BACKGROUND
Conflicting results were reported about the efficacy of vitamin E (E) treatment in porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT). We conducted a study in PCT patients to investigate whether E treatment has any additional beneficial effects compared with phlebotomy (P) treatment alone on rheological and oxidative stress parameters.

METHODS
Twenty three patients with sporadic PCT in clinical remission and 10 healthy control patients were studied. All patients were treated with P prior to the study until clinical remission was achieved. Baseline routine laboratory [blood glucose, serum lipids, C-reactive protein (CRP), iron metabolism indices, liver function tests], oxidative stress [serum thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), plasma H-donor activity, plasma free SH-groups, erythrocyte glutathion peroxidase activity] and rheological parameters (whole blood and plasma viscosity, cell transit time, clogging rate) were measured in both groups. Then all PCT patients received E (tocopherol acetate) 200 mg/day for 8 weeks and at the end of treatment measurements identical to those performed at baseline were repeated.

RESULTS
Increased urine uroporphyrin, serum CRP, TBARS concentrations, whole blood and plasma viscosity and decreased plasma H-donor activity, free SH-group level, erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase activity were detected in PCT patients treated with P alone compared with control group consistent with residual oxidative stress in PCT patients. E treatment decreased urine uroporphyrin and serum TBARS concentrations; increased plasma H-donor activity and did not influence whole blood and plasma viscosity compared with P treatment alone.

CONCLUSIONS
E treatment reduced the residual oxidative stress and did not influence increased plasma and whole blood viscosity present in PCT patients receiving P treatment prior to clinical remission.


Background: Diabetes causes cognitive impairment. Medicinal plants due to different mechanisms, such as antioxidant activities may improve diabetes and relieve its symptoms. Commiphora mukul (Burseraceae) has a significant antioxidant activity. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effect of hydro- alcoholic extract of C. mukul on passive-avoidance learning and memory in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic male rats. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two adult male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to four groups: normal, diabetic, normal + extract of C. mukul and diabetic + extract of C. mukul groups with free access to regular rat diet. Diabetes was induced in male rats by single interaperitoneal injection of 60 mg/kg STZ. After the confirmation of diabetes, 300 mg/kg C. mukul extract was orally administered to the extract-treated groups. Control groups received normal saline at the same time. Passive-avoidance memory was tested eight weeks after the STZ treatment, and blood glucose and body weight were measured in all groups at the beginning and end of the experiment. Results: In the present study, diabetes decreased learning and memory. Although the administration of C. mukul extract did not affect the step-through latency (STLa) and the number of trials of the diabetic groups during the first acquisition trial, a significant decrease was observed in STLr and also a significant increase in time spent in the dark compartment (TDC) and number of crossing (NOC) in the retention test (after 24 and 48 hours). Although no significant difference was observed in body weight of diabetic + extract of C. mukul (DE) and diabetic control (DC) groups, the plasma glucose of DE group was significantly lower in comparison to DC group. Conclusions: Commiphora mukul extract can improve passive-avoidance learning and memory impairments in the STZ-induced diabetic rats. This improvement may be due to the antioxidant, acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity, anti-inflammatory or power to reduce hyperglycemia and lowering cholesterol and triglyceride properties of this extract. The result of this study is a promising point for new therapeutic alternatives in alleviating cognitive impairments caused by diabetes.


Abstract. The approach to time series reconstruction in climatology based upon cross-correlation coefficients and regression equations is mathematically incorrect because it ignores the dependence of time series upon their past. The proper method described here for the bivariate case requires the autoregressive time- and frequency domains modeling of the time series which contains simultaneous observations of both scalar series with subsequent application of the model to restore the shorter one into the past. The method presents further development of previous efforts taken by a number of authors starting from A. Douglass who introduced some concepts of time series analysis into paleoclimatology. The method is applied to the monthly data of total solar irradiance (TSI), 1979–2014, and sunspot numbers (SSN), 1749–2014, to restore the TSI data over 1749–1978. The results of the reconstruction are in statistical agreement with observations.


Globally, freshwater ecosystems are warming at unprecedented rates and northern temperate lakes are simultaneously experiencing increased runoff of humic substances (brownification), with little known consequences for future conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
We employed an outdoor mesocosm experiment during spring and summer to investigate the combined effects of gradually increasing warming and brownification perturbations on the phytoplankton community structure (biodiversity and composition) and functioning (biomass).
While we did not observe overall significant treatment effects on total phytoplankton biomasses, we show that predicted increases in warming and brownification can reduce biodiversity considerably, occasionally up to 90% of Shannon diversity estimates. Our results demonstrate that the loss of biodiversity is driven by the dominance of mixotrophic algae (Dinobryon and Cryptomonas), whereas several other phytoplankton taxa may be temporarily displaced from the community, including Cyclotella, Desmodesmus, Monoraphidium, Tetraedron, Nitzschia and Golenkinia.
The observed loss of biodiversity coincided with an increase in bacterial production providing resources for potential mixotrophs along the gradient of warming and brownification. This coupling between bacterial production and mixotrophs was likely a major cause behind the competitive displacement of obligate phototrophs and supports evidence for the importance of consumer–prey dynamics in shaping environmental impacts on phytoplankton communities.
We conclude that warming and brownification are likely to cause a profound loss of biodiversity by indirectly affecting competitive interactions among phytoplankton taxa. Importantly, our results did not show an abrupt loss of biodiversity; instead the reduction in taxa richness levelled off after exceeding a threshold of warming and brownification. These results exemplify the complex nonlinear responses of biodiversity to environmental perturbations and provide further insights for predicting biodiversity patterns to the future warming and brownification of freshwaters.


This study analyses the impact of religiosity on tolerance in Turkey, where social divisions are deep, and where religiosity is one significant source of such divisions. In going beyond survey research studies which limit the discussion to individuals' levels of tolerance, this analysis aims to provide a deeper understanding of tolerance through qualitative interviews that make use of a series of vignettes. In such interviews, the respondents are consulted about their attitude towards various out-groups, with the design of the vignettes illuminating the sensitivity of such attitudes to variation in the forms of relationships described. Besides the majority/minority division, the polarizing impact of the religious/secular divide is also investigated. The findings suggest that intolerance is a common problem within Turkish society amongst both religious and secular communities, and that religious and secular respondents exhibit different preferences amongst the out-groups. Moreover, this study reveals that attitudes towards out-groups are sensitive to the form of relationships depicted.


What does the way we clarify and revise concepts reveal about the nature of concepts? This paper investigates the ontological commitments of conceptual analysis and explication regarding their supposed subject matter – concepts. It demonstrates the benefits of a cognitivist account of concepts, according to which they are not items on which the subject operates cognitively, but rather ways in which the subject operates. The proposed view helps to handle alternating references to 'concepts' and 'terms' in instructions on analysis and explication. Furthermore, its virtue lies not in the capacity to render concepts 'shareable' but in its ontological parsimony.


All societies use age and sex to classify their members and
they have different expectations of each category. The
unrealistic classification on the basis of the age or sex is
one of the biggest risks for the discrimination and prejudice
in modern societies. Ageism could be defined as any prejudice
or discrimination against or in favor of an age group. As a
consequence there is negative stereotypes about that group
(i.e., the belief that most of old people are senile) or
negative attitude based on a stereotype (i.e., the feeling that
old age is usually the worst time of life). Methods: A
descriptive survey design was conducted within two regional
gerontopsychiatric departments (in Brno and Kroměřiž). We
evaluated psychiatric paramedical healthcare professionals'
(different job functions, excluding physicians) attitudes
towards elderly people. The original questioner [27 entries]
was used (some questions were prepared according to the
Palmores questionnaire). There were 145 paramedical health
workers (rendering nursing care) questioned in total. Results:
The results reveal the occurrence of ageism and suggest the
discriminatory treatment of seniors generally in medical
facilities. On the ascertained determinants of the ageist
attitudes the following variables were investigated: The length
of professional practice at gerontopsychiatric departments and
in the health care settings in total, the age of the
respondents and their level of the education. Concrete results:
the age of the respondents (asked health workers) has no
significant association on the declared experience with the
abuse of elderly patients (p – 0.748). The level of education
has statistically significant association on the knowledge and
familiarity with the term ageism (p – 0.013). And finally the
length of clinical practice has statistically significant
association on the linked education interest – Lifelong
learning in problematic of ageism (p – 0.043).


Community-acquired and hospital-acquired legionellosis have been occasionally reported in Korea since the recognition of an outbreak of Pontiac fever in 1984. However, there was a lack of epidemiological information on the diagnosed patients that could be used as serological evidence. Researchers analyzed the epidemiological and clinical data and antibiotic treatment records for the patients diagnosed serologically as having legionellosis in Korea during 1999 to 2002. The common clinical symptoms included fever, cough, sputum, and dyspnea. Twenty-eight patients (25.9%) showed reactivity for Legionella gormanii, and 14 patients (13.0%) were associated with L. pneumophila serogroup 1 according to serological tests. Most of the legionellosis cases diagnosed with serological methods in Korea show epidemiological aspects similar to those reported in other countries. In sero-diagnosis of this study, it is remarkable that L. gormanii was the most prevalent species in Korea. Therefore, L. gormanii infection as well as other Legionella species other than L. pneumophila should be taken into consideration when serological diagnosis is performed in Korea.


Objectives: Phytochemical analysis and biological activities of Viola indica. Methods: The powdered plant material of Viola indica was successively extracted with petroleumether, ethyl acetate andmethanol. The radical scavenging activity of methanolic extract was tested using 1, 1-diphenyl- 2-picrylhydrazyl radical. Ethyl acetate and methanol extractwas tested against Leukemia (THP-1), Lung (A-549), Colon (HCT-15), Cervix (Hela) and Prostrate (PC-3) cell lines at 100 µg/ml, respectively. The antibacterial activity of methanolic extract was also tested, against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris etc. Results: The phytochemical analysis of different extract revealed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, saponins and phenols. The methanolic extract tested showed 51±0.2% radical scavenging activity at 40 µg/ml and maximum zone of inhibitions against S. epidermidis (29mm), S. aureus (23mm) and P. vulgaris (22mm). The results of cytotoxic activity showed that methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts were potent only against the THP-1, Hela, PC-3 and HCT-15 cell cultures. Discussion: V. indica showed radical scavenging, cytotoxic and antibacterial activity due to flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, saponins and phenols. Conclusion: As a part of our ongoing research this will be a positive move towards the development of new pharmaceuticals agents used in the treatment of various radical oxide associated diseases.


It is current practice to investigate surficial seafloor sediments by the acoustic technique of vertical-incidence reflexion profiling whether the investigation is done for the purposes of foundation engineering, of underwater sound propagation or pure sedimentological research. Such a technique gives no information about the variation with depth of such properties of the seabed materials as the acoustic velocity and attenuation. Gross changes in these properties can be expected if sediments are gasified or ice-bonded. Comprehensive reviews of what is known about these phenomena are given. Briefer summaries are included of the significance to the fields of engineering and of underwater acoustics, of the acoustic properties of seabed materials. The long-established seismic techniques for measuring velocities on the basis of travel time measurements can be applied to seabed sediments, but require adaptation, particularly in deeper water. The necessary amendments to field equipment and data-reduction technique are described, with results from areas of Maritime Canada and from Lake Erie. A description is given of equipment built to gather 12-channel acoustic data on a scale suitable for the investigation of surficial sediments and results are presented from the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Canada). Application of synthetic seismogramme modelling to these records shows that the acoustic technique when analysed in this way is capable of discovering properties of seabed sediments which are not revealed by either the vertical incidence profile or the travel-time methods of velocity analysis. In particular, a substantially different velocity profile results from this analysis. Suggestions are made for optimising the future gathering of field data for treatment in this way.


The VoIP(Voice over IP) has been worldwide used and already put to practical use in many fields. However, it is needed to ensure secret of VoIP call in a special situation. It is relatively difficult to eaves-drop the commonly used PSTN in that it is connected with 1:1 circuit. However, it is difficult to ensure the secret of call on Internet because many users can connect to the Internet at the same time. Therefore, this paper suggests a new model of Internet telephone for eavesdrop prevention enabling VoIP(using SIP protocol) to use the VPN protocol and establish the probability of practical use comparing it with Internet telephone.


Relatively little attention has been paid to the role that externalities play in determining the pecuniary returns to migration. This paper addresses this gap, using microeconomic data for more than 100,000 individuals living in the European Union (EU) for the period 1994-2001 in order to analyse whether the individual economic returns to education vary between migrants and nonmigrants and whether any observed differences in earnings between migrants and locals are affected by household and/or geographical (regional and interregional) externalities. The results point out that while education is a fundamental determinant of earnings., European labour markets – contrary to expectations – do not discriminate in the returns to education between migrants and non-migrants. The paper also finds that household, regional, and interregional externalities influence the economic returns to education, but that they do so in a similar way for local, intranational, and supra-national migrants. The results are robust to the introduction of a large number of individual, household, and regional controls.


In March, 2004, the federal Department of Education issued proposed Title IX regulations that promise to provide public school districts and charter school organizers considerable flexibility in establishing single-sex classes and schools. At the same time, however, as part of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Department has called for "scientifically based" research to guide educational practices while the Supreme Court has ruled that state actors need an "exceedingly persuasive" justification for drawing distinctions on the basis of sex. The dramatic turnaround in federal policy and the seeming inconsistencies in the law have sparked heated debate that has plumbed the depths of gender, race, and ideology. Yet both sides concur that research findings supporting single-sex schooling are inconclusive. This article works through this conundrum, maintaining that social science evidence has far more to offer the debate than either supporters or detractors of single-sex schooling recognize. To validate that assertion, it examines data on academic performance and social deficits across gender and race as well as tentative evidence from existing programs. Based on these findings, the author draws the critical connection among program planning, implementation, and assessment and urges educators and researchers to explore a broad range of questions and methods both in their search for evidence to inform and guide program development and in their efforts to generate new findings that will prove instructive if not definitive in measuring the overall effects of these programs.


In skeletal muscle, insulin activates glycogen synthase by reducing phosphorylation at both NH2- and COOH-terminal sites of the enzyme and by elevating the levels of glucose-6-phosphate, an allosteric activator of glycogen synthase. To study the mechanism of regulation of glycogen synthase by insulin and glucose-6-phosphate, we generated stable Rat-1 fibroblast clones expressing rabbit muscle glycogen synthase with Ser-->Ala substitutions at key phosphorylation sites. We found that 1) elimination of the phosphorylation of either NH2- or COOH-terminal sites did not abolish insulin stimulation of glycogen synthase; 2) mutations at both Ser-7 and Ser-640 were necessary to bypass insulin activation; 3) mutation at Ser-7, coupled with the disruption of the motif for recognition by glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3), did not eliminate the insulin effect; and 4) mutation of either Ser-7 or Ser-640 increased the sensitivity of glycogen synthase to glucose 6-phosphate >10-fold. We conclude that Ser-7 and Ser-640 are both involved in mediating the response of glycogen synthase to insulin and activation by glucose 6-phosphate. In Rat-1 fibroblasts, GSK-3 action is not essential for glycogen synthase activation by insulin, and GSK-3-independent mechanisms also operate.


Increasing emphasis has been placed on the development of gender-specific treatment programs to address the unique needs of women substance abusers. Some authors have suggested that this task can be accomplished by simply providing single-gender programs; yet others have argued that simply segregating substance abuse clients by gender has no effect on outcomes. The latter have suggested that in addition to providing women-only programs, different treatment approaches must be adopted. The purpose of the study described in this article was to investigate the effect of one agency's change from mixed-gender to single-gender treatment on client retention and treatment completion. Data were collected on 305 men and 102 women who were treated in either mixed-gender or single-gender settings. Results indicate that substance abuse treatment provided in single-gender settings does not significantly increase treatment retention and completion. These findings lend support to the contention that to improve treatment outcomes for women substance abusers, gender-specific treatment must do more than provide traditional treatment in a single-gender environment. Key words: gender; retention; substance abuse treatment ********** Although women have struggled with chemical dependency for centuries, society has generally viewed substance abuse as a male problem (Blumenthal, 1998; Goldberg, 1995). Not until feminist theory and the women's liberation movement questioned male-dominated societal norms did addicted women begin to receive attention in their own right (Kandall, 1998). Because women have been underrepresented in research studies and treatment groups, the effects of and treatment for drug abuse among women are less understood than for men (Mondanaro, 1989; Wilke, 1994). Recognition of this fact has led to an increasing emphasis on the development of treatment programs that address the unique needs of women substance abusers. Despite a number of articles describing gender-specific treatment programs (Burman, 1992; Coletti et al., 1995; Finkelstein, 1993; Finkelstein, Kennedy, Thomas, & Kearns, 1997; LaFave & Echols, 1999; Schliebner, 1994; Wald, Harvey, & Hibbard, 1995; Yaffe, Jenson, & Howard, 1995; Zankowski, 1987), few studies have examined the outcomes of these programs (Beckman, 1994; Hodgins, el-Guebaly, & Addington, 1997; Wallen, 1998). LITERATURE REVIEW It has become accepted generally that the patterns, consequences, and reasons for substance abuse are different among women and men (Lex, 1994). Studies comparing men and women in chemical dependency treatment have found that women report more psychiatric symptoms than men, more depression and anxiety, lower self-esteem, and higher rates of childhood sexual abuse (Wallen, 1992). Also, chemically dependent women differ from men in patterns, psychosocial characteristics, and physiological consequences of drug use (Nelson-Zlupko, Kauffman, & Dore, 1995). Rates of treatment entry, retention, and completion are significantly lower for women than for men, and current substance abuse treatment models are less effective for women than for men (Beckman & Amaro, 1984; Blume, 1990; Reed, 1985; Stevens, Arbiter, & Glider, 1989). Because of these differences, it is not surprising that treatment strategies designed for men fail to adequately address the needs of female substance abusers (Schliebner, 1994), thus preventing treatment programs from attracting and retaining female substance abusers (Wells & Jackson, 1992). Gender-Specific Treatment Blumenthal (1998) noted that to increase retention of women in substance abuse treatment, treatment approaches must address gender differences in the etiology and treatment of addictive disorders and respond to the unique needs of women. Gender-specific programming gives women an opportunity to concentrate on their needs and desires away from their traditional concerns of social approval and the welfare of others (Copeland, Hall, Didcott, & Biggs, 1993). …


The new international financial architecture has its roots in the financial crises that shook emerging-market economies in the l990s – Mexico in 1994-5, and East Asia in 1997-8. The problems there, as well as in Russia in 1998, in Brazil in 1998-9, and more recently in Turkey and Argentina, underscored the importance of strengthening the international financial architecture. These crises generated a broad consensus that fundamental reforms were required in the international financial system. The international community has launched a series of initiatives – referred to collectively as the new international financial architecture – to strengthen the operation of the global financial system. A focal point of this architecture is the prevention of crises. Work on strengthening the international financial architecture is being undertaken on several fronts simultaneously. The major building blocks of this undertaking are transparency and accountability, international standards and codes, the strengthening of financial systems, capital account issues, sustainable exchange rate regimes, the detection and monitoring of external vulnerability, private sector involvement in forestalling and resolving crises, and IMF facilities. This paper focuses on one of these building blocks: the strengthening of financial systems. In the search for increased international financial stability and possible measures to prevent future periods of systemic risk, concerns have grown that international financial markets themselves may be increasingly important sources of financial instability. The implementation of the proposed Basel Accord on capital adequacy is another important initiative of the new financial architecture. By more closely aligning regulatory capital charges and banks' risk profiles, the adoption of the proposed Accord could substantially strengthen banking systems, thereby increasing the overall stability of the financial system. In the current environment of globalisation and increasing competition in the financial services industry, risks are larger in scope and scale than ever before. Keeping pace with the changes in the risk environment, as well as with the newest developments in risk-management practices, poses significant challenges to regulators and banks alike. For supervisors, the most important challenge involves developing an approach to capital regulation that works in a world of diversity and near-constant change. Financial institutions face the challenge of implementing advances in risk modelling in a coherent and systematic fashion, and of coping with conceptual difficulties regarding model specification and data limitations The new capital adequacy framework proposed by the Basel Committee is an attempt to address these challenges. However, implementing the proposed Accord creates additional challenges, especially in an emerging-market context. This paper gives a perspective on the new financial architecture from the viewpoint of banks, and concentrates on the effect of the implementation of the Basel Accord on the South African banking system. A secondary aim of the paper is to identify the challenges posed by the implementation of the proposed capital adequacy framework to South African banks and bank supervisors and to see how prepared they are for these challenges. Although a review of annual reports of South African banks suggests a relatively sophisticated approach to credit risk management and the use of internal credit risk ratings, it is likely that the rating systems of South African banks do not meet all the requirements set out by the Basel Committee for the internal ratings-based approach to setting regulatory capital requirements. Recent problems at Saambou and Unifer also point to potential shortcomings in the credit risk management processes of certain South African banks. Against the background of South Africa's sophisticated and efficient financial markets – and yet its vulnerability as an emerging market – an overview is given of the structure of the South African banking sector. This includes quantitative indicators of financial system soundness, like various indicators of credit risk and capital adequacy. An overview is given of the risk management practices of South African banks, as well as of the supervisory approach of the South African Reserve Bank. All of this is compared to international "best practice" policy guidelines.


In the aftermath of the horrific school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, parents, students, and school administrators began to fear the unthinkable-that a violent, ruthless criminal could invade their school campuses and randomly target innocent youth. Even though statistics show that violent crime in elementary and secondary schools is on the decline, trepidation and anxiety on school campuses across the country is at an all-time high.In response to this perceived threat, in 2013, lawmakers in over thirty states proposed bills that, if passed, would authorize school officials to carry weapons on their persons during the school day. Currently, at least eleven states have adopted this "armed-teachers" approach in fighting the war against school violence.This Article explores the potential § 1983 liability that the armed-teachers approach could create. Historically, § 1983 shields public schools from liability for the injuries resulting from the unforeseeable, violent acts of third parties. But when schools themselves invite the risk onto campus, they become vulnerable, throwing schoolchildren into the "snake pit" of danger and exposing themselves to liability under the government-created risk doctrine. Walking the reader through the elements of a state-created danger claim brought by a plaintiff whose injury or death was proximately caused by the armed-teachers approach, this Article examines the inherent risk involved in bringing firearms into schools, especially when guarded by inadequately trained, or in some cases untrained, teachers.Furthermore, where school districts adopt armed-teachers policies and fail to adequately train or supervise those teachers serving as quasi-security guards pursuant to their policy, they expose themselves to Monell liability. Most districts that have adopted this approach have done so for fiscal reasons, but because the cost of hiring security is lower than the cost of the risk of injury and resultant damages incurred by the school, the money-saving justification is foolhardy and, at best, illogical.Finally, this Article cautions that schools must not lose sight of the appropriate role and function of our schoolteachers. With education reform and teacher effectiveness at the crux of a national debate, schools should be wary of muddying the role of our educators. Instead, schools should allow teachers to focus on educating and leave the patrol-work to the properly trained experts.


Sexual assaults are punished as serious felonies, often resulting in the lengthiest terms of incarceration meted out by the state. When the perpetrator is an adult and the victim is a child, many states further enhance the penalty for sexual assault by increasing the minimum available sentence and creating more stringent conditions for release. However, many states offer a discounted criminal charge to perpetrators of child sexual assault who are related to their victims. Loopholes written into state laws permit related perpetrators who have been convicted to escape penalties which would otherwise be mandatory for child sexual offenders, including imprisonment, mandatory sentence enhancements, and sexual offender registration. Prosecutors may offer probation-only sentences and forms of judicial diversion available only to related perpetrators. In some cases, the convicted perpetrator may return to live in the home of the child-victim. The article employs a problem-solving methodology rooted in critical outsider theory to critique these loopholes in state child protective systems as dangerously unsound policy. Using California as a case study, the article details the laws that authorize a prosecutor to permit convicted child sexual offenders to sidestep the charges, penalties, and administrative safeguards required by state law, as long as they are related to their victims. It examines the legal history of state incest laws and the social and political responses during the last century to the problem of sexual abuse of children in their homes. Criminal and medical studies are adduced to demonstrate that related and non-related perpetrators cannot be differentiated, either in their criminal acts or their psychological makeup. The article concludes with model legislation drafted to correct the flaws identified in state penal code.


Theories deal with the world on its own terms, absolutely. Models are metaphors, relative descriptions of the object of their attention that compare it to something similar already better understood via theories. Models are reductions in dimensionality that always simplify and sweep dirt under the rug. Theories tell you what something is. Models tell you merely what something is partially like.


We demonstrate a single-shot technique for optical sampling based on temporal magnification using a silicon-chip time lens. We demonstrate the largest reported temporal magnification factor yet achieved (>500) and apply this technique to perform 1.3 TS/s single-shot sampling of ultrafast waveforms and to 80-Gb/s performance monitoring. This scheme offers the potential of developing a device that can transform GHz oscilloscopes into instruments capable of measuring signals with THz bandwidths.


Data stream classification poses many challenges to the data mining community. In this paper, we address four such major challenges, namely, infinite length, concept-drift, concept-evolution, and feature-evolution. Since a data stream is theoretically infinite in length, it is impractical to store and use all the historical data for training. Concept drift is a common phenomenon in data streams, which occurs as a result of changes in the underlying concepts. Concept-evolution occurs as a result of new classes evolving in the stream. Feature-evolution is a frequently occurring process in many streams, such as text streams, in which new features (i.e., words or phrases) appear as the stream progresses. Most existing data stream classification techniques address only the first two challenges, and ignore the latter two. In this paper, we propose an ensemble classification framework, where each classifier is equipped with a novel class detector, to address concept-drift and concept-evolution. To address feature-evolution, we propose a feature set homogenization technique. We also enhance the novel class detection module by making it more adaptive to the evolving stream, and enabling it to detect more than one novel class at a time. Comparison with state-of-the-art data stream classification techniques establishes the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Fossiliferous Middle Cambrian boulders from a previously unknown boulder unit in the Haymond Formation of Pennsylvanian age in the southeastern part of the Marathon basin, Texas, contain trilobites, brachiopods, and mollusks indicative of the seaward margin of a late Middle Cambrian carbonate platform. The source area was to the southeast of present outcrops. Paleogeographic relocation of the source, about 100 to 200 km southeast of the present Marathon basin, provides the first clear evidence for the position of the seaward margin of the earliest Paleozoic carbonate platform along the southern sector of the United States. Metamorphic rocks of the "interior zone" of the late Paleozoic Ouachita orogen now lie well inboard of the seaward edge of the carbonate platform and are most likely allochthonous on a scale of tens of kilometres.


It is important to estimate the elapsed time to solve large sparse linear systems for time-restricted real life decision making applications such as oil and gas reservoir simulators. Challenging matrices should be distinguished and handled separately because they may lead to performance bottleneck. Therefore, we need to examine the spectral effects of large matrices on the performance of scalable direct solvers by using eigenvalues. In this work, we check whether there is relationship between the eigenvalue distribution of a matrix and the performance of the solver. We try to examine the eigenvalue distribution of various sparse matrices. We may find all eigenvalues in order to obtain the distribution graph of eigenvalues, if possible. However, it is very expensive to find all eigenvalues. Therefore, Gerschgorin's theorem may be used to bound the spectrum of square matrices. Several behaviors such as being disjoint, overlapped or clustered of Gerschgorin circles may give clue regarding the distribution of the eigenvalues and the performance of the solver for that matrix. In this paper, we consider a portfolio of test matrices which include randomly populated sparse matrices and various patterned matrices coming from reservoir modeling from single porosity single permeability to dual porosity dual permeability models (see [10]). We examined our modified HELM2D03LOWER_20K matrix and EMILIA_923 matrix from the University of Florida sparse matrix collection (see [17]), in addition to the patterned matrices from 3 phase black-oil model and 7 component EOS model. We define an optimal minimum number of cores as the number of cores that provides the minimum wall clock time for a given size of problem, where a right match occurs between the problem size, the spectral effects of matrix and the available resources such as memory, in presence of communication overhead. We find that the optimal minimum number of cores required depends on the sparsity level and size of the matrix. As the sparsity level of matrix decreases and the order of matrix increases, we expect that the optimal minimum number of cores increases slightly.


The use of infrared radiation in the drying industry has been increased in recent years due to its advantages over other drying methods. High intensity, precise control and
ability to penetrate the product are some of the advantages of infrared radiation. Although infrared radiation has unique advantages over conduction and convection heating methods, the lack of visual feature data related with the radiant process and the complicated mathematics have hampered wide numerical simulation for optimization and process design.
 The objectives of this research are to develop a mathematical model of fixed-bed infrared dryer by include suitable form of water mass flux ( ) for the simulation
purpose, modification of the model to be valid and pplicable for different kind of materials, numerical solution of the model and finally control the system using PID controller.
 New approaches with modifying of the model are presented in three different methods. In method 1 the Equation of water flux is modified and simplified to be substituted in the main model. In method 2, the Equation of the dimensionless water content is added to the main model, as the model becomes a system of 5 partial differential Equations. In the last method, water flux Equation is modified by increases the effect of the emitter temperature on the system performance, as it can be applicable for more variety of food materials.
 Nonlinear regression is used to fit the experimental data to the models. Coefficient of determination ( ) is calculated in order to measure the proportion of variability qualified to the mathematical model, where mean bias error (MBE) and root mean square error (RMSE) were used to evaluate the goodness of fit of each method.
 In order to have more efficient and accurate drying performance, all developed models are controlled using PID controller. The moisture content values of three methods are compared together before and after connecting the models to the controller. Resulting curves show that the first method has the best fitting values with the experimental curves while method 3 reaches the desire moisture content faster than method 1 and 2.All methods show faster drying performance after controlling the process. It may consider as energy and time saving with efficient performance of the system. In this work Method 3 show the best performance for IR dryer that reach desired moisture content of 0.5 (Kg water/Kg dry mater) in 3 hours where it is 3.5 and 5 hours for method 1 and 2 respectively. Developing three methods and designing control strategy are considered as the contributions of this work while the Main contribution is presenting new water flux Equation in method 3.


Placing probes for environment maps is a tedious and time-consuming task for current game developers. In particular, locating the significant places for reflection requires the artists to manually scan through a whole game level. Even then, probes may wind up being too similar and have to be cleaned up manually later on. Furthermore, the whole process needs to be repeated when the content changes. We propose a novel algorithm which assists the artist when placing environment map probes. Based on the original game content, we produce a set of candidate locations for inspection by an artist. By setting a few parameters like sampling density and aggressiveness of probe elimination, the overall number of generated sample probes can be easily adjusted. All of this requires only a short pre-process which can be done using the available in-game renderer. From the generated sample set, the artist can decide which locations are important, add or remove probes manually and adjust the placement to account for supplemental, content-specific parameters. Our initial probe placement, together with additional information computed by our algorithm, allows the artist to place probes more efficiently. Early user testing indicates that the total time can be reduced by up to half a day for a


Until recently, mainstream American environmentalism has been a predominantly white, middle-class movement, essentially ignoring the class, race, and gender dimensions of environmental politics. In this provocative collection of original essays, the environmental dimensions of the Chicana/o experience are explicitly expressed and debated. Employing a variety of genres ranging from poetry to autobiography to theoretical and empirical essays, the voices in this collection speak to the most significant issues of environmentalism and social justice, recognizing throughout the need for a pluralism of Chicana/o philosophies. The contributors provide an excellent basis for understanding how multiple Chicana/o views on the environment play out in the context of dominant social, political and economic views. Chicano Culture, Ecology, Politics examines a number of Chicana/o ecological perspectives. How can the ethics of reciprocity present in Chicana/o agropastoral life be protected and applied on a broader scale? How can the dominant society, whose economic structure is invested in "placeless mobility," take note of the harm caused to land-based cultures, take responsibility for it, and take heed before it is too late? Will the larger society be "ecologically housebroken" before it destroys its home? Grounded in actual political struggles waged by Chicana/o communities over issues of environmental destruction, cultural genocide, and socioeconomic domination, this volume provides an important series of snapshots of Chicana/o history. Chicano Culture, Ecology, Politics illuminates the bridges that exist and must be understood between race, ethnicity, class, gender, politics, and ecology. CONTENTS-Part 1: IndoHispano Land Ethics-Los Animalitos: Culture, Ecology, and the Politics of Place in the Upper Ri??o Grande, Devon G. Pena-Social Action Research, Bioregionalism, and the Upper Rio Grande, Ruben O. Martinez-Notes on (Home)Land Ethics: Ideas, Values, and the Land, Reyes Garcia-Part 2: Environmental History and Ecological Politics-Ecological Legitimacy and Cultural Essentialism: Hispano Grazing in Northern New Mexico, Laura Pulido: The Capitalist Tool, the Lawless, and the Violent: A Critique of Recent Southwestern Environmental History, Devon G. Pena and Ruben O. Martinez-Ecofeminism and Chicano Environmental Struggles: Bridges across Gender and Race, Gwyn Kirk-Philosophy Meets Practice: A Critique of Ecofeminism through the Voices of Three Chicana Activists, Malia Davis-Part 3: Alternatives to Destruction: The Pasture Poacher (a poem), Joseph C. Gallegos-Acequia Tales: Stories from a Chicano Centennial Farm, Joseph C. Gallegos-A Gold Mine, an Orchard, and an Eleventh Commandment, Devon G. Pena-


This study proposes a three-way interaction model that examines how (1) partisan selective exposure to political information on social media, (2) information processing, and (3) ideology influenced support for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for president. Findings indicate that processing election information systematically affected support for Clinton among those who were exposed to diverse information; otherwise, heuristics were the main cue to process political information. Conservatives supporting Trump relied on heuristic processing and avoided information that challenged their beliefs. Liberals, in contrast, were more likely to systematically process election information, but the effect was significant only for those who exposed themselves to diverse information. As such, systematic processing might not make a difference in highly polarized environments, where strong partisans are unlikely to engage with different viewpoints and expose themselves to diverse information.


Specific inhibitors of metalloproteinases, such as TIMP, are potential regulators of tissue integrity. In order to understand their exact role in both normal and pathological processes we have initiated molecular studies on the TIMP gene and its product(s). We have used cDNA and genomic clones corresponding to the murine TIMP gene to define the intron-exon structure of the gene and to map multiple clustered sites where transcription is initiated; we have also partially characterized the cis-acting DNA sequences required for transcriptional activity. The murine TIMP cDNA has also been used in transcription/translation experiments to produce polypeptides which can be processed by endoplasmic reticulum membranes and which are biochemically active in inhibition of fibroblast interstitial collagenase. As a result of our analysis of the expression of the TIMP gene in different cell types and under varied conditions, we have observed an important increase of TIMP mRNA levels in mouse fibroblasts in response to physiological modulators (whole serum and double-stranded RNA) as well as a pathogen (NewCastle Disease Virus). In addition, an analysis of TIMP mRNA in several variants of a cell line derived from a spontaneous mammary adenocarcinoma, which possess different levels of metastatic potential indicated that the serum dependence of TIMP mRNA accumulation is different in metastatic as compared to nonmetastatic cells. The significance of these results in view of the role of TIMP in matrix maintenance is discussed.


Modern data-intensive applications handling massive event streams such as real-time traffic monitoring require support for both rich data filtering and aggregation capabilities. While the pub/sub communication paradigm provides an effective solution for the sought semantic diversity of event filtering, the event processing capabilities of existing pub/sub systems are restricted to singular event matching without support for stream aggregation, which can be accomodated only via the end-to-end principle. In this paper, we propose the first systematic solution for supporting a range of time-based aggregation semantics in a pub/sub system. In order to eschew the need to disseminate a large number of publications to the subscriber, we strive to distribute the aggregation computation within the pub/ sub overlay network. By enriching the pub/sub language with aggregation semantics, we allow pub/sub brokers to aggregate incoming publications without forwarding them to the next broker downstream. We show that our baseline solutions, one which aggregates early (at the publisher edge) and another which aggregates late (at the subscriber edge), are not optimal strategies for minimizing bandwidth consumption. We thus propose an adaptive rate-based heuristic solution which determines which brokers should aggregate publications. We show that this adaptive solution leads to improved performance compared to our baseline solutions using real datasets extracted from our traffic monitoring use case.


The mean shift is a simple but powerful tool emerging from the computer science literature which shifts a point to the local center of mass
around this point. It has been used as a building block for several nonparametric unsupervised learning techniques, such as density mode estimation, clustering, and the estimation of principal curves.
Due to the localized way of averaging, it requires the specification of a
window size in form of a bandwidth (matrix). This paper proposes to use a so-called self-coverage measure as a general device for bandwidth selection in this
context. In short, a bandwidth h will be favorable if a high proportion of data points falls within circles or ``hypertubes"; of radius h centered at the fitted object. The method is illustrated through real data examples in the light of several unsupervised estimation problems.


Background Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) patients typically overmonitor their own behavior, as shown by symptoms of excessive doubt and checking. Although this is well established for the patients' relationship with external stimuli in the environment, no study has explored their monitoring of internal body signals, a process known to be affected in anxiety-related syndromes. Here, we explored this issue through a cardiac interoception task that measures sensing of heartbeats. Our aim was to explore key behavioral and electrophysiological aspects of internal-cue monitoring in OCD, while examining their potential distinctiveness in this condition. Method We administered a heartbeat detection (HBD) task (with related interoceptive confidence and awareness measures) to three matched groups (OCD patients, panic disorder patients, healthy controls) and recorded ongoing modulations of two task-relevant electrophysiological markers: the heart evoked potential (HEP) and the motor potential (MP). Results Behaviorally, OCD patients outperformed controls and panic patients in the HBD task. Moreover, they exhibited greater amplitude modulation of both the HEP and the MP during cardiac interoception. However, they evinced poorer confidence and awareness of their interoceptive skills. Conclusions Convergent behavioral and electrophysiological data showed that overactive monitoring in OCD extends to the sensing of internal bodily signals. Moreover, this pattern discriminated OCD from panic patients, suggesting a condition-distinctive alteration. Our results highlight the potential of exploring interoceptive processes in the OCD spectrum to better characterize the population's cognitive profile. Finally, these findings may lay new bridges between somatic theories of emotion and cognitive models of OCD.


Recent research has demonstrated that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has a critical role in metacognitive judgments of confidence. Given that PFC receives inputs from across the visual cortex, one counter-intuitive prediction is that signals that are represented in different visual areas may interact with each other at the metacognitive level. We tested this prediction by asking subjects to judge the dominant color and shape in a set of 40 letters. In Experiment 1 we found that confidence "leaked" between the two tasks (i.e., high confidence on the color task was associated with higher confidence on the shape task on that same trial) even though no such effect was found for perceptual accuracy. To ensure that the results were not due to response priming, in Experiment 2 confidence was given on a continuous scale for one task, and through the "opt-out" paradigm (in which subjects can choose to withhold their response and earn a certain small reward) on the other. Despite that difference in responding procedures, confidence leak between the two tasks was just as strong manifesting in 42 of the 44 subjects across the two experiments. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that confidence leak was also present for simple Gabor stimuli and that manipulations of signal quality through contrast and attention did not change the strength of confidence interactions. Finally, in Experiment 5 we disrupted PFC function with theta-burst TMS and observed a decrease in confidence leak compared to TMS to control regions. The results across all experiments are well described by a single-parameter model based on Bayesian inference, in which observers are constantly predicting the overall strength of signals in the environment in order to respond to them optimality. The model thus provides a normative explanation for the ubiquitous and novel phenomenon of confidence leak between different tasks. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Mozambique has achieved remarkable macroeconomic success over recent decades, boasting one of the world's highest rates of GDP growth. However, absolute poverty remains persistent, spilling over into social unrest. To better understand the link between aggregate growth and household welfare, this study focuses on labour market trends. We ask: (a) what has happened to jobs in Mozambique over the past 15 years; (b) what has been the link between jobs and development outcomes; and (c) where should policymakers focus to create more good jobs? We conclude that jobs policy must seek to raise agricultural productivity and stimulate labour-intensive exports.


Antimicrobial peptides act against bacteria by binding non-specifically and disrupting their outer membrane. LL-37 is the only member of the cathelicidin group of antimicrobial peptides present in humans and shows a broad range of antimicrobial activity. RK-21 is a fragment of human antimicrobial peptide LL-37, which is α-helical, cationic and amphipathic in nature. RK-21 displays similar antimicrobial activity to LL37. In order to understand the mechanism of lipid bilayer disruption, fluorine-labeled antimicrobial peptide RK-21 was chemically synthesized and F-NMR studies were done. NMR studies were done at various peptide concentrations, on different lipid bilayer compositions and temperatures. P-NMR studies did not show any micellar fragments, eliminating the detergent-like mechanism for activity. F-NMR studies indicated that labeled RK-21 is oriented on glass stack lipid samples. The peptide maintained this orientation at different lipid compositions, different peptide concentrations and different temperatures. Preliminary results support a mechanism of toroidal pore formation.


This paper presents optical night sky brightness measurements from the stratosphere using CCD images taken with the Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT). The data used for estimating the backgrounds were obtained during three commissioning flights in 2016, 2018, and 2019 at altitudes ranging from 28 to 34 km above sea level. For a valid comparison of the brightness measurements from the stratosphere with measurements from mountain-top ground-based observatories (taken at zenith on the darkest moonless night at high Galactic and high ecliptic latitudes), the stratospheric brightness levels were zodiacal light and diffuse Galactic light subtracted, and the airglow brightness was projected to zenith. The stratospheric brightness was measured around 5.5 hr, 3 hr, and 2 hr before the local sunrise time in 2016, 2018, and 2019, respectively. The B, V, R, and I brightness levels in 2016 were 2.7, 1.0, 1.1, and 0.6 mag arcsec−2 darker than the darkest ground-based measurements. The B, V, and R brightness levels in 2018 were 1.3, 1.0, and 1.3 mag arcsec−2 darker than the darkest ground-based measurements. The U and I brightness levels in 2019 were 0.1 mag arcsec−2 brighter than the darkest ground-based measurements, whereas the B and V brightness levels were 0.8 and 0.6 mag arcsec−2 darker than the darkest ground-based measurements. The lower sky brightness levels, stable photometry, and lower atmospheric absorption make stratospheric observations from a balloon-borne platform a unique tool for astronomy. We plan to continue this work in a future midlatitude long duration balloon flight with SuperBIT.


The number of conflicts between citizens and institutions is increasing, especially concerning the choices that are to be made in terms of infrastructure. The article aims at highlighting the link between the dynamics of conflict and those of participation, stressing how the lack of public information and the absence of participation and inclusion in the decision-making process are the main causes of the opposition put in place by the so-called NIMBY phenomenon. Furthermore, the definitions of the concept of participatory democracy and, above all, deliberative democracy, are developed, focusing on some of the most important theoretical references, and analyzing two particularly relevant instances in relation to deliberative processes within the Italian territory: that of the municipality of Ponte Buggianese (PT), which, making use of the regional law's effects on participation (l.r. Toscana n . 69/2007), has developed a decision-making process regarding the development of the Padule di Fucecchio, and that of Ponente di Genova's Gronda Autostradale


The positive effects of new innovative entry and fast and efficient allocation of resources are balanced against the efficiency of price signaling in markets in a non-linear micro based simulation model of an Experimentally Organized Economy (EOE). In this model increasingly rapid reallocation of resources over markets, moved by innovative new entry and competitive exit (the rate of firm turnover) generates faster growth in output, but eventually, if too fast, is shown to affect the reliability of price signaling in markets and to raise the frequency of investment mistakes. Beyond a certain level of the rate of firm turnover the aggregate effects at the macro level, therefore, turn negative. This optimal growth trajectory depends on the balance between the rates of entry and exit and on the performance of new firms compared to incumbents, their size compared to incumbents and the variation in the same characteristics.


New deep seismic reflection data outline a major crustal transition, from thick craton on the east to thin basinal crust on the west, that is buried beneath the Phanerozoic rocks of the Western Canada sedimentary basin. The transition formed prior to, or during, deposition of westward-thickening Mesoproterozoic sedimentary rocks between about 1.85 and 0.9 Ga and appears to be the southward continuation of the Fort Simpson structural trend, which is crossed by reflection data nearly 700 km to the north. It may be analogous to crustal ramps that are now commonly observed in many Phanerozoic orogens and, along with an associated decrease in Moho depth, has been preserved at this location for more than 1.0 b.y.


BACKGROUND
Metabolic abnormalities associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) are caused in part by inadequate insulin action and resulting changes in gene expression in the skeletal muscle. Two recent, independent studies of human skeletal muscle biopsies from ethnically diverse DM2 patients have identified coordinated reductions in the expression of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) genes. Whether these reductions are a consequence or a cause of impaired insulin sensitivity remains an open question.

METHODS
To address this question and to define the underlying molecular causes consistent with the expression changes reported in the muscle studies, we created a large-scale computable model to analyze the molecular actions and effects of insulin on muscle gene expression. The model enables computer-aided reasoning using over 210,000 molecular relationships assembled from the DM2 literature.

RESULTS
We integrated the data from these muscle biopsy studies into the model and used computer-aided causal reasoning to discover mechanisms that can link alterations in OXPHOS genes to decreases in glucose transport, insulin signaling, and risk factors associated to post-transplant diabetes mellitus.

CONCLUSIONS
The emerging hypotheses describe biologic effects in DM2 and offer important cues for molecular targeted therapy.


Abstract. As ice flows over a subglacial lake, the drop in bed resistance leads to an increase in ice velocities and a draw down of isochrones and cold ice. The ice surface flattens as it adjusts to the lack of resisting forces at the base. The rapid transition in velocity induces changes in ice viscosity and releases deformation energy that can raise the temperature locally. Recent studies of Antarctic subglacial lakes indicate that many lakes experience very fast and possibly episodic drainage, during which the lake size is rapidly reduced as water flows out. Questions that arise are what effect this would have on internal layers within the ice and whether such past drainage events could be inferred from isochrone structures downstream. Here, we study the effect of a subglacial lake on ice dynamics as well as the influence that such short timescale drainage would have on the internal layers of the ice. To this end, we use a full Stokes, polythermal ice flow model. An enthalpy-gradient method is used to account for the evolution of temperature and water content within the ice. We find that a rapid transition between slow-moving ice outside the lake, and full sliding over the lake, can release considerable amounts of deformational energy, with the potential to form a temperate layer at depth in the transition zone. In addition, we provide an explanation for a characteristic surface feature commonly seen at the edges of subglacial lakes, a hummocky surface depression in the transition zone between little to full sliding. We also conclude that rapid changes in the horizontal extent of subglacial lakes and slippery patches, compared to the average ice column velocity, can create a traveling wave at depth within the isochrone structure that transfers downstream with the advection of ice, thus indicating the possibility of detecting past drainage events with ice penetrating radar.


Viral diffusion allows a piece of information to widely and quickly spread within the network of users through word-of-mouth . In this paper, we study the problem of modeling both item and user factors that contribute to viral diffusion in Twitter network. We identify three behaviorial factors, namely user virality, user susceptibility and item virality, that contribute to viral diffusion. Instead of modeling these factors independently as done in previous research, we propose a model that measures all the factors simultaneously consid- ering their mutual dependencies. The model has been eval-uated on both synthetic and real datasets. The experiments show that our model outperforms the existing ones for synthetic data with ground truth labels. Our model also performs well for predicting the hashtags that have higher retweet likelihood. We finally present case examples that illustrate how the models differ from one another.


We present the Compressive Transformer, an attentive sequence model which compresses past memories for long-range sequence learning. We find the Compressive Transformer obtains state-of-the-art language modelling results in the WikiText-103 and Enwik8 benchmarks, achieving 17.1 ppl and 0.97 bpc respectively. We also find it can model high-frequency speech effectively and can be used as a memory mechanism for RL, demonstrated on an object matching task. To promote the domain of long-range sequence learning, we propose a new open-vocabulary language modelling benchmark derived from books, PG-19.


The omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA n-3) has long been known to be a major component of phosphoglycerides in the gray matter of mammalian brains. Furthermore, early studies of synaptosomes that had been isolated from gray matter showed that the plasma membranes of the synaptosomes contained DHA n-3 that was selectively esterified to phosphatidylethanolamine, plasmenylethanolamine (alkenylacyl-glycero-phosphorylethanolamine), and phosphatidylserine. In contrast, the phosphatidylcholine in these membranes contained esterified oleic acid, and the sphingomyelin and glycolipids in the membranes contained amide-linked stearic acid instead of a mixture of this acid with other, amide-linked fatty acids. The full implications of this unusual distribution of lipid head groups, esterified fatty acids, and amide-linked fatty acids are unclear, but the phosphoglycerides and sphingosine-containing lipids appear to be distributed asymmetrically between the two leaflets of the plasma membrane lipid bilayer and are likely to contribute to a dynamic lipid substructure. Because very few neuronal plasma membranes have been isolated and characterized to date, a major challenge for the future will be to investigate the composition of the lipid bilayers of different neuronal plasma membranes and identify effects of DHA n-3–containing phosphoglycerides on the ability of the plasma membranes to perform their many different functions. The aim of this Perspective is to stimulate further work in this important area by discussing recent evidence related to the role of neuronal plasma membrane phosphoglycerides in cell signaling.


How is the dollar value of commercial brands calculated and marks of distinction thus paradoxically made commensurable? And what does this calculation assume and enact with regard to, in Marx's terms, the creation of value and surplus value? I discuss the emergence of brand valuation as a market device that has recently become more prominent and standardized. I use the annual Interbrand/BusinessWeek survey to demonstrate how global brands such as Coca-Cola® are assigned a precisely measured monetary figure. This measurement invites brand managers and critical theorists alike to treat the heterogeneous uses to which consumers put brand-name products as a source of the exchange-value of brands and of risks to generating profits from brands.


A wide range of sensor-rich, networked embedded systems are being created that must operate robustly for years in the face of novel failures by managing complex autonomic processes. These systems are being composed, for example, into vast networks of space, air, ground, and underwater vehicles. Our objective is to revolutionize the way in which we control these new artifacts by creating reactive model-based programming languages that enable everyday systems to reason intelligently and enable machines to explore other worlds. A model-based program is state and fault aware; it elevates the programming task to specifying intended state evolutions of a system. The program's executive automatically coordinates system interactions to achieve these states, entertaining known and potential failures, using models of its constituents and environment. At the executive's core is a method, called CONFLICT-DIRECTED A*, which quickly prunes promising but infeasible solutions, using a form of one-shot learning. This approach has been demonstrated on a range of systems, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Deep Space One probe. Model-based programming is being generalized to hybrid discrete-continuous systems and the coordination of networks of robotic vehicles.


We propose a model of motivated skepticism that helps explain when and why citizens are biased-information processors. Two experimental studies explore how citizens evaluate arguments about affirmative action and gun control, finding strong evidence of a prior attitude effect such that attitudinally congruent arguments are evaluated as stronger than attitudinally incongruent arguments. When reading pro and con arguments, participants (Ps) counterargue the contrary arguments and uncritically accept supporting arguments, evidence of a disconfirmation bias. We also find a confirmation bias—the seeking out of confirmatory evidence—when Ps are free to self-select the source of the arguments they read. Both the confirmation and disconfirmation biases lead to attitude polarization—the strengthening of t2 over t1 attitudes—especially among those with the strongest priors and highest levels of political sophistication. We conclude with a discussion of the normative implications of these findings for rational behavior in a democracy.


Although she died cruelly at Auschwitz at the age of twenty-nine, Etty Hillesum left a lasting legacy of mystical thought in her letters and diaries. Hillesum was a complex and powerful witness to the openness of the human spirit to the call of God, even under the most harrowing circumstances. Her life was as much shaped by Hitler's regime as was that of philosopher Eric Voegelin, and as Meins Coetsier reveals, her thought lends itself to interpretation from a uniquely Voegelinian perspective. Etty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence analyzes the life and writings of Hillesum from the standpoint of Voegelin's views on consciousness—especially his philosophy of luminous participation in the transcendent ground of being. Through a careful reading of her letters and diaries, Coetsier reveals the inner development of Hillesum's mystically grounded resistance to Nazism as he guides readers through the symbolism of her spiritual journey, making effective use of Voegelin's analytics of experience and symbolization to trace her path to spiritual truth. Intertwining the lives, works, and visions of these two mystical thinkers, Coetsier demonstrates his mastery of both Voegelin's philosophy and Hillesum's Dutch-language materials. He shows how mystical attunement to the "flow of presence"—Voegelin's designation for human responsiveness to the divine—is the key to the development of Hillesum's life and writings. He displays a special affinity for the suffering and grace-filled transformation that she underwent as she approached the end of her life and gained insight into the ultimate purpose of each individual's contribution to the well-being and maintenance of the human spirit. Retrieving one of the lesser-known but most compelling figures of the Holocaust, Etty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence is an original contribution to both Voegelin and Hillesum scholarship that reflects these writers' strong valuation of the human person. It presents Hillesum's life and work in an original and provocative context, shedding new light on her experiences and their symbolizations while further broadening the application of Voegelin's thought


In this article, we develop a comprehensive framework for assessing the effectiveness dimension of the EU's performance in international institutions, consisting of three elements: (1) the quality of the EU's policy objectives; (2) EU engagement in the negotiations, including its fit with the international constellation of power and interests; and (3) goal achievement. We apply this assessment framework to two cases with two phases each: (1) the negotiations on the 2010 Nagoya Protocol on genetic resources to the Convention on Biological Diversity and (2) the negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change toward the 2009 Copenhagen and 2011 Durban climate summits. The analysis demonstrates that the assessment framework (1) facilitates a more complete and richer appreciation of EU effectiveness in international institutions than the established understanding of effectiveness as goal achievement and (2) allows us to start to systematically explore the interaction between the framework's three components.


The purpose of the present research was to study the descriptive anatomy of the gill of the mussel Lithophaga lithophaga. Mussels were collected from 2 sites in Antalya Bay, Turkey. Observations using stereomicroscopy and electron microscopy showed that the gills of L. lithophaga consist of homorhabdic filaments, a characteristic of the mytilids. The lamellae have cavities at their laterals in addition to their prominent ciliary structure on the frontal and lateral surfaces. The latero-frontal cilia extend in pairs, one attached to the other with a membrane and showing a composite structure. The ascending and descending lamellae are fused by fan-like cilia groups and form a food groove at their ventral margins. Scabrous blocks at the abfrontal edges of the ascending lamellae appear to function as food graters. The relatively large food particles captured by the mussel are ground into smaller pieces to be ingested. These morphological features of the gills of L. lithophaga can be used for comparison with those of other congeners or mytilids.


Glaciers and ice caps constitute Essential Climate Variables (ECV) within the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and its terrestrial component, the Global Terrestrial
Observing System (GTOS), as related to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)" (WGMS, 2008).
Glaciers are not only key indicators of global climate change, but also a water supply upon which depend an increasing amount of people, and a source of natural hazards. By the study and monitoring of glaciers, the rate of change can be quantified, climatic interpretations may be inferred, and future climate change scenarios predicted. In this way, the processes of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction can be assessed and advised.
This project was triggered by the GLOF form Lake 513 which took place the 11th of April 2010 in the SW slope of Nevado Hualcan. The aim of this work was to reconstruct earlier
glacial phases in the SW slope of Nevado Hualcan in order to generate quantitative information on surface areas and ELAs as a first step for further analysis on glacier
evolution, glacier-climate relations, glacier hazards and climate change.
The specific conclusions of the present report are:
1) Moraines on the SW slope of Nevado Hualcan were identified and mapped and served as the reference to reconstruct the geometry of paleo-glaciers in the LIA and
YD glacial phases. Current glaciers were also delimited for 1962 and 2003 using aerial photographs and Google Earth.
2) From the delimitation of glaciers, their correspondent surface areas were calculated and compared. The results show that the surface of glaciers has retreated 41,6 km²
from YD to 2003 and 3,1 km² from 1962 to 2003, which corresponds to a deglaciation 58 rate of 0,076 km²/year (76.000 m²/year). The results match with the general
decreasing trend previously observed by other authors.
3) From the delimitation of glaciers, their ELAs AABR were calculated. The results show an altitudinal shift of the ELAs AABR from YD to 2003: the vertical shift respect to
2003 was 472 m from YD, 130 m from LIA and 106 m from 1962, this last corresponds to a vertical shift of 2,59 m/year. When the ELA altitude shifts above the upper limit of
a glacier, its accumulation zone disappears, and also its positive mass balance, thus the glacier will be condemned to disappear. The results show that ELAs in the SW
slope of Nevado Hualcan are in some cases just 162 m below the upper limits of glaciers, revealing prompt terminal stages of some glaciers.
4) Changes in ELAs are caused by changes in climatic conditions. As a first approximation, it was assumed that the changes in ELA corresponded solely to changes in temperature. The temperature shift from LIA to 2003 was estimated to be 0,78oC.


This paper sheds light on the role of student motivation in the success of schooling. We develop a model in which a teacher engages in the management of student motivation through the choice of the classroom environment. We show that the teacher is able to motivate high-ability students, at least in the short run, by designing a competitive environment. For students with low ability, risk aversion, or when engaged in a long-term relationship, the teacher designs a classroom environment that is more focused on mastery and self-referenced standards. In doing so, the teacher helps to develop the intrinsic motivation of students and their capacity to overcome failures.


As technological progress marches on, so anxiety over the shape of the public domain is likely to continue if not increase. This collection helps to define the boundaries within which the debate over the shape of law and policy should take place. From historical analysis to discussion of contemporary developments, the importance of the public domain in its cultural and scientific contexts is explored by lawyers, scientists, economists, librarians, journalists and entrepreneurs. The contributions will both deepen and enliven the reader's understanding of the public domain in its many guises, and will also serve to highlight the public domain's key role in innovation. This book will appeal not only to students and researchers coming from a variety of fields, but also to policy-makers in the IP field and those more generally interested in the public domain, as well as those more directly involved in the current movements towards open access, open science and open source.


The environmental conditions and reaction paths of shallow-water glauconitization (<500 m water depth, ~15°C) close to the sediment-seawater interface are generally considered to be well understood. In contrast, the key factors controlling deep-sea glauconite formation are still poorly constrained. In the present study, green grains formed in the recent deep-sea environment of the ODP Site 959, Ivory Coast-Ghana Marginal Ridge, (~2100 m water depth, 3-6°C) were investigated by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopic methods in order to determine the rate and mechanism of glauconitization.Green clay authigenesis at Hole 959C occurred mainly in the tests of calcareous foraminifera which provided post-depositional conditions ideal for glauconitization. Within this organic-rich microenvironment, Fe-smectite developed <10 ky after deposition of the sediments by precipitation from precursor gels containing Fe, Mg, Al, and silica. This gel formation was supported by microbial activity and cation supply from the interstitial solution by diffusion. At a later stage of early marine diagenesis (900 ky), the Fe-smectites reacted to form mixed-layer glauconite-smectite. Further down (~2500 ky), almost pure glauconite with no compositional gaps between the Fe-smectite and glauconite end members formed. This burial-related Fe-smectite-to-glauconite reaction indicates that the glauconitization process was controlled mainly by the chemistry of the interstitial solutions. The composition of the interstitial solution depends heavily on micro-environmental changes related to early diagenetic oxidation of biodegradable (marine) organic matter, microbial sulfate reduction, silicate mineral alteration, carbonate dissolution, and Fe redox reactions. The availability of Fe is suggested as the probable limiting factor for glauconitization, explaining the various states of green-grain maturity within the samples, and this cation may be the most important rate-determining element.The rate of glauconite formation at ODP Site 959 is given by %GlSed = 22.6·log(ageSed) + 1.6 (R2 = 0.97) where %GlSed is the state of glauconitization in the sediment and ageSed is the sediment age (in ky). This glauconitization rate depends mainly on continuous cation supply (in particular Fe) and is about five times less than that in shallow-shelf regions, suggesting significantly slower reaction at the lower temperature of deep-sea environments.


In this paper we study the optimal placement and optimal number of active relay nodes through the traffic density in mobile sensor ad-hoc networks. We consider a setting in which a set of mobile sensor sources is creating data and a set of mobile sensor destinations receiving that data. We make the assumption that the network is massively dense, i.e., there are so many sources, destinations, and relay nodes, that it is best to describe the network in terms of macroscopic parameters, such as their spatial density, rather than in terms of microscopic parameters, such as their individual placements.
We focus on a particular physical layer model that is characterized by the following assumptions: i) the nodes must only transport the data from the sources to the destinations, and do not need to sense the data at the sources, or deliver them at the destinations once the data arrive at their physical locations, and ii) the nodes have limited bandwidth available to them, but they use it optimally to locally achieve the network capacity.
In this setting, the optimal distribution of nodes induces a traffic density that resembles the electric displacement that will be created if we substitute the sources and destinations with positive and negative charges respectively. The analogy between the two settings is very tight and have a direct interpretation in wireless sensor networks.


A large eddy simulation (LES) model of gaseous deflagration, previously validated against the largest known 20-m diameter deflagration in the open atmosphere, is applied in this study to reproduce experimental data on uniform 20% and 30% hydrogen-air mixture explosions in a 78.5-m long tunnel. The model enables the transient modelling of deflagration dynamics with a laminar flamelet burning velocity which alters spatially and in time with mixture composition, pressure, and temperature. The turbulent burning velocity is computed using Yakhot's model of premixed turbulent combustion. Yakhot's transcendental equation is essentially customized to account for both the transitional phenomenon of turbulence generated by the flame front itself, and the fractal structure of the flame surface on an unresolved sub-grid scale (SGS) level. The LES model reproduced available experimental data for both 20% and 30% hydrogen-air mixtures in an unobstructed and an obstructed tunnel. The simulations gave insight into the dynamics of flame propagation and the pressure build up within and outside of the tunnel. The LES model enabled the analysis of phenomena that were not reported in the experimental study. For example, a significant increase in the maximum explosion overpressure was observed in the vicinity of obstacles due to obstacle side-on pressure wave reflection in later stages of the event.


The growth of a supermassive black hole (BH) is determined by how much gas the host galaxy is able to feed it, which in turn is controlled by the cosmic environment, through galaxy mergers and accretion of cosmic flows that time how galaxies obtain their gas, but also by internal processes in the galaxy, such as star formation and feedback from stars and the BH itself. In this paper, we study the growth of a 10 12 M⊙ halo at z = 2, which is the progenitor of an archetypical group of galaxies at z = 0, and of its central BH by means of a high-resolution zoomed cosmological simulation, the Seth simulation. We study the evolution of the BH driven by the accretion of cold gas in the galaxy, and explore the efficiency of the feedback from supernovae (SNe). For a relatively inefficient energy input from SNe, the BH grows at the Eddington rate from early times, and reaches self-regulation once it is massive enough. We find that at early cosmic times z > 3.5, efficient feedback from SNe forbids the formation of a settled disc as well as the accumulation of dense cold gas in the vicinity of the BH and starves the central compact object. As the galaxy and its halo accumulate mass, they become able to confine the nuclear inflows provided by major mergers and the BH grows at a sustained near-to-Eddington accretion rate. We argue that this mechanism should be ubiquitous amongst low-mass galaxies, corresponding to galaxies with a stellar mass below . 10 9 M⊙ in our simulations.


This short piece is written for a symposium on Randy J. Kozel's 2017 book Settled Versus Right: A Theory of Precedent. It is part of a larger project on honor, oaths, and the Constitution. One key element of Kozel's book is its identification of "impersonality" as a central good served by precedent. Assuming impersonality to be such a good, one can recognize that it is a hard goal to achieve in the face of contrary pressures. A source of motivation, energy, and agency is needed to fuel the judge's efforts to achieve impersonality.
In our constitutional culture, a troika of three interrelated concepts or institutions provides this motivation: The office, honor, and the oath. Together, they provide a sense of duty and constraint in filling a specific office; a sense of honor that encourages the office-holder to fulfill that duty, by creating both a desire to be well-regarded by one's peers and an internalized sense that one ought to behave in a way that merits high regard; and, through the oath, a connection between the individual and the office, and between the office-holder and the commitment to act honorably in office. In short, this troika provides a deeply personal wellspring for the commitment to "impersonality" in judicial office.
The argument here should be seen as part of a larger set of recent efforts in public law to focus on the nature and duties of the office-holder him- or herself, and not just on an impersonal system in which the office-holder and his or her duties and character are incidental. Some of this work focuses on the oath; some of it focuses on the fiduciary nature of public office; and some focuses on the character and virtue of public officials. This work is not confined to American scholarship and, although it has been given a push by recent events, substantially predates the current administration. It deserves attention as a stream of public law scholarship with varied approaches but, speaking in broad terms, a common focus.


The study is exploratory in nature, and the inductive approach of the research has been used, to identify the impact of relations between advertising and sales. The purpose of the study is to show how advertising can be used for many different markets in the different type of products, to capture an audience's attention. The study is based on primary data collected through the structured questionnaire visiting the respondents and some other population of study online responded in the questionnaire. The research of the study geographically is set in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. In the objective effectiveness of advertising on sales is describe the awareness in the perspective of new products and providing services how the messages can get support of buyers, the measuring of advertising tried to draw better understanding buyer's perception in determine of advertising creativity to have been achieved objective in the sales of products, if the objects are done successfully in terms of increase sales products and market shares; it provides the crucial inputs from the customer's target before and after executing the advertising in Kurdistan.


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ABSTRACT Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are being actively implemented in a wide range of fields – psychology, mind/body health care and education at all levels – and there is growing evidence of their effectiveness in aiding present-moment focus, fostering emotional stability, and enhancing general mind/body well-being. However, as often happens with popular innovations, the burgeoning interest in and appeal of mindfulness practice has led to a reductionism and commodification – popularly labelled 'McMindfulness' – of the underpinning principles and ethical foundations of such practice which threatens to subvert and militate against the achievement of the original aims of MBIs in general and their educational function in particular. It is argued here that mindfulness practice needs to be organically connected to its spiritual roots if the educational benefits of such practice are to be fully realised.


The use of biotin or biotin-containing reagents is an essential component of many protein purification and labeling technologies. Owing to its small size and high affinity to the avidin family of proteins, biotin is a versatile molecular handle that permits both enrichment and purity that is not easily achieved by other reagents. Traditionally, the use of biotinylation to enrich for proteins has not required the detection of the site of biotinylation. However, newer technologies for discovery of protein-protein interactions, such as APEX and BioID, as well as some of the click chemistry-based labeling approaches have underscored the importance of determining the exact residue that is modified by biotin. Anti-biotin antibody-based enrichment of biotinylated peptides (e.g., BioSITe) coupled to LC-MS/MS permit large-scale detection and localization of sites of biotinylation. As with any chemical modification of peptides, understanding the fragmentation patterns that result from biotin modification is essential to improving its detection by LC-MS/MS. Tandem mass spectra of biotinylated peptides has not yet been studied systematically. Here, we describe the various signature fragment ions generated with collision-induced dissociation of biotinylated peptides. We focused on biotin adducts attached to peptides generated by BioID and APEX experiments, including biotin, isotopically heavy biotin, and biotin-XX-phenol, a nonpermeable variant of biotin-phenol. We also highlight how the detection of biotinylated peptides in high-throughput studies poses certain computational challenges for accurate quantitation which need to be addressed. Our findings about signature fragment ions of biotinylated peptides should be helpful in the confirmation of biotinylation sites.


To obtain high transmittance and reflectance simultaneously, a single cell gap transflective liquid crystal (LC) display using internal wire grid polarizer (WGP) is proposed. For the reflective mode, the imbedded WGP serves as a polarization-dependent reflector for the ambient light. For the transmissive mode, no achromatic quarter-wave film is needed. This device can be used as a normally black mode (using vertical alignment) and a normally white mode (using twist-nematic alignment), based on the initial LC cell alignment. Detailed electro-optic performance, such as voltage-dependent light efficiency and viewing angle of these two device configurations, is investigated


Context. A fundamental subject in extragalactic astronomy concerns the formation and evolution of late-type galaxies (LTGs). The standard scenario envisages a two-phase build-up for these systems, comprising the early assembly of the bulge followed by disk accretion. However, recent observational evidence points to a joint formation and perpetual coevolution of these structural components. Our current knowledge on the properties of the bulge and the disk is, to a large degree, founded on photometric decomposition studies, which sensitively depend on the adopted methodology and enclosed assumptions on the structure of LTGs. A critical assumption whose validity had never been questioned before is that galactic disks conserve their exponential nature up to the galactic center. This, although seemingly plausible, implies that bulge and disk coexist without significant dynamical interaction and mass exchange over nearly the entire Hubble time.
Aims. Our goal is to examine the validity of the standard assumption that galactic disks preserve their exponential intensity profile inside the bulge radius (RB) all the way to the galactic center, as is generally assumed in photometric decomposition studies.
Methods. We developed a spectrophotometric bulge-disk decomposition technique that provides an estimation for the net (i.e., disk-subtracted) spectrum of the bulge. Starting from an integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data cube, this tool computes the integrated spectrum of the bulge and the disk, scales the latter considering the light fraction estimated from photometric decomposition techniques, and subtract it from the former, thereby allowing for the extraction of the net-bulge spectrum. Considering that the latter depends on the underlying assumption for the disk luminosity profile, checking its physical plausibility (for instance, positiveness and spectral slope) places indirect constraints on the validity of the disk's assumed profile inside the radius R⋆ < RB. In this pilot study, we tested the following three different disk configurations: the standard exponential disk profile as well as a centrally flattened or down-bending exponential disk profile.
Results. A systematic application of our spectrophotometric bulge-disk decomposition tool to a representative sample of 135 local LTGs from the CALIFA survey yields a significant fraction (up to ∼30 (20)%) of unphysical net-bulge spectra when a purely exponential (centrally flattened) intensity profile is assumed for the disk. This never occurs for disks' profiles involving a centrally decreasing intensity.
Conclusions. The obtained results suggest that, for a significant fraction of LTGs, the disk component shows a down-bending beneath the bulge. If proven to be true, this result will call for a substantial revision of structural decomposition studies for LTGs and it will have far-reaching implications in our understanding of the photometric properties of their bulges. Given its major relevance, it appears worthwhile to explore the central stellar surface density of galactic disks further, through an improved version of the spectrophotometric decomposition tool presented here and its application combining deep surface photometry, spatially resolved spectral synthesis, and kinematical analyses.


Entertainment media are a powerful source of cultural influence. Films are especially adept at capturing and preserving for posterity the attitudes, actions, and landscapes of historical events and eras, making them part of cultural memory — society's shared recollection of past events as depicted in cultural artifacts. Nowhere is this ability better demonstrated than in cinematic portrayals of American agrarian life. In 2001, the Kellogg Institute found Americans recall agricultural landscapes as a sort of pastoral fantasy of rolling green hills, forests, and pristine fields crisscrossed by dirt roads. These images, which constitute Americans' shared cultural memory of agrarian existence, may have been influenced by film portrayals of agriculture. For this study, nine films that met criteria for inclusion of agricultural imagery, cultural significance, and release at least 10 years prior to the Kellogg study were content-analyzed for their visual and thematic adherence to the pastoral fantasy described by Kellogg respondents. Of those f ilms, only two presented agrarian imagery that did not conform to the pastoral fantasy, including depictions of a West Texas cattle ranch at the height of summer and a Midwestern farm muddied by fall harvest. The remaining films contained imagery strongly associated with the pastoral fantasy, indicating they may serve as vehicles for traditional agricultural themes.


This dissertation presents a component model, reference architecture and peer-evaluated prototype for Semantic Service Oriented Architecture (SSOA). Semantic Web service technology, derived from the combination of the Semantic Web and Web services, is the enabling-technology for SSOA. Allowing the semantics of the public data and process model of Web services to be unambiguously communicated to potential service-consumers, provides the basis for Web services to be discovered, composed, and invoked as needed. The alternative is that these actions must be carried out manually in advance. The thesis is motivated by the fact that, although a body of research has developed into many aspects of Semantic Web services, a gap remains between conceptual models and languages for Semantic Web services on the one hand, and prototype implementations using those models and languages, primarily for service discovery, on the other. Filling this gap requires a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches. From a top-down perspective, the absence of a reference software architecture model, as distinct from a conceptual model, for Semantic Web services gives rise to a number of shortcomings in the body of knowledge. These include the identification of a minimal component model for an SSOA, defining corresponding behavioural and component communication models and, validating this architecture, both experimentally and qualitatively so that it can be regarded as a reference point for further research. Experimental validation is achieved by peer-review, through the application of a prototype implementation of the SSOA to a set of open and independently specified system-integration problems. Qualitative evaluation is carried out by first determining a matrix of requirements on which the SSOA is based, and using this as the basis for relating five contemporary Semantic Web service frameworks to the SSOA. The thesis moves on to describe how research challenges arose in the course of building and validating the prototype SSOA implementation. Two specific challenges were in the areas of (1) Semantic Web service discovery where incomplete data, available in the service description, must be augmented by fetching additional data at the time the service is required, and (2) the enactment of process mediation between the public interface descriptions of a service requester and a matching Web service offer. Devising solutions to these problems, applying them to real-world problems and evaluating their outcomes both experimentally and qualitatively represents problem-driven contributions of this thesis from a bottom-up perspective.