This film is part of the research project crisis-scape.net

The neo-Νazi party Golden Dawn has been active in Greece since the mid-1980s. Through the years, GD has attacked migrants, antifascists and homosexuals, often with the tolerance or even the collaboration of parts of the Greek police force. In recent years, the party saw a largely unexplained soaring in its funding, a broad coverage of its activities (whether real or fictitious) by mainstream media and the opening up of more than fifty local branches across Athenian neighborhoods and Greek cities.

The ostensibly meteoric rise of the GD in mainstream political discourse came at an extremely critical conjuncture, amidst the global financial crisis that hit Greece hard from approximately 2008/09 onward. In the 2009 national elections, GD had received a mere 0.2% of the vote; in 2012, its share sky-rocketed to approximately 7%. The electoral success of GD was matched by the introduction of anti-migration policies by the government coalition, often-encountered police operations specifically targeting anti-fascist activists in Athens and other Greek cities and the rise of racist attacks in the country.

On September 17th a self-confessed GD member, Giorgos Roupakias, stabbed anti-fascist rap musician Pavlos Fyssas (aka Killah-P) to death. In the aftermath of the assassination the GD leader, Nikos Mihaloliakos, and key GD MPs and members have been arrested and charged. Only now, after decades of presence in the Greek political landscape, the GD's connections to the country's security forces and political establishment are untangled and exposed in mainstream political discourse and in the media


A search is presented for the pair production of heavy vector-like T quarks, primarily targeting the T quark decays to a W boson and a b-quark. The search is based on 36.1 fb−1 of pp collisions at √ s = 13 TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Data are analysed in the lepton-plus-jets final state, including at least one b-tagged jet and a large-radius jet identified as originating from the hadronic decay of a high-momentum W boson. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is observed in the reconstructed T mass distribution. The observed 95% confidence level lower limit on the T mass are 1350 GeV assuming 100% branching ratio to Wb. In the SU(2) singlet scenario, the lower mass limit is 1170 GeV. This search is also sensitive to a heavy vector-like B quark decaying to Wt and other final states. The results are thus reinterpreted to provide a 95% confidence level lower limit on the B quark mass at 1250 GeV assuming 100% branching ratio to Wt; in the SU(2) singlet scenario, the limit is 1080 GeV. Mass limits on both T and B production are also set as a function of the decay branching ratios. The 100% branching ratio limits are found to be applicable to heavy vector-like Y and X production that decay to Wb and Wt, respectively.


In functional magnetic resonance imaging statistical analysis there are problems with accounting for temporal autocorrelations when assessing change within voxels. Techniques to date have utilized temporal filtering strategies to either shape these autocorrelations or remove them. Shaping, or "coloring," attempts to negate the effects of not accurately knowing the intrinsic autocorrelations by imposing known autocorrelation via temporal filtering. Removing the autocorrelation, or "prewhitening," gives the best linear unbiased estimator, assuming that the autocorrelation is accurately known. For single-event designs, the efficiency of the estimator is considerably higher for prewhitening compared with coloring. However, it has been suggested that sufficiently accurate estimates of the autocorrelation are currently not available to give prewhitening acceptable bias. To overcome this, we consider different ways to estimate the autocorrelation for use in prewhitening. After high-pass filtering is performed, a Tukey taper (set to smooth the spectral density more than would normally be used in spectral density estimation) performs best. Importantly, estimation is further improved by using nonlinear spatial filtering to smooth the estimated autocorrelation, but only within tissue type. Using this approach when prewhitening reduced bias to close to zero at probability levels as low as 1 x 10(-5).


In this article, we present strategies to help combat the U.S. nursing shortage. Key considerations include providing an attractive work schedule and work environment—critical issues for retaining existing nurses and attracting new nurses to the profession—while at the same time using the set of available nurses as effectively as possible. Based on these ideas, we develop a model that takes advantage of coordinated decision making when managing a flexible workforce. The model coordinates scheduling, schedule adjustment, and agency nurse decisions across various nurse labor pools, each of differing flexibility levels, capabilities, and costs, allowing a much more desirable schedule to be constructed. Our primary findings regarding coordinated decision making and how it can be used to help address the nursing shortage include (i) labor costs can be reduced substantially because, without coordination, labor costs on average are 16.3% higher based on an actual hospital setting, leading to the availability of additional funds for retaining and attracting nurses, (ii) simultaneous to this reduction in costs, more attractive schedules can be provided to the nurses in terms of less overtime and fewer undesirable shifts, and (iii) the use of agency nurses can help avoid overtime for permanent staff with only a 0.7% increase in staffing costs. In addition, we estimate the cost of the shortage for a typical U.S. hospital from a labor cost perspective and show how that cost can be reduced when managers coordinate.


This paper analyses the complex process through which EU's Eighth Company Law Directive on the qualification of statutory auditors (1984) was implemented in Denmark. The Directive envisaged one group of 'statutory auditors' in each member state. However, in Denmark there were two groups of auditors: the state authorised auditors who had a long education and high status, and the registered auditors who had a shorter education, lower status and whose clients were mainly medium and small sized businesses. An exemption was made in the Directive to allow the registered auditors to continue to audit despite that they did not have the required 'university level' education. This made the issue of education central to the long-term survival of the registered auditors and it consequently became the object of a long conflict between the parties with an interest in auditor education and qualifications: the profession, the state and the educational institutions. This case illustrates the processes of audit regulation in a small European state with a highly developed economy where auditors are approved and regulated by the state but through processes heavily influenced by the profession. It provides an interesting contrast to other studies carried out on the implementation of this Directive, e.g. in the UK (Cooper et al , 1996) and in Greece (Caramanis, 1999), and perhaps some insight into the difficulties which may be encountered in implementing the new Eighth Directive proposed by the Commission in May 2003.


Tourism, considered one of the fastest growing industries, is characterized as
having a high level of competitiveness. In attempts to attract tourists, destinations have
relatively recently begun taking strides to engage in and improve their destination
marketing efforts, making the subject significantly relevant. Creating a positive brand
image is especially important in the tourism industry, as it is necessary for destinations,
many of which tout the same benefits and attributes, to set themselves apart from the
competition.
Previous studies have shown that destination brand image, or the way people
perceive a specific destination, effects consumer behavior. This paper sought to further
examine the relationship between brand image and intention to visit. In order to gain a
better understanding of this relationship, a group of relatively homogenous Americans
that had never visited Spain were interviewed about their currently held brand images of
Spain as well as the information sources, which assumedly influenced their perception,
that they had been exposed to. The answers of participants were then assessed in order to
discern if there is a relationship between perceived destination image and its components
with intention to visit.
Results from the interviews reaffirmed previous studies that indicated a
relationship between intention to visit a destination and a positive brand image. In
addition, many components of destination brand image also demonstrated a positive
relationship. As respondents demonstrated greater familiarity with the place, for
instance, they had a greater intention of visiting.


In the filling process of a car tank, the formation of foam plays an unwanted role, as it may prevent the tank from being completely filled or at least delay the filling. Therefore it is of interest to optimize the geometry of the tank using numerical simulation in such a way that the influence of the foam is minimized. In this dissertation, we analyze the behaviour of the foam mathematically on the mezoscopic scale, that is for single lamellae. The most important goals are on the one hand to gain a deeper understanding of the interaction of the relevant physical effects, on the other hand to obtain a model for the simulation of the decay of a lamella which can be integrated in a global foam model. In the first part of this work, we give a short introduction into the physical properties of foam and find that the Marangoni effect is the main cause for its stability. We then develop a mathematical model for the simulation of the dynamical behaviour of a lamella based on an asymptotic analysis using the special geometry of the lamella. The result is a system of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDE) of third order in two spatial and one time dimension. In the second part, we analyze this system mathematically and prove an existence and uniqueness result for a simplified case. For some special parameter domains the system can be further simplified, and in some cases explicit solutions can be derived. In the last part of the dissertation, we solve the system using a finite element approach and discuss the results in detail.


The Internet of Things (IoT) recently developed from the far-away vision of ubiquitous computing into very tangible endeavors in politics and economy, implemented in expensive preparedness programs. Experts predict considerable changes in business models that need to be addressed by organizations in order to respond to competition. Although there is a need to develop strategies for upcoming transformations, organizational change literature did not turn to the specific change related to the new technology yet. This work aims at investigating IoT-related organizational change by identifying and classifying different change types. It therefore combines the methodological approach of grounded theory with a discussion and classification of identified change informed by a structured literature review of organizational change literature. This includes a meta-analysis of case studies using a qualitative, exploratory coding approach to identify categories of organizational change related to the introduction of IoT. Furthermore a comparison of the identified categories to former technology-related change is provided using the example of Electronic Business (e-business), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. As a main result, this work develops a comprehensive model of IoT-related business change. The model presents two main themes of change indicating that personal smart things will transform businesses by means of using more personal devices, suggesting and scheduling actions of their users, and trying to avoid hazards. At the same time, the availability of information in organizations will further increase to a state where information is available ubiquitously. This will ultimately enable accessing real time information about objects and persons anytime and from any place. As a secondary result, this work gives an overview on concepts of technology-related organizational change in academic literature.


Statistical information pervades everyday life in the twenty-first century. Research shows, however, that the skills needed to be able to understand and critically evaluate statistical information must be specifically taught. In 2013, an externally assessed National Certificate in Educational Achievement standard in statistical literacy was introduced for the first time in New Zealand. A small exploratory study investigated a possible teaching approach designed to enable Year13 students (aged 17-18) to critically evaluate media reports. Findings suggest that the learning trajectory required several key components including media reports as both a motivational and conceptual development tool. In addition, computer visualizations and procedural scaffolds appeared valuable tools for facilitating conceptual understanding of the margin of error.


The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.


Herpesviruses are a fascinating group of enveloped DNA viruses, which rely on membrane fusion for infectious entry and direct cell-to-cell spread. Compared with many other enveloped viruses, they utilize a remarkably complex fusion machinery. Three conserved virion proteins, the bona fide fusion protein gB, and the presumably gB activating gH/gL heterodimer constitute the conserved core fusion machinery and are believed to drive membrane fusion in a cascade-like fashion. Activation of this cascade in most alphaherpesviruses is proposed to be triggered by binding of gD to specific host cell receptors. The molecular details of this fusion process, however, remain largely elusive. Yet, a detailed mechanistic knowledge of this process would be greatly beneficial for the development of efficient countermeasures against a variety of diseases. In this thesis, the functional relevance of individual components of the essential gH/gL complex of the alphaherpesvirus PrV has been assessed by two different approaches: by reversion analysis (paper II) and site-directed mutagenesis (papers III-V). In contrast to other herpesviruses, gL-deleted PrV is able to perform limited cell-to-cell spread, providing the unique opportunity to passage the entry-deficient virus in cell culture to select for PrV revertants capable of infecting cells gL-independently. This approach already resulted in an infectious gL-negative PrV mutant (PrV-ΔgLPass), in which the function of gL was compensated by formation of a gDgH hybrid protein. Here, the requirements for gL-independent infectivity of a second independent revertant (PrV-ΔgLPassB4.1), were analyzed. Sequencing of the genes encoding for gB, gH and gD, revealed mutations in each of them. By means of a robust infection-free, transfection-based cell-cell fusion assay (paper I), we identified two amino acid substitutions in the gL-binding domain I of gHB4.1 (L70P, W103R) as sufficient to compensate for lack of gL. Two mutations in gB (G672R, ΔK883) were found to enhance fusogenicity, probably by lowering the energy, required for gB refolding from pre- to postfusion conformation. Coexpression of gHB4.1 and gBB4.1 led to an excess fusion, which was completely suppressed by gDB4.1 in the fusion assays. This was surprising since PrV gD is normally not required for in vitro fusion or direct viral cell-to-cell spread, clearly separating this process from fusion during entry, for which PrV gD is essential. The fusion inhibiting effect of gDB4.1 could be attributed to a single point mutation resulting in an amino acid substitution within the ectodomain (A106V). In conclusion, these results indicated that gL is not central to the fusion process, as its function can be compensated for. As found so far, gL-independent infectivity can be realized by compensatory mutations in gH (as in PrV-ΔgLPass) or in gH plus gB (as in PrV-ΔgLPassB4.1). Excessive fusion induced by gHB4.1 and gBB4.1 was counter-regulated by gDB4.1, indicating that the interplay between these proteins is precisely regulated and further implies that gL and gD, despite being not absolutely essential for the fusion process, have important regulatory functions on gH and/or gB.
Both PrV-ΔgLPass mutants had acquired compensatory mutations in gH affecting the predicted gL-binding domain I in gH. By construction of an artificial gH32/98, which lacked the predicted gL-binding domain and was similar to the recently crystallized gH-core fragment present in the gDgH hybrid protein, we identified the N-terminal part of PrV gH as essential for gH function during fusion (paper III). gH32/98 was unable to promote fusion of wild-type gB in fusion assays and led to a total loss of function in the viral context. These results indicated that the gD moiety, present in gDgH, is critical for proper function of the gH-core fragment. We hypothesize that the gD moiety may adopt a stabilizing or modulating influence on the gH structure, which is normally executed by gL and important for interaction of gH with wild-type gB. Remarkably, substitution of wild-type gB by gBB4.1 rescued function of gH32/98 in the cellular and viral contexts. These findings suggest that gBB4.1 has been selected for interaction with "gL-less" gH. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that gL and the gL-binding domain are not strictly required for membrane fusion during virus entry and spread but that compensatory mutations must be present in gB to restore a fully functional fusion machinery. These results strongly support the notion of a functional gH-gB interaction as a prerequisite for membrane fusion.
In addition to the N-terminal domain, we identified the transmembrane domain of PrV gH as an essential component of the fusion machinery, while the cytoplasmic domain was demonstrated to play a modulatory but nonessential role (paper IV). Whereas truncation or substitution of the PrV gH TMD by a gpi-anchor or the analogous sequence from PrV gD rendered gH non-functional, the HSV-1 gH TMD was found to functionally substitute for the PrV gH TMD in cell-cell fusion and complementation assays. Since residues in the TMD which are conserved between HSV and PrV gH but absent in PrV gD, are placed on one face of an α-helical wheel plot, we hypothesize that the gH TMD has an intrinsic property to interact with membrane components such as lipids or other molecules as a requirement for promoting membrane fusion.
In a final study focusing on the function of gH, we identified the N-glycosylation sites utilized by PrV gH, and determined their individual role in viral infection (paper V). PrV gH was found to be modified by N-glycans at five potential glycosylation sites. N-glycans at PrV specific N77 and the highly conserved site N627 were found to be critical for efficient membrane fusion in the fusion assays, and during viral entry and cell-to-cell spread. N627 was further shown to be crucial for proper gH transport and maturation. In contrast, inactivation of N604, conserved in the Varicellovirus genus, enhanced in vitro fusion activity and viral cell-to-cell spread. These findings demonstrated a role of the N-glycans in proper localization and function of PrV gH.


Written by Neil Gaiman; Art by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones, III; Painted Cover by Dave McKean A wizard attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. Fearful for his safety, the wizard kept him imprisoned in a glass bottle for decades. After his escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On the way, Morpheus encounters Lucifer and demons from Hell, the Justice League, and John Constantine, the Hellblazer. This book also includes the story "The Sound of Her Wings" which introduces us to the pragmatic and perky goth girl, Death.


This Article develops a pluralist account of substantive international criminal law (ICL). Challenging the dominant assumption among theorists and practitioners, it argues that the search for consistency and uniformity in ICL is misguided, that the law applicable to international crimes should not be the same in all cases, and that those guilty of like crimes should not always receive like sentences. In lieu of a one-size-fits-all criminal law, this Article proposes a four-tiered model of ICL that takes seriously the national laws of the state or states that, under normal circumstances, would be expected to assert jurisdiction over a case. After briefly surveying historical complexities concerning the definition and scope of ICL, the Article focuses on standard justifications for the existence of ICL. It looks in particular to justifications rooted in international relations, gravity considerations, and enforcement concerns. While each account provides powerful reasons for seeking uniformity with respect to some components of ICL, neither in isolation nor in combination do these rationales demand uniformity with respect to the entire content of ICL. In particular, these standard theories have difficulty explaining why ICL should seek to monopolize those aspects of criminal responsibility that speak more to the general nature of criminality than to any specific goal of ICL. A review of general rule-of-law values - including the values of consistency, legality, administration, normative development, and avoiding jurisdictional chaos - yields similar results, affirming that contingent domestic law has a vital role to play in ICL prosecutions. The Article next undertakes a case study of the Erdemovic decision, in which the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced a new rule of ICL rejecting duress as a complete defense to murder. A close reading of the tribunal's reasoning reveals that the ICTY would have done better to apply Bosnian law considering the Court's inability to articulate why the special context or purpose of ICL requires a specific result, the normative shortcomings of both the majority and dissent's positions, and the availability of a suitable approach under domestic law. The Article then elaborates upon this analysis to set forth a four-tiered model of substantive ICL comprising: (1) truly universal principles of ICL, (2) tribunal-specific rules, (3) rules constraining the acceptable range of domestic discretion, and (4) default rules. While this model has powerful normative force, it also provides a coherent and superior framework for understanding the actual content of ICL in its current state of development.


The theory of the two-scale convergence was applied to homogenization of elasto-plastic composites with a periodic structure and exponential hardening law. The theory is based on the fact that the elastic as well as the plastic part of the stress field two-scale converges to a limit, which is factorized by parts, depending only on macroscopic characteristics, represented in terms of corresponding part of the homogenised stress tensor and only on stress concentration tensor, related to the micro-geometry and elastic or plastic micro-properties of composite components. The theory was applied to metallic matrix material with Ludwik and Hocket-Sherby hardening law and pure elastic inclusions in two numerical examples. Results were compared with results of mechanical averaging based on the self-consistent methods.


Abstract. The hydroxyl radical (OH) reacts with thousands of
chemical species in the atmosphere, initiating their removal and the
chemical reaction sequences that produce ozone, secondary aerosols, and
gas-phase acids. OH reactivity, which is the inverse of OH lifetime,
influences the OH abundance and the ability of OH to cleanse the atmosphere.
The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) campaign used instruments on the NASA
DC-8 aircraft to measure OH reactivity and more than 100 trace chemical
species. ATom presented a unique opportunity to test the completeness of the
OH reactivity calculated from the chemical species measurements by comparing
it to the measured OH reactivity over two oceans across four seasons.
Although the calculated OH reactivity was below the limit of detection for
the ATom instrument used to measure OH reactivity throughout much of the
free troposphere, the instrument was able to measure the OH reactivity in
and just above the marine boundary layer. The mean measured value of OH
reactivity in the marine boundary layer across all latitudes and all ATom
deployments was 1.9 s−1, which is 0.5 s−1 larger than the mean
calculated OH reactivity. The missing OH reactivity, the difference between
the measured and calculated OH reactivity, varied between 0 and 3.5 s−1, with the highest values over the Northern Hemisphere Pacific
Ocean. Correlations of missing OH reactivity with formaldehyde, dimethyl
sulfide, butanal, and sea surface temperature suggest the presence of
unmeasured or unknown volatile organic compounds or oxygenated volatile
organic compounds associated with ocean emissions.


A great deal of research on sanitizer placement, sanitizer correctness, checking path validity, and policy inference, has been done in the last five to ten years, involving type systems, static analysis and runtime monitoring and enforcement. However, in pretty much all work thus far, the burden of sanitizer placement has fallen on the developer. However, sanitizer placement in large-scale applications is difficult, and developers are likely to make errors, and thus create security vulnerabilities.
 This paper advocates a radically different approach: we aim to fully automate the placement of sanitizers by analyzing the ow of tainted data in the program. We argue that developers are better off leaving out sanitizers entirely instead of trying to place them.
 This paper proposes a fully automatic technique for sanitizer placement. Placement is static whenever possible, switching to run time when necessary. Run-time taint tracking techniques can be used to track the source of a value, and thus apply appropriate sanitization. However, due to the runtime overhead of run-time taint tracking, our technique avoids it wherever possible.


Coinciding with the 400 anniversary of Shakespeare's death and the worldwide celebrations of his work, we now have streaming access to seventeen Globe on Screen videos via Drama Online [1]. These productions are filmed live at the Globe Theatre in London, and most are new to us in streaming form. A particular highlight is the all-male production of TWELFTH NIGHT with Mark Rylance as Olivia [2]. There's much more in Drama Online on Shakespeare's plays, of course, including the Arden Shakespeare editions, audio recordings, and critical texts [3]. Digital Theatre Plus also includes several Shakespeare productions [4], including a hilarious MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING set in the 1980s [5]. Happy watching!


Peer evaluation has been criticized as a threat to academic freedom and has been used, usually erroneously, as a justification for academic reappointment, tenure promotion, and merit pay. In recent years, scholars have recommended that peer consultation, which is primarily designed to improve teaching, be honored, but apart from evaluation. In this study, peer consultation consists of three components: in-class peer observation, peer-to-peer discussion, and student input. This study explores how teachers and teaching assistants perceived their experience with peer consultation. Methods of data collection reflected a qualitative case study approach and included participant observations, audio-recorded interviews, student questionnaires, and focus groups. Data showed that peer consultation provided an opportunity for teachers to learn teaching strategies from each other, build upon each other's teaching, reflect on their own teaching experience, and augment their understanding of their teaching beliefs. Despite these benefits, teachers reported feeling uncomfortable because of the power relationship between the observer and the observed, and new teachers were apprehensive about their perceived lack of experience. Non-native English speaking teachers also felt anxious when they were observed by native English speaking teachers. Analysis shed useful light on implementation of peer consultation as a powerful professional development force for academic staff in universities.


CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a unique global network of policy research centers in Russia, China, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Our mission, dating back more than a century, is to advance the cause of peace through analysis and development of fresh policy ideas and direct engagement and collaboration with decisionmakers in government, business, and civil society. Working together, our centers bring the inestimable benefit of multiple national viewpoints to bilateral, regional, and global issues.


About 65% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa lives in rural areas and due to the strong dependency on agricultural production mainly the rural population is affected by income shortfalls. To cope with this situation, households are deriving several strategies to spread these risks and smooth their income. One of these strategies is the participation in nonfarm employment due to its independency on agricultural risks, but researchers have already indicated that households may face various entry barriers to the nonfarm sector.
The study indicates that households perceiving their environment as risky expand their extent of nonfarm employment, whereas the endowment with valuable physical capital seems to serve as a risk-coping strategy on its own. The most important entry barriers revealed by the study are the educational level of the household head as well as the household's amount of savings. Additionally, due to the poor availability of nonfarm activities in rural areas, households living in rural areas are less likely to participate in the nonfarm sector, but with increasing remoteness, the participation probability enhances.
In the last stage of the study, the causal effects of participation in nonfarm employment on the household's wealth as well as poverty status are examined. The empirical results show that especially female headed households and households living in rural areas are the main beneficiaries from nonfarm employment. The participation in nonfarm activities not only increases the household's per-head expenditures, but also has the potential to reduce and even eliminate poverty.
Policy makers are recommended to remove entry barriers to the nonfarm sector mainly by improving the quality of schooling and the enrolment ratio as well as the access to microcredits, and females and the rural population should be the main target group.


Cantero, J. J., J. A. Sfragulla, C. Núñez, A. A. Bonalumi, J. Mulko, A. Amuchastegui, F. Chiarini, G. E. Barboza & L. Ariza Espinar. 2011. Flora of marble and serpentinite outcrops of the Sierras de Córdoba (Argentina). Kurtziana 36 (2): 11-45. Rock outcrops are important habitats for biodiversity conservation. This paper provides a catalog of species of vascular plants that grow on limestone (marble) and serpentinites of the Sierra de Córdoba, describing the compositional variation of its flora and exploring the lithological-geochemical control on the distribution of the floristic groups. Thirty-one (31) outcrops were surveyed in an area that extended about 280 km in latitude and 120 km in length (30 ° 42 '33 ° 5' Lat. South 64 ° 20 '65 ° 20' Long. West) and from 500 m.s.m. to 2000 m.s.m. The average sampling area in each outcrop was approximately 2725 m2 where the inventory of all vascular plant species and the lithological sampling for subsequent evaluation of the rock geochemistry were performed. There were 404 species distributed in 67 families and 255 genera. Six new records for Córdoba province are provided. The endemoflora of all studied outcrops comprises 88 species. The average species richness of the outcrop was 68 and the average diversity H = 4.14. The total of medicinal species in the outcrops was 212. The hemicryptophytes (52%), chamaephytes (17%), phanerophytes (16%) and geophytes (9%) were the dominant life form. The floristic composition at the regional level, variable along the geographic gradient (and climate), overshadows local environmental variation (geochemistry, altitude) between the outcrops. Using available data richness, diversity, number of endemic species and rarity we could identify a minimum set of otcrops that should be included in conservation plans in both the provincial and national level.


From the Publisher:
With the same style and clarity that characterized their highly acclaimed The Elements of Programming Style and Software Tools, the authors have written Software Tools in Pascal to teach how to write good Pascal programs that make good tools. The programs contained in the book are not artificial, but are actual tools that have proved valuable in the production of other programs.
Structured programming and top-down design are emphasized and applied to every program, as are principles of sound design, testing, efficiency, and portability. All of the programs are complete and have been tested directly from the text. The programs are available in machine-readable form from Addison-Wesley.

Software Tools in Pascal is ideal for use in a software engineering course, for a second course in programming, or as a supplement in any programming course. All programmers, professional and student, will find the book invaluable as a source of proven, useful programs for reading and study. Numerous exercises are provided to test comprehension and to extend the concepts presented in the book.

0201103427B04062001


Author(s): Goodman, Elizabeth | Advisor(s): Van House, Nancy | Abstract: Interaction design is the definition of digital behavior, from desktop software and mobile applications to components of appliances, automobiles, and even biomedical devices. Where architects plan buildings, graphic designers make visual compositions, and industrial designers give form to three-dimensional objects, interaction designers define the digital components of products and services. These include websites, mobile applications, desktop software, automobiles, consumer electronics, and more. Interaction design is a relatively new but fast-growing discipline, emerging with the explosive growth of the World Wide Web. In a software-saturated world, every day, multiple times a day, billions of people encounter the work products of interaction design. Given the reach of their profession, how interaction designers work is of paramount concern. In considering interaction design, this dissertation turns away from a longstanding question of design studies: How does interaction design demonstrate a special form of human thought? And towards a set of questions drawn from practice-oriented studies of science and technology: What kinds of objects and subjects do interaction design practices make, and how do those practices produce them?Based on participant observation at three San Francisco interaction design consultancies and interviews with designers in California's Bay Area, this dissertation argues that performance practices organize interaction design work. By "performance practices," I mean episodes of storytelling and narrative that take place before an audience of witnesses. These performances instantiate — make visible and tangibly felt —the human and machine behaviors that the static deliverables seem unable on their own to materialize. In doing so, performances of the project help produce and sustain alignment within teams and among designers, clients, and developers. In this way, a focus on episodes of performance turns our concerns from cognition, in which artifacts assist design thinking, to one of enactment, in which documents, spaces, tools, and bodies actively participating in producing the identities, responsibilities, and capacities of project constituents. It turns our attention to questions of political representation, materiality and politics. From this perspective, it is not necessarily how designers think but how they stage and orchestrate performances of the project that makes accountable, authoritative decision-making on behalf of clients and prospective users possible.


In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction [Torah], and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. [Isaiah 2:2– 4]


This dissertation investigates the usage of theorem provers in automated question answering (QA). QA systems attempt to compute correct answers for questions phrased in a natural language. Commonly they utilize a multitude of methods from computational linguistics and knowledge representation to process the questions and to obtain the answers from extensive knowledge bases. These methods are often syntax-based, and they cannot derive implicit knowledge. Automated theorem provers (ATP) on the other hand can compute logical derivations with millions of inference steps. By integrating a prover into a QA system this reasoning strength could be harnessed to deduce new knowledge from the facts in the knowledge base and thereby improve the QA capabilities. This involves challenges in that the contrary approaches of QA and automated reasoning must be combined: QA methods normally aim for speed and robustness to obtain useful results even from incomplete of faulty data, whereas ATP systems employ logical calculi to derive unambiguous and rigorous proofs. The latter approach is difficult to reconcile with the quantity and the quality of the knowledge bases in QA. The dissertation describes modifications to ATP systems in order to overcome these obstacles. The central example is the theorem prover E-KRHyper which was developed by the author at the Universitat Koblenz-Landau. As part of the research work for this dissertation E-KRHyper was embedded into a framework of components for natural language processing, information retrieval and knowledge representation, together forming the QA system LogAnswer.
Also presented are additional extensions to the prover implementation and the underlying calculi which go beyond enhancing the reasoning strength of QA systems by giving access to external knowledge sources like web services. These allow the prover to fill gaps in the knowledge during the derivation, or to use external ontologies in other ways, for example for abductive reasoning. While the modifications and extensions detailed in the dissertation are a direct result of adapting an ATP system to QA, some of them can be useful for automated reasoning in general. Evaluation results from experiments and competition participations demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods under discussion.


The geometrical design of the airbox for an internal combustion engine has a significant effect on the pressure loss in the entire inlet tract. Due to the location of the airbox, its size and shape is usually limited as a result of the proximity to other underbonnet features.The shape is also limited by manufacturing, assembly and NVH considerations. The complexity of the unsteady flow through the airbox and the constraints placed upon it by the available volume in the under-bonnet area make this a challenging design task. This paper reviews the current thinking on methods used to optimize Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) problems and how this would apply to the optimization of an airbox for an internal combustion engine. The paper then goes on to detail the findings of the initial validation work on the CFD method for predicting the pressure loss through an airbox. An optimization case study is then presented based on one of the models used for the validation.


This compact novel, completed in 1900, as with so many of the great novels of the time, is at its baseline a book of the sea. An English boy in a simple town has dreams bigger than the outdoors and embarks at an early age into the sailor's life. The waters he travels reward him with the ability to explore the human spirit, while Joseph Conrad launches the story into both an exercise of his technical prowess and a delicately crafted picture of a character who reaches the status of a literary hero.


This volume is an unprecedented history of Louis Vuitton s women s bags, the most coveted line of accessories in women s fashion. At the heart of Louis Vuitton are its City Bags, a range of women s bags that dates back to the turn of the twentieth century. Featuring the trademark monograms of the house, the City Bag story began with the Steamer, a resort bag designed in 1901 to be packed inside a much larger steamer trunk. These bags have in a hundred years formally diversified into a dizzying array of handbags for every conceivable function demanded by the modern woman. Profoundly influential, City Bags are now known to millions by their descriptive names (Keepall, Bucket, Papillon, Alma, Locket, Noe, Speedy) and are still evolving into more fantastical forms. Lavishly illustrated with new and archival photography, historical graphics, landmark editorials, and ad campaigns, the volume traces the history of these specific bag families, and examines the earliest specimens and today s most sought-after collectibles, including Vuitton s collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Stephen Sprouse, Richard Prince, Yayoi Kusama, and Rei Kawakubo and one-off projects by Zaha Hadid, Shigeru Ban, Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Lang, Andree Putman, and of course, Marc Jacobs. Louis Vuitton: City Bags is an ambitious volume on the creation and cultivation of a cultural phenomenon."


Meet the Kinect introducesthe exciting world of volumetric computing using the Microsoft Kinect. You'll learn to write scripts and software enabling the use of the Kinect as an input device. Interact directly with your computer through physical motion. The Kinect will read and track body movements, and is the bridge between the physical reality in which you exist and the virtual world created by your software. Microsofts Kinect was released in fall 2010 to become the fastest-selling electronic device ever. For the first time, we have an inexpensive, three-dimensional sensor enabling direct interaction between human and computer, between the physical world and the virtual. The Kinect has been enthusiastically adopted by a growing culture of enthusiasts, who put it to work in creating technology-based art projects, three-dimensional scanners, adaptive devices for sight-impaired individuals, new ways of interacting with PCs, and even profitable business opportunities. Meet the Kinect is the resource to get you started in mastering the Kinect and the exciting possibilities it brings. Youll learn about the Kinect hardware and what it can do. Youll install drivers and learn to download and run the growing amount of Kinect software freely available on the Internet. From there, youll move into writing code using some of the more popular frameworks and APIs, including the official Microsoft API and the language known asProcessing that is popular in the art and creative world. Along the way, youll learn principles and terminology. Volumetric computing didnt begin with the Kinect. The field is decades oldif youve ever had an MRI, for example, you have benefitted from volumetric computing technology. Meet the Kinect goes beyond just the one device to impart the principles and terminology underlying the exciting field of volumetric computing that is now wide-open and accessibleto the average person. What youll learn Install drivers to connect your Kinect to your PC, whether running Windows or Mac OSX Download and run the growing body of software freely available via the Internet Write scripts in the popular Processing language Take advantage of Microsofts Kinect SDK for Windows Choose a software development environment that suits your needs Grasp principles and terminology underlying the Kinect technology Who this book is for Meet the Kinect is aimed at technology enthusiasts, including programmers, artists, and entrepreneurs who are fascinated by the possibilities arising from the direct, human-computer interaction enabled by the Microsoft Kinect. The book is for anyone who wants to take advantage of the growing body of software for the Kinect, and for those who wish to write their own programs and scripts involving the Kinect as an input device. Table of Contents Getting Started Behind the Technology Applications in the Wild Scripting the Kinect Many Ways to Kinect Application Development with PrimeSense's NITE Framework Application Development with the Beckon Framework Application Development with Microsoft's Windows/XBOX Framework Volumetric Display Techniques Where to Go From Here?


Atmospheric composition and chemistry above tropical rainforests is currently not well established, particularly for southeast Asia. In order to examine our understanding of chemical processes in this region, the performance of a box model of atmospheric boundary layer chemistry is tested against measurements made at the top of the rainforest canopy near Danum Valley, Malaysian Borneo. Multi-variate optimisation against ambient concentration measurements was used to estimate average canopy-scale emissions for isoprene, total monoterpenes and nitric oxide. The excellent agreement between estimated values and measured fluxes of isoprene and total monoterpenes provides confidence in the overall modelling strategy, and suggests that this method may be applied where measured fluxes are not available , assuming that the local chemistry and mixing are adequately understood. The largest contributors to the optimisa-tion cost function at the point of best-fit are OH (29%), NO (22%) and total peroxy radicals (27%). Several factors affect the modelled VOC chemistry. In particular concentrations of methacrolein (MACR) and methyl-vinyl ketone (MVK) are substantially overestimated, and the hydroxyl radical (OH) concentration is substantially underestimated; as has been seen before in tropical rainforest studies. It is shown that inclusion of dry deposition of MACR and MVK and wet depo-sition of species with high Henry's Law values substantially improves the fit of these oxidised species, whilst also substantially decreasing the OH sink. Increasing OH production arbitrarily, through a simple OH recycling mechanism , adversely affects the model fit for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Given the constraints on isoprene flux provided by measurements, a substantial decrease in the rate of reaction of VOCs with OH is the only remaining option to explain the measurement/model discrepancy for OH. A reduction in the isoprene+OH rate constant of 50%, in conjunction with increased deposition of intermediates and some modest OH recycling, is able to produce both isoprene and OH concentrations within error of those measured. Whilst we cannot rule out an important role for missing chemistry, particularly in areas of higher isoprene flux, this study demonstrates that the inadequacies apparent in box and global model studies of tropical VOC chemistry may be more strongly influenced by representation of detailed physical and micrometeorological effects than errors in the chemical scheme.


We investigate the notion of quantum chromatic number of a graph, which is the minimal number of colours necessary in a protocol in which two separated provers can convince a referee that they have a colouring of the graph. After discussing this notion from first principles, we go on to establish relations with the clique number and orthogonal representations of the graph. We also prove several general facts about this graph parameter and find large separations between the clique number and the quantum chromatic number by looking at random graphs. Finally, we show that there can be no separation between classical and quantum chromatic number if the latter is $2$, nor if it is $3$ in a restricted quantum model; on the other hand, we exhibit a graph on $18$ vertices and $44$ edges with chromatic number $5$ and quantum chromatic number $4$.


This book explores the European welfare model, arguing that the rollout of European policies for welfare services has led to increased marketization. The author argues that the rise of profit-making in utilities, transport, child and health care is exacerbating rather than reducing inequalities among citizens, demonstrating how the marketization of European welfare has taken place over successive rounds of policymaking for European integration. These rounds have motivated national level public services reform, as well as contestation over these measures from civil society groups. The study traces the developments of policymaking at EU level since the late 1980s, offers in-depth studies of contentious debates which have sealed the fate of welfare services at the turn of the century, and offers insights on the problems involved with prolonged austerity in Europe. This book therefore shows how European integration is provoking a democratic challenge to what kind of Europe citizens want.


Much of what we know about the marginal effect of pollution on infant mortality is derived from developed country data. However, given the lower levels of air pollution in developed countries, these estimates may not be externally valid to the developing country context if there is a nonlinear dose relationship between pollution and mortality or if the costs of avoidance behavior differs considerably between the two contexts. In this paper, we estimate the relationship between pollution and infant mortality using data from Mexico. We find that an increase of 1 parts per billion in carbon monoxide (CO) over the last week results in 0.0032 deaths per 100,000 births, while a 1 μg/m3 increase in particulate matter (PM10) results in 0.24 infant deaths per 100,000 births. Our estimates for PM10 tend to be similar (or even smaller) than the U.S. estimates, while our findings on CO tend to be larger than those derived from the U.S. context. We provide suggestive evidence that a non-linearity in the relationship between CO and health explains this difference.


A little over a decade ago, prestin was found to be a key gene responsible for hearing in mammals. Prestin makes a protein found in the hair cells of the inner ear that contracts and expands rapidly to transmit signals that help the cochlea, like an antique phonograph horn, amplify sound waves to make hearing more sensitivity. Now, Liu et al. (2014) have shown that prestin has also independently evolved to play a critical role in the ultrasonic hearing range of animal sonar, or echolocation, to help dolphins navigate through murky waters or bats find food in the dark. Although both toothed whales and echolocating bats can emit high-frequency echolocation calls, which show a substantial diversity in terms of their shape, duration, and amplitude, they receive and analyze the echoes returned from objects by their high-frequency hearing. The research team finely dissected the function of the prestin protein from two sonar guided bats and the bottlenose dolphin compared with nonsonar mammals. Evolutionary analyses of the prestin protein sequences showed that a single amino acid change in prestin, from a threonine (Thr or T) in all sonar mammals to an asparagine (Asn or N) in all nonsonar mammals, was subject to parallel evolution, suggesting that it may play a critical role for mammalian echolocation. Further experiments supported this assumption and identified four key amino acid differences among the sonar mammals, which may contribute to their unique features. Taken along side evolutionary analyses, these findings offered the first functional evidence supporting the notion that the hearing gene of prestin evolved to play a key role in the sonar system of mammals.


Quirky, surprising and entertaining - with more than 400 houses, Jutaku is architecture at the speed of Japan. Frenetic. Pulsating. Disorienting. Japan's contemporary culture is constantly in flux. In stark contrast to the centuries old imperial architecture of Kyoto, recent Japanese architectural practices have ushered in an era of continuous experimentation. With 500 houses, one house per page, one image per house, Jutaku: Japanese Houses is a fast-paced, "quick hit" shock to the system that shines a Harajuku-bright neon light on the sheer volume, variety and novelty of contemporary Japanese residential architecture. Featuring the work of many of Japan's most famous architects including Shigeru Ban, Sou Fujimoto, Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma, Jun Igarishi, Shuhei Endo and dozens of up and coming and completely unknown young architects, Jutaku is organized geographically taking readers on a bullet train journey across Japan's architectural landscape. Essential reading for architects, designers and fans of contemporary Japanese culture.


The three-dimensional cuneiform script is one of the oldest known writing systems and a central object of research in Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Hittitology. An important step towards the understanding of the cuneiform script is the provision of opportunities and tools for joint analysis. This paper presents an approach that contributes to this challenge: a collaborative compatible web-based scientific exploration and analysis of 3D scanned cuneiform fragments. The WebGL -based concept incorporates methods for compressed web-based content delivery of large 3D datasets and high quality visualization. To maximize accessibility and to promote acceptance of 3D techniques in the field of Hittitology, the introduced concept is integrated into the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz, an established leading online research resource in the field of Hittitology, which until now exclusively included 2D content. The paper shows that increasing the availability of 3D scanned archaeological data through a web-based interface can provide significant scientific value while at the same time finding a trade-off between copyright induced restrictions and scientific usability.


The Editor is Pamela S. Chasek, Ph.D.  and the Director of IISD Reporting Services is Langston James "Kimo" Goree VI . The Operations Manager is Marcela Rojo  and the On-Line Assistant is Diego Noguera . The Sustaining Donors of the Bulletin are The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government of Canada (through CIDA), the United States (through USAID), the Swiss Agency for Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL), the United Kingdom (through the Department for International Development DFID), the European Commission (DG-ENV), the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Government of Germany (through German Federal Ministry of Environment BMU, and the German Federal Ministry of Development Cooperation BMZ). General Support for the Bulletin during 2002 is provided by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment of Finland, the Government of Australia, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment of Norway, Swan International, and the Japanese Ministry of Environment (through the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies – IGES). The Bulletin can be contacted by e-mail at  and at tel: +1-212-644-0204; fax: +1-212-644-0206. IISD can be contacted by e-mail at  and at 161 Portage Avenue East, 6th Floor, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 0Y4, Canada. The opinions expressed in the Earth Negotiations Bulletin are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD and other funders. Excerpts from the Earth Negotiations Bulletin may be used in non-commercial publications only and only with appropriate academic citation. For permission to use this material in commercial publications, contact the Director of IISD Reporting Services. Electronic versions of the Bulletin are sent to e-mail distribution lists and can be found on the Linkages WWW server at http://www.iisd.ca. The satellite image was taken above New York ©2002 The Living Earth, Inc. http://livingearth.com. For information on the Earth Negotiations Bulletin or to arrange coverage of a meeting, conference or workshop, send e-mail to the Director, IISD Reporting Services at  or call to +1-212644-0217. Published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development Vol. 12 No. 191 Friday, 26 April 2002 Earth Negotiations Bulletin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Reporting Service for Environment and Development Negotiations FINAL


This paper describes a wireless mobile prototype able to perform optical measurements by means of a miniaturized spectrometer for low light analysis, e.g. fluorescent sensors. Evaluations, calculations, calibration management and result display are performed by a computer or a standard tablet. The device was designed primarily to detect traces of oil in drinking or ground water and for the analyses of crude oils. However, it can also address a wide range of fluorescent sensors. The fast and user-friendly inspection of water quality or oil properties, as well as the adaptability and mobility, make the device attractive for a variety of users. Further application areas could be easily implemented by adapting the optics and the software (database, data processing and calibration plots, etc.)


The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prohibits firms from paying bribes to foreign officials to obtain or retain business. It is one of the most significant and feared statutes for companies operating abroad. FCPA enforcement has never been higher and nine-figure monetary penalties are not uncommon. This makes the implementation of robust FCPA compliance programs of paramount importance. Unfortunately, regardless of whether they have compliance measures in place, many firms report that they face bribe requests and extortionate threats from foreign public officials on a daily basis. The implications of these demand-side pressures have gone largely unexplored in the FCPA context. This Article helps fill that gap. First, I describe the nature and frequency of bribe solicitation and extortion to illustrate the scope of the problem and the costs it imposes on firms and other market participants. I then argue that current FCPA enforcement policy in cases of solicitation and extortion raises several unique corporate governance and compliance challenges, and ultimately poses a risk of overdeterrence. Though these concerns can be partially addressed through enhanced statutory guidance, I conclude by urging regulators to shift some of their focus from bribe-paying firms in order to directly target bribe-seeking public officials. Confronting the market for bribe demands in this way will help reduce corruption in general while also allowing employees and agents to spend less time worrying about how to respond to bribe requests and more time on legitimate, value-enhancing transactions.


This is the third of three papers describing ZAP, a satisfiability engine that substantially generalizes existing tools while retaining the performance characteristics of modern high-performance solvers. The fundamental idea underlying ZAP is that many problems passed to such engines contain rich internal structure that is obscured by the Boolean representation used; our goal has been to define a representation in which this structure is apparent and can be exploited to improve computational performance. The first paper surveyed existing work that (knowingly or not) exploited problem structure to improve the performance of satisfiability engines, and the second paper showed that this structure could be understood in terms of groups of permutations acting on individual clauses in any particular Boolean theory. We conclude the series by discussing the techniques needed to implement our ideas, and by reporting on their performance on a variety of problem instances.


Congenital myasthenic syndromes are a heterogeneous group of inherited disorders that arise from impaired signal transmission at the neuromuscular synapse. They are characterized by fatigable muscle weakness. We performed linkage analysis, whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing to determine the underlying defect in patients with an inherited limb-girdle pattern of myasthenic weakness. We identify ALG14 and ALG2 as novel genes in which mutations cause a congenital myasthenic syndrome. Through analogy with yeast, ALG14 is thought to form a multiglycosyltransferase complex with ALG13 and DPAGT1 that catalyses the first two committed steps of asparagine-linked protein glycosylation. We show that ALG14 is concentrated at the muscle motor endplates and small interfering RNA silencing of ALG14 results in reduced cell-surface expression of muscle acetylcholine receptor expressed in human embryonic kidney 293 cells. ALG2 is an alpha-1,3-mannosyltransferase that also catalyses early steps in the asparagine-linked glycosylation pathway. Mutations were identified in two kinships, with mutation ALG2p.Val68Gly found to severely reduce ALG2 expression both in patient muscle, and in cell cultures. Identification of DPAGT1, ALG14 and ALG2 mutations as a cause of congenital myasthenic syndrome underscores the importance of asparagine-linked protein glycosylation for proper functioning of the neuromuscular junction. These syndromes form part of the wider spectrum of congenital disorders of glycosylation caused by impaired asparagine-linked glycosylation. It is likely that further genes encoding components of this pathway will be associated with congenital myasthenic syndromes or impaired neuromuscular transmission as part of a more severe multisystem disorder. Our findings suggest that treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors may improve muscle function in many of the congenital disorders of glycosylation.


Introduction to Kant's Anthropology From a Pragmatic Point of View Michel Foucaulttranslated and with an introduction by Arianna BoveThis introduction and commentary to Kant's least discussed work, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, is the dissertation that Michel Foucault presented in 1961 as his doctoral thesis. It has remained unpublished, in any language, until now. In his exegesis and critical interpretation of Kant's Anthropology, Foucault raises the question of the relation between psychology and anthropology, and how they are affected by time. Though a Kantian "critique of the anthropological slumber," Foucault warns against the dangers of treating psychology as a new metaphysics, explores the possibilities of studying man empirically, and reflects on the nature of time, art and technique, self-perception, and language. Extending Kant's suggestion that any empirical knowledge of man is inextricably tied up with language, Foucault asserts that man is a world citizen insofar as he speaks. For both Kant and Foucault, anthropology concerns not the human animal or self-consciousness but, rather, involves the questioning of the limits of human knowledge and concrete existence. This long-unknown text is a valuable contribution not only to a scholarly appreciation of Kant's work but as the first outline of what would later become Foucault's own frame of reference within the history of philosophy. It is thus a definitive statement of Foucault's relation to Kant as well as Foucault's relation to the critical tradition of philosophy. By going to the heart of the debate on structuralist anthropology and the status of the human sciences in relation to finitude, Foucault also creates something of a prologue to his foundational The Order of Things.Michel Foucault (1926--84) is widely considered to be one of the most important academic voices of the twentieth century and has proven influential across disciplines.


The relationship between museums and the internet is one area that is only beginning to be explored by museums (Chadwick, 2003; Haley Goldman & Haley Goldman, 2005; Haley Goldman & Wadman, 2002; Witcomb, 2003). The internet is becoming increasingly available to a wide range of users. In Australia, for example, there has been a 40% increase over a sixyear period in access to and use of the internet with the most current available figures showing over half of the population having access in 2004-05 and continually rising (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006). The role the internet plays in museum learning is being recognised across the sector, yet little work has been undertaken into the needs of users, especially teachers and students. The Australian Museum's website monthly vis itation regularly exceeds 1.5 million, and the use of the internet by students, teachers and the general population has dramatically increased over the recent years. For example, in the Museum's 2004 online survey 63% of respondents described themselves as "educational visitors". Additionally, many websites are integrating new forms of media and technology to provide unique learning experiences for visitors. These issues prompted a study to gain a better understanding of how emerging internet technologies are affecting the learning environment, with a specific focus on teachers and high-school students. The overall objective of the research project was to provide the Australian Museum with guidance on how to best develop a website that meets the needs of students and teachers in the primary and secondary levels across a range of curriculum areas. General objectives were to gain insights into how students and teachers are using the internet and what they are looking for when they access websites. This paper reports on the method used and the findings from the study that have broad applicability across the museum sector—how teachers and students use the internet and what would make a great educational website from their perspectives.


The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, in cooperation with Stanford University's Department of Computer Science, is pleased to present the 2010 Spring Symposium Series, to be held Monday through Wednesday, March 22–24, 2010 at Stanford University. The titles of the seven symposia are Artificial Intelligence for Development; Cognitive Shape Processing; Educational Robotics and Beyond: Design and Evaluation; Embedded Reasoning: Intelligence in Embedded Systems Intelligent Information Privacy Management; It's All in the Timing: Representing and Reasoning about Time in Interactive Behavior; and Linked Data Meets Artificial Intelligence.


Orientation: The main focus of the study was to answer the question: 'Who am I at work?' in a post-apartheid South African organisation. Research purpose: The aim of the specific research questions was to determine which life sphere and life role elements, and which work-based identity facets were significant in forming work-based identity. Motivation for the study: The findings of the study will enable the formulation of an integrative definition of work-based identity applicable to the South African context. Research design, approach and method: Qualitative data was collected by means of unstructured interviews with 29 employees representing a range of job titles, levels and demographics in a large South African manufacturing company. A grounded theory approach (open and axial coding) was used to analyse the data. Main findings: Distinctive individual self-definitions and a number of common themes integrating social and personal identity perspectives emerged from the data. These themes provided a sound basis for the proposed integrative model to define work-based identity. Practical/managerial implications: The findings of this research will assist human resource practitioners to develop training interventions and management strategies for the potential enhancement of work-based identities. This will result in a more engaged and harmonised workforce. Contribution/value-add: This was the first study of its kind to identify and delineate significant work-based identity elements for the formation of a work-based identity within a South African work context.


When in the chronicle of wasted time I see descriptions of the fairest wights, And beauty making beautiful old rime In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights; Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best, Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow, I see their antique pen would have expressed Even such a beauty as you master now. So all their praises are but prophecies Of this our time, all you prefiguring; And, for they looked but with divining eyes, They had not skill enough your worth to sing: For we, which now behold these present days, Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.2


The world has seldom been as dangerous as it is now. Rogue regimes--governments and groups that eschew diplomatic normality, sponsor terrorism, and proliferate nuclear weapons--threaten the United States around the globe. Because sanctions and military action are so costly, the American strategy of first resort is dialogue, on the theory that "it never hurts to talk to enemies." Seldom is conventional wisdom so wrong. Engagement with rogue regimes is not cost-free, as Michael Rubin demonstrates by tracing the history of American diplomacy with North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, the Taliban's Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Further challenges to traditional diplomacy have come from terrorist groups, such as the PLO in the 1970s and 1980s, or Hamas and Hezbollah in the last two decades. The argument in favor of negotiation with terrorists is suffused with moral equivalence, the idea that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Rarely does the actual record of talking to terrorists come under serious examination. While soldiers spend weeks developing lessons learned after every exercise, diplomats generally do not reflect on why their strategy toward rogues has failed, or consider whether their basic assumptions have been faulty. Rubin's analysis finds that rogue regimes all have one thing in common: they pretend to be aggrieved in order to put Western diplomats on the defensive. Whether in Pyongyang, Tehran, or Islamabad, rogue leaders understand that the West rewards bluster with incentives and that the U.S. State Department too often values process more than results.


Abstract. Aircraft observations of meteorological, trace gas, and aerosol properties were made between May and September 2013 in the southeastern United States (US). Regionally representative aggregate vertical profiles of median and interdecile ranges of the measured parameters were constructed from 37 individual aircraft profiles made in the afternoon when a well-mixed boundary layer with typical fair-weather cumulus was present (Wagner et al., 2015). We use these 0–4 km aggregate profiles and a simple model to calculate the sensitivity of aerosol optical depth (AOD) to changes in dry aerosol mass, relative humidity, mixed-layer height, the central diameter and width of the particle size distribution, hygroscopicity, and dry and wet refractive index, while holding the other parameters constant. The calculated sensitivity is a result of both the intrinsic sensitivity and the observed range of variation in these parameters. These observationally based sensitivity studies indicate that the relationship between AOD and dry aerosol mass in these conditions in the southeastern US can be highly variable and is especially sensitive to relative humidity (RH). For example, calculated AOD ranged from 0.137 to 0.305 as the RH was varied between the 10th and 90th percentile profiles with dry aerosol mass held constant. Calculated AOD was somewhat less sensitive to aerosol hygroscopicity, mean size, and geometric standard deviation, σg. However, some chemistry–climate models prescribe values of σg substantially larger than we or others observe, leading to potential high biases in model-calculated AOD of  ∼  25 %. Finally, AOD was least sensitive to observed variations in dry and wet aerosol refractive index and to changes in the height of the well-mixed surface layer. We expect these findings to be applicable to other moderately polluted and background continental air masses in which an accumulation mode between 0.1–0.5 µm diameter dominates aerosol extinction.


The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is classifying the mass spectrometer system for clinical use for the identification of microorganisms into class II (special controls). The special controls that apply to the device type are identified in this order and will be part of the codified language for the mass pectrometer system for clinical use for the identification of microorganisms' classification. We are taking this action because we have determined that classifying the device into class II (special controls) will provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of the device. We believe this action will also enhance patients' access to beneficial innovative devices, in part by reducing regulatory burdens.


We consider the following extremal set theory problem. Define a matrix to be simple if it is a (0,1)-matrix with no repeated columns. An $m$-rowed simple matrix corresponds to a family of subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots ,m\}$. Let $m$ be a given integer and $F$ be a given (0,1)-matrix (not necessarily simple). We say a matrix $A$ has $F$ as a configuration if a submatrix of $A$ is a row and column permutation of $F$. We define $\hbox{forb}(m,F)$ as the maximum number of columns that a simple $m$-rowed matrix $A$ can have subject to the condition that $A$ has no configuration $F$. We compute exact values for $\hbox{forb}(m,F)$ for some choices of $F$ and in doing so handle all $3\times 3$ and some $k\times 2$ (0,1)-matrices $F$. Often $\hbox{forb}(m,F)$ is determined by $\hbox{forb}(m,F')$ for some configuration $F'$ contained in $F$ and in that situation, with $F'$ being minimal, we call $F'$ a critical substructure .


Among international jurists, the conventional wisdom is that atrocity speech law sprang fully formed from two judgments issued by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (IMT): the crimes against humanity conviction of Nazi newspaper editor Julius Streicher, and the acquittal on the same charge of Third Reich Radio Division Chief Hans Fritzsche. But the exclusive focus on the IMT judgments as the founding texts of atrocity speech law is misplaced. Not long after Streicher and Fritzsche, and in the same courtroom, the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunal (NMT) in the Ministries Case, issued an equally significant crimes against humanity judgment against Reich Press Chief Otto Dietrich, who was convicted despite the fact that the charged language did not directly call for violence. So why is the Dietrich judgment, a relatively obscure holding, issued sixty-five years ago, so significant today, after the development of a substantial body of ad hoc tribunal jurisprudence on atrocity speech? It is because the seemingly antithetical holdings in Streicher and Fritzsche are more than just the subject of academic discourse. The next generation of atrocity speech decisions, it turns out, is at loggerheads about the relationship between hate speech and persecution as a crime against humanity. Trial chambers for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) have found that hate speech, standing alone, can be the basis for charges of crimes against humanity (persecution). A trial chamber for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has reached the opposite conclusion. And surprisingly, these judicial decisions, like the academic commentary, have completely ignored the Dietrich judgment. This Article fills in this significant gap in the judicial and academic literature by historically situating Dietrich, elucidating its holding and relationship to the IMT and ad hoc tribunal decisions, explaining its significance for current and future hate speech cases (including those in Kenya, Burma and Sudan) and offering an explanation for why it has lain in obscurity for over six decades. The Article concludes that judicial reliance on the Dietrich judgment would extricate the law from the Streicher-Fritzsche jurisprudential gridlock and permit development of doctrine that is more coherent and human rights-oriented. It would also help illuminate an important but long overlooked chapter in legal history.


This article reviews and pinpoints the strongest arguments for and against federal power under the Commerce Clause to mandate the purchase of health insurance. Among the key points in defense of this federal law are: 1. The "commerce" in question is simply health insurance, and not the non-purchase of insurance as challengers have framed it. Because "regulate" clearly allows both prohibitions and mandates of behavior, mandating purchase is lexically just as valid an application of the clause as is prohibiting purchase or mandating the sale of insurance. Moreover, it suffices that mandating purchase affects commerce; it is not necessary that being uninsured itself constitutes commerce. 2. Although existing precedent might allow a line to be drawn between economic activity and inactivity, there is no reason in principle or theory why such a line should be drawn in order to preserve state sovereignty. Purchase mandates, after all, are as rare under state law as under federal law. 3. Challengers do not seriously dispute the constitutional validity of the ACA's regulation of insurers or the economic necessity of the mandate in order for that regulation to be effective. In fact, they essentially concede the mandate's necessity by asking to strike the entire law if it is declared invalid. Accordingly, the mandate would pass the tests for constitutional necessity articulated by at least seven of the Justices in the Comstock opinion last year, and might even pass the necessity test embraced by Justices Thomas and Scalia. 4. An important challenge, not yet clearly discussed by court opinions to date, is that the mandate does not, strictly speaking, simply "carry into execution" Congress' other regulatory powers, but is the exercise of a distinct power. However, both modern and historical precedents under the Necessary and Proper Clause are not limited narrowly to merely implementation measures. Both Comstock and a series of decisions under the Postal Power are good examples to the contrary since they authorize independent federal powers that expand the range of purposes and measures permitted by express Congressional powers. 5. There is no coherent basis for declaring a purchase mandate to be constitutionally "improper," and a categorical ban on regulating inactivity would contradict the implicit reasoning underlying several other established precedents -- such as those upholding the draft and the Congressional subpoena power. Also, federal eminent domain allows compelled transactions justified in part by the Necessary and Proper clause's expansion of the commerce power, when applied, for instance, to citizen's refusal to sell land for use in constructing highways, bridges, and canals. 6. Using the 10th Amendment to justify a categorical prohibition of purchase mandates (as Randy Barnett has argued) would be no more convincing than using the 9th or 5th Amendments (substantive due process). Instead, such a move would, for the first time and contrary to precedent, make the 10th a protector of individual liberties rather than just federalism concerns, and would radically enforce an absolute right to economic liberty, regardless of level of legislative justification or judicial scrutiny (see point 9). 7. Slippery slope concerns are no greater here than for any other of a range of expansive federal powers. Instead, the novelty of the mandate subjects it to greater political constraint, and so "parade of horribles" concerns may be even more unrealistic than similar settings where the Court has rejected them. 8. A purely syllogistic version of the slippery slope argument reasons that, even if improbable, various hypotheticals show that a purchase mandate has no logical limits and therefore the mandate violates the constitutional principle of limited powers. Effective responses are simply that logical limits do exist in at least two forms: express limits in the Bill of Rights and elsewhere; and limits inherent in the foundational commerce power, such as being primarily economic in nature. 9. Grounding the mandate in the Necessary and Proper clause helps to confine its precedential effect by emphasizing it's necessary role in the ACA's particular regulatory scheme that, in other respects, clearly resides within the core of the conventional commerce power. This essential supportive and interconnected role is not shared by free-standing mandates to purchase American cars or broccoli, for instance. 10. Counteracting imaginary slippery slope concerns about absurd hypothetical laws are the legitimate concerns about insurmountable barriers that a prohibition of purchase mandates would erect. Forbidding Congress from any purchase mandate could cripple necessary efforts, for instance, to require preventive measures in the face of a massive pandemic that threatened tens of millions of lives.


Global satellite observations of lidar backscatter measurements acquired by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission and collocated sea surface wind speed data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), are used to investigate the relation between wind driven wave slope variance and sea surface wind speed. The new slope variance – wind speed relation established from this study is similar to the linear relation from Cox-Munk (1954) and the log-linear relation from Wu (1990) for wind speed larger than 7 m/s and 13.3 m/s, respectively. For wind speed less than 7 m/s, the slope variance is proportional to the square root of the wind speed, assuming a two dimensional isotropic Gaussian wave slope distribution. This slope variance – wind speed relation becomes linear if a one dimensional Gaussian wave slope distribution and linear slope variance – wind speed relation are assumed. Contributions from whitecaps and subsurface backscattering are effectively removed by using 532 nm lidar depolarization measurements. This new slope variance – wind speed relation is used to derive sea surface wind speed from CALIPSO single shot lidar measurements (70 m spot size), after correcting for atmospheric attenuation. The CALIPSO wind speed result agrees with the collocated AMSR-E wind speed, with 1.2 m/s rms error. Ocean surface with lowest atmospheric loading and moderate wind speed (7–9 m/s) is used as target for lidar calibration correction.


[...] while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. [2] Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. [3] The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, [4] they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. [5] Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" [6] They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. [7] When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." [8] And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. [9] When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. [10] Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" [11] She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."


Journal of Futures Studies, November 2010, 15(2): 151 154 "Too much and for too long, we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product now is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product ... counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife. And the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." – Senator Robert Kennedy, Speech to the University of Kansas, March 18, 1968.


Laxer, James. (2012). Tecumseh . Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books. Print. A university political science professor may seem an unlikely author of a children's book on the legendary native leader Tecumseh but York University's James Laxer's keen interest in the War of 1812 and the relationship between the Shawnee leader, Tecumseh and British Major General Isaac Brock, make him ideally suited to the task. In 2012, the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 was marked by the release of two books by Laxer, Tecumseh and Brock: the War of 1812 , for adults and Tecumseh by Laxer and illustrated by Richard Rudnicki, for children. In this second book, the reader is presented with richly coloured and detailed illustrations and accessible text depicting the journey of Tecumseh from infancy to his death in 1813. The reader learns about the way of life of his family, the challenges faced when settlers moved into the area, and of course, the major battles in which he played a key role. The text is organized into chronological segments with headings referring to events or significant people in Tecumseh's life. While there is not a table of contents to guide the reader, the language is appropriate for young readers, as well as a timeline, glossary and clearly labeled maps at both the front and back of the book. Tecumseh was motivated to take action after his father was killed in 1774 by American militiamen advancing on Shawnee land. This constant fear of expropriation led Tecumseh to consider the best options for defending native territory. His military and leadership skills made him a natural choice to head a native confederacy against the determined American colonists. By 1812, when the Americans had declared war on Great Britain, Tecumseh was ready to go into battle to fight for Native lands previously taken by force. He decided that the best choice to do this was to ally with the British under Major General Isaac Brock. Together they strategized and fought at Detroit, Queenston, and Moraviantown. During the short span between August and October, both leaders lost their lives. Their deaths would negatively impact the effort to ensure that there would be Native lands when borders were later drawn between Canada and the United States. Laxer concludes with these words: "In the end, the confederacy did not win. But Tecumseh's courage, eloquence and steadiness of purpose continue to fascinate people in many parts of the world two centuries after his death. He remains a symbol of justice for the native tribes of North America" (p. 52). Ideal for children aged 8-12, grades 3-7. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Anne Rogers Anne Rogers is a teacher-librarian in a K-6 school in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  She loves reading, running and cheering on her family in their pursuits.


A key question in modern statistics is how to make fast and reliable inferences for complex, high-dimensional data. While there has been much interest in sparse techniques, current methods do not generalize well to data with nonlinear structure. In this work, we present an orthogonal series estimator for predictors that are complex aggregate objects, such as natural images, galaxy spectra, trajectories, and movies. Our series approach ties together ideas from kernel machine learning, and Fourier methods. We expand the unknown regression on the data in terms of the eigenfunctions of a kernel-based operator, and we take advantage of orthogonality of the basis with respect to the underlying data distribution, P, to speed up computations and tuning of parameters. If the kernel is appropriately chosen, then the eigenfunctions adapt to the intrinsic geometry and dimension of the data. We provide theoretical guarantees for a radial kernel with varying bandwidth, and we relate smoothness of the regression function with respect to P to sparsity in the eigenbasis. Finally, using simulated and real-world data, we systematically compare the performance of the spectral series approach with classical kernel smoothing, k-nearest neighbors regression, kernel ridge regression, and state-of-the-art manifold and local regression methods.


Understanding the network of collaborations, identifying the key players, potential future collaborators, and trends in the field are very important to carry out a project successfully. In this paper, we present CommunityExplorer, a visualization framework that facilitates presenting, exploring, and understanding the network of collaborations at once. The framework performs data extraction, parsing, and modeling automatically. It is easy to adopt and utilizes a bigraph visualization that scales well.We demonstrate the advantage of CommunityExplorer to identify the collaboration of authors on 346 and 104 research papers published in SOTFVIS/VISSOFT and IWST communities respectively. We found that even though SOFTVIS/VISSOFT has more contributors, IWST exhibits more collaboration.We discovered that contributors in IWST are more resilient than those in SOFTVIS/VISSOFT, which are more volatile. Moreover, collaboration in IWST is concentrated in a single large group, while in SOFTVIS/VISSOFT it is spread among many tiny groups and a few medium-sized ones.


In Swedish public debate, economists have been more influential than any other category of social scientists. We examine the views of five great Swedish economists on the role of the university economist in the public arena. What did they say about scholarly objectivity and value judgements, about political commitment and educating the people? The five economists are Knut Wicksell, Gustav Cassel, Eli Heckscher, Bertil Ohlin and Gunnar Myrdal. Representing two generations and a broad political spectrum, they were immensely productive. They founded Sweden's tradition of media-tuned university economists strongly involved in the current social issues. More recently, however, academic economists in Sweden have shifted away from that ideal. The future of the old heritage hangs in doubt.


MIMBAR PENDIDIKAN: Jurnal Indonesia untuk Kajian Pendidikan (Indonesian Journal for Educational Studies) This journal, with ISSN 2527-3868 (print) and 2503-457X (online), was firstly published on March 11, 2016, by UPI (Indonesia University of Education) Press in Bandung and orgnized by the Lecturers of UPI Journal Developer Team. The MIMBAR PENDIDIKAN  is a new version journal from the old journal with the similar name that was published since 1995 to 2005. This journal is dedicated not only for Indonesian scholars who concern about educational studies, but also welcome to the scholars of Southeast Asian countries and around the world who care and share related to the educational studies in general. The MIMBAR PENDIDIKAN journal is published twice a year i.e. every March and September.Bandung, Indonesia: September 30, 2019 Andi Suwirta, M.Hum.Managing Editor of MIMBAR PENDIDIKAN Journal; and Senior Lecturer at the Department of History Education, Faculty of Social Studies Education UPI, Indonesia University of Education, in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.


The University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization (nine volumes) makes available to students and teachers a unique selection of primary documents, many in new translations. These readings, prepared for the highly praised Western civilization sequence at the University of Chicago, were chosen by an outstanding group of scholars whose experience teaching that course spans almost four decades. Each volume includes rarely anthologized selections as well as standard, more familiar texts; a bibliography of recommended parallel readings; and introductions providing background for the selections. Beginning with Periclean Athens and concluding with twentieth-century Europe, these source materials enable teachers and students to explore a variety of critical approaches to important events and themes in Western history. Individual volumes provide essential background reading for courses covering specific eras and periods. The complete nine-volume series is ideal for general courses in history and Western civilization sequences.


The Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation capped debit card interchange fees for banks with assets of $10 billion. Credit card and prepaid card interchange fees were not regulated. The cap, which took effect on October 11, 2011, cut the average interchange fee for covered banks from $0.50 to $0.24 per transaction. The cap reduced annual revenues from interchange fees by between $6 billion and $8 billion. Covered banks have recouped these losses in indirect ways. In particular, they have: - Reduced the availability of fee-free current accounts. The total number of banks offering free current accounts fell by 50% between 2009 and 2013. In comparison, fee-free banking actually increased at banks not subject to the Durbin Amendment. - More than doubled the minimum monthly holding required on fee-free current accounts between 2009 and 2012, from around $250 to over $750. - Doubled average monthly fees on (non-free) current accounts between 2009 and 2013, from around $6 to more than $12. - These fee increases and loss of access to free checking contributed to an increase in the unbanked population of approximately 1 million people, mainly among low-income families. - Consumers have shifted their payment usage from debit cards to credit and prepaid cards, which were not subjected to price controls. Most large retailers have seen significant cost reductions as a result of the Durbin Amendment, yet to date there is no evidence that those cost savings have been passed-through to consumers. Interchange fees have increased for merchants that make small-ticket transactions, as networks have eliminated discounts that they previously received, and smaller merchants have not seen any reduction in their merchant discount rates. Thus, while consumers have seen large and immediate increases in the cost of bank accounts, to date there is no evidence of reduced prices at the pump or checkout. We estimate that as a result of the Durbin Amendment, there will be a transfer of $1 billion to $3 billion annually from low-income households to large retailers and their shareholders, which have been the primary beneficiaries of the Durbin Amendment to date.


Patent law is bogged down in the minutia of claims construction. Claim construction is central to every patent dispute, but it has not provided the hoped-for certainty or notice to competitors. Quite the contrary: disputes about the importance of inventions and the scope of patents have been replaced by labyrinthine wrangling over words written by lawyers. The flaws of claim construction result largely from the problems attending "peripheral claims," that is, claims that purport to set the outermost boundaries of patent rights. In this paper, we argue that the way for the patent system to move ahead may be by looking behind, to the practice of "central claiming" that was prevalent before 1870, and which was used in many countries through the late twentieth century. Rather than relying on the illusion of peripheral "fence posts," patent law may do better to once again look to stability of central "sign posts." We examine the failure of peripheral claiming, the benefits of central claiming, and several hybrid measures that might be adopted, either in the process of moving from fence-posting to sign-posting, or as improvements over the current system that still stop short of fully adopting central claiming.


The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence was pleased to present the 2008 Fall Symposium Series, held Friday through Sunday, November 7-9, at the Westin Arlington Gateway in Arlington, Virginia. The titles of the seven symposia were (1) Adaptive Agents in Cultural Contexts, (2) AI in Eldercare: New Solutions to Old Problems, (3) Automated Scientific Discovery, (4) Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, (5) Education Informatics: Steps toward the International Internet Classroom, (6) Multimedia Information Extraction, and (7) Naturally Inspired AI.