Who is afraid of the WTO, the World Trade Organization? The list is long and varied. Many workers--and the unions that represent them--claim that WTO agreements increase import competition and threaten their jobs. Environmentalists accuse the WTO of encouraging pollution and preventing governments from defending national environmental standards. Human rights advocates block efforts to impose trade sanctions in defense of human rights. While anti-capitalist protesters regard the WTO as a tool of big business--particularly of multinational corporations--other critics charge the WTO with damaging the interests of developing countries by imposing free-market trade policies on them before they are ready. In sum, the WTO is considered exploitative, undemocratic, unbalanced, corrupt, or illegitimate. This book is in response to the many misinformed, often exaggerated arguments leveled against the WTO. Kent Jones explains in persuasive and engaging detail the compelling reasons for the WTO's existence and why it is a force for progress toward economic and non-economic goals worldwide. Although protests against globalization and the WTO have raised public awareness of the world trading system, they have not, Jones demonstrates, raised public understanding. Clarifying the often-muddled terms of the debate, Jones debunks some of the most outrageous allegations against the WTO and argues that global standards for environmental protection and human rights belong in separate agreements, not the WTO. Developing countries need more trade, not less, and even more importantly, they need a system of rules that gives them--the smaller, weaker, and more vulnerable players in world trade--the best possible chance of pursuing their trade interests among the larger and more powerful developed countries. Timely and important, Who's Afraid of the WTO? provides an overview of the most important aspects of the world trading system and the WTO's role in it while tackling the most popular anti-WTO arguments. While Jones does not dismiss the threat that recent political protests pose for the world trading system, he reveals the fallacies in their arguments and presents a strong case in favor of the WTO. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/9780195166163/toc.html


BACKGROUND
Older persons are the fastest growing segment of the population living in the Western hemisphere. Longevity comes at a price, including a higher rate of morbidity, functional and mental disability and the eventual loss of independence. Physical inactivity further aggravates the decline in physiological function along the aging process. Therefore, the promotion of regular exercise may be seen as one of the main non-pharmacological approaches that should be recommended to older adults.

METHODS
We performed a comprehensive review on the interaction between exercise training and improved physical fitness in the elderly. Specifically, 175 papers describing the overall benefits of exercise training on the cardiovascular, neuromuscular and brain function of older adults were included. The effectiveness of training for improving quality of life at an older age was also reviewed.

RESULTS
Exercise training can partially reverse the age-related physiological decline and enhance work capacity in the elderly. Numerous studies have shown that maintaining a minimum quantity and quality of physical exercise decreases the risk of cardiovascular mortality, sarcopenia, prevents the onset of osteopenia and even exerts a prophylactic role against neurodegeneration. The systemic physiologic effects are profound and may be directly linked to a favorable feedforward cycle whereby improved physiologic function begets improved physical function and so on.

CONCLUSION
We conclude that structured training programs should be designed to improve the physiological function in this population. Finally, the benefits of exercise training vary as a function of training volume and this relationship is independent of age and sex.


As there are great absorption and scattering in water, it is difficult to extract the target region from an underwater image effectively. This paper investigated a Bayesian decision-making framework for segmenting underwater images, with the improved OTSU algorithm combined with the simulated annealing algorithm calculating the optimum threshold. The improved OTSU algorithm took fully into account grey values of pixels and their neighbours to have a better ability of filtering noise. The simulated annealing algorithm was contributed to reduce the amount of calculation and improved the efficiency of calculating the optimum threshold. Blob operators were used to exclude fake target regions based on Bayesian decision-making. The mathematical morphology operators were used to eliminate burrs and disturbances. The result of processing the images grabbed at pool experiments proved the better capability of segmentation with the proposed method.


Scientific Collaborator in Climate Scenarios 80%-100%, Zurich, temporary The position is limited to 2 years, and the main working place is at MeteoSwiss headquarters (Zurich Airport, easily accessible by public transport). The work is embedded in the Center for Climate Systems Modeling. You will work in close contact with collaborators at ETH Zurich and with practitioners from the Swiss building sector. The position will remain open until filled. More information : (...)


Eveline Houtman University of Toronto The new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education brings a new emphasis into our instruction on student metacognition and dispositions. In this article I introduce self-regulated learning, a related concept from the field of education; it encompasses metacognition, emotions, motivations and behaviors. I discuss how this concept could be important and helpful in implementing the related elements in the ACRL Framework and draw on the concept to devise strategies and activities that promote students' self-awareness and learning skills. This focus promotes a more learner-centered approach to teaching. The article also adds to the conversation on developing a selfreflective pedagogical praxis in information literacy instruction.


The type and quality of feedback provided during instruction influences motor skill learning. Little is known of the effects of feedback on discrete dynamic movements that are integral to strength-training programs. The effects of three types of feedback on a weight-lifting skill were evaluated. Participants' performance was predicted to benefit more from a combination of visual and verbal feedback cues than from visual feedback alone or verbal feedback alone. A mixed-model experimental design was employed to compare the effects of the three feedback conditions over 6 training sessions. Analyses of movement form indicated that with training participants in both the video+cues group and the verbal-only group improved while individuals in the video-only group did not. These results have implications for instructors seeking efficient methods of improving athletic performance.


Over the past decade, undergraduate Computer Science (CS) programs across the nation have experienced an explosive growth in enrollment as computational skills have proven increasingly important across many domains and in the workforce at large. Motivated by this unprecedented student demand, the CS program at the University of California, Berkeley has tripled the size of its graduating class in five years. The first two introductory courses for majors, each taught by one faculty instructor and several hundred student teachers, combine to serve nearly 2,900 students per term. This report presents three strategies that have enabled the effective teaching, delivery, and management of large-scale CS courses: (1) the development of autograder infrastructure and online platforms to provide instant feedback with minimal instructor intervention and deliver the course at scale; (2) the expansion of academic and social student support networks resulting from changes in teaching assistant responsibilities and the development of several near-peer mentoring communities; and (3) the expansion of undergraduate teacher preparation programs to meet the increased demand for qualified student teachers. These interventions have helped both introductory and advanced courses address capacity challenges and expand enrollments while receiving among the highest student evaluations of teaching in department history. Implications for inclusivity and diversity are discussed.


PURPOSE
Despite the growing research interest in vascular adaptations to exercise training over the last few decades, it remains unclear whether microvascular function in healthy subjects can be further improved by regular training. Herein, we sought to systematically review the literature and determine whether microvascular dilator function is greater in athletes compared to age-matched healthy untrained subjects.

METHODS
We conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Web of Science since their inceptions until October 2013 for articles evaluating indices of primarily microvascular endothelium-dependent or endothelium-independent dilation (MVEDD and MVEID, respectively) in athletes. A meta-analysis was performed to determine the standardized mean difference (SMD) in MVEDD and MVEID between athletes and age-matched controls. Subgroup analyses were used to study potential moderating factors.

RESULTS
Thirty-six studies were selected after systematic review, comprising 521 athletes (506 endurance-trained and 15 endurance- and strength-trained) and 496 age-matched control subjects. After data pooling, athletes presented higher MVEDD (31 studies; SMD, 0.47; P < 0.00001) and MVEID (14 studies; SMD, 0.51; P < 0.00001) compared with the control subjects. Similar results were observed in young (younger than 40 yr) and master (older than 55 yr) athletes when analyzed separately.

CONCLUSION
Both young and master athletes present enhanced microvascular function compared with age-matched untrained but otherwise healthy subjects. These data provide evidence of a positive association between exercise training and microvascular function in the absence of known underlying cardiovascular disease.


The aim of this study is to employ a biological aerated filter (BAF) in the treatment of reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate received from reuse of treatment plant wastewater. Furthermore, the influence of chemical oxygen demand (COD)/N ratio on the nutrient removal was analyzed to find the detailed removal pathways of nutrients. The result was found to be high efficiency for biochemical oxygen demand removal (95.86%) compared to that of COD (88.95%) and suspended solids (81.12%). The total phosphorus (TP) (67.66%) and PO4-P (61.42%) removal efficiencies were relatively lower than that of total nitrogen (TN) (81.42%) and NO3-N (76.70%). This may be due to the fact that the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)/TP ratio (8.01) was relatively low. Decreasing the COD/N ratio decreased TP and PO4-P removal efficiency. However, the removal efficiency of TN and NH4-N was increased from 47.60 to 64.54 and 54.17 to 73.72% with decreasing of COD/N ratio from 8.19 to 7.64, respectively. In addition, the denitrification rate and nitrification rate were increased from 211.8 to 301.0 mg/L d and 87.7 to 109.4 mg/L d, respectively, when COD/N ratios changed from 8.19 to 7.64. Therefore, in order to reuse the RO concentrate, the BAF process could effectively treat the RO concentrate.


Cite this article: Gupta BM, Ahmed KK. Moringa oleifera: A Bibliometric Analysis of International Publications during 1935-2019. Pharmacog Rev. 2020;14(28):82-90. ABSTRACT The paper examines quantitative and qualitative aspects of research on Moringa oleifera, based on global publications output (3187 publications), as covered in Scopus database during 1935-2019. The publications on Moringa oleifera registered annual average growth of 16.18% and cumulative growth of 3594.0% and averaged to 17.69 citations per paper. Bulk of global publications output (76.72%) and the global citations (68.06%) in the field emanates from top 10 countries. The paper further provides an insight into qualitative performance of research on Moringa oleifera in terms of relative citation index, citations per paper, highly cited papers, besides analyzing the top 25 global organizations and authors in the field, the distribution of publications by broad subjects, the identification of the most significance keywords, the most productive journals and the analysis of higher-cited papers in the field. The study found that Universidade Estadual de Maringa, Brazil (72 papers), National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt (66 papers) and University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan (65 papers) were the most productive organizations and University of Agriculture, Faisalaba, Pakistan (38.35 and 2.17), University of Karachi, Pakistan (35.23 and 1.99) and Mahidol University, Thailand (27.35 and 1.55) were the most significant organizations in terms of citation per paper and relative citation index. Similarly, R. Bergamasco. (65 papers), P.M.G. Paiva. (36 papers) and L.C.B.B Coelho (34 papers) were the most productive authors and F. Anwar. (124.21 and 7.02), J. Beltrán-Heredia (36.07 and 2.04) and J. Sánchez-Martín (34.69 and 1.96) were the leading authors in terms of citation per paper and relative citation index. South African Journal of Botany (62 papers), Journal of Ethnopharmacology (61 papers) and Desalination and Water Treatment (44 papers) were the leading journals contributing to the field.


This thesis focuses on the use of magnetic levitation technology as a means to provide launch capability to future space bound vehicles. Building on past work and after an extensive literature review, we aim to show how magnetic levitation and propulsion can be an economically and socially justifiable means to launch cargo and passengers for the purpose of reconnaissance, space tourism, and deep space exploration.

Based on the validity of the technology, we look at the economic and political viability of establishing a magnetic levitation and propulsion launch system and compare it with current launch systems. With the recession caused due to the market crash in 2008-09 and the national space budget constrictions that followed, it is easy to establish that any project of this scale would not only require international collaboration and cooperation, but also an international framework developed from the ground up to engage private enterprise and promote public-private partnerships.

As the United States of America accounts for over 75% of global space spending, we focus on the impact of its internal policy and legislation such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the United States munitions list that have a direct impact on collaborative and cooperative efforts made by public and private entities within the United States. The thesis goes on to describe how a new global space policy for civil and commercial projects could potentially pave the way for new avenues of collaboration and inclusion of actors who for the time being are unable to participate in the space arena either due to lack of available funds or technology inputs.

This thesis and the publications based upon it, aims to define a new era in international cooperation, with a magnetic levitation and propulsion project being a technological test -bed that would help validate the cooperation scenario.


Johannes Coccejus and the Principles of Exegesis of Isaiah by Campegius Vitringa and the Cape A survey is given of the work of Vitringa (1658—1722) and Coccejus (1603—1668) especially in the Old Testament field. Both scholars laid emphasis on the necessity of grammatical study and to try and understand what is written. Coccejus works out a system of interpretation of Scripture by accepting that God's revelation was given in different covenants of a progressive nature. It is important to consider history in each progressive step. In this he is followed by Vitringa.


In this paper, we tackle the open problem of proposing a leakage-resilience encryption model that can capture leakage from both the secret key owner and the encryptor, in the auxiliary input model. Existing models usually do not allow adversaries to query more leakage information after seeing the challenge ciphertext of the security games. On one hand, side-channel attacks on the random factor (selected by the encryptor) are already shown to be feasible. Leakage from the encryptor should not be overlooked. On the other hand, the technical challenge for allowing queries from the adversary after he sees the ciphertext is to avoid a trivial attack to the system since he can then embed the decryption function as the leakage function (note that we consider the auxiliary input model in which the leakage is modeled as computationally hard-to-invert functions). We solve this problem by defining the post-challenge auxiliary input model in which the family of leakage functions must be defined before the adversary is given the public key. Thus the adversary cannot embed the decryption function as a leakage function after seeing the challenge ciphertext while is allowed to make challenge-dependent queries. This model is able to capture a wider class of real-world side-channel attacks. To realize our model, we propose a generic transformation from the auxiliary input model to our new post-challenge auxiliary input model for both public key encryption (PKE) and identitybased encryption (IBE). Furthermore, we extend Canetti et al.'s technique, that converts CPAsecure IBE to CCA-secure PKE, into the leakage-resilient setting. More precisely, we construct a CCA-secure PKE in the post-challenge auxiliary input model, by using strong one-time signatures and strong extractor with hard-to-invert auxiliary inputs, together with a CPA-secure IBE in the auxiliary input model. Moreover, we extend our results to signatures, to obtain fully leakage-resilient signatures with auxiliary inputs using standard signatures and strong extractor with hard-to-invert auxiliary inputs. It is more efficient than the existing fully leakage-resilient signature schemes.


Automatic text summarization is generally considered as a challenging task in the NLP community. One of the challenges is the publicly available and large dataset that is relatively rare and difficult to construct. The problem is even worse for low-resource languages such as Indonesian. In this paper, we present INDOSUM, a new benchmark dataset for Indonesian text summarization. The dataset consists of news articles and manually constructed summaries. Notably, the dataset is almost 200x larger than the previous Indonesian summarization dataset of the same domain. We evaluated various extractive summarization approaches and obtained encouraging results which demonstrate the usefulness of the dataset and provide baselines for future research. The code and the dataset are available online under permissive licenses.


The tale of cytokines and the beta-cell is a long story, starting with in vitro discovery in 1984, evolving via descriptive and phenomenological studies to detailed mapping of the signalling pathways, gene- and protein expression patterns, molecular and biochemical effector mechanisms to in vivo studies in spontaneously diabetic and transgenic animal models. Only very recently have steps been taken to translate the accumulating compelling preclinical data into clinical trials. The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of early and recent key observations from our own groups as well as other laboratories that serve to illuminate the road from concept to clinical translation.


Considering the motivation, opportunity, ability (MOA) model and the self-efficacy (S-E) component of the social cognitive theory (SCT), this article aims to examine through a series of four research questions whether such models can help to determine how students engage with their program of study. Furthermore, the article will determine factors that influence student engagement in event management (EM) degree programs and seek to understand how EM students engage with their reading and interact within classroom-based environments. In doing so, the article will contribute to the existing debates on inclusive teaching and learning in higher education (HE), and provide a link towards creating more professional and employable graduates. Self-efficacy refers to beliefs in one's capabilities to learn or perform at designated levels. Much research has demonstrated that self-efficacy influences academic motivation, learning, and achievement; particularly within science, technology, English, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. With this in mind, this research aims to investigate the frame conditions mentioned that surround both self and group efficacy and seeks to reveal whether the above models can be used to better understand the engagement and subsequent performance of undergraduate EM students. This analysis will enable academics to better understand the role of MOA and S-E, how these develop over a program of study, and thereby provide a boost to student self-efficacy. By doing so, the best possible educational experience and results in higher education can be achieved.


The single‐photon quantum filtering problems have been investigated recently with applications in quantum computing. In practice, the detector responds with a quantum efficiency of less than unity since there exists some mode mismatch between the detector and the system and the single‐photon signal may be corrupted by quantum white noise. Consequently, quantum filters based on multiple measurements are designed in this paper to improve estimation performance. More specifically, the filtering equations for a 2‐level quantum system driven by a single‐photon input state and under multiple measurements are presented in this paper. Four scenarios, ie, (1) 2 diffusive measurements with Q‐P quadrature form, (2) 2 diffusive measurements with Q‐Q quadrature form, (3) diffusive plus Poissonian measurements, and (4) 2 Poissonian measurements, are considered. It is natural to compare the filtering results, ie, measuring a single channel or both channels, which one is better? By the simulation where we use a single photon to excite an atom, it seems that multiple measurements enable us to excite the atom with higher probability than only measuring a single channel. In addition, a measurement back‐action phenomenon is revealed by the simulation results.


This paper uniquely focuses on rapidly-developing domestic value chains in Africa's emerging bioeconomy. It uses a comparative case study approach of a public and private cassava outgrower scheme in Ghana to investigate which contract farming arrangements are sustainable for both farmers and agribusiness firms. A complementary combination of qualitative and quantitative methods is employed to assess the sustainability of these institutional arrangements. The results indicate that ad hoc or opportunistic investments that only address smallholders' marketing challenges are not sufficient to ensure mutually beneficial and sustainable schemes. The results suggest that firms' capacity and commitment to design contracts with embedded support services for outgrowers is essential to smallholder participation and the long-term viability of these arrangements. Public-private partnerships in outgrower schemes can present a viable option that harnesses the strengths of both sectors and overcomes their institutional weaknesses.


Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-5 (IGFBP-5) has been shown to bind to fibroblast extracellular matrix (ECM). Extracellular matrix binding of IGFBP-5 leads to a decrease in its affinity for insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), which allows IGF-I to better equilibrate with IGF receptors. When the amount of IGFBP-5 that is bound to ECM is increased by exogenous addition, IGF-I's effect on fibroblast growth is enhanced. In this study we identified the specific basic residues in IGFBP-5 that mediate its binding to porcine smooth-muscle cell (pSMC) ECM. An IGFBP-5 mutant containing alterations of basic residues at positions 211, 214, 217, and 218 had the greatest reduction in ECM binding, although three other mutants, R214A, R207A/K211N, and K202A/R206N/R207A, also had major decreases. In contrast, three other mutants, R201A/K202N/R206N/R208A, and K217N/R218A and K211N, had only minimal reductions in ECM binding. This suggested that residues R207 and R214 were the most important for binding, whereas alterations in K211 and R218, which align near them, had minimal effects. To determine the effect of a reduction in ECM binding on the cellular replication response to IGF-I, pSMCs were transfected with the mutant cDNAs that encoded the forms of IGFBPs with the greatest changes in ECM binding. The ECM content of IGFBP-5 from cultures expressing the K211N, R214A, R217A/R218A, and K202A/R206N/R207A mutants was reduced by 79.6 and 71.7%, respectively, compared with cells expressing the wild-type protein. In contrast, abundance of the R201A/K202N/R206N/R208A mutant was reduced by only 14%. Cells expressing the two mutants with reduced ECM binding had decreased DNA synthesis responses to IGF-I, but the cells expressing the R201A/K202N/R206N/R208A mutant responded well to IGF-I. The findings suggest that specific basic amino acids at positions 207 and 214 mediate the binding of IGFBP-5 to pSMC/ECM. Smooth-muscle cells that constitutively express the mutants that bind weakly to ECM are less responsive to IGF-I, suggesting that ECM binding of IGFBP-5 is an important variable that determines cellular responsiveness.


Economists have traditionally used static poverty measures to estimate well-being, target aid, and determine progress towards development goals. This is useful as a starting point, and gives a good snapshot of the household's situation at one point in time, but in the end, what we care about is the standard of living of the household over its entire lifetime. A household's well being depends not just on its expenditures at one point in time, but on its average expenditures over its lifetime. Because of this, researchers now want to measure chronic poverty, in addition to static poverty. Because this is a newer concept, the literature has not yet converged on one measure which is acceptable to all, as, arguably, the literature on static poverty has. We argue that using a measure of chronic poverty based on the average level of expenditures still misses an important portion of economic well-being. For Voices of the Poor, the 2000/01 World Development Report, the World Bank interviewed tens of thousands of poor people in countries across the globe. These poor people stated that part of what makes poverty so unbearable is the instability and unpredictability they face, leading to a feeling of vulnerability. Thus, we propose a measure of chronic poverty, which we call vulnerability, which incorporates the risk households face as well as their average level of expenditures. The majority of vulnerability measures proposed thus far are static measures. (Elbers & Gunning (2006) is one exception.) Thus they are backwardlooking rather than forward-looking. In this paper we begin with a static measure of vulnerability and analyze the South African KIDS data using this measure. Then, we propose four different ways in which one could make the measure more forward looking. Lastly, we choose one of these methods and apply it to the South African data.


Mean-variance portfolio selection and mean-variance hedging are mainstream research topics in mathematical finance, which can be subsumed within the framework of a general problem of quadratic risk minimization. We study this quadratic risk minimization problem in the setting of an Itô process market model with random market parameters. Our particular contribution is to introduce a combination of constraints on both the trading strategy (i.e. portfolio) and the wealth process, which includes in particular portfolio insurance in the form of a stipulated lower-bound on the wealth process over the entire trading interval (this is also called an American wealth constraint). The result is a stochastic control problem which includes the combination of a portfolio constraint (i.e. a "control constraint") and a wealth constraint over the trading interval (i.e. a "state constraint"). The goal of the present thesis is to address this stochastic control problem. Even in the setting of deterministic (or non-random) optimal control it is well known that a combination of control constraints and state constraints over the control interval presents some particular challenges, and of course these challenges increase considerably for stochastic control problems with the same combination of constraints. In this thesis we shall take advantage of the convexity of the problem and apply a powerful variational method of Rockafellar which has proved to be very effective in the deterministic optimal control of partial differential equations, convex optimization in continuum mechanics, and stochastic convex programming over finite dimensional spaces. The variational approach of Rockafellar enables one to systematically construct an appropriate vector space of dual variables, together with a dual problem on this space of dual variables, and gives conditions which ensure that there is zero duality gap (i.e. the values of the primal and dual problems are equal) as well as existence of a solution of the dual problem (i.e. existence of Lagrange multipliers for the constraints in the problem). The key to applying the Rockafellar variational approach to the stochastic control problem outlined above turns out to be a mild feasibility condition on the wealth process which is very reminiscent of "Slater-type" conditions familiar from convex optimization. With this condition in place we are able to construct an associated dual problem, and establish existence of a solution of the dual problem, together with Kuhn-Tucker optimality conditions which relate putative solutions of the primal and dual problems. We then use these optimality conditions to construct an optimal portfolio in terms of the solution of the dual problem.


In an effort to explain the markedly high HIV infection rate for African American women, several theories have been posited. One theory suggests that expectations about relationships (i.e., relationship schemas and scripts) may be useful in explaining this phenomenon. Qualitative research has identified several relevant relationship scripts for this population that seem to be associated with safer sex behaviors; however, limited quantitative research has been conducted to confirm and validate these findings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a psychometrically sound self-report measure of relationship schemas in African American women (N=441). After initial item generation, pilot testing using a focus group, and item elimination, the data were factor-analyzed to validate a Relationship Schema Scale for African American women, RSS-AA. The RSS-AA was also found to be meaningfully related to self-esteem and depression, factors that are independently related to safer sex behavior.


The powerful gods of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, the more mystical deities of Buddhist and Hindu India, and the stern spirits of the African and American continents all reflect very different civilizations, yet they also demonstrate the unity of mankind in its fundamental need for explanations of the unknown. Arthur Cotterell sets out clearly the chief myths of the world and explains why different mythologies arose in different lands. * Comprehensive coverage in seven main sections of West Asia, South and Central Asia, East Asia, Europe, America, Africa, and Oceania * Clear and informative section introductions highlight the history and lifestyle of ancient peoples and the landscape in which they lived * Illustrated with black-and-white photographs and maps of each key area 'An excellent reference book, as well as a good book for dipping into at leisure.' Greek Review


Hierarchical Hidden Markov Models (HHMMs) are sophisticated stochastic models that enable us to capture a hierarchical context characterization of sequence data. However, existing HHMM parameter estimation methods require large computations of time complexity O(TN2D) at least for model inference, where D is the depth of the hierarchy, N is the number of states in each level, and T is the sequence length. In this paper, we propose a new inference method of HHMMs for which the time complexity is O(TND+1). A key idea of our algorithm is application of the forward-backward algorithm to state activation probabilities. The notion of a state activation, which offers a simple formalization of the hierarchical transition behavior of HHMMs, enables us to conduct model inference efficiently. We present some experiments to demonstrate that our proposed method works more efficiently to estimate HHMM parameters than do some existing methods such as the flattening method and Gibbs sampling method.


When underwater vehicles navigate close to the ocean floor, computer vision techniques can be applied to obtain motion estimates. A complete system to create visual mosaics of the seabed is described in this paper. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the constructed mosaic is difficult to evaluate. The use of a laboratory setup to obtain an accurate error measurement is proposed. The system consists on a robot arm carrying a downward looking camera. A pattern formed by a white background and a matrix of black dots uniformly distributed along the surveyed scene is used to find the exact image registration parameters. When the robot executes a trajectory (simulating the motion of a submersible), an image sequence is acquired by the camera. The estimated motion computed from the encoders of the robot is refined by detecting, to subpixel accuracy, the black dots of the image sequence, and computing the 2D projective transform which relates two consecutive images. The pattern is then substituted by a poster of the sea floor and the trajectory is executed again, acquiring the image sequence used to test the accuracy of the mosaicking system.


During the design process of compressor blades predominantly deterministic models are used for High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) strength investigations. The scatter of HCF that results e.g. through abrasion of the production machines [1] or inhomogeneities of the blade material, is accounted by safety factors and conservative assumptions. A more realistic approach to consider these uncertainties is the application of probabilistic methods. Therefore, further information about HCF and eigenfrequency scatter of the really produced blades can be used for a robust design during the design process. Within a measurement campaign 400 blades of a Rolls-Royce High Pressure Compressor were randomly selected and scanned using an automated process that applies the optical measurement technique of strip projection. The measurement data of the airfoil were subdivided into constant spanwise profile slices. Geometric airfoil parameters were determined on each of the profile slices [2]. Due to the large number of scanned blades each geometric airfoil parameter can be described as a distribution function with corresponding parameters. These distribution functions are the input parameters for the probabilistic investigation — the Monte-Carlo-Simulation (MCS). Within the MCS an automatically transfer process varies at first the profile slices of a CAD-airfoil and in a second step morphs an existent 3D finite element mesh applying the meshmorphing tool of the FE preprocessor Hypermesh. The HCF and eigenfrequency scatter of all blades were calculated with the interpretation of the MCS results and parameters were detected with the largest influence on HCF-strength and eigenfrequencies. A detailed interpretation of the HCF-strength at one example shows the power of the probabilistic investigation. The interpretation helps the engineer to understand the entire system and to design a robust blade.Copyright © 2009 by Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd. & Co. KG


Background Sansevieria roxburghiana Schult. & Schult. F. (Family: Asparagaceae) rhizome has been claimed to possess antidiabetic activity in the ethno-medicinal literature in India. Therefore, present experiments were carried out to explore the protective role of edible (aqueous) extract of S. roxburghiana rhizome (SR) against experimentally induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its associated cardiomyopathy in Wistar rats. Methods SR was chemically characterized by GC-MS analysis. Antidiabetic activity of SR (50 and 100 mg/kg, orally) was measured in high fat diets (ad libitum) + low-single dose of streptozotocin (35 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) induced type 2 diabetic (T2D) rat. Fasting blood glucose level was measured at specific intermissions. Serum biochemical and inflammatory markers were estimated after sacrificing the animals. Besides, myocardial redox status, expressions of signal proteins (NF-κB and PKCs), histological and ultrastructural studies of heart were performed in the controls and SR treated T2D rats. Results Phytochemical screening of the crude extract revealed the presence of phenolic compounds, sugar alcohols, sterols, amino acids, saturated fatty acids within SR. T2D rats exhibited significantly (p < 0.01) higher fasting blood glucose level with respect to control. Alteration in serum lipid profile (p < 0.01) and increased levels of lactate dehydrogenase (p < 0.01) and creatine kinase (p < 0.01) in the sera revealed the occurrence of hyperlipidemia and cell destruction in T2D rats. T2DM caused significant (p < 0.05–0.01) alteration in the biochemical markers in the sera. T2DM altered the redox status (p < 0.05–0.01), decreased (p < 0.01) the intracellular NAD and ATP concentrations in the myocardial tissues of experimental rats. While investigating the molecular mechanism, activation PKC isoforms was observed in the selected tissues. T2D rats also exhibited an up-regulation in nuclear NF-κB (p65) in the cardiac tissues. So, oral administration of SR (50 and 500 mg/kg) could reduce hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, membrane disintegration, oxidative stress, vascular inflammation and prevented the activation of oxidative stress induced signaling cascades leading to cell death. Histological and ultra-structural studies of cardiac tissues supported the protective characteristics of SR. Conclusions From the present findings it can be concluded that, SR could offer protection against T2DM and its associated cardio-toxicity via multiple mechanisms viz. hypoglycemic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions.


Among the different base excision repair pathways known, the long patch base excision repair of apurinic/apyrimidinic sites is an important mechanism that requires proliferating cell nuclear antigen. We have reconstituted this pathway using purified human proteins. Our data indicated that efficient repair is dependent on six components including AP endonuclease, replication factor C, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, DNA polymerases δ or ε, flap endonuclease 1, and DNA ligase I. Fine mapping of the nucleotide replacement events showed that repair patches extended up to a maximum of 10 nucleotides 3′ to the lesion. However, almost 70% of the repair synthesis was confined to 2–4-nucleotide patches and DNA ligase I appeared to be responsible for limiting the repair patch length. Moreover, both proliferating cell nuclear antigen and flap endonuclease 1 are required for the production and ligation of long patch repair intermediates suggesting an important role of this complex in both excision and resynthesis steps.


Title of Document: THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY AND INTERGROUP CONTACT ON ADOLESCENTS' EVALUATIONS OF ARABJEWISH PEER RELATIONSHIPS Alaina Faye Brenick, Ph.D., 2009 Directed By: Professor Melanie Killen, Human Development Recent research has documented the negative intergroup attitudes between Jewish and Arab youth and adults in the Middle East (Bar-Tal & Teichman, 2005; Brenick et al., 2007; Cole et al., 2003), yet little is known about how these negative intergroup biases manifest in the same cultural communities removed from the daily stress and tension of an intractable conflict, and living in the U.S. Moreover, while negative intergroup tensions between Jews and Arabs and, cultural stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination towards Muslim and Arab groups have increased in the U.S. (Alliance of Civilizations, 2006; Sheridan, 2006), they may still benefit from increased opportunities to engage in intergroup contact, which has been shown to reduce intergroup prejudice (see Pettigrew & Tropp, 2005). However, these attitudes have yet to receive much empirical scrutiny in the developmental literature. The present study investigated age related changes in the influence of intergroup contact and cultural identification on evaluations of Arab-Jewish intergroup friendships. The focus of this study was on how Jewish-American, Arab-American, and unaffiliated (e.g., non-Jewish, non-Arab) American adolescents evaluate exclusion and inclusion in peer situations between Jewish and Arab youth in the peer, home, and community contexts. This study surveyed 953 ninth and twelfth graders (36 Arab participants, 306 Jewish participants, and 591 unaffiliated participants (259 in the Jewish comparison group and 332 in the Arab comparison group). Overall, all participants were primarily rejecting of intergroup exclusion, more so when the exclusion was based on cultural group membership than when no reason for the exclusion was specified. Further, males were more accepting of the intergroup exclusion and more accepting of including an ingroup member as compared to females. Context effects emerged revealing that intergroup exclusion was considered most acceptable in the community context and the least acceptable in the friendship context. The interactive influence of intergroup contact and cultural identification demonstrated that high levels of intergroup contact and high levels of identity commitment predicted less accepting ratings of intergroup exclusion, whereas high levels of intergroup contact and high levels of identity exploration, led to more accepting ratings of intergroup exclusion. These interactions varied by cultural group. THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY AND INTERGROUP CONTACT ON ADOLESCENTS' EVALUATIONS OF ARAB-JEWISH PEER RELATIONSHIPS


BACKGROUND
The results of cross-sectional studies indicate that micronutrient deficiencies are common in patients with tuberculosis. No published data exist on the effect of vitamin A and zinc supplementation on antituberculosis treatment.

OBJECTIVE
Our goal was to investigate whether vitamin A and zinc supplementation increases the efficacy of antituberculosis treatment with respect to clinical response and nutritional status.

DESIGN
In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, patients with newly diagnosed tuberculosis were divided into 2 groups. One group (n = 40) received 1500 retinol equivalents (5000 IU) vitamin A (as retinyl acetate) and 15 mg Zn (as zinc sulfate) daily for 6 mo (micronutrient group). The second group (n = 40) received a placebo. Both groups received the same antituberculosis treatment recommended by the World Health Organization. Clinical examinations, assessments of micronutrient status, and anthropometric measurements were carried out before and after 2 and 6 mo of antituberculosis treatment.

RESULTS
At baseline, 64% of patients had a body mass index (in kg/m(2)) < 18.5, 32% had plasma retinol concentrations < 0.70 micromol/L, and 30% had plasma zinc concentrations < 10.7 micromol/L. After antituberculosis treatment, plasma zinc concentrations were not significantly different between groups. Plasma retinol concentrations were significantly higher in the micronutrient group than in the placebo group after 6 mo (P < 0.05). Sputum conversion (P < 0.05) and resolution of X-ray lesion area (P < 0.01) occurred earlier in the micronutrient group.

CONCLUSION
Vitamin A and zinc supplementation improves the effect of tuberculosis medication after 2 mo of antituberculosis treatment and results in earlier sputum smear conversion.


Abstract Dobbin, N, Lamb, KL, and Twist, C. Selected physiological, perceptual, and physical performance changes during two bouts of prolonged high-intensity intermittent running separated by 72 hours. J Strength Cond Res 31(12): 3474–3481, 2017—This study investigated the effects of performing a second 90-minute intermittent running protocol 72 hours after an initial trial on selected physiological, perceptual, and sprint running measures. Eight subelite soccer players provided measures of isokinetic muscle function, countermovement jump (CMJ), 10-m sprinting, and muscle soreness before, and at 0, 24, 48, and 72 hours after a 90-minute intermittent high-intensity running bout (IHIR-1). A second 90-minute IHIR bout (IHIR-2) was performed 72 hours after the first. Heart rates, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), blood lactate concentration [Bla], and 10-m sprint times were recorded periodically during both IHIR. Analysis of effects revealed that in the 72-hour period after IHIR-1, there were most likely increases in muscle soreness and likely to very likely deteriorations in CMJ, 10-m sprint, and isokinetic muscle function. During IHIR-2, heart rates (possibly to likely) and [Bla] (possibly to very likely) were lower than IHIR-1, whereas RPE remained unchanged. Sprint times during IHIR-2 were also likely to very likely higher than in IHIR-1. It was evident that these team sport players exposed to repeat bouts of prolonged high-intensity running within 72 hours downregulated their sprint performances in the second bout despite no change in perceived effort. These findings have implications for managing training and match loads during periods of intense scheduling.


In this paper, a novel method for image encryption based on a Generalized Chinese Remainder Theorem (GCRT) is presented. The proposed method is based on the work developed by Jagannathan et al. Some modifications are proposed in order to increase the method's encryption quality and its robustness against attacks. Specifically, the inclusion of a vector to reduce the segment pixel space and a Generalized Chinese Remainder Theorem (GCRT) algorithm are proposed. These vectors are generated randomly which allows its use as private keys joining these unrestricted key values generated by the GCRT algorithm.  An analysis to study a system where the RGB channels are independently encrypted is performed. Some experiments were carried out to validate the proposed model obtaining very promising results.


The fisherman caught a quantum fish. "Fisherman, please let me go", begged the fish, "and I will grant you three wishes". The fisherman agreed. The fish gave the fisherman a quantum computer, three quantum signing tokens and his classical public key. The fish explained: "to sign your three wishes, use the tokenized signature scheme on this quantum computer, then show your valid signature to the king, who owes me a favor".
The fisherman used one of the signing tokens to sign the document "give me a castle!" and rushed to the palace. The king executed the classical verification algorithm using the fish's public key, and since it was valid, the king complied.
The fisherman's wife wanted to sign ten wishes using their two remaining signing tokens. The fisherman did not want to cheat, and secretly sailed to meet the fish. "Fish, my wife wants to sign ten more wishes". But the fish was not worried: "I have learned quantum cryptography following the previous story (The Fisherman and His Wife by the brothers Grimm). The quantum tokens are consumed during the signing. Your polynomial wife cannot even sign four wishes using the three signing tokens I gave you".
"How does it work?" wondered the fisherman. "Have you heard of quantum money? These are quantum states which can be easily verified but are hard to copy. This tokenized quantum signature scheme extends Aaronson and Christiano's quantum money scheme, which is why the signing tokens cannot be copied".
"Does your scheme have additional fancy properties?" the fisherman asked. "Yes, the scheme has other security guarantees: revocability, testability and everlasting security. Furthermore, if you're at sea and your quantum phone has only classical reception, you can use this scheme to transfer the value of the quantum money to shore", said the fish, and swam away.


This study aimed to investigate the effect of canopy cover of individual woody patches on soil seed bank characteristics viz. density, richness and the similarity between soil seed bank and above ground vegetation. The study was conducted in Mazayjan, Zarindasht, south of Fars province in 2013. Therefore, 40 4m 2 plots beneath and outside of Ziziphus spina-christi (dominant woody species) were established. Soil samples were collected within two depths (0-5 and 5-10 cm) in each plots by augur to test the germination of the seeds buried in the soil in the greenhouse. Above ground vegetation was also estimated at the growth season. Paired t-test was used to compared soil seed bank characteristics between the two depths, and between inside and outside of the Z. spina-christi canopy cover. The results showed that seed bank density, richness and its similarity with above ground vegetation were significantly higher inside the patches than bare soil. Seed density and richness were significantly higher in the upper than lower layer of soil. As a result, in the dry region, the cover of woody plants is important in conservation of soil seed bank particular for herb species e.g. Asphodelus albus , Antigonon sp., Stipa capensis , Plantago stokessi and Geranium sp.


SIMPLIFIED BOW MODEL FOR A STRIKING SHIP IN COLLISION by Suryanarayana Vakkalanka The serious consequences of ship collisions necessitate the development of regulations and requirements for the subdivision and structural design of ships to reduce damage and environmental pollution, and improve safety. Differences in striking ship bow stiffness, draft, bow height and shape have an important influence on the allocation of absorbed energy between striking and struck ships. The energy absorbed by the striking ship may be significant. The assumption of a "rigid" striking bow may no longer hold good and typical simplifying assumptions may not be sufficient. The bow collision process is simulated by developing a striking ship bow model that uses Pedersen's super-element approach and the explicit non-linear FE code LSDYNA. This model is applied to a series of collision scenarios. Results are compared with conventional FE model results, closed-form calculations, DAMAGE, DTU, ALPS/SCOL and SIMCOL. The results demonstrate that the universal assumption of a rigid striking ship bow is not valid. Bow deformation should be included in future versions of SIMCOL. A simplified bow model is proposed which approximates the results predicted by the three collision models (closed-form, conventional and intersection elements) to a reasonable degree of accuracy. This simplified bow model can be used in further calculations and damage predictions. A single stiffness can be defined for all striking ships in collision, irrespective of size.


This book provides an overview of recent, predominantly European, thinking on the issues and challenges for innovation management in the modern, knowledge-based economy. The topic is explored in four directions: the growing importance of services and of innovation in services; the growing interest in competence-based approaches of strategy and innovation; the role of technology in innovation processes; and the increasing importance of knowledge management in innovation management. Each direction is briefly introduced by the editor. The contributions come from universities and management schools in Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, The Netherlands and the United States.


In years gone by, the diagnostic process was an intellectual exercise in history taking and examination, then choosing the appropriate investigation. In the Medieval Ages, when I started practising, we performed X-rays and a few blood tests, and had a centrifuge and microscope in the consulting rooms. There were no ultrasounds or scans, and I was mostly confident of my assessments based on the history and examination.


Problem – Studying the relation of the two aspects of Managerial and Entrepreneurial competencies on the individual level. Combining theoretically the competencies of managers with the competencies of entrepreneurs into the concept of entrepreneurial competencies needed by managers in their work. Purpose – We test which of the competencies of entrepreneurs are and can be utilized by professionally employed managers, by answering our three research questions: 1. How do the researchers in the academic literature discuss and compare the managerial and entrepreneurial competencies – which are these competencies and when are they needed? 2. What are the insights from the JIBS Students, and business consultants and developers as to whether entrepreneurs require and possess certain distinguishing competencies – which are these competencies and when are they needed? 3. How does the analysis from the triangulation finalize the concept of entrepreneurial competencies needed by managers in their work? Theoretical Framework – We build from the literature our two proposed theoretical models with 13 groups of competencies, giving an answer to our first research question: Model 1: Core managerial competencies needed for routine tasks vs. additional competencies needed for non-routine/strategic tasks Model 2: Core entrepreneurial competencies needed already from the venture's starting stage vs. the additional competencies more necessary for running the established company. The models are subsequently compared, and the preliminary concept of entrepreneurial competencies needed by managers in their work derived from them. Methodology – The thesis utilizes in parallel both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques. In answering our second research question, we used 1) a questionnaire to collect quantitative data for the population in interest, and 2) semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data. The interview and questionnaire findings were then analyzed together. Therefore, in answering our third research question, we adopted a triangulation approach. Empirical Findings and Conclusions – The interviews and questionnaire findings confirm that overall the respondents perceive entrepreneurs to possess all the 13 groups of competencies. The findings are almost completely in line with our proposed distribution of the 13 competency groups within Model 2. The combined analysis shows that both the interviewees and questionnaire respondents do support the concept of entrepreneurial competencies needed by managers in their work. Thus, it was concluded that our initially created concept was validated by the primary research. The concept ultimately includes the following nine groups of competencies: Proactiveness, Change, Risk Taking, Seeing Opportunities, Soft, Networking, Decision Making, Creativity, and Innovativeness. Implications and Future Research – Several groups of potentially interested actors could benefit in various ways from certain aspects of our concept – students, managers, entrepreneurs (current and aspiring). Moreover, the academics can also use the concept for future research in other contexts, in order to enrich the concept and make it even more beneficial for all these interested actors.


Abstract Scolicosporium minkeviciusii, was newly collected in Italy, and subjected to morpho-molecular analyses. Morphological characters clearly indicate that this species is a coelomycete. Combined maximum-likelihood and maximum-parsimony analyses of LSU and SSU gene sequence data of S. minkeviciusii grouped it in Phaeosphaeriaceae with Phaeosphaeria nodorum, P. oryzcie and Stagonospora foliicola, although the type species of Scolicosporium, S. macrosporium, which has not been sequenced, is considered to belong in the family Pleomassariaceae. In this study, we designate an epitype for Scolicosporium minkeviciusii. The placement of S. macrosporium and Scolicosporium sensu stricto remains uncertain and further morpho-molecular studies are necessary to confirm the taxonomic placement of this type species and to delimit this genus.


Abstract A principal source of interest in behavioral economics has been its advertised contributions to policies aimed at 'nudging' people away from allegedly natural but self-defeating behavior toward patterns of response thought more likely to improve their welfare. This has occasioned controversies among economists and philosophers around the normative limits of paternalism, especially by technical policy advisors. One recent suggestion has been that 'boosting,' in which interventions aim to enhance people's general cognitive skills and representational repertoires instead of manipulating their choice environments behind their backs, avoids the main normative challenges. A limitation in most of this literature is that it has focused on relatively sweeping policy recommendations and consequently on strong polar alternatives of general paternalism and strict laissez faire. We review a real instance, drawn from a consulting project we conducted for an investment bank, of a proposed intervention that is more typical of the kind that economists are more often actually called upon to offer. In this example, the sophistication of current tools for preference attribution, combined with philosophical externalism about the semantics of preferences that makes it less plausible to attribute their literal self-conscious representation to people as propositional attitude content becomes more tightly refined, blocks applicability of the distinction between nudging and boosting. This seems to call for irreducible, context-specific ethical judgment in assessing the appropriateness of the forms of paternalism that economists must actually wrestle with in going about their everyday business.


The inscription of polarization gratings in amorphous As2S3 thin films is shown to be accompanied by a scalar modulation of the same period. An exception is the (s + p) recording configuration where a pure polarization grating may be obtained even for relatively high photoexposures.


Recent years have seen remarkable successes in rigorous engineering: using mathematically rigorous semantic models (not just idealised calculi) of real-world processors, programming languages, protocols, and security mechanisms, for testing, proof, analysis, and design. Building these models is challenging, requiring experimentation, dialogue with vendors or standards bodies, and validation; their scale adds engineering issues akin to those of programming to the task of writing clear and usable mathematics. But language and tool support for specification is lacking. Proof assistants can be used but bring their own difficulties, and a model produced in one, perhaps requiring many person-years effort and maintained over an extended period, cannot be used by those familiar with another. We introduce Lem, a language for engineering reusable large-scale semantic models. The Lem design takes inspiration both from functional programming languages and from proof assistants, and Lem definitions are translatable into OCaml for testing, Coq, HOL4, and Isabelle/HOL for proof, and LaTeX and HTML for presentation. This requires a delicate balance of expressiveness, careful library design, and implementation of transformations - akin to compilation, but subject to the constraint of producing usable and human-readable code for each target. Lem's effectiveness is demonstrated by its use in practice.


The Santa Isabel Project (Nicaragua) is investigating domestic remains from a supposed Postclassic/Ometepe-period regional center on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. However, a suite of twelve C-14 dates from the site suggests that the occupation predates the currently accepted time range for the Ometepe period by several hundred years, calling into question the periodization and associated cultural processes. This paper reports and contextualizes those dates.


Symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs) dominate the high-end server market and are currently the primary candidate for constructing large scale multiprocessor systems. Yet, the design of eecient parallel algorithms for this platform currently poses several challenges. In this paper , we present a computational model for designing eecient algorithms for symmetric multiprocessors. We then use this model to create ee-cient solutions to two widely diierent types of problems-linked list pre-x computations and generalized sorting. Our novel algorithm for preex computations builds upon the sparse ruling set approach of Reid-Miller and Blelloch. Besides being somewhat simpler and requiring nearly half the number of memory accesses, we can bound our complexity with high probability instead of merely on average. Our algorithm for generalized sorting is a modiication of our algorithm for sorting by regular sampling on distributed memory architectures. The algorithm is a stable sort which appears to be asymptotically faster than any of the published algorithms for SMPs. Both of our algorithms were implemented in C using POSIX threads and run on four symmetric multiprocessors-the IBM SP-2 (High Node), the HP-Convex Exemplar (S-Class), the DEC AlphaServer, and the Silicon Graphics Power Challenge. We ran our code for each algorithm using a variety of benchmarks which we identiied to examine the dependence of our algorithm on memory access patterns. In spite of the fact that the processors must compete for access to main memory, both algorithms still yielded scalable performance up to 16 processors, which was the largest platform available to us. For some problems, our preex computation algorithm actually matched or exceeded the performance of the standard sequential solution using only a single thread. Similarly, our generalized sorting algorithm always beat the performance of sequential merge sort by at least an order of magnitude, even with a single thread.


Discrete element method (DEM) modeling, is becoming widely used for understanding the micro-mechanical behavior of granular materials at the particle level. This dissertation presents important considerations regarding the experimental boundary conditions and idealized granular materials used in DEM validations. A common issue in DEM validation studies for direct shear and direct simple shear is selecting top and bottom cap boundary conditions that allow for shear transmission while also being efficiently modeled in the DEM simulations. While the traditional grid boundary types used in the laboratory can be replicated in the numerical models, researchers have also used fixed-particle boundaries, sawtooth boundaries, and high friction boundaries with no projections. To examine any effects from these boundaries at the macro-scale, direct shear tests on physical specimens of dense and loose sand, and dense and loose steel ball bearings were conducted. The influence of friction on the boundary was further examined at the particle scale using two simple DEM simulations replicating the physical steel ball bearing specimens with a high and a low friction coefficient on the top and bottom boundaries. The DEM stress-displacement responses are compared to the laboratory results for tests using the boundary plates with no projections and then the particle-scale results of the validated simulations are analyzed. In addition to boundary effects, the idealized materials used in validation studies were also examined. Commonly used steel ball bearings or glass ballotini restrict the direct comparison of DEM simulations to spherical particles, thus limiting understanding of real materials with more complex shapes. This study shows that additive manufacturing (AM) can be used to create analogue soils with a variety of shapes which can be used for DEM validations. The AM particles were characterized to ensure their suitability for laboratory testing and to determine the material properties to input into future DEM models. The second part of the dissertation describes the determination of material properties and surface characteristics of two AM materials. Because a Hertzian contact law is typically used in DEM models, a comparison of the materials' response under uniaxial compression and the theoretical response for Hertzian behavior was carried out.


This paper provides a model of indirect lobbying where special interest groups try to influence policy outcomes by targeting voters. Specifically, competing lobbies engage in influence activities to affect the information that a (possibly biased) media outlet collects on the public value of approving/rejecting a policy proposal. The media outlet acts as a filter between lobbies and voters. It has to decide what to communicate to voters based on the information it collects and its own idiosyncratic bias. The results show that the higher the idiosyncratic bias of the media outlet, the lower the lobbies' incentives to spend resources on influence activities. Conversely, the lower the cost of engaging in influence activities for lobbies, the higher the probability of news-slanting by the media outlet. Moreover, the more voters care about receiving accurate information, the higher the expected distortion in the policy outcome. From a public policy perspective, increasing the cost of lobbies' influence activities would decrease the distortion in the policy outcome and increase voters' welfare. Finally, asymmetries between lobbies lead to different probabilities of news-slanting by different media outlet types.


A monitor is a runtime verification tool that solves the following problem: Given a stream of time-stamped events and a policy formulated in a specification language, decide whether the policy is satisfied at every point in the stream. We verify the correctness of an executable monitor for specifications given as formulas in metric first-order dynamic logic (MFODL), which combines the features of metric first-order temporal logic (MFOTL) [2] and metric dynamic logic [3]. Thus, MFODL supports real-time constraints, first-order parameters, and regular expressions. Additionally, the monitor supports aggregation operations such as count and sum. This formalization, which is described in a forthcoming paper at IJCAR 2020 [1], significantly extends previous work on a verified monitor for MFOTL [4]. Apart from the addition of regular expressions and aggregations, we implemented multi-way joins and a specialized sliding window algorithm to further optimize the monitor.


The industry trend toward system-on-chip solutions continues to push the limits of mixed-signal design. Increasing the integration of analog and digital circuitry causes a struggle to maintain analog signal integrity. Digital switching of noise coupling through the common substrate is both difficult to measure and difficult to control. This paper introduces and applies a practical first-order simulation methodology for performing a substrate noise analysis in a low resistive bulk process. Although this subject has been analyzed in numerous journal articles, few have applied their analysis method to a whole-chip design. This SPICE model will allow mixed-signal designers to determine design variables that will minimize substrate noise. This work elaborates on key aspects of substrate noise that available references do not handle adequately, including: sources of substrate noise, determination of power-rail and bulk-resonance frequencies, and alternatives for bulk biasing. The new model is used to analyze Motorola's 56824,the latest low-cost 16-bit digital signal processor design. The analysis includes the determination of: 1) the on-chip bus and I/O bus noise coupled to the substrate; 2) the dominant resonant frequencies in the chip; and 3) the best bulk-biasing alternative.


Background In preterm hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, fetal growth restriction (FGR) occurs frequently. The timing and severity of FGR impacts childhood growth and is associated with metabolic changes later in life. Aim To examine growth and the impact of FGR in early childhood. Design Prospective cohort study. Participants Children (n=135) born to mothers who were admitted before 34 weeks' gestational age with a severe hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. Outcome measures Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), head circumference (HC), SD scores (SDS) at 3 months, and 1 and 4.5 years of age, and complete catch-up growth (height SDS−target height SDS >−1.6). Results Growth scores were lower compared to Dutch growth curves, except for BMI at 3 months and girls' HC at all ages. Mean height SDS increased over time from −1.4 to −0.5 at 4.5 years, with 94% having complete catch-up growth. Mean BMI SDS decreased from −0.2 at 3 months to −1.0 at 1 year, and was −0.8 at age 4.5. Mean HC SDS was stable over time and −0.3 at 4.5 years. The customised birth weight ratio, as a measure of the degree of FGR, was related to all growth SDS at 4.5 years, while gestational age at birth was not. Conclusions Although the majority of children born growth restricted had catch-up growth of height within the normal range at 4.5 years of age, they were smaller, but especially lighter compared to Dutch growth charts. The degree of FGR was associated with all growth outcomes.


The molten salt Flinabe (LiF-NaF-BeF 2 ) is proposed as a liquid wall material for future fusion reactors because of its many attractive aspects. High-temperature Flinabe gases (plasmas) appear in the inertial fusion energy chamber over a wide range of temperatures and pressures because of the absorption of X-rays and debris, emitted from the target microexplosion, within a very thin surface layer of the Flinabe liquid wall. The deposited energy heats the surface edge of the Flinabe wall to very high temperatures where vaporization, dissociation, and ionization take place and high-temperature plasma is generated. Equation-of-state (EOS) and ionization equilibrium data of the resulting high-temperature gas are needed to perform gas dynamics calculations and the required assessments of many research and development issues in nuclear fusion. Nevertheless, data for Flinabe EOS or ionization states are missing in the literature, and there is an immediate need to model and estimate these properties. In this paper, a self-consistent model for the ionization equilibrium and EOS of weakly nonideal high-temperature Flinabe gas is presented and used to compute the ionization equilibrium data and EOS of such an important material. Nonideality effects have been taken into account in terms of depression of the ionization potentials, coulombic correction to plasma kinetic pressure, and truncated partition functions. A reduced formulation and efficient algorithm to solve the set of nonlinear Saha equations subjected to the constraints of electroneutrality and conservation of nuclei have been used to generate ionization equilibrium and Flinabe EOS over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. A criterion for the validity of the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) is applied to the results showing the regions of pressure-temperature phase-space over which the LTE assumption can be justified and accepted. Estimates of high-temperature Flinabe EOS and ionization states are presented and discussed.


Abstract. The manual work of map generalisation is known to be a complex and time consuming task. With the development of technology and societies, the demands for more flexible map products with higher quality are growing. The Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authority Lantmateriet has manual production lines for databases in five different scales, 1 : 10 000 (SE10), 1 : 50 000 (SE50), 1 : 100 000 (SE100), 1 : 250 000 (SE250) and 1 : 1 million (SE1M). To streamline this work, Lantmateriet started a project to automatically generalise geographic information. Planned timespan for the project is 2015–2022. Below the project background together with the methods for the automatic generalisation are described. The paper is completed with a description of results and conclusions.


This article describes two longitudinal language corpora of child German and child Spanish. One of the corpora, PAIDUS, is comprised of the utterances produced by monolingual German and monolingual Spanish children, between the ages of 1 and ca. 3 years. The German children grew up in Hamburg (Germany) and the Spanish children in Madrid (Spain). The other corpus, PhonBLA, is comprised of utterances produced by German-Spanish bilingual children, between the ages of 1 and ca. 7 years, growing up in Hamburg (Germany). The bilingual children have a Spanish-speaking mother and a German-speaking father. All corpora were collected, transcribed and analyzed within various research projects supported by the DFG, between 1986 and 2011. Several analyses of the data have been published in international journals and books (see References).


Developments, industrialization and mass production have triggered rapid increase of raw material consumption and great volumes of industrial waste, while industrial waste management infrastructure has not been developed with the same pace. One mean in striving for industrial waste management is the management of process materials. This paper introduces the performance measure sorting rate for each segment of waste material, along with a method for sorting analysis to help improving overall material efficiency and industrial waste management. The results revealed that more than 50% of combustible bins' content could be separately segregated as plastic, wood, paper, cardboard and bio-degradable.


Dynamic specification mining observes program executions to infer models of normal program behavior. What makes us believe that we have seen sufficiently many executions? The TAUTOKO ("Tautoko" is the Mãori word for "enhance, enrich.") typestate miner generates test cases that cover previously unobserved behavior, systematically extending the execution space, and enriching the specification. To our knowledge, this is the first combination of systematic test case generation and typestate mining-a combination with clear benefits: On a sample of 800 defects seeded into six Java subjects, a static typestate verifier fed with enriched models would report significantly more true positives and significantly fewer false positives than the initial models.


Polycyclic hydrocarbons (PHs) with a singlet biradical ground state have recently attracted extensive interest in physical organic chemistry and materials science. Replacing the carbon radical center in the open-shell PHs with a more electronegative nitrogen atom is expected to result in the more stable aminyl radical. In this work, two kinetically blocked stable/persistent derivatives (1 and 2) of indolo[2,3-b]carbazole, an isoelectronic structure of the known indeno[2,1-b]fluorene, were synthesized and showed different ground states. Based on variable-temperature NMR/ESR measurements and density functional theory calculations, it was found that the indolo[2,3-b]carbazole derivative 1 is a persistent singlet biradical in the ground state with a moderate biradical character (y0 = 0.269) and a small singlet–triplet energy gap (ΔES–T ≅ −1.78 kcal mol−1), while the more extended dibenzo-indolo[2,3-b]carbazole 2 exhibits a quinoidal closed-shell ground state. The difference can be explained by considering the number of aromatic sextet rings gained from the closed-shell to the open-shell biradical resonance form, that is to say, two for compound 1 and one for compound 2, which determines their different biradical characters. The optical and electronic properties of 2 and the corresponding aromatic precursors were investigated by one-photon absorption, transient absorption and two-photon absorption (TPA) spectroscopies and electrochemistry. Amphoteric redox behaviour, a short excited lifetime and a moderate TPA cross section were observed for 2, which can be correlated to its antiaromaticity and small biradical character. Compound 2 showed high reactivity to protic solvents due to its extremely low-lying LUMO energy level. Unusual oxidative dimerization was also observed for the unblocked dihydro-indolo[2,3-b]carbazole precursors 6 and 11. Our studies shed light on the rational design of persistent aminyl biradicals with tunable properties in the future.


The focus of this paper is on the efficiency of producing and managing religion based knowledge in postsecondary institutions. Panel data is used to estimate a stochastic cost frontier and associated inefficiencies for a panel of 222 U.S. bible colleges, theological seminaries, and other faith based higher education institutions over the 2005-09 academic years. Results indicate that institutions offering undergraduate only education are on average less inefficient than graduate only or combined undergraduate-graduate education institutions. Government provided student loans and private philanthropy are efficiency improving, while institutional debt acts to increase inefficiency. Time varying inefficiencies show efficiency gains over the last two of the four academic years. However, additional observations will be required to determine whether that is a managerial reaction to the global financial crisis and if it is sustainable in future academic years.


In this paper, the physical exergy destruction caused by a shockwave, as an overall measure of the thermo-mechanical dissipation, is compared to the evaluation of mechanical dissipation alone. Travelling and stationary compression shockwaves are considered assuming an inviscid perfect gas with constant specific heats. Although quantities such as the change in exergy are not frame-indifferent, it is shown that mechanical dissipation and exergy destruction are both frame-indifferent. The results of this work reveal that, in many cases, the exergy destruction rate is a small fraction of the mechanical energy dissipation rate typically used to determine losses in gas dynamics. This is particularly true when the initial temperature of the fluid is high relative to the environment temperature. In contrast, the results show that, for very low initial temperatures that are below the environment temperature, the thermo-mechanical dissipation rate can be much greater than mechanical dissipation rate.


The marketplace for SME manufacturing companies operating on a worldwide basis, is becoming more and more uncertain, demanding ever greater rates of change to meet increasing market demands. Additionally, the increasing expectation of stakeholders: demanding better product delivery and newer innovative solutions, enhanced employee satisfaction, higher shareholder value and increased organizational effectiveness. The demands on the management and employees has never been so great, as calls for changes in organizational effectiveness, increased effort, more time to listen to customers and the ever increasing expectation to deliver on promises to stakeholders. The challenge is to change and change quickly, whatever the current organizational position.

The study concludes that merely indentifying key individuals to facilitate and motivate change is not an adequate way forward. There needs to be an initiative, that helps those involved question the very fabric of the organization's structure and processes. The study proposes that a combination of Participatory Action Research (PAR) and the use of co-researchers in both exploring and actioning change (Action Learning) is an innovative step towards managing continuous organizational change.

Participatory Action Research (PAR) together with the creation of co-researchers within the case study, is the fundamental cornerstone of the study's methodology to explore, understand and action changes within the organization. The study will show that PAR and the use of individuals as both co-researchers and change agents, have developed both a positive attitude within the organization to co-operate in the research and encouraged commitment to the process of change and the resultant outcomes over time. Research Problem - The case study is particularly interesting because of the nature of both its internal and external environmental changes in the last ten years. Internally, the organization successfully concluded a Management Buy-Out (MBO), but this was shortly followed by takeover by another corporation, and then as a consequence of this went through several restructuring exercises. Each exercise has resulted in a weakening of its position in the marketplace, lack of any significant product innovation in the last ten years, and a general loss of core competencies.

Initial data analysis shows a commitment by the employees to pull things around. The goal is to action new creative and innovative initiatives within the organization, to create additional radical product developments and to change fundamentally its networking and knowledge transfer capacity. The research study has already identified some of the issues which are barriers to progress. The paper will report actions originating from the collective efforts between researchers, co-researchers and employees to address some of these issues.

The paper will explain why undertaking the learning journey has been the most significant activity undertaken by the employees since the MBO initiative. The commitment shown by the employees and management in opening their minds and challenging their beliefs to the benefits of action research and learning is real.


In this chapter we suggest that a description of the basic nature and extent of revegetation necessary to overcome land degradation in the wheatbelt of Western Australia can be arrived at systematically. In doing so we attempt to focus attention away from a perceived conflict between production and conservation and towards the common ground shared by both i.e., the restoration of basic ecosystem functions. Rather than asking how to protect the existing production system, this approach asks firstly: what form does the vegetative cover of this region need to take to best ensure its long-term health? And secondly: what are the potential economic values of such vegetation that might motivate its establishment? This analysis suggests that in the order of 500 million to one billion trees and shrubs are required over the 15 million hectares of cleared land. It is also suggested that if the revegetation is concentrated into belts and planted with attention to landform and aspect, the production of crops and pastures could be enhanced while Simultaneously providing wildlife habitat and permanent protection against land degradation as well as providing some commercial products from indigenous woody plants. Actual and potential economic and nature conservation values of


Maintaining the secrecy and confidentiality of images is a vibrant area of research, with two different approaches being followed, the first being encrypting the images through encryption algorithms using keys, the other approach involves dividing the image into random shares to maintain the images secrecy. Unfortunately heavy computation cost and key management limit the employment of the first approach and the poor quality of the recovered image from the random shares limit the applications of the second approach. In this paper we propose a novel approach without the use of encryption keys. The approach employs Sieving, Division and Shuffling to generate random shares such that with minimal computation, the original secret image can be recovered from the random shares without any loss


William Kirby and William Spence's Introduction to Entomology is generally recognized as one of the founding texts of entomological science in English. This essay examines the ideological allegiances of the coauthors of the Introduction. In particular, it analyzes the ideological implications of their divergent opinions on animal instinct. Different vocational pursuits shaped each man's natural history. Spence, a political economist, pursued fact-based science that was shorn of references to religion. Kirby, a Tory High Churchman, placed revelation at the very heart of his natural history. His strong commitment to partisan sectarianism cautions against reference to a homogeneous "natural theology" that was an agent of mediation. Fissures in the "common intellectual context" reached beyond the clash between natural theologians and radical anatomists to render the intellectual edifice of natural theology structurally less sound for the future.


Abstract. Important questions concerning the resilience of current water management strategies have been raised by the recent volatility of climatic conditions across large parts of western Europe. The last decade, overall, has been exceptionally warm and there have been very large spatial and temporal variations in rainfall, river flows and aquifer recharge rates. Examination of historical rainfall and runoff records for parts of maritime western Europe confirms that there is no close modern parallel to the conditions experienced recently. Some-but far from complete-consistency with a number of favoured climate change scenarios may be recognised. Analyses of recent trends in lengthy rainfall and runoff series for the UK demonstrate significant regional differences and provide conflicting signals especially in relation to trends in catchment losses. Difficulties in reconciling the results from different areas may reflect both real hydroclimatological differences between catchments and variations in the precision of hydrometric time series-uncertainties in the assessment of areal precipitation in upland areas in particular. The dense monitoring networks at Plynlimon together with a rigorous data quality control programme underpins the value of the hydrometric datasets as important benchmarks against which to assess the significance of the very unusual patterns of rainfall and runoff which have characterised the recent past. This paper places the rainfall, runoff and losses data for Plynlimon in the perspective provided by a number of long hydrometric records for maritime western Europe. The representativeness of the Plynlimon base period is considered with particular reference to both the historical stability which typifies the great majority of European hydrometric time series and the recent extension in the recorded range of accumulated rainfall and runoff totals which has been identified in some regions (e.g. western Scotland and Norway). Particular attention is directed to changes in seasonal rainfall and runoff patterns and the recent increases in evaporative demands. Some of the implications for the overall water balance and for water resource management are considered.


In 1850 the journalist George Augustus Sala appealed to the perceived moral superiority of the English middle classes by satirising American slavery and Southern slave-owners. When Sala first visited America in 1863, as Special Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph during the Civil War, his articles were some of the most pro-slavery, pro-Southern and anti-Union pieces the English public had read. Sala attacked all aspects of Northern life, disputed the North's reasons for war, criticised their treatment of free blacks and maintained that claims of barbarity towards slaves in the South had been grossly exaggerated. Despite his previous pronouncements, Sala returned to America for the Telegraph in 1879 and was greeted favourably wherever he went. He declared that he had been a 'fool' for supporting the wrong side during the Civil War but still maintained that African-Americans had been better off under the slave-system and that they were incapable of practising self-government. He observed that America was now 'a wonderful country and a wonderful people.'Although hitherto neglected in scholarly debates on Anglo-American relations in the nineteenth century, this paper will highlight Sala's importance in this context, not least because of the large readership he commanded. As a journalist for the newspaper with the largest daily circulation in the world, Sala's fluctuating and controversial opinions on America were read by some 250,000 middle class English men and women every day.This essay will also question to what extent Sala's changing perceptions of America were influenced by the contemporary racial discourse of other middle-class commentators like Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens and Richard Burton, and by events like the Governor Eyre Affair. Using recent scholarship in the field of racial theory by critics including Catherine Hall, Robert Young and Tim Barringer, this paper will reassess English middle-class views on race, slavery and America during the second half of the nineteenth century.


The applicability of the mercury intrusion technique to determine the pore size distribution (PSD) of geotextiles was evaluated. The method was found to be simple and rapid, and an ASTM standard for soils and rocks already exists (ASTM Test Method for Determination of the Pore Volume and Pore Volume Distribution of Soil and Rock by Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry [D 4404]). The PSD determined from the mercury intrusion technique on nonwoven geotextiles was compared to that obtained from the Image Analyser, and the results are in good agreement. It was also found that the PSD of compressed fabrics, the case in most field installations, can be obtained by testing the specimen compressed to a known thickness between two perforated plates. Finally, the permeability of the fabric was predicted from PSD data, and the values agreed very well with those obtained experimentally.


A numerical method is derived to take account of full flowwall interaction in la large deformation domain. To this end, a simplified Lagrangian and nonlinear model is derived to describe the wall motion. the flow is described by two dimensional Naiver stokes equation. The projection method is used to solve for the flow and fourth Rung-Kutta method is used to solve wall equation. The formulation of the problem allows full flow and wall interaction via the boundary conditions at the interface flow-wall. Some numerical simulation will be presented with periodic inlet flow. The method is applied to study the dynamics of aneurysms in arteries and veins. The flow inside the aneurysm is examined under the effects of a steady inlet flow as well as a pulsatile inlet flow for different aneurysm sizes. The wall model is analyzed when the wall is subjected to a constant transmural pressure and a quasi uniform inviscid flow. For a steady constant transmural pressure, a formal solution of the non linear integral-partial differential equation governing the wall motion is derived. For a steady and a quasi uniform inviscid flow, a first integral of the wall equation is obtained, then the solution is found to satisfy an integral non linear equation which is solved by numerical iteration


This paper presents a new benchmark of fisher weighted sector PPPs for agriculture, mining and five manufacturing branches in the US, UK, France and the Netherlands around 1910. The PPPs are constructed according to an industry-of-origin approach in order to assess comparative levels of labour productivity at a sector level. The estimates are subsequently used to build up a comparison of total labour productivity and GDP per capita. Our main findings are that the relative levels of labour productivity and per capita GDP in the Western European countries have been overestimated in the literature so far. A backward projection of our productivity estimates into the nineteenth century sheds new light on the timing of the take-over in productivity and income leadership between the Netherlands, UK and US. The US-UK take-over occurred between 1879 and 1899 in terms of GDP per capita, but we show that in terms of aggregate labour productivity the US was already world leader around 1850. The Dutch economy seems to have lost its economic leadership earlier than hitherto has been assumed.


The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the pattern of intra-industry trade (IIT) between Sweden and EU 15 during the time period 1980-2002. Focus is put on the Swedish manu-facturing industry, which has been divided into the forest, metal and machinery industries. With help of the Grubel-Lloyd index, values have been calculated in order to measure the size of IIT with the other Member States and in product groups.Theories about two-way trade argue that countries with similar characteristics have more IIT. The results from the empirical findings show that the Swedish IIT is higher with nearby countries such as Denmark, Finland and Germany. Similar for these countries are the factor endowments, GDP per capita, culture, language, and the closeness to Sweden. The forest industry has more net trade than IIT. In the metal and machinery industries, the IIT is as large as the net trade. Regarding two-way trade within product groups, the analysis proved that products which can be differentiated into more sub-groups have more IIT. A large part of the products have higher net trade than IIT.


Abstract Several research teams have previously traced patterns of emerging conduct problems (CP) from early or middle childhood. The current study expands on this previous literature by using a genetically-informed, experimental, and long-term longitudinal design to examine trajectories of early-emerging conduct problems and early childhood discriminators of such patterns from the toddler period to adolescence. The sample represents a cohort of 731 toddlers and diverse families recruited based on socioeconomic, child, and family risk, varying in urbanicity and assessed on nine occasions between ages 2 and 14. In addition to examining child, family, and community level discriminators of patterns of emerging conduct problems, we were able to account for genetic susceptibility using polygenic scores and the study's experimental design to determine whether random assignment to the Family Check-Up (FCU) discriminated trajectory groups. In addition, in accord with differential susceptibility theory, we tested whether the effects of the FCU were stronger for those children with higher genetic susceptibility. Results augmented previous findings documenting the influence of child (inhibitory control [IC], gender) and family (harsh parenting, parental depression, and educational attainment) risk. In addition, children in the FCU were overrepresented in the persistent low versus persistent high CP group, but such direct effects were qualified by an interaction between the intervention and genetic susceptibility that was consistent with differential susceptibility. Implications are discussed for early identification and specifically, prevention efforts addressing early child and family risk.


How and to what extent students learn history content is a complicated process, drawing from the instructional opportunities they experience; the policy prioritization of history/social studies instruction in schools; and their own cultural perspectives toward the past. In an attempt to better understand the complex inter-play among these dimensions, we examined relationships among student sociocultural characteristics, instructional exposure, and school-level variables and US History content knowledge. Using data from the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress Test on US History (NAEP-USH), multilevel analyses indicated that while sociocultural indicators (such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status) correlate with achievement, students' instructional exposure variables remain significant predictors of history content knowledge. Moreover, school context such as building-level demographics and state testing-policy predict between school variance in content knowledge and moderate the achievement gap. Results also suggest that, while a substantial achievement gap remains, exposure to text-based instructional practices is associated with increased knowledge. Findings from this study have policy implications for the development of a more inclusive social studies curriculum, the advocating of text-dependent instruction as a high-leverage practice among history teachers, and cautious consideration of tests as proxies for accountability in history education.


The focus of large-scale e-business development has shifted to the large 'blue-chip' corporations. However, large companies not only have to tackle a new technology that could permeate the entire organisation and along its supply chain, but they have to deal with new business models, revised processes, additional marketing channels, mounting cost pressures, and heightened service expectations from customers. This is particularly difficult for large multinationals that span the globe with their rigid bureaucratic structures, elaborate power networks, and ingrained cultural properties. Hence, the aim of this research is to investigate how the introduction of e-business interacts with the existing structures of a large established company. Structures are interpreted as rules and resources, which are the medium and outcome of human actions. It is argued that the introduction of e-business constitutes a significant technology-driven organisational change and a review of the literature reveals an absence of such studies in e-business. In order to capture a comprehensive and dynamic understanding of how organisations undergo such a change, this research applies structuration theory as a meta-theory to explore the relationship between agents and structure, using an interpretive qualitative paradigm. An extensive longitudinal case study examines the establishment, operation and termination of a special-purpose e-business unit, named ConsumerConnect-Europe (CCE), at the European corporate headquarters of the Ford Motor Company. This thesis provides a narrative of the entire life cycle of CCE, focusing on its business-to-consumer division. The narrative is analysed in detail using structuration theory with its concerns for the dimensions of signification, domination and legitimation. The discussion initially addresses the research sub-questions related directly to the case study and then turns to the main research question: how does the introduction of e-business interact with the existing structures of large established companies. In answering this, it examines the broader natures of e-business, human agency in organisational change, organisational structures, and the duality of organisational change. These natures form the content of contributions and are linked to the theoretical and practical contributions of the thesis. Methodological contributions are primarily in the operationalisation of structuration theory.