The persistent Pinnacle Islands controversy has been often observed from several perspectives, such as historical entitlements, territorial sovereignty prerogatives, maritime rights to exploit natural recourses, and strategic affairs. The importance of this dispute lies in the contextual necessities and interests of the governments from China, Japan, and Taiwan. Likewise, the United States implications and interests beneath the dispute have also been manifested. In this case, the Japan-U.S. strategic alliance serves as a framework for the Washington policy maintenance in East Asia. In the meantime, International Public Law as an alternative to solve the Pinnacles controversy has failed. Under those circumstances, an armed conflict among the parties is possible, yet the United States military presence can prevent them.

<p>The purpose of this research was to verify experimentally the buildup region dose calculation for Pinnacle³ (version 9.0), a commercial treatment planning system, commissioned and in use at the Saskatoon Cancer Center. To achieve this, buildup dose measurements using Attix parallel-plate ionization chamber and calculations by Pinnacle³, for a variety of clinical setups, were compared. The clinical setups involved 6 MV and 15 MV photon beams, open fields, enhanced dynamic wedges, physical wedges, block tray, 85, 100 and 120 cm source-to-surface distances (SSDs), and field sizes 3 x 3, 4 x 4, 5 x 5, 8 x 8, 10 x 10, 12 x 12, 15 x 15, 20 x 20, 30 x 30 cm². The dose difference (DD) and distance-to-agreement (DTA) were used to evaluate the discrepancy between measured and calculated dose values. Significant discrepancies between measured and calculated buildup dose values were observed because the modeling in Pinnacle³ is based on measurements made using a cylindrical ionization chamber. Based on the criteria of DD less than 2% or DTA less than 2 mm, 93.7% of 1,710 dose points for the 6 MV photon beam passed while for the 15 MV photon beam, 96.1% of the 2,244 dose points passed. The dose points that did not pass these criteria were mostly for open fields, block tray fields, fields with physical wedges of 15 degrees and 30 degrees and for fields with shorter source-to-surface distances. This is attributed to the high electron contamination associated with these fields. The low levels of discrepancies between measured and calculated dose values for the 15 MV beam as compared to those of the 6 MV beam need further investigations. The good agreement between measured and calculated dose values after remodeling the Electron Contamination in Pinnacle³ based on Attix chamber measurements is an indication that the Electron Contamination equation in Pinnacle³ may be adequate for modeling of electron contamination in the buildup dose region. The disagreement between Attix chamber and EBT 2 film measured buildup dose values was less than 3% for 89.9% of the buildup dose measurements compared. It is recommended to use a good parallel plate ionization chamber, such as the Attix chamber, for measurements in the buildup region.</p>

<p>The purpose of this research was to verify experimentally the buildup region dose calculation for Pinnacle³ (version 9.0), a commercial treatment planning system, commissioned and in use at the Saskatoon Cancer Center. To achieve this, buildup dose measurements using Attix parallel-plate ionization chamber and calculations by Pinnacle³, for a variety of clinical setups, were compared. The clinical setups involved 6 MV and 15 MV photon beams, open fields, enhanced dynamic wedges, physical wedges, block tray, 85, 100 and 120 cm source-to-surface distances (SSDs), and field sizes 3 x 3, 4 x 4, 5 x 5, 8 x 8, 10 x 10, 12 x 12, 15 x 15, 20 x 20, 30 x 30 cm². The dose difference (DD) and distance-to-agreement (DTA) were used to evaluate the discrepancy between measured and calculated dose values. Significant discrepancies between measured and calculated buildup dose values were observed because the modeling in Pinnacle³ is based on measurements made using a cylindrical ionization chamber. Based on the criteria of DD less than 2% or DTA less than 2 mm, 93.7% of 1,710 dose points for the 6 MV photon beam passed while for the 15 MV photon beam, 96.1% of the 2,244 dose points passed. The dose points that did not pass these criteria were mostly for open fields, block tray fields, fields with physical wedges of 15 degrees and 30 degrees and for fields with shorter source-to-surface distances. This is attributed to the high electron contamination associated with these fields. The low levels of discrepancies between measured and calculated dose values for the 15 MV beam as compared to those of the 6 MV beam need further investigations. The good agreement between measured and calculated dose values after remodeling the Electron Contamination in Pinnacle³ based on Attix chamber measurements is an indication that the Electron Contamination equation in Pinnacle³ may be adequate for modeling of electron contamination in the buildup dose region. The disagreement between Attix chamber and EBT 2 film measured buildup dose values was less than 3% for 89.9% of the buildup dose measurements compared. It is recommended to use a good parallel plate ionization chamber, such as the Attix chamber, for measurements in the buildup region.</p>

No description available.

No description available.

abstract: The Middle Stone Age archaeological record from the south coast of South Africa contains significant evidence for early modern human behavior. The south coast is within the modern Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR), which in the present-day encompasses the entirety of South Africa’s Winter Rainfall Zone (WRZ) and contains unique vegetation elements that have been hypothesized to be of high utility to hunter-gatherer populations. Extant paleoenvironmental proxy records for the Pleistocene in the region often indicate evidence for more open environments during the past than occur in the area in the present-day, while climate models suggest glacial presence of the WRZ that would support maintenance of C3-predominant GCFR vegetation. These paleoenvironmental proxies sample past environments at geographic scales that are often regional. The GCFR flora is hyper-diverse, and glacial climate change-driven impacts on local vegetation could have been highly variable over relatively small geographic scales. Proxy records that are circumscribed in their geographic scale are thus key to our understanding of ancient environments at particular MSA archaeological localities. Micromammal fossil teeth are now recognized as an abundant potential reservoir of paleoenvironmental proxy data at an extremely local scale. This study analyzed modern micromammal teeth obtained from raptor pellets at three locations on the south coast. Stable carbon isotope analysis indicates that the modern micromammals from the taxa sampled consume a wide range of δ13Cplant on the landscape when it is available, and thus stable carbon isotope analysis of micromammal teeth should act as a proxy for the range of available δ13Cdiet in a circumscribed area of vegetation. Micromammal stable carbon isotope data obtained from specimens from one of the few well-dated MIS6-MIS5 sequences in the region (Pinnacle Point sites 13B, 30, and 9C). δ13Cenamel values for the taxa sampled indicate diets that are primarily C3, and there is almost no evidence for a dietary C4 grass component in any of the sampled specimens. This indicates that, at a minimum, pockets of C3 vegetation associated with the GCFR were likely available to hunter-gatherers at Pinnacle Point throughout the Middle and Late Pleistocene. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2015

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No description available.

This thesis examines the deep bilateral tensions surrounding the East China Sea (ECS) disagreements between Japan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the period from August 19th 2003 to June 18th 2008 from an actor-centred constructivist liberal viewpoint. The East China Sea disputes could be described as a conflicting difference of opinion over a) the demarcation of maritime territory and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in which potentially significant energy deposits exist and b) the ownership of the strategically important and historically sensitive Pinnacle (Senkaku/Diaoyu) Islands. This research addresses the question of why, given the fact that China and Japan have a strong interest in co-operation and stable relations with each other, small incidents in the ECS blow up into larger problems, cause approaches to the East China Sea to wax and wane, and move the relationship in a direction that goes against preferred national objectives? In attempting to unravel this puzzle, this work argues that domestic politics and popular negative sentiment have been the major issues that have greatly amplified and politicised the ECS problems and have significantly affected positive progress in negotiations aimed at managing and stabilising these disputes. By examining these, the thesis addresses the question of why China and Japan have been so constrained in their attempts to find a workable bilateral agreement over disputed energy resources and demarcation in the East China Sea. It also indirectly deals with the question of why the conflicting legal complexities surrounding these disagreements contributed to both states so fervently maintaining and defending their claims.