Co-integration and Error Correction Model (ECM) are employed to study the behavior of Current Account Deficit (CAD) of Bangladesh and its determinants. The determinants of CAD include budget surplus, domestic saving, domestic income growth, foreign income growth, foreign interest rate, terms of trade, export and real exchange rate. A long-run equilibrium (co-integration) relationship is found between CAD and its determinants, although some variables are non-stationary. Out of eight independent variables only three of them namely, terms of trade, export and foreign interest rate, are found to have significant impact on CAD both in the long and short run. ECM formulation of the CAD model shows that more than 72% discrepancy between actual and long-run value of CAD is corrected in each year. The important implication of the study is that domestic economic policy has little to do with correcting CAD as all significant factors are related to the external economic conditions.


Jones, Melinda. M.S. Microbiology and Immunology M.S. Program, Wright State University, 2012. Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling (SOCS) 1 & 3 Expression in HSV-1Infected and Interferon-γ-treated Neuro-2A Cells. This study examined the effects of HSV-1 infection and IFN-γ treatment on Neuro-2A cells. HSV-1 induces expression of SOCS1 and SOCS3 in infected cells, inhibiting the ability of these cells to produce the pro inflammatory, antiviral cytokine IFN-γ (Nowoslawski and Benveniste, 2011). SOCS1 and SOCS3 levels were determined in IFN-γ-treated cells, virus-infected cells, and cells that were both IFN-γ-treated and virus-infected. Results were compared with untreated, uninfected control cells. Flow cytometry data analysis showed a slight decrease in SOCS1 and SOCS3 protein levels in cells treated with IFN-γ for 6 hours compared to control cells. A significant decrease in SOCS1 and SOCS 3 levels was found in cells treated with IFN-γ for 18 hours. Up regulation of SOCS1 and SOCS3 expression was established in virus-infected Neuro-2A cells but this increase was not statistically significant when compared to control cells. However, culturing cells with IFN-γ for 6 hours prior to virus infection led to a significant (50%) decrease in SOCS1 and SOCS3expression compared to cells treated with IFN-γ alone. This showed that HSV-1 was not able to overcome the antiviral effects of IFN-γ to up regulate SOCS1 and SOCS3 expression. Cytopathic effects assays were performed to determine cell viability among cells treated with IFN-γ for 18 hours, cells infected with virus for 48 hours, and cells treated with IFN-γ for 18 hours followed by 48 hour HSV-1 infection. Pre-treating cells with IFN-γ for 18 hours prior to infection with HSV-1 (0.1 MOI) yielded a cell viability level similar to that of control cells (untreated/uninfected). This indicates that IFN-γ is providing antiviral protection to most, if not all of the cells. Applying these studies in a human cell line and eventually in an animal model would be necessary to find the efficacy of IFN-γ as a HSV-1 therapeutic.


As an attempt to keep abreast of the variety of avian Plasmodium parasite in Kano State, a total of 218 blood films were made from wild (116) and domesticated (102) bird species collected between January and July, 2009 period. The slides were examined for the presence of Plasmodium parasite (parasitaemia value). Birds examined were six Columbidae livia (pigeons), two Cisticola cantans (Singing cisticola), two  Crinifer piscato (Western grey plantain eaters), two Lamprotornis superbus (Buffalo weavers),  five Stigmatopelia senegalensis (Laughing doves), twenty-six Ploceus cucullatus (Black-headed weavers), forty-three Amadina fasciata (Cut-throat finches), five Lamprotoni  caudatus (Long-tailed glossy starlings), twenty-four Uraeginthus bengalus (Cordon bleu finches), fifty poultry chickens, forty-six local chickens (Gallus gallus), three Nigrita Spp (Negro finches) and fourStreptopchia decipiens (African mourning doves). Results of the investigation showed that Plasmodium circumflexicum, Haemoproteus columbae and Plasmodium gallinaecium were present. The frequencies of occurrence in the birds' species were: 19.56% for local chickens, 50% for pigeons, 13.95% for Cut-throat finches, 50% for Grey plantain eaters, 33.3% for Negro finches and 0% for other birds. Overall, 6.89% of all the wild birds screened were infected as against 11.7% in domesticated birds. Domesticated birds had higher parasetaemia value (100 to 1000) cells per field than the wild birds (10 to 100) cells per field. However, the distribution of the parasites among the different species of the host birds was not statistically significant (P > 0.05).  Chloroquine was found to be potent at 2.2 mg/ml concentration upon infected pigeons. A lineage of H. columbae named as type COLIV03 in MalAvi database was identified from the pigeons. This finding has thus called immediate massive screening of pigeons in Kano for this new variant of Plasmodium species with a view to elucidating its molecular and virulence nature as agent of avian malaria.

 Key words: Kano, Plasmodium, pigeon, survey, malaria.


The technology of precision bending of tubes has recently increased in importance and is widely demanded for many industrial applications. However, whilst attention has been concentrated on automation and increasing the production rate of the bending machines, it seems that with one exception very little work has been done in order to understand and therefore fundamentally improve the bending process. A new development for the process of draw-bending of tubes, in which the supporting mandrel is axially vibrated at an ultrasonic frequency, has been perfected. A research programme was undertaken to study the mechanics of tube• bending under both vibratory and non-vibratory conditions. For this purpose, a conventional tube-bending machine was modified and equipped with an oscillatory system. Thin-walled mild steel tubes of different diameter to thickness ratios were bent to mean bend radii having various values from 1.5 to 2.0 times the tube diameter. It was found that the application of ultrasonic vibration reduces the process forces and that the force reduction increases with increasing the vibration amplitude. A reduction in the bending torque of up to 30 per cent was recorded and a reduction in the maximum tube-wall thinning of about 15 per cent was observed. The friction vector reversal mechanism as well as a reduction in friction account for the changes of the forces and the strains. Monitoring the mandrel friction during bending showed, in some cases, that the axial vibration reverses the mandrel .mean force from tension to compression and, thus, the mandrel is assisting the tube motion instead of resisting it. A theory has been proposed to describe the mechanics of deformation during draw-bending of tubes, which embodies the conditions of both "with" and "without" mandrel axial vibration. A theoretical analysis, based on the equilibrium of forces approach, has been developed in which the basic process parameters were taken into consideration. The stresses, the strains and the bending torque were calculated utilising this new solution, and a specially written computer programme was used to perform the computations. It was shown that the theory is in good agreement with the measured values of the strains under vibratory and non-vibratory conditions. Also, the predicted bending 'torque showed a similar trend to that recorded experimentally.


This 'think piece' re-casts the school textbook as ontological envelopes which enfold an unresolved dialectic between constituting and constituted power into the education of every school pupil. Informed by the writings of Deleuze and Guattari (1987) the authors reveal that textbooks act as 'majoritan' to categorise, contain and constrain societal conceptions of the 'Other'. The authors propose that educators must reinvent notions of freedom, authority and ethical responsibility. The authors conclude that to undermine the pernicious power of the 'normalising' textbook we need the production of a counter signifying semiotic to overcome pathologies existing in schools today.


The SWI/SNF protein complex is required for the enhancement of transcription by many transcriptional activators in yeast. Here it is shown that the purified SWI/SNF complex is composed of 10 subunits and includes the SWI1, SWI2/SNF2, SWI3, SNF5, and SNF6 gene products. The complex exhibited DNA-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity, but lacked helicase activity. The SWI/SNF complex caused a 10- to 30-fold stimulation in the binding of GAL4 derivatives to nucleosomal DNA in a reaction that required adenosine triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis but was activation domain-independent. Stimulation of GAL4 binding by the complex was abolished by a mutant SWI2 subunit, and was increased by the presence of a histone-binding protein, nucleoplasmin. A direct ATP-dependent interaction between the SWI/SNF complex and nucleosomal DNA was detected. These observations suggest that a primary role of the SWI/SNF complex is to promote activator binding to nucleosomal DNA.


Abstract The effects of Nickle (Ni) addition on bainitic transformation and property of ultrahigh strength bainitic steels are investigated by three austempering processes. The results indicate that Ni addition hinders the isothermal bainite transformation kinetics, and decreases the volume fraction of bainite due to the decrease of chemical driving force for nucleation and growth of bainite transformation. Moreover, the product of tensile strength and total elongation (PSE) of high carbon bainitic steels decreases with Ni addition at higher austempering temperatures (220 and 250 °C), while it shows no significant difference at lower austempering temperature (200 °C). For the same steel (Ni-free or Ni-added steel), the amounts of bainite and RA firstly increase and then decrease with the increase of the austempering temperature, resulting in the highest PSE in the sample austempered at temperature of 220 °C. In addition, the effects of austempering time on bainite amount and property of high carbon bainitic steels are also analyzed. It indicates that in a given transformation time range of 30 h, more volume of bainite and better mechanical property in high carbon bainitic steels can be obtained by increasing the isothermal transformation time. Abstract The effects of Nickle (Ni) addition on bainitic transformation and property of ultrahigh strength bainitic steels are investigated by three austempering processes. The results indicate that Ni addition hinders the isothermal bainite transformation kinetics, and decreases the volume fraction of bainite due to the decrease of chemical driving force for nucleation and growth of bainite transformation. Moreover, the product of tensile strength and total elongation (PSE) of high carbon bainitic steels decreases with Ni addition at higher austempering temperatures (220 and 250 °C), while it shows no significant difference at lower austempering temperature (200 °C). For the same steel (Ni-free or Ni-added steel), the amounts of bainite and RA firstly increase and then decrease with the increase of the austempering temperature, resulting in the highest PSE in the sample austempered at temperature of 220 °C. In addition, the effects of austempering time on bainite amount and property of high carbon bainitic steels are also analyzed. It indicates that in a given transformation time range of 30 h, more volume of bainite and better mechanical property in high carbon bainitic steels can be obtained by increasing the isothermal transformation time.


In this paper we address and simulate a Radio Frequency (RF) sensor network for a cooperative spectrum sensing and localization scheme. The proposed method integrates a Wavelet based Multi-Resolution Spectrum Sensing (MRSS), an N-bit hard combination technique for cooperative decision making and a Received Signal Strength (RSS) based localization algorithm to detect the availability of frequency bands and the location of the usable base station. We develop an N-bit hard combination technique and compare its performance to a traditionally used 2-bit hard combination for cooperative sensing. The key idea is to design a novel RF sensor network based cooperative wideband spectrum sensing and localization scheme by using a wavelet based Multi-Resolution Spectrum Sensing (MRSS) and Received Signal Strength (RSS) Localization techniques which were originally proposed for cognitive radio applications. The performance evaluations are also done to show the different detection accuracies for varying parameters such as number of sensor nodes, Signal to Noise Ratios (SNR) and number of averaged Power Spectral Densities (PSD). The proposed scheme improves the problems of shadowing, fading and noise. In addition, the RSS based localization technique was shown to be an acceptable means of estimating the position of the available transmitter.


Increasing water demand and reducing its contaminations are the main concerns and challenges for water resource managers and planner due to its limited sources and high value. This study aims to assess and understand the factors which threaten the quality of groundwater resources and to achieve this, samples were taken from 14 active wells in District 3 of the Municipality of Tehran. After categorizing the parameters to distinct measurable groups containing anions (SO4, Cl, NO2, NO3, HCO3, CO3), cations (Mg, Na, k) heavy metals (Ag, Pb, Cd) physical parameters (temperature, color and odor) chemical parameters (Total Dissolved Solid , Electrical conductivity, Total Suspended Solids and pH, the data  were analyzed  using SPSS (version 16) software. The results revealed that excessive amount of nitrate anion in Paidari and Naji station is related to the slope and sandy texture of the wells and also the surrounding area's soil. Increased cation concentration was visible in Resalat well, which indicated the use of excessive amount of fertilizers containing sodium and also the clay soil texture. Cadmium was the only heavy metal with the concentrations of more than the standard amount. Domestic sewage and surface runoff and also regional geological structure, the lack of appropriate distance between water wells with sewage wells were among other reasons, causing underground water pollution.


Mapping of the human brain by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is an emerging eld in medical sciences. Current techniques to detect activated areas of the brain mostly proceed in two steps. First, conventional methods of correlation, regression and time series analysis are used to assess activation by a separate, pixelwise comparison of the MR signal time courses to the reference function of a presented stimulus. Spatial aspects caused by correlations between neighboring pixels are considered in a second step, if at all. Aim of this article is to present hierarchical Bayesian approaches that allow to simultaneously incorporate temporal and spatial dependencies between pixels directly in the model formulation. For reasons of computational feasibility, models have to be comparatively parsimonious, without oversimplifying. We introduce parametric and semiparametric spatial and spatio-temporal models that proved appropriate and illustrate their performance by application to fMRI data from a visual stimulation experiment.


The most brilliant young artist of his generation, Richard Dadd (1817-1876) made his name with a sequence of minutely executed fairy paintings of huge imaginative power. Following a long tour of the Middle East in the early 1840s he succumbed to a 'schizophrenic' illness, murdered his father, fled to France where he attacked another traveller, was apprehended by police and confessed to his crime. On his return to England he was sent to Bethlem Hospital where he remained until he was transferred to the new Broadmoor Hospital for the criminally insane in 1864, where he died. Dadd spent over forty years in Britain's most famous lunatic asylums, never ceasing to work as an artist. Dadd is still best-known for his endlessly mesmerising masterpiece, "The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke" (Tate), which was immensely popular in the 1960s and 70s and was even the subject of a hit song by the rock band Queen. The story of the rediscovery of his greatest watercolour, "The Artist's Halt in the Desert" (British Museum), on the television programme "The Antiques Roadshow" has also more recently entered popular culture. Interpretations of Dadd's art have been much coloured by Romantic notions of creativity and madness, enthusiasts for Outsider Art, the ideas of Michel Foucault and of the anti-psychiatry movement of the 1960s and 70s. In the first fully illustrated account of Dadd's life and career, the author examines Dadd's artistic legacy and uses his life as a case history to investigate the relationship between art and the treatment of mental illness in the 19th century. In doing so he overturns many myths. Dadd's jailers often acted as patrons, encouraging him to carry on making art and, in his final years in Broadmoor, commissioning him to decorate stage scenery and murals. Tromans traces the critical response to Dadd's work, both during his lifetime and after his death. With the public appetite for Dadd's bewitching art never higher, this long-overdue, eminently readable reassessment provides a vivid account of one of the most fascinating artists of the Victorian era as well as extensive insight into the difficult relationship between art and madness' in nineteenth-century Europe.


The combination of high-resolution X-ray computed tomography (HRXCT) with electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis has the potential to reveal evidence for epitaxial nucleation of garnet porphyroblasts containing an included fabric. HRXCT measures the fabric orientation near the inferred nucleation site at the crystal centre, whereas EBSD establishes the crystallographic orientation of the porphyroblast relative to the attitude of the included fabric. Using the orientation of the central fabric as a proxy for the attitudes of the basal planes of micas on which the garnet may have nucleated, one can determine if low-index planes in garnet—(100), (110), or (111)—are parallel to (001) of mica, which would correspond to known epitaxial relationships between the two minerals. We test the feasibility of this approach with a set of exploratory measurements for six garnet porphyroblasts from Passo del Sole (Switzerland) and five from the Nevado Filabride Complex (Spain); we also report unsuccessful attempts at such measurements in rocks from Harpswell Neck (USA). The results do not deviate appreciably from those expected of a set of measurements drawn from a parent population with a random distribution of orientations. However, considering the size of the present measurement uncertainties in relation to the precision required to recognize an epitaxial relationship unambiguously, it is not possible in this data set to exclude epitaxy as a nucleation mechanism. The principal limitation to this approach is the need for high precision in determining the attitude of the included fabric at the site of nucleation, which depends largely upon the choice of suitable samples. Crystals ideal for such studies would contain a non-crenulated, planar (not helicitic) foliation, defined by numerous small, well-aligned inclusions. With careful sample selection, this approach could be a viable technique for evaluating the prevalence in nature of epitaxial nucleation of garnet porphyroblasts.


The excessive use of synthetic chemical inputs in agricultural production has led to the disruption of biogeochemical cycles. One of the alternatives that arose within the systems of sustainable agriculture was the partial or total replacement of chemicals by biological substances. The analysis of relevant scientific literature has become a tool for assessing the quality of knowledge generation and its impact on the environment. A scientometric analysis was conducted of Colombian research on bio-inoculants from 2009 through 2014 in journals added to the Web of Sciences TM in order to identify the characteristics of the main target crops, the microorganisms used, and the beneficial effects on agriculture. In this work, 34 articles were identified: 24 (71 %) were research on bio-fertilizer development and 10 (29 %) on biopesticides. Articles mainly focused on the study of Gram-negative bacilli affecting the area (77 %), while others focused on issues and topics surrounding vegetables (30 %).The analysis of co-occurrence of keywords identified: i. several genera of microorganisms (e.g. Azotobacter sp., Bradyrhizobium sp.) and sustainable agriculture as issues that have a leading role in this scientific field, ii. plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) as an emerging issue, iii. biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) as a subject which has risen in a complementary manner and iv. endophytic bacteria and biodiversity as issues in growth. This study showed that research in Colombia could be targeted on issues such as endophytic bacteria, diversity and productivity.


A Taste for Brown Sugar boldly takes on representations of black women's sexuality in the porn industry. It is based on Mireille Miller-Young's extensive archival research and her interviews with dozens of women who have worked in the adult entertainment industry since the 1980s. The women share their thoughts about desire and eroticism, black women's sexuality and representation, and ambition and the need to make ends meet. Miller-Young documents their interventions into the complicated history of black women's sexuality, looking at individual choices, however small—a costume, a gesture, an improvised line—as small acts of resistance, of what she calls "illicit eroticism." Building on the work of other black feminist theorists, and contributing to the field of sex work studies, she seeks to expand discussion of black women's sexuality to include their eroticism and desires, as well as their participation and representation in the adult entertainment industry. Miller-Young wants the voices of black women sex workers heard, and the decisions they make, albeit often within material and industrial constraints, recognized as their own.


INTRODUCTION: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is the most prevalent type of abdominal pain. Several organic disorders that result in FD have been identified, whereas psychological trials have suggested that patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders may present behavioral disorders simultaneously. Defining the relationship between common personality aspects, type A and/or type B behavioral patterns (TABPs/TBBPs), and coexisting symptoms as well as their change during FD treatment might be helpful in establishing focused therapy strategies, including appropriate psychological interventions. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to evaluate the grade of TABPs in children with FD and FD subtypes to reveal correlations of behavioral patterns and experienced symptoms and to assess the relationship between analyzed factors and symptom relief during therapy. METHODS: A total of 66 children (aged 11–18 years) were diagnosed with FD following the Rome II criteria. The control group consisted of 86 healthy children who denied recurrent abdominal pain. In all children, severity of 10 dyspeptic symptoms was measured with the FACES Pain Rating Scale and the created visual-analog Dyspepsia Symptoms Questionnaire. Psychological evaluation was carried out by using the Type A/B Behavior Scale for Children and Adolescents (TAB) by Ogińska-Bulik and Juczyński. All patients received typical treatment for 4 weeks. After 8 weeks, children were asked to complete the symptoms questionnaires again. RESULTS: The general TABP pattern was significantly decreased in the FD group compared with the controls (P = .0016), especially in boys. Moderate or extreme TABP was diagnosed in 4.2% of the boys with FD in comparison with 29.7% of the male controls; 66.7% of the boys with FD (vs 24.3% of the controls) and 37.2% of the girls with FD (vs 22.5% of the controls) met criteria for moderate or extreme TBBP. Boys with ulcer-like FD revealed scores lower than those of the controls on total TABP (P < .001) and all of the TABP subscales: competition, impatience, sense of time urgency, and hostility. Correlation analysis exposed the positive relationship between total TABP, competition, and hostility with dysmotility-like symptoms. Sense of time urgency and total TABP correlated negatively to the pain. During the therapy observation, hostility was conducive to increasing most of the dyspeptic symptoms (P < .037), and competition was related to the nausea release in boys and to aggravation of heartburn and feeling full long after eating in both genders. The sense of time urgency was related to belching intensifying. CONCLUSIONS: The behavioral pattern varied in the FD and control groups. The children with FD were more likely to present a TBBP than TABP, which is strongly restricted, especially in boys with ulcer-like FD. The TBBP constituents are connected to dysmotilities, whereas reduced TABP compounds are more common among pain-suffering patients. Behavioral pattern influences efficacy of FD treatment: behavioral compounds centered on emotions are conducive to increase dysmotilities, whereas behaviors connected with defeating stress situations encourage pain-symptom aggravation.


This paper focuses on the interaction between the flow unsteadiness and disk vibration of shrouded corotating disk system to identify the nature of the flow-induced vibration of disks in the wide range of rotation speed below critical. Special attention is paid to the role of the vortical flow structure on the disk vibration and vice versa. The water test rig for optical measurement and the air test rig for hot-wire and vibration measurements are employed, both being axisymmetric models of 3.5 in. hard disk drive. Before investigating fluid-solid interaction, the velocity and vorticity fields between disks are examined by employing a particle image velocimetry, in order to check the flow within our own apparatus to have the same characteristics as those commonly accepted. In the course of this preliminary experiment, it is found that "vortical structures " reported in the previous papers based on the flow visualization are actually "vortices" in the sense that it exhibits closed streamlines with concentrated vorticity at its center when seen from an observer rotating with the structure itself The measurements of out-of-plane displacement of the disk employing different disk materials reveal that disk vibration begins to occur even in low subcritical speed range, and amplitude of nonrepeatable run out (NRRO) can be uniquely correlated by using the ratio between the rotating speed and the critical speed. The power spectral densities of disk vibration showed that the disk vibrates as a free vibration triggered by, but not forced by, the flow unsteadiness even in the high subcritical speed range. The disk vibration has negligible effect on the vortical flow structure suggesting the soundness of the rigid disk assumption employed in the existing CFD. However, RRO has significant influence on the flow unsteadiness even if the disks are carefully manufactured and assembled. Since the RRO is unavoidable in the real disk system, the flat disk assumption should be considered more carefully.


The composite action of a bridge deck and girder is essential to the optimization of the superstructure. The transfer of forces in the deck to the girders is done across a shear interface between the two elements. The transfer occurs through the cohesion of the concrete at the interface and then through the shear reinforcement across the interface. Adequate shear strength is essential to the success of the superstructure. A collection of 537 horizontal shear tests comprised the database for the study of various concrete types and interface surface treatments. The predicted horizontal shear strength calculated from the AASHTO LFRD bridge design code was compared to the measured shear strength. The professional bias was computed for each specimen. The professional biases, standard deviations, and coefficients of variation for each category were calculated. The material properties factor along with fabrication factor was researched. The loading factors were researched and calculated for use in calculating the reliability index. The final step was to compute the reliability index for each category. The process was repeated to learn the reliability of the equation proposed by Wallenfelsz. The results showed that the reliability index for the AASHTO LRFD horizontal shear strength equation wash much lower than the desired target reliability index of 3.5. The reliability index for the Wallenfelsz equation was higher but still not close to the target reliability index.


Purpose

Big data analytics (BDA) helps service providers with customer insights and competitive information. It also empowers customers with insights about the relative merits of competing services. The purpose of this paper is to address the research question, "How does big data analytics enable frontline employees (FLEs) in effective service delivery?"

Design/methodology/approach

The research develops schemas to visualise service contexts that potentially benefit from BDA, based on the literature drawn from BDA and FLEs streams.

Findings

The business drivers for BDA and its level of maturity vary across firms. The primary thrust for BDA is to gain customer insights, resource optimisation and efficient operations. Innovative FLEs operating in knowledge intensive and customisable settings may realise greater value co-creation.

Practical implications

There exists a considerable knowledge gap in enabling the FLEs with BDA tools. Managers need to train, orient and empower FLEs to collaborate and create value with customer interactions. Service-dominant logic posits that skill asymmetry is the reason for service. So, providers need to enhance skill levels of FLEs continually. Providers also need to focus on market sensing and customer linking abilities of FLEs.

Social implications

Both firms and customers need to be aware of privacy and ethical concerns associated with BDA.

Originality/value

Knitting the BDA and FLEs research streams, the paper analyses the impact of BDA on service. The research by developing service typology portrays its interplay with the typologies of FLEs and BDA. The framework portrays the service contexts in which BD has major impact. Looking further into the future, the discussion raises prominent questions for the discipline.


Reliable signal acquisition with low computational complexity is an important design objective for the evolution of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Most GNSS signals consist of long pseudorandom noise (PRN) codes whose acquisition is expensive in terms of memory, computation time, and energy. As these resources are particularly scarce in the emerging mass-market user segment, dedicated coarse/acquisition (C/A) signals with short codes are being designed to keep the number of acquisition search bins low. However, reducing the code length degrades the receiver operating characteristic (ROC), as multiple access interference (MAI) from other C/A signals increases the probability of false alarm. MAI complicates the C/A signal design process considerably, because (quite different from stationary noise) it does not affect each bin of the search space in the same way. Taking into account the cyclostationarity of C/A signals, we propose a new randomized version of the spectral separation coefficient (SSC) as a simple yet accurate interference measure, which can be used for ROC performance evaluation and optimization. Accounting for MAI and other random degradation effects (e.g. data symbol transitions or finite search resolution), we establish a new methodology to assess the ROC for shorter and shorter PRN codes. Ultimately, our approach enables the C/A signal designer to minimize the PRN code length while ensuring a given target ROC performance.


Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii are closely related species that are predominant vectors of malaria in Africa. Recently, A. gambiae form M was renamed A. coluzzii and we now conclude on the basis of a diagnostic PCR‐restriction fragment length polymorphism assay that Ag55 cells were derived from A. coluzzii. We established an Ag55 cell transcriptome, and KEGG pathway analysis showed that Ag55 cells are enriched in phagosome pathway transcripts. The Ag55 transcriptome has an abundance of specific transcripts characteristic of mosquito hemocytes. Functional E. coli bioparticle uptake experiments visualized by fluorescence microscopy and confocal microscopy and quantified by flow cytometry establish the phagocytic competence of Ag55 cells. Results from this investigation of Ag55 cell properties will guide researchers in the use and engineering of the Ag55 cell line to better enable investigations of Plasmodium, other microbes, and insecticidal toxins.


Characterizations of unknown groundwater pollution sources in terms of
source location, source flux release history and sources activity initiation
times, from sparse observation concentration measurements are a challenging
task. Optimization-based methods are often applied to solve groundwater
pollution source characterization problem. These methods are effective only
when the starting times of activity of the sources are precisely known, or the
possible time window within which the sources activity actually start is known with
a fair degree of certainty. However, in real life scenarios, the starting time
of the activity of the sources is either unknown or can lie anywhere within a
time window of years or decades. Absence of any prior information about the
span of time window, within which the sources become active, makes existing
source identification methodologies inefficient. As an alternative, an
optimization-based source identification model is proposed, to simultaneously
estimate source flux release history and sources activity initiation times. The
method considers source flux release history and sources activity initiation
times as explicit decision variables, optimally estimated by the decision
model. Performance of the developed methodology is evaluated for an
illustrative study area having multiple sources with different source activity
initiation times, missing observation data and transient flow conditions. These
evaluation results demonstrate the potential applicability of the proposed
methodology and its capability to correctly estimate the unknown source flux
releasing history and sources activity initiation times.


Abstract Recent discussions of accountability in contexts of expert knowledge raise questions about the limits of transparency. Against this background, we discuss the nexus between expert knowledge and meaningful accountability – that is, context-sensitive accountability based on a genuine understanding of a situation. We argue that the concentration of expertise in certain institutions makes it difficult to hold those institutions accountable. In particular, three components challenge meaningful accountability: specialization, inaccessibility and potential biases or conflict of interest. We emphasize the role of 'epistemic communities' and their impact on the tension between expert knowledge and independence. Drawing on the deliberative systems literature, we discuss how expert knowledge might be communicated to outsiders to enable meaningful accountability. To illustrate our argument, we draw on the European Central Bank, a case study in which states have chosen a delegation design characterized by a high degree of independence and trust in expert knowledge, to the detriment of accountability. We sketch possible avenues for creating the conditions for meaningful accountability even in the case of institutions with highly concentrated expertise.


This guide is designed specifically for Nursing students studying at LaGrange College. It features selected resources from Lewis Library hand-picked by the Nursing liaison librarian.


This article reconstructs a mostly forgotten moment in Harvard Law School history when the students organized in the early 1990s across race, gender, sexual orientation, and ability and disability lines to push for faculty diversity. The new student coalition, called the Coalition for Civil Rights, gave the students' activism unusual momentum. This initiative included the first time that law students, acting pro se, sued their law school for discrimination in faculty hiring and the first time Harvard Law School students were publically tried by their school's Administrative Board for conducting an overnight sit-in at the Dean's office (i.e., the Griswold 9 incident). Drawing upon social movement theory, the author analyzes why the activism was so robust during this time period by applying the concepts of signaling, framing, and resource mobilization to the actions of the students. The author argues that the unprecedented diversity of the coalition contributed to the activism's intensity in key ways. First, the protests by this diverse group signaled to the entire student body that the faculty diversity movement was gaining momentum. Second, the ways in which the coalition members framed an inclusive conception of diversity created a sense of strong group cohesion among students. Third, the diversity of the group served as a resource that enhanced the coalition's problem solving abilities. The author concludes that although the most vigorous activism was relatively short-lived, the students that were involved in this coalition were nonetheless successful in making their voices heard by Harvard University and the general public.


We study the effects of short-range interactions on a generalized three-dimensional Weyl semimetal, where the band touching points act as the (anti)monopoles of Abelian Berry curvature of strength $n$. We show that any local interaction has a negative scaling dimension $\ensuremath{-}2/n$. Consequently, all Weyl semimetals are stable against weak short-range interactions. For sufficiently strong interactions, we demonstrate that the Weyl semimetal either undergoes a first-order transition into a band insulator or a continuous transition into a symmetry breaking phase. A translational symmetry breaking axion insulator and a rotational symmetry breaking semimetal are two prominent candidates for the broken symmetry phase. At the one-loop order, the correlation length exponent for continuous transitions is $\ensuremath{\nu}=n/2$, indicating their non-Gaussian nature for any $ng1$. We also discuss the scaling of the thermodynamic and transport quantities in general Weyl semimetals as well as inside broken symmetry phases.


Do survey participants in conflict zones respond differently if they have been interviewed before? Academic and policy interest in postwar political opinion has increased tremendously. One unexpected consequence of this surge of survey research is a growing probability that individuals will be interviewed multiple times. However, if participating in one survey causes respondents to change their attitudes or behavior, their subsequent survey responses may be biased in comparison to the rest of the sample population. Our article aims to investigate such 'survey participation effects' in conflict contexts. We draw on original survey data collected in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In our representative sample, 18% of respondents report that they have been interviewed before. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that their stated attitudes on social relations, political institutions, gender norms, and wartime victimization differ substantively from the responses of first-time interviewees. Moreover, our analyses indicate that experienced respondents have specific response styles – in particular, a tendency to support extreme response options. While substantive bias in multivariate analyses seems to be rather rare, our findings indicate that researchers should be aware of the footprints of data collection efforts in areas frequently targeted by household and opinion surveys.


PURPOSE: To determine the pattern of alcohol use before and during pregnancy and associated risk factors in puerperal women hospitalized in a public university hospital in Southeastern Brazil. METHODS: Between June and September 2009, 493 puerperae were consecutively evaluated. Those with cognitive impairment were excluded from the study. The AUDIT and CAGE questionnaires were used to diagnose alcohol use/abuse before pregnancy, in addition to the T-ACE during pregnancy. Another questionnaire was applied to collect sociodemographic data, such as age, educational level, marital status, and household income. The χ2 test was used in the statistical analysis and the Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated. A p-value <0.05 was considered to be significant. RESULTS: Before pregnancy, the CAGE was positive in 50/405 (12.3%) women and the AUDIT identified alcohol use in 331 (67.1%), which was of low risk in 233 (47.3%), risky in 73 (14.8%), and harmful or indicating possible alcohol dependence in 25 (5%). During pregnancy, the CAGE was positive in 53/405 (13.1%) women and the T-ACE in 84 (17%); the AUDIT identified alcohol use in 114 women, which was of low risk in 73 (14.8%), risky in 27 (5.5%), and harmful or indicating possible alcohol dependence in 14 (2.8%). During pregnancy, alcohol use was more frequent (OR=2.8; 95%CI 1.2 - 6.2) among women with a lower educational level (8.8 versus 3.3%) and more frequent (OR=3.8; 95%CI 1.3 - 11.1) among those who did not cohabit with a partner (6 versus 1.7%). Among pregnant women who drank alcohol, 49/114 (43%) were advised to stop drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Alarming alcohol use was observed during pregnancy, especially among pregnant women with a lower educational level and those who did not cohabit with a partner. There was a low frequency of counseling aimed at abstinence and the AUDIT was the instrument that most frequently diagnosed alcohol consumption.


Earlier this year the Reserve Bank of New Zealand selected the designs for the next series of New Zealand banknotes, and published them in November. This article takes the reader through the process of designing the next banknote series, including the often intricate challenges of ensuring that those banknotes meet a variety of aesthetic, cultural and functional requirements. To best achieve the design goals, the Reserve Bank uses an open tender process. The tenders for the design and the printing were won by the Canadian Banknote Company Ltd. (CBN).


The recent reduction in the rates of GST has seen the unusual phenomenon of both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress rushing to claim credit for the decision. Whatever may be the validity of these claims their competitive agreement suggests that the latest changes in the GST are without doubt a good thing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, the cumulative effects of the rush into GST and the selective withdrawal are likely to leave a severe negative impact on an economy that is already seeing depressed growth rates.


Celebrity trade marks do not generally indicate origin or quality, two traditional functions of a trade mark. The commercial reality of registered celebrity trade marked merchandise is that often it is the trade mark itself that is being bought and sold. Once famous, celebrity marks may not 'distinguish' the product as required for registration under the Trade Marks Act. If registration occurs, infringement limitations may still arise due to the specific nature of celebrity image marks. In Australia, guidelines exist but a binding precedent that establishes a specific test for infringement of a celebrity image mark does not. It is clear, however, that a registered mark will only provide limited control to the celebrity or trade mark owner, as a celebrity's image may still be used on products simply for its innate appeal, not 'as a trade mark'. The United Kingdom and United States, where infringing use need not strictly be 'use as a trade mark', offer broader protection in this regard.


Abstract Iron oxides and oxyhydroxides are commonly of considerable importance in the sorption of ions onto rocks, soils and sediments. They can be the controlling sorptive phases even if they are present in relatively small quantities. In common with other oxides and clay minerals, the sorption pH-edge of metals is directly linked to their hydrolysis: the higher the residual charge on the metal ion, the lower the pH-edge. Modelling of this process has been successfully carried out using different microscopic or macroscopic definitions of the interface (e.g. surface complexation or ion exchange models that may or may not include mineralogical descriptions). The influence of organic material on the sorption of many metals is of significant. This organic material includes simple organic molecules and more complex exopolymeric substances (e.g. humic substances) produced by the decay of natural organic matter. Sorption of this organic material to mineral surfaces has been the subject of a large body of work. The various types of organic substances do not share the same affinities for mineral surfaces in general, and for iron oxides and oxyhydroxides in particular. In those cases in which successful models of the component binary systems (i.e. metal_surface, metal_organic, organic_surface) have been developed, the formation of mixed surface complexes, the evolution of the surface itself, the addition order in laboratory systems, and the evolution of natural organic matter fractions during sorption, have often precluded a satisfactory description of metal_surface_organic ternary systems over a sufficiently wide range of parameter values (i.e. pH, ionic strength, concentration of humic substances). This manuscript describes the reasons for some successes and failures in the modelling of the ternary systems. Promising recent advances and possible methods of providing more complete descriptions of these intricate systems are also discussed.


Correction for guessing has been a persistent problem in the interpretation of true-false and multiple-choice test scores. Many authors have maintained that no solution to this problem is in sight. Thorndike (1971) pointed out: "Practice in United States testing organizations and among test publishers with respect to using the correction formula remains divided" (p. 59). Payne (1992) concurred: "Researchers have for more than 30 years been investigating the problem of whether or not to correct for guessing. There is till no definite answer or agreement among the experts" (p. 108). One approach to the correction for guessing has been to investigate the conditions under which the influence of blind guessing on the scores of a test is negligible. Sax (1989) pointed out that teachers should include more items in tests to ignore the effect of guessing. Hopkins and Stanley (1981) asserted: "it should be evident that the greater the number of options per item, the less likely it is that one will select the correct option by chance and, hence, the less the magnitude of the weighting of an incorrect response" (p. 149). Most researchers agreed that the influence of blind guessing on the scores of a test diminishes as the length of the test and the number of options per item increase (e.g., Ebel and Frisbie, 1991; Brown, 1981; and Mehrens and Lehmann, 1984). Nonetheless, when the correction for guessing is ignored, it becomes possible that a student may pass a test through guessing. In terms of statistics, an alternative hypothesis ([H.sub.a]) may be formulated that the effect of guessing is negligible. The mistake of ignoring the roles of guessing when the effect of guessing does exit is called Type I error. In social sciences, the acceptable risk of making Type I error is conventionally set at [Alpha] = .05. Critical value is a statistic that marks the edge of the retaining region of [H.sub.a] at [Alpha] = .05 (Heiman, 1992). In a long true-false or multiple-choice test, the probability of obtaining a high scores through guessing is small (Sax, 1989). The passing scores of a test is the statistic that controls the risk of Type I error. The higher the passing scores, the less the risk of retaining the alternative hypothesis ([H.sub.a]). The retaining region of [H.sub.a] contains scores at which the probability of passing a test through guessing is less than 5%. The lowest passing score which guarantees a no larger than 5% risk is the critical value of a passing score for correction of guessing. By checking whether a passing score of a test is higher than the corresponding critical value, a decision can be made with 95% confidence as to whether the correction for guessing is necessary. Accordingly, although no solution to the correction [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED] for guessing is in sight, it is possible to construct a table of critical values to evaluate the effect of guessing. Purpose The critical value of a passing score is determined by the structure of a test and the stochastic model of guessing in which the probability of passing the test through guessing is delineated. Nevertheless, no such stochastic model has been stressed in educational and psychological measurements yet, needless to mention the construction of critical values to meet the structure of various tests (Brown, 1981; Mehrens & Lehmann, 1987). The purpose of this paper is to build a stochastic model describing the probability of passing a true-false or multiple-choice test through guessing, and to assemble a table of critical values for commonly used standardized tests. The application of the table is straightforward. For a test with given total number of items (N) and the probability of guessing an item correctly (p), the table contains a critical value ([x.sub.o]) identified from the stochastic model. Based on the rationale of hypothesis testing, the correction for guessing can not be ignored unless the passing score (x) of the test has been set at an x [greater than] [x. …


The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is pool-type, sodium-cooled reactor. PFBR has eight steam generators (SGs) in its secondary circuit. The availability of SG units in the secondary circuit is of critical importance, as this determines the entire plant availability. Constant exposure to high temperature and high pressure may result in water or steam leaks in the tubes of SGs by which sodium and water reaction will take place. The growth in a leak may lead to tube rupture and large pressure increase in the secondary circuit. So, an important requirement from the viewpoints of safety and economics is to detect leaks at the incipient stage. Hydrogen detection methods, which are currently used to detect the initiation of steam leaks to sodium, involve transport delays, as the hydrogen evolved during the leak has to reach the sensor location. It is possible to detect a leak of 1 g/s within 1 s by acoustic leak detection. Another advantage is that it is possible to locate the position of a leak by installing several acoustic sensors on a SG. Experiments to develop a suitable signal-processing technique were carried out in the Steam Generator Test Facility (SGTF); argon was injected into sodium at argon pressure of 2 to 10 MPa through a 0.5-mm orifice. Signal-processing techniques, an autoregressive noise variance technique, and a wavelet detailed coefficient variance technique were studied and compared for their sensitivity to detect a steam/water leak. The acoustic technique employing wavelet decomposition is found to be promising for detecting a leak at the incipient stage. This paper discusses the details of the experiments carried out and the instrumentation and signal analysis techniques used for leak detection in SGs.


How does the international community understand and apply the right of
self-determination? Who holds this right: individuals, peoples, nations, states,
ethnicities, minorities, majorities? What limits are there to the exercise of this
right and which claims are 'valid' and which are not? This thesis addresses these
issues as it seeks, above all, to answer the question of when, why and in what
ways the international community's understanding of and normative responses
to self-determination have evolved.
To do so, Part I explores critically the theories and history of
nationalism, human rights, sovereignty and self-determination to explain the
challenges of 'emerging nationalism' (defined herein as nationalism within
established multi-national states aimed at altering the constitutional and/or social
standing of the nation vis-a-vis the larger political entity). This part identifies
the genesis of the interconnected ideas of identity, human rights, and
sovereignty and begins to trace the evolution of the norm of self-determination
over time as it has been conceived and employed by international society. It
suggests new approaches to these concepts based within the liberal democratic
tradition, which are, arguably, more philosophically coherent than other
explanations for self-determination.
Part II assesses international normative responses to state fragmentation
and national liberation prior to the end of the Cold War to determine how
much they have resembled the interpretation of national self-determination
suggested in Part I, contending that the conceptual evolution of selfdetermination
can only be interpreted accurately by understanding the parallel
evolution and development of international society.
Part III examines the evolution of self-determination and emerging
nationalism in the post-Cold War era, asking whether the norms generated by
the present-day society of states are consistent with the theoretical and
historical observations made earlier. The recent case of Kosovo is examined in
detail as it best suggests the present trajectory of international norms and
responses to emerging nationalism.


In order to measure the flexibility of the labor market, evaluate the job-worker matching process, and model business-cycle dynamics, economists have studied the flows of workers across the labor market states of employment, unemployment, and not in the labor force. One important flow that has been poorly measured is the movement of workers from one employer to another without any significant intervening period of nonemployment. This paper exploits the "dependent interviewing" techniques used in the Current Population Survey since 1994 to estimate such flows. We find that they are large, and their omission significantly understates the degree of mobility in the labor market. In 1999, for example, on average more than 4,000,000 workers changed employers from one month to the next, about the same number as left the labor force from employment and more than twice the number that moved from employment to unemployment. Close to half of the new jobs started in 1999 represented employer changes, as did close to half of the separations. Consistent with previous studies of younger workers, teenagers exhibit the highest rates of employer-switching, and the rate declines through about age 40. However, even among prime-aged workers, about 2 percent change employers each month. Contrary to the implications of many business cycle models, we find no evidence that employer-to-employer flows are procyclical, at least not as the labor market tightened between 1994 and 2000. This finding raises questions about the ways in which stylized facts about labor market flows have been used.


Clinical behavior analysis (Dougher, 1993; Kanter & Woods, 2009) assumes behavior analysis as the fundamental science and Skinner's Radical Behaviorism as the philosophical foundation for clinical psychology. In Brazil, clinical behavior analytic ideas have produced Behavior Analytic Therapy (BAT; Meyer et al., 2010), and more recently, Child Behavior Analytic Therapy (CBAT; Del Prette, 2011). From these theoretical and clinical standpoints, a fundamental issue in therapy is that therapy may produce rule-governed or contingency-shaped changes in client behavior (Skinner, 1974). While much of talk therapy may be seen as the therapist providing rules for clients to follow to change their behavior, regarding contingency-shaped behavior when the client behavior to be targeted for change occurs in session the therapist can provide consequences, thus shaping it as already suggested by Krasner (1962) in "The therapist as a social reinforcing machine". This shaping process is specified in more detail in Functional Analytical Psychotherapy, or FAP (Kohlenberg & Tsai, 1991; Tsai, Kohlenberg, Kanter, Kohlenberg, Follette, & Callaghan, 2009). FAP's basic tenet is that the client's problem behaviors that appear in their daily relationships will also appear in therapy where the therapist can shape behavior through differential and contingent responding. The authors state that generalization occurs due to similarities between the therapy setting and the client's other environments, which implies that improvements achieved in session will generalize to the relationships that take place out-of-session. Therapist contingent responding is key to FAP and may start with general contingent reinforcement of broad classes of behavior relevant to simply to coming to therapy, and then reinforcement is funneled to focus more directly on clinically relevant behaviors relevant to the goals of treatment identified by the client and therapist (Follette, Naugle, & Callaghan, 1996). Recently, researchers have called for the identification of empirically supported principles of change (Rosen & Davison, 2003) and the development and use of novel methodologies in psychotherapy research, such as the direct observation of the therapeutic process instead of the use of randomized controlled trials or other group designs, to identify these change principles. Because contingent responding by definition is a change process that occurs in the turn-by-turn client-therapist interaction in session, it is a mechanism that is well suited to exploration by direct observation of the therapeutic process. It is important to note that contingent responding is a mechanism that is not specific to FAP but is fundamental to BAT and CBAT, broadly defined, and may be seen by behaviorists as occurring in, and potentially important to, all forms of therapy. For example, an early classic process study by Truax (1966) used direct observation of the therapeutic process to explore the use of contingent responding in sessions conducted by Carl Rogers, a therapist well known for espousing the belief that the therapist's behavior should be unconditional as per his humanistic theory (Rogers, 1957) rather than contingent on client behavior as per behavioral theory. Truax, using independent coders blind to the study hypothesis, found that Rogers in fact contingently responded to specific client behaviors with empathy and positive regard, and that these responses functioned as reinforcement as indicated by the fact that the client behaviors responded to in this fashion increased in frequency over the course of therapy. More recently, Busch, Kanter, Callaghan, Baruch and Weeks (2009) employed a similar micro-process analysis to explore the hypothesized change mechanism of FAP. They used the FAP Rating Scale (FAPRS; Callaghan & Follette, 2008) to code client clinically relevant behavior and therapist effective responding to in-session client behavior on a turn-by-turn basis over the course of therapy for a depressed adult client who received three phases of therapy: Assessment, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), and FAP. …


This thesis attempts to better understand the importance and application of the personal influence model in relationship building between organizations and public decision makers. The personal influence model was added by Sriramesh and Grunig (1992) as a potential fifth model to Grunig and Hunt's (1984) four models of public relations practice (as cited by Grunig in Heath, 2007); however, this essential relationship building approach has not been examined in the public relations literature as it could have been. Scholarly research since the addition of the personal influence model has mostly occurred in Asia and India. Studies on the topic have been published in just a few instances in the United States. Furthermore, the studies have largely focused on internal communication or on exclusively domestic contexts, with no attempts to extend the examination to organizations that necessarily practice relationship building across national boundaries. This study seeks to contribute to the public relations literature based on the personal influence model by examining the practice of this model outside of Asia, in a global, non-profit religious organization that is headquartered in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter referred to as LDS Church). For three decades this global organization has implemented and emphasized the building and nourishing of one-on-one relationships with civic leaders and key decision makers across nations. This research will also examine the impact of such practices. The method chosen for this study is a qualitative exploration through personal interviews with ten public affairs practitioners of the organization, from both domestic and international arenas. The practitioners of this entity have accumulated decades of combined experiences in cultivating the personal influence model.


Several exclusive Bs0 decays are studied using a 1.86fb-1 data sample collected at the Υ(5S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+e- collider. In the Bs0→Ds-π+ decay mode we find 10 Bs0 candidates and measure the corresponding branching fraction. Combining the Bs0→Ds(*)-π+, Bs0→Ds(*)-ρ+, Bs0→J/ψ, and Bs0→J/ψη decay modes, a significant Bs0 signal is observed. The ratio σ(e+e-→Bs*Bs*)/σ(e+e-→Bs(*) Bs(*))=(93-9+7±1)% is obtained at the Υ(5S) energy, indicating that Bs0 meson production proceeds predominantly through the creation of Bs*Bs* pairs. The Bs0 and Bs* meson masses are measured to be M(Bs0)=(5370±1±3)MeV/c2 and M(Bs*)= (5418±1±3)MeV/c2. Upper limits on the Bs0→γγ, Bs0→ γ, Bs0→K+K-, and Bs0→Ds(*)+Ds(*)- branching fractions are also reported. © 2007 The American Physical Society.


Endocannabinoid-Dependent Long-Term Depression of Ventral Tegmental Area GABA Neurons Jared Mark Weed Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology, BYU Master of Science GABA neurons in the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain are important components in the brain's reward circuit. Long term changes in this circuit occur through the process of synaptic plasticity. It has been shown that high frequency stimulation, as well as treatment with endocannabinoids, can cause GABA neurons in the ventral tegmental area to undergo long term depression, a form of synaptic plasticity that decreases excitability of cells. The present study elaborates on the mechanism whereby high frequency stimulation can result in long term depression of ventral tegmental area GABA neurons. Using the whole cell patch clamp technique in acute brain slices, we recorded excitatory currents from ventral tegmental area GABA neurons in GAD-GFP expressing CD1 mice and observed how the excitatory currents changed in response to different treatments. We confirm that high frequency stimulation causes long term depression, and the cannabinoid type 1 receptor antagonist AM-251 blocks this effect. Long term depression is also elicited by treatment with the cannabinoid type 1 receptor agonist 2arachidonylglycerol. It is inconclusive whether treatment with 2-arachidonylglycerol occludes further long term depression by high frequency stimulation. We also demonstrate that activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors by DHPG produces long term depression. These results support the model that at these excitatory synapses, high frequency stimulation causes the release of glutamate from presynaptic terminals, activating group I metabotropic glutamate receptors, causing production of 2-arachidonylglycerol. 2-arachidonylglycerol in turn acts on presynaptic cannabinoid type 1 receptors to decrease release of glutamate onto GABA neurons. This model can be tested by further research, which should include cannabinoid type 1 receptor knockout mice. This study provides more insight into how drugs of abuse such as tetrahydrocannabinol, the active component of marijuana that activate cannabinoid type I receptors, can corrupt the natural reward mechanisms of the brain.


The manifesto of the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik is based on the "Eurabia" conspiracy theory. This theory is a key starting point for hate speech amongst many right-wing extremists in Europe, but also has ramifications beyond these environments. In brief, proponents of the Eurabia theory claim that Muslims are occupying Europe and destroying Western culture, with the assistance of the EU and European governments. By contrast, members of Al-Qaeda and other extreme Islamists promote the conspiracy theory "the Crusade" in their hate speech directed against the West. Proponents of the latter theory argue that the West is leading a crusade to eradicate Islam and Muslims, a crusade that is similarly facilitated by their governments. This article presents analyses of texts written by right-wing extremists and Muslim extremists in an effort to shed light on how hate speech promulgates conspiracy theories in order to spread hatred and intolerance.The aim of the article is to contribute to a more thorough understanding of hate speech's nature by applying rhetorical analysis. Rhetorical analysis is chosen because it offers a means of understanding the persuasive power of speech. It is thus a suitable tool to describe how hate speech works to convince and persuade. The concepts from rhetorical theory used in this article are ethos, logos and pathos. The concept of ethos is used to pinpoint factors that contributed to Osama bin Laden's impact, namely factors that lent credibility to his promotion of the conspiracy theory of the Crusade. In particular, Bin Laden projected common sense, good morals and good will towards his audience. He seemed to have coherent and relevant arguments; he appeared to possess moral credibility; and his use of language demonstrated that he wanted the best for his audience.The concept of pathos is used to define hate speech, since hate speech targets its audience's emotions. In hate speech it is the emotions that prevail, rather than reason. Sensational and dramatic claims are used to exploit existing feelings of anger, irritation and fear. The speech is aimed at those who may be persuaded of its negative content, and who may spread the message further. A distinct feature is its absence of logos: argumentation aimed at listeners' reason. To the extent logos is used in hate speech it is for the most part only apparent logos. The speech is often based on falsehoods, exaggerations, stereotypes, over-generalisations, and startling formulations. Hate speech therefore requires an uncritical audience – an audience that is either unable to see through the fallacies, or unwilling to do so because the arguments and conclusions fit well with their worldview. The overall aim of the article is to contribute to a more thorough understanding of hate speech's nature and its role in disseminating conspiracy theories. However, through analyses of text examples from al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, and right-wing European extremists the article also contributes to explaining the terror attack in Oslo in July 2011 and the terror attack on September 11, 2001, in New York and other similar acts of terror.


We have investigated the phase-sensitive deamplification response of a traveling-wave degenerate optical parametric amplifier that consists of a type II phase-matched KTP crystal pumped by the second harmonic of a Q-switched mode-locked Nd:YAG laser. Experimental results are in good agreement with the theory of an optical parametric amplifier in which the Gaussian-beam nature of the various fields along with the diffraction of the amplified signal beam is taken into account. Because of the phenomenon of gain-induced diffraction, maximum deamplification is limited to only ≃3 dB.


This thesis seeks to re-examine theories of religious decline in the inner-city. From Edward Wickham (Church and People in an Industrial City) to Callum Brown (The Death of Christian Britain), decline and death have defined inner-city Christianity. In the late twentieth century the Church of England in Newham began a process of renewal by creating combined churches and community centres in a number of its parishes. Examining the motivation behind these projects creates a more nuanced understanding of the present secularization debate.
Four churches were chosen that underwent this process to reflect the diversity and complexity of this approach. This work draws on minutes, reports, newspapers, interviews and oral histories.
This is a study of how one area of East London renewed itself, inspired by the theological approach of J. G. Davies and his followers. Far from discovering the Church in its death knell, evidence emerges of an energetic, highly motivated Christian community, able to draw funds and expertise into this process of renewal. The Church of England is still willing to reassert its mission to the inner-city and expand its sphere of influence to encompass communal activities in a process of reclaiming a role within Newham life.
The Anglican Church has defied notions of decline and secularization, and this study reveals an inner-city part of London that has a thriving religious culture. The renewal of its buildings has enabled the church to carve a role out within the community that ensure it remains positive, financially stable and numerically more resilient that its suburban neighbours. This suggests that the predictions of the death of Christian Britain are premature in this instant and arguments about decline have to be further evaluated in the light of this study.


Abstract. Dampers are excellent for improving the performance of steel structures and protecting them against earthquakes. The Steel Slit Damper (SSD) is a type of damper designed to be replaced after being damaged under a strong earthquake. Aiming to investigate the effects of the number of blade rows and optimize the length-to-width ratio of blades, seven specimens of identical thickness with one or two rows of blades and three length-to-width ratios were tested and subjected to static cyclic loading. Different parameters, including the force capacity, displacement capacity, effective stiffness, dissipated energy, ductility, and damage indices, were calculated from the experimental results and compared. The results indicate the evident advantage of dampers with two rows of blades in terms of the force capacity, effective stiffness, and absorbed energy, as the highest force capacities corresponding to the two groups exhibited a 61.6 % difference. Furthermore, given the advantage of dampers with two rows of blades and based on the observations, an optimal blade lengthto-width ratio (h/b) of 1.58 is recommended to prevent buckling.


The major goal for physicochemical screening of pharmaceuticals is to predict human drug absorption, distribution, elimination, excretion and toxicity. These are all dependent on the lipophilicity of the drug, which is expressed as a partition coefficient i.e. a measure of a drug's preference for the lipophilic or hydrophilic phases. The most common method of determining a partition coefficient is the shake flask method using octanol and water as partitioning media. However, this system has many limitations when modeling the interaction of ionised compounds with membranes, therefore, unreliable partitioning data for many solutes has been reported. In addition to these concerns, the procedure is tedious and time consuming and requires a high level of solute and solvent purity. Micellar liquid chromatography (MLC) has been proposed as an alternative technique for measuring partition coefficients utilising surfactant aggregates, known as micelles.

This thesis investigates the application of MLC in determining micelle-water partition coefficients (logPMW) of pharmaceutical compounds of varying physicochemical properties. The effect of mobile phase pH and column temperature on the partitioning of compounds was evaluated. Results revealed that partitioning of drugs solely into the micellar core was influenced by the interaction of charged and neutral species with the surface of the micelle. Furthermore, the pH of the mobile phase significantly influenced the partitioning behaviour and a good correlation of logPMW was observed with calculated distribution coefficient (logD) values. More interestingly, a significant change in partitioning was observed near the dissociation constant of each drug indicating an influence of ionised species on the association with the micelle and retention on the stationary phase. Elevated column temperatures confirmed partitioning of drugs considered in this study was enthalpically driven with a small change in the entropy of the system because of the change in the nature of hydrogen bonding. Finally, a quantitative structure property relationship was developed to evaluate biological relevance in terms of predicting skin permeability of the newly developed partition coefficient values. This study provides a better surrogate for predicting skin permeability based on an easy, fast and cheap experimental methodology, and the method holds the predictive capability for a wider population of drugs.

In summary, it can be concluded that MLC has the ability to generate partition

coefficient values in a shorter time with higher accuracy, and has the potential to replace the octanol-water system for pharmaceutical compounds.


Background: Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (tUS) is an emerging technique that uses ultrasonic waves to noninvasively modulate brain activity. As with other forms of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS), tUS may be useful for altering cortical excitability and neuroplasticity for a variety of research and clinical applications. The effects of tUS on cortical excitability are still unclear, and further complications arise from the wide parameter space offered by various types of devices, transducer arrangements, and stimulation protocols. Diagnostic ultrasound imaging devices are safe, commonly available systems that may be useful for tUS. However, the feasibility of modifying brain activity with diagnostic tUS is currently unknown. Objective: We aimed to examine the effects of a commercial diagnostic tUS device using an imaging protocol on cortical excitability. We hypothesized that imaging tUS applied to motor cortex could induce changes in cortical excitability as measured using a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) motor evoked potential (MEP) paradigm. Methods: Forty-three subjects were assigned to receive either verum (n = 21) or sham (n = 22) diagnostic tUS in a single-blind design. Baseline motor cortex excitability was measured using MEPs elicited by TMS. Diagnostic tUS was subsequently administered to the same cortical area for 2 min, immediately followed by repeated post-stimulation MEPs recorded up to 16 min post-stimulation. Results: Verum tUS increased excitability in the motor cortex (from baseline) by 33.7% immediately following tUS (p = 0.009), and 32.4% (p = 0.047) 6 min later, with excitability no longer significantly different from baseline by 11 min post-stimulation. By contrast, subjects receiving sham tUS showed no significant changes in MEP amplitude. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that tUS delivered via a commercially available diagnostic imaging ultrasound system transiently increases excitability in the motor cortex as measured by MEPs. Diagnostic tUS devices are currently used for internal imaging in many health care settings, and the present results suggest that these same devices may also offer a promising tool for noninvasively modulating activity in the central nervous system. Further studies exploring the use of diagnostic imaging devices for neuromodulation are warranted.


Knowledge of local water fluxes across the soil–root interface is essential to understand and model root water uptake. Despite its importance, there is a lack of direct methods to measure the location of water uptake along roots. The aim of this study was to develop a technique to quantify local flux of water from soil to the roots of living plants. To this end, we used neutron radiography to trace the transport of deuterated water (D2O) into individual roots. We grew lupin (Lupinus albus L.) in 30‐ by 25‐ by 1‐cm containers filled with a sandy soil, which was partitioned into different compartments using 1‐cm‐thick layers of coarse sand. We locally injected D2O into a selected soil compartment near the roots of 18‐d‐old lupin during the day (transpiring) and night (not transpiring). The transport of D2O into roots was then monitored using time‐series neutron radiography. The results show that: (i) the transport of D2O into roots was faster during the day than at night; and (ii) during the day, D2O was quickly transported along the roots toward the shoots, while at night this transport was insignificant. The differences between day and night measurements were explained by convective transport of D2O into the roots driven by transpiration. To quantify the local transport of D2O into roots, we developed a simple convection–diffusion model that assumed the endodermis as the main resistance to water transport. The D2O uptake predicted by the model was in agreement with the axial flow within the roots as derived from D2O transport behind the capillary barrier. This new method allows quantification of local water uptake in different parts of the root system.


In 2009, Iceland finds itself negotiating for EU entry alongside a group of 7 candidates and potential candidates from the Western Balkans. All are much poorer than Iceland and suffer from the legacies of regional conflict, ethnic division and under-development, plus specific weaknesses of governance, law and order. However, all the Balkan applicants have a clear majority of public opinion in favour of the EU and (except for Serbia) a cross-party consensus on accession. The severity of their problems makes EU and NATO membership their only hope and chance of a peaceful future, and also provides the main motive for the EU to grant their wish. Indeed the EU practises a policy of 'conditionality', using the lure of accession as leverage to make them improve their ways. Iceland does not have the same life-and-death importance for the EU unless, eventually, in the context of Arctic strategy. Several EU states have made clear they would not wish Iceland to 'jump the queue' past the other candidates. There may be lessons here for Iceland's handling of its own negotiations.


The work of a well-known authority on the life of Muhammad and the origins of Islam, this Companion to the Qur'an is an essential tool to help readers gain a fuller understanding of one of the world's most important religious texts. The verse-by-verse Companion gives background information on Muslim beliefs and explains allusions that may puzzle readers unfamiliar with the culture of Islam; it discusses the ideas and expressions that are specific to Muslim thinking, and reviews the main variants in interpretation of Qur'anic texts. With notes based on Islamic sources, Professor Montgomery Watt's authoritative study offers valuable clarification for all scholars of Islam as well as for the general reader.


Massive spectroscopic surveys of high-redshift quasars yield large numbers of correlated Lyα absorption spectra that can be used to measure large-scale structure. Simulations of these surveys are required to accurately interpret the measurements of correlations and correct for systematic errors. An efficient method to generate mock realizations of Lyα forest surveys is presented which generates a field over the lines of sight to the survey sources only, instead of having to generate it over the entire three-dimensional volume of the survey. The method can be calibrated to reproduce the power spectrum and one-point distribution function of the transmitted flux fraction, as well as the redshift evolution of these quantities, and is easily used for modeling any survey systematic effects. We present an example of how these mock surveys are applied to predict the measurement errors in a survey with similar parameters as the BOSS quasar survey in SDSS-III.


Infectious disease epidemics occur within dynamic systems and environments that shape risk and, ultimately, the spread of infectious diseases. Gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately impacted by HIV everywhere in the world. Several emerging trends present risks for sustained or increased HIV acquisition and transmission, and the growth of global travel in the context of emerging online platforms for social/sexual networking is discussed here. Four factors associated with travel that could potentiate HIV transmission are highlighted: different patterns of sexual risk behaviours during travel; the growth of online tools to meet sex partners more efficiently; the global heterogeneity of HIV strains; and the potential for diassortative mixing of men from highand low-HIV prevalence areas. Prevention tools and services must rise to these challenges, and innovative mobile applications and programs have played, and will continue to play, an important role in supporting MSM at risk for or living with HIV during their periods of travel. Received 31 May 2016, accepted 27 September 2016, published online 6 January 2017


New genetic tests reveal risks for multiple conditions simultaneously, although little is understood about the psychological factors that affect testing uptake. We assessed a conceptual model called the multiplex genetic testing model (MGTM) using structural equation modelling. The MGTM delineates worry, perceived severity, perceived risk, response efficacy and attitudes towards testing as predictors of intentions and behaviour. Participants were 270 healthy insured adults aged 25–40 from the Multiplex Initiative conducted within a health care system in Detroit, MI, USA. Participants were offered a genetic test that assessed risk for eight common health conditions. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that worry, perceived risk and severity clustered into two disease domains: cancer or metabolic conditions. Only perceived severity of metabolic conditions was correlated with general response efficacy (β = 0.13, p<0.05), which predicted general attitudes towards testing (β = 0.24, p<0.01). Consistent with our hypothesised model, attitudes towards testing were the strongest predictors of intentions to undergo testing (β = 0.49, p<0.01), which in turn predicted testing uptake (OR 17.7, β = 0.97, p<0.01). The MGTM explained a striking 48% of the variance in intentions and 94% of the variation in uptake. These findings support use of the MGTM to explain psychological predictors of testing for multiple health conditions.


I study sets of attractors and non-attractors of finite iterated function systems. I provide examples of compact sets which are attractors of iterated function systems as well as compact sets which are not attractors of any iterated function system. I show that the set of all attractors is a dense Fs set and the space of all non-attractors is a dense Gd set it the space of all non-empty compact subsets of a space X. I also investigate the small trans-finite inductive dimension of the space of all attractors of iterated function systems generated by similarity maps on [0,1].


This chapter deals with the identification of antiretinal immune reactivity in patients with retinal diseases. An extraordinary feature of the eye is its immune status. The immune response that occurs within the eye is different from the systemic immune response, and this unique characteristic has been referred to as immune privilege. Retinal autoimmunity exists as a naturally occurring disease in humans and as an experimentally designed animal model system. Sympathetic ophthalmia (SO) is an ocular inflammatory (autoimmune) disease that occurs after a perforating injury to one eye. Cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) is most commonly associated with small-cell carcinoma of the lung, but it has also been reported for patients with breast, endometrial, and other cancers. Posterior ocular onchocerciasis is characterized by atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and as lesions advance, subretinal fibrosis occurs. Toxoplasmosis, which occurs in over 500 million humans worldwide, is caused by the obligate intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii is also the most frequently identified infectious agent in posterior uveitis, and Toxoplasma retinochoroiditis is an important cause of blindness in young adults. Measurement of antiretinal immune reactivity is difficult to perform in the clinical laboratory. Analysis of immunocytochemical or immunofluorescent staining of retina tissue sections requires special training for interpretation.


Geophagia, the deliberate ingestion of soil, is a complex eating habit found among animals and human beings around the world. Among other reasons soil ingestion is perceived as a source of essential mineral supplements, hence its prevalence among subsistence communities. Geophagia has also been associated with a range of health effects. In the present study the potential of geophagia as a pathway for chronic internal radiation exposure has been evaluated. The most common geophagic materials in Kenya are the soft volcanic ashes. They occur naturally in various hues and shades of grey and pink colours. The volcanic ashes are quarried and sold in various kiosks and supermarkets either in pieces or in packets of about 100g. The concentrations of radionuclides in some of the common geophagic materials are determined, and the rates of their intakes (by ingestion) were estimated using the information obtained from a survey among people, including young mothers and pregnant women, who practice geophagia in Kenya. The range of annual effective doses estimated from the concentrations of Th and Ra in these materials, and the possible ingestion rates (1 to 90g/day), are below 1mSv. However, the committed effective dose for a fifty-year chronic ingestion evaluated using the biokinetic model calculation programme (LUDEP version 2.04) are high: up to 276 mSv. The results are discussed in the light of the need for reliable human data on the effects of low-level radiation, also bearing in mind that these materials are essential consumer products and there may be need to control exposures arising from their consumption.


Objective The primary study objective is to determine which measures of depression are associated with early discontinuation of hepatitis C virus infection treatment and to determine which measure best characterizes the depression that develops during treatment. Methods Seventy-eight treatment-naïve subjects who initiated pegylated interferon/ribavirin treatment for hepatitis C virus infection were included. Baseline depression was assessed with the Structured Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. The latter two measures were repeated at treatment weeks 12 and 24. Results Depression scores, as measured by the three instruments, lacked adequate consistency. Baseline depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II, but not by the other scales, was associated with early treatment discontinuation at weeks 12 and 24. Changes in depression during treatment were restricted to somatic symptoms. Of those who completed treatment, those who were not depressed at baseline tended to demonstrate significant depression increases during treatment. Conclusion The Beck Depression Inventory-II is recommended to assess depression prior to hepatitis C virus infection treatment. Somatic symptoms of depression should be monitored during treatment. Baseline depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II was associated with early treatment discontinuation. The Beck Depression Inventory-II, Structured Interview for DSM-IV, and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale yielded results that were not consistent with each other in this sample. Future research should focus on standardizing depression assessment in medically ill populations to identify measures that predict treatment discontinuation.


With the explosive emergence of vertical search domains, applying the broad-based ranking model directly to different domains is no longer desirable due to domain differences, while building a unique ranking model for each domain is both laborious for labeling data and time-consuming for training models. In this paper, we address these difficulties by proposing a regularization based algorithm called ranking adaptation SVM (RA-SVM), through which we can adapt an existing ranking model to a new domain, so that the amount of labeled data and the training cost is reduced while the performance is still guaranteed. Our algorithm only requires the prediction from the existing ranking models, rather than their internal representations or the data from auxiliary domains. In addition, we assume that documents similar in the domain-specific feature space should have consistent rankings, and add some constraints to control the margin and slack variables of RA-SVM adaptively. Finally, ranking adaptability measurement is proposed to quantitatively estimate if an existing ranking model can be adapted to a new domain. Experiments performed over Letor and two large scale datasets crawled from a commercial search engine demonstrate the applicabilities of the proposed ranking adaptation algorithms and the ranking adaptability measurement. Index Terms—Information Retrieval, Support Vector Machines, Learning to Rank, Domain Adaptation. ✦


This thesis is an exploration of the condition of critical debate in contemporary liberal democracies that is based upon a combined reading of the works of Hannah Arendt and Jurgen Habermas. It begins with an elaboration of the position that Arendt and Habermas identify a similar malaise as afflicting modern liberal democracies, which is argued to result from a shared perception that such democracies fail to create a forum for critical public engagement. The argument that their democratic theories are highly complementary is further developed through an examination of their solutions to this critical failure, for these solutions reflect a sharing of important premises concerning the nature of power and freedom on the parts of Habermas and Arendt. A complementary reading of Arendt and Habermas also allows for a synthesis of their theories that results in a highly coherent picture of the form and processes of an ideal democratic forum. This synthesis of Habermas and Arendt, however, also suggests (or, at least, allows for the theorising of) the emergence of a new genus of political actor who is unlikely to engage in such a forum - a genus hereafter referred to as homo spectaculorum.

This thesis, therefore, makes three related claims. The first, and most important, is that it is possible to read Arendt and Habermas together as highly compatible democratic theorists and that their analysis of contemporary political conditions presents a single position from which to view the critical failings of liberal democracies. The second claim is that synthesising Arendt's and Habermas's democratic theories enables the theorising of an ideal public space, along with the emergence of homo spectaculorum. The third, and final, claim made in this thesis is that the same conditions that lead to the emergence of homo spectaculorum can be understood to undermine the emancipatory potential otherwise proffered through critical public spaces.


Abstract A multicomponent model which can simulate the microstructural evolution of a coated Ni based superalloy system has been developed. The model consists of a one-dimensional finite difference diffusion solver to calculate the component distribution, a power law based model for predicting surface oxidation and a thermodynamic calculation routine for determining the phase evolution. Apart from forecasting concentration and phase profiles after a given thermal history, the model can estimate the losses due to oxidation and the remaining life of a coating based on a concentration and/or phase fraction dependent failure criteria. The phase constitution and concentration profiles predicted by the model have been compared with an experimental NiCoCrAlY coated CMSX-4 system, aged for times up to 10 000 h between 850 and 1050°C, and many experimental features can be predicted successfully by the model. The model is expected to be useful for assessing microstructural evolution of coated turbine blade systems.


PREFACE Ellen Zweig is not well known as a filmmaker, although her work has involved media in general, and cinema in particular, for many years. She is well known as a performance artist, though she started as a writer, and moved into writing, and doing, performative works with supplementary media such as Super-8 film and slide-dissolve sequences, as are found in Impressions of Africa, a series of works done in the 1970s about fantasies and phantasms of Africa. In the 1980s Zweig designed and built various camera obscurae which involved dramatic sequences-both live and recorded, written and improvised. In one case she installed a camera obscura in/as a moving stagecoach, a live, mobile, and transmitted event addressing issues of spectatorship, transport, collection, and the Victorian mania for travel. Since that time Zweig has worked on various installations using sculptural/architectural elements with multiple monitors, which often reference their own mediality by re-presenting the images, traces and illusions of former technologies. In a work entitled Hubert's Lure (1994), installed in a street-level window facing 42nd Street, she reconstructed and updated a well-known proto-cinematic illusion known as "Pepper's Ghost." This cinematic trick uses an image reflected in glass that seems to float in an unearthly space through a suspension of one's ability to perceive a fixed figure/ground relation. Zweig's use of a luminous video image, projected in miniature scale, took up residence as an uncanny, impossible, apparition. It was at the same time a brilliant and incisive commentary on the economies of cinematic illusion and public credulity. Most recently, Ellen Zweig's work has shifted from the presentation of physical bodies and armatures, to the re-presentation of the traces of bodies in mediation. The familiar performative dimension of her works has now been inscribed-folded into-a purely cinematic space. Zweig often works ad seriam, exploring a theme or topic in contiguous sequences to trace the contours of a seductive and problematic cultural territory. In her current series of interrelated single-channel video works, Zweig explores, with characteristic generosity and obsession, the phantasmatic constructions of "China" wrought at the hands of philosophers, writers, scholars, and other odd souls. Three short works have been finished to date, and a fourth is nearing completion. Zweig is producing a linked collection of "portraits" of Western figures all of whom have studied, invented, miscast or misunderstood, and been enamored with China. As spectators, we too, are implicated in these doubled fascinations, the guilty pleasures of a romanticized and voyeuristic "Orient." Familiar tropes and forms of address, fragments of the grammars of the cinematic avant garde are cut loose and recast, arresting the viewer in the display of the exotic. The exotic as familiar is, as she well knows, a species of the uncanny. What emerges, through Zweig's subtle deployments, is a palpable and concrete critique of the unconscious "orientalisms"-and some of their sources-that still haunt our global, political, and theoretical environs. INTERFACE ".. .a 'certain Chinese encyclopedia' in which it is written that 'animals are divided into: (a)belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (1) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off look like flies'." Michel Foucault's famous paraphrasing of Borges1 traces the contours of the boundaries-often transgressed by laughter, as he readily admits-between our familiar and well-ordered schemes of things, and other more exotic taxonomies. The classificatory themes that domesticate and temper the wild profusion of extant things, which determine the tacit protocols in thinking notions of identity and difference, anomaly, possibility, and the impossible. …


Many hard combinatorial problems can be modeled by a system of polynomial equations. N. Alon coined the term polynomial method to describe the use of nonlinear polynomials when solving combinatorial problems. We continue the exploration of the polynomial method and show how the algorithmic theory of polynomial ideals can be used to detect $k$-colorability, unique Hamiltonicity, and automorphism rigidity of graphs. Our techniques are diverse and involve Nullstellensatz certificates, linear algebra over finite fields, Grobner bases, toric algebra, convex programming, and real algebraic geometry.