The aim of this work was to investigate the role of wind on the ecology of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (MDV), one of the coldest and driest deserts on Earth. The MDV landscape consists of a mosaic of permanently ice-covered lakes, ephemeral streams, exposed soils, and glaciers, all of which contain habitats dominated by microorganisms. Data on wind-driven flux of sediments and associated organic matter were collected using passive aeolian traps and dynamic mass erosion particle counters to investigate the timing, direction and magnitude of aeolian sediment transport. Combination of genomic techniques and phenotypical fingerprinting (pigment analysis) was used to examine microbial diversity over a wide variety of wind-eroded habitats across the MDV landscape to elucidate the role of wind dispersal on the contemporary distribution of microorganisms across the MDVs. Sediment entrainment occurs predominantly within 20 cm of the ground surface and has character of saltation bursts that occupy <3% of the total time within a year. The high-energy winter föhn winds uplift sediments in the upper parts of the MDVs and transport them down-valley where they are deposited onto the surface of perennially icecovered lakes and surrounding soils. The sediment that enters the water column of the lakes does not provide a significant source of organic carbon for bacterioplankton communities compared to the in situ production by phytoplankton but can be a source of new microbial propagules. The aeolian material is low in organic matter (<1% dw) but is composed of a relatively large numbers of cyanobacterial taxa (~20 OTUs) that can be found in all other MDV habitats. In conclusion, wind distributes microorganisms across the MDV landscape but local environment selects for specific taxa. Predicted climate warming will increase the importance of wind transport, which will affect nutrient cycling and connectivity among MDV ecosystem components.


Transimpedance amplifiers using voltage feedback operational amplifiers are widely used for current to voltage conversion in applications when a moderate/high bandwidth and a high sensitivity are required, such as photodiodes, photomultipliers, electron multipliers and capacitive sensors. The conventional circuit presents a virtual earth to the input and at low frequencies, the input capacitance is usually not a significant concern. However, at high frequencies and especially for high sensitivity circuits, the total input capacitance can severely limit the available bandwidth from the circuit. The input capacitance in effect constitutes part of the feedback network of the op-amp and hence reduces the available loop gain at high frequencies. In some cases a high input capacitance can cause the circuit to have a lightly damped or unstable dynamic response. Lag compensation by simply adding feedback capacitance is generally used to guarantee stability, however this approach does not permit the full gain-bandwidth characteristic of the op-amp to be fully exploited. Active techniques for reducing the input capacitance, for instance bootstrapping, have been previously reported and over the last ten years several papers have described successful examples of transimpedance circuits using bootstrapping. The basic bootstrapping principle is to use an additional buffer amplifier to actively charge and discharge to input capacitance as required. By doing so the effective source capacitance is reduced, enabling the overall bandwidth of the circuit to be increased. This paper presents a brief overview of the technique and introduces for the first time the four possible bootstrap configurations (series or shunt bootstrapping loops, with either floating or grounded sources) applied to the basic transimpedance circuit. Previous published techniques have employed the series technique, for example in the case of a photodiode bootstrapped by the source of the input FET. The shunt configuration has not been reported as in this paper. This work presents new analysis and practical results that demonstrate the shunt bootstrap configuration on a transimpedance circuit. A doubling of bandwidth over the standard transimpedance circuit has been realised using the same type of op-amp for both the amplifying and bootstrap elements of the circuit.


Previous research has shown that with advancing age, there are increasing incidences of slip and fall injuries. Understanding mechanisms associated with gait adjustments across a known slippery surface may help in proactively avoiding slips and falls. The primary goal of this study involved examination of gait parameters and muscle activity characteristics of the lower extremities during two different walking conditions. Research has shown that both physical and mental changes accompany the aging process in humans. Moreover, research has shown that emotions and physiological responses are related. A secondary goal of this study was to examine the relationships of fear of falling with gait parameters and muscle activity. This study consisted of exposing 14 younger and 14 older participants to controlled slippery conditions safely, while studying normal and adjusted gait characteristics (friction requirement, heel contact velocity, and step length) and muscle activity characteristics (Integrated EMG). First, a baseline measure was done to study normal gait prior to any exposure to slipping. A second measure was done following a slip from a contaminated floor surface, but before the initiation of a second slip. The results indicate that there were significant gait parameter differences between younger and older participants for both walking conditions. Results also indicate that there were differences in muscle activity between to the two age groups for the adjusted condition. Findings suggest that older individuals require an additional step to properly adjust gait for a contaminated walking surface.


In this study, a mathematical model was developed to present pulse and interference testing for multilayered reservoirs. It was found that apparent storage calculated from pulse testing data is always less than or equal to the actual storage of the reservoir and that apparent transmissibility is always greater than or equal to the actual transmissibility. For short cycle intervals, the fractional production rate from a particular layer is not proportional to its transmissibility fraction. The effect of storage variation on fractional production rate is negligible. Wellbore damage affects both apparent transmissibility and storage. Less accurate estimation reservoir characteristics is obtained using pulse-test data as the contrast in reservoir properties increases and vice versa. A new approach is suggested to use data of single well test as well pulse test to estimate properties of individual layers. The approach is demonstrated by a three-layer numerical example.


CASE DESCRIPTION The primary subject matter of this case is a capital budgeting decision. Capital budgeting issues are appropriately discussed in accounting and/or finance disciplines, as well as healthcare management courses. The case and teaching note support the discussion and analysis of several secondary issues, in addition to the quantitative and qualitative factors incorporated in capital budgeting decisions. These issues include, but are not limited to, ethical issues, government policy practices, and sensitivity analysis. The quantitative analysis requires the student to demonstrate an understanding of the complexity that may be involved in determining relevant factors included in a capital budgeting decision, as contrasted with the simplicity of most textbook capital budgeting problems. The case is appropriate for use in junior level classes (level three) and above. There is a great deal of flexibility incorporated in the case, dependent on the instructor's desire to pursue, or not pursue, discussion of the secondary issues. This flexibility makes the case suitable for advanced analysis and discussions at higher course levels, up to and including first year graduate levels (level five). The number of class hours required to teach the case is dependent on the depth explored by the individual professor. However, class hours would be expected to range from one to two hours; preferably over two class meetings. Preparation hours required of the student are expected to average two to four hours. CASE SYNOPSIS This case considers the dilemma being confronted by an orthopedic physicians group. The practice is facing shrinking revenues driven by government plans to reduce Medicare reimbursements. In an effort to avoid salary cuts to physicians that appear imminent, members of the practice suggest raising rates to private payers. When this alternative is ruled out, it is decided that an expansion of ancillary services may provide a solution to the dilemma. The primary decision is whether to expand services by in-sourcing the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) diagnostic tool. Quantitative analysis of this decision requires the student to identify and determine the projected cash flows, associated with acquiring the MRI, over a twelve year period using net present value analysis. The realism of this decision problem is enhanced due to the fact that the physician's group serves several different classes of customers as well as using the MRI as a diagnostic tool for a variety of ailments/injuries. Each patient group and procedure results in a different reimbursement amount. This analysis is then expanded with two potential alternatives; a ten percent increase in prescribed MRIs or elimination of service to Medicare/Medicaid patients. Students should identify the quantitative impact of acquiring the MRI versus the status quo, as well as the ethical considerations associated with eliminating services to Medicare/Medicaid patients. This addition invites the discussion of business ethics from a stakeholder perspective. INSTRUCTORS' NOTES Recommendations for Teaching Approaches In the following sections we propose questions to be used in conjunction with the case and offer solutions and suggestions for stimulating classroom discussion. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Calculate the NPV of the project given the current patient mix of POGI and the proposed 800 MRI procedures per year. 2. Which of the following would have a more significant impact on the NPV of the project? a) a ten percent increase in the number of MRI s performed? The only variable cost associated with the increased number of procedures is the cost of film. The NPV increases by $330,610. b) the elimination of Medicare and Medicaid patients while maintaining the 800 projected MRI procedures per year? (Assume the 280 MRIs ordered for Medicare and Medicaid patients are replaced by Private Pay patients--75%, Worker's Comp patients--20%, and Uninsured patients--5%. …


The alpha 2-adrenoceptor antagonists atipamezole and yohimbine were used to antagonize medetomidine-induced sedation in 6-8-month-old native breed female goats. Intramuscular injection of medetomidine at the dose rate of 40 m g/kg body weight induced sedation and recumbency within 10-20 min in the goats. After recumbency, the goats were injected with saline (5 ml) (control group), atipamezole (0.2 mg/kg), or yohimbine (0.2 mg/kg) via the jugular vein. The duration of recumbency in the control group was 90 ± 9 min (mean ± SE). The effects of sedation continued in the control group goats even after regaining the righting reflex and standing. Atipamezole and yohimbine significantly reduced the recumbency period to 2 ± 1 and 45 ± 8 min, respectively, in comparison to the control group. The signs of arousal consisted of head raising, assuming sternal recumbency, and standing within 1 min in the atipamezole group and within 15-20 min in the yohimbine group. In contrast to the control group, the atipamezole- and yohimbine-treated goats appeared alert after standing. Atipamezole significantly, but partially reversed medetomidine-induced reductions in heart rate and ruminal contractions, whereas yohimbine partially reversed the medetomidine-induced decrease in heart rate only. The data suggest that atipamezole is useful for antagonizing the central nervous system depressant effects of medetomidine in goats. Atipamezole was also superior to yohimbine as a medetomidine antagonist.


Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in various events underlying multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology. In the initial phase of lesion formation, ROS are known to mediate the transendothelial migration of monocytes and induce a dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In this study, we describe the beneficial effect of the antioxidant α-lipoic acid (LA) on these phenomena. In vivo, LA dose-dependently prevented the development of clinical signs in a rat model for MS, acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). Clinical improvement was coupled to a decrease in leukocyte infiltration into the CNS, in particular monocytes. Monocytes isolated from the circulation of LA-treated rats revealed a reduced migratory capacity to cross a monolayer of rat brain endothelial cells in vitro compared with monocytes isolated from untreated EAE controls. Using live cell imaging techniques, we visualized and quantitatively assessed that ROS are produced within minutes upon the interaction of monocytes with brain endothelium. Monocyte adhesion to an in vitro model of the BBB subsequently induced enhanced permeability, which could be inhibited by LA. Moreover, administration of exogenous ROS to brain endothelial cells induced cytoskeletal rearrangements, which was inhibited by LA. In conclusion, we show that LA has a protective effect on EAE development not only by affecting the migratory capacity of monocytes, but also by stabilization of the BBB, making LA an attractive therapeutic agent for the treatment of MS.


Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes acute exacerbations in COPD and asthma. RSV infects bronchial epithelial cells (HBE) that trigger RSV associated lung pathology. This study explores whether the phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor Roflumilast N-oxide (RNO), alters RSV infection of well-differentiated HBE (WD-HBE) in vitro. WD-HBE were RSV infected in the presence or absence of RNO (0.1-100 nM). Viral infection (staining of F and G proteins, nucleoprotein RNA level), mRNA of ICAM-1, ciliated cell markers (digital high speed videomicroscopy, β-tubulin immunofluorescence, Foxj1 and Dnai2 mRNA), Goblet cells (PAS), mRNA of MUC5AC and CLCA1, mRNA and protein level of IL-13, IL-6, IL-8, TNFα, formation of H2O2 and the anti-oxidative armamentarium (mRNA of Nrf2, HO-1, GPx; total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were measured at day 10 or 15 post infection. RNO inhibited RSV infection of WD-HBE, prevented the loss of ciliated cells and markers, reduced the increase of MUC5AC and CLCA1 and inhibited the increase of IL-13, IL-6, IL-8, TNFα and ICAM-1. Additionally RNO reversed the reduction of Nrf2, HO-1 and GPx mRNA levels and consequently restored the TAC and reduced the H2O2 formation. RNO inhibits RSV infection of WD-HBE cultures and mitigates the cytopathological changes associated to this virus.


Although television is now dominant, radio surprisingly remains a medium of unparalleled power and importance. Worldwide, it continues to be the communications vehicle with the greatest outreach and impact. Every indicator--economic, demographic, social, and democratic--suggests that far from fading away, radio is returning to our consciousness, and back into the cultural mainstream. Marilyn J. Matelski reviews radio's glory days, arguing that the glory is not all in the past. B. Eric Rhoads continues Matelski's thoughts by explaining how and why radio has kept its vitality. The political history of radio is reviewed by Michael X. Delli Carpini, while David Bartlett shows how one of radio's prime functions has been to serve the public in time of disaster. Other contributors discuss radio as a cultural expression; the global airwaves; and the economic, regulatory, social, and technological structures of radio. Collectively, the contributors provide an intriguing study into the rich history of radio, and its impact on many areas of society. It provides a wealth of information for historians, sociologists, and communications and media scholars. Above all, it helps explain how media intersect, change focus, but still manage to survive and grow in a commercial environment.


Uncertainty quantification techniques based on the spectral approach have been studied extensively in the literature to characterize and quantify, at low computational cost, the impact that uncertainties may have on large-scale engineering problems. One such technique is the generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) which utilizes a time-independent orthogonal basis to expand a stochastic process in the space of random functions. The method uses a specific Askey-chaos system that is concordant with the measure defined in the probability space in order to ensure exponential convergence to the solution. For nearly two decades, this technique has been used widely by several researchers in the area of uncertainty quantification to solve stochastic problems using the spectral approach. However, a major drawback of the gPC method is that it cannot be used in the resolution of problems that feature strong nonlinear dependencies over the probability space as time progresses. Such downside arises due to the time-independent nature of the random basis, which has the undesirable property to lose unavoidably its optimality as soon as the probability distribution of the system's state starts to evolve dynamically in time.Another technique is the time-dependent generalized polynomial chaos (TD-gPC) which utilizes a time-dependent orthogonal basis to better represent the stochastic part of the solution space (aka random function space or RFS) in time. The development of this technique was motivated by the fact that the probability distribution of the solution changes with time, which in turn requires that the random basis is frequently updated during the simulation to ensure that the mean-square error is kept orthogonal to the discretized RFS. Though this technique works well for problems that feature strong nonlinear dependencies over the probability space, the TD-gPC method possesses a serious issue: it suffers from the curse of dimensionality at the RFS level. This is because in all gPC-based methods the RFS is constructed using a tensor product of vector spaces with each of these representing a single RFS over one of the dimensions of the probability space. As a result, the higher the dimensionality of the probability space, the more vector spaces needed in the construction of a suitable RFS. To reduce the dimensionality of the RFS (and thus, its associated computational cost), gPC-based methods require the use of versatile sparse tensor products within their numerical schemes to alleviate to some extent the curse of dimensionality at the RFS level. Therefore, this curse of dimensionality in the TD-gPC method alludes to the need of developing a more compelling spectral method that can quantify uncertainties in long-time response of dynamical systems at much lower computational cost.In this work, a novel numerical method based on the spectral approach is proposed to resolve the curse-of-dimensionality issue mentioned above. The method has been called the flow-driven spectral chaos (FSC) because it uses a novel concept called enriched stochastic flow maps to track the evolution of a finite-dimensional RFS efficiently in time. The enriched stochastic flow map does not only push the system's state forward in time (as would a traditional stochastic flow map) but also its first few time derivatives. The push is performed this way to allow the random basis to be constructed using the system's enriched state as a germ during the simulation and so as to guarantee exponential convergence to the solution. It is worth noting that this exponential convergence is achieved in the FSC method by using only a few number of random basis vectors, even when the dimensionality of the probability space is considerably high. This is for two reasons: (1) the cardinality of the random basis does not depend upon the dimensionality of the probability space, and (2) the cardinality is bounded from above by M+n+1, where M is the order of the stochastic flow map and n is the order of the governing stochastic ODE. The boundedness of the random basis from above is what makes the FSC method be curse-of-dimensionality free at the RFS level. For instance, for a dynamical system that is governed by a second-order stochastic ODE (n=2) and driven by a stochastic flow map of fourth-order (M=4), the maximum number of random basis vectors to consider within the FSC scheme is just 7, independent whether the dimensionality of the probability space is as low as 1 or as high as 10,000.With the aim of reducing the complexity of the presentation, this dissertation includes three levels of abstraction for the FSC method, namely: a specialized version of the FSC method for dealing with structural dynamical systems subjected to uncertainties (Chapter 2), a generalized version of the FSC method for dealing with dynamical systems governed by (nonlinear) stochastic ODEs of arbitrary order (Chapter 3), and a multi-element version of the FSC method for dealing with dynamical systems that exhibit discontinuities over the probability space (Chapter 4). This dissertation also includes an implementation of the FSC method to address the dynamics of large-scale stochastic structural systems more effectively (Chapter 5). The implementation is done via a modal decomposition of the spatial function space as a means to reduce the number of degrees of freedom in the system substantially, and thus, save computational runtime.


This Norton Critical Edition has been carefully edited to make The Merchant of Venice, its surrounding history, and the history of its critical reception and rewritings accessible to readers. The text of this edition is based on the 1600 First Quarto, with light editing and substantial explanatory annotations by Leah S. Marcus. "Sources and Contexts" largely focuses on the character of Shylock and the issue of anti-Semitism in the play. Materials included are diverse, and at times contradictory, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. Examples include seventeenth-century anti-Semitic literature, an essay from the same period defending Jews and arguing for their repatriation in England, an examination of the Christian theology of the play, and readings of The Merchant of Venice as exclusionary for Jews, women, and people of color. "Criticism" collects twenty-one diverse interpretations. In addition to Shylock and the question of anti-Semitism, these essays address The Merchant of Venice in the context of postcolonial, feminist, and queer theory and explore relevant issues of economic status and organization. "Rewritings and Appropriations" includes excerpts from dramatic, musical, and other literary adaptations of The Merchant of Venice, as well as a selection of poems, most of them from the twentieth century, on the character of Shylock. A Selected Bibliography is also included.


We have designed a smart middleware and are working on implementing and deploying it as a landmark architectural piece run by nodes of the Future Internet. The middleware we propose aims as a main goal at making applications and services fully network-aware in the sense that they utilize network resources and tune their own demands based on what the underlying networks can offer. On the other hand, the smart middleware makes networks service aware in the sense that networks also adapt their configuration to service demands. Challenges of the Future Internet such as scalability, increased interoperability, and smart collaboration between engines are addressed by our middleware. Focusing on 3GPP networks including IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks, this paper presents the architectural design of our middleware and shows in two showcases how and why it is capable of addressing future challenges. Scenarios such as service and network-aware coordinated load balancing and ldquoalways-best-connectedrdquo as a service verify the merits of our smart middleware design.


Generating satisfactory routes for driving requires data about the road network and an individual's relative weighting of available factors. We describe an interactive planning system that generates routes with the help of a driver and refines its model of the driver's preferences through interaction. Results of a study indicate that it is possible to model drivers through feedback about relative preferences, but a richer description of the road network can improve accuracy. Our adaptive route advisor unobtrusively collects data on preferences in relevant areas, provides its user with a useful service, and improves its performance as it updates its user model.


Conceptually, the 'resolution' of financial intermediaries does not merely refer to instruments and procedures for the management of insolvencies in the financial sector generally. Rather, 'resolution' is conceived as a functional alternative to, and substitute for, traditional means of insolvency management (in particular, liquidation procedures), to be applied specifically in cases where such traditional means cannot be activated in view of potentially disastrous implications for professional counter-parties, depositors, market infrastructures – in short, for systemic stability. While the scope of these legal instruments is not expressly restricted to systemically relevant institutions, care has been taken to restrict the use of the innovative toolbox to cases where the public interest in the prevention of contagious effects, in light of the size of the institution in question, its market share, complexity and/or connectedness with other parties, outweighs the disadvantages (e.g., the detrimental effects on creditors, as well as potentially higher costs of resolution compared with traditional insolvency liquidation). Although it is now widely agreed that systemic relevance is not a phenomenon confined to any particular type of financial institution but depends on factors such as size, market share, and interconnection with other market participants, the emergence of resolution regimes has thus far been characterised by the traditional boundaries between banks, investment firms, insurance companies, and financial market infrastructures. Against the backdrop of a growing body of international standards and European legislation on resolution frameworks, most of which have been sectoral in scope and content so far, the present Chapter analyses the rationale of, and perspectives for, a move towards cross-sectoral regulation in the area of financial institutions' insolvency management.


Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics are receiving growing attention from a diverse range of stakeholders including health care professionals, citizens, governments, insurers and industry. Currently there is special focus on research on how our food influences us and might cause discomfort or even symptoms of disease, but also the fact that several food intolerances are caused by genetic alterations. The strong interest expressed by certain segments of the general population for predictive and preventive diagnostic testing in relation to diet and ways in which this can improve overall health led to a fast growing market of nutrigenetic based tests. This puts pressures and challenges on governments and insurers for how best to reimburse new genetic tests. These discussions are best informed by a sound understanding of nutrigenetics science and technology, its promises and challenges, which are addressed in this paper. For example, some of the most common food intolerances caused by genetic variations are lactose intolerance, inherited fructose intolerance, congenital sucrase isomaltase deficiency (sucrose intolerance), celiac disease, glucose-6-phosphate deficiency (favism), alcohol intolerance and hemochromatosis. The increasing understanding of molecular mechanisms associated with these conditions is stimulating the development of a broad range of diagnostics allowing any person with adequate resources to have their genetic predispositions determined. However, many of the currently available tests cover only one of the above mentioned diseases or a small set of responsible mutations, which is in strong contrast to the evolution of medicine towards a more holistic approach as, for example, P4 medicine. Additionally, available tests are often not based on evidence or other guidelines for genetic test development as recommended by the ACCE evidentiary framework. In this paper we discuss the most common nutrigenetic diseases and their potential and demonstrated impacts on public health, as well as ways to devise personalized diet informed by human genomics variation in the future.


ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to present a new analysis of the perception of Libyan policy-makers towards Arab National Security since the 1969 Revolution. Also this study proves a link between Libyan foreign policy towards African and Arab national security. This perception has resulted in creating an in-depth strategy incorporating Africa. The study focuses on the most crucial aspects that Libya has embraced—on both the Arab and African front—to achieve its goals on the diplomatic, military, economic and political fronts.
The principal argument of the study is that Libyan policy embraces a position that Arab National Security can only be preserved through the unification of African states and the comprehensive economic development of continent's countries to enable them to combat the dangers and threats of major external actors.
Thus, Libya relies on historical, cultural, geographic and religious ties that link Arabs and Africans. Libya also relies on the similar circumstances facing African states—be they Arab or non-Arab—from external threats that usually occur from ex-colonialists. Libya believes that most of the external threats to the African continent occur because of the weakness and fragmentation of African states.
The research studies Libya's role in the ten years to 2009 as a crucial regional actor in Africa, Libya's achieved several positive outcomes in the continent, both economically and politically. In addition, it assesses Libya's success in gathering African support to end the Western-backed and UN-imposed sanctions on Libya.
This study also argues that the African success in ending the sanctions on Libya strengthened the Arab support for Libyan efforts to establish the African Union as a strategic depth for the Arab region. This was evident through the fact that most Arab states in Africa joined the CEN-SAD economic community, which Libya established as a step to increase economic cooperation in the face of global alliances. Furthermore, Arab states immediately joined the African Union which Libya called for in 1999.
Libya's political ambitions towards Africa were portrayed in Libya's success in transforming the Organisation of African Union into the African Union, which in turn changed foreign states' perceptions of Libya. Libya became an important player both in Africa and on the global institutional level.
This study examines Libya's ability to be a regional player, it also examines Libya's ability to transform theoretical goals into tangible realities. This study finds this was achieved principally through Africa's ability to end Western hegemony—portrayed through the ending of Libyan sanctions—and establishing the African Union. Libya perceives the Union as the most crucial instrument in preserving African and Arab security.
This study has shown the linkage between Libyan foreign policy and the issue of Arab national security within the framework of African continent, which makes it an original study in the field.


Abstract. In this analysis, Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) V004 nadir ozone (O3) profiles are validated with more than 4400 coinciding ozonesonde measurements taken across the world from the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WOUDC) during the period 2005–2010. The TES observation operator was applied to the sonde data to ensure a consistent comparison between TES and ozonesonde data, i.e. without the influence of the a priori O3 profile needed to regulate the retrieval. Generally, TES V004 O3 retrievals are biased high by 2–7 ppbv (7–15%) in the troposphere, consistent with validation results from earlier studies. Because of two degrees of freedom for signal in the troposphere, we can distinguish between upper and lower troposphere mean biases, respectively ranging from −0.4 to +13.3 ppbv for the upper troposphere and +3.9 to +6.0 ppbv for the lower troposphere. Focusing on the 464 hPa retrieval level, broadly representative of the free tropospheric O3, we find differences in the TES biases for the tropics (+3 ppbv, +7%), sub-tropics (+5 ppbv, +11%), and northern (+7 ppbv, +13%) and southern mid-latitudes (+4 ppbv, +10%). The relatively long-term record (6 yr) of TES–ozonesonde comparisons allowed us to quantify temporal variations in TES biases at 464 hPa. We find that there are no discernable biases in each of these latitudinal bands; temporal variations in the bias are typically within the uncertainty of the difference between TES and ozonesondes. Establishing these bias patterns is important in order to make meaningful use of TES O3 data in applications such as model evaluation, trend analysis, or data assimilation.


Canon law is an unavoidable theme for medieval historians. It intersects with every aspect of medieval life and society, and at one point or another, every medievalist works on the law. In this book, Kriston Rennie looks at the early medieval origins and development of canon law though a social history framework, with a view to making sense of a rich and complex legal system and culture, and an equally rich scholarly tradition.
It was in the early Middle Ages that the ancient traditions, norms, customs, and rationale of the Church were shaped into legislative procedure. The structures and rationale behind the law's formulation – its fundamental purpose, reason for existence and proliferation, and methods of creation and collection – explain how the medieval Church and society was influenced and controlled. They also, as this short book argues, explain how it ultimately functioned.


Aim: The aim of the study was to illuminate older immigrants' experiences of moving to a residential care facility. Background: Increased immigration will lead to a future increase in the number of older immigrants in residential care. In order to adjust nursing care to their needs it is important to acquire knowledge of their situation. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with seven immigrants living in residential care in Sweden were analysed using a qualitative manifest content analysis. Findings: Older immigrants' experience of everyday life in residential care facilities was: Trying to adjust to relocation to residential care, Feeling alienated by communication difficulties, and Trying to stay connected by keeping ties to the origin and past, with internal variation seen as subcategories. Conclusion: Older immigrants, who move into residential care are vulnerable and experience a major transition as they move from a familiar social and cultural environment into a place mainly designed for older Swedes. There is a great risk that they will become alienated and highly dependent on their relatives if not nursing care interventions with specific focus on their needs are developed.


OBJECTIVE
This research tested the role of traditional rational-cognitive factors and emotional barriers to posthumous organ donation. An example of an emotional barrier is the "ick" factor, a basic disgust reaction to the idea of organ donation. We also tested the potential role of manipulating anticipated regret to increase intention to donate in people who are not yet registered organ donors.

DESIGN
In three experiments involving 621 members of the United Kingdom general public, participants were invited to complete questionnaire measures tapping potential emotional affective attitude barriers such as the "ick" factor, the desire to retain bodily integrity after death, and medical mistrust. Registered posthumous organ donors were compared with nondonors. In Experiments 2 and 3, nondonors were then allocated to a simple anticipated regret manipulation versus a control condition, and the impact on intention to donate was tested.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Self-reported emotional barriers and intention to donate in the future.

RESULTS
Traditional rational-cognitive factors such as knowledge, attitude, and subjective norm failed to distinguish donors from nondonors. However, in all three experiments, nondonors scored significantly higher than donors on the emotional "ick" factor and bodily integrity scales. A simple anticipated regret manipulation led to a significant increase in intention to register as an organ donor in future.

CONCLUSIONS
Negative affective attitudes are thus crucial barriers to people registering as organ donors. A simple anticipated regret manipulation has the potential to significantly increase organ donation rates.


An aging population is changing the nature of the workplace. When combined with age discrimination legislation, employers now face the fact that they can no longer ignore and then quietly retire their older workers. One outcome of this is that the proportion of older workers is increasing. Further, they intend to stay at work longer and resist being an easy target for organizations when they restructure. Because of the magnitude of this workplace phenomenon, human resource managers need to be aware of issues related to older workers. This article provides an insight into the unique nature of older workers, their expectations and some consequent implications for organizations. Together with strategy and policy considerations for managing older workers, the role of older women in the workforce is also reviewed. Where possible, Australian research is cited but this article is not intentionally nation specific.


An analytical method was developed, to estimate uncertainties in full two-port Vector Network Analyzer measurements, using total differentials of S-parameters. System error uncertainties were also estimated from total differentials involving two triples of standards, in the Direct Through connection case. Standard load uncertainties and measurement inaccuracies were represented by independent differentials. Complex uncertainty in any quantity, differentiably dependent on S-parameters, is estimated by the corresponding Differential Error Region. Real uncertainties, rectangular and polar, are estimated by the orthogonal parallelogram and annular sector circumscribed about the Differential Error Region, respectively. From the user's point of view, manufactures' data may be used to set the independent differentials and apply the method. Demonstration results include: (1) System error differentials for Short, matching Load and Open pairs of opposite sex standards; (2) System error uncertainties for VNA extended by two lengthy transmission lines of opposite sex end-connectors; (3) High uncertainties in Z-parameters against frequency of an appropriately designed, DC resistive, T-Network; (4) Moderate uncertainties in amplitude and phase patterns of a designed UHF radial discone antenna (azimuthally rotated by a built positioner, under developed software control of a built hardware controller) polarization coupled with a constructed gain standard antenna (stationary) into an anechoic chamber.


We have modeled asymmetrical frequency selective surfaces. The resonant wavelength of some of these relatively unstudied devices is influenced by the polarization state of the incident light. The transmissivity and reflectivity for one linear polarization component can be controlled by the amplitude and relative phase of its orthogonal component.


Yeast, water, flour, and heat. How could this simple mixture have been the cause of war and plague, celebration and victory, supernatural vision and more? In this remarkable and all-encompassing volume, H.E. Jacob takes us through 6,000 dynamic years of bread's role in politics, religion, technology, and beyond. Who were the first bakers? Why were bakers distrusted during the Middle Ages? How did bread cause Napoleon's defeat? Why were people buried with bread? "Six Thousand Years of Bread" has the answers.Jacob follows the story from its beginning in ancient Egypt and continues through to modern times. The poignant and inspiring conclusion of the book relays the author's experiences in a Nazi concentration camp, subsisting on bread made of sawdust.


A leading notion is that language skill acquisition declines between childhood and adulthood. While several lines of evidence indicate that declarative ("what", explicit) memory undergoes maturation, it is commonly assumed that procedural ("how-to", implicit) memory, in children, is well established. The language superiority of children has been ascribed to the childhood reliance on implicit learning. Here we show that when 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds and young adults were provided with an equivalent multi-session training experience in producing and judging an artificial morphological rule (AMR), adults were superior to children of both age groups and the 8-year-olds were the poorest learners in all task parameters including in those that were clearly implicit. The AMR consisted of phonological transformations of verbs expressing a semantic distinction: whether the preceding noun was animate or inanimate. No explicit instruction of the AMR was provided. The 8-year-olds, unlike most adults and 12-year-olds, failed to explicitly uncover the semantic aspect of the AMR and subsequently to generalize it accurately to novel items. However, all participants learned to apply the AMR to repeated items and to generalize its phonological patterns to novel items, attaining accurate and fluent production, and exhibiting key characteristics of procedural memory. Nevertheless, adults showed a clear advantage in learning implicit task aspects, and in their long-term retention. Thus, our findings support the notion of age-dependent maturation in the establishment of declarative but also of procedural memory in a complex language task. In line with recent reports of no childhood advantage in non-linguistic skill learning, we propose that under some learning conditions adults can effectively express their language skill acquisition potential. Altogether, the maturational effects in the acquisition of an implicit AMR do not support a simple notion of a language skill learning advantage in children.


We study a family of stylized dynamic assortment planning problems, where for each arriving customer, the seller offers an assortment of substitutable products and customer makes the purchase among offered products according to a discrete choice model. This paper considers two popular choice models --- the multinominal logit model (MNL) and nested logit model. Since all the utility parameters of customers are unknown, the seller needs to simultaneously learn customers' choice behavior and make dynamic decisions on assortments based on the current knowledge. The goal of the seller is to maximize the expected revenue, or equivalently, to minimize the worst-case expected regret. Although dynamic assortment planning problem has received an increasing attention in revenue management, most existing policies require the estimation of mean utility for each product and the final regret usually involves the number of products N. However, when the number of products N is large as compared to the horizon length T, the accurate estimation of mean utilities is extremely difficult. To deal with the large N case that is natural in many online applications, we propose new policies which completely avoid estimating the utility parameter for each product; and thus our regret is independent of N. In particular, for MNL model, we develop a dynamic trisection search algorithm that achieves the optimal regret (up to a log-factor). For nested logit model, we propose a lower and upper confidence bound algorithm with an aggregated estimation. There are two major advantages of the proposed policies. First, the regret of all our policies has no dependence on N. Second, our policies are almost assumption free: there is no assumption on mean utility nor any "separability'' condition on the expected revenues for different assortments. We also provide numerical results to demonstrate the empirical performance of the proposed methods.


This article examines the changes that have occurred in the composition of funds raised by provincial borrowers during the 1990s. Higher financing requirements, coupled with the declining availability of funds from non-market sources such as the Canada Pension Plan, led provincial governments and their Crown corporations to broaden and to diversify their debt management programs. In particular, provincial borrowers expanded their presence in foreign bond markets, increased their issuance of floating-rate debt, and incorporated a wide variety of innovative debt instruments into their borrowing programs in order to minimize their borrowing costs and to manage the risks associated with the issuing of debt. As a result, the composition of funds raised by provincial borrowers during the 1990s differed markedly from that of the previous decade: between 1990 and 1995, provincial borrowing requirements were met almost entirely through the issuance of marketable debt, and net new foreign currency debt issues averaged nearly 50 per cent of funds raised, whereas between 1980 and 1989, non-market sources provided close to 30 per cent of funds raised, and net new foreign currency debt issues provided less than 20 per cent.


Parents typically direct many aspects of their young children's lives and often believe that they deserve protection from interference by governments and third parties as they exercise this prerogative. Justifications for such parental control rights sometimes rely on the interests of children or of society. But they can also rely directly on the interests of parents. This paper considers whether parental control rights can be justified based on parental interests. It first considers two parental interests sometimes put forward as warranting parental control rights: an interest in intimacy and an interest in acting as a fiduciary. The first fails as a justification for parental rights because intimacy is unlikely to be undermined by most intrusions on parental control. The second fails because it misunderstands the nature of fiduciary roles. The paper then considers an alternative parental interest – the interest in nurturing, counseling, and educating. It argues that this interest requires both authenticity and discretion in order to play a meaningful role in a parent's life and that facilitating meaningful nurturing, counseling, and educating warrants protecting parental control rights, subject of course to limitations based on sometimes conflicting rights of children and of society.


An important fragment of the lost portion of Aristotle's Poetics is the definition of synonyms preserved by Simplicius, which corresponds to Aristotle's own citation of the Poetics for synonyms in the Rhetoric, 3. 2.1404b 37 ff. I shall argue elsewhere that this derives from a discussion of the sources of verbal humour in the lost account of comedy and humour. Here it is my aim to show that Simplicius definitely derived the quotation from Porphyry, which pushes back the attestation of this part of the Poetics by more than two centuries (although the citation in the Antiatticist, Poet. fr. 4 Kassel, is older still). Furthermore, I shall show that some of the words in the definition are a gloss added by Porphyry for the purposes of his own polemic.


Many men feel discriminated against and bear the burden of the days when it was illegal for them to have consensual gay sex. This is because they still carry a conviction for engaging in homosexual acts. These convictions may be for a number of different offences including indecent assault, sodomy, gross indecency and buggery. Having such a conviction, for an act which has been legal for years or even decades, may have a negative impact on an individual's mental health, as well as their career choices and even whether they can undertake certain types of volunteer work.This article examines the current legal framework in Australia relating to historical convictions. It explores the important contemporary issues of expungement or non-disclosure of historical convictions, focusing on one particular aspect — namely, the question of whether and when to erase or allow non-disclosure of criminal records in relation to offences that are no longer part of the criminal law. The article then identifies and evaluates particular provisions introduced in other jurisdictions to deal with the same issues, which provide possible models for Australian legislators. It concludes with recommendations for reform across all Australian states and territories.


Deep ensembles have recently gained popularity in the deep learning community for their conceptual simplicity and efficiency. However, maintaining functional diversity between ensemble members that are independently trained with gradient descent is challenging. This can lead to pathologies when adding more ensemble members, such as a saturation of the ensemble performance, which converges to the performance of a single model. Moreover, this does not only affect the quality of its predictions, but even more so the uncertainty estimates of the ensemble, and thus its performance on out-of-distribution data. We hypothesize that this limitation can be overcome by discouraging different ensemble members from collapsing to the same function. To this end, we introduce a kernelized repulsive term in the update rule of the deep ensembles. We show that this simple modification not only enforces and maintains diversity among the members but, even more importantly, transforms the maximum a posteriori inference into proper Bayesian inference. Namely, we show that the training dynamics of our proposed repulsive ensembles follow a Wasserstein gradient flow of the KL divergence with the true posterior. We study repulsive terms in weight and function space and empirically compare their performance to standard ensembles and Bayesian baselines on synthetic and real-world prediction tasks.


Forests are a valuable resource for humans providing a range of products and services such as construction timber, paper and fuel wood, recreation, as well as living quarters for indigenous populations and habitats for many animal and bird species. Most recent international political agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol emphasise the role of forests as a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide mitigation. However, forest areas are rapidly decreasing world wide. Thus, it is vital that efficient strategies and tools are developed to encourage sustainable ecosystem management. These tools must be based on known ecological principles (such as tree physiological and soil nutrient cycle processes), capable of supplying fast and accurate temporal and spatial predictions of the effects of management on both timber production and carbon sequestration. This thesis had two main objectives. The first was to investigate the environmental factors affecting growth and carbon sequestration of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) across Scotland, by developing a knowledge base through a statistical analysis of old and novel field datasets. Furthermore, the process-based ecosystem model 3-PGN was developed, by coupling the existing models 3-PG and ICBM. 3-PGN calibrated using a Bayesian approach based on Monte Carlo Markov Chain simulations and it was validated for plantation stands. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses provided an understanding of the internal feedbacks of the model. Further simulations gave a detailed eco-physiological interpretation of the environmental factors affecting Scots pine growth and it provided an assessment of carbon sequestration under the scenario of sustainable, normal production and its effects from the environment. Finally, the study investigated the spatial and temporal patterns of timber production and carbon sequestration by using the spatial version of the model and applying advanced spatial analyses techniques. The second objective was to help close the gap between environmental research and forest management, by setting a strategic framework for a process-based tool for sustainable ecosystem management. The thesis demonstrated the procedures for a site classification scheme based on modelling results and a yield table validation procedure, which can provide a way forward in supporting policies for forest management and ensuring their continued existence in the face of the present and future challenges.


Technology is one of the main drivers of productivity and economic growth. Developing countries have traditionally had difficulties in both developing technology and absorbing foreign technology. However, the recent emergence of tech startups present an opportunity. Tech start-ups are an effective a mechanism to both create local technology and absorb foreign technology. The objective of this report is to provide a better understanding of the status of Beirut's start-up ecosystem and provide policy recommendations for policy makers and other stakeholders who are interested in supporting the growth and sustainability of the ecosystem. The report is based on an in-depth survey of startups and supportive stakeholders of the ecosystem. The findings point out to an early-to middle stage start-up ecosystem that has passed its nascent growth phase but is still far from maturity. Skills, supportive infrastructure, finance pipeline, and community and networks are examined and gaps are identified. Policy recommendations to tackle these gaps are presented based on international practices.


Abstract. In Alpine regions, floods are often associated with erosion, transport and deposition of coarse sediment along the streams. These processes are related to bedload transport and pose a hazard in addition to the elevated water discharge. However, it is unclear to what extent they contribute to total damage caused by natural hazards. Using the Swiss flood and landslide damage database – which collects financial damage data of naturally triggered floods, debris flows and landslides – we estimated the contribution of fluvial bedload transport processes to total damage costs in Switzerland. For each database entry an upper and lower limit of financial losses caused by or related to bedload transport processes was estimated, and the quality of the estimate was judged. When compared to total damage, the fraction of bedload transport damage in the 40 yr study period lies between 0.32 and 0.37. However, this value is highly variable for individual years (from 0.02 to 0.72). Bedload transport processes have induced cumulative financial losses between CHF 4.3 and 5.1 billion. Spatial analysis revealed a considerable heterogeneous distribution with largest damage for mountainous regions. The analysis of the seasonal distribution shows that more than 75% of the bedload damage costs occurs in summer (June–August), and ~ 23% in autumn (September– November). With roughly 56%, by far most of the damage has been registered in August. Bedload transport processes are presently still inadequately understood, and the predictive quality of common bedload equations is often poor. Our analysis demonstrates the importance of bedload transport as a natural hazard and financial source of risk, and thus the need for future structured research on transport processes in steep streams.


Abstract Resilience thinking has been roundly critiqued for not accounting for the political – and inherently power-laden – structures that shape decision-making. In the light of the range of critiques as well as the increasing global momentum around resilience thinking, this paper develops the concept of 'Negotiated Resilience'. The concept highlights processes of negotiation to situate, ground and operationalise 'resilience'. The concept puts particular accent on the procedural orientation of resilience – it is not something that 'exists' and that we can uniformly define, rather it is a process that requires engagement with diverse actors and interests, both in specific places and across scales. Negotiation also inevitably entails contestation and an ongoing consideration of diverse options and trade-offs. We suggest that when considering the inherent complexities of resilience, we would do better to explicitly theorise, analyse and speak to these negotiations.


[1] We present a detailed analysis of the large-scale current systems and their effects on the ground magnetic field disturbance for an idealized substorm event simulated with the equilibrium version of the Rice Convection Model. The objective of this study is to evaluate how well the bubble-injection picture can account for some classic features of the substorm expansion phase. The entropy depletion inside the bubble is intentionally designed to be so severe that it can penetrate deep into geosynchronous orbit. The results are summarized as follows: (1) Both the region-1-sense and region-2-sense field-aligned currents (FACs) intensify substantially. The former resembles the substorm current wedge and flows along the eastern and western edges of the bubble. The latter is connected to the enhanced partial ring current in the magnetosphere associated with a dipolarization front earthward of the bubble. In the ionosphere, these two pairs of FACs are mostly interconnected via Pedersen currents. (2) The horizontal ionospheric currents show a significant westward electrojet peaked at the equatorward edge of the footprint of the bubble. The estimated ground magnetic disturbance is consistent with the typical features at various locations relative to the center of the westward electrojet. (3) A prominent Harang-reversal-like boundary is seen in both ground ΔH disturbance and plasma flow pattern, appearing in the westward portion of the equatorward edge of the bubble footprint, with a latitudinal extent of ∼5° and a longitudinal extent of the half width of the bubble. (4) The dramatic dipolarization inside the bubble causes the ionospheric map of the inner plasma sheet to exhibit a bulge-like structure, which may be related to auroral poleward expansion. (5) The remarkable appearance of the westward electrojet, Harang-reversal-like boundary and poleward expansion starts when the bubble reaches the magnetic transition region from tail-like to dipole-like configuration. We also estimate the horizontal and vertical currents using magnetograms at tens of ground stations for a deep injection substorm event occurred on April 9, 2008, resulting in a picture that is qualitatively consistent with the simulation. Based on the simulations and the observations, an overall picture of the ionospheric dynamics and its magnetospheric drivers during deep bubble injections is obtained.


Forests absorb CO 2 during photosynthesis and store it as organic matter in biomass plants, as well as bamboo plantations. This study aimed  to : (1) analysis biomass and carbon stock (2) obtain a model Allometric estimation of carbon stocks in vegetation potential of oil palm plantations in North Sumatra; (3) obtain the potential carbon stocks in forest conversion to bamboo plantations in North Sumatra. This research was conducted in Forest Community Sirpang Sigodang Village, Subdistrict, Simalungun District. The research was carried out in two stages, namely the first stage were to data in the field and the second stage was analyze of carbon biomass and plant in the laboratory. Parameters measured in the field was wet weight, whereas in the laboratory is measured moisture content, volatile matter content, ash content and carbon content. Carbon plants in the plot were determined using allometric models bamboo carbon rods. Models the relationship between plant biomass or carbon rods with dimensions created with a method that describes the relationship Allometric biomass or carbon mass per plant as a function of the diameter . The results showed that the best model of allometric equations for estimating biomass and carbon mass of bamboo plantations was W= 81.324+22.411D+1.710 D 2 and C=45 .979+12.792 D + 0 .973 D 2 (W=biomass; C=carbon mass; D= diameter), resulting in biomass and carbon mass of tali bamboo plants respectively were 10.91 ton/ha and 5.49 ton C/ha. Keywords: Bambu tali (Gigantochloa apus Kurz)., Community Forest, biomass analisys, carbon stock, Sirpang Sigodang Village.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Aprotinin has been widely used in cardiac surgeries as a therapeutic resource for reducing the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on coagulation and fibrinolysis. Recovery of adequate hemostasia at the end of the procedure is one of the objectives of the anesthesiologist. However, aprotinin has specific indications. The objective of this report was to present the case of a patient with severe thrombocytopenia undergoing cardiac surgery in which consultation with Hematology and adequate planning were responsible for the success of the procedure.

CASE REPORT
An 18-year old male patient, weighing 64 kg, physical status ASA IV, with a diagnosis of bone marrow aplasia, was being investigated to undergo bone marrow transplantation. He had persistent fever for a month, which did not improve with antibiotics. During the investigation with imaging exams, a left atrial mass was discovered. Laboratory exams revealed hemoglobin 9 g.dL-1 and thrombocytopenia with 6,000 platelets.mm(3). He underwent a sternotomy with CPB to remove the intracavitary thrombus. In order to control intraoperative bleeding, the following was administered: plateletpheresis, hydrocortisone, and aprotinin. Increased bleeding and hemodynamic instability did not develop during the surgery, and the patient was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) without intercurrences. The anatomo-pathologic exam revealed the thrombus to be filled with Aspergillus (fungal mass). On the seventh postoperative day the patient developed respiratory failure and cardiorespiratory arrest that did not respond to resuscitation maneuvers.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite the increased risk of bleeding in this patient, cardiac surgery with CPB was performed without intercurrences due to the use of aprotinin and plateletpheresis.


Green gram, Black gram, Pigeon pea and chickpea are common pulses in diet rich in carbohydrates, proteins and minerals. Numerous fungi affect pulses adversely causing reduction in seed content and seed health. During present study, effects of metabolites of common and dominant seed-borne fungi on seed health of Chickpea are evaluated. Total seventeen fungi recorded from all test pulses. Out of these seventeen seed-borne fungi, six, Aspergillus flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger, Drechslera tetramera and Rhizopus stolonifer, found to be common and dominant on all four test pulses. These common and dominant seed-borne fungi produced mycotoxins that affected adversely to the seed germination, shoot and root length of test pulse Chickpea in variable quantity.


Background: Chronic kidney disease cases are at increased risk for progression to end stage renal disease and accelerated atherosclerosis, with premature cardiovascular morbidity and mortality being the more frequent outcome. Aim: The study was taken up to find if there is any association between nontraditional cardiovascular risk markers like high sensitivity C reactive protein (marker of inflammation) and malondialdehyde (marker of lipid peroxidation) with the progression of chronic kidney disease. Methodology: The study included 44 pre dialysis chronic kidney disease cases and 44 healthy controls. Serum levels of creatinine, high sensitivity C reactive protein and malondialdehyde were estimated in both groups. The mean estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR) in chronic kidney disease patients was calculated by the MDRD formula. Results: The mean eGFR in cases was found to be 23.65 14.99 ml/min by MDRD formula. The serum hsCRP and malondialdehyde levels in cases was 11.8 7.24 mg/L and 3.02 1.24 nmol/ml respectively. Conclusion: There was a significant negative correlation (p<0.001) between high sensitivity C-reactive protein and malondialdehyde with eGFR. A highly significant positive correlation was found between serum hsCRP and malondialdehyde (p<0.001) in chronic kidney disease underlining the synergism between oxidative stress and inflammation, perpetuating to further deterioration of renal function and enhancing the predisposition to cardiovascular risk with the progression of chronic kidney disease.


Fire is a powerful ecological and evolutionary force that regulates organismal traits, population sizes, species interactions, community composition, carbon and nutrient cycling and ecosystem function. It also presents a rapidly growing societal challenge, due to both increasingly destructive wildfires and fire exclusion in fire‐dependent ecosystems. As an ecological process, fire integrates complex feedbacks among biological, social and geophysical processes, requiring coordination across several fields and scales of study. Here, we describe the diversity of ways in which fire operates as a fundamental ecological and evolutionary process on Earth. We explore research priorities in six categories of fire ecology: (a) characteristics of fire regimes, (b) changing fire regimes, (c) fire effects on above‐ground ecology, (d) fire effects on below‐ground ecology, (e) fire behaviour and (f) fire ecology modelling. We identify three emergent themes: the need to study fire across temporal scales, to assess the mechanisms underlying a variety of ecological feedbacks involving fire and to improve representation of fire in a range of modelling contexts. Synthesis: As fire regimes and our relationships with fire continue to change, prioritizing these research areas will facilitate understanding of the ecological causes and consequences of future fires and rethinking fire management alternatives.


This thesis contributes to the growing scholarly interest in connections with Australia's past through localised, individual stories. While much of this scholarship has focused on literature and the writings of cultural historians, this thesis concentrates on ways of visually recovering the memory of historical figures in relation to land through examining a unique form of portraiture which I have termed 'imagined'.
The concept of imagined portraiture is distinguished from more conventional modes of portraiture using analyses of traditional portraiture by Richard Brilliant, Omar Calabrese and Catherine Soussloff. Imagined portraits, as I have defined them in my thesis, result from a temporal separation between subject and artist and involve a high degree of projection of the artist's self in portraying the absent subject. In contrast to naturalistic posthumous portraits which suppress the artist's identity as maker of the image to preserve external likeness, imagined portraits reflect the persona of the artist as much as the subject of the portrait.
This thesis is structured around imagined portraits by five Australian artists: Sidney Nolan's paintings of Ned Kelly, John Lendis's paintings of Lady Jane Franklin, Anne Ferran's photographic portrayals of female convicts, Leah King-Smith's photo-compositions of Victorian Aboriginal people, and Julie Dowling's paintings of her ancestors. In all of the artworks under consideration person and place are intimately bound and inseparably recalled. Land is central to the identity of the subjects, but it is also important to each artist's own relationship between self and place.The artists studied in this thesis bond with historical figures to connect with Australia's past and form, or repair, meaningful attachments to the land. Using an interdisciplinary approach, I draw on the theoretical writings of philosophers Edward Casey and Jeff Malpas, historian Peter Read and feminist scholar on race and gender issues bell hooks to contend that knowledge of the past is critical to constructions of place and identity.
Due to the imaginative nature of the portrayal of the figures and the fusion with land, many of the featured artworks have not previously been considered portraits. Doing so enables a fresh perspective which highlights that an individual who actually existed lies at the core of each image. I argue that this is crucial to the artwork's capacity to arouse empathy with current-day viewers – something that is underscored by theorists of historical fiction, such as Herbert Butterfield, Georg Lukacs and Jerome de Groot.
The historical subjects portrayed in this thesis are outsiders, many of whom have a troubled place in mainstream Australian history. Imagined portraits activate remembrance of these figures. They can contribute to the memory of those already mythicised, or recover individuals who were previously marginalised or excluded from Australian history. The imagined portraits featured in this thesis expose historical myths, gaps and silences while providing meaningful ways to connect with the past and negotiate displacement.


Deterioration of bridge decks is a primary factor limiting the lifespan of bridges especially in cold climates where deicing salts are commonly used. While controlling deck cracking or decreasing the permeability and porosity of concrete can improve performance and service life, chloride and moisture ingress as well as cracking cannot be eliminated. Full-depth cracks which are caused by restrained shrinkage allow for corrosive conditions at early ages for both the top and bottom reinforcement mats. Therefore, the use of corrosion-resistant reinforcement is essential to mitigate deterioration of bridge decks. The objective of this research program to examine the efficacy of using alternative materials in a bridge deck from both technical and economic perspectives. For the technical evaluation (Volume I), a three phase experimental investigation was conducted considering a wide range of corrosion-resistant reinforcing materials. These materials included stainless steels, microcomposite steel, and coated steels considering a variety of metallic and nonmetallic coatings. The first phase evaluated the bond between corrosion-resistant reinforcement and concrete using lap splice tests. The second phase evaluated the cracking behavior of slabs reinforced with corrosion-resistant reinforcement. Finally, the third phase evaluated corrosion resistance under uncracked and cracked conditions using macrocell test specimens. Transverse steel was also tied to the longitudinal steel to simulate actual bridge deck conditions. Recommendations are provided on development and splice lengths for both conventional black and corrosion-resistant reinforcing steel, control of cracks widths, as well as the selection, design, and construction of corrosion-resistant reinforcement. For the economic evaluation (Volume II), a decision support methodology and associated spreadsheet tool for robust analysis of the cost-effectiveness of alternative material types for bridge deck reinforcement was developed. The two evaluation criteria are agency and user costs, and the input data that influence this criteria include the deck service life, material process, discount rate, detour length, and bridge size. The methodology incorporates analytical techniques that include life cycle analyses to evaluate the long-term cost and benefits of each material over the bridge life; Monte Carlo simulation to account for the probabilistic nature of the input variables; stochastic dominance to ascertain the probability distribution of the outcome that a specific reinforcement material is superior to others; and analytical hierarchical process to establish appropriate weights for the agency and user costs. The study methodology is demonstrated using a case study involving three reinforcement material alternatives: traditional (epoxy-coated) steel, zinc-clad steel, and stainless steel. Through this study, it is demonstrated that the use of corrosion-resistant reinforcing materials can significantly increase bridge deck life, reduce agency and user costs associated with bridge deck rehabilitation and maintenance, and thus lower the financial needs for long-term preservation of bridges.


In the era of Self Assessment System (SAS), taxpayers are required to assess their tax
liability themselves. Thus, tax knowledge is crucial to assist and guide them in assessing
their tax accurately. In order to possess tax knowledge, tax education needs to be
introduced to all students regardless of disciplines. Thus far, in Malaysia, tax education
is only being taught to accounting . and business undergraduates. This study solicits the
non-accounting undergraduates' views towards introducing tax education into nonaccounting
curriculum. The study aims i) to solicit the feasibility for introducing tax
education to non-accounting undergraduates, ii) to assess the level of tax knowledge of
non-accounting undergraduates, and iii) to identify the relevant tax topics to be covered
for non-accounting curriculum. Questionnaire was used to collect data. In total, 450
questionnaires were distributed to non-accounting undergraduates that pursuing outcampus
program in four faculties in University Technology of MARA (UiTM), Shah
Alam. One hundred ninety usable questionnaires were collected and used for data
analysis.
The findings showed that more than half of the respondents did not know that SAShas
already been implemented for two years. Nearly 850/0 of the respondents did not know
about the Public Rulings issued by the Inland Revenue Board. About 41% of nonaccounting
undergraduates possessed low level of tax knowledge in respect of personal
taxation. Nearly 72% of the respondents had never learned taxation and about 64% of
the respondents expressed their interest in learning taxation at undergraduate levels.
Majority (88.4 %) of the respondents perceived that taxation is an important subject and
85.3% of the respondents indicated that learning taxation would help them in computing
tax liability correctly. Furthermore, 75% of the respondents perceived that learning tax
will enhance tax compliance among taxpayers. Notably, most of the tax topics outlined
were favored by the respondents. The tax topics that non-accounting undergraduates
would like to learn the most are basic concepts of taxation and tax policies, personal
taxation as well as tax planning for individuals. This study provides important insights
for top management, academics and the relevant authorities in UiTM towards the need
of introducing tax education to non-accounting undergraduates.


We consider the task of learning a causal graph in the presence of latent confounders given i.i.d.~samples from the model. While current algorithms for causal structure discovery in the presence of latent confounders are constraint-based, we here propose a score-based approach. We prove that under assumptions weaker than faithfulness, any sparsest independence map (IMAP) of the distribution belongs to the Markov equivalence class of the true model. This motivates the \emph{Sparsest Poset} formulation - that posets can be mapped to minimal IMAPs of the true model such that the sparsest of these IMAPs is Markov equivalent to the true model. Motivated by this result, we propose a greedy algorithm over the space of posets for causal structure discovery in the presence of latent confounders and compare its performance to the current state-of-the-art algorithms FCI and FCI+ on synthetic data.


Sex and relationships have a big impact on young people's lives. For most young people in the world getting information about sexual pleasure, apart from pornography, can be difficult. And it's even harder if you live in parts of the world where you often aren't able to decide who to date or marry, or how many children you want to have. For this reason online information on sexuality is hugely popular. Research suggests that young people are arriving at sex education sites mostly through campaigns on social media. As not all young people are using these sites it is essential to find creative ways to engage with them in a way that strengthens and builds on existing online sex education. Our recent study used affective engagement as part of a multi-layered and multi-me- thod participatory action research process on online sex education for young Kenyans online. We worked with a group of students from the Sauti music academy, to explore the meaning and relevance of themes that emerged from analysis of online behaviour on the Love Matters sex education platform and off-line research on gender roles and sexuality by young people. Young musicians wrote songs based on the research analysis and recorded these on YouTube. We found that the issues raised by young people using online platforms were also relevant to Kenyan offline non-users. Interpersonal exchange between the young people directly involved in the study, the sexual health experts and international creative team were key to stimulating critical reflection on meanings of sex and love, and creativity in the production of the 15 original songs that were produced during the project. The musicians involved said they had learned how to communicate effectively about sexuality, expectations and affection. Participants also learned how to use their own experiences to connect with people, and most said they realized their responsibility and potential as artists to make progressive social change. Learning on reaching audiences was one of the main unintended benefits for the artists of this project.


Biology, we are frequently told, is the science of the twenty-first century. Authority informs us that moving genes from one organism to another will provide new drugs, extend both the quantity and quality of life, and feed and fuel the world while reducing water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Authority also informs that novel genes will escape from genetically modified crops, thereby leading to herbicide-resistant weeds; that genetically modified crops are an evil privatization of the gene pool that will with certainty lead to the economic ruin of small farmers around the world; and that economic growth derived from biological technologies will cause more harm than good. In other words, we are told that biological technologies will provide benefits and will come with costs--with tales of both costs and benefits occasionally inflated--like every other technology humans have developed and deployed over all of recorded history. Our task as citizens is to weigh the costs and benefits, then to let our elected policy-makers know the outcome of our calculation. The task is made more challenging by scientific and technical progress that is complex and difficult for the lay audience to understand. That same complexity is often exploited by both proponents and opponents of any given technology to promise salvation or doom should the polis decide incorrectly. Further muddying the conversation is a press whose behavior consistently lays bare the conflict between accurate reporting and inflammatory headlines concocted to bring in revenue. The Internet, too, contributes a flood of conflicting information, with celebrity or fiery rhetoric often serving as a substitute for actual knowledge. But this is life in the early twenty-first century. We must muddle through. Into this complicated environment of information and argument we have recently seen introduced the idea that scientists can now synthesize life. In the spring of 2010, Dan Gibson and his colleagues at the J. Craig Venter Institute published a paper demonstrating the synthesis of a functional bacterial genome from its chemical constituents. (1) The researchers inserted that genome into an existing cell, which then began executing the instructions encoded in the synthetic genome. The ensuing press coverage distorted this notable technical achievement into an unnecessarily provocative philosophical and moral challenge; "Researchers Say They Created a 'Synthetic Cell,'" announced the New York Times; (2) "Craig Venter creates synthetic life form," claimed The Guardian, (3) which had previously encumbered an article profiling Venter with the headline, "I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer." (4) The notion that scientists might some day create life is a fraught meme in Western culture. One mustn't mess with such things, we are told, because the creation of life is the province of gods, monsters, and practitioners of the dark arts. Thus, any hint that science may be on the verge of putting the power of creation into the hands of mere mortals elicits a certain discomfort, even if the hint amounts to no more than distorted gossip. Rumors and warnings of such goings on have been growing for years as a result of new technologies and methods for genetic manipulation that enable the emerging field of synthetic biology. It was no surprise, then, that hard on the heels of the paper by the Venter Institute scientists came word of a new assignment for the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. The White House, apprised in advance of the paper and aware of the growing economic and technological importance of biological technologies, charged the commission with assessing the implications of the scientific milestone. President Obama requested both a thorough review of the risks and benefits and that the commission "develop recommendations about any actions that the Federal government should take to ensure that America benefits from this developing field of science while identifying appropriate ethical boundaries and minimizing identified risks. …


Many policies, strategies and plans have been introduced in South African schools so as to acquire quality education. A strategic plan, as a mechanism of putting schools on a pathway of development and effectiveness over a period of time, is one of these initiatives. Its introduction is based on a number of reasons inter-alia the shift to school self-management, the introduction of Norms and Standards, and the introduction of School Governing Bodies (SGBs). A school's strategic plan is the physical document that embodies the guiding orientation regarding how to manage the school within a larger national and local development perspective. Such a plan can lead to school effectiveness, improvement and development strategies, but not all plans obtain this status because of design efficiencies. A qualitative investigation was done in two primary schools in the Mahikeng Area Office (AO) of the North-West Province in South Africa. Document analysis, in-depth interviews with two principals and two SGB chairpersons, as well as a focus group interview with eight teachers from participating schools, were used to collect data on how primary schools in question design and implement their strategic plans. The investigation seems to suggest that, while an individual school community may craft a strategic plan in its own way, there are common aspects that underpin the entire process. Amongst others, technical knowledge and skill for its execution are necessary. Some policies emphasise the importance of a strategic plan and serve as an integrated implementation framework for its execution. It is concluded that a strategic plan is designed and implemented under three main elements: 1) strategic analysis, which is made up of stakeholder involvement; 2) strategic choices made up of direction-setting, priority determinations, mission, and vision; and 3) strategy in action, which refers to the process of translating the plan into action.


This book examines the relevance of a theoretical model of health care law-making in several Central and Eastern European countries. Confronted with the legacy of the ancient regime, the countries selected shifted away from a 'socialist' model towards a more 'market-oriented' health care system. From a legal perspective, this change of system imposed on government the need for drastic reforms starting with the introduction of a compulsory health insurance scheme based on the notion of solidarity. Future accession to the EU, requiring the incorporation of the acquis communautaire, has increased the complexity of legal reforms since. Strengthening the reform process, the author developed a method of law-making based on legal-theoretical understanding. Case study research in three selected countries justifies the conclusion that the analytical model rationalises the law-making activity, including the 'EU law approximation process'. What is more, it became apparent that the importance of this theoretical model is not restricted only to the selected countries but may also be a valuable instrument for other countries in transition in the region. Health care law-making in Central and Eastern Europe - Review of a legal-theoretical model provides a unique resource for scholars and policy makers interested in legal reforms in Central and Eastern European health care systems.


Explaining the structure of ecosystems is one of the great challenges of ecology. Simple models for food web structure aim at disentangling the complexity of ecological interaction networks and detect the main forces that are responsible for their shape. Trophic interactions are influenced by species traits, which in turn are largely determined by evolutionary history. Closely related species are more likely to share similar traits, such as body size, feeding mode and habitat preference than distant ones. Here, we present a theoretical framework for analysing whether evolutionary history—represented by taxonomic classification—provides valuable information on food web structure. In doing so, we measure which taxonomic ranks better explain species interactions. Our analysis is based on partitioning of the species into taxonomic units. For each partition, we compute the likelihood that a probabilistic model for food web structure reproduces the data using this information. We find that taxonomic partitions produce significantly higher likelihoods than expected at random. Marginal likelihoods (Bayes factors) are used to perform model selection among taxonomic ranks. We show that food webs are best explained by the coarser taxonomic ranks (kingdom to class). Our methods provide a way to explicitly include evolutionary history in models for food web structure.


Widespread throughout Latin America, susto is a folk illness associated with a broad array of symptoms. It is considered by susceptible populations to be a sickness caused by the separation of soul and body which is precipitated by a supernatural force. Most studies of culture-bound diseases have relied on descriptive approaches that focus on pathologies derived from medical textbooks. This study takes an interdisciplinary approach, looking for explanations of susto in the interaction of social, physiological, and psychological factors.


Andreas Wimmer argues that nationalist and ethnic politics have shaped modern societies to a far greater extent than has been acknowledged by social scientists. The modern state governs in the name of a people defined in ethnic and national terms. Democratic participation, equality before the law and protection from arbitrary violence were offered only to the ethnic group in a privileged relationship with the emerging nation-state. Depending on circumstances, the dynamics of exclusion took on different forms. Where nation building was 'successful', immigrants and 'ethnic minorities' are excluded from full participation; they risk being targets of xenophobia and racism. In weaker states, political closure proceeded along ethnic, rather than national lines and leads to corresponding forms of conflict and violence. In chapters on Mexico, Iraq and Switzerland, Wimmer provides extended case studies that support and contextualise this argument.


Domain adaptation improves a target task by knowledge transfer from a source domain with rich annotations. It is not uncommon that "source-domain engineering" becomes a cumbersome process in domain adaptation: the high-quality source domains highly related to the target domain are hardly available. Thus, weakly-supervised domain adaptation has been introduced to address this difficulty, where we can tolerate the source domain with noises in labels, features, or both. As such, for a particular target task, we simply collect the source domain with coarse labeling or corrupted data. In this paper, we try to address two entangled challenges of weaklysupervised domain adaptation: sample noises of the source domain and distribution shift across domains. To disentangle these challenges, a Transferable Curriculum Learning (TCL) approach is proposed to train the deep networks, guided by a transferable curriculum informing which of the source examples are noiseless and transferable. The approach enhances positive transfer from clean source examples to the target and mitigates negative transfer of noisy source examples. A thorough evaluation shows that our approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art on weakly-supervised domain adaptation tasks.


The growth of city traffic has contributed to severe traffic congestion and traffic accidents in the most of the cities in the world. Since people's travel demand rise at a rate usually greater than the addition of road capacity to lead many other issues, such as environmental problems and the quality of life. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is committed to solving the worsening traffic problems. Wide deployment of such ITS can eventually provide more dynamic, real-time and efficient solutions to transportation problems. ITS uses a variety of high technologies, especially electronic information technology and data communications technology to improve road traffic efficiency, road traffic safety and environmental protection. A number of researchers have depended on the wireless mobile communication to improve data collection and utilisation. The data could be used for early warning and forecasting traffic conditions in real-time.

The benefit of wireless mobile communication research, especially Car to Car (C2C) communication is to abandon the expensive wireline-deployed and central processing units. Through the interconnection of many personal mobile devices, a low- cost freely extended, high-performance and parallel system can be formed. Car to Car communication can make possible efficient and reliable data transmission by wireless links in a traffic area. It is based on principles of mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) and applies to the domain of vehicles, being Vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) which is a key component of ITS. The C2C communication system has become essential for driving safety and comfort and also for improving road condition. Also, the traffic prediction system is also an important part of ITS, traffic condition prediction can be regarded as an extension application of VANET. It provides traffic condition in advance via a variety of prediction models and helps the people make better driving safety, travel decisions and route selections regarding departure or driving time.

The challenge of wireless traffic prediction technology is the uncertainty of traffic and real-time traffic data collection. It is widely known that urban transport system is a participatory, time-varying and complex nonlinear system. This uncertainty comes not only from the natural causes, such as seasonal and weather factors, but also from human factors, such as traffic accidents, emergencies and driver's behaviour. In particular, the short-term traffic prediction is more affected by random interference factors. Current wireless traffic prediction research is usually based on a combination of wireless technology and traditional prediction model. The predictable traffic conditions include travel speed, travel time, traffic density, traffic accident, congestion level. However, in a large network environment, as the number of nodes increases, the transmission performance degrades and the prediction accuracy decreases because the prediction model does not obtain enough data.

In this thesis, a novel traffic prediction framework (PPM-C2C) is proposed – Pervasive Prediction Model (PPM) based on the C2C communication. The framework utilises ad-hoc data via C2C communications for a short time traffic prediction in each car.

This project builds and investigates the behaviour of a pervasive traffic simulation model in Ad-hoc network, with a particular part of it embedded into each vehicle's equipment. It includes the data collection, aggregation and application aim to be running in all individual cars so that cars have up to date information on the traffic at all times. Moreover, those cars could predict the traffic conditions of a road section in a short time through the proposed prediction framework, especially travel speed prediction. When the car receives the current traffic information about other vehicles, the prediction system will incorporate the information, analyse the data and predict the traffic conditions of this road section for a future time. The design does not depend on any roadside communications infrastructure. It is a simple and flexible car communication and processing technology to collect real-time traffic information. This process will be aided by car to car wireless communication technology available nowadays. To achieve this goal, a mobility model adapted to VANET needs to be generated that a realistic city scenario based on the actual traffic traces is carried out through simulation. Based on this, we investigate the necessary influencing factors for predicted results. The simulation results illustrate that the prediction model can be applied to wireless network environment for a short time prediction, and our results demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of the proposed prediction framework over Car to Car communications. Furthermore, the wireless environment and derived factors can result in decreased application performance.


Abstract This study quantifies the fine structure of time-averaging by using large samples of dated shells collected from within individual strata. Time-averaging results in both good and bad news for interpreting bioclastic deposits. Nine samples of shells were collected from four Holocene cheniers on the Colorado Delta (Gulf of California) and 165 shells of the bivalve Chione fluctifraga were dated using 14C-calibrated amino acid racemization (D-alloisoleucine/L-isoleucine). The age range of shells within samples averages 661 years and, in seven out of nine samples, exceeds 500 years. The sample standard deviation ranges from 73 to 294 years and averages 203 years, far exceeding the dating errors (≪100 years) and potential variation in the life span of Chione (<10 years). Time-averaging is homogeneous among strata within cheniers but varies significantly among cheniers. Age-distributions of dated shells indicate that at 50-year resolution, the samples provide a continuous and uniform record for the entire interval. The actual sample completeness (63.6%) is very close to that predicted by simulations of sampling a 100% complete, uniform record (67.3%). The bad news is that, no matter how carefully collected, data from shell beds may not be suitable for studying processes on timescales shorter than 102 to 103 years; explanations for faunal change that invoke reasoning or models derived from a strictly ecological point of view may rarely be justifiable. Also, notable differences in temporal resolution between the shell beds of seemingly identical origin imply that paleontological patterns (e.g., species diversity) may be affected by cryptic variation in time-averaging. The comparison of our data with time-averaging estimates obtained from other cheniers at coarser sampling resolutions indicates that pooling of samples (analytical time-averaging) can significantly reduce the temporal resolution of paleontological data. The good news is that shell beds can record the optimal type of time-averaging: where paleobiological data are a time-weighted average of the faunal composition from the spectrum of environments that existed during the entire interval of time. Samples from single strata provide a long-term record that is representative of the predominating environments. Within the range of 14C dating, shell beds can provide a complete, high-resolution record, and thus may offer exceptional insights into the environmental and climatic changes of the last 40 thousand years.