Abstract Latin American Protestants were totally absent at Edinburgh 1910. This article explores different interpretations of why they were excluded, especially because Latin America was seen as a "Christian land" already, thus off limits for missionaries. The author discusses what has happened in the aftermath of this exclusion, and how and why evangelical Protestantism has grown significantly since then. Different, sometimes conflicting, interpretations are considered, and attention is given to how the relationship with Catholicism has evolved, and also the emergence of post-denominational Christianity. Moving beyond exclusion Latin Americans had been overlooked and totally excluded from Edinburgh 1910. Now the centennial celebrations of Edinburgh 1910 have brought new readings of the significance of the event and its missiological challenges. Soon after the 1910 Edinburgh conference, American Protestant missionary enthusiasts formed a committee of cooperation in Latin America and sponsored the first continental gathering of Latin American Protestants in 1916, known as the Panama Congress on Christian Work. With a programme patterned after the model of Edinburgh 1910, this congress became a milestone for Protestantism in Latin America. The Panama congress was preceded by a careful study of the advance of Protestantism in Latin America, based on reports sent by correspondents throughout the continent. The three volumes that sum up the studies of the congress provide a clear sense of the scope of Protestant missions there and their results in the second decade of the 20th century. The congress also reflected the self-critical attitude of those who recognized the flaws in their work and were looking for new forms of cooperation and coordination. (1) The legitimacy of Protestant missionary presence in Latin America was acknowledged at the 1928 meeting of the International Missionary Council in Jerusalem. The Brazilian Erasmo Braga, one of the pioneers of ecumenism in Latin America, wrote, "It is no easy task to pass on to a community scattered over an area larger than that of the United States the message from the Jerusalem meeting. A safe estimate of the number of persons who constitute the Protestant Christian community in Brazil is about one million including children and adherents." (2) He went on to add: "the inclusion of Latin America in the International Missionary Council has given us the sense of being no longer isolated, small organizations engaged in a local or regional struggle, but a part of the great Christian world movement." (3) A more polemical interpretation of the exclusion of Latin American Protestants from Edinburgh 1910 came some years later from Gonzalo Baez-Camargo, a respected Mexican ecumenist, journalist and Bible scholar, who interpreted this exclusion as a sign of the prevailing mind-set among European Protestants, which in 1910 was still shaped by Victorian-era complacency and paternalism. (4) They divided the human race into a "Christian world" that included Europe and the Americas and a "non-Christian world" of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific islands. On the one side were civilized Christian "sending" countries, and on the other, uncivilized non-Christian "receiving" mission fields. (5) Baez-Camargo believed that this global classification was too naive and had paved the way for blatant inconsistencies, such as placing Latin America in the first bloc and excluding from Edinburgh Protestant missionaries who had been working there for over a half century. Briefly, Latin America was then regarded by influential Protestant leaders of both sides of the Atlantic (especially in Europe) as the exclusive private hunting-ground of the historic Church that has been predominant to the south of Rio Grande for over four hundred years. Thus, recognition was denied to the struggling and growing Protestant minority in that part of the world. …


Although patronage of Tibetan Buddhism by the imperial courts in China has a precedence before the Qing dynasty, the scale and scope of Qing emperors' investment was unprecedented. Scholars have produced multiple interpretations on the nature of their rule, among which, the most pertinent argument has centered on analyzing the intentions of the emperors. The centrality of this debate has occured at the elision of other historical factors, one of which is infrastructures and institutions that facilitated this patronage. While Qing patronage took multiple forms, such as construction of monasteries or conference of titles to religious hierarchs, this paper focuses on printing activities in specific and illustrates the textual network that began to take shape during Kangxi's reign (r.1661-1722).
The Kangxi Emperor reorganized and significantly expanded the Imperial household department, Neiwufu, which was responsible for manufacture of goods for palace's use. He also established imperial workshops such as Yangxindian and Wuyingdian that recruited artisans from all over the country and were involved in printing scholarly works. Through the collaborative work of the Imperial household department and the bureaucracy, enormous material and human resources were amassed to implement these printing projects. While the imperial court was involved in printing monumental texts, I have also highlighted the role of monasteries and temples outside of Beijing that were involved in printing smaller texts. I have shown that while the inner Asian printing network was undoubtedly supported by the Qing emperors and spurred by their financial contribution, they were also spaces and layers where smaller local powers could engage in printing activities independently outside the realm of imperial authority.


Finance is a fast growing field in business and is among the fastest growing in scientific computing, helping to sustain economies that include those of New York City and of the United States. The dynamics of finance have enticed computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists. This has helped in the growth of interdisciplinary fields that involve computational finance, financial computing, financial engineering, mathematical finance, and quantitative finance. While most of these interdisciplinary programs are introduced to graduate students at universities, few of them are introduced to the undergraduate students. The frequent model that includes a computer science minor and a financial major requires a finance student to be in a general computer science minor that is open to all students who satisfy the minimum requirements for the minor. This interdisciplinary model does not serve sufficiently the needs of industry and of society. The study introduces an interdisciplinary major/minor curriculum model that seamlessly integrates computer science into finance through free elective credits. The model is that of financial computing that is both discipline and industry oriented in the university. The paper of the study evaluates the financial computing model, indicating how it conforms to the needs of financial firms in industry and of society and that of the international Basel II Capital Accord. This study will benefit educators and researchers in integrating a special and timely curriculum model helpful to the financial services industry.


Cold-water corals play an important role as ecosystem engineers by providing the three-dimensional structural basis and habitat for a rich associated fauna. In southern Chile, the cold-water scleractinian Desmophyllum dianthus populates the steep walls of Comau Fjord. Where its principal energy source, the zooplankton, is less abundant in winter. This coral specie is often associated with filter-feeders, but the nature and possible trophic significance of this relationship remains enigmatic. Dense belts of the mussel Aulacomya atra and the brachiopod Magellania venosa thrive in the productive waters above and between D. dianthus, and both, visual observation and diver-operated push net samples revealed a rain of biodeposits (faeces and pseudofaeces) from these filter-feeders to the corals. This study aims to determine if the conversion by filter-feeders of microscopic plankton inaccessible to corals to macroscopic strings of faeces and pseudofaeces accessible to the corals' tentacles may represent a new and so far overlooked trophic link channeling surface production to the corals. Preliminary in vitro experiments show that D. dianthus ingests biodeposits of the mussel Mytilus edulis, but only after the consumption of juvenile krill (Euphausia pacifica). This indicates that biodeposits of active filter feeders may play a role as a food supplement for corals. Follow-up experiments with biodeposits produced under natural conditions by the native filter-feeder community are expected to compound the evidence.


The parturient with a cardiac valve prosthesis presents a twofold problem of management: (1) that of a rising cardiac workload in the presence of serious heart disease, and (2) that of chronic anticoagulant therapy. Pain relief, a shortened 2nd stage of labor, and avoidance of bearing-down efforts reduce stress. Vaginal delivery is preferred to cesarean section, and segmental lumbar extradural block is the optimal anesthetic method. Oxytocics must be used with caution and heparin is preferred to long-acting oral anticoagulants.


Self-oxidation of coal is one of the major causes for disastrous accidents in coal mines in leading coal producing countries like China, India and Australia. Hence, study of spontaneous combustion of coal is of utmost importance as it not only causes loss of life and property but also a loss of non-renewable power source, i.e., coal. In case of self-combustion of coal, it is very difficult to control the fire in the mine itself. It is important to have knowledge about the susceptibility of coal to spontaneous heating to know the degree of proneness and take steps to prevent any mishap or loss of life, coal reserve, raising concerns about economic aspects of mining etc. This B.Tech dissertation deals with assessment of susceptibility of some Indian coals to spontaneous combustion using curves obtained from differential thermal analysis of 20 coal samples collected from different coal mines of MCL and CCL, both opencast and underground. The determination of intrinsic properties as well as susceptibility of the samples were done using following experimental techniques: ? Proximate analysis ? Differential thermal analysis. It was found that only the Transition temperature determined from the DTA curve is not sufficient in determination of proneness of coal to spontaneous combustion but slopes of the Stage IIA, stage IIB and overall slope at Stage II and further studies based on the proximate analysis of coal and area under the DTG curve obtained from differential thermal analysis (DTA-TG)


Peganum harmala L. is a plant, which grows in semi-arid rangeland. The plant is used traditionally as an emmenagogue and an abortifacient agent in the Middle East and North Africa. All parts of plant are thought to be toxic and sever intoxication occurs in domestic animals. Digestive and nervous syndromes have been observed in animals that consume sub-lethal amount of the plant. The toxicated animal appears in a narcotic state interrupted by occasional short period of excitement. Abortion is frequent in animals that digest this plant in a dry year. While this plant has traditionally been used in Middle East, it shows toxic effects in human. A case of human overdose with P. harmala seeds is reported in this paper. Symptoms experienced by our patient found to be similar to what has been reported for domestic animals.


A vast body of past research on correctional risk assessment instruments supports their validity in predicting measures of recidivism across diverse offender population samples. Despite similarities in the risk factors for victimization and offending, little is known about whether the generalizability of these actuarial tools can be extended beyond recidivism to predict victimization measures as well. Utilizing a sample of approximately 1,900 recently released male and female prisoners, this study examined whether measures of risk drawn from the Level of Service Inventory–Revised: Screening Version (LSI-R:SV) could predict one's risk of victimization. Analyses provide evidence that the risk scores and levels were significantly related to both recidivism and victimization. Policy and prevention implications for correctional assessment and offender treatment are discussed.


Title: The Spinal Cord Injury-Interventions Classification System: development and evaluation of a documentation tool to record therapy to improve mobility and self-care in people with spinal cord injury. Background: Many rehabilitation researchers have emphasized the need to examine the actual contents of rehabilitation programmes. One key component of these contents is the therapy provided. Mobility and self-care are the main domains of rehabilitation of people with an Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and sports interventions contribute to the improvement of mobility and self-care among people with SCI. To date, the majority of SCI therapy interventions is still based on 'expert opinion'. To identify effective treatments or to improve the quality of treatments, treatments need to be described in detail by means of uniform concepts and language. Main aims of the thesis: To develop a classification system representing all clinical interventions provided by physical therapists, occupational therapists and sports therapists and aiming at the improvement of mobility and self-care in people with an SCI, which can be used in a valid and reliable way for research and clinical practice, and which is site-neutral and cross-cultural. To describe and compare the contents of treatment in different rehabilitation centres and in different countries. Methods: We developed the Spinal Cord Injury-Interventions Classification System (SCI-ICS) from the 'International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)', clinical practice, SCI literature, and stroke literature. To examine the completeness, feasibility, validity, and reliability we performed a consensus procedure, a feasibility, and reliability study involving Dutch therapists from specialized rehabilitation centres. Following these three studies we compared the therapy provided to 79 people with a recent SCI undergoing inpatient treatment in 3 rehabilitation centres in the Netherlands, 1 in Australia and 1 in Norway during the same 4 consecutive weeks. To obtain evidence for the English-language version of the SCI-ICS the Australian and Norwegian therapists repeated the reliability study. Results: The final version of the SCI-ICS comprises a hierarchical structure with 3 levels (body functions, basic activities and complex activities), 25 categories (e.g., muscle power, walking, and dressing) and 139 grouped interventions. We showed that the SCI-ICS is a valid, reliable and feasible instrument to record interventions intended to improve the mobility and self-care of people with SCI by the 3 disciplines in different countries. We reported on the distribution of SCI therapy over different domains of functioning for the first time, especially mobility and self-care, based on direct collection of clinical treatment data in 5 rehabilitation centres, and found mostly similarities between treatment programmes within the Netherlands, but differences in treatment between the Netherlands, Australia and Norway. Conclusions: Using the SCI-ICS allows data on actually provided therapy to be obtained, in clinical practice or for research purposes. These data might enable us to adjust and improve effective and efficient clinical decision making in therapy programmes for people with an SCI, and might facilitate comparisons of therapies between settings and countries


In this article I consider how judicial decision making characterizes Indigenous peoples' culture outside the context of determinations under section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. I am concerned with how contemporary jurisprudence sometimes subjects Indigenous people to stereotyped tests of Aboriginality when they seek to exercise legislated rights. These common law tests of Aboriginality tend to turn on troubling oppositional logics, such as whether or not the Indigenous person engages in waged labour or commercial activities. These tests arose in historic legislation and policy that were premised on social evolutionary theory and were directed at determining whether an Indigenous person was to be deemed economically assimilated. Before such legislation and policies were repealed, however, the tests crossed into the common law and have since been read into legislation. As a result, the doctrine of precedent has reinforced and continually renewed this oppressive discourse to the present day. This article is, in essence, a call to critically engage and confront the assumptions that underlie our rubrics of analysis.


AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 14-18, 2007; Los Angeles, CA

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The acquisition of hormone independence is a crucial event in breast cancer since it is involved in the progression into a hormone resistant and more aggressive phenotype. We have developed an experimental model in which the continuous administration of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) induces mammary carcinomas in female BALB/c mice. As most breast cancers, these ductal mammary carcinomas express high levels of estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) and transit through different stages of hormone dependence. Hormone dependent (HD) tumor variants need exogenous administration of progestin to grow while hormone-independent (HI) tumor variants grow without exogenous hormone supply, even though they maintain high levels of ER and PR. We have previously provided evidence that these receptors are still playing a pivotal role regulating HI growth. The aim of the current study was to investigate which transduction pathways were involved in the steroid receptor expression and activation that could be leading to hormone independence. Two different approaches were used: a) a tissue array involving five different HD tumors and several HI variants to evaluate key proteins from the Akt pathway, and b) in vitro studies in primary cultures derived from HI and HD tumors using specific inhibitors of PI3K/Akt (LY294002) and Erk1/2 (PD98059) to evaluate the role of these pathways on steroid receptor expression and cell proliferation. Analysis of the arrays showed high levels of phospho Akt (pAkt, Ser473 and Thr 308) in the nuclei of most HI and HD tumors and, in agreement, low levels of GSK3 α/β. The in vitro studies involving the inhibitors LY294002 and PD98059 indicated that both kinases are responsible for maintaining cell proliferation and high levels of ERα, PRA and PRB in primary cultures derived from HD and HI variants. No differences between the HD and the HI tumors were observed suggesting that in this tumor model the acquisition of constitutive activation of those pathways is not restricted to hormone-independent variants. Finally, we present evidence showing that inhibiting the PI3K/Akt pathway causes an up-regulation of Erk1/2 levels, indicating that they regulate each other and suggesting that the overall control of steroid receptor expression and function might depend on a delicate balance between the relative activity of these two kinase pathways. In summary, in this study we demonstrate that deregulated Akt and Erk1/2 pathways are involved in maintainace of high levels of ER and PR in MPA-induced tumors. Our results show the involvement of alternative pathways on the regulation of steroid receptor expression and could contribute to the understanding of the acquisition of different hormone responsiveness in breast cancer progression.


To mean what you say is sometimes problematic in daily conversation, moreover in some
indigenous dialects. It requires comprehensive context to achieve the core of communication.
So does in Banyumasan. Banyumasan or Banyumas dialect is a variant which is found along
the flow of Serayu river. The river flows from Sindoro-Sumbing Mountains
(Koentjaraningrat, 1984:23). Banyumas dialect is one of some variants of Javanese
language. Banyumasan has some differences compared to standard Javanese spoken in
Jogjakarta, Surakarta and Semarang. Those differences are also reflected in the
characteristics of conversational implicatures found in this dialect. Conversational
implicaure is a proposition that is implied by the utterance of sentence in a context even
though that proposition is not a part of nor an entailment of what was actually said (Grice,
1975; Gazdar, 1979). The characteristics of conversational implicatures are calculability,
cancellability, non-detachability, non-conventionality, and indeterminacy. (Grice, 1975;
Levinson, 1983; Thomas, 1996; dan Cruse, 2004). A dialect has different characteristics
compared to other dialects of the same language and so does the characteristic of


Abstract. Title of the paper: Modifying influence of 11-months training on results of 'timidity' test of young half bred stallions 78 three-year-old stallions of warm blooded Polish breeds and foreign breeds, kept at the training Centres, were investigated during the period 1998–2001. Stallions had to qualify for a 100-days training, after they passed it, they had to perform an 8-month training program in a central station. To estimate the degree of nervous balance of horses "timidity" a (optical) test was used. Stallions were putt to the tests three times: after qualifying to Training Centre, after completion 100-days training, after completion 8-month training. Stereotypes of stallions maintenance were graded from points 1 to 10. Stallions were divided onto three groups: hyper excitable (1.0–4.0 p), medium excitable (4.1–6.0 p), calm (6.1–10.0 p). Applied "timidity" test showed considerable usefulness to fast and evident opinion of equilibration of nervous system. Rising score in "timidity" test after 100-days as well as 8-months shows the training process had a modifying influence on stallions' nervous excitability in this period. Largest nervous equilibration was observed at the offspring's of Holstein breed sires', most excitable after the whole training period were offspring's of noble half bred sires. The highest score of nervous balance after 8-month training was observed at offspring of English thoroughbred sires.


In foot and ankle surgery accurate fracture reduction and implant placement may be challenging. Fracture malreduction or implant malposition may remain undetected with use of conventional fluoroscopy and are often only recognized on postoperative computed tomography (CT) scans. The development of a three-dimensional (3D) mobile imaging system has provided intraoperative control of fracture reduction and implant position. Three-dimensional computer assisted surgery (3D-CAS) has demonstrated improved accuracy in spine and pelvic surgery. Recently, the application of 3D-CAS in the field of foot and ankle surgery has shown very promising preliminary results. It appears that the intraoperative use of 3D imaging will become a standard of care.


Abstract. Ihsan M, Irawan B, Iskandar BS, Iskandar J. 2023. Ethnobotanical study on using bamboo for kites making in Sumedang District, West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 2393-2401. Bamboo has diverse socio-economic, cultural, and ecological roles in rural areas. Residentsin Cijambu Village, Tajungsari District, Sumedang Regency, West Java, usually use bamboo for kite crafts based on local or Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). However, currently, the craft activities of the residents of Cijambu Village in making kites tend to decline. This is due to the reduced kite demand, and the younger generation is less interested in kite-making crafts. As a result, it is difficult for the kite-making industry in Cijambu Village to provide jobs and creates an opportunityfor the villagers to maintain its sustainability. In addition, the decline in the kite-making industry could cause the gradual erosion and subsequent loss of the TEK. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the TEK of Cijambu Village on bamboo species and landraces, the utilization of bamboo for the kite-making industry, and its benefits for rural communities. The method used in this study was qualitative with an ethnobotanical approach; there are 12 informants comprising seven men and five women between the ages of 35 and 70 years involved in this study. The resultof the study showed thata total of 5 landraces and species of bamboo, i.e.: awi tali (Gigantochloa apus (Schult.f.) Kurz), awi bitung (Dendrocalamus asper (Schult.f.) Backerex K. Heyne), awi surat (Gigantochloa verticillata (Willd.) Munro), awi gombong héjo (Gigantochloa verticillata (Willd.) Munro), awi temen (Gigantochloa atter (Hassk.) Kurz),and awi haur konéng (Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. ex J.C.Wendl. var. Striata (Lodd.ex Lindl.) Gamble) in Cijambu Village. The G. apus have predominantly been used for making kites, creating many job opportunities for men and women, and diversifying household income. However, the future sustainability of the kite industry in Cijambu Village tends to be very challenging because the demand for kites is declining occasionally. At the same time, the younger generation is less interested in kites making, and the TEK gradually erodes withinthe younger generation. Thus, it was revealed that the use of bamboo for the kite craft industry had formed biocultural systems, as well as changes in the culture and linguistics of villagers, which can affect the management and conservation of bamboo in rural areas.


This paper proposes a novel test pattern generator (TPG) for built-in self-test. Our method generates multiple single-input change (MSIC) vectors in a pattern, i.e., each vector applied to a scan chain is an SIC vector. A reconfigurable Johnson counter and a scalable SIC counter are developed to generate a class of minimum transition sequences. The proposed TPG is flexible to both the test-per-clock and the test-per-scan schemes. A theory is also developed to represent and analyze the sequences and to extract a class of MSIC sequences. Analysis results show that the produced MSIC sequences have the favorable features of uniform distribution and low input transition density. The performances of the designed TPGs and the circuits under test with 45 nm are evaluated. Simulation results with ISCAS benchmarks demonstrate that MSIC can save test power and impose no more than 7.5% overhead for a scan design. It also achieves the target fault coverage without increasing the test length.


Performance of any tracking algorithm depends upon the model selected to capture the target dynamics. In real world applications, no a priori knowledge about the target motion is available. Moreover, it could be a maneuvering target. The proposed method is able to track maneuvering or nonmaneuvering multiple point targets with large motion (/spl plusmn/20 pixels) using multiple filter bank in an IR image sequence in the presence of clutter and occlusion due to clouds. The use of multiple filters is not new, but the novel idea here is that it uses single-step decision logic to switch over between filters. Our approach does not use any a priori knowledge about maneuver parameters, nor does it exploit a parameterized nonlinear model for the target trajectories. This is in contrast to: (i) interacting multiple model (IMM) filtering which required the maneuver parameters, and (ii) extended Kalman filter (EKF) or unscented Kalman filter (UKF), both of which require a parameterized model for the trajectories. We compared our approach for target tracking with IMM filtering using EKF and UKF for nonlinear trajectory models. UKF uses the nonlinearity of the target model, where as a first order linearization is used in case of the EKF. RMS for the predicted position error (RMS-PPE) obtained using our proposed methodology is significantly less in case of highly maneuvering target.


New U–Pb zircon ion-microprobe ages from the alluvial conglomerates and flood plain sediments of the Botany Bay Group demonstrate that sedimentation occurred at c. 167 Ma, coeval with rift-related silicic volcanism in the northern Antarctic Peninsula. In contrast, rift-related volcanism and sedimentation in the southern Antarctic Peninsula (Latady Basin) occurred at c. 183 Ma. The new data indicate that syn-rift sedimentation and volcanism was diachronous from south to north, consistent with early opening of the Weddell Sea embayment by anti-clockwise rotation of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Mid-Jurassic. A definitive date for the Botany Bay Group floras has important implications for Southern Hemisphere biostratigraphic correlations.


History. The oldest remains of British fossil birds are recorded by Sir Charles Lyell as having been first found in 1858, in the Cambridge Upper Greensand. This stratum still continues the only member of the British Secondary deposits in which the bones of birds have been identified by morphological characters; for though the Rev. Mr. Dennis had previously asserted the occurrence of birds in the Stonesfield Slate, on the evidence of the microscopic structure of osseous tissue, it is safer, in the absence of recognizable bones, to believe that the ornithic structure he detected was found in an ornithosaurian rather than in a true bird. The discovery of bird-bones in the Cambridge Greensand was made by Mr. Lucas Barrett, F.G.S., then Assistant Naturalist to the late Professor Sedgwick in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge; but I am not aware that Mr. Barrett ever published any account of his discovery. The bones are mentioned by Lyell as "the remains of a bird which was rather larger than the common Pigeon, and probably of the order Natatores, and which, like most of the Gull tribe, had well-developed wings. Portions of the metacarpus, metatarsus, tibia, and femur have been detected; and the determinations of Mr. Barrett have been confirmed by Professor Owen." What became of Mr. Barrett's specimens I was never able to find out. They were not in the Woodwardian Museum when I succeeded to Mr. Barrett's duties in 1859; and the whole of the remains to which I


Describes a conic projection image sensor (COPIS) and its application: navigating a mobile robot in a manner that avoids collisions with objects approaching from any direction. The COPIS system acquires an omnidirectional view around the robot, in real-time, with use of a conic mirror. Based on the assumption of constant linear motion of the robot and objects, the objects moving along collision paths are detected by monitoring azimuth changes. Confronted with such objects, the robot changes velocity to avoid collision and determines locations and velocities. >


This paper describes a numerical study of microwave reflectometry for the measurement of turbulent fluctuations in tokamak-like plasmas with a cylindrical geometry. Similarly to what was found previously in plane-stratified plasmas, the results indicate that the characteristics of density fluctuations cannot be uniquely determined from the reflected waves if the latter are allowed to propagate freely to the point of detection, as in standard reflectometry. Again, we find that if the amplitude of fluctuations is below a threshold that is set by the spectrum of poloidal wave numbers, the local characteristics of density fluctuations can be obtained from the phase of the reflected waves when these are collected with a wide aperture antenna, and an image of the cut-off is formed onto an array of phase-sensitive detectors.


Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Computer Science - Software, grade: 1, , course: MS in Project Management, language: English, comment: Dr. Imran Haider Naqvi was the Research Supervisor of this dissertation and he wants to be co-author with me in this publication. , abstract: This research quantified the role of the different factors of rework including project planning (PP), software requirements specifications document quality (SRSDQ), software testing (ST), software requirements management (SRM), software requirements traceability (SRT), maturity of software development life cycle (SDLC) approach (MSDLCA), changing requirements (CR) & scope creep (SC) with rework & project success (PS) using automated software requirements management tools (UseofSRMT). The underlying associations of the above factors of rework in SDLC and UseofSRMT with rework & PS were quantified through a survey conducted in the software houses. The study quantified the magnitude of rework which was increased/decreased by these factors of rework. The study also quantified the magnitude of PS increased/decreased by these factors of rework. This study concluded that UseofSRMT played a moderating role between factors of rework and PS. The study also quantified the mediating role of rework between the factors of rework & PS. The study contributed that rework was avoidable in SDLC. Major causes of unsuccessful software projects were determined. Most effective features of software requirements management tools (SRMT) were considered to determine their role as an effective methodology for PS. PS could never be guaranteed by just achieving project milestones/goals in terms of the triple constraints of time, budget & schedule.


The poster shows the cintent of my essay at the Study Conference "Fortification conference, Memory, Landscape", held on the occasion of the fifty years of activity of the Institute Italian Castle, onlus, 1964-2014, Bologna 27 to 29 november 2014. The conference was organized by the Institute Italian Caste Onlus, from the Department of History Culture Civilization Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna. The essay explores the religious architecture found in Norman castles of Sicily, as an expression of the culture of the time, fully embodied in the specific needs of military architecture. I, especially in the essay studied the Church of Saints Filippo and Giacomo, with its restoration and even with its recent interventions for the reuse and development also designed by the writer.


Analysis of data on the hydrodynamics of swimming by 100 species, ranging in body mass (M) from bacteria to blue whales, leads to a model of animal-induced turbulence in the ocean. Swimming speeds and Reynolds number (Re) are strongly correlated with body mass, both at typical cruising speeds and at escape speeds associated with predator-prey interactions. We find that animals operating at Re > 1000 typically form schools that are concentrated by many orders of magnitude above their average abundance. We calculate the rate of kinetic energy production by 11 representative species of schooling animals ranging in size from euphausiids to whales, and find it to be of the order of 10 -5 W kg -1 , regardless of animal size. Animal-induced turbulence is comparable in magnitude to rates of turbulent energy dissipation (e) that result from major storms. The horizontal length scale (10 to 1000 m) of energy production rate by animal schools is comparable to the observed fine-scale variability in e. We present detailed case studies of 4 species — Atlantic bluefin tuna, Norwegian herring, northern anchovy and Antarctic krill — all of which have schooling behavior that places them within the zone of maximum seasonal stratification where their energy production rate would be 3 to 4 orders of magnitude greater than the background average rate of turbulent energy dissipation. We conclude that schooling animals are an important source of fine-scale turbulent mixing in the ocean, especially in coastal regions during summer.


Due to significant industrial demands toward software systems with increasing complexity and challenging quality requirements, software architecture design has become an important development activity and the research domain is rapidly evolving. In the last decades, software architecture optimization methods, which aim to automate the search for an optimal architecture design with respect to a (set of) quality attribute(s), have proliferated. However, the reported results are fragmented over different research communities, multiple system domains, and multiple quality attributes. To integrate the existing research results, we have performed a systematic literature review and analyzed the results of 188 research papers from the different research communities. Based on this survey, a taxonomy has been created which is used to classify the existing research. Furthermore, the systematic analysis of the research literature provided in this review aims to help the research community in consolidating the existing research efforts and deriving a research agenda for future developments.


Chile began creating a scientific academy in the late nineteenth century. Coming under the umbrella of the state, it shared governmental perspectives and objectives. The state asked science to help augment the country's economic production and social development by modernizing traditional forms of work from the top down. In our article we focus on the relation between science and fishing, examining the vision of scientists and their conflict-ridden dealings with traditional fishermen. This was not a fruitful relationship, and it ended with scientists requesting the delegitimization of fishermen as producers, receivers and encoders of knowledge.


***Please Note: This is a short Guide to Help Protect against Online Theft in the Cyber World - For Beginners - 52 pages*** With so many different cyber-crime activities to watch for, protecting your security and preventing an attack can seem daunting. Fortunately, there are some things everyone can do to reduce the risk of becoming the target of a cyber-attack. The key factor in keeping cloud-based applications secure and reduce the risk of cyber-attack is to understand that security in the cloud should be a shared responsibility. The cloud provider needs to focus on ensuring that security strategies are as stringent as possible.


The introduction of the Asian gypsy moth into novel environments continues with frequent interceptions in North America. There is a concern that these subspecies will pose a greater threat to the forests and urban environments of North America than the established gypsy moths (Lymantria dispardispar L.), due to their greater capacity for female flight. Asian gypsy moth populations vary in many key traits, including female flight capabilities. The potential impacts of female flight, in combination with the other key traits, on the ecology and spread of this insect are first discussed in this communication. This also provides the first review of most of the current literature on the variations in flight capability and flight distance of gypsy moth populations, as well as variation in other traits of concern and the potential methods of identification, with special attention paid to the Asian subspecies Lymantria dispar japonica Motschulsky and Lymantria dispar asiatica Vinkovskij. There are currently good tools for identifying the general origin of introduced gypsy moth populations, but these do not provide enough information to effectively manage introductions. Gypsy moth key traits differ among populations, even within each subspecies of the gypsy moth, so introduction of gypsy moths from other world areas into locations where the gypsy moth is already present could result in unwanted changes in gypsy moth biology. It also appears that the introduction of flight-capable females could enhance a population's dispersal capability and require modifications to management protocols used for flightless females. Therefore, rapid tools to assess key traits in introduced populations are needed to adequately plan for, or deal with, new introductions into novel habitats.


The design and safety evaluation of a geotechnical project is influenced by the shear strength parameters of geo-material. Moment method and linear regression method are the mainly used methods to estimate the shear strength parameters. But moment method is always over estimate the variation of strength parameters due to the smaller sample size, meanwhile the conventional linear regression method cannot obtain the standard deviation. Base on the reliability theory, a new method employing Solver add-in of spreadsheet was developed to calculate the shear strength parameters. The method was simplified by the principle that the shortest distance form origin point to the limit state surface in the normalization space was the reliability index. Four hundred and four samples of direct shear tests of rock mass from many large hydraulic projects in China were analyzed by four statistic methods including the new proposed one. Comparing results of different methods indicated that the new reliability statistic method had good performance than the traditional ways.


Although there are several studies discussing the pre-Neogene development of the Lake Tuz basin, which is the largest terrestrial basin in Turkey, investigations delineating the characteristics of the Neogene and particularly Quaternary period of this basin are quite limited. Whereas studies regarding such periods of the basin are quite informative for both active tectonics and climate change issues that are of significant public concern. In this study, results of field observations on temporal and spatial characteristics of Quaternary deposits in the Lake Tuz Basin and processes controlling these features are presented. For this, as a result of sequence studies conducted in 17 different areas, Quaternary units were described and examined under 12 lithofacies and 5 facies associations. Facies properties imply that tectonism is spatially determinant factor whilst climate is the dominant controlling mechanism in the Quaternary evolution.


With written Swiss German becoming more popular in everyday use, it has become a target for text processing. The absence of a standard orthography and the variety of dialects, however, lead to a vast variation in different spellings which makes this task difficult. We built a system based on weighted transducers that recognizes over 90% of the tokens in certain texts. Weights ensure preferring the best analysis for most words while at the same time allowing for very broad range of spelling variations. Our morphological tagset that we defined for this purpose and lemmas in Standard German open the possibility for further processing. Besides our morphological analyzer and lemmatizer, a morphologically annotated corpus offers new resources for Swiss German and helps spreading our tagset.


The burials and burial customs were analysed in order to learn more
about some social and religious aspects of the Classic lowland Maya.
The Maya did not seem to have buried their dead in cemeteries.
Instead, burials were made beneath, or adjacent to, their homes. However,
buildings that were usually located on the eastern perimeter of residential
plazas were built with the sole intention of housing burials. These are
called household shrines, and were constructed to accommodate interments of
the more eminent inhabitants of these plazas. Residents of the most eminent
wealth and status had their burial reserved for temples. The burials of 9
known, and several suspected, Maya kings have been found in temples. In
almost every instance of a temple and household shrine burial, some sort of
construction, ranging in size from an altar or stair block to an entire
temple, was erected as a memorial. Rituals were then conducted on these
memorials to commemorate the person buried below. This is apparently a
form of ancestor worship or veneration. There are so many buildings and
constructions in ceremonial centres associated with interments that, for
the Maya at least, monumental architecture was related to the veneration
of ancestors.
Evidence also exists for the practice of human sacrifice. Not just
one, but four different forms of sacrifice were found. All four may have
been related to, and involved with, ancestor veneration. This evidence
confirms recent interpretations about sacrifice that were based on ancient
art and iconography.
In total, some 20 different burial customs are identified as being
Pan Maya. Identification of regional customs was more difficult, and
though a few may exist, they are best considered unusually high or low
instances of Pan Maya practices.


Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) result in significant morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Fortunately, recent data suggest as many as 75% of DFU and 60% of lower extremity amputations (LEA) may be preventable. Clinical practice guidelines recommend evidence-based foot temperature monitoring (thermometry) for preventing DFU and its complications in high-risk patients. Despite this, several authors have noted that thermometry is not commonly practiced. This is potentially due to lack of evidence on the accuracy of thermometry in some of the highest-risk cohorts, including those with a recently-healed DFU or with history of LEA. The former may present with ipsilateral inflammation as part of normal healing, while the latter may lack the anatomy required for direct contralateral comparison of temperatures. Whether these concerns affect the accuracy of thermometry needs to be assessed. A recent study suggests that a novel thermometric mat may address some barriers to adoption. The mat was found to predict as many as 97% of non-traumatic plantar DFU with an average lead time of five weeks in a cohort with history of DFU. In the current investigation, we hypothesized no difference in the predictive accuracy of thermometry in two subgroups: those who healed from a DFU fewer than three months before enrolling, and those with a history of partial LEA (Syme amputation or more distal). Of the 129 subjects studied, 31% had recently-healed DFU and 56% had history of LEA. Although no difference in DFU incidence was found in the LEA subgroup, we found significantly higher incidence in those with recently-healed DFU (0.88 vs. 0.63 DFU/subject/year). Importantly, we found no differences in accuracy or lead time in either cohort. These data suggest thermometry is appropriate for monitoring both recently-healed DFU or partial LEA patients. Utilization of thermometry in these high-risk patients may significantly reduce morbidity, mortality, and resource utilization. Disclosure I.L. Gordon: None. A. Nouvong: None. B. Najafi: None. G.M. Rothenberg: Consultant; Self; Podimetrics. B. Petersen: Employee; Self; Podimetrics, Inc.. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Podimetrics, Inc. J.D. Bloom: Employee; Self; Podimetrics, Inc. Board Member; Self; Podimetrics, Inc. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Podimetrics, Inc. R. Frykberg: None.


This study presents a social influence model of open source license choice. For our theoretical foundation, we build on the heterogeneous diffusion model of social influence from the sociology literature. We characterize specific open source licenses as discrete practices that are at risk of being adopted by new open source projects. Specific hypotheses are proposed and tested on a sample of 5,307 open source projects hosted at SourceForge. Our findings suggest the most important factor that determines which license will be adopted by a new project is the type of license chosen by licensors more socially proximate in the social network of a new project's licensor. Moreover, the likelihood that a new open source project adopts a particular license increases when additional similar open source projects have previously adopted such a license and when these projects are large and successful. We also find that project managers with longer tenure in open source environments or who have been members of successful open source projects are less susceptible to social influence. This suggests that project managers who are inexperienced with open source software development or who have contributed to unsuccessful open source projects are most influenced by their social context.


This document carries out a description and characterization of the actions taken by the MiPyMEs (Micro, Small and Medium size companies), which are suppliers of the Regional Residence of Projects Building on Transmission and Transformation of the South East (RRCPTTS, in Spanish) of the Federal Commission of Electricity, which are currently appointed to the Productive Chains of Nafin. The factors reviewed are: Financial Capacity, Human Resources Administration, Technological Resources, Products Quality and services and innovation. The main discoveries reveal that it is required a bigger support from the development banks in order to facilitate the Mipymes an access to financing; developing human resources with the aim of adapting to the borders opening and updating technologies required by the processes and an efficient communication with clients and suppliers, thorough the Internet.


Importance sampling is often used in machine learning when training and testing data come from different distributions. In this paper we propose a new variant of importance sampling that can reduce the variance of importance samplingbased estimates by orders of magnitude when the supports of the training and testing distributions differ. After motivating and presenting our new importance sampling estimator, we provide a detailed theoretical analysis that characterizes both its bias and variance relative to the ordinary importance sampling estimator (in various settings, which include cases where ordinary importance sampling is biased, while our new estimator is not, and vice versa). We conclude with an example of how our new importance sampling estimator can be used to improve estimates of how well a new treatment policy for diabetes will work for an individual, using only data from when the individual used a previous treatment policy.


Faced with the need to teach English to a large number of students, the Universidad de Concepcion, Chile, has created an innovative Communicative English Program using ICT, which is made up of four modules covered in four academic terms. The English program aims to develop integrated linguistic skills with a focus on learning for authentic communication. The program has been implemented in a blended-learning (b-learning) pedagogical model that includes: (a) learners' work with UdeC English Online, software conceived as the backbone of the entire Communicative English Program, (b) online monitoring, (c) faceto-face EFL teacher-led classes, and (d) conversation classes with native speakers of English. The online software is an interactive multimedia environment which houses all the materials and ICT tools that learners need in one central web platform. Some of the core concepts underlying its design are multimodal L2 input exposure, enhanced input, learner-fit content delivery, interaction (human-computer, human-human, and intrapersonal) through computer supported collaborative and individual learning tasks, as well as a more human-like dimension for positive and corrective feedback. This paper describes the elements of the b-learning model, issues about its implementation, and results obtained in the piloting of its first module.


The persistence of phase shifts from coral-dominated to macroalgae-dominated commu- nities following disturbances has been largely attributed to reduction of herbivores and eutrophication on tropical coral reefs. The influence of reduced herbivory and increased nutrients and their combined interactions on the colonization of crustose coralline algae (CCA) and fleshy algae onto settlement tiles was studied for effects on community structure. Cages were used to manipulate herbivory, and slow- release fertilizer was used for nutrient enrichment. The responses of the following variables were mea- sured at 2 adjacent reefs in Guam, Mariana Islands: percentage cover of CCA, fleshy algal biomass, coral recruitment, and sediment load. Fleshy algal biomass and sediment were greatest on tiles where herbivores were excluded, whereas CCA were most abundant on tiles exposed to herbivores. Nutri- ents did not have a significant effect on fleshy algae; however, CCA had a lower level of increase in re- sponse to increased nutrients at 1 site. Coral recruitment was low; therefore, preferential settlement to substratum type was indeterminable. This study demonstrates that herbivory, in particular, can have a marked effect on the initial composition of the benthic community, even over a relatively short time span. Moreover, the inverse relationship between CCA and both fleshy algae and sediment has impli- cations for the recruitment of organisms with reliance on CCA.


OBJECTIVES
The authors hypothesized that a new strategy, termed the independent-capacity protocol (ICP), which was defined as primary stabilization at the emergency department (ED) and utilization of community resources via transfer to local hospitals, would reduce ED overcrowding without requiring additional hospital resources.

METHODS
This is a before-and-after trial that included all patients who visited an urban, tertiary care ED in Korea from July 2006 to June 2008. To improve ED throughput, introduction of the ICP gave emergency physicians (EPs) more responsibility and authority over patient disposition, even when the patients belonged to another specific clinical department. The ICP utilizes the ED as a temporary, nonspecific place that cares for any patient for a limited time period. Within 48 hours, EPs, associated specialists, and transfer coordinators perform secondary assessment and determine patient disposition. If the hospital is full and cannot admit these patients after 48 hours, the EP and transfer coordinators move the patients to other appropriate community facilities. We collected clinical data such as sex, age, diagnosis, and treatment. The main outcomes included ED length of stay (LOS), the numbers of admissions to inpatient wards, and the mortality rate.

RESULTS
A total of 87,309 patients were included. The median number of daily patients was 114 (interquartile range [IQR] = 104 to 124) in the control phase and 124 (IQR = 112 to 135) in the ICP phase. The mean ED LOS decreased from 15.1 hours (95% confidence interval [CI] = 14.8 to 15.3) to 13.4 hours (95% CI = 13.2 to 13.6; p < 0.001). The mean LOS in the emergency ward decreased from 4.5 days (95% CI = 4.4 to 4.6 days) to 3.1 days (95% CI = 3.0 to 3.2 days; p < 0.001). The percentage of transfers from the ED to other hospitals decreased from 3.5% to 2.5% (p < 0.001). However, transfers from the emergency ward to other hospitals increased from 2.9% to 8.2% (p < 0.001). Admissions to inpatient wards from the ED were significantly reduced, and admission from the emergency ward did not change. The ED mortality and hospital mortality rates did not change (p = 0.15 and p = 0.10, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
After introduction of the ICP, ED LOS decreased without an increase in hospital capacity.


Although Sr/Ca ratios in abiogenic calcite are strongly controlled by precipitation rates, such a kinetic effect has never been demonstrated in calcitic bivalve shells. Therefore, we report Sr/Ca ratios together with daily growth rates in the calcitic shells of four individuals of the bivalve Pecten maximus (age class I). Ratios of Sr/Ca were found to be variable among individuals that grew at the same location, illustrating that vital effects dominate over environmental controls. Although daily growth rate was correlated with shell Sr/Ca ratios, it explained only half of the Sr/Ca variations. However, daily shell surface area increment, an estimation of the total quantity of carbonate precipitated for a given time, explained 74% of the Sr/Ca variability in the shells of P. maximus. This proves, for the first time in a calcitic bivalve, that shell Sr/Ca partitioning is mainly controlled by kinetic effects. The Sr/Ca ratio should therefore be tested as a potential proxy of calcification rate in modern or fossil calcitic biocarbonates.


Active ion (NaCl) transport across isolated frog skin is discussed in relation to sodium and potassium composition and to O3 consumption of skin. A distinction is made between processes in skin related to "unidirectional active ion transport" and processes related to "maintenance electrolyte equilibrium;" i.e., ionic composition of skin. Several metabolic inhibitors were found that could be used in separating maintenance electrolyte equilibrium from unidirectional active ion transport. Fluoroacetate (up to 1 X 10-M/liter) did not affect maintenance electrolyte equilibrium, but severely diminished the rate of active ion transport. This could also be accomplished with azide and diethyl malonate when 1 X 10 -3 molar concentrations were used. When applied in higher concentrations, these two inhibitors, and several others, diminished active ion transport, but this was associated with changes in maintenance electrolyte equilibrium (gain of Na + by and loss of K + from skin). Similar observations were made when skins were subjected to K+-deficient media. Mersalyl and theophylline, in low concentrations, stimulated active ion transport without leading to changes in maintenance electrolyte equilibrium. Inhibition of'active ion transport was found accompanied by decrease, increase, and unaltered over-all 03 consumption, depending on the kind of chemical agent used. A provisional scheme of the mechanism of unidirectional active ion transport is proposed. I t is conceived as a process of metabolically supported ion exchange adsorption, involving a carrier, forming complexes with K + and Na +, a trigger, K + ions, and two spatially separated metabolic pathways.


The coenzyme B(12) production pathway in Lactobacillus reuteri has been deduced using a combination of genetic, biochemical and bioinformatics approaches. The coenzyme B(12) gene cluster of Lb. reuteri CRL1098 has the unique feature of clustering together the cbi, cob and hem genes. It consists of 29 ORFs encoding the complete enzymic machinery necessary for de novo biosynthesis. Transcriptional analysis showed it to be expressed as two tandem transcripts of approximately 22 and 4 kb, carrying cobD, cbiABCDETFGHJ, cobA/hemD, cbiKLMNQOP, sirA, hemACBL, and cobUSC, hemD, cobT, respectively. Both transcripts appear to be similarly regulated, and under the conditions assayed are induced in the late-exponential growth phase. Evidence for a regulatory mechanism of negative feedback inhibition by vitamin B(12) itself was observed. Comparative genomics analysis of the coding sequences showed them to be most similar to those coding for the anaerobic coenzyme B(12) pathways previously characterized in a few representatives of the genera Listeria and Salmonella. This contrasts with the trusted species phylogeny and suggests horizontal gene transfer of the B(12) biosynthesis genes. G+C content and codon adaptation index analysis is suggestive that the postulated transfer of these genes was not a recent event. Additional comparative genomics and transcriptional analysis of the sequences acquired during this study suggests a functional link between coenzyme B(12) biosynthesis and reuterin production, which might be implicated in Lb. reuteri's success in colonizing the gastrointestinal tract. This information on gene organization, gene transcription and gene acquisition is relevant for the development of (fermented) foods and probiotics enriched in B(12).


Using lifelogging tools, digital artifacts can be collected
continuously and passively throughout our day. These may
include a stream of images recorded passively using tools such as the Microsoft SenseCam; documents, emails and webpages accessed; texts messages and mobile activity; and context sensing to uncover the current location and proximal
individuals. The wealth of information such an archive contains on our personal life history provides us with the opportunity to review, reflect and reminisce upon our past experience. However, the complexity, volume and multimodal nature of such collections creates a barrier to such activities. We are currently exploring the potential of digital narratives formed from these collections as a means to overcome these challenges. By successfully reducing the content to that most appropriate to the story, and by then presenting it in a coherent and usable manner, we can hope to better enable reflection. The means by which content reduction and presentation should occur is investigated through card sorting activities and probe sessions which nine participants engaged in. The initial results are
discussed, as well as the opportunity, as seen in these sessions, for lifelog-based stories to provide utility in personal reflection and reminiscence.


Amphipod crustaceans in freshwater springs offer excellent opportunities for testing hypotheses of life-history ecology and evolution. In this study, several hypotheses were tested regarding variation in brood mass, brood size (number of embryos per brood) and individual embryo mass within and among populations of Gammarus minus in ten cold springs in central Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Brood mass and brood size showed strong relationships with maternal body mass both within and among populations. Most of the relationships between brood mass and maternal mass were isometric or nearly so, as predicted by the hypothesis that available body volume within a confining exoskeleton is the major factor causing body-size scaling of reproductive investment in amphipods. However, as expected from optimal offspring-investment theory, embryo mass was usually unrelated to maternal mass and its variation was much less than that of brood mass and brood size. The effects of other factors were assessed by adjusting each reproductive trait to maternal mass (designated by the term relative). As predicted by life-history theory, relative embryo mass and number were negatively correlated among populations. However, such trade-offs were usually absent within populations. Relative embryo mass was significantly greater during winter than summer in all four populations sampled, though varied seasonal effects occurred on relative brood mass and brood size. This seasonal variation in offspring size was unexpected, because in other amphipods it has usually been attributed to changes in water temperature, which varied little during the year in the study springs. Other potential causes of this variation are seasonal changes in food availability and watereress coverage. Relative brood mass, brood size and embryo mass varied significantly among the ten populations sampled. This variation was independent of differences in water chemistry among the springs. However, predation and watercress coverage appeared to have significant effects on reproductive investment in G. minus. Amphipods in springs with watercress and sculpin predators produced relatively many small eggs, whereas those in springs without watercress and sculpin predators produced relatively few large eggs. Eggs of intermediate size and number were produced in springs with watercress, but no sculpin predators. In addition, female size at maturation was smaller, and the slopes of brood mass and embryo mass regressed on maternal mass were steeper in predator-rich vs. predator-poor springs. It is suggested that these patterns are the result of habitat differences in age-specific growth and mortality rates, as predicted by life-history theory. However, it is not known whether the interpopulation differences in offspring investment are the result of evolutionary or phenotypically plastic responses to environmental variation.


Innovations in financial services continuously influence the scope of financial intermediation and the nature of competition between intermediaries. This paper examines the optimal exercise of strategic real options to invest in such an innovation, Internet banking technology, within a two-stage game, parameterized by the distribution of bank size and uncertainty over the profitability of investment, and empirically tests the results on a novel data set. Unlike traditional options, in which the distribution of the future value of the underlying asset is exogenous and the timing of exercise affects only the return to the option holder, the timing of the exercise of real options in a strategic context allows the option holder to manipulate the distribution of returns to all players. The value of the strategic investment option in our model, as a consequence, depends on both expected future profits as well as the variance of those profits. Expected profits to an entrant depend, in equilibrium, on its size, as measured by existing market share (concentration) or total assets, relative to its rivals. Conditional on the degree of uncertainty, larger banks should, as a consequence, exercise their options earlier than smaller banks, for purely strategic advantages, and act as market leaders in the provision of Internet banking services. Like ordinary options, however, the value of the strategic investment option to both large and small banks increases in uncertainty, implying that early exercise will be more likely the more information is available about potential demand. We test these hypotheses on investment in Internet banking services with data from a sample of 1,618 commercial banks in the tenth Federal Reserve District during 1999. Evidence indicates that relative bank size, as measured by either market share or asset size, positively influences the likelihood of entry into Internet banking, and trend-adjusted variation in income per person (a proxy for uncertainty of demand) negatively influences the likelihood of entry into Internet banking. In addition, market concentration of a bank's competitive rivals has a negative relationship with the likelihood of entering the market for Internet banking services. These relations are evident in both bivariate analysis and in multivariate logit regression analysis.


Variceal bleeding is one of the most fatal complications of portal hypertension and its mortality rate is much higher than that of other types of gastrointestinal bleeding. Combined endoscopic therapy with vasoactive agents and prophylactic antibiotics is the conventional treatment but recurrent bleeding still occurs in 10%–15% of patients, leading to multiple endoscopies, multiple transfusions, and death. The use of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) is known to be highly effective in controlling the bleeding by reducing portal pressure but it does lead almost inevitably to hepatic encephalopathy. Therefore, the conventional recommendation is to continue with pharmacotherapy combined with endoscopic treatment of bleeding varices and use TIPS only as rescue therapy. There is always a dilemma that TIPS prevents bleeding but results in comatose patients due to hepatic failure, and hence does not improve survival. So, what is the best timing for TIPS? A recent randomized controlled trial attempted to address this question. Patients with Child's B or C cirrhosis presenting with variceal bleeding were first treated with endoscopic band ligation (EBL) or endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS) and vasoactive agents such as terlipressin, somatostatin or octreotide. Patients were then randomizedwithin 24 hours to either continue with pharmacotherapy plus EBL or undergo early TIPS? In the pharmacotherapy-EBL group, patients received a nonselective beta-blocker (either propranolol or nadolol) and EBL scheduled every 10–14 days until all varices were obliterated. In the early TIPS group, patients received TIPS within 72 hours after the initial therapy. In a median follow-up period of 16 months, re-bleeding or failure to control bleeding occurred much more frequently in the pharmacotherapy-EBL therapy group (14 out of 31 patients) than in the early TIPS group (1 out of 32 patients) (P < 0.001). More importantly, mortality was also significantly higher in the pharmacotherapy-EBL therapy group (12 out of 31 patients) than in the early TIPS group (4 out of 31 patients) (P < 0.01). Seven patients in the pharmacotherapy-EBL group received TIPS as rescue therapy but four died. Interestingly in this study, more patients were reported to have hepatic encephalopathy in the pharmacotherapy-EBL group (40%) than that in the early TIPS group (28%), although the difference did not reach statistical significance (absolute difference of 12%, 95% confidence interval [CI] –18 to 40; P = 0.13). With all of the parameters favoring early TIPS, the authors concluded that in patients with cirrhosis who present with acute variceal bleeding and at high risk of treatment failure, the early use of TIPS is recommended to reduce treatment failure and mortality. The result of this study is contradictory to the conventional belief that TIPS reduces bleeding but increases hepatic encephalopathy and hence confers no improvement in survival [2,3]. The authors point out that, unlike previous studies, which used bare stents [3], they used the e-PTFE (expanded polytetrafluoroethylene)-covered stents and, hence, expected to have less TIPS dysfunction and recurrence of complications related to portal hypertension. In previous studies, the study design actually precluded the possibility of demonstrating the benefit of TIPS in these highrisk patients. In the García-Pagán study, the decision to perform TIPS was based on the measurement of hepatic venous pressure gradient, a test that is not widely available especially under emergency conditions. However, if this can be done, it serves an important function to identify the high-risk patients that might benefit most from TIPS.


Self-driving cars are in continuous development and they will give us a safer and most powerful way of moving. The research, in the autonomous vehicles field, is working all the time in order to meet all the requirements in terms of real-time, safety and traffic congestion optimization. To do these, three different development areas are the most crucial: environment perception for mapping and localization, planning and decision-making for the behavioral part and vehicle control in order to give the vehicle the proper input. The environment perception is one of the critical parts because the car has to know what there is in its surroundings: if there something moving like other cars, bikes or people and if there are some fixed obstacles to avoid the collision with them. This is crucial also because the localization of a vehicle cannot be done using only the Global Positioning System or the Inertia Measurements, thus it becomes more and more challenging to have a really good estimate of the mapping environment with high precision. In this thesis work, I proposed a SLAM approach using data coming from the LiDAR sensor. The main strategy is to use a scan-matching algorithm in order to give to the tracker the transformation between consecutive scans, that computes the relative position and then map the entire car surrounding into a single map with the track of the vehicle trajectory. This is done thanks to the Iterative Closest Point algorithm that is a powerful point-set registration process that gives excellent results in terms of accuracy, compared to other methods, for the estimate of the transformation from a moving scan to a reference one. The overall SLAM method has been carried out taking a cue from some other techniques and testing time to time different parameters setups: the car can be larger or smaller, the perceived environment can change based on the road we are on and sometimes we need improved real-time response. The boundary construction problem is strongly related to the environment perception because the car has to know also where it can go without making any damage to things or people, and what the behavioral planner has to command to the controller in order to make a turn or avoid an obstacle. With my work for this part, the vehicle has a free area in which it can move defined, in fact, through the lines of the boundaries obtained thanks to an interpolation method. The idea is to discretize the processed scan into shapes and then obtain the front free space of the vehicle. This boundary construction process is entirely made through point cloud processing and shapes analyzing. The overall coding and algorithms have been developed using MATLAB and related toolbox and they have been tested with some experimental data took with a Velodyne VLP-16 LiDAR.


We investigate the effect of the optimized aging processing on magnetism and mechanical property of the sintered Dy-doped Nd–Fe–B permanent magnet. The experimental results show that the magnetism, especially intrinsic coercivity, of the optimized aged Dy-doped Nd–Fe–B magnet is more excellent than that of the sintered one, but the former's strength and hardness are lower than that of the latter. It was observed that the optimized aged Dy-doped Nd–Fe–B magnet have more uniform grain size, thinner (Nd, Dy)-rich boundary phase. By means of the EBSD technology, the number of larger angle grain boundaries in the optimized aged Dy-doped Nd–Fe–B magnet is more than that of the sintered one. The reasons for the increased intrinsic coercivity and decreased mechanical properties of the optimized aged Dy-doped Nd–Fe–B magnet are also discussed.


HYPOTHESIS
Liver transplantation (LT) has become the optimal treatment for stages I and II hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Based on our 20-year experience, changes in staging, techniques, and patient selection have improved survival over the past 20 years. Herein, we determine if pre-LT treatment for HCC alters the long-term outcomes in patients with HCC.

DESIGN
Outcomes study.

SETTING
Tertiary referral center.

PATIENTS
We retrospectively reviewed prospectively collected data in a cohort of 92 patients who underwent LT for HCC between 1983 and 2003.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Patient demographics, tumor stage in the explant liver, patient survival, and tumor recurrence data were analyzed.

RESULTS
The average follow-up was 1052 (range, 0-6491) days. The average tumor size was 3.6 cm; 40% of tumors were multifocal and 60% unifocal. Of the 92 patients, 26% were classified as stage I; 42%, stage II; 24%, stage III; and 8%, stage IV. The overall 5-year survival rate was 50%, the 10-year survival rate was 32%, and the 15-year survival rate was 27%. Improvements in staging in the last 5 years reduced the number of patients with stages III and IV HCC from 39% to 19% and increased the 5-year survival rate to 69%. Tumor recurrence was relatively rare (13%); however, recurrence resulted in a poor prognosis (75% mortality rate; P = .02). The average time to recurrence was 458 (range, 179-1195) days.

CONCLUSIONS
Liver transplantation for HCC results in excellent long-term survival for patients with stages I and II HCC, with relatively few patients dying from tumor recurrence. Improvements in preoperative staging have resulted in increased 5-year survival rates. Further refinements in pre-LT staging may increase the effectiveness of LT for HCC.


Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide a model solution for auditing cultural institutions. The proposed methodology consists of defining audit criteria in key management areas and giving them appropriate importance. An additional objective was to create a functional benchmarking tool that allows data to be collected to compare similar organisations in their different areas of management, to seek optimal practices and treat them as a model, and to encourage other institutions to implement them. Design/Methodology/Approach: Audit activities in cultural institutions were carried out with the use of techniques related to management audit, operational audit, performance audit and compliance audit. Findings: The methodology has been developed in relation to eighteen areas of management, including strategic and systemic management, leadership, process and project management, and innovation and creativity. Practical Implications: By standardising the audit criteria of the cultural institutions, a scientific approach has been developed to adopt best practices in the field of management and enforcement sciences to create a common language for the description and modelling of the organisation, as well as to create and update common databases, which are the basis for synergies - cooperation and communication. Original/value: The "Guide on the audit of cultural institution", developed on the basis of research, is a proprietary and thus original solution adapted to the specific characteristics of given institutions, allowing self-assessment and the search for their own strategic direction.


The DAQ group of the future ATLAS experiment has developed a prototype system based on the Trigger/DAQ architecture described in the ATLAS Technical Proposal to support studies of the full system functionality, architecture as well as available hardware and software technologies. One sub-system of this prototype is the back-end which encompasses the software needed to configure, control and monitor the DAQ, but excludes the processing and transportation of physics data. The back-end consists of a number of components including run control, configuration databases and message reporting system. The software has been developed using standard, external software technologies such as OO databases and CORBA. It has been ported to several C++ compilers and operating systems including Solaris, Linux, WNT and LynxOS. This paper gives an overview of the back-end software, its performance, scalability and current status.


Recent scholarship in commercial law has considered whether ambiguities of contractual language and contractual gaps are best resolved through a "plain meaning" rule or a strategy that incorporates trade custom. The debate is difficult to resolve by asking which strategy minimizes total contracting costs, because different strategies reduce different elements of those costs. In this brief essay, written for a conference on The Empirical and Theoretical Underpinnings of the Law Merchant, I suggest a taxonomy of the conditions under which trade usages would be sufficiently precise, observable, and verifiable as to warrant their incorporation. I apply the conclusions from that analysis to an area that doctrinal law, counterintuitively, implies is appropriate for the application of the incorporation strategy - international sales transactions governed by the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, or CISG. The complexity of international sales and diversity of transactors suggests that this is a peculiar arena for the incorporation strategy. Nevertheless, I conclude that the conditions for adoption of trade usages under the CISG are surprisingly ripe, and, as currently applied by courts, the incorporation strategy does not generate the substantial costs attributed to it. I suggest that this occurs, in large part, because adjudicators have tended to entertain claims of custom only where the alleged trade usage conditions on variables that are both observable and verifiable.


The people of developing countries, taking Nigeria as a case in hand are more of consumers of foreign technology than producers. This is affecting their gross domestic product (GDP). Many remain in poverty as they continue to borrow from the developed countries. Technological development is a function of creativity. The developed countries are quite aware of this and they have vigorously taken creative activities as priority. Observed is the trend that the modern Nigeria has lost the institution of good craftsmanship with the disappearance of the master craftsmen in art and design who patiently paid infinite attention to detail and perfection in the execution of their works. Since the present generation of children is born into a design-conscious and tool-using age, there is the need for creativity to be encouraged to foster from the home. This paper then argues the vital need for parents to expose their wards to art and design education, which the children need for better discovery of themselves and the needs of the world around them.

 Key words: Scientific, tell-and-show, clay, traditional craftsmanship, creative modeling.


RATIONALE— Phenols are an important class of analytes, for example as bioactive environmental contaminants. Towards a goal of improving their detection by MALDI-TOF-MS or MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS, we studied their derivatization with 2-sulfobenzoic anhydride (SBA). We chose SBA for this purpose since it is commercially available, inexpensive, and forms an anionic derivative. METHODS— In selected conditions developed here for phenols, a reaction mixture of one or more of such compounds in acetonitrile containing SBA and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) is evaporated to a solid, heated at 60°C for 1 h, redissolved in 50% acetonitrile containing matrix, spotted onto a MALDI target, and subjected to negative ion MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS. RESULTS— While conventional (solution-phase) reaction of 4-phenylphenol (model analyte) with SBA and DMAP only gave a 47% yield of SBA-tagged 4-phenylphenol, evaporative derivatization as above gave a 96% yield, and 25 pmol (4.3 ng) of 4-phenylphenol could be detected in this way by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS at S/N = 260, whereas even 1 nmol of the nonderivatized phenol was not detected in the absence of derivatization. A wide range of responses was observed when a mixture of 15 phenols was derivatized, with the higher responses coming from phenols with a p K a value above 9. Without derivatization, phenols with p K a values below 5 were the most readily detected. CONCLUSION— Evaporative with SBA convenient reagent) the detection of phenols with relatively high p K a values (above 9) by negative ion MALDI-TOF-MS, and accomplish this in the absence of post-derivatization reaction cleanup.


This study attempts to describe and analyse the effects of a political boundary on the geographical landscape in part of West Africa Initially pre-colonial conditions are considered - especially the political situation and pattern of indigenous political groupings Secondly, the boundary is described in relation to the factors which influenced its conception and ultimate creation and this is followed by a description of the line finally delimited to separate the two colonies of Dahomey and Nigeria The major section of the thesis deals with the various effects of the boundary By forming the edge of the state the boundary acted to some degree as a negative influence in the landscape and a "frontier zone" developed in relation to different state functions Within the frontier zone the boundary had a positive local influence on some aspects of communications, population movement and rural economies producing what has been termed a "border landscape" Population movement and trade were considered on a larger scale in both legal and illegal aspects while an attempt at measuring the restrictive influence of the boundary was made by applying the interactance hypothesis to movement of traffic on relevant boundary routes A further aspect of the boundary effects deals with the boundary separating two colonial systems At each side a colonial situation imposed from outside influenced, in different ways and to a varying degree, every sphere of the economic, social, political and religious life of the indigenous population Along the boundary, where the two colonial systems met, an apparent and measurable division developed in the geographical landscape


The ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods ANU COVID-19 Impact Monitoring Survey Program asked the same group of respondents about their vaccine intentions in August 2020 and January 2021. The paper provides data on the vaccine willingness in Australia as of January 2021 and how this changed since August 2020 both at the national level and for particular individuals. The paper provides estimates of how vaccine willingness has changed for different population sub-groups and the individual level characteristics which are associated with changes in vaccine willingness. We find an overall decrease in vaccine willingness, with the biggest decline being those who would definitely get a vaccine as of August 2020 but said they would only probably get a vaccine as of January 2021. We also look at the factors associated with vaccine willingness, as well as the factors associated with change through time.


In an increasingly crowded world reconciling environmental 'conservation' with the 'sustainable use' of natural resources is now our greatest challenge. Nature conservation has traditionally focused on protecting iconic and important areas of biodiversity from human exploitation through the establishment of National Parks and World Heritage Areas. While this is essential, a narrow focus on protected area conservation risks overlooking local needs in areas where people and natural systems must co-exist. This book addresses some key questions for the sustainable use of natural environments: What should be conserved and who decides? Is 'use' compatible with conservation, and under what circumstances? Are trade-offs between conservation and development necessary? How do we find those elusive 'win-win' solutions? 'This book covers an extraordinary range of issues in a way that is both compelling and readable. Can there be a more important topic?' - Robyn Williams, ABC Science Unit. 'The challenge for all of us now is to let go of old paradigms of conservation and land use that have seen wildlife become increasingly unsafe in the wild and lands degrade, to embrace instead a new order of strategies that will simultaneously optimise conservation, ecosystem services and human well-being. A good place to start would be those whose visions are showcased in this excellent publication.' - Professor Mike Archer, Evolution of Earth & Life Systems Research Group, University of New South Wales.


Smads mediate activin, transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta), and bone morphogenetic protein signaling from receptors to nuclei. According to the current model, activated activin/TGFbeta receptors phosphorylate the carboxyl-terminal serines of Smad2 and Smad3 (SSMS-COOH); phosphorylated Smad2/3 oligomerizes with Smad4, translocates to the nucleus, and modulates transcription of defined genes. To test key features of this model in detail, we explored the construction of constitutively active Smad2 mutants. To mimic phosphorylated Smad2, we made two Smad2 mutants with acidic amino acid substitutions of carboxyl-terminal serines: Smad2-2E (Ser465, 467Glu) and Smad2-3E (Ser464, 465, 467Glu). The mutants enhanced basal transcriptional activity in a mink lung epithelial cell line, L17. In a Smad4-deficient cell line, SW480.7, Smad2-2E did not affect basal signaling; however, cotransfection with full-length Smad4, but not transfection of Smad4 alone, resulted in enhanced basal transcriptional activity, suggesting that the constitutively active Smad2 mutant also requires Smad4 for function. In vitro protein interaction analysis revealed that Smad2-2E bound more tightly to Smad4 than did wild-type Smad2; dissociation constants were 270 +/- 66 nM for wild-type Smad2:Smad4 complexes and 79 +/- 18 nM for Smad2-2E:Smad4 complexes. Determination of the subcellular localization of Smad2 revealed that a greater percentage of Smad2-2E was localized in the nucleus than wild-type Smad2. These results suggest that Smad2 phosphorylation results in both tighter binding to Smad4 and increased nuclear concentration; those changes may be responsible for transcriptional activation by Smad2.


Oxygen consumption from sulphide mine tailings was measured under a partial thermal granular cover in a Northern Canada tailings storage facility. The reclamation concept for the filtered-pressed tailings uses permafrost to maintain the tailings in a permanent frozen state by use of a thermal granular cover. The decrease in the oxygen concentration in a sealed chamber at the tailings – cover interface allowed to calculate the oxygen flux at the tailings surface using fundamental gas diffusion laws. The average measured oxygen flux at the tailings surface was 47 moles / m2 / year, an 83% decrease over previous data collected on uncovered tailings. Despite the decrease in the oxidation rate, oxidation still takes place under the partial cover. This initial use of the testing apparatus will allow refinement of the testing method for future measurement campaigns. iii OXYGEN CONSUMPTION IN A NORTHERN CANADA TAILINGS STORAGE FACILITY


Hydrogen diffusion across ${D}_{B}$ steps on Si(001) surfaces is investigated by means of variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and first-principles calculations. Experimentally, the hopping rate for diffusion from the step sites to the Si dimers of the upper terrace was found to be more than one order of magnitude higher than that for diffusion to the lower terrace. This clear preference, opposite to the trend for the respective binding energies, is explained by first-principles calculations that identify a metastable intermediate to be responsible for the unexpected lowering of the energy barrier for upward diffusion.


Background Funding of sexual health services will move from PCTs to local authorities, so there is an urgent need to understand the current spend on sexual health (SH), and implement existing evidence to deliver cost-effective services. Aims The aims of this project are to estimate the spend on, and demand for, sexual health services in the South West region, to support local commissioners in evaluating their spend, to identify priorities for investment using local data, and to enable preparations for transferring commissioning responsibility to the local authority. Methods Data collection templates were developed to capture the commissioning spend and relevant sexual health data needed to estimate outcomes including the total spend per trust and the spend per adult. This was supplemented by routine data. Each area was analysed separately, and averaged across the South West. Results Overall the total SH spend in the South West was £46.4 million in 2010/2011, excluding HIV treatment. Over half was allocated to GUM and SRH attendances. Chlamydia screening activities accounted for 8% of the total spend. The average SH spend per person aged 15–44 years was £24 (range £14–£38). There were 142 293 chlamydia screens carried out at an average cost of £27 per screen and 8,825 chlamydia diagnoses costing £437 per positive identified. There were substantial increases in the availability of long-acting reversible contraceptives and the availability of over the counter emergency contraception during the study period. Discussion There was large variation between PCTs in the relative spend on different services according to local organisation and their progress towards full integration of sexual health services. Areas with higher spend tended to have higher burden of disease, and were more likely to be urban. This project brings together the total spend on sexual health and population need and will help PCTs in their transition to local authority funding.


Previous analysis of common exam questions in introductory physics at Florida International University has revealed differences in the number and type of epistemic games played by students in their solutions. Separated by course format (lecture/lab, lecture/lab/recitation, or inquiry-based), student work also shows varying use of multiple representational tools. Here we examine representation use in more detail to establish a descriptive picture of representation use across multiple instructors and course formats. We then compare these profiles with the epistemic games played by students, asking whether the same epistemic game shows the same pattern of representational tools across course types. We find that patterns of representation use vary by course format, but there are generally not clear representational "signatures" to uniquely identify epistemic games.


This study was conducted to investigate the mechanical properties and water absorption of geopolymer modified bitumen. Modification of 80/100 penetration grade bitumen with the 3, 5, 7 and 9% geopolymer (by weight of bitumen) were conducted using a melt blending technique. The study of mechanical properties of geopolymer modified bitumen was conducted using impact and hardness tests. On the other hand, water absorbed behaviour of bitumen was investigated using water absorption test. The results showed that the modification of base bitumen using geopolymer has increased the strength and hardness of binder up to 108% and 82% compared to the base bitumen. The absorption amount recorded by geopolymer modified bitumen can be considered as acceptable. This study found that 5% geopolymer is the optimum content of the modifier. Therefore, geopolymer can be considered as an alternative material to modify the mechanical properties of bitumen.


Walrasian equilibrium is a prominent market equilibrium notion, but rarely exists in markets with indivisible items.
 We introduce a new market equilibrium notion, called two-price equilibrium (2PE). A 2PE is a relaxation of Walrasian equilibrium, where instead of a single price per item, every item has two prices: one for the item's owner and a (possibly) higher one for all other buyers.
 Thus, a 2PE is given by a tuple (S,p_high,p_low) of an allocation S and two price vectors p_high,p_low, where every buyer i is maximally happy with her bundle S_i, given prices p_low for items in S_i and prices p_high for all other items.
 2PE generalizes previous market equilibrium notions, such as conditional equilibrium, and is related to relaxed equilibrium notions like endowment equilibrium.
 We define the discrepancy of a 2PE --- a measure of distance from Walrasian equilibrium --- as the sum of differences p_high_j-p_low_j over all items (normalized by social welfare).
 We show that the social welfare degrades gracefully with the discrepancy; namely, the social welfare of a 2PE with discrepancy d is at least a fraction 1/d+1 of the optimal welfare.
 We use this to establish welfare guarantees for markets with subadditive valuations over identical items.
 In particular, we show that every such market admits a 2PE with at least 1/7 of the optimal welfare.
 This is in contrast to Walrasian equilibrium or conditional equilibrium which may not even exist.
 Our techniques provide new insights regarding valuation functions over identical items, which we also use to characterize instances that admit a WE.


In this paper, we propose a novel variable bit rate (VBR) controller for real-time H.264/scalable video coding (SVC) applications. The proposed VBR controller relies on the fact that consecutive pictures within the same scene often exhibit similar degrees of complexity, and consequently should be encoded using similar quantization parameter (QP) values for the sake of quality consistency. In order to prevent unnecessary QP fluctuations, the proposed VBR controller allows for just an incremental variation of QP with respect to that of the previous picture, focusing on the design of an effective method for estimating this QP variation. The implementation in H.264/SVC requires to locate a rate controller at each dependency layer (spatial or coarse grain scalability). In particular, the QP increment estimation at each layer is computed by means of a radial basis function (RBF) network that is specially designed for this purpose. Furthermore, the RBF network design process was conceived to provide an effective solution for a wide range of practical real-time VBR applications for scalable video content delivery. In order to assess the proposed VBR controller, two real-time application scenarios were simulated: mobile live streaming and Internet protocol television broadcast. It was compared to constant QP encoding and a recently proposed constant bit rate (CBR) controller for H.264/SVC. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves remarkably consistent quality, outperforming the reference CBR controller in the two scenarios for all the spatio-temporal resolutions considered.


In this paper, following a very recent and new approach of [1] and [2] we further generalize recently introduced summability methods in [10] (where ideals of N were used to extend certain important summability methods) and introduce new notions, namely, I-statistical convergence of order α and I-lacunary statistical convergence of order α, where 0 < α < 1 for sequences of sets. We mainly investigate their relationship and also make some observations about these classes and in the way try to give a proof of theorem which is not proved in [30]. The study leaves a lot of interesting open problems.


The recovery of 800 documents in the eleven caves on the north-west shores of the Dead Sea is one of the most sensational archaeological discoveries in the Holy Land to date. These three volumes, the very best of critical scholarship, demonstrate in detail how the scrolls have revolutionised our knowledge of the text of the Bible, the character of Second Temple Judaism, and the Jewish beginnings of Christianity. This three-volume set is a must-read for scholars interested in the Jewish origin of Christianity.


In order to derive reliable protein networks it has recently been suggested that the combination of information from both gene and protein level is required. In this thesis a combination of gene expression and protein chip analysis was performed when constructing protein networks. Proteins with high affinity to the same substrates and encoded by genes with high correlation is here thought to constitute reliable protein networks. The protein networks derived are unfortunately not as reliable as were hoped for. According to the tests performed, the method derived in this thesis does not perform more than slightly better than chance. However, the poor results can depend on the data used, since mismatching and shortage of data has been evident.