Natural pest control and pollination are important ecosystem services for agriculture. They can be supported by organic farming and by seminatural habitats at the local and landscape scale.

The potential of seminatural habitats to support predatory flies (chapters 2 and 3) and bees(chapter 7) at the local and landscape scale was investigated in seminatural habitats. Predatory flies were more abundant in woody habitats and positively related to landscape complexity. The diversity and the abundance of honey and wild bees were positively related to the supply of flowers offered in the seminatural habitats.

The influence of organic farming, adjacent seminatural habitats and landscape complexity on pest control (chapter 4) and pollination (chapter 6) was investigated in 18 pumpkin fields. Organic farming lacked strong effects both on the pest control and on the pollination of pumpkin.
Pest control is best supported at the local scale by the flower abundance in the adjacent habitat. The flower supply positively affected the density of natural enemies and tended to reduce aphid densities in pumpkin fields.

Pumpkin provides a striking example for a dominant role of wild pollinators for pollination success, because bumble bees are the key pollinators of pumpkin in Germany, despite a higher visitation frequency of honey bees. Pollination is best supported by landscape complexity. Bumble bee visits and as a result pollen delivery in pumpkin were negatively related to the dominance of agricultural land in the surrounding landscape.

The influence of aphid density (chapter 8) and pollination (chapter 5) on pumpkin yield was evaluated. Pumpkin yields were not affected by aphid densities observed in the pumpkin fields and not limited by pollination at the current levels of bee visitation.

In conclusion, especially seminatural habitats, that provide diverse, continuous floral resources, are important for natural enemies and pollinators. A sufficient proportion of different seminatural habitat types in agricultural landscapes should be maintained and restored. Thereby natural enemies such as predatory flies, wild pollinators such as bumble bees, and the pest control and pollination provided by them can be supported.


Alejandro Alvarez is the grand architect of Latin American International Law. His work asserts the separate identity of law in Latin America. More than just a style or an approach, Alvarez's Latin American law consists of specific rules and doctrines which he characterized as particularly salient, if not exclusive, to Latin Americans. His identity project remains of great relevance to progressives today. This is especially so to those working in the field of comparative law and Latin America specifically. Identity projects have elicited much debate in recent years, and many scholars are still drawn to them. With respect to Latin American law, however, most progressives reject the category's emancipatory potential and most others deploy it solely as a foil to suggest better, more efficient laws. Indeed, the notion of Latin American law since Alvarez has taken a beating. It has been re-encrypted with meanings of deficiency, obsolescence, incompatible Europeanism, inefficiency and corruption. If anything, the identity marked by Latin American law as received by us today signals backwardness and oppression. Rather than a tool for empowerment, the mention of Latin Americanness produces the opposite - a call for reform. Alvarez's innovative and challenging appeal to greater autonomy and positively-valenced specifity of Latin American law has given way to images of deficiency and decay. This piece focuses on the elements of Latin American specificity that Alvarez deploys to construct his vision of a Latin American legal identity. Many scholars working in the field today are grappling with exactly this problem. How does one employ Latin legal identity in progressive projects in light of its overwhelmingly negative associations affirmed by both the right and the left? This is a question that would not have been unfamiliar to Alvarez. He himself was working against the backdrop of Latin America as not clearly within the realm of civilized nations and its nations as not fully members of the international community. Specifically, my Essay focuses on Alejandro Alvarez's seminal article, Latin America and International Law, published in 1909 in the American Journal of International Law. Offering an in-depth analysis of the text, it foregrounds the strategic meaning of Alvarez's work in light of the international politics of his day. It posits that, more than simply a diplomatic history of Latin American particularity, Alvarez presents the case for a different hemispheric international order, based on an American International Law extending to the United States. He draws primarily on Latin American precedents - based on historical and situational commonalities - to argue for a common public law. He then engrafts an idiosyncratic interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine as the U.S.'s main contribution to this common law, as well as the fact of U.S. sponsorship of various Americas-wide conferences resulting in the ratification of regional treaties. Notably, and this is one of the main points of this Essay, Alvarez elevates certain Latin American states as leaders in regional international law and capable agents of its enforcement across the hemisphere. In short, this Essay advances the claim that Alvarez's project of pan-American law in effect entreats the United States to share its hegemony and wield its power in the region, jointly, with Latin America's better constituted states.


Eosimiid and amphipithecid primates document a long and significant history of primate evolution throughout the Eocene in Southeast Asia. Despite the absence of a comprehensive post-Eocene fossil record, it was generally hypothesized that both families left no descendant in Asia. Recently, two new small-bodied taxa, Bugtipithecus and Phileosimias, have been recovered in early Oligocene coastal deposits from the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, central Pakistan) and referred to the families Amphipithecidae and Eosimiidae, respectively, on the basis of dental fossil remains. In this paper, we provide more exhaustive description, comparison, and discussion of these taxa. As for tarsiid and sivaladapid primates, the persistence of eosimiids and amphipithecids into the Oligocene clearly demonstrates that low latitudes of South Asia provided a continuous access to tropical refugia during the climatic deterioration characterizing the late Eocene-early Oligocene interval, which was seemingly lethal for primate communities elsewhere across the Holarctic continents. As a contribution to the ongoing phylogenetic debates regarding the position of eosimiids and amphipithecids on the primate family tree, we have performed a cladistic analysis in a high-level primate systematic context in order to assess the position and the role of these new taxa in that phylogenetic issue. Our results support the view according to which eosimiids and amphipithecids (and by extension Phileosimias and Bugtipithecus, respectively) are stem anthropoids. These fossils from Pakistan document an unsuspected Oligocene phase of the evolutionary history of anthropoid primates in southern Asia, which clearly enhances the extent of the anthropoid radiation in this province during the Paleogene. Several phylogenetic and paleobiogeographic aspects are discussed, notably the intra- and inter-relationships between Paleogene Asian and Afro-Arabian anthropoids, and the resulting potential dispersal models between both land-masses during the Paleogene.


Visions of the next-generation Internet of Services are driven by digital resources traded on a global scope. For the resulting economic setting, automated on-line techniques for handling services and resources themselves, for advertising and discovering as well as for the on-the-fly negotiation of proper terms for their use are needed. Hence, a flexible infrastructure for the respective management of services and associated service level agreements is mandatory. This thesis presents the results of my dissertation project. They comprise a service infrastructure, able to support the structured discovery and protocol-generic negotiation of electronic service level agreements (SLAs) and thus services themselves. (...)


We discuss strategic renewal from a competence perspective. We argue that the management of speed and timing in this process is viewed distinctively when perceived through a cognitive lens. Managers need more firmly grounded process-understanding. The key idea of this paper is to dynamically conceptualize key activities of strategic renewal, and possible sources of break-down as they relate to the managment of speed and timing. Based on a case from the media industry, we identify managerial trade-offs and show how these can be influenced through managing subjective perception, strategic involvement and external knowledge-sourcing.


Botball is a national program in which teams of middle and high school students design, build, and program small autonomous mobile robots to compete in a highly charged interactive (but non-destructive) tournament. Botball students learn to program in c, construct feedback and control loops, create electromechanical systems, and integrate it all together while they work on a team. Botball takes place in regional tournaments across the country and culminates in a National Botball Tournament traditionally hosted by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence at its annual conference. This program puts reusable equipment into schools and, at the Botball Teacher Workshops, trains teachers in robotics and the integration of robotics into their curriculum. Botball appeals to a wide variety of students and brings out the best in each, challenging them to solve real-world problems in a dynamic environment at their own level.


The self-congratulatory tone of the majority and concurring opinions in last term's controversial Supreme Court blockbuster, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, extended beyond the trumpeting of an absolutist vision of the First Amendment that allows corporations to spend unlimited sums independently to support or oppose candidates for office. The triumphalism extended to the majority's view that it had imposed coherence on the unwieldy body of campaign finance jurisprudence by excising an "outlier" 1990 opinion, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which had upheld such corporate limits, and parts of a 2003 opinion, McConnell v. FEC, extending Austin to unions and to a broader set of election-related television and radio broadcasts. The majority saw itself as returning the Court to the fountainhead of this jurisprudence, the Court's 1976 opinion in Buckley v. Valeo.Citizens United indisputably harmonized campaign finance law on the question of the constitutionality of spending limits on corporations, even if its view of Austin as an "outlier" remains contested. But the Court in doing so amplified and solidified other significant, incoherent aspects of the Court's campaign finance jurisprudence. In this regard, consider the Court's declaration as an empirical matter – apparently for all types of elections and all types of spenders – that "independent expenditures . . . do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption." Partly to justify this unsupported empirical claim, the Court embraced a narrow, "crabbed" view of corruption, contrary to other precedent including Buckley, that seemed to include little more than quid pro quo already illegal under federal bribery law, and that excluded "ingratiation and access" as forms of corruption. Consider also the Court's declaration that in the campaign finance context neither the identity of the speaker nor any distortion of the political process caused by disproportionate spending can ever be the basis to limit someone's right to spend in elections.Soon enough, this language will force the Court into a corner, where it will either have to adopt a view that no limits on money in politics are ever constitutional or, more likely, vote to sustain some limits on money in politics through doctrinal incoherence. For example, it is unclear how the Court applying the broad pronouncements of Citizens United could possibly sustain spending limits against foreign nationals, who might like to flood U.S. election campaigns with money to influence electoral or legislative outcomes. Indeed, if the Court took its own language seriously about the meaning of corruption in a future case, even normal limits on contributions to candidates would be in serious danger of being struck down as violating the First Amendment. We need not wait for future cases to see this incoherence, because the Court's new doctrine is already incoherent. The Citizens United majority could not satisfactorily explain how independent expenditures, which apparently cannot corrupt, were so corruptive, apparently corruptive, or distorting of a judicial election in the 2009 case Caperton v. Massey that the Court mandated the recusal of a state supreme court chief justice hearing a case involving a corporate executive who had made large independent expenditures supporting the chief justice's election. The Citizen United majority is not in deed treating all elections and speakers equally, even if it is in word.The Court's present and future incoherence in its campaign finance jurisprudence reveals a broader point: the Court's approach to jurisprudential questions may be tempered by a political sensibility. Just as the Court before Citizens United treated corporations and labor unions as subject to identical campaign finance regulation despite the clear inapplicability of the Austin rationale to labor unions, it is likely to treat foreigners and American citizens wishing to make campaign expenditures differently despite the uniformity of the rhetoric of free speech rights in Citizens United. This analysis suggests that the Court's jurisprudence, while certainly shifting in a deregulatory direction, may not move to a position of complete deregulation unless the Court is willing to endure continued public backlash. At least in the campaign finance context, it may be that Court doctrine moves within a range, bounded at its extremes by public opinion.Part I of this Article situates Citizens United in the campaign finance jurisprudence that preceded it and describes in detail the key opinions in the case. Part II explains how the Court's analysis in Citizens United is likely to lead to new incoherence in the Court's campaign finance jurisprudence, because it is unlikely that the Court will follow the new case to its extreme, for example to allow spending by foreign nationals to influence candidate elections, to treat spending in judicial elections the same way as spending for other races, or to strike down reasonable limits on campaign contributions made directly to candidates. Part III suggests that incoherence is likely to be an enduring feature of the Court's campaign finance jurisprudence, because consistent application of a coherent approach could well be politically unpalatable for majority of the Justices on the Court. It also considers the challenge such incoherence poses for lawyers arguing campaign finance cases in the Supreme Court and lower courts.


"Fundamentals of Mathematics" represents a new kind of mathematical publication. While excellent technical treatises have been written about specialized fields, they provide little help for the nonspecialist; and other books, some of them semipopular in nature, give an overview of mathematics while omitting some necessary details. "Fundamentals of Mathematics" strikes a unique balance, presenting an irreproachable treatment of specialized fields and at the same time providing a very clear view of their interrelations, a feature of great value to students, instructors, and those who use mathematics in applied and scientific endeavors. Moreover, as noted in a review of the German edition in "Mathematical Reviews," the work is "designed to acquaint [the student] with modern viewpoints and developments. The articles are well illustrated and supplied with references to the literature, both current and 'classical.'"The outstanding pedagogical quality of this work was made possible only by the unique method by which it was written. There are, in general, two authors for each chapter: one a university researcher, the other a teacher of long experience in the German educational system. (In a few cases, more than two authors have collaborated.) And the whole book has been coordinated in repeated conferences, involving altogether about 150 authors and coordinators.Volume I opens with a section on mathematical foundations. It covers such topics as axiomatization, the concept of an algorithm, proofs, the theory of sets, the theory of relations, Boolean algebra, and antinomies. The closing section, on the real number system and algebra, takes up natural numbers, groups, linear algebra, polynomials, rings and ideals, the theory of numbers, algebraic extensions of a fields, complex numbers and quaternions, lattices, the theory of structure, and Zorn's lemma.Volume II begins with eight chapters on the foundations of geometry, followed by eight others on its analytic treatment. The latter include discussions of affine and Euclidean geometry, algebraic geometry, the Erlanger Program and higher geometry, group theory approaches, differential geometry, convex figures, and aspects of topology.Volume III, on analysis, covers convergence, functions, integral and measure, fundamental concepts of probability theory, alternating differential forms, complex numbers and variables, points at infinity, ordinary and partial differential equations, difference equations and definite integrals, functional analysis, real functions, and analytic number theory. An important concluding chapter examines "The Changing Structure of Modern Mathematics."


New Generation Clinical Trials Could Save Time and Money, Improve Patient Care MD Anderson News Release 01/05/06 As we enter the era of personalized medicine, it is time to take a fresh look at how we evaluate new medicines and treatments for cancer, according to Donald Berry, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Applied Mathematics at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. "We need to rethink how we design and conduct clinical trials in the United States," says Berry. "Our current system has served us well for the past 50 years, but the demands of 21st century medicine are beginning to put a strain on the current system, and we believe we have something to relieve that strain." Berry outlines his approach to conducting clinical trials in the January 2006 issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. In the article, he advocates turning the statistical method used to evaluate new drugs on its head. He states that the statistical method used nearly exclusively to design and monitor clinical trials today, a method called frequentist or Neyman-Pearson (for the statisticians who advocated its use), is so narrowly focused and rigorous in its requirements that it limits innovation and learning. His solution, which he has advocated for more than 30 years, is to adopt a system called the Bayesian method, a statistical approach he says is more in line with how science works. He sites examples of Bayesian approaches being used routinely in physics, geology and other sciences. And he is putting his approach to the test at M. D. Anderson, where more than 100 cancer-related phase I and II clinical trials are being planned or carried out using the Bayesian approach. The main difference between the Bayesian approach and the frequentist approach to clinical trials has to do with how each method deals with uncertainty, an inescapable component of any clinical trial. Unlike frequentist methods, explains Berry, Bayesian methods assign anything unknown a probability using information from previous experiments. In other words, Bayesian methods make use of the results of previous experiments, whereas frequentist approaches assume we have no prior results. "Using the Bayesian approach, it is natural to do continuous updating as information accrues," says Berry. "This characteristic makes it possible for us to build adaptive designs in clinical trials." He argues that the Bayesian approach is better for doctors, patients who participate in clinical trials and for patients who are waiting for new treatments to become available. "Doctors want to be able to design trials to look at multiple potential treatment combinations and use biomarkers to determine who is responding to what medication," says Berry. "At the end of the day, when they enroll the last patient in the study they want to be able to treat that patient optimally depending on the patient's disease characteristics. Using a Bayesian approach, the trial design exploits the results as the trial is ongoing and adapts based on these interim results. That kind of thing is an anathema in the standard approach." However, Berry argues, such flexibility is crucial to clinical trials in the 21st century. "The advances of the 20th century have taught researchers that cancer is a diverse disease, and what works to treat one person's disease may not work for another," he says. "In order to have the kind of personalized medicine the 21st century will demand, it will be necessary to be more flexible in how we evaluate potential new treatments." Of course, the most important factor in whether the Bayesian approach will gain acceptance in clinical trials reporting is whether the U. S. Food and Drug Administration will accept Bayesian approaches in making determination of safety and efficacy of new treatments. Berry says progress is being made both at pharmaceutical companies and at the FDA in bringing regulators up to speed on the Bayesian approach. "Our biggest challenge is to convince the regulators that we are not throwing the baby out with the bathwater by using a Bayesian approach," says Berry. "It is rigorous and we are not losing science by using it." For example, the FDA has approved the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug Pravigard Pac for prevention of secondary cardiac events based on data evaluated using the Bayesian approach. In addition, Berry says, it is possible to reduce the exposure of patients in trials to ineffective therapy using the Bayesian approach. For example, in adaptive clinical trials, if interim results indicate that patients with a certain genetic makeup respond better to a specific treatment, it is possible to recruit more of those patients to that arm of the study without compromising the overall conclusions. Moreover, using the Bayesian approach may make it possible to reduce the number of patients required for a trial by as much as 30 percent, thereby reducing the risk to patients and the cost and time required to develop therapeutic strategies.


Now fully updated for Ciscos new CIPTV1 300-070 exam Implementing Cisco IP Telephony and Video, Part 1(CIPTV1) Foundation Learning Guide is your Cisco authorized learning tool for CCNP Collaboration preparation. Part of the Cisco Press Foundation Learning Series, it teaches essential knowledge and skills for building and maintaining a robust and scalable Cisco Collaboration solution. The authors focus on deploying the Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), CUCM features, CUCM based call routing, Cisco IOS Voice Gateways, Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE), and Quality of Service (QoS). They introduce each key challenge associated with configuring CUCM, implementing gateways and CUBE, and building dial plans to place on-net and off-net calls using traditional numbered dial plans and Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). They show how to implement conferencing and other media resources, and prepare you to apply QoS features for voice and video. Each chapter opens with a topic list that clearly identifies its focus, ends with a quick-study summary of key concepts, and presents review questions to assess and reinforce your understanding. The authors present Cisco best practices, and illustrate operations and problem solving via realistic examples. This guide is ideal for all certification candidates who want to master all the topics covered on the CIPTV1 300-070 exam. The official book for Cisco Networking Academys new CCNP CIPTV1 course includes all new [email protected] Cisco CIPTV1 e-Learning course content: Covers CUCM architecture, deployment models, and tradeoffs Walks through bringing CUCM online, deploying endpoints, and setting up users Explains how to create a solid IP Phone foundation for advanced services Covers dial plan elements, design, and implementation Reviews key call routing elements Explains digit manipulation Shows how to control user access Discusses audio/video resources and videoconferencing Covers QoS tools and preferential call handling Explains external connections via Cisco IOS Voice Gateways and CUBE Streamlines review with clear summaries, assessment questions, and objectives


"Religion" in Theory and Practice follows on from Russell T. McCutcheon's book Entanglements: Marking Place in the Field of Religion (Equinox Publishing, 2014) by offering an overview of the current state of theory in the academic study of religion, and examining a variety of practical sites where critical scholarship is implemented but also challenged. Although addressed to early career scholars, this volume will also be of interest to anyone curious about why so many in the study of religion continue to assume that their object of study needs special attention. The first section outlines McCutcheon's broader and more recent thoughts on the current state of the field (such as the claim, by some, that it is now "post-theory") while the second section applies the first at a variety of discrete sites within the profession, from how we approach teaching the introductory course and the ongoing problem of contingent labor to the varied readers that we can now reach with our work. The volume concludes with a third section in which twenty-one different scholars, each at an early point in their career, take the stage, offering their own views on the challenges of professionalization, job market, gaining teaching experience, and work–life balance. The volume therefore invites readers to step back from their own individual, specialized work and to consider some of the structures in which the wider field exists—and some of the things that we all might do, regardless our career stage, in response to them.


A Research Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Award of the Degree of Master of Science in Accounting and Finance (MSc-A&F)
of Mzumbe University


In the digital era we live in, users can access an abundance of digital resources in their daily life. These digital resources can be located on the user's devices, in traditional repositories such as intranets or digital libraries, but also in open environments such as the World Wide Web.

To be able to efficiently work with this abundance of information, users need support to get access to the resources that are relevant to them. Access to digital resources can be supported in various ways. Whether we talk about technologies for browsing, searching, filtering, ranking, or recommending resources: what they all have in common is that they depend on the available information (i.e., resources and metadata). The accessibility of digital resources that meet a user's information need, and the existence and quality of metadata is crucial for the success of any information system.

This work focuses on how social media technologies can support the access to digital resources. In contrast to closed and controlled environments where only selected users have the rights to contribute digital resources and metadata, and where this contribution involves a social process of formal agreement of the relevant stakeholders, potentially any user can easily create and provide information in social media environments. This usually leads to a larger variety of resources and metadata, and allows for dynamics that would otherwise hardly be possible.

Most information systems still mainly rely on traditional top-down approaches where only selected stakeholders can contribute information. The main idea of this thesis is an approach that allows for introducing the characteristics of social media environments in such traditional contexts. The requirements for such an approach are being examined, as well as the benefits and potentials it can provide.

The ALOE infrastructure was developed according to the identified requirements and realises a Social Resource and Metadata Hub. Case studies and evaluation results are provided to show the impact of the approach on the user's behaviours and the creation of digital resources and metadata, and to justify the presented approach.


A renowned, respected teacher and mentor to thousands, Sobonfu Somi is one of the first and foremost voices of African spirituality to come to the West. Somi was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, a remote West African village with a population of about two hundred people. Dano has preserved the old ways of African village life, with family structures, spiritual practices, and methods of living that have been in place for more than ten thousand years. In The Spirit of Intimacy, Somi distills the ancient teachings and wisdom of her native village to give insight into the nature of intimate relationships.Somi generously applies the subtle knowledge from her West African culture to this one. Simply and beautifully, she reveals the role of spirit in every marriage, friendship, relationship, and community. She shares ancient ways to make our intimate lives more fulfilling and secure and offers powerful insights into the "illusion of romance," divorce, and loss. Her important and fascinating lessons from the heart include the sacred meaning of pleasure, preparing a ritual space for intimacy, and the connection between sex and spirituality. Her ideas are intuitively persuasive, provocative, and healing--and supported by sound practical advice, along with specific rituals and ceremonies based on those used for thousands of years. With this book, the spiritual insights of indigenous Africa take their place alongside those of native America, ancient Europe, and Asia as important influences on Western readers.A renowned, respected teacher and mentor to thousands, Sobonfu Somi is one of the first and foremost voices of African spirituality to come to the West. Somi was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, a remote West African village with a population of about two hundred people. Dano has preserved the old ways of African village life, with family structures, spiritual practices, and methods of living that have been in place for more than ten thousand years. In The Spirit of Intimacy, Somi distills the ancient teachings and wisdom of her native village to give insight into the nature of intimate relationships.A renowned, respected teacher and mentor to thousands, Sobonfu Somi is one of the first and foremost voices of African spirituality to come to the West. Somi was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, a remote West African village with a population of about two hundred people. Dano has preserved the old ways of African village life, with family structures, spiritual practices, and methods of living that have been in place for more than ten thousand years. In The Spirit of Intimacy, Somi distills the ancient teachings and wisdom of her native village to give insight into the nature of intimate relationships.Somi generously applies the subtle knowledge from her West African culture to this one. Simply and beautifully, she reveals the role of spirit in every marriage, friendship, relationship, and community. She shares ancient ways to make our intimate lives more fulfilling and secure and offers powerful insights into the "illusion of romance," divorce, and loss. Her important and fascinating lessons from the heart include the sacred meaning of pleasure, preparing a ritual space for intimacy, and the connection between sex and spirituality. Her ideas are intuitively persuasive, provocative, and healing--and supported by sound practical advice, along with specific rituals and ceremonies based on those used for thousands of years. With this book, the spiritual insights of indigenous Africa take their place alongside those of native America, ancient Europe, and Asia as important influences on Western readers.


[For a later version of material in this paper, see this paper: "Human Rights Theory, 4: Democracy Limited: The Human Right to Religious and Moral Freedom" (2015), http://ssrn.com/abstract=2610942.]In a paper I posted to SSRN last month — "The Morality of Human Rights" (June 2013), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2274381, — I explained that as the concept "human right" is understood both in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in all the various international human rights treaties that have followed in the Universal Declaration's wake, a right is a human right if the rationale for establishing and protecting the right — for example, as a treaty-based right — is, in part, that conduct that violates the right violates the imperative, articulated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration, to "act towards all human beings in a spirit of brotherhood." Each of the human rights articulated in the Universal Declaration and/or in one or more international human rights treaties — for example, the right, articulated in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration and elsewhere, not to be subjected to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" — is a specification of what, in conjunction with other considerations, the imperative — which functions in the morality of human rights as the normative ground of human rights — is thought to forbid (or to require).A particular specification is controversial if and to the extent the supporting claim — a claim to the effect that the "act towards all human beings in a spirit of brotherhood" imperative forbids (or requires) X — is controversial. My aim in this essay is to elaborate and defend a particular specification: the right, internationally recognized as a human right, to freedom of conscience — to freedom, that is, to live one's life in accord with the deliverances of one's conscience.A more focused name for the right is the right to religious and moral freedom. Jocelyn Maclure and Charles Taylor begin their book Secularism and Freedom of Conscience (2011) by stating that "[o]ne of the most important challenges facing contemporary societies is how to manage moral and religious diversity." One indispensable strategy for managing religious and moral diversity is, as I explain in this essay, the right to religious and moral freedom — to freedom to live one's life in accord with one's religious and/or moral convictions and commitments.In the final part of the essay, I explain why we are warranted in concluding that the internationally recognized human right to freedom of conscience — to religious and moral freedom — is part of, is entrenched in, the constitutional law of the United States.The final version of this essay — which is a modest revision of a chapter in my new book, Human Rights in the Constitutional Law of the United States (2013) — will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Law and Religion.


Achieving gender equality must and has involved efforts to understand the vulnerabilities and risks that adolescent girls and young women face every day – but how much do we know about the realities of adolescent boys and young men? This report takes a deeper look at the daily lives of adolescent boys and young men around the world and at how they can join the movement towards improved health and gender equality. Exploring global research the report reveals boys' and young men's specific risks and realities in relation to health in general sexual and reproductive health in particular sexuality media violence sexual exploitation and other vulnerabilities. It analyzes the implications of these risks and realities not only for boys but also on the lives of women and girls. Adolescence is a key period where individuals of all gender identities form attitudes opinions and beliefs – about themselves about their sexuality and about their place in the world. It is a period when ideas about equality can become ingrained. The study emphasizes that a holistic approach to advancing gender equality and sexual and reproductive health must include both adolescent girls and boys. It highlights the need to engage adolescent boys and young men as allies to achieve gender equality and as supporters of women's empowerment as well as the importance of addressing the specific health and social development needs of boys themselves.


Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star'd at the Pacific – and all his men Look'd at each other with a wild surmise – Silent, upon a peak in Darien.


Web-based hands-on labs CompTIA Network+ N10-006 uCertify Labs is an online, hands-on skills enhancement tool that helps students gain the real-world skills they need to succeed on the Network+ exam and to land a job as a network administrator. The 140+ labs in this product cover the full range of Network+ N10-006 exam topics. The award-winning uCertify Labs help bridge the gap between conceptual knowledge and real-world application by providing competency-based, interactive, online, 24x7 training. uCertify Labs simulate real-world networking hardware, software applications and operating systems, and command-line interfaces. In addition, the labs are supplemented with 40 videos demonstrating lab solutions. uCertify Labs build upon the same great platform benefits and flexibility that have become synonymous with the uCertify Courses. Students can feel safe working in this virtual environment resolving real-world operating system and hardware problems. You can plan your studies using Study Planner and use one of the three available study modes - Test, Learn or Review - to suit your learning style.


Revisioned text content is present in numerous collaboration platforms on the Web, most notably Wikis. To track authorship of text tokens in such systems has many potential applications; the identification of main authors for licensing reasons or tracing collaborative writing patterns over time, to name some. In this context, two main challenges arise. First, it is critical for such an authorship tracking system to be precise in its attributions, to be reliable for further processing. Second, it has to run efficiently even on very large datasets, such as Wikipedia. As a solution, we propose a graph-based model to represent revisioned content and an algorithm over this model that tackles both issues effectively. We describe the optimal implementation and design choices when tuning it to a Wiki environment. We further present a gold standard of 240 tokens from English Wikipedia articles annotated with their origin. This gold standard was created manually and confirmed by multiple independent users of a crowdsourcing platform. It is the first gold standard of this kind and quality and our solution achieves an average of 95% precision on this data set. We also perform a first-ever precision evaluation of the state-of-the-art algorithm for the task, exceeding it by over 10% on average. Our approach outperforms the execution time of the state-of-the-art by one order of magnitude, as we demonstrate on a sample of over 240 English Wikipedia articles. We argue that the increased size of an optional materialization of our results by about 10% compared to the baseline is a favorable trade-off, given the large advantage in runtime performance.


Unani (also spelt Yunani) refers to the tradition of Graeco-Arabic medicine. Like Ayurveda, this also a comprehensive tradition of medicine that goes back of Hippocrates, but owes a lot to the wisdom and experience of Arabic and Persian physicians. India remains one of the most prominent countries encouraging research and education in the field of Unani medicine. Listening to the Unani video clips will make the students aware of not only the concepts used in Unani medicine, but also the integral role of faith in healing.


Purpose: In development studies, knowledge has been considered an important input for development as well as a major factor in wealth creation and global competitiveness. The main purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of building knowledge capacity for sustainable development in the Arab World. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is an attempt to shed some light on the prospects of building knowledge capacity to sustain economic growth in Arab countries. The paper uses some of the scholarly work already published on knowledge creation to strengthen these countries capabilities to sustain development. Currently, the economies of these countries are driven by nonrenewable recourses, mainly oil and gas, which will limit their ability to support long-term growth. Knowledge creates wealth through innovation and economic diversification. Findings: With the exception of a few Arab countries, the rest of the region remains inadequately prepared to support rapid modernization and promote sustainable development through knowledge creation. Radical reforms, driven by policy initiatives and institutional incentives need to be introduced in order to create an enabling environment capable of promoting knowledge culture and increasing economic productivity. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the existing literature on building knowledge development in the Arab world. The literature on this subject remains limited, and the paper therefore highlights some of the important issues related to knowledge sharing and use in Arab countries. The paper examines the role that the new economy, driven by knowledge, innovation and information, plays in sustaining development in the Arab world. Sustainable development is a dynamic process comprising knowledge creation, information dissemination and technological diffusion.


This paper describes the development and partial characterization of a novel microfluidic based, evanescent field optical tweezing device for the potential application as an innovative automated loading solution for nano dimensional samples at synchrotron and XFEL beamlines, replacing the currently implemented top down, 'clumsy' robotic systems. By both modifying and characterizing the standard microfluidic device, the device has become capable of X-ray transmission experiments and has also been used for the characterization tests trapping micron and nano dimensional particles, Characterization experiments described here have focused on the effect laser power has on the trapping behavior of the device, with reported results of 75 mW as the optimal trapping power for 500nm polystyrene nanospheres in their native buffer. The system is described comprehensively by Docker et al elsewhere[1].


A Klee painting named "Angelus Novus" shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. This storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.


Humans have lived with nonhuman animals in the Appalachian Mountains for thousands of years. The relationships formed between these two groups of life have changed over the course of that time, but remained complex, nonetheless. This thesis begins to study Appalachian human-animal relationships by dissecting various relationships represented in prominent works of Appalachian literature, such as Harriette Simpson Arnow's Hunter's Horn, Wilma Dykeman's The Tall Woman, and James Still's River of Earth.
This study moves through some of the current trends in the field of Critical animal studies (CAS) and, for the first time, pairs these trends with different concepts scholars have created in the varying disciplines under the umbrella of Appalachian studies. "Appalachian Animals on Our Mind" begins with a brief history of interactions between animals and humans in Appalachia, then moves into an analysis of literature. This thesis uses the literature to further examine differing human-animal relationships through psychological, ecofeminist, and anthropological models.


Given a protoset of $d$-dimensional polyominoes, we ask which boxes can be packed by the protoset. In some cases, it may be too difficult to give a complete answer to this question, so we ask the easier question about determining all sufficiently large boxes that can be packed. (We say that a box is "sufficiently large" if all edge lengths are ${} \ge C$ for some large $C$.) We give numerous examples (mostly $2$-dimensional) where we can answer this easier question. The various techniques involved are: checkerboard-type colorings/numberings (tile homology), the boundary word method of Conway and Lagarias (tile homotopy), ad hoc geometric arguments, and a very nice theorem of Barnes. Barnes' Theorem asserts that all necessary conditions for a box to be packable can be given in a certain form, and these conditions are also sufficient for large boxes. Barnes' Theorem has not received the appreciation it deserves. We give a new, purely combinatorial proof of this important result. (Barnes' original proof uses techniques of algebraic geometry.) In the special case that all the prototiles are boxes themselves, we show how to determine all sufficiently large boxes that they pack. We prove a theorem based on Barnes' result that reduces this to a straightforward calculation.


The hm admissible heuristics for (sequential and temporal) regression planning are defined by a parameterized relaxation of the optimal cost function in the regression search space, where the parameter m offers a trade-off between the accuracy and computational cost of the heuristic. Existing methods for computing the hm heuristic require time exponential in m, limiting them to small values (m ≤ 2). The hm heuristic can also be viewed as the optimal cost funciton in a relaxation of the search space: this paper presents relaxed search, a method for computing this function partially by searching in the relaxed space. The relaxed search method, because it computes hm only partially, is computationally cheaper and therefore usable for higher values of m. The (complete) h2 heuristic is combined with partial hm heuristics, for m = 3,..., computed by relaxed search, resulting in a more accurate heuristic.

This use of the relaxed search method to improve on the h2 heuristic is evaluated by comparing two optimal temporal planners: TP4, which does not use it, and HSP*a, which uses it but is otherwise identical to TP4. The comparison is made on the domains used in the 2004 International Planning Competition, in which both planners participated. Relaxed search is found to be cost effective in some of these domains, but not all. Analysis reveals a characterization of the domains in which relaxed search can be expected to be cost effective, in terms of two measures on the original and relaxed search spaces. In the domains where relaxed search is cost effective, expanding small states is computationally cheaper than expanding large states and small states tend to have small successor states.


We examine the feasibility polyhedron of the uncapacitated hub location problem (UHL) with multiple allocation, which has applications in the fields of air passenger and cargo transportation, telecommunication and postal delivery services. In particular we determine the dimension and derive some classes of facets of this polyhedron. We develop some general rules about lifting facets from the uncapacitated facility location (UFL) for UHL and projecting facets from UHL to UFL. By applying these rules we get a new class of facets for UHL which dominates the inequalities in the original formulation. Thus we get a new formulation of UHL whose constraints are all facet defining. We show its superior computational performance by benchmarking it on a well known data set.


For the last decade, golfers of all abilities have been drawn to the writings and teachings of Bob Doc Rotella. His books "Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect, Golf Is a Game of Confidence, The Golf of Your Dreams, " and "Putting Out of Your Mind" have all become classics for golfers everywhere. Weekend golfers and pros like Brad Faxon, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Tom Kite, and Davis Love III all read and listen to the man they call Doc because his teachings are simple and direct and in the end, what Doc says makes them play better golf. "The Golfer's Mind" was actually first suggested by Davis Love, Jr. Davis Love III's dad who encouraged Doc to write an instruction book on golf's mental challenges, organized by topic. Love thought that golfers could keep the book with them, or at least nearby, at all times. When they needed a refresher on a certain issue, they could consult the book, read for a few minutes, and take away solid guidance regarding their difficulties. Doc heard what Love said, and twenty years later, "The Golfer's Mind" is that book. From his Ten Commandments (Commandment I. Play to play great. Don't play not to play poorly) to just about any topic a golfer might imagine, this is the ideal way for players to get all of Rotella's teachings. Doc covers topics including: -Butterflies -Practicing to Play Great -The Rhythm of the Game -Routine -Setbacks -How Winning Happens In the perfect format for the busy golfer, "The Golfer's Mind" is the concise and convenient quick-reference tool to appeal to Rotella's millions of followers and is sure to become a golf classic."


Many disciplines, including philosophy, history, and sociology, have attempted to make sense of how science works. In this book, Paul Thagard examines scientific development from the interdisciplinary perspective of cognitive science. Cognitive science combines insights from researchers in many fields: philosophers analyze historical cases, psychologists carry out behavioral experiments, neuroscientists perform brain scans, and computer modelers write programs that simulate thought processes. Thagard develops cognitive perspectives on the nature of explanation, mental models, theory choice, and resistance to scientific change, considering disbelief in climate change as a case study. He presents a series of studies that describe the psychological and neural processes that have led to breakthroughs in science, medicine, and technology. He shows how discoveries of new theories and explanations lead to conceptual change, with examples from biology, psychology, and medicine. Finally, he shows how the cognitive science of science can integrate descriptive and normative concerns; and he considers the neural underpinnings of certain scientific concepts.


The core concern of this book is the potential use of taxation and related measures to foster climate-helpful, large-scale change within East Asia. The contributing authors examine key issues such as how Greater China, for instance, confronts severe environmental problems which are a direct product of several decades of remarkable economic growth. The detailed analysis in this book identifies a range of green taxation guidelines for East Asia as it seeks to drive down striking levels of environmental degradation – and tackle the climate change challenge.


The study of personality and individual differences in adults has flourished over the past 30 years (Swann & Seyle, 2005). During this time, the Five Factor Model (FFM), most widely researched and defined by Costa and McCrae (1985, 1987), has dominated the field of personality psychology. The FFM suggests that personality can be reduced to five broad domains: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Personality research has focused predominantly on adult individual differences. Childhood individual differences have historically been measured through temperament, which holds a strong biological and genetic foundation. Despite temperament's firm hold on the exploration of childhood character differences, more recent studies have been conducted on the presence of the FFM in children (cf. Abe & Izard, 1999; Mervielde, Buyst, & De Fruyt, 1995). A measure of personality in children, ages 3 to 5, was developed to aid in the expansion of research in childhood individual differences. The M5-PS Questionnaire (Grist & McCord, 2006) was adapted from an adult personality measure, the M5 Questionnaire (McCord, 2002), in order to assess the FFM in children. The current study investigated the preliminary psychometrics of this measure. Pre-school aged children (ages 2-6) were assessed using the M5-PS and Children's Behavior Questionnaire- Very Short Form (CBQ-VSF); student teachers completed these measures based on their observations of children in a preschool setting. The M5-PS comprises 5 scales that correspond with the five personality domains, and has 90 items. Each of the 18-item scales was refined through the use of item removal in order to obtain maximum internal consistency. Scale refinement resulted in a 72-item measure. External validity of the M5-PS was explored through the relationship between temperament traits (measured using the CBQ-VSF) and personality domains. This relationship was explored both before and after scale refinement. Scale refinement improved internal validity of the M5-PS, yet it did not provide sufficient evidence that this tool is currently a cohesive, valid measure of childhood personality. Furthermore, fluctuation in correlations between personality and temperament before and after item removal demonstrates a lack of external validity. It is apparent that the M5-PS is in need of further refinement and development.


Ozonation, or advanced oxidation processes (utilising ozone decomposition products as oxidants) are widely used in industrial wastewater and drinking water treatment plants. In these applications the use of ozone is based on ozone and its decomposition by-products being strong oxidants. In this paper, the possible oxidation of non-Cr(VI) Cr-containing materials suspended in water during ozonation, is presented. This study is of particular interest within the South African context, considering that South Africa holds the majority of global chromium ore resources and has the largest Cr-related industry in the world. Chromium also occurs commonly in other industrial waste materials and is a naturally-occurring element in the crust of the earth. Results indicated that in situ formation of Cr(VI) is possible during aqueous ozonation. pH had a significant influence, since the decomposition products of aqueous O3, i.e. hydroxyl radicals formed at higher pH levels, were found to be predominantly responsible for Cr(VI) formation. Increased ozonation contact time, water temperature and solid loading also resulted in higher Cr(VI) concentrations being formed.


In this thesis we address two instances of duality in commutative algebra. In the first part, we consider value semigroups of non irreducible singular algebraic curves and their fractional ideals. These are submonoids of Z closed under minima, with a conductor and which fulfill special compatibility properties on their elements. Subsets of Z fulfilling these three conditions are known in the literature as good semigroups and their ideals, and their class strictly contains the class of value semigroup ideals. We examine good semigroups both independently and in relation with their algebraic counterpart. In the combinatoric setting, we define the concept of good system of generators, and we show that minimal good systems of generators are unique. In relation with the algebra side, we give an intrinsic definition of canonical semigroup ideals, which yields a duality on good semigroup ideals. We prove that this semigroup duality is compatible with the Cohen-Macaulay duality under taking values. Finally, using the duality on good semigroup ideals, we show a symmetry of the Poincaré series of good semigroups with special properties. In the second part, we treat Macaulay's inverse system, a one-to-one correspondence which is a particular case of Matlis duality and an effective method to construct Artinian k-algebras with chosen socle type. Recently, Elias and Rossi gave the structure of the inverse system of positive dimensional Gorenstein k-algebras. We extend their result by establishing a one-to-one correspondence between positive dimensional level k-algebras and certain submodules of the divided power ring. We give several examples to illustrate our result.


John Bell has shown that the correlations entailed by quantum mechanics cannot be reproduced by a classical process involving non-communicating parties. But can they be simulated with the help of bounded communication? This problem has been studied for more than two decades and it is now well understood in the case of bipartite entanglement. However, the issue was still widely open for multipartite entanglement, even for the simplest case, which is the tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state. We give an exact simulation of arbitrary independent von Neumann measurements on general n-partite GHZ states. Our protocol requires O(n^2) bits of expected communication between the parties, and O(n log n) expected time is sufficient to carry it out in parallel. Furthermore, we need only an expectation of O(n) independent unbiased random bits, with no need for the generation of continuous real random variables nor prior shared random variables. In the case of equatorial measurements, we improve on the prior art with a protocol that needs only O(n log n) bits of communication and O(log^2 n) parallel time. At the cost of a slight increase in the number of bits communicated, these tasks can be accomplished with a constant expected number of rounds.


Abstract. A new method to retrieve ice cloud asymmetry parameters from multi-directional polarized reflectance measurements is applied to measurements of the airborne Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) obtained during the CRYSTAL-FACE campaign in 2002. The method assumes individual hexagonal ice columns and plates serve as proxies for more complex shapes and aggregates. The closest fit is searched in a look-up table of simulated polarized reflectances computed for cloud layers that contain individual, randomly oriented hexagonal columns and plates with a virtually continuous selection of aspect ratios and distortion. The asymmetry parameter, aspect ratio and distortion of the hexagonal particle that leads to the best fit with the measurements are considered the retrieved values. Two cases of thick convective clouds and two cases of thinner anvil cloud layers are analyzed. Median asymmetry parameters retrieved by the RSP range from 0.76 to 0.78, and are generally smaller than those currently assumed in most climate models and satellite retrievals. In all cases the measurements indicate roughened or distorted ice crystals, which is consistent with previous findings. Retrieved aspect ratios in three of the cases range from 0.9 to 1.6, indicating compact particles dominate the cloud-top shortwave radiation. Retrievals for the remaining case indicate plate-like ice crystals with aspect ratios around 0.3. The RSP retrievals are qualitatively consistent with the CPI images obtained in the same cloud layers. Retrieved asymmetry parameters are compared to those determined in situ by the Cloud Integrating Nephelometer (CIN). For two cases, the median values of asymmetry parameter retrieved by CIN and RSP agree within 0.01, while for the two other cases RSP asymmetry parameters are about 0.03–0.05 greater than those obtained by the CIN. Part of this bias might be explained by vertical variation of the asymmetry parameter or ice shattering on the CIN probe, or both.


This dissertation explores the perspectives of women enrolled in a developmental English class at a community college which utilized digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool. Building upon the many years of research of best practices in the field of developmental education, this qualitative narrative inquiry is motivated by three research questions: 1) How do the women use digital storytelling technology to create meaning? 2) What does the experience of the female storytellers reveal about women and the learning experience? 3) How do developmental education research-based best practices intersect with digital storytelling? The goals of the study are to contribute to the existing body of literature on developmental education best practices and women's learning as well as merge the two with the 21st century technology of digital storytelling. Within the contemporary literature on digital storytelling, themes of identity formation, multiple literacies, and empowerment through emancipation are pervasive. This study offers insight into and advances the understanding of digital storytelling by including the field of developmental education with an exclusive focus on women's ways of learning.


The right of publicity is an enigmatic property right. Its many critics argue that it should not be a property right at all, because (1) it is unnecessary to stimulate the pursuit of fame; (2) unneeded to manage the value of publicity; and (3) undeserved in any recognized moral sense. Yet, this ostensibly persuasive critique has had little practical impact. The right of publicity today is stronger than ever.This article contends that the prevailing critique of the right of publicity has failed to influence the courts in large part because each quiver in its arsenal would be just as fatal were it aimed at any form of property right. To justify denying property-right status to the right of publicity, one needs to distinguish that right from other types of property. Because the existing critique applies across the board, it cannot justify singling out the right of publicity.In rejecting the broad critique and accepting the right of publicity as a valid property right, many courts have been nonetheless uncomfortable with the right's broad reach. The prevailing view has been that it restricts too much speech, and must be limited to conform to the First Amendment. This approach has been criticized for being insufficiently sensitive to speech interests, because courts are incompetent to judge the social value of particular forms of speech. This article contends that attempting to shape a property right with reference to free speech interests is doomed to fail, because individuals generally have no right to use the property of another to speak. If publicity is property, then it will restrain speech interests just as other forms of property do. After all, you cannot lawfully set up a soap box in my front yard.If one accepts the right of publicity as a valid property right, competition policy is the most fruitful ground on which to restrict publicity rights. Unlike free speech interests, competition policy does limit the scope of property rights, and courts are fully competent to judge the competitive effects of recognizing publicity rights in different contexts. To the extent that recognizing a right of publicity would restrain competition and create market power in a celebrity, a court would be fully justified in limiting the celebrity's publicity rights, just as antitrust law generally limits a monopolist's other property rights. Where a celebrity has no market power, by contrast, publicity rights would be fully enforceable. Applying this approach would (1) validate the results in a number of controversial right-of-publicity cases; (2) compel a different result in a few cases; and (3) more effectively justify court decisions in areas such as advertising, news reporting, and biography, that have been relatively uncontroversial.


We don't have an energy crisis. We have a consumption crisis. And this book, which takes aim at cherished assumptions regarding energy, offers refreshingly straight talk about what's wrong with the way we think and talk about the problem. Though we generally believe we can solve environmental problems with more energy-more solar cells, wind turbines, and biofuels-alternative technologies come with their own side effects and limitations. How, for instance, do solar cells cause harm? Why can't engineers solve wind power's biggest obstacle? Why won't contraception solve the problem of overpopulation lying at the heart of our concerns about energy, and what will? This practical, environmentally informed, and lucid book persuasively argues for a change of perspective. If consumption is the problem, as Ozzie Zehner suggests, then we need to shift our focus from suspect alternative energies to improving social and political fundamentals: walkable communities, improved consumption, enlightened governance, and, most notably, women's rights. The dozens of first steps he offers are surprisingly straightforward. For instance, he introduces a simple sticker that promises a greater impact than all of the nation's solar cells. He uncovers why carbon taxes won't solve our energy challenges (and presents two taxes that could). Finally, he explores how future environmentalists will focus on similarly fresh alternatives that are affordable, clean, and can actually improve our well-being. Watch a book trailer.


The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the aspects of Lumbee Indian community that supports the algebraic achievement of high-achieving Lumbee Indian Algebra 1 middle school students. The study was conducted in a stable, rural Lumbee Indian community in North Carolina. I interviewed 14 parents, 3 teachers and 10 students for this study. Students also participated in the focus group sessions, during which students solved mathematics problems, and completed a reflection of the problem-solving process. The data analysis performed involved data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/vertification utilizing Cobb and Yackel's (1996) social and sociomathematical norms framework in conjunction with Coleman's (1988) social capital framework. Meanings of teaching and learning mathematics based on the experiences, expectations, resources and goals of the research subjects were determined. The results show the meanings that the community shares about teaching and learning of mathematics center around the common vision of ensuring that students receive the necessary support to aid in their academic success. Additionally, the historical sense of community and closure that is present in the community enables the development of trust because "everybody knows everybody". Therefore, the social networking system within the community aids in the establishment of trust between the parents, teachers, and students. As a result of the trust that exists between the community members, the members trust that the various members will work together to provide the support necessary for students to be successful.


© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.


[1] To assess the current status of climate models in simulating clouds, basic cloud climatologies from ten atmospheric general circulation models are compared with satellite measurements from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) and the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) program. An ISCCP simulator is employed in all models to facilitate the comparison. Models simulated a four-fold difference in high-top clouds. There are also, however, large uncertainties in satellite high thin clouds to effectively constrain the models. The majority of models only simulated 30–40% of middle-top clouds in the ISCCP and CERES data sets. Half of the models underestimated low clouds, while none overestimated them at a statistically significant level. When stratified in the optical thickness ranges, the majority of the models simulated optically thick clouds more than twice the satellite observations. Most models, however, underestimated optically intermediate and thin clouds. Compensations of these clouds biases are used to explain the simulated longwave and shortwave cloud radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere. Seasonal sensitivities of clouds are also analyzed to compare with observations. Models are shown to simulate seasonal variations better for high clouds than for low clouds. Latitudinal distribution of the seasonal variations correlate with satellite measurements at >0.9, 0.6–0.9, and −0.2–0.7 levels for high, middle, and low clouds, respectively. The seasonal sensitivities of cloud types are found to strongly depend on the basic cloud climatology in the models. Models that systematically underestimate middle clouds also underestimate seasonal variations, while those that overestimate optically thick clouds also overestimate their seasonal sensitivities. Possible causes of the systematic cloud biases in the models are discussed.


From the Publisher:
In this age of DNA computers and artificial intelligence, information is becoming disembodied even as the "bodies" that once carried it vanish into virtuality. While some marvel at these changes, envisioning consciousness downloaded into a computer or humans "beamed" Star Trek-style, others view them with horror, seeing monsters brooding in the machines. In How We Became Posthuman, N. Katherine Hayles separates hype from fact, investigating the fate of embodiment in an information age.
Hayles relates three interwoven stories: how information lost its body, that is, how it came to be conceptualized as an entity separate from the material forms that carry it; the cultural and technological construction of the cyborg; and the dismantling of the liberal humanist "subject" in cybernetic discourse, along with the emergence of the "posthuman."
Ranging widely across the history of technology, cultural studies, and literary criticism, Hayles shows what had to be erased, forgotten, and elided to conceive of information as a disembodied entity. Thus she moves from the post-World War II Macy Conferences on cybernetics to the 1952 novel Limbo by cybernetics aficionado Bernard Wolfe; from the concept of self-making to Philip K. Dick's literary explorations of hallucination and reality; and from artificial life to postmodern novels exploring the implications of seeing humans as cybernetic systems.
Although becoming posthuman can be nightmarish, Hayles shows how it can also be liberating. From the birth of cybernetics to artificial life, How We Became Posthuman provides an indispensable account of how we arrived in our virtual age, and of where we might go from here.


A taxonomic revision of the genus Pteris in tropical Africa revealed 26 species. An identification key to the species is provided. Morphological characters were used to prepare a cladistic analysis of the relevant taxa. Each species was evaluated concerning the IUCN red list status. Only Pteris mkomaziensis was considered as Near Threatened, and all other species only as Least Concern. An inventory of the ferns of Kakamega Forest / Kenya and Budongo Forest / Uganda revealed 85 species in Kakamega and 66 species in Budongo. Life form spectra were analysed and the ferns were studied for their value for bioindication.


A new innovation on the IPO landscape has emerged in the last two decades, allowing owner-founders to extract billions of dollars from newly-public companies. These IPOs — labeled supercharged IPOs — have been the subject of widespread debate and controversy: lawyers, financial experts, journalists, and Members of Congress have all weighed in on the topic. Some have argued that supercharged IPOs are a "brilliant, just brilliant," while others have argued they are "underhanded" and "bizarre."In this article, we explore the supercharged IPO and explain how and why this new deal structure differs from the more traditional IPO. We then outline various theories of financial innovation and note that the extant literature provides useful explanations for why supercharged IPOs emerged and spread so quickly across industries and geographic areas. The literature also provides support for both legitimate and opportunistic uses of the supercharged IPO.With the help of a large-N quantitative study — the first of its kind — we investigate the adoption and diffusion of this new innovation. We find that the reason parties have begun to supercharge their IPO is not linked to a desire to steal from naive investors, but rather for tax planning purposes. Supercharged IPOs enable both owner-founders and public investors to save substantial amounts of money in federal and state taxes. With respect to the spread of the innovation, we find that elite lawyers, especially those located in New York City, are largely responsible for the changes that we observe on the IPO landscape. We conclude our study by demonstrating how our empirical findings can be used to 1) advance the literature on innovation, 2) assist firms going public in the future, and 3) shape legal reform down the road.


May 1992, and after four LAPD officers were acquitted after the savage beating of Rodney King, Los Angeles is ablaze. As looting and burning take over the city, law and order are swept away in a tidal wave of violence. But under threat of their lives, homicide detectives like Harry Bosch are still stubbornly trying to do their job. With no effective police presence on the streets, murder just got a whole lot easier and investigating them got a whole lot harder. Escorted by national guard soldiers from murder scene to murder scene, Harry and his colleagues are only able to do the bare minimum in terms of collecting evidence. And for Harry that's not enough. When he finds the body of a female journalist executed in an alley, he cannot accept that he will never be able to bring her killer to justice, and her tragedy starts to eat into his soul. But then, twenty years later, Harry finds himself working in the Open Unsolved Unit, and suddenly the past comes back to haunt him once again, in a way he could never have imagined.


Compared to the 29 other members of OECD, Canadian workers must satisfy themselves with a rather timorous public pension system, particularly those who earn a middle or higher income. This weakness is somewhat corrected by private pension organizations, but only a third of employees are covered by them. The author proposes that all workers have access to such programs and even that they are mandatory. There would be many of them; they would function on the basis of capitalization; they would be public or private. The choice of the capitalization financial principle is almost essential, due to future population aging. The author displays his convictions about these proposals, as well as practical ways to implement such a program.


To better understand what drives El Niño, an analytical model of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system over the equatorial Pacific is constructed. The equatorial atmosphere is approximated as a linear feedback system whose surface winds are driven by sea surface temperature (SST) gradients and whose thermal effect is to restore the entire equatorial SST to its maximum value-the SST of the warm-pool. The upper ocean is represented by a shallow water model capped by a mixed layer with a constant depth. The zonal mean stratification of the thermocline is maintained by upwelling from the deep ocean. The model captures the oscillatory behavior of the present tropical Pacific climate—the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The main features of the oscillation in the model agree well with the observed El Niño including the period of the oscillation and the phase relationship between the variations of SST and the variations in the depth of the thermocline. Moreover, the model predicts that the climate of the eastern tropical Pacific has two regimes: one is warm and steady, and the other is cold and oscillating, consistent with the inference from geoarcheological data that El Niño did not exist during the early-to-mid-Holocene when the global and regional climate was warmer than today. The transition from the steady climate to the oscillating climate takes place when the temperature contrast between the surface warm-pool and the deep ocean exceeds a critical value. A stability analysis reveals that the zonal SST contrast and the accompanying wind-driven currents have to be sufficiently strong to become oscillatory and that requires a sufficiently large difference between the temperature of the warm-pool and the temperature of the deep ocean. On the timescale of millennia, a sufficiently cold equatorial deep ocean implies a sufficiently cold high latitudes, a condition which is met by the present climate, but possibly not by the climate of the early-to-mid Holocene. In the oscillating regime, the magnitude of El Niño is found to increase monotonically with increases in the difference between the temperature of the warm pool and the temperature of the deep ocean. The increase in the magnitude of El Niño is accompanied with an increase in the zonal SST contrast in the equatorial region. The implication of these results for the response of El Niño to an increase in the greenhouse effect is discussed.


This study aims at doing a spatial analysis of insolation in Iran. The statistical time span that has been investigated is the period between 1948 and 2009. After determining insolation, the spatial analysis maps are drawn as monthly, seasonal, and an annual map for the total statistical period. After the analysis of the annual map, Iran has been divided into 5 areas regarding the amount of insolation, including: areas with the least amount of insolation, areas with little amount of insolation, areas with average amount of insolation, areas with high amount of insolation and areas with the highest amount of insolation. The results of the study show that farthest area in north west of Iran with 185 kw/m 2 has the lowest amount of insolation and the farthest area in south east of Iran with 235 kw/m 2 has the most amount of insolation. The results of this study are not in agreement with the results of previous studies, which have been done through experimental models. The former studies done though experimental models show that a huge part of center and some parts of north west of Iran receive the highest insolation and coasts of Caspian sea receives the lowest insolation. While the results of the present study show that southern coasts of Iran receive the highest insolation and the north west of Iran has the lowest insolation. These results are because of the low amount of cloudiness and high amount of radiation angle in the south coasts of Iran and the high amount of cloudiness and low amount of radiation angle in the north west of Iran.


In most industrialized countries, functional foods have become more and more popular with consumers because of a growing awareness of the relation between health, nutrition, and diet. This study examines consumers' preferences and willingness-to-pay for functional dairy product attributes in Germany using cross-sectional choice experiment data. Random parameter logit and latent class models are employed to model preference behavior and to account for preference heterogeneity among consumers. It is also tested whether willingness-to-pay estimates obtained from the random parameter logit model are subject to starting point bias. Furthermore, this study investigates consumers' real functional food choices in Germany by using a scanner database of yoghurt and dairy drink sales. Both a bivariate probit model and an almost ideal demand system model are employed to examine the consumers' actual choice behavior towards functional dairy products. The empirical results obtained from the random parameter logit model reveal significant preference heterogeneity among consumers with regard to price. Omega-3 fatty acids and a health claim of support for healthy blood vessels and healthy metabolism are found to be the most preferred attributes, whereas a health claim of just support for healthy blood vessels is ranked below these attributes. Furthermore, respondents reveal the highest positive willingness-to-pay for omega-3 fatty acids. The random parameter logit model results further indicate that willingness-to-pay estimates are not prone to starting point bias, implying that choice experiments provide unbiased willingness-to-pay estimates. The results of the latent class model reveal class-specific heterogeneous preferences. Specifically, three distinct classes of consumers are identified each revealing different preferences for the same functional dairy product attributes. The results obtained from the bivariate probit model indicate that the two choice decisions whether to purchase functional dairy drinks or not and whether to purchase functional yoghurts or not are not statistically independent. The results also reveal that the probabilities of purchasing functional dairy drinks and functional yoghurts are influenced by several socioeconomic characteristics. The empirical results of the almost ideal demand system model indicate that age and household size influence the consumption of functional and non-functional dairy products. The demand for yoghurts and dairy drinks (both functional and non-functional) is income inelastic, suggesting that these products are necessities. Own-price elasticities for functional yoghurts and functional dairy drinks are close to zero, implying that the demand for these functional dairy products tends to be price-independent. Furthermore, functional and non-functional dairy products (yoghurts and dairy drinks) are not likely to be seen as substitutes.


Studies on the toxicity of chemical mixtures find that components at levels below no-observed-effect concentrations (NOECs) may cause toxicity resulting from the combined effects of mixed chemicals. However, chemical risk assessment frequently focuses on individual chemical substances, although most living organisms are substantially exposed to chemical mixtures rather than single substances. The concepts of additive toxicity, concentration addition (CA), and independent action (IA) models are often applied to predict the mixture toxicity of similarly and dissimilarly acting chemicals, respectively. However, living organisms and the environment may be exposed to both types of chemicals at the same time and location. In addition, experimental acquisition of toxicity data for every conceivable mixture is unfeasible since the number of chemical combinations is extremely large. Therefore, an integrated model to predict mixture toxicity on the basis of single mixture components having various modes of toxic action (MoAs) needs to be developed. The objectives of the present study were to analyze the challenges in predicting mixture toxicity in the environment, and to develop integrated models that overcome the limitations of the existing prediction models for estimating the toxicity of non-interactive mixtures through computational models. For these goals, four sub-topics were generated in this study. Firstly, applicable domains and limitations of existing integrated models were analyzed and grouped into three kinds of categories in this study. There are current approaches used to assess mixture toxicity; however, there is a need for a new research concept to overcome challenges associated with such approaches, which recent studies have addressed. These approaches are discussed with particular emphasis on those studies involved in computational approaches to predict the toxicity of chemical mixtures based on the toxicological data of individual chemicals. Secondly, through a case study and a computational simulation, it was found that the Key Critical Component (KCC) and Composite Reciprocal (CR) methods (as described in the European Union (EU) draft technical guidance notes for calculating the Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC) and Derived No Effect Level (DNEL) of mixtures) could derive significantly different results. As the third and fourth sub-topics of this study, the following two integrated addition models were developed and successfully applied to overcome the inherent limitations of the CA and IA models, which could be theoretically used for either similarly or dissimilarly acting chemicals: i) a Partial Least Squares-Based Integrated Addition Model (PLS-IAM), and, ii) a Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship-Based Two-Stage Prediction (QSAR-TSP) model. In this study, it was shown that the PLS-IAM might be useful to estimate mixture toxicity when the toxicity data of similar mixtures having the same compositions were available. In the case of the QSAR-TSP model, it showed the potential to overcome the critical limitation of the conventional TSP model, which requires knowledge of the MoAs for all chemicals. Therefore, this study presented good potential for the advanced integrated models (e.g., PLS-IAM and QSAR-TSP), while considering various non-interactive constituents that have different MoAs in order to increase the reliance of conventional models and simplify the procedure for risk assessment of mixtures.


Entrepreneurship and innovation are two of the most pervasive concepts of our times, yet there are still gaps in our understanding of the interactions between entrepreneurship and innovation, particularly in developing countries. This book is an attempt to fill this gap. It focuses on the entrepreneurship-innovation-development nexus, drawing heavily on empirical evidence from developing countries. Cross-country and individual country experiences cover nations as diverse as Ethiopia, India, Turkey, Vietnam, and also examine lessons from advanced economies such as Finland.

Three sets of questions are addressed. What is the impact of entrepreneurship and innovation on growth and development? What determines the innovative performance of entrepreneurs in developing countries? What role does the institutional environment play in shaping the extent and impact of innovative activities?

A key message is that entrepreneurial innovation, whether through small firms, large national firms, or multinational firms, is often vibrant in developing countries, but does not always realise its full potential. This is due to institutional constraints, the absence of the appropriate mix of different types of small and large and domestic and foreign firms, and insufficiently developed firm capabilities. The contributions provide a better understanding of the determinants and impacts of innovation in developing countries and the policies and institutions that support or hinder innovation.


The capabilities and distributed nature of networked sensors are uniquely suited to the characterization of distributed phenomena in the natural environment. However, environmental characterization by fixed distributed sensors encounters challenges in complex environments. In this paper we describe Networked Infomechanical Systems (NIMS), a new distributed, robotic sensor methodology developed for applications including characterization of environmental structure and phenomena. NIMS exploits deployed infrastructure that provides the benefits of precise motion, aerial suspension, and low energy sustainable operations in complex environments. NIMS nodes may explore a three-dimensional environment and enable the deployment of sensor nodes at diverse locations and viewing perspectives. NIMS characterization of phenomena in a three dimensional space must now consider the selection of sensor sampling points in both time and space. Thus, we introduce a new approach of mobile node adaptive sampling with the objective of minimizing error between the actual and reconstructed spatiotemporal behavior of environmental variables while minimizing required motion. In this approach, the NIMS node first explores as an agent, gathering a statistical description of phenomena using a nested stratified random sampling approach. By iteratively increasing sampling resolution, guided adaptively by the measurement results themselves, this NIMS sampling enables reconstruction of phenomena with a systematic method for balancing accuracy with sampling resource cost in time and motion. This adaptive sampling method is described analytically and also tested with simulated environmental data. Experimental evaluations of adaptive sampling algorithms have also been completed. Specifically, NIMS experimental systems have been developed for monitoring of spatiotemporal variation of atmospheric climate phenomena. A NIMS system has been deployed at a field biology station to map phenomena in a 50m width and 50m span transect in a forest environment. In addition, deployments have occurred in testbed environments allowing additional detailed characterization of sampling algorithms. Environmental variable mapping of temperature, humidity, and solar illumination have been acquired and used to evaluate the adaptive sampling methods reported here. These new methods have been shown to provide a significant advance for efficient mapping of spatially distributed phenomena by NIMS environmental robotics.


Using robots in medicine and especially in surgery requires an adequate representation of and reaction to a changing environment. This is usually achieved by modeling the environment at different representation levels throughout the process, ranging from complex 3D imaging modalities which reflect the environment geometry to finding appropriate low-level control parameters for actual motion through environment regions. In this work, a common framework for different types of navigational problems in surgical robotics is proposed, and validated by the introduction of navigation cycles on novel local sensors. Currently industrial (and surgical) robotic systems employ almost exclusively static global maps – if any – for navigation and planning purposes. Additional information – intra-process, spatial, current, and persistent sensor data – is useful to cope with uncertainty, measurement errors, and incompleteness of data. Between global pre-operative navigation and control, this work introduces the concept of intra-operative navigation on local sensor data into surgical robotics. This includes the creation and maintenance (both concurrent as well as independent) of local environment maps for navigation purposes. This intermediate level of sensory feedback and processing allows to react to changes in the environment, based on persistent but incremental mapping. Furthermore, local sensors permit intra-operative sampling of additional information which may be unattainable before process execution, or available only with reduced precision. This work proposes to augment robot world models by introducing such local sensors (in particular, force and sound as well as ultrasonic sensors, all of which provide data from an estimated local ε-environment) and to build precise maps from local sensors, which serve as input for several introduced navigation algorithms. This map-building is improved by precise data localisation and precise data insertion. The general idea of nested control loops is illustrated on the basis of a specific surgical application – robot-based milling at the lateral skull base.


Written by Brian Azzarello; Art by Eduardo Risso, and Dave Johnson In this dark and intriguing trade paperback, the mysterious Agent Graves approaches ordinary citizens and gives them an opportunity to exact revenge on a person that has wronged them. Offering his clients an attache case containing proof of the deed and a gun, he guarantees his "clients" full immunity for all of their actions, including murder. In these opening chapters, Dizzy Cordova, a Latina gangbanger who has just finished a prison sentence, is given the chance to avenge her family's murders, and a downtrodden bartender receives the opportunity to exact revenge against the woman that ruined his life.


This design thesis focuses on the social impact of designing interior products for the communal dinning experience. The emotional sustainability of interior products is closely connected to the ability to transition a consumer to an enduring owner. The enduring owner is one who views a product beyond its functional purpose and appreciates the product's social and positional aesthetic characteristics. Residential communal dinning experiences provide opportunities for individuals to create stronger emotional connections with one another beyond other typical social gatherings. Emotionally sustainable products successfully portray the owner's social position to other individuals while fulfilling the owner's personal desire for products that are aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, and reflect their personality. The current material culture of interior products promotes the consumption of products that appeal to the emotional desires of today's consumers. Therefore, the emotional sustainability occurs through both the relationships among consumers and the relationship between the consumer and their products. This design thesis explores the connections of these relationships through an active design process, which involves a synergy of reflective moments and ideas from the product, designer, and potential end-user.


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Almost twenty years ago, the historian Pierre Nora wrote about the growing number of "lieux de memoire" - museums, monuments, and memorials - where post-modern society situates public memory of traumatic or triumphant events. Yet he devoted little sustained attention to what may be the quintessential "lieu de memoire" today, the courtroom or truth commission hearing room. Traces of our contemporary obsession with the encounter among law, history and memory are everywhere. And so are lawyers: writing new constitutions for new republics, staffing international tribunals for war criminals, taking testimonies for truth commissions. Yet much of the enthusiasm for legal strategies to "come to terms with" the past draws on individual psychoanalytic metaphors for collective "traumas," and relatively simplistic theories of historical practice, law, and narrative - whether that personal narrative will humanize law, or that justice will be secured by the search for historical truth. This essay discusses efforts by scholars of law and the humanities to address law's relationship to history and collective memory, often through the lens of literature or literary theory. It draws together the theoretically sophisticated work on trials of twentieth-century mass atrocities - the Holocaust and South African apartheid in particular - with the relatively under-theorized literature on the memory of slavery and the slave trade. And it puts the new law and humanities scholarship in the context of the much greater body of work by sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and historians on collective memory, as well as the work of legal scholars on the role of trials and truth commissions in undoing historical injustice.


In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition, and finally do something great. In A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy's gale-force winds. This taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel is a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment - and a moving story of how we got here.


A connected $k$-chromatic graph $G$ is double-critical if for all edges $uv$ of $G$ the graph $G - u - v$ is $(k-2)$-colourable. The only known double-critical $k$-chromatic graph is the complete $k$-graph $K_k$. The conjecture that there are no other double-critical graphs is a special case of a conjecture from 1966, due to Erdős and Lovasz. The conjecture has been verified for $k$ at most $5$. We prove for $k=6$ and $k=7$ that any non-complete double-critical $k$-chromatic graph is $6$-connected and contains a complete $k$-graph as a minor.