Sustainability plays a key role in EPS@ISEP programme the European Project Semester programme at the School of Engineering of the Polytechnics of Porto. Not just the environmental, but also economical (marketing) and social (ethics) perspectives are explored by multicultural teams during this one semester capstone/internship programme. In 2015, a team of EPS@ISEP students choose to design and develop an insectarium to grow insects for reptile feeding. The team, after exploiting the topic, contemplated growing insects not only for animal feed, but also for human food. Their motivation resulted from the fact that insects, when compared with traditional sources of protein, are more sustainable, i.e., require considerably less resources per kg of protein. This approach, in the current Earth's population growth scenario, contributes to minimise the resources required for meeting food needs. The main goal of the proposal was to raise the awareness of the participants regarding sustainable development while creating a functional, cost-effective, ecofriendly and attractive prototype. The team, driven by this multidisciplinary problem, performed: (i) a survey of competing products; (ii) a selection of the insect species to grow based on the study and comparison of the life cycle and habitat requirements of different species of insects; (iii) a marketing plan; (iv) a sustainability and an ethic and deontological analysis of the proposed solution; and (v) the design, assembling and testing of the prototype. Furthermore, the students also developed cross-cultural understanding, teamwork and communication skills. The project provided an excellent opportunity to foster the concept of sustainable development amongst the students.


To elucidate the role of the synaptic protein alpha-synuclein in neurodegenerative disorders, transgenic mice expressing wild-type human alpha-synuclein were generated. Neuronal expression of human alpha-synuclein resulted in progressive accumulation of alpha-synuclein-and ubiquitin-immunoreactive inclusions in neurons in the neocortex, hippocampus, and substantia nigra. Ultrastructural analysis revealed both electron-dense intranuclear deposits and cytoplasmic inclusions. These alterations were associated with loss of dopaminergic terminals in the basal ganglia and with motor impairments. These results suggest that accumulation of wild-type alpha-synuclein may play a causal role in Parkinson's disease and related conditions.


In this attractive and informative book, the author, who is also a past Chairman of the British Clematis Society, introduces his readers to the idea of growing the rose and the clematis together so that the beauty of one plant may enhance and be enhanced by that of the other. He points out that the climbing rose is the natural companion or partner of the clematis and when the two are grown together, the overall effect can be dramatic. To help his readers achieve the desired effect, the author sets out, with the aid of clear step-by-step illustrated instructions, the precise course of action to be followed. Written in plain, straightforward language, the author covers every possible aspect of the subject. As well as details of classification, in which he suggests the best plants for the job, he provides important seasonal growing information including autumn and spring pruning techniques, planting details and invaluable advice on the use of colour. The vexed question of diseases and pests is also dealt with at length. This is a useful and instructive title, written by an author with a deep knowledge and love of his subject. He sets out to show what can be achieved and his own beautiful colour photographs, which feature so prominently throughout this book, should inspire readers to apply what they have seen here as being also possible in their own gardens, with equally rewarding results.


Studies of a range of higher cognitive functions consistently activate a region of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), typically posterior to the genu and superior to the corpus collosum. In particular, this ACC region appears to be active in task situations where there is a need to override a prepotent response tendency, when responding is underdetermined, and when errors are made. We have hypothesized that the function of this ACC region is to monitor for the presence of crosstalk or competition between incompatible responses. In prior work, we provided initial support for this hypothesis, demonstrating ACC activity in the same region both during error trials and during correct trials in task conditions designed to elicit greater response competition. In the present study, we extend our testing of this hypothesis to task situations involving underdetermined responding. Specifically, 14 healthy control subjects performed a verb-generation task during event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), with the on-line acquisition of overt verbal responses. The results demonstrated that the ACC, and only the ACC, was more active in a series of task conditions that elicited competition among alternative responses. These conditions included a greater ACC response to: (1) Nouns categorized as low vs. high constraint (i.e., during a norming study, multiple verbs were produced with equal frequency vs. a single verb that produced much more frequently than any other); (2) the production of verbs that were weak associates, rather than, strong associates of particular nouns; and (3) the production of verbs that were weak associates for nouns categorized as high constraint. We discuss the implication of these results for understanding the role that the ACC plays in human cognition.


Volume 23 opens with the Brownings taking up summer residence in London, where EBB immediately dives into work: she corrects proofs of her Poems (1856), while completing her modern epic, Aurora Leigh, which begins printing in early August. Proofs start to arrive later in the month just as the Brownings feel it necessary to leave town. They spend the next five weeks on the Isle of Wight, first visiting EBB's sister Arabella and three of her brothers in Ventnor, then the gravely ill John Kenyon in West Cowes. On their roundabout return to London, they stay a week with EBB's sister Henrietta and her family in Somerset. Meanwhile, the proofs of Aurora Leigh have followed the Brownings "like bloodhounds," as EBB phrases it, and she manages to finish proofreading and correcting only days before their departure for Italy on 23 October. Upon resuming their quiet life in Florence, the poets await the critical reception of Aurora Leigh, which is published on 15 November. All reviews of the poem traced for this period appear in Appendix III, including those by H.F. Chorley and George Eliot. There are also glowing letters of praise from friends, such as John Ruskin, who twice names Aurora Leigh "the greatest poem in the English language." In December, the Brownings receive word of John Kenyon's death. In his will, he bequeaths them £10,500, effectively ending their financial worries.


This paper examines econometrically the relationship between Telecommunication Revolution (TR) and economic development in three developing countries (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and India) through period from 1990 to 2011. It measured (TR) by three variables ((Mobile Cellular Telephone Subscribers, Internet Subscribers, Fixed Telephone Connections) as independent variables and took five indicators for economic development as Dependent Variables {Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth Rate (GR), Rate of Inflation (consumer prices, annual %) (IR), Rate of Unemployment (% of total labor force) (UR), Growth Rate of Exports (XR), and Exchange Rate (ER)}, and used Factor analysis technique to obtain command factor: Principal Component Values (PCV) as a proxy variable for economic development, which consists of total sum of component matrix multiply by each of five variables of economic development ((GR, IR, UR, XR, and ER) in the three countries. The result of estimation shows that telecom revolution has a positive and significant effect on economic development in both Egypt and India, but the relationship is weak in Saudi Arabia, except with the effect of mobile cellular telephone subscribers having a positive effect on some economic development indicators such as Growth Rate of GDP, and Exchange Rate, and Command Factor and negative relation with unemployment and inflation rate). This in turn supports the hypotheses of the paper. Where telecom revolution leads to reduce unemployment and inflation in Saudi Arabia, but this result is not achieved in other two countries of the study.


In a fresh interpretation of Lucretius's On the Nature of Things, Charles Segal reveals this great poetical account of Epicurean philosophy as an important and profound document for the history of Western attitudes toward death. He shows that this poem, aimed at promoting spiritual tranquillity, confronts two anxieties about death not addressed in Epicurus's abstract treatment--the fear of the process of dying and the fear of nothingness. Lucretius, Segal argues, deals more specifically with the body in dying because he draws on the Roman concern with corporeality as well as on the rich traditions of epic and tragic poetry on mortality. Segal explains how Lucretius's sensitivity to the vulnerability of the body's boundaries connects the deaths of individuals with the deaths of worlds, thereby placing human death into the poem's larger context of creative and destructive energies in the universe. The controversial ending of the poem, which describes the plague at Athens, is thus the natural culmination of a theme developed over the course of the work. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Commentators have depicted the Supreme Court's January 2012 ruling in Golan v. Holder as a far-reaching repudiation of First Amendment limits on Congress's power to expand copyright and diminish the public domain. However, Golan imposes potentially significant First Amendment constraints on copyright protection even while granting fairly broad First Amendment immunity to Copyright Act amendments. It does so by effectively adopting Melville Nimmer's "definitional balancing" approach to resolving the tension between copyright and the First Amendment, an approach that Frederick Schauer has labeled "definitional-absolutism" because it requires an absolute First Amendment privilege for protected speech. As Golan applies that approach, neither Congress nor courts may "disturb" copyright law's idea/expression dichotomy or fair use privilege without running afoul of the First Amendment. Accordingly, following Golan, Copyright Act provisions and proposed legislation that would diminish one or both of those free speech safeguards remain vulnerable to First Amendment challenge. Examples include the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA and proposed legislation, such as the now-defunct SOPA, that would impose broad liability on Internet intermediaries. Further, Golan requires that courts interpret and apply the idea/expression dichotomy and fair use privilege in a manner that truly safeguards First Amendment rights.


Getting people to use an interest-based approach in negotiation has been a difficult problem. Experts have provided helpful suggestions for 'changing the game,' though these ideas are usually limited to case-by-case efforts within a culture of adversarial negotiation. Collaborative law (CL) is an important innovation that establishes a general norm of interest-based negotiation and intentionally develops a new legal culture. CL reverses the traditional presumption that negotiators will use adversarial negotiation. CL parties and lawyers sign a participation agreement establishing the rules for the process. Under these agreements, lawyers and parties (negotiators) focus exclusively on negotiation, disclosing all relevant information and using an interest-based approach. Negotiators work primarily in four-way meetings in which everyone is expected to participate actively. A 'disqualification agreement' clause in the participation agreement provides that CL lawyers represent parties only in negotiation and are disqualified from representing them in litigation. (Although CL lawyers cannot litigate a CL case, CL parties can withdraw and hire other lawyers to litigate.) Professor Julie Macfarlane's landmark study found that CL negotiators generally did not engage in adversarial negotiation and when they did so, they usually had more information and a more constructive spirit than in traditional negotiations. She found that CL parties generally benefited from improved communication and were satisfied with the process and their lawyers. This article identifies four potential perils of CL. First, CL clients may have unrealistic expectations about the lawyers' role, the time and expense involved, and implications of the disqualification agreement. Second, the CL process may result in excessive pressure to settle. Third, CL practitioners may violate rules of professional conduct. Fourth, CL practitioners may develop a quasi-religious orthodoxy that inhibits innovation and discourages clients from exercising legitimate process choices. This article concludes that CL is an important innovation offering great promise and posing real risks. It offers suggestions for minimizing the risks.


TITLE: Initiation of Streamers from Thundercloud Hydrometeors and Implications to Lightning Initiation AUTHOR: Samaneh Sadighi MAJOR ADVISORS: Ningyu Liu, Ph.D. and Hamid K. Rassoul, Ph.D. Electric field values measured inside thunderclouds have consistently been reported to be up to an order of magnitude lower than the value required for the conventional electrical breakdown of air. This result has made it difficult to explain how lightning frequently occurs in thunderclouds. One theory that has been offered to explain the lightning initiation process is the theory of lightning initiation from hydrometeors. According to this theory, lightning can be initiated from electrical discharges originating around thundercloud water or ice particles in the measured thundercloud electric field. These particles, called hydrometeors, can cause significant enhancement of the thundercloud electric field in their vicinity, increasing the probability to initiate streamers that are precursor discharges for the hot lightning leader channel. For this dissertation research, we have focused our efforts on studying streamer initiation and propagation from thundercloud hydrometeors. For the first part of this study, we have further investigated the idea proposed by Liu et al. [2012b] to study streamers from ionization column hydrometeors in thundercloud conditions. We have performed simulations for ambient electric field values as low as 0.3Ek at thundercloud altitudes. According to our results, initiation of stable streamers from thundercloud hydrometeors in a 0.3Ek electric field is possible, iii only if enhanced ambient ionization levels are present ahead of the streamer. We investigate the streamer branching behavior and characteristics, and test a theory that has recently been proposed to explain this phenomenon [Savel'eva et al., 2013]. In order to verify whether an ionization column is a proper representation of a dielectric hydrometeor, for the second part of this dissertation we modify our streamer discharge model to accommodate an isolated dielectric particle representing the hydrometeor inside the computational region. The development of this model has enabled us to accurately simulate the discharges around dielectric hydrometeors with various shapes and physical states. Streamer discharge results obtained from the dielectric hydrometeor have been presented and compared with the results obtained from the first part of this work. We compare our modeling results with laboratory experiments and realistic thundercloud conditions and discuss the implications of this study to lightning initiation and other lightning related phenomena.


The focus of health care has changed from health care provider paternalistic approach to consumer focused approach. The aim of this study is to implement an online health information site for patient education of Diabetes. To achieve this, design criteria for effective patient education were considered and diabetes patients information site was implemented which includes patient information access, diabetes challenge, administrator module and the scheduler module. Implementing patients access for their health information with providing patients tailored health information according to their needs to enhance patient education is important. This project contributes vastly in consumer health informatics as it develops the system that will enhance consumer involvement in their own health care.


We investigate the bearings product market collusion on the abatement of polluting emissions in a Cournot oligopoly where production entails a negative environmental externality. We model the problem as a differential game and investigate the feedback solution of two alternative settings: a fully noncooperative oligopoly and a cartel maximising the discounted profits of all firms in the industry. Our analysis proves that the output reduction entailed by collusive behaviour may have a benefiacial effect on steady state welfare, as a result of the balance between a higher market price and a lower amount of polluting emissions. This result opens a new prespective on the debate about the management of environmental externalities, which so far has mainly focussed on the design of Pigouvian taxation schemes.


The growth of electronic publishing of literature has created new challenges, such as the need for mechanisms for citing online references in ways that can assure discoverability and retrieval for many years into the future. The growth in online datasets presents related, yet more complex challenges. It depends upon the ability to reliably identify, locate, access, interpret, and verify the version, integrity, and provenance of digital datasets. Data citation standards and good practices can form the basis for increased incentives, recognition, and rewards for scientific data activities that in many cases are currently lacking in many fields of research. The rapidly-expanding universe of online digital data holds the promise of allowing peer-examination and review of conclusions or analysis based on experimental or observational data, the integration of data into new forms of scholarly publishing, and the ability for subsequent users to make new and unforeseen uses and analyses of the same data-either in isolation, or in combination with, other datasets. The problem of citing online data is complicated by the lack of established practices for referring to portions or subsets of data. There are a number of initiatives in different organizations, countries, and disciplines already underway. An important set of technical and policy approaches have already been launched by the U.S. National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and other standards bodies regarding persistent identifiers and online linking. The workshop summarized in For Attribution -- Developing Data Attribution and Citation Practices and Standards: Summary of an International Workshop was organized by a steering committee under the National Research Council's (NRC's) Board on Research Data and Information, in collaboration with an international CODATA-ICSTI Task Group on Data Citation Standards and Practices. The purpose of the symposium was to examine a number of key issues related to data identification, attribution, citation, and linking to help coordinate activities in this area internationally, and to promote common practices and standards in the scientific community.


About this bookbuy chapter.First detailed treatment of both natural and artificial rockslide dams Unique classification of rockslide dams by use of remote sensing Up to the minute documentation of latest rockslide in China
In the last one hundred years, a number of catastrophic events associated with rockslide dam formation and failure have occurred in the mountain regions of the world. This book presents a global view of the formation, characteristics and behaviour of natural and artificial rockslide dams. Chapters include a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of our global understanding natural and artificial rockslide dams, overviews of approaches to rockslide dam risk mitigation, regional studies of rockslide dams in India, Nepal, China, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Argentina. Rockslide dams associated with large-scale instability of volcanoes are also examined. Detailed case histories of well-known historic and prehistoric rockslide dams provide examples of investigations of rockslide dam behaviour, stability, and characteristics. The formation and behaviour of rockslide-dammed lakes ("Quake Lakes") formed during the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, China are also comprehensively summarised. The formation, sedimentology and stability of rockslide dams is examined in several analytical papers. An analysis of break-out floods from volcanogenic lakes and hydrological methods of estimating break-out flood magnitude and behavior are reviewed. The use of remote sensing data in rockslide-dammed lake characterisation is explored and a new approach to the classification of rockslide dams is introduced. Finally, a unique section of the book summarises Russian and Kyrgyz experience with blast-fill dam construction in two papers by leading authorities on the technology. The volume contains 24 papers by 50 authors from 16 countries including most of the recognised world authorities on the subject.


Introduction : To improve the quality of clinical care provided to patients, clinical experience of the physicians in Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) should be improved. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a short course medical education on the evidence of information, attitude and work of clinical students at the Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. Methods: In a quasi-experimental study, three groups of medical students (24 persons) who were studying in the community medicine course participated. In this course, students in a two-day workshop trained in an EBM workshop including; designing questions, search, critical evaluation of evidence, implementation and evaluation. Knowledge, attitude, ability of students to apply their knowledge and the level of satisfaction of the students from the course have been evaluated with pre and post-course questionnaires. Results: Result of the study showed that the students familiarity with EBM terminology increased (p<0.0001). In addition, this study indicated that there was a significant increase in the students attitude, and also their ability in application of EBM. Students were satisfied with the workshop. The content (91.7%) and method of the implementation of the workshop (87.5%) were positively evaluated. Conclusion: The work shop works well. Practical training of EBM is recommended.


This paper describes a new conceptualisation of sustainability assessment as an integrative and active process at the science-policy-society interface and its implementation as exemplified in case studies within the Methods and Tools for Integrated Sustainability Assessment (MATISSE) project. Integrated Sustainability Assessment (ISA) is defined within the MATISSE project as a cyclical, participatory process of scoping, envisioning, experimenting and learning through which a shared interpretation of sustainability for a specific context is developed and applied in an integrated manner in order to explore solutions to persistent problems. ISA is strategic, sustainability-oriented, constructive and potentially transformative. Its key role is to explore the opportunity-creation and problem-solving potential of framing contexts other than those in place, such as alternative institutions, technologies, spatial and temporal arrangements, price relations and associated policy regimes.


Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS 2008, 3:660– 665 Purpose of review Although the use of HIV protease inhibitors is linked to the development of insulin resistance and other metabolic changes that greatly increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, the molecular mechanisms responsible remain incompletely understood. This review summarizes recent advances that have been made in understanding the relative contributions of individual protease inhibitors to both acute and chronic insulin resistance together with newly identified cellular mediators. Recent findings Individual protease inhibitors, alone and in combination, have differing propensities to induce insulin resistance, reflecting relative differences in both affinities for identified molecular targets and pharmacokinetic profiles. Several of the most recent protease inhibitors approved for clinical use or in development appear to be less likely to induce insulin resistance. In addition to direct effects on glucose transporter-4 activity, induction of oxidative stress, proteosome inhibition, alteration of adipokine levels, and changes in suppressors of cytokine signaling-1 have been implicated. Summary A better understanding of the propensity of individual HIV protease inhibitors to produce insulin resistance will allow the tailoring of individual treatment plans based upon overall risk for diabetes. The elucidation of the molecular mechanisms for alterations in glucose homeostasis will facilitate the development of newer generations of HIV protease inhibitors that maintain their clinical efficacy without contributing to the development of diabetes mellitus and other proatherogenic effects.


The (Pt,Pd)-bismuthotelluride minerals at the Akanani prospect show substantial substitution of Te and Bi. Individual grains are often markedly heterogeneous with concentrations of Te and Bi which vary by up to 26 wt.%. They occur as single phase crystals or form composite grains with other platinum-group minerals, and are predominantly associated with ( i.e. , are in direct contact with) primary and secondary silicate minerals, base-metal sulfides, and magnetite. The Pt-bismuthotelluride minerals are markedly associated with ( i.e. , tends to occur as composite grains with) Pd-bismuthotelluride minerals, isoferroplatinum, and sperrylite. The Pd-bismuthotelluride minerals are markedly associated with Pt-bismuthotelluride minerals, altaite, hollingworthite, plumbopalladinite, PdSbSn alloy, and sperrylite.

The Pt-bismuthotelluride minerals are characterized by high ratios of Te/Bi and form a trend of solid solution from moncheite (PtTe2) towards maslovite (PtTeBi). A few analyses plot close to, or on, the composition of maslovite. The Pd-bismuthotelluride minerals are characterized by a lower ratio of Te/Bi than the Pt-bismuthotelluride minerals. They form a trend of solid solution along the join kotulskite (PdTe)–sobolevskite (PdBi), without merenskyite (PdTe2).

There is very limited solid solution of Pt and Pd between the Pt-bismuthotelluride minerals (<5.7 wt.% Pd) and the Pd-bismuthotelluride minerals (<3.3 wt.% Pt), with only four analyses of michenerite (three grains) characterized by elevated levels of Pd (10.3 to 17.1 wt.%).

In view of the strong spatial association between the Pt- and Pd-bismuthotelluride minerals at Akanani it is considered likely that the latter were originally in solid solution in a precursor Pd-rich Pt-bismuthotelluride host at temperatures of up to 1150 °C, from which they then exsolved during cooling. Further exsolution of Te- or Bi-rich domains in individual Pt- and Pd-bismuthotelluride crystals occurred during late cooling at substantially lower temperatures, and resulted in the observed compositional ranges of moncheite–maslovite and kotulskite–sobolevskite.


Introduction. Part I: Ethics 101: Just the Basics, Please. Chapter 1: Approaching Ethics: What Is It and Why Should You Care? Chapter 2: Butting Heads: Is Ethics Just a Matter of Opinion? Part II: Uncovering the Roots of Ethics. Chapter 3: Human Nature and Ethics: Two Big Questions. Chapter 4: Exploring Connections between Ethics, Religion, and Science. Chapter 5: Seeing Ethics as Harmful: Three Famous Criticisms. Part III: Surveying Key Ethical Theories. Chapter 6: Being an Excellent Person: Virtue Ethics. Chapter 7: Increasing the Good: Utilitarian Ethics. Chapter 8: Doing Your Duty: The Ethics of Principle. Chapter 9: Signing on the Dotted Line: Ethics as Contract. Chapter 10: The Golden Rule: Common Sense Ethics. Chapter 11: Turning Down the Testosterone: Feminist Care Ethics. Part IV: Applying Ethics to Real Life. Chapter 12: Dealing with Mad Scientists: Biomedical Ethics. Chapter 13: Protecting the Habitat: Environmental Ethics. Chapter 14: Serving the Public: Professional Ethics. Chapter 15: Keeping the Peace: Ethics and Human Rights. Chapter 16: Getting It On: The Ethics of Sex. Chapter 17: Looking Out for the Little Guy: Ethics and Animals. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 18: Ten Famous Ethicists and Their Theories. Chapter 19: Ten Ethical Dilemmas Likely to Arise in the Future. Index.


ABSTRACT A sufficient knowledge of the demographics of a commuting public is essential in formulating and implementing more targeted transportation policies. Here, a procedure is demonstrated that classifies passengers (Adult, Child/Student, and Senior Citizen) based on their three-month travel patterns. The method proceeds by constructing distinct commuter matrices, we refer to as eigentravel matrices, that capture a commuter's characteristic travel routine. Comparing various classification models, we show that the gradient boosting method gives the best prediction with 76% accuracy, 81% better than the minimum model accuracy (42%) computed using proportional chance criterion. The models are verified and validated; consequently, the procedure demonstrated should serve as a benchmark for problems of this type. The generally intuitive pattern of the demographic classification also points to a possible universal 'travelprint' of commuters, and can inspire development of unsupervised machine learning methods for automated fare collection systems that do not provide additional demographic detail.


This international comparative study provides insight in the political-institutional conditions that have impeded and encouraged onshore wind power implementation in the Netherlands, England and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The extent to which wind power, as a new energy technology, has become embedded in existing routines and practices (institutions) of society, differs between the cases. North Rhine-Westphalia, which is most successful in terms of installed capacity, is also most successful in terms of social acceptance of wind power. Wind power developments started in the form of grass-roots initiatives in which many citizens participated. Over time, in North Rhine-Westphalia, wind power became embedded as an environmentally preferable energy source, as a new economic sector, and as a socially acceptable alternative to conventional energy generation. In the other cases, the historical trajectories have been different and less successful.


Objective: To describe measures used to evaluate the burden of caregiving experienced by caregivers of stroke patients and their clinimetric properties. Design: A review of the literature was conducted to examine burden scales with regard to concept, feasibility, internal consistency, validity, reliability and responsiveness. Results: The literature search resulted in 45 measures of caregiver outcomes, including 16 different measures of caregiver burden. About half of the scales were used only once and were not further described. Nearly all instruments measure the various dimensions of burden (competency, negative feelings, social relations, participation problems, physical and mental health and economic aspects), but not in the same proportions. Most measures showed good internal consistency, and validity was demonstrated for all measures except one. However, not much is known about the reliability and responsiveness of these measures. Conclusions: No measure has proven superiority above others. Future research should focus on comparisons between existing instruments and on their reliability and responsiveness.


This paper challenges conventional views of unemployment. Its results suggest that failure to examine closely labor force transitions has led to a misleading picture of unemployment and the way the labor market functions in general. There are four main conclusions. First, labor force transitions are the principal determinant of fluctuations in employment and unemployment. We find that the vast majority of those newly employed come not from unemployment but from outside the labor force. Likewise, most spells of employment end with labor force withdrawal rather than unemployment. Second, traditional estimates of the duration of unemployment and the ease of job finding are seriously flawed by failure to take account of the 45 percent of all unemployment spells which end in labor force withdrawal. Third, re-entrant unemployment is to a large extent the result of job-ending followed by a brief spell outside the labor force. Many re-entrants would almost certainly be better classified as job losers and leavers completing long spells of unemployment rather than as entrants starting a new spell of unemployment. Fourth, it appears that many of those counted as out of the labor force are functionally indistinguishable from the unemployed.


Abstract Objectives: Many patients with type 2 diabetes are uncontrolled on maximum oral treatment. The early introduction of insulin can lower diabetes-related complications. The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons behind a perceived reluctance of patients with type 2 diabetes to commence insulin therapy despite objective evidence for the augmentation of oral treatment with insulin. Secondary objectives were to review the demographic data of these patients, to review the patients' knowledge of their disease and of insulin and to compare the knowledge and difficulties of those who agreed to be initiated on insulin with that of those who refused. Design: The study used an observational analytical design. All uncontrolled patients with type 2 diabetes on maximum oral therapy were interviewed using face-to-face interviews with open- and closed-ended questions. Setting and subjects: The study was conducted over a three-month period at the Phoenix Community Health Centre, a state-run institution, in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Outcome measures: The education level of the patients, their knowledge of the disease, understanding of insulin, family support and fear of needles and pain were notable outcome measures. Results: Fifty-nine patients were enrolled in the study. The mean haemoglobin A1c was 9.6. Level of academic education was not associated with a willingness to start insulin therapy (p-value = 0.426). Forty-seven per cent of the patients had no understanding of insulin. Forty-four per cent of the patients were willing to initiate insulin therapy and 55% refused. There was no significant difference in knowledge score between those who accepted and refused insulin therapy (p-value = 0.554). Seventy-nine per cent of patients were afraid of the pain associated with injections. Conclusion: As a fear of injections and needles was the only significant factor that was associated with the refusal to initiate insulin therapy (p-value < 0.001), health professionals need to address this during patient education, so as to initiate insulin treatment successfully and timeously.


Australian banks have responded to tighter regulatory requirements for capital and liquidity over the past decade, which has strengthened their resilience to adverse shocks. While banks are now in a much better position to deal with these types of shocks, this strengthening has also had implications for their funding costs and some key profitability metrics. This article outlines some of the main changes to banks' activities as they have responded to the tighter capital and liquidity requirements.


This paper presents a novel 5.5 V resilient Pulse-Triggered-Level-Shifter (PTLS) with enhanced toggling speed. This PTLS is a based on a cascoded High-Voltage (HV) level-shifters and only uses 3.3 V, near minimum size, CMOS transistors. This HV level-shifter generates both floating and a full-scale output signals and is able to operate under supplies from 2.6 V (down to 1.8 V with strategic contextual gate control on cascode and protection transistors) up to 5.5 V, without endangering any transistors. This PTLS can drive pMOS logic, nMOS logic or 5.5 V I/Os simultaneously with loads up to 250 fF on every output nodes (1.25 pF total), using only one buffering stage. The proposed circuit was extensively validated by simulations for every technological corners, temperatures from −40 °C up to 125 °C, operating voltages and output capacitances, so that this HV level-shifter is reliable under any operating conditions. The simulated circuit shows a 2 39 ns maximum delay under typical conditions and a worst case of 10.4 ns. The circuit draws no static power and shows a typical dynamic power consumption of 25.92 μW/MHz with maximum operating frequency of 261.8 MHz.


3D object retrieval has a compelling demand in the field of computer vision with the rapid development of 3D vision technology and increasing applications of 3D objects. 3D objects can be described in different ways such as voxel, point cloud, and multi-view. Among them, multi-view based approaches proposed in recent years show promising results. Most of them require a fixed predefined camera position setting which provides a complete and uniform sampling of views for objects in the training stage. However, this causes heavy over-fitting problems which make the models failed to generalize well in free camera setting applications, particularly when insufficient views are provided. Experiments show the performance drastically drops when the number of views reduces, hindering these methods from practical applications. In this paper, we investigate the over-fitting issue and remove the constraint of the camera setting. First, two basic feature augmentation strategies Dropout and Dropview are introduced to solve the over-fitting issue, and a more precise and more efficient method named DropMax is proposed after analyzing the drawback of the basic ones. Then, by reducing the over-fitting issue, a camera constraint-free multi-view convolutional neural network named DeepCCFV is constructed. Extensive experiments on both single-modal and cross-modal cases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in free camera settings comparing with existing state-of-theart 3D object retrieval methods.


Fluorescence spectra and UV-Vis absorption spectra are collected on cerium oxide nanocrystalline particles. While CeO2 is the stable form of bulk cerium oxide, ceria nanoparticles exhibit a nonstoichiometric composition, CeO2-γ, due to the presence of oxygen vacancies and the formation of Ce2O3 at the grain boundaries. The Ce(III) ions, which are more reactive and therefore more desirable for various applications, are created by oxygen vacancies, which act as defects in the CeO2-γ crystal lattice. These defects form trap states in the band gap of CeO2, which can be seen in the absorption spectra. Ce(III) is required for fluorescence of the ceria nanoparticles while Ce(IV) is involved in only nonradiative transitions. The optical spectroscopy results show that the ceria samples have different ratios of Ce(III) ions to Ce(IV) ions, which is verified by xray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS).


We have followed up a large family in which seven members have tumoral calcinosis. One girl had the skin lesions of localized calcinosis cutis apart from the typical subcutaneous deposits of calcium. Like most persons with tumoral calcinosis, our patient had normal serum calcium concentrations; however, the serum phosphorus levels were greatly elevated. The familial occurrence and elevated serum phosphorus levels suggest the possibility of some as yet undefined, heritable metabolic defect as the underlying cause. The occurrence of tumoral calcinosis with localized calcinosis cutis is a rare association, and there has been only one other reported case to our knowledge. This report describes our patient and offers a brief discussion of tumoral calcinosis. The therapeutic response to the phosphate depletion regimen and topical steroids was disappointing in our case.


Shoot tips of maize (Zea mays L.) were cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 2 mg/l BA +1 mg/l 2,4-D +40 mg/l, to investigate phases of ontogenetic development. The study used light microscopy as well as scanning and transmission electronic microscopy techniques. Shoot tips of maize are composed of small cells with a dense cytoplasm and a prominent nucleus. The process of organogenesis began with swelling of the shoot tip, as the first evidence of organogenic calli formation observed three weeks after culture get started. There were two morphologically different types of cells within the organogenic calli. The layer consisted of large cells with small nucleus, free-organelle cytosol, irregular plasmatic membrane, trichome- like structures, and thick cell walls. In the inner cell layer, small and isodiametric cells with a prominent nucleus, small vacuoles, endoplasmatic reticulum, Golgi, mitochondrias and chloroplasts were observed. The presence of trichomes in the more active morphogenic zones could indicate an organogenic potential. Rev. Biol. Trop. 57


An African American neighborhood, known as Junaluska, formed in the mountains of Boone, North Carolina in the late 1800s. In 1918, a group of Krimmer Mennonite Brethren (KMB) missionaries established the Boone Mennonite Brethren Church (BMBC) there. This church would maintain prominent standing in the community, outlasting all other black churches in the town. While the BMBC stood as the center of the community, the music was the center of the church. Music played an important role in Mennonite religious history and, when this combined with the African American culture in western North Carolina, the music would come to encompass the unique cultural exchange of the Mennonite and African American traditions in the BMBC. Though the music has adapted to changes within the Mennonite Brethren denomination and the Junaluska community, it remains a testament to the church's rich cultural history.


BACKGROUND
There is concern about the increasing resistance of antibiotics to common bacteria. Delayed prescribing for respiratory tract infections is a strategy that may reduce the use of antibiotics.

AIM
To systematically review controlled trials of delayed prescriptions to establish their capacity to reduce antibiotic intake.

DESIGN OF STUDY
A systematic review of the literature.

SETTING
Four studies were conducted in the United Kingdom and one in New Zealand.

METHODS
We searched MEDLINE from 1966 to April 2003, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register using the following terms: 'delayed', 'antibiotics', 'prescriptions', and 'back-up' (as in back-up prescription). We included controlled trials of studies in which the intervention was a delayed prescription compared to an immediate prescription for patients with upper respiratory tract infections. The studies were selected independently and the results compared. Disagreements were resolved by discussion. The data and quality of the studies were extracted and assessed independently by two of the authors.

RESULTS
Four randomised controlled trials and one before-after controlled trial contributed to the review. The relative risk in the randomised trials for lower antibiotic usage when a delayed prescription was given ranged from 0.54 for the common cold to 0.25 for otitis media.

CONCLUSION
The consistent reduction in antibiotic usage in the five controlled trials included in this review suggests that delayed prescription is an effective means of reducing antibiotic usage for acute respiratory infections. The duration of delay for prescriptions ranged widely, from 1 to 7 days.


The present thesis explores psychological well-being (PWB), practice and context within a professional football academy. The thesis also focuses on the processes of action research as a catalyst for practice-change in the academy environment, towards a culture of well-being. During the initial stages, pre-reconnaissance discussions took place with key academy practitioners to explore practitioner perceptions of well-being and coaching practice within context. The thesis is divided into two distinct phases; the reconnaissance phase, and the action phase. The reconnaissance phase encouraged the researcher to 'live the experience' alongside the research participants. Therefore emersion into the field of an academy football environment was required on a daily basis. The action research from reconnaissance-to-practice provided a detailed account of day-to-day events and on-going lived experiences of players and practitioners within the academy football environment. Consequently, qualitative data collection took place regularly in order to monitor and capture the personal experiences of academy players and practitioners, to follow individual threads of inquiry. Also field notes, player focus groups, informal interviews and formal taped interviews provided sufficient data for triangulation to occur. This multi-method approach enabled the researcher to take advantage of the rich variety of sources upon which were available (Tomlinson, 1983). The data collection protocol investigated how practitioners engaged in culturally specific practice within the academy. The action phase introduced collaborative practitioner meetings as part of the action research process to address practice that could later be linked specifically to psychological well-being (PWB) dimensions. The overall aim of the collaborative practitioner meetings was to drive debate and change, based on the notion that well-being can be related to everyday practice. Although there was similarity in how the meetings were described, the primary analysis differed, in particular the first two collaborative practitioner meetings underwent thorough content analysis from both an inductive (cultural and situational) and deductive (concept-oriented) stance. The reality of the research reflected the unpredictable process and dilemmas that may occur within the processes of action research and practice-change. The research provided detailed insight into the culture of football and the perceptions and experiences of full-time academy players, practitioners and the researcher's own reflections on the research journey, with regards to psychological well-being (PWB). Within the processes of action research, the practical utility of theory and the personal- contextual dynamic of a practice-change process within a youth football setting were considered and discussed. The research encouraged notions of emancipation within a participatory and collaborative process. Key Words: Psychological well-being (PWB), subjective well-being (SWB), action research, context and practice.


The idea that we should respond more severely to repeated wrongdoing than we do to first-time misconduct is one of our most deeply held moral principles, and one of the most deeply entrenched principles in the criminal law and sentencing policy. Prior convictions trigger, on average, a six-fold increase in the length of punishment in states that use sentencing guidelines. And most of the people we lock up in the U.S. have at least one previous conviction.

This article shows that given the current law and policy of collateral consequences, and the social conditions they engender, judges and sentencing commissions should do exactly the opposite of what they currently do: impose a recidivist sentencing discount, rather than a premium. This thesis is counterintuitive and politically unpalatable. It goes against the grain of criminal law and policy dating back as far as we know it, virtually the entire scholarly literature, and millennia of social tradition. But this article shows that it follows logically from fairly ordinary moral premises.


The United States & the Making of Modern Greece: History & Power, 1950-1974. By James Edward Miller. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. 320 pp. If anyone is well qualified to write about the history of post-World War II Greek-American relations, it is James Miller. A Foreign Service Institute professor who has trained countless American diplomats en route to Greece and editor of the Foreign Relations of the United States series (published by the U.S. Department of State) as it pertains to Greece, Miller is arguably the person best situated to address the exact nature of American involvement in Greek politics during the Hellenic state's tumultuous Cold War years. Miller's diplomatic history is broken down into five chapters that capture the time period between 1950 and 1967, when Greece was a dysfunctional democracy, and three chapters that capture the time period between 1967 and 1974, when Greece was a dysfunctional dictatorship. As much has been written on the predictatorship era, it is the last three chapters that are Miller's most important contribution to the literature. In particular, while much has been written on the postwar bilateral relationship, no study written in English has, to date, been able to draw on such a large pool of declassified documents to explain the actual role of the United States during the Greek overthrow of the Cypriot government in 1974 and the subsequent Turkish invasion--both of which many Greeks believe were provoked by the United States. The largest strength of the book is that it draws on a quarter-century cache of official U.S. documents, supplementing them, where appropriate, with primary source material from British, French, and Greek government archives. It is, perhaps, because Miller has to whittle down so much information that his attempt to provide a unique and comprehensive review of the run-up to the 1967 coup at times falls a bit flat. In particular, covering the 1950s, the book misses several opportunities to explain key events and dynamics. For example, in 1952, the Greek king and queen actually went to the U.S. Embassy in Athens to lobby the ambassador for an electoral law that would favor the royal palace (p. 39). Can you imagine Queen Elizabeth II going to the U.S. Embassy in London to press her case for a new British electoral law? This is too bizarre a dynamic to be left underattended. Similarly, if, as Miller tells us, the CIA had such a large operational presence in Greece, why wait till a review of events in 1958 to first discuss its activities (p. 73)? (Indeed, throughout the book, there is less discussion of the CIA's involvement in Greece than might be expected.) The massive discounting of the 1955 riots against Greeks in Turkey and the diplomatic problems they created is also a significant oversight from this time period. As the book progresses into the 1960s, it tackles some of the major events that Greeks have long held were by-products of American patronage, in particular the April 1967 coup that established a seven-year dictatorship in Greece. Miller, however, concludes, "U.S. officials neither encouraged nor supported the coup of April 1967" (p. 135). Still, many Greeks, to this day, blame the United States for the events of the mid-to late-1960s. Miller's assessment seems sound. But by not reviewing the evidence of American opposition to extra-constitutional measures in great depth, Miller might have missed an opportunity to refute, once and for all, Greek conspiracy theories relating to U.S. culpability for the coup. For instance, the book pays scant attention to the White House's rejection of a CIA covert plan to sway the Greek elections in 1965 (pp. 123-24). …


The molecular mechanisms responsible for the alterations in proliferative capacity of cardiac myocytes during development remain unknown; however, cell cycle dependent molecules may be involved. We have determined the expression of cyclins A, D1-3 and E, and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) 2, 4, 5 and 6 and cdc2 in freshly isolated rat cardiac myocytes from fetal (18 days gestation), neonatal (2 days post-natal) and adult animals by immunoblotting. Our results show a dramatic decrease in expression of these proteins during normal cardiac development, such that levels are highest in fetal myocytes but are significantly down-regulated in adult cells (P<0.05, in each case). We also have determined the in vitro kinase activities of cdc2, CDK2, CDK4, CDK5 and CDK6 immunocomplexes in fetal, neonatal and adult myocytes. There was a consistent and significant loss of cdc2, CDK2, CDK4 and CDK6 kinase activities in adult cardiac cell lysates (5.3-, 10.6-, 1.5- and 1.9-fold decreases, respectively) when compared to neonatal samples (P<0.05); CDK5 activity showed a similar trend but failed to reach significance. In conclusion, our results show that the expression and activities of various positive regulators of the cell cycle are down-regulated significantly during development of the cardiac myocyte, concomitant with the loss of proliferative capacity in adult myocytes. Down-regulation of these proteins may be pivotal in the withdrawal of the cardiac myocyte from the cell cycle.


Objective: The objective of this study was to report the prenatal diagnosis for methylmalonic acidemia. Materials and Methods: Isolated methylmalonic acidemia was diagnosed by analyzing organic acids in the blood and urine. The specific subtype of methylmalonic acidemia was determined by molecular genetic testing. Prenatal diagnosis for methylmalonic acidemia includes ultrasound examination, conventional karyotyping using cultured amniocytes, chromosomal microarray analysis, and targeted sequencing using uncultured amniocytes. Results: We identified a novel mutation (NM_172250.2; c.491G>A) in the MMAA gene that might be associated with methylmalonic acidemia. The fetus and her father are both carriers of this mutation. Conclusion: A combination of prenatal ultrasound, conventional karyotyping, chromosomal microarray analysis, and target sequencing will provide a more accurate risk assessment for methylmalonic acidemia.


We present NeuroLKH, a novel algorithm that combines deep learning with the strong traditional heuristic Lin-Kernighan-Helsgaun (LKH) for solving Traveling Salesman Problem. Specifically, we train a Sparse Graph Network (SGN) with supervised learning for edge scores and unsupervised learning for node penalties, both of which are critical for improving the performance of LKH. Based on the output of SGN, NeuroLKH creates the edge candidate set and transforms edge distances to guide the searching process of LKH. Extensive experiments firmly demonstrate that, by training one model on a wide range of problem sizes, NeuroLKH significantly outperforms LKH and generalizes well to much larger sizes. Also, we show that NeuroLKH can be applied to other routing problems such as Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), Pickup and Delivery Problem (PDP), and CVRP with Time Windows (CVRPTW).


The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the occupational stress, sense of coherence, coping, burnout and work engagement of registered nurses in South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of 818 registered nurses. The Nursing Stress Inventory, the Orientation to Life Questionnaire, the COPE, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were administered. The results show that the experience of depletion of emotional resources and feelings of depersonalisation by registered nurses were associated with stress due to job demands and a lack of organisational support, focus on and ventilation of emotions as a coping strategy, and a weak sense of coherence. Work engagement was predicted by a strong sense of coherence and approach-coping strategies.


There is a growing competition between banks and fintech not only in advanced economies, but also in the emerging markets. However, it is yet to be observed in Latvia to the same extent. This paper aims to evaluate fintech's level of development in Latvia compared to Europe.The paper identifies financial services using innovative technologies offered by fintech companies, analyses the advantages and disadvantages of these services in comparison with services offered by the traditional financial sector companies (banks, insurance companies, institutions involved in asset management and investment, etc.), and evaluates how prepared are consumers to use fintech services. This paper documents the results of the survey aiming to clarify how well-informed consumers in Latvia are about fintech services, their convenience, speed and safety, as well as the consumers' current satisfaction with banking services.The hypothesis of this paper is that Latvian society is not ready to use services provided by fintech, but prefers banking services instead. Survey results provide some evidence in favour of this hypothesis: they show that respondents are generally unaware about fintech services in Latvia and their associated innovations and new financial products.This paper makes several recommendations for managers of fintech enterprises, association of start-up enterprises and risk capital funds as well as state institutions.


Abstract  Background and Aim: Postoperative neurologic deficit is the most devastating complication after surgical thoracic aorta repair. Cerebrospinal fluid drainage and some medications are used for spinal cord protection during and after the operation. Methods: A 25‐year‐old patient applied to our clinic with a traumatic descending aortic aneurysm. We performed a surgical repair for the aneurysm but could not achieve to place a lumbar catheter to provide cerebrospinal fluid drainage. Levosimendan was chosen for spinal cord ischemic preconditioning because of its vasodilatory effects. Results: Postoperative course was uneventful. Hemodynamic and neurologic complication was not observed, and the patient was discharged from the hospital in the postoperative 5th day. Conclusions: Levosimendan can be used for preconditioning and spinal cord protection from ischemic injury during descending aorta repair. We clearly benefit from the vasodilator peculiarity of the drug for improving spinal cord perfusion.


Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers are widely used in many fields because they are simple and effective. Tuning of the PID controller parameters is not easy and does not give the optimal required response, especially with non-liner system. In the last two decades many intelligent optimization techniques were took attention of researchers like: Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) techniques. This paper represented the non-linear mathematical model and simulation of the synchronous generator with closed loop PID controller of AVR system. The traditional PID tuning technique is proposed as a point of comparison. Two of intelligent optimization techniques: PSO and GA are proposed in this paper to tune the PID controller parameters. The obtained results of the closed loop PSO-PID and GA-PID controller response to the unit step input signal shows excellent performance with respect to the traditional trial and error tuning of the PID controller.


As type inference systems become more sophisticated, it becomes increasingly important to allow the programmer to give type annotations that both document the program and guide type inference. In Haskell 98, it is not possible to write certain type annotations, because they must mention a type that is "in scope" and the language provides no way to name such types. The obvious solution is to provide language support for lexicallyscoped type variables, an area whose design space has not been systematically explored. Our contribution is to bring together the relevant folk lore, in coherent form, and make it accessible to a much larger community than hitherto. In particular, we describe and contrast two main alternative designs — the "type-lambda" approach of SML 97, and an alternative "type-sharing" approach which is used by GHC and OCaml — and survey some alternative design choices. Scoped type variables will play a key role in the type systems of the future; they can no longer be added as an afterthought to language implementations.


With an improved receiver-side spectral shaping technique by introducing and optimizing one tap coefficient in the intermediate response, we successfully transmitted 1.936 Tb/s (11 × 176 Gb/s) DP-16QAM superchannel signal over 8 × 80 km SSMF with EDFA-only and two 280 GHz wavelength selective switches (WSSs) in support of future 1.6 Tb/s Ethernet with up to 20% forward error correction overhead. The 280 GHz 3-dB bandwidth of the WSS passband permits a sufficient guardband if the 1.936 Tb/s superchannel signals are placed in a 300 GHz WSS channel.


Teaching Daze: Stories of Self and Others is a doctoral dissertation about
beginning teaching by a beginning teacher. Set in Tasmania, in 2000, it is an
investigation into one Drama teacher's first year in the profession. This is my
story. I was the teacher, and I was the researcher. The research method was
autoethnography (Bochner & Ellis, 2002; Ellis, 1997; Ellis & Bochner, 2000;
Gergen & Gergen, 2002; Reed-Danahay, 1997).
I conducted this study at a time when beginning teaching was
characterised in the literature as a time of survival, or development, or
transformation, but policymakers predominantly viewed beginning teaching as a
problem needing a solution. I found that an in-depth portrayal of the individual's
personal experience of beginning teaching was missing from much of the research
literature in this aspect of educational inquiry, especially in the area of secondary
Drama teaching.
This dissertation is about 'seeing anew', as I offer a different way of
knowing about this issue. I write in layers, quilting my multiple voices (teacher,
researcher, woman, daughter, and mother) with the voices of others (research
literature, critical readers and other beginning teachers). I argue that beginning
teaching is complex; hence representations of it should be too.
Teaching Daze is about unions – the writer and reader, the professional
and personal, and the teacher and researcher. It is a story about embracing
tensions, as opposed to solving them, and of finding connections between self and
others. I allay fears. I confirm suspicions.
Telling my story opened my eyes. I was guilty of holding a 'limiting'
definition of 'beginning teaching'. I stereotyped others. I stereotyped myself. I did
not see anew; I wanted to fit in and to survive. By subconsciously embracing the
notion that beginning teaching is about survival, I limited my ability to learn from
my first year. Until I chose to revisit the experience, I had forgotten it. (Re)writing
my story offered me, and others, hope.
Teaching Daze is about the need for us to look beyond what others tell us
the first year of teaching should be, in order to find what it can be – an individual,
personal, and fundamental part of our days as teach


Potassium (K) is the principal mineral solute contributing to osmotic adjustment (OA) in many crop species, and the magnitude of OA under drought stress may be increased by application of K fertilisers. Genotypic differences in either the capacity for OA under drought stress or the efficiency of K uptake and utilisation by wheat have been separately documented. However, it is not known whether genotypic differences in K uptake and utilisation are linked to differences in OA under drought stress. In this study, we quantified changes in OA in response to variable K fertilisation among five wheat genotypes with contrasting efficiency of K uptake and utilisation. Fertilisation with K increased OA for most genotypes by increasing K+ uptake and translocation into shoots and its subsequent accumulation in young leaves when drought stress was imposed. Accumulation of K+ in young leaves accounted for 36–51% of OA among the genotypes. The magnitude of OA achieved by genotypes under K fertilisation was highly correlated with the net content of K accumulated in shoots. With K fertilisation, differences in shoot K+ content accounted for 84% of the difference in OA among wheat genotypes. By comparison, for plants without K fertilisation, K+ accumulation in young leaves contributed only 17–28% of OA. At low K supply, the magnitude of OA achieved by genotypes was independent of the content or concentration of K+ in shoots. Under K-fertilised conditions, genotype Nyabing achieved the highest OA under drought stress, accumulated the highest concentration of K+ in young leaves (–0.87 MPa, accounting for 51% of OA), and had the greatest net K+ content in shoots. Genotype Wyalkatchem accumulated the smallest content of K+ in shoots and the lowest K+ concentration in young leaves (–0.40 MPa, accounting for 38% of OA), and achieved the lowest OA under drought stress. The greatest OA was achieved where high genotypic capacity to take up K was paired with conditions of high soil K availability.


A new application of Widrow's adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) is presented in this paper. Specifically, the method is applied to the case where an acoustic barrier exists between the primary and reference microphones. By updating the coefficients of the noise estimation filter only during silence, it is shown that ANC can provide substantial noise reduction with little speech distortion even when the acoustic barrier provides only moderate attenuation of acoustic signals. The use of the modified ANC method is evaluated using an oxygen facemask worn by fighter aircraft pilots. Experiments demonstrate that if a noise field is created using a single source, 11 dB signal-to-noise ratio improvements can be achieved by attaching a reference microphone to the exterior of the facemask. The length of the ANC filter required for this particular environment is only 50 points.


Author(s): Ying, Bicheng | Advisor(s): Sayed, Ali H | Abstract: This dissertation focuses on stochastic gradient learning for problems involving large data sets or large feature spaces. One of the main advantages of the stochastic gradient technique is its simplicity and low computational complexity, especially for large datasets. This is because it selects, at each iteration, one data point at random from the training set, updates the weight iterate using this data point, and continuously repeats the procedure until sufficient convergence is attained. Two popular mechanisms for sampling the training data is to sample with or without replacement. In the first case, some samples may be repeated during the learning process, while in the second case the training data is first reshuffled randomly and the algorithm is run over the reshuffled data one sample at a time. It has been observed in the literature through experimentation that learning under random reshuffling leads to enhanced performance, not only for the traditional stochastic gradient algorithms but also for variance-reduced implementations. However, no theoretical analysis exists that explains the phenomenon well under constant step-size adaptation. The first part of this dissertation resolves this issue and establishes analytically that, under random reshuffling, convergence is guaranteed to a small neighborhood of the optimizer at a linear rate. The analysis further shows that random reshuffling outperforms uniform sampling by showing that the iterates approach a smaller neighborhood of size $O(\mu^2)$ around the minimizer as opposed to $O(\mu)$. An analytical expression for the steady-state mean-square-error under random reshuffling is derived, which helps clarify in greater detail the differences between sampling with and without replacement. The dissertation also provides an explanation for the periodic behavior that is observed in random reshuffling implementations.In addition, the dissertation examines the effect of random reshuffling on variance-reduced techniques, which are known to converge to the exact minimizers of empirical risks at linear convergence rates. The existing convergence results assume uniform data sampling with replacement and no proofs or guarantees of convergence exist under random reshuffling. The dissertation provides a theoretical guarantee of linear convergence under random reshuffling for the SAGA algorithm in the mean-square sense by using an argument that is also applicable to other variance-reduced algorithms. A new amortized variance-reduced gradient (AVRG) algorithm is also proposed, which has constant storage requirements compared to SAGA and balanced gradient computations compared to SVRG. In the second part of the dissertation, we examine learning under large feature spaces, where the feature information is assumed to be spread across agents in a network. In this setting, each agent is assumed to observe part of the feature space. Through local cooperation, the agents are supposed to interact with each other to solve an inference problem and converge towards the global minimizer of the empirical risk. The dissertation proposes two solution methods: one operates in the dual domain and another operates in the primal domain. The dual domain solution builds on gradient boosting techniques, where each agent maintains a local dual variable. By sharing the dual variable with their immediate neighbors through a diffusion learning protocol, all agents are able to match the performance of centralized boosting solutions even when the individual agents only have access to partial information about the feature space. In comparison, the primal domain solution is achieved by combining a dynamic diffusion construction, a pipeline strategy, and variance-reduced techniques. One of the main advantages of the primal solution is that it does not require separate timescales and convergence towards the exact minimizer occurs at a linear rate.


An artificial neural network (ANN) was used to evaluate the hydrological responses of two streams in the northeastern U.S. having different hydroclimatologies (rainfall and snow+rain) to hypothetical changes in precipitation and thermal regimes associated with climate change. For each stream, historic precipitation and temperature data were used as input to an ANN, which generated a synthetic daily hydrograph with high goodness-of-fit (r2 > 0.80). Four scenarios of climate change were used to evaluate stream responses to climate change: + 25% precipitation, -25% precipitation, 2 x the coefficient of variation in precipitation regime, and +3"C average temperature. Responses were expressed in hydrological terms of ecological relevance, including flow variability, baseflow conditions, and frequency and predictability of floods. Increased average precipitation induced elevated runoff and more frequent high flow events, while decreased precipitation had the opposite effect. Elevated temperature reduced average runoff. Doubled precipitation variability had a large effect on many variables, including average runoff, variability of flow, flooding frequency, and baseflow stability. In general, the rainfall-dominated stream exhibited greater relative response to climate change scenarios than did the snowmelt stream.


In many applications of tomography, the acquired data are limited in one or more ways due to unavoidable experimental constraints. In such cases, popular direct reconstruction algorithms tend to produce inaccurate images, and more accurate iterative algorithms often have prohibitively high computational costs. Using machine learning to improve the image quality of direct algorithms is a recently proposed alternative, for which promising results have been shown. However, previous attempts have focused on using encoder–decoder networks, which have several disadvantages when applied to large tomographic images, preventing wide application in practice. Here, we propose the use of the Mixed-Scale Dense convolutional neural network architecture, which was specifically designed to avoid these disadvantages, to improve tomographic reconstruction from limited data. Results are shown for various types of data limitations and object types, for both simulated data and large-scale real-world experimental data. The results are compared with popular tomographic reconstruction algorithms and machine learning algorithms, showing that Mixed-Scale Dense networks are able to significantly improve reconstruction quality even with severely limited data, and produce more accurate results than existing algorithms.


In this paper we present the design of a programmable frequency divider in 28 nm FD-SOI CMOS technology. It consists of the cascade of a divide-by-2 cell and divide-by-2/3 blocks. The final circuit is capable of dividing by even numbers between 128 and 254. The forward-body-bias property of the process and the differential-cascode voltage-switch-logic (DCVSL) family are used to achieve high operation speed. The proposed circuit achieves a maximum operating frequency of 20 GHz at 1 V supply voltage. And the area and the power consumption of the programmable divider are 1815 μm2 and 4.35 mW, respectively.


Abstract. We present observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs)
to evaluate the impact of a proposed network of ground-based
miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer (mini-LHR) instruments that measure
atmospheric column-averaged carbon dioxide (XCO2) with a 1 ppm
precision. A particular strength of this passive measurement approach is its
insensitivity to clouds and aerosols due to its direct sun pointing and
narrow field of view (0.2∘). Developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center (GSFC), these portable, low-cost mini-LHR instruments were designed
to operate in tandem with the sun photometers used by the AErosol RObotic
NETwork (AERONET). This partnership allows us to leverage the existing
framework of AERONET's global ground network of more than 500 sites as well as
providing
simultaneous measurements of aerosols that are known to be a major source of
error in retrievals of XCO2 from passive nadir-viewing satellite
observations. We show, using the global 3-D GEOS-Chem chemistry transport
model, that a deployment of 50 mini-LHRs at strategic (but not optimized)
AERONET sites significantly improves our knowledge of global and regional
land-based CO2 fluxes. This improvement varies seasonally and ranges
58 %–81 % over southern lands, 47 %–76 % over tropical lands, 71 %–92 %
over northern lands, and 64 %–91 % globally. We also show significant added
value from combining mini-LHR instruments with the existing ground-based
NOAA flask network. Collectively, these data result in improved a posteriori
CO2 flux estimates on spatial scales of ∼10 km2,
especially over North America and Europe, where the ground-based networks are
densest. Our studies suggest that the mini-LHR network could also play a
substantive role in reducing carbon flux uncertainty in Arctic and tropical
systems by filling in geographical gaps in measurements left by ground-based
networks and space-based observations. A realized network would also provide
necessary data for the quinquennial global stocktakes that form part of the
Paris Agreement.


The superior optical and electrical properties of quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles are being applied in a new generation of QD devices for microelectronic, nanophotonic, and biomedical systems. Research on integrated QD-based systems has been focused on passive manipulation of QDs including template-guided self-assembly, molecular scaffold-based assembly, and microbead-based assembly. However, little effort has been devoted to development of methods for active manipulation, such as positioning and concentration, of QDs. In this study, we show that 20 nm colloidal QDs can be effectively positioned and concentrated using a combination of dielectrophoresis (DEP) and AC electro-osmosis (ACEO). The long-range fluid motion generated by ACEO entrains QDs to the area near the electrode surface, which facilitates the trapping of QDs by DEP. A systematic investigation was performed to examine electrokinetic processes at different applied frequencies and voltages using a concentric electrode configuration. We demonstrate that QDs can be dynamically positioned with an electric field strength as small as 10 kV/m and define the operating parameters for increasing the concentration of colloidal QDs by 2 orders of magnitude within one minute.


Context. Damped Lyman-α (DLA) absorption-line systems at the redshifts of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows offer a unique way to probe the physical conditions within star-forming galaxies in the early Universe.
Aims. Here we built up a large sample of 22 GRBs at redshifts z > 2 observed with VLT/X-shooter in order to determine the abundances of hydrogen, metals, dust, and molecular species. This allows us to study the metallicity and dust depletion effects in the neutral interstellar medium at high redshift and to answer the question of whether (and why) there might be a lack of H2 in GRB-DLAs.
Methods. We developed new methods based on the Bayesian inference package, PyMC, to FIT absorption lines and measure the column densities of different metal species as well as atomic and molecular hydrogen. The derived relative abundances are used to FIT dust depletion sequences and determine the dust-to-metals ratio and the host-galaxy intrinsic visual extinction. Additionally, we searched for the absorption signatures of vibrationally-excited H2 and carbon monoxide.
Results. We find that there is no lack of H2-bearing GRB-DLAs. We detect absorption lines from molecular hydrogen in 6 out of 22 GRB afterglow spectra, with molecular fractions ranging between f ≃ 5 × 10−5 and f ≃ 0.04, and claim tentative detections in three additional cases. For the remainder of the sample, we measure, depending on S/N, spectral coverage and instrumental resolution, more or less stringent upper limits. The GRB-DLAs in our sample have on average low metallicities, [X/H]¯ ≈ −1.3, comparable to the population of extremely-strong QSO-DLAs (log N(H I) > 21.5). Furthermore, H2-bearing GRB-DLAs are found to be associated with significant dust extinction, AV > 0.1 mag, and dust-to-metals ratios DTM > 0.4, confirming the importance of dust grains for the production of molecules. All these systems exhibit neutral hydrogen column densities log N(H I) > 21.7. The overall fraction of H2 detections in GRB-DLAs is ≥ 27% (41% including tentative detections), which is three to four times larger than in the general QSO-DLA population. For 2 < z < 4, and considering column densities log N(H I) > 21.7, the H2 detection fraction is 60–80% in GRB-DLAs and in extremely strong QSO-DLAs. This is likely due to the fact that both GRB- and QSO-DLAs with high neutral hydrogen column densities are probed by sight-lines with small impact parameters, indicating that the absorbing gas is associated with the inner regions of the absorbing galaxy, where the gas pressure is higher and the conversion of H I to H2 takes place. In the case of GRB hosts, this diffuse molecular gas is located at distances ≳ 500 pc from the GRB and hence is unrelated to the star-forming region where the event occurred.


This work investigates Monte-Carlo planning for agents in stochastic environments, with multiple objectives. We propose the Convex Hull Monte-Carlo Tree-Search (CHMCTS) framework, which builds upon Trial Based Heuristic Tree Search and Convex Hull Value Iteration (CHVI), as a solution to multi-objective planning in large environments. Moreover, we consider how to pose the problem of approximating multi-objective planning solutions as a contextual multi-armed bandits problem, giving a principled motivation for how to select actions from the view of contextual regret. This leads us to the use of Contextual Zooming for action selection, yielding Zooming CHMCTS. We evaluate our algorithm using the Generalised Deep Sea Treasure environment, demonstrating that Zooming CHMCTS can achieve a sublinear contextual regret and scales better than CHVI on a given computational budget.


Background & Aim: Since suicidal ideation is a common problem in people with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, investigation of its components is of particular importance. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between perfectionism, positive and negative affection and suicidal ideation in people with obsessive tendencies. Method: This is a cross-sectional study with a descriptive-correlational method in which 142 out of 410 students from Tabriz University with obsession score higher than the cut-off point were selected through convenience sampling. In order to collect data, Hill perfectionism scale, Positive and Negative Affection Schedule (PANAS), Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) and Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS) were used. The data were analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlation test and simultaneous multiple regression by SPSS 21. Results: There were a significantly positive relationship between perfectionism and suicidal ideation (r=0.46; P 0.01). Conclusion: Based on the findings, variables including seeking for confirmation, striving for being excellent, rumination and negative affection are the main determinants of suicidal ideation in people with obsessive tendencies.


Operation of conventional drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) is limited by seasonal variations in the characteristics of raw water, such as algae levels and turbidity. In this study, an integrated flotation and sedimentation unit (IFSU) with side flow-inclined plate settlers (SFIPS) was applied to enhance the removal ratio of algae and turbidity in a full-scale field experiment. To accomplish this, the performance of two IFSU reactors (with and without SFIPS) treating algal-rich water, low-turbidity water and high-turbidity water was compared. Extensive experiments were conducted based on a central composite face-centered design, and the results were analyzed using response surface methodology. Polyaluminium chloride dose, NaOH dose, influent turbidity level and influent chlorophyll level were selected as the operating variables to analyze, optimize and model the process. The results showed that SFIPS functioned as a counterflow inducer to enhance the effects of stratified flow patterns and decrease the clarification loading rate in the separation zone during the dissolved air flotation process, leading to considerable increases in algae and turbidity removal in the IFSU reactor. The results of this study will facilitate upgrades of conventional DWTPs to improve their potential.


This article will focus on the central role played by imperfect or incomplete markets in the spread and perpetuation of recessionary situations. It is a known fact that demand volatility perpetuates such situations, and this can only be mitigated by sustainable economic stimulus policies. Macrofiscal rules, which are important for enhancing the tarnished credibility of State action, need to combine two basic principles: responsibility and stability. This means preserving regulation mechanisms so that excessive macroeconomic fluctuations can be stabilized. The best thing the authorities can do is to use flexible intervention policies to prevent such fluctuations. The new paradigm of public management by results thus entails setting clear fiscal rules with medium-term targets and short-term stabilization capabilities, but it must also involve allocating a larger and larger proportion of public expenditure on a multi-year basis. In seeking to combine stable economic growth with proper implementation of the plans and programmes voted for by citizens, public management faces three essential challenges: adhering to a macrofiscal rule over the cycle, identifying structural deficits as they arise, and correcting the traditional bias against investment. This article will look at some recent efforts to deal explicitly with these serious obstacles by applying legal provisions designed to cope with the uncertainties that surround both the cyclical behaviour of the economy and calculations of its long-term growth potential.


Proposal for the teleportation of two-atom state is presented. It is based on the simultaneous interaction of two two-level atoms with a single-mode cavity with a filed of n photons. In the proposed scheme, two pairs of EPR state are used as quantum channel to teleport an unknown two-atom state. It is shown that the distinct features of the presented scheme are that the completed time is greatly reduced and cavity field is not required to be detected.


At $2 trillion and growing, target date funds have become the most important investment in 401(k) plans, yet these funds are still in their infancy, having effectively launched with the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Importantly there is not yet a standard benchmark for evaluating TDF performance. Nevertheless, fiduciaries must monitor and evaluate their TDF selection.
This article describes the benchmarks that are currently available and offers some guidance on selecting the appropriate benchmark. Fiduciaries should align the objectives of their TDF with those of the benchmark, and confirm that the benchmark glide path and underlying allocations are in line with the TDF that is being evaluated.


In this paper, we present a generic method for the Monte-Carlo pricing of (generalized) auto-callable products (aka. trigger products), i.e., products for which the payout function features a discontinuity with a (possibly) stochastic location (the trigger) and value (the payout).The Monte-Carlo pricing of products with discontinuous payout is known to come with a high Monte-Carlo error. The numerical calculation of sensitivities (i.e., partial derivatives) of such prices by finite differences gives very noisy results, since the Monte-Carlo approximation (being a finite sum of discontinuous functions) is not smooth. Additionally, the Monte-Carlo error of the finite-difference approximation explodes as the shift size tends to zero.Our method combines a product specific modification of the underlying numerical scheme, which is to some extent similar to an importance sampling and/or partial proxy simulation scheme and a reformulation of the payoff function into an equivalent smooth payout.From the financial product we merely require that hitting of the stochastic trigger will result in an conditionally analytic value. Many complex derivatives can be written in this form. A class of products where this property is usually encountered are the so called auto-callables, where a trigger hit results in cancellation of all future payments except for one redemption payment, which can be valued analytically, conditionally on the trigger hit.From the model we require that its numerical implementation allows for a calculation of the transition probability of survival (i.e., non-trigger hit). Many models allows this, e.g., Euler schemes of Ito processes, where the trigger is a model primitive.The method presented is effective across a large range of cases where other methods fail, e.g. small finite difference shift sizes or short time to trigger reset (approaching maturity); this means that a practitioner can use this method and be confident that it will work consistently.The method itself can be viewed as a generalization of the method proposed by Glasserman and Staum (2001), both with respect to the type (and shape) of the boundaries, as well as, with respect to the class of products considered. In addition we explicitly consider the calculation of sensitivities.


, the Object can precede or follow both the Subject and the Verb, and adverbs and prepositional phrases can be thrown into a variety of positions. To the reader word order often seems to be random, but grammarians have long agreed that it is not random or 'free'. Describing precisely what determines the order of words, though, remains an elusive task. Yet, it is universally understood that determining a rhyme and reason for the variation exhibited in the biblical texts would provide access to subtle linguistic cues the ancient authors used to get their message across. And so many Hebraists have attempted to identify the patterns. As with all investigations, though, the initial assumptions strongly influence the conclusions and for Hebrew word order studies the almost universal starting point has been to assume a basic Verb-Subject order. In this essay I challenge this assumption, thereby potentially undercutting the methodologies and conclusions of the vast majority of existing word order studies. I introduce, describe, and illustrate the typological linguistic criteria for determining basic word order and conclude, contrary to near-consensus position, that Biblical Hebrew is better classified as a Subject-Verb language.


Standard SVM training has O(m3) time and O(m2) space complexities, where m is the training set size. It is thus computationally infeasible on very large data sets. By observing that practical SVM implementations only approximate the optimal solution by an iterative strategy, we scale up kernel methods by exploiting such "approximateness" in this paper. We first show that many kernel methods can be equivalently formulated as minimum enclosing ball (MEB) problems in computational geometry. Then, by adopting an efficient approximate MEB algorithm, we obtain provably approximately optimal solutions with the idea of core sets. Our proposed Core Vector Machine (CVM) algorithm can be used with nonlinear kernels and has a time complexity that is linear in m and a space complexity that is independent of m. Experiments on large toy and real-world data sets demonstrate that the CVM is as accurate as existing SVM implementations, but is much faster and can handle much larger data sets than existing scale-up methods. For example, CVM with the Gaussian kernel produces superior results on the KDDCUP-99 intrusion detection data, which has about five million training patterns, in only 1.4 seconds on a 3.2GHz Pentium--4 PC.


It seems clear now from the point of view of the turn of the century that the United States had at least three major literary figures in the first half of the twentieth century: F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), William Faulkner (1897-1962), and Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). The other writers usually mentioned in their company- John Dos Passos, e. e. cummings, Thornton Wilder, Thomas Wolfe, and Hart Crane- a group once thought to be representative of the Lost Generation, are still read and discussed, as are Robert Frost, John Steinbeck, and Robert Penn Warren. But none of them appears to have the continuing power and influence of the major three. The nature of their work in terms of style, content, and point of view seems quite different, but it is natural to look for the extent to which they influenced each other. An examination of how they perceived and felt about their peers and the kinds of relationships they maintained is one way to reveal and understand their respective accomplishments. The most fully explored and emotionally charged friendship was that between Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Although Fitzgerald was his senior in years and reputation, Hemingway always seemed to be giving him lessons in life and writing- treating his work with respect but at the same time finding it somehow lacking in enduring qualities - and offered him a genuine friendship, but one tinged with a degree of jealous condescension. Less discussed has been the relationship between Hemingway and Faulkner, who began their publishing careers almost simultaneously. Never geographically close enough to become fully acquainted, they viewed each other from afar. Hemingway would sometimes satirize Faulkner's style and seemed afraid that the Mississippian would prove to be the better writer, while Faulkner once said publicly to his regret that he thought Hemingway had not fully challenged his potential and talent. But Hemingway would go on record in 1946 to call Faulkner "the greatest living American writer" (Bruccoli 44), and Faulkner would warmly praise Hemingway's work on other occasions. It was their public personae that got in the way. The relationship between Fitzgerald and Faulkner has not been discussed at all, probably because they held no public discourse with each other and harbored little sense of competition (Fitzgerald's major work was finished just as Faulkner was beginning his publishing career). There was no chance, then, of Faulkner influencing Fitzgerald, but the influence did go the other way. In Faulkner's first two novels, Soldiers' Pay (1926) and Mosquitoes (1927), general techniques he learned from Fitzgerald about style and authorial attitude seem clearly evident, but critics have found few specific borrowings. Several scholars have found interesting parallels between novels by the two authors. For example, although his intent was to compare attitudes and not find influence, Cleanth Brooks published an essay in 1964 on the concepts of "American innocence" as found in Henry James, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner. He outlined a number of similarities in characterization, thematic concern, and value systems between Thomas Sutpen of Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and Jay Gatsby, both "self-made men" of a different kind. In his 1966 book, F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Craft of Fiction, Richard D. Lehan found that although they operated out of very different conceptions of time and history, both Fitzgerald and Faulkner depicted "their heroes caught in a world of decay and decline," which required them "to extend the narrative limits of their novels" to function on the levels of history and myth (46-47). A comparison of Sutpen and Gatsby as idealistic characters suggests that "Faulkner's novels have a moral dimension which Fitzgerald's lack" (48). Despite the title of F. A. Rodewald's 1975 article "Faulkner's Possible Use of The Great Gatsby" he mainly summarizes the similarities that Brooks had already noted between that novel and Absalom, Absalom! …


Geologists in the field climb hills and hang onto craggy outcrops; they put their fingers in sand and scratch, smell, and even taste rocks. Beginning in 2004, however, a team of geologists and other planetary scientists did field science in a dark room in Pasadena, exploring Mars from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) by means of the remotely operated Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Clustered around monitors, living on Mars time, painstakingly plotting each movement of the rovers and their tools, sensors, and cameras, these scientists reported that they felt as if they were on Mars themselves, doing field science. The MER created a virtual experience of being on Mars. In this book, William Clancey examines how the MER has changed the nature of planetary field science. Drawing on his extensive observations of scientists in the field and at the JPL, Clancey investigates how the design of the rover mission enables field science on Mars, explaining how the scientists and rover engineers manipulate the vehicle and why the programmable tools and analytic instruments work so well for them. He shows how the scientists felt not as if they were issuing commands to a machine but rather as if they were working on the red planet, riding together in the rover on a voyage of discovery. Learn more about the book here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZQSWSZnTYs&feature=youtube_gdata


One of the key goals in the data center today is providing storage services with service-level objectives (SLOs) for performance metrics such as latency and throughput. Meeting such SLOs is challenging due to the dynamism observed in these environments. In this position paper, we propose dynamic instantiation of virtual appliances, that is, virtual machines with storage functionality, as a mechanism to meet storage SLOs efficiently.
 In order for dynamic instantiation to be realistic for rapidlychanging environments, it should be automated. Therefore, an important goal of this paper is to show that such automation is feasible. We do so through a caching case study. Specifically, we build the automation framework for dynamically instantiating virtual caching appliances. This framework identifies sets of interfering workloads that can benefit from caching, determines the cache-size requirements of workloads, non-disruptively migrates the application to use the cache, and warms the cache to quickly return to acceptable service levels. We show through an experiment that this approach addresses SLO violations while using resources efficiently.


The rising power of traders has fundamentally transformed financial market networks and risks. Further, the increased complexity of traded securities and trading strategies within financial networks has magnified shortcomings of existing industry risk management practices as well as dominant regulatory regimes. Financial markets are ultimately places where people trade. Broader social and technological changes have altered the nature of trading activities in financial markets. Innovations in technology, financial instruments, and trading strategies have increased financial market efficiency but have also transformed sources of financial market risks. Financial market networks heighten the need for fundamental rethinking of financial market regulation and reassessment of ways both regulators and market participants can better manage risk. This article evaluates the importance of financial networks and related factors such as globalization, complexity, and secrecy for financial markets. This article argues that, as recommended in a recent Department of Treasury Blueprint for future financial market regulation, U.S. adoption of a modified "Twin Peaks" model of regulation may provide for more efficient and effective regulation of financial market activities and risk and help avoid future market crises. This model would move portions of regulatory oversight of existing functional regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission into new regulatory bodies that regulate by objective and would establish a separate regulatory function for market risk and market stability oversight. Adoption of this model, combined with the establishment of specific core financial market regulatory principles, should enable regulators and market participants to manage risk more effectively.