bacteria. Here we study the integration of prophages into the genomes of 49 strains of Escherichia coli. The frequency of genomes containing intact prophages was much higher for pathogenic strains than for non-pathogenic strains. We examined likelihoods of proximity at which prophages integrated near genes of different COG-based categories and found that significant integration occurs near cell boundary genes. This workflow was then implemented as a tool inside the web-based genome analysis system GALAXY to enable further study of other bacterial varieties and overall genomic context.


The clarification of the partition property of substrates in a water / organic biphasic system is useful in the development of a reaction / separation process for value-added materials, especially under high temperature and pressure conditions. In this study, the water / methyl isobuthyl ketone (MIBK) biphasic system was investigated under various temperatures (25 – 190 o C) at 10 MPa. The partitioning behavior of substrates such as furfural derivatives, amino acids, and saccharides, depended on the temperature and the flow rate ratio of MIBK to the water phase. The scale of hydrophobicity (HF) of the water / MIBK biphasic system to determine the partitioning behavior of substrates was estimated based on the partitioning behavior of amino acids. The HF value for the water / MIBK phase flow system of was greater than that for the batch system and comparable to that for conventional aqueous two-phase systems such as polyethylene glycol / dextran and liposome membrane systems. It was probably because an increase of the surface-to-volume ratio and the vortex field in the slug flow contributed to the mass transfer of substrates and their distribution.


Atrial fibrillation (AF) and sick sinus syndrome (SSS) are two conditions that frequently coexist. Despite a wealth of available knowledge, the link between these two entities is poorly understood. Whether AF is a harbinger of SSS or whether SSS predisposes to AF has been the subject of much debate. AF results in sinus node remodeling on a cellular and molecular basis that may promote SSS. However, not all patients with atrial fibrillation have SSS. Though "AF begets AF", AF may also beget SSS; and SSS may also beget AF. Multiple studies have demonstrated that sinus node dysfunction may precede the onset of AF. This review will focus on alterations to sinus node structure and function, overdrive suppression, ion channel remodeling, and transient myocardial ischemia as possible mechanisms associated with AF induced SSS. In addition, we will review evidence suggesting that SSS, characterized by a combination of atrial extrasystoles, dispersion of excitability recovery and sinus node ischemia, may lead to AF. Additional factors common to both conditions such as aging and interstitial atrial fibrosis, may explain their coexistence. All this raises many therapeutic challenges associated with the interplay of AF and SSS.


ABSTRACT The author describes The Wigglism Manifesto, a work authored amidst the fury of early exchange on the World Wide Web. The term Wigglism refers to a quality shared by biological and artificial life forms alike. The manifesto has taken an open-source approach to its cultivation, allowing numerous voices to nurture the entity into being. This collective approach to truth cultivation embodied by the manifesto was inspired, in part, by the author's experiences with community-based media rituals in the North Brooklyn community before it gentrified in the mid-1990s. The project has affirmed its initiator's sense that cultivating a living system can be a vital alternative to traditional creative practices more aligned with manufacturing and commerce.