In this dissertation, I have presented a comprehensive research on Bitcoin. Bitcoin was introduced in 2009. This is a decentralized digital currency and works like cash, but they are mined like gold (Volastro, CNBC Explains: How to mine bitcoins on your own, 2014). In this thesis, I will explain that how this currency works and how users can mine Bitcoins. Bitcoins mining is a very hard process, it is almost impossible to create Bitcoins on simple computer. You need specialist hardware to generate Bitcoins. Pool mining is quite popular these days, as numbers of people are taking interest in making money, so the difficulty level of mining Bitcoin is increasing day by day. I am using codes based on publically available sources in order to explore the algorithms for mining, hashing and transa...

Context Mediation is a field of research that is concerned with the interchange of information across different environments, which provides a vehicle to bridge semantic gaps among disparate entities. Knowledge Discovery is concerned with the extraction of actionable information from large databases. A challenge that has received relatively little attention is knowledge discovery in a highly disparate environment, that is multiple heterogeneous data sources, multiple domain knowledge sources and multiple knowledge patterns. This thesis tackles the problem of semantic interoperability among data, domain knowledge and knowledge patterns in a knowledge discovery process using context mediation. Context fundamentals are introduced, which encompasses the concepts of context identity, sem...

This thesis is concerned with the theoretical and practical development of reliable and robust localisation algorithms for autonomous land vehicles operating at high speeds in unstructured, expansive and harsh environments. Localisation is the ability of a vehicle to determine its position and orientation within an operating environment. The need for such a localisation system is motivated by the requirement of developing autonomous vehicles in applications such as mining, agriculture and cargo handling. The main drivers in these applications are for safety, efficiency and productivity. The approach taken to the localisation problem in this thesis guarantees that the safety and reliability requirements imposed by such applications are achieved. The ...

Relations with Latin America have never been and will probably never be a priority for the People's Republic of China (PRC), as they will be a dependent variable of domestic economic needs and other more important foreign policy goals – among all, the ties with the United States. During the first forty years of existence, geopolitical and economic considerations (Latin America was considered to be Washington's backyard and the economies of the region were not complementary with that of China) were keeping the PRC away from the area; nevertheless, things have changed ever since the end of the Cold War, and more so since the new millenium. The PRC finds in Latin America a market of 500 million people and an almost infinite source of commodities: it currently gets from here around 17% of...

Terrorism was once a topic limited to certain sectors of the world, such as the Middle East or South Africa. However, in recent years, it appears that no one is safe in any part of the globe. A growing number of countries must take measures to protect citizens and visitors from the threat of terrorism. The Unites States of America is the latest addition to this list. It has become evident in recent years that terrorism is no longer a localized event, but rather an increasing global problem. It has also become obvious that terrorism requires a global solution as well. Evidence has been mounting that terrorist groups are beginning to connect and form alliances. This gives them greater strength and greater resources. It seems they are finding common ground and are beginning to coordinate effo...

Warsaw and Jerusalem deals with different aspects of the inherent paradoxes of Jewish-Polish relations. Written by scholars from Israel and from Poland, who study history, culture, education, and politics, this book forms a unique interdisciplinary collage. Thus, it has a twofold advantage: as an academic insight in the field of Jewish studies; and as a social bonder of an academic community that has its representatives in universities in Israel and in Poland.This project is bound to be an inspiring source for scholars of Jewish studies and Jewish history. In college or university classes, the collection of a variety of chapters will aid students who compose their assignments and need brainwave resources in the field. With a contribution to the deep comprehension of the ongoing discourse a...

This comprehensive study of the Japanese education system follows the Japanese child from the kindergarten, through the progressively more arduous and competitive environments of the elementary, middle and high schools, to the relative relaxation, even hedonism, of university life. Drawing on numerous surveys and on the author's personal experience, it provides a wealth of information on teaching methodologies, discipline, class sizes, the school day, assessment and the national curriculum. It also examines the role of the central Ministry of Education and the local boards in administering education throughout the country, and outlines and assesses the government's recent programs of educational reform. The behavior, attitudes and expectations of pupils and parents are discussed in det...

For centuries, one principle has stood above all others in the medical field: First, do no harm. But has our basic healthcare lost this vital philosophy in its pursuit of advancement and profit? Follow the journey of medicine from its earliest beginnings at the dawn of humanity to the incredible technological advances of the 21st century. By examining key figures and events, this book’s focus on the rationales of pioneering practitioners and the philosophies behind major discoveries sets it apart from current medical and historical literature for both providers and consumers of healthcare.In the age of unprecedented advancements, the evolution of medicine and its underlying philosophies has been cast aside for the pursuit of the next, best development. In the search to provide the best c...

Deliberative democracy can be defined as a political system based on citizens' voluntary and free discussions on public issues. Most scholars have discussed deliberative democracy within normative boundaries. However, based primarily on Katz's interpretation of Tarde, this study finds the concept of public sphere a useful framework for operationalizing the normative concept of deliberative democracy, since the four components of the public sphere-news media use, interpersonal communication, opinion formation, and political participation-provide us with empirically testable categories. This study tests the validity of theories of deliberative democracy through examining the inter-relationships among the four components of the public sphere. Methodologically, it includes a set of 63 items to...

A remarkable concept known as "entanglement" in quantum physics requires an incredibly bizarre link between subatomic particles. When one such particle is observed, quantum entanglement demands the rest of them to be affected instantaneously, even if they are universes apart. Einstein called this "spooky actions at a distance", and argued that such bizarre predictions of quantum theory show that it is an incomplete theory of nature. In 1964, however, John Bell proposed a theorem which seemed to prove that such spooky actions at a distance are inevitable for any physical theory, not just quantum theory. Since then many experiments have confirmed these long-distance correlations. But now, in this groundbreaking collection of papers, the author exposes a fatal flaw in the logic and mathematic...

This text presupposes that in many cases plagiarism results from poor training and a confused perception of what is involved in research. The textbook is addressed to non-native English-speaking students and their instructors, principally those seeking degrees in literature. Through a close examination of what initially seems to be the self-evident 'facts' of research--those presumed simple steps in the multilayered research process that are usually glossed over in research methodology courses--students will become less confused about what the research practically involves and more empowered to work on their first serious research project with confidence and clarity.REVIEWS & PRAISEThis textbook offers a diagnosis of the disease of illicit borrowings undermining the Master’s students’ ...

START A NEW BUSINESS - EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS, ADVANCE YOUR CAREER - GET MORE OUT OF LIFE More than a self help resource -- a complete and practical guide to finding and managing success. Eighty percent of all success is generated by 20 percent of the people. Compound this with the fact that four out of five new businesses may never realize their fifth anniversary and an important question immediately presents itself. Why? This book explores that very question and responds. Much has been written on this topic in books that specialize in everything from psychology to practical management guides of every size, shape and description. It's Your Business begins with a different twist in that it explores who we are inherently and instinctively. The reader is challenged to think from out...

The examination and interpretation of tissue sections seen under the light microscope in a laboratory setting is an example of student-directed, independent problem solving. The proper reading of a histologic section is an acquired art that can only be developed through practice, close observation and repetition. This laboratory manual was designed as a guide for students to aid them in this endeavor. The laboratory study guide/manual was designed to be used as a supplement to any current textbook and/or atlas of Histology. Learning objectives provide the overall goals for each chapter. The narrative of the study guide explains how to systematically breakdown, examine and interpret each tissue and/or organ encountered, without regard to a given histologic slide from a specific slide collec...

This study claims that scholars need to examine all twenty-seven English illustrated editions of Wilde's and Beardsley's Salomë to understand whether Beardsley's compositions do, or do not, illustrate Wilde's words. For the last one hundred years scholars have addressed the aesthetic function of Beardsley's compositions (whether or not Beardsley's compositions illustrate Wilde's words), and each scholar sees something different: Beardsley's compositions are "irrelevant" to Wilde's words; Beardsley's compositions are "relevant" to Wilde's words; Beardsley's compositions are both "irrelevant" and "relevant." What is at issue here is that this traditional dance of signification (scholars' interpretations of the aesthetic function of Beardsley's compositions) relies upon an interpretive str...

The principal question addressed is the extent to which American organizations source legal services they require in a manner consistent with transaction cost economics and agency theory. Transaction cost economics (TCE) is an interdisciplinary undertaking which joins economics with aspects of organizational theory and contract law. TCE views frequency, uncertainty and asset specificity (the extent to which assets have little utility or value except in the context of a particular transaction or relationship) as key variables in determining how a transaction will be structured. Agency theory focuses on identifying the most efficient contract form for a relationship taking into account certain assumptions of self-interest, bounded rationality, risk aversion ...

In this dissertation, a new spare capacity planning methodology is proposed utilizing path restoration. The approach is based on forcing working flows/traffic which are on paths that are disjoint to share spare backup capacity. The algorithm for determining the spare capacity assignment is based on genetic algorithms and is capable of incorporating non-linear variables such as non-linear cost function and QoS variables into the objective and constraints. The proposed methodology applies to a wider range of fault scenarios than most of the current literature. It can tolerate link-failures, node-failures, and link-and-node failures. It consists of two stages: the first stage generates a set of network topologies that maximize the sharing between backup paths by forcing them to use a subse...

Neutron stars are invaluable tools for exploring stellar death, the physics of ultra-dense matter, and the effects of extremely strong magnetic fields. The observed population of neutron stars is dominated by the >1000 radio pulsars, but there are distinct sub-populations that, while fewer in number, can have significant impact on our understanding of the issues mentioned above. These populations are the nearby, isolated neutron stars discovered by ROSAT, and the central compact objects in supernova remnants. The studies of both of these populations have been greatly accelerated in recent years through observations with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the XMM-Newton telescope. First, we discuss radio, optical, and X-ray observations of the nearby neutron stars ...

Intensive Case Management (ICM) did not evolve from a single, well-defined model format but from different case management models. As a result, it has been vaguely defined as meaning more "intense" than usual case management, thus highlighting the lack of consensus about ICM's definition and parameters. Despite these differences, ICM programs aspire to a set of common principles and core operational functions derived from the concept of continuity of care. Recent literature reviews have found mixed results regarding studies examining ICM effectiveness ( e.g., psychiatric hospitalizations, etc.). It has been difficult to make comparisons between studies because operational definitions have not been standardized. This study attempted to construct a program theory that unifies the various I...

This book describes a detailed process methodology for speeding innovation, and thereby leading to a firm's transformation. Anyone who is interested in managing under uncertainty and implementing fast and effective processes would be interested in reading this book. The results presented in this book are based on several years of research, examining 72 projects from 36 leading companies in United States, Asia, and Europe. The methods described are adopted by many firms in the industry. Paperback edition: US $25.95 Hardcover edition: US $35.95

Echocardiography.org is a multimedia publishing company which was founded in 1998 to meet a consumer demand for education in the field of transesophageal echocardiography. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is an ultrasound diagnostic technique for obtaining real-time images of the heart and great vessels from a transducer positioned within the esophagus. This technique receives widespread application in the perioperative care of critically ill patients. The company has two divisions, namely, a research unit based in New Haven, Connecticut, and a production and distribution unit based in Silver Spring, Maryland. The company product consists of 6 hours of videotape and a book which describe TEE techniques. The target market consists of physicians who wish to develop or maintain exp...

Advances in the field of information and communication technologies have substantially affected most segments of our life, leading to the Information Age or Information Revolution. On both individual and state scale, 'information' has become a vital 'commodity' by which one measures levels of knowledge, skills, well-being, prosperity and development. This academic work traces the evolution of the Information Age and the emerging trends of diplomacy and politics in today's world. It signals potential opportunities and threats, while strategically forecasting current and future implications. Including three major chapters, the work is divided into eleven significant themes. It reviews the emergence of knowledge-based societies and highlights their main features. The course of globalizati...

The study of Multivariate Time Series has always been more difficult at the modeling stage than the univariate case. Identification of a suitable model, questions of stability, and the difficulties of prediction are well recognised. A variety of methods appear to be worth examining. This thesis is concerned with the proposal of an useful tool which is to apply canonical analysis to a realisation of a Multivariate Time Series and concentrates it's attention on k-variate ARMA(p,q) models. The multivariate series is partitioned into two overlapping or non-overlapping sets of different sizes. The left set is kept at lag 0 (without loss of generality) and the right set at a sequence of lags s=0,1,... . The model includes the possibility that the same subset of variables belong to the left set a...

Forbidden Fruit: The Censorship of Literature and Information for Young People was a two day conference held in Southport, UK in June 2008. This collection of papers from the conference will be of interest to teachers, school and public librarians, publishers, and other professionals involved in the provision of literature and information resources for young people, as well as to researchers and students. The proceedings draw together some of the latest research in this area from a number of fields, including librarianship, education, literature, and linguistics. The topics covered include translations and adaptations, pre-censorship by authors, publishers and editors, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans) materials, and the views of young people themselves. The papers included in t...

The goal of this dissertation is to provide research on the educational and societal needs of incarcerated youth by examining teachers' perceptions, both academically and socially, which will result in successful student transition into the traditional environment. Many of the educational approaches within incarceration school settings are instituted using the traditional school model, which is not conducive to the needs of incarcerated youth. Within incarceration educational pedagogy, youths also need socio-emotional skills when faced with the transition into the traditional environment in order to avoid recidivism. Community-based support and prevention-oriented collaboration are also required in their quest for a successful transition to mainstream society. Students' progress should be ...

The purpose of this book is to examine the birth of bilateral strategic arms control between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Johnson Administration, from 1964 to 1969. It is about the time and the place of the birth of bilateral strategic arms control as it came about in the United States through the efforts of President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in the 1960s. This is the time of the birth of what quickly came to be known as SALT, or the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. This inquiry firstly considers whether the move towards bilateral strategic arms control was institutional or personal. It then looks for the motivating factors: both theoretical and substantive. As few things have only a single cause, it is likely that we shall find th...

This study is designed to show how personality dispositions and cognitive variables may combine with social norms to influence wife abuse. Prior research examining the role of individual differences in wife abuse has been sparse, unsystematic, and appear questionable for two reasons. First, these studies have not considered that contextual norms and cognitive variables are likely to interact with dispositional variables to either facilitate or discourage abuse. Second, the theoretical relationship between dispositional variables and macrolevel approaches (i.e. feminist and sociological) has not been investigated. How demographic variables, contextual norms, and individual differences interact may have important implications for the study of wife abuse. The present project addresses th...

Lay participation in the criminal justice process in the form of a jury is a celebrated phenomenon throughout the common law jurisdictions. While not claiming credit for its origin, England, as the latent cradle of the modern jury, disseminated this mode of trial to a great part of the world through colonization. Yet, trial by jury does not enjoy constitutional protection under English law. The system has been under severe criticism, curtailment and considerable pressure in recent times, perhaps far more than in other countries. Critics have demanded reform or outright abolition and supporters have opposed the demands just as vehemently and any reform achieved has been piecemeal and reluctant. The furore has helped to galvanise robust and extensive intellectual debate on the subject. It ha...

The New World Order -- far from being anything "new" -- is an order which has been evolving for more than one hundred years. This thesis begins with the idea for an elite establishment of one late 19th century individual, Cecil Rhodes, and shows how it has developed into the several organizations that make up the Global Regime today. Although the term "New World Order" has been a buzzword since the Bush era, the majority of people around the world remain uncertain of the meaning. This thesis will demonstrate that it is an order with an underlying economic agenda. This is illustrated by examining various reports written by members or the Regime which reveal their goals and intentions, and also by examining detailed studies done on policies they have implemented. Finally, this thesis su...

This dissertation argues that conduct and behavior were believed essential for determining one's post-mortem fate from the earliest periods of both ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. Part one of this four-part study examines Plato's eschatological myths and provides a complete catalog and brief discussion of all references in them to conduct and behavior that affect one's fate in the afterlife. Part two traces the evolution of the concept of the afterlife from Homer to the Dramatists, also cataloging all references to the afterlife that mention conduct and behavior. This part of the study demonstrates that the concept of reward and retribution in an afterlife, based on conduct in this life, is already found in Homer. However, it is in Pythagorean and Orphics circles of Greater Greece th...

In examining the work of three "ethnic" writers (Nakagami Kenji is Japanese burakumin, Leslie Marmon Silko Native American, Salman Rushdie an Indian living in England), this project studies the literary depictions of the ways in which the body is portrayed and used as a space for cultural and ideological inscription. The major issues addressed involve gender, race, and ethnicity as forces which become visible through the socially constructed body. In the works of Nakagami Kenji, Salman Rushdie, and Leslie Marmon Silko, bodies cry out the silence to overwhelm the torturer. They all share a concern with the loss of land which induces migration, a weakened sense of identity, and hybridity. Each author uses the body of his/her protagonist as the site to inscribe the consequences of such l...