This is the second edition of David Power's highly-respected PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy. This new edition has been updated by Davidtoincorporatechanges to PHP since the first edition and to offer the latest techniques--a classic guide modernized for 21st century PHP techniques, innovations, and best practices. You want to make your websites more dynamic by adding a feedback form, creating a private area where members can upload images that are automatically resized, or perhaps storing all your content in a database. The problem is, you're not a programmer and the thought of writing code sends a chill up your spine. Or maybe you've dabbled a bit in PHP and MySQL, but you can't get past baby steps. If this describes you, then you've just found the right book. PHP and the MySQL database are deservedly the most popular combination for creating dynamic websites. They're free, easy to use, and provided by many web hosting companies in their standard packages. Unfortunately, most PHP books either expect you to be an expert already or force you to go through endless exercises of little practical value. In contrast, this book gives you real value right away through a series of practical examples that you can incorporate directly into your sites, optimizing performance and adding functionality such as file uploading, email feedback forms, image galleries, content management systems, and much more. Each solution is created with not only functionality in mind, but also visual design. But this book doesn't just provide a collection of ready-made scripts: each PHP Solution builds on what's gone before, teaching you the basics of PHP and database design quickly and painlessly. By the end of the book, you'll have the confidence to start writing your own scripts or--if you prefer to leave that task to others--to adapt existing scripts to your own requirements. Right from the start, you're shown how easy it is to protect your sites by adopting secure coding practices.


The power supplies designed and constructed to power high-intensity flash tubes are described. Three supplies, capable of charging 100 mfd to 2 kv with a repetltion rate of not less than 0.8 sec, are operated remotely from a control panel containing 3 powerstats. The power supplies are full wave center trapped rectifiers employing silicon rectifiers. (M.C.G.)


Originally it was Complex Information Processing. That was the name Herb Simon and I chose in 1956 to describe the area in which we are working. It didn't take long before it became Artificial Intelligence (AI). Coined by John McCarthy, that term has stuck firmly, despite continual grumblings that any other name would be twice as fair (though no grumblings by me; I like the present name). Complex Information processing lives on now only in the title of the CIP Working Papers, a series started by Herb Simon in 1956 and still accumulating entries (to 447). However, from about 1965 much of the work on artificial intelligence that was not related to psychology began to appear in technical reports of the Computer Science Department. These reports, never part of a coherent numbered series until 1978, proliferated in all directions. Starting in the early 1970s (on one can recall exactly when), they did become the subject of a general mailing and thus began to form what everyone thinks of as the CMU Computer Science Technical Reports.


About the book:
Written for those teaching languages to adults in blended contexts in higher, further, and adult education, where a mix of delivery modes and tools may be in use, this edited volume offers a comprehensive overview of the key issues faced. The developmental issues that may arise for teachers themselves and for those responsible for their professional development are discussed. The contributors examine the impact of different learning environments (online, face-to-face, telephone) on pedagogic practice and language learner support and recognise the particular socio-cultural, psycho-linguistic and cognitive issues that have to be taken into account when working with diverse adult language learners in blended settings. Research underpins the chapters to better inform and develop good practice. The editors and contributors have all worked on the production and teaching presentations of Open University courses in French, German, Spanish, Welsh, Italian, Chinese and English. Many of them have also been responsible for the professional development of teaching teams working in varied blended models. The contributors draw on pioneering and innovative work carried out in the fifteen years since the inception of language courses at the Open University, where blended models have been modified and become more complex over the years. The ideas they present are well-formed and tested and have been approached reflectively. Language teachers, particularly those who teach adult learners at all levels, will find the book of immense value in enhancing their professional perspective, in assisting the development of their own teaching practice, and in enabling them to make useful links between research and practice.


In its 2000 World Refugee Survey, the U.S. Committee for Refugees estimates that as of December 31, 1999, there were over 14 million refugees and asylum seekers worldwide and at least 21 million internally displaced people. The vast majority – as high as 75 percent – are women and young children. In addition to experiencing the same hardships and security concerns as adult male refugees, women and children have special protection needs because of their gender and age. In particular, they need protection from sexual violence and exploitation, as well as physical violence and discrimination. Sexual violence can encompass anything ranging from rape and other sexual physical assaults or attempts to offers of food, protection, documents or other assistance in exchange for sexual favors. This article focuses on protecting women and children in refugee camps from all forms of sexual violence committed by male offenders. Here, the term "refugee" includes refugees, internally displaced people, asylum seekers, and returnees. Similarly, a "refugee camp" refers to a temporary living arrangement where refugees, internally displaced people, asylum seekers, and returnees may reside, but does not include detention facilities. By focusing on women and children, the authors do not suggest that men are not targets of sexual violence or that women cannot be offenders. However, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1995 guidelines, Sexual Violence against Refugees: Guidelines on Prevention and Response (Guidelines on Sexual Violence), the majority of reported cases of sexual violence involve female targets and male perpetrators. Likewise, by limiting the environment of concern to refugee camps, we do not imply that sexual violence against refugees does not take place elsewhere. It is widely accepted, for example, that sexual violence occurs during flight from and return to the country of origin, as well as in the country of asylum. Refugee camps, however, offer an environment where some practical and commonsense measures based on injury-control models can be implemented fairly easily to reduce the risk of sexual violence for these vulnerable groups. Accordingly, although the assessment and planning tool introduced here is in pilot form and does not address all aspects of sexual or physical violence, exploitation, and discrimination among refugees, it is one step in what must be a coordinated effort to resolve this multi-faceted international problem. Available: http://sites.tufts.edu/jha/archives/156


Michael Somos conjectured a relation between Hankel determinants whose entries ${1\over 2n+1}{3n\choose n}$ count ternary trees and the number of certain plane partitions and alternating sign matrices. Tamm evaluated these determinants by showing that the generating function for these entries has a continued fraction that is a special case of Gauss's continued fraction for a quotient of hypergeometric series. We give a systematic application of the continued fraction method to a number of similar Hankel determinants. We also describe a simple method for transforming determinants using the generating function for their entries. In this way we transform Somos's Hankel determinants to known determinants, and we obtain, up to a power of $3$, a Hankel determinant for the number of alternating sign matrices. We obtain a combinatorial proof, in terms of nonintersecting paths, of determinant identities involving the number of ternary trees and more general determinant identities involving the number of $r$-ary trees.


In this contribution the topic of integrity of the bankruptcy trustee is being dealt with from a Dutch perspective, more specifically from the point of view of the creditors and their (lack of) influence on the appointment of the trustee. In this respect various questions are addressed: what does integrity or righteousness mean in the context of the appointment of a bankruptcy trustee and what do we mean when we are talking about a righteous trustee; why do we need a righteous trustee; and how do we reach our goal? After investigating the existing safeguards to prevent non-righteous persons to be enrolled or appointed as trustee, the position of the creditors is dealt with, especially with respect to their influence on the appointment of the trustee. A quick glance on various neighbouring jurisdictions, demonstrates that not much has been regulated in the Netherlands. As to the question whether or not more creditor involvement in the appointment process is required or desired, it is argued that there is no need to increase their influence because it is not to be expected that such influence will enhance the integrity of bankruptcy trustees.


IT
risks—risks associated with the operation or use of information technology—have
taken on great importance in business, and IT risk management is accordingly
important in the science and practice of information management. Therefore, it
is necessary to systematize IT risks in order to plan, manage and control for
different risk-specific measures. In order to choose and implement suitable
measures for managing IT risks, effect-based and cause-based
procedures are necessary. These procedures are explained in detail for IT
security risks because of their special importance.


Abstract. In this paper we present rudiments of a higher dimensional analogue of the Szegö kernel method to compute 3D mappings from elementary domains onto the unit sphere. This is a formal construction which provides us with a good substitution of the classical conformal Riemann mapping. We give explicit numerical examples and discuss a comparison of the results with those obtained alternatively by the Bergman kernel method.


The aim of this study was to understand the regulatory mechanism of the high diversity of soil living oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) which appear to coexist without extensive niche differentiation. I focussed on trophic niche differentiation, perturbation and resource quantity and quality as three putative mechanisms. Two food choice experiments, one stable isotope analysis and two field experiments were conducted. Dark pigmented fungi ('Dematiacea') are generally preferred as diet by soil microarthropods, such as collembolans and oribatid mites. I investigated the feeding preferences of ten oribatid mite species among eight 'Dematiacea' in a food choice experiment. The investigated oribatid mite species differentially fed on dark pigmented fungal species. Since overall oribatid mites preferred two 'Dematiacea' (Alternaria alternata and Ulocladium sp.), I conclude that niche differentiation in oribatid mites in respect to dark pigmented fungi is limited, but nevertheless may contribute to the high diversity of this microarthropod group. Mycorrhizal fungi reach high densities in forest soils and are a potential food resource for oribatid mites. I investigated the feeding preferences of three oribatid mite species among six ectomycorrhizal and one ericoid mycorrhizal fungal species in a food choice experiment. Feeding preferences significantly differed between the oribatid mite species. However, overall, oribatid mites preferred two mycorrhizal species, Hymenoscyphus ericae and Boletus badius. This also supports the hypothesis that trophic niche differentiation in oribatid mites occurs, but appears not to be sufficient to solve the enigma of the large number of oribatid mite species in soil. Trophic niche differentiation of 36 oribatid mite species/taxa from four forests was investigated using stable isotope analysis (15N). The oribatid mite species investigated formed a gradient from phytophagous species over primary and secondary decomposer to predators and scavengers (four trophic levels/feeding guilds). These surprisingly large differences in 15N values of oribatid mite species strongly indicate that oribatid mites occupy different trophic niches in the field. This finding clearly supports the view that trophic niche differentiation is an important mechanism for the maintenance of the high number of oribatid mite species in forest ecosystems. Intermediate disturbances may contribute to the coexistence of large numbers of plant and animal species. Therefore, I investigated the effect of three perturbation levels (single perturbation, perturbation once every two months and once every two weeks) on oribatid mite diversity and density in a field experiment. I hypothesised that the species number of oribatid mites is highest at the intermediate disturbance level (one perturbation every two month). In contrast to this hypothesis, oribatid mite diversity and density continually decreased with increasing perturbation level. These results suggest that the great majority of oribatid mite species are sensitive to disturbances irrespective of intensity and frequency. Therefore, the intermediate disturbance hypothesis presumably does not apply for oribatid mites. The effect of the temporary enhancement of resources of different nutrients (wood, glucose & nitrogen & phosphorous (CNP), pet food, wheat bran) on oribatid mite diversity and density was investigated in a field experiment in the Solling (Germany). I hypothesised that the number and the density of oribatid mite species increase with the amount and quality of resources. The results of this experiment did not support this hypothesis, since the diversity of oribatid mites generally did not respond to the experimental treatments. The density of oribatid mites was slightly higher in the CNP-treatment compared to the pet food treatment. However, this increase likely resulted from indirect effects due to the decrease in earthworm density in the CNP-treatment. The results indicate that the oribatid mite community is not limited by the amount or quality of resources but rather by the burrowing and mixing activity of earthworms. Overall, the results of the present study suggest that the coexistence of the large number of oribatid mites in soil cannot be explained by the presence of intermediate levels of disturbances or the amount and quality of resources but rather by the presence of trophic niche differentiation. The comparison of the results of the laboratory food choice experiments and the field study using stable isotopes indicate that oribatid mites feed on a wide range of substrates (when offered in the laboratory) but occupy rather distinct trophic niches in the field. To understand the factors that form these niches, further studies on the feeding biology of oribatid mites are necessary. In the future, recently established techniques such as the analysis of phospholipid fatty acids and the analysis of gut contents by molecular tools may contribute to the understanding of niche differentiation in oribatid mites.


Abstract Heavy mineral component of 13 samples from the Lokoja and Patti Formations, Bida Basin have been studied for their textural characteristics, compositional abundance, maturity and provenance determinations. The suite of heavy minerals encountered is classified as opaque and non-opaque constituents. The non-opaque components include zircon, tourmaline, rutile, garnet, staurolite, epidote, kyanite, titanite, lawsonite, cassiterite, sillimanite, hornblende, hypersthene and andalusite. The assemblage is generally dominated by zircon and tourmaline in the two formations. The constituent heavy minerals identified are dominated by ultra-stable and stable classes, whereas the ZTR indices indicate mineralogical immaturity coupled with textural immaturity of the constituent grains. This suggests the possible dominance of chemical weathering of the source rock. The suites of minerals recovered have been linked to both metamorphic and non-metamorphic crystalline rock origins.


The purpose of this article is to provide a roadmap to welcome the Privileges or Immunities Clause back into our modern constitutional jurisprudence. The Slaughter-House Cases "sapped the [Privileges or Immunities Clause] of any meaning" but the Supreme Court now has the opportunity correct this mistake. Heeding Justice Thomas's call, we "endeavor to understand what the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment thought" the Privileges or Immunities Clause meant, and seek to restore that original meaning. This framework ensures that the Privileges or Immunities Clause is not manipulated to constitutionalize certain modern "rights" that lack deep roots in our nation's history and traditions. No, the Constitution cannot be properly read to protect positive rights. Pandora's box will thus remain sealed. This article proceeds as follows: In Part I, we discuss the history of the Privileges or Immunities Clause starting with the Articles of Confederation and continuing through the Clause's untimely demise with the Slaughter-House Cases, its re-emergence in legal scholarship, and its potential rebirth in Supreme Court jurisprudence. In Part II, we discuss the meaning of the Second Amendment as it relates to the states by considering District of Columbia v. Heller and subsequent litigation. In Part III, we explore the Progressive vision of the Privileges or Immunities Clause as it fits into the "Constitution in 2020" paradigm. This model recognizes rights according to national and international consensus, evolving standards, and the enactment of so-called landmark legislation. We show why privileges or immunities serves as the desired weapon of choice to achieve the "Constitution in 2020" by way of its superiority over Substantive Due Process and Equal Protection. Through the Privileges or Immunities Clause, progressives seek to reconceptualize the provision of education, health care, welfare, and other positive entitlements as inviolable constitutional rights. Thus, Pandora's Box is cracked ajar, with all manner of governmental guarantees and policy preferences spewing forth. In Part IV, we contend that the Second Amendment could be incorporated through the Due Process Clause, though this approach is historically deficient. In light of Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion in Heller, and applying modern selective incorporation jurisprudence, the Court is likely to find that the Second Amendment is "necessary to an Anglo-American regime of ordered liberty" and should thus be extend to the states. In Part V, we show that, instead of dutifully treating the Second Amendment as it has almost all the other parts of the Bill of Rights, the Court should find the underlying rights to be among the privileges and immunities directly protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. Accordingly, this article is not so much concerned with why the Second Amendment should be incorporated but instead provides the Court a roadmap to protecting the right to keep and bear arms for defense of person and property through the Privileges or Immunities Clause. Indeed, the notion of "incorporation" would have been anachronistic, and considered a constitutional deviation at the time of the Fourteenth Amendment's ratification. Historical accounts of the ratification debates reveal that the Privileges or Immunities Clause was meant to protect both more and less than the Bill of Rights. Thus reconceptualized, the clause should be viewed not as a mechanical incorporator of the first eight amendments, but rather as a limitation of the power of the states to infringe certain liberties. In 1868, these liberties were referred to as privileges or immunities. What are these privileges or immunities, and what relationship do they have to the Second Amendment? To resolve this query we answer Justice Thomas's call in Saenz, and seek to "understand what the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment thought that it meant." We propose extending the Glucksberg framework for recognizing substantive rights that are deeply rooted in our nation's history and traditions to understand how privileges or immunities were understood in 1868. By applying the Glucksberg test and adapting Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain's opinion in Nordyke v. King, we find that the right to bear arms for the defense of person and property - independent of its enumeration in the Second Amendment - was considered a privilege or immunity of citizenship in 1868. Part VI concludes by echoing Justice Thomas and implores originalists not to shy away from the Privileges or Immunities Clause for fear that it will become the camel's nose of positive rights into the constitutional tent. Instead, resurrecting the Privileges or Immunities Clause can continue the process of aligning the original meaning of the Constitution with the protection of our most sacred liberties. This process will also eliminate the "current [state of] disarray" of our Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence. Failing to take control of the Privileges or Immunities narrative invites an alternative vision of the Fourteenth Amendment that further departs from the original meaning of the Constitution. Now is the time, and McDonald is the case, to advance an originalist vision of the Privileges or Immunities Clause. Only by correcting the historical record and claiming it for our own can we keep Pandora's Box sealed.


To understand the impact of social capital on knowledge integration and performance within digitally enabled teams, we studied 46 teams who had a history and a future working together. All three dimensions of their social capital (structural, relational, and cognitive) were measured prior to the team performing two tasks in a controlled setting, one face-to-face and the other through a lean digital network. Structural and cognitive capital were more important to knowledge integration when teams communicated through lean digital networks than when they communicated face-to-face; relational capital directly impacted knowledge integration equally, regardless of the communication media used by the team. Knowledge integration, in turn, impacted team decision quality, suggesting that social capital influences team performance in part by increasing a team's ability to integrate knowledge. These results suggest that team history may be necessary but not sufficient for teams to overcome the problems with the use of lean digital networks as a communication environment. However, team history may present a window of opportunity for social capital to develop, which in turn allows teams to perform just as well as in either communication environment.


Much of the Supreme Court's contemporary Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule jurisprudence is constructed upon an analytic mistake that H.L.A. Hart described in another context as a "spectacular non sequitur." That path to irrelevance is paved by the Court's recent insistence that the sole justification for excluding evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment is the prospect of deterring law enforcement officers. This deterrence-only approach ignores or rejects more principled justifications that inspired the rule at its genesis and have sustained it through the majority of its history and development. More worrisome, however, is the conceptual insufficiency of deterrence considerations alone to justify core components of the Court's Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule doctrine, including the good faith exception, the cause requirement, and the requirement to show standing. That conceptual deficit has produced an opaque body of doctrine that is often incoherent and always speculative and unpredictable. Faced with these results, the Court has two options. First, it can abandon almost a century of doctrine in favor of a dramatically expanded exclusionary rule cut loose from general rules and exceptions; or, second, the Court can preserve the bulk of its Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule jurisprudence by adopting a hybrid theory of the exclusionary rule that embraces retributive principles. This Article argues for the latter course and explores the consequences. Principal among them is that the Court must accept the exclusionary rule as the natural and necessary sanction for Fourth Amendment violations rather than a contingently justified judicial doctrine. Although some Justices and their academic supporters may think this a steep price to pay, this Article argues that the costs are more than justified by the rewards of doctrinal coherence, added clarity, and predictability.


Cite this article: Konsue A, Talubmook C. Effect of Thai Folklore Recipe from Abutilon indicum and Mimosa pudica in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats. Pharmacog J. 2018;10(3):480-85. ABSTRACT Context: Abutilon indicum and Mimosa pudica were a folklore recipe in Northeastern of Thailand. The recipe was reported that claim to diabetic treatment. Aims: The studies were evaluated to hypoglycemic effect, serum insulin secretion and blood biochemistry in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: The recipe were composed of whole plants from A. indicum and M. Pudica (1:1 w/w) powder. The pound plants were macerated with aqueous (AMA), hydro-ethanol (AMHE) and 80% ethanol (AME) to crude extracts. The AMA, AMHE and AME at the doses of 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight (b.w.) were administered orally daily in diabetic rats during eight weeks. Fasting blood glucose levels (FBG) were measured at weekly. The serum insulin levels and blood biochemical data including blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CREA), total protein (TP), albumin (Alb), serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were estimated at the end of experiment. Results: All doses of the extracts were showed significantly (p<0.05) decreasing percent age of FBG in diabetic rats. Especially, AME 125 mg/ kg b.w. was showed more potent significantly (p<0.05) decreasing percentage of FBG at week of 2, 5, 7 and 8. The serum insulin levels of all doses administered with the extracts were significantly (p< 0.05) higher than diabetic control group. On the other hand, all doses of the extracts were significantly (p< 0.05) decreasing ALT and ALP lower than diabetic control group. While, AMA and AMHE at the doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg b.w. were increased HDL, but decreased TC, TG and LDL. Conclusion: The study was proved to diabetic treatment and improvement of diabetic stage and blood biochemical parameters. In addition, the experiment was confirmed to folklore traditional use.


This issue, guest-edited by poet and memoirist Nick Flynn, contains a diverse collection of poems, essays, and stories, from Eric Fair's essay Consequence, on being an interrogator at Abu Ghraib, to Major Jackson's list poem, "Why I Write Poetry." This stylistically varied issue features emerging poets like Samuel Amadon and Sophie Klahr, as well as established writers such as Steve Almond, Mark Slouka, D. A. Powell, Claudia Rankine, Lauren Groff, and others.


Abstract This study examines the child care "expenditure share," defined as child care expenses divided by after-tax income. We estimate that the average child under six years of age lives in a family that spends 4.9 percent of after-tax income on child care. However, this conceals wide variation: 63 percent of such children reside in families with no child care expenses and 10 percent are in families where the expenditure share exceeds 16 percent. The proportion of income devoted to child care is typically greater in single-parent than married-couple families but is not systematically related to a constructed measure of socioeconomic status. One reason for this is that disadvantaged families use lower cost modes and pay less per hour for given types of care. The expenditure share would be much less equal without low cost (presumably subsidized) formal care focused on needy families, as well as government tax and transfer policies that redistribute income towards them.

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/C_Ruhm_Family_2007 (MULTI UNCG AUTHORS).pdf


Kyi, Tanya L. 50 Poisonous Questions: A Book with Bite . Illus. Ross Kinnaird. Toronto: Annick Press, 2011. Print. This is the second book in the 50 questions series published by Annick Press. In this case the questions are all centered on toxins of various types such as "Can Sheep Cure Snake Bites?" and "Why Was the Hatter Mad?" It consists of eight chapters with titles such as: "Lethal Leaves", "Murderous Villains" and "Spills and Disasters". The answers guide young readers through a series of factoids that act as a gateway to learning about world history, the environment and life sciences. A wide range of time periods and geographical locations are covered. For example, one answer is set in 600 BC and involves how the city state of Delphi in ancient Greece defeated the city state of Kirrha by contaminating their water supply with poisonous hellebore leaves.  A more contemporary example is the deadly sarin gas attack on a Japanese subway carried out by members of the Shinriko cult in 1995. There is also a significant amount of Canadian content: a deadly spider in a Manitoba classroom, mercury poisoning in Quebec and the discovery of a University of Alberta anthropologist regarding what happened to members of the ill-fated Franklin expedition. In addition to the questions, it also includes features such as the "poison puzzle" riddles to challenge readers' powers of deduction and to reinforce what they have been learning. One particularly intriguing example is the case of the umbrella murderer involving a Bulgarian secret service agent. The author also presents information in the form of "Foul Facts" and mini-articles such as "Sprinting for Strychnine". The book is illustrated with whimsical cartoon images on a toxic green background highlighted with skulls, cross-bones and warning signs. The look and feel is sure to pique the interest of mid to late elementary school readers and is recommended for grade four or age nine and above. The overall tone and language of the book is light-hearted and not overly academic. It does include a list of resources for further reading, a brief bibliography and an index. There are only 34 resources listed in the bibliography, which is less than one per question. However, given that the articles are designed to be brief and engaging rather than a comprehensive literature review this is not inappropriate. This book is entertaining and informative and could be used as supplementary classroom material on a variety of biology, environmental or history related topics. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Kim Frail


Over the past two decades many governments of low and middle income countries have started to introduce social protection measures or to extend the coverage and improve the functioning of public social protection systems. These reforms are a "global phenomenon" and can be observed in many African, Asian and Latin American countries. This paper focuses on international determinants for policy change within social protection by assessing the state of the art of both policy diffusion and policy transfer studies. Empirical studies of policy transfer and diffusion in the field of social protection are furthermore assessed in light of the theoretical background.


Hazardous wastes often head the public's list of environmental concerns. Exaggerated estimates of cancer epidemics arising from waste sites generate a sense of alarm, but little is known about the real extent of the health threats. In this book James T. Hamilton and W. Kip Viscusi present the first comprehensive analysis of the magnitude of hazardous waste risks and of the efficacy of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program. By matching agency decision data to detailed census information using geographic information systems (GIS) technology, the authors show that most hazardous waste sites do not pose sufficient risk to merit the most stringent cleanup options. Those sites that do pose considerable risk to exposed populations often receive inadequate attention, because government decisions to target cleanups are based more on political factors than on actual risks. The authors propose policy reforms that could significantly reduce cleanup costs without sacrificing the protection of human health. Beyond its analysis of a particular risk policy, the book serves as a general model for comprehensive risk analysis.


A new method of determining some characteristics of binary images is proposed based on a special linear filtering. This technique enables estimation of the area fraction, the specific line length and the specific integral of curvature. Furthermore, the specific length of the total projection is obtained, which gives detailed information about the texture of the image. The influence of lateral and directional resolution depending on the size of the applied filter mask is discussed in detail. The technique includes a method of increasing directional resolution for texture analysis while keeping lateral resolution as high as possible.


The cyclic GMP-AMP synthase/stimulator of IFN genes (cGAS/STING) pathway detects cytosolic DNA to activate innate immune responses. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) selectively target cancer cells with DNA repair deficiencies such as those caused by BRCA1 mutations or ERCC1 defects. Using isogenic cell lines and patient-derived samples, we showed that ERCC1-defective non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells exhibit an enhanced type I IFN transcriptomic signature and that low ERCC1 expression correlates with increased lymphocytic infiltration. We demonstrated that clinical PARPi, including olaparib and rucaparib, have cell-autonomous immunomodulatory properties in ERCC1-defective NSCLC and BRCA1-defective triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. Mechanistically, PARPi generated cytoplasmic chromatin fragments with characteristics of micronuclei; these were found to activate cGAS/STING, downstream type I IFN signaling, and CCL5 secretion. Importantly, these effects were suppressed in PARP1-null TNBC cells, suggesting that this phenotype resulted from an on-target effect of PARPi on PARP1. PARPi also potentiated IFN-&ggr;–induced PD-L1 expression in NSCLC cell lines and in fresh patient tumor cells; this effect was enhanced in ERCC1-deficient contexts. Our data provide a preclinical rationale for using PARPi as immunomodulatory agents in appropriately molecularly selected populations.


A new global energy landscape is emerging, resetting long-held expectations for our energy future. Incorporating these recent developments and world-class analysis, World Energy Outlook 2013 presents a full update of energy projections through to 2035 and insights into what they mean for energy security, climate change, economic development and universal access to modern energy services. Oil, coal, natural gas, renewables and nuclear power are all covered, along with an update on developments in subsidies to fossil fuels and renewable energy.
This year World Energy Outlook also gives a special focus to topical energy sector issues:
-Redrawing the energy-climate map: the short-term measures that could keep the 2°C target within reach, and the extent to which low-carbon development could leave fossil-fuel investments stranded. Special report to be released 10 June.
-Energy in Brazil: how a vast and diverse resource base – from renewables to new offshore discoveries – can meet the growing needs of the Brazilian economy and open up new export markets.
-Oil supply, demand and trade: a fresh look at the economics and decline rates of different types of oil production around the world, the prospects for light tight oil inside and outside North America, along with new analysis of oil products and the refining sector.
-The implications for economic competitiveness of the changing energy map: what the major disparities in regional energy prices might mean for major energy-intensive industries and the broader impact on economic growth and household purchasing power.
-The global spread of unconventional gas supply, including the uptake of the IEA "Golden Rules" to address public concerns about the associated environmental and social impacts.
-Energy trends in Southeast Asia, a region that is exerting a growing influence in the global energy system. Special report to be released 23 September.
The World Energy Outlook is recognised as the most authoritative source of strategic analysis of global energy markets. It is regularly used as input to the development of government policies and business strategies and raises public awareness of the key energy and environmental challenges the world is facing.


Publishers Introduction
This innovative book is the first to provide a fun, interactive way to learn about architecture. Filled with an array of beautiful and elegant drawings, it poses all manner of architectural challenges for the user: from designing your own skyscraper to drawing an island house or creating a Constructivist monument, plus many more.

Aimed at at anyone who loves drawing buildings, it encourages the users to imagine their own creative solutions by sketching, drawing and painting in the pages of the book. In so doing, they will learn about a whole range of significant architectural issues, such as the importance of site and materials, how to furnish a space, how to read plans, how to create sustainable cities and so on.

The book also includes numerous examples of works and ideas by major architects to draw inspiration from and will appeal to everyone from children to students and professional architects.


"The dietary transition in the developing world is accelerating toward an increased burden of chronic disease. It is increasing human mortality and disease burdens, and it is lowering economic productivity. The dietary transition is driven by changing preferences fueled by growing incomes, changing relative prices, urbanization, and food technology and distribution systems. This paper identifies policy options from the food supply and demand sides that can influence the transition toward increasingly healthy outcomes. These options have had mixed success in industrialized countries, and the policy tradeoffs in the developing world will be even more complicated. Additional technical research is needed to assess competing risks and help develop policy options. There is also a need for research to engage different actors in the policymaking process. In a debate in which much is at stake, there is a potentially powerful role for researchers to bring these actors to the table. In the end, this may help improve the decisionmaking processes underlying food policies that aim to redirect the diet transition toward healthier outcomes. " Authors' Abstract


State parentage laws, dictating who a newborn child's first legal parents will be, have been the subject of constitutional challenges in several U.S. Supreme Court and many lower court decisions. All of those decisions, however, have focused on constitutional rights of adults (especially unwed biological fathers) who wish to become, or to avoid becoming, legal parents. Neither courts nor legal scholars have considered whether the children have any constitutional rights that constrain legislatures and courts in deciding which adults will be their legal parents. If a state enacted a parentage law that said, for example, that any child born to a birth mother who already had two children would be placed in a parentchild relationship at birth with applicants for adoption rather than with the birth mother, would that infringe on any constitutional right of the child? Or would the birth mother be the only person with standing to challenge the law? Such a law would be purely hypothetical in the U.S. (though not far from reality in some other parts of the world). But the actual current parentage laws in the United States, which confer legal parent status in almost all instances on biological parents, with no regard for fitness, also have a seriously adverse affect on a subset of children - specifically, children whose birth parents are manifestly unfit to raise children, as evidenced by serious child maltreatment histories, criminal records, substance abuse, mental illness, and/or imprisonment. This Article is the first to consider whether states violate a constitutional right of some children when their parentage laws consign the children to legal relationships with, and into the custody of, adults whom the state knows to be unfit. It identifies opportunities for children's advocates to advance constitutional challenges to state parentage laws as applied to newborn offspring of adults unfit to parent, and it presents a robust legal theory to underwrite such challenges.


The well known Pierce design of electron and ion diodes is the base of particle source extraction systems [1,2]. It was heavily studied up to 1960 with analog computing and it now offers us a known case against which to compare the precision of fluid and particle tracing codes. The ideal model assumes zero particle kinetic energy at cathode emission, which is well matched in many sources: the extraction voltage is typically 20 kV, the emitter or plasma temperature below 0.5 eV, to which (in the case of plasma) we can add a small speed perpendicular to plasma surface equivalent to a kinetic energy of about 2 eV. Anyway, in the discretization of ideal model, we have to introduce a thin strip between the ideal cathode position where the ruling nonlinear Partial Differential Equation (nPDE) is singular and the simulated cathode position. In the construction of the COMSOL Multiphysics representation of the fluid model we can input not only the precise geometrical information on electrode size, but also the correctly defined mesh size and starting kinetic energy (all this information must be consistent). The expected and calculated exit radius of test particles agrees better than 4 digit precision (5 digits for most particles). The effect of small perturbations due to non uniform cathode emission current, of practical interest in many ion sources, can be so compared with a validated tool, which is important, since we know that this effect is small. The effect of the small emitter temperature is discussed with particle tracing models. Finally, the effect of anode lens aperture is computed (and compared to calculation), trying to determine aberrations due to finite aperture radius.


Resilience, the ability to maintain or regain positive levels of functioning despite adversity, is one of several strengths that can assist people in positive life adaptation. Midlife (35 - 60 years) is a period when individuals need to adapt to several major changes and challenges. However, no scale exists to measure resilience specifically in the midlife population. Therefore, this study develops a new scale to measure resilience in midlife. The RIM scale consists of 25 items, each self-rated on a 5-point scale (0-4), with higher scores reflecting greater resilience. The scale was administered to a sample of 130 men and women, aged 35 - 60 years, from the normal population. The reliability, validity and factor analytic structure of the scale were evaluated, and reference scores established. The RIM scale demonstrated sound psychometric properties and factor analysis yielded five factors. The RIM scale has potential utility in clinical and research settings.


An emergency preparedness planning process model and emergency preparedness planning process map were created based upon the pandemic planning process implemented by a large Midwestern health system. The emergency preparedness planning model and process map can be used to assist researchers, practitioners, and health care professionals of large and small health care centers in emergency preparedness planning preparations. The pandemic planning process implemented by the health system was examined to determine best practices regarding emergency preparedness planning. Research and theory from the fields of organizational development, federal disaster planning, and injury prevention were surveyed to determine the proper planning procedures for the health system pandemic outbreak. From a review of the literature, six critical planning criteria were determined to be important for an effective disaster planning process: the determination of environmental factors, proper problem definition, proper problem specificity, generation of multiple solutions, evaluation of solutions prior to implementation, and the inclusion of a feedback loop. Data collection utilized survey responses and document reviews to help build the emergency preparedness planning model and process map.


This master thesis explores an important and under-researched topic on the so-called bridging of length scales (from >meso macro bridge< the representations of events that occur at two different scales. The underlying objective here is to efficiently incorporate material length scales in the classical continuum plasticity/damage theories through the concept of homogenization theory. The present thesis is devoted to computational modeling of heterogeneous materials, primarily to matrix-inclusion type of materials. Considerations are focused predominantly on the elastic and damage behavior as a response to quasistatic mechanical loading. Mainly this thesis focuses to elaborate a sound numerical homogenization model which accounts for the prediction of overall properties with the application of different types of boundary conditions namely: periodic, homogeneous and mixed type of boundary conditions over two-dimensional periodic and non-periodic RVEs and three-dimensional non-periodic RVEs. Identification of the governing mechanisms and assessing their effect on the material behavior leads one step further. Bringing together this knowledge with service requirements allows for functional oriented materials design. First, this thesis gives attention on providing the theoretical basic mechanisms involved in homogenization techniques and a survey will be made on existing analytical methods available in literature. Second, the proposed frameworks are implemented in the well known finite element software programs ANSYS and SLang. Simple and efficient algorithms in FORTRAN are developed for automated microstructure generation using RSA algorithm in order to perform a systematic numerical testing of microstructures of composites. Algorithms are developed to generate constraint equations in periodic boundary conditions and different displacements applied spatially over the boundaries of the RVE in homogeneous boundary conditions. Finally, nonlinear simulations are performed at mesolevel, by considering continuum scalar damage behavior of matrix material with the linear elastic behavior of aggregates with the assumption of rigid bond between constituents.


Combining a newly formulated drug with one that is already a standard treatment slows the progression of multiple myeloma, an advanced cancer of the bone marrow cells, according to a clinical trial led by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicineresearcher. The phase III trial included 646 patients from 18 countries with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, a condition in which cancerous cells continue to multiply despite treatment. Patients inthe trial were randomly assigned to receive the drug bortezomib (Velcade), standard therapy for relapsed multiple myeloma, or a combination of Velcade and Doxil, a chemotherapy drug (doxorubicin) delivered via liposomes, or microscopic fat bubbles. An interim analysis of study participants who received the combination treatment showed a better response in the combination group than in participants who received standard treatment. Thecombination group's median time to progression - the time interval between the response to treatment and the time the disease starts to show evidence of growing or recurring - was 9.3 months, while those on Velcade alone progressed after 6.5 months. The three-month improvement is an important step forward in treatment for multiple myeloma, said Dr. Robert Orlowski, Lenvel Lee Rothrock associate professor in the department of hematology/oncology at the School of Medicine, and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Orlowski presented the trial's early results on Dec. 11, 2006, at the meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Orlando, Fla. The study was supported by Johnson & Johnson, which owns Ortho Biotech, the maker of Doxil, and also has a financialinterest in Velcade. "The data for time to progression were so positive and encouraging that we decided to announce this information earlier than anticipated so more people could be aware of the benefits of this combination," said Orlowski. "This study establishes that this combination is one of the standards of care for relapsed, refractory multiple myeloma," Orlowski said. "It does provide some added hope for patients and their families." The interim analysis also showed an early trend toward increased survival for patients taking the combination treatment, Orlowski said. Additional data on survival and the complete results of thisanalysis, as well as other factors such as quality of life, will be reported at a later date. More than 11,000 people in the United States will die of multiple myeloma in 2006, according to the American Cancer Society. Because it affects white blood cells, multiple myeloma suppresses the immune system, so patients can develop sometimes-fatal infections. Other complications include kidney failure, bone pain, anemia, and bleeding. Doxil is a liposmal version of an older drug, doxorubicin, which means the drug is encapsulated in a microscopic pouch made of lipids, or fats. The formulation seems to produce fewer cardiac side effects and is more convenient to administer. Orlowski and others first found that doxorubicin and Doxil may complement Velcade in studies of cells in culture, and of mice. "We've been able to take findings from the laboratory and move themon to patients in early, phase I clinical trials, and now in this phase III trial," Orlowski said. "It's an excellent example of how support of basic and translational laboratory research can, in a short time period, result in tangible benefits to patients." Other investigators were Sen H. Zhuang, Trilok Parekh and Liang Xiu,all of Johnson and & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development,and Jean-Luc Harousseau of University Hospital Hotel-Dieu, Nantes,France.Note: Orlowski can be reached at (919)966-9762, firstname.lastname@example.com


This thesis evaluates automated techniques to remove objects from an image and proposed several modifications for the specific application of removing a colour checker from structure dominated images. The selection of approaches covers the main research field of image inpainting as well as an approach used in medical image processing. Their results are investigated to disclose their applicability to removing objects from structure-intense images. The advantages and disadvantages discovered in the process are then used to propose several modifications for an adapted inpainting approach suitable for removing the colour checker.


Despite some searching and unanswered criticisms of its treatment of statistical evidence, the UNDP Human Development Report has become established as a widely-quoted and influential survey of the world scene. The 1999 Report, reviewed here, focuses on 'globalization'. This is described as a dominant influence on the recent economic fortunes of developing countries in particular, and as a primary cause of continuing poverty and growing inequality in the world. The author argues that the Report provides neither argument nor evidence in support of this thesis; that it takes no account of other factors that have strongly influenced economic performance; that its main prescription for the world, of reforms in 'global governance', is largely beside the point; and that its whole approach is crudely anti-liberal. The author concludes by placing the Report, as also the economists who have aligned themselves with it, in the wider context of anti-liberalism today.


We explicitly construct an uncountable class of infinite aperiodic plane graphs which have equal, and explicitly computable, bond percolation thresholds. Furthermore for both bond percolation and the random-cluster model all large scale properties, such as the values of the percolation threshold and the critical exponents, of the graphs are equal. This equivalence holds for all values of $p$ and all $q\in[0,\infty]$ for the random-cluster model. The graphs are constructed by placing a copy of a rotor gadget graph or its reflection in each hyperedge of a connected self-dual 3-uniform plane hypergraph lattice. The exact bond percolation threshold may be explicitly determined as the root of a polynomial by using a generalised star-triangle transformation. Related randomly oriented models share the same bond percolation threshold value.


We report on racially disparate uses of chapter 13 bankruptcy. Currently, approximately 1,500,000 bankruptcy petitions are filed each year, with about 30% of those petitions being chapter 13 cases. Although chapter 13 can offer some legal advantages for persons seeking to protect valuable assets such as a house or automobile, it generally offers less relief and costs more than the primary alternative available to consumers, chapter 7. The chief feature of a chapter 13 bankruptcy case is a plan under which the debtor must devote all of his or her disposable income to creditor repayment over a 3- to 5-year period. Chapter 7, in contrast, requires only that the debtor turn over all nonexempt assets, with over 90% of chapter 7 debtors having no assets to turn over. This paper reports on two studies, one using data from actual bankruptcy cases and the other involving an experiment with a national random sample of bankruptcy attorneys. Because the court system does not collect racial data on bankruptcy filers, the first study uses data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project. Even after controlling for financial, demographic, and legal factors that might favor a chapter 13 filing, African Americans are much more likely to file chapter 13, as compared to debtors of other races. The second study reports on an experimental vignette sent to a random sample of consumer bankruptcy attorneys who represented debtors. The attorneys were more likely to recommend chapter 13 when the hypothetical debtors were a couple named "Reggie & Latisha," who attended an African Methodist Episcopal Church, as compared to a couple named "Todd & Allison," who attended a United Methodist Church. Also, attorneys viewed "Reggie & Latisha" as having better values and being more competent when they expressed a preference for chapter 13 as compared to "Todd & Allison," who were seen as having better values and being more competent when they wanted to file chapter 7, giving them a "fresh start." Previous research and the results from the present experimental vignette study suggest consumer bankruptcy attorneys may be playing a very important, although likely unintentional, role in creating the racial disparity in chapter choice. Together, the two studies raise questions about the fairness of the bankruptcy system.


Traces the anthropological and ethnological theories of the ancient Greeks and Romans from the creation of the world to the invention of the Americas. In ancient Greek and Roman thinking, whether the world is flat or spherical it will have imaginary boundaries and liminal areas where the norms of nature and culture are thought to break down. Analogies are constantly drawn between 'primitive' peoples at the 'edges of the world' and 'primitive' people in prehistory. Distance, both in time and space, leads to difference, and the idea that strange things happen out there or happened back then dominates Greek and Roman thinking on other cultures. This book examines ancient ideas of the creation of the world, the beginnings of life and origin of species, humans and animals, utopias and blessed islands, and 'barbarian' cultures beyond the Mediterranean world, before going on to trace the influence of ancient anthropological and ethnological thought on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. We begin with primordial chaos and end with the invention of the Americas, taking in on the way many strange creatures, among them the noble or ignoble savages of Britain, Gaul and Ireland, the Man-faced Ox-creatures of Empedocles, the Dog-heads of India, the Amazons, Centaurs, Columbus, and the Tupinamba of Brazil.


It has often been suggested that education via the Internet, or e-learning, leads to a sense of separation in individual learners; this need not be the case. Teaching is a relationship: a relationship that is built on a connection between teaching and learner, between learner and learner, and between the learners and the content. What then is the role of the instructor in moderating online learning? This paper will explore how that connection might be better made in an online environment and will explore the interpersonal or emotive distinctiveness needed in an e-moderator from the perspective of a group of graduate students engaged in an online master of education degree offered in Canada.


This paper describes a multi-tasking architecture for performing real-time monitoring and analysis using knowledge-based problem solving techniques. To handle asynchronous inputs and perform in real-time, the system consists of three or more distributed processes which run concurrently and communicate via a message passing scheme. The Data Management Process acquires, compresses, and routes the incoming sensor data to other processes. The Inference Process consists of a high performance inference engine that performs a real-time analysis on the state and health of the physical system. The I/O Process receives sensor data from the Data Management Process and status messages and recommendations from the Inference Process, updates its graphical displays in real time, and acts as the interface to the console operator. The distributed architecture has been interfaced to an actual spacecraft (NASA's Hubble Space Telescope) and is able to process the incoming telemetry in "real-time" (i.e., several hundred data changes per second).


The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and its enhanced criminal penalties, which increase both the monetary fines and terms of imprisonment, were enacted at least in part to aid the SEC and to fill the perceived enforcement gap in combating corporate fraud. Congress, in so legislating, enlisted a criminal law behavioral model to induce law-abiding corporate behavior. In other words, Congress presumes that people will comply with the law after a conscious evaluation of the risks associated with disobeying the law. Deterrent-based punishments, however, may yield less effective outcomes for corporate fraudsters since some actors do not engage in the requisite cost-benefit assessments before acting. Moreover, even if everyone undertook such an assessment, their subjective beliefs will vary the outcomes. Indeed, a corporate offender's attitude toward risk will differ according to the type of criminal penalties that could be imposed, thereby implicating differing levels of marginal disutility. This Article analyzes whether this tactic - that of enacting increasingly lengthier prison sentences and imposing higher fines alone - will have the desired effect of deterring potential offenders, and punishing wrongdoers. As will be demonstrated below, reliance on the Act's enhanced criminal penalties to deter wrongdoing may not yield the desired result in light of the many uncontrollable factors that may undermine both the imposition of lengthy sentences and higher fines, and the impact of such penalties on convicted wrongdoers. Consequently, the punishment prong of the costs-benefits analysis must fully extinguish all benefits of the unlawful act in order to fill in the gaps that arise from a sole reliance on deterrent-based punishment. The asset forfeiture sanction effectively removes the economic motive for the criminal conduct from the potential offender's 'benefits' calculation. Any purported benefit from the criminal scheme will be wiped out if the offender is caught. This sanction which removes the economic incentive for the fraudulent scheme also punishes those individuals who either engage in a faulty cost-benefit analysis, or who fail to engage in such an analysis altogether.


In determining which constitutional procedural rights apply at sentencing, courts have distinguished between mandatory and discretionary sentencing systems. For mandatory systems—systems that limit sentencing factors and specify particular punishments based on particular facts—defendants enjoy important rights including the right to a jury, the right to proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the right to notice of potential sentencing aggravators, and the right not to be sentenced based on ex post facto laws. By contrast, for discretionary systems—systems that leave the determination of sentencing factors and how much punishment to impose based on particular facts to the judge's discretion—defendants do not enjoy these protections. This Article challenges this discrepancy. It argues that, given the rationales underlying each of these rights, there is equal reason to apply these rights in discretionary sentencing systems as in mandatory ones. As it explains, procedural rights regulate the means by which facts are found and the manner in which courts use those facts, and consequently are critical to discretionary systems. Just as in mandatory sentencing systems, judges in discretionary systems must make factual findings to determine the appropriate sentence to impose. This Article argues that the various justifications for providing fewer procedures in discretionary schemes are based on misconceptions about the nature of discretion at sentencing and inaccurate historical analysis.


Manipulator is the corollary equipment of the CCD aerial camera, which is mainly used to manage and control the main system of the aerial camera, receive the feedback information of the main system, and display the video image of the land object almost real time, and its performance will directly influence the working state of the CCD camera. The applications of the PC104 bus technology and the ARINC429 bus technology in the subsystem of the aerial camera manipulator are concisely introduced in this article, and the working flow of the display manipulator, the composing and working principle of the system are mainly discussed. Through the test-fly, the manipulator system could run stably, with advantages such as strong anti-jamming and high reliability.


Porous media flow of polymers with Carreau law viscosities and their application to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is considered. Applying the homogenization method leads to a nonlinear two-scale problem. In case of a small difference between the Carreau and the Newtonian case an asymptotic expansion based on the small deviation of the viscosity from the Newtonian case is introduced. For uni-directional pressure gradients, which is a reasonable assumption in applications like EOR, auxiliary problems to decouple the micro- from the macrovariables are derived. The microscopic flow field obtained by the proposed approach is compared to the solution of the two-scale problem. Finite element calculations for an isotropic and an anisotropic pore cell geometries are used to validate the accuracy and speed-up of the proposed approach. The order of accuracy has been studied by performing the simulations up to the third order expansion for the isotropic geometry.


Due to their confinement to specific host plants or restricted habitat types, Auchenorrhyncha are suitable biological indicators to measure the quality of chalk grassland under different management practices for nature conservation. They can especially be used as a tool to assess the success of restoring chalk grassland on ex-arable land. One objective of this study was to identify the factors which most effectively conserve and enhance biological diversity of existing chalk grasslands or allow the creation of new areas of such species-rich grassland on ex-arable land. A second objective was to link Auchenorrhyncha communities to the different grassland communities occurring on chalk according to the NVC (National Vegetation Classification). Altogether 100 chalk grassland and arable reversion sites were sampled between 1998 and 2002. Some of the arable reversion sites had been under certain grazing or mowing regimes for up to ten years by 2002. Vegetation structure and composition were recorded, and Auchenorrhyncha were sampled three times during the summer of each year using a "vortis" suction sampler. Altogether 110 leafhopper species were recorded during the study. Two of the species, Kelisia occirrega and Psammotettix helvolus, although widespread within the area studied, had not previously been recognized as part of the British fauna. By displaying insect frequency and dominance as it is commonly done for vegetation communities, it was possible to classify preferential and differential species of distinct Auchenorrhyncha communities. The linking of the entomological data with vegetation communities defined by the NVC showed that different vegetation communities were reflected by distinct Auchenorrhyncha communities. Significant differences were observed down to the level of sub-communities. The data revealed a strong positive relationship between the diversity of leafhoppers species and the vegetation height. There was also a positive correlation between the species richness of Auchenorrhyncha and the diversity of plant species. In that context it is remarkable that there was no correlation between vegetation height and botanical diversity. There is a substantial decrease in Auchenorrhyncha species richness from unimproved grassland to improved grassland and arable reversion. The decline of typical chalk grassland and general dry grassland species is especially notable. Consequently, the number of stenotopic Auchenorrhyncha species which are confined to only a few habitat types, are drastically reduced with the improvement of chalk grassland. Improved grassland and arable reversion fields are almost exclusively inhabited by common habitat generalists. The decrease in typical chalk grassland plants due to improvement is mirrored in the decline of Auchenorrhyncha species, which rely monophagously or oligophagously on specific host plants. But even where suitable host plants re-colonize arable reversion sites quickly, there is a considerable delay before leafhoppers follow. That becomes especially obvious with polyphagous leafhoppers like Turrutus socialis or Mocydia crocea, which occur on improved grassland or arable reversion sites only in low frequency and abundance, despite wide appearance or even increased dominance of their host plants. These species can be considered as the most suitable indicators to measure success or failure of long term grassland restoration. A time period of ten years is not sufficient to restore species-rich invertebrate communities on grassland, even if the flora indicates an early success.


Between July and October 2021, the Sanitation Learning Hub worked with government representatives and development partners to develop, share, and cross-analyse case studies looking at local system and government strengthening in four local government areas across West Africa: Benin (N'Dali commune), Ghana (Yendi municipal district), Guinea (Molota commune), and Nigeria (Logo LGA). The initiative focused on examples of local leadership in sanitation and hygiene (S&H), with case studies developed in collaboration with development partners (Helvetas in Benin, UNICEF in Ghana and Guinea, United Purpose in Nigeria) and the local governments they partner with. The goal was to cross-analyse examples of local government leadership in S&H, looking at what led to the prioritisation of S&H, and identifying commonalities and transferable knowledge through a participatory cross-learning process. The case studies identified positive change occurred in local government leadership in S&H, and analysed the contributions to change, via document review, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. This learning brief shares the learnings and recommendations that emerged from the case studies and through the three participatory workshops that followed.


Abstract The objective of the paper was to determine the impact of moisture and rotational speed of threshers on the process of crushing of lupine seeds. Raw material was led to four levels of moisture from 8 to 14% every 2%. The studies were carried out on the laboratory hammer mill with the use of variable speeds of mill hammers within 5500-7000 rot∙min−1. The studies that were carried out proved significant relations (p<0.05) between the analysed process variables and energy consumption and susceptibility of seeds to crushing. It was stated that along with the increase of the rotational speed, a reduction in the drop of the average dimension of particles of mill takes place. Along with the increase of moisture of lupine from 8 to 14% a unit energy of crushing increases on average by approx. 83%. It was proved that the susceptibility ratio of seeds to crushing increases along with the increase of raw material moisture. Such relations were determined for all investigated rotational speeds of hammers.


It is well established that a significant number of young people suffer from mental health concerns at any given time. Yet a substantial proportion of these young people do not receive adequate treatment. Thus, in order to address this gap in health care, schools are now seen as a natural setting in which to provide much-needed services to a significant number of children and adolescents who might otherwise go without intervention. The present study provides a description and formative evaluation of one such school mental health (SMH) initiative in a small rural school district in Western North Carolina. The initiative was assessed in comparison with what is known about the current landscape of SMH programs. Specific aspects of the initiative were discussed that might represent evolving trends in service provision, such as using graduate trainees as therapists, systemic implementation of regular interdisciplinary meetings and addressing the mental health needs of young people in rural areas.


N.B. As per the disclaimer [1], neither the ICRC nor the authors can be identified with the opinions expressed in the Cases and Documents. Some cases even come to solutions that clearly violate IHL. They are nevertheless worthy of discussion, if only to raise a challenge to display more humanity in armed conflicts. Similarly, in some of the texts used in the case studies, the facts may not always be proven; nevertheless, they have been selected because they highlight interesting IHL issues and are thus published for didactic purposes.


Spurred by the remarkable development of VoIP technology, applications of real-time voice communication has come into widespread use over the Internet. However, their over reliance on PC environment restricts the applying fields of most VoIP software, and embedded VoIP is one of these blind spots. The VoIP application in this paper sets the hardware foundation on ARM9 embedded platform, adopts SIP and RTP as the transmission protocol and employs CELP compression algorithms to ensure the low-latency and high-quality communication. In addition, Linux operating system and ALSA device driver are used to meet the needs of cost control and sound effects. Viewed from the experimental results, the VoIP system proves to be successful in both its real time voice communication and overall capacity.


Researchers claim that effective teachers adapt their instruction to meet their students' learning needs (see for instance, Bransford, Darling-Hammond, & LePage, 2005; Duffy, 2005; Pressley, Allington, Wharton-McDonald, Block, & Morrow, 2001). Little research has examined how teachers adapt their instruction or their reasons for doing so. While more open tasks lead to more student engagement and learning in different studies (Miller & Meece, 1999; Thornburg, 2005; Turner, 1995), there is little evidence to show how teaching adaptations are related to the openness of literacy tasks and student engagement. In this study, I used a mixed-method multiple case study design (Creswell, 2005) to study six teachers' literacy instruction in each of the six elementary grade levels. Specifically, I explored the teaching adaptations as they are related to academic tasks and student motivation as measured by engaged time on task. I observed each teacher's literacy instruction approximately every three weeks over one school year to identify the teaching adaptations and rationales for those adaptations, the openness of literacy tasks and student motivation as measured by engaged time on task. After each observation I interviewed the teacher for the purposes of verifying that adaptations were changes on-the-fly and to collect their rationales for adapting. Six case studies, one each from kindergarten to fifth grade, revealed that there is an overall low to low relationship between the quality ratings of adaptations and the openness of tasks. Thus, adaptations occurred most frequently during closed tasks and were rated overwhelmingly as minimally thoughtful. Counter to findings from previous research on tasks and motivation, this study also found that engaged time on task was high despite the fact that the tasks were closed. Implications of how contextual issues influence methodological procedures, and studying thoughtfully adaptive teaching as it relates to tasks, teachers, engagement, and rationales are discussed.


In exercise of the powers conferred by section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), and in supersession of the notification of the Central Board of Excise and Customs No.81/2017-CUSTOMS (N.T.), dated 17th August, 2017, except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession, the Central Board of Excise and Customs hereby determines that the rate of exchange of conversion of each of the foreign currencies specified in column (2) of each of Schedule I and Schedule II annexed hereto, into Indian currency or vice versa, shall, with effect from 8th September, 2017, be the rate mentioned against it in the corresponding entry in column (3) thereof, for the purpose of the said section, relating to imported and export goods.


Select, invest in, and deploy a Real Time Location System Is your business ready for an RTLS? This friendly, hands-on guide shows you how to understand and implement this cutting-edge technology, explaining RTLS methodologies in plain English. From the initial deployment to monitoring to determining Return on Investment, you'll see how to successfully meet your needs, ensure data accuracy, and sustain your system. Get your bearings understand what RTLS does and its various methodologies, determine your needs, and select the right system Prepare for installation outline your goals, plan your applications, assess your site, select the right tag technology, and conduct a pilot test Implement RTLS in your world know how to train your staff, set expectations, set up monitoring, and assess whether the RTLS is working as desired Deal with design issues learn the most common pitfalls of RTLS implementation and how to handle them Take the technology tour use RTLS to locate at choke points, room level, presence, by association, and precisely Monitor and secure your RTLS verify and fine-tune your system, establish performance metrics, and manage security issues and vulnerabilities such as network attacks Open the book and find: An overview of RTLS and its uses Explanations of underlying technologies How to integrate RTLS into your other business applications Comparative detail on technologies that enable different types of locating Tips for evaluating RTLS vendors Essential RTLS resources and references Tips for getting the most out of the batteries used in tags Privacy issues related to RTLS


A study was conducted to investigate the flow pattern in a gas turbine combustor using numerical and experimental approaches. The main function of a combustor is to burn the air-fuel mixture then to admit the high energy burnt gases, with uniform and limited temperature, to drive the turbine blades. The gas temperature must not exceed a certain allowable temperature to prevent any damage of the blades. Flow pattern within the combustor has a great effect on the self sustaining flame, mixing of fuel and air, combustion intensity and combustor exit temperature uniformity. For this reason, a radial vaned swirler was used in this study to demonstrate its effect on the flow pattern within the combustor. The radial swirler vanes had an aerodynamically curved profile to allow the incoming axial flow to turn gradually and hence to inhibit the flow separation on the suction side of the vane. Therefore, smooth flow turning, higher tangential and radial-velocity components can be generated at the swirler exit with lower pressure loss. Three swirler vane angles 40°, 50° and 60° corresponding to swirl numbers of 0.35, 0.54 and 1.13 were used to evaluate their effect on the combustor aerodynamics. The results show that the swirl number has a direct proportion relationship with the size and shape of the central recirculation zone as well as the corner recirculation. It is concluded that with the use of 40°, 50° and 60° vane angles swirler, the vortex breakdown phenomena occurs at different intensities and sizes.


In the presence of managerial short-termism and asymmetric information about skill and effort provision, firms may opportunistically shift earnings from uncertain to more certain times. We document that firms report more negative discretionary accruals when financial markets are less certain about their future prospects. Stock-price responses to earnings surprises are moderated when firm-level uncertainty is high, consistent with performance being attributed more to luck rather than skill and effort, which can create incentives to shift earnings toward lower-uncertainty periods. We show that the resulting opportunistic earnings management is concentrated in CEOs, firms, and periods where such incentives are likely to be strongest: (1) where CEO wealth is sensitive to change in the share price, (2) where announced earnings are particularly likely to be an important source of information about managerial ability and effort, and (3) before implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley made opportunistic earnings management more challenging. Our evidence highlights a novel channel through which uncertainty affects managerial decision making in the presence of agency conflicts.


The essay explores the relationships between U.S. tort law, race, and legal culture in the first half of the twentieth century. The essay begins by highlighting two ways in which tort law and legal culture were glaringly white. First, whiteness was the default in the sense that litigants and witnesses were presumed to be white unless otherwise identified, and second, African-American people were excluded from decision-making roles in the tort system. Despite the whiteness of the civil justice system, black plaintiffs brought and won tort cases in all regions during this period. The tort system's institutional commitment to private enforcement and individualized resolution of claims resulted in significant access to the civil justice system for black plaintiffs. However, that same commitment to individualized resolution of tort claims allowed bias and inequality to devalue black plaintiffs' claims at every stage of tort litigation, in ways that were impossible to challenge. Despite the racist exclusions of the legal system and wider culture during this period, a theoretical commitment to equal treatment of tort victims persisted as an undercurrent in legal culture. Judges and others used a variety of attempted justifications, different in content but similar in structure, to rationalize their unequal treatment of black tort plaintiffs.


A review of:

Shill, Harold B. and Shawn Tonner. "Does the Building Still Matter? Usage Patterns in New, Expanded, and Renovated Libraries, 1995-2002." College & Research Libraries 65.2 (Mar. 2004): 123-150.
Objective – To measure the impact of academic library facility improvements on physical library usage.

Design – The facility improvement data used for this study were previously collected through a 68-item Web survey for the companion article "Creating a Better Place: Physical Improvements in Academic Libraries, 1995-2002" (Shill and Tonner). The measurement of library usage was by exit gate counts before and after library improvements.

Setting – American academic libraries in which: facility improvement projects were completed between 1995 and 2002, the project space was not smaller than 20,000 square feet, the project space did not include off-site storage or non-public space, and gate-count statistics from before and after facility changes were available.

Subjects – Ninety of 384 identified academic libraries were able to provide usable data on: exit gate count, total circulation, in-house collection use, and reference transaction data.

Methods – The data collection was undertaken in 2003 for the companion study (Shill and Tonner). A population of 384 libraries potentially able to meet criteria for the study was gathered and each library was invited by e-mail to complete a Web-based survey. Through this initial contact, 357 libraries were confirmed as meeting the study criteria, and responses were received from 182 of those providing a 51% overall response rate.

Respondents were asked about institutional characteristics (public or private, Carnegie classification, etc.); project specific features (year of completion, nature of project, etc.); nature and extent of changes (seating, wiring, HVAC, etc.); presence of non-library services in the facility; collection arrangements; before and after quality changes in lighting, seating and a range of services (as assessed by the survey respondent); and before and after project completion gate count usage statistics. Respondents were asked a set of eleven questions each with a five-point scale about facility quality and librarian satisfaction with the former and the changed facility.

A further criteria requirement of the availability of pre- and post-project gate count was implemented, reducing the number of libraries to be studied to 90. Facility usage changes were calculated by subtracting the gate count total for the last complete year pre-project from the most recent year gate count post project.
Main results - Eighty percent of the 90 libraries reported increased gate count post-project, and 20 percent reported a decline in usage. The median increase across the libraries was 37.4 percent with 25.6 percent of libraries experiencing a post-project increase of 100 percent or more. Renovated facilities were more likely to see usage decline, but there was no statistically significant difference in usage change between renovated and new facilities. Libraries more recently upgraded saw greater usage growth than those renovations completed earlier in the study period, although 75 percent of the facilities continued to experience higher post-project usage levels. Nearly all of the private institutions (93.1%) experienced usage increases and almost half experienced growth of 100 percent or more.

No statistically significant relationship was found between changes in post project usage and:
 The proportion of facility space allocated for library functions
 The physical location of the library on campus
 The size of the library facility
 The level of degrees offered at the institution
 The availability of wireless access
 The number of computers in the instruction lab
 The number of public access workstations
 A larger number of seats
 The number of group study rooms
 The shelving capacity, the use of compact shelving or off-site storage
 The presence of coffee or snack bars
 The presence of any non-library facilities

There was a statistically significant correlation (Pearson's r) between increased post project usage and:
 The institution type (public or private) (p=.000)
 The number of data ports in the facility (p=.005)
 The percent of wired seats (p=.034)

Ten elements relating to improved quality emerged as statistically significant in relation to increased usage, although the correlation for quality of artificial lighting was not statistically significant (p=.162 n.s.). The statistically significant correlations (Pearson's r) between quality and increased usage in order of strength of correlation were: the quality of the instruction lab (p=.000); layout (p=.001); public access workstations (p=.006); natural lighting (p=.007); user workspace (p=.008); telecommunications infrastructure (p=.014); overall ambience (p=.020); collection storage (p=.026); heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system (p=.026); and service point locations (p=.038).

Conclusion – This study confirmed that 80 percent of libraries experience usage increase after a library improvement project. The study revealed those investments that cause increased use, and also found that a number of variables previously predicted to cause usage growth were not significant. The study also found that quality of the improvements, additions, and the building are a significant driver of increased use. The median 37.4 percent increase demonstrates that, contrary to reports in the literature (Shill and Tonner 460), overall library usage is increasing in these institutions.


Danish banks have traditionally been in the absolute forefront globally as regards the automation and introduction of IT since the mid 60'ies. But when the e-commerce opportunities emerged in the late 90'ies, the majority of the Danish banks resisted the development. They saw no reason to be the prime movers in cannibalising their own key competitive advantage, the 2.500+ retail-outlets (branches) placed on all the best locations on corners of the shopping streets1. However, once pure Internet banks were introduced in 1998 - 2000, all major banks (and the computing centres servicing the smaller banks) launched massive initiatives to bring the brick-and-mortar banks back into the driver seat using Internet banking. At the end of 2003 more than 30% of all Danish bank customers are using Internet. This development in the banking industry is illustrated using two cases. The first is one of the most ambitious attempts at creating a Nordic based large international financial service company, capable of spearheading the transition to the digital economy - the case of Nordea. This bank is in the midst of various transformation processes across the organisation due to several years of multiple cross boarder mergers and acquisitions, new composition of the group executive management, increasing thrives towards automation of business processes to reduce costs, and different innovations involving a change of the roles of value network partners. The other case is Lan & Spar Bank, which is one of the smaller Danish banks, who have its basic IT services done at a joint computing centre owned with many other smaller banks, but have its own IT development for strategic purposed done in-house in close collaboration with the business units. This bank has been in the forefornt in adopting new IT-solutions. This report consists of an analysis of the background for the development of the Danish banking sectors, the key processes in the Danish banking industry, the environmental and policy actors influencing the development, the e-commerce readiness in the Danish banking sector, the diffusion of e-commerce, and finally the impact on efficiency, industry structure and competition. The main results are that there are more Danish financial institutions having Internet technologies and Internet applications than in the other nine countries in the GEC survey. Furthermore, we suspect that they have had it for a longer period on average than found elsewhere in the sample. However, when we compare the figures in the GEC-survey on the ' Use of Internet for the different business processes', and 'On-line support', the number of Danish financial institutions having Internet applications is not higher than in the other countries.


We count the number of walks of length $n$ on a $k$-node circular digraph that cover all $k$ nodes in two ways. The first way illustrates the transfer-matrix method. The second involves counting various classes of height-restricted lattice paths. We observe that the results also count so-called $k$-balanced strings of length $n$, generalizing a 1996 Putnam problem.


Cross-national field research performed in developing countries presents researchers with a number of obstacles. Challenges include creating equivalent samples, countering biases, and managing linguistic and cultural issues. In this article the author reviews the conduct of a cross-national study focusing on small tourism operators and the adoption of information communication technologies. He presents the research process, the issues encountered and how they were addressed are discussed, and a number of lessons. This article adds to our understanding of cross-national field research in developing countries and presents a number of implications for social science researchers.


The Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), a railroad in East Siberia
and the Russian Far East, became the last large Soviet industrial project.
Its construction in the 1970s and 1980s attracted migrants from
across the USSR, who formed the bamovtsy, or group of BAM builders.
They share a history of working and living along the BAM and
constitute the majority population in the region. The article argues
that emotionally charged social memory of the BAM construction
plays the central role in reproducing and reinforcing the bamovtsy
identity in the post-Soviet period. Drawing on in-depth interviews
and focus groups, the article examines the dynamics of both individual
and collective remembering of the socialist BAM. It forms a
vibrant discursive and emotional field, in which memories and identities
are reconstructed, relived, and contested. Commemorative ceremonies
such as the fortieth anniversary of the BAM serve as forums
of public remembering and arenas for the politics of emotions.


Within this paper we focus on both the solution of real, complex problems using expert system technology and the acquisition of the necessary knowledge from a case-based reasoning point of view. The development of systems which can be applied to real world problems has to meet certain requirements. E.g., all available information sources have to be identified and utilized. Normally, this involves different types of knowledge for which several knowledge representation schemes are needed, because no scheme is equally natural for all sources. Facing empirical knowledge it is important to complement the use of manually compiled, statistic and otherwise induced knowledge by the exploitation of the intuitive understandability of case-based mechanisms. Thus, an integration of case-based and alternative knowledge acquisition and problem solving mechanisms is necessary. For this, the basis is to define the "role" which case-based inference can "play" within a knowledge acquisition workbench. We will discuss a concrete casebased architecture, which has been applied to technical diagnosis problems, and its integration into a knowledge acquisition workbench which includes compiled knowledge and explicit deep models, additionally.


US data on influenza deaths are a mess. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledges a difference between flu death and flu associated death yet uses the terms interchangeably. Additionally, there are significant statistical incompatibilities between official estimates and national vital statistics data. Compounding these problems is a marketing of fear—a CDC communications strategy in which medical experts "predict dire outcomes" during flu seasons.

The CDC website states what has become commonly accepted and widely reported in the lay and scientific press: annually "about 36 000 [Americans] die from flu" (www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease.htm) and "influenza/pneumonia" is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States (www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm). But why are flu and pneumonia bundled together? Is the relationship so strong or unique to warrant characterising them as a single cause of death?

David Rosenthal, director of Harvard University Health Services, said, "People don't necessarily die, per se, of the [flu] virus—the viraemia. What they die of is a secondary pneumonia. So many of these pneumonias are not viral pneumonias but secondary [pneumonias]." But Dr Rosenthal agreed that the flu/pneumonia relationship was not unique. For instance, a recent study ( JAMA 2004;292: 1955-60) found that stomach acid suppressing drugs are associated with a higher risk of community …


Although political and legal institutions are essential to any nation's economic development, the forces that have shaped these institutions are poorly understood. Drawing on rich evidence about the development of the American states from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century, this book documents the mechanisms through which geographical and historical conditions--such as climate, access to water transportation, and early legal systems--impacted political and judicial institutions and economic growth. The book shows how a state's geography and climate influenced whether elites based their wealth in agriculture or trade. States with more occupationally diverse elites in 1860 had greater levels of political competition in their legislature from 1866 to 2000. The book also examines the effects of early legal systems. Because of their colonial history, thirteen states had an operational civil-law legal system prior to statehood. All of these states except Louisiana would later adopt common law. By the late eighteenth century, the two legal systems differed in their balances of power. In civil-law systems, judiciaries were subordinate to legislatures, whereas in common-law systems, the two were more equal. Former civil-law states and common-law states exhibit persistent differences in the structure of their courts, the retention of judges, and judicial budgets. Moreover, changes in court structures, retention procedures, and budgets occur under very different conditions in civil-law and common-law states. The Evolution of a Nation illustrates how initial geographical and historical conditions can determine the evolution of political and legal institutions and long-run growth.


Pharmacologic treatment of heart failure has progressed over the last two decades, but regimens have become more complex. With pharmacogenetics, the time is rapidly approaching when information on genetic variability will be used to predict therapeutic response and select the right drug for the right patient. In this issue of Heart Failure Clinics, several leading pioneers of this next revolution in heart failure treatment present the current state-of-the-art on the use of genomic information to target therapeutics. The issue begins with two articles on the basics of what every clinician needs to understand to apply genomic information to patient care and a historical overview of the move toward genetically targeted therapies. The articles that follow address specific therapeutic interventions such as neurohormonal inhibitors and beta blockers. The next series of articles address the genomics of hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, and how genomic differences may underlie the apparent racial differences in heart failure and therapeutics. The final third of the issue turns to how genomics will assist treatment of specific clinical scenarios, including myocarditis, transplant rejection, device therapy and pulmonary arterial hypertension. The issue concludes with a discussion of genome-wide association studies.