The role of the sports team captain is often underestimated in terms of the responsibility involved, the essential attributes and knowledge required. The qualities and expertise of the captain can potentially have a great effect on the performance of the team. To date there has been very little research conducted on the role and experiences of the sports team captain. The purpose of this study is to outline the role and the experiences of the sports team captain, with particular emphasis on the responsibilities, the influencing factors and the power of the captain. Ten former or current captains of state and national sports teams currently residing in Perth, Western Australia, were each interviewed using an open ended, flexible interview schedule. A combination of inductive and deductive content analysis of the verbatim interview transcripts was used to establish common and unique themes pertaining to the role, attitudes and experiences of the sports team captain. The major theme to emerge from the data was "be yourself''. The findings demonstrated that· the duties of the captain are primarily determined by the role and nature of the coach. Other factors including the nature and profile of the sport, type and level of competition, number of support personnel, team stability and length of the playing. season also influenced the extent of the captain's responsibilities. With ii the exception of cricket, tp.e captain has little authority or involvement in team selection and strategies. The major duties of the captain involve (a) representing the team in either a public relations capacity or in discussions with the coach and management, and (b) identifying and solving problems within the team.


The English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum in the General Studies component of Malaysian polytechnics holds the objective of equipping the learners with necessary workplace English language skills as well as technical contexts in order to enable them to perform in the workplace. It plays a vital role to ensure the polytechnic graduates are able to compete in the job market with adequate proficiency in English language. Henceforth, this study sets out to evaluate the current English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum in Politeknik Kota Bharu, Kelantan. The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent the ESP curriculum is adequate and relevant in preparing the students for their workplace by looking into its' syllabus, module as well as the feedback from the students and English language lecturers. The study adopted a mixed method research design whereby a quantitative survey method was complimented by qualitative interviews and document analyses in obtaining all the data from samples and relevant information. The data from the questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS version 17 to produce descriptive statistics. Data from the interviews were analyzed according to theme and categories. A total of 90 final semester students of Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (Automotive) and 5 English language lecturers from Politeknik Kota Bharu were involved in this study. The findings disclosed that 84 .4% of the students agreed that the ESP A5003 English for Technical Purposes course is relevant. As for the English language lecturers, although they felt the course's content seems to be insufficient in certain aspects, nonetheless they believed some of the course's content was still relevant in preparing the students for the work place. Next, in deciding the adequacy of the ESP A5003 English for Technical Purposes course, majority of the students (82.2%) were satisfied with the adequacy of the content and felt that the course was sufficient to train them for their future work place. All the English language lecturers involved had felt the same about the course. Results also revealed that the students considered all the English language skills in the ESP A5003 English for Technical Purposes course were important for their future work place with speaking skills indicated the most important (mean=3.767, s.d=1.08l5), followed by listening skills (mean=3.733, s.d=1.0579), reading skills (mean=3.667, s.d=.9481), and writing skill (mean=3.622, s.d=1.0120). As for the English language lecturers, they agreed that all the four skills were equally important for the students. Majority of the students felt that the topics in the ESP A5003 English for Technical Purposes module were very useful in preparing them for the future work place although all the lecturers believed that the content and presentation of the topics were totally out dated and it was critically in need to be reviewed. Several recommendations related to the ESP curriculum were promoting autonomous learning to the students, changing the roles of the lecturers as facilitators, English language lecturers be given proper courses on how to teach and design ESP materials, adding more contact hours to the ESP course to include more communicative activities and to produce an additional manual that offer the background knowledge, terminologies and useful phrases of the related disciplines for use by the students and the English language lecturers. It is recommended that similar study be carried out to involve all polytechnics in Malaysia and also involving students of other programmes as well.


The realization of end-to-end quality of service (QoS) guarantees in emerging network-based applications requires mechanisms that support first dynamic discovery and then advance or immediate reservation of resources that will often be heterogeneous in type and implementation and independently controlled and administered. We propose the Globus Architecture for Reservation and Allocation (GARA) to address these four issues. GARA treats both reservations and computational elements such as processes, network flows, and memory blocks as first-class entities, allowing them to be created, monitored, and managed independently and uniformly. It simplifies management of heterogeneous resource types by defining uniform mechanisms for computers, networks, disk, memory, and other resources. Layering on these standard mechanisms, GARA enables the construction of application-level co-reservation and co-allocation libraries that applications can use to dynamically assemble collections of resources, guided by both application QoS requirements and the local administration policy of individual resources. We describe a prototype GARA implementation that supports three different resource type-parallel computers, individual CPU under control of the dynamic soft real-time scheduler, and integrated services networks, and provide performance results that quantify the costs of our techniques.


A forced landing for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is required if there is an emergency on board that requires the aircraft to land immediately. Piloted aircraft in the same scenario have a human on board that is able to engage in the complex decision making process involved in the choice of a suitable landing location. If UAVs are to ever fly routinely in civilian airspace, then it is argued that the problem of finding a safe landing location for a forced landing is an important unresolved problem that must be addressed.

This thesis presents the results of an investigation into the feasibility of using machine vision techniques to locate candidate landing sites for an autonomous UAV forced landing. The approach taken involves the segmentation of the image into areas that are large enough and free of obstacles; classification of the surface types of these areas; incorporating slope information from readily available digital terrain databases; and finally fusing these maps together using a high level set of simple linguistic fuzzy rules to create a final candidate landing site map. All techniques were evaluated on actual flight data collected from a Cessna 172 flying in South East Queensland.

It was shown that the use of existing segmentation approaches from the literature did not provide the outputs required for this problem in the airborne images encountered in the gathered dataset. A simple method was then developed and tested that provided suitably sized landing areas that were free of obstacles and large enough to land. The advantage of this novel approach was that these areas could be extracted from the image directly without solving the difficult task of segmenting the entire image into the individual homogenous objects.

A number of neural network classification approaches were tested with the surface types of candidate landing site regions extracted from the aerial images. A number of novel techniques were developed through experimentation with the classifiers that greatly improved upon the classification accuracy of the standard approaches considered. These novel techniques included: automatic generation of suitable output subclasses based on generic output classes of the classifier; an optimisation process for generating the best set of input features for the classifier based on an automated analysis of the feature space; the use of a multi-stage classification approach; and the generation of confidence measures based on the outputs of the neural network classifiers. The final classification result of the system performs significantly better than a human test pilot's classification interpretation of the dataset samples.

In summary, the algorithms were able to locate candidate landing site areas that were free of obstacles 92.3 ±2.6% (99% confidence in the result) of the time, with free obstacle candidate landing site areas that were large enough to land in missed only 5.3 ±2.2% (99% confidence in the result) of the time.

The neural network classification networks developed were able to classify the surface type of the candidate landing site areas to an accuracy of 93.9 ±3.7% (99% confidence in the result) for areas labelled as Very Certain. The overall surface type classification accuracy for the system (includes all candidate landing sites) was 91.95 ±4.2% (99% confidence in the result). These results were considered to be an excellent result as a human test pilot subject was only able to classify the same data set to an accuracy of 77.24 %.

The thesis concludes that the techniques developed showed considerable promise and could be used immediately to enhance the safety of UAV operations. Recommendations include the testing of algorithms over a wider range of datasets and improvements to the surface type classification approach that incorporates contextual information in the image to further improve the classification accuracy.


This paper recasts current theories of regulatory or legislative competition. Building on the recent contribution of Buchanan and Yoon (2000), we consider alternative ways in which decision-making competence can be allocated among multiple legislative or administrative bodies. The general model is used to consider the equilibria obtained under different allocations of competence and to formulate some policy considerations.


Background: Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in the usual activities. According to WHO, depression has been estimated to affect up to 21% of the world's population, while two recent cross-sectional studies conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia show that about 50% of the population is suffering from mild to severe depression.
Objective: Since the adverse effects associated with the current anti-depression medications are severe, the current study aimed to test the anti-depressant effect of natural oils, including almond oil, along with the inhalation of lavender oil, for alleviating depression.
Methods: Male Wister rats weighing approximately 250-300 g were used for the study. Almond oil was given to rats through oral or intraperitoneal injection (3.2 g/kg). Inhalation of lavender oil (diluted with water; 1: 20) was given to rats for a period of 30 or 60 min. The anti-depressant effect of the natural oils was evaluated using two different methods, either the forced swim test or the passive avoidance test. Results: The anxiety and depression associated with forcing the rats to swim is reduced by the treatment with almond oil alone and in combination with the inhalation of lavender oil. The treatments resulted in the reduction of immobility events and an improvement in climbing behavior. Furthermore, the treatment of rats with almond oil alone and in combination with lavender oil inhalation increased the latency period to avoiding the shock in the passive avoidance test apparatus. The combination therapy resulted in a significant additive effect in the passive avoidance test.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that the treatment with almond oil or the combination of almond oil with the inhalation of lavender oil show anti-depressant-like effects in the rats studied, using the forced swim test and the passive avoidance test as evaluation tools.


Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most disaster-prone countries in the world. To address both problems simultaneously, sustainable livelihoods (SL) could be better connected with disaster risk reduction (DRR). For this purpose, one initiative implemented in Bangladesh is called the Vulnerability to Resilience (V2R) programme which ran from 2013 to 2016. This programme was primarily initiated and funded by the British Red Cross in a consortium with the Swedish Red Cross and the German Red Cross. This article presents the first evaluation of the V2R programme with three objectives. The first objective was to measure whether the selected communities have achieved community resilience characteristics as defined by the programme. The second objective was to conduct a cost-benefit analysis for the intervention. The third objective was to analyse V2R's impact on the communities in terms of DRR and SL. Community-based focus group discussions and household-based surveys were conducted before and after the intervention (2013–2016) in two coastal communities in Patuakhali district, Nowapara and Pashurbunia. The analysis found that community members are now engaged with many hazard-resilient and vulnerability-reducing livelihood activities, using SL to implement DRR, yet these approaches were almost absent prior to V2R. Consequently, the communities have achieved resilience characteristics, being more well-organized and better connected; having better access to infrastructure, services, and economic opportunities; are more knowledgeable and healthier; and are better managing their available resources. Critiques of the concepts are discussed, although in this case, DRR based on SL has shown positive results, exactly as development theory suggests.


Under what conditions does cost-of-service regulation lead firms to distort costs? This paper analyzes changes in fuel procurement practices by coal- and natural gas-fired electricity generating plants in the United States following state-level legislation that ended cost-of-service regulation among investor-owned electric utilities in the late 1990s. I construct a detailed dataset that links confidential, shipment-level data on the price of virtually all of the fuel delivered to coal- and gas-fired electricity plants in the United States from 1990-2009, with plant-level data on operations and regulatory status. Using a matched difference-in-difference estimation strategy to account for confounding shipping costs, I find the price of coal drops by 12% at deregulated plants relative to matched plants that were not subject to any regulatory change, whereas there was no relative drop in the price of gas. Deregulated plants disproportionately switch to burning low-sulfur coal rather than install capital-intensive abatement equipment to comply with environmental regulations, and expand imports from out of state by 25% if they were initially burning in-state coal. I show how these results lend support to theories of asymmetric information between generators and regulators, regulatory capture, and capital-bias as important sources of distortion under cost-of-service regulation. I then show that the drop in the price of coal is associated with a reallocation of purchases to more productive mines, rather than simply a transfer of regulatory rents from coal producers to electricity generators. Although only one quarter of U.S. coal-fired capacity has been deregulated, the end of cost-of-service regulation has reduced the price of fuel by about one billion dollars per year for these plants.


For observers in curved spacetimes, elements of the dual space of the set of linearized Poincare transformations from an observer's tangent space to itself can be naturally interpreted as local linear and angular momenta. We present an operational procedure by which observers can measure such quantities using only information about the spacetime curvature at their location. When applied by observers near spacelike or null infinity in stationary, vacuum, asymptotically flat spacetimes, there is a sense in which the procedure yields the well-defined linear and angular momenta of the spacetime. We also describe a general method by which observers can transport local linear and angular momenta from one point to another, which improves previous prescriptions. This transport is not path independent in general, but becomes path independent for the measured momenta in the same limiting regime. The transport prescription is defined in terms of differential equations, but it can also be interpreted as parallel transport in a particular direct-sum vector bundle. Using the curvature of the connection on this bundle, we compute and discuss the holonomy of the transport law. We anticipate that these measurement and transport definitions may ultimately prove useful for clarifying the physical interpretation of the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs charges of asymptotically flat spacetimes.


Drawing on data from a Europe wide project, together with existing data on equality and diversity initiatives, this book explores the work of trade unions in supporting equality and anti-discrimination policies across Europe and, in particular, the processes and collaborations involved in incorporating equality and diversity policies into trade union agendas. It considers theoretical issues of equality and diversity, the role of EU legislation, multiple discrimination and exclusion and disadvantage in the labour market in relation to the role of trade unions, and addresses central questions about the actions and challenges faced by trade unions in promoting equality in the workplace and in implementing anti-discrimination policies at local, national and European levels.

With research spanning 34 European countries and extending to over 250 interviews and 15 case studies, Workplace Equality in Europe examines the impact of a period of economic crisis on workplace diversity, exploring forms of inter-union cooperation at European and international levels and shedding fresh light on the processes that lead some trade unions to adopt equality policies while others remain reluctant to develop or expand policies in this area.

A detailed European study of trade union activity and workplace diversity, this book will be of interest to scholars of the sociology of work and organisations, labour relations and workplace diversity.


The aim of this research is to identify the factors that encourage or limit the adoption of Business to Business (B2B) systems in Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the city of Amman, Jordan. The current research referenced in this paper assessed and verified the performance of SMEs as related to improvements in performance and efficiency, as measured by influential factors that related to the B2B system adoption in SMEs in Amman. Within the current research emerged the importance for the adoption of B2B systems for SMEs in Amman for enhancing their performance and efficiency, so that they may become much more useful, effective and productive. The current research was conducted with both qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore both the process of adoption and implementation of B2B systems in SMEs in Amman, and the perceptions of the effect of these changes as measured in terms of performance and efficiency. Within the research, a questionnaire was used as a method of producing quantitative descriptions of some aspects and issues of the study population. The questionnaire focused on the adoption of B2B systems in SMEs in both industrial and services sectors in Amman and the perceptions of SME managers in terms of how their application resulted in changes in of performance and efficiency improvements.

The questionnaire was pre-tested for its validity and reliability, and quantitative statistical of methods such as factor analysis, t-test, analysis of variance and correlations, were employed on the interview and questionnaire itself. In all, 500 SMEs from the AHI (2008) were contacted to participate in this questionnaire, of which 368 SMEs completed it. This equates to an overall 73.6 percent response rate (368/500 = 73.6%). After screening the data, responses were analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation modeling (SEM). The results of factor analysis represented the construct validity of the questionnaire in this research. There were ten factors and 75 items examined by factor analysis in this research. All the factors and items deployed were found to have satisfactory alpha values that were higher than 0.70 percent established for exploratory research. Hence, based on the findings of these tests, it was concluded that the items and factors in this research met the various criteria for evaluating and demonstrating satisfactory social and business studies. As all factors were loaded above 0.50 percent on the factors that they were used to measure, the relationships among factors (First and Second-Order factors) to test the convergent validity through a perfect simple structure and all Eigenvalues are greater than 1.0, thus, it was evident that a simple structure existed in this model. The SEM analysis supports the proposition that the adoption of the B2B systems by enterprises reflects the internal and external organisational factors sufficiently to represent them as a single construct in structural models.

This research has five general findings about the perceptions of SME managers in Amman regarding the adoption of B2B systems and its effects on SMEs' performance and efficiency improvements. The first finding was that B2B systems have a strong positive correlation with SME's performance and efficiency, which suggests that the SMEs' performance and efficiency improved as the extent of the B2B system adoption increased. The second finding was that the internal and external organisational factors' influence on B2B system adoption should be assessed and understood before the improvement in SMEs' performance and efficiency could be fully realised. The third finding was that the effect of B2B system adoption was fully mediated by improvement in the SMEs' performance and efficiency. The fourth finding was that the four performance factors: namely productivity, sales, profitability and costs; and the three efficiency factors - namely operation efficiency and inventory management and control and Procurement Business Process (PBP), were the most important contributors and measures of the SMEs' performance and efficiency in Amman. The last finding was that a new continuous scale can measure the factors of B2B system adoption, and SME's performance and efficiency improvements.

The effects of B2B system adoption in SMEs in Amman are fully mediated by SME efficiency improvement. Productivity, costs, PBP and operation efficiency were more affected by B2B system adoption than other factors due to their structured characteristics. This finding is supported in the management literature, which suggests that there are improvement inter-dependencies among SMEs' performance and efficiency outcomes where an improvement in one area leads to improvement in others. The fully mediated relationships between B2B system adoption, SMEs' performance and efficiency improvements concluded that changes in productivity, cost reductions and sales processes were the drivers for improved performance. At the same time, it was concluded that changes in PBP and operation efficiency were the drivers for improved SMEs' efficiency. While the adoption of the B2B system enables improvements in business processes that are otherwise difficult to achieve, such as automation of administrative functions and the global transactions of electronic documents, the evidence in this thesis concluded that SME performance and efficiency improvements were not improved without changes in the business process that initiate, receive and use the information. For example, while the sharing of valuable information is much easier using IT, it could theoretically occur through a variety of media including fax and digital or paper documents. However, these information media are more costly to operate and transfer than most IT applications such as B2B systems and may suggest why some information was not shared between Trading Partners (TPs) prior to B2B systems.

This research demonstrates that measuring the internal and external organisational factors provided a more parsimonious model with higher statistical power. This means that both internal and external organisational factors that influence B2B system adoption are necessary for explaining the level of variance in SMEs' performance and efficiency as demonstrated in this research. The findings also suggest that the methodological results and contributions derived from measuring the influence of the B2B system adoption on SME performance and efficiency in Amman on a continuous scale appears to capture dimensions of the technology not previously measured in the services and industrial sectors in Amman. Specifically, it measures varying degrees of the B2B system adoption rather than simple presence, i.e. either the technology exists or not. It also explores various dimensions of the activities forming the B2B systems internal and external organisational factors that have not been collectively measured in a single study. This involves measuring SMEs' strategic, SME managers' perceptions, readiness and external pressure by TPs and internally on a continuous scale. This research found that automating the PBP allows timely and accurate estimation of the material needs of the SMEs in Amman. Activities of PBP include placing and confirming order to and from TPs online, as well as checking of order status. As discussed earlier, these activities can be performed online through TPs' websites and/or through e-mail. In addition, SMEs' and TPs' activities involve the collection and processing of information about potential TPs. This research contributed the following conclusions to the literature and SME managers in Amman:

1. The B2B system adoption in SMEs in Amman has had a positive influence on SMEs' performance and efficiency improvement.
2. The external organisational factors such as readiness and external pressure by TPs were most important factors influencing the adoption of B2B systems.
3. Some of the factors in SMEs' performance improvement, such as productivity and costs, appear to factors that are more affected by B2B system adoption than other factors.
4. The evidence suggests that some of factors in SMEs' efficiency improvement, such as PBP and operating efficiency, appear to be more factors that are affected more by B2B system adoption than other factors.
5. The findings suggest that the effect of B2B system adoption on profitability is indirect, mediated by other factors such as productivity, costs and sales.
6. The three control variables: enterprise size, B2B systems' use duration and economic sector in this research have had neutral effects on B2B system adoption in SMEs in Amman.
7. B2B system adoption can remove many of the competitive advantages of larger enterprises in Amman and provide opportunities for SMEs.


Male mallards respond to rapes of their mate by intervening aggressively against the rapist or rapists, by attempting to force a copulation with the rape victim, or both. Aggressive intervention is more likely against a solitary male than against a group, and forced copulations are more likely immediately after a rape and especially when the rape appears to have been successful. This behavior pattern reflects, strategies consistent with maximizing individual male fitness.


Nearly all biological processes, including strictly regulated protein-protein interactions fundamental in cell signaling, occur inside living cells where the concentration of macromolecules can exceed 300 g/L. One such interaction is between a 7 kDa SH3 domain and a 25 kDa intrinsically disordered region of Son of Sevenless (SOS). Despite its key role in the mitogen activated protein kinase signaling pathway of all eukaryotes, most biophysical characterizations of this complex are performed in dilute buffered solutions where cosolute concentrations rarely exceed 10 g/L. Here, we investigate the effects of proteins, sugars, and urea, at high g/L concentrations, on the kinetics and equilibrium thermodynamics of binding between SH3 and two SOS-derived peptides using 19F NMR lineshape analysis. We also analyze the temperature-dependence, which enables quantification of the enthalpic and entropic contributions. The energetics of SH3-peptide binding in proteins differs from those in the small molecules we used as control cosolutes, demonstrating the importance of using proteins as physiologically-relevant cosolutes. Although the majority of the protein cosolutes destabilize the SH3-peptide complexes, the effects are non-generalizable and there are subtle differences, which are likely from weak nonspecific interactions between the test proteins and the protein crowders. We also quantify the effects of cosolutes on SH3 translational and rotational diffusion to rationalize the effects on association rate constants. The absence of a correlation between the SH3 diffusion data and the kinetic data in certain cosolutes suggests that the properties of the peptide in crowded conditions must be considered when interpreting energetic effects. These studies have implications for understanding protein-protein interactions in cells and show the importance of using physiologically-relevant cosolutes for investigating macromolecular crowding effects.


The objectives of this research are to compare the effect of corrosion on shear behavior in particular, and the overall structural response in both NC and SCC beams in general. Twenty reinforced concrete beams were used, with ten specimens cast using normal concrete (NC), and the other ten were cast using self-consolidating concrete (SCC). The dimensions for each beam were 150mm x 220mm x 1400mm. Using accelerated corrosion through the application of a constant current of one ampere, four stages of corrosion were established at 5%, 10%, and 20% of mass loss. Simply supported beams were loaded with two concentrated loads, and a four-point loading test was applied to the reinforced concrete (RC) beams. If (a) is the distance from the concentrated load to the reaction, and (d) is the distance from the center of the tensile flexural rebars to the top of the concrete beam, then a/d=2.5 was applied to assure the highest probability of shear failure mode. The data collected from load cell, LVDTs, corrosion crack patterns and loading cracks patterns were used to study the effects of multiple stages of corrosion on the shear behaviour of reinforced NC and SCC concrete beams. The corroded rebars were then retrieved and cleaned to compare the calculated mass loss with real mass loss. The results showed high correlation between the calculated mass loss (according to Faraday law) and real mass loss. The accelerated corrosion resulted in a corrosion crack pattern, which was documented and analyzed. In this research, the use of NC and SCC showed minor influences on failure mode, while the different states of corrosion showed a higher degree of influence on failure mode and the structural capacity of beams made from both types of concrete. The apparent changes in failure mode were associated with the increased corrosion stage.


The purpose of this article was to investigate whether the South African law of delict should recognise a duty of rescue. The method adopted is briefly to set out the general rule of no liability for a mere omission (hereafter the general rule). The various rationales for the general rule were investigated and evaluated for the general rule is really the denial of the duty to rescue except that it goes somewhat wider: it also covers damage to proprietory interests. The arguments favouring a duty of rescue were critically examined and a conclusion on recognition, drawn. The relationship between the duty to rescue and the general rule created certain problems in presenting the material along the proposed lines. Since the duty of rescue is but the somewhat narrower opposite (or negation) of the general rule, no watertight division was possible: an argument in favour of the recognition of a duty to rescue is automatically an argument against the retention of the general rule and vice versa.


Relating geographic variation in quantitative traits to underlying population structure is crucial for understanding processes driving population differentiation, isolation and ultimately speciation. Our study represents a comprehensive population genetic survey of the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria, an important model organism for evolutionary and ecological studies, over a broad geographic scale across Europe (10 populations from the Swiss Alps to Iceland). We simultaneously assessed differentiation in five quantitative traits (body size, development time, growth rate, proportion of diapausing individuals and duration of diapause), to compare differentiation in neutral marker loci (FST) to that of quantitative traits (QST). Despite long distances and uninhabitable areas between sampled populations, population structuring was very low but significant (FST = 0.007, 13 microsatellite markers; FST = 0.012, three allozyme markers; FST = 0.007, markers combined). However, only two populations (Iceland and Sweden) showed significant allelic differentiation to all other populations. We estimated high levels of gene flow [effective number of migrants (Nm) = 6.2], there was no isolation by distance, and no indication of past genetic bottlenecks (i.e. founder events) and associated loss of genetic diversity in any northern or island population. In contrast to the low population structure, quantitative traits were strongly genetically differentiated among populations, following latitudinal clines, suggesting that selection is responsible for life history differentiation in yellow dung flies across Europe.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a dementing disorder and one of the major public health problems in countries with greater longevity. The cerebral cortical thickness and cerebral blood flow (CBF), which are considered as morphological and functional image features, respectively, could be decreased in specific cerebral regions of patients with dementia of Alzheimer type. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a computer-aided classification system for AD patients based on machine learning with the morphological and functional image features derived from a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system. The cortical thicknesses in ten cerebral regions were derived as morphological features by using gradient vector trajectories in fuzzy membership images. Functional CBF maps were measured with an arterial spin labeling technique, and ten regional CBF values were obtained by registration between the CBF map and Talairach atlas using an affine transformation and a free form deformation. We applied two systems based on an arterial neural network (ANN) and a support vector machine (SVM), which were trained with 4 morphological and 6 functional image features, to 15 AD patients and 15 clinically normal (CN) subjects for classification of AD. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values for the two systems based on the ANN and SVM with both image features were 0.901 and 0.915, respectively. The AUC values for the ANN-and SVM-based systems with the morphological features were 0.710 and 0.660, respectively, and those with the functional features were 0.878 and 0.903, respectively. Our preliminary results suggest that the proposed method may have potential for assisting radiologists in the differential diagnosis of AD patients by using morphological and functional image features.


To what extent does reflective learning in education meet the needs of learners in a reflexive modern society? The thesis constructs a late-modern case for reflective learning in post-compulsory education. It is argued that reflective learning connects with a key concept in contemporary social theory - that of reflexivity. The arguments are developed through the following key questions. • To what extent does reflective learning in post compulsory education correspond with the needs of learners in late-modernity?
• What are the key characteristics of late-modernity?
• Can the application of reflective learning by practitioners improve student learning in post-compulsory education?
• What are the conclusions for teaching and learning in post-compulsory education that flow from this analysis of social theory and educational practice? Enlightenment and contemporary modernity is explored through a review of literature on social theory and philosophy. The second part of the thesis is concerned with praxis the testing of theory in action. Case studies in action research are used to examine how teachers seek to promote reflective learning in their practice. This exploration of theory and practice is then used to present the overall conclusions and make recommendations for future action. In many ways this thesis revisits the territory and thinking of John Dewey, It seeks to connect educational praxis to the wider social context, but from a late-modern perspective.


The purpose of this study is evaluate emission characteristics, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter (PM), of excavator with Tier-4f level diesel engine in the real work conditions. The test excavator has an engine power of 124 kW at an engine speed of 1800rpm, and it has various after-treatment devices, such as exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), selective catalytic reduction (SCR), and diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), to reduce the engine-out emissions. The emissions including carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxides (CO2), and NOx, were measured by portable emission measurement system (PEMS). The PEMS device conducted a correlation analysis with the emission bench on the engine dynamometer before being used to measure the real-work to confirm the reliability of the equipment. The tests were carried out in four categories: idling, driving, excavations and flattening.
 It revealed that the average power output for each operation mode was higher in the order of flattening, excavation, and drive. On average, those are higher than that for the non-road transient cycle (NRTC) certification mode as 1.5 to 1.9 times. It may be determined that the power output is higher in conditions where there are more boom and bucket movements than the movement of the vehicle itself. In emission analysis, NOx and HC emission in driving mode are higher than other two modes: excavation and flattening. The real time NOx have been low in most test conditions, but large quantities of NOx have been released due to the deactivation of the SCR catalyst during cold start period or immediately after the non-working.


We evaluated the effect of osmotic-release oral system (OROS) methylphenidate on learning skills in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In an open-label study, 121 adolescents with ADHD were administered flexible doses of OROS methylphenidate for 12 weeks. The efficacy of methylphenidate on ADHD symptoms was evaluated by ADHD Rating Scale (ARS) and Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI). Learning Skills Test (LST) was used to measure the learning skills of the participants at the baseline and the endpoint. Continuous performance test, visuospatial and verbal working memory, verbal fluency, and inhibition were evaluated before and after the 12 weeks of treatment. The mean total and subscores of LST were significantly increased after the 12-week treatment with OROS methylphenidate. Executive functions were also improved during the trial, with the exception of inhibition measured by the Stroop Test. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the influence of OROS methylphenidate on learning skill. As a result, OROS methylphenidate was effective in enhancing learning skills in adolescents with ADHD.


Tofacitinib is a drug of the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor class. It is currently approved for the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in the United States and other countries. A sensitive, selective, precise and stability-indicating High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) method for quantitative analysis of tofacitinib citrate drug has been established and validated. Chromatographic separation was performed on aluminum plates precoated with silica gel and the mobile phase Chloroform: Methanol (9.5:0.5, v/v). Analysis of tofacitinib citrate was performed in absorbance mode at 287 nm. This system gave compact bands for tofacitinib citrate chromatogram of standard tofacitinib citrate (Rf=0.47 ± 0.03). Tofacitinib citrate was subjected to acid hydrolysis, base hydrolysis, neutral hydrolysis, oxidation, photolysis, dry heat induced degradation: Thermal degradation. The degradation products were well resolved from the pure drug. The linearity was obtained in the range 500-900 ng/spot with correlation coefficients (r2=0.9974) for tofacitinib citrate. The developed technique is precise, specific and accurate. Statistical analysis proves that the method is suitable for the analysis of tofacitinib citrate as bulk drug without any interference from the degradation products. It was concluded that the developed method offered several advantages such as rapid, cost effective, simple mobile phase and sample preparation steps and improved sensitivity made it specific, reliable and easily reproducible in any quality control set-up providing all the parameters are followed accurately for its intended use.


—An enterprise's information technology environment is often composed of various complex and heterogeneous systems and is subject to many requirements, regulations, and laws. This leads to the issue that technical experts should also have a firm knowledge about a company's compliance requirements on information technology. This paper presents an approach to ensure compliance of application deployment models during their design time. We introduce a concept that is able to locate compliance relevant areas in deployment models while also specifying how these areas have to be modeled to fulfill the compliance requirements.


List of contributors Acknowledgements General introduction Part I. The Functional Architecture of Auditory-Verbal (Phonological) Short-Term Memory and its Neural Correlates: 1. The impairment of auditory-verbal short-term storage Tim Shallice and Giuseppe Vallar 2. The development of the concept of working memory: implications and contributions of neuropsychology Alan D. Baddeley 3. Multiple phonological representations and verbal short-term memory Frances J. Friedrich 4. Electrophysiological measures of short-term memory Arnold Starr, Geoffrey Barrett, Hillel Pratt, Henry J. Michalewski and Julie V. Patterson Part II. Phonological Short-Term Memory and Other Levels of Information Processing: Studies in Brain-Damaged Patients with Defective Phonological Memory: 5. Auditory and lexical information sources in immediate recall: evidence from a patient with deficit to the phonological short-term store Rita Sloan Berndt and Charlotte C. Mitchum 6. Neuropsychological evidence for lexical involvement in short-term memory Eleanor M. Saffran and Nadine Martin 7. Auditory-verbal span of apprehension: a phenomenon in search of a function? Rosaleen A. McCarthy and Elizabeth K. Warrington 8. Short-term retention without short-term memory Brian Butterworth, Tim Shallice and Frances L. Watson Part III. Short-Term Memory Studies in Different Populations (Children, Elderly, Amnesics) and of Different Short-Term Memory Systems: 9. Developmental fractionation of working memory Graham J. Hitch 10. Adult age differences in working memory Fergus I. M. Craik, Robin G. Morris and Mary L. Gick 11. Lipreading, neuropsychology and immediate memory Ruth Campbell 12. Memory without rehearsal David Howard and Sue Franklin 13. The extended present: evidence from time estimation by amnesics and normals Marcel Kinsbourne and Robert E. Hicks Part IV. Phonological Short-Term Memory and Sentence Comprehension: 14. Short-term memory and language comprehension: a critical review of the neuropsychological literature David Caplan and Gloria S. Waters 15. Neuropsychological evidence on the role of short-term memory in sentence processing Randi C. Martin 16. Short-term memory impairment and sentence processing: a case study Eleanor M. Saffran and Nadine Martin 17. Phonological processing and sentence comprehension: a neuropsychological case study Giuseppe Vallar, Anna Basso and Gabriela Bottini 18. Working memory and comprehension of spoken sentences: investigation of children with reading disorder Stephen Crain, Donald Shankweiler, Paul Macaruso and Eva Bar-Shalom Name index Subject index.


Objective Recent neuroscience studies explored the neuronal mechanisms underlying our sense of self. Thereby the cortical midline structures and their anterior and posterior regions have been shown to be central. What remains unclear though is how both, self and cortical midline structures, are related to the identity of the self which is of central importance in especially personality disorders. Methods Conducting an exploratory study with a dimensional approach, we here compared subjects with high and low level of personality functioning and identity integration as measured in a standardized way in fMRI during both, emotion- and reward-related tasks. Results Low levels of personality functioning and identity integration were predicted by significantly decreased degrees of deactivation in the anterior and posterior cortical midline structures. Conclusions Though exploratory our results show for the first time direct relationship between cortical midline structures and personality functioning in terms of identity integration. This does not only contribute to our understanding of the neuronal mechanism underlying self and identity but carries also major implications for the treatment of patients with personality disorders.


The synthesis of four new iron(II) coordination polymers [Fe(L1a)(bpua)] (1), [Fe(L1b)(bpua)](0.5bpua) (2), [Fe(L2a)(bpua)] (3), [Fe(L1b)(bpua)](yEtOH) (5) and one trinuclear complex [{Fe(L1a)(bpua)(MeOH)}2-µ{Fe(L1a)}](xMeOH) (4) with Schiff base-like N2O2coordinating equatorial ligands (L1a, L1b and L2a) and 4,4'-bis(pyridyl)urea (bpua) as bridging axial ligand is described.Single crystal X-ray structure elucidation of the trinuclear module4and of the coordination polymer5reveals the presence of HS-LS-HS chains and all-HS infinite 1-D strands, respectively. As anticipated the presence of the bridging urea supports the supramolecular concatenation within an extended hydrogen-bonding network. Magnetic measurements reveal spin crossover behavior for four of the five complexes (1–4) that is strongly solvent dependent.Interestingly, in two cases, complete removal of the solvent from the crystal packing leads to wider thermal hysteresis loops.


This report presents the details of the Hanford waste tank characterization study for tank 241-TY-103. The drivers and objectives of the headspace vapor sampling and analysis were in accordance with procedure that were presented in other reports. The vapor and headspace gas samples were collected and analyzed to determine the potential risks to tank farm workers due to fugitive emissions from the tank.


A number of different agonists activate G protein-coupled receptors to stimulate adenylyl cyclase (AC), increase cAMP formation, and promote relaxation in vascular smooth muscle. To more fully understand this stimulation of AC, we assessed the expression, regulation, and compartmentation of AC isoforms in rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMC). Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction detected expression of AC3, AC5, and AC6 mRNA, whereas immunoblot analysis indicated expression of AC3 and AC5/6 protein primarily in caveolin-rich membrane (cav) fractions relative to noncaveolin (noncav) fractions. Beta(1)-adrenergic receptors (AR), beta(2)AR, and G(s) were detected in both cav and noncav fractions, whereas the prostanoid receptors EP(2)R and EP(4)R were excluded from cav fractions. We used an adenoviral construct to increase AC6 expression. Overexpressed AC6 localized only in noncav fractions. Two-fold overexpression of AC6 caused enhancement of forskolin-, isoproterenol- and prostaglandin E(2)-stimulated cAMP formation but no changes in basal levels of cAMP. At higher levels of AC6 overexpression, basal and adenosine receptor-stimulated cAMP levels were increased. Stimulation of cAMP levels by agents that increase Ca(2+) in native cells was consistent with the expression of AC3, but overexpression of AC6, which is inhibited by Ca(2+), blunted the Ca(2+)-stimulable cAMP response. These data indicate that: 1) RASMC express multiple AC isoforms that localize in both caveolin-rich and noncaveolin domains, 2) expression of AC6 in non-caveolin-rich membranes can increase basal levels of cAMP and response to several stimulatory agonists, and 3) Ca(2+)-mediated regulation of cAMP formation depends upon expression of different AC isoforms in RASMC. Compartmentation of GPCRs and AC is different in cardiomyocytes than in RASMC, indicating that targeting of these components to caveolin-rich membranes can be cell-specific. Moreover, our results imply that the colocalization of GPCRs and the AC isoforms they activate need not occur in caveolin-rich fractions.


Ethereum is the largest and most prominent smart contract platform. One key property of Ethereum is that once a contract is deployed, it can not be updated anymore. This increases the importance of thoroughly testing the behavior and constraints of the smart contract before deployment. Existing approaches in related work either do not scale or are only focused on finding crashing inputs. In this tool demo, we introduce SynTest-Solidity, an automated test case generation and fuzzing framework for Solidity. SynTest-Solidity implements various metaheuristic search algorithms, including random search (traditional fuzzing) and genetic algorithms (i.e., NSGA-II, MOSA, and DynaMOSA). Finally, we performed a preliminary empirical study to assess the effectiveness of SynTest-Solidity in testing Solidity smart contracts.


Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are an essential tool to determine fundamental features of a neutron beam, such as the neutron flux or the γ-ray background, that sometimes can not be measured or at least not in every position or energy range. Until recently, the most widely used MC codes in this field had been MCNPX and FLUKA. However, the Geant4 toolkit has also become a competitive code for the transport of neutrons after the development of the native Geant4 format for neutron data libraries, G4NDL. In this context, we present the Geant4 simulations of the neutron spallation target of the n_TOF facility at CERN, done with version 10.1.1 of the toolkit. The first goal was the validation of the intra-nuclear cascade models implemented in the code using, as benchmark, the characteristics of the neutron beam measured at the first experimental area (EAR1), especially the neutron flux and energy distribution, and the time distribution of neutrons of equal kinetic energy, the so-called Resolution Function. The second goal was the development of a Monte Carlo tool aimed to provide useful calculations for both the analysis and planning of the upcoming measurements at the new experimental area (EAR2) of the facility.


This thesis looks at the Jerusalem Conference and Antioch dispute as described by Paul in Galatians (2.1-14) and Acts (15). A new approach to the topics is used, that of using models derived from socio-psychological research. The Jerusalem Conference and Antioch dispute are concerned with group interactions and dynamics; socio-psychological research studies the behaviour of individuals in social groups and so is well suited to study this aspect of early church history.
I argue that the emergence of Gentile leadership at Antioch precipitated the need for the Jerusalem Conference. Whereas 'sympathizers' to Judaism, lacking circumcision, were not fully integrated into Jewish communities, Gentile believers at Antioch underwent the initiation rite of baptism. Thus Gentile believers had a greater sense of belonging than did 'sympathizers' in Judaism. Also Gentiles entered the Antiochene church in numbers, forming a distinct subgroup within the community. These two factors provided ideal conditions for Gentile leadership to emerge. However, leadership inferred a certain status for Gentile believers. This was opposed by some Jewish believers who insisted on complete Torah observance, including circumcision, for full membership of the early church. The Jerusalem Conference met to resolve the issue.
Paul's claim that nothing was added to his gospel implies that the Jerusalem Conference accepted Gentile membership of the church, including Gentile leadership, without circumcision. This would be unacceptable to the Law-observant Jewish believers. To avoid schism the Conference needed a compromise which appeased the Jewish believers. I suggest that the compromise was the 'two missions'; Gentile believers were accorded the status of full membership as Gentiles, but provision was made for those Jewish believers, who experienced threats to their Jewish identity by associating with Gentile believers under these conditions, to avoid such Gentile contacts. The test of the 'two missions' came at Antioch. Peter, in eating with Gentiles, accepted their status as full members of the church. However, the 'people from James' did not accept the Gentile believers on equal terms and insisted on their right to avoid such contact with Gentiles. Peter and the other Antiochene Jews had to choose – offer hospitality to their fellow Jews and withdraw from Gentile contact or maintain table fellowship with Gentiles and isolate their fellow Jews. They opted to extend hospitality to the Jews, but this decision implied a rejection of the Gentiles' status within the early church.


Corporations such as Boeing are currenlly using computational GRIDs to improve their operations. Future GRIDs will allow an organisation to take advantage of computational GRIDs without having to develop a custom in-house solution. GRID ReMsource Providers (GRP) make resources available on the GRID so that others may subSLTibe and use these resources. GRPs w"Ill allow companies to make use of a range of resources such as processing power or mass storage. However simply providing resources is not enough to ensure the success of a computational GRID. Access to these resources must be controlled otherwise computational GRIDs will simply evolve to become a victim of their own success, unable to offer a suitable Quality of Service (QoS) to any user. The task of providing a standard querying mechanism for Computational GRID Environments (CGE) has already witnessed considerable work from groups such as the Globus project who have delivered the Metacomputing Directory Service (MDS) which provides a means to query devices attached to The GRID. We present a monitoring component both capable of the dynamic discovery of available resources in a computing GRID environmemt and executing user jobs on the available resource at a given moment in time. We show that it is possible to construct a monitor based on the CoG toolkit and MDS to monitor the available resources attached to a CGE.


In recent years, several methods have been proposed for the discovery of causal structure from non-experimental data. Such methods make various assumptions on the data generating process to facilitate its identification from purely observational data. Continuing this line of research, we show how to discover the complete causal structure of continuous-valued data, under the assumptions that (a) the data generating process is linear, (b) there are no unobserved confounders, and (c) disturbance variables have non-Gaussian distributions of non-zero variances. The solution relies on the use of the statistical method known as independent component analysis, and does not require any pre-specified time-ordering of the variables. We provide a complete Matlab package for performing this LiNGAM analysis (short for Linear Non-Gaussian Acyclic Model), and demonstrate the effectiveness of the method using artificially generated data and real-world data.


authoritative text, first published in 2001. The book provides both a primer for the novice and detailed descriptions of techniques for more advanced practitioners, covering rainfall-runoff models and their practical applications. This new edition extends these aims to include additional chapters dealing with prediction in ungauged basins, predicting residence time distributions, predicting the impacts of change and the next generation of hydrological models. Giving a comprehensive summary of available techniques based on established practices and recent research the book offers a thorough and accessible overview of the area. Rainfall-Runoff Modelling: The Primer Second Edition focuses on predicting hydrographs using models based on data and on representations of hydrological process. Dealing with the history of the development of rainfall-runoff models, uncertainty in mode predictions, good and bad practice and ending with a look at how to predict future catchment hydrological responses this book provides an essential underpinning of rainfall-runoff modelling topics. Fully revised and updated version of this highly popular text. Suitable for both novices in the area and for more advanced users and developers. Written by a leading expert in the field. Guide to internet sources for rainfall-runoff modelling software


Today, much public attention and litigation in the wake of the government's response to the September 11, 2001 attacks centers on one or another claims about the government's substantive illegality (such as claims based on the Due Process Clause). This is a mistake. Instead of focusing on the ultimate individual liberty questions, challenges should first focus on equality. Since the terrorist attacks, the government has repeatedly singled out aliens for special disfavor. For example, the Military Commissions Act blatantly discriminates against aliens - shunting the 20 million green-card holders and 5 billion people across the planet into a different, and far inferior, trial procedure than what American citizens face. Since at least the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment's equality guarantee, such legislation has never been placed in the United States Code. The equality challenges are the next big thing in the war on terror. While discrimination by the federal government against aliens might be justified when it is handing out government benefits, it is not appropriate when deciding whether someone can be put before a tribunal with the power to dispense the most awesome powers of government, such as life imprisonment and the death penalty. When legislation singles out only powerless aliens, moreover, the standard checks on government abuse, such as political accountability, fail to operate. The result is not only that the legislation runs afoul of the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection, it also eliminates the legislation from the zone of deference traditionally due to the political branches.


Sample members start web surveys but fail to complete them at relatively high rates compared to other modes. Existing theories and empirical findings on unit nonresponse may or may not apply to breakoff. This study contrasts breakoff and unit nonresponse in web surveys through response behavior for the same individuals across different surveys. Nonrespondents to one survey were considerably more likely to be nonrespondents to subsequent surveys, but such consistency in response behavior was substantially lower for breakoffs. There is a degree of transitioning between response behaviors, however, such as nonrespondents in one survey being more likely to be breakoffs than respondents in a subsequent survey, indicative of unmeasured common causes. Limited support for the common cause hypothesis is also found in demographic covariates, yet to a very limited degree; race and gender were associated with both breakoff and nonresponse, and some associations (e.g., year in school) were in the opposite direction. Subjects invited to multiple surveys in a short period of time were more likely than others to be nonrespondents, but were not more likely to break off.


ABSTRACT Limited information is available on the urinary excretion of colistin in infected patients. This study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetics of colistimethate sodium (CMS) and formed colistin in urine in patients with multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacterial infections. A pharmacokinetic study was conducted on 12 patients diagnosed with an infection caused by an extremely drug-resistant (XDR) P. aeruginosa strain and treated with intravenous CMS. Fresh urine samples were collected at 2-h intervals, and blood samples were collected predose (Cmin ss) and at the end of the CMS infusion (Cmax ss) for measurement of concentrations of CMS and formed colistin using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). CMS urinary recovery was determined as the summed amount of CMS and formed colistin recovered in urine for each 2-h interval divided by the CMS dose. There were 12 enrolled patients, 9 of whom were male (75%). Data [median (range)] were as follows: age, 65.5 (37 to 86) years; colistimethate urinary recovery 0 to 6 h, 42.6% (2.9% to 72.8%); range of concentrations of colistin in urine, <0.1 to 95.4 mg/liter; Cmin ss and Cmax ss of colistin in plasma, 0.9 (<0.2 to 1.4) and 0.9 (<0.2 to 1.4) mg/liter, respectively. In 6/12 (50%) patients, more than 40% of the CMS dose was recovered in the urine within the first 6 h after CMS administration. This study demonstrated rapid urinary excretion of CMS in patients within the first 6 h after intravenous administration. In all but one patient, the concentrations of formed colistin in urine were above the MIC for the most predominant isolate of P. aeruginosa in our hospital. Future studies are warranted for optimizing CMS dosage regimens in urinary tract infection (UTI) patients.


This study presents a detailed account of Bridging Therapy - an innovative intervention aimed at providing relatively comprehensive psychiatric nursing care for mentally ill patients. Starting at hospitalisation, Bridging Therapy continues as planned nursing care based on detailed assessment of the patient's short- and longer-term needs both before and after discharge to the community, delivered where possible by the same nurse, or by members of the same nursing team. Bridging Therapy thus presents a remedial model for current fragmented patterns of nursing care, based on an eclectic approach to psychotherapy and nursing process known as the "flexible integrative approach" (FIA).The study recognises problems caused by lack of patient outcome measures in psychiatric nursing; and approaches this by developing an appropriate assessment instrument, the Behaviour Adjustment Inventory (BAI), which is initially tested in concurrent use with a well-validated psychometric instrument (the GHQ); with a second well-validated instrument (the EPI) acting as an initial screening device. The BAI assesses patients' initial status on admission and subsequent responses to Bridging Therapy on a five-point scale, used in conjunction with detailed clinical criteria of behaviour and attitude change. Clinical evaluation of patients in the contrasted contexts of Sheffield and Cairo is described. In each context, experimental (Bridging Therapy) and control (non-Bridging Therapy) groups are studied (Sheffield total N = 22: Cairo total N = 18). Assessment of initial condition was carried out on admission to hospital; recovery status on discharge, and at the close of therapeutic follow-up in the community. Results indicate similar levels of recovery for Sheffield and Cairo groups, with a more pronounced tendency to recovery in the experimental (Bridging Therapy) groups; however, this difference does not reach statistical significance.Psychometric findings are augmented by qualitative descriptions of the implementation process. Two detailed nursing studies from each context are presented. The investigation highlights the complexity of the research problem, including important transcultural considerations; identifies multifactorial issues governing patient care; and supports further research into Bridging Therapy as a potential remedy for current gaps in psychiatric nursing care, both in Britain and Egypt. Relevant materials concerning historical/structural aspects of mental health care and varieties of psychotherapy (Chapters 1 through 3) are included because of their contextual importance both to British and Egyptian workers.


Abstract Recent advances in nanomaterials have identified nanogels as an excellent matrix for novel biomimetic catalysts using the molecular imprinting approach. Polymerisable Co‐cyclen complexes with phosphonate and carbonate templates have been prepared, fully characterised and used to obtain nanogels that show high activity and turnover with low catalytic load, compared to the free complex, in the hydrolysis of 4‐nitrophenyl phosphate, a nerve agent simulant. This work demonstrates that the chemical structure of the template has an impact on the coordination geometry and oxidation state of the metal centre in the polymerisable complex resulting in very significant changes in the catalytic properties of the polymeric matrix. Both pseudo‐octahedral cobalt(III) and trigonal‐bipyramidal cobalt(II) structures have been used for the synthesis of imprinted nanogels, and the catalytic data demonstrate that: i) the imprinted nanogels can be used in 15 % load and show turnover; ii) the structural differences in the polymeric matrices resulting from the imprinting approach with different templates are responsible for the molecular recognition capabilities and the catalytic activity. Nanogel P1, imprinted with the carbonate template, shows >50 % higher catalytic activity than P2 imprinted with the phosphonate.


The Neolithic transition from hunting and gathering to farming and cattle breeding marks one of the most drastic cultural changes in European prehistory. Short stretches of ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from skeletons of pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherers as well as early Neolithic farmers support the demic diffusion model where a migration of early farmers from the Near East and a replacement of pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherers are largely responsible for cultural innovation and changes in subsistence strategies during the Neolithic revolution in Europe. In order to test if a signal of population expansion is still present in modern European mitochondrial DNA, we analyzed a comprehensive dataset of 1,151 complete mtDNAs from present-day Europeans. Relying upon ancient DNA data from previous investigations, we identified mtDNA haplogroups that are typical for early farmers and hunter-gatherers, namely H and U respectively. Bayesian skyline coalescence estimates were then used on subsets of complete mtDNAs from modern populations to look for signals of past population expansions. Our analyses revealed a population expansion between 15,000 and 10,000 years before present (YBP) in mtDNAs typical for hunters and gatherers, with a decline between 10,000 and 5,000 YBP. These corresponded to an analogous population increase approximately 9,000 YBP for mtDNAs typical of early farmers. The observed changes over time suggest that the spread of agriculture in Europe involved the expansion of farming populations into Europe followed by the eventual assimilation of resident hunter-gatherers. Our data show that contemporary mtDNA datasets can be used to study ancient population history if only limited ancient genetic data is available.


The forthcoming arrival on the market of numerous protein therapeutics that require high clinical doses will foster the need for high-producing mammalian cell lines. Furthermore, pressures to reduce the development time for new therapeutics has meant more emphasis on efforts to accelerate the process that yields such cell lines. The objective of this thesis work was to develop methods to decrease the time needed to generate stable and high producing mammalian cell lines. This could be achieved by overcoming some of the major limitations that hamper the process of cell lines development. The host systems chosen for this study were Chinese hamster ovary (CHO DG44) and baby hamster kidney (BHK-21). The recombinant proteins used as reporters were the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a human anti-Rhesus D IgG. One limitation hampering the development of cell lines producing high recombinant protein titers is the extensive variability of transgene expression within a transfected population as a result of the gene delivery process. This decreases the reproducibility of the generation of high producing cell lines. A direct comparison of two gene chemical delivery methods, polyethylenimine (PEI)- and calcium phosphate (CaPO4)-mediated transfection, with a mechanical method (microinjection) provided some insights into ways to overcome this limitation. Indeed, a correlation was observed between the amount of plasmid DNA delivered into cells and the specific productivity of the recovered recombinant cell lines. Hence, by increasing the amount of DNA delivered per cell, IgG-producing clones with specific productivities up to 22 pg/cell/day were recovered with a high efficiency. A second limitation is the time needed to assure the stability and clonality of cell lines by current analytical methods. This was overcome by using GFP as a reporter for the level of production of a co-expressed therapeutic protein. The co-transfection of plasmids individually carrying the GFP and IgG heavy (Hc)- and light chain (Lc) genes, resulted in integration of all three plasmids at the same site in the cell's genome. As a consequence, the stability of GFP expression correlated with that of IgG expression. This proved to be advantageous finding and eliminating unstable cell lines early in the process of selection. As a consequence, it was possible to derive in serum-free medium clones with a specific productivity almost 6 times higher than that of clones derived from transfection performed with the IgG Hc and Lc vectors only. A third limitation to the rapid recovery of stable cell lines is the time devoted to the cultivation of transfected cells in selective medium, normally one month. Here, the time of selection was shortened to one week by increasing the stringency of the selective pressure. The results from studies of plasmid integration kinetics by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) showed that the increased stringency of selection decreased the time needed to enrich a transfected population with recombinant cells. Furthermore, stable clones were shown to be present in this population after one week of selection and could be uncovered by identifying patterns of GFP expression predictive of production stability. By limiting the screening to clones exhibiting these stable patterns of GFP expression, the number of clones needed in order to isolate stable cell lines producing high IgG titers could be dramatically reduced. In conclusion, these results combined together provided a new procedure to isolate within a week of the start of selection, stable and high-producing clones. 30-40% of the clones isolated using this procedure were stable for at least three months and their average specific productivity was 29 pg/cell/day.


Abstract Background: The Phelophepa Health Care Train is the only primary healthcare train in the world. Phelophepa is an innovative initiative that attempts to make a positive difference to primary healthcare in rural South Africa. The primary aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological and prescribing statistics for Phelophepa during the period that the train was stationed in the Western Cape in 2009. Methods: Phelophepa visited seven stations during the eight weeks that it was stationed in the Western Cape (between 6 April and 5 June 2009). Data were collected by workers and students on the train. Results: A total of 4 026 prescriptions were dispensed by the pharmacy on Phelophepa during the eight weeks. The average number of items per prescription was 3.51. The average cost per prescription was R65,48 (average cost of R18,64 per item). Patients only paid R5,00 per prescription. There was an increase in the number of pulmonary diseases/infections as well as ophthalmic conditions (especially dry eyes). Common problems experienced during the outreach to schools were ear infections and chest infections. Common conditions identified in Caledon, for example, were musculoskeletal problems, genitourinary conditions, fungal infections and eye disorders. Medication is prescribed mainly by nurses and includes those listed in the Primary Healthcare Essential Drug List. Conclusions: The statistics compiled by Phelophepa are a useful source of pharmacoepidemiological data about rural South Africa. It is recommended that more studies be conducted to detect especially epidemiological differences between regions visited, as well as changes over time.


A case of dacryocystocele with intranasal extension is described by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics, which are correlated with the appearance on computed tomography (CT) scans. Computed tomography and MRI are equally sensitive in detecting dacryocystocele. Magnetic resonance imaging has the advantages of characterizing the cyst contents, allowing multiplanar imaging without the need for manipulation of the patient, and the absence of radiation exposure. Computed tomography has the advantage of detecting bone changes involving the bony nasolacrimal canal. Clinically, these abnormalities usually resolve spontaneously and only rarely require surgical intervention.


Channel networks with artibtrary drainage density or resolution can be extracted from digital elevation data. However, for digital elevation data derived networks to be useful they have to be extracted at the correct length scale or drainage density. Here we suggest a criterion for determining the appropriate drainage density at which to extract networks from digital elevation data. The criterion is basically to extract the highest resolution (highest drainage density) network that satisfies scaling laws that have traditionally been found to hold for channel networks. Procedures that use this criterion are presented and tested on 21 digital elevation data sets well distributed throughout the U.S.


Nowadays, cosmetics have evolved a lot and they are produced industrially. To avoid adverse effects on health, it is important to establish the elemental composition of these types of samples.
For this reason it is interesting to have fast, cheap, respectful with the environment, with an appropriate accuracy and precision analytical methodologies.
Nowadays, analytical methodologies used for the analysis of these types of samples are based on a wet microwave digestion process and its subsequent analysis by Inductively-coupled Plasma Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) or Inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP -MS). Despite the fact that these methods have an appropriate sensitivity, their sample treatment involves an important consumption of reagents and time.
In view of this problem, in this research project, we have evaluated the possibilities of Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) for the determination of metals and metalloids in different types of cosmetics (lipsticks, eye shadow and creams).
In order to obtain the best conditions of work to carry out the analysis of the target samples by TXRF, different experimental parameters regarding sample preparation and measurement conditions were evaluated. Once established the optimal conditions, analytical detection limits, accuracy and precision of the results obtained in the determination of analytes were studied, in order to assess the potential of the methods. Finally, the developed methodologies have been applied to the analysis of cosmetic samples and the results have been compared with those obtained by ICP-OES and ICP-MS.
Results show that the TXRF technique can be a complementary alternative or at least a complementary technique to the more commonly used in this type of analysis. In general, the detection limits and the quality of the results are adequate. In addition, there are certain additional benefits such as the multielemental and microanalytical ability, a simple sample preparation, does not need an external calibration as quantification process and also presents a high performance and low cost for analysis


ABSTRACT Aim: The efficacy and safety of Axi, a potent and selective inhibitor of VEGF receptors 1-3, was evaluated in a global, randomised, double-blind phase II clinical trial in patients (pts) with locally advanced or metastatic HCC. Methods: Eligible pts progressed on or were intolerant to 1 prior antiangiogenic therapy and had ECOG performance status 0 or 1. Pts were randomised 2:1 to receive Axi + BSC or Pbo + BSC at a starting dose of 5 mg twice daily and stratified by tumour invasion (presence vs absence of extrahepatic spread and/or vascular invasion) and geographic region (Asia vs non-Asia). Primary end point was OS and secondary end points included ORR, PFS and safety. The study had 80% power to detect an improvement in median OS (mOS) from 5.0 to 8.3 mo with Axi + BSC, corresponding to a HR 0.60 (1-sided a = 0.025). Results: Two hundred two pts (134 Axi vs 68 Pbo), predominantly of Asian origin (63 vs 62%), were randomised. Baseline pt characteristics and stratification factors were well balanced between the Axi vs Pbo arms. All pts were in Child-Pugh A category and 76% of pts in both arms had tumour invasion. mOS with Axi was 12.7 mo (95% CI: 10.2, 14.9) vs 9.7 mo (95% CI: 5.9, 11.8) with Pbo and was not statistically significant (HR 0.870; 95% CI: 0.620, 1.222; 1-sided stratified P = 0.211). Investigator-assessed median PFS (mPFS) with Axi was 3.6 mo vs 1.9 mo with Pbo and was statistically significant (HR 0.618; 95% CI: 0.438, 0.871; P = 0.004). ORR was 9.7% with Axi vs 2.9% with Pbo (P = 0.083). More pts discontinued due to AE with Axi vs Pbo (23 vs 13%). Most common all causality AEs (Axi vs Pbo, % of pts) were diarrhoea (54 vs 12%), hypertension (54 vs 13%), decreased appetite (47 vs 21%), fatigue (35 vs 26%), abdominal pain (34 vs 21%), hand-foot syndrome (34 vs 6%), weight decrease (27 vs 3%), nausea (26 vs 10%), dysphonia and hypothyroidism (25 vs 0% each). Conclusions: Axi + BSC did not demonstrate statistically significant improvement in mOS but improved mPFS compared to Pbo + BSC in pts with advanced HCC who received prior antiangiogenic therapy. Safety profile with Axi was consistent with earlier clinical trials and no new safety signal was detected. Disclosure: Y. Kang: I have been a consultant for Pfizer Inc and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals; J. Park: I am (was) a member of Consultancy/Advisory Board of Taiho Pharmaceutical, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, and Roche, and received honorarium from Taiho Pharmaceutical and research funding from Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals; S.L. Chan: I received research funding from Pfizer Inc.; J. Tang and O. Valota: I am employed by and own stock in Pfizer; D. Chakrabarti: is an employee of and owns stock in Pfizer.All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Stimuli such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) activate cell death or apoptosis by activating the cysteine proteases known as caspases. Such receptor stimulation enhances formation of the apoptosome, a protein complex that allows activation of caspase 9. But is this the only way to skin the cat? Evidently not, according to an international collaboration of leading labs in the apoptosis field. Gyrd-Hansen et al. used mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) lacking components of apoptotic pathways to show that the cells required caspase 9 to undergo TNF-induced death but did not need the protein Apaf-1, a component of the apoptosome required for activation of caspase 9 by that complex. Activation of caspase 9 in this Apaf-1-independent context appeared to require its cleavage and activation by another caspase, caspase 8. Further studies with knockout MEFs showed that permeabilization of mitochondria was also not required for this apoptosome-independent cell death in response to TNF. Instead, cell death was associated with permeabilization of lysosomal membranes, an alternative means of cell destruction that depends on release of lysosomal cathepsins. Cells with complete apoptotic machinery appeared to use both the mitochondrial and the lysosomal pathways to execute cell death in response to TNF. Protection from TNF-induced death was achieved only after gene ablation or pharmacological treatments that inhibited both pathways. The authors propose that such redundant signaling of apoptosis may be common and that death-resistant cancer cells may have perturbations in multiple pathways. Understanding the underlying pathways thus may allow more effective strategies to deliver therapeutic treatments that reactivate cell death in tumor cells. M. Gyrd-Hansen, T. Farkas, N. Fehrenbacher, L. Bastholm, M. Høyer-Hansen, F. Elling, D. Wallach, R. Flavell, G. Kroemer, J. Nylandsted, M. Jäättelä, Apoptosome-independent activation of the lysosomal cell death pathway by caspase-9. Mol. Cell. Biol. 26, 7880-7891 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


ROLES
Director, Producer, Cinematographer
GENRE
Documentary
EXHIBITION FORMATS
Digital, DigiBeta, Beta-SP, DVD
LENGTH
12 min.
LANGUAGE
Italian with English subtitles.
Mauro is a 78-year-old Italian farmer who loves his life. He picks olives, grapes, cherries. He wonders why anybody would want to do anything else.
SELECTED SCREENINGS
Festival Corto and Mangiato - 10th Anniversary (Fano, Italy) 2016
Eco Film Festival (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 2013
Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders)
Film Festival (online) 2012
We Speak, Here Film Festival (online) 2012
Festival Corto e Mangiato (Fano, Italy) 2011
Rewind: 7 Years of the Best Films from the DC Shorts
Film Festival (Washington, DC) 2011
Environmental Film Festival at Yale (Connecticut) 2010
Far North Conservation Film Festival (Alaska) 2010
Festa di Coltano (Pisa, Italy) 2010
Kingussie Food on Film Festival (Scotland, UK) 2010
San Diego Italian Film Festival (California) 2010
Slow Food on Film Festival – Brazil (Pirenopolis, Brazil) 2010
Earthball (Washington, DC) 2009
Earthdance Environmental Film Festival (California) 2009
EuroAsia Shorts Film Festival (Washington, DC) 2009
Mixed Greens Film Festival (Toronto, Canada) 2009
Salem Film Festival (Massachusetts) 2009
Slow Food on Film Festival (Bologna, Italy) 2009
Taos Shortz Film Festival (New Mexico) 2009
Tiburon International Film Festival (California) 2009
University of Ireland – Galway: "Food and Film: An Italian Celebration"— 2009
15 Short Film Festival (North Carolina) 2008
Athens International Film and Video Festival (Ohio) 2008
Atlanta Film Festival (Georgia) 2008
Black Maria Film and Video Festival (International tour) 2008
Cambridge Film Festival (UK) 2008
DC Shorts Film Festival (Washington, DC) 2008
Docspot Film Series at the Barbican (London, UK) 2008
Est Film Festival (Viterbo, Italy) 2008
G. Eco Film Festival (national tour, Italy) 2008
Global Green Indigenous Film Festival (New Mexico) 2008
Global Insights Environmental Film Festival (New Jersey) 2008
Golden Lion Film Festival (Maseru, Lesotho) 2008
Hawaii International Film Festival— 2008
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (Arkansas) 2008
International Festival of Short Films on Culture
(Jaipur, India) 2008
JazzUp Festival (Viterbo, Italy) 2008
London International Documentary Festival (UK) 2008
Lone Star International Film Festival (Texas) 2008
Los Angeles Film Festival— 2008
Newport Beach Film Festival (California) 2008
Planet In Focus International Environmental Film Festival (Toronto, Canada) 2008
Raindance Film Festival (London, UK) 2008
Rome Independent Film Festival (Italy) 2008
Syracuse International Film Festival (New York) 2008
United Nations Association Film Festival (Stanford, CA) 2008
Washougal International Film Festival (Washington State) 2008
Ybor Festival of the Moving Image (Tampa, FL) 2008
HONORS & AWARDS
Festival Corto e Mangiato – First Prize (Primo Classificato), 2011
EuroAsia Shorts Film Festival – Audience Favorite, 2009
Slow Food on Film Festival – Honorable Mention, 2009
Black Maria Film & Video Festival – First Prize Jury's Choice Award, 2008
Est Film Festival – Honorable Mention, 2008
Washougal International Film Festival – Best Short Documentary, 2008


Experiments in the study of transient aerodynamics typically require pressure measurements with a high spatial and temporal resolution. Existing commercial pressure transducers are expensive and they provide a spatial resolution only on the order of millimetres. The full bandwidth of commercial devices (which extends to around 200 kHz) can only be utilised by exposing the transducer to the flow environment with very little thermal or mechanical protection. If insufficient protection is provided, the expensive commercial devices are likely to be damaged. Inexpensive pressure sensors based on extrinsic Fabry-Perot fibre optic interferometry are capable of measurement with a high spatial and temporal resolution. Thermal protection or isolation for these sensors is still required, but they can be exposed directly to the flow if the sensors are disposable (low cost). Excessive thermal or mechanical protection is not required for these sensors because the damaging heat transfer and particle impacts that may occur in transient aerodynamic facilities generally occur after the useful test flow. In this dissertation, a variety of construction techniques for diaphragm-based Fabry-Perot fibre optic pressure sensors were investigated and the advantages and disadvantages of all techniques are compared. The results indicate that using a zirconia ferrule as the substrate, a liquid adhesive as the bonding layer, and a polished copper foil as the diaphragm provide the best results. It is demonstrated that a spatial resolution on the order of 0.1 mm and a bandwidth to more than 100 kHz can be achieved with such constructions. A variety of problems such as hysteresis, response irregularity, low visibility and sensor non-repeatability were observed. By using a thinner bonding layer, a larger bonding area, longer cavity length, increased calibration period, and applying load cycling to the diaphragm, the hysteresis was minimized. Sensor response irregularity was also minimized using a polished diaphragm. Visibility increased to about 90% using active control of the cavity length during the construction process. Non-repeatability was found to be a consequence of adhesive viscoelasticity and this effect was minimized using a thin layer of adhesive to bond the diaphragm to the substrate. Due to the effects of adhesive viscoelasticity, the pressure sensors indicate an error of up to 10% of mean value for the reflected shock pressure. This error could not be further reduced in the current sensors configuration. Some new configurations are proposed to decrease the effect of sensor non-repeatability. The effect of pretensioning the diaphragm was investigated analytically but the results do not indicate any considerable advantage for the levels of pretension likely to be achieved in practice. However, the results do indicate that pretension effects caused by an environmental temperature change can damage the sensor during storage. The effect of the initial diaphragm deflection on the sensor performance and temperature sensitivity was modelled and the results show that an initial diaphragm deflection can improve the sensor performance. The effect of the thermal isolation layer on the sensor performance was also investigated and the results show that for a shock tube diaphragm bursting pressure ratio up to 5.7, heat transfer does not contribute to sensor errors for the first millisecond after shock reflection. However, it was found that the use of a thin layer of low viscosity grease can protect the sensor for about 20 ms while only decreasing its natural frequency by typically 17%. The grease layer was also found to decrease the settling time of a low damping ratio sensor by 40%. The sensor was successfully employed to identify an acoustic disturbance in a shock tube.


Jon Paxman's ambitious book interprets four centuries of Western classical music by considering its evolution from two different perspectives.Each of the eight chapters covers a 50 year period, tracing stylistic progressions with particular reference to musical genres and geographical locations. A corresponding Chronology explores the lives of individual composers, patrons, publishers, impresarios, conductors and performers, so providing a cultural and social framework that helps put each musical development into a broader historical context. Monumental in scope but lucid in style, this book will prove invaluable to anyone - student or enthusiast - who wants to comprehend the overwhelmingly rich and sometimes complex evolution of Western classical music. With contributions by Terry Barfoot, Katy Hamilton, Thomas Lydon and Robert Rawson.


Small reservoirs are important to flood control and water resource utilization in local areas. This study proposes a WebGIS-based flood control management system to support the flood discharge of small reservoirs during intensive rainfall in the flood season. The agile software development method and a loosely coupled structure are used to combine multidisciplinary knowledge from different experts. A flood level forecasting model for reservoirs in humid regions is established based on rainfall and water level measurements. It aims to provide concise information for reservoir managers to choose an appropriate discharging scheme, so that the capacity is maintained in a safe range on the next day. Using the Hengshan Reservoir in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River as an example, the model verification reveals that it is acceptable for rainfall events whose daily amount is near or above 100 mm (the heavy rainstorm level in China), and the system is verified by a trial operation during the typhoon season. While most existing flood control systems focus on river basins and large reservoirs, this study considers the data availability and practical flood discharging scenario of small reservoirs, and provides a useful tool for flood control management.


ABSTRACT Following the November 2015 "leak" of a classified slide purporting to show a Russian nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered drone intended to create long-lasting "zones of extensive radiological contamination," both Russian and Western observers have suggested that Moscow may be developing a cobalt bomb. This conjectural device, which served as the basis of the "doomsday machine" in the classic 1964 film Dr. Strangelove, would employ radioactive cobalt to create unusually intense long-lived fallout. This article reviews the history and science of the cobalt bomb to assess the likelihood that Russia is developing such a weapon. It argues that while the lethality of the cobalt bomb compares unfavorably to that of "conventional" thermonuclear weapons, it might actually be a preferred means of creating long-lasting radioactive contamination because it could force an adversary to abandon territory while minimizing the number of immediate fatalities. But exploiting this principle in practice would be forbiddingly difficult because of the difficulty of predicting the ultimate distribution of the radioactive contamination, particularly for an underwater detonation like that envisioned for the "Status-6" drone seen in the Russian slide. While the underwater detonation of a massive cobalt or "conventional" nuclear weapon might create zones of long-lasting contamination, Russian decision makers would have little confidence that these areas would be in the intended locations, undermining the strategic case for such attacks. These findings suggest that the Kremlin is not pursuing radiological "doomsday bombs," even though the nuclear-powered drone on the slide seems to be a real research project.


Absorbing Roman poet Ovids tales of transformation in "Metamorphosis" and adding his own dash of art historical figuration and contemporary Pop Culture, Mark Ryden broaches new terrain with "The Tree Show". Arcadian Gothic might hint at the nature of this new work, and fans of Ryden will find familiar preoccupations in these new paintings, drawings and sculptures established since his first solo show in 1998 transposed to new pastures. Never reluctant to freight his work with layers of reference that range from Renaissance landscape and Neoclassic portrait painting to occultism and literature, in his latest works Ryden combines the arcane with popular cultural images as ground from which to make his carefully executed leaps into fantasy. Rydens series includes depictions of oak trees consuming children, floating tree stumps with seeing eyes, imaginary wood nymphs, and mythological characters who personify Nature herself. Ryden paints his characters with a masterful, porcelain glow reminiscent of Ingres, and renders his trees with a care that evokes Audubons botanical illustration, and has put several of his paintings in elaborately carved frames that project their narratives beyond the canvas. "The Tree Show" shows these paintings and sculptures alongside the fruits of Rydens research on the tree as myth, from the Buddhas' Bodhi tree, to Adam and Eve, the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah and matters of ecological science. As such, it constitutes an enticing dossier on Rydens encyclopedic exploration of the subject and reproduces in its entirety this series centered around the arboreal world.


Engineers know well from an early point in their training the trials and tribulations of having to make design tradeoffs in order to optimize one performance parameter for another. Discovering tradeoff conditions that result in the elimination of a loss associated with the enhancement of some other parameter (an improvement over a typical tradeoff), therefore, ushers in a new paradigm of design in which the constraints which are typical of the task at hand are alleviated. We call such a design paradigm "tuning" as opposed to "trading off", and this is the central theme of this work. We investigate two types of microwave electronic devices, namely GaN-based heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs) and tunable ferroelectric-ferrite-based microwave phase shifters. The "tuning" associated with these types of devices arises from the notion of an optimal 2DEG density, capable of achieving higher performance in terms of electron velocity and enhanced reliability in the case of the HFET, and the coupling of ferroelectric and ferrite materials in tunable microwave phase shifters, capable of achieving high differential phase shifts while at the same time mitigating the losses associated with impedance mismatching which typically arise when the phase is tuned. Promises and problems associated with HFET devices based on the intriguing InAlN/GaN material system will be described. We focus on the fundamental problem associated with the induction of the large density of carriers at the interface, namely the disintegration of an excess of longitudinal optical phonons (hot phonons) in the channel. We use microwave measurements in conjunction with stress tests to evidence the existence of an optimal 2DEG density wherein the hot phonon effect can be "tuned," which allows for enhanced high frequency performance as well as device reliability. Next, we focus on the design, fabrication, and measurement of tunable phase shifters consisting of thin films of BaxSr1-xTiO3 (BST), which has the advantage of having high dielectric tunability as well as relatively low microwave loss. We discuss the design, fabrication, and measurement of a simple coplanar waveguide (CPW) type of phase shifter as well as a more complicated "hybrid" phase shifter consisting of a ferrite (YIG) in addition to BST. The use of such a bilayer allows one to "tune" the impedance of the phase shifters independently of the phase velocity through careful selection of the DC biasing magnetic fields, or alternatively through the use of an additional piezoelectric layer, bonded to YIG whose permeability can then be tuned through magnetostriction.