Chapter 1 is a review of the literature concerning the study of volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere. It examines the basic chemistry of the atmosphere and the roles that organic compounds play in it. Also investigated are the methods of sampling and analysing the volatile organic compounds in the air, paying particular attention to the role of solid phase sampling. Chapter 1 also examines the role of volatile organic compounds on air quality.
Chapter 2 describes the experimental procedures that were employed during the course of this research project.
Chapter 3 examines a multi-method approach to the study of volatile organic compounds in urban and indoor air. The methods employed were capillary electrophoresis, high performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. Although good results were obtained for the various methods that were investigated Chapter 3 concludes that a more unified analytical approach is needed to the study of the air.
Chapter 4 investigates the possibilities of using a unified approach to the study of VOC's. This is achieved by the development of an air sampling method that uses solid phase extraction cartridges. By investigating many aspects of air sampling mechanisms the results show that a simple yet efficient method for the sampling of VOC in air has been developed. The SPE method is a reusable, yet reliable method that by using sequential solvent desorption has been shown to exhibit some degree of selectivity. The solid phase that gave the best results was styrene-divinyl benzene however other phases were also investigated.
The use of a single gas chromatography method was also investigated for the purpose of confirmatory identification of the VOC's. Various detection systems were used including MS and AED. It was shown that by optimising the GC's it was possible to get complimentary results.
Also investigated was the possibility of compound tagging in an attempt to confirm the identity of several of the compounds found in the air.
Chapter 5 is a theoretical discussion of the ways presenting the data obtained experimentally in an easy to understand way. Instead of targeting 7 or 8 compounds as being representative of air quality it is argued that by using a technique such as Air Fingerprinting, it is possible to show data that is indicative of the whole air sample. Using actual data it is possible to show the origin of the air sample in a simple yet effective way using air fingerprints.
Also discussed is the Individual Component Air Quality Index, this is a method of quantifying air quality. By taking into account compound toxicity, atmospheric lifetime and UV exposure, the ICAQI, it is argued, is a technique that presents a more accurate picture of air quality.
Chapter 6 concludes the thesis by drawing together the themes and issues that were raised.


Today, the rapid increase of the industrial activities and uncontrolled consumption of natural resources cause environmental problems and interested companies in the activities that support sustainable environment. The primary concerns of reverse logistics are waste management, material recovery, part recovery and product recovery. This paper aims to prioritize critical success factors of reverse logistics in HAMGAM KHODRO ASIA. The results were obtained through a questionnaire from the top-level managers and engineers that work in HAMGAM KHODRO ASIA. Results of case study show that critical success factors of expert and trained personnel, customer satisfaction, flexibility of system, financial advocate of managers and flexibility of management are the strength point of company. Weak points of this case study are environmental awareness, environmental issue, reduction in overall production cost, regularity issue and use of existing personnel.


Employing never-before-used historical materials, the au-thors of Emmett Till and the Mississippi Press reveal how Mississippi journalists both expressed and shaped public opinion in the aftermath of the 1955 Emmett Till murder. Combing small-circulation weeklies as well as large-circulation dailies, Davis W. Houck and Matthew A. Grindy analyze the rhetoric at work as the state attempted to grapple with a brutal, small-town slaying. Initially coverage tended to be sympathetic to Till, but when the case became a clarion call for civil rights and racial justice in Mississippi, journa-lists reacted. Newspapers both reported on the Till investigation and editor-ialized on its protagonists. Within days the Till case transcended the specifics of a murder in the Delta. Coverage wrestled with such com-plex cultural matters as the role of the press, class, gender, and geography in the determination of guilt and innocence. Emmett Till and the Mississippi Press provides a careful examination of the courtroom testimony given in Sumner, Mississippi, and the trial\'s conclusion as reported by the state\'s newspapers. The book closes with an analysis of how Mississippi has attempted to come to terms with its racially troubled past by, in part, memorializing Emmett Till in and around the Delta.


In this Article, we contend that the World Intellectual Property Organization's proposed Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) is premature. Developing countries are struggling to adjust to the heightened standards of intellectual property protection required by the TRIPS Agreement of 1994. With TRIPS, at least, these countries obtained side payments (in the form of trade concessions) to offset the rising costs of knowledge products. A free-standing instrument, such as the SPLT, would shrink the remaining flexibilities in the TRIPS Agreement with no side payments and no concessions to the catch-up strategies of developing countries at different stages of technological advancement. More controversially, we argue that a deep harmonization would boomerang against even its developed country promoters by creating more problems than it would solve. There is no vision of a properly functioning patent system for the developed world that commands even the appearance of a consensus. The evidence shows, instead, that the worldwide intellectual property system has entered a brave new scientific epoch, in which experts have only tentative, divergent ideas about how best to treat a daunting array of new technologies. The proposals for reconciling the needs of different sectors, such as information technology and biotechnology, pose hard, unresolved issues at a time when the costs of litigation are rising at the expense of profits from innovation. These difficulties are compounded by the tendency of universities to push patenting up stream, generating new rights to core methodologies and research tools. As new approaches to new technologies emerge in different jurisdictions, there is a need to gather empirical evidence to determine which, if any, of these still experimental solutions are preferable over time. Our argument need not foreclose other less intrusive options and measures surveyed in the Article that can reduce the costs of delaying harmonization. However, the international community should not rush to freeze legal obligations regarding the protection of intellectual property. It should wait until economists and policymakers better understand the dynamics of innovation and the role that patent rights play in promoting progress and until there are mechanisms in place to keep international obligations responsive to developments in science, technology, and the organization of the creative community.


[From the introduction]. In this book we investigate these challenges – regulating risk in a global economy – through the prism of the United States (US)-European dispute over the regulation of agricultural biotechnology, or, as more popularly known, genetically modified organisms (GMOs).7 The book addresses the interaction of domestic law and politics, transnational networks, international regimes, and global markets in this area. It starts by examining the US and European regulatory differences that gave rise to the conflict, examining the sources of the differences and their impact on the prospects for regulatory convergence or accommodation. It shows how conflicts arise when national regulations become barriers to international trade, and how they can become particularly bitter and intractable when, as in the case of GMOs, they concern the regulation of risk to society. It then addresses attempts to reconcile these differences through transnational networks and multilateral institutions – which have, as we shall see, enjoyed a record of at best mixed success over the past several decades. The US/EU dispute, and whether it can be resolved through deliberative networks or international regimes, matters profoundly, we argue, not just for those countries but for the rest of the world, whose regulation of genetically modified (GM) foods and crops is likely to be influenced by the outcome of the transatlantic conflict. In analyzing the ongoing struggle over the regulation of agricultural biotechnology, we draw upon, and seek to contribute to, rich literatures on politics and law, at both the domestic and international levels. At the domestic level, we ask why the US and EU systems for the regulation of GM foods and crops look as different as they do, and we survey theories of comparative politics that attribute differences in domestic regulation to differences in organized interests, political institutions, culture and ideas, and contingent events, respectively. We also ask about the development of the two regulatory systems over time, drawing on the historical institutionalist literature to understand the conditions under which different regulatory systems are subject to inertia or path-dependence, resisting pressures for change or displaying change only at the margins. We argue that the current "regulatory polarization" between the United States and the European Union cannot be traced to any single factor, but reflects the efforts of domestic interest groups advocating their preferences in specific institutional and cultural contexts, with a significant role played by contingent events on each side. The adoption of starkly different regulatory systems on each side of the Atlantic was not inevitable, we argue, but once these systems were in place, their subsequent development has been incremental, marginal, and path-dependent.


The object of the thesis is to provide a total picture of
the earls in Henry II's reign. Chapter One looks at the history
of earldoms in England, before and after the Norman conquerors
brought with them Carolingian and Norman traditions of local
government. Chapter Two examines the duties, rights and perquisites of the earls as local officials, how their position
changed in the course of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries,
and how, except in certain special cases, their practical role
as local officials became insignificant early in Henry Ins
reign. Chapter Three looks at various aspects of the lives of
Henry II I s earls: their constant travelling; their residences;
their military lifestyle and culture, and their religion.
Chapter Four describes the complex structure of the earls'
honours, and the financial and administrative problems that the
earls faced. Chapters Five and Six examine the relationship
between the earls and royal government. Chapter Five looks at
the role of the earls in central government, both as individuals
and as a group, the impact on the earls of royal justice and the
increasing dependence of the earls on a favourable position at
the royal court. Chapter Six deals specifically with taxation:
the role of the earls in forming taxation policy; the impact of
taxes on the earls, and the growing dependence of taxation on
individual feudal and political relationships between king and subject. Chapter Seven examines the revolt against Henry II in
1173-4, the greatest crisis of the reign, in which many earls
were involved, both for and against the king. Chapter Eight
looks at the region comprising Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk
and Suffolk, showing the earls in their role as powerful local
landlords and Henry II's efforts to establish effective royal
control in the area.


In Gorgias and the New Sophistic Rhetoric, Bruce McComiskey achieves three rhetorical goals: he treats a single sophist's rhetorical techne (art) in the context of the intellectual upheavals of fifth-century BCE Greece, thus avoiding the problem of generalizing about a disparate group of individuals; he argues that we must abandon Platonic assumptions regarding the sophists in general and Gorgias in particular, opting instead for a holistic reading of the Gorgianic fragments; and he reexamines the practice of appropriating sophistic doctrines, particularly those of Gorgias, in light of the new interpretation of Gorgianic rhetoric offered in this book. In the first two chapters, McComiskey deals with a misconception based on selective and Platonic readings of the extant fragments: that Gorgias's rhetorical techne involves the deceptive practice of manipulating public opinion. This popular and ultimately misleading interpretation of Gorgianic doctrines has been the basis for many neosophistic appropriations. The final three chapters deal with the nature and scope of neosophistic rhetoric in light of the non-Platonic and holistic interpretation of Gorgianic rhetoric McComiskey postulates in his opening chapters. He concludes by examining the future of communication studies to discover what roles neosophistic doctrines might play in the twenty-first century. McComiskey also provides a selective bibliography of scholarship on sophistic rhetoric and philosophy in English since 1900.


Electricity was produced by catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) by using gold catalysts at room temperature. The observed rates are faster than conventional processes operating at 500 kelvin or higher for the conversion of CO with water to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide through the water-gas shift (WGS). By eliminating the WGS reaction, we remove the need to transport and vaporize liquid water in the production of energy for portable applications. This process can use CO-containing gas streams from the catalytic reforming of hydrocarbons to produce an aqueous solution of reduced polyoxometalate compounds that can be used to generate power. The reduced polyoxometalate can be reoxidized in fuel cells that contain simple carbon anodes.


On many blockchain platforms, gas fees have to be paid for deploying and executing smart contracts. These fees depend on the size of the contract code as well as the needed computational steps and required storage space of a smart contract. Because of the large amount of gas cost paid each day, there is an inherent motivation to optimize smart contract code in order to reduce these cost.Within this paper, we discuss the application of 25 strategies for code optimization to Solidity smart contracts. A prototype is developed which detects potential optimizations and partially automatically optimizes the code accordingly. The optimization strategies are evaluated based on 3,018 verified open source smart contracts from etherscan.io. We find 471 rule violations in the test data spread across 204 different contract files.


This article revisits the creation of NSC 68, a landmark in Cold War history, in the light of continuing historical debates and with the assistance of archival material recently made available. The article reviews the historiography of NSC 68, including controversies over the language adopted, together with recent writings that stress a broader political economy analysis of U.S. foreign policy. The article revisits the contested issue of whether NSC 68 represented continuity with past policy or a sharp departure from it. In addressing this issue, the article looks closely at the style and tone of the document as well as its impact on the U.S. defense budget and finally its convergence with the other transformative decision of the time, the commitment of resources to the development of the hydrogen bomb.


This mixed research analyzes the use of the Collaborative Wall to improve the teaching-learning conditions in the Bachelor of Visual Arts considering data science and machine learning (linear regression). The sample is made up of 46 students who took the Geometric Representation Systems course at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) during the 2019 school year. The Collaborative Wall is a web application that facilitates the organization and dissemination of ideas through the use of images and text. In the classroom, the students formed teams and used mobile devices to access this web application. The results of machine learning indicate that the organization of ideas in the Collaborative Wall positively influences the participation of students, motivation and learning process. Data science identifies 3 predictive models about the use of this web application in the educational field. Also, the Collaborative Wall facilitates the learning process in the classroom through the comparison and discussion of information. Finally, technological advances allow organizing creative activities that favor the active role of students.


VANEVA-GANCHEVA, T. and Y. DIMITROV, 2013. Chemical control of the potato tuber moth Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller) on tobacco. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 19: 1003-1008 For the purpose of assessing the potential of chemical compounds belonging to different groups (acetamiprid, deltamethrin, imidacloprid and chlorpyrifosethyl + cypermethrin – registered to be used on tobacco in Bulgaria and also indoxacarb and chlorantraniliprole – not registered) to control the attacks of the potato tuber moth Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller) on tobacco, their ovicidal and larvicidal effects have been established under laboratory conditions. Their biological efficiency has also been assessed under field conditions by controlling the extent of the damages caused to the tobacco. Depending on the degree of influence on the eggs, the analyzed substances rank as follows: chlorpyrifosethyl+cypermethrin > deltamethrin > acetamiprid > indoxacarb > imidacloprid > chloranrhaniliprole. Chloranrhaniliprole, chlorpyrifosethyl+cypermethrin and deltamethrin demonstrate the fastest and the strongest effect on the young larvae of the potato tuber moth > 90% mortality. Indoxacarb and acetamiprid also achieve a high mortality rate of > 90% but the effect is slower. Imidacloprid demonstrates the weakest larvicidal effect during the laboratory testing. In accordance with the effectiveness, which is based on the control over the extent of damages under field conditions, the active substances rank as follows: chlorantraniliprole > indoxacarb > deltamethrin > chlorpyrifosethyl+cypermethrin > acetamiprid > imidacloprid. Chlorantraniliprole and indoxacarb provide the most effective and the longest control on the potato tuber moth but, unfortunately, they have not been registered on tobacco. Of all the active compounds registered to be used on tobacco, deltamethrin and chlorpyrifosethyl+cypermethrin can be successfully applied during the attacks of the potato tuber moth and to exercise mutual control over tobacco pests. Acetamiprid and imidacloprid can be applied together to control tobacco pests and also during the attacks of the potato tuber moth in the initial stages after planting, i.e. as the period of protection of the tobacco plants is extended, the extent of damages increases.


OBJECTIVE
The World Health Organization's (WHO) Global School Health Initiative provides a strategy to utilize schools to promote health and reduce the burden of diseases worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate local school health work in Tanzania in relation to existing national guidelines and the WHO initiative.

METHODS
We interviewed 30 health care workers employed at 15 health institutions throughout Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions.

RESULTS
The results indicate a wide gap between the national and international guidelines for school health programs and the health workers' current practices. We found the main obstacles to providing adequate health care to be related to the burden of poverty that influences all levels of school health services, lack of clarity regarding the current official guidelines for school health services, and lack of appropriate offers for continuing education in the area of school health services.

CONCLUSION
In order to successfully establish an integrated school health service, the working relationship between schools, health centres and the community clearly needs improvement.


OBJECTIVE
The role of lifestyle habits in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) is comparatively underexplored. We aim to examine the specific lifestyle habits in patients with LPRD.

METHODS
Systematic sampling was applied to select respondents aged 18 through 80 years in otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) clinics in Nan Fang Hospital during August 2017-July 2018, 1658 eligible participants were included by a systematic sampling method. Subjects with RSI score>13 were considered as LPRD patients. The risk of reflux symptoms was estimated and multivariate calculated as odds ratios in relation to exposure to tobacco smoking, alcohol, coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, chocolate, spicy food, night sleep time, dinner-to-bed time, subjective sleep quality, and physical exercise.

RESULTS
There was a significant dose-response association between carbonated beverage and LPRD. Among people who had drinking carbonated drinks the odds ratio was 1.76 (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.24-2.50, P = .002) compared with non-carbonated drinker. A similar positive association was found for poor subjective sleep quality and shorter night sleeping time, the odds ratio for reflux was 1.58 (95% CI 1.14 to 2.18) among those who always have poor subjective sleep quality compared with those whose have good subjective sleep quality. The odds ratio for reflux was 2.29 (95% CI 1.23-4.28, P = .015) among those who always sleep 3-5 hours every night compared with those who sleep more than 8 hours every night. Beyond that, we found high BMI may have a negative correlation with LPRD, the odds ratio for reflux was .61 (95% CI 0.39 to .95, P = .054) among those whose BMI >25 kg/m2 compared with those BMI ≤ 20 kg/m2.

CONCLUSIONS
Patients with LPRD may have certain lifestyle habits, avoid carbonated beverage, poor subjective sleep quality, and lack of sleep should be advised in treatment of LPRD.


This paper presents a quantitative study of a change in the encoding of direction from the Old French period to the Middle French period: the loss of verb-particle combinations. Using a large electronic corpus, we test a previous hypothesis about the cause of this change from the theoretical literature, namely, that the loss of directional particles was caused by another change in the language around that period: the lexicalization of directional and aspectual prefixes onto verbal roots. We argue that a link between the two changes is not verified by our data. Through this study, we also investigate the extent to which argument structure change parallels another type of morphosyntactic change: abstract parameter change. We argue that the shape of change in the valency of predicates is different from that of parameter change because argument structure change is sensitive to many more factors, including the semantics of particular lexical expressions.


The Drosophila I-R type of hybrid dysgenesis is a sterility syndrome (SF sterility) associated with the mobilization of the I retrotransposon in female germ cells. SF sterility results from a maternal-effect embryonic lethality whose origin has remained unclear since its discovery about 40 years ago. Here, we show that meiotic divisions in SF oocytes are catastrophic and systematically fail to produce a functional female pronucleus at fertilization. As a consequence, most embryos from SF females rapidly arrest their development with aneuploid or damaged nuclei, whereas others develop as non-viable, androgenetic haploid embryos. Finally, we show that, in contrast to mutants affecting the biogenesis of piRNAs, SF egg chambers do not accumulate persistent DNA double-strand breaks, suggesting that I-element activity might perturb the functional organization of meiotic chromosomes without triggering an early DNA damage response.


In his essay, Don't Mourn for Us, Jim Sinclair describes autism as a "way of being." He maintains there is "no normal child hidden behind the autism" and that "it colors every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encounter, every aspect of existence." In an attempt to appreciate the depth of Sinclair's statements, this thesis approaches autism as a "way of being" through the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan. By applying Lacan's conceptual framework to first-person writing and scientific research, I lay an interdisciplinary foundation for the case I make. Although this project requires significant conceptual scaffolding across different epistemological systems, I consider how Lacanian theory possesses a unique capacity to conceive of autism as a way of being and to open new ways of approaching the source material. Implicitly, Sinclair asks that we consider the question of what it means "to be" – autistic, neurotypical, or otherwise. I approach this from the premise that an individual exists as a thinking being, or a "subject." Because psychoanalysis is concerned with the constitutive role of the unconscious in structuring consciousness, this thesis invests substantial space in consideration of how the Lacanian subject is oriented around a fundamental lack. To this end, I return frequently to Lacan's concept of objet a, understood as a representative of the subject's lack in the perceptual realm that is itself lacking. Further, Lacan's unique interpretation of Freud consists in placing language as the ultimate mediating structure of subjectivity; it both generates lack and establishes a system for mitigating it. One's way of being is always a way of being in language.1 Given the predominant roles of language and social communication impairments in the DSM-V diagnostic criteria for autism, a main goal of this project is to consider how an autistic way of being entails a unique structuration of lack.2 Autism and psychoanalysis share a history that extends back to the origins of the diagnosis. I explore this history with a focus on how different psychoanalytic theories conceptualize the autistic subject and to what extent they honor or undermine Sinclair's position. Contemporary Lacanian thinkers of autism do both. Unique to Lacan's structural approach, the concept of the Other is inclusive of a radical alterity, yet also the system of language, the body, and certain aspects of the maternal and paternal functions. The subject is unthinkable apart from the Other. I suggest an autistic way of being is discernible in the autistic subject's relation to each aspect of the Other. I find support for this claim in recent sensorimotor research. Referred to loosely as the movement perspective, this research suggests that differences in how autistic individuals move and perceive others is a "unifying characteristic" of autism.3 Importantly, the movement perspective is proactively inclusive of first-person knowledge. Read through Lacan's conceptual framework, movement differences address the underlying mechanism of the autistic subject's relation to the Other, and thus its way of being. Most fundamentally, this thesis is a work of theory that attempts to articulate something universal about being a subject, without simultaneously eliding what is unique about being an autistic subject


Microsoft Office Project 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For DummiesThis book features a companion Web site where readers can download Microsoft Project add-ins, templates, and author-generated materials. The book also features a gate-fold cheat sheet that contains myriad quick-reference information, tips, and shortcuts for reference when using Microsoft Project 2007.The structure of the book is as follows: Book I: Project Basics Book II: Structure of a Project Book III: Defining Task Details Book IV: Establishing Task Timing Book V: Working with Resources and Costs Book VI: Communicating Project Information Book VII: Resolving Problems with Your Plan Book VIII: Tracking Book IX: Advanced Project Topics Book X: Project in the Enterprise Environment Book XI: Project Case Studies


Active suspensions greatly enhance ride comfort – for example, by reliably damping the movements of the vehicle body. The BMW Group has developed a new damper control for dynamic stabilization, based on a distributed controller consisting of a central electronic control unit (ECU) and satellite ECUs. Production code for the extensive function model was generated with TargetLink in a largely automated development process. Other tools equipped with FlexRay were also used.


The patterns of allometric growth of the grapsid crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus were investigated with an information-theoretic approach. This approach is beneficial, more robust, and may reveal more information than the classical approaches (e.g. hypothesis testing). No differentiation in allometric growth was detected between right and left chelar propods in either sex. Significant sexual differentiation in the allometric growth of chelar propods, abdominal somites and telson was found. It was shown that the allometry of chelar propodus width may be used to identify puberty in males, as there is a marked breakpoint at a carapace width of ~16.0 mm. For females, puberty was identified by the breakpoint in the allometry of the third and fourth abdominal somites at a carapace width of ~16.5 mm. In many cases (e.g. in chelar propods of males, or in most abdominal somites and the telson in females) the classic allometric equation log Y = log a + b log X has no essential support and non-linear allometric models between the log-transformed morphometric characters have to be used.


Gypsum (calcium sulphate dihydrate) is of great industrial importance with over 95,000
ktonnes being used in the world per annum. The greatest use of gypsum is in the
production of plaster (calcium sulphate hemihydrate) for use as an interior finisher. Plaster
is produced by the calcination (thermal decomposition) of gypsum. The most popular
design is a continuous calciner where gypsum is fed continuously and is directly heated by
hot air.
There are a number of different phenomena occurring within a calciner, including heat
transfer, mass transfer, particle and gas mixing, elutriation and the dehydration reaction
itself. All these processes interact with each other. Although a lot of research has been
carried out in these areas already, the literature has been found to contain significant
discrepancies. This study contains experimental work which has been carried out in order
to better understand the physical processes occurring within a gypsum calciner.
The rate of dehydration of gypsum (35-67μm in diameter) has been studied in a fluidised
bed reactor. Experiments were carried out at bed temperatures of 100 to 170°C. The
fluidising gas was air with water vapour pressures of 0.001 to 0.30 atm. The dehydrations
were under differential conditions. The results show that the dehydration under these
conditions can be successfully modelled using the two dimensional Avrami-Er'ovev
expression.
A study of the fluidisation and elutriation properties of gypsum in batch vessels (cylindrical
and conical) has been carried out. The mechanics of elutriation has been investigated and
modelled for various freeboards, superficial gas velocities and air humidities.
Tracer tests have also been carried out on a laboratory scale continuous conical kettle.
Sodium carbonate was used as the inert tracer material. Runs were carried out at different
air and gas flowrates and different bed temperatures. Residence time distributions were
elucidated.
Finally, the above experimental data and component models have been investigated for
their applicability to producing a model of the laboratory scale gypsum calciner.


Various methods are available for reducing or ceasing growth of aggregating suspensions including the addition of highly charged adsorbents (such as gelatin), reduction of ionic strength by dilution, increase in surface charge by alteration in pH and reduction in suspension temperature. The effectiveness of each of these methods in stopping the aggregation of colloidalhematite without altering the aggregate size distribution is examined in this study. Reduction in aggregate temperature is found to be a particularly effective way of stopping the aggregation of hematite while preserving size distribution information.


Given a collection of Boolean spatiotemporal (ST) event-types, the cascading spatiotemporal pattern (CSTP) discovery process finds partially ordered subsets of these event-types whose instances are located together and occur serially. For example, analysis of crime data sets may reveal frequent occurrence of misdemeanors and drunk driving after and near bar closings on weekends, as well as after and near large gatherings such as football games. Discovering CSTPs from ST data sets is important for application domains such as public safety (e.g., identifying crime attractors and generators) and natural disaster planning, (e.g., preparing for hurricanes). However, CSTP discovery presents multiple challenges; three important ones are 1) the exponential cardinality of candidate patterns with respect to the number of event types, 2) computationally complex ST neighborhood enumeration required to evaluate the interest measure and 3) the difficulty of balancing computational complexity and statistical interpretation. Current approaches for ST data mining focus on mining totally ordered sequences or unordered subsets. In contrast, our recent work explores partially ordered patterns. Recently, we represented CSTPs as directed acyclic graphs (DAGs); proposed a new interest measure, the cascade participation index (CPI); outlined the general structure of a cascading spatiotemporal pattern miner (CSTPM); evaluated filtering strategies to enhance computational savings using a real-world crime data set and proposed a nested loop-based CSTPM to address the challenge posed by exponential cardinality of candidate patterns. This paper adds to our recent work by offering a new computational insight, namely, that the computational bottleneck for CSTP discovery lies in the interest measure evaluation. With this insight, we propose a new CSTPM based on spatiotemporal partitioning that significantly lowers the cost of interest measure evaluation. Analytical evaluation shows that our new CSTPM is correct and complete. Results from significant amount of new experimental evaluation with both synthetic and real data show that our new ST partitioning-based CSTPM outperforms the CSTPM from our previous work. We also present a case study that verifies the applicability of CSTP discovery process.


The nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway is a central DNA repair mechanism to repair a variety of bulky DNA lesions. Accumulation of these types of damage all over the genome results in the development of a cancer prone mutator phenotype, as it can be seen in patients with the autosomal recessive disease xeroderma pigmentosum, and their high frequency of ultraviolet induced skin tumors. It is known that decreased NER level are a risk factor for several cancer entities. Several components of the NER pathway already serve as biomarkers for cancer risk and treatment success. The endonucleases XPF/ERCC1 and XPG are the core components of the incision complex of NER. XPF/ERCC1 is also involved in the repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICL). Due to the essential roles of this complex, patient cells retain at least one full-length allele and residual repair capabilities, rendering them unsuitable for XPF variant analyses.
In the course of this thesis, the CRISPR/Cas9 technology was established in the laboratory and applied to generate an XPF knockout in a fetal lung fibroblast cell line (MRC5Vi cells), to analyze the unknown functional relevance of physiologically occurring, spontaneous XPF mRNA splice variants. Furthermore, functional roles of XPF point mutants in NER and ICL repair were investigated.
The successfully generated XPF knockout cells were markedly sensitive to UVC, cisplatin, and PUVA (psoralen activated by UVA) and had reduced repair capabilities for NER and ICL repair as assessed by reporter gene assays. Using the knockout cells it was shown that human XPF is predominately involved in homologous recombination repair but dispensable for non-homologous end-joining. Notably, while ERCC1 was stably expressed in the cytosol, it was not detectable in the nucleus without its heterodimeric partner XPF, implicating the necessity of functional XPF to retain ERCC1 in the nucleus. Overexpression of wildtype XPF reversed these effects. Functional analyses revealed two XPF splice variants with residual repair capabilities (XPF-201 and XPF-003) in NER, as well as ICL repair. XPF-201 lacks the first 12 amino acids of the protein, while XPF-003 is severely C-terminally truncated. Interestingly, another variant, XPF-202, which differs to XPF-003 in the first 12 amino acids only, had no repair capability whatsoever, suggesting an important role of this protein region. It might be involved in interacting with other proteins of the DNA repair machinery.
Splice variants of XPF and XPG, already characterized during my master thesis, were identified to exert dominant negative effects on NER, when stably overexpressed in wildtype cells. Additionally, the newly generated KO cells represent a highly promising tool for mechanistic studies. In this cellular background without XPF expression, point mutants showed different catalytic activities compared to reconstituted in vitro systems, which are limited by the artificial combination of recombinant proteins, or patient cell lines retaining at least one full-length allele.
Finally, it was shown that the XPF and XPG splice variants varied in their inter-individual expression in healthy donors, as well as in various tissues. Together with their residual repair capability, dominant-negative effects, and different expression levels, functionally relevant spontaneous splice variants of XPF and XPG present promising prognostic marker candidates for individual cancer risk, disease outcome, and therapeutic success. Association studies and translational research within clinical trials will have to confirm this assumption in the future.


Introduction Do Not Attempt Resuscitation Orders(DNAR) and their contemporary counterparts are cornerstones of End of Life care and as such, of importance within medical education. Previous research indicates the need for a better understanding of patient and physicians perceptions of DNAR topics. Aims and methods The objective of the study was to explore medical students(MS) and non-medical students perspectives on DNAR discussions(DNARD), and explore any differences. This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study. MS and Education students(ES) were asked how they felt regarding DNARD taking place in 5 scenarios, a number of questions regarding previous experience, knowledge of DNARD, future preferences, and basic demographics. Results The number of valid respondents was 601 (375[MS],226[ES]) representing a response rate of over 70%. There were statistically significant differences between MS and ES in the presented clinical scenarios and future preferences. Ranking of clinical scenarios, highest agreement to lowest, for DNARD to take place were: before surgery, when critically ill, at a GP appointment, on admission to hospital, at an outpatient appointment. Statistically significant demographic differences were also found: 93% of MS having heard of DNAR previously as compared to 59% of ES. Both groups held the view that a DNARD would be beneficial for them in the future but that they should have the final decision regarding DNAR. Conclusion MS and ES were found to hold differing views regarding DNARD in scenario preferences and personal future preferences. However, the majority of both groups felt that DNARD would be beneficial to them in the future. References . Mary Catherine Beach, R Sean Morrison. The Effect of Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders on Physician Decision-Making. Ethics, public policy, and medical economics2002;50:2057–206. . Cathy Charles, Tim Whelan, Amiram Gafni. What do we mean by partnership in making decisions about treatment?BMJ1999;319:780. . James Downar, Tracy Luk, Robert W Sibbald, Tatiana Santini, Joseph Mikhael, Hershl Berman, Laura. Why Do Patients Agree to a "Do Not Resuscitate" or "Full Code" Order? Perspectives of Medical Inpatients. Journal of internal medicine2011;26(6):582–587. . Thomas H. Gallagher, Steven Z. Pantilat, Bernard Lo & Maxine A. Papadakis (1999) Teaching Medical Students to Discuss Advance Directives: A Standardised Patient Curriculum, Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 11:3, 142–147, DOI: 10.1207/S15328015TL110304 . Paul Garrud. (2011). Who applies and who gets admitted to UK graduate entry medicine? - an analysis of UK admission statistics. BMC Medical Education. 11:71. . General Medical Council. (2013). Chapter1: The changing shape of the profession and medical education. In: The state of medical education and practice in the UK report: 2013. General Medical Council. 32. . GMC, 2010. End of life treatment and care: Good practice in decision-making. Specifically paragraphs 11, 132 and 134. Can be accessed at: http://www.gmcuk.org/guidance/ethical_guidance/end_of_life_care.asp . Todd E. Gorman, MD, FRCP(C), Ste'phane P. Ahern, MD, FRCP(C), Jeffrey Wiseman, MD, FRCP(C), MA, and Yoanna Skrobik, MD, FRCP(C). (2005). Residents' End-of-Life Decision Making with Adult Hospitalised Patients: A Review of the Literature. Academic Medicine. 80 (7), 622–633. . Gorton, A.J., Jayanthi, N.V.G., Lepping, P., Scriven, M.W., 2008. Patients' attitudes towards "do not attempt resuscitation" status. J Med Ethics. Vol 34; 624–626. . W. Hafferty, Joseph F. O'Donnell (2015). The Hidden Curriculum in Health Professional Education. United States of America: Dartmouth College Press. 5. . Karen Hancock, Josephine M Clayton, Sharon M Parker, Sharon Wal der, Phyllis N Butow, Sue Carrick, David Currow, Davina Ghersi, Paul Glare, Rebecca Hagerty, Martin HN Tattersall . (2007). Truth-telling in discussing prognosis in advanced life-limiting illnesses: a systematic review. Palliative Medicine. 21 , 507–517. . Jan C. Hofmann, Neil S. Wenger, Roger B. Davis, Joan Teno, Alfred F. Connors, Norman Desbiens, Joanne Lynn, Russell S. Phillips. (1997). Patient Preferences for Communication with Physicians about End-of-Life Decisions . Annals of Internal Medicine. 1 July 1997. . NHS Scotland. (2016). NHSScotland. Available: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/About/NHS-Scotland. Last accessed 25th Nov 2016. . NRS: National Records of Scotland. (2013). Religion, Scotland, 2001 and 2011.Available: http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/censusresults/release2a/rel2asbtable7.pdf. Last accessed 25th Nov 2016 . ONS: Office for National Statistics. (2011). Full story: What does the Census tell us about religion in 2011?. Available: http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/articles/fullstorywhatdoesthecensustellusaboutreligionin2011/2013-05-16. Last accessed 25th Nov 2016. . Stephen R. Porter and Michael E. Whitcomb. (2005). NON-RESPONSE IN STUDENT SURVEYS: The Role of Demographics, Engagement and Personality. Research in Higher Education. 46 (2). . Amy Sanderson, David Zurakowski, Joanne Wolfe. (2013). Clinician Perspectives Regarding the Do-Not-Resuscitate Order. JAMA paediatrics. 167 (10), 954–958. . Scottish Government, 2010. Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR): Integrated Adult Policy. Reviewed 2015. Can be accessed at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Quality-sImprovement-Performance/peolc/DNACPR . Clive Seale. (2010). The role of doctors' religious faith and ethnicity in taking ethically controversial decisions during end-of-life care. Journal of Medical Ethics. doi:10.1136/jme.2010.036194. . C O Sham, Y W Cheng, K W Ho, P H Lai, L W Lo, H L Wan, C Y Wong, Y N Yeung, S H Yuen, A Y C Wong. (2007). Do-not-resuscitate decision: the attitudes of medical and non medical students. Clinical Ethics . 33 (5), 261–265. . UKMCRG: UK Medical Careers Research Group (2001). 1999 cohort of UK Medical Graduates: Report of First Survey. Oxford: Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oxford. 14. . Jacqueline K. Yuen, M. Carrington Reid, and Michael D. Fetters. (2011). Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders: Why They Have Failed and How to Fix Them. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 26 (7), 791–797. . Rocksheng Zhong, Joshua Knobe, PhD, Neal Feigenson, JD, and Mark R. Mercurio, MD, MA. (2011). Age and Disability Biases in Paediatric Resuscitation Among Future Physicians. Clinical Paediatrics., 1–4.


Objective To compare pharmacy team input to medicines reconciliation (MR) in a variety of care areas in order to inform optimisation of service delivery. Methods 30 acute hospital pharmacy departments evaluated their MR services in 10 care areas using a piloted data collection form. Omitted medicines and wrong dose discrepancies on the admission prescription were recorded and rated for clinical severity. Data were collected on whether the admission was planned, the number of coprescribed medicines and if the patient had brought their home medicines into hospital. Results 3086 MRs were reviewed and 4041 unintended discrepancies (UDs) in prescribing were identified (mean 1.3/MR). 1616 UDs (0.52 per patient) were ranked as having the potential for moderate impact on patient care (Level 3). Level 3 UDs were identified in all care areas; however, Admissions, Care of the Elderly, General Surgery and Orthopaedic patients had more Level 3 UDs per patient than the total population (two-tailed Z test, 99% CI). More UDs was ranked Level 3 in Care of the Elderly and General Surgery patients (two-tailed Z test, 99% CI). Over 80% of recorded errors involved four prescribing categories (cardiovascular, central nervous system, endocrine, respiratory). Planned admissions and the presence of the patients' own medicines had little impact on the accuracy of admission prescribing. The average time to carry out MR was 15 min. Conclusions Prioritisation of pharmacy-led MR by care area or type of admission alone is not a safe option. Opportunities should instead be taken to explore multidisciplinary methods of implementing MR which optimise available information.


The over all objectives of this thesis was to map factors of importance for breastfeeding such as maternal background factors, maternal perception of breastfeeding support, confidence, caring routines, breastfeeding attitudes of health care professionals, and to investigate whether a training intervention within the care team of the antenatal (ANC) and child health centres (CHC) would improve maternal perception of support and strengthen maternal feelings for the baby. Material and method: A questionnaire was sent to mothers when their babies were 9-12 months old (n=540). The questionnaire embraced questions regarding maternal background, caring routines, perception of support and duration of breastfeeding (I-II). Thereafter an attitudinal instrument was developed to measure breastfeeding attitudes in health care professionals (n=168). Four attitude dimensions were identified by factor analysis (III). Ten municipalities in a county of south west Sweden was paired and randomized to intervention or control (IV). Thus, all midwives and postnatal nurses working at the ANC or CHC in a randomised municipality were asked to participate in the study (n=81). Health professionals in the intervention group had a process-oriented training in breastfeeding counselling including planned continuity in family education and development of a common breastfeeding policy within the caring team. Changes in attitude were measured by the instrument developed in study III. For study V, mothers were recruited from the maternity and were allocated to interventionor control group according to the randomization of municipalities in study IV (n=565). Questionnaires were sent out at three days, 3 and 9 months post partum to investigate how the care and counselling skills acquired by the health care professionals would be reflected in maternal perception of breastfeeding support and maternal feelings for and relation to the baby. Results: Early initiation of suckling, late discharge from hospital (more than 72 hours) and perceived good support contributed positively to the duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Supplementation the first days after birth for other than medical reasons shortened the duration of breastfeeding. For primiparas, the partner's presence after childbirth contributed positively to the duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Multiparas who were aware of their mothers breastfeeding history had a longer breastfeeding period than those who did not know of their mother's breastfeeding history. Mothers were more satisfied with the breastfeeding information they had received at maternity than the breastfeeding information they got from the ANC and CHC (I-II). This induced the idea to develop an attitude instrument and start a training intervention for the care team at ANC and CHC. The attitudinal dimensions identified by the factor analysis were: The regulating factor comprising statements scheduling breastfeeding; the facilitating factor comprising statements showing confidence in the ability of the mother-infant dyad to breastfeed on their own; the disempowering factor comprising statements that objectified the woman and ascribed her no ability to breastfeed without guidance of the health care professional and the breastfeeding antipathy factor comprising statements that showed unwillingness and failing knowledge about breastfeeding (III). After training the health care professionals became less regulating and more facilitating (IV). Family classes provided the intervention mothers with better breastfeeding information, more knowledge about their social rights, the needs of the baby and a stronger social network than the control mothers (V). The postnatal nurse gave a better over all support, was a better listener, showed more understanding and provided the mother with better information about breastfeeding and the needs of the baby. Mothers in the intervention group reported that they interacted more with their baby. They had also more positive views on their baby and felt more confident and close with the baby than mothers in the control groups (V). Conclusion: This study showed that it is important to adopt caring routines, which will facilitate breastfeeding. The health care professional needs to find out the background of the mother to be able to provide her with adequate breastfeeding counselling. Caring routines should include early suckling. Supplementation of the baby the first week after birth should only be given on medical grounds. This study showed that a process-oriented training in breastfeeding counselling alters attitudes of health care professionals in a positive way. The trained health care professionals organized continuity of family classes and developed a common breastfeeding policy and were more supportive in their encounters with the mothers. These behaviors strengthen the mother's feelings for her baby and brought about a richer interaction with her baby. A model to provide continuity of family classes, conducted by trained antenatal midwives and postnatal nurses should thus be practiced within the caring team around first time parents.


In a ground anchor system, cables or tendons connected to a bearing plate are used for stabilization of slopes. Then, the stability of a slope is dependent on maintaining the tension levels in the cables. So far, no research on a strain-based field sensing system for ground anchors has been reported. Therefore, in this study, a practical monitoring system for long-term sensing of tension levels in tendons for anchor-reinforced slopes is proposed. The system for anchor-reinforced slopes is composed of: (1) load cells based on vibrating wire strain gauges (VWSGs), (2) wireless sensor nodes which receive and process the signals from load cells and then transmit the result to a master node through local area communication, (3) master nodes which transmit the data sent from sensor nodes to the server through mobile communication, and (4) a server located at the base station. The system was applied to field sensing of ground anchors in the 62 m-long and 26 m-high slope at the side of the highway. Based on the long-term monitoring, the safety of the anchor-reinforced slope can be secured by the timely applications of re-tensioning processes in tendons.


Thiazolidinediones (TZD) are synthetic orally active peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ ligands used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ gene plays an important role in regulating fat cell development, energy balance, and lipid metabolism in adipose and skeletal muscle tissue. There is interest in pharmacologic or nutritional means that may complement genetic techniques to improve growth and carcass composition of lambs and the major aim of the present study was to determine whether TZD impact on growth performance and meat quality of growing lambs. An initial study with four cross-bred lambs confirmed that rosiglitazone maleate is absorbed after oral dosing for 7 days. A second study was conducted with 30 cross-bred lambs to investigate the effects of sex (ewe vs wether) and dose of orally administered rosiglitazone maleate (0, 8 and 24 mg/day) for 55 days on growth performance, body composition, plasma metabolites and insulin and meat quality. Feed intake tended to increase linearly with dose of TZD (1521, 1816 and 1878 g/day for 0, 8 and 24 mg/day, P = 0.07) over the entire study, and particularly during the second half of the study (P < 0.05). There were both linear (P = 0.05) and quadratic (P = 0.04) responses in average daily gain to TZD (215, 270 and 261 g/day) with the quadratic response being most pronounced over the second half of the study (P = 0.004). As a result of the increased feed intake back fat (9.4, 11.1 and 13.5 mm, P < 0.001) and carcass fat (27.5%, 29.2% and 30.1%, P = 0.05) increased linearly with dose of TZD. However, there was no effect of TZD on internal fat depots. Plasma non-esterified acid concentrations increased linearly (0.37, 0.39 and 0.41 mM, P = 0.01) whereas plasma insulin concentrations (23.2, 26.9 and 20.9 mU/L, P = 0.05) and the homeostatic model assessment (6.82, 7.73 and 5.98, P = 0.05) exhibited quadratic responses to TZD. There were no significant effects of TZD on muscle pH, temperature or colour although muscle pH was higher at any temperature in ewes (+ 0.05 of a pH unit, P = 0.036) than in wethers. In conclusion, these data confirm that rosiglitazone maleate was rapidly absorbed from the digestive tract of growing ruminant lambs and was metabolically active. Oral TZD treatment appeared to mitigate against the inhibitory effect of carcass fatness on feed intake but the additional energy consumed was in turn deposited as fat.


In this paper we develop a new concept of globalization defined as the exposure of a productivity follower industry in one country to the productivity leader in another country. Globalization is measured by the intensity of contacts through trade and foreign direct investment. In a simple model and empirically we show that the exposure of a productivity follower to competition with the leader is highly correlated with the productivity gap of this industry. Competition restricted to one region such as Europe, or North America, or the Far East, is not sufficient to achieve highest productivity levels. Moreover, it turns out that FDI has a weight in the globalization index at least equal to trade. FDI can contribute directly to higher levels of domestic productivity by transferring the best production practices, and put pressur on other domestic producers to improve. The impact of trade on globalization can be weakened by tariffs and non-tariffs.


There has been a recent increase in country-focused publications on women artists in Southeast Asia that highlight the newfound interest in feminist-inspired discourses and histories of women artists. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have shared a common history and culture for millennia. The socio-economic cultural patterns in these three countries are very similar, particularly when it comes to the status of women. Notwithstanding the difference in religions followed and practiced in these countries, the women here more-or-less experience similar challenges in their advancement. These three countries have traditionally suffered from poverty, illiteracy, health and infrastructure issues, and are bracketed as third world countries on the basis of data pertaining to aforementioned criteria for determining development. My paper aims to identify and understand the challenges of women artists in these countries and examine how these artists explore and express their identities through paintings, installation art, and performances. My study will also highlight different perspectives on the marginalization of women artists, suggesting lines of inquiry that might be profitable in the future.


This article is adapted from a series of blog posts originally found in my recently-started blog entitled Legal Evolution. The foundational material set forth in this article (and in those blog posts) applies to the legal services market insights gained from disciplines other than law. This article begins by setting forth the well-established theory of an "innovation diffusion curve" and the research that has identified the factors that affect the rate of adoption of innovations. This article identifies why innovation in the legal services market is desirable and applies to the legal services field insights drawn from this research in other fields. In the course of presenting these theories, the article explains why and how research about things such as the speed of adoption of hybrid corn seed is directly relevant to lawyers and law firms. It also identifies factors that can promote innovation within a law firm and factors that can inhibit innovation within a law firm, including the challenges that firms face because factors that promote the initial stage of innovation may later hamper its widespread implementation. In addition to the discussion of the applicability of the innovation diffusion curve to the legal services market, this article discusses the relevance of work that has been done outside of law to identify when an innovation is likely to "cross the chasm" between early adopters and an early majority and the relevance of Gartner's work about the impact and stages of "hype." This article also explains the crucial role that communication channels, uch as the Legal Evolution blog, can play in fostering innovation within the legal services market and explains how the foundational understanding set forth in this article can help promote legal services innovation and can help one understand the reasons for the successes-and failures-of legal services innovation. * Professor and Stephen F. Burns Chair on the Legal Profession, Indiana University Maurer School of Law. DICKINSON LAW REVIEW Although the content of this article originally was published in the foundational posts of the Legal Evolution blog, publication of this article means that my presentation of research from other fields and the conclusions I draw from that research can reach those who prefer a more traditional method of transmission. I thank the editors of Penn State's Dickinson Law Review for recognizing the importance of these issues and for agreeing to publish this article which does not fit the traditional heavilyfootnoted law review format.


The economics of wastewater management and treatment is the subject of growing interest by water agencies and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operators. Currently, the plant production process and efficiency improvement of WWT plants became a challenge for WWT plants. The need of cost-efficient and reliable treatment processes has significantly increased so as to meet the level of environmental regulations and national goals. WWTPs are energy-intensive facilities. In addition, energy efficiency of WWTPs is the starting point for any energy-saving initiative. In this paper, energy efficiency of wastewater treatment plants is investigated. A case study has been carry out in 79 sampling of WWTPs in Iran's industrial zones with the purpose to identify electrical energy efficiency indices (EEEI). For this goal, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology was applied Data and the problem was implemented in Lingo11 software. The great advantage of this methodology is that it enables the identification of cost items on which to act to increase the efficiency at plant level. In a second stage analysis, the electrical energy efficiency index was estimated for different quality effluent with regression equation and formulated usingMinitab17 software.


This study investigates the effects of strategic planning on the accuracy of EFL learners' performance on oral and written narrative tasks. The study addresses the complex relationship between the planning process and accuracy in task performance. Data collected from 60 learners in a Turkish EFL educational setting showed that strategic planning did not significantly affect accuracy on the oral task, and that it had an adverse effect on the written task. Modality (oral or written) made a significant difference under unplanned conditions. On the other hand, a post-task questionnaire revealed that we need to examine what learners attend to during the strategic planning phase to understand how they actually use the planning time and whether they change their focus of attention during the task performance phase. Through its focus on these aspects of task-based language teaching (TBLT) and learning, including planning time, accuracy, and oral and written modalities, this study brings to the fore these important aspects of how TBLT works in EFL settings.


Due to fast depletion of petrochemical stock and environmental concern both, utilization of vegetable oils as a renewable resource in the synthesis of polymeric materials are in the spotlight of the chemical industries. Keeping these facts in mind we have attempted to utilize Melia azedarach seed oil (MASO), a renewable and eco-friendly resource presently rot away at the various plantations in each season in the synthesis of styrenated poly(ester-amide) resin (SMAPEA). The poly (ester-amide) (MAPEA) was prepared by the aminolysis of triglyceride oil with diethanol amine followed by the poly (condensation) with phthalic acid. The MAPEA then treated with styrene in different per hundred of resin (phr) to obtain a series of SMAPEA resins. The synthesized intermediates and final resins have been characterized by the measuring the physico-chemical properties as per standard laboratory methods and spectral analyses. The coatings of SMAPEA were also tested for physico-mechanical performances.


The medical malpractice tort system is a failure. Judged on economic terms, more than fifty percent of the dollars are lost to transaction costs, and the instability of the market disrupts the orderly delivery of medical care. Judged on public health terms, it not only fails to provide incentives for better medical care, but its irrationality actually impedes the adoption of better medical care practices in several important situations. Most damning, judged on justice terms, it provides inadequate or non-existent compensation to most injured patients and undeserved windfalls to others, while forcing good doctors to subsidize the errors of incompetent physicians, who thus gain a market edge. Medical malpractice has been very good for the pocketbooks and political aspiration of lawyers, but it has failed the public and health-care providers alike. The magnitude of the failure of the tort system has been documented in a series of studies of substandard medical care, starting with the New York Study in the 1980s and culminating in the 1999 Institute of Medicine Study (the IOM study), To Err is Human, and the sequel, Crossing the Quality Chasm. These studies claimed that each year as many as 98,000 Americans die and many more suffer significant injuries from medical mistakes, making malpractice one of the leading causes of death. The New York Study also echoed the finding of previous studies that most injured patients did not sue for medical malpractice, and among those who did, the severity of their injuries and not the scientific merits of their claim determined their compensation.Implicitly recognizing the failure of the states to deal with patient safety, the federal government is moving forward with a national system for reviewing the quality of medical care and disciplining errant providers. While the authors believe that the fundamental motivation for this patients' system is to save money through controlling the delivery of medical care, nonetheless, it can be the core of an alternative to the torts system. This article explores an integrated quality credentialing and administrative compensation system for medical negligence. The authors argue that such a system must replace the tort system. Current efforts to impose federal quality standards while tinkering with concepts such as enterprise liability and no-fault compensation as adjuncts to the tort system will only perpetuate the injustice of the current system.


This paper presents the Belgian inter-firm network for the years 2002 to 2012. Combining raw data from VAT listings, VAT declarations and annual accounts information, we build a unique and consistent database containing values of transactions between enterprises in the Belgian economy. The dataset spans Primary Industries, Manufacturing, Utilities, Market Services and Non-Market Services. This dataset, unparalleled in coverage at the firm-to-firm level and its panel dimension, allows one to analyze a broad spectrum of research questions in industrial organization, international trade, network theory etc. As a simple example of the potential of this dataset, we evaluate the position of enterprises in the Belgian network, their distance to final demand and their relationship with exports and imports. The degree of upstreamness, defined as a weighted distance to final demand, of the average enterprise is 1.6, ranging between 1 and 9.5. While only 5 % of enterprises export, 82 % of the enterprises in the Belgian network are producing goods and services that are either directly or indirectly exported after transformation or use. On the ip side, only 9 % of enterprises are importers but 99 % of firms are either importers or have importers in their supply chain and therefore consume imported inputs indirectly. However, we find large interand intra-sectoral as well as inter-regional heterogeneity in enterprise positions in the Belgian production network.


Drawing an analogy between the specialist skills needed in fishing to that of strategic intelligence analysis, this paper revisits the selection criteria for analysts who focus on terrorism. As the global terrorist environment has changed significantly in the post-2001 era, additional analytical capabilities need to be considered. These capabilities include not only the traditional expectations of particular personal attributes and intellectual engagement, but the capacity for analysts to operate effectively across multiple agency and jurisdictional boundaries, to integrate knowledge drawn from local regional and global perspectives, and an ability to understand the impact of tactical actions upon strategic objectives. It addresses three key questions: 1. What constitutes a strategic intelligence analyst in this day and age, and how might we identify such a rare creature? 2. What is it about modern terrorists and their international habitat that makes them different from other more traditional subjects for intelligence analysis? 3. Are there any special skills needed to catch international terrorists, or at least to analyse and report on modern terrorism?


This Article critically examines the courts' application of the "special needs" exception to Fourth Amendment searches that are designed to prevent terrorist attacks. It concludes that the special needs doctrine cannot justify these search regimes, and offers a proposal to ensure that these searches comport with the Constitution. In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, local police across the country instituted blanket searches devoid of individualized suspicion at various venues - political protests, sporting events, subway platforms, and public ferries - all in an attempt to prevent further terrorist attacks. When evaluating these searches, courts have relied upon the special needs doctrine, which allows the government to conduct a suspicionless search as long as the search serves a special need distinct from the goals of law enforcement. Over the past eight years, courts have struggled to determine whether and how the special needs doctrine applies to these anti-terrorism searches, and their struggles have produced inconsistent results. The Article first reviews the history of anti-terrorism searches, which can be roughly divided into three different time periods. In the early 1970's, in response to an epidemic of hijackings and bombings of public buildings, the government instituted a regime of suspicionless searches at airports and public buildings - earches which are still with us today. During the second period, as the imminent danger of these terrorist actions abated, courts continued to uphold the searches, and suspicionless searches spread to other contexts far removed from the terrorist threat. Finally, in the third era, which began in 2001 and continues to the present day, the government aggressively expanded its use of anti-terrorism searches, creating a new set of challenges for courts attempting to evaluate their constitutionality. The Article then explains why anti-terrorism searches cannot be justified under the special needs doctrine, and indeed why - in their current form - these searches cannot be justified under any Fourth Amendment doctrine. It then proposes a solution: suspicionless searches to prevent terrorism should be permitted, but only if the fruits of the search cannot be used in a subsequent criminal prosecution. Although the solution at first seems controversial, it represents a reasonable balance between the need to protect the country from terrorist attacks and the need to draw a principled distinction between special needs searches and general searches.


Labour market policies settled at national level imply a "one-size-fits-all" labour market strategy. This strategy might not sufficiently take into account region-specific economic structures. In this paper we employ a panel factor-augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR) to evaluate whether active labour market programs (ALMPs) might asymmetrically affect labour markets at regional level. Given the significant difference between Italian regional economies we separately analyse two areas: the Centre-North and the South. Our results suggest that the timing and magnitude of the reaction of employment rate to ALMP shocks in the two areas is substantially different. Moreover, forecast error variance decomposition highlight that different variables seem to drive employment dynamics. In the South employment is mainly driven by its own shocks and by social and economic context variables. By contrast, in the northern regions, the employment dynamics is significantly explained by the dynamics of nominal and policy variables such as remunerations and ALMP.


The purpose of this paper is to argue for an ontological investigation into the very nature of organizations and their leadership, in the tradition of Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology.1 Organizations in general, and corporations in particular, play an ever-more prominent role in contemporary society and, given their pervasive influence in all spheres of life, it seems surprising that this has not led to a vibrant ontological inquiry into what they are in their very nature. In choosing a guide for engaging in such an ontological inquiry, Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology seems promising, as he made the most prominent contribution to the ontological project in the twentieth century - a time that coincides not only with the rise of corporations, but also with the corporatization of many other aspects of contemporary society.2 Real progress in any science takes place when the fundamental assumptions of the very nature of entities to be researched are acknowledged as untenable, and are revised in a more or less radical manner.3 In such instances - as Michael Inwood4 points out, with reference to Heidegger5 - the inquiry, strictly speaking, is no longer scientific but philosophical - or, more precisely, ontological. Ontology is defined as "the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being,"s and is also understood to be "the 'study of beings as such,' but it can be a 'regional' ontology, concerned with the being or nature of e.g. numbers, space, ora work of literature."7 In this essay, I want to submit the phenomenon "organization" and, by implication, the field of organizational studies to such an ontological investigation, with the goal of making such a contribution. An ontological investigation is itself prescientific and serves to build a foundation for establishing and developing appropriate theory-generating and scientific approaches, and, consequently, research agendas and research methodologies. Just like any other academic discipline, organizational sciences and studies necessarily rest on the assumptions about the very nature of the entity with which they are concerned, namely, the organization - whether these assumptions are specifically articulated or not.8 As Heidegger himself points out, science and ontology are, therefore, inherently inseparable.1* Any science presupposes an understanding of the very nature of the entity that is being researched, and can only research and understand that which is inherently permissible in its way to ascertain entities. 10If the fundamental ontological assumptions of the very nature of the organization as the entity that organizational studies is concerned with turn out to be untenable, all the hard work built on these assumptions would turn out to be of limited validity, or even to be misleading." Concerns about an Ontology for Organizational Studies Thomas C. Powell has made a foundational contribution to the academic field of strategic management - and, by implication, organizational studies - by explicitly confronting these fields of investigation with philosophical questioning and inquiry.12 His arguments against an ontological discourse are not novel from a philosophical perspective. They deserve their prominence in the following argument, however, as they are a rare occurrence in the field of strategic management, in two ways. First, they articulate the implicit, but until then largely unarticulated, empiricist and pragmatist philosophical foundation of the vast majority of the prominent scholarly work in these academic disciplines, especially in the Englishspeaking world. Second, by doing so, Powell's papers provide the opportunity to engage with this philosophical bias and expose it to further scrutiny and development where this is clearly relevant, even according to Powell himself.11 Unlike many other academic fields - for example, the political science or law - which were generated by philosophical insight and are guided by an ongoing, more or less vibrant philosophical discourse, the academic fields of strategic and organizational management and organizational studies have, for the most part, started out as a result of the pragmatic need to give guidance to the management of a relatively young phenomenon - namely, the modern organization in general, and the corporation in particular. …


The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) is the business incubator of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. ATI works with seedand pre-seed-stage technology startups, helping to prepare these businesses for commercial success. This study estimated the value to the Travis County economy of ATI companies that graduated over a 10-year period from 2003 to 2012. The study analyzed ATI's economic contribution in two ways: First, it used data-intensive IMPLAN input-output analysis to estimate quantitative economic and fiscal impacts, based on a survey of ATI alumni company CEOs. Second, short case profiles, derived from interviews with ATI alumni founders, identified qualitative impacts. ATI companies that graduated in the 10 years from 2003 to 2012 are estimated to have generated more than $880 million dollars in economic benefits, created more than 6,520 jobs, and produced more than $20 million in local tax revenue. In addition, many of the founders of the graduated ATI companies later created other companies, became angel investors in local startups, and made important civic contributions beyond their incubated company.


The arguments in the literature for and against "mental illness", are shown to founder on the lack of a thorough analysis of the sense of "illness" itself. Such an analysis is developed in the present study in three main stages. STAGE ONE: The ordinary use of "dysfunction" is examined. The term is shown to imply a particular kind of value judgement, derived, in respect of objects, from the purposes of living things for them. STAGE TWO: The sense of "illness" is interpreted from examples of physical illness by comparing and contrasting it with "dysfunction". An important logical link with "action" is identified, which provides an interpretation of the particular kind of negative evaluation implied by "illness". The relationship between "illness" and "disease" is examined in terms of this negative evaluation. STAGE THREE: The results of stage two are generalised from "physical illness" to "mental illness" by way of the notion of "action". "Mental illness" is examined as illustrated by examples of four main kinds of condition - organic psychosis, neurosis, addiction and functional psychosis. In respect of the first of these, "mental illness" is shown to be similar in its logical properties to "physical illness"; in respect of the remaining three, it is shown to be different, but in three quite distinct ways. In each case, however, the properties of "mental illness" are derived consistently with the interpretation of "illness" developed from examples of physical illness in stage two. "Mental illness" and "physical illness" are thus shown to be logically equivalent. In a concluding section, the implications of this result for the debate about "mental illness" are examined.


It is widely assumed that interprofessional learning (IPL) impacts positively on interprofessional working (IPW) in health and social care. However, there is no clear evidence that pre-qualifying IPL improves service delivery. The direct effect of pre-qualifying IPL on IPW and service delivery is difficult to demonstrate; researchers must rely on professionals' self-report in this regard. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study in which semi-structured interviews were used to collect individuals' views and perceptions about pre-qualifying IPL as preparation for practice. Two groups of participants came from four health and social care professions: adult nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy and social work. One group had experienced a substantial pre-qualifying IPL initiative, while the other group had not. Useful insights were gained from comparing the views and perceptions of individuals from these two groups. The total sample comprised 29 practitioners: 19 were educated on interprofessional curricula and 10 on traditional uniprofessional curricula. Thematic data analysis produced findings about pre-qualifying education as preparation for IPW. These findings suggest that pre-qualifying IPL can prepare individuals to work effectively as qualified professionals with colleagues from other disciplines and that effective IPW impacts positively on service delivery.


High-repetition rate femtosecond lasers are shown to drive heat accumulation processes that are attractive for rapid writing of low-loss optical waveguides in transparent glasses. A novel femtosecond fiber laser system (IMRA America, FCPA muJewel) providing variable repetition rate between 0.1 and 5 MHz was used to study the relationship between heat accumulation and resulting waveguide properties in fused silica and various borosilicate glasses. Increasing repetition rate was seen to increase the waveguide diameter and decrease the waveguide loss, with waveguides written with 1-MHz repetition rate yielding ~0.2-dB/cm propagation loss in Schott AF45 glass. A finite-difference thermal diffusion model accurately tracks the waveguide diameter as cumulative heating expands the modification zone above 200-kHz repetition rate.


The stability of a digital control system and its performance in terms of the continuous plant output are studied. A two-step controller design is proposed. In the first step, the assumption of no modelling error is made and a controller that combines properties of the algorithm that minimizes the sum of squared errors and a deadbeat-type algorithm is designed so that no intersample rippling appears. In the second step, a filter is designed so that appropriate conditions which guarantee robust stability and performance in the presence of model-plant mismatch are satisfied. The effect of the sampling time on the achievable performance and the robustness properties of the system is examined and the results are incorporated in a complete procedure for sampling-time selection and robust controller design. Finally, the procedure and some theoretical implications are illustrated with examples.


Effects of YAG: Ce phosphor particle size on the luminous flux and angular color uniformity have been studied by using Monte Carlo ray-tracing simulation. A white LED model basing on Cree XLamp is constructed. The phosphor particle size is changed from 2 to 20 μm. Different simulation cases are carried out by changing the phosphor concentration and thickness. Results revealed that the luminous flux and angular color uniformity have complex relationships with the particle size depending on applied phosphor concentration and desired color temperature. A general finding is that an increase of the particle size is beneficial for the improvement of luminous flux but leads to worse angular color uniformity. A 2 μm particle achieves not only the best angular color uniformity but the lowest luminous flux. A particle size larger than 10 μm generates the highest luminous flux at low color temperature when the concentration is around 1.5 g/cm3. A particle size between 2 μm and 10 μm shows combined moderate performance when the phosphor concentration is higher than 2 g/cm3. To realize the best combined performance, a particle size around 6 μm is suggested.


One of the key goals of the FAIR guiding principles is defined by its final principle – to optimize data sets for reuse by both humans and machines. To do so, data providers need to implement and support consistent machine readable metadata to describe their data sets. This can seem like a daunting task for data providers, whether it is determining what level of detail should be provided in the provenance metadata or figuring out what common shared vocabularies should be used. Additionally, for existing data sets it is often unclear what steps should be taken to enable maximal, appropriate reuse. Data citation already plays an important role in making data findable and accessible, providing persistent and unique identifiers plus metadata on over 16 million data sets. In this paper, we discuss how data citation and its underlying infrastructures, in particular associated metadata, provide an important pathway for enabling FAIR data reuse.


Repolarization of the action potential (AP) in cardiac muscle is a major determinant of refractoriness and excitability, and can also strongly modulate excitation–contraction coupling. In clinical cardiac electrophysiology, the Q-T interval, and hence action potential duration, is both an essential marker of normal function and an indicator of risk for arrhythmic events. It is now well known that the termination of the plateau phase of the AP and the repolarization waveform involve a complex interaction of transmembrane ionic currents. These include a slowly inactivating Na+ current, inactivating Ca2+ current, the decline of an electrogenic current due to Na+/Ca2+ exchange and activation of three or four different K+ currents. At present, many of the quantitative aspects of this important physiological and pathophysiological process remain incompletely understood. Recently, three mathematical models of the membrane AP in human ventricle myocyte have been developed and made available on the Internet. In this study, we have implemented these models for the purpose of comparing the K+ currents, which are responsible for terminating the plateau phase of the AP and generating its repolarization. In this paper, our emphasis is on the two highly nonlinear inwardly rectifying potassium currents, and . A more general goal is to obtain improved understanding of the ionic mechanisms, which underlie all-or-none repolarization and the parameter denoted 'repolarization reserve' in the human ventricle. Further, insights into these fundamental variables can be expected to provide a more rational basis for clinical assessment of the Q-T and Q-TC intervals, and hence provide insights into some of the very substantial efforts in safety pharmacology, which are based on these parameters.


This thesis is focussed on the role differentiationhypothesis as it relates to small groups (Bales, 1958). The hypothesis is systematically examined, both conceptually and empirically, in the light of the Equilibrium Hypothesis (Bales, 1953) and the Negotiated Order Theory of leadership (e.g. Hosking, 1988). Chapter 1 sketches in a context for the research,which was stimulated by attempts during the 60s and 70s to organise small groups without leaders (the leaderless group, based on isocratic principles). Chapter 2 gives a conceptual and developmental overview of Bales' work, concentrating on the Equilibrium Hypothesis. It is argued that Bales' conceptual approach, if developed, can potentially integrate the disparate small groups and leadership literatures. Chapters 3 and 4 examine the concepts `group', `leader' and `leadership' in terms of the Negotiated Order perspective. In chapter 3 it is argued that two aspects of the concept group need to be taken separately into account; physical attributes and social psychological aspects (the metaphysical glue). It is further argued that a collection of people becomes a group only when they begin to establish a shared sense of social order. In chapter 4 it is argued that leadership is best viewed as a process of negotiation between those who influence and those who are influenced, in the context of shared values about means and ends. It is further argued that leadership is the process by which a shared sense of social order is established and maintained, thus linking the concepts `leadership' and `group' in a single formulation. The correspondences with Bales' approach are discussed at the end of the chapter. Chapters 5 to 8 present a detailed critical description and evaluation of the empirical work which claims to show role differentiation or test the hypothesis, both Bales original work and subsequent studies. It is argued here, that the measurement and analytical procedures adopted by Bales and others, in particular the use of simple means as summaries of group structures, are fundamentally flawed, and that role differentiation in relation to particular identifiable groups has not been demonstrated clearly anywhere in the literature. Chapters 9 to 13 present the empirical work conducted for the thesis. 18 small groups are examined systematically for evidence of role differentiation using an approach based on early sociometry (Moreno, 1934). The results suggest that role differentiation, as described by Bales, does not occur as often as is implied in the literature, and not equivocally in any case. In particular structures derived from Liking are typically distributed or weak. This suggests that one of Bales' principal findings, that Liking varies independently of his other main dimensions, is the product of statistical artifact. Chapter 14 presents a general summary of results and presents some considerations about future research.


The precise determination of radium‐226 (226Ra) in environmental samples is challenging due to its low concentration. Seawater typically contains between 0.03 and 0.1 fg g−1 226Ra. Thus, this work addresses the need for an easy and precise methodology for 226Ra determination in seawater that may be applied routinely to a large number of samples. For this reason, a new analytical approach has been developed for the quantification of 226Ra in seawater via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS). Analysis by single collector sector‐field ICP‐MS was shown to be convenient and reliable for this purpose once potential molecular interferences were excluded by a combination of chemical separation and intermediate mass resolution analysis. The proposed method allows purification of Ra from the sample matrix based on preconcentration by MnO2 precipitation, followed by two‐column separation using a cation exchange resin and an extraction chromatographic resin. The method can be applied to acidified and unacidified seawater samples. The recovery efficiency for Ra ranged between 90% and 99.8%, with precision of 5%, accuracy of 95.7% to 99.9%, and a detection limit of 0.033 fg g−1 (referring to the original concentration of seawater). The method has been applied to measure 226Ra concentrations from the North Sea and validated by analyzing samples from the central Arctic (GEOTRACES GN04). Samples from a crossover station (from GEOTRACES GN04 and GEOTRACES GN01 research cruises) were analyzed using alternative methods, and our results are in good agreement with published values.


The holistic, landscape-based approach of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in the United States emphasizes the importance of addressing three components of forest management: ecology, community, and economy. Many believe this approach represents an important and positive paradigm shift in natural resource management. In Vermont, as well as many other parts of the United States, parcelized forest ownership presents challenges to the achievement of SFM on private property. These challenges include that of applying concepts of landscape-scale management over a mosaic of small landownerships while addressing ecological, economic, and social dynamics. Many authors have suggested a need for new institutions that are better capable of addressing the integrated, boundary-crossing nature of SFM on private lands. In Vermont, partnerships involving environmental non-profit organizations are implementing innovative management strategies to promote SFM which address the challenges of parcelization. In so doing, non-profit groups are branching out from traditional roles of advocacy and public goods protection to address not only the ecological, but also economic and community aspects of forest management. Examining the strategies, organizational roles, challenges and perceived permanence of these partnerships provides a greater understanding of the nature of these new institutional arrangements for SFM. This study asks the question: How do partnerships involving environmental nonprofit organizations in Vermont attempt to achieve goals of sustainable forest management in the context of a parcelized landscape? Using a multiple case study approach, I examine three SFM-related partnerships in Vermont that involve environmental nonprofit organizations. I assess their strategies, organizational roles, challenges and perceived permanence. Results indicate that partnerships involving environmental nonprofit organizations are playing important roles in defining and institutionalizing SFM in Vermont. Partnerships use diverse strategies through which they strive to account for the three components of SFM. I find three points of entry into SFM-related issues, connected to three strategies used by partnerships to address issues of parcelization: community-based, alternative silviculture and product branding. This diversity in approach may complement the diverse nature of forest landowner's wants and needs. Furthermore, demonstrated flexibility at the partnership and organizational levels allowed partnerships to better work toward their goals. Challenges encountered by partnerships involved both internal dynamics and external circumstances, including differential organizational capacity and economic conditions, respectively. In addition, perceived permanence of these institutional arrangements may be related to the roles that environmental nonprofit organizations play within each partnership. Findings increase our understanding of the changing roles of non-profit organizations in the forest management …


A recently proposed space-time block coding (STBC) signal construction method that combines orthogonal design with sphere packing, referred to here as (STBC-SP), has shown useful performance improvements over Alamouti's conventional orthogonal design. In this contribution, we propose a purely symbol-based LDPC-coded scheme, demonstrating that the performance of STBC-SP systems can be further improved by concatenating sphere packing aided modulation with non-binary LDPC and by performing symbol-based turbo detection between the non-binary LDPC decoder and a rate-1 non-binary inner precoder. We also investigate the convergence behaviour of this symbol-based concatenated scheme with the aid of novel non-binary extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts. Finally, we demonstrate that in the investigated scenarios it requires 1-2 dB lower power in comparison to equivalent effective-throughput 0.5, 0.75 and 1 bit/symbol systems employing bit-based turbo detection.


This paper presents a launch vehicle cost model designed specifically to estimate the additional economic cost of two related system properties that have substantial military utility — responsiveness and surge capability. In addition, the model can be used to compare alternative methods for achieving these objectives, such as reusable, partially reusable, or fully expendable vehicles. In general, we estimate that making small space systems responsive, i.e., being able to launch with a few hours or days of demand, will add less than 5% to the total system cost per launch. Surge capability is somewhat more expensive, increasing the total cost per launch from 5% to 35%. Having a robust surge capability and the ability to do it again quickly is the most expensive option and will likely increase the cost per launch by 30% to 80%. For all of the options considered, the cost per launch decreases with increasing number of launches per year. In addition, the percentage increase for responsiveness decreases with increasing launch rate as the impact of maintaining vehicles in inventory decreases. In all of the cases considered, expendable vehicles are lower cost than reusable vehicles for all launch rates considered, i.e., 5 launches per year to 100 per year.


The welding point on the metal weld joints is necessary to facilitate the connection of two different materials and material cost savings. It is widely used in manufacturing, especially the automotive and shipbuilding industries. The purpose of this study to determine the quality of the welding by using the welding machine DN-16-1-type AC-point welder against physical and mechanical characteristics of welded joints between steel SS400 point with aluminum Al6061. Welding parameters used are electricity voltage, long welding, the thickness of aluminum, and the addition of filler. Voltage electricity using 3.20 volts and 2.67 volts at 10 seconds, 7.5 seconds, and 5 seconds. This study used two different materials is aluminum alloy Al6061 thickness 6 mm, 5 mm, 4 mm and 3 mm and low carbon steel SS400 thickness 2,3 mm with a material thickness of 0.2 mm copper filler. Making specimen welding refers to the standard JIS Z 3139 and for testing the structure of the results of the welds using the macro image and a microphotograph using optical microscopy, testing the tensile strength of the connection with the method of tensile testing, testing microstructure and composition of the nugget to test SEM-EDAX, and testing of violence micro Vickers methods. Welding research specimens obtained the best results in the voltage variation of 2.67 volts welding time 10 seconds, the thickness of 5 mm aluminum and 3.20 volt voltage variation 5 seconds long welding, aluminum thickness of 5 mm. In the tensile test with filler obtained the highest results obtained 34.58 MPa, a low of 12.45 MPa. While the tensile strength without filler gained 106.40 Mpa. Structure nugget optical microscopy test results showed the atoms experience in the area intermetallic bonding interface FeAl and Fe 3 Al by forming a boundary line between the two materials and columnar appears to grow. Vickers hardness test results on the nugget area have a high hardness at 623.33 HVN at a voltage of 3.20 volts, long welding 5 seconds, and the thickness of the aluminum material on 3 mm without filler.