background and objective: neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of meningitis and sepsis worldwide. the factor h binding protein (fhbp) is a key virulence factor of neisseria meningitidis that is able to selectively bind to human factor h, the key regulator of the alternative complement pathway, which it has important implications for meningococcal pathogene- sis and vaccine design. the aim...

I have known Scott Armstrong for a quarter of a century. He has been my teacher, collaborator and friend. He is an iconoclastic thinker, a passionate and persistent scholar, and a warm human being. He is one of only two members of the International Institute of Forecasters (IIF) who has attended every single International Symposium on Forecasting. His contributions to the Institute, the two jou...

On Delay-Sensitive Communication Over Wireless Systems. (May 2008) Lingjia Liu, B.S., Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China Co–Chairs of Advisory Committee: Jean-François Chamberland Scott Miller This dissertation addresses some of the most important issues in delay-sensitive communication over wireless systems and networks. Traditionally, the design of communication networks adopts a layered fr...

The purpose of this paper is to present a method for translating the problem of finding all maximal subgroups of finite groups into questions concerning groups that are nearly simple. (A finite group is called nearly simple if it has only one minimal normal subgroup and that it nonabelian and simple.) In view of the recently announced classification of all finite simple groups this seems to be ...

Food banks throughout the U.S. provide nutrition to the needy. Much of the food that is distributed through food banks often originates with donors large manufacturers or distributors far from those needy clients. How that food is distributed by Feeding America, a large not-for-profit, is the subject of this essay. In 2005, Feeding America transitioned from the centralized allocation process, w...

The phrase 'global land grab' has become a catch-all framework to describe and analyze the current explosion of (trans)national commercial land transactions related to the production and sale of food and biofuels. Initially deployed and popularised by activist groups opposed to such transactions from an environmental and agrarian justice perspectives, the significance of the phrase has quickly ...

Debris flow is an important sedimenttransport mechanism in subaerial and subaqueous environments. Its properties change almost continuously as sediment and water are added to or subtracted from it (Smith and Lowe, 1991; Vallance, 2000). In subaerial environments, debris flows are commonly diluted into hyperconcentrated flows when they encounter a streamflow (Pierson and Costa, 1987; Costa, 1988...

Let V be a k-dimensional complex vector space. The Plücker ring of polynomial SL(V ) invariants of a collection of n vectors in V can be alternatively described as the homogeneous coordinate ring of the Grassmannian Gr(k, n). In 2003, using combinatorial tools developed by A. Postnikov, J. Scott showed that the Plücker ring carries a cluster algebra structure. Over the ensuing decade, this has ...

The endemic Antillean genus Choranthus Scudder 1872 is represented by one species on the island of Hispaniola. Riley (1975:188) stated that the species haitensis Skinner is "known only from Haiti where it clearly replaces C. uitellius." Specimens of Ch. haitensis have been secured abundantly on the entire island of Hispaniola; thus, the species is obviously not restricted to Haiti but also occu...

As should be evident from reading this book, the psychology of creative writing is complex and multifaceted, and there are many different levels in which it may be investigated. We decided to focus on five levels in this book. There is much overlap, however, among these five levels, and an understanding of one level typically increases our understanding of one or more other levels. Therefore, w...