The purpose of this paper is to review, clarify, and critically analyse modern mathematical cosmology. The emphasis is upon the mathemati-cal structures involved, rather than numerical computations. The opening section reviews and clarifies the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models of General Relativistic Cosmology, while Section 2 deals with the spatially homogeneous models. Particular attention is paid to the topological and geometrical aspects of these models. Section 3 explains how the mathe-matical formalism can be linked with astronomical observation. Sections 4 and 5 provide a critical analysis of Inflationary Cosmology and Quan-tum Cosmology, with particular attention to the claims made that these theories can explain the creation of the universe. 1 The Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models Let us review and clarify the topological and geometrical aspects of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) models of General Relativistic Cosmol-ogy. Geometrically, a FRW model is a 4-dimensional Lorentzian manifold M which can be expressed as a warped product, (O’Neill [1], Chapter 12; Heller

This thesis presents CraneTracker, a multi-modal sensing and communication system for monitoring migratory species at the continental level. By exploiting the robust and extensive cellular infrastructure across the continent, traditional mobile wireless sensor networks can be extended to enable reliable, low-cost monitoring of migratory species. The developed multi-tier architecture yields ecologists with unconventional behavior in-formation not furnished by alternative tracking systems at such a large scale and for a low-cost. The simulation, development and implementation of the CraneTracker soft-ware system is presented. The system is shown effective through multiple proxy deploy-

I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution.

The principle aim of this dissertation is to investigate the philosophical application of quantum information theory to interpretational issues regarding the theory of quantum mechanics. Recently, quantum information theory has emerged as a potential source for such an interpretation. The main

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Responses of soil biological processes to elevated atmospheric [CO2] and nitrogen addition in a poplar plantation

This paper examines international differences in firms ’ cost of equity capital across 40 countries. We analyze whether the effectiveness of a country’s legal institutions and securities regulation is systematically related to cross-country differences in the cost of equity capital. We employ four different models using analyst forecasts to estimate firms ’ implied cost of capital. We find that countries with extensive securities regulation and strong enforcement mechanisms exhibit lower levels of cost of capital than countries with weak legal institutions, even after controlling for various risk and country factors. The effects are strongest for institutions providing information to investors and enabling them to privately enforce their contracts. We also show that, consistent with theory, these effects become substantially smaller or insignificant as capital markets become more integrated.

We are surrounded by electronic devices that take advantage of wireless technologies, from our computer mice, which require little amounts of information, to our cellphones, which demand increasingly higher data rates. Until today, the coexistence of such a variety of services has been guaranteed by a fixed assignment of spectrum resources by regulatory agencies. This has resulted into a blind alley, as current wireless spectrum has become an expensive and a scarce resource. However, recent measurements in dense areas paint a very different picture: there is an actual underutilization of the spectrum by legacy sys-tems. Cognitive radio exhibits a tremendous promise for increasing the spectral efficiency for future wireless systems. Ideally, new secondary users would have a perfect panorama of the spectrum usage, and would opportunistically communicate over the available re-sources without degrading the primary systems. Yet in practice, monitoring the spectrum resources, detecting available resources for opportunistic communication, and transmit-ting over the resources are hard tasks. This thesis addresses the tasks of monitoring, de-

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This report focuses on the evidence about the health.consequences of smoking for women, and is intended to serve.the public health and medical communities as 'a unified source of existing scientific research. The major issues about tobacco use and women's health are examined, including trends in consumption, biomedical evidence, and determinants of smoking ititiation, maintenance, and cessation. The biomedical aspects ofsmoking are presented in terms of mortality, morbiplity, cardiovasculaidiseases, cancer, pregnancy and infant,health,, Teptic ulcer disease, drug reactions and, interactions, food constituents, and responses to,diagnostic tests. The psychosocial and behavioraj. aspects, of smoking in women are discussed, along with the docffiented increases in- the risk of contracting lung cancer, heart,disease, or lung disease. The harmful effects of pregnant mothers smoking behaviors, are also docudented. Adhitionally, recent data are enumerated to indicate a trend of,decreasing tobacco usage among women in response to the warnings of the gavernMent, voluntary agencie, and physicrins. (Author /NRB)' DOCUMENT RESUME cc 015 465