Local electrical properties, measured by conductive atomic force microscopy, of semimetallic SrIrO3 thin films are reported. The appearance of an Anderson-type metal–insulator transition (MIT) triggered by disorder and spatial localization due to film thickness reduction is analyzed as well as their influence on the resistive switching behavior. For thin enough films (below ∼3 nm) samples are insulating with hysteretic I–V curves indicative of reversible resistive switching behavior between two states of clearly different resistance at room temperature. A sharp transition into a low resistance state (LRS), i.e., an abrupt increase of the current intensity, is detected above a well-defined threshold voltage indicative of localization of charge carriers. On the other hand, thicker samples exhibit a semimetallic character, and I–V curves show progressive changes of the local resistance without a clearly defined threshold voltage, thus evidencing the absence of a MIT transition with a well-defined resistance ...


Several additive manufacturing processes have been developed for plastic parts.
However, there is an ongoing interest to increase the functionality of these parts
which are mainly considered as prototypes due to the material and process
limitations. This research investigated a novel additive approach for producing a
functional engineering plastic, nylon 6. The idea was to combine inkjet printing
technology and anionic polymerisation of caprolactam by depositing mixtures of
caprolactam with activator and catalyst on top of each other under the appropriate
conditions. An experimental setup was
integrated based on two identical jetting assemblies with pneumatic and thermal
control, synchronised with a deposition system for the reaction of the mixtures upon
radiation heating. Different offline material characterisation and inline process
monitoring methods were employed to obtain an understanding of the material
behaviour at each stage of the research. These included the use of high speed
imaging, fluorescent microscopy, particle tracking and image analysis tools. Samples were monitored before and after the drop-on-drop
deposition and radiation heating, and then assessed by thermal analysis to find
the appropriate conditions for the reaction. It was found that although some
monomer conversion was achieved, the rates were much less than with the bulk
polymerisation approach. Jetting of thousands of tiny droplets in air could have
resulted in a very high monomer deactivation. This highlighted the importance of the
environment as a more significant parameter for jetting of nylon 6 compared with the
conventional method.


Agaricus bisporus, the white button mushroom, is economically the most important mushroom cultivated worldwide. Growth of A. bisporus needs a substrate produced by the composting of animal manure, wheat straw, gypsum, water and different additives. Therefore lignocellulose which is a complex mixture of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin usually constitutes an important fraction of the total organic matter. Degradation of plant biomass is an important aspect of the cultivation process of edible mushrooms, but the mechanisms behind it are still largely a black box. The commercial cultivation of A. bisporus offers a unique opportunity to study the interaction of a fungus with its substrate. In addition, each ton of produced mushrooms leaves almost the same amount of spent compost which contains approximately one third of carbohydrates from the original compost. Therefore the aim of this PhD thesis was to obtain a deeper understanding of how A. bisporus grows in compost and degrades its substrate, and to study the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. Multi-omics studies together with substrate composition analysis and measurements of enzymatic activities were performed to understand the unique mechanisms of lignocellulose degradation and conversion by A. bisporus. The genome sequence of A. bisporus identified a wide set of genes encoding plant cell wall Carbohydrate Active enZymes (CAZymes) and detailed analysis of the expression of these genes together with genes involved in central carbon metabolism was performed in compost, casing layer and fruiting bodies of the first flush. To further evaluate degradation of the substrate by A. bisporus in-depth integrative analysis of transcript expression and protein secretion as well as carbohydrate degrading enzyme assays data from A. bisporus mycelium grown compost at different growth stages was performed. To make transcriptome analysis possible, the method based on the CsCl gradient ultracentrifugation was developed and allowed obtaining high levels of quality and quantity of RNA. Overall, the analysis of the genome and transcriptome of A. bisporus revealedthe unique repertoire of genes and its expression pattern showed the adaptation of this fungus to humic rich partially decomposed leaf material. Detailed analysis of the genes encoding plant and fungal polysaccharide modifying enzymes and central carbon metabolism demonstrated differences in these genes expression between compost- casing layer-grown mycelium and fruiting bodies. Further investigations of transcriptome and proteome for abilities of A. bisporus to degrade plant biomass throughout its life cycle showed changes in gene expression involved in (hemi-)cellulose degradation between the first and second flushes could partially explain the reduction in the yield of mushrooms during the second flush. Moreover, exploring unutilized fractions which remain in compost, arabinosyl and glucuronic acid substituents of the xylan backbone were found to be accumulated in the compost towards the end of the mushroom cultivation. These observations may explain the plant biomass degrading abilities of A. bisporus, revealing a set of potential important genes as well as secreted enzymes, including those which are missing and potentially significant for the substrate degradation.


THIS REPORT

The Final Report for P384A is divided into three volumes:
Volume 1: Summary of Outcomes
Volume 2: Research results for 1998
Volume 3: Publications from AMIRA P384 (1992 to 1995)

Research framework

This project utilised a multidisciplinary approach
incorporating geophysics, sedimentology and structure, lithogeochemistry, and physical and chemical fluid modelling. For convenience, the research programme for the original P384 project and the P384A project extension, has been run as three separate, but related modules. As the original P384 project progressed, this distinction began to break down, resulting in the presentation of several integrated studies in the final report. This integration of research disciplines has carried over into the P384A project extension, and the studies presented here in the final report routinely overlap more than one module.


We design and model a highly compact and tunable optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) device that consists of long-period gratings and piezoelectric ceramic fiber stretchers. The proposed OADM shows that 50 dense wavelength-division multiplexing channel signals can be selected in the wavelength range from 1526.25 to 1563.75 nm with 0.75-nm channel spacing, which covers the whole C-band gain spectrum of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier. The cross talk between channels is less than -39 dB, and the total insertion loss of the device is approximately 0.24 dB, which includes the splicing losses, the mode mismatching loss, and the expected losses in the two side-by-side coupled fibers.


Gene and protein networks are very important to model complex large-scale systems in molecular biology. Inferring or reverseengineering such networks can be defined as the process of identifying gene/protein interactions from experimental data through computational analysis. However, this task is typically complicated by the enormously large scale of the unknowns in a rather small sample size. Furthermore, when the goal is to study causal relationships within the network, tools capable of overcoming the limitations of correlation networks are required. In this work, we make use of Bayesian Graphical Models to attach this problem and, specifically, we perform a comparative study of different state-of-the-art heuristics, analyzing their performance in inferring the structure of the Bayesian Network from breast cancer data.


Today, most media authors acknowledge and to some degree integrate the user-generated content of their fandom. Some, however, still perform authoritarian positions of prohibition. George R. R. Martin, the creator of A Song of Ice and Fire, attempts to ban fanfiction, whilst acknowledging he cannot control use of the characters licensed to the TV adaptation (Game of Thrones). Building on the work of Jonathan Gray and Alexandra Herzog on paratexts in fandom studies, this article performs a critical discourse analysis on a systematic sample of the paratexts fanfic authors attach to fanfic from a cross section of online forums. These statements discursively reconfigure constructions of authorship and ownership, strongly inflected by the factors of site, audience and category. However, these paratexts evidence a paradox, legitimating their work by reference to the authority of what is already legitimate. The more radical gesture may be the absence of paratextual justification, and refusal of the 'incitement to discourse' which Foucault recognised as a technique of modern power.


Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is an AIDS defining disease often arising in HIV patients with low CD4 T cell count, and rarely among those with more than 500 CD4 T cell/mm 3 . Definite diagnosis requires JC Virus (JCV) isolation in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or in brain tissue. JCV PCR sensitivity in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era is lower, making progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) definite diagnosis difficult. A 48-year-old woman was diagnosed with HIV1 in 1998, never having had any AIDS-defining illness. Combined antiretroviral therapy was started in 2004. In January 2009 she presented a tandem gait and gait ataxia. Her HIV viral load was undetectable and the CD4 T cell count was of 533/mm 3 . Brain CT scan was normal. In the following months a bilateral cerebellar syndrome installed and brain MRI was done showing asymmetrical demyelinating lesions. Normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings other than mononuclear pleocytosis and a negative JCV PCR were documented. PML was suspected, combined antiretroviral therapy (cARV) was altered, and cidofovir and mirtazapine were prescribed, associated with physiotherapy. She was clinically stable for some months. Almost one year later her neurological state got worse, CD4 T cell count was of 478/mm 3 , brain lesions progressed, and finally, JCV PCR became positive (5th determination). PML definite diagnosis was made. The patient died in June 2010 due to PML progression. Sensitivity of JCV PCR in CSF lowers under HAART with high CD4 T cell count, making definite PML diagnosis difficult even when a high grade of suspicion exists, based on clinical presentation and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Differential diagnosis of demyelinating diseases should be considered, and HIV-leukoencephalitis should be taken in consideration when HIV replication exists in the brain. PML may arise in a patient under cARV and good immunological status. Treatment should not be delayed when a probable diagnosis exists even if CD4 T cell count is above 500/mm 3 . Repeated lumbar puncture with JCV determinations should be done in the advent of new/worsen neurological symptoms and evidence of demyelination showed in MRI. Sensitivity of JCV PCR increases with lower CD4 T cell count. doi:10.4021/jmc78w


Augmented Reality (AR) is one of the most revolutionary technologies at these times. It improves the real world by additional computer generated information. The AR paradigm opens new ways for development and innovation of different applications, where the user perceives both, virtual and real objects at the same time. With the rise of SmartPhones and the development of its characteristics, the AR on mobile devices emerging as an attractive option in this context. In this paper we present the design, implementation and testing of an application of AR on Android platform for mobile devices. This allows a person traveling through the city gets information of routes, timeouts, etc; about a particular bus line. All this information is provided on the mobile device and associated to the real world, facilitating their interpretation.


Satellite Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and RADARSAT-1 (radar) satellite image data collected before and after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area on the Louisiana-Mississippi border, USA, were applied to the study of forested wetland impact and recovery. We documented the overall similarity in the radar and optical satellite mapping of impact and recovery patterns and highlighted some unique differences that could be used to provide consistent and relevant ecological monitoring. Satellite optical data transformed to a canopy foliage index (CFI) indicated a dramatic decrease in canopy cover immediately after the storm, which then recovered rapidly in the Taxodium distichum (baldcypress) and Nyssa aquatica (water tupelo) forest. Although CFI levels in early October indicated rapid foliage recovery, the abnormally high radar responses associated with the cypress forest suggested a persistent poststorm difference in canopy structure. Impact and recovery mapping results showed that even though cypress forests experienced very high wind speeds, damage was largely limited to foliage loss. Bottomland hardwoods, experiencing progressively lower wind speeds further inland, suffered impacts ranging from increased occurrences of downed trees in the south to partial foliage loss in the north. In addition, bottomland hardwood impact and recovery patterns suggested that impact severity was associated with a difference in stand structure possibly related to environmental conditions that were not revealed in the prehurricane 25-m optical and radar image analyses.


Fungus ability to respond to environmental changes allows their adaptation to a wide variety of conditions such as pH, temperature, light, nutrient availability, chemicals, and competition among species. Temperature and pH can affect fungal growth as well as their metabolism. Knowing these factors on fungus species is relevant for the development of biotechnological applications and process optimization to produce biomass and enzymes. This study aimed to evaluate Lentinus crinitus mycelial growth and laccase production at different initial pH and temperatures of the cultivation medium. L. crinitus U15-9 reduced laccase production with pH increase with maximum production at pH 6 (39 U/mL) whereas L. crinitus U9-1 increased laccase production with pH increase with maximum activity at pH 7 (25.8 U/mL). Neither of the strains had mycelial growth significantly affected by initial pH in the culture medium. The greatest laccase production occurred at 28 oC for U15-9 (50 U/mL) and U9-1 (41.5 U/mL). An increase in U9-1 mycelial biomass occurred when the temperature went up from 25 to 28 oC whereas for U15-9 it was from 28 to 37 oC; at 37 oC, U15-9 produced 225% more mycelial biomass than at 28 oC, and 108% more mycelial biomass than U9-1 at 37 oC. The variation of responses to environmental stimuli between the strains makes evident that intra-specific variations are common in basidiomycetes. Our findings highlighted the best conditions of pH and temperature to produce L. crinitus laccase and make evident how different strains respond distinctly to cultivation conditions.


In recent years, the results of research studies have suggested a positive beneficial relationship between a vegetarian-based diet and low incidence of diseases, including coronary heart disease, cancer, obesity, dental caries, and osteoporosis. beta-Carotene has specifically been suggested as a nutrient with antitumorigenic properties. In this regard there is a need to evaluate the carotenoid content of foods. Legumes are one of the staple components of a vegetarian diet. This review specifically surveys the prevalence of carotenoids in food and forage legumes. In addition, the methods available for carotenoid analysis are discussed; factors affecting the determination of carotenoid content during maturation, germination, processing and storage are identified; research areas which have been inadequately explored are identified; and suggestions are made for future lines of investigation.


Marine sediments are important repositories of organic matter, effectively burying organic carbon (OC) over geological timescales thus providing a climate regulation service. However, the spatial distribution of this marine sedimentary OC store is not well constrained. In this study we leverage a high resolution multibeam echosounder (MBES) survey taken at Loch Creran, a model fjordic site on the west coast of Scotland, to develop a new methodology for predicting the distribution of OC in surface sediments. Using an integrated approach, we use MBES survey, video imagery and ground-truthing data to produce a high-resolution (2 × 2 m) map of surficial carbon and calculate a 10 cm stock. We find that the backscatter survey reliably uncovers a heterogeneous seabed and that OC correlates strongly with the MBES backscatter signal as a function of sediment composition. We estimate that there are approximately 12,346 ± 2,677 t of OC held within the top 10 cm of mixed sediments across the MBES survey area (7.96 km2; 60% of the total area), upscaled to 20,577 ± 4,462 t of OC across Loch Creran (13.27 km2). Normalised by area, we find that fine sediments with small fractions of sand and gravel hold more OC than homogenous fine sediments. This initial work proposes a novel methodological approach to using high resolution MBES surveys to improve the spatial mapping of sedimentary carbon (C) and identification of C hotspots, enabling consideration of this resource in sedimentary carbon accounting, seabed management and climate mitigation strategies.


This article continues our project to apply groundbreaking new literature on the behavioral psychology of human happiness to some of the most deeply analyzed questions in law. Here we explain that the new psychological understandings of happiness interact in startling ways with the leading theories of criminal punishment. Punishment theorists, both retributivist and utilitarian, have failed to account for human beings' ability to adapt to changed circumstances, including fines and (surprisingly) imprisonment. At the same time, these theorists have largely ignored the severe hedonic losses brought about by the post-prison social and economic deprivations (unemployment, divorce, and disease) caused by even short periods of incarceration. These twin phenomena significantly disrupt efforts to attain proportionality between crime and punishment and to achieve effective marginal deterrence. Hedonic psychology thus threatens to upend conventional conceptions of punishment and requires retributivists and utilitarians to find novel methods of calibrating traditional punitive sanctions if they are to maintain the foundations upon which punishment theory rests.


C programs can be difficult to debug due to lax type enforcement and low-level access to memory. We present a dynamic analysis for C that checks heap snapshots for consistency with program types. Our approach builds on ideas from physical subtyping and conservative garbage collection. We infer a program-defined type for each allocated storage location or identify "untypable" blocks that reveal heap corruption or type safety violations. The analysis exploits symbolic debug information if present, but requires no annotation or recompilation beyond a list of defined program types and allocated heap blocks. We have integrated our analysis into the GNU Debugger (gdb), and describe our initial experience using this tool with several small to medium-sized programs.


Many students of the sciences who must have background in mathematics take courses up to, and including, differential equations. In this course, one of the topics covered is the Laplace transform. Coming to prominence in the late 20th century after being popularized by a famous electrical engineer, knowledge on how to do the Laplace transform has become a necessity for many fields. While it is discussed and examples are given of how it is used, none of its applications are explored in depth in a class like differential equations. As such, this project seeks to showcase some of the more important uses of the transform. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department Mathematics First Advisor Kenneth Shiskowski Second Advisor Carla Tayeh


220 million Americans crowd together in the 3% of the country that is urban. 35 million people live in the vast metropolis of Tokyo, the most productive urban area in the world. The central city of Mumbai alone has 12 million people, and Shanghai almost as many. We choose to live cheek by jowl, in a planet with vast amounts of space. Yet despite all of the land available to us, we choose to live in proximity to cities. Using economics to understand this phenomenon, the urban economist uses the tools of economic theory and empirical data to explain why cities exist and to analyze urban issues such as housing, education, crime, poverty and social interaction. Drawing on the success of his Lindahl lectures, Edward Glaeser provides a rigorous account of his research and unique thinking on cities. Using a series of simple models and economic theory, Glaeser illustrates the primary features of urban economics including the concepts of spatial equilibrium and agglomeration economies. Written for a mathematically inclined audience with an interest in urban economics and cities, the book is written to be accessible to theorists and non-theorists alike and should provide a basis for further empirical work.


Capturing good videos outdoors can be challenging due to harsh lighting, unpredictable scene changes, and most relevant to this work, dynamic weather. Particulate weather, such as rain and snow, creates complex flickering effects that are irritating to people and confusing to vision algorithms. Although each raindrop or snowflake only affects a small number of pixels, collections of them have predictable global spatio-temporal properties. In this paper, we formulate a model of these global dynamic weather frequencies. To begin, we derive a physical model of raindrops and snowflakes that is used to determine the general shape and brightness of a single streak. This streak model is combined with the statistical properties of rain and snow, to determine how they effect the spatio-temporal frequencies of an image sequence. Once detected, these frequencies can then be suppressed. At a small scale, many things appear the same as rain and snow, but by treating them as global phenomena, we achieve better performance than with just a local analysis. We show the effectiveness of removal on a variety of complex video sequences.


From one of America's leading reporters comes a deeply personal, extraordinarily powerful look at the most volatile crises he has witnessed around the world, from New Orleans to Baghdad and beyond. "Dispatches from the Edge of the World" is a book that gives us a rare up-close glimpse of what happens when the normal order of things is suddenly turned upside down, whether it's a natural disaster, a civil war, or a heated political battle. Over the last year, few people have witnessed more scenes of chaos and conflict than Anderson Cooper, whose groundbreaking coverage on CNN has become the touchstone of twenty-first century journalism. This book explores in a very personal way the most important - and most dangerous - crises of our time, and the surprising impact they have had on his life. From the devastating tsunami in South Asia to the suffering Niger, and ultimately Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Cooper shares his own experiences of traversing the globe, covering the world's most astonishing stories. In his first book, that passion communicates itself through a rich fabric of memoir and reportage, reflection and first-person narrative. Unflinching and utterly engrossing, this is the story of an extraordinary year in a reporter's life.


The detection of corrosion in pipelines is an aspect of utmost importance as far as
the fluid transportation industry is concerned, and especially if they have a difficult
access. As they are installed outdoors or underground, these kilometric conduits are
under various weather and natural phenomena, which may damage them causing
loses and consequently serious natural disasters.
Over the years, the most common way to check the pipelines' thickness has been
thanks to ultrasonic and Foucault currents. The constraint of these techniques is that
they only allow examining the thickness just under the probe. Thus, the checking
procedure along its entire length becomes a very dull and long process. The problem
arises when the access to certain stretches of those pipelines becomes extremely
complex, making this control impossible. Upon needing to inspect these pipelines in
a precise, quickly and easy way along their length, this control method is rarely used
any more.
Low frequency guided waves are beginning to be used frequently to perform this task
since their detection and location capability of corroded patches is very good. The
only drawback that this screening technique presents is that it only gives a rough
estimate of the remaining wall thickness. Currently, guided waves are the most
powerful method not only to detect inaccessible corroded patches but also to map
their remaining thickness precisely.
Nowadays, the world of computer science is so immensely vast that there is a large
amount of software solutions to perform the same task. The problem ascends when
a user needs to complete a specific job and does not know which of the programs at
his disposal to choose. Some of the aspects that will prevail in his decision is if the
software's interface is good-looking, the price of software's license, the memory
consumption at the time of performing a task but mainly the time taken to complete
the work.
The aim of this report is to compare two of the most important programs for finite
elements simulations: Abaqus and ANSYS. This analysis was done by applying a
signal of 50 kHz and 10 cycles, involved in a Hanning window in a titanium plate of 1
m long and with a thickness of 5 mm. The reason why this study was done by
simulating a plate instead of a pipeline, without forgetting the aforementioned, is
because it was needed to simulate an easy geometry in order to shorten the time
taken to solve the simulation by both software solutions. The conclusions of this work were obtained by analysing which of the software
solutions offered the most accurate displacements of a node located one meter far
from where the signal was implemented. In case that both were equally precise, what
was determinant for us at the time of choosing the best software program was which
of both took the highest analysis speed, less time and memory consumption to
perform the task.


Introduction Quality of syphilis testing is a critical component of effective STI control programs, including elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. To understand syphilis testing policies and practices in the Region of the Americas, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) surveyed directors of national/regional reference and lower-level laboratories in its 35 member states. Methods In 2014, PAHO identified directors of national/regional reference laboratories and a convenience sample of lower-level laboratories providing clinical diagnostic testing. An electronically-administered survey was used to collect data on tests and algorithms used, quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) systems, and challenges faced. Results The 69 participating laboratories, representing 30 (86%) PAHO member states, were from Central America (n=22, 32%), the Caribbean (n=15, 22%), the Andean (n=16, 23%) and Southern Cone nations (n=14, 20%), and North America (n=2, 3%). Of the 69 laboratories, 41 (59%) were national or regional reference facilities and 28 (41%) were lower-level facilities (25 public and 3 private). Overall 49 (71%) laboratories (80% reference, 57% other) reported using a nationally recommended algorithm for syphilis testing, primarily a non-treponemal screening test and treponemal confirmatory test (n=35, 71%). Ten laboratories (7 reference, 3 other) used an algorithm that did not employ confirmatory testing. Twenty-eight (41%) laboratories reported using rapid tests (49% reference, 29% other). Thirty-three (48%) could provide results to clinics within 24 hours. Some type of QA/QC program was reported by 60 (87%) laboratories (88% reference, 86% other). Of the 69 laboratories, 83% used daily controls, 64% routinely maintained equipment, 70% participated in an external QA program, and 65% used standard operating procedures. Frequently reported challenges were limited opportunities for staff training (73%), insufficient equipment (24%) and stock outs of reagents and other supplies (55%). Conclusion Many reference and clinical laboratories in the region still face challenges in ensuring quality syphilis testing. Many lack adequately trained staff, and some lack sufficient supplies for routine syphilis testing. Several have not yet adopted basic QA/QC practices needed to ensure quality testing. Less than half of the laboratories have adopted rapid testing strategies.


The Voltage Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC) is a well characterized mitochondrial porin, known to participate in multiple cellular processes, ensuring the transport of ions, ATP, ADP and proteins of the respiratory chain between intermembrane space (IMS) and the cytosol. Hence, their abundance and strategic localization in the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane (OMM) cast them as a gatekeeper for the transit of ions and metabolites between the mitochondria and the cytosol. These channels were shown to exhibit a strong response to a variation of current, with frequent opening and closure of the channel, and the conservation in their three-dimensional structure attest to their essential role. The study of plant VDACs could offer interesting insights into the cellular and sub-cellular functions of the channel, as the importance of VDACs in plant development, fertility and physiology, was only recently been uncovered. Filling this knowledge gap on plant VDAC could greatly enrich our understanding of VDAC physiology in all eukaryotes.

Here, we report the successful purification of native and mutant Arabidopsis thaliana VDAC1 proteins. We highlight micelle-embedded AtVDAC structures by Small Angle X-Ray Scattering in 0.1 % (v/v) LDAO and show that in vitro refolded AtVDAC1 is mostly composed of beta sheets with a small helicity in circular dichroism experiments, in harmony with previous observations on eukaryotic VDACs. We demonstrate that the AtVDAC1 channel can exhibit voltage mediated gating activity when incorporated into a lipid bilayer, with an open state S0 conductance of 0.54 nS and at least two closed states, S1 and S2, with conductances of 0.43 nS and 0.31 nS, respectively, close to those reported for other VDACs in similar salt concentrations. We also attempt to understand its sensing ability and denote a current-mediated preference for S1 state at -20 mV. Finally, we introduce a new parameter for the electrophysiological characterisation of the channel, the "power of charge" and report similar transfer of charges at -20 mV and -40 mV despite the lower gating activity associated with the S2 state.

In parallel, a potential AtVDAC1-binding partner, mKlp2C-Ter (a truncated version of a mitochondria-restricted kinesin-like protein from A. thaliana), was also heterologously expressed, purified and characterised. We report its behaviour in solution using SAXS, and preliminary functional characterization by Isothermal-Titration Calorimetry (ITC), highlighting an ability to bind zinc ions. These first steps constitute the groundwork for future binding studies focusing on AtVDAC1 interaction with cytosolic partners, and the molecular and electro-physiological consequences of these interactions.


Di Gregorio And Davidson provide an essential guide for qualitative researchers who wish to get to grips with the potential of software packages for handling qualitative data, research design and ethical and privacy issues ... The authors open up new ground by integrating the discussion of qualitative data analysis software into the wider context of methodological practice. The authors' arguments and general approach are illustrated in an accessible and engaging manner through the use of detailed case studies of qualitative research using a range of software packages. A smooth read, crammed full of invaluable advice and 'best practice' guidelines and checklists. . Derek Layder, University of Leicester, UK. . This book is an essential guide for anyone using qualitative data analysis software (QDAS), particularly useful for those who want to go beyond a basic introduction to discover how to get the most out of software and how to identify the methodological issues they need to consider.. . The book is organized in three parts the first part addresses the methodological issues that need to be addressed when designing qualitative research using QDAS; the second part uses case studies to demonstrate the issues and the design framework introduced in the first part. These chapters are supported by numerous screenshots illustrating the software under discussion. The last part contains practical appendices to help readers apply the framework introduced to their own research.. . Di Gregorio and Davidson introduce:. . The notion of the E-Project or electronic project as a genre. A framework for representing the research design of a project in any QDAS package. Ethical considerations when working in QDAS. A variety of contextual issues including national and organizational differences . Eight real research projects of a variety of designs and using different QDAS (ATLAS.ti, MAXqda, NVIVO, and XSight) . Separate checklists for ATLAS.ti, MAXqda, NVIVO, and XSight, providing practical help in applying the research design framework presented in the book. . Uniquely, the book examines issues related to both academic and non-academic uses of QDAS.. . Qualitative Research Design for Software Users is a useful reference for upper level students, academics and researchers across a range of disciplines. .


Web search engines are a very important mean to fight information
overload's consequences, but this makes them the gate to digital
information of any type and purpose. The cyberspace is accessed through
such complex and automated tools: software agents execute secret and
complex algorithms and make information easily reachable or hidden, but
anomalies and bugs may have serious consequences. Private entities provide
such services, on a global (e.g. Google), or local but relevant scale (e.g.
Baidu). After the Google Spain case, literature on the right to be forgotten is
growing. This paper aims at go further, investigating both the right to access
on line information and to be correctly and neutrally indexed by web search
engines. The law must regulate this topic, making them work in a neutral
and non-discriminatory way, even if they work cross-borders and are private
subjects. Otherwise, the Information Society will even more controlled by
the dictatorship of the algorithm.


Programming performance in computer science disciplines has often been attributed to students' commitment to understanding the subject matter and their aptitude for logic and mathematics. Until now various technologies, such as optimization methods, have been researched by scientists and engineers. However, few studies focused on the influence of psychological factors on programming performance. Specifically, a research question that how personality factors impact the machine time of source code written by programmers needs to be solved. In this paper, we conducted a descriptive, non-experimental empirical study: utilizing personality factors based on Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) model to explore whether a personality impacts students' programming performance measured by machine time. Naturally, programmers who prefer to focus on the tasks at hand outperform programmers who put more focus on personal concerns. This hypothesis was verified by statistical analysis in our experiment. In this experiment, 324 students were recruited in Matlab programming course in the Fall semester, 2017 at Auburn University, USA. A personality survey hosted online at surveymonkey.com was administered to participants, while 7 assignments were used to test students' programming performance. Further, we also explored the relationship between programming performance and personality with the Pearson correlation method. Using statistical results from this empirical experiment, this paper discussed and made conclusions about the relationship between computer science students' performance on programming tasks and their personality, specifically Thinking and Feeling types. Based on experimental results, we also presented pedagogical guidelines for computer science instructors in their pursuits of educating the next generation of programmers.


Scattering Properties of Suspended Particles Emlyn Davies Effective monitoring and modelling of the marine environment is of importance to both the general public and the scientific community, but relies on the ability to obtain accurate measurements of suspended particle characteristics. Many instruments for measuring particles rely on optical and acoustic scattering from the particles and use this information to infer a particle size and concentration. However, assumptions such as spherical particles of a known composition are widely used, both in measurement technology and in numerical modelling. Various imaging techniques have shown great variability in the shape, size and composition of marine particles when measured within their natural environment. Subsequently, there is substantial uncertainty in the response of light scattering instruments to this diverse range of particles. In this study, a holographic camera was modified to simultaneously record infocus images of marine particles with their forward angle scattering characteristics. This was achieved by combining both laser scattering and transmissometry with digital holography. The results from this system were compared with theoretical models of scattering from spherical particles within the intended size range of both instruments (15-500μm), with particle size information from both techniques agreeing well during these idealised conditions. The combined holographic and light scattering system was then used to investigate the response of the LISST-100 (Sequoia Scientific Inc.) to spherical particles with diameters extending beyond that intended by the instrument (250μm for type-B and 500μm for type-C derivatives), but that have been observed in-situ with imaging methods. This revealed an aliasing of single large particles into multiple smaller particles during the inversion of LISST-100 scattering into a particle size distribution. For spheres greater than the type-C instrument range, the inversion of scattering produces particle volume distributions that peak at varying sizes between 250-400μm. This key finding highlights the need for care to be taken when interpreting particle size distributions from the LISST-100 when there is potential for particles outside of its range limit. Natural particles, extracted from coastal waters, were then recorded by the combined v laboratory system. These complex particles produced highly variable scattering properties which were contaminated by asymmetrical features within the azimuthal plane. This observation of strong azimuthal asymmetry is of concern for both measurements and models of optical properties that assume a symmetrical scattering function for natural particle populations. The azimuthal asymmetry in scattering contributed to additional variability in the response of the instrument in comparison to the holographic camera, which was also subjected to apparent particle break-up via segmentation during image processing. A discussion of holographic imaging and laser diffraction for characterising particles in-situ forms the final part of this thesis, which utilises data from a magnified holographic system that covers the same size range of the LISST-100. This final analysis demonstrated the need for future technology to accurately measure size distributions over a much larger range of sizes than is currently possible (e.g. < 2μm to 1000μm). In summary, three key factors were identified to cause an increase in the apparent number of small particles reported by the LISST-100: 1) contamination from scattering of particles larger than the intended size range of the instrument; 2) a decrease in refractive index (particle composition); 3) additional scattering from small sub-components of particle geometry. The standard holographic camera systems are capable of accurately obtaining particle size and concentration measurements that are comparable to other techniques such as the LISST-100. However, in situations where background illumination is poor, errors in the image processing routines can cause an apparent particle break-up due to incorrect binarisation. Despite this, the holographic method provides a unique and powerful mechanism that enables images of particles to be analysed within the context of their in-situ environment.


OBJECT
This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that cerebral blood flow (CBF) and the intrinsic optical signal could be dissociated by altering adenosine receptor activity and to uncover the origin of the optic signal using a cranial window in the anesthetized rat.

METHODS
In anesthetized, ventilated, and temperature-controlled rats with closed cranial windows, the authors evaluated simultaneously the alterations in pial arteriolar diameter, intrinsic optical signals (690 nm), and somatosensory evoked potentials during cortical activation evoked by contralateral sciatic nerve stimulation (SNS). To dissociate the vascular and intrinsic signal, they topically applied the adenosine receptors antagonists theophylline (5 microM), which affects A1 and A2A receptors, and 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (CPX, 1 microM), which blocks the A(1) receptor. The former interacts primarily with the vasculature whereas the latter influences the parenchyma exclusively.

RESULTS
During 20 seconds of contralateral SNS, pial arterioles in the hindlimb somatosensory cortex dilated in a characteristic peak and shoulder pattern. As compared with mock cerebrospinal fluid alone, theophylline significantly (p<0.05) attenuated SNS-induced vasodilation (mean+/-standard deviation 8.1+/-2.5% vs 21.7+/-1.9%; 4 rats in each group). In contrast, CPX potentiated vasodilation significantly (p<0.05) during SNS (54.7+/-15.8% for the CPX group vs 20.1+/-1.9% for the controls; 5 rats in each group). The change in optical signal persisted after cessation of SNS in all the animals. Thus, the pattern of change of the optical signal was distinctly different from the pattern of changes in arteriolar diameter (which returned rapidly to baseline). Moreover, the optical signal during SNS was increased by 50% by theophylline and by almost 5-fold by CPX (p<0.05). The area of change of the intrinsic signal was also increased by the topical application of theophylline and CPX. The somatosensory evoked potential recordings revealed no significant changes after theophylline application, but CPX caused a small diminution of the N1 wave (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
The noncongruent temporal profiles of the changes in pial arteriolar diameter and optical signal, imaged at 690 nm, indicate that the optical signal at 690 nm is not related to CBF. Alteration of adenosine receptor activity independently changed cortical activity, as measured by the optical signal, and CBF, as determined by pial arteriolar diameter. Manipulation of the adenosine receptor activity during increased cortical activity confirmed the temporal dissociation of optical signal and CBF and provided further evidence for the role of adenosine in regulating CBF.


Reforming the security system in postconflict environments to ensure security agents become protectors of the population is vital for peacebuilding and state-building. Justice-sensitive SSR aims to prevent recurrence and repetition of human rights violations by reforming abusive institutions, increasing their integrity, accountability and legitimacy, and transforming the institution's role in society, including by empowering the citizens. In this paper, I draw on research into SSR and transitional justice in Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Timor-Leste, and suggest ways in which the EU could improve the substance of its SSR programming and implementation by drawing on lessons from these cases.


An intense proliferation of cyanobacteria in Cabras Lagoon was investigated over a period of two years (July 2007 to June 2009). The influence of environmental and meteorological parameters in the lagoon on temporal variations in cyanobacteria orders was assessed. For 17 months, Chroococcales was the only cyanobacterial order observed in the lagoon. Cyanobium -type cells (Reynolds functional group Z) were the most abundant phytoplankton taxon during this period. In the following months, drastic changes in the cyanobacteria assemblages occurred simultaneously with constant, intense rainfall that led to a sudden drop in the lagoon's salinity. The succession of autumn–winter Oscillatoriales ( Planktothrix sp. and Pseudanabaena catenata ; Reynolds functional group S1) and late spring growth of Nostocales ( Aphanizomenon gracile, Aphanizomenon aphanizomenoides , and Anabaenopsis circularis ; Reynolds functional group H1) was monitored. Canonical Correspondence Analysis was carried out to quantify the influence of environmental variables, and indicated strong relationships between Chroococcales and salinity, Oscillatoriales and higher values of SRP and the DIN/SRP ratio, and Nostocales and lower nutrient concentrations, the DIN/SRP ratio and salinity.


Sterilization is a procedure which promotes complete destruction or elimination of all forms of microorganisms. It is a fundamental stage in the processing of biomaterials, and functionality of any sterilization system must be determined by its effectiveness in exterminating microorganisms without harming or adversely affect the properties of medical devices. Some sterilization techniques can react with functional groups of the polymer leading to changes in the properties, affecting the biomaterial. This study aimed to develop chitosan membranes sterilize them by following methods: an autoclave, ethylene oxide, glutaraldehyde and ultraviolet radiation and characterized by FTIR, XRD and SEM. Based on the results of this study it can be concluded that the method of sterilization indicated for the membranes of chitosan is ethylene oxide because the other altered physicochemical properties thereof.


Seismic reflection data show the deep geometry of the Sudbury structure to be markedly asymmetric. The Sudbury North Range comprises shallowly south dipping sedimentary strata overlying a thick unit of heterolithic breccia and melt bodies, layered rocks of the Sudbury igneous complex, and footwall gneiss. Reflections from the upper layers are interrupted by faults near the center of the Sudbury basin, whereas the basal mafic units and footwall gneiss continue dipping southward and appear to be tightly folded or truncated near the Creighton fault. In contrast, the seismic image of the South Range is dominated by a distinctive series of moderately south dipping reflections interpreted as thrust faults or shear zones on which severe telescoping and imbrication of lithological units and considerable northwest-southeast shortening of the Sudbury structure have occurred. Such shortening explains the noncircular shape of the structure, and thus removes a critical objection to the Sudbury impact crater hypothesis. The new structural model is shown to be consistent with regional magnetic and gravity fields; a large hidden ultramfic-mafic mass is no longer required to explain the potential field data.


Fusarium graminearum causes head blight (FHB) and crown rot (CR) diseases in wheat. Compared with FHB, CR symptom development occurs slowly, usually taking 4 to 8 weeks to become visible. To characterize CR development, we used histological and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses to assess fungal colonization during a timecourse of infection. Three distinct phases of infection were identified: i) initial spore germination with formation of a superficial hyphal mat at the inoculation point, ii) colonization of the adaxial epidermis of the outer leaf sheath and mycelial growth from the inoculation point to the crown, concomitant with a drop in fungal biomass, and iii) extensive colonization of the internal crown tissue. Fungal gene expression was examined during each phase using Affymetrix GeneChips. In total, 1,839 F. graminearum genes were significantly upregulated, including some known FHB virulence genes (e.g., TRI5 and TRI14), and 2,649 genes were significantly downregulated in planta compared with axenically cultured mycelia. Global comparisons of fungal gene expression with published data for FHB showed significant similarities between early stages of FHB and CR. These results indicate that CR disease development involves distinct phases of colonization, each of which is associated with a different fungal gene expression program.


The study sought to establish the relationship between financial literacy, cash management and business growth in Kampala city council authority. The study design used was descriptive and correlation in nature. The study revealed a moderately high level of financial literacy, a moderate level of cash management and a moderately high level of business growth among the businesses investigated. Financial literacy confirmed in adequate knowledge on how to expand and capitalize money in addition to warranting a portion of their regular income saved in assets. It was noted that most businesses grow out of paying their debtors promptly, using loaned capital efficiently and perhaps cash planning practices. In the long run, most businesses end up into bankruptcy associated to using borrowed funds for improving standards of living. It is a common practice in Uganda for one to emerge as a promising investor, live a posh life and registered in bankruptcy within less than a decade of his business career. The study recommended that the Private Sector Uganda, Uganda Manufacturers' Association, Uganda Chamber of Commerce; and other trade organizations should include training business men and women around the country on sound financial management. There is need to further sensitize the public and business owners in particular on the risks associated with borrowed capital. Business owners should further avoid running for credit because it is cheap and available. Business owners should always align their borrowed capital with business objectives lest they divert funds intended for business growth into improving their standards of living by spending lavishly. in selected Makindye, Rubaga, The were selected Kampala


Decision makers often simplify decision problems by ignoring readily available information. The current multimethod research investigated which types of information about interdependence situations are psychologically prominent to decision makers and which tend to go unnoticed. Study 1 used eye-tracking measures to investigate how decision makers allocate their attention in interdependence situations and revealed that individuals fixated on mutual cooperation earlier and longer as compared with alternative combinations of strategies and outcomes. In addition, participants' behavioral cooperation was consistent with their attention allocation. Study 2 introduced a novel information-search paradigm: Participants exchanged yes/no questions and answers to discover which of 25 different games their counterpart chose. Analyzing the contents of participants' questions showed that, consistent with Study 1, participants focused primarily on desirable outcomes and symmetric behavioral choices. Study 3 revealed that outcome desirability is a robust basis of psychological prominence across different types of social relations; in contrast, the psychological prominence of symmetry was moderated by the nature of social relations. Study 4 revealed that whether different bases of psychological prominence directed individuals' attention to the same aspects of the decision-making task moderated the effect of information availability on decision latency and cooperation rates. Taken together, these findings contribute to the mapping of bounded rationality, demonstrate how people think about their interdependence, and enhance our understanding of how decisions happen.


In a "busy" auditory environment listeners can selectively attend to one of several simultaneous messages by tracking one listener's voice characteristics. Here we ask how well other cues compete for attention with such characteristics, using variations in the spatial position of sound sources in a (virtual) seminar room. Listeners decided which of two simultaneous target words belonged in an attended "context" phrase when it was played with a simultaneous "distracter" context that had a different wording. Talker difference was in competition with a position difference, so that the target‐word chosen indicates which cue‐type the listener was tracking. The main findings are that room‐acoustic factors provide some tracking cues, whose salience increases with distance separation. This increase is more prominent in diotic conditions, indicating that these cues are largely monaural. The room‐acoustic factors might therefore be the spectral‐ and temporal‐envelope effects of reverberation on the timbre of speech. By contrast, the salience of cues associated with differences in sounds' bearings tends to decrease with distance, and these cues are more effective in dichotic conditions. In other conditions, where a distance and a bearing difference cooperate, they can completely override a talker difference at various distances.


This paper summarizes a new paradigm of instructional supervision, which shifts the focus from individual behavior to the improvement of work processes and social system components of the school district. The proposed paradigm, the Knowledge Work Supervision model, is derived from sociotechnical systems design theory and linked to the premise that school systems are knowledge organizations and that teaching is knowledge work. "Knowledge work" is any work that uses or produces knowledge to deliver products or services to customers. Groups of teachers, Redesign Management Teams (RMTs), collaborate with specially trained Knowledge-Work Supervisors who provide tactical guidance for the supervisory process. A districtwide steering committee provides strategic guidance for the entire knowledge-work supervision process. Because knowledge work is nonlinear, nonroutine, and often chaotic, a different kind of supervision is required. Given the systemic characteristics of a school district, the dominant orthodox paradigms of supervision (that is, clinical supervision and supervision-as-performance evaluation) seem inappropriate because they Locus on individual teachers and their classrooms. The following recommendations are offered: (1) building principals alone cannot coordinate the entire process; (2) each school system has unique organizational characteristics that either constrain or enhance the effectiveness of supervision; (3) organizational structures, as well as individual behaviors and attitudes, must also be changed; (4) the process must be related to districtwide organizational goals; (5) problem-solving capacity must be built into each school within the system; and (6) the process must be designed as a comprehensive, systemwide program of supervision. (Lm) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** 41111111111111M1111=1111111.111.11 Designing High Performance Schools Through Instructional Supervision: A New Paradigm for Supervising Knowledge-Work M


The action of the four stereoisomers of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine (DOPS) on the monoamine content of brain and heart was investigated with biochemical and histochemical methods. The (+)-erythro-DOPS (50-250 mg/kg i.p.), due to its alphaS configuration, was readily decarboxylated in vivo leading to an accumulation of norepinephrine (NE) in brain and heart. The amino probably corresponded to the unnatural (+) form since the amino acid shows betaS configuration. The NE was located in brain regions rich in noradrenergic (hypothalamus, locus ceruleus), dopaminergic (neostriatum, substantia nigra) and 5-hydroxytryptaminergic (raph'e nuclei) neurons. In addition, (+)-erythro-DOPS decreased the level of endogenous 5-hydroxytryptamine and dopamine and increased that of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic and homovanillic acid in the brain indicating a displacement of 5-hydroxytryptamine and dopamine, respectively, from their storage sites. Inhibitors of extracerebral decarboxylase (benserazid and carbidopa) diminished the (+)-erythro-DOPS-induced increase in cerebral NE by inhibiting the decarboxylation of the amino acid in the walls of the brain capillaries. The (-)-threo-DOPS, which also show alphaS configuration, was decarboxylated too, leading to a rise in cardiac NE. The amine was likely to correspond to the natural(-)-isomer since (-)-threo-DOPS has betaR configuration. This increase in NE lasted much longer than that caused by (+)-erythro-DOPS. In the brain, the accumulation of NE was negligible after i.p. administration of (-)-threo-DOPS but marked after injection of the isomer into a cerebral ventricle indicating a poor penetration of (-)-threo-DOPS through the blood-brain barrier. High doses (500 and 1000 mg/kg i.p.) of (-)-erythro- and (+)-threo-DOPS caused only a slight increase in cerebral and cardiac NE since, due to their alphaR configuration, they were probably not decarboxylated to a major extent. In conclusion, (+)-NE formed from (+)-erythro-DOPS probably accumulates in the storage sites of the endogenous monoamines where it might function as a false neurotransmitter.


The dimeric glycoprotein anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily of growth and differentiation factors. During male fetal sex differentiation, AMH is produced by Sertoli cells and induces degeneration of the Müllerian ducts, which form the anlagen of part of the internal female genital system. In females, AMH is produced by the ovary, but only postnatally. The function of AMH in the ovary is, however, still unknown. Female AMH null mice were reported to be fertile, with normal litter size, but this does not exclude a more subtle function for ovarian AMH. To investigate the function of AMH in the ovary, the complete follicle population was determined in AMH null mice, in mice heterozygous for the AMH null mutation, and in wild-type mice of different ages: 25 days, 4 months, and 13 months. In the present study we found that ovaries of 25-day- and 4-month-old AMH null females, compared to those of wild-type females, contain more preantral and small antral follicles. In addition, in 4- and 13-month-old AMH null females, smaller numbers of primordial follicles were found. Actually, in 13-month-old AMH null females, almost no primordial follicles could be detected, coinciding with a reduced number of preantral and small antral follicles in these females. In almost all females heterozygous for the AMH null mutation the number of follicles fell in between the numbers found in wild-type and AMH null females. In 4-month-old AMH null females serum inhibin levels were higher and FSH levels were lower compared to those in wild-type females. In contrast, inhibin levels were lower in 13-month-old AMH null females, and FSH levels were unchanged compared to those in wild-type females. Furthermore, the weight of the ovaries was twice as high in the 4-month-old AMH null females as in age-matched wild-type females. We conclude that AMH plays an important role in primordial follicle recruitment, such that more primordial follicles are recruited in AMH null mice than in wild-type mice; the mice heterozygous for the AMH null mutation take an in-between position. Consequently, the ovaries of AMH null females and those of females heterozygous for the AMH null mutation will show a relatively early depletion of their stock of primordial follicles. The female AMH null mouse may thus provide a useful model to study regulation of primordial follicle recruitment and the relation between follicular dynamics and ovarian aging.


Extensional dismemberment of the Betic Cordillera during Late Oligocene to Early Miocene time caused attenuation and excision of a crustal section overlying mantle peridotite. An integrated study of metapelites overlying the peridotite sheet in the Carratraca area shows truncation of a typical orogenic cycle of burial and heating by rapid exhumation and late- to post-tectonic, low-pressure metamorphism. Attenuation by a factor of five or more condensed a greenschist to granulite section to 4 km structural thickness. Initially coaxial attenuation of the sequence, involving formation of a flat-lying foliation and conjugate shear bands, was superseded by non-coaxial deformation concentrated along low-angle, top-to-the-NE, extensional fault zones. These excised parts of the metamorphic section; a 2 km loss was calculated across one fault zone. Thermobarometry throughout this section demonstrates that the structural attenuation was related to isothermal decompression to low pressures (2-4 kbar) even at the base of the crustal section. A late thermal event largely postdates the ductile stage of attenuation, particularly in the upper part of the section. Thermal modelling implies that this thermal event could not have been produced by the hot peridotite sheet alone. Rapid tectonic exhumation and asthenospheric upwelling are the probable causes, following detachment of material from the base of the lithosphere.


The internet of smart devices is a network of intelligent
gadgets with sensors, programs, Wi-Fi and communication network connections.
These devices store the data in cloud and process data outside the device using
the proposed Cloud-Internet communication framework. These devices can
communicate with other devices using the proposed framework. However, there are many challenges for communication security
among the internet of smart
devices. The Cloud can store the device data with security, reliability,
privacy and service availability. The communication Security has been raised as
one of the most critical issues of cloud computing where resolving such an
issue would result in a constant growth in the use and popularity of cloud
computing. Our purpose of this study is to create a framework for providing the
communication security among smart devices network for the internet of things using cloud computing. Our
main contribution links a new study for providing communication security for
the internet of smart devices using the cloud-Internet framework. This study can be
helpful for communication security problem in the framework of the Internet of Things. The proposed study generates
a new framework for solving the issue of communication security among internet
of smart devices.


To what extent do Islamic values have implications for economic policy making? Islamist political parties have enjoyed unprecedented election victories in recent times. The Islamic Revolution in Iran, the election of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey and the coming to power of Islamists, albeit briefly, after the Arab Spring, has changed the political landscape in the Middle East and has ramifications for the entire Muslim World. Yet the continuing success of these parties depends on their record on economic development and employment creation. Are their economic policies different from those of their autocratic predecessors? Have they been influenced by the writings of academic Islamist economists? This book looks at the impact of Islamic teaching on public economic policy and asks how Islamic economics differs from mainstream micro and macroeconomics.


Submarine mud volcanism is an important pathway for transfer of deep-sourced fluids enriched in hydrocarbons and other elements into the ocean. Mud volcanoes (MVs) occur in abundance on all oceanic plate margins, so fluxes of methane (CH4) and other chemical constituents from mud volcanism are likely to be significant for the oceanic budgets of some elements. Here, I present a detailed study of the spatial and temporal variation in fluid and chemical fluxes and mud flow activity at the Carlos Ribeiro and the Darwin MVs in the Gulf of Cadiz. Analyses of the chemical composition of pore fluids, sediments and authigenic carbonates are combined with a 1-D transport-reaction pore fluid model. Pore fluids from both MVs contain high concentrations of hydrocarbons (up to 16 mM), while pore fluids from Carlos Ribeiro MV (CRMV) are also enriched in lithium (Li+) and boron (B) but depleted in chloride relative to seawater. Oxygen, hydrogen and strontium isotope data suggest that the pore fluids are derived from depth and are affected by the transformation of smectite to illite. This process also produces pore fluids that are depleted in chloride and potassium, while B and Li+ appear to be leached from the sediments during this transformation process. The CRMV is the most active of the two MVs: fluid flow velocities are as high as 4 cm yr?1 at the eye of the MV but rapidly decrease to 0.4 cm yr?1 at the periphery. The associated fluxes of B, Li+ and CH4 are 7-301, 0.5-6 and 0-806 mmol m?2 yr?1, respectively. Fluid flow velocities at the Darwin MV are lower, ?0.09 cm yr?1, and show little spatial variation: seepage activity appears to be controlled by the distribution of slabs of authigenic carbonate that are found on the seafloor at the summit of the MV. Results of radiocarbon dating of the hemipelagic sediments covering the CRMV suggest that there has been recent mudflow activity at the eye of the MV, and frequent mud expulsions over the past ?1000 Cal yrs BP. The distribution of barite fronts at the margin of the MV and within the mudflow to the SE of the summit suggests that fluid advection has ceased over the past 340 Cal yrs, but degassing of these mudflows is ongoing and is potentially an important source of CH4. Geochemical and petrographic analyses of carbonates from the Darwin MV suggest that the MV formed in stages, with periods of intense fluid flow alternating with phases of mud extrusion and tectonic uplift. The results of this study demonstrate that fluid (and chemical) fluxes from MVs vary over relatively small time and space scales and that mud volcanism may contribute significantly to the oceanic inventories of Li+ and B. Moreover, anaerobic oxidation of methane appears to be an important control on methane emissions into the overlying water column, and a better understanding of this process is urgently required to properly quantify the impact of mud volcanism on the global oceanic methane budget.


Cancer is a genetic disease, and occurs through the progressive accumulation of activating alterations to growth-promoting oncogenes, and inactivating alterations to tumour suppressor genes. The rate of accumulation of these alterations may be accelerated by a variety of processes that cause genetic instability. There are several key 'pathways' involved in the evolution of a tumour, and the alterations may occur at any point in each pathway. Each tumour develops its own unique constellation of genetic alterations, and tumours are genetically distinct between tumour types, and within individual tumours of one type. The focus of this review is on colorectal cancer, but the concepts are broadly applicable to many types of tumours.

Key Concepts:

Cancer is a disease caused by genetic alterations.

Oncogenes are normal cellular genes altered by point mutations, amplification or changes in the regulation of gene expression that result in an increase cell growth, survival, ability to invade, or other tumour-related cell behaviours.

Tumour suppressor genes normally restrain a cell's ability to grow or invade, and inactivation is involved in tumourigenesis.

Epigenetic alterations, such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation, play a role in carcinogenesis.

Most solid tumours evolve through progressive multistep carcinogenesis that is mediated by the accumulation of altered genes. This is why tumours may be found at various stages of development.

The genes involved in tumour formation are tissue-specific.

The landscape of altered genes is heterogeneous among a group of tumours from one specific tissue or organ.

Genetic alterations may be heterogeneous throughout individual tumours.

Some tumours have a very large number of genetic alterations (chromosomal rearrangements, point mutations and DNA methylation), and others have many fewer alterations.

Keywords:

oncogene;
tumour suppressor gene;
microsatellite instability;
chromosomal instability;
DNA methylation;
multistep carcinogenesis


Consumption of sugar sweetened beverages exhibits strong associations with weight gain, obesity, and dental caries, especially in young children. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of price changes on children's consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Using micro-level panel data obtained from a stated preference experiment, we specify a two-sided censoring semi-parametric demand system model with fixed effects. To overcome an estimation difficulty that is potentially a common issue to all applications studying microlevel consumption data, we propose a new consistent two-step estimation framework. The economic restrictions implied by consumption theory are imposed through a consistent and asymptotically efficient GMM estimator. Our results show that the uncompensated own-price elasticities for sugar-sweetened beverages range from -0.83 to -0.94, demonstrating inelastic but substantial price effects. The marginal effects of demand with respect to nutritional attributes of sugar-sweetened beverages are negligible overall, but are strongest for those in low-income households. High-income households are less responsive to price and not responsive at all to non-price attributes.


The problem of ranking is to predict or to guess the ordering between objects on the basis of their observed features. In this paper we consider ranking estimators that minimize the empirical convex risk. We prove generalization bounds for the excess risk of such estimators with rates that are faster than 1/√n. We apply our results to commonly used ranking algorithms, for instance boosting or support vector machines. Moreover, we study the performance of considered estimators on real data sets.


This research is about teaching vocabulary by using crossword puzzle at the first semester of the seventh grade students of MTs. The objective of this research are to describe process of teaching vocabulary by using crossword puzzle, to describe the teacher's problems and students' problem in teaching and learning process. In this research, the researcher used descriptive qualitative research. The researcher used purposive sampling technique to determine the sample. The researcher chose class VII C as sample which consisted of 30 students. In collecting the data, the researcher used three kinds of instruments, they are: observation, interview, and questionnaire. The researcher used three major of data analysis: they were data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing or verification. From the data analysis, the researcher found in teaching vocabulary by using crossword puzzle at MTs were as follows: The first, the teaching and learning process by using crossword puzzle was running well, the classroom atmosphere was the students looked active in classroom but some of them looked less response. The second, the teacher got some problems. They were: The teacher had difficulties to handling the class because the students made over-crowded by themselves, faulty method of teaching, and demand to share some words of vocabulary in meeting but the students only could master some of them. The third, the students got some problems in learning vocabulary, they were : the students consider the teacher's explanation boring, and they think of vocabulary learning as knowing the primary meaning of new words that are gotten only from textbooks or from the teacher, so it is difficult for them to use the words based on the appropriate context.


Most, if not all, criticisms of the Bush administration's motivation for launching a preemptive war on Iraq focus on a combination of the imperial world views of conservative politicians in power in Washington, D.C., and the corporate interests that drive the political agenda of the Bush administration. This study will provide a radically different political analysis of the Bush administration's motivation for going war, and of the explanations offered by his critics. This study provides an exopolitical analysis of the policy dimensions of an historic extraterrestrial presence that is pertinent to Iraq and a US led preemptive attack. It will be argued that competing clandestine government organizations are struggling through proxy means to take control of ancient extraterrestrial (ET) technology that exists in Iraq, in order to prepare for an impending series of events corresponding to the 'prophesied return' of an advanced race of ETs. The Columbia Space Shuttle may well have been a high profile victim of such a proxy war intended to send a message to US based clandestine organizations over the preemptive war against Iraq.In conducting this analysis, this study examines the available evidence of an historical ET presence in Iraq, and then applies this evidence to better understand the contemporary political An Exopolitical Perspective on the Preemptive War against Iraq Research Study# 2 historical ET presence in Iraq, and then applies this evidence to better understand the contemporary political situation in Iraq. The study will then analyze the motivations of the main political actors in the prospective US led preemptive war against Iraq. The study concludes by making some policy recommendations concerning how to respond to the legacy of an ET presence in Iraq and its contemporary political relevance.


"This is the single best book on software quality engineering and metrics that I've encountered."--Capers Jones, from the Foreword Metrics and Models in Software Quality Engineering, Second Edition , is the definitive book on this essential topic of software development. Comprehensive in scope with extensive industry examples, it shows how to measure software quality and use measurements to improve the software development process. Four major categories of quality metrics and models are addressed: quality management, software reliability and projection, complexity, and customer view. In addition, the book discusses the fundamentals of measurement theory, specific quality metrics and tools, and methods for applying metrics to the software development process. New chapters bring coverage of critical topics, including: In-process metrics for software testing Metrics for object-oriented software development Availability metrics Methods for conducting in-process quality assessments and software project assessments Dos and Don'ts of Software Process Improvement, by Patrick O'Toole Using Function Point Metrics to Measure Software Process Improvement, by Capers Jones In addition to the excellent balance of theory, techniques, and examples, this book is highly instructive and practical, covering one of the most important topics in software development--quality engineering. 0201729156B08282002


Recent fundamental demographic and market shifts in Asia signal the need for insurers to look at the products, processes, and enabling technology required to stay relevant in the new era. Success in the region will require more than the insurers' own digital enablement. Effective application of emerging insurtech innovations specific to these markets will be critical to earn the right to play and win in the region. In this paper, we examine the economic and regulatory factors that are unique to Asia, as well as the diverse and evolving needs of regional consumers. An understanding of these factors and how they are inevitably linked to one another will help distill the nuances of what insurtech means to insurance companies and how it can help them gain competitive edge. This study looks at insurtech innovations and their use-cases that provide opportunities for insurers to shape their digital agenda and achieve growth in Asia. We also delve into five key insurtech trends in the region: 1. Open APIs as an accelerator 2. Positive behavioral reinforcement via IoT 3. Cloud and blockchain enabling personalization 4. AI, machine learning, and IoT leading to automation 5. Blockchain as the fraud police


Evapotranspiration is one of the main components of the hydrological cycle as it accounts for more than two-thirds of the precipitation losses at the global scale. Reliable estimates of actual evapotranspiration are crucial for effective watershed modelling and water resource management, yet direct measurements of the evapotranspiration losses are difficult and expensive. This research explores the utility and effectiveness of data-driven techniques in modelling actual evapotranspiration measured by an eddy covariance system. The authors compare the Evolutionary Polynomial Regression (EPR) performance to Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Genetic Programming (GP). Furthermore, this research investigates the effect of previous states (time lags) of the meteorological input variables on characterizing actual evapotranspiration. The models developed using the EPR, based on the two case studies at the Mildred Lake mine, AB, Canada provided comparable performance to the models of GP and ANNs. Moreover, the EPR provided simpler models than those developed by the other data-driven techniques, particularly in one of the case studies. The inclusion of the previous states of the input variables slightly enhanced the performance of the developed model, which in turn indicates the dynamic nature of the evapotranspiration process.


Gamboge disorder (GD) or fruit damage by the yellow sap is a major problem in mangosteen. Mangosteen plants varied in the level of GD, from very low or non GD to low, moderate and high GD. However it was difficult to differentiate between GD and non GD plants because evaluation of the disorder is strongly influenced by environment. In this study we investigated the usefulness of primer designed from bioinformatics related to cell wall strength, termed as MCWS, to predict GD. Plant materials used were 28 mangosteen plants selected based on percentage of GD categorized as high, moderate, low and very low or non GD. The result showed that the specific DNA fragments were absent in the high GD accessions. The MCWS marker suggests as a novel polymorphic marker for GD in mangosteen as well as a marker for detect variability in mangosteen as apomictic plant. Keywords—Bioinformatics, cell wall strength, gamboge disorder, mangosteen, polymorphic marker.


The theory on the disaster impacts on firm growth is ambiguous and the empirical evidence on this topic is scarce, which hampers the design of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation policies. This paper estimates growth models of the impacts of natural disasters on labour, capital, and value-added growth of firms in the short run, and identifies the role of financial constraints in shaping disaster outcomes. The analysis uses a comprehensive enterprise census data (2000-2009) and also two different types of disaster measures from Vietnam: the physical intensity measures and the socioeconomic damage measures. We apply the Blundell-Bond generalized method of moments (GMM) to estimate firm level disaster impacts, and find robust evidence that natural disasters on average increase firm growth significantly. We also find stronger positive impacts in labour and output growth for more constrained firms. We argue that this occurs because financially more constrained firms substitute labour for capital during the reconstruction phase after a disaster.


Now available in new paperback editions, the three volumes of The Operas of Verdi cover every aspect of the composer's rich and varied operatic achievement. Marked by extraordinary research and enhanced by hundreds of musical illustrations, this monumental study follows the developent of Verdi's oeuvre from his earliest opera Oberto to his final work, Falstaff. Julian Budden has mined the vast resources of European archives to provide a groundbreaking interpretation of Verdi's work and has discovered much new material, including an unpublished additional aria for I Due Foscari. In addition, The Operas of Verdi has now been brought up to date in light of the most recent scholarship, making it a substantially new edition of a classic work. Volume 1 traces the the organic growth and development of the composer's style from 1839 to 1851--from Oberto to Rigoletto--and examines each opera in detail, offering a full account of its dramatic and historical origins as well as a brief critical evaluation. More than 350 musical examples make the significance of these early operas to Verdi's developing style especially clear. In the second volume, Budden covers those operas written during the decadence of the post-Rossini period. During this time Verdi, having exhausted the simple lyricism found in such works as Il Trovatore and La Traviata, found new life as he directly confronted the masters of the Paris opera with his Les Vepres Siciliennes. The new scale and variety of musical thought that can be sensed in the Italian operas which followed is shown here to culminate in La Forza del Destino. The third and final volume of the study covers the quarter century which saw grand opera on the Parisian model established throughout Italy, and the spread of cosmopolitan influences that convinced many that Italian music was losing its identity. Verdi produced his four last and greatest operas during this time--Don Carlos, Aida, Otello, and Falstaff--operas which helped inaugurate "versimo," in which a new, recognizably Italian idiom was realized. The third volume also includes a new, comprehensive bibliography compiled by Roger Parker."


Investigations of the validity of a number of high-stakes language assessments are conducted using an argument-based approach, which requires evidence for inferences that are critical to score interpretation (Chapelle, Enright, & Jamieson, 2008b; Kane, 2013). The current study investigates the extrapolation inference for a high-stakes test of spoken English, the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) speaking task. This inference requires evidence that supports the inferential step from observations of what test takers can do on an assessment to what they can do in the target domain (Chapelle et al., 2008b; Kane, 2013). Typically, the extrapolation inference has been supported by evidence from a criterion measure of language ability. This study proposes an additional empirical method, namely corpus-based register analysis (Biber & Conrad, 2009), which provides a quantitative framework for examining the linguistic relationship between performance assessments and the domains to which their scores are extrapolated. This approach extends Bachman and Palmer's (2010) focus on the target language use (TLU) domain analysis in their study of assessment use arguments by providing a quantitative approach for the study of language. We first explain the connections between corpus-based register analysis and TLU analysis. Second, an investigation of the MELAB speaking task compares the language of test-taker responses to the language of academic, professional, and conversational spoken registers, or TLU domains. Additionally, the language features at different performance levels within the MELAB speaking task are investigated to determine the relationship between test takers' scores and their language use in the task. Following previous studies using corpus-based register analysis, we conduct a multi-dimensional (MD) analysis for our investigation. The comparison of the language features from the MELAB with the language of TLU domains revealed that support for the extrapolation inference varies across dimensions of language use.


Diabetes mellitus is a serious worldwide disease characterised by pathological metabolism of sugars. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes involving dysfunction of peripheral nerves. Diabetes is known to alter a number of biomechanical aspects of gait, but it remains unknown as to whether these alterations could impact upon the metabolic cost of walking (CoW). The aim of this thesis was to investigate the CoW in people with diabetes and examine biomechanical factors that could contribute to explaining any potential differences. Data were generated from three groups: patients with DPN (n=14), patients with diabetes but without peripheral neuropathy (DM, n=22), and controls without diabetes (Ctrl, n=31). Gait assessment was performed using a Vicon motion analysis system and Kistler force plates while participants walked at a range of matched speeds (between 0.6 and 1.6 m/s). Oxygen consumption was measured continuously whilst participants walked on a motor-driven treadmill at the range of matched walking speeds. Ultrasonographic imaging data from the plantarflexor muscle-tendon complex (MTC) were collected in vivo during walking to determine MTC properties. Magnetic resonance imaging of the ankle joint in the standing position was used to quantify the internal leverage around the ankle. Isometric plantarflexor maximal voluntary contraction strength was measured using a dynamometer. The CoW was significantly higher in the DPN group across a range of matched walking speeds and also in the DM group at selected speeds, compared to Ctrl. Despite the higher CoW in patients with diabetes, concentric lower limb joint work was significantly lower in DM and DPN groups compared to Ctrl. A greater value for the effective mechanical advantage (EMA) at the ankle joint was found in the DPN and DM groups compared to Ctrl, meaning that the ankle plantarflexor muscles developed relatively lower forces to generate a given joint moment compared to Ctrl. The increased EMA was mainly caused by a smaller external moment arm of the ground reaction force in the DPN and DM groups compared to Ctrl. The DPN group reduced the joint moment at the ankle during walking by applying the ground reaction force more proximally on the foot, or at an angle directed more towards the ankle, thereby reducing the external moment arm and increasing the EMA around the ankle. The DPN group demonstrated significantly less Achilles tendon elongation during walking, higher stiffness and higher hysteresis compared to Ctrl. These properties mean that the Achilles tendon would store and release less energy in the DPN group during walking, requiring more work from the plantarflexor muscles. Vertical displacement of the centre of mass during walking was not different between groups and is therefore unlikely to be a factor in itself that contributes towards the increased CoW in people with diabetic neuropathy. A higher cumulative joint work resulting from an increased cadence may contribute to the higher CoW in patients with diabetes, along with a reduced elastic energy contribution from the Achilles tendon.


Abstract The genome of the wild diploid strawberry species Fragaria vesca, an ideal model system of cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa, octoploid) and other Rosaceae family crops, was first published in 2011 and followed by a new assembly (Fvb). However, the annotation for Fvb mainly relied on ab initio predictions and included only predicted coding sequences, therefore an improved annotation is highly desirable. Here, a new annotation version named v2.0.a2 was created for the Fvb genome by a pipeline utilizing one PacBio library, 90 Illumina RNA-seq libraries, and 9 small RNA-seq libraries. Altogether, 18,641 genes (55.6% out of 33,538 genes) were augmented with information on the 5′ and/or 3′ UTRs, 13,168 (39.3%) protein-coding genes were modified or newly identified, and 7,370 genes were found to possess alternative isoforms. In addition, 1,938 long non-coding RNAs, 171 miRNAs, and 51,714 small RNA clusters were integrated into the annotation. This new annotation of F. vesca is substantially improved in both accuracy and integrity of gene predictions, beneficial to the gene functional studies in strawberry and to the comparative genomic analysis of other horticultural crops in Rosaceae family.


Abstract The Cape Fear Slide is one of the largest (>25 000 km3) submarine slope failure complexes on the US Atlantic margin. Here we use a combination of new high-resolution multichannel seismic data (MCS) from the National Science Foundation Geodynamic Processes at Rifting and Subducting Margins (NSF GeoPRISMS) Community Seismic Experiment and legacy industry MCS to derive detailed stratigraphy of this slide and constrain the conditions that lead to slope instability. Limited outer-shelf and upper-slope accommodation space during the Neogene, combined with lowstand fluvial inputs and northwards Gulf Stream sediment transport, appears to have contributed to thick Miocene and Pliocene deposits that onlapped the lower slope. This resulted in burial of an upper-slope bypass zone developed from earlier erosional truncation of Paleogene strata. These deposits created a broad ramp that allowed accumulation of thick Quaternary strata across a low-gradient (<3.5°) upper slope. Upslope of one of the larger headwalls, undulating Quaternary strata appear to downlap onto a buried failure plane. Many of the nested headwalls of the upper-slope portion of slide complex are underlain by deformed strata, which may be the result of fluid migration associated with localized subsidence from salt migration. These new data and observations suggest that antecedent margin physiography, sediment loading and substrate fluid flow were key factors in preconditioning the Cape Fear slope for failure.


In Watching Walter Cronkite, Austin Ken Kutscher, M.D., reflects on how our lives were shaped by the transformative events of the 1950s and 1960s. As we celebrate our first African-American president, Barack Obama, in a world where American soldiers are still fighting wars halfway across the globe and where the threat of nuclear weapons still exists, generations both young and old need to understand the past events that were so instrumental in shaping our lives today. Watching Walter Cronkite had its beginning when Dr. Kutscher realized his teenage daughter was part of a generation, born after 1980, oblivious to issues that have been the foundation of their parents' ideals. Using the historical events of the era of the '50s and '60s as a backdrop, Dr. Kutscher has fashioned a moving memoir of his experiences as a public school and college student, as he tried to make his mark in the world after his Mom had died of breast cancer. He shares not only his personal joys and sorrows, but also the parallel adolescent reminiscences of his wife, Mary Ellen. Their personal journeys are representative of everyday Baby Boomers who were never featured on the CBS Evening News. As Dr. Kutscher recounts our country's pains during the '60s--a decade filled with a tragic war and social and racial injustice--he also brings to life the electrifying feelings of the music of love and protest and the scientific achievements of our nation, not to mention the spirit of the New York Mets'"Miracle" World Series victory in 1969. Watching Walter Cronkite will resonate deeply with older generations of Americans, as they recall the dizzying array of events that unfolded nightly on their TV screens--including the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, Jr., the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the anti-war movement, the counter-culture, the Woodstock Festival, and the crowning achievement of the 1960s--the Apollo XI Moon landing. By chronicling our lives against this historic period, Dr. Kutscher hopes we can find peace and redemption in the turbulent times through which we are now living--and that we can explore, as did Neil Armstrong, our own"Sea of Tranquility."


This working paper describes an ongoing study and reports some preliminary findings about the development and measurement of a model of entrepreneurial psychological capital (EPsyCap) using an international sample of early stage entrepreneurs. E-PsyCap is conceived as the positive psychological strengths or resources which entrepreneurs can acquire, maintain and marshal and which help them to be successful. Literature The paper reviews the entrepreneurship psychology literature and shows how there is a need to study the dynamic psychological resources of entrepreneurs, and a need to develop a robust, composite measure of psychological resources based on the study of entrepreneurs, in preference to using measures developed in other areas of study, such as organisation behaviour. Policy and practice context The practice and policy context builds on the development of evidence based entrepreneurship (Frese et al., 2012). The model being developed will inform policy makers and educators about which psychological strengths are open to development which are important for success. Method The paper gives a brief overview of the initial contextualisation study which was undertaken, before describing the current study, sampling, analysis and results of an initial exploratory factor analysis and further analyses used to determine the best factor structure for E-PsyCap. Results The results show that an 11 factor structure fits both the existing theory and the data. It describes the next steps in this ongoing study. Contribution and implications for policy and practice The paper contributes to the understanding of the dynamic psychological resources of entrepreneurs, and of the individual constructs of optimism, self-efficacy and resilience within entrepreneurship. From a methodological perspective it supports the use of exploratory techniques when contextualising theory and contributes to practice a policy by creating a measure which can be used to determine which psychological resources predict success. Conference Theme Although outside the scope of this preliminary report, the ongoing study, which this paper feeds into, is using progressive self-assessment measures of entrepreneurial success (Wach et al., 2015) which measure, amongst other things, perceptions of the impact that entrepreneurs have on their communities which ties in with the conference agenda of collaboration.


From Neil MacGregor, the author of A History of the World in 100 Objects, this is a view of Germany like no other. For the past 140 years, Germany has been the central power in continental Europe. Twenty-five years ago a new German state came into being. How much do we really understand this new Germany, and how do its people now understand themselves? Neil MacGregor argues that uniquely for any European country, no coherent, over-arching narrative of Germany's history can be constructed, for in Germany both geography and history have always been unstable. Its frontiers have constantly floated. Konigsberg, home to the greatest German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is now Kaliningrad, Russia; Strasbourg, in whose cathedral Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's greatest writer, discovered the distinctiveness of his country's art and history, now lies within the borders of France. For most of the five hundred years covered by this book Germany has been composed of many separate political units, each with a distinct history. And any comfortable national story Germans might have told themselves before 1914 was destroyed by the events of the following thirty years. German history may be inherently fragmented, but it contains a large number of widely shared memories, awarenesses and experiences; examining some of these is the purpose of this book. Beginning with the fifteenth-century invention of modern printing by Gutenberg, MacGregor chooses objects and ideas, people and places which still resonate in the new Germany - porcelain from Dresden and rubble from its ruins, Bauhaus design and the German sausage, the crown of Charlemagne and the gates of Buchenwald - to show us something of its collective imagination. There has never been a book about Germany quite like it.


A new dynamic multi-dimensional index structure called RSR-tree is proposed, in which splitting operations of leaf nodes and non-leaf nodes are performed separatively. RSR-tree retains the sequence ordering of index records in a leaf node of RS-tree and thus reduces the addressing time cost of disk access while reading data files. In addition, it integrates the characteristic of reducing the overlap between brother nodes of R-tree to reduce the query time. The accuracy test and parameter sensitivity test are done on different data sets and the experimental results show that RSR-tree is a dynamic multi-dimensional structure which can efficiently improve query performance and does not bring extra cost of creating index at the same time.