This thesis in an invistigation into the concept of "harm" and its moral relevance. A common view is that an analysis of harm should include a counterfactual condition: an act harms a person iff it makes that person worse off. A common objection to the moral relevance of harm, thus understood, is the non-identity problem.This thesis criticises the counterfactual condition, argues for an alternative analysis and that harm plays two important normative roles.The main ground for rejecting the counterfactual condition is that it has unacceptable consequences in cases of overdetermination and pre-emption. Several modifications to the condition are considered but all fail to solve this problem.According to the alternative analysis to do harm is to perform an act which (1) is responsible for the obtaining of a state of affairs which (2) makes a person's life go worse. It is argued that (1) should be understood in terms of counterfactual dependence. This claim is defended against counterexamples based on redundant causation. An analysis of (2) is also provided using the notion of a well-being function. It is argued that by introducing this notion it is possible to analyse contributive value without making use of counterfactual comparisons and to solve the non-identity problem.Regarding the normative importance of harm, a popular intuition is that there is an asymmetry in our obligations to future people: that a person would have a life worth living were she to exist is not a reason in favour of creating that person while that a person would have a life not worth living is a reason against creating that person. It is argued that the asymmetry can be classified as a moral option grounded in autonomy. Central to this defence is the suggestion that harm is relevant to understanding autonomy. Autonomy involves partly the freedom to pursue one's own aims as long as one does no harm.


This paper assesses how far residential moves can result in improvement or deterioration of the housing and neighbourhood circumstances for families with young children. It uses data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study concentrating on the time between infancy and age five, 2001 to 2006. First we ask which families moved home and in what circumstances. We then examine how moving changed several aspects of housing: space standards, damp problems, and tenure. We show that the majority of moves resulted in improvements to housing conditions, especially in reducing overcrowding. We also consider neighbourhood circumstances, proxied by a measure of local poverty at small area level. Movers generally ended up in neighbourhoods with lower levels of poverty, or no worse, but almost one fifth of moves were downward or remained in the 30 percent poorest areas. We ask whether locating in an area with more local poverty may help achieve a larger home. There is evidence of such a trade-off – one in five families moved to a larger home which was either in a poorer area than before or remained in the 30 percent poorest areas. We conclude by showing how the path of upward housing mobility, while numerically dominant, was far less common among families with relatively low resources and/or whose moves were attendant on partnership changes. For them, moves often result in smaller homes in poorer areas.


Focused radiation of a Nd:YAG laser was used for ablation and production of free sample atoms from electrically conducting and nonconducting solids for analytical purposes. The microplasmas were generated in an argon buffer gas atmosphere at reduced pressure. In order to increase the intensities of analyte lines the microplasmas were reheated by a second Nd:YAG laser after the process of atomization was completed. It is demonstrated for aluminum and manganese in glass and steel samples and for magnesium and manganese in glass, copper, and aluminum that by internal standardization a common calibration curve can be obtained.


This software solved the problem of displaying terrains that are usually too large to be displayed on standard workstations in real time. The software can visualize terrain data sets composed of billions of vertices, and can display these data sets at greater than 30 frames per second. The Large Terrain Continuous Level of Detail 3D Visualization Tool allows large terrains, which can be composed of billions of vertices, to be visualized in real time. It utilizes a continuous level of detail technique called clipmapping to support this. It offloads much of the work involved in breaking up the terrain into levels of details onto the GPU (graphics processing unit) for faster processing.


Tony Benn is the longest serving MP in the history of the Labour Party. He left Parliament in 2001, after more than half a century in the House of Commons, to devote more time to politics. This volume of his Diaries describes and comments, in a refreshing and honest way, upon the events of a momentous decade including two world wars, a change of government in Britain and the emergence of New Labour, of which he makes clear he is not a member. Tony Benn's account is a well documented, formidable and principled critique of the New Labour Project, full of drama, opinion, humour, anecdotes and sparkling pen-portraits of politicians on both sides of the political divide. But his narrative is also broader and more revealing about day-to-day political life, covering many aspects normally disregarded by historians and lobby correspondents, relating to his work in the constituency, including his advice surgeries. This volume also offers far more of an insight into Tony Benn's personal life, his thoughts about the future and his relationship with his family, especially his remarkable wife Caroline, whose illness and death overshadow these years. Tony Benn is a unique figure on the British political landscape: a true democrat, a passionate socialist and diarist without equal. With this volume, his published Diaries cover British politics for over sixty years. It is edited, as are all others, by Ruth Winstone.


The multidisciplinary field of tissue engineering (TE) aims to create biological substitutes to restore, maintain, or enhance the function of tissue or whole organs, in which the mechanical properties of replacements are critical to their structure and function. Several techniques have been investigated for measuring the mechanical properties of developing tissues and organs; however, current methods are destructive. The goal of this work is to apply high resolution Magnetic Resonance Elastography (μMRE) technique with 100 µm in-plane resolution to address a critical problem in TE: nondestructive monitoring and characterization of growing mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)-based tissue engineered constructs. In this study, μMRE is used to assess the development of osteogenic and adipogenic constructs implanted in immunodeficient nude mice. In vivo MRE experiments were conducted at 9.4 T (400 MHz for protons) using an 89 mm vertical bore magnet. Multiple shear waves were presented in the adipogenic constructs in comparison to the osteogenic constructs. This study demonstrated that μMRE can be used to non-invasively monitor the growth and development of various types of engineered tissues in vivo.


This chapter examines the mass movement of Americans into investing during the 1990s as both a consequence and a cause of contested power between corporations and individuals. This movement was part of a larger historical pattern of economically marginalized people consolidating their power through associational strategies in the realm of finance. Using US investment clubs as a case study, the chapter draws on Foucault's theories to illuminate the bilateral power structure of modern capitalism, in which market institutions and small groups at the grassroots level mutually influence one another. While the investment club movement was in part a response to economic domination by corporate and political elites, it also catalyzed genuine shifts in the power dynamics between individuals and corporations.


The first book in English on the Hindu precursor to feng shui. - Allows readers to design homes that conform to eternal spiritual principles. - Offers suggestions to rectify existing buildings with inauspicious energy. The subtle art of energy management for prosperity, good health, and calm mind has been introduced to the West through feng shui. Until now the ancient practice of vaastu, the Hindu art of environmental design, has been relatively unknown. Born of the movement of forces within the trinity of the great Hindu gods--Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva--vaastu is the human expression of life's impulse to harmonize itself with the cosmos. The great culture at Harrapa, in 3000 b.c., applied vaastu to create cities at a level of sophistication that would only be reached again in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Housed in a library in north India, the codified tenets of vaastu were destroyed in medieval times by successive invaders into the country; however, the art of vaastu remained alive, through oral tradition and buried deep within other treatises. The rediscovery of these texts in the 1930s has led to a modern revival of this art in India--brought to Western readers for the first time in "Vaastu: The Indian Art of Placement." Vaastu elucidates principles that orient and plan each element of a structure, both the big picture and the small details. A building's site, ground plan, shape, and orientation are all-important considerations, as are soil quality, window placement, and construction materials. The affinities of household items--the telephone, computer, bath--with the five elements of nature, and thus their ideal placement within the structure, are also described. Guidelines for modifying existing buildings help the reader apply the vaastu principles in a practical manner. "Vaastu: The Indian Art of Placement" will assist in creating personal environments that promote peace, harmony, and health.


Public high school English teacher Christine R. Traxler challenges the dominant model of education and discusses why the Sudbury model is a much more compelling model for all children. Given the controversy around No Child Left Behind and the Common Core Standards, Traxler argues that the Sudbury model, unchanged in its 50 years of existence, bypasses the typical debates around teacher efficacy, pedagogy, and curriculum due to its time-tested democratic free school model. Philosophically the Sudbury model is aligned with the progressive movement, but this essay addresses deeply ingrained misconceptions by both ardent progressives and neoconservative critics about the way children learn and are motivated. The essay highlights Sudbury's democratic communities of students and how the model creates the potential for highly disciplined learners who engage in subject mastery and disciplinary flexibility. Most important, the Sudbury model is the only education model in the United States that affords opportunity for students to fully internalize self-trust and autonomy.


Making a difference in the pursuit of a more sustainable world increasingly requires the ability to contend successfully with the wicked problem that is sustainability, and this shift needs to happen at the societal as well as the organizational level. dealing successfully with issues of sustainability means creating greater system resilience and using resources more wisely, which means working successfully across boundaries, be they sector, organizational, policy, or functional ones. Wicked problems are poorly formulated, confusing, and have many different constituents or stakeholders with conflicting values. This article argues that developing wicked (good) leadership that is collaboratively oriented and wicked (good) solutions that enhance system resilience are two potential strategies for creating change to reduce systemic problems associated with sustainability. Although these approaches do not deal with the problem of resource overuse, they may provide a basis for generating more sustainable approaches to resource use.


Abstract. Investigations of past climate dynamics rely on accurate and precise chronologies of the employed climate reconstructions. The radiocarbon dating calibration curve (IntCal13) and the Greenland ice core chronology (GICC05) represent two of the most widely used chronological frameworks in paleoclimatology of the past  ∼  50 000 years. However, comparisons of climate records anchored on these chronologies are hampered by the precision and accuracy of both timescales. Here we use common variations in the production rates of 14C and 10Be recorded in tree-rings and ice cores, respectively, to assess the differences between both timescales during the Holocene. Compared to earlier work, we employ a novel statistical approach which leads to strongly reduced and yet, more robust, uncertainty estimates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the inferred timescale differences are robust independent of (i) the applied ice core 10Be records, (ii) assumptions of the mode of 10Be deposition, as well as (iii) carbon cycle effects on 14C, and (iv) in agreement with independent estimates of the timescale differences. Our results imply that the GICC05 counting error is likely underestimated during the most recent 2000 years leading to a dating bias that propagates throughout large parts of the Holocene. Nevertheless, our analysis indicates that the GICC05 counting error is generally a robust uncertainty measurement but care has to be taken when treating it as a nearly Gaussian error distribution. The proposed IntCal13-GICC05 transfer function facilitates the comparison of ice core and radiocarbon dated paleoclimate records at high chronological precision.


In this paper, we present an automated approach to discover patterns that can distinguish between sequences belonging to different labeled groups. Our method searches for approximately conserved motifs that occur with varying statistical properties in positive and negative training examples. We propose a two-step process to discover such patterns. Using locality sensitive hashing (LSH), we first estimate the frequency of all subsequences and their approximate matches within a given Hamming radius in labeled examples. The discriminative ability of each pattern is then assessed from the estimated frequencies by concordance and rank sum testing. The use of LSH to identify approximate matches for each candidate pattern helps reduce the runtime of our method. Space requirements are reduced by decomposing the search problem into an iterative method that uses a single LSH table in memory. We propose two further optimizations to the search for discriminative patterns. Clustering with redundancy based on a 2-approximate solution of the k-center problem decreases the number of overlapping approximate groups while providing exhaustive coverage of the search space. Sequential statistical methods allow the search process to use data from only as many training examples as are needed to assess significance. We evaluated our algorithm on data sets from different applications to discover sequential patterns for classification. On nucleotide sequences from the Drosophila genome compared with random background sequences, our method was able to discover approximate binding sites that were preserved upstream of genes. We observed a similar result in experiments on ChIP-on-chip data. For cardiovascular data from patients admitted with acute coronary syndromes, our pattern discovery approach identified approximately conserved sequences of morphology variations that were predictive of future death in a test population. Our data showed that the use of LSH, clustering, and sequential statistics improved the running time of the search algorithm by an order of magnitude without any noticeable effect on accuracy. These results suggest that our methods may allow for an unsupervised approach to efficiently learn interesting dissimilarities between positive and negative examples that may have a functional role.


The world is facing a number of serious problems of which population rise, climate change, soil degradation, water scarcity and food security are among the most important. Aquaponics, as a closed loop system consisting of hydroponics and aquaculture elements, could contribute to addressing these problems. However, there is a lack of quantitative research to support the development of economically feasible aquaponics systems. Although many studies have addressed some scientific aspects, there has been limited focus on commercial implementation. In this review paper, opportunities that have the potential to fill the gap between research and implementation of commercial aquaponic systems have been identified. The analysis shows that aquaponics is capable of being an important driver for the development of integrated food production systems. Arid regions suffering from water stress will particularly benefit from this technology being operated in a commercial environment.


Study of the spatial and mineralogical distribution of precious metals in the Rosebery north-end orebody indicates that both silver and gold concentrate in the upper parts of massive sphalerite-galena-pyrite ore and
barite mineralization. Both metals tend to decrease in grade towards the fringes of the sphalerite-galena-pyrite ore, with highest concentrations above pyrite-chalcopyrite rich lenses which probably represent localized vents. However, both metals may concentrate at the fringes of
mineralization in areas of low base metals, and gold has several other occurrences. Remobilization of precious metals during or after the Tabberabberan orogeny produces interesting mineralogies but no economic concentrations of precious metals in the north-end orebody. Remobilization may be more important in the south end. Mineralogically, silver occurs in fahlore minerals and argentiferous galena. Microprobe analyses of fahlore minerals indicate an increase of silver content with antimony and that remobilized fahlore minerals are nearly pure tetrahedrite with high silver contents up to 26 percent. The abundance of silver in galena was not investigated although previous workers (Henley and Steveson, 1978) indicated that it is about 800 ppm. Other silver-bearing minerals are unimportant. Six styles of gold mineralization were recognized in this study: (1) in massive zinc-lead ore (the dominant occurrence), (2) in massive barite mineralization, (3) in the upper parts of pyrite-chalcopyrite pods (in general pyrite-chalcopyritepods are poor in gold), (4) in distal pyrite mineralization (at the edges of sphalerite-galena-pyrite mineralization and the overlying host rocks), (5) in footwall mineralization (poorly sampled and little understood), and (6) in remobilized quartz-carbonate veins. Gold in distal pyrite mineralization may be an exploration target in Rosebery and in other massive sulfide systems. Gold occurs as electrum or as free gold dominantly associated with pyrite in sphalerite-galena-pyrite ore and distal pyrite mineralization. In the sphalerite-galena-pyrite ore, gold may also occur in tetrahedrite pools, while in the barite mineralization, gold may be associated with chalcopyrite, galena or by itself. The gold has been mobilized locally into cracks and inclusions in pyrite grains; most of the gold grains have average dimensions of less than 25 microns. This explains the poor mill recoveries and the high concentrations of gold in pyrite from the tails.
Statistical treatment of diamond drill hole assays and additional trace element analyses indicates two dominant metal assemblages: zinc-lead-silver and copper-iron. Cadmium has a strong association with the zinc-lead-silver assemblage, bismuth correlates well with copper, and arsenic correlates with iron. A subsidiary metal assembalage that probably relates to barite mineralization is barium-silver-antimony. Graphical analysis of data from sphalerite-galena-pyrite ore suggests two trends of gold mineralization in this ore: a relatively low gold-moderate silver-high base metal trend and a high gold-low copper trend. The two trends may be related to the mechanisms of gold transport and deposition.
The transport of gold at Rosebery is predominantly as a bisulfide complex. Upon mixing with seawater, gold is precipitated due to dropping temperature and the oxidation of the hydrothermal fluids. Mixing with seawater may also lead to partial oxidation of sulfide in the hydrothermal fluids to produce polysulfide ions, which may complex with gold to produce the second high gold-low copper trend and other styles of gold mineralization (e.g. in distal pyrite and massive barite).


A large scale double-blind trial was conducted to test the claim that the intake of one gram of vitamin C per day substantially reduces the frequency and duration of "colds". It was found that in terms of the average number of colds and days of sickness per subject the vitamin group experienced less illness than the placebo group, but the differences were smaller than have been claimed and were statistically not significant. However, there was a statistically significant difference (P <0.05) between the two groups in the number of subjects who remained free of illness throughout the study period. Furthermore the subjects receiving the vitamin experienced approximately 30% fewer total days of disability (confined to the house or off work) than those receiving the placebo, and this difference was statistically highly significant (P <0.001). The reduction in disability appeared to be due to a lower incidence of constitutional symptoms such as chills and severe malaise, and was seen in all types of acute illness, including those which did not involve the upper respiratory tract.


There is a great deal of confusion regarding the factors that led to Enron's collapse. This important book addresses this problem by providing a coherent explanation of the accounting and finance problems associated with the collapse. The Skilling-Lay trial, as it is related to accounting or finance issues, is critically described as well. Through its well-balanced take on events surrounding the trial, the book therefore enables readers to analyze the validity of the arguments offered by the U.S. attorneys.


This article describes the use of a PostGIS spatial Database for the production of the IGN National Topographic Database at 1:100,000 scale (NTBD100) and it explains the possibility of a multiproduction from different users at the same time using any GIS software. Spatial Databases store Geographical Objects´ geometries and attributes according to a specific data model and meet the technical specifications for the product. GIS Desktop Open source is used to visualize, insert and edit the spatial
data. Some of the data model restrictions are directly implemented in the Database while others are applied using dynamic queries that assure the geographic information consistency. A temporal record of the product is automatically generated while the Geographic information is being captured. The goal is to have a Spatial-Temporal Management of Geographical Data and to have control over the geographical information producers's modifications. Furthermore, in this paper future improvements and quality control tasks will be analysed. Most of them are already working for NTDB100 with good results


This study is concerned with the Tertiary igneous rocks found within an area some twenty square miles in extent on the south-east side of the Skye central intrusion complex. The Tertiary rocks include basic lavas, a small intrusion of granophyre, the margin of the Cuillin Gabbro, and numerous minor intrusions. Extrusive rocks occupy an area of some seven square miles, and have an aggregate thickness of about 1,000 feet. The greater part of the sequence consists of alkaline olivine basalts, but there is also one horizon of trachybasalt and thin group of picritic flows. Pyroclastic rocks are rare, being limited to one small agglomerate vent and an isolated lens of tuff. It has been found possible to divide the sequence into several mappable units based on groups of flows possessing common petrographical features. The laves which lie within half a mile of the Cuillin Gabbro have been metamorphosed by that intrusion, while an outer zone of lower temperature alteration includes the whole of the strathaird lava outcrop. Within the thermal aureole a narrow zone of pyroxene hornfels along the contact with the Gabbro is followed outwards by a broader zone charaterized by the presence of an actinolitic amphibole. Within this pyroxene hornfels zone the lavas have been thoroughly recrystalized to high temperature mineral assemblages, but within the amphibolezone equilibrium was only locally attained, and many of the lavas still posses much of their original texture and mineralogy. The transition from unmetamorphed lava to pyroxene hornfels was not accomplished by independently under its own particular pressure-temperature conditions. On the basis of both chemical and petrographical evidence it is considered probable that a small amount of silica was added to at least some of the lavas during metamorphism. The internal structure and composition of the Cuillin Gabbro do not come within the provenence of this thesis, but some attention has been given to the relationships between the Gabbro and its country rocks, especially in the neighbourhood of camasunary. In this latter area there is an extensive development of basic minor instructions pre-dating the Gabbo, and metamorphosed in a similar manner to the nearby lavas. Most of these small intrusions are emplaced into Torridonian sandstones, which locally extend up to several hundred feet from the contact, the Torridonian shows clear evidence of having been partially melted by the high temperatures induced by the intrusion of gabbro magma, and many of the early intrusions are veined and broken into fragments by the mobilized material. The vein material is chemically more basic in composition than the sediments from which it was derived, partly due to reaction with the basic minor intrusions. Parallel to the contact of the Cuillin Gabbro, in Strathaird, there is a series of irregularly shaped outer-ops of granphyre which are thought to be parts of a single intrusion exposed in the vicinity of its roof. The granophyre is fine-grained, is unusual in containing paramorphs after tridymite, and differs chemically from other Skye granitic rocks. Through there is sometimes a well-defined, chilled margin, many of the contacts against sedimentary rocks are complex and highly xenolithin. The granophyre post-dates the Cuillin Gabbro, but is earlier than the large granitic intrusions which lie to the north and north-east of the areas. One of the most impressive features of the local geology is the great profusion of north-west dykes, all but a few of which are basic in composition. Most of the dykes are later date than the Cuillin Gabbro, but their distribution shows that they are closely related to that centre. Other minor intrusions include a few acid and basic skills which are, in general, of earlier date then the dyke swarm, while basic cone-sheets occur in the vicinity of the Cuillin Gabbro and are later than most of the north-west dykes. In Strathaird, erosion to a relatively deep level allows the structural relationships between lavas, intrusions, and pre-Tertiary sediments to be more easily examined than elsewhere in Syke. Most of the sediments are of Jurassic age, and these rest uncon-formably on Torridonian sandstones. There were several phases of warping in Mesozic times, but the main period of deformation occurred after the outpouring of the lavas and gave rise to large arcuate folds. It is believed that these folds are one result of the stresses set up by the intrusion of the Cuillin Gabbro.


To investigate the enforcement value of third-party information on potentially collusive taxpayers, I study an anti-tax evasion program that rewards consumers for ensuring that firms report sales and establishes a verification system to aid whistle-blowing consumers in São Paulo, Brazil (Nota Fiscal Paulista). Firms reported sales increased by at least 21 percent over 4 years. The results are consistent with fixed costs of concealing collusion, increased detection probability from whistle-blower threats, and with behavioral biases associated with lotteries amplifying the enforcement value of the program. Although firms increased reported expenses, tax revenue net of rewards increased by 9.3 percent. (JEL D22, H25, H26, L25, O14, O17)


Language- and culture-specific body part expressions systematically reflect metaphorical and metonymic conceptualizations and the relations holding between body part concepts and target concepts like emotions. Embodiment and cultural models play significant roles in the processing: embodiment as near-universal principle constitutes the 'skeleton' of a concept due to experience, while cultural models as shared worldviews elaborate and organize this perceived reality. In this article, Beaver Athabascan emotion and personality trait expressions employing body part terms are presented. Besides linguistic data, metalinguistic statements of the speakers reveal underlying conceptual phenomena and idiosyncratic linguistic patterns, which are both highly relevant for the Beaver system of emotion concepts and expressions.


This paper investigates the reorientation processes implemented by public authorities in EU Member States with regards to social services management. The paper focuses on welfare services, although a wider range of social services (health, education, work, social security) are taken into account where relevant. Current reorientation involves a shift in welfare policies, from the traditional approach based on solidarity, towards a view that emphasizes economic relevance of social services. As a result, organization and management of social services are subject to free competition, and might therefore potentially collide with the non-economic peculiarities of social services; services where personal and human factors have a major relevance and impact, both on their performance and on their legal denomination. Such reorientation has triggered a not yet concluded process characterized by the tentative balance of opposing needs: the needs of social services users and the need for free competition between the agencies supplying such services.


A Project report submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment for the award of Master of Science in Data Communication and Software Engineering of Makerere University.


In this paper, I present a parallel between Schopenhauer, who argues that a purely rational being would see life as meaningless suffering and therefore refuse to inflict existence on a new generation of humans, and economist Lester Thurow, who argues that it is irrational to care about what happens to the world after one's own death, even if this means the extinction of the human species. I show first how these attitudes stem from an orientation that judges life in terms of pleasure and pain. Then, with reference to an article by Amien Kacou, I seek to refute this orientation, showing how a conscious being that actually saw pleasure as its highest good would likely become miserable - or, conversely, that the only way for such a being to actually experience pleasure would be for it to see justice as more important than its own individual satisfaction. I conclude with some reflections on what this means in terms of Nietzsche's statement "God is dead," and what ramifications it has on the current ecological crisis.


The goal of our work is to develop an efficient, automatic algorithm for discovering point correspondences between surfaces that are approximately and/or partially isometric. Our approach is based on three observations. First, isometries are a subset of the Möbius group, which has low-dimensionality -- six degrees of freedom for topological spheres, and three for topological discs. Second, computing the Möbius transformation that interpolates any three points can be computed in closed-form after a mid-edge flattening to the complex plane. Third, deviations from isometry can be modeled by a transportation-type distance between corresponding points in that plane. Motivated by these observations, we have developed a Möbius Voting algorithm that iteratively: 1) samples a triplet of three random points from each of two point sets, 2) uses the Möbius transformations defined by those triplets to map both point sets into a canonical coordinate frame on the complex plane, and 3) produces "votes" for predicted correspondences between the mutually closest points with magnitude representing their estimated deviation from isometry. The result of this process is a fuzzy correspondence matrix, which is converted to a permutation matrix with simple matrix operations and output as a discrete set of point correspondences with confidence values. The main advantage of this algorithm is that it can find intrinsic point correspondences in cases of extreme deformation. During experiments with a variety of data sets, we find that it is able to find dozens of point correspondences between different object types in different poses fully automatically.


Designing Time is an experimental design studio at the Oslo School of Architecture, where the students are engaged in time based issues. The studio serves as a laboratory to invent, develop and test strategies and techniques relevant to time based design. Working with time helps students to develop the ability to investigate relations and systems and to understand these through time based analyses and abstraction. Working with time starts from observations of real life phenomena The observations ultimately lead to discovery of opportunities for interventions and in some cases innovation. The essay goes through several concepts and cases of time based design. Visual analyses movements on a trampoline.


Abstract Background. Arterial stiffness is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease risk. However, whether genetic risk variants are associated with arterial stiffness measures, such as pulse-wave velocity (PWV), is largely unknown. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with PWV in a Korea population. Method. Study participants consisted of 402 patients in the Yonsei cardiovascular genome center cohort. Arterial stiffness was measured as brachial–ankle pulse-wave velocity (baPWV). Genotyping was performed in 402 subjects with the Axiom™ Genome-Wide ASI 1 Array Plate containing more than 600,000 SNP markers. The findings were tested for replication in independent subjects from a community-based cohort of 1206 individuals, using a Taqman assay to include two candidate SNPs. Associations with PWV were evaluated using an additive genetic model that included age, gender, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure as covariates. GWAS and replication analyses were conducted using the measured genotype method implemented in PLINK and SAS. Results. We observed two candidate SNPs associated with baPWV in GWAS: rs7271920 (p = 7.15 × 10–9) and rs10125157 (p = 8.25 × 10–7). However, neither of these was significant in the replication cohort. Conclusion: In summary, we did not identify any common genetic variants associated with baPWV in cardiovascular patients.


Recently, emerging new infections such as SARS or
bird flu have placed significant stress on
epidemiologists, leading to high intent to change
career. Based on possible staff shortages,
retention strategies for epidemiologists have gained
importance.From the resource-based view, this
book examines how human resource capital (HRC) and
motivation systems (MS) influence the relationship
between stress and intent to say.
The book concluded that occupational/psychological
stress, HRC, and MS had an impact on
epidemiologists' intent to stay. HRC and MS
function well as moderators on the relationship
between stress and intent to stay. To
epidemiologists in different institutions, HRC and
MS may have different moderating effects.
The SARS epidemic has raised worldwide attention.
Managers should enhance HRC and MS to attenuate
epidemiologists'stress, which may, in turn,
strengthen their intent to stay. The book,
therefore, should help shed light on present
emerging infection environment, and should be
especially useful to professionals and managers in
epidemiology fields, or anyone who are interested in
research on epidemiology or management.


Recent evidence suggests that obesity-related mortality rates may have decreased over the past few decades, despite the dramatically increased prevalence of obesity (Flegal et al., 2005). Some critics of the anti-obesity campaign, including the Center for Consumer Freedom, have cited such findings as proof that the threat of obesity to public health has been overstated. But mortality is not the only measure of obesity's negative impact on society. The causal relationships among obesity, morbidity, and increased medical costs are well documented and, given ever-rising U.S. health care costs, should not be ignored. Increased survivability is good news, but medical innovations that mitigate the consequences of obesity are expensive: improved medical technology and increased treatment, while reducing the health effects of obesity, may increase obesity-related health care costs.


BACKGROUND
Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a syndrome expressed by chronic widespread body pain which leads to reduced physical function and frequent use of health care services. Exercise training is commonly recommended as a treatment. This is an update of a review published in Issue 2, 2002.

OBJECTIVES
The primary objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the effects of exercise training including cardiorespiratory (aerobic), muscle strengthening, and/or flexibility exercise on global well-being, selected signs and symptoms, and physical function in individuals with FMS.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SportDiscus, PubMed, PEDro, and the Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, Issue 3, 2005) up to and including July 2005. We also reviewed reference lists from reviews and meta-analyses of treatment studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomized trials focused on cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength and/or flexibility as treatment for FMS were selected.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two of four reviewers independently extracted data for each study. All discrepancies were rechecked and consensus achieved by discussion. Methodological quality was assessed by two instruments: the van Tulder and the Jadad methodological quality criteria. We used the American College of Sport Medicine (ACSM) guidelines to evaluate whether interventions had provided a training stimulus that would effect changes in physical fitness. Due to significant clinical heterogeneity among the studies we were only able to meta-analyze six aerobic-only studies and two strength-only studies.

MAIN RESULTS
There were a total of 2276 subjects across the 34 included studies; 1264 subjects were assigned to exercise interventions. The 34 studies comprised 47 interventions that included exercise. Effects of several disparate interventions on global well-being, selected signs and symptoms, and physical function in individuals with FMS were summarized using standardized mean differences (SMD). There is moderate quality evidence that aerobic-only exercise training at recommended intensity levels has positive effects global well-being (SMD 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI 0.13 to 0.75) and physical function (SMD 0.68, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.95) and possibly on pain (SMD 0.94, 95% CI -0.15 to 2.03) and tender points (SMD 0.26, 95% CI -0.28 to 0.79). Strength and flexibility remain under-evaluated.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There is 'gold' level evidence (www.cochranemsk.org) that supervised aerobic exercise training has beneficial effects on physical capacity and FMS symptoms. Strength training may also have benefits on some FMS symptoms. Further studies on muscle strengthening and flexibility are needed. Research on the long-term benefit of exercise for FMS is needed.


Adaptive systems are characterized by the ability to monitor changes in their volatile world and react to monitored changes when needed. The ultimate goal of adaptation is that users' requirements are always met correctly and efficiently. Adaptation is traditionally driven by the changing state of the system internal and its surrounding environment. Such state should be monitored and analyzed to decide upon a suitable alternative behaviour to adopt. In this paper, we introduce another driver for adaptation which is the users' collective judgement on the alternative behaviors of a system. This judgmenet should be infered from the individual users' feedback given iteratviely during the lifetime of a system. Users' feedback reflects their main interest which is the validity and the quality of a system behaviour as a means to meet their requirements. We propose social adaptation which is a specific kind of adaptation that treats users' feedback, obtained during the software lifetime, as a primary driver in planning and guiding adaptation. We propose a novel requirements engineering modelling and analysis approach meant for systems adopting social adaptation. We evaluate our approach by applying it in practice and report on the results.


What might Humanities have to offer to the current big societal and technological challenges? The nine short position papers presented here were collected by Svend Erik Larsen from colleagues and members of the Academia Europaea Section for Literary and Theatrical Studies who have been actively involved in the changes within their discipline in the areas they introduce. They show emerging interdisciplinary fields, provide new insights, indicate significant cultural achievements and forge new collaborations in order to shape the outlines of the research landscape of the 21st century. Their main concern is not the future of Humanities, but the future with Humanities.


Behavioural finance studies the psychological factors that influence financial behaviour both on the level of the individual as well as on the level of the market. So far these results have been mainly used to explain the existence of patterns in asset prices and to develop investment strategies that exploit them. While these applications of behavioural finance aim to understand the market, this chapter focuses on the individual investors and asks how to advise behavioural investors helping them make optimal investment decisions.


The purpose of this paper is to report on outcomes of a 3-year collaborative project that addresses the need for future professionals with entrepreneurial knowledge and small business skills. The multiphase project involved partnerships developed between textile and apparel faculty at four U.S. universities and faculty in similar programs at universities in Thailand, India, Russia, and South Africa. Based on primary and secondary research conducted with small apparel businesses and entrepreneurs in the five countries during Phase I of the project, eight modules were created for integration into existing textile and apparel courses during Phase II. Phase III focused on the assessment of students' knowledge and skills following delivery of the modules. This paper reports on the results of module assessment via a repeated measures experiment using pre- and postsurveys that included closed- and open-ended questions. Analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data indicated that modules helped to increase students' entrepreneurial knowledge and small business skills from a global perspective.


Marine microbes are very abundant and diverse. They play significant roles in all element cycles, both quantitatively and qualitatively. However, they are little known, as the continuous series of surprising discoveries in the last few years shows. In the present conference the main focus will be on how these microbes interact: with other cells of their own species, with other microbes and with large living beings, from biofilms to symbiants. Another important topic will be the exploration of marine microbial diversity based on the recently developed sequencing approaches and on efforts to obtain marine organisms in pure cultures. This conference will be the third in the Marine Microorganisms series. We hope it will contribute to enlarge the community of marine microbiologists and help in pointing the future directions of research even more than the two previous meetings.


An Unholy Alliance offers a dissenting view to the claim by a growing number of scholars that Sports are a new religion. The last few years have seen a spate of books that might be classified by a genre called "Sports Apologetics," that is, arguments defending or celebrating in one way or another the familiar and ongoing alliance in America between sports and religion. Recently, claims have been made by scholars that sports are an authentic religion in and of themselves. They make this startling assertion not by showing connections with the teachings of Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, or Moses, but by parallels between the rites of modern games and those of preliterate man that were "religious" in nature because they were designed to propitiate powers and to ward off evil for the tribes employing them. In this evocative book, Higgs and Braswell suggest that while sports may often be good things, they are not inherently divine. They do not focus on wide-spread abuse in sports as evidence for their counterargument. Rather, they question the use of mythological parallels from prehistory as justification for viewing sports as a religion.


Microplastics threaten the ecosystem because of undesirable properties such as non-biodegradability, easy-to-absorb persistant organic compounds, etc. They are found worldwide in marine, fresh water and beach sand environments. In this study, microplastics in beach sand samples from two sites in Tien Giang province and two sites in Vung Tau city were investigated. The results showed that the microplastics amount was 0 to 295 pieces/kg dry sand and they mainly distributed near estuarine areas. Microplastics were more prevalent at bathing sites than non-bathing sites . In Tien Giang fragments were the most dominant among the three types of shapes (fragments, fibers, granules) at 60.2%. In Vung Tau granules were most prevalent at 71.7%. The composition of the plastics was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. It was revealed that PE, PP and PS were the main types of plastics found in the sampling sites.


Long queries often suffer from low recall in Web search due to conjunctive term matching. The chances of matching words in relevant documents can be increased by rewriting query terms into new terms with similar statistical properties. We present a comparison of approaches that deploy user query logs to learn rewrites of query terms into terms from the document space. We show that the best results are achieved by adopting the perspective of bridging the "lexical chasm" between queries and documents by translating from a source language of user queries into a target language of Web documents. We train a state-of-the-art statistical machine translation model on query-snippet pairs from user query logs, and extract expansion terms from the query rewrites produced by the monolingual translation system. We show in an extrinsic evaluation in a real-world Web search task that the combination of a query-to-snippet translation model with a query language model achieves improved contextual query expansion compared to a state-of-the-art query expansion model that is trained on the same query log data.


Millimetric droplets may walk across the surface of a vibrating fluid bath, propelled forward by their own guiding or "pilot" wave field. We here consider the interaction of such walking droplets with a submerged circular pillar. While simple scattering events are the norm, as the waves become more pronounced, the drop departs the pillar along a path corresponding to a logarithmic spiral. The system behavior is explored both experimentally and theoretically, using a reduced numerical model in which the pillar is simply treated as a region of decreased wave speed. A trajectory equation valid in the limit of weak droplet acceleration is used to infer an effective force due to the presence of the pillar, which is found to be a lift force proportional to the product of the drop's walking speed and its instantaneous angular speed around the post. This system presents a macroscopic example of pilot-wave-mediated forces giving rise to apparent action at a distance.


Far from being merely a medium of simplification and conveyance of scientific facts, motion pictures exhibit an important epistemic function. On the one hand, the medium film is itself a product of research in various fields, on
the other hand, it retroacts on perception and problem-solving in science, thereby influencing and changing research practices. The paper aims at describing
these reciprocal effects and synergies by discussing two examples:

first by the film "The principles of Einstein's theory of relativity", first released in Germany in 1922, second by the film "Mathematical image of the struggle for life", produced in 1937 for the inauguration of the "Palace of discoveries" in Paris, demonstrating the latest developments in evolutionary theory. It becomes evident that picture media have the capacity to transform
the symbolic dimension of things and bodies, thereby offering new access to reality, which not only fascinated the spectators, but also inspired scientific research.


The 15N/14N of nitrate in the external medium and intracellular pool of the cultured marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii (Grun.) Fryxell et Hasle was measured during nitrate assimilation under low light, a 12:12‐h light:dark cycle, low temperature, or low iron conditions. The 15N/14N of the nitrate in the medium and the particulate matter both followed the predicted Rayleigh fractionation model, and the intracellular nitrate always had a higher 15N/14N than did the medium nitrate. When the experiments were compared, the results showed a negative correlation between the isotope fractionation factor and the difference in the 15N/14N between the two pools of nitrate. These observations imply that the variations in the isotope effect result from variations in the degree to which the fractionation by nitrate reductase is expressed outside the cell, which is, in turn, controlled by the rate of nitrate efflux relative to nitrate reduction. The low iron and low temperature experiments showed relatively small isotope effects but a large intracellular‐medium difference in nitrate 15N/14N, consistent with a relative rate of efflux (compared with influx) that is small and similar to fast‐growing cells. In contrast, large isotope effects and small intracellular‐medium differences in nitrate 15N/14N were observed for low light and light:dark cycle grown cells and are explained by higher relative rates of nitrate efflux under these growth conditions.


In industry DC machines are still used today due to their torque-speed characteristics [1]. The DC motors speed characteristics can be further enhanced by the addition of external electronic controls, such as buck converters. [2]. However, the addition of these external electronic controls to the DC motor also adds a complexity to these type of systems and problems can also arise from these buck converter/DC motor configurations [2].

This thesis examines the complexities that arise from these type of systems, in particular how these complexities effect that the speed-torque characteristics of a separately excited DC Motor may have during Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM) and Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM).

To demonstrate the affects that Discontinuous Conduction Mode and Continuous Conduction Mode has on the speed-torque characteristics of a DC motor, a setup was designed and constructed with the following design objectives:

• Convert AC power from mains to regulated DC power, using a power supply that must:
o Supply power to a DC motor
o Operate with a variable switching frequency from a few Hz – 2 kHz
o Operate with a variable voltage from 0 – 240 V
o And have a maximum current output of 1.5 A
• The setup must be able to measure the speed, load torque, the armature current and voltage waveforms must also be observable and produce speed-torque curves of the DC motor

Once completed, the setup was used to examine the speed-torque characteristics of the DC motor setup. The setup was able to meet all the design objectives. The results from the setup demonstrated a nonlinear region during DCM operation and a linear region CCM operation, in speed-torque curves of the setup. The main observations from the setup showed that the torque-speed curves experienced a larger nonlinear region at lower switching frequencies when compared to the torque-speed curves of systems that were operating at higher frequencies. Additionally, it was found that at higher voltages, the speed-torque curves experienced a smaller linear region when compared with the speed-torque curves of systems at lower voltages.

Further analysis revealed the speed characteristic of the system was mainly caused by dramatic voltage drops over the armature of the motor, and that the dramatic voltage drops occurred during DCM, when load was applied to the motor.
A simulation of the final setup was produced, although the simulation model could benefit from further improvements and modifications. The model was able to demonstrate some general trend that was observed in the results section.

The setup was also adapted for future use as teaching aid that was aimed at 3rd year engineering students at Murdoch University. The purpose of the setup was to contribute to the student's basic understandings of motor operation during DCM and CCM. A student laboratory exercise was successfully completed as part of project objectives. The project setup can be replicated in a laboratory environment and used to demonstrate the effects that DCM and CCM, have speed-torque characteristics of a DC Motor

Overall, this project was considered to be successful, as all the objectives were completed during the course of the thesis project.


Group liability is often portrayed as the key innovation that led to the explosion of the microcredit movement, which started with the Grameen Bank in the 1970s and continues on today with hundreds of institutions around the world. Group lending claims to improve repayment rates and lower transaction costs when lending to the poor by providing incentives for peers to screen, monitor, and enforce each other's loans. However, some argue that group liability creates excessive pressure and discourages good clients from borrowing, jeopardizing both growth and sustainability. Therefore, it remains unclear whether group liability improves the lender's overall profitability and the poor's access to financial markets. The authors worked with a bank in the Philippines to conduct a field experiment to examine these issues. They randomly assigned half of the 169 pre-existing group liability 'centers' of approximately twenty women to individual-liability centers (treatment) and kept the other half as-is with group liability (control). We find that the conversion to individual liability does not affect the repayment rate, and leads to higher growth in center size by attracting new clients.


Forty-five years ago, power as a topic was mostly absent from management textbooks and courses, including executive education teaching, in the fields of business and public administration. This was the case notwithstanding the fact that power dynamics are invariably present in most public and private sector workplaces. Research demonstrates that power affects resource allocations among departments and other sub-units as well as decisions on strategic direction in organizations of all types. Research also shows that power affects people´s career trajectories, including their salaries and the hierarchical levels they attain.


Anna Labzina. Days of a Russian Noblewoman: The Memories of Anna Labzina, 1758-1821. Translated and edited by Gary Marker and Rachel May. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2001. Appendices. Notes. Index. $40.00, cloth. $18.00, paper. Days of a Russian Noblewoman results from a harmonious pairing of editorial talent and specialization: the translators are historian Gary Marker and literature scholar Rachel May. Their introduction to Anna Labzina's memoirs is rich and thoughtful, with a smooth style and elegant flow of insights. Besides outlining her biography, the introduction places Labzina among a few Russian and other female memoirists from her own time-though the former include only those currently available in English translation. Presumably that reflects the book's intended audience, as anyone likely to want a comparison of Labzina to Natalia Dolgorukaia could probably read both in the original. The editors touch lightly on recent scholarship on women's autobiography, again placing Labzina in a context that is useful though not exhaustive. In places the introduction seeks to interpret or explain Labzina as a woman and personality, perhaps intending to forestall students who might judge or dismiss her according to modem criteria. That interest in who the author really was also reflects the presence of her personality in her writing and the reader's wish for greater contact across boundaries of time, space, culture, and literary convention. Comments on Labzina's use of language and religious experience, and the role of Masonry in her life and in Russian history, are particularly helpful in understanding the author's background. Marker and May's choice of the word "Memories" as a subtitle rather than the usual "Memoirs" reflects this text's difference from comparable works that have survived from the time. Labzina is roughly contemporary with Catherine II and Ekaterina Dashkova, but she is much more private, having spent only a brief period in the public sphere of Catherine's court. As the editors point out, Labzina's life story also resembles the earlier autobiography of Avvakum, not least because of her constant concern with the state of her own soul: no matter why she started writing, she used the process of writing to track her own sanctity, past and present. Her narrative often mingles with prayer, especially in the surviving fragment of her diary from 1818, or else erupts into sermonizing by one character or another. The realia include life in noble households of varying degrees of prosperity in the late eighteenth century, a glimpse of life at Court, Russian Masonic politics, relations between nobles and their servants, the conditions in prisons, cultural distinctions between the urban centre and the provincial periphery, as well, of course, as one literate noblewoman's construction of self. …


Mushrooms (a macrofungus) have high dietary values and are used in cooking for ages. Some of them are also reported to have medicinal properties. Volvariella volvacea (V. Volacea) is an edible mushroom cultivated in East and South East Asia. This provides good nutrition is extremely suitable in human diet. The present work was planned to determine the antidiabetic potential of V. volvacea by exploring the glucose tolerance test and other vital serum profiles in normal as well as STZ-induced diabetic rats. The mushroom was subjected to hydroalcoholic extraction; the extract was divided into two equal portions. One part was dried by lyophilisation (LE) and second part was dried in hot air oven (ODE). The LE and ODE of V. volvacea was studied for antidiabetic activity. The extracts, in a dose dependent manner could significantly decrease the serum glucose level of diabetic rats. The results show that LE of V. volvacea exhibited more antidiabetic activity than ODE. The above result advocate that more study is required to proceed for developing a formulation of this mushroom to utilise its nutraceutical and medicinal properties.


High accessibility to Internet technology and popularization of focus media has given rise to various emerging subcultures among the younger generation who constantly seek novelty. The otaku is such an adolescent subculture of avid collectors who have a special lifestyle and who are obsessed with anime products. This study explores this specific adolescent segment's traits and purchasing behavior patterns. A focus-group interview was conducted with some adolescent otaku to allow them to express their opinions and purchasing behaviors. Then, a questionnaire was developed based on the interview's findings, and data from a survey of 105 respondents were collected. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to extract the otaku's trait factors, while confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used for the verification of the scale and structural model, respectively. The results show that the adolescent otaku present an obsessive preference for visual perception. The main factor influencing the otaku's purchasing intentions in terms of animation, comics, and games (ACG) is their strong interest in and participation willingness toward ACG. Strategic marketing directions applied to this adolescent group should emphasize information visualization to entice their buying behavior. C


Abstract:The "hundred beauties" (baimei 百美) genre, begun in the late Ming and established during the Qing, conventionally depicted one hundred "beautiful women" (meiren 美人), selected from Chinese history through woodblock print portraits, biographies, and poems. During the transitional era from the late Qing to the early Republic, the genre saw dramatic transformation in both form and content as contemporary, emergent "fashionable ladies" (shizhuang shinü 時裝仕女) became subjects. This article focuses on how the traditional lovelorn woman derived from the "boudoir plaint" (guiy uan 閨怨) continues to dominate the new-style hundred beauties albums under fashionable appearances. The author aims to shed light not only on the technical construction, through words and images, of gendered emotions but also on the perspective and historical milieu of the creators.


Abstract Muslims comprise the second largest population after Hindus in South Asia. They are, however, not a monolithic community. The rise of religious fundamentalism in Pakistan and the official patronage it has got has an enormous political and security impact on the region. The terrorist campaign, sponsored by Pakistan and waged by Islamic fundamentalist groups in Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan, has wide implications and poses a major threat to the region. Setting up an Islamic state and Jihad are the two objectives of all fundamentalist movements. Religious parties had opposed the Pakistan movement before Independence. After Pakistan came into being, the fundamentalist parties gradually raised Islamic issues and the demand for making Pakistan an Islamic state. Though successive governments in Pakistan used Islamic parties for political objectives, it was under General Zia-ul Haq that a campaign was launched from the top to 'islamise' Pakistan. Gen. Zia's policies led to the growth of Islamic and sectarian violence in the country. Pakistan's intervention in Afghanistan and the Islamic policies at home gradually turned the country into the epicentre of global Islamic militancy. The Mullah-Military alliance has been strengthened during the Musharraf regime. The recent growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the South Asian countries, apart from specific historic and social factors in each country, can be greatly attributed to Pakistan's religious parties and its strategic anti-India policies. After Afghanistan, Bangladesh is one of the larger Muslim counties upon which the threat of Islamic militancy looms large. The involvement of Pakistani agencies can also be clearly discerned in the growth of militancy in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka


This paper presents a targeting strategy to solve the heat load distribution (HLD) problem for large-scale plant by dividing the system into sub-systems while considering the heat transfer opportunities between them. The methodology is based on a sequential approach. The optimal flow rates of utilities are first defined using a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model. The site is then divided into the subsystems where the overall interaction is resumed into a pair of virtual hot and cold stream with nonlinear T-H profile. The HLD problem is solved between these subsystems in a sequential procedure by considering a MILP model between these virtual representative streams, while each time one of the sub-systems is switched from virtual streams to the real ones. The main advantages are to reduce the size of the HLD problem and to find a feasible solution which is compatible with the minimum energy requirement (MER) objective. The potential of direct heat recovery between sub-systems are considered and the method can be practically adopted to consider the restricted matches between sub-systems as well. This methodology has been currently applied on a real site scale process integration industrial example and in this paper its application is illustrated through a case study with 23 streams.


Hail damage can result in substantial economic loss to annual spring and summer crops. Crop insurance guidelines to assess hail damage on major crops are readily available to adjusters. However, research and guidelines to assess hail damage on minor crops is lacking and may limit their expansion. A dryland field study with guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.] was designed to determine the effect of simulated hail damage at two growth stages and three levels of defoliation on plant regrowth and bean yield. Experiments were conducted on a Miles fine sandy loam (fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Typic Paleustalfs) near Vernon, TX, from 2001 through 2003. A commercial grass trimmer was used to simulate hail damage by flailing plants to targeted defoliations levels of 33, 66, and 90% at 6 and 12 wk after emergence (WAE). Both final plant height and yield were reduced to a greater extent when plants were damaged at 12 WAE (grain-fill period) than at 6 WAE (early flowering). Regression analysis from data combined over years showed that guar yields were reduced 50% with a 66% defoliation level at 6 WAE, but required only 42% defoliation to reduce yield levels 50% with late-season defoliation. This is the first report of using a grass trimmer to simulate hail damage by shredding plant material rather than manually removing plants and plant parts. Results from this study also provide a basis for producers and insurance adjusters to quantify and estimate economic losses in guar due to hail damage at two growth stages.


This paper presents an experimental and theoretical framework to determine parameters of an atmospheric optical communication link using multiple-forward-scattered (MFS) radiation. The study itself simulates in a laboratory environment the various physical factors that are encountered in the actual atmospheric channel. Parameters that affect signal-to-noise fluctuation at the receiver channel, such as multiple scattering of the laser beam off particles in clouds and the atmosphere, sky background, and the effects of direct illumination by the solar flux, are evaluated. Using a GaAlAs laser diode (λ = 0.8486 μm) as a source, the MFS optical channel parameters are evaluated. The system margin using a pulse position modulation format for this laboratory-simulation scattering medium with a quartz-halogen background condition was determined as a function of field of view for various data rates and background noise. For a specific optical depth of the scattering medium, values of the data rates are determined for which communications can be maintained in the presence of direct background noise radiance whereas a negative margin for higher data rates will result in an excessive error rate. Acquisition and high rates transfer between aircraft in low-visibility atmosphere seem to be feasible providing a relatively covert system with high immunity to jamming.


PURPOSE
Design and commission a dynamic proton-equivalent lung phantom for implementation as an end-to-end audit tool for credentialing proton therapy centers participating in proton lung clinical trials.

METHODS
Phantom materials were tested and chosen with relative stopping powers (RSP) similar to those found on the Eclipse tissue calibration curve. One material was determined to be in good agreement with the Eclipse HU vs. RSP calibration curve to simulate bone. A phantom was designed with materials that could be imaged, planned, and treated without need for manual adjustment of HU. The lung target was designed to simulate 2cm respiratory motion. The phantom was simulated on a 4DCT and planned on the resulting average CT images. A proton pencil beam plan was generated to cover the ITV and spare other structures, and was verified by 2-D ion chamber array QA measurements. Image-guided spot scanned therapy was delivered to the phantom. The film and TLD within the moving dosimetry insert were read and registered to the planned 3D dose distribution. Using TLD for absolute dose and film for dose distribution, a gamma analysis was performed in the sagittal, coronal, and axial planes.

RESULTS
A bone equivalent material was found with an agreement of 0.9% to Eclipse calculation. For the two initial spot scanned proton beam treatment deliveries, the Gamma index ranged from 86% to 73% at ±5%/5mm about an RPC/Institution ratio of 0.97 for all film planes. The regions of highest failure were found to be in the distal region beyond the target volume. The measured vs. calculated dose ratio ranged from 0.96-1.01 with an average of 0.98.

CONCLUSION
A proton-equivalent lung phantom, with a dynamic thoracic target, was designed and tested as an audit tool for credentialing proton therapy centers. Spot scanned therapy without motion management was determined inadequate for 2cm motion. This work was supported by Public Health Service grants CA010953, CA081647, and CA21661 awarded by the National Cancer Institute, United States Department of Health and Human Services.


As system-on-chip (SoC) designs become more complex, it is becoming harder to design communication architectures to handle the ever increasing volumes of inter-component communication. Manual traversal of the vast communication design space to synthesize a communication architecture that meets performance requirements becomes infeasible. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing an automated approach for floorplan-aware bus architecture synthesis (FABSYN) to synthesize cost-effective, bus-based communication architectures that satisfy the performance constraints in a design. Our synthesis approach incorporates a high-level floorplanning and wire delay estimation engine to evaluate the feasibility of the synthesized bus architecture and detect bus cycle time violations early in the design flow, at the system level. We present case studies of network communication SoC subsystems for which we synthesized bus architectures, detected and eliminated timing violations, and generated core placements in a matter of hours instead of several days for a manual effort.


We report a novel system for time-resolved diffuse remission spectral measurements, based on short light continuum pulses generated in an index-guided crystal fiber, and a spectrometer-equipped streak camera. The system enables spectral recordings of absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of turbid media in the wavelength range 500 - 1200 nm with a spectral resolution of 5 nm and a temporal resolution of 30 ps. The optical properties are calculated by fitting the solution of the diffusion equation to the time-dispersion curve at each wavelength. Example measurements are presented from an apple, a finger and a pharmaceutical tablet.


The influence of sunlight on bacterioplankton production was investigated over a 12‐month period in Laguna Madre, a shallow, subtropical, seagrass‐dominated lagoon in south Texas. Two types of experiments were conducted every 6 to 8 weeks from June 1996 through June 1997 to assess the effect of photochemical transformations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on bacterial production and the net effect of sunlight exposure on bacterioplankton and phytoplankton production in surface waters. Photobleaching of DOM was observed; however, estimates of the photomineralization of DOM in May and July were very low and indicated that this process could represent at most 3% of water column respiration. Photochemical transformations of DOM did not have any significant effect on bacterioplankton activity. However, bacterial production measured during exposure of water samples to natural sunlight in the summer months, with and without ultraviolet light, was enhanced relative to dark controls. Phytoplankton release of bioavailable substrates appeared to be responsible for light‐mediated increases in bacterioplankton production. Bacterio‐ and phytoplankton were not photoinhibited by exposure to ultraviolet radiation in surface waters. Overall, we observed no indication of photoinhibition of microbial processes in Laguna Madre, and photochemical transformations appeared to play a minor role in the cycling of DOM. The low photoreactivity of DOM in combination with its relatively high bioreactivity appeared responsible for the minor role of photochemical transformations in the cycling of DOM in Laguna Madre.


Singapore is an exemplary model of integrated water management, according to the World Health Organization, and its experiences can be shared with others. Water security is not just the government's responsibility but has become everyone's business. Singapore has been selected as a case study for integrated urban water management (IUWM), and the methodologies used in Singapore, a developed city state, may be applicable elsewhere. An integrated regulatory framework, sound policies to control and implement programmes, public – private partnership in water services delivery, and stakeholder participation at all levels are necessary to make integrated water resource management successful. This paper demonstrates how Singapore has successfully turned its vulnerability with regard to water into a strength. Singapore can achieve greater sustainability if it promotes rooftop rainwater harvesting as a decentralized, dual mode water supply system for non-potable use.


Processes of vortex generation in a weakly ionized gas are reviewed in circumstances where a high-speed flow propagates along the gas discharge and acoustic waves interact with a positive column. Results on the effect of longitudinal gas flow in the positive-column properties are presented. It is shown that in certain conditions the gas flow in the positive column gives rise to vortices that cause the plasma to mix radially, producing a uniformly excited gas at high pressures. Results concerning the interaction of acoustic waves with low-temperature plasma are reviewed, and the acoustic-stimulated formation of vortex motion leading to an uncontracted discharge at elevated pressures is discussed. Also examined are flashes of superluminescence in an argon discharge caused by an abrupt transition of a positive column containing acoustic vortices from the uncontracted state to the contracted one at heightened pressures; this transition is understood to occur because of the turbulent-to-laminar transition in the acoustic flow. Finally, a gas-discharge acoustically induced laser is described.


The Mediterranean fruit-fly ( Ceratitis capitata , Wied.) first reached Bermuda about 1865, and since that time has been a pest of the first importance on all kinds of thin-skinned fruits. Peaches, which formerly grew in great abundance in the island, were rendered unproductive, and loquats, sapodillas, Surinam cherries, peppers, and to a lesser extent citrus, papaws, sugar-apples and guavas, were severely infested.


The Geneva Conventions of 1949 were drafted in the wake of the Second World War to protect combatants and civilians during times of war and occupation. Half a century later, nearly every country has ratified the conventions; many provisions are recognized as customary international humanitarian law. Since September 11, 2001, there has been a heated debate over whether these laws of war apply to the conflicts with al Qaeda. Yet little attention has been devoted to the humanitarian law of occupation as it applies to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. This Article examines the practice of extraordinary rendition - abduction and transfer of terror suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation - within the context of those conflicts. The authors show that because Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits forcible transfer of protected civilians from occupied territory, extraordinary renditions from occupied Afghanistan and Iraq are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The authors then examine the contrary arguments presented in a Bush Administration memorandum, and apply traditional tools of treaty interpretation to refute each argument and to demonstrate that the prohibition against forcible transfer is absolute. Finally, the authors propose several mechanisms to challenge the practice of extraordinary rendition under international humanitarian law and U.S. law.


The IP Multimedia Subsystem is seen as the promising solution for the next generation multimedia communication. The IP Multimedia Subsystem will make Internet technologies almost anywhere, anytime and on any device such as email, web, instant messaging, presence and videoconferencing. Presence is one of the most important basic services in IMS. It is the service that allows a user to be informed about the reachability, availability and willingness to communicate with other user. Push to talk over Cellular (PoC) is one more service in IMS that allows users to engage in immediate communication with one or more users. Instant Messaging (IM) is the service that allows a user to send some content to another user in near real time. In this thesis work, we have discussed overall IMS architecture and identity the major issues to improve the existing protocols in IMS for better system performance.Our work is centered on Presence service, Push to talk over Cellular, Instant Messaging and IMS session setup. In this thesis three possible session establishment scenarios in a mobile environment is compared by using an analytical model. The other problem areas in optimizing presence service, dimensioning a PoC service and analyzing service rate of IM relay extensions in IMS are identified.


Scholars have shown that once in place policies can foster greater political participation. Indeed, politicians often deliberately design policies to shore up political support among their allies. But can political actors engineer the reverse effect, crafting policies that demobilize their rivals? Drawing on the example of conservative cross-state advocacy against public sector unions, I describe the strategy of policy feedback as political weapon, or when actors design policies to politically weaken their opponents. I then document that the passage of conservative network-backed legislation led to large and enduring declines in public sector union density and revenue. I further show that by curbing the power of public unions, the passage of conservative network-backed bills dampened the political participation of public sector employees. My findings emphasize the importance of considering how actors use policy to demobilize political opponents and explain why public unions are now on the defensive in state politics.


Abstract Military footwear for the fifteenth century includes arming shoes worn under sabatons. Written sources suggest arming shoes and footwear used for fighting were ordinary shoes adapted for the purpose. Archaeological footwear was examined for signs of such modifications. Medieval shoe technology is presented, showing the range of footwear and its uses and gait biomechanics. Based on experiences from re-enactors wearing armours, medieval shoe styles are discussed for appropriateness as arming shoes. The question of why medieval military footwear shows no purposed development is addressed.


BACKGROUND
Withdrawal Seizure-Prone (WSP) and Withdrawal Seizure-Resistant (WSR) mice were selectively bred for high and low handling-induced convulsions, respectively, after chronic ethanol treatment. Withdrawal severity is one factor that may contribute to the development of alcoholism and/or substance abuse, and anxiety is another. We sought to explore whether these factors are genetically related.

METHODS
WSP and WSR mice of two replicate pairs of selected lines were tested for anxiety-related behaviors on the canopy stretched-attend-posture apparatus 20 min after intraperitoneal injection of ethanol (2 g/kg, 20% v/v), pentobarbital (20 mg/kg), or an equivalent volume of saline. Dependent measures of anxiety included number of stretched attend postures (SAP) and time spent in the exposed area of the apparatus. Number of line crossings, which measures overall activity, was also scored.

RESULTS
WSP mice given saline exhibited more SAP than WSR mice given saline, which indicated greater baseline anxiety. Ethanol and pentobarbital both reduced SAP and increased time spent in the exposed area of the apparatus, which indicated that both drugs exerted an anxiolytic effect. Despite baseline differences in SAP between selected lines, both anxiolytic drugs reduced SAP to similar levels in WSP and WSR mice.

CONCLUSIONS
These results support the hypothesis that WSP mice are more sensitive than WSR mice to the anxiety-reducing effects of ethanol and pentobarbital. Some genes that influence this difference are likely to be the same as those that influence ethanol withdrawal severity. Thus, higher basal anxiety and greater genetic sensitivity to anxiolytic drug effects may relate to a greater genetic predisposition to the development of severe alcohol withdrawal signs.


Info 2020 Data recovery is one of the tools used to obtain digital forensics from various storage media that rely entirely on the file system used to organize files in these media. In this paper, two of the latest techniques of file recovery from file system (new technology file system (NTFS)) logical data recovery, Aho-Corasick data recovery were studied, examined and a practical comparison was made between these two techniques according to the speed and accuracy factors using three global datasets. It was noted that all previous studies in this field completely ignored the time criterion despite the importance of this standard. On the other hand, algorithms developed with other algorithms were not compared. The proposed comparison of this paper aims to detect the weaknesses and strength of both algorithms to develop a new algorithm that is more accurate and faster than both algorithms. The paper concluded that the logical algorithm was superior to the Aho-Corasick algorithm according to the speed criterion, whereas the algorithms gave the same results according to the accuracy criterion. The paper leads to a set of suggestions for future research aimed at achieving a highly efficient and high-speed data recovery algorithm such as the file-carving


Abstract. This paper describes the laboratory facilities at the Finnish Meteorological Institute – Arctic Research Centre (FMI-ARC, http://fmiarc.fmi.fi ). They comprise an optical laboratory, a facility for biological studies, and an office. A dark room has been built, in which an optical table and a fixed lamp test system are set up, and the electronics allow high-precision adjustment of the current. The Brewer spectroradiometer, NILU-UV multifilter radiometer, and Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) spectroradiometer of the FMI-ARC are regularly calibrated or checked for stability in the laboratory. The facilities are ideal for responding to the needs of international multidisciplinary research, giving the possibility to calibrate and characterize the research instruments as well as handle and store samples.


Professional photographers who make photographs of people negotiate a tense relationship between their own creative freedoms and the right of their subjects to control their images. This negotiation formally takes place over the terrain of copyright, right of publicity, and the First Amendment. Informally, photographers describe implied understandings and practice norms guiding their relationship with subjects, infrequently memorialized in short, boilerplate contractual releases. This short essay explores these formal and informal practices described by contemporary professional photographers. Although the evidence for this essay comes from professional photographic practice culled from interviews with contemporary photographers, the analysis of the evidence speaks to the more general challenge of balancing privacy and freedom of expression in the digital age.

At the outset of this essay, I describe the scope of the empirical project and the process of collecting data. Then, in three parts, I describe how photographers simultaneously collaborate with and control the subjects of the photographs they make in order to assert themselves as civic storytellers with broad free speech rights in our digital age. I identify a conflict between photographers and their subjects, which serves to maximize the aesthetic freedom of photographers at the expense of their subjects. This conflict resolves in the photographers' accounts through their caretaking role over their photographs on behalf of the subjects themselves. I conclude with a brief explanation of why it matters to better understand these professional photographic norms in our Internet age when free speech and privacy are increasingly in conflict.


Fungal infections contribute substantially to human suffering and mortality. The interaction between fungal pathogens and their host involves the invasion and penetration of the surface epithelium, activation of cells of the innate immune system and the generation of an effective response to block infection. Numerous host-cell signaling pathways are activated during fungal infection. This review will focus on the main fungal pathogens Aspergillus fumigatus , Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans and their ability to activate the host MAP-kinase signaling pathways leading to cytokine secretion, increased cell motility and killing of the pathogen. Both epithelial and innate immune cells specifically recognize fungal antigens and in particular cell surface polysaccharides such as β -glucans and react to them by activating multiple signaling pathways, including those containing MAP-kinase modules. Recent findings suggest that the host response to fungal infection utilizes the MAP-kinase pathway to differentiate between commensal and pathogenic fungi to selectively react only to the pathogenic forms. However, the paucity of relevant publications strongly emphasize that our understanding of host MAP-kinase signaling in response to fungal infection is still at a very early stage. It is clear, based on studies of host MAP-kinase signaling during viral and bacterial infections, that in fungi as well, a wealth of exciting findings await us.


BACKGROUND
Delivery of patient education materials to promote health literacy is a vital component of patient-centered care, which improves patients' decision-making, reduces patients' anxiety, and improves clinical outcomes.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate perceptions of television-based patient education among patients, caregivers, nurses, and other care providers (attending physicians, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, and resident fellows) in the intensive care unit.

METHODS
A Likert-scale survey of the perceptions of patients, caregivers, nurses, and other care providers in the medical and cardiovascular intensive care units of a large academic medical center. Perceptions of the effects of television-based education on anxiety, knowledge, and health-related decision-making were assessed.

RESULTS
A total of 188 participants completed the survey. Among them, 75% of nurses and 76% of other providers agreed or strongly agreed that television-based education improved patients' and caregivers' knowledge (P = .95). More nurses (47%) than other providers (29%) agreed that television-based education would lead to more informed health decisions by patients (P = .04). Patients and caregivers are 23 times more likely than providers to strongly agree that television-based education reduces anxiety, and they are more optimistic regarding the benefits of television-based education (relative risk ratio 23.47; 95% CI 9.75-56.45; P < .001).

CONCLUSION
Patients and caregivers strongly suggested that television is a useful tool for providing health literacy education in an intensive care unit.


This Article uses public choice theory and the new institutionalism to discuss the incentives, proclivities, and shared backgrounds of lawyers and judges. In America every law-making judge has a single unifying characteristic, each is a former lawyer. This shared background has powerful and unexplored effects on the shape and structure of American law. This Article argues that the shared characteristics, thought-processes, training, and incentives of Judges and lawyers lead inexorably to greater complexity in judge-made law. These same factors lead to the following prediction: judge-created law will be most complex in areas where a) elite lawyers regularly practice; b) judges may have a personal preference in the case that can be written-around by way of legal complexity; and c) the subject area interests the judge, or is generally considered prestigious. The Article uses the law of standing as a case study.


One-and-a half syndrome is seen in paramedian pontine lesions, and may also co-exist with cranial nerve paralysis. This clinical situation is called eight-anda-half syndrome when facial nerve paralysis also accompanies this manifestation. A man aged 38 years was admitted with symptoms of sudden-onset binocular diplopia and dizziness. The patient had no known co-morbidities. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed a small-sized infarct in the left paramedian pontine tegmentum posterior area. In his neuro-ophthalmologic examination, total paresis of left eye horizontal movements, mild lateral deviation, and monocular nystagmus during abduction of the right eye were observed. The patient also had peripheral facial paralysis on the left side; therefore, no signs of motor deficit of his extremities were examined. Eight-and-a-half syndrome is a rare disorder that is seen in localized-small pons lesions, mostly accompanied by infarcts. This clinical manifestation is called eight-and-a-half syndrome and arises within lesions in both the parapontine reticular formation and the medial longitudinal fasciculus in the inferior pons tegmentum where horizontal eye movements are controlled, and facial axons adjacent to the nucleus of the sixth nerve. We wanted to present this case to emphasize this rare situation.


The use of mobile devices for learning has led to an increased number of textbooks and reading materials being published in digital format. Specific digital literacies are required to take advantage of these digital texts, and students need to acquire these literacies if they are to read and learn efficiently. Teachers need to assist their students in reading with digital devices. However, research on supporting reading comprehension with mobile devices is still limited. This thesis addresses a gap in the field by identifying cognitive and metacognitive foreign language (FL) reading strategies that students employ when using tablets, and how digital features may support FL reading comprehension.
Students learning Spanish at two educational institutions in Denmark (n=12) participated in this longitudinal qualitative study. The digital texts employed in the study were designed to model reading strategies by embedding prompts in the texts using features of the iBook Author application on the iPad. These prompts, which appear alongside the text for students using the iBooks app, provide opportunities to learn and practice reading strategies. Data collection was via students' logs (records of their use of reading strategies with the iPads over three weeks), semi-structured interviews and a researcher's log. Coding was conducted through thematic analysis. The findings indicate that students used a variety of metacognitive and cognitive reading strategies. Students engaged in higher-order thinking skills by following the scaffolds provided and benefitting from some of the iPads' features.
In conclusion, provided that the student is active in the reading process and is using appropriate strategies, he or she will be able to construct meaning from the digital text. FL reading is a skill that needs to be adapted for the use of mobile technology. This research suggests that, when employed effectively, the applications available on tablets can provide scaffolds for the reading process.
This thesis contributes to knowledge by: 1) applying a language learning strategy (LLS) model to mobile technology; 2) applying metacognition in the context of reading electronic books with mobile devices; 3) addressing controversies in the field of digital reading; 4) proposing guidelines for designing digital textbooks, and 5) developing a research instrument for reading strategy research.


In India, infant mortality among Hindus is higher than among Muslims, and religious differences in sanitation practices have been cited as a contributing factor. To explore whether religion itself is associated with differences in sanitation practices, this study compares sanitation practices of Hindus and Muslims living in the same locations using three nationally representative data sets from India. Across all three data sets, the unconditional religion-specific gap in latrine ownership and latrine use declines by approximately two-thirds when conditioning on location characteristics or including location fixed effects. Further, the estimates do not show evidence of religion-specific differences in other sanitation practices, such as handwashing or observed fecal material near homes. Household sanitation practices vary substantially across areas of India, but religion itself has less direct influence when considering differences between Hindus and Muslims within the same location.


Purpose. This paper explores the potential of housing with care schemes to act as community hubs. The analysis highlights a range of benefits, barriers and facilitators.
Design/methodology/approach. Data is presented from the ASSET project (Adult Social Services Environments and Settings) which used a mixed methods approach including a review of the literature, surveys and in-depth case study interviews.
Findings. Most housing with care schemes have a restaurant or cafe, communal lounge, garden, hairdresser, activity room and laundrette, while many also have a library, gym, computer access and a shop. Many of these facilities are open not just to residents but also to the wider community, reflecting a more integrated approach to community health and adult social care, by sharing access to primary health care and social services between people living in the scheme and those living nearby. Potential benefits of this approach include the integration of older people's housing, reduced isolation and increased cost effectiveness of local services through economies of scale and by maximising preventative approaches to health and wellbeing. Successful implementation of the model depends on a range of criteria including being located within or close to a residential area and having on-site facilities that are accessible to the public.
Originality and Value. This paper is part of a very new literature on community hub models of housing with care in the UK. In the light of new requirements under the Care Act to better coordinate community services, it provides insights into how this approach can work and offers an analysis of the benefits and challenges that will be of interest to commissioners and providers as well as planners. This was a small scale research project based on four case studies. Caution should be taken when considering the findings in different settings.


In response to the financial crisis, the authorities in a number of countries used public funds to recapitalise their banks. Did a reduction of risk in banks' lending follow these rescue operations? To help answer this question, we analyse the balance sheets and syndicated loan signings of 87 large internationally active banks. As loan signing volumes started diminishing across the board in 2009, our evidence shows that rescued banks did not reduce the risk of their new lending significantly more than non-rescued banks. Our results are relevant for the ongoing assessment of public bank rescue programmes.


To evaluate the impacts of fishing on marine ecosystems, the total extraction of fish must be known. Putting a figure on total extraction entails the difficult task of estimating, in addition to reported landings, discards, illegal and unmandated catches. Unreported catches cast various types of shadow, which may be tracked and estimated quantitatively. Some shadows of unreported catches are reviewed, for example, an innovative, well-funded NGO publicizes illegal catch in the Southern Ocean. For various reasons, official figures often have the implicit but unacceptable assumption that such categories are null. We present an estimation procedure based on adjustment factors taken from observer reports, correspondents and published information that track changes in a regulatory regime, and hence reflect incentives and disincentives to misreport. Monte Carlo simulations address uncertainty using multiple sources of information to provide upper and lower estimates. Once in place, this method provides preliminary estimates that may be refined without disruption. The method is demonstrated for fisheries in Iceland and Morocco. We use a 'by-species' approach for Icelandic cod and haddock, while the Moroccan catch is divided into demersal and pelagic categories. Results suggest that Icelandic cod catches may have been underestimated by between 1 and 14% at different times, and haddock by between 1 and 28%. Underestimation of Moroccan catches appears to have been as much as by 50%. These case studies show that it is possible to obtain estimates of misreporting, even when direct data are lacking. Our method encourages transparency because sources of information are presented so that uncertain values are easily identified, offering a basis for comment, collaboration and refinement in estimating illegal and unreported fishing.