In the People's Republic of China (PRC), dynamic policy evolution and related socioeconomic changes strikingly contrast with the absence of any democratic transition similar to those most communist countries have undergone during the last two decades. Nevertheless, policy reforms of the Chinese government entail a number of important administrative and legal developments, among them a series of amendments to the Constitution. This contribution analyses whether and how constitutional reforms are to be interpreted as part of the PRC's modernisation process. It is shown that the constitutional changes so far have not departed from a traditional communist approach but have been used to legitimise fundamental policy changes initiated by the Chinese Communist Party. At the same time, however, this accommodation of the fundamental law triggered a genuine constitutionalisation process that has been subject to severe limitations, while also signalling important changes in political culture and imposing significant tensions on the whole political system. Therefore, recent constitutional developments in China go far beyond the mere window-dressing that is frequently associated with legal practices in communist regimes.


An alternative method based on time reversal to locate solid faults in transmission line networks was recently proposed by Codino et al. in the paper "An alternative method for locating faults in transmission line networks based on time reversal" (IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol. 59, pp. 1601–1612, 2017), in which different media for the forward and backward propagation phases are considered. The main advantage of the method is that it requires only one simulation for the time-reversed backward propagation to locate the fault. In this paper, we propose an extension of the Codino et al.'s approach to locate soft faults, characterized by a nonzero fault impedance. A closed-form expression for the time-reversal transfer function is derived. This new transfer function benefits of the same properties associated with solid faults and, hence, can be used for locating soft faults along the line. Three different scenarios are considered: a 6.5-km-long power line, a 100-km-long power line, and a microstrip line for high-speed digital signals. The results are discussed and used to assess the accuracy and scalability of the proposed method.


Objectives Infectious diseases consultation (IDC) in adults with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) has been shown to improve management and outcome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of IDC on the management of SAB in children. Study design Observational cohort study of children with SAB. Setting Cambridge University Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, a large acute NHS Trust in the UK. Participants All children with SAB admitted to the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust between 16 July 2006 and 31 December 2012. Methods Children with SAB between 2006 and 31 October 2009 were managed by routine clinical care (pre-IDC group) and data were collected retrospectively by case notes review. An IDC service for SAB was introduced in November 2009. All children with SAB were reviewed regularly and data were collected prospectively (IDC group) until 31 December 2012. Baseline characteristics, quality metrics and outcome were compared between the pre-IDC group and IDC group. Results There were 66 episodes of SAB in 63 children—28 patients (30 episodes) in the pre-IDC group, and 35 patients (36 episodes) in the IDC group. The median age was 3.4 years (IQR 0.2–10.7 years). Patients in the IDC group were more likely to have echocardiography performed, a removable focus of infection identified and to receive a longer course of intravenous antimicrobial therapy. There were no differences in total duration of antibiotic therapy, duration of hospital admission or outcome at 30 or 90 days following onset of SAB. Conclusions IDC resulted in improvements in the investigation and management of SAB in children.


Genetically modified (GM) crops and sustainable development remain the foci of much media attention, especially given current concerns about a global food crisis. However, whilst the latter is embraced with enthusiasm by almost all groups, GM crops generate very mixed views. Some countries have welcomed GM, but others, notably those in Europe, adopt a cautious stance. This article aims to review the contribution that GM crops can make to agricultural sustainability in the developing world. Following brief reviews of both issues and their linkages, notably the pros and cons of GM cotton as a contributory factor in sustainability, a number of case studies from resourcepoor cotton farmers in Makhathini Flats, South Africa, is presented for a six-year period. Data on expenditure, productivity and income indicate that Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton is advantageous because it reduces costs, for example, of pesticides, and increases income, and the indications are that those benefits continued over at least the six years covered by the studies. There are repercussions of the additional income in the households; debts are reduced and money is invested in children's education and in the farms. However, in the general GM debate, the results show that GM crops are not miracle products which alleviate poverty at a stroke, but nor is there evidence that they will cause the scale of environmental damage associated with indiscriminate pesticide use. Indeed, for some GM antagonists, perhaps even the majority, such debates are irrelevant – the transfer of genes between species is unnatural and unethical. For them, GM crops will never be acceptable despite the evidence and pressure to increase world food production.


The liquid film thickness inside a pressure-swirl nozzle was measured, and then the measured liquid film thickness was compared with the results from previous empirical equations. The liquid film inside the nozzle was visualized using extended transparent nozzles and a microscopic imaging system, and then the measurement error was evaluated using optical geometry analysis. The high injection pressures up to 7MPa were adopted to simulate the injection conditions of the direct-injection spark-ignition engines. The totally different two injectors with different fuels, nozzle lengths, nozzle diameters and swirlers were utilized to obtain the comprehensive equations. The results showed that the liquid film thickness very slightly decreased at high injection pressures and the empirical equations overestimated the effect of injection pressure. Most of empirical equations did not include the effect of nozzle length and swirler angle, although it caused significant change in liquid film thickness. A new empirical equation was suggested based on the experimental results with the effects of fuel properties, injection pressure, nozzle diameter, nozzle length and swirler angle.


AbstractTwo experiments were conducted with college students to determine the extent to which metaphors affected the learning of statistical principles. The first experiment used examples from nonbusiness domains as metaphors in a lecture on the scientific method applied to business decisions. The question was whether these metaphors would help students generate novel examples of statistics used to make business decisions. The results indicated that the students taught with metaphors generated more examples than students who learned the same material without metaphors. Two other questions not addressed by the metaphors showed no differences between the two groups. The second experiment tested whether metaphors improved the inferences students made in answering questions based on the information presented in the lectures. The results confirmed that students taught with metaphors were better able to make appropriate inferences than students taught without the aid of metaphors. Furthermore, the students who ...


Traffic road accidents are one of the leading causes of mortality in Nepal and around the world. Drivers in Nepal are not adequately educated about road safety rules. Road conditions are chaotic as traffic regulations are also not strictly enforced. Public safety campaigns may be able to alter drivers' attitudes and behaviors; however, little is known about which persuasive strategies may be most effective. Drawing on self-determination theory and the Health Belief Model, the current study used a post-only experimental design to test the impact of a short video message. The video included collective vs. individual appeals, and messages emphasizing one's ability to make the right choice (autonomy support) vs. directive language. Participants were Nepali college students (mean age 20, N = 199). Using structural equation modeling, the study found that directive messages rather than autonomy support influenced an individual seeing value in the recommended behavior (identified regulation), which in turn influenced perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and behavioral intention. The study also proposed a behavior change model by incorporating the stage of identification with the message upon exposure. This model aims to expand the model proposed by the Health Belief Model, to include a stage of value identification before cues to action influence perception of threat. Further implications are discussed.


Majority of the research in multilevel secure database management systems (MLS/DBMS) focuses primarily on centralized database systems. However, with the demand for higher performance and higher availability, database systems have moved from centralized to distributed architectures, and the research in multilevel secure distributed database management systems (MLS/DDBMS) is gaining more and more prominence. Concurrency control is an integral part of database systems. Secure concurrency control algorithms proposed in literature achieve correctness and security at the cost of declined performance of high security level transactions. These algorithms infringe the fairness in processing transactions at different security levels. Though the performance of different concurrency control algorithms have been explored extensively for centralized multilevel secure database management systems, but to the best of author's knowledge the relative performance of transactions at different security levels using different secure concurrency control algorithm for MLS/DDBMS has not been reported yet. To fill this gap, this paper presents a detailed simulation model of a distributed database system and investigates the performance price paid for maintaining security with concurrency control in a distributed database system. The paper investigates the relative performance of transactions at different security levels.


C. T. Scrutton writes:

I read with interest R. A. Fairbairn's excellent article on the determination of the current directions dominant during the deposition of the Great Limestone in Northern England. The corals that he mentions, which occur in abundance at certain levels within the limestone, could provide some additional information on the conditions prevailing at the time.

The solitary rugosans, principally Dibunophyllum bipartitum , lived as straight to slightly curved coralla, more or less upright in the sediment and corresponding to type Evii and particularly Fvii coralla as illustrated in my recent paper (Scrutton 1998, fig. 14). Three factors would have determined their stability, the extent to which they sank down into the soft lime-mud substrate with increasing growth and weight, the consistency of that substrate, and the degree of sediment build-up around them. During life in an environment below fair-weather wave base, conditions were probably reasonably calm with only light current activity. Persistent stronger currents would have resulted in asymmetrical scour around the coral-sediment interface, producing more strongly horn-shaped coralla (Scrutton 1998, fig.14). However, very few specimens are now found in position of growth. Fairbairn (1999, p. 354) reported that many specimens are found prone and aligned on bedding planes, with their long axes at right angles to the prevailing current direction. This disorientation, as he notes, was most likely due to the effects of intermittent storms scouring the supporting sediment and inducing toppling, with subsequent current activity resulting in the alignment of the prone coralla. In addition, it ...


Development of computer communications has catalyzed integration processes in world communities. Initial efforts concerning integration have showed great heterogeneity between data formats being exchanged between applications. One of the aspirations of Semantic Web Activity lead by W3C is provision of interoperability on concept level between software systems. The idea of Semantic Adapter presented in this paper continues efforts in this direction. It assumes development of software that would "wrap" data entities of legacy systems in additional semantic markup based on common ontology. Since only human knows the semantics of the data provided by data sources, there must be a handy visual interface for binding data source and metadata notion. The chosen way of Semantic Adapter configuration will be intuitively understandable for users, who don't have knowledge about Ontology presentation standards. Semantic Adapter described in this paper is one of the constituents of GUN Global Understanding eNvironment, being developed by Industrial Ontologies Group [11].


With the advent of new technology, educators are changing the way they use technology devices in the classroom. An increasing number of school districts are implementing 1:1 initiatives in which each student has a technology device at his or her disposal. In order to discover how school libraries have been impacted, a survey was sent out to school librarians in schools with 1:1 initiatives in place. The survey asked questions to determine the impact seen thus far, how school demographics fit in, and how school libraries have evolved in response to the implementation of 1:1 computing. The results of the survey showed half of responding librarians experienced a reduction in library usage, some reported continued collaborative efforts with faculty, and others reported the need to be innovative in order to retain relevance.


Purpose - Using 5,055 sample firm-years in Korea between 2009 and 2013, this paper aims to examine the association between the characteristics of the internal audit and the number of external audit hours as a proxy for audit efficiency. Design/methodology/approach - This study is motivated by the International Standard on Auditing No. 610: "Using the work of internal auditors". This auditing standard guides external auditors in using the work of internal auditors to obtain audit evidence and consult internal auditors for direct assistance. The authors expect that external audit efficiency will increase when the work of competent internal auditors is used. Findings - The authors find that the number of internal auditors relative to the number of employees is associated with the number of external audit hours. This result suggests that the greater the availability of internal auditors, the greater their contribution will be to the financial statement audit and the more efficient the audit. The authors find evidence that external auditors use the work of internal auditors with accounting and legal expertise to improve audit efficiency. They also find some evidence that the work of internal auditors with greater availability is more effective during initial external audit engagements. Originality/value - This study adds to the extant literature on the contributions of internal auditors to external audits by using archival data and by measuring audit effort using a large database of audit hours. In addition, our findings have practical implications for firms and external auditors who are evaluating the role and value of using the work of internal auditors. The authors also believe that the findings will be of interest to regulators or auditing standards boards.


Epithelial ovarian cancer is a leading cause of death from gynecological malignancies. A lot of the roadblocks in effectively treating patients with metastatic disease and preventing chemo-resistance can be attributed to the insufficient understanding of the biology and the mechanisms involved in ovarian cancer metastasis.

The tumor microenvironment is a heterogeneous system, characterized by complex interactions between different cell types, which are mediated by several means of cell-to-cell communication. A recently discovered mechanism of intercellular communication is the cell-to-cell transfer of microRNAs. MicroRNAs and their role in cancer have attracted a lot of attention in recent years. They have been identified as key regulators of metastatic progression, tumor response to treatments, and clinical outcomes in ovarian cancer. As the transfer of functional microRNAs between cells could lead to dramatic changes in the fate of the cell-recipient, this dissertation explores their role as mediators of intercellular communication in the ovarian cancer microenvironment.

Using time-lapse confocal microscopy, multi-photon imaging and flow cytometry the process of microRNA transfer between the cells was visualized and its magnitude quantified. Functional intercellular transfer of microRNA-200a was demonstrated across both natural as well as artificial gradients of expression levels. The microRNA-200 family is a versatile player in ovarian cancer and has been shown to play an important role in epithelial to mesenchymal transition and metastasis. A double negative feedback loop between miR-200 and the ZEB genes taken into context along with the potentially functional transfer of the microRNA between the cells could further the understanding of the reversible EMT process. This project thus aims to characterize intercellular microRNA transfer and its functional significance in epithelial ovarian carcinoma.


Abstract. In this paper we present an approach to retrieve stratospheric aerosol number densities in the altitude range 10–40 km from SCIAMACHY limb radiance measurements in the spectral range of the O2 A absorption band, near 760 nm. Here, the characteristic light paths differ for the measured light in the O2 A-band and in the spectral continuum next to the absorption band. This difference is used to distinguish the effect of stratospheric aerosol scattering and ground reflection on the limb measurement. The capability to disentangle both effects is illustrated for SCIAMACHY limb observations over the Libyan desert, where the measurements are not affected by tropospheric clouds. Comparison of the SCIAMACHY retrieval and the SAGE II aerosol extinction product between 75° southern and northern latitude shows the clear need for prior knowledge of the mean size of the stratospheric aerosol for the SCIAMACHY retrieval. We found best agreement between SCIAMACHY and SAGE II aerosol extinction for the period 2003–2005 for a prior choice of the mean aerosol size radius of 0.2 μm. The overall agreement between both data sets is in the range


The management literature acknowledges the dominance of the US-based theories in management research across the globe. This general dominance is not studied for different sub-disciplines of management at the empirical level, with few exceptions such as a study carried out for organizational studies (Usdiken and Pasadeos, 1995). Such a lack is also observed for the technology management (TM) literature even though the TM discipline has a history of almost 50 years.

There are a number of intellectual reasons why this is an interesting research theme. Understanding the dominance of developed country-based theory might help researchers to discover the conditions and the dynamics involved in the transfer of theoretical orientations and most importantly the implications of the dominance at the practical level. If literature is dominated with the US-based theory, what are its implications for researchers around the world? Is there really convergence of theories due to their being universal observations of capitalist economical and industrial infrastructures in developing and developed countries? If they converge, this might not necessarily mean that all economies, different cultures, countries resemble each other, however. The similarity might be because theoretical outlets such as management journals might not accept out-of-the-norm papers in this field, limiting the development of distinct technology management literature arising from the actual needs of developing country managers.

If they do not converge, it is of great importance to understand the differences in theory and practice of these theories in different country contexts. Cross-cultural researchers believe that there is no such thing as a universal theory of management. Meta-theoretical assumptions supporting US-based management theories and practices have not been questioned, particularly in regards to their deployment in non-Western contexts. In addition, the emphasis of research on "cultural differences" imply "separation", which would also conceal other social and cultural formations established through global relationships.

These arguments remain subjective as long as there are not enough data comparatively investigating the developments in the literature. Although research has made important contributions towards the understanding of TM practices in developing countries, both theoretical and empirical research is required in order to develop a better understanding. That is why this special issue is focused on TM in developing countries.


Conventional dielectric moth eye structure is well known to be antireflective, but cannot work well in the whole solar spectrum. In addition, it cannot be used as a light absorber. However, in some cases, light absorbing and harvesting are important for energy conversion from light to heat or electricity. Here, we propose a metamaterial-based nanopyramid array which shows near 100% absorbing property in the entire solar spectrum (i.e. 0.2-2.5 m). In addition, the high absorption performance of meta-nanopyramid array retains very well at a wide receiving angle with polarization-independent. Thus, it can dramatically improve the efficiency of the solar light absorbing. The efficient light absorbing property can be explained in terms of the synergetic effects of slow light mode, surface plasmon polariton resonance and magnetic polariton resonance. 2013 Optical Society of America.


I. INTRODUCTION The villages of the Jurm valley sit in the mountains of the remote Afghan province of Badakhshan. (1) Though never conquered by the Taliban in its rise to power, like most of Afghanistan the valley's infrastructure, economy, and even the social bonds of its communities have been devastated by three decades of conflict. (2) Prior to 2003, the villages were dependent on poppy farming, had no electricity or clean water, and suffered from a shocking maternal mortality rate. (3) Seven years later, the relative prosperity of the valley now stands in stark contrast to the prevailing depravation of Afghanistan and provides an example of how international donors can foster development, raise literacy, and improve security through the use of small, direct loans. (4) By bypassing the corrupt central government, grants have been used to build and staff the valley's first women's high school, increase literacy, train midwives, and build irrigation systems for wheat farming. (5) Says one Jurm farmer: "the jihad was useless ... now we've put down our weapons and started building." (6) This Note argues that the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), must play a central role in developing poverty alleviation programs and bringing Afghan governance into line with international norms. (7) Part II describes the role of microcredit and the IFIs in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. (8) In Part III, this Note discusses the applicable international and Afghan law that governs the conduct of the IFIs in Afghanistan. (9) Part IV provides an analysis of why the IFIs must play a principal role in the implementation of a comprehensive development plan, anchored by microfinance initiatives, which recognizes that promoting social justice is essential to Afghanistan's long-term stability. (10) II. HISTORY: AFGHANISTAN, THE FALL OF THE TALIBAN AND THE REINTRODUCTION OF INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL After a prolonged period of disregard by the international community, the economic and humanitarian plight of Afghanistan reemerged in the world's consciousness as U.S. airstrikes precipitated the disintegration of the Taliban government in October 2001. (11) Despite massive investment in the Afghanistan project, neither the United States nor the IFIs have succeeded in building a viable Afghan state. (12) U.S. President Barack Obama has reaffirmed his administration's dedication to seeing the Afghan project to fruition by authorizing a temporary surge of forces. (13) While the influx of troops and civilians has for a time captured the world's attention, the pivotal question is whether this strategy will be reinforced by the prolonged international commitment to Afghanistan that is essential to its success. (14) A. The IFIs in Afghanistan, 2001-Present 1. The Function of the IFIs As Nazi-Germany began its inexorable collapse, the IMF and World Bank were established to assist in the reconstruction of a devastated Europe and to ward off a recurrence of the financial crisis that triggered the catastrophic conflict. (15) The fundamental goals of the IFIs, as envisioned at their founding, were to raise standards of living and facilitate the balanced and fair growth of international trade. (16) The IFIs later acceded to a number of other roles, one of the most important being to lead international efforts to reconstruct post-conflict regions. (17) The IMF's most critical function is to provide emergency financing to states in danger of defaulting on sovereign debt. (18) The IMF is not an aid agency, and consequently restricts its dealings to the central banks of recognized national governments. (19) Rich nations deliver hard currency to the IMF which then provides loans, not grants, to nations in danger of default. (20) In post-conflict states, the IMF has provided emergency assistance to restore the fiscal viability of governments and thereby avert humanitarian disasters. …


Background: Due to the increased effect of environmental factors on the age of menarche and the correlation between the mothers' and daughters' age of menarche, we aimed at performing a meta-analysis to compare the mean age of menarche between the mothers and their daughters, examining the correlation between them. Objective: This systematic review was conducted to determine the heritability of daughters' age of menarche. Materials and Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, a complete search was carried out in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Science Direct, and CINAHL electronic databases in English with no time limitation. A meta-regression analysis was then performed to evaluate the effect of age and sample size. 13 studies with a total sample size of 9719 for calculating the standardized mean difference and 15 articles with a total sample size of 8840, related to the research objectives, were analyzed in this meta-analysis. Results: The pooled mean of the daughters' age of menarche was 12.62 yrs. (95% CI: 12.37 – 12.87) and that of the mothers' age of menarche was 13.58 yrs. (95% CI: 13.31 – 13.81). The standardized mean difference between the mothers' and daughters' ages of menarche was -0.72 (CI: -0.99 to -0.44). The results of the meta-analysis revealed that, overall, there is a significant positive correlation between the mothers' and daughters' ages of menarche (r=0.27 [CI 95%: 0.17-0.36]). Conclusion: The daughters' ages of menarche were positively correlated to those of their mothers, but the other environmental factors that may affect this decreasing trend should also be taken into account. Health policy-makers should plan to identify strong predictors, which can be effective in reducing the age of menarche.


This report documents a study conducted with 327 postgraduates from the University of Tasmania. Those engaged throughout responded to questions relating to their postgraduate experience, conflict, and their likelihood of recommending the University of Tasmania to others. This research was led by Joey Crawford, Postgraduate President, with support from Dan Probert, Campus President North, of the Tasmania University Union (TUU). To summarise the data contained within this document is an exceptionally complex undertaking, given that there are so many facets to the postgraduate experience. Many good, and many less so. The largest positive contributors to student experience were feelings of excitement, fulfilment, networking with peers, supervisors who tried to understand candidates, and induction processes. Yet, despite these indications, it was clear that many of these contributors to student experience were not being undertaken across the university successfully, with particular consideration to inductions as frequently occurring on the 'top 5' and 'bottom 5' across faculties and campuses. In relation to negative contributors to student experience, the largest contributors were personally experiencing (or witnessing/hearing) inappropriate behaviour from authority figures in the University. Within the sample, 19 students (7.73%) expressed frequently or very frequently experiencing inappropriate behaviour from an authority figure in the University, with 18.29% stating this happens occasionally. Other negative contributors include fears that students will not graduate, that personal circumstances will not improve past graduation, financial circumstances, time pressures, and reduced time spent with family. Many of these strongest correlators were within the top five for faculties and campuses. An industry-tool (Net Promoter Score) was also used during the study to capture the likelihood of students positively promoting or deterring prospective future students. This tool ranges from +100 (indicating all individuals will promote the University) to -100 (indicating that students will actively detract others from the University). The University of Tasmania received a score of -28, compared to the Education Industry average of +40 in 2017 (n = 115,575). This should serve as a significant indicator of the current perception of postgraduate students within the University. Using the support of an external consultant, this report provides a number of recommendations to address some of these alarming statistics. These begin with building on the positive aspects such asfostering excitement and fulfilment, fostering community and networks, increasing faculty inclusion, encouraging peer groups, developing stronger industry networks, and training supervisors. The second strategy includes addressing the negatives, such as dealing with discomforting and inappropriate behaviour, and understanding the root of negative behaviours. The third strategy includes providing better training and development ranging from wellbeing programs, to workshops and services, and strong time management support. Finally, these recommendations conclude with discussing what the TUU can do better, and how the recommendations apply at the faculty level as well as the campus levels. To focus more on the TUU, currently it seems clear that the TUU is not effective at engaging with postgraduates. While a few respondents indicated satisfaction with the TUU, as many expressed dissatisfaction with having to pay for a service which they deem fails to offer them value. Most respondents sat in the middle of these two extremes; generally unsure of what exactly the TUU does, what its scope and responsibilities are, and/ or how it might serve and support them through their postgraduate experience. There is a resounding sense that TUU focuses on undergraduates, and more tailored communication and engagement practices are recommended to rectify this. There is scope for the TUU to invest more in inductions with postgraduates. This would be a natural opportunity to communicate how the Union may support andadvocate for candidates throughout their study. To outline the key outcomes as they relate to the University, bureaucracy seems a common hiccup in the postgraduate experience. There seems to be some confusion and angst around who provides which services and requires what from postgraduates. More streamlined policies and procedures (award of scholarship, conference funding, mandatory course work (e.g. Grad Cert in Research), allocation of teaching/tutoring load, skills acquisition, advocacy, requirements of the Graduate Research Office {GRO}, etc.) would improve the postgraduate experience. Candidates indicate some issues with supervisors. Supervisory relationships are essential to completion, and support in developing and maintaining effective, respectful relationships is a primary recommendation. There is also scope to provide more in the way of mental health and wellbeing programs and support. It is promising that most respondents indicated they had not witnessed nor experienced inappropriate behaviour, but the small number who do experience inappropriate behaviour warrant support, and the investigation and resolution of their issues. Many candidates experienced negative emotions such as doubt, fear, and isolation; however most candidates also experienced positive emotions associated with their study. A good wellbeing program or suite of services could capitalise on these positive emotions, and help alleviate the negative. There is plenty of scope for the TUU to better engage with postgraduates. University procedures could benefit from refinement, and increased support in skills acquisition and health and wellbeing would stand to enhance the postgraduate student experience. However, survey responses indicate that, in general, most postgraduate students are managing their studies acceptably. That said, there are also many opportunities to help these students flourish. The authors of this report hope that whilst there are some exceptionally problematic statistics in this report, the focus should be on solving these challenges rather than continuing to perpetuate the cycle and lay blame on various extraneous influences.


The mechanism of 1,2-addition reactions of HF and HCl to Si=Si, Si=C, and C=C bonds has been investigated by ab initio quantum chemical methods. Geometries and relative energies of the stationary points and all the transition states were determined by using the MP2/6-311++G(d,p), B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p), and CBS-Q levels of theory. The investigated reactions can be characterized by two main thermodynamic profiles. The type in which the reagent molecule attacks a carbon atom is moderately exothermic with a high activation barrier. The second type in which a hydrogen halide attacks a silicon is strongly exothermic with a low activation energy. At the early stage of all the reactions a weakly bonded initial complex is found which indicates that the initial step of all the reactions is an electrophilic attack of hydrogen halide. The geometry and charge distribution of the transition state of the reactions indicate two main types of mechanism. If silicon is attacked, the halogen-silicon bond formation precedes the H-Y bond breaking. If, however, carbon is attacked, the first step is always an ionic dissociation of the hydrogen halide and a carbenium ion formation, which is stabilized by the C-Y bond formation in the final step of the reaction. The reaction diagrams and proposed mechanisms explain the experimentally found regioselectivity well.


This correspondence addresses the analysis of the steady states of uncertain genetic regulatory networks (GRNs). The uncertainty is represented as a vector constrained in a given set that affects the coefficients of the mathematical model of the GRN. It is shown how regions containing all possible steady states can be estimated via an iterative strategy that progressively splits the concentration space into smaller sets, discarding those that are guaranteed not to contain equilibrium points of the considered model. This strategy is based on worst case evaluations of some appropriate functions of the uncertainty via linear matrix inequality optimization.


The biological actions of anandamide (arachidonylethanolamide), an endogenous cannabinoid lipid, are terminated by a two-step inactivation process consisting of carrier-mediated uptake and intracellular hydrolysis. Anandamide uptake in neurons and astrocytes is mediated by a high-affinity, Na+-independent transporter that is selectively inhibited by N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-arachidonamide (AM404). In the present study, we examined the structural determinants governing recognition and translocation of substrates by the anandamide transporter constitutively expressed in a human astrocytoma cell line. Competition experiments with a select group of analogs suggest that substrate recognition by the transporter is favored by a polar nonionizable head group of defined stereochemical configuration containing a hydroxyl moiety at its distal end. The secondary carboxamide group interacts favorably with the transporter, but may be replaced with either a tertiary amide or an ester, suggesting that it may serve as hydrogen acceptor. Thus, 2-arachidonylglycerol, a putative endogenous cannabinoid ester, also may serve as a substrate for the transporter. Substrate recognition requires the presence of at least one cis double bond situated at the middle of the fatty acid carbon chain, indicating a preference for ligands whose hydrophobic tail can adopt a bent U-shaped conformation. On the other hand, uptake experiments with radioactively labeled substrates show that no fewer than four cis nonconjugated double bonds are required for optimal translocation across the cell membrane, suggesting that substrates are transported in a folded hairpin conformation. These results outline the general structural requisites for anandamide transport and may assist in the development of selective inhibitors with potential clinical applications.


Deposits preserving non-biomineralized tissues and animals provide an unrivalled opportunity to study the evolution and radiation of early animal life. Numerous sites of Cambrian age are known from North America (Laurentia) and South China (East Gondwana), which provide a high resolution picture of the fauna at low latitudes. By contrast, our knowledge of Cambrian animals from higher latitudes is relatively poor. This patchiness in our knowledge of animal life during the radiation of animals in the Cambrian period limits our ability to understand and detect palaeogeographic trends and does not provide a full appreciation of animal diversity at this time. Here we report a new middle Cambrian (Drumian) site preserving lightly sclerotized euarthropod carapaces, sponges and palaeoscolecids near the village of Mesones de Isuela in the Iberian Chains (Spain). We describe three bivalved euarthropod carapace morphs, two comparable to those described from the only other high latitude Drumian deposit, the Jince Formation (Czechia), and one distinct from previous discoveries. These new findings highlight the importance of high latitude Gondwana Konservat Lagerstatten for understanding the palaeogeographical aspect of the radiation of early animals and suggest that bivalved euarthropods at high latitudes were larger than those at lower latitudes during the Cambrian.


Successful engagement with the world requires the ability to predict what will happen next. Here we investigate how the brain makes the most basic prediction about the physical world: whether the situation in front of us is stable, and hence likely to stay the same, or unstable, and hence likely to change in the immediate future. Specifically, we ask if judgements of stability can be supported by the kinds of representations that have proven to be highly effective at visual object recognition in both machines and brains, or instead if the ability to determine the physical stability of natural scenes may require generative algorithms that simulate the physics of the world. To find out, we measured responses in both convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and the brain (using fMRI) to natural images of physically stable versus unstable scenarios. We find no evidence for generalizable representations of physical stability in either standard CNNs trained on visual object and scene classification (ImageNet), or in the human ventral visual pathway, which has long been implicated in the same process. However, in fronto-parietal regions previously implicated in intuitive physical reasoning we find both scenario-invariant representations of physical stability, and higher univariate responses to unstable than stable scenes. These results demonstrate abstract representations of physical stability in the dorsal but not ventral pathway, consistent with the hypothesis that the computations underlying stability entail not just pattern classification but forward physical simulation.


We study scalar fields propagating on Euclidean dynamical triangulations (EDT). In this work we study the interaction of two scalar particles, and we show that in the appropriate limit we recover an interaction compatible with Newton's gravitational potential in four dimensions. Working in the quenched approximation, we calculate the binding energy of a two-particle bound state, and we study its dependence on the constituent particle mass in the non-relativistic limit. We find a binding energy compatible with what one expects for the ground state energy by solving the Schrödinger equation for Newton's potential. Agreement with this expectation is obtained in the infinite-volume, continuum limit of the lattice calculation, providing non-trivial evidence that EDT is in fact a theory of gravity in four dimensions. Furthermore, this result allows us to determine the lattice spacing within an EDT calculation for the first time, and we find that the various lattice spacings are smaller than the Planck length, suggesting that we can achieve a separation of scales and that there is no obstacle to taking a continuum limit. This lends further support to the asymptotic safety scenario for gravity.


The two noteworthy zones of worry in the testing of VLSI circuits are Test data volume and inordinate test control. Among the various pressure coding plans proposed till now, the CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) lossless data pressure plan is one of the best. This paper talks about the procedures that test data pressure conspire in view of lossless data pressure Rice Algorithm as suggested by the CCSDS for the lessening of required test data add up to be put away on the analyzer, which will be exchanged amid assembling testing to every center in a system-on-a-chip (SOC). In the proposed plot, the test vectors for the SOC are compacted by utilizing Rice Algorithm, and by applying different parallel encoding methods. Exploratory results demonstrate that the test data pressure proportion for the bigger ISCAS 89 Benchmark Circuits is altogether enhanced in examination with existing techniques.


Abstract. With an increasing world population in need of food and a limited amount of land for cultivation, higher efficiency in agricultural production, especially fruits and vegetables, is increasingly required. The success of agricultural production in the marketplace depends on its quality and cost. The cost of labor for crop production, harvesting, and post-harvesting operations is a major portion of the overall production cost, especially for specialty crops such as strawberry. As a result, a multitude of automation technologies involving semi-autonomous and autonomous robots have been utilized, with an aim of minimizing labor costs and operation time to achieve a considerable improvement in farming efficiency and economic performance. Research and technologies for weed control, harvesting, hauling, sorting, grading, and/or packing have been generally reviewed for fruits and vegetables, yet no review has been conducted thus far specifically for robotic technology being used in strawberry production. In this article, studies on strawberry robotics and their associated automation technologies are reviewed in terms of mechanical subsystems (e.g., traveling unit, handling unit, storage unit) and electronic subsystems (e.g., sensors, computer, communication, and control). Additionally, robotic technologies being used in different stages in strawberry production operations are reviewed. The robot designs for strawberry management are also categorized in terms of purpose and environment.


A new boundary integral method for solving the general Helmholtz equation has been developed. The new formulation is based on the method of moments Laplacian solution. The main feature of this new formulation is that the boundary conditions are satisfied independent of the region node discretizations. The numerical solution of the present method are compared with finite difference and finite element solutions. >


Sodium (Na) toxicity is one of the most formidable challenges for crop production world-wide. Nevertheless, despite decades of intensive research, the pathways of Na entry into the roots of plants under high salinity are still not definitively known. Here, we review critically the current paradigms in this field. In particular, we explore the evidence supporting the role of nonselective cation channels, potassium transporters, and transporters from the HKT family in primary sodium influx into plant roots, and their possible roles elsewhere. We furthermore discuss the evidence for the roles of transporters from the NHX and SOS families in intracellular Na partitioning and removal from the cytosol of root cells. We also review the literature on the physiology of Na fluxes and cytosolic Na concentrations in roots and invite critical interpretation of seminal published data in these areas. The main focus of the review is Na transport in glycophytes, but reference is made to literature on halophytes where it is essential to the analysis.


An efficient method has been developed to synthesize well-aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on a conductive Ta substrate by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Free-standing MWCNTs arrays were functionalized through electrochemical oxidation with the formation of hydroxyl and carboxyl functional groups. Using a new oven drying technique, we demonstrate that the unidirectionally aligned and laterally spaced geometry of the CNT arrays can be retained after being subjected to each step of electrochemical modification. Samples were analyzed by using a field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. Useful electrochemical methods for the synthesis of various gold nanostructures onto the aligned MWCNTs were then presented for the first time. The results demonstrated that flowerlike nanoparticle arrays, nanosheets and nanoflowers were obtained on the aligned CNTs under different experimental conditions. These kinds of aligned-CNT/Au nanostructures hybrid materials introduced by these efficient and simple electrochemical methods could lead to development of a new generation device for ultrasensitive catalytic and biological application.


The structural interaction of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor and the cytoskeleton of A431 cells has been studied using a monoclonal anti-EGF receptor antibody. This has been done with immunogold labeling using a variety of electron microscopical preparation procedures and EGF binding studies. By providing an image of the membrane-associated cytoskeleton, the dry cleavage method reveals a preferential localization of EGF receptors superimposed upon cytoskeletal filaments. The colocalization of gold particles with cytoskeletal filaments is not affected when pre-labeled cells are extracted with the non-ionic detergent Triton X-100, as visualized by dry cleavage. Using surface replication, this treatment results in visualization of the cytoskeleton. In these latter preparations, it is also observed that EGF receptor-coupled gold particles remain associated with cytoskeletal elements. Moreover, Triton extraction performed before immunogold labeling of EGF receptors demonstrates that isolated cytoskeletons contained binding sites for anti-EGF receptor antibodies. Using stereo micrographs of replica's obtained from these isolated cytoskeletons, it is shown that gold-labeled EGF receptors are exclusively present on the cortical membrane-associated region of the cytoskeleton and not on more intracellular-located filaments. Scatchard analysis of EGF binding to cells fixed with glutaraldehyde and treated with Triton X-100 before and after EGF binding indicates that a high affinity EGF binding site is associated with the Triton X-100 insoluble cytoskeleton.


Distal radius fractures are one of the most common fractures in the elderly. Falls and motor vehicle collisions lead to increased risk for this type of fracture. A seventy-three year-old female had a previous history of distal radius fracture with repair by open reduction and internal fixation. She was involved in a motor vehicle collision that re-fractured the distal radius. The plate was bent and required removal, which is a very rare but potentially serious complication. Surgery was done to fix the open reduction and internal fixation with volar locking plates while removing damaged hardware. Only a select few cases have reported hardware failure as a cause of complications. Among those cases, high-energy activities and maintained stress on the hardware were likely causes. Distal radius fractures are the most common upper extremity fracture in the elderly. We highlight a unique case of re-fracture in the setting of trauma with prior hardware failure and describe the strategy for hardware repair.


The effects of twin spacing and temperature on the deformation behavior of nanotwinned Al under tensile loading are investigated using a molecular dynamic (MD) simulation method. The result shows that the yield strength of nanotwinned Al decreases with the increase of twin spacing, which is related to the repulsive force between twin boundary and the dislocation. The result also shows that there is no strain-hardening at the yield point. On the contrary, the stress is raised by strain hardening in the plastic stage. In addition, we also investigate the effects of stacking fault thickness and temperature on the yield strength of the Al nanowire. The simulation results indicate that the stacking fault may strengthen the Al nanowire when the thickness of the stacking fault is below a critical value.


Yeast cells were grown in glucose-limited chemostat cultures and forced to switch to a new carbon source, the fatty acid oleate. Alterations in gene expression were monitored using DNA microarrays combined with bioinformatics tools, among which was included the recently developed algorithm REDUCE. Immediately after the switch to oleate, a transient and very specific stress response was observed, followed by the up-regulation of genes encoding peroxisomal enzymes required for fatty acid metabolism. The stress response included up-regulation of genes coding for enzymes to keep thioredoxin and glutathione reduced, as well as enzymes required for the detoxification of reactive oxygen species. Among the genes coding for various isoenzymes involved in these processes, only a specific subset was expressed. Not the general stress transcription factors Msn2 and Msn4, but rather the specific factor Yap1p seemed to be the main regulator of the stress response. We ascribe the initiation of the oxidative stress response to a combination of poor redox flux and fatty acid-induced uncoupling of the respiratory chain during the metabolic reprogramming phase.


For six months patients admitted to a psychiatric ward were allowed to seek diazepam (Valium) on demand. Details of 689 requests by 83 patients were recorded. Drug-seeking behavior was expressed as a drug-seeking index (DSI) based on the ratio of requests to duration of stay. For the whole ward there was an increasing trend in drug use and nurses' attitudes became more favorable. Over a quarter of the patients never sought drugs and requests were made on an average of only once every three days. The features correlated with DSI were anxiety, being female, white, and having an elevated psychasthenia scale on the MMPI. The DSI was not related to either diagnosis or use of major psychiatric drugs. Extensive use of antianxiety drugs might be reduced by prescribing them "when necessary" rather than on fixed schedules.


The activity of the Integrase (Int) protein encoded by coliphage HK022 was tested in a human cell culture. Plasmids were constructed as substrates that carry the sites of the integration reaction (attP and attB) or the sites of excision (attL and attR). The site-specific recombination reactions were monitored in cis and in trans configurations by the expression of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a reporter. Cells cotransfected with the substrate plasmid(s) and with a plasmid that expresses the wild-type Int show efficient integration as well as excision in both configurations. The wild-type Int was active in the human cells without the need to supply the accessory proteins integration host factor (IHF) and excisionase (Xis) that are indispensable for the reaction in the bacterial host. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 84: 56–60, 2003.


The comfort of our daily lives has come to rely on a vast number of embedded systems, such as mobile phones, anti-spin systems for cars, and high-definition video. To improve the end-user experience at often stringent require-
ments, in terms of high performance, low power dissipation, and low cost, makes these systems complex and nontrivial to design.

This thesis addresses design challenges in three different areas of embedded systems. The presented FlexCore processor intends to improve the programmability of heterogeneous embedded systems while maintaining the performance of application-specific accelerators. This is achieved by integrating accelerators into the datapath of a general-purpose processor in combination with a wide control word consisting of all control signals in a FlexCore's datapath. Furthermore, a FlexCore processor utilizes a flexible interconnect, which together with
the expressiveness of the wide control word improves its performance.

When designing new embedded systems it is important to have efficient components to build from. Arithmetic circuits are especially important, since they are extensively used in all applications. In particular, integer multipliers present big design challenges. The proposed twin-precision technique makes it possible to improve both throughput and power of conventional integer multipliers, when computing narrow-width multiplications. The thesis also shows that the Baugh-Wooley algorithm is more suitable for hardware implementations of signed integer multipliers than the commonly used modified-Booth algorithm.

A multi-core architecture is a common design choice when a single-core architecture cannot deliver sufficient performance. However, multi-core architectures introduce their own design challenges, such as scheduling applications
onto several cores. This thesis presents a novel task management unit, which offloads task scheduling from the conventional cores of a multi-core system, thus improving both performance and power efficiency of the system.

This thesis proposes novel solutions to a number of relevant issues that need to be addressed when designing embedded systems.


Many unaccompanied children have applied for asylum during the last few years, especially in 2015. These children face special challenges and risk being exploited due to their age and legal status. In this paper we survey research and otherwise documented experiences regarding this group of children. The main focus is on Sweden, the European country that has received most unaccompanied children but we also report on the experiences of other Nordic countries, a list of other EU member states, as well as USA and Turkey. We also try to summarize the main lessons for a policy to assist these children to integrate in the countries they have arrived to.


Referring Expression Segmentation (RES) aims to generate a segmentation mask for the object described by a given language expression. Existing classic RES datasets and methods commonly support single-target expressions only, i.e., one expression refers to one target object. Multitarget and no-target expressions are not considered. This limits the usage of RES in practice. In this paper, we introduce a new benchmark called Generalized Referring Expression Segmentation (GRES), which extends the classic RES to allow expressions to refer to an arbitrary number of target objects. Towards this, we construct the first largescale GRES dataset called gRefCOCO that contains multitarget, no-target, and single-target expressions. GRES and gRefCOCO are designed to be well-compatible with RES, facilitating extensive experiments to study the performance gap of the existing RES methods on the GRES task. In the experimental study, we find that one of the big challenges of GRES is complex relationship modeling. Based on this, we propose a region-based GRES baseline ReLA that adaptively divides the image into regions with subinstance clues, and explicitly models the region-region and region-language dependencies. The proposed approach ReLA achieves new state-of-the-art performance on the both newly proposed GRES and classic RES tasks. The proposed gRefCOCO dataset and method are available at https://henghuiding.github.io/GRES.


This study is conducted in Gezzari Dental Clinic, aimsing to find out the business feasibility of Gezzari Dental Clinic by analyzing law aspects, market and marketing aspects, technical and technological aspects, management and human resources ascpects, and financial aspects. Gezzari Dental Clinic is one of dental clinics located in East Jakarta that serves patients, especially Japanese people by using Japanese language-based to facilitate the patients and doctors in terms of communication. The approach used in this study is qualitative methods in which the researchers conduct the observation and interview with people who know the situation of dental clinic management in Jakarta. Whereas the sampling techniques is purposive sampling by determining the data source obtained from the one who has been interviewed and chosen by considering specific purposes. The data collection methods is done in the form of interview, observation, and documentation. The law aspects is used to analyze the license legality and business location. The market aspects is used to analyze the business environment using PEST analysis, the structure of the industry using Porter's Five Forces Model analysis and SWOT analysis. The market aspects is used to analyze the marketing target, segmenting targeting positioning and marketing mix. The technical and technological aspects are used to analyze the location, layout, and technology. The management and human resources aspects are used to analyze the organizational structure, job description and standard operation procedure of the service flow. Financial aspects is used to analyze the feasibility of investment using the method of payback period, net present value, and internal rate of return calculation, and risk analysis. Furthermore, this study confirms that legal aspects, market and marketing aspects, technical and technological aspects, management and human resources aspects, and financial aspects of Gezzari Dental Clinic is eligible.


Small-scale solitary electric potential structures are commonly observed on auroral field lines with the Polar Electric Field Instrument (EFI). This study focuses on observations of solitary structures in the southern hemisphere auroral zone at altitudes between 5500 and 7500 km. Some of the potential structures are similar to those observed previously by the S3-3 and Viking satellites and are inferred to be negative potential pulses traveling upward along the auroral magnetic field lines, associated with upgoing ion beams and upward currents. The velocities of these "ion" solitary potential structures are estimated, using spaced EFI measurements, to be distributed within the range of ∼75 – 300 km s−1. In addition to these structures, a different type of solitary potential structure with.opposite polarity has been observed with faster propagation velocities. These faster structures (termed "electron" solitary potential structures) are distinguishable from the slower, ion solitary structures in that their distinctive bipolar electric field signature, common to both types of solitary structure, is reversed. The ultimate distinction for the electron solitary potential structures is that they are observed on auroral field lines in conjunction with magnetically field-aligned upflowing electron beams. The electron solitary potential structures propagate up the field line in the same direction as the electron beam. An example is shown of the polarity reversal from ion to electron solitary potential structures coincident with a simultaneous shift from upgoing ion beams to upgoing electron beams.


Maize is an important staple food in Nigeria; however, Nigeria's local maize production only meets about 60% of its demand due to low yield (t/ha). The low maize yield has been linked to limited technology adoption, while finance has been identified to strongly impact technology adoption. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected through focus group discussions and interviews to identify the typology of existing practices, the technology used and the role of finance in the degree of adoption by smallholder maize farmers. The results indicated that finance was available in the study area, and the smallholder maize farmers' ability to adopt and combine varying degrees of technology can be attributed to the accessibility and affordability of finance. The study identified inadequate collateral, timeliness of disbursement and, more importantly, misconception as significant constraints affecting smallholder maize farmers' financing. Based on the respondents' preference for government source of finance due to its accessibility and affordability, the government is best placed in providing finance for smallholder maize farmers. The study suggests the need for a mechanism to review collaterals and documentation requested from the smallholder farmers by finance providers and the creation of awareness about finance schemes pre-cultivation season. – 7.2 t/ha. Using this matrix, we explored the relationships between the various combination of technology and maize yield achieved by smallholder maize farmers.


A digitally controlled monitoring system has been installed to observe and control the propagation of cracks in the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Firenze, Italy. This system has been in operation since 1988. This paper describes the Brunelleschi Dome structure, the development of cracks, and the monitoring system. The monitoring of data is evaluated based with an understanding of the structural behavior of the Dome. Presently the behavior is very different than it was earlier because of the presence of the cracks themselves. The correlation between crack width variation and environmental loads is analyzed. A numerical procedure was developed to estimate the trend of the increasing crack mean width. The results are compared to those obtained by the analysis of other monitoring systems previously installed in the Dome and historical data. Some considerations and suggestions about the use of monitoring systems in the field of the structural preservation of historic buildings are also discussed.


An integrated electronic-photonic phase-locked loop (PLL) modulates the frequency of a tunable laser for use in frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) lidar 3D imaging. The proposed lidar can perform 180k range measurements per second. The rms depth precision is 8 μm at distances of ±5 cm from the range baseline. The range window is 1.4 m, with a precision of 4.2 mm at the edges of the window. Optical circuitry, including input light couplers, waveguides, and photodiodes, is realized on a 3 mm × 3 mm silicon-photonic chip. The 0.18-μm CMOS ASIC of the same area comprises the frontend transimpedance amplifier, analog electro-optical PLL, and digital control circuitry consuming 1.7 mA from a 1.8 V supply and 14.1 mA from a 5-V supply. The latter includes 12.5-mA bias current for the distributed Bragg reflector section of the tunable laser. The two chips are integrated using through-silicon-vias implemented in the silicon-photonic chip.


In this paper, the exponentiated Kumaraswamy-power function distribution is introduced. Some structural properties of the proposed distribution including the shapes of the density, hazard and quantile functions are explored. Besides, skewness and kurtosis measures are investigated. The method of maximum likelihood is used for estimating model parameters. For different parameter settings and sample sizes, a simulation study is performed and the performance of the new distribution is compared with some well-known distributions. Then, an application is presented with a real data set to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed distribution.


This article considers the major constitutional reforms which have taken place in the United Kingdom during the period of government by the Labour Party, 1997- 2010. Within the context of the UK's unwritten constitution, the article first considers how 'constitutional' law can be identified when compared with a written constitution, such as that of the Republic of Lithuania. The article then analyses the major reforms which have taken place since 1997, the political reasons behind them, the processes of reform and their impact on the constitution. The four areas examined—reform of the House of Lords; the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998; devolution; and the changes to the judiciary in the Consti- tutional Reform Act 2005—have all had a significant impact on the way in which the UK is governed. The article argues that these are all welcome developments, but that in many cases they are incomplete. In the absence of the likelihood of a future written constitution for the UK, sustained efforts by future governments are needed by to ensure that the reforms fulfil their aim of modernizing the democratic system.


The importance of canonical transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling during cartilage and joint development is well established, but the necessity for noncanonical (SMAD‐independent) signaling during these processes is largely unknown. TGF‐β activated kinase 1 (TAK1) is a MAP3K activated by TGF‐β, BMP, and other mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling components. We set out to define the potential role for noncanonical, TAK1‐mediated signaling in cartilage and joint development via deletion of Tak1 in chondrocytes (Col2Cre;Tak1f/f) and the developing limb mesenchyme (Prx1Cre;Tak1f/f). Deletion of Tak1 in chondrocytes resulted in novel embryonic developmental cartilage defects including decreased chondrocyte proliferation, reduced proliferating chondrocyte survival, delayed onset of hypertrophy, reduced Mmp13 expression, and a failure to maintain interzone cells of the elbow joint, which were not observed previously in another Col2Cre;Tak1f/f model. Deletion of Tak1 in limb mesenchyme resulted in widespread joint fusions likely owing to the differentiation of interzone cells to the chondrocyte lineage. The Prx1Cre;Tak1f/f model also allowed us to identify novel columnar chondrocyte organization and terminal maturation defects owing to the interplay between chondrocytes and the surrounding mesenchyme. Furthermore, both our in vivo models and in vitro cell culture studies demonstrate that loss of Tak1 results in impaired activation of the downstream MAPK target p38, as well as diminished activation of the BMP/SMAD signaling pathway. Taken together, these data demonstrate that TAK1 is a critical regulator of both MAPK and BMP signaling and is necessary for proper cartilage and joint development. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research


The influence of managerial attitudes on corporate finance has become a topic of great interest. For example, Malmendier and Tate (2008) show that overconfident managers are more likely to conduct acquisitions. This research explores the impact of national business cultures on cross-border acquisitions. Business cultures can influence the ways managers cope with uncertainty and their subsequent business decisions, as was described in seminal research by Hofstede (1991). By their very nature, cross-border acquisitions require that managers deal with different cultures and higher levels of uncertainty. We seek to understand how business cultures affect value in cross-border acquisitions using data from the Asia-Pacific Rim region over the period 2000-2009. The countries in this region have large cultural differences, and the potential gains from acquisitions are very substantial, so these data are an excellent population for analysis. Our results show that different business cultures have an important influence on financial decisions by firms in ways that are consistent with classic research by Knight (2006), and also that different business cultures cope with uncertainty in different ways. We find that acquirers from countries with a high aversion to uncertainty conduct fewer cross-border acquisitions. Furthermore, these high uncertainty averse firms pay a higher price for control in cross-border deals.


Author(s): Li, Hongwei | Advisor(s): Yu, Bin | Abstract: Crowdsourcing has become an effective and popular tool for human-powered computation to label large datasets. Since the workers can be unreliable, it is common in crowdsourcing to assign multiple workers to one task, and to aggregate the labels in order to obtain results of high quality. This thesis is dedicated to analyze the process of crowdsourced labeling and propose algorithms to improve the efficiency of this process. In Chapter 1, we give an overview of crowdsourcing and its applications. Meanwhile, we address the challenges of labeling by crowdsourcing and present the organization of the thesis.In Chapter 2, we provide finite-sample exponential bounds on the error rate (in probability and in expectation) of general aggregation rules under the Dawid-Skene crowdsourcing model. The bounds are derived for multi-class labeling, and can be used to analyze many aggregation methods, including majority voting, weighted majority voting and the oracle Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) rule. We show that the oracle MAP rule approximately optimizes the upper bound on the mean error rate of weighted majority voting in certain setting. In Chapter 3, we propose an iterative weighted majority voting (IWMV) method that optimizes the error rate bound and approximates the oracle MAP rule. Its one step version has a provable theoretical guarantee of the error rate. The IWMV method is intuitive and computationally simple. Compared to the traditional EM approach, IWMV is more robust to the noise of estimating workers' reliabilities and model misspecification. Experimental results on both simulation and real data show that IWMV performs at least on par with the state-of-the-art methods, and it has low computation cost (around one hundred times faster than the state-of-the-art methods).In Chapter 4, we study the problem of selecting subsets of workers from a given worker pool to maximize the accuracy under a budget constraint. One natural question is whether we should hire as many workers as the budget allows, or restrict on a small number of top-quality workers. By theoretically analyzing the error rate of a typical setting in crowdsourcing, we frame the worker selection problem into a combinatorial optimization problem and propose an algorithm to solve it efficiently. Empirical results on both simulated and real-world datasets show that our algorithm is able to select a small number of high-quality workers, and performs as good as, sometimes even better than, the much larger crowds as the budget allows. In practice, worker quality (for some tasks) can be associated with some explicit characteristics of the worker, such as education level, major and age; although it is also possible that in some other tasks none of the attributes matter. In Chapter 5, we propose a general crowd targeting framework that can automatically discover, for a given task, if any group of workers based on their attributes have higher quality on average, and target these groups, if they exist, for future work of the same task. This framework is complementary to traditional worker quality estimation approaches and is more budget efficient because we are able to target potentially good workers before they actually do the task. Experiments on real datasets show that the accuracy of final prediction can be improved significantly for the same budget or even less budget in some cases. Our framework is very practical and can be easily integrated in current crowdsourcing platforms.


The study was conducted in 2018 in Xuan Thuy national park (XTNP), a large wetland ecosystem located in northern Vietnam. The survey identifies existing farming practices and constraints of agricultural development in the context of protecting ecosystem for the 15,100 ha protected area. We used in-depth interviews for 12 staffs of local authorities and semi-structured survey for 234 farmers living adjacent the park. Farmers have been applied diverse culture practices (mono cropping, intensive aquaculture and integrated agroforestry) but there were excessive and imbalance use of fertilisers compared with local standards. Moreover, farms have been managed with wide range of pesticides, antibiotics and various agrochemicals without carefully record keeping and less concern on environment protection. Even though farmers aim at increasing quantity of products but yields were still lower than those in other areas in Vietnam and gradually decrease recently. We have found various social-economic-environmental-institutional reasons behind sustainable agriculture prospect. Almost of farmers relied on purchased inputs while external input costs have been increasing in particularly hired labour. This leads to the fact that conservation was rank at least important while profitability was most incentive as reported by prevailing cultivators. Most of farm managers lacked of marketing activities and faced price squeeze when selling farm products. Moreover, disease outbreak, un-controlling of exotic snails and water conflicts were environmental problems preventing farmers to tackle alone. Agricultural development is a difficult task and need supports from many authorities (XTNP managers, communal authorities, irrigation branch) but their staffs lacked of capacity and connection with locals in conservation programs. Public sectors have been providing general environmental news and meetings (waste collecting or cleaning rivers) but rarely information and training on environmental friendly farming. Private input dealers played essential role in introducing new techniques but finally their purpose was selling companies' inputs. Thus, it urges on us actions for heightening awareness of farmers, strengthening capacities of staffs in accordance with more communication with farmers. In addition, improving farm productivity simultaneously minimising impairments to the water body should be addressed. Economic sustainability could also be improved through strengthening marketing strategies and forming farmers' market groups.


This paper will examine Russia's policy concerning Korea's re-unification and Moscow's likely responses to possible results of the unification process as a major and necessary element of peace-building in Northeast Asia. Since the middle of the 19 century Russia has had a keen interest in the situation on the Korean peninsula. History repeatedly proved that any aggravation of the situation on the peninsula caused serious concerns and made Russia to take additional steps to ensure her security. So both for security reasons and for smooth development of her Far Eastern region, Russia is vitally interested in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Emergence of the re-unified Korea, however, is likely to create a new situation in the region and make Russia to re-evaluate her policy in Northeast Asia. It is generally accepted notion that Russia will benefit, first of all, from liquidation of a long-time hot spot right next to her Far Eastern region and from founding the re-unified Korea, which is supposedly will maintain relations of friendship, good-neighborhood and cooperation with Russia and other neighboring states. Meanwhile, at the moment, better relations between North and South Korea, along with providing Russia with more favorable conditions for development of trade and economic cooperation with both parts of Korea, would also open new opportunities for economic development of the Russian Far East and for linking Russia's economy to globalization and integration processes in the Asia-Pacific region. So both on security and economic reasons Moscow is vitally interested in reconciliation between North and South Korea and eventual emergence of a peaceful and neutral Korea.


In feeding tests, 1.0% thiotepa (tris (1-aziridinyl) phosphine sulfide) in 5% sucrose solution was rapidly lethal to most females of the yellow-fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti (L.). At this concentration it was calculated that approximately 4600 mg of thiotepa per kg of mosquito weight was ingested.

The mortality of mosquitoes feeding on 0.1% thiotepa was 69% on day 20, 17 days after exposure, as compared with 23% in untreated mosquitoes. With 0.1% thiotepa, there was a significant reduction in the size of oocysts and obvious abnormalities in their appearance, but there was no significant difference between the numbers of oocysts in treated and untreated mosquitoes. Sporozoite production was delayed but not entirely prevented; the length of the extrinsic period being almost doubled. Dissections made on day 20 or thereafter indicate that the sporozoite rate was reduced by 68%. Transmission to chicks by thiotepa-treated mosquitoes (on day 20) was reduced by 88%. Plasmodium gallinaceum Brumpt in the 2 chicks infected by thiotepa-treated mosquitoes was infective to other mosquitoes and developed normally in them.

The effects of lower concentrations of thiotepa were studied in less detail. Sporozoite rates were reduced and the appearance of sporozoites was delayed in mosquitoes that fed on 0.01% thiotepa but were unaffected in mosquitoes that fed on 0.001% thiotepa.


Vodou is a syncretic and hybrid religious tradition that generates unique understandings of concepts such as identity and home. This examination of Vodou practices in Montreal focuses on a growing number of new initiates and converts to the religion. These newcomers to Vodou have a complex relationship with a religious discourse that is often continuous with the historical and cultural specificity of Haiti, the birthplace of the Vodou tradition. The purpose of this analysis is to make a religious system of thought explicit by examining how the religion constitutes and reconstitutes the identity of its practitioners. Exploring how newcomers to the Vodou tradition both shape and are shaped by discourses transmitted through the language, literature and rituals of Vodou reveals a unique and fluid epistemology that is original to the Vodou tradition. What emerges in this self-reflexive and interdisciplinary analysis is the realisation that Vodou posits ways of understanding the world that differ substantially from ways of knowing embraced by the academy. The ease with which the discourses of Vodou empower practitioners to concurrently encompass seemingly conflicted identities disrupts standard and dichotomous perceptions of identity. In addition, the knowledge generated and disseminated through the lwa (gods) of the tradition shapes the way in which new Vodouists understand the world and their place in it. Sometimes this conception of the world opposes the one generated by academic discourse. This thesis illustrates the dialogue and tension between these divergent ways of knowing.


In many leading architectures for quantum computing, it remains to be understood if we can equate single-qubit coherence times measured in isolation, to that of coherence times measured in multi-qubit devices. On a multi-qubit superconducting circuit platform we show an increase in the dephasing rate of a control qubit due to the spontaneous relaxation of spectator qubits coupled to the control qubit. We attribute this increased dephasing to random in time Z-phase kicks on the control qubit due to the interplay between spectator relaxation and the control-spectator ZZ-interaction. We measure the magnitude of this extra dephasing using Ramsey decay experiments, show how it can be corrected via dynamical decoupling pulse sequences, and demonstrate that randomized benchmarking is insensitive to the effect. Our experimental results are supported by a robust theoretical model that captures an arbitrary number of spectator qubits, and gives a simple, intuitive picture for the mechanism behind the enhanced dephasing.


Resorting more and more to e-learning means a thorough transformation of the teaching processes. Once the teacher-student communication is realized on yahoo-groups or Facebook-groups, the classical roles in the classroom become obsolete. With teachers having the possibility to enter in due time on students? forums, the former relation of power in education moves to a collaborative one. More and more the educational system targets the communication abilities and skills, instead of acquiring specialized knowledge. Good communicators are able to ?translate? the jargon of their profession to other people and this capacity indicates crystal-clear and well-balanced thinking. Renouncing at frontal teaching and multiplying the centres of information in the educational process can only increase the quality of the dialogue. The teacher is no longer the main actor, not even the stage-director, but a sort of pathfinder. Thus, he/she has to be trusted by his/her followers, and not feared or taken for granted. Such an approach aims at transferring parts of the teacher?s responsibilities to students. E-learning stresses the individual response, taking students away from the false security of their groups. The first result is that the childish and irresponsible reactions will dwindle. Paradoxically, e-learning encourages self-assessment, involvement and efficient communication. The use of yahoo and Facebook groups for sending tasks, didactic materials and suggestions is completed with debates in real time on the proposed topics. In this way, classes are anticipated and even started before the official meeting. In the post-postmodernist world, education looks like an uninterrupted dialogue, and not like a series of obstacles that has to be faced with anxiety.


BACKGROUND The methimazole has long been used for treating Graves' disease to decrease thyroid hormone production and obtain a thyroid normofunction, but this drug has also immunosuppressive and immunomodulation effects. OBJECTIVE To analyze in patients with Graves' disease treated with methimazole and allergic rhinitis, the clinical evolution of the allergic rhinitis with the immunosuppressive and immunomodulation effects of the methimazole. PATIENTS AND METHODS A comparative and observational study was done in the Mexico's General Hospital, in twenty-six patients with Graves' disease treated with methimazole 10 mg, thyroid profile was done, and when subjects obtained a thyroid normofunction continued with the same doses of methimazole and received also 12.5 mcg/day of levothyroxine. All the patients were diagnosed with allergic rhinitis, and they were divided into two groups (11 females and 2 males each). Both groups continued with the same treatment of methimazole and levothyroxine, but group II was given also antihistamines H1 of second-generation (loratadine) daily, and specific immunotherapy during six months. We described and compared the clinical evolution of the allergic rhinitis of the two groups with the treatment. RESULTS In the group I, changes in the clinical evolution of the allergic rhinitis after six months were not observed. In the group II, by week 10 the symptoms of the allergic rhinitis were controlled in 80% of the patients, and by week 14 all the patients of this group were asymptomatic. CONCLUSIONS In patients with allergic rhinitis and Graves' diseases with methimazole-thyroid normofunction we observed that there is not influence of methimazole on clinical evolution of the allergic rhinitis.


Corruption has a corrosive impact on the wellbeing of a nation, and is especially damaging to tax administrations. The article explores the causes of corruption both from the perspective of the design of tax systems and from the perspective of tax administrations. It outlines a range of generic remedies that can be used to minimize the risk of corruption. In giving life to these generic remedies the article follows the approach taken by the Australian Taxation Office to reinvigorate its integrity framework as a result of the improper conduct of an assistant commissioner (Petroulias) in the late 1990s.


The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs) are lysosomal storage diseases with severe neurodegenerative pathology. An ovine model (OCL) has well defined parallels with the human disease at a biochemical and pathological level. The gene for OCL is located in the chromosomal region OAR 7q13-15. This region is syntenic with HSA 15q21-23 suggesting that OCL and CLN6 represent mutations in orthologous genes. New microsatellite markers were used for refinement of the OCL critical region. YAC clones that span the critical region have been isolated and comparative gene mapping confirms that the regions for CLN6 and OCL are equivalent.


BACKGROUND
This study aims to investigate the effect of taekwondo footwear on unilateral stance stability and use of postural control strategies and to determine whether taekwondo footwear influences the somatosensory inputs for postural stability and postural strategies in young adults.

METHODS
A quasi-randomized crossover trial was conducted on 33 healthy young adults at a university research laboratory. Independent variables, including shoe conditions (shoes on and shoes off) and visual conditions (eyes open and eyes closed), were taken into account. The center of gravity (COG) sway velocity in unilateral stance and the strategy scores in the sensory organization test were measured. No intervention was given to the participants.

RESULTS
There was no significant interaction between the two factors (the shoe and visual conditions) for COG sway velocities (P = .447) and strategy scores (P = .320). The shoe condition was not significant in either COG sway velocity (P = .484) or strategy score (P = .126). The visual condition was significant for COG sway velocity (P < .001) but not for strategy score (P = .573). The mean ± SD COG sway velocity with eyes open was 0.7° ± 0.2°/sec and with eyes closed was 1.7° ± 0.6°/sec (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Taekwondo footwear is unlikely to affect somatosensory inputs and balance performance in young adults.


Handling of many-objective problems is a hot issue in the evolutionary multiobjective optimization (EMO) community. It is well-known that frequently-used EMO algorithms such as NSGA-II and SPEA do not work well on many-objective problems whereas they have been successfully applied to a large number of test problems and real-world application tasks with two or three objectives. The main difficulty in the handling of many-objective problems is that almost all solutions in the current population of an EMO algorithm are non-dominated with each other. This means that Pareto dominance relation can not generate enough selection pressure toward the Pareto front. As a result, Pareto dominance-based EMO algorithms such as NSGA-II and SPEA can not drive the current population toward the Pareto front efficiently in a high-dimensional objective space of a many-objective problem. A simple idea for introducing additional selection pressure toward the Pareto front is the use of scalarizing fitness functions. In this paper, we examine the effect of using weighted sum fitness functions for parent selection and generation update on the performance of NSGA-II for many-objective 0/1 knapsack problems.


In South Africa the acquisition of full political and civil rights for all rectified the former political situation of apartheid South Africa. Against the background of key developments in the political legacy of the West, including the opposing theoretical orientations of individualistic and universalistic approaches, the historical roots of those conditions which eventually were recognised as essential for the idea of a just state are highlighted. Adding a mere multiplicity of individuals (atomistic social contract theories) or postulating one or another encompassing whole (such as Rousseau's volonté générale) precludes an insight into the own inner laws of distinct societal spheres. The concept of sovereignty appears not to be sufficient to delimit state-law properly. An alternative view is introduced by Althusius (1603) with his objection to the application of the whole-parts relation to society and the state. He acknowledges 'leges propriae' (proper laws for each societal collectivity and thus opened up an avenue for introducing the principle of sphere-sovereignty, which leaves room for the internal spheres of law of non-political societal entities as well as for personal freedom. If the spheres of public law, civil private law and non-civil private law are intact, political freedom, personal freedom and societal freedoms are secured—the structural conditions for the just state. The Constitution of South Africa incorporates these requirements for a Rechtsstaat and in addition contains a unique equity content. The future of the South African democracy is therefore crucially dependent upon the internalisation of a truly Rechtsstaat political culture.


In Genesis 3:5 the Tempter presents the forbidden apple to Eve as he makes her this well-known promise: "For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." (1) What appears in the Book of Genesis as a brief mention of a change in Eve's vision, generally interpreted as a metaphoric transition from ignorance to understanding, becomes an elaborate treatment of the bodily senses in Genesis B, the Old English verse retelling of the Fall of Man. (2) The Genesis B poet expands the Tempter's promise of enhanced vision into a total of nearly sixty lines of verse that explicitly consider the changes registered in Eve's faculty of perception. The amplification of this sensory allusion is not only a quantitative one, however. The biblical description of the opening of Eve's eyes takes on a literal cast in the Old English poem; there, the poet depicts the actual transformations that alter the capabilities of Eve's senses of hearing, touch, and taste, in addition to sight. Her senses undergo fundamental, internal changes that impair her ability to judge the Tempter's motives accurately, and ultimately persuade her to convince Adam to eat the fruit. Despite the conspicuous magnification of the sensory component of the Fall, however, a systematic study of perception in Genesis B has not yet been undertaken. Because of this, the important role the corporeal senses play in the Tempter's seduction of Eve, and then in Eve's seduction of Adam, has been overlooked. THE MECHANICS OF THE FALL IN AUGUSTINE AND GENESIS B St. Augustine's explication of Genesis 3 is arguably the most influential in late antique and medieval thought, and also in modern critical assessments of Genesis B. Close scrutiny of Genesis B, however, specifically of the sensory nature of the temptations faced first by Eve and later, through her, by Adam, prompts a reconsideration of the fitness of using Augustinian doctrine as a primary interpretive filter. Augustine centers his analysis of the Fall around the chain of seduction in Eden: the serpent first persuades Eve to eat the apple with a sensory promise; Eve, fallen, then approaches Adam and persuades him to eat as well. According to Augustine, Adam and Eve each have different reasons for taking the fruit: Eve eats because she believes that to ingest the fruit would be to become like God--the sin of pride is implicit in her actions. Adam, however, does not wish to achieve divine status, but freely chooses to eat out of loyalty and love for his wife. (3) Augustine clearly outlines this position in Book 11 of De Genesi ad litteram and in Book 14 of De Civitate Dei, quoted here in that order: Dixit ergo serpens mulieri, Non morte moriemini. Sciebat enim Deus, quoniam quo die manducaveritis de eo, adaperientur vobis oculi, et eritis sicut dii, cognoscentes bonum et malum. Quando his verbis crederet mulier a bona atque utili re divinitus se fuisse prohibitos, nisi jam inesset menti amor ille propriae potestatis, et quaedam de se superba praesumptio, quae per idem tentationem fuerat convincenda et humilianda? (4) (Then the serpent said to the woman: "You will not die the death. For God knew that on the day on which you would eat of it your eyes would be open, and you would be like gods, knowing good and evil." How could these words persuade the woman that it was a good and useful thing that had been forbidden by God if there was not already in her heart a love of her own independence and a proud presumption of self which through that temptation was destined to be found out and cast down?) (5) ita credendum est ilium virum suae feminae, uni unum, hominem homini, coniugem coniugi, ad Dei legem transgrediendam non tamquam verum loquenti credise seductum, sed sociali necessitudine paruisse. (6) (Similarly, when we consider the situation of that first man and his woman, two fellow human beings all alone and married to each other, we must suppose that he was not led astray to transgress the law of God because he believed that she spoke the truth, but because he was brought to obey her by the close bond of their alliance. …


Introduction: Schwannomas are nerve sheath tumours which majority is benign. Only one case of solitary schwannoma in the ulnar branch of brachial plexus in the axilla is so far reported. Some are asymptomatic while others having pain and neurological disability. For diagnosis, imaging studies such as ultrasonography, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, electromyography and aid of electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry are used. Non-surgical treatment is appropriate for slow growing and asymptomatic tumours. Surgical treatment is aimed to prevent progressive neurological deficit. Damage to the parent nerve is a known complication. Case report: A 44 year old female was investigated for a lump in her left axilla. Ultrasonography showed well defined hypoechoic solid mass, suspicious of an enlarged lymph node in the axilla with normal breasts. Tru-cut biopsy was compatible with histological appearance of schwannoma. A large (7.0x5.5x4.0cm3) well circumcised white mass of tissue arising at the origin of ulnar nerve deep in the left axilla was enucleated. Histologically lesion was compatible with a schwannoma with an intact capsule. Diffusely positive S-100 protein was demonstrated immunohistochemically and malignancy excluded. Post-operatively patient had ulnar nerve palsy confirmed by nerve conduction studies. Hand physiotherapy was offered and nerve function gradually improved. Discussion: Benign schwannoma of the ulnar nerve is not a common condition encountered in general clinical practice, hence delay in diagnosis is of concern. MRI and histology is needed to diagnose schwannoma accurately and to exclude malignancy. Treatment is complete excision while preserving nerve function preferably under intra-operative electrophysiological guidance.


A series of organometallic copper complexes in formal oxidation states ranging from +1 to +3 have been characterized by a combination of Cu K-edge X-ray absorption (XAS) and Cu Kβ valence-to-core X-ray emission spectroscopies (VtC XES). Each formal oxidation state exhibits distinctly different XAS and VtC XES transition energies due to the differences in the Cu Zeff, concomitant with changes in physical oxidation state from +1 to +2 to +3. Herein, we demonstrate the sensitivity of XAS and VtC XES to the physical oxidation states of a series of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligated organocopper complexes. We then extend these methods to the study of the [Cu(CF3)4]− ion. Complemented by computational methods, the observed spectral transitions are correlated with the electronic structure of the complexes and the Cu Zeff. These calculations demonstrate that a contraction of the Cu 1s orbitals to deeper binding energy upon oxidation of the Cu center manifests spectroscopically as a stepped increase in the energy of both XAS and Kβ2,5 emission features with increasing formal oxidation state within the [Cun+(NHC2)]n+ series. The newly synthesized Cu(III) cation [CuIII(NHC4)]3+ exhibits spectroscopic features and an electronic structure remarkably similar to [Cu(CF3)4]−, supporting a physical oxidation state assignment of low-spin d8 Cu(III) for [Cu(CF3)4]−. Combining XAS and VtC XES further demonstrates the necessity of combining multiple spectroscopies when investigating the electronic structures of highly covalent copper complexes, providing a template for future investigations into both synthetic and biological metal centers.