Four million surgeries involving bone grafting or bone substitutes for the treatment of bone defects are performed yearly worldwide. However, limited donor tissue availability, pain and the risk of infection and immune rejection, have led to the development of alternative strategies for bone repair. Tissue engineering represents an alternative to current treatments as it consists of using a biomaterial scaffold alone or in combination with proteins, genes or cells, as a bioactive implant to stimulate bone repair. Microspherical scaffolds have been proposed as a potential modular unit for bone tissue engineering applications as their shape could facilitate filling of irregular shaped defects. Furthermore, microspheres could be used as a support for ex vivo expansion of adherent cells as well as a carrier to directly deliver cells to the defect site. In this study, the use of phosphate glass microcarriers for bone tissue engineering applications was investigated. As this material is completely soluble and non-toxic, it can be implanted in the patient together with cells. Furthermore, the tuneable glass composition can be easily engineered to induce specific structural and biological properties. Here, the effect of culturing MG-63 and hBM-MSCs on titanium-doped phosphate glass microspheres containing increasing concentration of cobalt (0, 2 and 5%) was investigated, as these ions have been shown to induce osteogenesis and angiogenesis, respectively. Furthermore, as part of this study a novel perfusion microfluidic bioreactor was fabricated to culture cells on microspheres under perfusion and to enable parallel screening of multiple culture variables. Cells proliferation on the microspheres as well as secretion of ECM proteins in response to the substrate was observed over time, thus confirming the biocompatibility of all compositions tested. Upregulation of osteogenic markers by MSCs also occurred in response to the microspheres in the absence of exogenous supplements. However, this effect was suppressed when cobalt was added to the glass composition. On the other hand, while cobalt doping was found to induce key angiogenic responses (i.e. VEGF secretion), this did not translate into improved functional vascularization in comparison to the cobalt-free microspheres. Successful MSCs culture on the microspheres within the microfluidic reactor was achieved and it was possible to efficiently quantify functional outputs, such as the expression of ECM proteins as a function of microspheres substrates and nutrient feeds under perfusion. In conclusion, titanium-doped phosphate glass microspheres were identified as a potential substrate for bone tissue engineering applications in terms of MSCs expansion and differentiation, as well as to support endothelial cells migration towards the scaffold and vessel formation, while additional doping with cobalt was not found to improve the functionality of the microspheres. Furthermore, the microfluidic bioreactor enabled to identify optimal parameters for perfused cell culture on microspheres that could be potentially translated to a scaled-up system for tissue-engineered bone manufacturing.


Biodiesel is a promising fuel alternative compared to traditional diesel obtained from conventional sources such as fossil fuel. Many flowsheet alternatives exist for the production of biodiesel and therefore it is necessary to evaluate these alternatives using defined criteria and also from process intensification opportunities. This work focuses on three main aspects that have been incorporated into a systematic computer-aided framework for sustainable process design. First, the creation of a generic superstructure, which consists of all possible process alternatives based on available technology. Second, the evaluation of this superstructure for systematic screening to obtain an appropriate base case design. This is done by first reducing the search space using a sustainability analysis, which provides key indicators for process bottlenecks of different flowsheet configurations and then by further reducing the search space by using economic evaluation and life cycle assessment. Third, the determination of sustainable design with/without process intensification using a phenomena-based synthesis/design method. A detailed step by step application of the framework is highlighted through a biodiesel production case study.


Objective: This paper intends to discuss issues related to cultural, ethnic, and other nonaudiological variables that may affect the response when trying to determine outcome of audiological rehabilitation in different countries. Design: The ideal measure for the determination of outcome of audiological rehabilitation would be sensitive to changes in disability as well as handicap. Further, it would allow unforeseen effects to be identified and not be limited by language borders or cultural and ethnic differences. A variety of critical factors are discussed that are related to culture, social traditions, ethnic factors, etc. that may affect outcome measures and thus make international equivalence difficult. Conclusions: With careful consideration of the factors discussed, a basic set of questions could be formulated and agreed on, calibrated on suitable populations in different countries, and thereafter used as a bridge across borders to allow comparison of different procedures or meta‐analyses of studies performed by different laboratories.


Electromagnetic interference caused by high voltage equipment such as partial discharges is well established and used within utilities to monitor the state of plant via periodic radio frequency interference (rfi) surveys. This paper describes investigations made by the authors into the location of a discharge source close to a domestic residence situated under a 132 kV overhead line. The owner of the residence had complained of interference to television and FM radio reception that was aggravated under dry conditions, often disappearing during rain. This situation has been inconclusively investigated prior to the study described here. Measurements were made that showed the interference was impulsive in nature. The impulses were used to precisely locate the partial discharge on the line. These results are then compared to those obtained from another overhead line where no complaints were received.


The runoff from the Laohahe basin in northern China has been greatly influenced by climate variability and human activities, and it is very important to quantitatively analyze these effects. Three methods, the Mann–Kendall test, ordered clustering and double cumulative curve were used to detect the trend and change points in annual precipitation and runoff for the period from 1964 to 2008, and the runoff series were divided into a 'natural period' (1964–1979) and a 'human-induced period' (1980–2008). Then the three-layer Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC-3L) model was used to quantitatively evaluate the effects of climate variability and human activities on runoff. The results show that compared with the 'natural period', the annual precipitation varied by −10, 10 and −10% during the periods of 1980–1989, 1990–1999 and 2000–2008, respectively, while the corresponding yearly runoff changed by −57, 17 and −72%, respectively. It was found that the range of yearly runoff percentage change is much larger than the range of annual precipitation variation. Additionally, the computing effects of human activities on runoff decreasing are more evident during the two drier periods of 1980–1989 and 2000–2008 with the contribution of 70 and 78%, respectively, while that of the wetter period of 1990–1999 is only 21%. It is suggested that within the Laohahe basin human activities are the main reason that runoff decreased during the two drier periods of 1980–1989 and 2000–2008, while the increasing of the runoff during the wetter period of 1990–1999 is mainly attributed to the climate variability.


Retirement planning and voluntary as well as mandated contributions to pension plans require a series of decisions under uncertainty. Those range from initial decisions about the magnitude of contributions and allocation across different investment options and choice of option providers, to periodic reviews of these decisions in light of possible changes in goals or circumstances. Behavioral decision research provides a series of lessons about how such decisions are made and thus for the optimal design of pension plans. This chapter will addresses the role of affect in perceptions of risk and subsequent decisions to take actions that reduce or manage perceived risks. I review evidence showing that individual and group differences in risk perception, much more than differences in risk attitude, are responsible for differences in the choices people make. If people fail to be alarmed about a risk or hazard, they fail to take precautions. Risk perception, on the other hand, is predictable from general characteristics of the hazard and from prior, personal history. The risks associated with inadequate retirement planning have all the characteristics associated with hazards that do not evoke strong visceral reactions.


Habitat loss and degradation, among other factors, contributed to a steady decline in grassland bird populations across the U.S. Many large scale management efforts are in place to stabilize and increase grassland bird populations through habitat restoration and protection. To inform this effort, large scale habitat associations of birds can help predict where best to put habitat and the benefit to grassland bird populations. We developed a directed dynamic occupancy study and utilized avian database information from the North American Breeding Bird Survey to understand occupancy-habitat associations of bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna) and dickcissel (Spiza americana) in the Black Belt Region of the Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain Joint Venture to inform regional conservation planning. Our results indicate grassland connectivity and landscape composition are important habitat factors to consider on multiple scales for multi-species conservation. Also, the use of avian database sources is variable and prior considerations should be considered before applying data to occupancy modeling techniques.


The aim of this article is to propose a measurable definition of green jobs based on balanced, durable and sustainable development, which is an example of both the Green Economy and New Public Management (NPM) concepts. This approach is justified due to the nature of NPM, which uses the goals of management and measures of effectiveness. In this paper, the definition of green jobs is formulated as tool for measuring, based on the Polish Classification of Activities (PKD), which has roots in the classifications proposed by UN the ISIC and Eurostat NACE. Then the ease with which this tool can be used is tested by determining the efficiency of labour market institutions. Therefore, the green jobs concept can be much wider than just a qualitative description of an organisation's strategy. In this paper it is proposed that green job characteristics based on section E of PKD is more specific and because of its quantitative approach it is a suitable measurement not only in Polish conditions, but generally.


First published in 1899, this beautiful, brief novel so disturbed critics and the public that it was banished for decades afterward. Now widely read and admired, "The Awakening" has been hailed as an early vision of woman's emancipation. This sensuous book tells of a woman's abandonment of her family, her seduction, and her awakening to desires and passions that threated to consumer her. Originally entitled "A Solitary Soul, " this portrait of twenty-eight-year-old Edna Pontellier is a landmark in American fiction, rooted firmly in the romantic tradition of Herman Melville and Emily Dickinson. Here, a woman in search of self-discovery turns away from convention and society, and toward the primal, from convention and society, and toward the primal, irresistibly attracted to nature and the senses "The Awakening," Kate Chopin's last novel, has been praised by Edmund Wilson as "beautifully written." And Willa Cather described its style as "exquisite, " "sensitive, " and "iridescent." This edition of "The Awakening" also includes a selection of short stories by Kate Chopin. "This seems to me a higher order of feminism than repeating the story of woman as victim... Kate Chopin gives her female protagonist the central role, normally reserved for Man, in a meditation on identity and culture, consciousness and art." -- From the introduction by Marilynne Robinson.


«Gran forza et gran vivacita». Understanding Antonello da Messina in Venetian collecting of the Renaissance through the papers of Marcantonio Michiel.
One of the earliest sources for Antonello da Messina's paintings is the valuable manuscript written by Marcantonio Michiel and entitled Notizia d'opere di disegno (Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana). Beginning in 1521, Michiel took over twenty years to add to his opus magnum. The manuscript shows evidence of many layers and kinds of writing and employs different types of ink, indicating that the material was continually updated and amended. An examination of the document leads to new insights, especially concerning Michiel's description of Antonello's Saint Jerome in his study (London, The National Gallery) and two of the artist's portraits dated 1475 once in the home of Antonio Pasqualini, a wealthy Venetian merchant.
Archival research together with an investigation of literary sources encourages new readings of Antonello's paintings and their Venetian patrons and owners. Analyzing and comparing the cartellini and labels on these works calls for new interpretations. Such is the case for example of the Portrait of a Young Man (Berlin, Staatliche Museen) formerly in the Widmann and Vitturi collections in Venice whereby a new proposal can be suggested by identifying the source of the moralizing inscription at the bottom edge of the panel. New research also sanctions the correction and integration of previously known information on the basis of the valuable Manoscritti Francesconi.
This essay also discusses unpublished documents and analyzes letters and auction catalogues in order to enrich our understanding of Antonello's critical fortunes in Venice over time. Among this material is a new transcription of the letter sent by Pietro Summonte to Michiel in 1524, inventories of Bartolomeo dalla Nave's paintings, lists of works of art bought in Venice by John Strange, letters written by Alexander Hamilton, unpublished notes by Jacopo Morelli and, finally, wills and inventories of members of the Cornaro and Mocenigo families.


The e-book comprises a selection of papers delivered at the 24th IVR World Congress, divided into four sections. The first, Human Rights and Justice in a Global Perspective , centres on the problems of the foundation of Human Rights and the legitimacy of Political Power. The second deals with Public Policy, Economics and Social Rights . In the section called Law, Language and Literature the focus is on the multiple ways in which Law can relate to language, discourses and literature. The fourth and final section analyses some of the recent Transformations in Legal Dogmatics and in Private Law . These topics are all of capital importance in contemporary societies, which reflect the complexity of pluralism and the increasing expansion and transformation of the law, which no longer seems to be comprehensible by a merely positivistic model of the "sources of law". In order to understand the nature of law and the requirements to interpret it as well as to adjust it to the needs of contemporary states and communities, a theorist or analyst needs to embark on an interdisciplinary approach, which can be found in all of the essays in this e-book.


Growing evidence supports the hypothesis that epigenetics is a key mechanism through which environmental exposures interact with an individual's genetic constitution to determine risk for depression throughout life.1 Epigenetics, in its broadest meaning, refers to stable changes in gene expression that are mediated via altered chromatin structure without modification of DNA sequence. According to this hypothesis, severe stress triggers changes—in vulnerable individuals—in chromatin structure at particular genomic loci in the brain's limbic regions, which drive sustained changes in gene expression that contribute to episodes of depression. A corollary of this hypothesis is that such stress-induced epigenetic modifications also occur early in life and help determine an individual's lifetime vulnerability or resistance to subsequent stressful events.


This paper presents a mathematical model for the prediction of pollutant transport in rivers. The model has been developed and calibrated using the Matlab software and relying on field data from Romanian Someş River (collected in case of accidental cyanide release). Field data has been used to estimate model parameters (e.g. dispersion coefficient, velocity) as variable in time and space in order account for river features non-uniformity in time and also in space. These initial parameter values have been employed for the calculation of pollutant distribution along the river based on explicit analytical solutions of the advectiondispersion fundamental equation for mass transport in rivers (Fickian approach). Further, parameters optimization has been carried out during model calibration involving a custom tailored optimization algorithm. Results of the comparison between simulated and experimental data show that calibrated model is capable to predict satisfactory the dynamic distribution of pollutant concentration along the river stretch. Peaks travel times are the best predicted features compared to trails, revealing accurate velocity estimation along the stretch. Consequently the model can be employed in case of accidental pollutant releases and also in case of pollutant releases under customary conditions (for cyanides and other pollutants), in order to offer decision support in river water quality management.


Drawing on the theoretical insights of Paul Ricoeur this paper investigates the geographies of public remembrance in a post-conflict society. In Northern Ireland, where political divisions have found expression through acts of extreme violence over the past 30 years, questions of memory and an amnesty for forgetting have particular resonance both at the individual and societal level, and render Ricoeur's framework particularly prescient. Since the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998, initiating the Peace Process through consociational structures, discovering a nomenclature and set of practices which would aid in the rapprochement of a deeply divided society has presented a complex array of issues. In this paper I examine the various practices of public remembrance of the 1998 bombing of Omagh as a means of understanding how memory-spaces evolve in a post-conflict context. In Omagh there were a variety of commemorative practices instituted and each, in turn, adopted a different contour towards achieving reconciliation with the violence and grief of the bombing. In particular the Garden of Light project is analysed as a collective monument which, with light as its metaphysical centre, invited the populace to reflect backward on the pain of the bombing while at the same time enabling the society to look forward toward a peaceful future where a politics of hope might eclipse a politics of despair.


Over the past two decades, the incorporation of market logics into environment and conservation policy has led to a reconceptualization of "nature." Resulting constructs like ecosystem services and biodiversity derivatives, as well as finance mechanisms like Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, species banking, and carbon trading, offer new avenues for accumulation and set the context for new enclosures. As these practices have become more apparent, geographers have been at the forefront of interdisciplinary research that has highlighted the effects of "green grabs"—in which "green credentials" are used to justify expropriation of land and resources—in specific locales. While case studies have begun to reveal the social and ecological marginalization associated with green grabs and the implementation of market mechanisms in particular sites, less attention has been paid to the systemic dimensions and "logics" mobilizing these projects. Yet, the emergence of these constructs reflects a larger transformation in international environmental governance—one in which the discourse of global ecology has accommodated an ontology of natural capital, culminating in the production of what is taking shape as "The Green Economy." The Green Economy is not a natural or coincidental development, but is contingent upon, and coordinated by, actors drawn together around familiar and emergent institutions of environmental governance. Indeed, the terrain for green grabbing is increasingly cultivated through relationships among international environmental policy institutions, organizations, activists, academics, and transnational capitalist and managerial classes. This special issue of Human Geography brings together papers that draw on a range of theoretical perspectives to investigate the systemic dimensions and logics mobilizing green grabs and the creation of new market mechanisms. In inverting the title – "grabbing green" instead of the more conventional green grabs – we explore how "the environment" is being used instrumentally by various actors to extend the potential for capital accumulation under the auspices of "being green." Using a diversity of empirical material that spans local to global scales, the papers reveal the formation of the social relations and metrics that markets require to function. They identify the "frictions" that inhibit the production of these social relations, and they link particular cases to the scalar configurations of power that mobilize and give them shape.


Pituitary tumor transforming gene (PTTG)-binding factor (PBF or PTTG1IP) is a little characterized proto-oncogene that has been implicated in the etiology of breast and thyroid tumors. In this study, we created a murine transgenic model to target PBF expression to the thyroid gland (PBF-Tg mice) and found that these mice exhibited normal thyroid function, but a striking enlargement of the thyroid gland associated with hyperplastic and macrofollicular lesions. Expression of the sodium iodide symporter (NIS), a gene essential to the radioiodine ablation of thyroid hyperplasia, neoplasia, and metastasis, was also potently inhibited in PBF-Tg mice. Critically, iodide uptake was repressed in primary thyroid cultures from PBF-Tg mice, which could be rescued by PBF depletion. PBF-Tg thyroids exhibited upregulation of Akt and the TSH receptor (TSHR), each known regulators of thyrocyte proliferation, along with upregulation of the downstream proliferative marker cyclin D1. We extended and confirmed findings from the mouse model by examining PBF expression in human multinodular goiters (MNG), a hyperproliferative thyroid disorder, where PBF and TSHR was strongly upregulated relative to normal thyroid tissue. Furthermore, we showed that depleting PBF in human primary thyrocytes was sufficient to increase radioiodine uptake. Together, our findings indicate that overexpression of PBF causes thyroid cell proliferation, macrofollicular lesions, and hyperplasia, as well as repression of the critical therapeutic route for radioiodide uptake.


We develop a novel contract design, the fed funds futures (FFF) variance futures, which reflects the expected realized basis point variance of an underlying FFF rate. The valuation of short-term FFF variance futures is completely model-independent in a general setting that includes the cases where the underlying FFF rate exhibits jumps and where the realized variance is computed by sampling the FFF rate discretely. The valuation of longer-term FFF variance futures is subject to an approximation error which we quantify and show is negligible. We also provide an illustrative example of the practical valuation and use of the FFF variance futures contract.


A. Rebirth of practical theology Two distinct paradigms of theology co-exist today. On the one hand, there is the paradigm of theology as a set of sub-disciplines, of which practical theology is one. On the other hand, there is the paradigm that sees theology as essentially practical, and the various sub-disciplines of theology as interrelated in order to serve this practical end. (1) For many years, the former paradigm, emanating mainly from Western theological circles, was the dominant one. Practical theology from this perspective was seen as the "finishing school" of theological education. It was concerned with equipping theological students for the practical aspects of the task of ministry, such as preaching and pastoral care. However, over the last three of four decades, this area of theology has undergone what some have described as a "re-birth" (2). This rebirth has involved, among other things, a re-examination of the nature of theology as a whole, and the place of practical theology within it. Furthermore, it has fostered the development of socio-theological aspects of theology (such as political theology), and challenged the traditional methodologies for theological reflection. In general, the debates that have led to this rebirth have come to see theology as having a more practical orientation. Even those who maintain some notion of sub-disciplines in theology would consider ... practical theology, as that branch of theology which is concerned to explore the relationship between, on the one hand, Scripture and the tradition of the Church and, on the other hand, the whole range of Christian praxis in the world. (3) Practical theologians are careful to point out, however, that this practice-centred approach to understanding theology is not new. Forrester, for example, notes: Practical theology as a distinct theological discipline is comparatively young but the idea that theology as such is a practical science has been there from the beginnings of Christian theological reflections. (4) In this paper, I wish to consider some of the implications of this practical paradigm of theology for mission. I propose to do so in three steps. First, with reference to a schema of the genre of theology proposed by Edward Farley, which is widely acknowledged, I will examine the development of the discipline of theology and the disunity between theology and practice, which has accompanied much of this evolution. Secondly, I will briefly discuss some of the contemporary sources of this practical perspective on theology in general, and of this rebirth in practical theology in particular. Thirdly, I will describe some of the features of this practically oriented understanding or practical paradigm of theology that are emerging. For each feature I will then discuss how this informs the task of mission. B. Stages of theological evolution and the problem of disunity Farley posits the view that there are four distinct meanings of genres of theology that he, in turn, associates with different stages of its evolution. For him, these genres reveal an essential ambiguity in the use of the term "theology". First of all, there is theology as the knowledge of God, which is based on an understanding that theology is synonymous with an awareness of God cultivated through the practice of prayer, study, worship and discipleship. Farley refers to this as "habitus", which connotes the idea of theology as a way of life. In the second genre, viz. theology science, "theology is an episteme, a scientia, an actor cognitive disposition in which the self-disclosing God is grasped as disclosed." (5) This understanding of theology became the framework within which all Western knowledge was understood; during the medieval period it provided the impetus for the establishment of universities. With either of these two genre (habitus or science), theology is understood as a unified whole without division into theoretical and practical aspects. …


The neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) produced by the diatoms Pseudo-nitzschia has been responsible for deaths of marine mammals and birds in Monterey Bay, California, USA. In this study we examined links between DA-related strandings of the seasonally migratory California sea lion Zalophus californianus and regional occurrences of DA-producing diatoms using a decade-long time series. Results suggest a more complex pattern of stranding than anticipated, one not related simply to regional abundance of the toxin producers. Stranding patterns of sea lions exhibiting signs of acute DA toxicosis may be best explained by multiple causative factors including timing of toxic blooms with respect to the sea lion breeding cycle, adequacy of sea lion prey during the breeding season, as well as the geographic range of this pinniped outside of the breeding season. Three DA-related stranding events occurred in Monterey Bay in 1998, 2000 and 2007, when toxic DA blooms were pre- sent in the Bay and the California coast was experiencing El Nino/Southern Oscillation conditions. Foraging centers near the breeding site likely provided inadequate food for individuals, leading to northerly movement of these highly mobile predators to other geographic sites resulting in exposure to toxic DA-producing blooms. High toxic Pseudo-nitzschia and DA concentrations did not, however, result in DA-related stranding events in 2002, 2003 and 2004, when weaker than normal upwelling events were present in the Bay. Relative productivity of central versus southern California with respect to the breeding season thus appears to strongly influence the frequency of DA-related strand- ings in Monterey Bay, California.


Rural Malians who grow dryland crops depend on sorghum as a primary food staple. Despite steady advances in sorghum research, in this risk-prone environment, achieving major gains in national sorghum yields has posed a challenge. We assess the potential economic impact of the first, Guinea-race sorghum hybrids produced and diffused using participatory plant breeding with decentralized, farmer-managed seed systems. We compare this approach to formal plant breeding with a centralized, state-managed seed system, which was the approach pursued prior to 2000. To incorporate risk, we augment the economic surplus model by applying Monte Carlo sampling to simulate distributions of model parameters. A census of sorghum varieties in 58 villages in the high-potential sorghum production zone serves as the adoption baseline. Our findings indicate that research on sorghum hybrids is a sound investment, but particularly when combined with locally-based mechanisms for disseminating seed. In part, this finding reflects the fact that despite many years of efforts aimed at liberalizing the seed sector in Mali, the sorghum seed system remains largely farmer-based.


Although other forms of drug delivery are increasing in popularity, currently approximately 74% of medicine is administered orally. Transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDS) are dosage forms that involve the transportation of drugs across the different skin layers for a therapeutic effect. Currently, several transdermal patches are available for pain relief. This review will discuss the different components of the TDDS, as well as the various types of transdermal patches that are available in South Africa.


SUMMARY Embryos of the common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., were reared from fertilization of the eggs to inflation of the swim bladder in the larval stage at 18 and 25°C. cRNA probes were used to detect transcripts of the myogenic regulatory factors MyoD, Myf-5 and myogenin, and five myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoforms during development. The genes encoding Myf-5 and MyoD were switched on first in the unsegmented mesoderm, followed by myogenin as the somites developed. Myf-5 and MyoD transcripts were initially limited to the adaxial cells, but Myf-5 expression spread laterally into the presomitic mesoderm before somite formation. Two distinct bands of staining could be seen corresponding to the cellular fields of the forming somites, but as each furrow delineated, Myf-5 mRNA levels declined. Upon somite formation, MyoD expression spread laterally to encompass the full somite width. Expression of the myogenin gene was also switched on during somite formation, and expression of both transcripts persisted until the somites became chevron-shaped. Expression of MyoD was then downregulated shortly before myogenin. The expression patterns of the carp myogenic regulatory factor (MRF) genes most-closely resembled that seen in the zebrafish rather than the rainbow trout (where expression of MyoD remains restricted to the adaxial domain of the somite for a prolonged period) or the herring (where expression of MyoD persists longer than that of myogenin). Expression of two embryonic forms of MyHC began simultaneously at the 25-30 somite stage and continued until approximately two weeks post-hatch. However, the three adult isoforms of fast muscle MyHC were not detected in any stage examined, emphasizing a developmental gap that must be filled by other, as yet uncharacterised, MyHC isoform(s). No differences in the timing of expression of any mRNA transcripts were seen between temperature groups. A phylogenetic analysis of the MRFs was conducted using all available full-length amino acid sequences. A neighbour-joining tree indicated that all four members evolved from a common ancestral gene, which first duplicated into two lineages, each of which underwent a further duplication to produce Myf-5 and MyoD, and myogenin and MRF4. Parologous copies of MyoD from trout and Xenopus clustered closely together within clades, indicating recent duplications. By contrast, MyoD paralogues from gilthead seabream were more divergent, indicating a more-ancient duplication.


Perhaps there is no better illustration of Bourdieu's view that language can be converted to political or economic power (1991) than the success of the New Oriental School, which started as an English teaching organization, with the motto 'Language is power', mainly to prepare Chinese students for the TOFEL and the GRE tests. They have been so successful that they have now expanded into a full-scale educational institution, with English as its key component. Also, many people in China have prospered through English, including the world-famous teacher Li Yang, who achieved phenomenal success with his 'Crazy English' method, whose approach pushes a language-as-power message. In addition, the prosperity of the publishing houses selling English materials, the huge number of the teachers, and the enormous English-learning population in China all seem to contribute to the belief that English can enrich anyone who can find a way to capitalize on the language. However, despite the booming success of various English training agencies, it is ironic that English departments at Chinese universities now face an unprecedented crisis for survival. One major reason for this is that the recent craze for English in China has been accompanied by a parallel and steep decline of interest in the study of English as a 'major' at university level. In this article, I will address the problems that English departments in universities have in their response to the practical turn in English studies, with reference to the teaching of writing to English majors in particular.


Due to the high penetration and growth rates of mobile devices along with the recent technological development of the third-generation devices in the Egyptian market have created a new direct communication channel with customers known as mobile advertising. Mobile marketing offers great opportunities for businesses. Marketing activities supported by mobile devices allow companies to directly communicate with their consumers without time or location barriers. The underlying study presents initial Egyptian consumer evaluation and investigation on their perceived attitude towards location-based mobile advertising (LBMA) that allows marketers to reach their target consumers based on their location. LBMA allows service providers to offer timely personalized services and products based on their target customers' specific location. However, it is unknown which is the best way to build these advertisements in order to positively affect Egyptian consumers' attitudes, intention and behavior . Accordingly, the research at hand, investigates the Egyptian perceived attitude towards LBMA via surveying consumers' using a structured questionnaire and interviewing decision makers in mobile network


This study examines the suppression through international law of the illicit production, supply and use of drugs. The study focuses upon the provisions relating to the suppression of illicit drugs in the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Psychotropic Convention, the 1972 Protocol to the Single Convention and the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Drug Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. It examines the content of the obligations imposed on states party by these conventions, and gives select examples of how these provisions have been incorporated into domestic law.
Chapter one introduces the global drug problem, the policy options available to deal with it, and the regulation of this problem by a system established by international law. Chapter two places the international drug control system in historical context. Chapter three examines the crimes and penalties that the drug conventions require Parties to create in their national law. Chapter four examines the provisions in the drug conventions that deal with jurisdiction over drug offences, extradition of drug offenders, and miscellaneous procedural provisions. Chapter five investigates the international regulation of enforcement in the sense of actual policing, prosecution and punishment of drug offenders. Chapter six examines the alternative methods of control of illicit drug related activities provided for under international law, such as treatment and rehabilitation. Chapter seven examines the supervisory organs of the international drug control system, the supervision of the system and its execution and enforcement. Chapter eight attempts a general comment upon the nature of the system and its aim of suppressing illicit drug use.
While the major concern of this study is an examination of the technical rules of international law designed to suppress illicit drugs, it is also concerned with the policy of prohibition that underpins these rules, because of the interrelationship between this policy and the shape of the international legal provisions designed to implement it.


International development is concerned with making life better for the least privileged people of the world. Since the 1990s, HCI has engaged increasingly with development through an interdisciplinary field known as "information and communication technologies for development," or ICT4D. This article overviews the historical relationship between HCI and international development, compares their disciplinary approaches, and suggests that both sides would gain from ongoing interaction. International development could benefit from HCI's broad methodological tools, which include qualitative and quantitative research methods, design through iterative prototyping, and reflective inquiry. HCI could benefit from international development's exposure to a broader base of cultures, sectors, and concerns. These issues are discussed with specific examples from published papers and several well-known projects that apply HCI to development. Finally, future directions for an ongoing collaboration between HCI and development are also indicated.


Anthony Hallam writes: I was intrigued by Kerr's relating of a marine mass extinction event and associated sea-level rise, oceanic anoxia and global warming to an episode of oceanic volcanism on massive scale. What was especially interesting was his invocation of a possible runaway greenhouse climate developing rapidly as a consequence of the solubility of CO2 in seawater decreasing by 4% for every 1 °C temperature rise, so that the warmer the oceans get, the less CO2 will dissolve in them. The pattern of change envisaged by Kerr for the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary corresponds remarkably well with what Paul Wignall and I envisage for the biggest mass extinction event of all, at the Permian-Triassic boundary (Hallam & Wignall 1997). While the most fully documented extinctions were in the marine realm it is evident that there were also extensive extinctions on land, which are most reasonably explained by an episode of global warming. The best evidence comes from the floras. The cold-adapted glos-sopterids went extinct abruptly, to be replaced by warm temperate floras; cold temperature and polar-type floras are completely unknown at this time. Data from both oxygen and strontium isotopes are consistent with the inference of global warming. We have speculated that eruption at this time of the Siberian Traps, the largest known continental flood basalt province, had a primary role in generating a significant increase in atmospheric CO2. However, we also need to invoke a mechanism for producing a strikingly rapid and pronounced eustatic sea-level rise, with the associated spread


Abstract Fluid inclusions trapped in coesite-bearing rocks provide important information on the fluid phases present during ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism. The subduction-related coesite-bearing eclogites of the Tso Morari Complex, Himalaya, contain five major types of fluids identified by microthermometry and Raman spectroscopy. These are: (1) high-salinity brine, (2) N2, (3) CH4, (4) CO2 and (5) low-salinity aqueous fluids. These fluids were trapped during both deep subduction and exhumation processes. The coesite-bearing rocks are inferred to have been buried to a depth of >120 km, where they experienced ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism. The fluid–rock interaction provides direct evidence for fluid derivation during a deep subduction process as demonstrated by silica–carbonate assemblages in eclogite. High salinity brine, N2 and CH4 inclusions are remnants of prograde and peak metamorphic fluids, whereas CO2 and low-salinity aqueous fluids appear to have been trapped late, during uplift. The high-salinity brine was possibly derived from subducted ancient metasedimentary rocks, whereas the N2 and CH4 fluids were likely generated through chemical breakdown of NH3-bearing K minerals and graphite. Alternatively, CH4 might have been formed by a mixed fluid that was released from calcareous sediments during subduction or supplied through subducted oceanic metabasic rocks. High density CO2 is associated with matrix minerals formed during granulite-facies overprinting of the ultrahigh-pressure eclogite. During retrogression to amphibolite-facies conditions, low-salinity fluids were introduced from external sources, probably the enclosing gneisses. This source enhances salinity differences as compared to primary saline inclusions. The subducting Indian lithosphere produced brines prior to achieving maximal depths of >120 km, where fluids were instead dominated by gaseous phases. Subsequently, the Indian lithosphere released CO2-rich fluids during fast exhumation and was then infiltrated by the low-salinity aqueous fluids near the surface through external sources. Elemental modelling may improve quantitative understanding of the complexity of fluids and their reactions.


Thomas M, Weller V, Schulz T. An orthesis for reproducible kinematic MR imaging of the shoulder. Clinical Sports Medicine International (CSMI) 2004, 1: 15-21. Background: In general the standard MRI diagnostic of the shoulder in a circumferential high-field, whole body MRI magnet is performed with adducted arm due to the magnet configuration. An alternative arm position is the ABER position. The patient's hand is behind the head. Vertical and horizontal open, whole body MRI magnets allows new possibilities for MR imaging in other joint positions which are representative for diseases of the shoulder joint (e.g. impingement, rotator cuff disease, glenohumeral instability). An essential prerequisite for such investigations is a stable fixation of the arm by use of a MR-compatible device. Objective: The purpose of this study was the development of an MR-compatible device for the positioning of the shoulder in an open, whole body MRI magnet. The device should be universally usable on men and women and be adaptable onto the different heights. Furthermore defined joint positions should be adjustable and the movements of the shoulder should be quantifiable. Materials and methods: Materials of aluminum and brass were embedded into glycerol gelatine for the artifact diagnostic. The examination was performed in an open, whole body MRI system with 0.5 Tesla superconducting magnet (Signa SP/i, General Electric, Milwaukee, WI). Different pulse sequences (Spin-Echo, Fast Spin-Echo, Gradient Echo) were used. Only MR-compatible materials of aluminum and brass as well as materials of plastic and textile were used for the construction of the device for shoulder positioning. The correct function and the MR-compatibility were verified. Results: The device for shoulder positioning consists of three parts: the basis component, the universal component and the right and the left arm component. The device allows movements of the shoulder in all degrees of freedom. The axis of rotation of the device can be adjusted depending on the axis of rotation of the shoulder joint. The quantification of the joint movement is possible by use of a graduation in steps of 15 degrees. By use of the device artifact-free investigations of the shoulder can be peformed in functionally important joint positions (e.g. the apprehension-test position). Conclusion: The development of a MR-compatible device for shoulder positioning in an open, whole body MR magnet is presented.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a flawed index. The index uses price weights instead of conceptually superior market valuation weights. The companies included in the index are not chosen systematically and are not very representative of the U.S. market; and the index ignores returns from dividends. This article shows that alternative stock price indexes that use superior weighting methods and a more systematic inclusion criterion perform very similarly to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but, ignoring dividends dramatically underestimates the long-run returns earned by stock market investors. If Dow Jones & Co. had included dividend returns in the DJIA when it was formed in 1928, the index would be over 250,000 today.


According to the U.S. external accounts, U.S. investors earn a significantly higher rate of return on their foreign investments than foreigners earn in the United States. This continued strong performance has produced a positive net investment income balance despite the deterioration in the U.S. net asset position in recent years. We examine the major competing explanations for the apparent differential between the rates of return. In particular, almost the entire difference occurs in FDI, where American firms operating abroad appear to earn a persistently higher return than that earned by foreign firms operating in the U.S. We first review a number of explanations in the literature for this differential. We then offer some new evidence on the role of income shifting between jurisdictions with varying rates of taxation. Using country-specific income and tax data, we find that about one-third of the excess return earned by U.S. corporations abroad can be explained by firms reporting "extra" income in low tax jurisdictions of their affiliates.


The sociology of punishment is seen through the work of David Garland (2001) as contributing useful insights, but less than it might because of its focus on societal choices of whether and how to punish instead of on choices of whether to regulate by punishment or by a range of other important strategies. A problem in Garland's genealogical method is that branches of the genealogy are sawn off—the branches where the chosen instruments of regulation decentre punishment. This blinds us to the hybridity of predominantly punitive regulation of crime in the streets that is reshaped by more risk-preventive and restorative technologies of regulation for crime in the suites, and vice versa.


This study used data from self-administered questionnaires to compare technical- and professional-level students from four occupational therapy educational programs in Illinois. Examination of the similarities and differences in biographic characteristics indicate that registered occupational therapy and certified occupational therapy assistant students come from different backgrounds. The reasons why students chose their levels of education, and the amount and character of contact with occupational therapy that they had prior to entering the program provide useful information for counselors, recruiters, and designers of informational materials. The students' intended roles, desired career goals, and work values furnish suggestions for curriculum developers.


We solve for the equilibrium dynamics of information sharing in a large population. Each agent is endowed with signals regarding the likely outcome of a random variable of common concern. Individuals choose the effort with which they search for others from whom they can gather additional information. When two agents meet, they share their information. The information gathered is further shared at subsequent meetings, and so on. Equilibria exist in which agents search maximally until they acquire sufficient information precision and then search minimally. A tax whose proceeds are used to subsidize the costs of search improves information sharing and can, in some cases, increase welfare. On the other hand, endowing agents with public signals reduces information sharing and can, in some cases, decrease welfare.


An Introductory text on C# using Visual C# 2008 Express Edition. The easiest technical book you'll ever read. Open it up and see for yourself. Join Professor Smiley's C# class as he teaches essential skills in programming, coding and more. Using a student-instructor conversational format, this book starts at the very beginning with crucial programming fundamentals. You'll quickly learn how to identify customer needs so you can create an application that achieves programming objectives---just like experienced programmers. By identifying clear client goals, you'll learn important programming basics---like how computers view input and execute output based on the information they are given---then use those skills to develop real-world applications. Participate in this one-of-a-kind classroom experience and see why Professor Smiley is renowned for making learning fun and easy.


This is a study of the usefulness of radio occultation (RO) data for intercomparing different microwave temperature (MWT) sounding instruments. The RO data used are from the Global Navigational Satellite System Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding on the Metop‐A and B satellites. The MWT sounders investigated are the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit‐A instruments on the satellites NOAA 15, 16, and 18 and Metop‐A. We collocate RO and MWT data and then use these collocations to study various aspects of the MWT instruments. In addition, two different versions of the MWT data are compared: standard operational data (OPR) and the NOAA Integrated Microwave Intercalibration Approach data (IMICA). The time series of monthly mean differences shows that there are robust patterns for each satellite and data version, which mostly drift only slowly over time. The intersatellite spread, measured by the standard deviation of the yearly mean values by all satellites, is between 0.1 and 0.4 K, depending on channel, with no significant differences between OPR and IMICA data. The only notable exception is Channel 8 of NOAA 16, which appears to have a time‐varying offset of 0.5–1 K relative to the other instruments. At this point it is not clear whether this deviation is real or a sampling artifact, so further study is needed. Due to the large number of collocations used, it is possible to also investigate the scene brightness and scan angle dependence of the MWT bias (relative to RO). First results of such an analysis are presented and discussed. Particularly, the investigation of the scan angle dependence is novel, since this bias pattern is difficult to assess without RO data. Further work is needed on these angular dependences, before conclusions are robust enough to include in data recalibration efforts, but our overall conclusion is that RO collocations are a powerful tool for intercomparing MWT sounders.


This article looks at the evolving concept of "Green Economy" and its potential synergies and trade-offs with biodiversity governance and land use management. By analyzing the accelerating debate and institutionalization of forest-based mitigation projects that are inclined to market-based funding in developing countries through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+), this study aims to critically engage with the promises of a Green Economy that have been purported internationally. We empirically analyze the global development of REDD+ safeguards and standards with a special focus on the role of science–policy interfaces and monitoring, reporting, and verification. These outlines are projected to the exemplary case of Costa Rica, a front-runner in developing land use approaches with a strong reputation for conservation and sustainable forestry.


This article examines the role of Indigenous knowledges in higher education through an exploration of internationalization at U.S. Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). We affirm that examining internationalization efforts with historically marginalized and underserved populations provides an opportunity for interrogating inequitable power dynamics in knowledge construction, production, and transference vis-à-vis education and within a Western hegemonic model of modernity. Our discussion is anchored in decoloniality and Indigenous sustainable self-determination, which highlight educational initiatives that bolster Indigenous identities while addressing social, political, and environmental complications created by coloniality. Drawing from a five-year mixed-methods case study with TCUs, we offer Indigenous perspectives on place-based higher educational initiatives in relation to local and global concerns, specifically human and ecological sustainability. We propose a critical lens in Indigenous internationalization wherein Indigenous worldviews are vital responses to dominant notions of internationalization and historical limitations of education for Indigenous peoples.


To achieve the national objectives of equitable and sustainable social and economicdevelopment, strategies and institutional arrangements for water resourcesmanagement must be developed by water boards. There are also specific requirementsin the National Water Act (NWA) for water resources management activities to supportthe provision of water services. Many challenges face water resource managers inensuring that these national objectives be met and to be compliant with therequirements set by the NWA. Neither the resources nor the time required to addressthese objectives should be underestimated. The fundamental bases of any water strategy/planning is water demand forecasting. Toaccomplish this, the need for a framework for the implementation of a Water DemandManagement Model (WDMM) was identified. Through focus group discussions withBloem Water and literature studies on water models the necessary features for aframework for a WDMM was identified. This was compared with the features of adecision support systems framework that yield many similarities.


On the geological maps of the High-Ardenne slate belt (Belgium) an EW-trending, weakly S-dipping thrust fault is classically drawn, bordering the Eifel depression to the south. The 'type locality' of this fault lies in a – now completely overgrown – railway section at Herbeumont. This fault is indeed known as the 'Herbeumont fault'. A detailed structural and microstructural analysis of an outcrop area on the east bank of the Semois river, south of the railway section, allowed us to complement the geometrical and kinematic context of the classical 'Herbeumont fault'. The rocks exposed are predominantly fine-grained siliciclastic rocks belonging to the Lower Devonian.

Besides the bedding (S0), which is often very difficult to discern, three types of tectonic foliation can be distinguished: a primary cleavage (S1) at small angle to the bedding, a shear band foliation (SBF = S2) and an axial-planar, crenulation cleavage (S3) of late, shear-related folds affecting all pre-existing structural features. The pervasiveness – or even the mere presence – of these foliations is highly dependent on lithology, layer thickness and competence contrast within the multilayer sequence, even to the degree that a strongly developed shear band foliation can easily be mistaken as bedding. Other typical structural features include folded, boudinaged layers and folded, foliation boudins, as well as chevron folds.

All these structural features can be fitted in a kinematic model of a single, polyphase progressive top-to-the-north shearing event, occurring in the late stages of the Variscan orogeny. The outcrop area studied thus offers an excellent look into a low-grade metamorphic shear zone – the 'Herbeumont shear zone' – that developed in mid-crustal, brittle-plastic deformation conditions in a slate belt. Evidence of purely brittle thrust faulting – the 'Herbeumont fault' – could, however, not be identified in the outcrop area studied.


Improved energy efficiency in the building sector is a central goal in the European Union and renovation of buildings can significantly improve both energy efficiency and indoor environment. This paper studies the perception of indoor environment, modelled indoor climate and heat demand in a building before and after major renovation. The building was constructed in 1961 and renovated in 2014. Insulation of the facade and attic and new windows reduced average U-value from 0.54 to 0.29 W/m2·K. A supply and exhaust ventilation system with heat recovery replaced the old exhaust ventilation. Heat demand was reduced by 44% and maximum supplied heating power was reduced by 38.5%. An on-site questionnaire indicates that perceived thermal comfort improved after the renovation, and the predicted percentage dissatisfied is reduced from 23% to 14% during the heating season. Overall experience with indoor environment is improved. A sensitivity analysis indicates that there is a compromise between thermal comfort and energy use in relation to window solar heat gain, internal heat generation and indoor temperature set point. Higher heat gains, although reducing energy use, can cause problems with high indoor temperatures, and higher indoor temperature might increase thermal comfort during heating season but significantly increases energy use.


This paper draws the line between the Norwegian boom-bust cycle and crises in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the succeeding institutional and structural reforms and the strong macroeconomic performance and stability of the last two decades. The systemic banking crisis and speculative attack on the Norwegian krone in the early 1990s were the last in a series of blows to Norway's macroeconomic policy regime. In addition to the recession after 1988, the underlying growth potential of the Mainland economy was also weak, despite financial deregulation and the gains in competitiveness. The large oil price fall in the mid-1980s had demonstrated the risk of uncertain oil revenues as an important source of income to the government. The political awareness of an economic crisis paved the way for a series of structural reforms and changes in the macroeconomic policy regime. Some of these reforms were implemented quickly, such as a tax reform, an energy market reform and a new incomes policy framework. In 2001 a new framework for monetary and fiscal policy was put in place, involving a flexible exchange rate and inflation targeting, as well as a new fiscal policy rule designed to facilitate consumption smoothing and a build-up of a sovereign wealth fund. We discuss possible reasons why Norway's political system has been able to learn from previous policy failures and reach the necessary consensus, and determination, to implement institutional and structural reforms in economic policy.


A six degree-of-freedom model for a tailless supersonic aircraft (TSA) concept was developed using MATLAB and Simulink. Aerodynamic data was provided through the computational fluid dynamics analysis of Techsburg, Inc. A three degree-of-freedom model of the configuration's longitudinal dynamics was completed first. Elevator control power was derived from the dynamic response requirements for pitch chosen by Techsburg. The propulsion model utilized General Electric F-414-400-like turbofan engines because an engine deck was readily available. Work on the six degree-offreedom dynamic model began with determining the necessary rolling and yawing moment coefficients necessary to meet the rest of the chosen dynamic response requirements. These coefficients were then used to find the corresponding all-moving tip deflections. The CFD data showed that even at small all-moving tip deflections the rolling moment coefficient produced was much greater than the amount of yawing moment coefficient produced. This result showed that an additional roll effector was needed to counteract excess rolling moment at any given all-moving tip deflection and trim the aircraft. An angle of attack and pitch rate feedback controller was used to improve the longitudinal dynamics of the aircraft. Because this configuration lacked a vertical tail, a lateral-directional stability augmentation system was vital to its success. The lateral-directional dynamics were improved to Level 1 flying qualities through use of a modified roll/yaw damper. The modified controller fed yaw rate back to both the allmoving tips and roll effector. The six degree-of-freedom model was augmented with iii actuator dynamics for the elevator, roll effector, and all-moving tips. The actuators were modeled as first order lags. The all-moving tip actuator time constant was varied to determine the effect of actuator bandwidth on the lateral-directional flying qualities. After the actuator dynamics were successfully implemented, the six degree-of-freedom model was trimmed for both standard cruise and engine-out situations. The eccentuator concept from the DARPA Smart Wing program was selected as a possible conceptual design for the all-moving tip actuation system. The success of the TSA six degree-offreedom dynamic model proved that morphing all-moving tips were capable of serving as effective control surfaces for a supersonic tailless aircraft.


Linking interface terminologies (IT) to reference terminologies (RT) in flow of terminologies may allow health information system to be both usable and interoperable. Two French university hospitals worked independently on such a flow from the prescription of lab-test to the display of the corresponding results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the transmission of information in these two hospitals communication. An expert, supported by natural language processing tool, created the gold standard link between the 2 prescription ITs i.e. the terms that share the same meaning. A semantic pathway was defined to allow the mapping of one prescription IT to the other, through LOINC® and SNOMED®, the RT chosen by each hospital, respectively. The capacity of the semantic pathway to identify the correct links was computed. The expert found 218 links between the 2 prescription ITs (containing 580 and 374 terms that are linked to RT). The semantic pathway correctly identifies 96 of these links (44.0% [37.4-50.6]). The recall was not as good as expected, even though the semantic pathway was created in order to maximize it. Using different RT in different hospitals is not an efficient solution. The use of LOINC® seems to be preferable as a RT for prescription.


Established models of perceptual metacognition, the ability to evaluate our perceptual judgments, posit that perceptual confidence depends on the strength or quality of feedforward sensory evidence. However, alternative theoretical accounts suggest the entire perception-action cycle, and not only variation in sensory evidence, is monitored when evaluating confidence in one's percepts. Such models lead to the counterintuitive prediction that perceptual confidence should be directly modulated by features of motor output. To evaluate this proposal here we recorded electromyographic (EMG) activity of motor effectors while subjects performed a near-threshold perceptual discrimination task and reported their confidence in each response. A subset of trials exhibited sub-threshold EMG activity in response effectors before a decision was made. Strikingly, trial-by-trial analysis showed that confidence, but not accuracy, was significantly higher on trials with subthreshold motor activation. These findings support a hypothesis that preparatory motor activity impacts upon confidence over and above performance, consistent with models in which perceptual metacognition integrates information across the perception-action cycle.


John Aikin (1747-1822) is not one of the critics studied in our time. Although a contemporary of Johnson, Wordsworth, and Coleridge, and one of the important dissenting critics at the turn of the nineteenth century, his work and though' have been ignored. The value of Aikin as a critic lies in his understanding of literature as a form of knowledge, especially that aspect of literature, which is descriptive of nature. Trained as a physician and scientist, Aikin was the first critic to analyze in detail the relation of natural history to poetry. By doing so he provides one of the key explanations for the Romantic interest in and writing of nature poetry.

Aikin' s criticism has its basis in his medical studies and in the reality basis of their value. Aikin sees the reality basis of literary study as contributing to natural history as well as to literature. His realization of new forms and experiments for poets is a result of this procedure, the application of natural history to poetry. And, this comparative procedure leads as well to the reassessment of Virgil's nature poetry and of other earlier writers, to an increase in precision of analysis as a result of seeing new forms developed by more recent writers, and to the reassessment of drama in terms that are derived from description and the consequent development of a theory of the suspension of disbelief. The application of a reality standard to personification and other rhetorical figures provides a social basis for formal features.

The organization of this study follows the unfolding of Aikin's work. His criticism begins with a theoretical hypothesis: changes in contemporary natural history ought to dictate changes in contemporary nature poetry. From this position he moves to practical problems that arise in defining, developing, and demonstrating his hypothesis. In Aikin's literary criticism, there is a necessary, continuous interplay between theory and evidence; he recognizes that procedures for validating propositions about literature are similar to those of natural history. I begin by presenting in chapter 1 some background for Aikin; I discuss his scientific training, his early medical essays and the reality basis of their value. In chapter 2 I examine his theoretical work, On the Application of Natural History to Poetry (1777), and in chapters 3 and 4 I examine some practical applications of Aikin's scientific method in four essays: "An Essay on the Plan and Character of Thomson's Seasons" (1778), "A Comparison between Thomson and Cowper as Descriptive Poets" (1783), "An Essay on the Impression of Reality Attending Dramatic Representations" (1793), "On Poetical Personifications" (1796-98, 1811). I summarize my findings in chapter 5.

The reasons for bringing Aikin forward at this time have to do with the similarity of his time to ours in posing a series of challenges to the role of literary study. We are, as the cliche reminds us, at a point of crisis in the methodology of the studying and ordering of literary texts. Aikin' s work reveals the value of scientific training and inquiry in opening new and important ways of thinking about literature. While Aikin' s view of literary inquiry is informed by his scientific training, his science does not confine his criticism. Rather, his scientific training, when applied to literature, makes possible the identification and solution of a set of problems involving the relation of literary forms to reality as well as the recognition that literature as a form of knowledge requires systematic study. It is my position that Aikin's assumptions and method are still valuable. Although he has serious limits Aikin reveals the usefulness of and justification for a reality standard, illustrating how poetry, medicine, and natural history have social aims. His work leads not only to a fuller understanding of late eighteenth-century criticism but to a more precise understanding of how literary studies can be truly humanistic and interdisciplinary. This knowledge, in turn, reveals the special place of literature in the life of man.


The aging of the population has become a reality in developed countries. The percentage of older adults in the overall population has been increasing for quite some time and is bound to keep growing. The increase of this population segment opens up opportunities to be explored in areas such as gaming since this is one of their preferred activities. Age related changes are responsible for modifications in the perception and cognitive systems. However, when properly stimulated, changes can be slowed down or even reversed. Digital games can have an active role in stimulating the older adults' cognitive function. However, technology is still far from the older adults because age-related changes are not usually considered when designing or because they do not fit the needs of elders. Touch-based user interfaces have been argued to reduce the obstacles posed by technology to older adults, due to their direct mapping of the input in the User Interface. However, that still remains to be assessed. This project aimed to create a tablet gaming platform that supports cognitive games. Besides common features such as: user management, this platform provides the tools to store information about the cognitive performance of the player, which can then be used by healthcare professionals to monitor the cognitive state. Moreover, two prototypes of games have been created to assess the capabilities of the platform and understand how cognitive games can be used in the tablet. Due to its openness, Android Honeycomb was used in the development. The platform and one of the games were evaluated with end users in a final usability test. The results have shown that, in general, users can use this platform successfully; still, obstacles related with the android OS itself, were found.


This study builds on a previous pilot study conducted by Alkharusi, Aldhafri, Alnabhani, and Alkalbani (2012) to explore educational assessment attitudes, competence, knowledge, and practices of in-service teachers in the Sultanate of Oman. The present study extends the previous pilot study by surveying a larger sample of in-serivce teachers teaching grades 5 to 12 in all educational governorates in the Sultanate of Oman as opposed to 165 in-service teachers teaching grades 5 to 10 in one educational governorate. Specifically, the study aimed at developing a profile of educational assessment attitudes, competence, knowledge, and practices for teachers in the Sultanate of Oman. The profile was developed as a function of teachers' gender, nationality, educational governorate, teaching grade, qualification, teaching subject, pre-service assessment training, in-service assessment training, teaching load, and teaching experience. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Participants were 3557 in-service teachers teaching various subject areas in grades 5 to 12 randomly selected from all educational governorates in the Sultanate of Oman. Confirming Alkharusi et al. (2012) study, findings of the current study showed that the teachers tended to have a positive attitude towards educational assessment. Despite their perception as being competent in educational assessment, they demonstrated a low level of the educational assessment knowledge. Further, the teachers indicated using different classroom assessments mainly for grading and increasing students' desire for learning. Teaching load and teaching experience explained some of the differences in the teachers' educational assessment profile. Also, the educational assessment profile varied as a function of the selected demographic and background variables. The findings pointed to a conclusion that professional educational assessment programs for teachers should be continued and tailored to the needs and nature of the teachers' classroom realities. Future research is needed to judge the validity of the teachers' self-report surveys concerning educational assessment.


Attachment retained implant overdentures are functionally superior to conventional dentures and are effective and cost saving alternatives to fixed implant dental prostheses. A wide variety of commercially available systems are used to connect implants to overdenture. Attachments for both maxillary and mandibular overdentures provide an acceptable implant prognosis, predictable retention while simplifying implant treatment protocols, making implant dentistry available for a larger segment of the population. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 15-11-2017 Date of acceptance: 25-11-2017 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A Pauson−Khand type conversion of enynes to bicyclic cyclopentenones employing the commercially available precatalyst titanocene dicarbonyl is described. This methodology shows excellent functional group tolerance for a group 4 metallocene-catalyzed process. The scope and limitations of this cyclization with respect to 1,6-, 1,7- and 1,8-enynes with a variety of terminal alkyne substituents, chiral enynes, and enynes containing substituted olefins are described in detail. A mechanism involving carbonylation of an intermediate titanacyclopentene has been proposed.


Best practice reference models like COBIT, ITIL, and CMMI offer methodical support for the various tasks of IT management and IT governance. Observations reveal that the ways of using these models as well as the motivations and further aspects of their application differ significantly. Rather the models are used in individual ways due to individual interpretations. From an academic point of view we can state, that how these models are actually used as well as the motivations using them is not well understood. We develop a framework in order to structure different dimensions and modes of reference model application in practice. The development is based on expert interviews and a literature review. Hence we use design oriented and qualitative research methods to develop an artifact, a 'framework of reference model application'. This framework development is the first step in a larger research program which combines different methods of research. The first goal is to deepen insight and improve understanding. In future research, the framework will be used to survey and analyze reference model application. The authors assume that "typical" application patterns exist beyond individual dimensions of application. The framework developed provides an opportunity of a systematically collection of data thereon. Furthermore, the so far limited knowledge of reference model application complicates their implementation as well as their use. Thus, detailed knowledge of different application patterns is required for effective support of enterprises using reference models. We assume that the deeper understanding of different patterns will support method development for implementation and use.


The laser flash method is commonly adopted to measure the thermal diffusivity of solid material since its advantages, such as a wide measuring range of thermal diffusivity, a small amount of samples, a high measuring temperature, and so on. However, the sample holders used by this method are limited and costly, which seriously affects the convenience and economy of this method. So, in order to develop and design more kinds of sample holders, it is necessary to study the effects of sample holder characteristics on measuring results. A transient flow and heat transfer calculation model was developed to analyse effects of pulse energy, pulse time, laser beam area, protective gas flow and sample holder materials on the thermal diffusivity measurement. It is found that the temperature increase of the sample upper surface ΔT obviously increases with pulse energy, pulse time and laser beam area increasing, but the half heating up time t50 slightly decreases with theses parameters increasing. ΔT and t50 are independent to the volume flow rate of protective gas. The heat transfer process and mechanism between sample and holders with various materials were analysed. The heat loss of samples depends on the heat conduction and radiation between sample and holder, the heat convection and radiation from sample to protective gas. The thermal conductivity, specific heat and emissivity of holder materials can affect the heat conduction and radiation between sample and holder slightly. So the ΔT and t50 are nearly independent to the holder material properties. Based on these conclusions, a new SUS310 holder was made, and the thermal diffusivity of a sample was experimentally measured using the new holder. As a result, the measuring error is less than ±3%.


In the present study the effect of pulsation was investigated on the heat transfer in a helical tube. The flow is laminar, Newtonian, unsteady and three dimensional. The governing equation is solved in the commercial software Fluent 6.3 and the results are discussed by temperature, and pressure contours and Nusselt number. The effect of amplitude and frequency of pulsation, tube pitch and tube helix ratio were investigated on the Nusselt number. The results show that as the pulsation amplitude increases, the amplitude of Nusselt curves experience a significant augmentation. The increase of frequency yields the increase of average Nusselt number. The heat transfer rate increase as the ratio of helix to the tube diameter decreases. The pitch of helical tube has no significant effect on the heat transfer.


Personality variables have always predicted important behaviors and outcomes in industrial, work, and organizational psychology. In this commentary, we first review empirically supported structural models of personality that show the following: (a) Personality traits are hierarchically organized, (b) the Big Five are not orthogonal, (c) abnormal personality measures assess the same continuum of traits as normal adult personality measures, and (d) there are compound personality traits that are especially useful in the prediction of organizational behaviors. Second, we provide a brief overview of meta-analyses of compound personality variables. The highest operational validities of single scales (.40s) are associated with personality measures assessing broad, compound personality characteristics, such as integrity, violence potential, customer service orientation, and managerial potential, that incorporate aspects from multiple dimensions of the Big Five. Third, we also review meta-analytic evidence that has linked personality attributes to other important organizational attitudes and behaviors, such as job satisfaction, motivation, and leadership, with multiple correlations for the Big Five in the .40 to .50 range. Fourth, we discuss the important role that meta-analysis has had in establishing the predictive and explanatory value of personality variables. We conclude with some caveats and directions for future research.


One of the factors that limits scientists from fully adopting e-Science technologies and infrastructure to advance their work is the technical knowledge needed to specify and execute scientific workflows. In this paper we introduce WDO-It!, a scientist-centered tool that facilitates the scientist's task of encoding discipline knowledge in the form of workflow-driven ontologies (WDOs) and presenting process knowledge in the form of model-based workflows (MBWs). The goal of WDO-It! is to facilitate the adoption of eScience technologies and infrastructures by allowing scientist to encode their discipline knowledge and process knowledge with minimal assistance from technologists. MBWs have demonstrated potential to facilitate knowledge understanding and transfer of key scientific processes for a wide range of people, including students. An experimental version of WDO-It! has been developed as a proof of concept and scientists are using the tool to develop experimental WDOs and MBWs for several scientific disciplines.


Multimedia streaming technologies based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) are very popular and used by many content providers such as Netflix, Hulu, and Vudu. Recently, ISO/IEC MPEG has ratified Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) which extends the traditional HTTP streaming with an adaptive component addressing the issue of varying bandwidth conditions that users are facing in networks based on the Internet Protocol (IP). Additionally, industry has already deployed several solutions based on such an approach which simplifies large scale deployment because the whole streaming logic is located at the client. However, these features may introduce drawbacks when multiple clients compete for a network bottleneck due to the fact that the clients are not aware of the network infrastructure such as proxies or other clients. This paper identifies these negative effects and the evaluation thereof using MPEG-DASH and Microsoft Smooth Streaming. Furthermore, we propose a novel adaptation algorithm introducing the concept of fairness regarding a cluster of clients. In anticipation of the results we can conclude that we achieve more efficient bottleneck bandwidth utilization and less quality switches.


Control and audit of information systems are becoming increasingly important due to the competitive impact of information technology (IT). In fact, information systems are critical for the general functioning of our society and information is confirmed as the business organization's most valuable asset. Another important aspect to be taken into account is the amount of IT resources expended by business organization departments. Business units have difficulties with appropriate management of information. Nowadays they do not lack it, but quite opposite, the information overload seems to create the challenge of information logistics. Therefore, it is assumed to support the information governance and organizational decision making. aBStract


This book follows Italy's military history from the late Renaissance through the present day, arguing that its leaders have consistently looked back to the power of Imperial Rome as they sought to bolster Italy's status and influence in the world. As early as the late 15th century, Italian city-states played important roles in European conflicts. After unification in 1861, the military would become the nation's unifying force, the melting pot of the state. Italy's industrial and then colonial expansion brought it into the wars of the 20th century. The rise of fascist movement was the disastrous consequence of Italy's desire for colonial and military power, a history that the nation still confronts as it seeks to play a role in world politics. Wealthy, urban Italy has always had great political, cultural, and strategic importance for Europe. The leaders of its independent city-states intervened militarily in struggles among the European powers to its north and west but also against the expanding Muslim empires to its south and east. Italian culture supported military innovation, developing (for instance) new fortifications and naval organizations. After centuries of division, which limited Italy's power against the larger, unified European nations, the military played an important role in the nationalist unification of the entire country. Rapid industrialization followed, and along with it Italy's forays into overseas colonialism. Italy became a major power, but its turn to militant fascism during its expansionist era continues to haunt its state and military.


Begun in 1262 AD , Masnavi-ye Ma 'navi, or 'spiritual couplets', is thought to be the longest single-authored 'mystical' poem ever written. As the spiritual masterpiece of the Persian Sufi tradition, it teaches how to progress to the ultimate goal of the Sufi path - union with God. Jalaloddin Rumi was a poet and a mystic, but he was first a teacher; in these verses he draws the reader into the complexities of human love and separation and explains the path to divine love through the elimination of self-regard and worldly desires. Drawing on diverse sources from bawdy tales and fables to stories of the prophet Mohammed, these verses are brief in expression yet copious in meaning.


Monitoring yeast cell viability and concentration is important in brewing, baking and biofuel production. However, existing methods of measuring viability and concentration are relatively bulky, tedious and expensive. Here we demonstrate a compact and cost-effective automatic yeast analysis platform (AYAP), which can rapidly measure cell concentration and viability. AYAP is based on digital in-line holography and on-chip microscopy and rapidly images a large field-of-view of 22.5 mm2. This lens-free microscope weighs 70 g and utilizes a partially-coherent illumination source and an opto-electronic image sensor chip. A touch-screen user interface based on a tablet-PC is developed to reconstruct the holographic shadows captured by the image sensor chip and use a support vector machine (SVM) model to automatically classify live and dead cells in a yeast sample stained with methylene blue. In order to quantify its accuracy, we varied the viability and concentration of the cells and compared AYAP's performance with a fluorescence exclusion staining based gold-standard using regression analysis. The results agree very well with this gold-standard method and no significant difference was observed between the two methods within a concentration range of 1.4 × 105 to 1.4 × 106 cells per mL, providing a dynamic range suitable for various applications. This lensfree computational imaging technology that is coupled with machine learning algorithms would be useful for cost-effective and rapid quantification of cell viability and density even in field and resource-poor settings.


Descending for a moment from the rarefied atmosphere of our panel's discussion of the United States Supreme Court, I would like to offer several perspectives on the role of precedent from my vantage point as a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court for the past nine years. What may render this perspective of some interest in the present venue is that a majority of this court, four of its seven justices, are self-described "Federalists" and are committed to the judicial values that are often identified with the Federalist Society--in particular, a commitment to giving faithful meaning to the words of the law and to operating within the restraints of a constitution in which the separation of powers is fundamental. Moreover, ours is a court on which fine jurisprudential matters, such as the existence of an "absurd results" rule, the significance of legislative acquiescence as an interpretative tool, the virtues of the "last antecedent" rule, and uses and abuses of legislative history are routinely, and I believe thoughtfully, addressed at our conferences and in our opinions. What in my experience most differentiates the Michigan Supreme Court from other state courts, including those routinely described as "conservative," "judicially restrained," or "strict constructionist," has been the court's treatment of precedent. Although respectful of precedent, as any judicial body must be, in the interests of stability and continuity of the law, the court has also been straightforward in its insistence that regard for precedent must be balanced with a commitment to interpreting the words of the law in accordance with their meaning. (1) That is, what most distinguishes the Michigan Supreme Court from other even conservative state courts of last resort has been its unwillingness to institutionalize the precedents of earlier justices who, like Justice William Douglas on the United States Supreme Court, expressed their preference "to make, rather than to follow precedent." (2) We have resisted becoming a participant in such a ratcheting process, by which periods of punctuated equilibrium periodically occur in which the law lurches in the direction favored by Justice Douglas and his philosophical allies, during which new precedents arise bearing little more than a random relationship to the written law, only to be followed by periods of conservative judicial rule in which these new precedents are affirmed in the interests of stare decisis and become a permanent fixture of the law. Instead, the Michigan Supreme Court has set as its priority the proper exercise of the "judicial power," to read the law evenhandedly and give it meaning by assessing its words, its grammar and syntax, its context, and its legislative purpose. The court's dominant premise has been on "getting the law right"--moving toward the best and most faithful interpretations of the law--rather than in reflexively acquiescing in prior case law that essentially reflected little more than the personal preferences of predecessor justices. The perspective of the court in addressing questions of constitutional, statutory, and contractual interpretation has been that, in exercising the "judicial power" of Michigan, it is our primary responsibility to say what the law "is," not what it "ought" to be. This responsibility derives from Marbury v. Madison, (3) from the Preambles to the United States and Michigan Constitutions, which direct us that it is "this" Constitution to which "we the people" have assented, from our "oath of office" in support of "this" Constitution, and from the inferences drawn from Article V, the amending provision of the Constitution. This primary responsibility also derives from our sense of constitutionalism--that to exceed this limited authority is necessarily to trespass upon the authority of the executive and legislative branches of government. Moreover, there is no alternative rule of interpretation, of giving meaning to the law, that both precedes the decision and better communicates that the decision is something more than a function of a judge's own personal predilections. …


Experimenting with minor delinquency and rule-breaking is common in adolescence to the extent that it has been considered by some to be typical or even adaptive adolescent behaviour. While much research has been dedicated to understanding why experimenting with delinquency is so prevalent during adolescence, this dissertation argues that in order to better understand the nature of adolescent delinquency, we need to know more about adolescents who do not engage in any delinquency or rule-breaking whatsoever (i.e., delinquency abstainers). Indeed, the results of this dissertation suggest that most adolescents do engage in at least one act of delinquency or rule-breaking (between 75 – 90%). Furthermore, 28% of young people engaged in minor deviancy when given a 5-minute window of opportunity to do so. However, despite its prevalence, findings from this dissertation suggest that minor delinquency may not be an adaptive response to the challenges of adolescence. First, we found that minor delinquency and rule-breaking are related to problems with identity formation, a key developmental task during adolescence. Second, we found that delinquency abstainers scored highly on the positive personal characteristics of conscientiousness, conformity, and honesty. And while some abstainers do appear to be more socially anxious than other adolescents and social anxiety was related to less time spent with peers, non-clinical levels of social anxiety seem to be more protective than problematic. Because, and third, during adolescence, most abstainers report having a best friend, spending time with their (less delinquent) peers, and having good quality relationships with their parents. In this dissertation, we also found that even a brief exposure to a previously unknown deviant peer can increase the amount of cheating behaviour. Therefore, our results suggest that deviant peer influence can play a role in own delinquency and rule-breaking, even if best friends are not likely to be delinquent. More research needs to be conducted to understand how these positive personal characteristics reported by abstaining adolescents may help them to avoid delinquent influence during a life-stage in which at least some exposure to delinquency and rule-breaking can be expected. However, fifth and importantly, not all abstainers reported positive personal characteristics. We also identified a smaller subgroup of maladaptive abstainers that had poorer primary school achievement and were unpopular in childhood. Following up these two subgroups of abstainers showed that the adaptive abstainers, with positive personal characteristics, were the most successful group in later adulthood. These adolescents reported the highest amount of satisfactory achievement of what we consider to be the main developmental tasks in life (i.e., satisfactory employment, accommodation, intimate relationships, and mental health) compared to all other adolescents. In conclusion, while this dissertation provides new evidence for a subgroup of adolescents that is not delinquent but likely has psychosocial problems that negatively affect their long-term well-being, the results also suggest that, for most adolescents, despite its high prevalence, experimenting with minor delinquency is not likely to be more adaptive than delinquency abstention.


This paper presents the use of an effluent derived from two-stage anaerobic digestion of two-phase olive mill solid waste (OMSW) as a substrate for the production of Chlorella zofingiensis in batch mode. Chlorella zofingiensis when grown autotrophycally can accumulate significant quantities of valuable carotenoids which are used as an additive in fish and poultry farming, as colorants in foods and in health care products. It was found that two-phase OMSW previously treated by two-stage anaerobic digestion and further sterilized may be used as a culture medium for the microalgae Chlorella zofingiensis. Typical growth curves were obtained using both the above-mentioned anaerobic effluent and a synthetic medium. Total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removals of 37% and 45% respectively were achieved in batch experiments after 11 days' operation time. The specific growth rate was lower when the treated effluent was used as the feed substrate (0.02 h-1) in comparison to the synthetic medium (0.03 h-1). The specific growth rates of the exponential phases were determined by using a first-order kinetic model applied to chlorophyll a (Ca) and total chlorophyll (TC) concentrations, as indirect measurements of the microalgae concentration. It was concluded that the effluent from two-stage anaerobic digestion of two-phase OMSW constituted an appropriate culture medium for the growth of Chlorella zofingiensis, providing a simple technology feasible for producing a very useful product for animal feeding.


The post-mortem state of a compromised system may not contain enough evidence regarding what transpired during an attack to explain the attacker's modus operandi. Current systems that reconstruct sequences of events gather potential evidence at runtime by monitoring events and objects at the system call level. The reconstruction process starts with a detection point, such as a file with suspicious contents, and establishes a dependency chain with all the processes and files that could be related to the compromise, building a path back to the origin of the attack. However, system call support is lost after a file is memory-mapped because all read and write operations on the file in memory thereafter are through memory pointers. We present a runtime monitor to log read and write operations in memory-mapped files. The basic concept of our approach is to insert a page fault monitor in the kernel's memory management subsystem. This monitor guarantees the correct ordering of the logs that represent memory access events when two or more processes operate on a file in memory. Our monitor increases accuracy to current reconstruction systems by reducing search time, search space, and false dependencies.


A new SRAM circuit technique based on dynamically adjusting the wordline voltage swing is proposed in this paper for reducing the leakage power consumption and enhancing the data stability in static memory banks. With the proposed technique, the wordline voltage swing is reduced in order to suppress the voltage disturbance at the data storage nodes during a read operation. The stability of a minimum sized standard six transistors (6T) SRAM cell is thereby significantly enhanced. Alternatively, during a write operation the wordline signal has a full voltage swing in order to achieve write-ability with a high write margin. With the proposed circuit technique, the static noise margin is enhanced by up to 122% as compared to the conventional full-voltage-swing 6T SRAM circuits with minimum sized transistors. Furthermore, the leakage power consumption with the proposed technique is reduced by 51% as compared to the conventional full-voltage-swing circuits sized for data stability in a 65nm CMOS technology.