A technique for determining the impulse response function for an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry sample introduction system is demonstrated. The input response function may then be useful for the determination of outputs, and consequently the performances, of flow injection or other sample treatment systems, which precede the sample introduction system. In a procedure to generate a known input response, a bolus of analyte was proceeded and followed by an air bubble, which reduced dispersion to a minimum. The impulse response function was determined and used to deconvolute other inputs of known concentration and dispersion. The deconvolution of the outputs using the impulse response function returned the expected result, indicating that the technique and impulse response function were correct. When used with an unsegmented traditional flow injection sample introduction valve, the system demonstrated clearly that significant dispersion takes place even in very compact introduction arrangements.


In Cote d'Ivoire, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS has declined significantly in the last decade as a result of public health actions. An assessment of knowledge, attitudes, perception and behaviours was carried out to assess the outcome of the strategies for raising awareness and communicating with students about HIV/AIDS. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 among students enrolled in third year at the university. An anonymous self-questionnaire including a consent form was provided. Mean scores were calculated from the items in the questionnaire to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, perception and behaviours of these students with regard to HIV/AIDS. The chi square test was used to compare the qualitative variables, and the quantitative variables were compared with the test of student. Among 561 students who participated in the study, 41.7, 26.7 and 31.6% were respectively registered in the sectors of human and social sciences (HSS), biosciences and health sciences. The mean age was 25.9 ± 3.4 years with a sex ratio of 1.3. The mean knowledge score of certain modes of transmission was 4.9 ± 0.36 out of 5 while that of condom positive perception was 6.4 ± 2.2 out of 12. This perception score was significantly higher in women than in men (6.1 vs. 6.9, p = 0.0001). The mean acceptance score was 7.3 ± 2.2 out of 10. The results of this work show good knowledge about HIV/AIDS among the students surveyed. However, the positive perception of the condom is far from being integrated in the student environment. This study also showed the persistence of HIV risk behaviour is out of sync with the level of knowledge. It would be important to review marketing and communication strategies about HIV.

 Keys words: HIV/AIDS, students, knowledge, attitude, behaviours, Cote d'Ivoire.


Because of its significant role in the education and moral development of children, children's literature often has ethical, nationalistic, cultural and didactic functions. Animal characteristics are often specific to a particular culture and therefore are imbued with certain behavioural characteristics peculiar to that national culture. They also lend themselves to significant implicit authorial comment.
This article examines how behavioural characteristics of the animal characters in the popular stories of AA Milne's Winnie the pooh (1926) and C Perrault's Puss in boots (1695) and their translations are condoned, condemned or changed in terms of implicit national or cultural values. The study takes into account the social milieu and literary trends of the period in which these tales entered the subsystem of children's literature. It shows that the authors used implicit as well as explicit means to comment on both positive and negative characteristics, and even to approve negative characteristics. Some translators were, in turn, aware of these characteristics and transformed them into the national and cultural mould of the target language culture.
The study is based on a combination of theoretical models of discourse analysis, which take into account the sociological function of language. Although primarily focusing on the English texts, the German, French, Russian, Chinese and Japanese translations are also discussed.


―Flowery boys‖ (花样少年) – when this phrase is applied to attractive young men it is now often considered as a compliment. This research sets out to study the feminisation phenomena in the representation of warriors in Chinese language films from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China made in the first decade of the new millennium (2000-2009), as these three regions are now often packaged together as a pan-unity of the Chinese cultural realm. The foci of this study are on the investigations of the warriors as the feminised Other from two aspects: their bodies as spectacles and the manifestation of feminine characteristics in the male warriors. This study aims to detect what lies underneath the beautiful masquerade of the warriors as the Other through comprehensive analyses of the representations of feminised warriors and comparison with their female counterparts. It aims to test the hypothesis that gender identities are inventory categories transformed by and with changing historical context. Simultaneously, it is a project to study how Chinese traditional values and postmodern metrosexual culture interacted to formulate Chinese contemporary masculinity. It is also a project to search for a cultural nationalism presented in these films with the examination of gender politics hidden in these feminisation phenomena. With Laura Mulvey's theory of the gaze as a starting point, this research reconsiders the power relationship between the viewing subject and the spectacle to study the possibility of multiple gaze as well as the power of spectacle. With such reconsideration of the relationship between the film texts and the audiences, this project aims to strip off the negative connotations imposed on the concept of  ̳feminisation' and to seek to prove the emerging of a feminine discourse popularised by a graphic revolution.


Administration of physostigmine to normal volunteers produced significant elevations in plasma cortisol and beta-endorphin immunoreactivity as well as alterations in mood, cognition, and behavior. These observations might be explained by a cholinergically mediated stress syndrome. However, peak elevations in plasma beta-endorphin immunoreactivity (but not in plasma cortisol) were significantly correlated with physostigmine-induced increases in depression ratings. These results suggest that a cholinergically mediated beta-endorphin pathway may be involved in the observed affective changes.


The genetic diversity across global population (Black, Caucasoid, oriental, Hispanic, mixed race, Pacific Islander , American Indian and Australian aboriginal) are other vital issues in personalized/population based medicine. The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes in human chromosome 6 are extensively studied across global population using genetic data and about a 2000 HLA alleles have been named so far at IMGT/HLA database. Extensive HLA polymorphism and peptide diversity are critical issues in HLA-peptide binding estimation for T-cell mediated immune response. The precise evaluation of HLA peptide binding finds application in epitope design for the development of vaccines and diagnostics of diseases associated with CD4+ (example, type 1 diabetes, malaria) and CD8+ (example, several viral infections) T-cellular immunity. HLA class II binding peptides have an extended conformation at the binding groove unlike class I. This increases peptide binding combinations of varying length at the groove having eventual effect in the host immune response to infectious agents. Discussion on the significance of prediction models to large HLA allele coverage representing sampled global population towards the development of diagnostics and vaccines will be presented. Biography


Background. Annual foot examinations (FE) constitute a critical component of care for diabetes. Documented evidence of FE is central to quality-of-care reporting; however, manual abstraction of electronic medical records (EMR) is slow, expensive, and subject to error. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that text mining of the EMR results in ascertaining FE evidence with accuracy comparable to manual abstraction. Methods. The text of inpatient and outpatient clinical reports was searched with natural-language (NL) queries for evidence of neurological, vascular, and structural components of FE. A manual medical records audit was used for validation. The reference standard consisted of 3 independent sets used for development (n=200 ), validation (n=118), and reliability (n=80). Results. The reliability of manual auditing was 91% (95% confidence interval [CI]= 85—97) and was determined by comparing the results of an additional audit to the original audit using the records in the reliability set. The accuracy of the NL query requiring 1 of 3 FE components was 89% (95% CI=83—95). The accuracy of the query requiring any 2 of 3 components was 88% (95% CI=82—94). The accuracy of the query requiring all 3 components was 75% (95% CI= 68— 83). Conclusions. The free text of the EMR is a viable source of information necessary for quality of health care reporting on the evidence of FE for patients with diabetes. The low-cost methodology is scalable to monitoring large numbers of patients and can be used to streamline quality-of-care reporting.


The solution of pseudo initial value differential equations, either ordinary or partial (including those of fractional nature), requires the development of adequate analytical methods, complementing those well established in the ordinary differential equation setting. A combination of techniques, involving procedures of umbral and of operational nature, has been demonstrated to be a very promising tool in order to approach within a unifying context non-canonical evolution problems. This article covers the extension of this approach to the solution of pseudo-evolutionary equations. We will comment on the explicit formulation of the necessary techniques, which are based on certain time- and operator ordering tools. We will in particular demonstrate how Volterra-Neumann expansions, Feynman-Dyson series and other popular tools can be profitably extended to obtain solutions for fractional differential equations. We apply the method to several examples, in which fractional calculus and a certain umbral image calculus play a role of central importance.


Two-dimensional Fourier transform infrared FT-IR was applied for the examination of the H/D exchange process in D2O solutions of bovine α-lactalbumin. The slow spontaneous H/D exchange at 25 °C was compared with pressure-enhanced and temperature-enhanced H/D exchange. The H/D-exchange process, which takes 48 h at 25 °C and under atmospheric pressure, is completed within 3 h when pressure is gradually elevated up to 180 MPa, or when temperature is increased up to 42.5 °C. Although the slow room-temperature H/D exchange and the fast pressure or temperature-enhanced H/D exchange feature a high degree of similarity between the corresponding second-derivative spectra, the two-dimensional (2D) FT-IR correlation maps revealed that upon the heat treatment the order in which the H/D exchange takes place in the structural domains of α-lactalbumin is altered. It has been observed that these differences can be explained in light of the known properties of α-lactalbumin and the crystallographic data.


Food-related photos have become increasingly popular, due to social networks, food recommendation and dietary assessment systems. Reliable annotation is essential in those systems, but unconstrained automatic food recognition is still not accurate enough. Most works focus on exploiting only the visual content while ignoring the context. To address this limitation, in this paper we explore leveraging geolocation and external information about restaurants to simplify the classification problem. We propose a framework incorporating discriminative classification in geolocalized settings and introduce the concept of geolocalized models, which in our scenario are trained locally at each restaurant location. In particular, we propose two strategies to implement this framework: geolocalized voting and combinations of bundled classifiers. Both models show promising performance, and the later is particularly efficient and scalable. We collected a restaurant-oriented food dataset with food images, dish tags and restaurant-level information, such as the menu and geolocation. Experiments on this dataset show that exploiting geolocation improves around 30% the recognition performance, and geolocalized models contribute with an additional 3 ̃8% absolute gain, while can be trained up to five times faster.


n November 2011, the Wounds UK Harrogate conference hosted the inaugural Wounds UK debate, which focused on the subject of dressings and how exactly clinicians are supposed to make the right choices for patients, especially when confronted with the plethora of new dressings and techniques available to today's wound care specialist.

The debate aimed to find some answers to questions around what criteria to use when deciding on the suitability of particular dressing products. For example, does clinical need override cost, or should clinicians be guided purely by what is listed on the hospital formulary? The aim was to use an expert panel, a little like the popular TV show, to find the 'X Factor' of dressing choice.


This paper explores the policing of vices and offers a critical inquiry into the affective politics of policing practices seen through police and state ethnography, political anthropology, and the 'affective turn' in social and cultural theory. It shows how the moral worlds of policing sex work and performing raids in the red-light 'milieu' are constituted in the making of boundaries through visual, olfactory, somatosensory, and auditory sensations, which can be understood as normative performances in the realm of morality. Police officers do not engage in a neutral gaze but transform the sensuous into sensations that enact these normative distinctions between the 'normal' and the 'abnormal' – the morally questionable red-light 'milieu.' These practices can be read in regard to a morality that is conveyed in and through the officers' sensational performances in an observingly affective and somatic manner. Morality not simply is but is being done—and performing affects and sensations plays a significant role in the making of moral worlds in the realm of policing. Raiding the red-light 'milieu' is a performance on disorder and order, on what is normal and what is not, and thus a deeply political practice that reveals how orderand boundary-making operates through basic sensations and feelings, of the sensuous, the aesthetic, and the somatic.


Context. Many green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations are declining worldwide owing to their susceptibility to human impacts in the marine environment. Identifying the habitats used throughout different lifecycle stages is therefore important for managing the interactions between turtles and humans. Aims. To identify the habitat utilisation of a C. mydas nesting population in Peninsular Malaysia during breeding, inter-nesting, migration and foraging lifecycle stages. Methods. Satellite telemetry was used to track the movement of three C. mydas nesting females and one adult male from the Ma'Daerah rookery (Peninsular Malaysia). Key results.The male and female turtles remained within 30 km of the nesting beach during the breeding and inter-nesting periods, which includes habitat beyond the 'no trawl zone' designed to protect turtles in this area. Following the breeding season, the tracked turtles migrated up to 1955 km to four different foraging grounds in Vietnam, Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo Malaysia. During foraging, turtles occupied areas threatened by human activities such as fishing and pollution. Conclusions. The habitats used by the Ma'Daerah C. mydas population during breeding are outside current local protection zones and extend into unprotected international waters during migration and foraging. Implications. Identification of habitats used by C. mydas populations is a critical element of management and conservation of this endangered, migratory species. Our study highlights the need to increase offshore protection around Ma'Daerah during the nesting season. Furthermore, this study has identified the countries within South-east Asia that Malaysia must cooperate with to ensure effective management of this C. mydas population. This information is particularly relevant to sea turtle conservation and management in regions like South-east Asia, where many coastal countries occupy a small geographical area.


In this study, the injection efficiencies and photovoltaic device performances for two different phthalocyanine sensitisers—a Zn(II)Pc (TT-1) and a Ru(II)Pc (TT-35) in dye sensitized photoelectrochemical solar cells were compared. These dyes have similar structures and energetics, but differ significantly in their photophysics, with TT-1 exhibiting a reasonably long lived singlet state, whilst TT-35 exhibits rapid intersystem crossing to a long lived triplet state. Time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) approach and incident photon conversion efficiency (IPCE) measurements were applied to study the injection efficiency of these two Pc dyes. A comparison of the injection efficiency determined by the two independent techniques, TCSPC and IPCE analysis, shows a good agreement. TT-35 shows higher injection efficiency in comparison to TT-1. This result is consistent with the relative energy and lifetime of the TT-35 triplet state compared to the TT-1 singlet excited state. The high injection efficiency and the long electron diffusion length shown by TT-35 make this dye an interesting red absorbing sensitizer for dye solar cells.


Creating workflows that involve the work of multiple departments within a large organization can be challenging, especially when the procedure itself is complex and involves a number of stakeholders. This paper describes and evaluates a collaborative project to develop an interdepartmental workflow for the digitization of unique library materials in a mid-sized academic library. The project includes an automated project management and materials tracking system. Project development involved three separate departments with different reporting channels. In order to navigate this difficulty and manage the large size of the project, a visual planning technique that included graphical representations of current and proposed workflows, as well as implementation timelines, was used. This visual planning technique allowed the project team to clearly organize their thoughts and plans and proved helpful in soliciting buy-in from stakeholders. The paper will outline the collaborative planning process, addressing the rewards and challenges of tackling such a project within a large organization, and present lessons learned for others attempting similar endeavors.


In this paper we argue that inferentialist approach to meaning does not, by itself, show that meaning is normative in a prescriptive sense, and that the constitutive rules argument is especially troubling for this position. To show that, we present the proto-inferentialist theory developed by Ajdukiewicz and claim that despite the differences between his theory and contemporary inferentialism rules of language in both theories function more like classificatory devices than prescriptions. Inferentialists can respond by claiming that in their theory meaning is essentially social and hence normative, but we claim that then semantic normativity becomes derivative of social norma-


A unique microdialysis technique was used to demonstrate that increased levels of angiotensin II (Ang II) and consequent stimulation of the Ang II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor increase the renal content of TNF-alpha in diabetes. Recovery of Ang II and TNF-alpha in renal interstitial fluid (RIF) was measured in conscious rats before and weekly for 12 wk after induction of diabetes with streptozocin and in response to oral valsartan (10 mg/kg.d). Recovery of Ang II in RIF was significantly higher in diabetic rats than in nondiabetic rats. In diabetic rats, RIF recovery of TNF-alpha increased by approximately 67% over baseline, whereas it was unchanged in nondiabetic rats. AT(1) receptor blockade with valsartan prevented the increase in TNF-alpha in the diabetic group. This study shows that diabetes is associated with an increase in the vasoconstrictive hormone Ang II and the inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha, both of which play a role in accelerating renal function decline in diabetic nephropathy. The study also confirms that valsartan reduces intrarenal level of TNF-alpha by acting on Ang II at the AT(1) receptor level. This finding of a potential antiinflammatory effect for valsartan is new and in addition to its known antihypertensive effects.


Plant parasitic nematodes (PPN) locate host plants by following concentration gradients of root exudate chemicals in the soil. We present a simple method for RNAi-induced knockdown of genes in tomato seedling roots, facilitating the study of root exudate composition, and PPN responses. Knockdown of sugar transporter genes, stp1 and stp2 in tomato seedlings triggers corresponding reductions of glucose and fructose, but not xylose, in collected root exudate. This corresponds directly with reduced infectivity and stylet thrusting of the promiscuous PPN Meloidogyne incognita, however we observe no impact on the infectivity or stylet thrusting of the selective Solanaceae PPN Globodera pallida. This approach can underpin future efforts to understand the early stages of plant-pathogen interactions in tomato, and potentially other crop plants.


Abstract. Sinkholes are being a natural hazard which threads economic and human life. Sudden occurrence characteristic of sinkholes make it unable to escape. There are a lot of factor that activate sinkholes such as geology, irrigation, land use and human related factors. In Karapinar, Konya, there are over 200 sinkholes and this count is getting increased in recent years. Especially active agricultural lands, decreasing ground water level, extreme irrigation by 55267 water wells increase the risk factor of Karapinar. Nowadays, considering the economic contribution of Karapinar to Turkey economy in the field of agriculture, solar energy fields and thermal reactor which will be planned in next few years, prediction of sinkholes and searching for preventation ways are being more important issue. In this study, sinkhole susceptibility map via AHP was carried out for Karapinar in Konya. Slope, land use, elevation, geology, water wells, distance to roads and settlements criteria are included to determine susceptibility. The weights are calculated with AHP for each criterion and generated susceptibility map is overlapped with existing sinkholes. Suggestions and results are shared for this study.


As haptic devices become more common, the afford-ability, complexity, and size of the device are all factors in considering appropriate applications. A popular haptic device is the PHANTOM Omni, a six degree of freedom (6 DOF) positioning manipulator with 3 DOF force feedback. To increase the usability of the class of under actuated devices that include the common PHANTOM Omni, an impedance requiring full 6 DOF force feedback control law for under actuated devices based on a virtual mechanism (VM) was developed. The goal of this control law is to mask the un-actuated joints of a physical robot manipulator (RM) using force feedback on the actuated joints. The control theory includes using a VM as a constraint for the RM. Weighted matrices and the pseudo inverse Jacobian control law place the VM as to minimize the error between the current RM position and somewhere on the path of the VM. A pseudo inverse Jacobian control law is used to generate a force to send to user of the RM. The theory is tested using the PHANTOM Omni with six cases where the importance of the position error and orientation error for the manipulator are varied.


. Although people and organizations in the Great Lakes region, USA take seriously their role as stewards of natural resources, many lack capacity to fulfill that role in a meaningful way. Stepping into that gap, The Stewardship Network (TSN) envisions "a world of empowered, connected communities caring for land and water, now and forever," and fulfills that vision through its mission to "connect, equip, and mobilize people and organizations to care for land and water in their communities." TSN uses a scalable model of linked local and regional capacity building, science communication, civic engagement, and on-the-ground stewardship activities to achieve these goals. The model engages local and regional groups in an ongoing process of learning around conservation and restoration that improves social and ecological knowledge. I share the story of TSN to demonstrate how transdisciplinary science can take hold locally and expand regionally to bring people from diverse disciplines and functional roles together to solve common problems. I demonstrate how researchers and practitioners can collaborate to create enduring mechanisms of social and ecological change.


Scientists studying a common childhood brain tumor have uncovered a pleasant surprise: evidence that the tumors may be vulnerable to a class of drugs that has been in use for years. "We identified a new target for chemotherapy in these tumors, and we don't have to start from scratch because these drugs are already approved chemotherapy agents," says senior investigator David H. Gutmann, MD, PhD, the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor of Neurology, professor of genetics and of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and co-director of the neuro-oncology program at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center. Gutmann and colleagues conducted the study using a mouse brain tumor model of a human condition known as neurofibromatosis 1, a common genetic disorder that makes children prone to brain and other cancers. In a study published in the April 1 issue of Cancer Research, the team reports evidence that the drug rapamycin normalizes growth rates of brain cells of mice with a mutation in Nf1, the gene linked to human neurofibromatosis 1. "The same pathway that rapamycin acted on in the mouse cells also is abnormally activated in neurofibromatosis-associated brain tumors from human patients, so we're very excited about the possibility that this may be an effective treatment in children with neurofibromatosis 1," says Gutmann, who also also is director of the neurofibromatosis clinical program at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Previously, researchers had been trying to treat tumors associated with neurofibromatosis 1 by shutting down the activity of a family of molecules known as RAS. One of the normal roles of the Nf1 gene is to deactivate RAS; however, studies have shown that anti-RAS therapies have not been very effective treatments in people with neurofibromatosis 1. "RAS was the most logical place to start, but it was becoming obvious that additional therapeutic targets must be sought," Gutmann says. "So we teamed up with Jason Weber, who is an assistant professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology, to take an unbiased look at how dysfunction in the Nf1 gene changes protein expression in astrocytes, the cells from which brain tumors associated with neurofibromatosis 1 develop." "We went looking for other cellular pathways that Nf1 might regulate in addition to RAS," Weber explains. "We compared normal astrocytes and astrocytes that lack Nf1 expression to learn which proteins are abnormally expressed or activated as a consequence of Nf1 loss." Weber worked with Biplab Dasgupta, PhD, and Yijun Yi, PhD, both postdoctoral fellows in Gutmann's laboratory. They found unusually high levels of expression of several key proteins in the Nf1-deficient astrocytes. The proteins they identified were involved in a process called translation control, which directs the production of protein from messenger RNA. Collectively, the proteins that control this function are regulated by the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. The drug rapamycin inhibits the pathway. Although mTOR had been linked to other tumor types, scientists had not previously identified its connection to neurofibromatosis 1. Doctors have used rapamycin and its analogues for years to treat other tumor types where the mTOR pathway is overactivated. "The next logical step for us is to begin treating the Nf1 brain tumor-prone mice with rapamycin," Gutmann says. "If we are effective at treating the mouse tumors, we have every reason to believe this may be equally effective for treating patients with brain tumors associated with neurofibromatosis 1." Gutmann notes that the identification of the mTOR pathway and the discovery of the effect of rapamycin on Nf1-deficient astrocyte growth highlight the impact of the newly established Washington University Neurofibromatosis Center. The center facilitates synergistic multidisciplinary neurofibromatosis research and is dedicated to developing better treatments to improve the lives of patients affected with neurofibromatosis. Contact:Michael C. Purdy, 314.286.0122, email@example.com


An increasing number of disasters continue to affect urban populations and housing infrastructure. The overwhelming majority of them have been caused by climate-related events. This situation has made the creation of synergies between climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk management (DRM) urgent. Despite the recognised need to unite CCA and DRM efforts, the fields remain separate. Furthermore, it has been difficult to reach a consensus on how to merge approaches in ways that avoid duplication of actions and reduce risk in a comprehensive way.
The integration of CCA into DRM systems, which is promoted at international, national and regional levels, relies on collaboration between multiple stakeholders with different interests and objectives. While much effort has been put into understanding the barriers to integration in other fields such as development, little attention has been paid to understanding the difficulties encountered when attempts are made to integrate CCA into DRM.
This thesis contributes to our understanding of the issue. It provides new knowledge about ways to evaluate and compare DRM systems in order to investigate challenges to integration. Taking Nicaragua as a case study, it explores the current extent of CCA integration into DRM, and identifies challenges to further progress. The initial analysis was based on an examination of integration into policies, regulatory instruments, perceptions and practice in the fields of DRM, urban planning and environment. However, as it became clear that some challenges are difficult to detect solely through an analysis of policy and practice, a theoretical model of the functioning of DRM systems and related CCA integration was developed. This was applied to the Nicaraguan and Swedish DRM systems, to evaluate and compare them, and investigate challenges in greater depth. It helped to draw conclusions about system behaviour and identify differences in how they attempt to achieve the same goal.
The initial results indicated that although there has been some progress in CCA integration in Nicaragua, further advances depend on up-to-date, comprehensive policies and regulatory instruments. Finally, stakeholder's lack of understanding of CCA was identified as an obstacle that limits its integration into practice.
Consequently, with the application of the model it was possible to identify challenges in the Nicaraguan DRM system. It highlighted that key processes within the system are fragmented: two of which are relevant here. The first concerns the difficulty of incorporating scientific and non-technical information between administrative levels (national, regional and local) in ways that are useful for decision-making. The second is that municipalities rely on local information from community members regarding risks and vulnerabilities, and lack more technically-advanced information (which may include CCA considerations) from higher-level authorities. Both of these challenges influence the integration of CCA into DRM, as it becomes difficult to analyse and communicate the potential benefits of integrated approaches and measures. Consequently, progress (in terms of policies and regulation) has not been reflected in the implementation of measures at the local level.
These findings led to the development of assumptions regarding the usefulness of risk descriptions for decision-making, which were empirically tested. The results showed that the presentation of the risk assessment influenced its usefulness in decision-making. Taken together, the results provide a way forward to foster CCA-DRM integration and support sustainable urban development and planning.


Abstract. It is well known in the scientific community that some remote sensing instruments assume that sample volumes present homogeneous conditions within a defined meteorological profile. At complex topographic sites and under extreme meteorological conditions, this assumption may be fallible depending on the site, and it is more likely to fail in the lower layers of the atmosphere. This piece of work tests the homogeneity of the wind field over a boundary layer wind profiler radar located in complex terrain on the coast under different meteorological conditions. The results reveal the qualitative importance of being aware of deviations in this homogeneity assumption and evaluate its effect on the final product. Patterns of behavior in data have been identified in order to simplify the analysis of the complex signal registered. The quality information obtained from the homogeneity study under different meteorological conditions provides useful indicators for the best alternatives the system can offer to build wind profiles. Finally, the results are also to be considered in order to integrate them in a quality algorithm implemented at the product level.


Understanding critical infrastructures and in particular protecting them in case of natural or man-made threats or disasters is the objective of our research. As use case, the security of the power supply in the year 2030 for the city of Karlsruhe was selected. This scenario contains interdependencies between the electrical power grid and IT components as well as critical infrastructures such as water supply and health care. To simulate the critical infrastructure, their dependencies and potential measures to mitigate effects, agent based simulation models have been developed and applied. The ultimate objective of the research activity is to develop a holistic analysis framework to quantify and evaluate requirements and design decisions of the many players in such complex infrastructures.


I present several scientific and technical contributions in this thesis. I demonstrate that the gelation of spherical particles with isotropic, short-range attractive interactions is initiated by spinodal decomposition, a thermodynamic instability that triggers the formation of clusters that span and dynamically arrest to create a gel. This simple, universal gelation picture does not depend on microscopic system-specific details—thus broadly describing any particle system with short-range attractions—and suggests that gelation, often considered a purely kinetic phenomenon, is in fact a direct consequence of equilibrium liquid-gas phase separation. I also demonstrate that spherical particles with isotropic attractive interactions exhibit a stable phase—a fluid of particle clusters—that persists on experimental timescales even in the absence of any long-range Coulombic charge repulsion; this contrasts some expectations based on simulation and theory. I describe a new capability I created by integrating accelerated image processing software that I wrote into a high-speed confocal microscope system that I developed: active target-locking, the ability to follow freely-moving complex objects within a microscope sample, even as they change size, shape, and orientation—in real time. Finally, I report continuous, month-long observations of near-critical spinodal decomposition of colloids with isotropic attractions, aboard the International Space Station. I also include detailed descriptions, with examples and illustrations, of the tools and techniques that I have developed to produce these results.


Open ocean deep postconvection contributes to the formation of the dense waters that fill the global deep ocean. The dynamics of postconvective vortices are key to understanding the role of convection in ocean circulation. Submesoscale coherent vortices (SCVs) observed in convective regions are likely to be the anticyclonic components of hetons. Hetons are dipoles, consisting of a surface cyclone and a weakly stratified subsurface anticyclone, that can be formed by convection. Here, key postconvective processes are investigated using numerical experiments of increasing sophistication with two primary goals: 1) to understand how the ambient hydrography and topography influence the propagation of hetons and 2) to provide a theoretical context for recent observations of SCVs in the Greenland Sea. It is found that the alignment of hetons is controlled by ambient horizontal density gradients and that hetons self-propagate into lighter waters as a result. This provides a mechanism for transporting convected water out of a cyclonic gyre, but the propagation is arrested if the heton meets large-amplitude topography. Upon interaction with topography, hetons usually separate, and the surface cyclone returns toward denser water. The anticyclone usually remains close to topography and may become trapped for several hundred days. These findings may explain the observed accumulation and longevity of SCVs at the Greenland Fracture Zone, on the rim of the Greenland Sea gyre. The separation and sorting of cyclones from anticyclones have likely implications for the density and vorticity budgets of convective regions.


Bombarding gases with microwaves in a reactor is one way to create diamond crystals with a wide variety of industrial uses. Diamonds are superior conductors of heat and sound, resistant to abrasion, as slick as Teflon, and they can be used to conduct electricity at high voltages. This note, reprinted by permission from The New York Times of 21 Feb. 1990, discusses the making of diamond coatings.


Stem cell research and its potential translation to regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and cell and gene therapy, have led to controversy and debates similar to the calls nearly 25 years ago for a ban involving recombinant DNA. Global legislative efforts in this field have been characterised by many legal, ethical and practical challenges, stemming from conflicting views regarding human embryonic research and cloning. National policy and regulatory developments have primarily been shaped by different understandings of relevant scientific objectives, as well as those relating to the moral and legal status of the human embryo, which have been used to justify or limit a range of permissible activities. Legal obscurity in this field, a consequence of inconsistent or vague legislative responses at a national and international level, leads to negative results, which include, among others, ethical violations; lack of collaboration and co-operation among researchers across national borders; stunted scientific progress; lack of public trust in stem cell research; proliferation of untested 'stem cell therapies'; and safety issues. The purpose of this article is to explore the legal regulation of stem cell research and therapy globally, by comparing the permissibility of specific stem cell research activities in 35 selected jurisdictions, followed by a comparison of the regulatory approaches with regard to stem cell-based products in the European Union and the USA. A clearer understanding of the global regulatory framework will assist in formulating more effective legal responses at a national level and in navigating the uncertainties and risks associated with this complex and evolving scientific field.


The work deals with the behaviour of mixed strains of nodule bacteria towards each other and towards their legume host. It introduces the concept of dominance in competition between strains. This dominance is independent of degree of effectiveness as regards nitrogen fixation. Where tow strains of nodule bacteria are both present in the surroundings of their host's root system, active competition between them may cause the strain having the higher initial growth rate almost completely to check multiplication of the other strain outside the plant. This dominant strain will then be responsible for nearly all the nodules. In peas and soy beans, where growth of the root sysytem is rapid and of comparatively short duration, the nodule-producing capacity of the plant may be partially or wholly satisfied by the nodules produced within the first few weeks, so that further infection, whether by the same or by a different strain, is checked or inhibited. In clover, whose root system continues to grow over a long period, the first-formed nodules do not stop further nodules from being formed either by the same or by a different strain. There are large differences in the rates of appearance and final numbers of nodules produced by different strains supplied in pure culture, particularly with clover. The relative numbers of nodules produced by the two strains simultaneously applied to the roots is conditioned by the specific infectivity peculiar to each strain, unless some other factor, such as competition outside the plant, masks this effect.


Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes of 2-Benzoyl-3-hydroxy-1-naphthylamino-3-phenyl-2-propen-1-on, which is a derivative of carboxamide, were prepared and characterized by elemental, spectral and magnetic methods. Based on the analytical results, electronic and infrared spectral data and magnetic susceptibility measurements, suitable structures have been proposed. The formation of the complexes in solution was investigated conductometrically. 2-Benzoyl-3-hydroxy-1-naphthylamino-3-phenyl-2-propen-1-on was found to be a bidentate ligand coordinating through enolic oxygen and amide nitrogen. The complexes of Co(II) and Ni(II) are proposed to have an octahedral structure, while Cd(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) are suggested to possess a square-planar environment in the complexes.


Other than as a sanction for criminal acts, adults with capacity cannot in England be deprived of their liberty. But children and young people, competent or otherwise, have their liberty curtailed as a matter of course by their parents. The parent would regard this restriction of their child's freedom as common sense, while the law would view the parental restrictions as the exercise of their duty to ensure their offspring's welfare. On what legal basis can doctors justify depriving patients of their liberty to enable treatment? And to what extent is parents' curtailment of their offspring's liberty to enable medical treatment lawful, following the recent decision in Trust A v X & Ors?

Adult patients, 18 years and over, are frequently deprived of their liberty. Adults, with or without capacity, may be compulsorily detained for assessment and treatment of mental illness under the powers conferred by the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA 1983). This statute guarantees (among other things) that the admission is necessary, and that appropriate treatment is available. The statutory framework surrounding the MHA 1983 ensures that the reasons for a person's compulsory detention, and its continuance, are regularly and frequently reviewed, providing an essential safeguard for civil liberty.

Neither adult nor child can be forcibly detained for the treatment of a non-mental health disorder, such as diabetes, under the auspices of this Act. This restriction on lawful detention may be modified when a specific physical manifestation of the mental illness requires treatment; for instance, dealing with wounds inflicted as a result of the mental disorder. This principle has been cautiously extended by the courts. A 24-year-old psychopathic woman with a compulsion to harm herself stopped eating for this purpose.1 The court found her compulsory tube feeding to be a lawful ancillary medical treatment of her mental illness …


Academic literature has long recognized the correlation between a company's organizational culture and its quality performance. The Finnish construction industry is still a highly human powered industry, and thus, organizational culture is seen to have a significant effect on an organization's efficiency as well. The aim of this study is to examine and determine organizational cultural profiles of organizations in the Finnish construction industry as they are currently perceived and preferred by professionals themselves. In all, 121 professionals working in organizations in the Finnish construction industry were surveyed using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). The reliability of characteristics was tested by calculating Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients, and the found differences between the response characteristics were analysed in-depth with paired and independent t-test analyses. The findings show that, on average, construction industry organizations in Finland currently operate with a mixture of clan and hierarchy cultures. Thus, the current organizational culture stresses the point of view of internal focus and integration. However, the organizations desired to emphasize more flexibility and discretion toward individuals. The novelty value of this paper is presenting existing and preferred culture profiles in the Finnish construction industry. These found profiles have the potential to improve management of organizations, which results in better efficiency of the industry through better performance of organizations in the construction industry.


Sydowiellaceae is a poorly studied family of the order Diaporthales, comprising a collection of morphologically diversified taxa. Eleven genera have been previously listed under this family. In this study, we provide a DNA sequence-based phylogeny for genera of Sydowiellaceae based on analyses of a combined LSU, ITS, RPB2 and TEF sequence dataset to establish the boundaries within the family. We introduce, describe, and illustrate three new genera, Italiomyces, Ranulospora, and Tenuiappendicula, based on newly collected specimens. Another three new genera, Alborbis, Breviappendix, and Paragnomonia are introduced to accommodate Cryptodiaporthe galericulata, Gnomonia rosae, G. rostellata, G. rubi, and G. fragariae. Alborbis galericulata comb. nov., Breviappendix rubi comb. nov., B. rosae comb. nov., B. rostellata comb. nov. and Paragnomonia fragariae comb. nov. are proposed. Two new species, Sydowiella centaureii and Sillia karstenii, are introduced with descriptions and illustrations. Winterella is replaced with a new genus Tortilispora typified by T. aurantiaca. Three new combinations are proposed in Tortilispora. We synonymize Stegophora under Lambro based on morphological similarities. An updated key for genera of Sydowiellaceae is presented.


ABSTRACT "Unintended consequences" is an umbrella concept. It comprises phenomena that differ in crucial respects and consequently, without refinement, it remains a rather blunt instrument for policy analysis. The contributions in this volume, however, show that disentangling unintended consequences by making clear distinctions between various types, makes the concept much more useful for policy analysis. Assessing the impact of EU foreign policies as studied in this volume, we show that "bonuses", "windfalls", "accidents", and "trade-offs" – all unintended – are very different when it comes to the explanation of policy outcomes, or to allocating responsibility for them.


Pool bias is a well understood problem of test-collection based benchmarking in information retrieval. The pooling method itself is designed to identify all relevant documents. In practice, 'all' translates to `as many as possible given some budgetary constraints' and the problem persists, albeit mitigated. Recently, methods to address this pool bias for previously created test collections have been proposed, for the evaluation measure precision at cut-off (P@n). Analyzing previous methods, we make the empirical observation that the distribution of the probability of providing new relevant documents to the pool, over the runs, is log-normal (when the pooling strategy is fixed depth at cut-off). We use this observation to calculate a prior probability of providing new relevant documents, which we then use in a pool bias estimator that improves upon previous estimates of precision at cut-off. Through extensive experimental results, covering 15 test collections, we show that the proposed bias correction method is the new state of the art, providing the closest estimates yet when compared to the original pool.


The Massachusetts strain (M41) of avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), was obtained in freeze dried ampoule and reconstituted in 1 ml phosphate buffered saline (PBS) (pH 7.4), of which 0.2 ml was inoculated in ten 9 day old specific pathogen free (SPF) embryonated chicken eggs (ECE). At 48 hours of incubation, the embryos were chilled and the allantoic fluid harvested with titre of the virus determined to be 103.108 EID50/0.1 ml, 103.508 EID50/0.1 ml, and between 104.508-5.508 EID50/0.1 ml of allantoic fluid after 1st, 2nd and 3rd passages, respectively. Characteristic signs of IBV like curling and dwarfing of the embryos were obtained at 7 days post infection. The virus growth was also confirmed by in vitro specific amplification of RNA from the infected allantoic fluid using reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The high titred virus at the third passage level was used as a seed inoculum for bulk virus propagation in fifty 9 day old ECE, following the protocol described earlier. Along with the allantoic fluid, the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) was also carefully collected separately from each inoculated embryo and washed once with PBS, and centrifuged to remove RBCs. The pooled CAMs were homogenized thoroughly and the homogenate clarified by centrifugation at 1500 rpm for 10 minutes. For purification of the virus, 20 ml of the allantoic fluid and CAM suspension were layered separately over 5 ml of discontinuous 30% and 55% sucrose in GNTE buffer (0.025M Tris HCl, 0.2M Glycine, 0.002M EDTA; pH 7.0) and centrifuged at 90,000 g for 4 hrs at 4°C. The virus specific band was collected from the interface of sucrose gradient and diluted 1:2 in GNTE buffer. Further, the above suspension was layered over 15 ml of continuous gradient of 30% and 50% sucrose and centrifuged at 90,000 g for 6 hrs. The virus band was collected, diluted as described before and pelleted at 90,000 g for 3 hrs through a 5 ml of 30% sucrose cushion. The virus pellet was resuspended in GNTE buffer and the protein concentration estimated at 260/280 nm optical density (OD) ratio and the virus preparation having an OD of 1.2 was considered as pure in nature. IBV purified by density gradient ultra-centrifugation from allantoic fluid had a protein concentration of 2.56 mg/ml and the CAM virus had 4.36 mg/ml. Higher yield of the virus was obtained from the CAM membranes than from the allantoic fluid. The presence of the virus was confirmed using RT-PCR testing of the purified virus suspension. Further work on the use of the purified IB virus as an antigen in ELISA is underway.


There is a strong prima facie case linking the abuse of psychiatry with difficulties about the concept of mental illness. However, a survey of recent Soviet literature showed that the concept of disease employed in the former USSR (where abuse was for a time widespread) was similar to its counterparts in the UK and USA in being strongly scientific in nature. A number of factors - legal, bureaucratic and professional - are important in abuse becoming widespread. These, however, fail to explain why psychiatry, rather than physical medicine, should be vulnerable to abuse. It is here that the concept of disease could be important. A scientific model of disease suggests that a significant vulnerability factor is the relatively underdeveloped status of psychiatry as a science. This leaves room for poor standards of scientific work in clinical research and practice, factors which are recognised as important in the Soviet case. In addition to the scientific element, there is an evaluative element of meaning in the concept of disease. Hence a second vulnerability factor could be the evaluatively problematic nature of judgements. of mental illness. It is concluded that a failure to recognise this factor greatly increases the vulnerability of psychiatry, not only to gross abuses, but also to inadvertent misuses of involuntary treatment in everyday practice. This conclusion, far from undermining the role of science in psychiatry, is a step towards clarifying its proper role.


Research in the speaker recognition community has continued to address methods of mitigating variational nuisances. Telephone and auxiliary-microphone recorded speech emphasize the need for a robust way of dealing with unwanted variation. The design of recent 2010 NIST-SRE Speaker Recognition Evaluation (SRE) reflects this research emphasis. In this paper, we present the MIT submission applied to the tasks of the 2010 NIST-SRE with two main goals—language-independent scalable modeling and robust nuisance mitigation. For modeling, exclusive use of inner product-based and cepstral systems produced a language-independent computationally-scalable system. For robustness, systems that captured spectral and prosodic information, modeled nuisance subspaces using multiple novel methods, and fused scores of multiple systems were implemented. The performance of the system is presented on a subset of the NIST SRE 2010 core tasks.


Title of Dissertation MUSICAL LANGUAGE AND FORMAL DESIGN IN DALLAPICCOLA'S SICUT UMBRA Sun Hyun Ahn, Ph. D., 2004 Dissertation Directed By: Dr. Thomas DeLio, School of Music The goal of music analysis is to understand musical structure using constituent elements and to explain how these elements shape the piece. The purpose of this dissertation is to promote a better understanding of the interrelation between form and text as well as the relevance of Dallapiccola's concept of polarity in Sicut Umbra (1970). Dallapiccola's full recognition of the difference between tonal and twelvetone music enables him to create his musical concept, Polarity, which is the simple answer to understanding and appreciating his twelve-tone music. This analysis focuses on how the musical surface contributes to the creation of form and how the musical setting provides a better understanding of the text. The analysis of each movement reaches to several results: (1) the development of individual elements and their interrelations contribute to the progress of movement; (2) the trace of every member of the dyads ([01] and [06]) and the trichords ([012], [013], [014], [016]) suggests the development of sonorities; (3) the developed sonority forms the coherence especially in shaping form; and (4) the musical elements contribute to the text setting and in achieving a better understanding of the poems. Understanding this structure gives several insights into Dallapiccola's compositional style: (1) deeper understanding of his use of pitches (both row and outside row), rhythm, texture, and sonority, (2) an interpretation of how these elements shape the form and create the unique relationship to the text, and (3) appreciation for the combination of classical and twelve-tone techniques involved in polarity. Dallapiccola's polarity is not a technique for composition, but is a concept inseparable from the set musical elements, their development, and functions and is essential to Dallapiccola's construction of musical form for expression and coherence. MUSICAL LANGUAGE AND FORMAIL DESIGN IN DALLAPICCOLA'S SICUT UMBRA


Over the last two decades global production of soybean and palm oil seeds have increased enormously. Because these tropically rainfed crops are used for food, cooking, animal feed, and biofuels, they have entered the agriculture, food, and energy chains of most nations despite their actual growth being increasingly concentrated in Southeast Asia and South America. The planting of these crops is controversial because they are sown on formerly forested lands, rely on large farmers and agribusiness rather than smallholders for their development, and supply export markets. The contrasts with the famed Green Revolution in rice and wheat of the 1960s through the 1980s are stark, as those irrigated crops were primarily grown by smallholders, depended upon public subsidies for cultivation, and served largely domestic sectors. The overall aim of the book is to provide a broad synthesis of the major supply and demand drivers of the rapid expansion of oil crops in the tropics; its economic, social, and environmental impacts; and the future outlook to 2050. After introducing the dramatic surge in oil crops, chapters provide a comparative perspective from different producing regions for two of the world's most important crops, oil palm and soybeans in the tropics. The following chapters examine the drivers of demand of vegetable oils for food, animal feed, and biodiesel and introduce the reader to price formation in vegetable oil markets and the role of trade in linking consumers across the world to distant producers in a handful of exporting countries. The remaining chapters review evidence on the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the oil crop revolution in the tropics. While both economic benefits and social and environmental costs have been huge, the outlook is for reduced trade-offs and more sustainable outcomes as the oil crop revolution slows and the global, national, and local communities converge on ways to better managed land use changes and land rights.


We study dynamic moral hazard with symmetric ex ante uncertainty about the difficulty of the job. The principal and agent update their beliefs about the difficulty as they observe output. Effort is private and the principal can only offer spot contracts. The agent has an additional incentive to shirk beyond the disutility of effort when the principal induces effort: shirking results in the principal having incorrect beliefs. We show that the effort inducing contract must provide increasingly high powered incentives as the length of the relationship increases. Thus it is never optimal to always induce effort in very long relationships.


H.E.S.S. is a system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) measuring cosmic gamma-rays with very high energies in Namibia. Extending the array with a fifth telescope with a mirror area of 600 m$^2$ leads to a lower energy threshold as well as an increased sensitivity of the system. Moreover, it is now the first IACT array consisting of telescopes with different sizes. Low-energetic gamma-rays detected by the telescopes can either be analyzed monoscopically, allowing for a lower threshold, or stereoscopically, using hybrid events only which leads to a better reconstruction performance. We present the status of the monoscopic analysis of H.E.S.S. II events. In order to cross-check the results, we use two independent analysis chains, based on different reconstruction methods. The first method uses the second moments of the cleaned camera image (Hillas parameters) in order to deduce the properties of the primary particle. The background discrimination of this method can be optimized with multi-variate analysis techniques. The second method is based on the comparison of the camera image with the results of a semi-analytical model of the air shower using a Loglikelihood-Maximization. We present the status of these analysis efforts and their respective performances. One of the chains has been applied on real data of the Crab Nebula. All results shown here have to be considered preliminary.


BACKGROUND
High-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPV), particularly types 16 and 18, have been found to play an important role in head and neck cancer, including oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). p16, a cell cycle inhibitor, has been postulated as a surrogate marker for HR-HPV, since p16 is aberrantly overexpressed in such lesions, especially in HR-HPV-positive OPSCC. However, p16 as a surrogate marker for HR-HPV infection in cancers of the oral cavity remains controversial.

OBJECTIVE
The objectives of the study were to investigate the expression of p16 and the presence of HR-HPV in OSCC and oral verrucous carcinoma (VC) and to determine if p16 could be used as a surrogate marker for HR-HPV.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Forty one formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues of OSCC (n=37) or VC (n=4) with clinical and histopathologic data of each case were collected. Expression of p16 was determined by immunohistochemistry, focusing on both staining intensity and numbers of positive cells. The presence of HPV types 16 and 18 was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Descriptive statistics were employed to describe the demographic, clinical, and histopathologic parameters. Associations between p16 overexpression, HR-HPV and all variables were determined by Fisher's exact test, odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). In addition, the use of p16 as a surrogate marker for HR-HPV was analyzed by sensitivity and specificity tests.

RESULTS
p16 was overexpressed in 8/37 cases (21.6%) of OSCC and 2/4 cases (50%) of VC. HPV-16 was detected in 4/34 OSCC cases (11.8%) and HPV-18 was detected in 1/34 OSCC cases (2.9%). Co-infection of HPV-16/18 was detected in 1/4 VC cases (25%). Both p16 overexpression and HR-HPV were significantly associated with young patients with both OSCC and VC (<0.05, OR 20, 95% CI 1.9-211.8; <0.05, OR 23.3, 95% CI 2.4-229.7, respectively). p16 was able to predict the presence of HPV-16/18 in OSCC with 40% sensitivity and 79.3% specificity and in VC with 100% sensitivity and 66.7% specificity, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
p16 overexpression was found in 24.4% of both OSCC and VC. HR-HPV, regardless of type, was detected in 15.8% in cases of OSCC and VC combined. The results of sensitivity and specificity tests suggest that p16 can be used as a surrogate marker for HR-HPV in OSCC and VC.


In prostate cancer, bone is the second most common site of metastatic disease after lymph nodes. This is related to a poor prognosis and is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in such patients. Early detection of metastatic bone disease and the definition of its extent, pattern, and aggressiveness are crucial for proper staging and restaging; it is particularly important in high-risk primary disease before initiating radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy. Different patterns of bone metastases, such as early marrow-based involvement, osteoblastic, osteolytic, and mixed changes can be seen. These types of metastases differ in their effect on bone, and consequently, the choice of imaging modalities that best depict the lesions may vary. During the last decades, bone scintigraphy has been used routinely in the evaluation of prostate cancer patients. However, it shows limited sensitivity and specificity. Single-photon emission computed tomography increases the sensitivity and specificity of planar bone scanning, especially for the evaluation of the spine. Positron emission tomography is increasing in popularity for staging newly diagnosed prostate cancer and for assessing response to therapy. Many positron emission tomography tracers have been tested for use in the evaluation of prostate cancer patients based on increased glycolysis ((18)F-FDG), cell membrane proliferation by radiolabeled phospholipids ((11)C and (18)F choline), fatty acid synthesis ((11)C acetate), amino acid transport and protein synthesis ((11)C methionine), androgen receptor expression ((18)F-FDHT), and osteoblastic activity ((18)F-fluoride). However, there are presently no accurate imaging modalities to directly, reproducibly, and effectively delineate bone metastases in prostate cancer.


A number of studies have linked obesity with asthma in adults and children. Few longitudinal studies have evaluated the effect of maternal pre-pregnancy obesity on either asthma or early childhood respiratory morbidity, and these have not been in urban, nonwhite populations. We sought to determine whether pre-pregnancy obesity was associated with recurrent wheezing in an urban, nonwhite population. This study includes 1,191 children from the Boston Birth Cohort (1998-present) followed prospectively to a mean age of 3.0 ± 2.4 years with study visits aligned with the pediatric primary care schedule. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate the associations of maternal pre-pregnancy obesity (body mass index ≥30) with recurrent wheezing (≥4 lifetime episodes). Secondary outcomes included log-transformed cord-blood immunoglobulin E (Phadia), and physician diagnoses of eczema and food allergy. Pre-pregnancy obesity was present in 20.7% of mothers. Of the 1,191 children, 60 (5%) developed recurrent wheezing. Children of obese mothers had an increased risk of recurrent wheezing (adjusted odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 3.51, 1.68-7.32). These associations persisted even after adjustment for fetal growth status. In contrast, maternal obesity was not associated with eczema or food allergy, and was inversely associated with log cord-blood immunoglobulin E (β, 95% confidence interval: -0.34, -0.66 to -0.02). In this predominantly urban, multiracial/ethnic birth cohort, maternal pre-pregnancy obesity was associated with an increased risk of recurrent wheezing. This association was not explained by fetal growth or increased atopy. Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity is a prevalent risk factor for respiratory morbidity in this urban, nonwhite population.


In this paper, a method for Digital Image Watermarking based on the modification of certain subband of the wavelet packet decomposition was presented. A key is used for wavelet bases selection, watermark generation and selection of blocks for embedding the watermark bits. To efficiently embed the watermark within the images and provide the robustness for the watermark detection under attacks, watermark is embedded by quantizing the mean of the wavelet coefficient block. A method for exploiting human visual system (HVS) characteristics in wavelet packet domain is presented. In this method original image is not needed and only secret key is required for extracting the watermark. Experimental results show that proposed method is robust to different types of attacks.


Of the world's oceans, the Pacific has the most abundant distribution of seamount trails, oceanic plateaus and hot spots, and has the longest fracture zones. However, little is known of their thermal structures due to difficulties of heat flow measurement and interpretation, and in inferring thermal anomalies from low‐resolution seismic velocities. Using recently published global magnetic models, we present the first independent constraint on Pacific geothermal state and mantle dynamics, by applying a fractal magnetization inversion model to magnetic anomaly data. Warm thermal anomalies are inferred for all known active hot spots, most seamount trails, some major fracture zones, and oceanic lithosphere between ~100 and ~140 Ma in age. While most Curie points are among the shallowest in the zone roughly bounded by the 20 Ma isochrons, abnormally deep Curie points are found along nearly all ridge crests in the Pacific, related to patchy, long‐wavelength and large‐amplitude magnetic anomalies that are most likely caused by prevailing magmatic or hydrothermal processes. Many large contrasts in the thermal evolution between the Pacific and North Atlantic support much stronger hydrothermal circulation occurring in Pacific lithospheres younger than ~60 Ma, which may have disguised from surface heat flow any deep thermal signatures of volcanic structures. Yet, at depths of the Curie points, our model argues for warmer Pacific lithosphere for crustal ages older than ~15 Ma, given a slightly higher spatial correlation of magnetization in the Pacific than in the North Atlantic.


Policy Space Response Oracles (PSRO) is a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm for two-player zero-sum games that has been empirically shown to find approximate Nash equilibria in large games. Although PSRO is guaranteed to converge to an approximate Nash equilibrium and can handle continuous actions, it may take an exponential number of iterations as the number of information states (infostates) grows. We propose Extensive-Form Double Oracle (XDO), an extensive-form double oracle algorithm for two-player zero-sum games that is guaranteed to converge to an approximate Nash equilibrium linearly in the number of infostates. Unlike PSRO, which mixes best responses at the root of the game, XDO mixes best responses at every infostate. We also introduce Neural XDO (NXDO), where the best response is learned through deep RL. In tabular experiments on Leduc poker, we find that XDO achieves an approximate Nash equilibrium in a number of iterations an order of magnitude smaller than PSRO. Experiments on a modified Leduc poker game and Oshi-Zumo show that tabular XDO achieves a lower exploitability than CFR with the same amount of computation. We also find that NXDO outperforms PSRO and NFSP on a sequential multidimensional continuous-action game. NXDO is the first deep RL method that can find an approximate Nash equilibrium in high-dimensional continuous-action sequential games. Experiment code is available at https://github.com/indylab/nxdo.


A BSTRACT : The physiological mechanisms controlling ovarian follicular growth and ovulation involve a complex exchange of systemic signals and a localized exchange of molecules between the oocyte and surrounding somatic cells. It has been demonstrated that the oocyte itself plays an essential role in regulating these processes by secreting two key regulatory proteins: bone morphogenetic protein-15 (BMP15) and growth and differentiation factor-9 (GDF9). Natural mutations in their expression and vaccination against these growth factors have been shown to cause sterility in sheep. The aim of this 3-year study was to determine the effect of vaccination against GDF9 and BMP15 on fertility in female white-tailed deer. Does were randomly assigned to two groups (n = 10/group). Each doe received a primary vaccination followed by a booster 47 days later. After the first year, a subset of animals (n = 4-5/group) received an additional booster vaccination. Blood samples were collected at regular intervals to determine antibody titers and progesterone concentrations. Early pregnancy was assessed by ultrasound, and fawning was subsequently monitored. For the BMP15 group, over the 3 years 80%, 100%, and 75% of does fawned with fawning rates of 2.4, 3.5, and 3.3 fawns/doe, respectively. For the GDF9 group, 80%, 25%, and 25% of does fawned with fawning rates of 2.6, 1, and 2 fawns/doe, respectively. The fawning rate of untreated animals in the herd was 1.8 fawns/doe. Although all animals in the BMP15 group had high antibody titers, they were not made infertile, and they became more fecund. Most animals in the GDF9 group had high antibody titers, but fecundity was not affected the first year; however, they were made infertile in Years 2 and 3. Results from this study demonstrate that vaccination against GDF9 has potential to control fertility in deer. Further research will be required to determine the appropriate timing for administering the vaccine and the longevity of effect. Odocoileus for in the in the


Purpose: The antitumor activity of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)–redirected CTLs should be enhanced if it were possible to increase their proliferation and function after adoptive transfer without concomitantly increasing the proliferation and function of regulatory T cells (Treg). Here, we explored whether the lack of IL-7Rα in Treg can be exploited by the targeted manipulation of the interleukin-7 (IL-7) cytokine–cytokine receptor axis in CAR-engrafted Epstein–Barr Virus–specific CTLs (EBV-CTLs) to selectively augment their growth and antitumor activity even in the presence of Treg. Experimental Design: We generated a bicistronic retroviral vector encoding a GD2-specific CAR and the IL-7Rα subunit, expressed the genes in EBV-CTLs, and assessed their capacity to control tumor growth in the presence of Treg in vitro and in vivo when exposed to either interleukin-2 (IL-2) or IL-7 in a neuroblastoma xenograft. Results: We found that IL-7, in sharp contrast with IL-2, supports the proliferation and antitumor activity of IL-7Rα.CAR-GD2+ EBV-CTLs both in vitro and in vivo even in the presence of fully functional Treg. Conclusions: IL-7 selectively favors the survival, proliferation, and effector function of IL-7Rα-transgenic/CAR-redirected EBV-CTLs in the presence of Treg both in vitro and in vivo. Thus, IL-7 can have a significant impact in sustaining expansion and persistence of adoptively CAR-redirected CTLs. Clin Cancer Res; 20(1); 131–9. ©2013 AACR.


The Brewer-Dobson mean circulation and its variability are investigated in the ERA-Interim over the period 1989-2010 by using an off-line Lagrangian transport model driven by analysed winds and heating rates. At low and mid-latitudes, the mean age of air in the lower stratosphere is in good agreement with ages derived from aircraft, high altitude balloon and satellite observations of long-lived tracers. At high latitude and in the upper stratosphere, we find, however that the ERA-Interim ages exhibit an old bias, typically of one to two years. The age spectrum exhibits a long tail except in the low tropical stratosphere which is modulated by the annual cycle of the tropical upwelling. The distribution of ages and its variability is consistent with the existence of two separate branches, shallow and deep, of the Brewer-Dobson circulation. Both branches are modulated by the tropical upwelling and the shallow branch is also modulated by the subtropical barrier. The variability of the mean age is analysed through a decomposition in terms of annual cycle, QBO, ENSO and trend. The annual modulation is the dominating signal in the lower stratosphere and is maximum at latitudes greater than 50 in both hemispheres with oldest ages at the end of the winter. The phase of the annual modulation is also reversed between below and above 25 km. The maximum amplitude of the QBO modulation is of about 0.5 yr and is mostly concentrated within the tropics between 25 and 35 km. It lags the QBO wind at 30 \unit{hPa} by about 8 months. The ENSO signal is small and limited to the lower northen stratosphere. The age trend over the 1989-2010 period, according to this ERA-Interim dataset, is significant and negative, of the order of-0.3 to-0.5 yr dec-1, within the lower stratosphere in the Southern Hemisphere and south of 40 N in the Northern Hemisphere below 25 km. The age trend is positive (of the order of 0.3 yr dec-1) in the mid stratosphere but there is no region of consistent significance. This suggests that the shallow and deep Brewer-Dobson circulations may evolve in opposite directions. Finally, we find that the long lasting influence of the Pinatubo eruption can be seen on the age of air from June 1991 until the end of 1993 and can bias the statistics encompassing this period. © 2012 Author(s).


Introduction: The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Persian version of the Herth Hope Index (HHI-Persian version) within a sample of Iranian patients with heart disease (HD). Methods: The present research used a clinical sample of HD patients hospitalized in a medical institution in Qazvin, Iran. A total of 500 patients were selected via convenience sampling method and were divided into two subsamples to test for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (n = 250) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n = 250) separately. Construct validity of the HHI-Persian version was evaluated using EFA and CFA. The reliability of the HHI-Persian version was first assessed using internal consistency (i.e., Cronbach's alpha) and construct reliability. Results: Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed that the index had a one factor consisting of 11 items (eigenvalue = 4.784) which explained 38.309% of the total variance. The results showed that the single factor consisting of 11 items has a good fit (χ2 [42, n = 250] = 107.242,P < 0.001; χ2/df = 2.553, adjusted goodness-of-fit index [GFI] = 0.889, GFI = 0.929, comparative fit index = 0.938, normed fit index = 0.903, Tucker–Lewis Index = 0.918, incremental fit index = 0.918, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.079 [90% confidence interval = 0.079 (0.061–0.098)]). Cronbach's alpha and construct reliability were 0.856 and 0.878, respectively, which indicates the good reliability of the HHI. Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that the HHI-Persian version is a valid and reliable instrument that has potential utility in future research.


One of the principal limitations of phase-shift interferometry is the shift non linearity. We propose two methods for measuring this non linearity, one applicable to the registration of a limited number of interferograms (3 or 4) and the other applicable to many interferograms (typically 16). We see two main advantages in these methods: first, they require no extra instrumentation, and, secondly, shift non linearity is measured in situ , that is particularly important in the case of mechanical phase shift. Experiments confirm the validity of the corrections , allowing in our case reduction of systematic errors by 30 to 45%.


We discuss the long term maintenance of acquired memory in synaptic connections of a perpetually learning electronic device. This is affected by ascribing each synapse a finite number of stable states in which it can maintain for indefinitely long periods. Learning uncorrelated stimuli is expressed as a stochastic process produced by the neural activities on the synapses. In several interesting cases the stochastic process can be analyzed in detail, leading to a clarification of the performance of the network, as an associative memory, during the process of uninterrupted learning. The stochastic nature of the process and the existence of an asymptotic distribution for the synaptic values in the network imply generically that the memory is a palimpsest but capacity is as low as log N for a network of N neurons. The only way we find for avoiding this tight constraint is to allow the parameters governing the learning process (the coding level of the stimuli; the transition probabilities for potentiation and depression and the number of stable synaptic levels) to depend on the number of neurons. It is shown that a network with synapses that have two stable states can dynamically learn with optimal storage efficiency, be a palimpsest, and maintain its (associative) memory for an indefinitely long time provided the coding level is low and depression is equilibrated against potentiation. We suggest that an option so easily implementable in material devices would not have been overlooked by biology. Finally we discuss the stochastic learning on synapses with variable number of stable synaptic states.


1 Adulthood Adulthood is usually defined as the period of human development in which the physical development, cognitive development, and psychosocial development of women and men slow and reach their highest level. Although scholars strive to build consistent theories, the description of the developmentally highest level differs between countries and cultures due to economic factors and sociocultural factors. After presenting some basic concepts of adulthood from different cultures, this entry continues with a psychological definition of adulthood, a discussion of characteristics of maturity, and brief descriptions of various theories about what constitutes adulthood. It ends with suggestions for the direction of future discussions on adulthood.


The EDGARv4.3.1 (Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research) global anthropogenic emissions inventory of gaseous (SO2, NOx , CO, non-methane volatile organic compounds and NH3) and particulate (PM10, PM2.5, black and organic carbon) air pollutants for the period 1970–2010 is used to develop retrospective air pollution emissions scenarios to quantify the roles and contributions of changes in energy consumption and efficiency, technology progress and end-of-pipe emission reduction measures and their resulting impact on health and crop yields at European and global scale. The reference EDGARv4.3.1 emissions include observed and reported changes in activity data, fuel consumption and air pollution abatement technologies over the past 4 decades, combined with Tier 1 and region-specific Tier 2 emission factors. Two further retrospective scenarios assess the interplay of policy and industry. The highest emission STAG_TECH scenario assesses the impact of the technology and end-of-pipe reduction measures in the European Union, by considering historical fuel consumption, along with a stagnation of technology with constant emission factors since 1970, and assuming no further abatement measures and improvement imposed by European emission standards. The lowest emission STAG_ENERGY scenario evaluates the impact of increased fuel consumption by considering unchanged energy consumption since the year 1970, but assuming the technological development, endof-pipe reductions, fuel mix and energy efficiency of 2010. Our scenario analysis focuses on the three most important and most regulated sectors (power generation, manufacturing industry and road transport), which are subject to multipollutant European Union Air Quality regulations. Stagnation of technology and air pollution reduction measures at 1970 levels would have led to 129 % (or factor 2.3) higher SO2, 71 % higher NOx and 69 % higher PM2.5 emissions in Europe (EU27), demonstrating the large role that technology has played in reducing emissions in 2010. However, stagnation of energy consumption at 1970 levels, but with 2010 fuel mix and energy efficiency, and assuming current (year 2010) technology and emission control standards, would have lowered today's NOx emissions by ca. 38 %,SO2 by 50 % and PM2.5 by 12 % in Europe. A reduced-form chemical transport model is applied to calculate regional and global levels of aerosol and ozone concentrations and to assess the associated impact of air quality improvements on human health and crop yield loss, showing substantial impacts of EU technologies and standards inside as well as outside Europe. We assess that the interplay of policy and technological advance in Europe had substantial benefits in Europe, but also led to an important improvement of particulate matter air quality in other parts of the world. Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 3826 M. Crippa et al.: Forty years of improvements in European air quality Figure 1. Overview of historical European Union (in blue) and international (in red) air quality regulations. UNECE/CLTRAP covers all European countries, USA, Canada, Belarus, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Ukraine, and central Asian states.


The commercial operation of the bullet train in 1964 in Japan marked the beginning of a new era for high-speed railways. Because of the huge amount of kinetic energy carried at high speeds, a train may interact significantly with the bridge and even resonate with it under certain circumstances. Equally important is the riding comfort of the train cars, which relates closely to the maneuverability of the train during its passage over the bridge at high speeds. This book is unique in that it is devoted entirely to the interaction between the supporting bridges and moving trains, the so-called vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI). Finite element procedures have been developed to treat interaction problems of various complexities, while the analytical solutions established for some typical problems are helpful for identifying the key parameters involved. Besides, some field tests were coducted to verify the theories established. This book provides an up-to-date coverage of research conducted on various aspects of the VBI problems. Using the series of VBI elements derived, the authors study a number of frontier problems, including the impact response of bridges with elastic bearings, the dynamic respose of curved beam to moving centrifugal forces, the stability and derailment of trains moving over bridges shaken by earthquakes, the impact response of two trains crossing on a bridge, the steady-state response of trains moving over elevated bridges, and so on.


This paper discusses two related problems: the language in which sexual harassment is characterized and the use of language as a tool of harassment.

Attempts to characterize sexual harassment tend to be either descriptive or revisionary. On the first approach, one starts from the assumption that there is a kind of anti-social behaviour denominated by the phrase `sexual harassment' and tries to elaborate a description of the phenomenon sufficiently refined for, say, legal purposes. The revisionary approach adopted, inter alia, by certain feminist philosophers of law, sets aside, for philosophical or political reasons, traditional definitions of the phrase and seeks to defend and secure a revised definition. For the revisionist, the aim is to identify a range of behaviour -- typically wider than is connoted by the phrase as it is currently used in laws and regulations – that is sexual and offensive, and to effect social change by extending beyond present bounds what is to count as a punishable under the description `sexual harassment'.

What is wanted, for legislative purposes, is a reasonably sharp delineation of `sexual harassment', reasonably immune to misinterpretation, such that the behaviour so characterised may be distinguished from other types of behaviour more or less egregious, which should attract, respectively, more or less serious punishment. Do current approaches show any indication of delivering this desideratum?

The second problem concerns the language of sexual abuse. There seem to be paradigm cases of sexual harassment involving non-verbal behaviour that one would require any satisfactory definition of the term to embrace. But, ever since J.L. Austin's How to do Things with Words, we have become vividly aware that language may be used to perform acts, illocutionary and perlocutionary, and presumably sexual harassment is one such act – something that can be done by using certain language with certain intentions under certain conditions. Can we make clear what language, what intentions and what conditions are such as to render a certain speech act or speech episode sexually harassing? If so, then this would be a contribution to the construction of practical guidelines on sexual harassment that could be implemented in academic and other institutions.


Estimating people visual focus of attention (VFOA) plays a crucial role in various practical systems such as human–robot interaction. It is challenging to extract the cue of the VFOA of a person due to the difficulty of recognizing gaze directionality. In this paper, we propose an improved integrodifferential approach to represent gaze via efficiently and accurately localizing the eye center in lower resolution image. The proposed method takes advantage of the drastic intensity changes between the iris and the sclera and the grayscale of the eye center as well. The number of kernels is optimized to convolute the original eye region image, and the eye center is located via searching the maximum ratio derivative of the neighbor curve magnitudes in the convolution image. Experimental results confirm that the algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of computational cost, accuracy, and robustness to illumination changes.


Purpose: Survivors of cancer deal with a myriad of acute, chronic, and late effects of cancer and its treatment which can linger on for decades and inadvertently affect their quality of life (QOL). The aim of this study is to determine the main concerns of survivors at various stages of the cancer survivorship, and to assess whether these concerns have any effect on their QOL.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on cancer survivors diagnosed with colorectal, breast, lung, gynaecological, prostate or liver cancers (top 6 cancers in Singapore) who were seen at the National Cancer Centre Singapore between 11 April and 12 July 2017. Eligible study participants self-completed a questionnaire adapted from the Mayo Clinic Cancer Centre's Cancer Survivors Survey of Needs. QOL was rated by participants on a scale of 0-10, with higher ratings denoting higher level of QOL.

Results: A total of 1107 cancer survivors filled in the questionnaire. The top 5 concerns among all survivors were cancer treatment and recurrence risk (51%), followed by long-term treatment effects (49%), fear of recurrence (47%), financial concerns (37%) and fatigue (37%). Cancer treatment and recurrence risk, long-term treatment effects and fear of recurrence were amongst the top concerns across the survivorship trajectory. Mean QOL was 7.3 on a scale of 0-10. Completed treatment patients had higher QOL score than the newly diagnosed and on treatment patients and the patients dealing with recurrence or second cancer patients. Predictors for QOL included the economic status and housing type of patients and whether patients were concerned with pain and fatigue.

Conclusion: This study reveals that cancer survivors in Singapore face multiple challenges and had various concerns at various stages of cancer survivorship, some of which negatively affect their QOL. It is critical to design patient care delivery systems that appropriately address their key concerns at different stages of their cancer trajectory so as to enhance their coping skills throughout their cancer journey.


Shunning of Science subjects by girls in Secondary schools jeopardize the capability of women to effectively compete in a shrinking job market, which favours practical technology based expertise. If unchecked, the trend is poised to adversely affect Kenya's ability to tackle the developmental challenges. This study aimed at establishing the past and current gender based tertiary enrolment of women in science, engineering and technology in five public universities and their constituent colleges. Questionnaires were used for the study. The questionnaires were administered to chairpersons of departments, lecturers, and to the female students. The study captured information on women enrolled in the institutions as well as those who had graduated from the institutions over a five year period. The study established clear gender imbalance with respect to the number of girls enrolled in engineering and technology courses. However, the study found that over the past five years, there were an increasing number of female students enrolling for engineering and technology. This baseline study is the starting point towards the development of a Monitoring and Evaluation framework, whose long term objective is to establish the effect of enhanced performance of secondary school girls in science and mathematics on female enrolment in Science, Engineering and Technology at tertiary institutions in Kenya.


In terms of s 274 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 a court is obliged to give the accused an opportunity to address the court on the matter of sentence (S v Louw 1977 2 PH H249(C)). Very few practitioners are conscious of the onerous duty which they bear in this regard. In S v Gough 1980 3 SA 785 (NC) on 786E-G Basson J said that the imposition of sentence is at least as important as the trial and much more trouble should be taken by practitioners fully to inform the court of facts and circumstances which are relevant to sentence.


PROPAGATION AND SCATTERING OF COLLIMATED BEAM WAVE IN VEGETATION USING SCALAR TRANSPORT THEORY by Michael Yu-Chi Wu The scalar time-dependent equation of radiative transfer is used to develop a theory of pulse beamwave propagation and scattering in a medium characterized by many random discrete scatterers which scatter energy strongly in the forward scattering direction. Applications include the scattering of highly collimated millimeter waves in vegetation and optical beams in the atmosphere. The specific problem analyzed is that of a periodic sequence of Gaussian shaped pulses normally incident from free space onto the planar boundary surface of a random medium half-space, such as a forest, that possesses a power scatter (phase) function consisting of a strong, narrow forward lobe superimposed over an isotropic background. After splitting the specific intensity into the reduced incident and diffuse intensities, the solution of the transport equation expressed in cylindrical coordinates in the random medium half-space is obtained by expanding the angular dependence of both the scatter function and the diffuse intensity in terms of Associate Legendre polynomials, by using a Fourier series/Hankel transform to obtain the equation of transfer for each spatial frequency, and by employing the weighted residual method to satisfy the boundary condition that the forward traveling diffuse intensity be zero at the interface. Data generated from the solution will be compared to results obtained from a computationally intensive second method of solution, which follows the procedure used by Chang and Ishimaru to study the propagation and scattering of monochromatic beam waves in random media. In this second method, the timedependent scalar transport equation is solved using a Fourier Series/Hankel transform along with the two-dimensional Gauss quadrature formula and an eigenvalue eigenvector technique. Numerical results are given for received power at different penetration depths, different beam sizes and different scatter directions. PROPAGATION AND SCATTERING OF COLLIMATED BEAM WAVE IN VEGETATION USING SCALAR TRANSPORT THEORY by Michael Yu-Chi Wu A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of New Jersey Institute of Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department May 2001 APPROVAL PAGE PROPAGATION AND SCATTERING OF COLLIMATED BEAM WAVE IN VEGETATION USING SCALAR TRANSPORT THEORY Michael Yu-Chi Wu Dr. Gerald M. Whitman, Thesis Advisor Date Professor of Electrical Engineering, NJIT Dr. Ed ip Niver Date Associate of Professor Electrical Engineering, NJIT Dr. Marek Sosnowski Date Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, NJIT


Prospective candidates with connections in committees may have access to more accurate information about evaluation standards. When applications are costly, this informational advantage may reduce the application rate of connected individuals, leading to a positive selection among applicants. We document the relevance of this phenomenon using data from national evaluations in Italian academia. Researchers are significantly less likely to apply when the committee includes, through the luck of the draw, a colleague or a coauthor. At the same time, they tend to receive more favorable evaluations from their connections. Our analysis indicates that self-selection may bias in a non-trivial way estimates of evaluation biases that rely on observational data.


Pomeranian is the West Germanic language spoken by European emigrants who went from Farther Pomerania (present-day Poland) to Brazil in the period 1857–1887. This language is no longer spoken in cohesive societies in Europe, but the language has survived and is in remarkably good shape on this language island in the tropical state of Espirito Santo. This monograph offers the first synchronic grammar of this language. After a historical introduction, the book offers a systematic description of its phonology, morphology and syntax. The language is contrasted with its European sisters, more particularly High German, Dutch, and Frisian. It highlights various phenomena that will presumably contribute to the ongoing theoretical debate on the Germanic verbal system. It provides new data on cluster V2, do-support, and the two infinitives. As to the infinitival syntax, the language shows remarkable parallels to the system of Frisian. As to the rich Pomeranian system of subtractive morphology, the phonological account that is offered, will be important for the ongoing discussion of the abstractness of phonological representations. Finally, Pomeranian is a welcome addition to the set of languages on which our etymological understanding of West Germanic is based.


Ever since the shell geologist M. King Hubbert came up with his prophesy predicting the depletion of peak oil (regarded as "Hubbert peak" in the 1940s and 1950s), several countries in the world including Brazil, Sweden and the United States of America have been looking for alternative energy means with more emphasis on renewable energy such as bio-energy. The emphasis on bio-energy which to a large extent involves the use of energy crops to fulfil global energy demand and to establish a renewable energy system has resulted in debates where questions are raised regarding the clash between the use of land for food production for human consumption and land for energy production. Other question raised relate to the impact bio-energy will have on the poor most especially as it is 'linked' to rising food prices.

Cameroon is a country rich in natural resources and also has rich oil potentials but most of the rural areas are map out of energy systems and this pose a development problem among others. This study seeks to investigate what impact biofuels can have on the poor as well as the benefit Cameroon can have if engage on biofuels as an alternative means of energy. A livelihood approach was used to understand the strategies which poor rural people use to make a living which in this case centred in agriculture. Embodied Energy Analysis was used to evaluate the energy requirements involved in the production of biofuels and Emergy Synthesis (ES) method was used to further show the extent to which biofuel production depends on humans and the environment.