Why do we live with pets? Is there something more to our relationship with them than simply companionship? What is it we look for in our pets and what does this say about us as human beings? In this fascinating book, Erica Fudge explores the nature of this most complex of relationships and the difficulties of knowing what it is that one is living with when one chooses to share a home with an animal. Fudge argues that our capacity for compassion and ability to live alongside others is evident in our relationships with our pets, those paradoxical creatures who give us a sense of comfort and security while simultaneously troubling the categories human and animal. For what is a pet if it isn t a fully-fledged member of the human family? This book proposes that by crossing over these boundaries pets help construct who it is we think we are. Drawing on the works of modern writers, such as J. M. Coetzee, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and Jacques Derrida, Fudge shows how pets have been used to think with and to undermine our easy conceptions of human, animal and home. Indeed, the book shows our obsession with domestic animals reveals many of the paradoxes, contradictions and ambiguities of life. Living with pets provides thought-provoking perspectives on our notions of possession and mastery, mutuality and cohabitation, love and dominance. We might think of pets as simply happy, loved additions to human homes but as this captivating book reveals perhaps it is the pets that make the home and without pets perhaps we might not be the humans we think we are. For anyone who has ever wondered what their cat is thinking, it will be illuminating reading


Enforcing and expanding immigration restrictions have been at the forefront of the Trump administration's agenda since his inauguration in January 2017. Underlying these policies is an assumption that immigrants harm U.S. citizens. More specifically, both authorized and undocumented immigrants are framed as consuming a disproportionate share of social benefits. We used data from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to assess this claim in U.S. high school contexts, focusing on the mathematics achievement of third-plus generation students who did not attend schools with immigrant students. On average, the third-plus-generation students who did not attend schools that enrolled first or second generation immigrant students had lower achievement than their same generation peers attending schools that served immigrant students. We conclude by highlighting the research and policy implications of our findings.


During the Supreme Court's memorable October,1936 term, a young man named John Knox clerked for Justice James Clark McReynolds. Knox kept a diary during the term, and between 1952 and 1963 converted the diary into a 978-page memoir. Yet his own efforts to publish the memoir came to naught. In 1978 he deposited all or a portion of the manuscript at a series of libraries. But there it languished until rescued from obscurity by David Garrow and Dennis Hutchinson, who in 2002 published an edition of the manuscript with the University of Chicago Press. This essay reviews Knox's remarkable memoir of the events of that year, situating Knox's experience with McReynolds in the larger context of the evolving institution of the judicial clerkship and its relationship to the construction of judicial reputation.


A climate change scenario for the Nordic countries has been defined for application in hydrological models in the Nordic research project 'Climate Change and Energy Production' The scenario is based on a subjective evaluation of several recent results from global coupled atmosphere and ocean general circulation models (GCMs) and on a statistical downscaling of the model results. The scenario specifies a warming rate which ranges from 0.3"C per decade for Iceland and the Faeroe Islands to 0.45"C per decade for eastern Finland and the northernmost parts of Sweden. There are marked seasonal and regional differences in the warming rate. Summer warming is relatively uniform over the area, ranging from 0.25"C per decade in Iceland and the Faeroe Islands to 0.3"C per decade in Finland. Winter warming is more variable, ranging from 0.35"C per decade in the North Atlantic area to 0.6"C per decade in Finland. Precipitation is increased by 3 to 6% per degree of warming, yielding an increase ranging from 1 % per decade during the summer season in Finland, Sweden and eastern Norway to 2.5% per decade during the winter season in western Norway. Climate in the Nordic countries is characterized by low-frequency natural variability on decadal time scales which is thought to be partly driven by changes in the thermohaline circulation of the North Atlantic. Future behaviour of the North Atlantic ocean circulation is highly uncertain, and model predictions of climate development in this part of t h e world are perhaps more difficult than for most other regions. Other sources of uncertainty in GCM model computations apply to the North Atlantic region as well as to other regions of the world, e.g. coarse model resolution, somewhat arbitrary coupling of the ocean and the atmosphere and uncertain parameterizations of clouds and precipitation. In view of these difficulties, the scenario must be considered an extremely uncertain, although plausible, description of what might happen in the future rather than a prediction of what most likely will happen.


We present a robust FFT-based approach to scale-invariant image registration. Our method relies on FFT-based correlation twice: once in the log-polar Fourier domain to estimate the scaling and rotation and once in the spatial domain to recover the residual translation. Previous methods based on the same principles are not robust. To equip our scheme with robustness and accuracy, we introduce modifications which tailor the method to the nature of images. First, we derive efficient log-polar Fourier representations by replacing image functions with complex gray-level edge maps. We show that this representation both captures the structure of salient image features and circumvents problems related to the low-pass nature of images, interpolation errors, border effects, and aliasing. Second, to recover the unknown parameters, we introduce the normalized gradient correlation. We show that, using image gradients to perform correlation, the errors induced by outliers are mapped to a uniform distribution for which our normalized gradient correlation features robust performance. Exhaustive experimentation with real images showed that, unlike any other Fourier-based correlation techniques, the proposed method was able to estimate translations, arbitrary rotations, and scale factors up to 6.


Background: Chromosomal aberrations are one of the most common causes of mental retardation (MR). Objectives: In this study, in order to identify the rate of chromosomal abnormalities in idiopathic MR, 50 MR patients at a charity center in Hamadan, Iran, were investigated. Methods: Fifty mentally retarded male patients without specific chromosomal abnormalities (e.g., Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and Klinefelter syndrome) were included in the study. Standard cytogenetic techniques and high resolution GTG banding were performed on all the patients. Results: All the patients were male, with a mean age of 37.12 years. Skeletal and facial abnormalities were found in 8% and 22% of patients, respectively. All the patients showed a moderate to severe level of mental retardation. None of the patients had numerical chromosome abnormalities. Twoout of the 50 patients (4%) demonstrated structural chromosomal abnormalities. One patient had a paracentric inversion in chromosome 1, while the other had a pericentric inversion in chromosome 2. Conclusions: The presence of structural chromosomal abnormalities (4%) in the studied MR patient population emphasizes the importance of cytogenetic investigation for all idiopathic MR patients.


Objective: To examine attitudes toward condoms and their association with culturally grounded beliefs among young South African adults. Methods: A questionnaire survey undertaken in three different locations (urban, rural, and mixed), including 1100 participants, and implementing both a cross-validational and a bootstrap multivariate design. Outcome measures were intention to use a condom at next sex and condom salience (i.e., confidence in the protective value of condoms). Culturally grounded predictors included traditional beliefs about illness, beliefs in ancestral protection, endorsement of AIDS myths, and mortality salience (CONTACT). Results: Participants exhibited strong endorsement of indigenous beliefs about illness and ancestral protection, and moderate endorsement of AIDS myths. Participants who viewed condoms as important for HIV prevention were more likely to show strong endorsement of both beliefs in ancestral protection and traditional beliefs about illness. Participants who strongly endorsed AIDS myths viewed condoms as less important and also had lower intention to use scores. Finally, participants who knew HIV positive people, and/or people who had died of HIV-related illnesses, had higher condom salience and higher intention to use scores. Conclusions: Results challenge the assumption that culturally grounded variables are inherently adversarial in their relationship to biomedical models of HIV prevention, and offer insights into how traditional beliefs and cultural constructions of HIV/AIDS might be used more effectively in HIV education programs. TBAI = traditional beliefs about illness; AP = belief in ancestral protection from adversity; CS = condom salience; IUCNS = intention to use a condom at next sex; CONTACT = knowing people who have died of HIV/AIDS or who are HIV-positive.


The error-resilient for video transmission over the Internet in which regarded as the packet erasure channel is always a tough task and has gained lots of attentions. The main contradictory problem lies between error-resilient and bandwidth usage. Additional redundant data has to be added to achieve robust transmission which leads to huge bandwidth usage. In this paper, an error-resilient scheme called Wyner-Ziv Error-Resilient (WZER) based on a receiver driven layered Wyner-Ziv (WZ) coding framework is proposed. The WZER purposely emphasizes on the protection of the Region of Interest (ROI) area in the frame thus to achieve the better tradeoff between the bandwidth usage and error-resilience. WZER is designed to work for the scenario of wavelet based video coding over packet erasure channel, where several techniques including automatic ROI detection, ROI mask generation, Rate distortion optimization (RDO) quantization, WZ coding with layer design, and packet level Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) code are used. The performances of the proposed WZER are simulated based on average PSNR of luminance, perceptual reconstruction and bandwidth usage and compared with normal Forward Error Correction (FEC) full protection scheme and no protection scheme. The results show the advantages of the proposed WZER over traditional FEC protection, especially in the aspects of the recovery of the subject area and bandwidth efficiency.


The work includes an exergy analysis of the steam reforming process for conversion of natural gas to hydrogen rich gas for use in hydrogen-fired gas power plant. Based on the analysis two sustainability indicators were calculated, the exergetic efficiency and the renewability fraction. The same analysis has been performed for a system using auto thermal reformer (Zvolinschi, Kjelstrup, Bolland and van der Kooi 2002) instead of steam reformer, and the results were compared in order to find the better system of the two based on the indicators. The system using an auto thermal reformer had the best exergetic efficiency, and the renewability fraction was 0 for both systems. One should be aware of insecurities in the results, mainly related to assumptions and limitations with respect to the simulation process. The two indicators were proposed by Zvolinschi et. al, as a contribution to the introduction of exergy analysis as a tool for industrial ecology. It was concluded that this will be a useful contribution, especially when using system boundaries that include the closure of material cycles. Then one can also calculate the third indicator proposed by Zvolinschi et al., namely the environmental efficiency.


A novel nondestructive technique for characterising couplers by means of a local perturbation is described. The method is studied theoretically and verified experimentally by characterising different types of fused fiber-couplers. Using this technique, both the information of the power distribution and coupling profile along the coupler waist are obtained.


Non-revenue water (NRW), the difference between water produced and water sold, has reached unacceptable levels in the majority of water utilities all around the world. Outsourcing of NRW reduction activities is often the only feasible solution. The paper describes the concept of "performance target based non-revenue water reduction contracts" in general and provides detailed information on the world's largest NRW reduction contract - the Selangor NRW reduction project. The performance target of Phase 1 was to reduce NRW by 18,540 m3/day. The works were completed on time and the target has been over-achieved. Based on this success, Phase 2 of the project has commenced in April 2000 with the aim of reducing NRW across the entire state of Selangor, by 200,000 m3/day over a 9 year period. After the first 15 months of the project, all targets have been substantially over-achieved. The project cost is RM 398 M (equivalent to US$ 105 million) with a pay-back period of 6.7 years. The internal rate of return was calculated to be 33.2% based on the assumption that the value of water equals the average tariff of RM 1.27 (equivalent to US$ 0.33). It can be concluded that performance target based NRW reduction contracts are a feasible model for water utilities around the world.


Non-R&D innovation is a common economic phenomenon, though R&D has been the central focus of policy making and scholarly research in the field of innovation. An analysis of the third European Community Innovation Survey (CIS-3) results for 15 countries finds that almost half of innovative European firms did not perform R&D in-house. Firms with weak in-house innovative capabilities and which source information from suppliers and competitors tend to innovate through non-R&D activities. In contrast, firms that engage in product innovation, find clients, universities and research institutions an important information source for innovation, apply for patents, or use other appropriation methods are more likely to perform R&D. However, non-R&D performers do not form a consistent block, with several notable differences between firms that use three different methods of innovating without performing R&D. Many of these determinants also influence the share of total innovation expenditures that are spent on non-R&D innovation activities. Furthermore, an analysis of the determinants of the share of each firm's total innovation expenditures for non-R&D activities shows that the factors that influence how innovation expenditures are distributed is generally consistent across sectors and European countries.


Background Regulation of α-synuclein levels within cells is thought to play a critical role in Parkinson's Disease (PD) pathogenesis and in other related synucleinopathies. These processes have been studied primarily in reduced preparations, including cell culture. We now develop methods to measure α-synuclein levels in the living mammalian brain to study in vivo protein mobility, turnover and degradation with subcellular specificity. Methodology/Principal Findings We have developed a system using enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)-tagged human α-synuclein (Syn-GFP) transgenic mice and in vivo multiphoton imaging to measure α-synuclein levels with subcellular resolution. This new experimental paradigm allows individual Syn-GFP-expressing neurons and presynaptic terminals to be imaged in the living mouse brain over a period of months. We find that Syn-GFP is stably expressed by neurons and presynaptic terminals over this time frame and further find that different presynaptic terminals can express widely differing levels of Syn-GFP. Using the fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) technique in vivo we provide evidence that at least two pools of Syn-GFP exist in terminals with lower levels of mobility than measured previously. These results demonstrate that multiphoton imaging in Syn-GFP mice is an excellent new strategy for exploring the biology of α-synuclein and related mechanisms of neurodegeneration. Conclusions/Significance In vivo multiphoton imaging in Syn-GFP transgenic mice demonstrates stable α-synuclein expression and differential subcellular compartment mobility within cortical neurons. This opens new avenues for studying α-synuclein biology in the living brain and testing new therapeutics for PD and related disorders.


We study the complexity of a combinatorial variant of the Shift Bribery problem in elections. In the standard Shift Bribery problem, we are given an election where each voter has a preference order over the candidate set and where an outside agent, the briber, can pay each voter to rank the briber's favorite candidate a given number of positions higher. The goal is to ensure the victory of the briber's preferred candidate. The combinatorial variant of the problem, introduced in this paper, models settings where it is possible to affect the position of the preferred candidate in multiple votes, either positively or negatively, with a single bribery action. This variant of the problem is particularly interesting in the context of large-scale campaign management problems (which, from the technical side, are modeled as bribery problems). We show that, in general, the combinatorial variant of the problem is highly intractable (NP-hard, hard in the parameterized sense, and hard to approximate), but we provide some (approximation) algorithms for natural restricted cases.


This paper describes the history and development of the environmental wave barrier and the current planning and design being undertaken for a major expansion of the small boat harbor at Seward, Alaska. Through physical modeling, to be undertaken in the spring and summer of 1991 in Vancouver, British Columbia, we hope to further develop the wave barrier concept where moderately high waves and an environmentally sensitive site intersect. The need for environmentally acceptable breakwaters adequate to protect small craft harbors from waves up to 3 m. in height has led to the development of a new safe wave reflecting structure. Previously, similar wave 'fences' had been tested and used, but through the course of our research we have found that these barriers are not totally effective. The first 'permeable wave barrier' that we designed was successfully installed at a U.S. Coast Guard facility in Oregon in 1980. Continued monitoring of the facility has verified the as-designed performance of the breakwater, even in severe storm events exceeding the original design parameters. As it was environmentally desirous to allow for circulation and fish passage, the breakwater's wave board, supported by steel piling, was not extended completely to the ocean bottom; hence the terms 'permeable' or environmental' wave barrier. The further development of the environmental wave barrier for higher wave heights necessitates the incorporation of high-capacity tension piles into its design. While the first wave barrier utilized conventional steel pipe piles, the next facility will use the spin-fin pile. The spin-fin employs fins welded to pipe piles at an angle; thus, the pile actually screws into the ground during driving. As a result, pile pull-out capacity is greatly increased; especially under repeated failure loads. This paper includes a brief discussion of spin-fins.


Excel 2013 Pivot Tables Including the "Data Model" A pivot table is a simple, yet powerful technique, that enables Excel's users to transform data overload into meaningful and organized knowledge. With pivot tables you can: * See the data in dozens of different ways with a simple mouse drag * Perform fast calculations with no need for formulas * Focus on another part of the data each time and get a clear picture * Show more trends and patterns * Create dozens of reports and charts to analyze your data While reading the book and using the practice files, you will know to: Create a Pivot Table o Select data from the current file o Selec data from another Excel file o Change the data source o Create a pivot table based on a dynamic data table Perform Calculations: o Use sum, average, minimum, maximum and count o Show Percentage of a column total, row total and Grand total o Display the running total o Group numeric and date data o Use calculated field and calculated item Change The Report Structure o Switching columns and rows o Adding columns or rows o Adding a page break between items Format your Pivot Tables o Add totals and Subtotals o Sort o Filter You will also know to Add slicers and to manipulate then Add a timelines and to manipulate it Add charts to your pivot tables Use the new and innovative feature: "The Data Model" And, of course, You will learn some cool tips and tricks!


In [Houk, 2005], the "Agents of the mind" idea is proposed as a suitable framework for studying the dynamics and complexities of mind. "Agents of the mind" is inspired by the society of mind idea of Marvin Minsky [Minsky, 1988]. According to the society of mind, the mind is a complex system. The mind agents are elusive to identify. The mind is proposed as a hierarchy of agents. The higher hierarchy agents compose of lower hierarchy agents. Higher level agents do not command lower level agents but they basically trigger or invoke lower level agents. Agents are functional entities and they interact with each other. One important part of the society of mind idea is that agents at the lowest level are the real workers. Higher level functionalities emerge as a result of the functioning of the lower level agents and the interactions between them.
 In agents of the mind project, computational distributed processing modules (DPM) are posited for corresponding anatomically defined assemblies and they are referred to as the agents of the mind. M1 is an anatomical area in the cerebral cortex which produces voluntary commands via its loops through basal ganglia and cerebellum. M1-DPM is a computational distributed processing module which simulates M1 area and its loops for voluntary commands production. We use Netlogo 3.1 agent-based programming environment to illuminate the properties of mind. In this work, the attractor network in cerebellar loop and the effects of Purkinje cell on production of motor commands have been studied. The results are reported in this paper.


"Embodied Literacies: Imageword and a Poetics of Teaching "is a response to calls to enlarge the purview of literacy to include imagery in its many modalities and various facets. Kristie S. Fleckenstein asserts that all meaning, linguistic or otherwise, is a result of the transaction between image and word. She implements the concept of imageworda mutually constitutive fusion of image and wordto reassess language arts education and promote a double vision of reading and writing. Utilizing an accessible fourfold structure, she then applies the concept to the classroom, reconfiguring what teachers do when they teach, how they teach, what they teach with, and how they teach ethically.Fleckenstein does not discount the importance of text in the quest for literacy. Instead, she places the language arts classroom and teacher at the juncture of image and word to examine the ways imagery enables and disables the teaching of and the act of reading and writing. Learning results from the double play of language and image, she argues. Helping teachers and students dissolve the boundaries between text and image, the volume outlines how to see reading and writing as something more than words and language and to disestablish our definitions of literacy as wholly linguistic."Embodied Literacies: Imageword and a Poetics of Teaching "comes at a critical time in our cultural history. Echoing the opinion that postmodernity is a product of imagery rather than textuality, Fleckenstein argues that we must evolve new literacies when we live in a culture saturated by images on computer screens, televisions, even billboards. Decisively and clearly, she demonstrates the importance of incorporating imagerywhich is inextricably linked to our psychological, social, and textual livesinto our epistemologies and literacy teaching."


With insight and wit, Robert J. Richards focuses on the development of evolutionary theories of mind and behavior from their first distinct appearance in the eighteenth century to their controversial state today. Particularly important in the nineteenth century were Charles Darwin's ideas about instinct, reason, and morality, which Richards considers against the background of Darwin's personality, training, scientific and cultural concerns, and intellectual community. Many critics have argued that the Darwinian revolution stripped nature of moral purpose and ethically neutered the human animal. Richards contends, however, that Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and their disciples attempted to reanimate moral life, believing that the evolutionary process gave heart to unselfish, altruistic behavior. "Richards's book is now the obvious introduction to the history of ideas about mind and behavior in the nineteenth century." Mark Ridley, Times Literary Supplement "Not since the publication of Michael Ghiselin's "The Triumph of the Darwinian Method "has there been such an ambitious, challenging, and methodologically self-conscious interpretation of the rise and development and evolutionary theories and Darwin's role therein." John C. Greene, "Science " "His book . . . triumphantly achieves the goal of all great scholarship: it not only informs us, but shows us why becoming thus informed is essential to understanding our own issues and projects." Daniel C. Dennett, "Philosophy of Science ""


OBJECTIVE
To determine the proportion of women who take daily folic acid supplements in the month before conception and to identify factors associated with supplement use.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional survey by self-administered questionnaire.

SETTING
Tertiary care teaching hospital in Hamilton, Ont.

PARTICIPANTS
Four hundred eighty-four (43%) of 1132 women who delivered normal babies between November 1997 and March 1998.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Reports of daily vitamin supplement use in the month before pregnancy and after pregnancy, and having heard or read about the need to take folic acid before pregnancy; sources of information about folic acid; factors associated with preconceptional vitamin use.

RESULTS
Thirty-four percent of respondents reported taking vitamins before conception (use ranged from 21% for those with unplanned pregnancies to 40% for those with planned pregnancies); 80% after conception. Of all respondents, 63% were aware of the need for preconceptional folic acid. Key information sources were family doctors and the mass media: the media were more important before conception, doctors after. Being older (30 years or more), having post-secondary education, and having a planned pregnancy were associated with knowing about the benefits of folic acid; knowledge, regular exercise, perceived good health, and planned pregnancy were associated with preconceptional use of vitamins.

CONCLUSIONS
Even in this sample of well educated, English-speaking women, only one third took vitamin supplements before conception, which indicates that current educational efforts do not reach most women early enough. A coordinated, multi-pronged strategy that targets and involves physicians and capitalizes on opportunities to work with schools, public health outlets, and the media is needed.


Governments, local authorities, school leaders, and teachers all over the world want to improve the educational attainment and participation of all students, and to minimise any systematic differences in outcomes for social and economic groups. A particular concern is for those students from backgrounds that may objectively disadvantage them at school and beyond. However, considerable effort and money is currently being wasted on policies, practices and interventions that have very little hope of success, and that may indeed endanger the progress that is being made otherwise. The poor quality of much education research evidence, coupled with an unwillingness among users of evidence to discriminate appropriately between what we know and do not know, means that opportunities are being missed. At a time of reduced public spending it is important that proposed interventions are both effective and efficient.

Overcoming Disadvantage in Education is unique in the way that it:

Shows where the solutions to underachievement and poverty lie
combines primary(new), secondary (official) and published (review) evidence
distinguishes between those possible causes of underachievement that are largely fixed for individuals, and those that are modifiable.
There are evidence-informed ways forward in handling under-achievement and increasing social justice in education. This book shows which the more likely approaches are, and where further work could yield further benefits.

This book will be a key text for students, developing academic researchers and supervisors in the social sciences, and for those research users charged with improving educational outcomes.


The EDSAC computer was completed at Cambridge University, England, in May 1949. By early 1950 a programming system had been set up and the EDSAC began to attract a number of regular users. This article describes the development of the programming system between the first operation of the machine in May 1949 and the end of that year. Subsequent programming developments in 1950-1952 are also described. The paper concludes with an assessment of this programming activity.


This paper serves to disentangle the complex system of Indian food policies related to wheat and rice procurement, storage, distribution and trade. Using nationally aggregated time series data, these policies are econometrically analysed. Based on the estimation results, their market implications are assessed. Eventually, different scenarios, including the implementation of the National Food Security Act, are simulated with respect to fiscal costs and public stocks.


The SOCIAL REGISTER for Cleveland was a separate local edition formerly published by the New York Social Register Assn. New York's Social Register was founded in 1887 by Louis Keller, who compiled his list of socially acceptable families from Mrs. Astor's famous "400," as well as from other lists. Over the years separate editions were published for up to 13 other cities, including Philadelphia, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. Cleveland's edition of the "little black book of the blue bloods" first appeared in 1910. It was issued annually thereafter, kept up to date by a local representative assigned to record births, deaths, and marriages as well as to adjudicate on the propriety of names recommended for listing. Though the name of the local representative was never divulged, 2 Clevelanders rumored to have fulfilled that function were Edith Bingham and Mrs. Charles Vilas. By 1974 the listings for Cincinnati and Dayton had been folded into the Cleveland edition, with Cleveland comprising 130 pages of the book and the other 2 cities 120 pages, numbered inwardly from the reversed back cover. After Malcolm Forbes purchased control of the Social Register in 1976, the listings for all 9 surviving local editions were combined in a cost-saving move into a single volume. At the time there were 2,100 names left in the Cleveland edition. See also CLEVELAND BLUE BOOK.


Auckland District Health Board together with the New Zealand ACP Cooperative held co-design workshops with consumers to explore how consumers want ACP services delivered. The questions and topic areas covered included (1) who should be involved; (2) what do you want to plan for; (3) when should these discussions take place; (4) where should ACP be done; and (5) how should ACP be done? The key themes - the ACP process should be owned first and foremost by the patient and that medical and end of life care experts should be a resource for families to draw upon as advisors and enablers of the ACP process, not the owners or drivers of it. ACP conversations need to be normalised and should take place in people's homes or in community settings. For many people living is hard enough (i.e. making ends meet) let alone planning for death. The practical aspects of living and dying took precedence– not medical care and treatment decisions. To successfully roll-out ACP to the general population, its delivery needs to be owned by the community and consumer groups. As a result of these workshops, alternative models of ACP delivery are being explored including public awareness, education, public debate, cross-sector collaboration and the use of humour. ACP has largely developed out of medical need for informed decision-making to address the changing dynamics of dying. These workshops suggest that it may have evolved differently if it grew out of the consumer's end-of-life planning needs.


Constructivist-driven conventional wisdom posits that ideas and beliefs are pivotal to shaping foreign policy trajectories. Thus, the explanatory power ascribed to material forces falls back on ideas and cultural practices (Wendt, 1999). Whereas the case of Armenia, characterized by the co-existence of European foreign policy identity with Russia-led foreign policy preferences suggests that identity and beliefs may well be outweighed by material forces. This paper seeks to explain the evolution of how the European Union (EU) and Russia have been conceptualised within the foreign policy discourse of Armenia. The study relies on the critical discourse analysis of relevant speeches and statements of Armenia's foreign policy-makers and, particularly, on those of the President. It scrutinizes the core notions and discursive structures, employed in the Armenian foreign policy discourse for justifying the choice of the Russia-led path. It suggests that Armenia's deviation from the identity driven path towards the EU has been broadly justified in terms of the country's economic and, particularly, security needs, which prompted to treat Russia as an indispensable ally. Yet, a closer scrutiny of external constraints indicates that Russian coercive policy left little room for Armenia to achieve a Russian-European balance.


The speech signal is rife with variations in phonetic ambiguity. For instance, when talkers speak in a conversational register, they demonstrate less articulatory precision, leading to greater potential for confusability at the phonetic level compared with a clear speech register. Current psycholinguistic models assume that ambiguous speech sounds activate more than one phonological category and that competition at prelexical levels cascades to lexical levels of processing. Imaging studies have shown that the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) is modulated by phonetic competition between simultaneously activated categories, with increases in activation for more ambiguous tokens. Yet, these studies have often used artificially manipulated speech and/or metalinguistic tasks, which arguably may recruit neural regions that are not critical for natural speech recognition. Indeed, a prominent model of speech processing, the dual-stream model, posits that the LIFG is not involved in prelexical processing in receptive language processing. In the current study, we exploited natural variation in phonetic competition in the speech signal to investigate the neural systems sensitive to phonetic competition as listeners engage in a receptive language task. Participants heard nonsense sentences spoken in either a clear or conversational register as neural activity was monitored using fMRI. Conversational sentences contained greater phonetic competition, as estimated by measures of vowel confusability, and these sentences also elicited greater activation in a region in the LIFG. Sentence-level phonetic competition metrics uniquely correlated with LIFG activity as well. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the LIFG responds to competition at multiple levels of language processing and that recruitment of this region does not require an explicit phonological judgment.


Several studies have found inverse associations between fruit and vegetable consumption and colorectal cancer risk, suggesting the potential etiological importance of carotenoids (and other phytochemicals) contained in these foods. However, only one study (a case-control study) has examined the association between dietary carotenoids other than β-carotene and colorectal cancer risk. In the study reported here, we examined the relationships between dietary intakes of β-carotene, α-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and β-cryptoxanthin and colorectal cancer risk in a large cohort study of Canadian women. A case-cohort analysis was undertaken within the cohort of 56,837 women who were enrolled in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study and who completed a self-administered dietary questionnaire. During follow-up to the end of 1993, a total of 388 women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. For comparative purposes, a subcohort of 5,681 women was randomly selected. After exclusions for various reasons, the analyses were based on 295 cases and 5,334 noncases. We did not find any clear association between intake of any of the studied carotenoids and colorectal cancer risk in the study population as a whole or in subgroups defined by smoking status, relative body weight (body mass index), intakes of total fat, energy, alcohol, and folic acid, or menopausal status. Our data do not support any association between dietary intakes of the studied carotenoids and colorectal cancer risk. However, given that this is the first prospective cohort study of carotenoids in relation to colorectal cancer, further studies are warranted.


We compute the absorption efficiency (Qabs) of forsterite using the discrete dipole approximation in order to identify and describe what characteristics of crystal grain shape and size are important to the shape, peak location, and relative strength of spectral features in the 8–40 μm wavelength range. Using the DDSCAT code, we compute Qabs for non-spherical polyhedral grain shapes with aeff = 0.1 μm. The shape characteristics identified are (1) elongation/reduction along one of three crystallographic axes; (2) asymmetry, such that all three crystallographic axes are of different lengths; and (3) the presence of crystalline faces that are not parallel to a specific crystallographic axis, e.g., non-rectangular prisms and (di)pyramids. Elongation/reduction dominates the locations and shapes of spectral features near 10, 11, 16, 23.5, 27, and 33.5 μm, while asymmetry and tips are secondary shape effects. Increasing grain sizes (0.1–1.0 μm) shifts the 10 and 11 μm features systematically toward longer wavelengths and relative to the 11 μm feature increases the strengths and slightly broadens the longer wavelength features. Seven spectral shape classes are established for crystallographic a-, b-, and c-axes and include columnar and platelet shapes plus non-elongated or equant grain shapes. The spectral shape classes and the effects of grain size have practical application in identifying or excluding columnar, platelet, or equant forsterite grain shapes in astrophysical environs. Identification of the shape characteristics of forsterite from 8 to 40 μm spectra provides a potential means to probe the temperatures at which forsterite formed.


The photographs from the Abu Ghraib scandal are horrific, but they are also understandable.
Simply put, the Abu Ghraib photos are purposeful compositions that highlight victory over the
enemy Other in war. The photos illustrate sexual and racial violence, founded upon postcolonial
narratives, but this is only a starting point for their significance. I address how meaning is made for
the U.S. military personnel who took photographs of naked Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib, by
looking backward to soldiers' photography from WWI and II, and by considering soldiers' online
sharing of photographs in the present, examining roughly fifty photos total. The relationships
between photographic materiality, emotional and gestural communication, and the production of
cultural memory, disseminated via networked circulation, all shape how soldiers' wartime
photographs come to be regarded. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, this research draws
upon war photography; visual culture and communication; sociology of groups and ritual; sociology
of emotion; combat histories; memory studies; and online photo sharing practices. In so
considering, the Abu Ghraib photos are not unique, and are instead grouped within
the greater concept of the "war trophy." I expand on this concept by defining "war trophy
photography" as the entwined practices of war photography and trophy collection, rooted in ritual
and group solidification. Staged to depict the violent conquering of the enemy, I argue that war
trophy photography recognizes war efforts through the construction of a visual record, one that
reproduces relations of dominance and submission. I call this representation "commemorative
violence," a central concept I develop to define the war trophy photograph. In addition to grounding
the Abu Ghraib photos historically, I review their visual semiotic, cultural significance, such as with
the "Doing a Lynndie" meme, which features civilians gesturing in thumbs-up toward a
downtrodden individual, copying the same gesture as often used in the images from Abu Ghraib,
and the now defunct site "Now That's Fucked Up," which briefly allowed soldiers in 2005 to trade
gruesome war trophy pictures for pornography. The conclusion reflects on war trophy photography
with the topical consideration of drones, ultimately suggesting that drone warfare photos are
expressionless because of the overt absence of people.


Iron overload disorders represent a heterogenous group of conditions resulting from inherited and acquired causes. If undiagnosed they can be progressive and fatal. Early detection and phlebotomy prior to the onset of cirrhosis can reduce morbidity and normalise life expectancy. We now have greater insight into the complex mechanisms of normal and disordered iron homeostasis following the discovery of new proteins and genetic defects. Here we review the normal mechanisms and regulation of gastrointestinal iron absorption and liver iron transport and their dysregulation in iron overload states. Advances in the understanding of the natural history of iron overload disorders and new methods for clinical detection and management of hereditary haemochromatosis are also reviewed. The current screening strategies target high-risk groups such as first-degree relatives of affected individuals and those with clinical features suggestive of iron loading. Potential ethical, legal and psychosocial issues arising through application of genetic screening programs need to be resolved prior to implementation of general population screening programs.


Extracellular matrix (ECM) protein receptors, or integrins, participate in vascular remodeling and the systemic myogenic response. Synthetic ligands and ECM fragments regulate the vascular smooth muscle cell contractile state by altering intracellular Ca2+ levels ([Ca2+]i). Information on the Ca2+ effect of integrins in vascular smooth muscle cells is limited, but nonexistent in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). We therefore characterized integrin expression in endothelium-denuded pulmonary arteries, and explored [Ca2+]i mobilization pathways induced by soluble ligands in rat PASMCs. Reverse transcriptase-PCR showed mRNA expression of integrins α1, α2, α3, α4, α5, α7, α8, αv, β1, β3, and β4, and immunoblots of α5, αv, β1, and β3 confirmed protein expression. Exposure of PASMCs to integrin-binding peptides (0.5 mm) containing the arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) motif elicited [Ca2+]i responses with an order of potency of GRGDNP > GRGDSP > GRGDTP = cyclo-RGD. Pharmacological analysis revealed that the GRGDSP-induced Ca2+ response was unrelated to Ca2+ influx and the inositol triphosphate receptor-gated Ca2+ store, but partially blocked by ryanodine or inhibition of lysosomerelated acidic organelles with bafilomycin A1. Simultaneous inhibition of both pathways was necessary to abolish the response. GRGDSP treatment increased cyclic ADP-ribose, the endogenous activator of ryanodine receptors, by 70%. GRGDSP also rapidly reduced Lysotracker Red accumulation, confirming direct modulation of acidic organelles. These data are the first demonstration of integrin-mediated Ca2+ regulation in PASMCs. The presence of an array of integrins, and activation of ryanodine-sensitive Ca2+ stores and lysosome-like organelles by GRGDSP suggest important roles for integrin-dependent Ca2+ signaling in regulating PASMC function.


A graph is said to be well-dominated if all its minimal dominating sets are of the same size. The class of well-dominated graphs forms a subclass of the well studied class of well-covered graphs. While the recognition problem for the class of well-covered graphs is known to be co-NP-complete, the recognition complexity of well-dominated graphs is open.
In this paper, we introduce the notion of an irreducible dominating set, a variant of dominating set generalizing both minimal dominating sets and minimal total dominating sets. Based on this notion, we characterize the family of minimal dominating sets in a lexicographic product of two graphs and derive a characterization of the well-dominated lexicographic product graphs. As a side result motivated by this study, we give a polynomially testable characterization of well-dominated graphs with domination number two, and show, more generally, that well-dominated graphs can be recognized in polynomial time in any class of graphs with bounded domination number. Our results include a characterization of dominating sets in lexicographic product graphs, which generalizes the expression for the domination number of such graphs following from works of Zhang et al. (2011) and of \v{S}umenjak et al. (2012).


This chapter concentrates on vasculitides which are associated with presence of antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ANCAs), it focuses on idiopathic smallvessel vasculitides (SVV), and mentions some of the clinical conditions where other types of neutrophil-specific autoantibodies (NSA) are commonly produced. The diagnosis of a primary vasculitic condition must rest on sound clinical judgment of more or less characteristic constellations of symptoms and features, with some being indicative of vasculitis and others reflecting just a general inflammatory condition (arthralgias, fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, hypersedimentation). Although the chapter focuses on the methodologies used to detect ANCAs, it also stresses important aspects of setting clinically validated assay cutoff values, controlling laboratory performance quality, knowing frequent pitfalls, and how to exercise troubleshooting. It also mentions possibilities for reporting laboratory data with due consideration toward differential diagnostics, potential clinical utility, and interpretation. Monoclonal mouse antibodies to proteinase 3 (PR3), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and elastase (EL) have been used to capture the respective antigens from cell extracts, and the captured antigen has then been used as the target in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).


Computer simulations have shown the Low-Temperature Engine System (LTES), a breakthrough in application of long-established thermodynamic principles, to offer double digit power output increases for the same fuel consumption. This benefit may be realized in conventional fossil, nuclear, and geothermal power plants. It employs conventional components and off-the-shelf equipment. Environmental impact reduction is a by-product of obtaining its power increases from conversion of portions of current waste heat emissions. A large-scale effort to get the systems installed now could have many such units operating across the country, delivering their new power output: at zero additional fuel consumption; at zero environmental impact; and supplying power to users in the 90's.


Although prescription drug use is common during pregnancy, the human teratogenic risks are undetermined for more than 90% of drug treatments approved in the USA during the past decades. A particular birth defect may have its origins through multiple mechanisms and possible exposures, including medications. A specific pathogenic process may result in different outcomes depending upon factors such as embryonic age at which a drug is administered, duration and dose of exposure and genetic susceptibility. This review focuses on the teratogenic mechanisms with their effects associated with varieties of natural as well as synthetic substances. Mechanisms were included only if they are associated with major structural birth defects and medications that are used relatively frequently by women of reproductive age. Identifying teratogenic mechanisms may not only be relevant for etiologic and post-marketing research, but may also have implications for drug development and prescribing behavior for women of reproductive age, especially since combinations of seemingly unrelated prescription and over the counter medications may utilize similar teratogenic mechanisms with a resultant increased risk of birth defects.


This paper represents the carburization parameters for steel (1020) using Desirability Function Analysis-DFA. The experiments were conducted using Taguchi (L9) orthogonal array. Carburization parameters such as carburization temperature, carburization time and tempering temperature were optimized by multi response considerations depending on micro hardness and were rate measurements. The optimal carburizing parameters had been determined by composite desirability value obtained from desirability function analysis while significant contribution of parameter was determined by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The analyses results showed that optimal combination for higher hardness and lower wear rate were at (A2=920 C, B2= 3 hours and C3=120 C). Confirmation test was also conducted to validate the test results. Mathematical models for composite desirability, micro hardness and rate wear were determined. Experimental results showed that the carburization performance can be improved effectively through desirability approach.


The debate on the nature of the legal personality of groups emerged in Germany in the last third of the 19th century and intensified with the controversies over the drafting of the German Civil Code. This discourse was well-rooted in German jurisprudential traditions, German historical narratives and the German political context. Yet, somewhat unexpectedly, it was imported into the Anglo-American world in about 1900. The discourse focused on three theories of corporate legal personality that were played against each other: the state grant theory according to which corporate entities were created by public law, the contractual theory according to which corporate entities were created in the sphere of private law and the real entity theory according to which corporate entities were constructed socially outside the realm of law and were only recognized by the law. This was arguably the most intense Anglo-American legal discourse of the first quarter of the twentieth century. Around the mid-1920s it abruptly subsided, leaving only traces for historians to follow. Several factors make this discourse particularly interesting: its transnational dimension, its intensity over a short and well-defined period of time, the fact that this was a mid-level theory discourse, that it had a significant historical component and lastly that the discourse and its theories were transplanted in debates in various contexts. My focus is on the history of the discourse. I follow its course of expansion from one site to the other and map its borders. I will identify the contours and functions of the discourse in Britain and the US in four contexts: political theory, trade unions, city governance and business organization. Special emphasis is given to explaining the timing of its emergence in different venues, its transplantation into new contexts, its shifts from theory to doctrine, from academic to practical discourse, from past narratives to present concerns. A central theme of this paper is that there was indeed an initial under-determinacy in each of the three basic theories of personality, as John Dewey's critique argued, one that sometimes enabled utilization of the same theory for conflicting purposes or of different theories for the same purpose. However, each personality theory could be used only in some venues, some periods and some contexts. Each became embedded in certain meanings when it functioned in concrete historical and spatial discourse settings. Each lacked in the first place, or lost along the way, much of the manipulability that Dewey attributed to it.


Abstract Successful biological invasion requires introduction of a viable population of a nonindigenous species (NIS). Rarely have ecologists assessed changes in populations while entrained in invasion pathways. Here, we investigate how zooplankton communities resident in ballast water change during transoceanic voyages. We used next‐generation sequencing technology to sequence a nuclear small subunit ribosomal DNA fragment of zooplankton from ballast water during initial, middle, and final segments as a vessel transited between Canada and Brazil. Operational taxonomic unit (OTU) diversity decreased as voyage duration increased, indicating loss of community‐based genetic diversity and development of bottlenecks for zooplankton taxa prior to discharge of ballast water. On average, we observed 47, 26, and 24 OTUs in initial, middle, and final samples, respectively. Moreover, a comparison of genetic diversity within taxa indicated likely attenuation of OTUs in final relative to initial samples. Abundance of the most common taxa (copepods) declined in all final relative to initial samples. Some taxa (e.g., Copepoda) were represented by a high number of OTUs throughout the voyage, and thus had a high level of intraspecific genetic variation. It is not clear whether genotypes that were most successful in surviving transit in ballast water will be the most successful upon introduction to novel environments. This study highlights that population bottlenecks may be common prior to introduction of NIS to new ecosystems.


We report the first atmospheric column measurements of methanol made by ground‐based solar Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The measurements were made through smoke plumes over South Eastern Australia during the Austral summers of 2001/2002 and 2002/2003. There is a strong correlation between the measured column amounts of methanol and simultaneous and co‐located measurements of aerosol optical depth. An emission factor for methanol from Australian forest fires of 2.3 ± 0.8 grams per kilogram of dry fuel consumed is estimated by use of the correlations of methanol and carbon monoxide with aerosol optical depth and literature values for the emission factor of carbon monoxide. This agrees well with literature values for emissions measured from extra‐tropical forest fires elsewhere in the world. Methanol is clearly an important volatile organic product of forest fires with an emission factor similar to formaldehyde's and approximately half that of methane.


MECH_ENG 314-0 Machine Dynamics (1 Unit) This class covers the foundations of rigid multi-body mechanics. Topics include geometry of rigid bodies, rotating bodies, Lagrangian mechanics and variational principles, conservation of energy and momentum, symmetries, impact dynamics, and numerical methods that may be used to simulate mechanical systems. Students numerically simulate rigid body systems and use rigid body geometry to visualize simulations. Prerequisite: GEN_ENG 205-4.


The spectral neutron flux from a deuteron-beryllium neutron source, which is driven by a 19-MeV cyclotron deuteron beam and serves mainly for integral activation tests of fusion reactor structural materials, was determined by the multifoil activation method. Twenty-two selected threshold activation reactions were employed. An initial guess spectrum calculated by a Monte Carlo simulation was adjusted using the SAND-II code to be consistent with the measured reaction rates. The total neutron flux averaged over a 5 x 5 mm sample was found to be 2.52 {times} 10{sup 11} n/s{center_dot}cm{sup {minus}2} at 10 {micro}A of deuteron beam with uncertainty of {approximately}10%. The activation cross sections used were based on the FENDL/A-2.0 library. However, they were extrapolated beyond 20 MeV, the upper energy limit of that library, to the maximum neutron energy of 23.4 MeV and were modified where necessary. As a result, a self-consistent set of activation cross sections was obtained, which may also be used for the characterization of other neutron fields. The determined spectral neutron flux is to be used for analyses of integral activation tests of fusion reactor-relevant materials.


As the largest waste stream from offshore oil and gas industry, offshore produced water contains dissolved toxic organic pollutants that are hard to be removed by conventional wastewater treatment technologies. Among those pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of growing concern due to their high toxicity and persistence in the marine and coastal environments. Removal of PAHs from produced water before disposal is thus essential for offshore oil and gas production. However, the offshore operation and facilities (e.g., platforms and ships) usually have many special technical and economic constraints that limit the applications of many treatment technologies. Since advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are featured with high cost-efficiency, small footprints, and eco-friendliness which well match with the requirements of offshore operation and present a promising treatment option for offshore wastewater (e.g., produced water). However, limited research efforts have been reported in investigating AOPs' mechanisms, performance and applicability in treating offshore produced water. In order to help fill the knowledge and technical gaps, this research aimed at development of advanced oxidation technologies for removal of PAHs from offshore produced water treatment and examination of the oxidation processes and kinetics, and effluent toxicity and biodegradability.
To ensure efficient, reliable, and acurate analysis results, a refined analytical method, Vortex and Shaker Assisted Liquid-liquid Microextraction (VSA-LLME), was first developed, tested and adopted in the analysis of 16 priority PAHs recommended by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Under the optimized condition, the enrichment factors ranged from 68 to 78. The recoveries of the method were 74 to 85%, and the limits of detection were as low as 2 to 5 ng/L. The linearity results (R² values) for 16 PAHs were all above 0.99 with the relative standard deviations (RSD%) of 6 to 11%. This method also creatively utilized the organic constitutes in produced water as dispersive solvents to reduce the solvent consumption. Its straightforward procedure and excellent performance showed a strong potential for application in research and regulatory and industrial practice.
The photolysis of 16 PAHs in offshore produced water was then thoroughly investigated in this research. The results indicated much more complex kinetics in the removal of PAHs from produced water than those in stilled water, mianly due to the complex chemical constitutions of the substrate. The experiment disclosed the unique mechanisms including direct photolysis, dynamic light screening, and radical induced organic synthesis. A novel kinetic model involving dynamic light screening was developed and approved to support the mechanism analysis, and a semi-empirical model was also established to simulate the photolysis process. The proposed mechanisms and kinetics not only helped answered some scientific questions but also showed strong practical significance for further AOP development and applications.
The performance of ozonation in removing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from offshore produced water (OPW) was studied. The experimental results showed that ozone dose had positive effect due to enhancement in ozone decomposition, and radical yield. On the other hand, the removal was suppressed at increased bubble size and pH, which may be attributed to the reduction of interfacial area as well as stronger radical scavenging effect, respectively. Microtox tests showed that the acute toxicity of OPW was reduced after ozonation, which was highly correlated with the removal of PAHs. Such reduction was inhibited at high ozone doses, possibly due to the formation of disinfection by-products via reactions with halogens. As compared to control, ozonated OPW had higher oxygen uptake and less organic residual after biodegradation, indicating more bioavailable organics were formed after ozonation. Results from this study can be used as good references for designing new or upgrading existing OPW treatment systems using ozonation.
Based on the experimental results, the three major mechanisms affecting the PAHs removal through AOP treatment were proposed in the first time. Novel kinetic models based on the dynamic oxidant competitiveness was developed and validated. The model was able to simulate the oxidation processes, quantify the effects of different operational parameters. The testing result also indicated that insufficient treatment could lead to carcinogenetic by-products. On the other hand, proper advanced oxidation technologies could significantly increase biodegradability, showing strong potential of combining with conventional biological treatment in practice.


"This paper presents results from a study that identified patterns of social interaction among small farmers in three agricultural subsectors in Bolivia—fish culture, peanut production, and quinoa production—and analyzed how social interaction influences farmers' behavior toward the adoption of pro-poor innovations. Twelve microregions were identified, four in each subsector, setting the terrain for an analysis of parts of social networks that deal with the diffusion of specific sets of innovations. Three hundred sixty farmers involved in theses networks as well as 60 change agents and other actors promoting directly or indirectly the diffusion of innovations were interviewed about the interactions they maintain with other agents in the network and the sociodemographic characteristics that influence their adoption behavior. The information derived from this data collection was used to test a wide range of hypotheses on the impact that the embeddedness of farmers in social networks has on the intensity with which they adopt innovations. Evidence provided by the study suggests that persuasion, social influence, and competition are significant influences in the decisions of farmers in poor rural regions in Bolivia to adopt innovations. The results of this study are meant to attract the attention of policymakers and practitioners who are interested in the design and implementation of projects and programs fostering agricultural innovation and who may want to take into account the effects of social interaction and social capital. Meanwhile, scholars of the diffusion of innovations may find evidence to further embrace the complexity and interdependence of social interactions in their models and approaches." from Author's Abstract


When visualising topological objects via 3D printing, we need a threedimensional geometric representation of the object. There are approximately three broad strategies for doing this: "Manual" using whatever design software is available to build the object by hand; "Parametric/Implicit" generating the desired geometry using a parametrisation or implicit description of the object; and "Iterative" numerically solving an optimisation problem. The manual strategy is unlikely to produce good results unless the subject is very simple. In general, if there is a reasonably canonical geometric structure on the topological object, then we hope to be able to produce a parametrisation of it. However, in many cases this seems to be impossible and some form of iterative method is the best we can do. Within the parametric setting, there are still better and worse ways to proceed. For example, a geometric representation should demonstrate as many of the symmetries of the object as possible. There are similar issues in making three-dimensional representations of higher dimensional objects. I will discuss these matters with many examples, including visualisation of four-dimensional polytopes (using orthogonal versus stereographic projection) and Seifert surfaces (comparing my work with Saul Schleimer with Jack van Wijk's iterative techniques). I will also describe some computational problems that have come up in my 3D printed work, including the design of 3D printed mobiles (joint work with Marco Mahler), "Triple gear" and a visualisation of the Klein Quartic (joint work with Saul Schleimer), and hinged surfaces with negative curvature (joint work with Geoffrey Irving). This talk should be accessible to undergraduates.


A new technique is developed to measure the longitudinal thermal expansion coefficient of C/C composite material at high temperature. The measuring principle and components of the apparatus are described in detail. The calculation method is derived from the temperature dependence of the thermal expansion coefficient. The apparatus mainly consists of a high temperature environmental chamber, a power circuit of heating, two high-speed pyrometers, and a laser scanning system. A long solid specimen is resistively heated to a steady high-temperature state by a steady electrical current. The temperature profile of the specimen surface is not uniform because of the thermal conduction and radiation. The temperature profile and the total expansion are measured with a high-speed scanning pyrometer and a laser slit scanning measuring system, respectively. The thermal expansion coefficient in a wide temperature range (1000-3800 K) of the specimen can therefore be obtained. The perfect consistency between the present and previous results justifies the validity of this technique.


New York and London: New York University Press, 2001. Pp. 332. illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography, index.Craig Stephen Wilder offered his book, In The Company of Black Men, as an answer to historians who argued that African American institutional life was derived from white cultural standards. Instead of imitating white existing institutions such as churches and fraternal organizations, Wilder countered that early black institutions in New York City reflected a West African legacy. The thesis of the book as expressed by Wilder is "a reinterpretation of the origins of African American religion by locating the voluntary associations as a West African legacy and the source of the peculiar heredity of black institutional and philosophical Christianity."Wilder emphasized that the degrading nature of slavery did not erode completely an African value system nor did it leave the enslaved docile. He stressed that captured Africans resisted their enslavement by utilizing intergenerational and intertribal secret societies that had their origins in West Africa. For example, he noted that the 1741 slave conspiracy in Manhattan was fueled by African traditions which nearly brought the city to the brink of revolution. Readers would at this point appreciate Wilder offering more analysis and evidence. Where in Africa did the enslave come from? Which tribes united to plan this conspiracy? Were the activists in the conspiracy acting as "Africans" devoid of western influences and psychological understanding of their oppressors, or were they somewhat acculturated to Euro-Americans values which may have assisted them in their planning?In The Company of Black Men is a study of nationalism as applied to the formation of antebellum black institutions. Wilder declared that the moral basis of nationalistic thought had been largely unexamined. "The New York African Society for Mutual Relief and its subsidiary associations- which included benevolent and secret societies-brought their moral discipline to the black metropolis," he concluded. Despite the effort of the white controlled American Colonization Society and its few black supporters, most African Americans saw their destiny in America -- not Africa nor Haiti. Despite their physical removal from the land of their ancestors, and despite their open hostility to back-to-Africa attempts, the founders of voluntary societies and churches "treated Africa as the physical source of their humanity and equality." According to Wilder, the associations provided black New Yorkers with a social/welfare net as they spearheaded the struggle against slavery and racial discrimination. Wilder takes to task those scholars who criticized the voluntary associations excessive moralism "as evidence of their privilege and their coveting white approval." Wilder dismissed this assessment with the assertion that whites did not have a monopoly on an ethical culture. Instead, he added, "moralism was organic to the culture of African voluntary associations." He further denied that moralism was a reflection of accommodation or subservience but rather that it helped to "fuse religious passion to African nationalism, two ideological currents that countered white New Yorkers' insistence that liberty was the function of biology by isolating the struggle as moral and civil."Masculinity represented to Wilder a major attribute of the voluntary societies not only in New York but also in slave societies in Cuba and Brazil. He listed Boston Crummell, a native of Sierre Leone and one of the founders of the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave, militant abolitionist and Presbyterian minister, and James McCune Smith, M. …


Coming to clinical work from a neuroscientific background, it seemed logical to me to evaluate the short- and long-term outcomes of our patients treated with different homoeopathic approaches. The aim in our clinic was to identify prescribing methods that would more consistently arrive at sustained, long lasting healing in patients with chronic diseases. The aim of this presentation is to discuss whether our results can be linked to and understood within the context of important results of basic research in the past 30 years.

We tracked individual patient outcomes in our practice over extended periods between 1 and 21 years and correlated them with the different methodologies we had used to determine the remedies in each case.

The most reliable and predictive indicator of sustained long-term patient improvement with a single given remedy was a perfect match between remedy and rubrics. Such a perfect match was only possible when in-depth and – most importantly - thorough provings were available for that remedy.

A surprising and unexpected observation of our evaluations was in patients for whom such a perfect simillimum could be determined. On retaking of the case in these patients - who did not know which remedy they were taking – they could almost always name the source of their remedy using homeopathic interviewing techniques adapted from psychoanalytical methods.

The second surprising observation over the last 2 decades was that such an exact remedy picture is often found across several generations within one family. It can often be already found after birth. This hints to the possibility that a true simillimum remedy picture might be a state that is - at least in part – genetically encoded and inherited.

The third consistent long-term observation was that homeopathic remedies seem to interact with the patient's state in a way that is reminiscent of a physical (electromagnetic?) field.

The underlying mode of action of homeopathic remedies might be fully understood in the future through a synthesis of results from systematic clinical observation/research and important insights from recent basic research. To this end homeopathy would greatly benefit from a sincere mutual interest and dialogue between these 2 research disciplines.

Keywords: simillimum, long-term-evaluation, homeopathic clinical cases perfect match, field effects of homeopathic remedies, inner knowledge of the patient, hereditary remedy pictures


We present 27 new L subdwarfs and classify five of them as esdL and 22 as sdL. Our L subdwarf candidates were selected with the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Spectroscopic follow-up was carried out primarily with the OSIRIS spectrograph on the Gran Telescopio Canarias. Some of these new objects were followed up with the X-shooter instrument on the Very Large Telescope. We studied the photometric properties of the population of known L subdwarfs using colour-spectral type diagrams and colour-colour diagrams, by comparison with L dwarfs and main sequence stars, and identified new colour spaces for L subdwarf selection/study in current and future surveys. We further discussed the brown dwarf transition-zone and the observational stellar/substellar boundary. We found that about one-third of 66 known L subdwarfs are substellar objects, with two-thirds being very low-mass stars. We also present the Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams, spectral type-absolute magnitude corrections, and tangential velocities of 20 known L subdwarfs observed by the Gaia astrometry satellite. One of our L subdwarf candidates, ULAS J233227.03+123452.0, is a mildly metal-poor spectroscopic binary brown dwarf: a ˜L6p dwarf and a ˜T4p dwarf. This binary is likely a thick disc member according to its kinematics.


A scotopic (b-wave) component of the human electroretinogram which results from small (1° to 12°) area stimulation has previously been shown, by the writer and others, to arise almost entirely from stray light in the eye which weakly illuminates large peripheral areas where the rods predominate. It is now indicated that for intermediate (45°) areas, a double-peaked b-wave is elicited which is believed to reflect activity aroused separately by image and stray light stimulus components. When extremely large (over 100°) stimulus areas are used, a unimodal response can be elicited using very weak luminances of stimulation. Since the large area response is mainly attributable to direct retinal stimulation, a basis is provided for comparing the effects of stray light (small area) and direct (very large area) stimulation. From such comparisons, it is concluded that (1) over four times as much luminous flux is required for a small stimulus to elicit a given b-wave as for a very large one to do so, (2) one of the stray light components is Rayleigh (small-particle) scatter, and (3) large-particle scatter and reflection from the fundus are also involved.


OBJECTIVES
The aims of this study were to examine how GPs manage the consultation for upper resiratory tract infections (URTIs) and the prescribing of antibiotics, to understand what skills and strategies are used in managing URTIs without antibiotics, and to note evidence of pressure on doctors to prescribe and whether there are signs of overt disagreement about prescribing in the consultation.

METHODS
A qualitative analysis of audiotaped consultations was carried out. The setting was a general practice in South Wales and the subjects were five GPs and 29 parents presenting children with URTIs over a 2-week period. The main outcome measures were skills and strategies identified from audiotapes of consultations.

RESULTS
This group of GPs used a set of readily identifiable consulting skills for managing the consultation without prescribing. Their consultations had a highly routinized quality. There was little evidence of either conflict or overt pressure from parents to prescribe. The word 'antibiotics' was seldom mentioned. Clinicians did not elicit patient expectations for receiving antibiotics.

CONCLUSIONS
Doctors use a set of readily identifiable skills in managing the URTI consultation. Avoiding the prescribing of antibiotics is not necessarily a simple and straightforward matter. Since patients apparently want antibiotics less than anticipated, eliciting expectations might be a way of reducing prescribing and broadening the approach to meeting patient needs. Whether doctors can adjust their routinized consulting patterns in the time-limited context of general practice remains an open question.


Concerns about the risk of food supply contamination have limited the development and commercialization of certain pharmaceutical plants. This article develops an insurance pricing model that helps translate these concerns into a cost-benefit analysis. The model first estimates the physical dispersal of maize pollen subject to a number of weather parameters. This distribution is then validated with the limited amount of currently available field trial data. The physical distribution is then used to calculate the premium for a fair-valued insurance policy that would fund the destruction of possibly contaminated fields. The flexible framework can be readily adapted to other crops, management practices, and regions.


BACKGROUND
Liver resections are widely performed in paediatric surgery. Many techniques exist to achieve vascular control, minimise bleeding and complete the parenchymal division.

METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed all liver resections performed in the Department of Paediatric Surgery at our institution between January 2005 and June 2012. Data pertaining to basic demographics, indications for surgery, parenchymal transection techniques, morbidity, mortality and histology were collated.

RESULTS
Twenty-one resections were performed in children aged 6 weeks - 11 years; 18 for malignant liver disease (including 9 hepatoblastomas), and 3 for benign disease. We describe 1 peri-operative mortality secondary to torsion of the liver remnant, and no surgical morbidity. Three cases underwent total hepatic vascular exclusion with sharp parenchymal transection. The remaining patients underwent selective vascular inflow and outflow control using the Cavitron Ultra Sonic Aspirator and Harmonic Scalpel to divide the parenchyma.

CONCLUSION
Care for these patients should be multidisciplinary. High-volume units and access to liver transplantation offer optimal results. No technique is proven superior to the 'clamp crush' technique of parenchymal transection. Knowledge of hepatic anatomy is key to minimising morbidity, and surgeons should be familiar with and have the flexibility to use all techniques of vascular control.


When the decision in Board of Education v. Rowley was announced in 1982, advocates for special education viewed it as a defeat for students with disabilities. But in many respects the Rowley decision supported a robust and forceful mandate at the federal level to provide special education at the state and local level. It found the statute sufficiently clear to bind the states to the standards as the Court saw them. It enshrined the individual determination of needs and services and the parent's enforcement role. And the Court refused, both in Rowley and in later decisions, to allow cost to determine appropriateness of services. This reflection, written as part of a symposium issue commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the Rowley decision, suggests that as to each of these issues, a differently disposed Court could have taken a different tack. Had it done so, special education would not look today as it does, and advocates would have far more to lament. This essay "slides the doors" as to each of these aspects of the Rowley decision to consider how things might have been different had the Court resolved them another way. Because acknowledged shifts in the Court suggest that the pendulum has swung away from enforcement of individual entitlements in the intervening years, I suggest that Rowley deserves celebrating on its own merits for these critical elements of a strong special education law.


Sports constitute a basis of fun for many (young) people and can contribute to important social developments. Sport can also yield opposite results:: arrogance, bullying, (sexual) intimidation, discrimination. Effects are largely influenced by the context of (youth) sport participation. In facing the reality of organized sport, creating a safe and pedagogical environment is not a priori inherent in sports. Many sports associations and clubs still primarily and too often focus on issues like schedules, organizing training and competitions, being financially sound and ensuring the continuity of their organizations. Specific policies for the prevention of harassment and abuse in sport hardly ever reach a local level. Experts speak of an implementation issue. In search for innovative approaches, Positive Behavior Support (PBS) was also introduced in the sport context. In this article, the preliminary evaluation of first experiences with PBS in local sport clubs (which are mostly run by volunteers) is described on the basis of seven insights. Conclusions can be drawn that PBS can be a guiding principal in sport clubs with organizational strength, although it needs specific translation within the context of sport. Further research is required to determine those significant adjustments.


The major histocompatibility complex class I restricted T cells must react to abnormalities in the protein expression of a cell arising from cellular transformation, or infection with viruses and intracellular bacteria, but leave normal cells alone. The extent of this surveillance is the subject of two reports (see the Perspective by Yewdell). Using a bicistronic transgene construct, Schwab et al. initiated translation within a designated "untranslated" region of a gene starting with a nonstandard CUG codon. The peptide derived from this cryptic translation product was presented to the immune system with relatively high efficiency, inducing both immune tolerance and CD8 responses in different settings. Thus, through novel modes of translation, the realm of self or nonself presented to the immune system may extend well beyond that made available by the coding region of a given gene. Viruses frequently avoid host detection by limiting the amount of viral antigen they produce. In the case of the Epstein Barr virus (EBV)-encoded nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1), antigen limitation is thought to be achieved through inhibition of protein degradation by a glycine-alanine repeat (GAr) within the protein. However, such a mechanism would not be effective against nonGAr-containing defective ribosomal products (DriPs), nonfunctional polypeptides that are thought to represent a significant source of antigens. In revisiting this question, Yin et al. show that GAr also auto-inhibits EBNA1 translation, and thus limits both full-length protein and DRiP translation. J. W. Yewdell, Hide and seek in the peptidome. Science 301, 1334-1335 (2003). [Summary] [Full Text] S. R. Schwab, K. C. Li, C. Kang, N. Shastri, Constitutive display of cryptic translation products by MHC class I molecules. Science 301, 1367-1371 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text] Y. Yin, B. Manoury, R. Fåhraeus, Self-inhibition of synthesis and antigen presentation by Epstein-Barr virus-encoded EBNA1. Science 301, 1371-1374 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


In the mining industry there are several methods to predict how the rock mass will behave. One of those methods is numerical analysis with modeling software, e.g. Finite Element Method (FEM). These numerical methods require good input parameters to yield good results. Today these models most likely consist of the mine geometry and a few different material property zones, like ore body and different zones between different lithologies. Since rock mass is not a homogeneous material this may not be sufficient to reproduce real conditions. A way to improve the model is to have more material property zones. A way to do that is to have more accurate input data. These data comes from testing drill cores. But it is time consuming and expensive to have extensive sampling campaigns. Solving that problem is geostatistics. With geostatistics a limited number of data points can be used to estimate material properties to areas that have little or none data points. In this thesis geostatistical estimation is performed on mechanical properties from bore hole data. A data set with information from Rana Gruber AS provided by Steinar Ellefmo was used as input. The geostatistical estimation method ordinary kriging was performed on the data in the software Surpac. Results from the estimation were then put in the numerical analysis software Phase2. In the numerical analysis, stress distribution and deformation was looked at. It is concluded that the results clearly show that having numerous different material property zones have an effect on the stress distribution and deformation. This can mean that using this method will give a relative more accurate result, than not using geostatistics before numerical analysis.


Searching of sources to increase the capitalization of Russian banks is an important economic problem for both the national and regional economy. Moreover, a strong capital base allows to credit institutions to meet the demands of economic agents for banking service. The research focuses on the choice of sources of regulatory capital for the banks of Tyumen region in the context of changing supervisory requirements in the period of 2005–2016, in different phases of the business cycle. We apply econometric methods of statistical information using IBM SPSS Statistics software. We have calculated the individual correlations of regional banks' capital with gross domestic product (GDP) (excluding gross regional product (GRP)) and GRP (with the exception of the effect of GDP). These calculations have shown that the capital of regional banks is related only to GDP. The increase in the capital of regional banks is accompanied by a change in its structure: the share of authorized capital has halved, and the share of subordinated debt has grown. All sources of capital, other than the reserve fund, are related to GDP. Authorized capital is associated with the profit of profitable lending institutions; retained earnings in the capital of regional banks — with the aggregated amount of risks of the banking system of the Russian Federation. Subordinated debt, like capital as a whole, is negatively affected by the profitability of the banking sector. The change in the capital of regional banks is determined by the change in retained earnings, subordinated debt and reserve fund. Modelling of these relations has allowed to obtain a system of equations. This system synthesizes linear regression models of changing the capital of regional banks in the context of their sourcing. The results of this study are significant for theoretical justification and practical development of a balanced financial policy of regional banks. Our research will contribute to strengthening an adequate capital base as well as to the creation of a system of proportional bank regulation and supervision.


This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact of regime changes in the composition and patterns of recruitment of the Portuguese ministerial elite throughout the last 150 years. The 'out-of-type', violent nature of most regime transformations accounts for the purges in and the extensive replacements of the political personnel, namely of the uppermost officeholders. In the case of Cabinet members, such discontinuities did not imply, however, radical changes in their social profile. Although there were some significant variations, a series of salient characteristics have persisted over time. The typical Portuguese minister is a male in his midforties, of middle-class origin and predominantly urban-born, highly educated and with a state servant background. The two main occupational contingents have been university professors - except for the First Republic (1910-26) - and the military, the latter having only recently been eclipsed with the consolidation of contemporary democracy. As regards career pathways, the most striking feature is the secular trend for the declining role of parliamentary experience, which the democratic regime did not clearly reverse. In this period, a technocratic background rather than political experience has been indeed the privileged credential for a significant proportion of ministers.


In contemporary Indo-European studies, the Old Indo-Aryan i-epenthesis is usually treated as a result of a diachronic process, namely that of laryngeal vocalization. This view, however, necessitates the assumption of a strict and quite early divide be-tween the Indo-Aryan and Iranian as subbranches of Indo-Iranian. In this paper, we challenge this particular view: we argue that the phonological development of laryngeals is basically uniform within Indo-Iranian. Hence, the i-epenthesis represents instead a later phenomenon that emerges only in Old Indo-Aryan and that is not exclusively tied to the phonology of laryngeals. We show that the distribution of the i-epenthesis renders it a synchronic repair strategy of Old Indo-Aryan either to avoid phonotacticly illicit consonant clusters or to saturate other morphonological tendencies. The tendencies identified by us include an Old Indo-Aryan thrive for open syllables, paradigm uni-formity, and morphological recoverability to enhance lexicon retrieval. We develop our proposal for Vedic and Pāninian Sanskrit by examining certain deverbal suffixes for nominal derivation and the structure of inherited kinship terms that denote 'father' or 'daughter' respectively


Snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea are both due to multilevel anatomical obstruction, and the nose and nasal pathology both contribute in many cases. This paper addresses some of the issues surrounding the problem and briefly discusses the role of medication and nasal dilators and in more detail the implication of nasal surgery in various aspects of sleep related breathing disorders (SRBD). Nasal obstruction leads to mouth breathing, which destabilises the upper airway and aggravates SRBD.


We present a componentwise iterated relative entropy regularization method (COMET) where the prior and regularization parameter could be updated in the iterates. Such a reconstruction method could be useful for multicomponent inverse problems, such as the one occurring in electron tomography. The paper also contains a brief introduction to regularization theory with emphasis on variational based regularization methods, and we rigorously prove that the tolerance-based entropy reconstruction method that occurs in the COMET iterates is a regularization method. We conclude by showing examples of COMET applied to electron tomography data.


It has been a difficult task to solve fractional oscillators analytically, especially when variable-order fractional derivatives (FDs) are included. The major difficulty consists in deriving analytical expressions for the variable FDs of trigonometric functions. To tackle this problem, a memory-free transformation for constant-order FDs is modified to transform the variable FDs equivalently into a nonlinear differential equation of integer-order. Based on the equivalent equation, an analytical solution is obtained for the variable FD, showing nice agreement with numerical results. According to the approximate analytical solution in closed-form, the frequency amplitude curve and the backbone line of variable fractional oscillators are determined accurately. In addition, it provides us with convenience in analyzing the primary resonance.


The article discusses the problem of the applicability of modern public administration theories and practices outside liberal democracies. The theory and practice are not universal; they do not apply to the conditions of the most numerous type of state in the world, namely nation-states, with "hybrid" political regimes and a mixed system of economic, social and cultural relations. The type of political and socio-economic development of these states cannot be defined in some fields; it is extremely resolute in being temporary and transitional. This is especially true in societies with clan and patron-client relationships, where these prevail at each level of the civil service hierarchy. By using the examples of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the author shows that this type of relationship gives rise to corruption, but also performs a number of important functions in the social sphere, and could sometimes be used as capital modernization by the authorities. Russia, described in the article as a country with ruined social mutual aid traditions, demonstrates that clan relationship traditions continuing in a number of Central Asian countries may cause less damage than full social atomization. The paper is aimed at formulating a hypothesis of the feasibility of convergent approach in public administration theory development for further research. The core idea represents the counter convergence of the theories and the real conditions of governance in various nation-states with hybrid regimes. The article is based on the authors own research and the public administration departments student studies, performed under his supervision.


The ability to deploy a planar surface to a desired convex profile with a simple actuation can enhance foldable or morphing airfoils, deployable antennae and reflectors, and other applications where a specific profile geometry is desired from a planar sheet. A model using a system of rigid links joined by torsional springs of tailorable stiffness is employed to create an approximate curved surface when two opposing tip loads are applied. A system of equations describing the shape of the surface during deployment is developed. The physical implementation of the model uses compliant torsion bars as the torsion springs. A multidimensional optimization algorithm is presented to place joints to minimize the error from the rigid-link approximation and account for additional manufacturing and stress considerations in the torsion bars. A proof is presented to show that equal torsion spring spacing along the horizontal axis of deployed parabolic profiles will result in minimizing the area between the model's rigid-link approximation and smooth curve. The model is demonstrated through the physical construction of a deployable airfoil surface and a metallic deployable parabolic reflector.


Introduction Sedentary behaviour is increasingly recognised as a health risk. While differences in this behaviour might help explain ethnic differences in disease profiles, studies on sedentary behaviour in ethnic minorities are scarce. The aim of this study was to compare the levels and the socio-demographic and lifestyle-related correlates of objectively measured sedentary time among five ethnic groups in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Methods Data were collected as part of the HELIUS study. The sample consisted of adults from a Dutch, Moroccan, African Surinamese, South-Asian Surinamese and Turkish ethnic origin. Data were collected by questionnaire, physical examination, and a combined heart rate and accelerometry monitor (Actiheart). Sedentary time was defined as waking time spent on activities of <1.5 metabolic equivalents. Ethnic differences in the levels of sedentary time were tested using ANOVA and ANCOVA analyses, while ethnic differences in the correlates of sedentary time were tested with interactions between ethnicity and potential correlates using general linear models. Associations between these correlates and sedentary time were explored using linear regression analyses stratified by ethnicity (pre-determined). All analyses were adjusted for gender and age. Results 447 participants were included in the analyses, ranging from 73 to 109 participants per ethnic group. Adjusted levels of sedentary time ranged from 569 minutes/day (9.5 hours/day) for participants with a Moroccan and Turkish origin to 621 minutes/day (10.3 hours/day) in African Surinamese participants. There were no statistically significant differences in the levels or correlates of sedentary time between the ethnic groups. Meeting the physical activity recommendations (150 minutes/week) was consistently inversely associated with sedentary time across all ethnic groups, while age was positively associated with sedentary time in most groups. Conclusions No statistically significant differences in the levels of objectively measured sedentary time or its socio-demographic and lifestyle-related correlates were observed among five ethnic groups in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.


The aim of the conference is to explain the formulation of the Tamagawa number conjecture by Bloch and Kato, and the proof of this conjecture for Dirichlet motives. The background necessary for the formulation of the conjecture is explained by the main speakers, in eight series of talks (A–H). Series Z consists of talks by the participants (model: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Oberwolfach – thus, the subjects of these talks have been fixed in advance; see the program below). These talks will provide certain details of the general theory entering the proof for Dirichlet motives. Preferably, the speakers will not be experts in the field. Graduate students and post-docs are particularly encouraged to participate, and to apply for one of the talks of the series Z. In order to do so, write an e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com, and establish a list of 3 talks (order of preference), each of which you would be ready to prepare (please do so before February 28). Instead of writing an e-mail, you may use the registration form on the conference home page