Lately, distributed computing (DC) has emerged in several application scenarios such as grid computing, high-performance and reconfigurable computing, wireless sensor networks, battle management systems, peer-to-peer networks, and donation grids. When DC is performed in these scenarios, the distributed computing system (DCS) supporting the applications not only exhibits heterogeneous computing resources and a significant communication latency, but also becomes highly dynamic due to the communication network as well as the computing servers are affected by a wide class of anomalies that change the topology of the system in a random fashion. These anomalies exhibit spatial and/or temporal correlation when they result, for instance, from wide-area power or network outages. These correlated failures may not only inflict a large amount of damage to the system, but they may also induce further failures in other servers as a result of the lack of reliable communication between the components of the DCS. In order to provide a robust DC environment in the presence of component failures, it is key to develop a general framework for accurately modeling the complex dynamics of a DCS.
In this dissertation a novel approach has been undertaken for modeling a general class of DCSs and for analytically characterizing the performance and reliability of parallel applications executed on such systems. A general probabilistic model has been constructed by assuming that the random times governing the dynamics of the DCS follow arbitrary probability distributions with heterogeneous parameters. Auxiliary age variables have been introduced in the modeling of a DCS and a hybrid continuous and discrete state-space model the system has been constructed. This hybrid model has enabled the development of an age-dependent stochastic regeneration theory, which, in turn, has been employed to analytically characterize the average execution time, the quality-of-service and the reliability in serving an application. These are three metrics of performance and reliability of practical interest in DC. Analytical approximations as well as mathematical lower and upper bounds for these metrics have also been derived in an attempt to reduce the amount of computational resources demanded by the exact characterizations.
In order to systematically assess the reliability of DCSs in the presence of correlated component failures, a novel probabilistic model for spatially correlated failures has been developed. The model, based on graph theory and Markov random fields, captures both geographical and logical correlations induced by the arbitrary topology of the communication network of a DCS. The modeling framework, in conjunction with a general class of dynamic task reallocation (DTR) control policies, has been used to optimize the performance and reliability of applications in the presence of independent as well as spatially correlated anomalies. Theoretical predictions, Monte-Carlo simulations as well as experimental results have shown that optimizing these metrics can significantly impact the performance of a DCS. Moreover, the general setting developed here has shed insights on: (i) the effect of different stochastic models on the accuracy of the performance and reliability metrics, (ii) the dependence of the DTR policies on system parameters such as failure rates and task-processing rates, (iii) the severe impact of correlated failures on the reliability of DCSs, (iv) the dependence of the DTR policies on degree of correlation in the failures, and (v) the fundamental trade-off between minimizing the execution time of an application and maximizing its reliability.


Male albino rats of Wistar strain were exposed to overcrowding stress in two different groups for a period of seven days. One group of rats was kept under stress for six hours per day (acute stressed group) and the other group rats was kept under stress continuously (chronic stressed group). The effect of these acute and chronic stresses on voluntary alcohol (2% w/v) intake was monitored during the 7 days of stress exposure, and ethanol preference and total ethanol intake in terms of g/kg body weight were also studied. A significant increase in ethanol preference and ethanol intake was observed in one-day and 7 days chronic stressed group. No significant increase in ethanol intake was observed in acute stress. Thus a short lasting stressor may not increase ethanol-drinking behavior, whereas when animals were exposed to more intense stressor continuously for 7 days, an increase in voluntary drinking behavior may be seen.


Turing machines have been studied as dynamical systems for more than two decades, first formalized by Kurka, proposing a topological dynamical system named Turing machine with moving tape (TMT). It was conjectured that every TMT has at least one periodic point. Nowadays, there are several examples of aperiodic Turing machines, disproving Kurka's conjecture. Moreover, one of these machines, named SMART, has other interesting properties like reversibility, completeness, aperiodicity, topological minimality, among others. This machine has four states and works
over an alphabet of three symbols. In this research, we study the dynamical properties of BinSmart, a 2-symbols reconstruction of the main dynamic of SMART machine. This machine results to be aperiodic, topologically minimal (therefore transitive) but not time-symmetric, as it is not a direct translation of the original machine. We also prove that its t-shift is a primitive substitution.


Stroke survival rates in the UK are improving. An increasing number of stroke survivors live with the long-term consequences of stroke, which can include a wide range of disabilities. Stroke survivors learn to manage their lives within the constraints imposed by their disabilities, but some manage better than others. Currently we have limited understanding of how stroke survivors manage and the specific self-management strategies that they use. The Selection, Optimisation and Compensation (SOC) model describes three types of strategies used to adapt following a loss in ability, such as is common after stroke. This study will employ the SOC model to identify the self-management strategies adopted by stroke survivors. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with 40 stroke survivors, recruited from local NHS stroke services. Participants will be asked about 80 activities and body functions, indicating which they find difficult post-stroke and if they have changed the way they perform these since having a stroke. Analysis will focus on identifying strategies from within the interview text and matching these to the theoretical definitions of SOC using discriminant content validation. Similar strategies will be collated, resulting in a list of common, stroke-specific Selection, Optimisation and Compensation strategies. We aim to use this data to develop a self-report measure of SOC strategy use appropriate for the stroke population. This measure will then be used to examine the relationship between strategy use and outcome in stroke survivors, with a view to promoting adaptive strategies and developing interventions to target maladaptive strategies in the future.


An effort to restore wet tropical forest in Costa Rica began in 1993 with plantings of native trees in abandoned pasture land. We compared understory plant species richness in three sites planted with a mix of native tree species with under-story species in two monoculture plantations and in two secondary growth (unplanted) areas. Understory species in nearby primary forest remnants are also reported for comparison. We identified 356 understory species, ranging from 46 to 134 understory species per plot. Woody species were predominant (50–80%), as were plant species relying on animals for seed dispersal (60–80%). Our data indicate that substantial progress toward understory species richness can be obtained in the first decade of wet tropical forest restoration.


In the United States today, digital versions of current decisions, bills, statutes, and regulations issued by federal and state entities are widely available on publicly accessible Internet Web sites. Worldwide, official legal information issued by international organizations and foreign governments is also becoming available on the Web. However, there are currently no standards for the production and authentication of digital documents. Moreover, the information is sometimes available only for a short time and then disappears from the site. Most of that digital information provides only a right of access, and no ownership, or control over the data, unless it is downloaded on a server, or stored on a CD. The long-term access to digital legal information is a matter of concern.


The impact of natural hazards and/or disasters in Cameroon continues to hit local communities hardest, but local government lacks the ability to manage disaster risks adequately. This is partly due to the fact that the necessity to mainstream disaster risk reduction into local governance and development practices is not yet an underlying principle of Cameroon's disaster management framework. Using empirical and secondary data, this paper analyses the governance of disaster risks in Cameroon with particular focus on the challenges local government faces in implementing disaster risk reduction strategies. The hypothesis is that the governance of disaster risks is too centralised at the national level, with huge implications for the effective governance of disaster risks at the local level. Although Cameroon has reinvigorated efforts to address growing disaster risks in a proactive way, it is argued that the practical actions are more reactive than proactive in nature. The overall aim is to explore the challenges and opportunities that local government has in the governance of disaster risks. Based on the findings from this research, policy recommendations are suggested on ways to mainstream disaster risk reduction strategies into local governance, and advance understanding and practice in the local governance of disaster risks in the country.


A debate on Internet governance for health, or "eHealth governance", is emerging with the impending award of a new dot-health (.health) generic top-level domain name (gTLD) along with a host of other health-related domains. This development is critical as it will shape the future of the health Internet, allowing largely unrestricted use of .health second-level domain names by future registrants, raising concerns about the potential for privacy, use and marketing of health-related information, credibility of online health content, and potential for Internet fraud and abuse. Yet, prospective .health gTLD applicants do not provide adequate safeguards for use of .health or related domains and have few or no ties to the global health community. If approved, one of these for-profit corporate applicants would effectively control the future of the .health address on the Internet with arguably no active oversight from important international public health stakeholders. This would represent a lost opportunity for the public health, medical, and broader health community in establishing a trusted, transparent and reliable source for health on the Internet. Countries, medical associations, civil society, and consumer advocates have objected to these applications on grounds that they do not meet the public interest. We argue that there is an immediate need for action to postpone awarding of the .health gTLD and other health-related gTLDs to address these concerns and ensure the appropriate development of sound eHealth governance rules, principles, and use. This would support the crucial need of ensuring access to quality and evidence-based sources of health information online, as well as establishing a safe and reliable space on the Internet for health. We believe, if properly governed, .health and other domains could represent such a promise in the future.


Fruits play a necessary role in the human diet, and their cultivation is important to the prosperity of any country worldwide. However, fruit waste generated in large quantities in agricultural value chain is normally used to feed animals or directly disposed to landfill, ending up with low economic value and a heavy environmental burden. Agricultural waste that contains significant amounts of bioactive compounds can be utilized as byproducts and valorized through bioactives recovery. Conventional bioactive compounds extraction includes intensive uses of organic solvents and also has relatively low efficiency. Therefore, an environment-friendly alternative with higher extraction efficiency is needed. Cold plasma can convert gaseous medium to a highly reacting state with low energy cost, generating reactive species that are able to disrupt cell structures as well as modify material surfaces. This study has developed an innovative cold plasma-assisted extraction technology to enhance the recovery of bioactive compounds from fruit processing byproducts. The objectives of this study are to examine the effects of dielectric barrier discharge plasma on fruit pomaces, in terms of (i) surface microstructure and properties, (ii) extraction efficiency of their bioactive compounds, and (iii) bioactives composition and nutritional value of their extracts.High voltage atmospheric cold plasmas (HVACP) generated with different working gases (air, argon, helium and nitrogen) were applied on tomato pomace (TP). In addition to creating ruptures on TP epidermal cells, HVACP treatments were found to decrease the water contact angles of tomato peels and accelerate the drying of tomato fruits, indicating the formation of more hydrophilic surfaces. Helium and nitrogen plasmas-treated TP showed increased PC extraction yields by 10%, and all HVACP-treated samples exhibited higher AA and changes in their phenolic compositions.Grape pomace (GP) from red wine production was treated by helium-HVACP for different time periods (5, 10 and 15 min). Similar cell structure disruption and surface hydrophilicity enhancement were observed, and the effects became more significant as treatment extended. HVACP treatment also increased the total phenolic content in GP extracts, by 10.9−22.8%, which contained a higher anthocyanin concentration and showed an improved AA (16.7−34.7%). Furthermore, competitive effects of HVACP treatment on PC extractability enhancement and their degradation were observed.The results of this study have proved that HVACP-assisted extraction successfully improved the extraction efficiency of bioactive compounds from fruit pomace and enhanced the nutritional quality of their extracts. This novel technology is a promising method for valorizing different agriculture byproducts into functional food ingredients and nutraceuticals with high nutritional values, which thus can bring significant economic benefits to the agricultural, food and nutraceutical industries.


As the real estate industry is responsible for about 40% of the economy's end energy consumption, its potential to contribute to a sustainable development is accordingly high. In terms of climate change mitigation, the response of the property sector is apparent by the diffusion of green buildings. Considering green buildings as a new product in the real estate market, it is necessary to analyze its diffusion pattern in order to conclude from aggregated data to the actors' behavior behind several stages of adoption. By now, the focus of the green building diffusion literature lies more on the temporal than on the spatial dimension. However, the popular quotation 'labeled properties = prime properties', as one might assume a CSR and image driven demand of international institutional investors, has never been analyzed in detail. The question is what leads the players of the real estate industry to adopt the green innovation in their investment decisions in terms of constructing, renting or investing in certain locations. This paper provides evidence of the factors determining the spatial diffusion of green buildings in the US market by gathering real estate and macroeconomic data. Our contribution to research literature is to identify barriers for a politically intended innovation and delivers a basis for future decisions by policy-makers and investors.


Lampreys (Petromyzontiformes) are an ancient vertebrate group, comprising 40 currently recognised species that range throughout the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Despite a conserved morphology, lampreys nevertheless express a diverse range of life history strategies. Unusually for vertebrates larval lampreys are filter-feeding organisms prior to undergoing an extensive anatomical reorganisation, and the adoption of either a parasitic or a non-parasitic adult life. Parasitic lampreys consume the flesh and blood of actinopterygian fishes, either in marine or freshwater environments, while non-parasitic lampreys do not feed following their metamorphosis from the larval form.
Morphological and genetic similarities between pairs of parasitic and non-parasitic lampreys have led to taxonomic confusion regarding the specific status of many non-parasitic forms, and the suggestion that the loss of the trophic adult phenotype is the result of a single species capable of producing alternative life history strategies. In this thesis it is argued that at least some paired species of lampreys do not comprise two distinct evolutionary lineages; rather, that non-parasitic lampreys represent one extreme in a continuum of life history variation expressed by a parasitic species.
 Some lamprey species, such as the European river lamprey Lampetra fluviatilis, are morphologically variable, exhibiting divergent phenotypes in response to ecological pressures, such as alternative foraging environments. Loch Lomond, Scotland contains a population of L. fluviatilis that feeds exclusively in the lake and exhibits a reduced body size and an overall morphology distinct from the typical anadromous form. Its foraging strategy indicates that it may be capable of switching hosts in the face of declining numbers of a presumed favoured and formerly abundant host, suggesting a certain amount of plasticity in its trophic ecology that may have ensured its survival in this freshwater lake.
 This freshwater-resident form, as well as anadromous L. fluviatilis and the non-parasitic species L. planeri, were found to spawn in a single river system within the Loch Lomond basin, and this site is crucial for the continued presence of this life history variant in Loch Lomond. The appearance of sexually mature specimens of three discrete phenotypes in this river, each representing an alternative life history strategy that may, or may not, belong to a single species, provides a crucial opportunity to test the strength of assortative mating between lamprey species pairs. Within this system the strength of assortative mating was found to be weak, and points to the possibility that freshwater-resident L. fluviatilis are mitigating gene flow between large anadromous parasitic L. fluviatilis, and small, non-parasitic L. planeri.
 As well as weak behavioural isolation, inter-specific sneak male mating tactics were documented among these populations, and represents the first time this phenomenon has been observed between paired lamprey species. Such behaviour indicates a lack of species-specific cues acting between L. fluviatilis and L. planeri, and suggests that hybrid offspring could be common in some systems. Testing hybrid viability (survivorship) between Loch Lomond's two L. fluviatilis life history strategies and the sympatric L. planeri revealed no post-zygotic barriers to gene flow, at least in the form of gamete incompatibility.
 Perhaps more convincingly though, when comparing traditional morphometrics and body shape variation, as well as mitochondrial DNA sequences, between L. fluviatilis expressing different foraging strategies with populations of L. planeri, no robust species specific differentiation was observed. In fact, species delimitation between L. fluviatilis and L. planeri appears to be related solely to overall body size, which is itself a function of life history strategy. However, life history strategy was not correlated with current species designation as relationships among mtDNA haplotypes indicate non-parasitic populations have evolved independently multiple times throughout the geographic range of L. fluviatilis in Europe. Therefore, L. planeri should not be considered as a distinct species, either morphologically or genetically. Instead, L. fluviatilis appears capable of expressing a range of life history strategies; from parasitic anadromous populations through to non-parasitic stream-resident populations.
 The overall research approach employed in this thesis, i.e., the combination of ecological, behavioural, taxonomic and molecular studies, could be used to robustly examine the evolutionary ecology of parasitic and non-parasitic lampreys elsewhere.


Ballast fouling in the railroad substructure is detrimental to the effectiveness of the railroad track and its structural capacity. The early detection of ballast fouling is of utmost importance to the safety of the rail system and its life-cycle cost-effectiveness. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), a nondestructive evaluation tool, has shown its potential as a means of assessing the condition of the railroad substructure rapidly, effectively, and continuously. However, an unknown ballast dielectric constant and an unclear interface between clean and fouled ballast limit the accuracy of GPR assessment. In the present study, controlled laboratory testing was conducted to measure accurately the dielectric constants of two common ballast types, granite and limestone, under various fouling and moisture conditions. In addition, a time–frequency method, short-time Fourier transform (STFT), was used to demonstrate graphically the frequency energy variation with the depth of the ballast under various conditions. This method indirectly reflects the ballast fouling condition. To validate the effectiveness of STFT for ballast fouling assessment, field GPR data from the Orin Subdivision in Wyoming were analyzed with the STFT technique and laboratory-measured dielectric constants. Comparison of the ground truth data and GPR measurements proved that the STFT method is effective and that its results are reasonably accurate when it is used to locate fouling and trapped water within ballast, especially when the laboratory-predicted ballast dielectric constants are used in the analysis.


Statistic shown that the number of hazard in the Malaysia construction sites is one of the highest as compared to other sector. The parties involved in the construction industry strive continuously to reduce accidents and high mortality rates among workers at construction sites. The accidents in construction sites are still in an issue that is frequently reported in the media nowadays. The objective of this study is to investigate the awareness level among employers and employees towards hazards in constructions sites and to examine the possible causes of lack of awareness among employers and employees towards hazard in constructions sites. This study focuses only on the Klang Valley area which is involved the construction sites in Section 13, Shah Alam, Section 7, Shah Alam and Precint 15, Putrajaya. The studies were conducted through literature review and interview to get the result accurately and comprehensively. The three case studies were conducted on Class A contractors in Klang Valley area who are actively involved in the implementation of construction projects as respondents for feedback in relation to aspects of this research. The result of this research showed that the causes of the accident which occurred at a construction site identified as a result of poor attitude towards safety, some people in construction sites has poor in their self-control, failure to learn lessons from previous incidents, poor management practises, deficient enforcement of safety and etc. It is expected that the parties involved in safety and health at construction sites can apply the findings of this study to predict and thus make planning and regulation with more efficiently. CHAPTER


This paper seeks to answer the simple question of what category of retail outlets generates the most physical interactions in the regular course of life. In this way, we aim to bring a marketing perspective to discussions about which businesses may be most risky from the standpoint of spreading contagious disease. We use detailed data from people's mobile devices prior to the implementation of social distancing measures in the United States. With this data, we examine a number of potential indicators of risk of contagion: The absolute number of visits and visitors, how many of the visits are generated by the same people, the median average distance traveled by the visitor to the retailer, and the number of customers from Canada and Mexico. We find that retailers with a single outlet tend to attract relatively few visitors, fewer one-off visitors, and have fewer international customers. For retailers that have multiple stores the patterns are non-linear. Retailers that have such a large number of stores that they are ubiquitous, tend to exhibit fewer visits and visitors and attract customers from a smaller distance. However, retailers that have a large enough footprint to be well known, but not large enough to be ubiquitous tend to attract a large number of visitors who make one-off visits, travel a long distance, and are disproportionately international.


Users need to be able to address in-air gesture systems, which means finding where to perform gestures and how to direct them towards the intended system. This is necessary for input to be sensed correctly and without unintentionally affecting other systems. This thesis investigates novel interaction techniques which allow users to address gesture systems properly, helping them find where and how to gesture. It also investigates audio, tactile and interactive light displays for multimodal gesture feedback; these can be used by gesture systems with limited output capabilities (like mobile phones and small household controls), allowing the interaction techniques to be used by a variety of device types. It investigates tactile and interactive light displays in greater detail, as these are not as well understood as audio displays.

Experiments 1 and 2 explored tactile feedback for gesture systems, comparing an ultrasound haptic display to wearable tactile displays at different body locations and investigating feedback designs. These experiments found that tactile feedback improves the user experience of gesturing by reassuring users that their movements are being sensed. Experiment 3 investigated interactive light displays for gesture systems, finding this novel display type effective for giving feedback and presenting information. It also found that interactive light feedback is enhanced by audio and tactile feedback.

These feedback modalities were then used alongside audio feedback in two interaction techniques for addressing gesture systems: sensor strength feedback and rhythmic gestures. Sensor strength feedback is multimodal feedback that tells users how well they can be sensed, encouraging them to find where to gesture through active exploration. Experiment 4 found that they can do this with 51mm accuracy, with combinations of audio and interactive light feedback leading to the best performance. Rhythmic gestures are continuously repeated gesture movements which can be used to direct input. Experiment 5 investigated the usability of this technique, finding that users can match rhythmic gestures well and with ease.

Finally, these interaction techniques were combined, resulting in a new single interaction for addressing gesture systems. Using this interaction, users could direct their input with rhythmic gestures while using the sensor strength feedback to find a good location for addressing the system. Experiment 6 studied the effectiveness and usability of this technique, as well as the design space for combining the two types of feedback. It found that this interaction was successful, with users matching 99.9% of rhythmic gestures, with 80mm accuracy from target points. The findings show that gesture systems could successfully use this interaction technique to allow users to address them. Novel design recommendations for using rhythmic gestures and sensor strength feedback were created, informed by the experiment findings.


The study investigated the technical efficiency of catfish production in Ekiti State of Nigeria and explored their determinants. Primary data were collected from 120 catfish farmers. Descriptive statistics was used to explain the socioeconomic and the enterprise characteristics of the respondents. The stochastic frontier approach was employed in analyzing the efficiency indices and their determinants. The results showed that Youths that were under 45 years account for majority of the respondents. The study accentuated the important need of women participation in catfish production. All of them attended schools at different levels which should be a boost to managerial abilities of the fish producers. Almostall the farmers (96%) adopted the earthen pond method rather than the concrete pond system because of issues relating to cost. About 89% of them had a stock capacity that ranged between 500 and 1000 fingerlings which stipulated that most of them were small scale operators. Only two of the efficiency correlates were significant. These are stock capacity and quantity oflabour. The return to scale was 0.136 which suggested that catfish farming was still a profitable venture. Fairly high inefficiencies were established in many of the farms and improvement of these was very possible if the fish farmers making up this number adopted the techniques of more efficient farms in the area.


Thiolactomycin [(4S)(2E,5E)-2,4,6-trimethyl-3-hydroxy-2,5,7-octatriene- 4-thiolide] (TLM) is a unique antibiotic structure that inhibits dissociated type II fatty acid synthase systems but not the multifunctional type I fatty acid synthases found in mammals. We screened an Escherichia coli genomic library for recombinant plasmids that impart TLM resistance to a TLM-sensitive strain of E. coli K-12. Nine independent plasmids were isolated, and all possessed a functional beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase I gene (fabB) based on their restriction enzyme maps and complementation of the temperature-sensitive growth of a fabB15(Ts) mutant. A plasmid (pJTB3) was constructed that contained only the fabB open reading frame. This plasmid conferred TLM resistance, complemented the fabB(Ts) mutation, and directed the overproduction of synthase I activity. TLM selectively inhibited unsaturated fatty acid synthesis in vivo; however, synthase I was not the only TLM target, since supplementation with oleate to circumvent the cellular requirement for an active synthase I did not confer TLM resistance. Overproduction of the FabB protein resulted in TLM-resistant fatty acid biosynthesis in vivo and in vitro. These data show that beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase I is a major target for TLM and that increased expression of this condensing enzyme is one mechanism for acquiring TLM resistance. However, extracts from a TLM-resistant mutant (strain CDM5) contained normal levels of TLM-sensitive synthase I activity, illustrating that there are other mechanisms of TLM resistance.


i»?This paper examines financing mechanisms to support infrastructure development and connectivity in Northeast Asia—comprising the Northeastern People's Republic of China, Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, and the Russian Far East. Although this subregion has developed the Greater Tumen Initiative, the extent of intergovernmental cooperation for cross-border infrastructure investment is not as strong as in other subregional cooperation programs in Asia, such as the Greater Mekong Subregion Program and the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program. Using various previously published estimates, this paper finds that the total infrastructure investment needs for the subregion excluding Japan and the Republic of Korea (in transport, energy, information and communication technology, and the environment) could be in the order of $63 billion per year over the next 10 years, and of this total governments in the subregion will have to mobilize external funding of $13 billion a year, focusing on national infrastructure projects in the DPRK and Mongolia and high-priority cross-border projects in Northeast Asia. The paper considers three options as a cooperative financing mechanism for the subregion : special and/or trust funds set up in the existing multilateral development banks (MDBs), a structured infrastructure investment fund supported by MDB(s), and a new subregional multilateral development bank. Then it suggests that the Northeast Asian governments may begin with setting up special and/or trust funds at the existing MDBs and move to creating an infrastructure investment fund, following the good example of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Infrastructure Fund, once sufficient confidence and trust is built and the DPRK returns to the international community. The paper recommends against the establishment of a new development bank in the subregion.


Social anxiety is a psychological disorder affected by cognitive aspects of person. The aim of study was to investigate the role of informational, normative, and avoidance identity styles in predicting the variance of social anxiety amongst Iranian medical science students. Using stratified sampling method, one hundred and twenty students were selected from each of the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and public health. Berzonsky identity style questionnaire, and Liebowitz et al social anxiety test were used for data collection. According to obtained results informational, normative, and avoidance identity styles can predict the variance of social anxiety. Moreover, there was a significant and negative correlation between social anxiety and informational style and normative identity style; Meanwhile, there was a positive significant correlation between social anxiety and avoidant identity style. With respect to findings of current study, providing more opportunities in the colleges and faculty is recommended in order to improve informational and normative identity styles among students, and reduce social anxiety consequences.


The exchange of information in the industrial environment is essential in order to achieve complete integration and control of manufacturing processes. At present the majority of devices present in the shop floor environment are still used as stand alone machines. They do not take advantage of the possibilities offered by a communication link to improve the manufacturing process. The subject of this research has been centered on the development of a simple, flexible and inexpensive support system for communication and control of manufacturing processes. As a result, a system with these features has been proposed and implemented on a simulated workcell. The area footwear manufacturing was chosen for modelling the workcell. The components of the manufacturing support system were developed using an object oriented approach which allowed modularity and software reuse. In order to achieve communication between the components, a communication protocol was developed following the process defined in the rapid protocol implementation framework. Ethernet was selected for implementing the lower levels of the protocol. Java, a new object oriented programming language used for the implementation of the system, showed that it could became a promising language for the implementation of manufacturing applications. In particular the platform independence feature of the language allows the immediate porting of applications to systems with different features. The manufacturing cell simulation had shown that the times associated with the manufacturing support system operations are compatible for its use in applications where the response times are in the order of one second.


Homosexual are human being that have same sex oriented and usually at man and man couple. At Indonesian norms, still judge that is a taboo thing with homosexual, but We can't denide, that total of them already reach for 4.942 people in Malang town. These data taked out side from LSM IGAMA (Ikatan Gaya Malang) at Oct 30, 2007. There are powerful norms regulation in Indonesia society, so that these are "Men" homosexual that covered their status with marry the women with always hoping normal respected with society. At first time, they think with get married they can be the normal personal agree with society norms, but married with women were
not the good solution for muffle their deviate sex oriented. The homosexual that married with women of course have conflict in their self. Until these research purpose for knowing what the conflict that homosexual experienced that married with women and how the way solution that conflict. These researches constitute qualitative descriptive research with used three homosexual that married with women as research subject. These research bring about at September 10-14, 2007. Collecting data methods that used was penetrate interview. Legality data methods that used were resources and theory triangulation. Be based on research result with the three persons, so taked the conclusion from homosexual that married with women conflict are, the three subject can serve the duty into give spiritual necessities to his wife but in other side still stripes urging of sex with homosexual couple, have trouble to give material needs between wife and his homosexual couple, besides that have conflict between wanna free to be a homosexual but still have responsible for his child, love feeling with his wife and in other side still love his homosexual couple, have a trouble into choice the way of life between be a husband or be the real homosexual. Although in other side wants maintain his household but the soul is a homosexual so this thing was very difficult to be walked. With there were conflicts that happen with homosexual that married with women was scattered. Be scattered was solution for take the real free life be a real homosexual with the soul they had, and other solution was not be scattered in the meaning still hold out in household because children and family factor, but in other side still be stealthily homosexual.


In four experiments a large temporal effect is demonstrated for alternating between different response modes of musical output: sing- whistle, sing-play. This effect, demonstrated for college students with some musical training, has theoretical implications for the setting of response mode parameters. Over the series of four studies, it is shown that the time to alternate between musical output modes is not due to peripheral competition for the components of the same motor system, or to central competition produced by concurrently trying to use the same central resources for several things at once. Syntactic disruption explains some of the alternation effect, but the most complete explanation is attributable to an output parameter setting mechanism in which different response modes may be set to ON/OFF. Both evidence and argument suggest that these parameters are set globally, and it takes time to change their values (about 200 msec per switch).


To support the development of building energy standards in China, the authors have recently developed a set of Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) weather data for 26 locations. These TMY weather data have been produced from 16 years of historical weather (1982-1997) reported by Chinese airports and recorded by the U.S. Climatic Data Service. Since the weather data records only cloud conditions at various heights, a substantial effort was made towards estimating the total and direct solar radiation from the cloud information, combined with information on temperature, humidity, and wind speed. Comparisons of the estimated solar to actual measured hourly solar for three locations and daily totals for all 26 locations showed good agreement to with 20% for hourly and 10% for daily values. The 26 weather files are available as either ASCII files in SI units, or as packed DOE2.1E weather files.


This study examines Adolphe Quêtelet's conception of deviance. It investigates how he identified social marginalities and what actions he recommended governments to undertake. To get a close understanding of his views, this paper examines three cases of "monstrosities," namely mental alienation, drunkenness, and criminality. My main thesis is that Quêtelet provided scientific authority to a conception of deviance as sickness, immorality, and cost thus encouraging legislators to use statistics for containing social marginalities. The case of alienation shows that Quêtelet viewed insanity as a pathology of civilization to be understood through phrenology. The case of drunkenness demonstrates how Quêtelet conflated the notion of statistical mean with moral decency. The case of criminality illustrates Quêtelet's major concern with the cost of criminals for the state. While advocating for the perfectibility of mankind, Quêtelet urged governments to take actions against what he considered the monstrosities of society.


Growing attention has been paid over recent years to the possibility of monitoring surface particulate matter (PM) concentrations through the use of satellite observations. Satellite remote sensing of both aerosol and trace gas constituents can be usefully employed in air quality monitoring (AQ). The MODIS (Terra-Aqua/NASA platforms) aerosol optical properties were used here in a semi-empirical approach to estimate PM2.5 content at ground level. PM2.5 samplings were employed to convert aerosol optical depth AOD into PM estimates, considering meteorological fields simulated by MM5. Thus, daily maps of satellite-based PM2.5 concentrations over Northern Italy were derived. Comparison with daily PM2.5, sampled on the ground during the QUITSAT project over six validation sites of the Po valley, showed good agreement (R2 ¿ 0.68 and R2 ¿ 0.59 for MODIS/Terra and MODIS/Aqua, respectively), with the satellite-based concentrations tending to underestimate the values by at most ~20%. Monthly averaged values were also compared providing good agreement, with R2 ¿ 0.7 for each platform.


The study sought to analyze the effects of downsizing strategies on survivors' organizational commitment (affective, continuous, and  normative) at Ethio Telecom. This study used descriptive and causal effect type of study. It focused on both qualitative and quantitative approaches for collection and analysis of data. This research made use of both primary and secondary sources of data. The researcher employed simple random sampling technique to select 362respondents from each zone and headquarter offices. In this study, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed. As the findings depict that positive and significant effect of exogenous variables (organizational justice: procedural and distributive justice) with the standardized estimate for procedural justice on affective, continuous, and normative commitment effects were all significant but they are not that much strong (s =0.22, 0.18, 0.17) while distributive justice had high effect on affective, continuous, and normative commitment0.97, 0.99, 0.98 and respectively. Based on the above findings the researcher inferred that there was organizational procedural injustice in the time of downsizing at Ethio Telecom. Consequently, these perceptions affected adversely survivors' organizational commitment. As a result, survivors are neither emotionally attached nor have feeling of continuous commitment to the company. Hence, the researcher recommends that the strategists should do the following in order to make it effective: plan the process properly, study the overall scenario prior to the attempt, do human resource planning industriously, set clear selection criteria, make the process transparent, communicate timely, conduct behavioral trainings, align each unit activity with company's strategic objectives, and prepare victims for other jobs.


Corruption constitutes one of the most serious problems the world is facing today. The large-scale looting of public treasuries and resources by heads of state and their allies has devastating consequences for social, economic and political structures, leading to gross human rights violations, distorting markets and allowing organized crime to flourish. Efforts to curb corruption have gained momentum in the last 20 years, leading to the adoption of numerous international legal instruments. Nevertheless, the perpetrators of grand corruption usually escape any form of criminal liability. Strong arguments speak in favour of including grand corruption on the agenda of international criminal justice. Although there is no specific mention of corruption in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, kleptocracy could be classified as "other inhumane act" within the category of crimes against humanity. It is arguable that legitimately prosecuting corruption requires an amendment of the Statute which is lacking political support in the near future. Notwithstanding, the mandate given to the ICC is meant to address a reality that is constantly presenting new challenges. The Court's impact on the rule of law and its deterrent effect is strong in spite of all limitations and criticism. Where corrupt acts fulfill all statutory requirements of crimes against humanity, the ICC should prosecute them. Such efforts have to be complemented on a national and regional level, in particular where corruption does not qualify as a crime against humanity as such. Recent developments raise hopes that impunity for grand corruption can be successfully fought.


The value of "diversity" in social and ecological systems is frequently asserted in academic and policy literature. Diversity is thought to enhance the resilience of social-ecological systems to varied and potentially uncertain future conditions. Yet there are trade-offs; diversity in ecological and social domains has costs as well as benefits. In this paper, we examine social diversity, specifically its costs and benefits in terms of decision making in middle range or tribal societies, using archaeological evidence spanning seven centuries from four regions of the U.S. Southwest. In these nonstate societies, social diversity may detract from the capacity for collective action. We ask whether as population density increases, making collective action increasingly difficult, social diversity declines. Further, we trace the cases of low diversity and high population density across our long-temporal sequences to see how they associate with the most dramatic transformations. This latter analysis is inspired by the claim in resilience literature that reduction of diversity may contribute to reduction in resilience to varied conditions. Using archaeological data, we examine social diversity and conformity through the material culture (pottery styles) of past societies. Our research contributes to an enhanced understanding of how population density may limit social diversity and suggests the role that this association may play in some contexts of dramatic social transformation.


Despite increased international rhetoric in support of women's equality, women currently comprise a disproportionate share of the world's illiterate, poor, displaced, underpaid, underemployed, and underrepresented populations. And though women have gained visibility and influence in a wide array of political and economic arenas, their position and status in society are still far from equal to those of men. On the other hand, since the post-World War II era, there has been a global explosion of women's activism on behalf of equality, liberation, and better living conditions--women are standing up not only for themselves, but also for other disempowered groups. Participation and Protest provides an overview of the ways in which women participate in institutionalized politics, social movements, and revolutionary movements. It discusses key policy issues that affect women, such as equality in the workforce, maternity and family leave policies, and reproductive rights. Exploring the critical concerns that confront women in the world community--including economic development, war, and international law--the book analyzes the role of women in nationalist and fundamentalist movements, and also considers women's rights in the broader context of international human rights. Offering global coverage of this important subject, Participation and Protest examines the impact of women in politics--and politics' impact on women--from a cross-national, comparative perspective.


Law and order has become a key issue throughout the world. Crime stories saturate the mass media and politicians shrilly compete with each other in a race to be the toughest on crime. Prisons are crammed to bursting point, and police powers and resources extended repeatedly. After decades of explosive increase in crime rates, these have plummeted throughout the Western world in the 1990s. Yet fear of crime and violence, and the security industries catering for these anxieties, grow relentlessly. This book offers an up-to-date analysis of these contemporary trends by providing all honest and concerned citizens with a concise yet comprehensive survey of the sources of current problems and anxieties about crime. It shows that the dominant tough law and order approach to crime is based on fallacies about its nature, sources, and what works in terms of crime control. Instead it argues that the growth of crime has deep-seated causes, so that policing and penal policy at best can only temporarily hold a lid down on offending. The book is intended to inform public debate about these vital issues through a critical deconstruction of prevailing orthodoxy. With its focus on current policies, problems and debates this book is also an excellent introduction to criminology for the growing numbers of students of the subject at all levels


Copper nanoparticles are prepared by electrochemical method with various current density in emulsion containing sodium dodecyl sulfate, tween80, dodecyl mercaptan, CuSO4•5H2O. The resulting copper nanoparticles are investigated by XRD, TEM and FT-IR. The result shows that great changes have taken place in the size, the dispersibility, and the distribution of particles size as the current density goes up. According to analysis, it can be found that the copper nanoparticle can be obtained in smaller size, better dispersibility and narrower distribution of particle size under the current density of 0.01 A/cm². At the same time, current density eventually affects the size of the nanoparticles as well as overpotential and the size of water droplet.


Objective: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation has become an important treatment modality in patients with high risk comorbidities for surgical aortic valve replacement. The objective of this study is to evaluate the cerebral perfusion status using near infrared spectroscopy method especially during the rapid ventricular pacing phase of the transcatheter aortic valve implantation procedure.
Methods: 20 consecutive patients undergoing trans-femoral aortic valve implantation procedure between May 2015 and March 2016 in our institute were retrospectively evaluated. The periprocedural cerebral oxygenation was measured with a near infrared spectroscopy sensor (INVOSTM-5100 C, Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MI, USA) located on the forehead of the patients. All hemodynamic data and cerebral near infrared spectroscopy values were recorded before, during and after the procedure with constant time intervals, especially at the time of rapid ventricular pacing and device deployment.
Results: The mean age was 74.4 ± 9.2 years. Male female ratio was 1.8 to 1 (13 males, 7 females). Mean procedure time was 70.2 ± 14.3 minutes. The rapid ventricular pacing included two episodes with a total time for pacing of 22.6 ± 5.1 seconds. There was a statistically significant difference with regard to the heart rate and the cerebral near infrared spectroscopy values (p=0.006 and p=0.02; respectively) in all patients during the rapid ventricular pacing period. The cerebral near infrared spectroscopy values were statistically lower than baseline levels (p<0.001).
Conclusion: This observational study presents the significant decrease of cerebral near infrared spectroscopy values during the rapid ventricular pacing phase of the transcatheter aortic valve implantation procedure. Further studies may reveal cut-off values both for near infrared spectroscopy values and rapid ventricular pacing duration in order to determine a critical cut-off level.


In the 1950's and 1960's surface physicists/metallurgists such as Herring and Mullins applied ingenious thermodynamic arguments to explain a number of experimentally observed surface phenomena in crystals. These insights permitted the successful engineering of a large number of alloys, where the major mathematical novelty was that the surface response to external stress was anisotropic. By examining step/terrace (vicinal) surface defects it was discovered through lengthy and tedious experiments that the stored energy density (surface tension) along a step edge was a smooth symmetric function β of the azimuthal angle 0 to the step, and that the positive function β attains its minimum value at θ = π/2 and its maximum value at 0 = 0. The function β provided the crucial thermodynamic parameters needed for the engineering of these materials. Moreover the minimal energy configuration of the step is determined by the values of the stiffness function β" + β which ultimately leads to the magnitude and direction of surface mass flow for these materials. In the 1990's there was a dramatic improvement in electron microscopy which permitted real time observation of the meanderings of a step edge under Brownian heat oscillations. These observations provided much more rapid determination of the relevant thermodynamic parameters for the step edge, even for crystals at temperatures below their roughening temperature. Use of these tools led J. Hannon and his coexperimenters to discover that some crystals behave in a highly anti-intuitive manner as their temperature is varied. The present article is devoted to a model described by a class of variational problems. The main result of the paper describes the solutions of the corresponding problem for a generic integrand.


In this paper, we present Structon, a novel approach that uses Web mining together with inference and IP traceroute to geolocate IP addresses with significantly better accuracy than existing automated approaches. Structon is composed of three ideas which we realize in three corresponding steps. First, we extract geolocation information of Web server IP addresses from Web pages. Second, we devise heuristic algorithms to improve both the accuracy and the coverage of the IP geolocation database using these Web server IP addresses and their geolocations as input. Third, for those segments that are not covered in the first two steps, we use IP traceroute to identify the access routers of those segments. When the location of the access router is known, we can deduce the location of the associated segment since it is co-located together with the access router. By mining 500-million Web pages collected in China in 2006 (11 percent of the total Web pages in China at that time), we are able to identify the geolocations for 103 million IP addresses. This represents nearly 88 percent IP addresses allocated to China in March 2008. Structon is 87.4 percent accurate at city granularity and up to 93.5 percent accurate at province level. We also used 10 day Windows Live client log to evaluate our client IP addresses coverage: Structon identified geolocations of 98.9 percent of client IP addresses.


Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments is a comprehensive list of terms used in the universal management of urban trees.

Many of the terms are from arboricultural science, while others are derived from unproven but commonly applied concepts. Where the existing terminology to describe trees was limited or nonexistent, new terms have been introduced.

This dictionary allows for broad application and use by a wide variety of people and conveys in plain language concepts that are sometimes complex. Most major terms have been cross referenced and diagrams have been added for greater understanding. While a number of pertinent botanical terms have been included, those readily found within dictionaries of general plant sciences and botany have been omitted.

Dictionary for Managing Trees in Urban Environments promotes a greater understanding of arboriculture and urban forestry, and will assist in the preparation of reports for the management of trees, procedures and planning instruments, such as Tree Management Policies and Tree Management Orders.


Nursing Home Organizational Characteristics and Utilization of Cancer-Related Medical Services by Chun-Chieh Lin A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010 Director: Jan Clement, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Health Administration Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S and is more common among the elderly. Since frailty and other age related conditions put the elderly at risk for nursing home care, nursing homes may be the site of care and death for many elderly cancer patients. However, there is a large gap in knowledge concerning cancer treatment of elderly nursing home residents. Since residents rely heavily on their nursing facilities, nursing homes might influence them in their treatment decisions. After controlling for resident and nursing home market characteristics, this study applies Andersen's Behavioral Model to examine whether nursing home organizational characteristics (nurse staffing level, nursing skill mix, and quality deficiencies) are related to the use of cancerrelated medical services for treatment (oncologist visits, cancer-directed surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy), and palliative care (pain medication and hospice services) among 1,183 Medicaid and Medicare insured residents of nursing homes in Michigan from 1996-2000. Using data from the Medicare claim file, Medicaid claim file, Michigan tumor registry, Area Resource File, Michigan Medicaid Nursing Home Cost Report, and Online Survey, Certification and Reporting (OSCAR), the study used logistic regression to predict the utilization of cancer-related medical services. The results generally did not support the hypotheses. Nursing staffing level and nursing skill mix did not predict any cancer-related medical service utilization. Cancer care may be more associated with patient characteristics, such as age, which are usually taken into consideration when physicians suggest treatments, than nursing home organizational characteristics. However, relative to residents of nursing homes with the highest quartile of quality deficiencies, residents of nursing homes in the lowest quartile of quality deficiencies had a decreased likelihood of utilizing hospice care (OR=.509; 95%CI=.325 to .796; p=.003). Residents in high quality nursing homes may want to stay in the same place and not transfer to another facility for hospice care while residents in poor quality nursing homes may be motivated to use hospice care. Even though this study did not successfully find that higher nurse staffing level, nursing skill mix, quality of care are associated with greater opportunity of utilizing cancer-related medical services, this study was successful in laying out an empirically sound base framework to analyze this association. Future research can incorporate other states or nationwide data to reexamine this relationship using this study as a base model.


Angiogenesis is the generation of mature vascular networks from pre-existing vessels. Angiogenesis is crucial during the organism' development, for wound healing and for the female reproductive cycle. Several murine experimental systems are well suited for studying developmental and pathological angiogenesis. They include the embryonic hindbrain, the post-natal retina and allantois explants. In these systems vascular networks are visualised by appropriate staining procedures followed by microscopical analysis. Nevertheless, quantitative assessment of angiogenesis is hampered by the lack of readily available, standardized metrics and software analysis tools. Non-automated protocols are being used widely and they are, in general, time - and labour intensive, prone to human error and do not permit computation of complex spatial metrics. We have developed a light-weight, user friendly software, AngioTool, which allows for quick, hands-off and reproducible quantification of vascular networks in microscopic images. AngioTool computes several morphological and spatial parameters including the area covered by a vascular network, the number of vessels, vessel length, vascular density and lacunarity. In addition, AngioTool calculates the so-called "branching index" (branch points / unit area), providing a measurement of the sprouting activity of a specimen of interest. We have validated AngioTool using images of embryonic murine hindbrains, post-natal retinas and allantois explants. AngioTool is open source and can be downloaded free of charge.


Background. Back pain is a common problem and a major cause of disability and health care utilization. Purpose. To evaluate the efficacy, harms, and costs of the most common CAM treatments (acupuncture, massage, spinal manipulation, and mobilization) for neck/low-back pain. Data Sources. Records without language restriction from various databases up to February 2010. Data Extraction. The efficacy outcomes of interest were pain intensity and disability. Data Synthesis. Reports of 147 randomized trials and 5 nonrandomized studies were included. CAM treatments were more effective in reducing pain and disability compared to no treatment, physical therapy (exercise and/or electrotherapy) or usual care immediately or at short-term follow-up. Trials that applied sham-acupuncture tended towards statistically nonsignificant results. In several studies, acupuncture caused bleeding on the site of application, and manipulation and massage caused pain episodes of mild and transient nature. Conclusions. CAM treatments were significantly more efficacious than no treatment, placebo, physical therapy, or usual care in reducing pain immediately or at short-term after treatment. CAM therapies did not significantly reduce disability compared to sham. None of the CAM treatments was shown systematically as superior to one another. More efforts are needed to improve the conduct and reporting of studies of CAM treatments.


Abstract. The main part of the Cluster Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Field Fluctuations (STAFF) experiment consists of triaxial search coils allowing the measurements of the three magnetic components of the waves from 0.1 Hz up to 4 kHz. Two sets of data are produced, one by a module to filter and transmit the corresponding waveform up to either 10 or 180 Hz (STAFF-SC), and the second by the onboard Spectrum Analyser (STAFF-SA) to compute the elements of the spectral matrix for five components of the waves, 3 × B and 2 × E (from the EFW experiment), in the frequency range 8 Hz to 4 kHz. In order to understand the way the output signals of the search coils are calibrated, the transfer functions of the different parts of the instrument are described as well as the way to transform telemetry data into physical units across various coordinate systems from the spinning sensors to a fixed and known frame. The instrument sensitivity is discussed. Cross-calibration inside STAFF (SC and SA) is presented. Results of cross-calibration between the STAFF search coils and the Cluster Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM) data are discussed. It is shown that these cross-calibrations lead to an agreement between both data sets at low frequency within a 2% error. By means of statistics done over 10 yr, it is shown that the functionalities and characteristics of both instruments have not changed during this period.


Marine smectite-mudstones of Lower Tertiary age (Teurian to Runangan) occur throughout the East Coast Deformed Belt of New Zealand. In Marlborough, Marl lithofacies of the Amuri Limestone comprise calcareous, siliceous smectite-mudstone alternating with biomicrite. In Wairarapa, the Kandahar Formation consists of calcareous smectite-mudstone, micritic limestone beds and mass-flow greensand beds; Calcareous smectite-mudstone is also a minor interbedded lithology in the Mungaroa Limestone of Wairarapa. The Wanstead Formation in Hawkes Bay comprises uncemented smectite-mudstone with interbedded mass-flow greensands. Lower Tertiary sequences throughout the East Coast Deformed Belt are typically disrupted by thrust faults and associated shear/melange zones which have developed in the weak smectite-mudstone lithology. Insoluble clay fractions of the smectite-mudstones are composed of well crystallised sme.ctite + illite ±_ quartz (chert). Both the smectite and illite clays are discrete phases with no interstratification suggestive of post-sedimentary transformation of smectite to illite. From detailed phase analysis, the smectite clay overall is a montmorillonitic species, but with varying interstratification of other dioctahedral smectite species and varying layer charge. No distinct stratigraphic trends in clay fraction mineralogy or smectite mineralogy are apparent. Sand fractions of the mudstones are dominated by authigenic or non-volcanic detrital minerals. Average smectite + illite structural formulas calculated from chemical ana~yses are commonly non-ideal, with deficiencies in aluminium particularly apparent. The dominant exchangeable cations are calcium in Marlborough mudstones and sodium in Hawkes Bay mudstones. Trace element geochemistry of the smectite-mudstones is similar to that of typical shale and carbonate rocks. Variations in trace element abundances· reflect the lithological character of the mudstones and do not appear to be a useful tool for regional stratigraphic correlation. Combined sedimentological, mineralogical and geochemical features of the smectite-mudstones indicate a non-volcanic origin. They did not form by in-situ alteration of ash-falls and are unlikely to have formed from transported/reworked ash. Previous use of the term 'bentonite' for the sme~tite-mudstones implies such a mode of genesis and should be discontinued. Hemipelagic sedimentation and/or mass-flow redeposition of detrital or neoformed clay in an open oceanic, relatively deep water environment is proposed as the origin of the smectite-mudstones. 2


Over the past 5-10 years, the rise of software-defined networking (SDN) has inspired a wide range of new systems, libraries, hypervisors and languages for programming, monitoring, and debugging network behavior. Oftentimes, these systems are disjoint—one language for programming and another for verification, and yet another for run-time monitoring and debugging. In this paper, we present a new, unified framework, called Temporal NetKAT, capable of facilitating all of these tasks at once. As its name suggests, Temporal NetKAT is the synthesis of two formal theories: past-time (finite trace) linear temporal logic and (network) Kleene Algebra with Tests. Temporal predicates allow programmers to write down concise properties of a packet's path through the network and to make dynamic packet-forwarding, access control or debugging decisions on that basis. In addition to being useful for programming, the combined equational theory of LTL and NetKAT facilitates proofs of path-based correctness properties. Using new, general, proof techniques, we show that the equational semantics is sound with respect to the denotational semantics, and, for a class of programs we call network-wide programs, complete. We have also implemented a compiler for temporal NetKAT, evaluated its performance on a range of benchmarks, and studied the effectiveness of several optimizations.


The first part of this thesis is about the development of a method to inject various substances into the yolk of fish eggs. The method was named nanoinjection and enabled the injection of volumes as small as 10-9 L into the yolk of single fish eggs directly after fertilization, with insignificant mortality due to the injection. The nanoinjection method has been shown to be useful in studies of the toxic effects of environmental contaminants in early life stages and is considered to mimic maternal transfer of anthropogenic and natural substances to the egg. The subsequent parts in this thesis concern thiamine (vitamin B1) and the consequences of thiamine deficiency. Since 1995, it is known that the Baltic salmon (Salmo salar) females transfer insufficient amounts of thiamine into their eggs for their offspring to survive, a condition known as the M74 syndrome. The embryonic and larval development of salmon from the river Dalalven (Sweden) was studied during the seasons of 1994–1995 and 1995–1996. Disorders at hatch and symptoms of thiamine deficiency were described. A parallel study compared early development in cod (Gadus morhua) from the Baltic Sea to cod from the Barents Sea. Both salmon and cod from the Baltic Sea showed a number of disorders at hatch. Nanoinjections of thiamine solutions into newly fertilized eggs from Baltic salmon protected the larvae from the M74 syndrome. Larvae with the M74 syndrome had low hepatic activities of the thiamine diphosphate-dependent enzymes transketolase (TK) and the α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (KGDHC). Also, apparently healthy Baltic salmon yolk-sac larvae showed reduced activities of TK and KGDHC, compared to the offspring from intraperitoneal thiamine-injected females. The result suggested a sublethal thiamine deficiency in the salmon population. The hypothesis that redox-cycling substances affect thiamine metabolism, was tested in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) juveniles. Exposure to paraquat caused a ten-fold increase in the activity of glutathione reductase and elevated the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, the rate limiting enzyme in the pentose-phosphate shunt. Despite the nine week period of oxidative stress, neither the TK activity nor thiamine concentrations were affected. The underlying cause(s) of the low thiamine concentration in the Baltic salmon is still unknown.


The growing number of cores on modern-day processors and the evolution of their overall architecture continues to bring new challenges to code optimizations for these platforms. Running code on such architectures requires data transfers between the multiple memories located throughout the chip that are expensive in both time and energy. In order to limit the impact of these transfers on the performances of applications we present a new approach that combines both a model for memory-usage and a code transformation. This transformation consists of the rescheduling of code at various levels with the goal of regrouping the different accesses to the same data element in a small window of time. The implementation of this new method is illustrated with multiple use-cases for which the effects on data transfers are evaluated.


Plant photosynthetic pigments are important in harvesting the light energy and transfer of energy during photosynthesis. There are several yellow foliar mutants discovered in soybean and chromosomal locations for about half of them have been deduced. Viable-yellow mutants are capable of surviving with decreased photosynthesis, while lethal-yellow mutants die shortly after germination. In addition to the decreased chlorophyll content, other features associated with yellow mutants include altered Chl a and Chl b ratio, reduction in chloroplast size and number, lower levels of other photosynthetic pigments, inability of thylakoids to stack into granum, lack of lamellae to interconnect granum and reduced size of the light harvesting complex. For some yellow mutants, temperature and/or light play a critical role in the manifestation of phenotype. Although yellow foliar mutants are viewed as undesirable for crop production, there is the possibility of these mutants to create a positive impact by reducing the total amount of chlorophyll and diverting resources toward increased biochemical photosynthetic capacity leading to increased yield. Recent advances in model plants led to the isolation and characterization of various genes associated with yellow foliar phenotype. Knowledge gained from the model plants can be applied using homology based cloning approach to isolate genes in soybean and understanding the modes of actions of the involved proteins. Identifying and characterizing yellow foliar mutants will not only aid in understanding the biosynthetic pathways involved in the photosynthetic machinery, but may also provide ways to increase soybean productivity.


Can a president pardon himself? President Nixon thought so, and seriously considered it, and the specter of a self-pardon has been raised several times since then. But the answer is unclear. This note makes the case against the validity of self-pardons, using arguments from the Constitution's history, text, and structure, and from general legal principles. In brief, the Framers either assumed that self-pardons were invalid or at most failed to consider the issue. The text they wrote does not say anything specific about self-pardons, but their failure to explicitly ban self-pardons cannot be read as a decision to allow them. Looking at the structure of the Constitution and the government it creates, we find a general distaste for self-dealing and a specific notion of a presidency that is limited in ways that are inconsistent with allowing self-pardons. Finally, general principles about the rule of law and against self-judging militate strongly in favor of the notion that self-pardons are invalid.


All water-covered rocky planets in the inner habitable zones of solar-type stars will inevitably experience a catastrophic runaway climate due to increasing stellar luminosity and limits to outgoing infrared radiation from wet greenhouse atmospheres. Reflectors or scatterers placed near Earth's inner Lagrange point (L1) have been proposed as a 'geo-engineering" solution to anthropogenic climate change and an advanced version of this could modulate incident irradiation over many Gyr or "rescue" a planet from the interior of the habitable zone. The distance of the starshade from the planet that minimizes its mass is 1.6 times the Earth-L1 distance. Such a starshade would have to be similar in size to the planet and the mutual occultations during planetary transits could produce a characteristic maximum at mid-transit in the light-curve. Because of a fortuitous ratio of densities, Earth-size planets around G dwarf stars present the best opportunity to detect such an artifact. The signal would be persistent and is potentially detectable by a future space photometry mission to characterize transiting planets. The signal could be distinguished from natural phenomenon, i.e. starspots or cometary dust clouds, by its shape, persistence, and transmission spectrum.


Traditional infrastructure regulation—the law of regulated industries—rests atop three pillars: rate regulation, entry restriction, and universal service. This mode of regulation has typically been applied to providers of network-type resources: resources that are optimally supplied as integrated systems. The monetary system is such a resource; and money creation is the distinctive function of banks. Bank regulation can therefore be understood as a subfield of infrastructure regulation. With few exceptions, modern academic treatments of banking have emphasized banks' intermediation function and downplayed or ignored their monetary function. Concomitantly, in recent decades U.S. bank regulation has strayed from its infrastructural roots. This regulatory drift has been unwise.


Glucansucrase is an industrially important enzyme that is produced by different species of bacteria like Leuconostoc, Streptococcus and Acetobacter. Among them Leuconostoc mesenteroides is used for the production of glucansucrase and glucan on industrial scale. Due to its increasing demand, isolation of new strains of Leuconostoc mesenteroides for glucansucrase production is of valuable importance. In this work a new strain of Leuconostoc mesenteroides AA1 is isolated and various special conditions and aspects regarding glucansucrase production and extracellular activity have been studied. This newly isolated strain was found to be a producer of a novel type of glucansucrase that catalyzes the synthesis of high molecular weight glucan from sucrose. This strain was selected among eleven strains isolated from various vegetables and fruits on the basis of high enzyme production.

Different media composition and factors, which play a vital role during fermentation, were optimized for the better production of extracellular glucansucrase. Leuconostoc mesenteroides AA 1 showed maximum glucansucrase production in 8 hours in medium containing 2.5 % of sucrose. Addition of calcium chloride resulted in very high expression of extracellular glucansucrase and the enzyme production was enhanced up to three times when medium was supplemented with 0.01 % calcium chloride. Maximum enzyme production of 53.0 DSU/ml/hr of glucansucrase was achieved when the initial pH for the fermentation medium was kept at 7.5 at 25°C.

Biochemical characteristics of extracellular glucansucrase showed that when sucrose is used as a substrate, the enzyme had a Km value of 69.88mM and a Vmax of 61.75 DSU/ml/hr. The optimum activity was observed at pH 5.0 in 0.lM citrate phosphate buffer at 35°C. Studies on the effect of various meta1 ions on the glucansucrasc activity showed that metal ions like A12+ and Mg2+ stimulated the activity, whereas Hg2+, Ba2+, K2+ and Na2+ showed a potent inhibitory effect on the enzyme activity in various concentrations. However, Cd2+, Mn2+, Ca2+ and Ni2+ showed a stabilizing effect on the enzyme activity. Effect of different organic solvents on enzyme activity revealed that extracellular glucansucrase showed 50 % of its relative activity with different organic solvents i.e. DMSO, 2-propanol, ethanol and acetone, while activity was completely inhibited by ethanolamine. It was also observed that glucansucrase from Leuconostoc mesenteroides AA 1 is more thermostable at -18°C as compared to when it is stored at 4°C and 30°C. Thermal stability revealed that when the enzyme was kept at 30°C and 35°C for one hour, the loss in the activity was less as compared to 40°C and 45°C.

The partial purification of extracellular glucansucrase was carried out using ethanol precipitation and PEG 4000 precipitation. It was observed that a higher specific activity of glucansucrase was found when partial purification was carried out with PEG 4000 as compared to ethanolic precipitation. Glucansucrase was further purified to homogeneity using affinity chromatography with DEAE Sephadex A-50 followed by gel permeation chromatography using Sepharose CL6B. The purified sample showed an enzyme activity of 1050 DSU/ml/hr with a specific activity of 2692 DSU/mg. These procedures yeilded a pure glucansucrase with 162.5 fold purification of. This purified enzyme had a molecular mass of 177,000 Daltons as determined by SDS PAGE and in situ electrophoresis. Homogeneity of the purified enzyme was confirmed by HPLC analysis. The amino acid composition of the enzyme showed that the enzyme is rich in both the basic and polar/hydrophilic amino acid and is less rich in acidic amino acids. The N-terminal amino acid analysis showed that the first six amino acid residues at the N-terminal end are: D-S-T-N-T-V, which is a unique sequence among different glucansucrases, characterized previously.


The Mirrlees Review of the UK tax system, together with its companion volume of research papers, can be expected to influence future discussions of tax reform. Indeed, this can already be recognised in the Henry Review. As far as income taxation is concerned, the most substantive recommendation of the Mirrlees Review is a move toward a system of consumption or expenditure taxation, by exempting the "normal return" to saving and taxing only "excess returns" on the same tax schedule as labour earnings. This paper argues against this direction of reform on the grounds that it is based on a model of household behaviour over the life cycle that ignores important aspects of reality. We present an alternative model, together with supporting empirical evidence. We go on to argue that, against the background of rising inequality and an aging population, the appropriate direction for reform is towards more progressive taxation of both labour earnings and capital income, although not necessarily under the same rate scale.


Fayerweather, Lillian, "Factors influencing the current and historical invasion trends in the Connecticut College Arboretum" (2013). Abstract Invasive species present a growing risk to native ecosystems. It would be impossible to eliminate them, but by learning where they are more likely to occur it may be possible to concentrate resources on removal and management in the most at risk areas. A number of site characteristics may influence invasive species presence and invasion trends. In order to determine what factors affect species presence and historical invasion trends, I utilized data from decennial surveys conducted in the Bolleswood Natural Area of the Connecticut College Arboretum in New London, Connecticut. In 1952, 4 transects were established across the area, composed of contiguous 3.05 by 3.05 meter plots. Every ten years, presence, height, DBH, and cover of all species in each plot were recorded. Other environmental variables in the plots were recorded as well. I used logistic regression models to determine the factors that explained the distribution of invasive species in 2012. I also determined if the factors that influenced invasion changed over time. Models were formulated to analyze how overall presence of invasives in 2012 and new occurrences in each sample year related to site history in regard to disturbance, soil characteristics, topography, light availability, dispersal, and species richness. For presence data in 2012, plots on historically agricultural land with moister and less well-‐drained soils and higher soil pH were more likely to host invasive species. For historical invasion trends, plots on historically agricultural land with greater total richness and proximately to the fence during initial invasion and later proximity to adult plants were the best indicators. However, age class appears to play a role beyond absolute forest age, as invasion was consistently found in the youngest, historically agricultural, plots even after 60 years of forest development. These conclusions suggest that there are factors that can be utilized to 3 predict invasion, and confirm the benefit of long term studies within a large area, such as the one at hand.


This thesis examines the politics of HIV/AIDS in South Africa under former president Thabo Mbeki. Often characterised as "AIDS denialism", Mbeki's controversial position on HIV/AIDS incited conflict with South African civil society, including prominent local AIDS organisation, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). This conflict is typically depicted in scholarly and popular accounts as polarised into dissident/orthodox positions. The thesis questions this familiar depiction, applying new theoretical tools to rethink received accounts of HIV in South Africa. I argue that it is possible to see important continuities, rather than only differences in TAC and the government's views. For example, my analysis reveals that through their pursuit of the "truth" about HIV/AIDS, both TAC and the government constitute the disease as a matter of fact: a stable, immutable object, possessed of intrinsic attributes. The analysis queries this common sense realist enactment of disease, arguing that the "facts" of disease are not given in nature; instead, they are constituted socially and politically and, as such, are emergent, rather than foundational. In making this argument, the thesis draws on science studies and new materialist scholarship, notably Karen Barad's agential realism and Annemarie Mol's praxiography. It employs a range of textual sources such as Parliamentary debates, health promotion literature and policy documents to map the political processes and practices that have contributed to making HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Importantly, it traces the role of the TAC-government conflict itself—and the kinds of activity/inactivity it produced—in constituting HIV/AIDS, and thus the epidemic, in specific, sometimes damaging ways. The thesis also argues that politics helps to constitute people with HIV as various kinds of medicalised subjects, such as victims of HIV, disease vectors and self-regulating health citizens. It thus challenges the commonplace view that a disease pre-exists its subjects (or "targets") and instead draws attention to the ways in which disease and its subjects are constituted in relation to each other and in relation to political forces. In terms of the latter, the analysis explores the politics of the debate's reliance on binary oppositions, such as citizen/non-citizen, human/non-human and so on. For example, it demonstrates the ways in the citizen/non-citizen binary allows only some people with HIV to qualify as biological citizens, and denies others full citizenship, rendering them non-citizens or failed citizens. Drawing attention to the co-constitution of the citizen and the human, it argues that attributions of citizenship matter because they shape whether or not people with HIV can access so-called universal human rights, including the right to healthcare. The ontology of disease proposed in this thesis changes how we see and address it. It enables an examination of the significant role of political and scientific practices in making disease. It also reveals the self-serving or damaging effects of certain enactments of disease. Made visible, these negative material effects are amenable to disruption, allowing a remaking of disease which avoids the harmful assumptions that produce stigma and help to disadvantage or marginalise those living with HIV. The thesis concludes by exploring some of the possibilities for remaking HIV, and speculates on how doing so might change the relational field of the South African HIV epidemic.


Globally, there is a commitment to eliminate poverty; and yet the politics that have caused anti-poverty policies to succeed in some countries and to fail in others have been little studied. The Politics of Poverty Reduction focuses on these political processes. Analysis is based partly on global comparisons and partly on case-studies of nine countries that span the developing world. Where governments are politically weak, they need to make alliances with other groups to stay in power, and where these have been with low-income groups, the result may be a lasting and effective pro-poor strategy. Often pro-poor policies have been brought in not with progressive intentions, but out of fear that the state will fall apart unless pro-poor elements are incorporated into government, and the most effective regimes in reducing poverty have seldom been the kindest and most benevolent. The ability to provide the poor with access to key markets, and in particular labour and capital, is crucial, and this in turn requires fiscal strength. Two crucial elements in the story are the ability to frame labour-intensive policies (given that labour is often the only thing that poor people are able to sell) and the design of effective tax and expenditure policies. Aid donors can make a key contribution, partly through reinforcing recipients' fiscal capacity, but much more through providing technical support of the right kind.


Abstract Social plugins for sharing news through Facebook and Twitter have become increasingly salient features on news sites. Together with the user comment feature, social plugins are the most common way for users to contribute. The wide use of multiple features has opened new areas to comprehensively study users' participatory practices. However, how do these opportunities to participate vary between the participatory spaces that news sites affiliated with local, national broadsheet and tabloid news constitute? How are these opportunities appropriated by users in terms of participatory practices such as commenting and sharing news through Facebook and Twitter? In addition, what differences are there between news sites in these respects? To answer these questions, a quantitative content analysis has been conducted on 3,444 articles from nine Swedish online newspapers. Local newspapers are more likely to allow users to comment on articles than are national newspapers. Tweeting news is appropriated only on news sites affiliated with evening tabloids and national morning newspapers. Sharing news through Facebook is 20 times more common than tweeting news or commenting. The majority of news items do not attract any user interaction.


A combination of steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopic measurements is used to investigate the photophysics of the all-polymer bulk heterojunction system TQ1:N2200. Upon thermal annealing a doubling of the external quantum efficiency and an improved fill factor (FF) is observed, resulting in an increase in the power conversion efficiency. Carrier extraction is similar for both blends, as demonstrated by time-resolved electric-field-induced second harmonic generation experiments in conjunction with transient photocurrent studies, spanning the ps–μs time range. Complementary transient absorption spectroscopy measurements reveal that the different quantum efficiencies originate from differences in charge carrier separation and recombination at the polymer–polymer interface: in as-spun samples ∼35% of the charges are bound in interfacial charge-transfer states and recombine geminately, while this pool is reduced to ∼7% in thermally-annealed samples, resulting in higher short-circuit currents. Time-delayed collection field experiments demonstrate a field-dependent charge generation process in as-spun samples, which reduces the FF. In contrast, field-dependence of charge generation is weak in annealed films. While both devices exhibit significant non-geminate recombination competing with charge extraction, causing low FFs, our results demonstrate that the donor/acceptor interface in all-polymer solar cells can be favourably altered to enhance charge separation, without compromising charge transport and extraction.


The "groove" of a song correlates with enjoyment and bodily movement. Recent work has shown that humans often agree whether a song does or does not have groove and how much groove a song has. It is therefore useful to develop algorithms that characterize the quality of groove across songs. We evaluate three unsupervised tempo-invariant models for measuring pairwise musical groove similarity: A temporal model, a timbre-temporal model, and a pitchtimbre-temporal model. The temporal model uses a rhythm similarity metric proposed by Holzapfel and Stylianou, while the timbre-inclusive models are built on shift invariant probabilistic latent component analysis. We evaluate the models using a dataset of over 8000 real-world musical recordings spanning approximately 10 genres, several decades, multiple meters, a large range of tempos, and Western and non-Western localities. A blind perceptual study is conducted: given a random music query, humans rate the groove similarity of the top three retrievals chosen by each of the models, as well as three random retrievals.


Historically, potentially infected surgical wounds, like in acute appendicitis, were recommended to be closed by interrupted skin suturing. However, this method of skin closure can leave a marked scar at the closure site after healing of the wound. On the other hand, there are no enough data about the potential risk increment in wound infection following skin closure by continuous subcuticular approach. This is a prospective study aimed to compare the results of skin closure using interrupted mattress and subcuticular continuous approaches following appendectomy, in terms of postoperative wound infection rates. One hundred and ten (110) patients with acute appendicitis admitted to Al-Sadir Teaching Hospital in the period between January 2013 and February 2014 were chosen for the study. The patients were divided into two groups. In one group, (58) patients, the appendectomy wound was closed by interrupted mattress, and patients in the other group, (52) patients, underwent continuous subcuticular skin closure. All patients were followed up for two days postoperatively in the hospital and seven days as outpatient follow-up for signs and symptoms of wound infection. By assessing the effect of risk factors on the rate of post-appendectomy wound infection, the following results were obtained: Effect of gender on postoperative infection: Males: 8/59 (13.6%), Females 6/51 (11.8%), P value: 0.079. So the association between gender and rate of infection was not significant. Effect of smoking on postoperative infection: Smokers: 4/24 (16.7%), Non-smokers: 10/86 (11.6%), P value: 0.429. So the association between smoking and the rate of infection was not significant. Effect of family history of previous appendectomy on postoperative infection: Positive family history: 7/34 (20.6%), Negative family history: 7/76 (10.1%), P value: 2.738. So the association between family history and the rate of infection was not significant. Effect of history of previous abdominal operations on postoperative infection: Positive history: 1/7 (16.7%), Negative history: 13/103 (12.6%), P value: 0.066. Thus the association between history of previous abdominal operations and the rate of postappendectomy wound infection was not significant. In interrupted mattress skin closure group, 7/58 (12%) patients developed signs and symptoms of wound infection, whereas in the continuous subcuticular skin closure group, 7/52 (13.4%) patients developed wound infection. In conclusion, there is no significant difference in the risk of wound infection between skin closure by interrupted mattress and continuous subcuticular approaches. Introduction A cute appendicitis is a very common emergency condition, especially among young patients, with incidence of about 8.6% in males and 6.7% in females worldwide. The highest incidence of acute appendicitis is found in persons aged 10–19 years, with higher incidence in males than females. It requires surgical intervention to remove the inflamed appendix. Thus, appendectomy represents one of the most common abdominal operations performed in surgical units.


Thomas, Carol. Greece: A Short History of a Long Story, 7000 BCE to the Present. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014. Print. Greece: A Short History of a Long Story presents a comprehensive overview of the history of Greece by exploring the continuity of Greek culture from its Neolithic origins to the modern era. This book tells the story of Greece through individual personalities that inhabited various periods in the lengthy sweep of Greek history; uses an approach based on recent research that includes DNA analysis and analyses of archaeological materials; explores ways in which the nature of Greek culture was continually reshaped over time; and features illustrations that portray the people of di erent eras in Greek history along with maps that demonstrate the physical sphere of Greece and major events in each of the periods. Related Links: Wiley -Greece: A Short History of a Long Story, 7000 BCE to the Present


This article challenges the widespread notion that spanning recognized categories, or generalism,is disadvantageous. In markets, buyers face the fundamental challenge of gaining insight into the underlying ability of sellers. Economic sociologists rely on theories of categorization to explain how participants navigate this assessment. Social actors who span multiple categories have beenfound to be disadvantaged. We do not believe this is always the case and seek to identify conditions under which generalism by job seekers is valued. We start with the contention that spanning is an ambiguous indicator of quality, and suggest how it is perceived is dependent on other, salient indicators. We investigate two – relevance and reputation – which are often confounded with generalism. We propose that the same spanning behavior can be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on these other indicators. We hypothesize that those who evince the necessary attributes an employer is looking for by being relevant are advantaged when they also span disparate areas because employers value broader experiences. Spanning should also be advantageous for highly reputable applicants because it is more consistent with the belief they possess superior skills. In short, we identify idiosyncrasy credits. We test and find support for these hypotheses in the context of a virtual labor market for freelancers – Elance.com.