Most studies on rational response of rice producers in less developed countries(LDCs) assume risk–neutrality. However, the role of risk in producer decision making has been recognised as an important determinant of production. It has been shown that competitive risk–averse firms produce a smaller output under price uncertainty than under the assumption of price certainty and that the higher the overall level of risk, ceteris paribus, the lower the output. It is also shown that an increase in price risk may imply a fall in a firm's production in the face of a decreasing absolute risk aversion. If farmers are rational and risk averse in LDCs, they should consider not only expected output prices and yields when allocation resources, but also expected risk in output prices and yields. The extent to which price and yield risks do in fact affect producer decisions is an empirical question. In this paper, we develop a single–equation model as well as a system of equations model to estimate supply response under risky conditions when agents are rational. In particular, a rational expectations model incorporating risk variables is presented. Then, we apply the models to a developing country (Bengal, India) and estimate the validity of the models.


We aim to contribute to the assessment of poverty impacts on the rural sector arising from agricultural policy adjustments in Colombia. For this we use an agriculture specialized static CGE model, jointly (sequentially) with a microsimulation model that allows for effective job relocation. Results indicate that the sectoral impact of the program implemented tends to be small and has considerable variability across crops. They also show that the highest impacts come from the irrigation and land improvements component of the program. Lastly, although it reduces poverty, poverty impacts are small and tend to concentrate in rural households toward the middle of the income distribution ladder. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)


I examine subjective representations of time and space in elegy from the 17thcentury to the 21stcentury, focusing on how ordinary objects affect the elegiac environment. I argue that the defamiliarising of technological devices by the elegist creates uncanny sites of contact with the world of the dead. Using elegies by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, W. H. Auden,SylviaPlath and Anne Carson, among others, I demonstrate a persistent motif of technological devices and scientific imagination in the genre. Stopping a clock interrupts the passage of time. Photographs create a static space where the past is present. The telephone allows connection to the dead. Studying the effects of these devices allows the interrogation of a critical narrative of shift from nature to science in the elegiac tradition, and the associated shift from healing to hopelessness, and emphasises the uncanny element of elegy and its impact on the space and time of mourning.


The statistical perspective on boosting algorithms focuses on optimization, drawing parallels with maximum likelihood estimation for logistic regression. In this paper we present empirical evidence that raises questions about this view. Although the statistical perspective provides a theoretical framework within which it is possible to derive theorems and create new algorithms in general contexts, we show that there remain many unanswered important questions. Furthermore, we provide examples that reveal crucial flaws in the many practical suggestions and new methods that are derived from the statistical view. We perform carefully designed experiments using simple simulation models to illustrate some of these flaws and their practical consequences.


Although any attorney can represent clients with complex property, tax, or administrative issues, only a certain class of attorneys can assist with obtaining and challenging patents before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO). Only those who are members of the PTO's patent bar can prosecute patents, and eligibility for the patent bar is only available to people with substantial scientific or engineering credentials. However much sense the eligibility rules make for utility patents—those based on novel scientific or technical inventions—they are completely irrational when applied to design patents—those based on ornamental or aesthetic industrial designs. Yet the PTO applies its eligibility rules to both kinds of patents. While chemical engineers can prosecute both utility patents and design patents (and in any field), industrial designers cannot even prosecute design patents. This Article applies contemporary research in the law and economics of occupational licensing to demonstrate how the PTO's application of eligibility rules to design patents harms the patent system by increasing the costs of obtaining and challenging design patents. Moreover, we argue that the PTO's rules produce a substantial disparate impact on women's access to a lucrative part of the legal profession. By limiting design patent prosecution jobs to those with science and engineering credentials, the majority of whom are men, the PTO's rules disadvantage women attorneys. We conclude by offering two proposals for addressing the harms caused by the current system.


Immune cells move between the circulation system and tissues in response to infection. Upon detection of inflammation, leukocytes initiate a highly orchestrated sequence of events, whereby they attach and roll along on the surface of the endothelium before squeezing through to the underlying tissue. Auffray et al. reveal a quite distinct type of behavior displayed by a population of monocytes that remain attached to the endothelium in the absence of inflammation. The resident cells appeared to survey the surface of postcapillary venules, veins, and arteries, depending on specific chemokine and integrin signals. Upon detection of inflammatory cues, the cells move into infected sites, where they undergo differentiation into macrophages. Mueller et al. reveal how the down-regulation of chemokines in the lymph node prevents T lymphocytes from entering during an ongoing immune response. This delay may help to optimize the lymph node environment to produce the most effective immune response. C. Auffray, D. Fogg, M. Garfa, G. Elain, O. Join-Lambert, S. Kayal, S. Sarnacki, A. Cumano, G. Lauvau, F. Geissmann, Monitoring of blood vessels and tissues by a population of monocytes with patrolling behavior. Science 317, 666-670 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text] S. N. Mueller, K. A. Hosiawa-Meagher, B. T. Konieczny, B. M. Sullivan, M. F. Bachmann, R. M. Locksley, R. Ahmed, M. Matloubian, Regulation of homeostatic chemokine expression and cell trafficking during immune responses. Science 317, 670-674 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Hydrocephalus is a brain disease wherein the ventricles dilate and compress the parenchyma towards the skull. It is primarily characterized by the disruption of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow within the ventricular system. Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a form of hydrocephalus for which the enlargement of ventricles occurs although the intracranial pressure (ICP) remains close to normal. The pressure gradient between the source of CSF production in the ventricles and the absorption sites is reported to be very low (∼1 mm Hg), i.e. within the experimental errors. The mechanism of NPH evolution is still obscure and its distinction from the other causes of dementia such as Alzheimer and neurodegenerative diseases is difficult. The present work contributes to a better understanding of the NPH mechanism in terms of CSF disturbances and/or parenchyma defects. To this end, imaging techniques such as Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) are used together with a finite element (FE) model. As a final step, NPH onset and evolution are clarified via a theoretical model for healthy and NPH brains assuming a spherical geometry. The proposed mechanism is further analyzed in a realistic 3D model of the brain parenchyma. Geometries of ventricular system and skull are obtained from MRI images of a human brain. DTI data are used to establish the fiber tracts direction as well as the local frame of anisotropic elasticity and permeability. The brain parenchyma is considered as a poro-elastic material where the tissue displacement and CSF flow are modeled using the Biot's theory. A link between the CSF diffusion and CSF permeability in brain parenchyma is established and the importance of space dependent CSF content and transverse isotropic (TI) permeability is highlighted in case of low pressure gradient hydrocephalus. Calculations are carried out to simulate the ventricular dilation using FE softwares such as MATLAB® and COMSOL®. The numerical results show that consideration of space dependent CSF content and TI permeability leads to a much more realistic model for NPH in terms of CSF velocity and CSF content. Anisotropic MRE experiment is conducted over selected slices of a healthy human brain. The experimental results are statistically refined and further used to assess the healthy brain stiffness as well as the degree of anisotropy in elasticity. Moreover, the constitutive behavior of the white matter is modeled as a composite material containing fiber tracts surrounded by a matrix; with the assumption of a low fiber-matrix bonding and fiber tract undulation. A non-linear elastic model is proposed in order to take into account the load transfer from white matter matrix to fiber tracts when these are fully stretched. The unknown value of the elastic coefficients in a sick brain is determined by using inverse modeling, i.e. by adjusting these coefficients so that the right ventricle dilation is obtained. It is demonstrated that NPH development can be associated with a degradation of the brain parenchyma elastic stiffness in NPH patients. It is shown that during NPH development, a load transfer from the white matter matrix (cell bodies and interstitial fluid) to fiber tracts takes place, initiating elastic anisotropy in white matter tissues at rather large strains. An analytical approach is developed to seek the underlying NPH mechanism in a simplified model of brain. Without further refinement in the constitutive equation or adding complexity to the material behavior, the Biot's formulation is regarded as the basis. However, an absorption term is added to the Biot's model to consider the possible transparenchymal CSF resorption. The ventricle stability concept is introduced and is further utilized to investigate the equilibrium positions. The influence of different biomechanical parameters on the stable ventricle geometry is assessed and the healthy and NPH equilibrium positions are found to be dependent in particular on the CSF seepage through the ventricle wall and the absorption and permeability coefficients of the brain parenchyma. Although very simple, the proposed analytical model is able to predict the onset and development of NPH conditions as a deviation from healthy conditions. Incorporating the stability concept in a more realistic geometry of brain (3D), the respective equilibrium positions are recaptured using the parameter values provided by the analytical spherical model. The disruption of ventricle surface during the NPH development increases CSF seepage and consequently the medium permeability. A dilation dependent permeability is moreover incorporated in a 3D model of the brain. The results emphasize the importance of strain dependent permeability which favors the ventricle equilibrations in more realistic geometries of brain. Future works might consider the time dependent deformation (creep effects and stress induced remodeling) of ventricles and the incorporation of anisotropic permeability and elasticity in the 3D model. The geometry should be extended to the full ventricular system including the subarachnoid spaces (SAS).


Over the last decade, steady advancements have been made in the use of DNA-based methods for detection of species in a wide range of ecosystems. This progress has culminated in molecular monitoring methods being employed for the detection of several species for enforceable management purposes of endangered, invasive, and illegally harvested species worldwide. However, the routine application of DNA-based methods to monitor whole communities (typically a metabarcoding approach) in order to assess the status of ecosystems continues to be limited. In aquatic ecosystems, the limited use is particularly true for macroinvertebrate communities. As part of the DNAqua-Net consortium, a structured discussion was initiated with the aim to identify potential molecular methods for freshwater macroinvertebrate community assessment and identify important knowledge gaps for their routine application. We focus on three complementary DNA sources that can be metabarcoded: 1) DNA from homogenised samples (bulk DNA), 2) DNA extracted from sample preservative (fixative DNA), and 3) environmental DNA (eDNA) from water or sediment. We provide a brief overview of metabarcoding macroinvertebrate communities from each DNA source and identify challenges for their application to routine monitoring. To advance the utilisation of DNA-based monitoring for macroinvertebrates, we propose an experimental design template for a series of methodological calibration tests. The template compares sources of DNA with the goal of identifying the effects of molecular processing steps on precision and accuracy. Furthermore, the same samples will be morphologically analysed, which will enable the benchmarking of molecular to traditional processing approaches. In doing so we hope to highlight pathways for the development of DNA-based methods for the monitoring of freshwater macroinvertebrates.


Monoamines such as serotonin and dopamine have been shown to regulate cortical interneuron migration but very little is known regarding noradrenaline. Similarly to other monoamines, noradrenaline is detected during embryonic cortical development and adrenergic receptors are expressed in transient embryonic zones of the pallium that contain migrating neurons. Evidence of a functional role for the adrenergic system in interneuron migration is lacking. In this study we first investigated the expression pattern of adrenergic receptors in mouse cortical interneuron subtypes preferentially derived from the caudal ganglionic eminences, and found that they expressed different subtypes of adrenergic receptors. To directly monitor the effects of adrenergic receptor stimulation on interneuron migration we used time‐lapse recordings in cortical slices and observed that alpha2 adrenergic receptors (adra2) receptor activation inhibits the migration of cortical interneurons in a concentration‐dependent and reversible manner. Furthermore, we observed that following adra2 activation the directionality of migrating interneurons was significantly modified, suggesting that adra2 stimulation could modulate their responsiveness to guidance cues. Finally the distribution of cortical interneurons was altered in vivo in adra2a/2c‐knockout mice. These results support the general hypothesis that adrenergic dysregulation occurring during embryonic development alters cellular processes involved in the formation of cortical circuits.


Factor graphs are graphical models used to represent a wide variety of problems across robotics, such as Structure from Motion (SfM), Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and calibration. Typically, at their core, they have an optimization problem whose terms only depend on a small subset of variables. Factor graph solvers exploit the locality of problems to drastically reduce the computational time of the Iterative Least-Squares (ILS) methodology. Although extremely powerful, their application is usually limited to unconstrained problems. In this letter, we model constraints over variables within factor graphs by introducing a factor graph version of the Augmented Lagrangian (AL) method. We show the potential of our method by presenting a full navigation stack based on factor graphs. Differently from standard navigation stacks, we can model both optimal control for local planning and localization with factor graphs, and solve the two problems using the standard ILS methodology. We validate our approach in real-world autonomous navigation scenarios, comparing it with the de facto standard navigation stack implemented in ROS. Comparative experiments show that for the application at hand our system outperforms the standard nonlinear programming solver Interior-Point Optimizer (IPOPT) in runtime, while achieving similar solutions.


The Great Recession has resulted in a seemingly permanent level shift in many macroeconomic variables. This paper presents a microfounded general equilibrium model featuring frictional labor markets and financial frictions that generates procyclical R&D expenditures and replicates business cycle features of establishment dynamics. This allows demonstrating the channels through which productivity and financial shocks influence the aggregate endogenous growth rate of the economy, creating level shifts in its balanced growth path. I find that financial shocks are an important driver of the aggregate fluctuations and their influence is especially pronounced for establishment entry. Since the growth rate of the economy can in principle be affected by policy measures, I examine the macroeconomic and welfare effects of applying several subsidy schemes.

https://gnpje.sgh.waw.pl/pdf-151795-80847?filename=Long Shadows of Financial.pdf


The problem of how to accommodate inconsistencies has attracted quite a number of researchers, in particular, in the area of database theory. The problem is also of concern in the study of belief change. For inconsistent beliefs are ubiquitous. However, comparatively little work has been devoted to discussing the problem in the literature of belief change. In this paper, I examine how adequate the AGM theory is as a logical framework for belief change involving inconsistencies. The technique is to apply to Grove's sphere system, a semantical representation of the AGM theory, logics that do not infer everything from contradictory premises, viz., paraconsistent logics. I use three paraconsistent logics and discuss three sphere systems that are based on them. I then examine the completeness of the postulates of the AGM theory with respect to the systems. At the end, I discuss some philosophical implications of the examination.


Activist judges ... have begun redefining marriage by court order, without regard for the will off the people and their elected representatives. On an issue of such great consequence, the people's voice must be heard. If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage. --President George W. Bush, January 2004 (1) I. INTRODUCTION In the wake of a surge of judicial activism aimed at creating a constitutional right to same-sex marriages, prominent conservatives and traditionalists have called for an amendment to the federal Constitution prohibiting same-sex marriages nationwide. (2) Representative Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado has introduced an amendment proposal that reads: Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the Constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman. (3) For those who view the separation of powers between states and the national government as fundamental to our constitutional structure, how should such a proposal be received? Is it the only tenable response to the usurpation of legislative authority by an increasingly activist, liberal, and secularist judiciary and the concomitant problems posed by the Full Faith and Credit Clause? Or is it a misguided and rash surrender of rightfully localized authority to the national government at the expense of core federalist principles? The growing interest in a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages was provoked by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts's decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, (4) in which the court ruled that a state law prohibiting same-sex couples from obtaining a civil marriage violated the state constitution. Although the court did not consider whether the law violated the federal Constitution, it employed rational basis tests under both due process and equal protection jurisprudence. Employing reasoning similar to that of the Supreme Court in Romer v. Evans, (5) the court found that the only state interest served by excluding same-sex couples from marriage rights was an unwarranted animosity towards homosexuals. As the Massachusetts court wrote, the absence of any reasonable relationship between, on the one hand, an absolute disqualification of same-sex couples who wish to enter into civil marriage and, on the other, protection of public health, safety, or general welfare, suggests that the marriage restriction is rooted in persistent prejudices against persons who are (or who are believed to be) homosexual. (6) It rejected a litany of rational bases proffered by the government and its amici, including the argument that the state's interest in promoting marriage is to foster stable environments for procreation and the rearing of children. (7) From the perspective of originalism, the decision in Goodridge cannot be justified, no matter one's position on the desirability of same-sex marriage as a social policy. While proponents of an activist judiciary see the ruling as the first step in a "legal revolution," (8) those who subscribe to the belief that constitutional provisions should be interpreted in accordance with their framers' intent should shudder at the decision. The court's expansion of equal protection was "not an adjustment of an old principle to a new reality but the creation of a new principle by tour de force or, less politely, by sleight of hand." (9) No legislator who passed the equal protection and due process components of the Massachusetts Constitution could possibly have envisioned that they were legalizing same-sex marriage. (10) The court created a new law that was never voted on, that was never debated in the halls of a legislature, and that now requires a state constitutional amendment to repeal. …


ABSTRACT Since the Cold War, South-East Asia has been marked by a period of relative calm and stability. Yet this peace belies ongoing tensions, mistrust and stress in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and among its member states. Within the scholarship on ASEAN, not enough attention is devoted to these underlying currents. How and in what way do tensions stress the ASEAN norms? What are some of the coping mechanisms adopted by ASEAN and its member states? Engaging with the scholarship on norms, the author contends that changes wrought in this relationship are both extra- and intra-mural. These have accelerated as contentious issues—particularly the South China Sea disputes—gain more visibility. The author argues that ASEAN is put under pressure, firstly, through a more muscular Chinese foreign policy that disrupts but does not yet break the fundamental norms of ASEAN and, secondly, through internal contestation over ASEAN norms that challenges the meaning of these norms. Essentially, the article gives an account of how internal and external pressures are burdening ASEAN norms but yet remain durable because of resistance against duress by the bloc and member states. This is done through an examination of instances where the established order and practices in the region were disturbed, and the response to this disturbance.


This paper reports a qualitative investigation of the experiences of 18 students taking a year long, part-time pre-entry course designed to help participants choose a course of study and develop confidence in their ability to study at first year university standard. The particular focus for the research was information literacy, and the study sought to illuminate students' reasoning underlying their information use. It was found that interviewees expressed greater confidence in the veracity of textbooks than websites, but that this contrast appeared to be based on a relatively unsophisticated epistemology. The interviews also suggested that students' metacognitive awareness and control, particularly over the critical thinking processes by which candidate information is selected or rejected for study, were somewhat weak. The core characteristics of information literacy for this group are discussed and suggestions for follow-up studies and interventions to assist in improving matters are provided.


The formation of pseudouridine (psi) in human U1, U2 and U5 small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) was investigated using HeLa cell extracts. Unmodified snRNAs were synthesized in vitro and the extent of psi formation was determined after incubation in cell extracts. The formation of psi on labelled substrates was monitored in the presence of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-containing snRNAs as inhibitors of psi formation. The conversion of uridine to psi was inhibited only when the cognate 5-FU-containing inhibitor snRNA was included in the reaction. For example, 5-FU-containing U1 RNA inhibited psi formation in unmodified U1 RNA, but not in (unmodified) U2 or U5 RNAs. The results suggest that there are at least three activities that form psi in these snRNAs. The 5-FU-containing RNAs were stable during incubation in the cell extracts. A 12-fold molar excess of unlabelled U1 RNA did not inhibit psi formation on a labelled U1 RNA substrate, whereas a 3-fold molar excess of 5-FU-containing U1 RNA nearly abolished psi formation on the U1 substrate. The fact that 5-FU-containing snRNAs are potent inhibitors of psi formation in these pre-mRNA splicing cofactors raises the possibility that this is related to the cytotoxicity of fluoropyrimidines in cancer chemotherapy.


For cells to become transformed (cancerous), critical cellular components that regulate cell growth must be disturbed. One way transformation can occur is if the activity of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a serine and threonine phosphatase, is inhibited. PP2A functions as a heterotrimer of catalytic, regulatory, and scaffold proteins, splice variants and isoforms of which result in the formation of many different PP2A enzymes. PP2A dephosphorylates both the tumor suppressor protein p53 and the oncogenic transcription factor c-Myc. Thus far, studies of the tumor-suppressing activity of PP2A have not revealed the mechanisms of its inactivation in cancer. Junttila et al. therefore searched for binding partners with an epitope-tagged scaffolding subunit (PR65) of PP2A in HeLa cells (a transformed cell line derived from human cervical cancer cells). Immunoprecipitation studies followed by mass-spectrometric peptide sequencing identified a protein (called CIP2A for cancerous inhibitor of PP2A) that bound to PR65. Endogenous CIP2A coimmunoprecipitated with endogenous PP2A in HeLa cells, and both proteins were colocalized in the perinuclear region as demonstrated by confocal microscopy. Depletion of CIP2A in HeLa cells, using siRNA, decreased the abundance of c-Myc protein as measured by Western blotting (without affecting c-Myc mRNA) and decreased the proportion of c-Myc that was phosphorylated. In vitro phosphatase assays using immunoprecipitated c-Myc from control and CIP2A-specific siRNA-transfected cells showed that CIP2A inhibited PP2A-mediated dephosphorylation of c-Myc. Further immunoprecipitation studies showed that epitope-tagged CIP2A bound directly to the N terminus of epitope-tagged c-Myc. Injection of athymic mice with CIP2A-specific siRNA-expressing HeLa cells resulted in smaller tumors than were observed in mice injected with control HeLa cells. Overexpression of CIP2A in an immortalized, but not transformed, fibroblast cell line resulted in the formation of a greater number of foci (cell clusters) in soft agar (a characteristic of transformed cells) than were observed in control cells, demonstrating the oncogenic potential of CIP2A. Finally, the authors demonstrated the increased abundance of CIP2A mRNA and protein in transformed cell lines compared with normal cell lines and showed by immunohistochemistry an increased abundance of CIP2A in tissue from head-and-neck squamous cell carcinomas compared with that in normal tissue. As described in the accompanying review by Mumby, these data demonstrate for the first time a mechanism by which PP2A-mediated dephosphorylation of c-Myc is inhibited and characterize CIP2A as an oncogenic protein associated with human malignancies. M. R. Junttila, P. Puustinen, M. Niemelä, R. Ahola, H. Arnold, T. Böttzauw, R. Ala-aho, C. Nielsen, J. Ivaska, Y. Taya, S.-L. Lu, S. Lin, E. K. L. Chan, X.-J. Wang, R. Grènman, J. Kast, T. Kallunki, R. Sears, V.-M. Kähäri, J. Westermarck, CIP2A inhibits PP2A in human malignancies. Cell 130, 51-62 (2007). [PubMed] M. Mumby, PP2A: Unveiling a reluctant tumor suppressor. Cell 130, 21-24 (2007). [PubMed]


In modern geoscience, mounting evidence in support of large-scale lateral variations in the composition of Earth's deep mantle has fueled the debate on the structure and evolution of mantle convection. Seismological data supports the view that material transport across the mantle transition zone is significant. On the other hand, complete homogenisation of the entire mantle by convective overturn is argued against by geochemical data suggestive of long-lived compositionally distinct domains and seismological evidence for large-scale lateral variations in the composition of the lowermost mantle. It has become difficult to integrate the observational data with models of "layered convection" and "whole mantle convection", which are end-member modelscharacterised by (piece-wise) iso-chemical layers that are well-mixed internally by convective overturn. More successful in reconciling the observational data is a model of thermo-chemical convection, with large-scale lateral variation in the deep mantle imposed by compositionally distinct reservoirs (e.g. Kellogg et al. (1999); Tackley (2002)). Nevertheless, validation of this model is difficult because of uncertainties in the parameters that determine deep mantle convection. In this thesis, the hypothesis is tested that the mantle has evolved as a compositionally heterogeneous entity on the billion-year time-scale. Relevant sub-problems are: Can the existence of compositionally distinct domains in the present-day deep mantle be reconciled with geochemical, gravity, and seismological data? How can a compositionally distinct reservoir survive on a billion year time-scale in the deep mantle? How is the convective evolution affected by material transport at the mantle discontinuity near 660 km depth? Is it possible to discriminate between previously proposed processes forc the formation of large-scale compositionally distinct reservoirs in the deep mantle? To address these research questions, we perform a series of numerical modelling studies of thermo-chemical convection of the Earth's mantle. Synthetic data is then extracted from the modelling results for comparison with available observational data. The different "observables" considered this way are: excess temperatures in and chemical heterogeneity of the upper mantle, long wave-length gravity signals, and the distribution of lateral variations in seismic wave velocity. The conclusions from this thesis are the following. Large-scale compositional heterogeneity that formed early in Earth's evolution can survive for billions of years in a mantle subject to convective overturn. Thermo-chemical models evolved this way are more successful than iso-chemical models in fitting observational data from different research disciplines. The shallow lower mantle is identified as a key region for future testing, because the counterpart of deep mantle compositional heterogeneity residing in this region serves as an indicator for the degree of convective layering at the transition zone --an important parameter to understand the thermal and compositional evolution of the Earth. The preferred mantle convection model that emerges from this thesis is characterised by compositionally distinct domains that occupy a moderate fraction of the mantle volume and which are configured as critically stable piles residing on top of the core-mantle boundary, with a counterpart underneath the upper-lower mantle boundary at which convective upwellings become deflected and are modulated both thermally and chemically, before reaching the upper mantle.


This research focused on how to encourage and maintain participation in employee wellness programs. This is an agency-based project involving the employees of the Erie County Rath Building, located in Buffalo, NY as well as other county employees located outside of the Rath Building . Wellness programs help educate individuals and improve their health. Obesity rates are currently rising and most people are not properly informed on the benefits they receive from exercising and being properly nourished. With the proper incentives and peer-support mechanisms in place, employees and employers greatly benefit from participating. Public sector employees were examined for this research using a convenience sample of Erie County employees. The final product of this research project is a set of recommendations that can be implemented by the Erie County Wellness Program. Employee Wellness Programs 3


Interactions between microfouling components influence the biofilm community and the cascading events, thus playing an important role in the biofouling process. Bacteria and diatoms are among the dominant forms reported in biofilms. Experiments were carried out with natural marine biofilms from a tropical monsoon-influenced environment to evaluate the interactions between bacteria and diatoms through application of antibiotics (streptomycin and chloramphenicol). Overall, chloramphenicol inhibited diatom communities, whereas streptomycin did not. These antibiotic-mediated changes in the fouling diatom community were consistent across the seasons. However, the rates at which the fouling communities changed depended on the initial species composition. It was also observed that elevated nutrient concentrations overrode the inhibitory effect of chloramphenicol. Maximum Vibrio enhancement was observed in the enriched conditions during the pre-monsoon and unenriched conditions during the monsoon (with naturally elevated background nutrient concentrations), highlighting the relevance of nutrient concentrations for Vibrio spp. This has interesting implications for antibiotic-mediated interactions between fouling diatom and bacterial communities under differing nutrient regimes. Although this study indicates the relevance of 'cross-talk' at the microfouling level, understanding the effects of additional microbial products (e.g. bacteriocins and peptidoglycan) on these community-level interactions will represent a step forward.


Living coccolithophores were collected from eight stations along a transect in the gulf of Korthi (southeastern Andros island, Aegean Sea, Eastern Mediterranean) in August 2001. Samples were collected from 0–120 m water depth to determine the cell density, the species composition and the biogeographical (spatial and vertical) distribution of the coccolithophore biocommunities in coastal marine ecosystems. The studies revealed an impressive heterococcolith–holococcolith combination coccosphere (SEM micrograph) involving the species Algirosphaera robusta and Sphaerocalyptra quadridentata. In addition, a second association was observed by light microscopy. This discovery verifies the suggestions of Kamptner (1941) and provides strong proof on the assignment of these two 'species' in a common life cycle, increasing significantly our knowledge of life-cycle pairings ecology.


and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). Taming Atomic Defects for Quantum Functions


This thesis seeks to show the ways in which Charlotte Brontë's fiction anticipates the concerns of contemporary feminist theology. Whilst Charlotte Brontë's novels have held a place of honor in feminist literary criticism for decades, there has been a critical tendency to associate the proto-feminism of Brontë's narratives with a rejection of Christianity—namely, that Brontë's heroines achieve their personal, social and spiritual emancipation by throwing off the shackles of a patriarchal Church Establishment. And although recent scholarly interest in Victorian Christianity has led to frequent interpretations that regard Brontë's texts as upholding a Christian worldview, in many such cases, the theology asserted in those interpretations arguably undermines the liberative impulse of the narratives. In both cases, the religious and romantic plots of Brontë's novels are viewed as incompatible. This thesis suggests that by reading Brontë's fiction in light of an interdisciplinary perspective that interweaves feminist and theological concerns, the narrative journeys of Brontë's heroines might be read as affirming both Christian faith and female empowerment. Specifically, this thesis will examine the ways in which feminist theologians have identified the need for Christian doctrines of sin and grace to be articulated in a manner that better reflects women's experience. By exploring the interrelationship between women's writing and women's faith, particularly as it relates to the literary origins of feminist theology and Brontë's position within the nineteenth-century female publishing boom, Brontë's liberative imagination for female flourishing can be re-examined. As will be argued, when considered from the vantage point of feminist theology, Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette portray women's need to experience grace as self-construction and interdependence rather than self-denial and subjugation. For my grandmother, Ione Hazleton, a "free human being with an independent will," if ever there was one. "God did not give me my life to throw away." —Jane Eyre


Abstract Wind turbines in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA), California, USA, have caused annual fatalities of thousands of raptors and other birds. Alameda County implemented an Avian Protection Program requiring mitigation measures and eventual repowering to modern wind turbines, all intended to reduce raptor fatality rates 50% from levels estimated for 1998–2003. Two years into the 3-year program, we compared estimates of fatality rates between 1998–2003 and 2005–2007 and between a repowered wind project (Diablo Winds) and the APWRA's old-generation wind turbines. The APWRA-wide fatality rates increased significantly for multiple bird species, including 85% for all raptors and 51% for all birds. Fatality rates caused by the Diablo Winds repowering project were not lower than replaced turbines, but they were 54% and 66% lower for raptors and all birds, respectively, than those of concurrently operating old-generation turbines in 2005–2007. Because new-generation turbines can generate nearly 3 times the energy per megawatt of rated capacity compared to the APWRA's old turbines, repowering the APWRA could reduce mean annual fatality rates by 54% for raptors and 65% for all birds, while more than doubling annual wind-energy generation. Alternatively, the nameplate capacity of a repowered APWRA could be restricted to 209 megawatts to meet current energy generation (about 700 gigawatt-hr), thereby reducing mean annual fatalities by 83% for raptors and 87% for all birds. In lieu of repowering, bird fatalities could be reduced by enforcing operating permits and environmental laws and by the County requiring implementation of the Alameda County Scientific Review Committee's recommendations.


In the course of monographic work in Myrtaceae it has become evident thatEugenia prismatica cannot be accommodated within any existing genus in the family. Therefore, a new genus,Curitiba, is described to contain it and the new combinationCuritiba prismatica is made.Curitiba is diagnosed by a combination of 4-angled hypanthia and fruits, ovules radiating from a central protruding placenta, and seed coats with wavy rows of papillae. A key is provided to distinguishCuritiba from the Caribbean and Mesoamerican genusMosiera, where the species also had been placed before this transfer, and from other 4-merous genera in Brazil of subtribe Myrtinae. In the Atlantic Forest of Brazil where the family Myrtaceae is one of the most species rich and ecologically important plant families, the discovery ofCuritiba reveals a unique evolutionary lineage, highlights the endemism present in the Atlantic Forest, and underscores, the urgent need for conservation of this rapidly disappearing and highly endangered biome.


PURPOSE
We hypothesize that the interplay between cell kill, proliferation, and hypoxia make the traditional interpretation of clinically-derived α/β ratios problematic. In this study, we simulate resulting α/β ratios given a recently developed tumor-response simulation model that includes the interplay between hypoxia and proliferation, as well as the resulting tumor reoxygenation during a course of radiotherapy.

METHODS
Using a state-driven tumor response model, various typical fractionation schemes were simulated until the same level of tumor control probability was achieved (50%). Depending on the inclusion of effects, four different cases were evaluated: (1) neither proliferation nor hypoxia; (2) proliferation only; (3) hypoxia only; and (4) both proliferation and hypoxia. We judge the full model to be most realistic. The resulting α/β ratio was estimated based on the Withers isoeffect equation (as a negative slope of linear regression line in the plot of TD5 0 vs. TD5 0 xd) and compared with the ratio in model input, α/β(model) (=6.63).

RESULTS
Without any other effects (case 1), the model estimated an α/β ratio, α/β(est), that equals to the model assigned value. Including proliferation (case 2), smaller fractional doses become less effective due to increased repopulation, resulting in a reduced α/β(est). For case 3, including hypoxia only, longer schedules with smaller fraction sizes become more effective due to reoxygenation and resulted in unrealistic negative α/β(est). Interestingly, in case 4, the two effects, proliferation and hypoxia, approximately cancel each other and unmask the underlying cell-kill characteristics, resulting in an α/β(est) comparable to the model input value α/β(model).

CONCLUSION
Simulations show that the estimated α/β ratio is dependent on underlying radiobiological effects (including proliferation and hypoxia), and the resulting model estimation may not be an accurate reflection of cell-kill sensitivity alone, which implies the clinical estimation might be biased if other effects are not properly controlled.


Labour economists have been increasingly interested in the impact of technological change upon employment and unemployment. However, the predominant focus of empirical studies has been on employment and unemployment stocks, whereas technological change is more likely to affect the flows of labour. This paper focuses on the latter issue. In particular, given the technological change, two major questions posed in this paper are: (i) who moves from low-tech to high-tech jobs and who moves from high-tech to low-tech jobs, and (ii) what are the factors which drive such movements. The data used in this study are from the 1994 Australian Labour Mobility Survey. A new index describing the technological level of a job is constructed and the magnitude and direction of movements along the technological ladder are examined. Using individual-level socio-economic variables, we explain the determinants of the direction of the job change. Some relevant policy implications are also discussed.


Quantum key distribution (QKD), a novel cryptographic technique for secure distribution of secret keys between two parties, is the first successful quantum technology to emerge from quantum information science. The security of QKD is guaranteed by fundamental properties of quantum mechanical systems, unlike public-key cryptography whose security depends on difficult to solve mathematical problems such as factoring. Current terrestrial quantum links are limited to about 250 km. However, QKD could soon be deployed on a global scale over free-space links to an orbiting satellite used as a trusted node.

Envisioning a photonic uplink to a quantum receiver positioned on a low Earth orbit satellite, the Canadian Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) is a collaborative project involving Canadian universities, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and industry partners. This thesis presents some of the research conducted towards feasibility studies of the QEYSSat mission.

One of the main goals of this research is to develop technologies for data acquisition and processing required for a satellite-based QKD system. A working testbed system helps to establish firmly grounded estimates of the overall complexity, the computing resources necessary, and the bandwidth requirements of the classical communication channel. It can also serve as a good foundation for the design and development of a future payload computer onboard QEYSSat.

This thesis describes the design and implementation of a QKD post-processing system which aims to minimize the computing requirements at one side of the link, unlike most traditional implementations which assume symmetric computing resources at each end. The post-processing software features precise coincidence analysis, error correction based on low-density parity-check codes, privacy amplification employing Toeplitz hash functions, and a procedure for automated polarization alignment.

The system's hardware and software components integrate fully with a quantum optical apparatus used to demonstrate the feasibility of QKD with a satellite uplink. Detailed computing resource requirements and QKD results from the operation of the entire system at high-loss regimes are presented here.


The research performed during the PhD and presented in this thesis, allowed to make judgments on pushover analysis method about its application in evaluating the correct structural seismic response. In this sense, the extensive critical review of existing pushover procedures (illustrated in chapter 1) outlined their major issues related to assumptions and to hypothesis made in the application of the method. Therefore, with the purpose of evaluate the effectiveness of pushover procedures, a wide numerical investigation have been performed. In particular the attention has been focused on the structural irregularity on elevation, on the choice of the load vector and on its updating criteria. In the study eight pushover procedures have been considered, of which four are conventional type, one is multi-modal, and three are adaptive. The evaluation of their effectiveness in the identification of the correct dynamic structural response, has been done by performing several dynamic and static non-linear analysis on eight RC frames, characterized by different proprieties in terms of regularity in elevation. The comparisons of static and dynamic results have then permitted to evaluate the examined pushover procedures and to identify the expected margin of error by using each of them. Both on base shear-top displacement curves and on considered storey parameters, the best agreement with the dynamic response has been noticed on Multi-Modal Pushover procedure. Therefore the attention has been focused on Displacement-based Adative Pushover, coming to define for it an improvement strategy, and on modal combination rules, advancing an innovative method based on a quadratic combination of the modal shapes (QMC). This latter has been implemented in a conventional pushover procedure, whose results have been compared with those obtained by other multi-modal procedures. The development of research on pushover analysis is very important because the objective is to come to the definition of a simple, effective and reliable analysis method, indispensable tool in the seismic evaluation of new or existing structures.


From 1972 to 1979 34 patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia were seen in one clinic in Johannesburg. All were Afrikaners and most lived in Transvaal Province. Their epidemiological, genetic, clinical, and biochemical characteristics were studied. The course of the disease varied considerably among the 34 patients, with no fewer than six surviving into their fourth or fifth decades. In some patients arterial atheroma was severe while cutaneotendinous xanthomas were slight and vice versa. Coronary heart disease was common but peripheral and cerebral arterial disease was rare. Another prominent finding was high concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol coupled with low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol values. The prevalences of homozygotes and heterozygotes with familial hypercholesterolaemia in Transvaal Afrikaners, calculated from this group of patients, were 1 in 30,000 and 1 in 100 respectively. These figures are the highest ever reported and may help to explain why South African whites have the highest death rate from coronary heart disease in the Western world.


A contribution to Inhabitations: A Feminist Formations Dossier on Robyn Wiegman's Object Lessons.In finding my way and making my peace with a (so far) nearly twenty-year career as a full-time faculty member in women's studies (with a substantial secondary affiliation with LGBT studies) while sustaining fundamentally anti-identitarian theoretical, political, and methodological orientations, Robyn Wiegman's thinking has been importantly enabling. Her essays on women's studies envision the possibility of commitment to these spaces as infrastructure for serious and unconstrained intellectual endeavor, shameless in its engagement with Theory. In a passing remark from the audience of a conference session, Wiegman urged that we in women's studies, as we embrace and debate the inter- and transnational as rubrics for our work (from the repurposed domestic buildings on the fringes of campuses in which we are so often located), not ignore, but rather engage the larger and better-funded internationalizing projects of our universities in their fancy, new, centrally located buildings on our campuses. This imperative has stayed with me, inspiring my own recent effort to engage across substantial theoretical, methodological, and political differences with those doing a large and well-funded policy- and media-ready social science project in a fancy new building down the block. That is, I have taken Wiegman to be offering an expansive and empowered mode of inhabiting the field and the university.


This paper reviews recent knowledge about the functional roles that herbivores have in intertidal communities in Chile. Specifically, I review field and laboratory studies dealing with the food preferences of herbivores, the responses of algae to herbivore attacks and reports of negative and positive functional effects of herbivores on algal populations and communities. Most herbivores studied are characterized as generalist species. Green ephemeral and a few corticated algae dominate diets, while all species considered ingest larvae and post-metamorphic stages of invertebrates challenging classical characterizations of the herbivore guild. Functional redundancy and complementarity within the herbivore guild is discussed in relation to both quantitative and qualitative evidence. The magnitude of consumptive per capita effects of herbivores on algae can be related, although not entirely, to body size. Feeding mode can determine differential species participation in different phases and stages of community succession. Positive effects of herbivores on algae via spore dispersion, and also compensatory potential after consumption, appear to match the classical model of the "grazing optimization hypothesis". Only one species that form "gardens" is reported, suggesting a lack of information regarding behavioural aspects of abundant taxa from intertidal habitats in Chile. According to variation in oceanographic conditions and thermal regimes along the coast of Chile, geographical variation in functional effects of herbivores and thereby shifts in the herbivore-algae balance is expected. Future studies should consider the functional relationship within the herbivore guild at different temporal and spatial scales, and compensatory potential after species loss. Whether herbivore species have either redundant or complementary roles in intertidal communities can help us to understand the intensity and direction of human impacts in both community structure and ecosystem functioning.


Background: Anemia impairs cognitive development, reduces physical work capacity and in severe cases increases risk of mortality particularly during prenatal period. There are no previous studies done on anemia in pregnancy in the study area. Objective: To assess the prevalence and determinant factors of anemia among pregnant women attending antenatal care follow up at Tikur Anbessa specialized hospital. Methods: Health institutional based cross-sectional study design was conducted from November 23, 2013 - March8, 2013 among 395 pregnant mothers who had been attending antenatal care. Blood sample was taken to determine the hemoglobin concentration and haematocrit value. Interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used to assess different socio-demographic characteristics, obstetrics and dietary factors related to anaemia. Simple random sampling technique was used to select study subjects. Data were entered with EPI info version 3.5.1 Cleaning and analysis was done using SPSS version 17 and statistical tests were performed at the level of significance of 5%. Result: The overall prevalence of anemia in this study using a cut off level of hemoglobin <11 g/dl (<33% haematocrit) was 21.3% (84/395). Out of 84 anemic pregnant mothers, 80.95% (68/84) were mildly anemic, 17.86% (15/84) were moderately anemic and 1.19% (1/84) were severely anemic. The following variables were significantly associated with anemia: Age (39-45 yrs (AOR=1.21)), education status (illiterate (AOR=2.12)), family size (greater than four (AOR=2.04), gestational age (third trimester (AOR=2.04)), birth intervals (less than two years (AOR=1.21)), history of blood loss (AOR=1.67)), antenatal care (no ANC (AOR=1.11)), contraception (no contraception (AOR=2.31)), gravidity (multigravid (AOR=1.22)), parity (multiparous (AOR=2.19)). Conclusion: The present study showed high prevalence of anemia and the majority of them were of the mild type (hemoglobin: 10-10.9 g/dl).


Hearing loss is a common sensory deficit that can affect all levels of society. The two age groups where hearing loss is most likely to be identified is in newborns and in the elderly. Newborn screens have been very effective in finding individuals affected by hearing loss. The general hearing loss incidence in newborns is 0.2%, with roughly 50% of all cases being hereditary. A recent study in Qatar found that the incidence of hearing loss in newborns was as high as 5.2% 1, 25 times higher than the general global incidence. Much of this increase can be attributed to hereditary forms of hearing loss, as the rate of consanguinity in Qatar is high 1,2. The elderly are the other population group where hearing loss is often identified. Globally, the hearing loss incidence for people over 50 is around 40%, with men showing a higher incidence than women 3,4. In Qatar, 66% of the Qatari population over the age of 50 suffers hearing loss, compared to ∼35% for the non-Qatari populations 5. The gender distribution of hearing loss within the Qatari population is also different from the global trend, with the incidence being 75% for women and 59% percent for men5. Therefore, the incidence of hearing loss is dramatically higher in the Qatari population than it is globally, and presents an important health issue that should be addressed. We have previously shown that the outer nuclear membrane protein Nesprin 4 is essential for hearing in humans and in mice. Nesprin 4 is expressed in the sensory outer hair cells (OHCs) of the cochlea and is important for the proper nuclear positioning and survival of these cells. In the absence of functional Nesprin 4, the nuclei are apically mispositioned and the OHCs die. OHCs act as cochlear amplifiers, augmenting sound signals by up to 100-fold6. This amplification is achieved, at least in part, through electromotility, a somatic cell motility that causes cell length changes in response to depolarization or hyperpolarization of the cell. Electromotility is mediated by SLC26A5/prestin, a membrane protein enriched in the lateral membranes of OHCs7. Prestin-mediated electromotility develops postnatally in mice, with full activity occurring at 12–14 days after birth. We observed that the majority of OHCs in mice lacking Nesprin 4 die around this time and predicted that the mislocalized nucleus was incompatible with electromotility. To test this hypothesis we generated double-null mice for Nesprin 4 and prestin and examined the fate of OHCs in these animals. We found that loss of prestin rescues the loss of OHCs in Nesprin 4-null animals, indicating that while a mispositioned nucleus is incompatible with electromotility, it does not affect cell viability independent of mechanical stress. Others have previously shown that animals heterozygous for the prestin allele exhibit a reduced electromotility. We predicted that a reduction in electromotility should yield a partial rescue of OHCs in Nesprin 4-null animals. When we examine the Nesprin 4-null/prestin heterozygous animals, we did indeed observe a partial rescue of OHCs. Together, these results indicate that proper nuclear positioning mediated by Nesprin 4 in OHCs is essential for these cells to survive the mechanical stress of electromotility. References 1. Bener, A., EIHakeem, A. A. M. & Abdulhadi, K. Is there any association between consanguinity and hearing loss. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 69, 327–333 (2005). 2. Girotto, G. et al. Consanguinity and Hereditary Hearing Loss in Qatar. Hum Hered 77, 175–182 (2014). 3. Roberts, A. Sensorineural Hearing Loss. Synopsis of Causation, Ministry of Defence 1–30 (2008). 4. Action on Hearing Loss. at 5. Bener, A., Salahaldin, A. H., Darwish, S. M., Al-Hamaq, A. & Gansan, L. Association between hearing loss and type 2 diabetes mellitus in elderly people in a newly developed society. Biomed Res 19, 187–195 (2008). 6. Liberman, M. C. et al. Prestin is required for electromotility of the outer hair cell and for the cochlear amplifier. Nature 419, 300–304 (2002). 7. Dallos, P. & Fakler, B. PRESTIN, A NEW TYPE OF MOTOR PROTEIN. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 3, 104–111 (2002).


Purpose - The authors' research was carried out with the aim of analyzing perception of luxury and luxury brands among an international sample of young people. Design/methodology/approach - This article was based on an empirical study among 233 respondents. First, a qualitative analysis of content using the respondents' own words was conducted. Then, to show whether there are differences between countries and significant groups of countries, an analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) was performed and analyzed with Fisher F-test and post-hoc Duncan tests. Findings - Beyond the belief in the existence of two stable groups of developed and developing countries with regard to luxury, this study shows a situation that requires further analysis. The main results show some strong cross-cultural differences in the perception of luxury, which is multi-faceted as demonstrated by previous studies in this field. Research limitations/implications - Results of this exploratory study confirm that the concept of luxury presents multiple facets, and the authors' analysis provides an in-depth survey of the main categories and attributes that can be used to describe this concept. Although this study was only exploratory in nature, a number of comments can be made to highlight the congruence between the concept of luxury for young people and recent academic literature. Practical implications - To maintain their brand equity, companies in the luxury sector seek to improve their image within younger targets. Managerial implications of the authors' research indicate that international luxury companies should take into consideration the multi-faceted concept of luxury in general, but also the main differences between countries in the continuum between the "status" and "emotional" dimensions of luxury. According to the authors' research, luxury companies cannot adopt a global strategy when addressing the six countries analyzed. Some managerial recommendations are developed in this perspective. Originality/value - The additional value of this article stems from its reliance on a cross-cultural in-depth study between six countries (Italy, France, Germany, China, Japan, and USA). The balance between qualitative and quantitative techniques makes this article particularly relevant when drawing both conceptual and managerial conclusions.


This study discussed various stages of multinational corporations (MNCs) development process before arriving to reverse innovation. Based on the analysis of most recent development in the literature and then using three case studies, the study shows how by virtue of reverse innovation MNCs can be more successful in emerging markets. Our study found that MNCs must understand that they need to identify local constraints and opportunities in the local markets and innovate according to the needs of the customers in those markets. MNCs can develop and use local capabilities by developing partnerships or acquiring local companies. There is also a need of an ongoing R&D effort to continuously improve present innovation and guard against competition at the same time. Based on the previous research about reverse innovation, disruptive innovation, frugal innovation, inclusive innovation and BOP innovation, this paper compares various concepts and provides a comprehensive elaboration of change in paradigm of innovation using cases from Chinese market in an original way.


In this thesis, we present design techniques—and systems that illustrate and validate these techniques—for building data-intensive applications over the Internet. We enable the use of a traditional bandwidth-limited server in these applications. A large number of cooperating users contribute resources such as disk space and network bandwidth, and form the backbone of such applications. The applications we consider fall in one of two categories. The first type provide user-perceived utility in proportion to the data download rates of the participants; bulk data distribution systems is a typical example. The second type are usable only when the participants have data download rates above a certain threshold; video streaming is a prime example.
We built Shark, a distributed file system, to address the first type of applications. It is designed for large-scale, wide-area deployment, while also providing a drop-in replacement for local-area file systems. Shark introduces a novel locality-aware cooperative-caching mechanism, in which clients exploit each other's file caches to reduce load on an origin file server. Shark also enables sharing of data even when it originates from different servers. In addition, Shark clients are mutually distrustful in order to operate in the wide-area. Performance results show that Shark greatly reduces server load and reduces client-perceived latency for read-heavy workloads both in the wide and local areas.
We built RedCarpet, a near-Video-on-Demand (nVoD) system, to address the second type of applications. nVoD allows a user to watch a video starting at any point after waiting for a small setup time. RedCarpet uses a mesh-based peer-to-peer (P2P) system to provide the nVoD service. In this context, we study the problem of scheduling the dissemination of chunks that constitute a video. We show that providing nVoD is feasible with a combination of techniques that include network coding, avoiding resource starvation for different chunks, and overlay topology management algorithms. Our evaluation, using a simulator as well as a prototype, shows that systems that do not optimize in all these dimensions could deliver significantly worse nVoD performance.


In this paper, we study the impact of a full-duplex secondary node on a cognitive cooperative network with Multipacket Reception (MPR) capabilities at the receivers. Motivated by recent schemes that make full-duplex communication feasible, we study a model with one primary and one secondary transmitter-receiver pair, where the secondary transmitter is able to relay primary unsuccessful packets. Cooperation between primary and secondary users has been previously shown to be beneficial for the primary and the secondary users in terms of stable throughput. Our model assumes an imperfect full-duplex secondary node that can transmit and receive simultaneously, cancelling self-interference to a certain extent. Furthermore, we assume that the secondary transmitter chooses between cooperating with the primary user and transmitting secondary packets probabilistically according to some optimized probabilities that depend on both the channels in the network and the state of the primary user. We determine these probabilities by formulating a constrained optimization problem with the secondary throughput as the objective function and the stability of the primary queues as constraints. Using the dominant system approach, we show that the optimization problem has a quasi-concave structure, to which the optimal solution can be easily found. Using Numerical results, we characterize the cases where the full-duplex capability is beneficial to the system, namely, we show that the full-duplex secondary node greatly increases both the secondary throughput and the primary maximum stable throughput in channels with receivers that have strong MPR capability.


Plasma turbulence in the tokamak scrape-off layer (SOL) region, where magnetic field lines are open and intersect the reactor inner walls, determines the heat loads on the limiter or divertor targets. This is one of the most crucial issues on the way towards a fusion reactor. Since SOL plasma is colder compared to the tokamak core, it is reasonable to use a fluid approximation to describe its dynamics. In particular the drift-reduced Braginskii equations are chosen to study the SOL plasma turbulence. To further simplify the drift-reduced Braginskii equations, the Boussinesq approximation is also applied in a number of numerical codes. This approximation consists in considering the plasma density constant in the evaluation of the divergence of the polarisation current, which simplifies substantially the solution of the Poisson equation necessary to evaluate the electric potential. In this study a new formulation of the drift-reduced Braginskii equations is presented together with a new numerical implementation that allow us to relax the Boussinesq approximation in the plasma turbulent code GBS. We show the energy conservation properties of the new system of equations. Also we compare the results of three-dimensional turbulent simulations with and without the Boussinesq approximation.


The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has published probabilistic earthquake hazard maps for the United States based on current knowledge of past earthquake activity and geological constraints on earthquake potential. These maps for the central and eastern United States assume standard site conditions with Swave velocities of 760 m/s in the top 30 m. For urban and infrastructure planning and long-term budgeting, the public is interested in similar probabilistic seismic hazard maps that take into account near-surface geological materials. We have implemented a probabilistic method for incorporating site effects into the USGS seismic hazard analysis that takes into account the first-order effects of the surface geologic conditions. The thicknesses of sediments, which play a large role in amplification, were derived from a P-wave refraction database with over 13,000 profiles, and a preliminary geology-based velocity model was constructed from available information on S-wave velocities. An interesting feature of the preliminary hazard maps incorporating site effects is the approximate factor of two increases in the 1-Hz spectral acceleration with 2 percent probability of exceedance in 50 years for parts of the greater Indianapolis metropolitan region and surrounding parts of central Indiana. This effect is primarily due to the relatively thick sequence of sediments infilling ancient bedrock topography that has been deposited since the Pleistocene Epoch. As expected, the Late Pleistocene and Holocene depositional systems of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers produce additional amplification in the southwestern part of Indiana. Ground motions decrease, as would be expected, toward the bedrock units in south-central Indiana, where motions are significantly lower than the values on the USGS maps.


On July 15 of that centennial year, the Chamber of Deputies finally passed the Military Law of 1889. Introduced earlier in the decade by the Minister of War, Georges Boulanger, the law in its final form dealt mainly with the issue of conscription and was part of a series of laws intended to reorganize and update the military after the disaster of 1870.1 Provisions concerning the organization and administration of the army hardly caused a ripple of controversy, as one by one they were introduced and, after some considerable delay while they moved back and forth between the two assemblies, were passed perfunctorily by both Chamber and Senate. Conscription was another matter, however, since it was a politically sensitive issue with military repercussions. Just who would make up the army and what would this mean for military preparedness? Third Republicans, seeking inspiration from the First Republic, wanted to reverse the pattern that had existed throughout most of the nineteenth century, which put into the field an army of professionals, and instead reintroduce that of an army of citizens, a new levee en masse. Universal conscription would reinvigorate the military. To implement such a program, military service needed to be shortened and all able-bodied men had to serve. Once in place, the changes would see an army made up essentially of reservists and based on the principle of egalite. Reducing the military tour of duty to three years proved far less problematic than recruiting on an egalitarian basis. For example, young men studying to become doctors, lawyers, schoolteachers, and priests now would be called to duty just like everyone else. Not surprisingly the Roman Catholic Church steadfastly maintained that it had fulfilled its civic duty already by ministering to the spiritual needs of the Republic, and therefore, military service was superfluous and merely a cover for anticlericalism.Arguments presented by the Church as to why the Military Law of 1889 was detrimental to its mission were compelling. But was it all that damaging to the Church's basic raison d'etre, namely, the saving of souls, and to the spiritual life of priests and seminarians? This study posits that despite the considerable re-orientation in the schooling of the future priests of France necessitated by taking time out for military service and despite a loss of one of the major privileges accorded certain elite segments of French society, namely, military exemption, the overall experience of the cleric-cum-soldier was beneficial to the Church and its mission. My argument will agree with conclusions reached earlier by Adrien Dansette, who recognized that, even before the outbreak of World War I, seminarians were "assured a precious human experience while accomplishing the apostolic mission of the Church," thanks to the Military Law of 1889.2 My study, however, will detail and personalize these conclusions by using letters written home by the young men of the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris during the prewar and wartime periods. Additionally, these letters will allow me to argue that military duty, both before and during World War I, masculinized the French clergy during a time when religion routinely was viewed as a feminine domain, and strengthened it spiritually. Thus, the Military Law of 1889 advanced the mission of the Church by giving its young clergy a more vigorous and worldly education than was offered by contemporary seminaries, thereby preparing clergy to move comfortably into the modern world long before the advent of the worker-priest. Prewar barrack life, moreover, prepared young clerics mentally and physically to move to the trenches in 1914 and hence contribute to the overall war effort.3 Besides indirectly aiding the mission of the Church and assisting in the war effort, the Military Law of 1889 helped in a not insignificant way to heal the division between church and state that typically is cast as a major feature of the early Third Republic. …


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Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia & Analgesia - May 2003 4
Tuberous sclerosis
Anaesthetic considerations
Tuberous sclerosis
Tuberous sclerosis(TS) was first described by Bourneville in
1880. 1 TS is said to be one of the commonest autosomal domi-nant
diseases. Epidemiological studies report an incidence rang-ing
between1:10000 to 1:170000. 2, 3 Two gene loci have been iden-tified
on chromosone 9q34 (TSC1) and 16p13.3 (TSC2) and they
occur in all racial groups. New mutations are common but since
gene expression is variable the clinical manifestations may vary
widely from the obvious to the subtle.2, 4-5 No single ..


Summary 1. The conservation of biodiversity is increasingly justified by claims that human livelihoods are improved through its protection. Nature's ecosystem services do indeed benefit people, but how necessary is a diversity of living things to provide these services? Most studies cited as addressing this question in natural systems do not actually quantify relevant metrics (e.g. species richness) and assess their relationship with services and ⁄ or economic benefits. On the other hand, numerous small-scale experimental studies have demonstrated that more diverse systems do indeed tend to function better, but the relevance of these results to much larger, more complex socio-ecological systems is unclear. 2. Here, we investigate how biodiversity affects the gains from two ecosystem services, trophy hunting and ecotourism, in communal conservancies of Namibia, an arid country in southern Africa. We used statistical methods to explicitly control for confounding variables so that the effect of biodiversity per se on financial benefits to local communities was isolated. 3. Our results show that biodiversity exerts a positive effect on the economic benefits generated from these two ecosystem services produced on communal lands in Namibia. The richness of large wildlife species is positively related to income derived from ecotourism and trophy hunting after statistically controlling for potentially confounding variables such as a conservancy's geographic characteristics and human population size. 4. Synthesis and applications. Our results demonstrate that the conservation of biodiversity can indeed generate increased services from real-world ecosystems, in this case for the benefit of impoverished rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. More such studies are needed from various ecological and socioeconomic contexts in order to boost the evidence base for positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem services.


A high diversity of larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) fauna is recognized from the Ilerdian-Cuisian sedimentary succession for the first time of the Birjand region, Sistan Suture Zone of eastern Iran. These foraminifera are described in accordance with the standard shallow benthic zonation, placing considerable emphasis on biostratigraphic and microfacies analysis implications. Four shallow benthic zones (SBZ8 and SBZ10-12) have been designated in LBF horizons comprising index zonal markers such as Alveolina elliptica nuttalli (Davies), A. decipiens (Schwager), A. cf. oblonga, A. cf. minuta, A. cf. rugosa, A. cf. decastroi, A. aff. cremae, A. frumentiformis, A. aff. palermitana, N. cf. atacicus (Leymerie), N. tauricus (De la Harpe), N. pratti (d?Archia & Haime), N. polygyratus (Deshayes), N. cf. distans (Deshayes), Assilina sublaminosa (Gill), A. placentula (Deshayes), Asterocyclina cf. schweighauseri (Less), Discocyclina archiaci cf. staroseliensis (Less), and D. cf. archiaci bartholomei (Schlumberger). Five microfacies types including Alveolina-Opertorbitolites packstone (locally grainstone), nummulitids-Alveolina rudstone, Nummulites rudstone, Assilina-Nummulites rudstone, and orthophragminid-nummulitid pack-rudstone have been defined in the current study. Microfacies type 1 is finely characterized by high abundance of Alveolina with the predominance of A-form and globular to slightly elongate forms. Microfacies type 2 is dominated by small nummulitids in association with the abundance of the most diverse Alveolina species. Microfacies type 3 is composed of a diverse community of nummulitids, principally Nummulites A-forms along with Assilina. Microfacies type 4 is distinguished by a high diversity of not only A- and B-forms of Nummulites, but also Assilina specimens. Eventually, orthophragminids and nummulitids are common in microfacies type 5. Analysis of the Ilerdian-Cuisian deposits on the basis of the distribution of both biotic and abiotic components suggests depositions in a shallow ramp environment with deepening upward from the middle Ilerdian to the late Cuisian.


We report a comparative study of the specific heat, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity of the quasi-two-dimensional purple bronzes Na$_{0.9}$Mo$_6$O$_{17}$ and K$_{0.9}$Mo$_6$O$_{17}$, with special emphasis on the behavior near their respective charge-density-wave transition temperatures $T_P$. The contrasting behavior of both the transport and the thermodynamic properties near $T_P$ is argued to arise predominantly from the different levels of intrinsic disorder in the two systems. A significant proportion of the enhancement of the thermal conductivity above $T_P$ in Na$_{0.9}$Mo$_6$O$_{17}$, and to a lesser extent in K$_{0.9}$Mo$_6$O$_{17}$, is attributed to the emergence of phason excitations.


In this thesis we look at how boundary value problems for partial differential equations can be solved numerically using B-splines, or more generally NURBS, both to express the geometry of the problem exactly and as a basis for a finite element approximation. This is called isogeometric analysis, and we consider the theory behind the method as well as aspects regarding implementation. We take a close look at the construction of B-spline basis functions and geometries, and how the basis can be refined, leading up to the construction of NURBS basis functions and geometries. The ubiquitous Poisson problem is considered as a model problem, and a numerical solver for this problem is implemented in MATLAB using Galerkin's finite element method. We finally consider a method for numerically solving the Stokes problem for incompressible fluid flow, using divergence-conforming B-splines in an isogeometric setting. This method gives a discrete velocity which is pointwise divergence-free, making the numerical solution satisfy mass conservation in an exact sense. Numerical tests are performed, showing that isogeometric analysis makes it possible to use exact geometry throughout the analysis and provides great flexibility regarding refinement. The convergence properties of the method for the Stokes problem are investigated numerically, with very good results for the numerical velocity solution, but with a reduced convergence rate for the pressure solution that is accounted for. The method is also tested on benchmark problems, the results confirming the stability of the method.


It was in the old Alta-Inyo Club – a warm night for San Francisco – and through the open windows, hushed and far, came the brawl of the streets. The talk had led on from the Graft Prosecution and the latest signs that the town was to be run wide open, down through all the grotesque sordidness and rottenness of manhate and man-meanness, until the name of O'Brien was mentioned – O'Brien, the promising young pugilist who had been killed in the prize-ring the night before. At once the air had seemed to freshen. O'Brien had been a clean-living young man with ideals. He neither drank, smoked, nor swore, and his had been the body of a beautiful young god. He had even carried his prayer-book to the ringside. They found it in his coat pocket in the dressing-room...afterward.


On behalf of the Editorial team, welcome to the inaugural issue of Intonations, a journal of interdisciplinary arts. Previously affiliated solely with the Department of Music, in 2019 Intonations expanded to include the Departments of Art and Design, and Drama. It was at that time that three new Editors-in-Chief, one from each department, were appointed. The first year was a time for redefinition as we came together from across academic silos to forge a new identity for the journal. Our mandate is to promote multidisciplinary/transdisciplinary collaboration and to encourage dialogue between different modes of scholarly, artistic, disciplinary, and professional engagement. Intonations focuses on the convergences of theory and artistic practice in various domains of the fine arts, as well as intersections with the humanities, sciences, and beyond. Our goal is to support the work of current scholars and creative practitioners by generating dialogue and innovative thinking, both locally and internationally.
Our first Call for Papers was released in early-January 2020, and now just over a year later, we are very excited to share our first full issue which includes three articles in response to our call, "We Other Fairies", "Saskatoon Berries", and "Having Walked Alongside", which have been bundled with two previously published articles submitted prior to the merge: "Blipvert Method" and "Sinfonia de Babel". With this evolutionary process in mind, we are now proud to share this body of work. Written by graduate students and practicing artists, the articles in this issue are wide ranging in scope and style while still tethered through several points of intersection.
2020 was not an easy year. However, the difficulties of living through a global pandemic have also led to new and exciting forms of research and reassessment. Authors Xavia Publius in "We Other Fairies" and Tyler Stewart and Miguelzinta Solís in "Having Walked Alongside" both address the global pandemic by drawing attention to the challenges of not being able to gather together. In Publius's case, this has necessitated a turn to diary-writing and greater self-reflection. For Stewart and Solís, social distancing from close friends gave way to scholarly collaboration and an experimental audio project that engaged with distance communication, landscape, and decolonial theories.
For many, greater engagement with space and place has been a necessary outcome of the pandemic. In both the audio project of Stewart and Solís and the writing of Kufre Usanga "Saskatoon Berries", we follow the footsteps of the authors as they traverse their lived experience through land. Between two valleys and spanning two Alberta rivers, the North Saskatchewan and the Oldman, these articles perform "place-thinking" (Usanga) through the intersection of embodied knowledge, Indigenous teachings, and personal reflection. Similarly, in "We Other Fairies", Publius seeks to decentre patriarchal and heteronormative spaces through her exploration of theatre and film as a site for the proliferation and celebration of queer voices: the "Others" that have so frequently been elided from theatre and other forms of cultural production. For Publius, theatre represents a space for the carnivalesque – where norms and mores are suspended, and queer characters are free to assert themselves, for however temporary a time, "oscillating between liminal and liminoid spaces" (Publius).
An important aspect of this issue is the inclusion of extra-textual and multimedia elements. Stewart and Solís's contribution takes the form of an hour-long recorded dialogue, mediated by an engaging walk through the weirs, gullies, and coulees of Lethbridge's Old Man River Valley. Using both textual and multimedia platforms, William Northlich and Nicolas Arnáez each lead the reader through multiple levels of unity and/or integration between musical, sonic, visual, and textual elements. Their textual components are accompanied by audio and visual elements which enrich the reading experience and, in fact, are necessary for understanding the text. Arnáez's "La Sinfonia de Babel" demonstrates how musical citation and an imaginary sound archive add parameters to the experience of a sonic library based on a creative approach toward citation from musical and literary perspectives. Northlich's "Blipvert Method" provides a structural and performative analysis of his electronic music composition through which the virtual sound, improvisatory character, and body movements sit in a musical collage.
At the same time that Western and Settler hegemony are being questioned within the pages of this issue, so too is the attendant dominance of the visual. These articles open space for oral, aural, tactile, imaginative, and emotional forms of knowledge and experience. Shared amongst the disciplines of the Fine Arts is this emphasis on praxis and embodied experiences which are qualities that cannot be universalised, and which must be specified and expressed at a personal level. Therefore, whether through the form of diary, personal essay, artist's statement, multimodal analysis/description, or mediated dialogue, the articles that make up Volume 1, Issue 1 of Intonations are profoundly reflective and meditative. They invite us to slow down, engage with ourselves, our communities, and the natural world around us. In a year that has become increasingly difficult as time goes on, the authors, researchers, and practitioners published here offer not only new perspectives on the world, but alternative ways of being and existing in the world.


Hardware development of cryptographic algorithms is subject to various attacks. It has been previously demonstrated that scan chains introduce for hardware testability open a back door to potential attacks. Scan based testing is one of the mainly used and powerful test technique since it provides full observability and controllability of the internal nodes of the IC. It has been previously demonstrated that scan chains introduced for hardware testability open a back door to possible attacks. Here, we propose a scan-protection scheme that provides testing facilities both at production time and over the course of the circuit's life. Here the underlying principles to scan-in both input vectors and expected responses and to compare expected and actual responses inside the circuit. Compared to regular scan tests, this technique has no impact on the quality of the test or the model-based fault diagnosis. It entails negligible area overhead and avoids the use of an authentication test mechanism.


"RTCA DO-213 Minimum Operational Performance Standards For Nose-Mounted Radomes" [1] is a document frequently referenced in nose-radome testing requirements for commercial aircraft. This document was produced and is maintained by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA). The specifications of weather-radar systems have recently changed within RTCA's D0-220A [2], and as a result DO-213 was updated to DO-213A [3] in March, 2016, to ensure that radome requirements are consistent with those of the weather radar. In addition to the new requirements for radome evaluation, several existing requirements were clarified. These clarifications addressed such topics as suitability of near-field measurements, proper procedures and processing, and appropriate measurement geometries. RTCA coordinated the document revision, with the bulk of the technical inputs coming from a broad-based working group. This working group had representatives from radar, aircraft, and radome manufacturers, government agencies, and providers and users of radome-testing systems. When requirements were added or when common practice conflicted with existing requirements, considerable effort and analysis were employed to ensure that each change or clarification was truly required. Nevertheless, DO-213A has some significant impacts to many existing radome-testing facilities. This paper discusses the significant changes from DO-213 to DO-213A and their implications for radome-testing facilities, concentrating on after-repair radome electrical testing.


We give a new existence criterion for p-ary sequences which have ideal two-level autocorrelation; and we use it to obtain four general families of such sequences: one for p=2, one for general odd primes p and two special ones for p=3. The binary family turns out to be equivalent to that discovered by Dillon and Dobbertin and published in 2004. The general p-ary family is equivalent to that discovered by Gong and Helleseth, by Dillon and, when p=3, by Helleseth, Kumar, and Martinsen. All of these p-ary results were published in 2001 and 2002. The special ternary families are new and give as special cases the sequences conjectured by Alfred Lin in his 1998 Ph.D. thesis as well as most of those conjectured in 2001 by Ludkovski and Gong. Our sequences may also be used to construct (relative) difference sets, their corresponding block designs and generalized weighing matrices.


Background & objectives: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a mosquito-borne arthritogenic virus causes infections ranging from febrile illness to debilitating polyarthralgia in humans. Re-emergence of the virus has affected millions of people in Africa and Asia since 2004. During the outbreak, a new lineage of the virus has evolved as an adaptation for enhanced replication and transmission by Aedes albopictus mosquito. A study was designed to compare the susceptibility of four vertebrate cell lines, namely Vero E6 (African green monkey kidney), BHK-21 (Baby hamster kidney), RD (human rhabdomyosarcoma), A-549 (human alveolar basal epithelial cell) and C6/36 (Ae. albopictus) to Asian genotype and two lineages of East, Central and South African (E1:A226 and E1:A226V) of CHIKV. Methods: One-step growth kinetics of different CHIKV strains was carried out in the above five cell lines to determine the growth kinetics and virus yield. Virus titre was determined by 50 per cent tissue culture infectious dose assay and titres were calculated by the Reed and Muench formula. Growth and virus yield of the three strains in Ae. aegypti mosquitoes was studied by intrathoracic inoculation and virus titration in Vero E6 cell line. Results: Virus titration showed Vero E6, C6/36 and BHK-21 cell lines are high virus yielding with all the three lineages while RD and A-549 yielded low virus titres. C6/36 cell line was the most sensitive and yielded the maximum titre. Ae. aegypti mosquitoes, when inoculated with high titre virus, yielded an almost equal growth with the three strains while rapid growth of E1:A226V and Asian strain was observed with 1 log virus. Interpretation & conclusions: C6/36 cell line was found to be the most sensitive and high yielding for CHIKV irrespective of lineages while Vero E6 and BHK-21 cell lines yielded high titres and may find application for vaccine/diagnostic development. Infection of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes with the three CHIKV strains gave almost identical pattern of growth.


Drawing on multisited ethnographic fieldwork in two historic, attractive, and socially mixed neighborhoods, Kumpula in Helsinki and Malasaña in Madrid, this paper examines what makes people feel at home (or not) in their neighborhood. Marrying the literatures on social belonging and materiality, we analyze the interactions through which local places, people, and materials become familiar and personal. We identify the house in Kumpula and the plaza in Madrid as "everyday totems" that weave local life and community together. In both neighborhoods, the testimonies of home are accompanied with an attachment to the local totem and related lifestyle, but the house and the plaza generate different everyday politics of belonging. House–based belonging in Kumpula requires resources and long–term engagement that over time contributes to a personal, but rather exclusive web of belonging. Plaza–based belonging in Malasaña is more inclusive and elastic, but joining the web of belonging requires time and sociability.


The challenge and the complexities of the task of fulfilling the minimum aspirations of the peoples of the less developed regions of the world are unsurpassed by those of any human endeavour except, possibly, the search for lasting peace. Since poverty is no longer considered inevitable, it has become intolerable. In the most fundamental terms, societal development is an educational process whereby people come to understand and alter constructively their relations to their natural and social environments. Schooling and the formal system of education are intricately linked with this process in which new human wants emerge and seek satisfaction; however, the precise nature and the extent of this linkage are subject to considerable speculation and more than a little controversy. For a better understanding of the nature and extent of the contributions of formal education to development, answers must be sought for questions such as the following:


A pressure plethysmograph for measuring respiratory volume in mice during exposure to virus aerosols is described. The respiratory frequency and tidal volume were measured, and from these data the minute ventilation was calculated. The mean respiratory frequency of adult, male mice was 255 per min; the mean tidal volume of 0.18 ml was inversely related to respiratory frequency. The standardized mean minute ventilation rate was 1.46 ml per g of body weight. The respiratory frequency and tidal volume of CD-1 and HA/ICR strains of mice of the same age were similar. The respiratory retention rate for a 2.7-μm aerosol of vesicular stomatitis virus was 41%, and 58% of the virus retained was found in the trachea and lung.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this work is to investigate the application of an amorphous silicon electronic portal imaging device (EPID) in IMRT/VMAT QA as a replacement for conventional IMRT/RapidArc QA tools.

METHODS
20 IMRT/RapidArc treatment plans for treatment site of head and neck, breast, lung, abdomen, and pelvis were selected randomly for the study. Verification plans on ArcCheck phantom (Sun Nuclear Inc.) (ArcCheck Verification Plan, AC_Veri_Plan) and for portal dose prediction (PD_Veri_Plan) were generated in Eclipse treatment planning system, and delivered in ArcCheck phantom measurement and portal dosimetry for each treatment plan, respectively. For AC_Veri_Plan, absolute dose was measured by ion chamber inserted in ArcCheck phantom and relative dose is evaluated by the gamma method (criterion %3/3mm) using SNC dosimetry software. For PD_Veri_Plan, absolute intensity was measured in an area of 1cmx1cm and relative dose by the gamma method in portal dosimetry. The results of absolute and relative dose difference using both of phantom measurements and portal dosimetry were compared.

RESULTS
For 20 AC_Veri_Plans, variation between the measured and calculated absolute dose is within 3% {range - 2.29% to 2.34%, average 0.46%}. The percentage of gamma<1 is above 90% {range 93.9% to 100%, average 98.85%}. For 20 PD_Veri_Plans, variation between measured and calculated intensity is within 4% {range -2.47% to 3.34%, average 1.26%}. The percentage of gamma<1 is also above 90% {range 95.9% to 100%, average 99.61%}. All of AC_Veri_Plans and PD_Veri_Plans pass the QA, although the variation of absolute intensity on average in PD_Veri_Plans has about 0.8% higher than that of AC_Veri_Plans. The tolerance is 5% for the absolute dose variation and 90% of gamma<1 for the relative dose.

CONCLUSION
Phantom measurement for IMRT/VMAT QA is a time-consuming task. Portal dosimetry can be used as a rapid and convenient plan verification tool for IMRT/VMAT.


In this paper, by applying a Computable General Equilibrium model for Western Australia (called WAG), the impact of the 2002 dry season on the State's wider economy is quantitatively analysed. An estimate of 40 percent loss in the production of five major groups of agricultural commodities is simulated into the model. The model results show that the State's economy-wide total production declines by 2.3 percent. In 2001-02 dollar terms this production decline is worth more than $2.5 billion. The gross state product (GSP) for WA declines by more than one percent. The total value of the State's exports and employment decline by 5.2 and 1.7 percent respectively.


To date, the story of architectural production in 21st century China has focused on institutions and actors in an ever-globalizing system of practice [1–4]. This worthy approach nevertheless obscures opposite yet equally significant trends, namely the localization of architectural products. Architectural practices are indeed becoming moreglobal,andyettheirworkis—withnotableexceptions—morefrequentlyconvicted of a necessity for localization, such that two buildings designed by an American firm, one in California and the other in Shanghai, should not be indistinguishable from each other. Thus, a more complete telling of this story demands an investigation of how the local and the national are represented materially in work that is, structurally, international. Through a close reading of several iconic buildings in China designed by international architects, this contribution proposes a framework for categorizing localization strategies. In addition, it investigates the origins of the localization imperative both in general and specific to China. These findings amplify architecture's cross-cultural vocabulary and improve the ability of architectural practices to consider the cultural sited-ness of their work not only in China but around the world.