A new approach is proposed to model and simulate numerically heterogeneous catalysis in rarefied gas flows. It is developed to satisfy all together the following points: i) describe the gas phase at the microscopic scale, as required in rarefied flows, ii) describe the wall at the macroscopic scale, to avoid prohibitive computational costs and consider not only crystalline but also amorphous surfaces, iii) reproduce on average macroscopic laws correlated with experimental results and iv) derive ana- lytic models in a systematic and exact way. The problem is stated in the general framework of a non static flow in the vicinity of a catalytic and non porous surface (without ageing). It is shown that the exact and systematic resolution method based on the Laplace transform, introduced previously by the author to model collisions in the gas phase, can be extended to the present problem. The proposed approach is applied to the modelling of the Eley-Rideal and Langmuir-Hinshelwood recombinations, assuming that the coverage is locally at equilibrium. The models are developed considering one atomic species and extended to the gen eral case of several atomic species. Numerical calculations show that the models derived in this way reproduce with accuracy behaviours observed experimentally.


Cloud properties were retrieved by applying the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project Edition-2 algorithms to 3.5 years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Visible and Infrared Scanner data and 5.5 and 8 years of MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data from Aqua and Terra, respectively. The cloud products are consistent quantitatively from all three imagers; the greatest discrepancies occur over ice-covered surfaces. The retrieved cloud cover (~59%) is divided equally between liquid and ice clouds. Global mean cloud effective heights, optical depth, effective particle sizes, and water paths are 2.5 km, 9.9, 12.9 μm , and 80 g·m-2, respectively, for liquid clouds and 8.3 km, 12.7, 52.2 μm, and 230 g·m-2 for ice clouds. Cloud droplet effective radius is greater over ocean than land and has a pronounced seasonal cycle over southern oceans. Comparisons with independent measurements from surface sites, the Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, and the Aqua Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System are used to evaluate the results. The mean CERES and MODIS Atmosphere Science Team cloud properties have many similarities but exhibit large discrepancies in certain parameters due to differences in the algorithms and the number of unretrieved cloud pixels. Problem areas in the CERES algorithms are identified and discussed.


The aim of this paper is to test the existence of the framing effect and sunk cost effect whilst examining the influence of cognitive factors. The approach to this research involved combing two frameworks, Prospect Theory and Image Theory, to analyse the outcomes of financial decision making from a survey of financial planners. The findings confirm the existence of the framing effect and a sunk cost effect. In particular the lowering of the amount of sunk cost produced a higher mean funding outcome than that attained in the positive frame. With regards to cognitive factors a significant correlation between perception of responsibility and the amount of funding granted was identified. This is consistent with the existence of escalation commitment behaviour, which is considered to be a manifestation of feelings of responsibility. The perception of the problem space produced an unexpected set of results. In particular both low image compatibility and high image compatibility were significant predictors of the level of funding granted.


It's bedtime in the Star Wars galaxy and Darth Vader's parenting skills are tested anew in this delightful follow-up to the breakout New York Times bestsellers Darth Vader and Son and Vader's Little Princess. In this Episode, the Sith Lord must soothe his rambunctious twins, Luke and Leia, who are not ready to sleep and who insist on a story. As Vader reads, the book looks in on favourite creatures, droids and characters, such as Yoda, R2-D2, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Maul, Admiral Ackbar, Boba Fett and many others as they tuck in, yawn and settle down to dream. As ever, Jeffrey Brown's charming illustrations and humour glow throughout, playing on children's book conventions to enchant adults and kids alike.


During the summer and autumn of 2015, El Nino conditions in the east and central Pacific strengthened, disrupting weather patterns throughout the tropics and into the mid-latitudes. For example, rainfall during the summer's Indian monsoon was approximately 15% below normal. The continued strong El Nino conditions have the potential to trigger damaging impacts (e.g., droughts, famines, floods), particularly in less-developed tropical countries, which would require a swift and effective humanitarian response to mitigate damage to life and property (e.g., health, migration, infrastructure). This analysis uses key climatic variables (temperature, soil moisture and precipitation) as measures to monitor the ongoing risk of these potentially damaging impacts.

The previous 2015-2016 El Nino Impact Analysis was based on observations over the past 35 years and produced Impact Tables showing the likelihood and severity of the impacts on temperature and rainfall by season. The current report is an extension of this work, providing information from observations and seasonal forecast models to give a more detailed outlook of the potential near-term impacts of the current El Nino conditions by region.

This information has been added to the Impact Tables in the form of an 'Observations and Outlook' row. This consists of observational information for the past seasons of JJA 2015, SON 2015 and DJF 2015/2016, a detailed monthly outlook from 5 modeling centres for Mar 2016 and then longer-term seasonal forecast information from 2 modeling centres for the future seasons of AM 2016 and JJA 2016. The seasonal outlook information is an indication of the average likely conditions for that coming month (or season) and region and is not a definite prediction of weather impacts.

This report has been produced by University of Reading for Evidence on Demand with the assistance of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) contracted through the Climate, Environment, Infrastructure and Livelihoods Professional Evidence and Applied Knowledge Services (CEIL PEAKS) programme, jointly managed by DAI (which incorporates HTSPE Limited) and IMC Worldwide Limited.


Guaranteeing correctness of compilation is a ma jor precondition for correct software. Code generation can be one of the most error-prone tasks in a compiler. One way to achieve trusted compilation is certifying compilation. A certifying compiler generates for each run a proof that it has performed the compilation run correctly. The proof is checked in a separate theorem prover. If the theorem prover is content with the proof, one can be sure that the compiler produced correct code. This paper presents a certifying code generation phase for a compiler translating an intermediate language into assembler code. The time spent for checking the proofs is the bottleneck of certifying compilation. We exhibit an improved framework for certifying compilation and considerable advances to overcome this bottleneck. We compare our implementation featuring the Coq theorem prover to an older implementation. Our current implementation is feasible for medium to large sized programs.


An engineered virus tracks down and infects the most common and deadly form of brain cancer and then kills tumor cells by forcing them to devour themselves, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The modified adenovirus homed in on malignant glioma cells in mice and induced enough self-cannibalization among the cancer cells - a process called autophagy - to reduce tumor size and extend survival, says senior author Seiji Kondo, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at MD Anderson. "This virus uses telomerase, an enzyme found in 80 percent of brain tumors, as a target," Kondo says. "Once the virus enters the cell, it needs telomerase to replicate. Normal brain tissue does not have telomerase, so this virus replicates only in cancer cells." Other cancers are telomerase-positive, and the researchers showed in lab experiments that the virus kills human prostate and human cervical cancer cells while sparing normal tissue. In addition to demonstrating the therapeutic potential of the virus, called hTERT-Ad, Kondo says the international research team also clarified the mechanism by which such conditionally replicating adenoviruses (CRAs) infect and kill cancer cells. Autophagy is a protective process that cells employ to consume part of themselves when nutrients are scarce or to destroy some of their organelles to recycle their components. A double membrane forms around the material to be consumed, then everything inside is digested. Kondo and colleagues showed that hTERT-Ad (short for human telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter regulated adenovirus) infected the glioma cells and induced autophagy by inactivating a molecular pathway - the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway - that is known to prevent cellular self-cannibalization. The result was a huge difference in tumor volume among mice with subcutaneous malignant glioma that got hTERT-Ad and those that received a different, non-replicating virus. Average tumor size in the hTERT-Ad group was 39 cubic millimeters, while those receiving the other virus had an average tumor volume of 200 cubic millimeters. Among mice with malignant gliomas in the brain, those treated with three injections of hTERT-Ad on average lived 53 days. Those receiving the control adenoviruses lived on average 29 days. Two of the hTERT-Ad mice survived 60 days and had no detectable brain tumors. Analyses of dead cancer cells showed telltale signs of autophagy: bits of virus in the cell nucleus and autophagic vacuoles - cavities with residual digested material. The cells showed no sign of having been killed by apoptosis - a much better known process of programmed cell death. A normal biological defense mechanism that systematically kills defective cells, apoptosis is suppressed or dysfunctional in cancer cells. Many cancer therapies focus on restoring or enhancing apoptosis to combat the disease. "We believe that autophagy, but not apoptosis, mediates the principal anti-tumor effect of conditionally replicating adenoviruses," Kondo says. Cells killed by apoptosis show specific damage to the cell nucleus and DNA, with other cellular organelles preserved, Kondo explains. Cells killed by autophagy have little damage to the nucleus but heavy degradation of the cells' organelles. Apoptosis and autophagy should be viewed as type 1 and type 2 versions of programmed cell death, Kondo says. In a Nature Reviews Cancer paper last September, Kondo and colleagues reviewed therapies and molecules that cause or inhibit the self-cannibalization process and compared autophagy and apoptosis, which has been more heavily studied. To improve cancer therapeutics, Kondo and colleagues concluded that it is vital to identify molecules that regulate autophagy in cancer cells and to understand how autophagy is associated with cell death, a relatively new field in cancer research. The research group is following up the malignant glioma findings by studying ways to improve the efficiency of viral infection of cancer cells. In addition to Kondo, other co-authors who contributed to this study include, from M. D. Anderson Cancer Center: Hideaki Ito, M.D., Ph.D.; Hiroshi Aoki, M.D., Ph.D.; Yasuko Kondo, M.D., Ph.D.; Eiji Iwado, M.D.; Arifumi Iwamaru, M.D., Ph.D.; Keishi Fujiwara, M.D., Ph.D.; Kenneth R.Hess, Ph.D.; Frederick F. Lang, M.D.; and Raymond Sawaya, M.D.; and from the Medical School of Hannover in Hannover, Germany: Florian Kühnel, Ph.D., Stefan Kubicka, M.D., and Thomas Wirth.


Windows Phone 8 Recipes is a problem-solution based guide to the Windows Phone 8 platform. Recipes are grouped according to features of the platform and ways of interacting with the device. Solutions are given in C# and XAML, so you can take your existing .NET skills and apply them to this exciting new venture. Not sure how to get started? No need to worry, theres a recipe for that! Always wondered what it takes to add cool features like gesture support, maps integration, or speech recognition into your app? We've got it covered! Already have a portfolio of Windows Phone 7 apps that needs to be upgraded? We have a recipe for that too! The book starts by guiding you through the setup of your development environment, including links to useful tools and resources. Core chapters range from coding live tiles and notifications to interacting with the camera and location sensor. Later chapters cover external services including Windows Azure Mobile Services, the Live SDK, and the Microsoft Advertising SDK, so you can take your app to a professional level. Finally, you'll find out how to publish and maintain your app in the Windows Phone Store. Whether you're migrating from Windows Phone 7 or starting from scratch, Windows Phone 8 Recipes has the code you need to bring your app idea to life. What youll learn Set up your development environment with the Windows Phone 8 SDK. Upgrade your existing Windows Phone 7 apps to Windows Phone 8. Meet and try out the new features provided in the Windows Phone 8 SDK. Bring your apps to life with live tiles, notifications, and cloud services. Discover the easy steps to setting up your own Windows Phone Store account. Learn how to submit your apps for publication to the Windows Phone Store. Who this book is for Windows Phone 8 Recipes is for the developer who has a .NET background, is familiar with C# and either WPF or Silverlight, and is ready to tap into a new and exciting market in mobile app development. Table of ContentsChapter1: Introduction to the Windows Phone SDK Chapter 2: Multi-Resolution Support and Basic User Interface Components Chapter 3: Gestures Chapter4: Live Tiles and Lock Screen Chapter5: Background Agents and Notifications Chapter6: Appointments and Contacts Chapter7: Camera, Photos, and Media Chapter8: Maps, Location, and Routing Chapter9: Communications and Speech Chapter 10: Launching and Resuming Apps Chapter 11: Data Storage Chapter 12: Windows Azure Mobile Services Chapter 13: Using the Microsoft Live SDK Chapter 14: Publishing your App


Multichannel distribution is now rather the rule than the exception. Different channels may enable customers to match their needs with a specific channel type, increase customer satisfaction and lead to higher turnovers. Numerous authors argue that the value creation contribution of the multichannel system could be enhanced when companies actively steer their customers into the most effective channel. This paper examines the success of different steering measures on channel behavior and satisfaction with an experimental investigation. The results suggest that the intention to use the target channel can be increased by an application of measures regarding the recent (push measures) and the desired (pull measures) channel, with a higher impact of the latter. Additionally, pull measures have a positive impact on customers' satisfaction with a company, whereas push measures do not affect customer's judgment. Furthermore, we found support for an oversteering effect where additional measures become counterproductive.


This study analyzed the relationship between the South Carolina state report card
rating and principal burnout, as well as the relationship between school poverty level and
principal burnout using Maslach's three dimensions of burnout. No studies have been
conducted on the perceived burnout level of principals as it relates to the state report card
rating and the poverty index of schools since the implementation of NCLB and EAA. The
study also examined the relationship between principal burnout and variables such as
perceived ability to handle stress, principal race, total years in education, training in stress
management, grade configuration of school, student demographics and school size. All
secondary principals of public high schools in South Carolina were invited to participate
in the survey using the MBI-ES. The results of this study indicate that the state report
card ratings, poverty indices of their schools and state and national policies that impact
education may impact the burnout levels of principals in the long term. As NCLB and
EAA continue to be implemented, levels of Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization
may continue to rise and Personal Accomplishment may decline.


When publishing graph data on the web such as vocabulariesrnusing RDF(S) or OWL, one has only limited means to verify the authenticity and integrity of the graph data. Today's approaches require a high signature overhead and do not allow for an iterative signing of graph data. This paper presents a formally defined framework for signing arbitrary graph data provided in RDF(S), Named Graphs, or OWL. Our framework supports signing graph data at different levels of granularity: minimum self-contained graphs (MSG), sets of MSGs, and entire graphs. It supports for an iterative signing of graph data, e. g., when different parties provide different parts of a common graph, and allows for signing multiple graphs. Both can be done with a constant, low overhead for the signature graph, even when iteratively signing graph data.


Instead of taking for granted that austerity is unidirectionally associated
with Europe, the anthropology of austerity should be paying attention to the situatedness
of its effects. The levering potential that a comparative analysis of austerity
allows is precious, for it opens new critical perspectives on our understanding
of temporal and geographical consciousness. An antipode of perspective invites
a more historical analysis of a phenomenon that unsettles the conceived understandings
of Europe's position.


The site of the Dolomites comprises a mountain range in the northern Italian Alps, numbering 18 peaks which rise to above 3,000 metres and cover 141,903 ha. It features some of the most beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere, with vertical walls, sheer cliffs and a high density of narrow, deep and long valleys. A serial property of nine areas that present a diversity of spectacular landscapes of international significance for geomorphology marked by steeples, pinnacles and rock walls, the site also contains glacial landforms and karst systems. It is characterized by dynamic processes with frequent landslides, floods and avalanches. The property also features one of the best examples of the preservation of Mesozoic carbonate platform systems, with fossil records. © UNESCO


A fundamental insight of the economic analysis of law is the notion that legal sanctions are "prices" set for given categories of legally relevant behavior. This idea develops around the positive conception of law as a command backed by an enforceable sanction. Law and economics uses the well-developed tools of price theory to predict the effect of changes in sanctions on individual behavior. One essential question, however, remains unanswered: How can the legal system set efficient prices if there is no market process that generates them? In other words, how can legal rules reflect the level of social undesirability of the conduct being sanctioned? Although the legal system sometimes borrows a price from the actual market (e.g., when the sanction is linked to the compensatory function of the rule of law), there is a wide range of situations in which legislative and judicial bodies set prices in the absence of a proper market mechanism. In a law and economics perspective, customary law can be viewed as a process for generating legal rules that is analogous to a price mechanism in a partial equilibrium framework. Here, I present the standard theory of customary law, discussing the domain of custom among the spontaneous sources of legal order. This study explores the formative elements of customary rules and their legal effects. The traditional theory is revisited with the aid of game-theoretic models to evaluate the possible role of constitutional rules in facilitating the emergence of customary law. This study attempts to characterize the institutional settings that remain outside the reach of spontaneous cooperation, and the situations under which inefficient customary rules may develop and persist. Further, this study will consider the public choice dimension of the process of customary law formation, considering the potential for norm manipulation. The conclusion will address whether an increased recognition and incorporation of customary norms by the legal system is desirable.


Cultural sociology is widely acknowledged as one of the most vibrant areas of inquiry in the social sciences across the world today. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in Cultural Sociology is dedicated to the proposition that deep meanings make a profound difference in social life. Culture is not simply the glue that holds society together, a crutch for the weak, or a mystifying ideology that conceals power. Nor is it just practical knowledge, dry schemas, or know how. The series demonstrates how shared and circulating patterns of meaning actively and inescapably penetrate the social. Through codes and myths, narratives and icons, rituals and representations, these culture structures drive human action, inspire social movements, direct and build institutions, and so come to shape history. The series takes its lead from the cultural turn in the humanities, but insists on rigorous social science methods and aims at empirical explanations. Contributions engage in thick interpretations but also account for behavioral outcomes. They develop cultural theory but also deploy middle-range tools to challenge reductionist understandings of how the world actually works. In so doing, the books in this series embody the spirit of cultural sociology as an intellectual enterprise.


This article traces the evolution of the modern corporation from the American Civil War to the present. I begin with a focus on the period from 1865 to the Great Depression. This was the era of the Great Tycoon, the time of the second industrial revolution and the transformation of America's economy from small proprietorships and partnerships to the forerunner of the modern corporation. I then detail the transformational crisis of the Great Depression and Adolf Berle's central role in shaping America's changed understanding of the proper relationship between government and the modern corporation. It was Berle, both as a scholar and key advisor to Franklin Roosevelt, who recast America's history so that the New Deal seemed a natural extension of individualism. The following part details the period encompassing the New Deal and the Second World War. It is this period in which the United States develop into a modern, Keynesian social democracy. It is this period when the United States, in partnership with the modern corporation, assumes the mantle of world hegemon. I then examine the modern corporation during heyday of American hegemony and the so-called "golden age of American capitalism;" the period runs roughly from 1950 to 1973 and is characterized by the Galbraithian corporation, with power devolved to the technocracy of the firm. I conclude with tentative intuitions as to the nature of the modern corporation and the CEO in recent times. The tentativeness of this final section is purposive. We are too close in time to the "present" to agree on what has transpired, much less what is about to transpire. Thus, my effort is to provide a common backdrop for understanding the slightly more distant past, in hopes that conversation about the near present and near future will be more fruitful.


PURPOSE
Regular exercise training and metformin medication are widely considered to increase insulin sensitivity and protect against type 2 diabetes, however, evaluating the effect of exercise training on the disposition and pharmacokinetics of metformin is unclear.

METHODS
We investigated the effect of a 4-wk swim training program (45 min/day, 5 days/wk) on the pharmacokinetics for the use of metformin in fructose-induced insulin resistant rats. Fructose-induced insulin resistant rats were assigned into two groups (n=6/group): swim training with metformin (SM), and non-swim training with metformin (CM). Blood samples were collected from 12 h-fasted rats at baseline and at 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 h after an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with administration of a single dose of metformin (450 mg/kg).

RESULTS
Our study revealed that both glucose and insulin levels in the SM group were significantly lower than those in the CM group at 15 min following OGTT. The maximum concentration (C(max)) and area under the serum concentration-time curve (AUC) for the SM group were significantly lower than CM group. The apparent distribution volume (Vd) and the time-averaged total body clearance (CL) for the SM group were significantly higher than those for the CM group. There were no significant differences in the time to maximum concentration (T(max)) or the time to half-life concentration (t(1/2)) between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data demonstrate that swim training reduces metformin serum levels.


Abstract This paper presents information on the regional characteristics of two of South Africa's five major varieties of English: viz. those of its Coloured and Indian communities in five cities: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Kimberley. It proposes that as far as the variable (t) is concerned, and by extension (d), these two "interior" social groupings show regional variation of a more robust kind than that of the Black majority and formerly politically dominant White group (the "exterior" groups). The paper describes the relationship between the two interior groups, showing considerable similarities between them for the variable (t), which has two main stop variants, an alveolar and a more fronted (or dental) one. Parallel developments are outlined for (th) (or /θ/ in IPA terms) by a study of word list style, showing similarities between the two groups in four of the cities. These linguistic features are assessed against outsiders' and local speakers' attitudes to and beliefs about their varieties. Finally, the paper considers the origins of the fronted variant, assessing whether it is a spontaneous development or a contact feature associated with Afrikaans-English bilinguals of varied backgrounds. It concludes that while multiple substrate influences are at work, the most likely source is from 17th- and 18th-century Malay and related languages, showing a double substratum, first into Afrikaans, then into English, without a significant period of Malay-English bilingualism.


British corps command having been neglected in the literature, this thesis sets out to assess what
British corps did, and how they did it, on the Western Front during the Great War. It attempts to avoid
anecdotal sources as much as possible, drawing its evidence instead as much as possible from
contemporary official documents.
It is a central argument here that Field Service Regulations, Part 1 (1909), was found by
commanders in the BEF to be applicable throughout the war, because it was designed to be as flexible as
possible, its broad principles being supplemented by training and manuals.
Corps began the war in a minor role, as an extra level of command to help the C-in-C control the
divisions of the BEF. With the growth in numbers and importance of artillery in 1915, divisions could not
cope with the quantity of artillery allotted them, and by early 1916, the corps BGRA became the corps
artillery commander (GOCRA). In addition to its crucial role in artillery control, corps was important as
the highest level of operational command, discussing attack plans with Armies and divisions and being
responsible for putting Army schemes into practice. Though corps tended to be prescriptive towards
divisions in 1916, and Armies towards corps, a more hands-off style of command was generally practised
in 1917, within the framework of FSR and the pamphlet SS13S (and others - to be used with FSR).
However, the vital role of artillery still led corps to control divisions more closely than in 1915.
In 1918, once the BEF had recovered from the setbacks of March and April (caused mainly by
low levels of manpower facing overwhelming German infantry and artillery forces), the BEF as much as
possible devolved command - even of heavy artillery - to divisions. In the Hundred Days, acting flexibly,
corps only assumed a co-ordinating role when set-piece attacks were required.


Between 1966 and 1976, Major League Baseball players won from their club owners a dramatic redistribution of the game's operational control and revenues. A new era was born, with athletes regularly moving between teams in search of multi-million dollar contracts, periodic strikes, and collective bargaining as the sports industry's primary policy-making mechanism. In this Article, I offer a new interpretation of how the baseball revolution happened.In contrast to most accounts, which attribute baseball's transformation to a convergence of strong personalities and serendipity, I argue that the baseball revolution was the culmination of a reform campaign that is best understood as an instance of what sociolegal scholars call legal mobilization. This campaign revolved around a basic legal claim: that baseball's "reserve" system denied fundamental rights to the players. This claim failed in court — most famously in Flood v. Kuhn (1972) — yet it resonated elsewhere. The leaders of the baseball revolution — beginning with Marvin Miller, the head of the players' union — drew upon this rights-based claim for purposes other than winning litigation challenges. In essence, the language of the law allowed the players to reframe the terms of the debate over the reserve system. A struggle that was essentially over power and money became widely understood as a battle for individual freedom. In this way, an improbable legal argument served both to unite and mobilize the players and to secure enough outside support so as to ultimately force the team owners to concede to their demands. Considered through the lens of sociolegal analysis, with its appreciation for the ways in which legal norms function in diverse settings, the baseball revolution offers a valuable case study of the complex interrelation between legal claims, legal institutions, and movement mobilization.


The voice you hear when you read silently is not silent; it is a speaking-out-loud voice in your head: it is spoken, a voice is saying it as you read. It's the writer's words, of course, in a literary sense his or her "voice" but the sound of that voice is the sound of your voice. Not the sound your friends know or the sound of a tape played back, but your voice caught in the dark cathedral of your skull, your voice heard by an internal ear informed by internal abstracts and what you know by feeling, having felt. It is your voice saying, for example, the word "barn" that the writer wrote but the "barn" you say is a barn you know or knew. The voice in your head, speaking as you read, never says anything neutrally-some people hated the barn they knew, some people love the barn they know so you hear the word loaded and a sensory constellation is lit: horse-gnawed stalls, hayloft, black heat tape wrapping a water pipe, a slippery spilled chirrr of oats from a split sack, the bony,filthy haunches ofcows ... And "barn" is only a noun-no verb or subject has entered into the sentence yet! The voice you hear when you read to yourself is the clearest voice: you speak it speaking to you. -Thomas Lux


Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the creative minds behind "The Lego Movie" and "21 Jump Street," bring their unique talents to a fresh vision of a different Spider-Man universe, with a groundbreaking visual style that's the first of its kind. "Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse" introduces Brooklyn teen Miles Morales, and the limitless possibilities of the Spider-Verse, where more than one can wear the mask.


Responding to a critical need for greater perspectives on transgender life in the United States, Genny Beemyn and Susan (Sue) Rankin apply their extensive expertise to a groundbreaking survey--one of the largest ever conducted in the U.S.--on gender development and identity-making among transsexual women, transsexual men, crossdressers, and genderqueer individuals. With nearly 3,500 participants, the survey is remarkably diverse, and with more than 400 follow-up interviews, the data offers limitless opportunities for research and interpretation. Beemyn and Rankin track the formation of gender identity across individuals and groups, beginning in childhood and marking the "touchstones" that led participants to identify as transgender. They explore when and how participants noted a feeling of difference because of their gender, the issues that caused them to feel uncertain about their gender identities, the factors that encouraged them to embrace a transgender identity, and the steps they have taken to meet other transgender individuals. Beemyn and Rankin's findings expose the kinds of discrimination and harassment experienced by participants in the U.S. and the psychological toll of living in secrecy and fear. They discover that despite increasing recognition by the public of transgender individuals and a growing rights movement, these populations continue to face bias, violence, and social and economic disenfranchisement. Grounded in empirical data yet rich with human testimony, The Lives of Transgender People adds uncommon depth to the literature on this subject and introduces fresh pathways for future research.


Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher* Want to know where the greatest markets are or the best value destinations? 1000 Ultimate Experiences brings together 1000 ideas, places and activities to inspire and entertain for travellers and lovers of life-lists alike. Get inspired and start ticking off those boxes of places you've always wanted to see and things you've always wanted to do. Who knows where you'll end up! * Sleep under the stars in a Bedouin tent in Jordan * Find out the best beaches to swing a hammock * Jump on board the Ghan for a trip through Australia's remote Red Centre * Spot Banksy's art in Bristol * Come on, get happy in Bhutan Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet. About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places where they travel. TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) *#1 in the world market share - source: Nielsen Bookscan. Australia, UK and USA. March 2012-January 2013


Viral defense and embryo implantation mechanisms have been shaped by contributions from Neandertal and Denisovan genes. Whole genome comparisons identified introgression from archaic to modern humans. Our analysis of highly polymorphic human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I, vital immune system components subject to strong balancing selection, shows how modern humans acquired the HLA-B*73 allele in west Asia through admixture with archaic humans called Denisovans, a likely sister group to the Neandertals. Virtual genotyping of Denisovan and Neandertal genomes identified archaic HLA haplotypes carrying functionally distinctive alleles that have introgressed into modern Eurasian and Oceanian populations. These alleles, of which several encode unique or strong ligands for natural killer cell receptors, now represent more than half the HLA alleles of modern Eurasians and also appear to have been later introduced into Africans. Thus, adaptive introgression of archaic alleles has significantly shaped modern human immune systems.


Over the past few years, changes in the competitive landscape of retail marketing have resulted in a synergy effect. This synergy effect has motivated firms to enter into a strategic alliance. Many industries, such as the technology and fashion industries, have recognized the benefits both parties may gain by engaging in a strategic alliance to develop products and/or services that provide greater value for their customers. While several studies have examined consumers' adoption of innovative products, these previous studies have focused on innovation as related to either technological or fashion products. There is no known study that has examined consumers' adoption of a product that possesses both attributes (i.e., technology and fashion). Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to assess the effects of an external variable, i.e., consumer characteristics (consumer innovativeness and fashion orientation), on consumers' adoption of an innovative product among young consumers who grew up with a advanced technology and a sophisticated fashion transition. Data were collected from a convenience sample of undergraduate students between the ages of 18 to 26. The final sample consisted of 196 college students. Of these, approximately 88% were female, approximately 63% were Caucasians and an average age of participants was 20.40 years old. A series of multiple regressions was employed to answer all hypotheses. Results revealed that domain-specific innovativeness related to the technology and fashion domain has a significant effect on consumers' utilitarian and hedonic attitudes, respectively. We also found that in terms of the relationship between the dimensionality of fashion orientation and consumer's attitudes, consumers' utilitarian attitudes are positively influenced by the importance of being well-dressed and consumers' hedonic attitudes were negatively influenced by an anti-fashion sentiment. In addition, we found that two dimensions of consumers' attitudes (utilitarian and hedonic) significantly influence consumers' adoption of a product. Lastly, among young consumers, results revealed that the opinions of significant others play an important role in influencing their purchase intention. Implications are provided. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.


Explanation-based neural network learning (EBNN) has recently been introduced as a method for reducing the amount of training data required for reliable generalization, by relying instead on approximate, previously learned knowledge. We present rst experiments applying EBNN to the problem of learning object recognition for a mobile robot. In these experiments, a mobile robot traveling down a hallway corridor learns to recognize distant doors based on color camera images and sonar sensations. The previously learned knowledge corresponds to a neural network that recognizes nearby doors, and a second network that predicts the state of the world after travelling forward in the corridor. Experimental results show that EBNN is able to use this approximate prior knowledge to signiicantly reduce the number of training examples required to learn to recognize distant doors. We also present results of experiments in which networks learned by EBNN (e.g., \there is a door 2 meters ahead") are then used as background knowledge for learning subsequent functions (e.g., \there is a door 3 meters ahead").


To a word $w$, we associate the rational function $\Psi_w = \prod (x_{w_i} - x_{w_{i+1}})^{-1}$. The main object, introduced by C. Greene to generalize identities linked to the Murnaghan-Nakayama rule, is a sum of its images by certain permutations of the variables. The sets of permutations that we consider are the linear extensions of oriented graphs. We explain how to compute this rational function, using the combinatorics of the graph $G$. We also establish a link between an algebraic property of the rational function (the factorization of the numerator) and a combinatorial property of the graph (the existence of a disconnecting chain).


'Here we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything - even die' - Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan. In 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, a mountaineer called Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. "Three Cups of Tea" is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools - especially for girls - in remote villages across the forbidding and breathtaking landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan, just as the Taliban rose to power. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit.


Turn ordinary photographs into striking works of art Mastering the craft of composing a photograph is all about having a trained eye. Digital Photography Composition For Dummies helps emerging photographers create stunning and compelling photographs by teaching the elements, techniques, and conventions used by skilled and successful photographers. It helps advanced beginner to aspiring professional photographers gain an understanding of the basics of composing a stunning and compelling photograph, as well as the parts, functions, and capabilities of their camera. Determine the point of interest in a photo and how significance is achieved Use the "Rule of Thirds" to create better photographs Manipulate the viewpoint and understand the subject's direction of movement Master depth of field, framing, and diagonals Includes suggested exercises to apply as you become more comfortable with composition techniques Complete with full-color examples and technique comparisons, Digital Photography Composition For Dummies allows you to take the high-quality photos you've always wanted!


Shape-note traditions are both a style and practice of rural hymnody that contribute to the varied canon of American folk hymnody. The history of shape-note traditions in the United States highlights the polarity between the early four and seven-shape traditions and the ensuing seven-shape gospel movement, defining the former as traditional and the latter as popular and modern. The designation of gospel music as a popular phenomenon resulted in a variety of responses that shaped the representation of the genre within Appalachia. This thesis is an exploration of seven-shape gospel music and its persistence within rural, independent Baptist churches in Watauga County, North Carolina.
I began exploring seven-shape gospel music under the assumption that I was dealing with an obscure singing tradition unique to a small number of rural churches. Therefore, I focused my attention on Mount Lebanon and Mountain Dale Baptist Churches, whose singing practices have been and continue to be defined by seven-shape gospel music. In January 2009, I began observing and researching the singing traditions of these two churches, attending Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening services, having selected these specific congregations for their different interpretations of a shared shape-note heritage. In addition to participant observation, I also conducted interviews with several members of each congregation, focusing in particular on the two choir directors.
Over the course of my research, patterns in worship order and style emerged that indicated an intrinsic connection between the rural, independent Baptist church and the seven-shape gospel tradition. My ongoing interviews corroborated that Mount Lebanon and Mountain Dale Churches were not sole remnants of a dying, seven-shape gospel tradition, but rather two examples of an enduring regional practice that persists within the independent Baptist churches in the tri-state area of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and southwest Virginia. As I delved deeper into the history and roots of seven-shape gospel music in Watauga County, I uncovered an entrenched regional singing tradition characterized by monthly and annual singing conventions, indicating a popularity that confounded my initial perception of the movement as an isolated, rural phenomenon. My case study of two rural churches has therefore necessarily shifted to accommodate the vibrant history of rural hymnody in the United States and its controversial representation and preservation in Appalachia, raising important questions about the limitations of regional scholarship that has heretofore discounted the seven-shape gospel tradition as a trait of indigenous worship.


CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, the peer-reviewed, full-text, and open-access learned journal in the humanities and social sciences, publishes new scholarship following tenets of the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern Language Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monograph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies. Contact:


The nitrate-nitrogen concentration in water supplied to clinics in Limpopo Province is too high to be fit for human consumption (35 to 75 mg/l NO 3 -N). Therefore, small-scale technologies (reverse osmosis, ion-exchange and electrodialysis) were evaluated for nitrate-nitrogen removal to make the water potable (< 10 mg/l NO3-N). It was found that the reverse osmosis process should function well for nitrate-nitrogen removal. Nitrate-nitrogen could be reduced from a concentration of 35 to 43 mg/l in 1 case to a concentration of between 1.4 and 5.5 mg/l in the treated water. In another case it could be reduced from 54 to 72 mg/l to 12 to 17 mg/l in the treated water. The water was also effectively desalinated. The ionexchange process could also reduce the nitrate-nitrogen concentration to less than 10 mg/l in the treated water. However, the water could not be efficiently desalinated and the process should function better when the level of total dissolved solids in the feed is not very high. The electrodialysis process should also function well for nitrate-nitrogen and salinity removal. However, the electrodialysis process is more complicated to operate. The reverse osmosis and ion-exchange processes are therefore suggested for nitrate-nitrogen removal at clinics. Capital costs for small-scale reverse osmosis and ion-exchange units are estimated at ZAR7 000 and ZAR10 000, respectively. Operational costs for reverse osmosis and ion-exchange are estimated at ZAR3.16/m 3 and ZAR3.60/m 3 of treated water, respectively.


Over the past
 thirty years, the issue of economic inequality has emerged from the backwaters
 of economics to claim center stage in the political discourse of America and
 beyond a change prompted by a troubling fact: numerous measures of income
 inequality, especially in the United States in the last quarter of the twentieth
 century, have risen sharply in recent years. Even so, many people remain
 confused about what, exactly, politicians and media persons mean when they
 discuss inequality. What does "economic inequality " mean? How is it measured?
 Why should we care? Why did inequality rise in the United States? Is rising
 inequality an inevitable feature of capitalism? What should we do about it?
 Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know takes up these questions and more in
 plain and clear language, bringing to life one of the great economic and
 political debates of our age. Inequality expert James K. Galbraith has compiled
 the latest economic research on inequality and explains his findings in a way
 that everyone can understand. He offers a comprehensive introduction to the
 study of economic inequality, including its philosophical and theoretical
 origins, the variety of concepts in wide use, empirical measures and their
 advantages and disadvantages, competing modern theories of the causes and
 effects of rising inequality in the United States and worldwide, and a range of
 policy measures. This latest addition to the popular What Everyone Needs to Know
 series from Oxford University Press will tell you everything you need to know to
 make informed opinions on this significant issue.


Build your own blog, website, or portfolio with Squarespace Squarespace lets you create visually rich web pages with any configuration of text, images, or blocks you wish, just by dragging and dropping. Even if you've been using earlier versions of Squarespace, the features in version 6 will amaze you - and bring you straight to this must-have guide for practical information! If you're a do-it-yourself website builder, get up to speed fast on all the next-generation Squarespace tools, including cool new features for mobile sites, SEO, social networks, and more. * Brings you up to speed on Squarespace 6 and its revolutionary LayoutEngine tool for building visually-rich web pages * Deciphers the very latest features for page-building in today's markets, including mobile, social media, and using SEO * Delves into using auto-publish for social networks, using built-in mobile websites, syncing with social networks, gathering real-time statistics, managing your site from your smartphone or mobile device, and much more * Covers the essentials, such as using templates, drag-and-drop image uploads, image-editing with Aviary, and using Page Builder to create, share, and reblog content Build awesome, professional websites for your business in no time with Squarespace 6 For Dummies.


The taxonomy, diversity, and distribution of the aquatic insect order Trichoptera, caddisflies, are reviewed. The order is among the most important and diverse of all aquatic taxa. Larvae are vital participants in aquatic food webs and their presence and relative abundance are used in the biological assessment and monitoring of water quality. The species described by Linnaeus are listed. The morphology of all life history stages (adults, larvae, and pupae) is diagnosed and major features of the anatomy are illustrated. Major components of life history and biology are summarized. A discussion of phylogenetic studies within the order is presented, including higher classification of the suborders and superfamilies, based on recent literature. Synopses of each of 45 families are presented, including the taxonomic history of the family, a list of all known genera in each family, their general distribution and relative species diversity, and a short overview of family-level biological features.  The order contains 600 genera, and approximately 13,000 species.


As Didier Fassin reminds us, Michel Foucault, in his famous lecture in homage to Kant's eponym text, "What is Enlightenment?", characterized critique as a symptom of our modernity, defining it as the awareness that the current configuration of our world is contingent and arbitrary rather than necessary. This attitude toward the world is familiar to the anthropologist, who knows by experience that diverse cultures at various moments produce distinct problematizations of the questions they are confronted with: what is - somewhere, at a given time - could therefore have been different. This consciousness does not only open the way to investigating genealogies of the present but also elicits an interrogation on what has been gained and lost in this process. All social sciences share this questioning about the social construction of the world. Yet anthropology possesses a unique tool to explore it - ethnography. Fieldwork through participant observation provides a specific positioning through which the ethnographer permanently moves back and forth between inside and outside the social world he or she studies, thus developing a hybrid form of critique nourished by the agents' reflexivity and distanciation from it. As Didier Fassin will argue, this tension between internal and external critique is in fact the ethical condition of possibility of politics.

Adding another dimension to this characterization of the ethnographer's position and the resources it offers, Philippe Descola will defend the idea that anthropology's critical function is twofold. On the one hand, it shares with the other social sciences a capacity to analyse, contextualise and interpret common practices and discourses, thus allowing its practitioners to approach reflexively the everyday experience of social life. On the other hand, and because anthropologists, unlike other social scientists, have had a long experience of dealing with cultures based on ontological premises very different from their own, they have been in a position to look at the West with the eyes of the Rest, and thus to challenge and reform the accepted ways of understanding the life of humans propagated by two millennia and a half of Western thought.

However, according to Bruno Latour, anthropology cannot develop a critical stance so long as it does not include in its agenda the study of the industrial societies that have 'exported' their anthropologists to exotic places. But anthropological reflexivity has not always fed this agenda, and while Western ethnocentrism is regularly denounced there has in fact been relatively little effort to produce alternative modes of description based on truly symmetrical research objectives and methods. In fact, it is by no means certain that the very idea of a critical position can stand up to a true symmetrisation of anthropology – a challenge that will be taken up by Martin Holbraad, who will argue in defence of what he calls 'recursive anthropology', a strategy for redefining analytical concepts in unfamiliar ways so as to bring them in line with unfamiliar ethnographic data.


This succinct account the life of Nobel laureate Derek Walcott focuses on his development as poet, playwright and man of the theatre: director, producer, teacher. Friends and colleagues who figured in his career are recalled. The importance of his native St Lucia and family influences in the shaping of his creativity and his view of the world are highlighted, as these evolved in synergy with his receptivity to the poetry and theatre of the wider world. In this evolution, the tensions and complex nuances of the concept "home" are seen as an informing factor. The story points to Walcott's seminal contribution to the emergence of Caribbean literature, with his response to the region's colonial history as a central factor.


Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) was included as a condition for further study in the DSM-5. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the suggested diagnostic criteria and the clinical and psychological correlates. In order to provide an optimal treatment best tailored to the patients need, a clear differentiation between Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and NSSI is needed. The investigation of personality traits specific to patients with NSSI might be helpful for this differentiation. Furthermore, social difficulties can often be a trigger for NSSI. However, little is known about how adolescents with NSSI perceive social situations. Therefore, we examined how adolescents with NSSI process emotional expressions. A new emotion recognition paradigm (ERP) using colored and morphed facial expressions of happiness, anger, sadness, disgust and fear was developed and evaluated in a student sample, selected for being high (HSA) or low socially anxious (LSA). HSA showed a tendency towards impaired emotion recognition, and the paradigm demonstrated good construct validity.
For the main study, we investigated characteristics of NSSI, clinical and psychological correlates, personality traits and emotion recognition. We examined 57 adolescents with NSSI diagnosis, 12 adolescents with NSSI without impairment/distress and 14 adolescents with BPD, 32 clinical controls without NSSI, and 64 nonclinical controls. Participants were interviewed regarding mental disorders, filled out self-report questionnaires and participated in the ERP.
Results indicate that adolescents with NSSI experienced a higher level of impairment than clinical controls. There were similarities between adolescents with NSSI and adolescents with BPD, but also important differences. Adolescents with NSSI were characterized by specific personality traits such as high harm avoidance and novelty seeking compared to clinical controls. In adolescents with BPD, these personality traits were even more pronounced. No group differences in the recognition of facial expressions were found. Nonetheless compared to the control group, adolescents with NSSI rated the stimuli as significantly more unpleasant and arousing.
In conclusion, NSSI is a highly impairing disorder characterized by high comorbidity with various disorders and by specific personality traits, providing further evidence that NSSI should be handled as a distinct diagnostic entity. Consequently, the proposed DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for NSSI are useful and necessary.


The story, in the form of the oral narrative, has always been a communalizing genre in the traditional African setting. It then functioned as a tool that brings together not only the artist and the particular audience, but also the entire community within which the performances are derived and performed. However, postcolonial, modern and global situations have greatly impacted on the traditional kinship structures in Africa and kinship fostering tools like the African oral narrative have not been spared. The introduction of the oral storytelling onto the proscenium stage in the Kenya Schools and Colleges Drama Festivals (KSCDF) has contributed to perpetuate the performance of this genre to significant degrees. This move has not only recalled attention to oral narratives, but also has revolutionized the performance and functional aspects of oral storytelling. Various aspects of the oral narrative genre have changed, from the multi-ethnic audience to the elaborate narrative structures and the varying orientations  of the oral artists in KSCDF. The dramatic elements of the narrative have also been enhanced to justify its inclusion within the wider dramatic genre. This article investigates the structural and thematic reorientations of the contemporary Kenyan oral narrative and how it influences the reorientations of kinship in a postcolonial reality characterized by heterogeneous consumer audience and the need for national commonality. The aim is to understand the reorientations of oral storytelling and its scripted machinations of multi-ethnicity woven into the narrative as part of its contemporarily requisite features; the question is whether or not these reorientations enable the ideological adoption of some form of kinship across the diverse ethnic groups in Kenya. Keywords: Kenya Schools and Colleges Drama Festivals, kinship, oral narrative performance, textual manipulation.


Appalachia is a region of contradictions. While Appalachia resides in the wealthiest country in the world, it is characterized by a poor population that appears unable to keep up with the demands of modern American life. Explanations for this observation have traditionally been either a Culture of Poverty model or a view of Appalachia as a domestic colony of the United States. This research uses the domestic colony model to understand modern Appalachian experience in Watauga County, North Carolina. In particular, it examines the impact that newcomers have on old-timers' ability to reproduce their native Appalachian culture.
Previous work has identified two distinct drivers of rural gentrification, one being amenity or recreation based and the other being primarily an extension of suburban sprawl. Most research on rural gentrification has focused on housing areas in the mountain west where patterns have been characterized by very low density developments or hobby farms. On the surface, patterns emerging in rural western North Carolina's Appalachian region appear to be similarly driven by natural amenities. However, rural landscape change in this region indicates more dense development patterns and stark land value contrasts. This research therefore uses mixed methods analysis to determine the nature of socioeconomic change to the primarily rural Watauga County.
This research integrates Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis, quantitative assessment of housing density changes, and qualitative data gathered from interviews with six old-timers in the Triplett community, a relatively underdeveloped section of the county, and six newcomers to Watauga County. Comparison of interviews with old-timers and newcomers indicates differing perspectives on land ownership, land use, and the overall direction of development in Watauga County. Responses generally varied by the length of time the family has been established in Triplett. Triplett residents also voiced concern over land ownership as they describe newcomers as persons who value land ownership solely as an economic asset rather than a lifetime commitment. In addition, many residents report development in Triplett has occurred at a much slower pace, leaving residents of the area far behind others in the county in terms of income and access to more urban amenities. However, resentment and appreciation intertwine in this community as several residents have also reported benefiting financially directly from the region's exurban growth.
These interviews are placed within the context of countywide housing property value change and demographic transition. Results from this triangulation approach indicate the Triplett community residents' perceptions of remaining underdeveloped and being left further behind economically to be strongly associated with quantitative evidence and GIS analysis of housing density changes and growth rates. This study provides a portrait of recent experiences in Watauga County that may be characterized as rural gentrification.


A traditional explanation for why sovereign countries repay debt is that they want to keep a good reputation so they can easily borrow more. This explanation does not hold if a country has access to an adequate means of savings regardless of the country's past actions. With such access, a country gets only transient benefits from maintaining a good relationship with bankers, and such benefits cannot support borrowing. However, if a country is involved in a myriad of trust relationships, the country's reputation can spill over to a nondebt relationship which has enduring benefits. Such a spillover can allow a country's reputation to support a large amount of borrowing.


In 2013, a new system for mandatory public disclosure came into effect, the first since the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1934. Today, major banks and certain other entities must make disclosures mandated not only by the SEC, but also by a new system developed by the Federal Reserve Board and other U.S. bank regulators acting in the shadow of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Dodd-Frank Act. Already, this parallel system, which stemmed in large part from a belief that disclosures as to the complex risks flowing from modern financial innovation were manifestly inadequate, dwarfs the SEC system in sophistication as to the quantitative aspects of market risk and the impact of economic stress.The overall morphology of mandatory public information has changed in elemental ways, spanning two parallel regulatory universes with divergent ends and means. The SEC system is directed at the interests of investors and market efficiency, while the bank regulator system is directed at the well-being of the entities themselves and the stability of the financial system. The regulatory means diverge as well, not only as to specific risk-related disclosures, but even as to overarching concepts like "materiality" and the availability of private enforcement.This Article is the first academic work to consider the new morphology of public information. Refining the conceptual framework for "information" introduced in a prior (2012) work ("Too Complex to Depict?"), I set out three approaches to information. First, the longstanding approach to information is termed the "descriptive mode," one that relies on "intermediary depictions" of objective reality. An intermediary — such as a corporation issuing shares — stands between objective reality and the investor. The corporation observes and analyzes the objective reality, crafts a depiction of the pertinent aspects, and transmits its depiction to investors. With revolutionary advances in computer- and web-related technologies, investors need no longer rely exclusively on the descriptive mode and its intermediary depictions. The "transfer mode" allows "pure information" about the objective reality to be transmitted directly to investors. The "hybrid mode" draws on elements of both of the other modes, and investors rely on "moderately pure information."This Article also offers pathways for reform. In terms of modes, the most incremental step would be to improve the implementation of the descriptive mode, especially at the SEC. The key SEC disclosure requirements have been substantially frozen even as banking and financial innovation have undergone epochal changes. More fundamentally, regulators have invested almost entirely in the descriptive mode. Giving full consideration to all three modes — modal "informational neutrality" — would lead to a more diversified portfolio of informational strategies, one better suited to the informational challenges of financial innovation. The Article outlines examples of transfer and hybrid mode strategies and the need to address longstanding issues associated with confidential treatment requests and the Freedom of Information Act.Reforms are also necessary at the level of the morphology. In the long run, the existence of parallel universes with divergent regulatory quests is unsustainable. The regulatory objectives of the two systems not only diverge, but sometimes conflict. A disclosure the SEC system deems essential for investor protection and market efficiency can be contrary to the bank well-being and financial system stability goals of the bank regulator system (and of the new Financial Stability Oversight Council). In the short run, boundary-setting and a modest form of "informational neutrality" across regulatory systems (including as to judicial review of rule-making) can promote coordination.


This paper is concerned with the challenges arising from the development of a groupware requirement specification for effective and efficient achievement of operative and strategic objectives in mass production industry. To analyze the process by which objectives are achieved, a systematical investigation using document analysis, participant observation, interviews and context scenario analysis was undertaken at a large manufacturing location with over 6 000 coworkers of a multinational automobile supplying company. The results of this indepth analysis of objective achievement were utilized to develop a detailed requirement specification for a management by objectives groupware for use in mass production industry.


The purpose of this qualitative study is to enlighten, illuminate, and elucidate readers as to the worldviews of African American women in regards to their recruitment and retention to the public school superintendency. The question this study seeks to answer is whether African American women perceive recruitment and retention to the public school superintendency as intimately connected to gender, race, and social politics. Finally, this qualitative narrative study will explore from their perspectives what can be done to increase the recruitment and retention of African American women to the public school superintendency. In the following text, I discuss my conceptual framework which integrates historical and educational research literature with strands of Black feminist theory to consider key historical, cultural, and political factors that influence (and hinder) the recruitment and retention of African American superintendents, including the influences to the U.S. Civil Rights, the Black Feminist Movement, and the social politics of school districts.


My Bachelor's thesis is a comparative analysis between humans and machines in a science fiction novel (Neuromancer) and a movie (Matrix). I explored in these works how the machines used technologies to influence on the humans. I used examples of characters from the text and movie along with the references of other writers writing on the same topic to help convey my message. I explored mainly the identity and reality issues among characters. William Gibson in Neuromancer portrays that technology has become a part of human body. While in the Matrix we see how machines are taking control on humans. In my thesis I started with Neuromancer and write about identity and reality issues of characters and artificial intelligences. In the second part of the thesis I write the same with the characters of the movie Matrix but also I compared these characters with characters of Neuromancer. Some other discussions in my thesis are about hyperreality, simulation, simulacra with reference to mostly Baudrillard. Overall this thesis explores the issues of identity and reality to the characters in the works and also to the readers as well. Key Terms: Identity, Reality, Hyperreality, Simulation, Simulacra.


Oil and water, and the science and technology used to harness them, have long been at the heart of political authority in Saudi Arabia. Oil's abundance, and the fantastic wealth it generated, has been a keystone in the political primacy of the kingdom's ruling family. The other bedrock element was water, whose importance was measured by its dearth. Over much of the twentieth century, it was through efforts to control and manage oil and water that the modern state of Saudi Arabia emerged. The central government's power over water, space, and people expanded steadily over time, enabled by increasing oil revenues. The operations of the Arabian American Oil Company proved critical to expansion and to achieving power over the environment. Political authority in Saudi Arabia took shape through global networks of oil, science, and expertise. And, where oil and water were central to the forging of Saudi authoritarianism, they were also instrumental in shaping politics on the ground. Nowhere was the impact more profound than in the oil-rich Eastern Province, where the politics of oil and water led to a yearning for national belonging and to calls for revolution. Saudi Arabia is traditionally viewed through the lenses of Islam, tribe, and the economics of oil. "Desert Kingdom" now provides an alternative history of environmental power and the making of the modern Saudi state. It demonstrates how vital the exploitation of nature and the roles of science and global experts were to the consolidation of political authority in the desert.


The Business Analyst (BA) plays an important role as liaison between business stakeholders and the technical team (software developers, vendors, etc.), ensuring that business needs are reflected in any software solution. Despite the importance of the job, there is currently no book specifically designed as a comprehensive reference manual for the working BA. The Business Analysts Handbook solves this problem by providing a useful compendium of tools, tables, lists, and templates that BAs can use on-the-job to carry out their tasks. For example, you might be preparing for an interview session and use the books checklist of interviewees to verify whether there is appropriate coverage of business stakeholders. Or you might be asked to review some diagrams and refer to the Glossaries of Symbols (organized by diagram type) for guidance. Or you may be asked to prepare textual requirements documentation and refer to the Business Requirement template for a list of artifacts and table of contents. Whatever your BA needs, the Business Analysts Handbook places the necessary information right at your fingertips.


Comprehensive tool support is essential to enable developers to cope with the complexity of modern software development pro jects. Software projects are getting larger and larger, are being developed using different languages, and make use of many third-party libraries as well as frameworks. Hence, tools are required: for software comprehension, for checking that libraries and frameworks are correctly used, and to ensure that the design does not degrade over time. Though numerous successful tools have already been developed for these tasks, several issues remain: the tools are usually highly specialized, their extensibility is limited, and an integration between the tools is lacking. Furthermore, IDE integration and in particular an integration with the incremental build process offered by modern IDEs is also often missing. Unfortunately, the direct integration of several code analysis tools with the incremental build process is not possible. When each tool processes the pro ject's resources on its own and also maintains its own source model, the overall memory requirements and analysis time is prohibitive. To address these issues, this thesis proposes the concept of a Build Process Integrated Open Static Analysis Platform. The core functionality of such a platform is to coordinate the execution of static analyses that are encapsulated into modules with well-defined interfaces. These interfaces specify what the analyses require and provide in terms of the data they process. For a tool that is built upon such a platform it is sufficient to specify the data it requires. The platform can then determine the set of analyses and their execution order to satisfy the tool's requirements. Modeling analyses as modular producer-consumer units facilitates the simultaneous integration of several tools into the incremental build process of modern IDEs. When compared to using several independent tools, the overall memory requirements are reduced, since the source model derived by the executed analyses is shared among all tools built upon the platform. Furthermore, the overall analysis time is also reduced since analyses are executed at most once, even if the derived information is required by more than one tool. The overall analysis time is further minimized by the parallel execution of those analyses that process different information. The feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated by Magellan. Magellan is an open static analysis platform tightly integrated with the incremental build process of the Eclipse IDE. This integration turns Eclipse into an Integrated Development and Analysis Environment. The set of modules implementing the static analyses is freely extensible and the data model of the database is open. An open data model is crucial to support new analyses that need to store derived information for the use by subsequent analyses. Besides featuring a fully flexible analysis stack, Magellan also supports the embedding of query engines. Supporting the execution of queries is indispensable for enabling end-users to define application specific analyses. The ability to execute queries is also required to facilitate software comprehension tools. As a proof of concept an XQuery processor and a Prolog system are embedded into Magellan. Both engines are evaluated w.r.t. to using them for the execution of queries along with the incremental build process. The XQuery engine is additionally evaluated in the context of software comprehension tools as a means to enable the end-user to define new ways to navigate through code. The platform is validated by four tools built on top of it: a software exploration tool, a metrics tool, an optional type system, and a set of lightweight static analyses that check structural properties of source code.


We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of correlated electron pair emission from a ferromagnetic Fe(001) surface, induced by spin-polarized low-energy electrons. Spin-dependent angular and energy distributions of the emitted pairs have been measured and calculated. They are analyzed with the aid of the spin-, momentum-, symmetry-, and layer-resolved valence electron density of states, which we obtained by an ab-initio density functional theory calculation. The observed spectra are found to arise almost completely from only three surface parallel atomic layers. Momentum distributions for parallel spins of the emitted electrons exhibit an exchange-correlation hole, which is larger than the correlation hole in the antiparallel spin case. By comparing experimental antiparallel-spin pair spectra with their theoretical counterparts we determine an effective screening strength of the Coulomb interaction in the surface region.


We present Maispion, a tool for analysing software developer communities. The tool, developed in Smalltalk, mines mailing list and version repositories, and provides visualisations to provide insights into the ecosystem of open source software (OSS) development. We show how Maispion can analyze the history of medium to large OSS communities, by applying our tool to three well-known open source projects: Moose, Drupal and Python.


This Article argues that judges and jurors unknowingly propagate racism through their legal decisions because they misremember case facts in implicitly biased ways. Such an argument bridges discourse in implicit social cognition, memory studies, and legal decision-making. Social cognition research indicates that implicit racial biases are automatic, pervasive, and often operate without conscious awareness. Memory studies demonstrate that memory errors are meaningful and systematic, and are often facilitated by stereotypes. Decision-making theory teaches that memory errors can not only affect the results of individual decision-making processes, but also that group deliberations are unlikely to resolve these errors. The author argues that these three areas converge, resulting in a model that explains how implicit memory errors are made unconsciously and in racially biased ways. These unconscious and pervasive implicit memories biases consequently have the ability to affect a variety of legal outcomes. To test the theory, the author conducted an empirical study that examined how people remember legally relevant facts. In the study, participants read two short stories resembling legal cases - one about a fight and another about an employment termination. The race of the characters in the stories was varied so that some participants read about African Americans, some read about Hawaiians, and others read about Caucasians. Participants were later asked to recall facts of the stories. Results of this recall task indicated that people systematically misremembered legally relevant facts in racially biased ways. For example, participants who read about an African American or Hawaiian involved in a fight were significantly more likely to remember aggressive actions from the fight, compared to participants who read about a Caucasian. Participants even sometimes generated false memories about an African American, erroneously believing that he had engaged in aggressive behaviors when he had not. Other results indicated that implicit memory biases are not related to consciously racist attitudes or preferences - even less "racist" people manifested systematic implicit racial biases. The results strongly support the theory that implicit memory biases operate in the legal setting, and that they operate without the conscious knowledge of judges or jurors.The extension of an implicit racial bias model to legal decision-making raises concerns about the legal system's ability to achieve social justice. It also indicates that a stereotype-driven and historically discriminatory culture may still be causing harms through implicit memory biases in legal decision-making. Responding to such a systemic problem requires a multifaceted effort. Attempts to "debias" implicit racism have been mixed - reducing harms temporarily is possible but longer term change is resistant to scientific efforts. The only foolproof suggestion for eliminating implicit racial biases is for cultural change to occur over time and through coordinated efforts. In the meantime, however, the author argues that a variety of temporary debiasing measures must be pursued.


This report assesses the Czech Republic's insolvency and creditor rights systems pursuant to a joint International Monetary Fund-World Bank program to observe compliance with international standards and codes (ROSC) in areas pivotal to a country's financial sector stability and market integrity. This particular assessment is based on the World Bank Principles and Guidelines for Effective Insolvency and Creditor Rights Systems (Principles), and reviews compliance in four key areas: (i) creditor rights (including secured transactions) and enforcement procedures; (ii) the legal framework for corporate insolvency; (iii) the regulatory framework to implement the insolvency system, and (iv) the enabling framework for credit risk management and informal corporate workouts. These systems constitute an essential cornerstone of commercial confidence and the bedrock for sound credit management and resolution. The conclusions in this assessment are based on a review of the Bankruptcy and Composition Act, the laws dealing with the creation, registration and enforcement of pledges and security interests (e.g., Commercial Code, Civil Code, Civil Procedure Code, Public Auctions Law, and the Execution Law), and other relevant pieces of legislation.


A country uncommonly rich in plants, animals, and natural habitats, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam shelters a significant portion of the world's biological diversity, including rare and unique organisms and an unusual mixture of tropical and temperate species. This book is the first comprehensive account of Vietnam's natural history in English. Illustrated with maps, photographs, and thirty-five original watercolor illustrations, the book offers a complete tour of the country's plants and animals along with a full discussion of the factors shaping their evolution and distribution. Separate chapters focus on northern, central, and southern Vietnam, regions that encompass tropics, subtropics, mountains, lowlands, wetland and river regions, delta and coastal areas, and offshore islands. The authors provide detailed descriptions of key natural areas to visit, where a traveler might explore limestone caves or glimpse some of the country's twenty-seven monkey and ape species and more than 850 bird species. The book also explores the long history of humans in the country, including the impact of the Vietnam-American War on plants and animals, and describes current efforts to conserve Vietnam's complex, fragile, and widely threatened biodiversity.


This is one interview in a collection of interviews composed of the life histories of twenty Cape Town jazz musicians. Some of the themes explored are the effects of apartheid in the music scene in the 1950's and 1960's; priorities of recording labels; music reception across social groupings in District Six and the extensive influence of American jazz. Music genres referred to span big band, the avant garde, bebop, dance, jive, marabi, township jazz, goema and Latin.


The New Testament book of Romans has played an important role in the life of the church from the period of the early church and through to the present day. In this concise survey of the major theological changes associated with Paul's letter, Mark Reasoner focuses on its history and interpretation, particularly through the works of Origen, Augustine, the medieval exegetes, Luther, and Barth. In so doing, he reveals that by a circuitous route, western Christians in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are returning to reading Romans in ways very similar to Origen's concerns in the third century. This is true particularly in regard to issues of the human will, sensitivity to Jews and Judaism, openness to the possibility of universalism, and a deconstructive reading of the obedience to government passage in Romans 13. Thus, in addition to giving a helpful overview of Romans itself, this book will help readers situate their theological questions within the two thousand-year history of conversations about Paul's letter to Roman believers.


Careful attention to choice architecture promises to open up new possibilities for environmental protection – possibilities that go well beyond, and that may be more effective than, the standard tools of economic incentives, mandates, and bans. How, for example, do consumers choose between environmentally-friendly products or services and alternatives that are potentially damaging to the environment but less expensive? The answer may well depend on the default rule. Indeed, green default rules may well be a more effective tool for altering outcomes than large economic incentives. The underlying reasons include the power of suggestion; inertia and procrastination; and loss aversion. If well-chosen, green defaults are likely to have large effects in reducing the economic and environmental harms associated with various products and activities. Such defaults may or may not be more expensive to consumers. In deciding whether to establish green defaults, choice architects should consider both consumer welfare and a wide range of other costs and benefits. Sometimes that assessment will argue strongly in favor of green defaults, particularly when both economic and environmental considerations point in their direction. But when choice architects lack relevant information, when interest-group maneuvering is a potential problem, and when externalities are not likely to be significant, active choosing, perhaps accompanied by various influences (including provision of relevant information), will usually be preferable to a green default.


China's urbanization is one of the great earth-changing phenomena of recent times. The way in which China continues to urbanize will have a critical impact on the world economy, global climate change, international relations and a host of other critical issues. Understanding and responding to China's urbanization is of paramount importance to everyone. This book represents a unique exploration of the demographic, spatial, economic and social aspects of China's urban transformation.


[1] Present-day shortcomings in the representation of upper tropospheric ice clouds in general circulation models (GCMs) lead to errors in weather and climate forecasts as well as account for a source of uncertainty in climate change projections. An ongoing challenge in rectifying these shortcomings has been the availability of adequate, high-quality, global observations targeting ice clouds and related precipitating hydrometeors. In addition, the inadequacy of the modeled physics and the often disjointed nature between model representation and the characteristics of the retrieved/observed values have hampered GCM development and validation efforts from making effective use of the measurements that have been available. Thus, even though parameterizations in GCMs accounting for cloud ice processes have, in some cases, become more sophisticated in recent years, this development has largely occurred independently of the global-scale measurements. With the relatively recent addition of satellite-derived products from Aura/Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and CloudSat, there are now considerably more resources with new and unique capabilities to evaluate GCMs. In this article, we illustrate the shortcomings evident in model representations of cloud ice through a comparison of the simulations assessed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report, briefly discuss the range of global observational resources that are available, and describe the essential components of the model parameterizations that characterize their "cloud" ice and related fields. Using this information as background, we (1) discuss some of the main considerations and cautions that must be taken into account in making model-data comparisons related to cloud ice, (2) illustrate present progress and uncertainties in applying satellite cloud ice (namely from MLS and CloudSat) to model diagnosis, (3) show some indications of model improvements, and finally (4) discuss a number of remaining questions and suggestions for pathways forward.


This essay introduces an issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter devoted to the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Almost fifty years ago, the Supreme Court recognized a Constitutional right to counsel for indigent defendants in Gideon v. Wainwright; since that time, major changes in law and procedure have altered the landscape of the criminal justice system. The contributors to this volume discuss the legal ramifications of some of those changes, focusing on the Supreme Court's recent decisions in Missouri v. Frye and Lafler v. Cooper. The contributors also examine how deficits in the appointment, monitoring, and compensation of counsel often thwart the ability of counsel to provide robust - or even minimally adequate - representation to indigent defendants. The essay reviews the insights of the contributors before shifting focus to the role that individual lawyers play in vindicating the right to counsel. The Constitutional adequacy of representation is measured by "prevailing professional norms" of practice. That standard, used by all courts to measure the substance of the Sixth Amendment right, suggests that the power to deliver on Gideon's promise ultimately rests with counsel who, by providing thorough, thoughtful representation for each client, raise the standards of the profession and add to the force of the Sixth Amendment, not only for their own clients, but for all.


While women have succeeded in promoting a feminist agenda in some parliaments, the international research shows that this is not always possible, and accordingly, not a realistic expectation for women. Parliaments, like any institution, have specific cultural norms and practices, some of which actively work against the advancement of gender equality. Understanding the conditions under which female—and male—parliamentarians might succeed in promoting gender equality outcomes has become an important avenue for research and development practice. The focus on gender-sensitive parliaments allows for a framework to identify, and encourage the development of, those conditions.There are four key elements of a gender-sensitive parliament. First, it accepts that the responsibility to achieve gender equality, both as a policy outcome and as a process, rests with the parliament as a whole (its male and female members and staff) and with the organizations that drive substantial policy, procedural, and normative development (political parties). Second, a gender-sensitive parliament is guided by institutional policies and legal frameworks, which allow the parliament to monitor its achievements toward gender equality and allow follow-up and review. Third, a gender-sensitive parliament institutionalizes a gender mainstreaming approach through its representational, legislative, and oversight work to ensure that all the parliament's outputs consider, and counteract, any potential discrimination against women or men, girls or boys. This element requires a reconsideration of the process and structures of the parliament, including the respective roles and capacities of members and parliamentary staff. Fourth, a gender-sensitive parliament constantly strives to eliminate institutional cultures that sanction and perpetuate discriminatory, prejudicial norms and attitudes in the workplace against women members and staff.


The importance of Pfaffian orientations stems from the fact that if a graph $G$ is Pfaffian, then the number of perfect matchings of $G$ (as well as other related problems) can be computed in polynomial time. Although there are many equivalent conditions for the existence of a Pfaffian orientation of a graph, this property is not well-characterized. The problem is that no polynomial algorithm is known for checking whether or not a given orientation of a graph is Pfaffian. Similarly, we do not know whether this property of an undirected graph that it has a Pfaffian orientation is in NP. It is well known that the enumeration problem of perfect matchings for general graphs is NP-hard. L. Lovasz pointed out that it makes sense not only to seek good upper and lower bounds of the number of perfect matchings for general graphs, but also to seek special classes for which the problem can be solved exactly. For a simple graph $G$ and a cycle $C_n$ with $n$ vertices (or a path $P_n$ with $n$ vertices), we define $C_n$ (or $P_n)\times G$ as the Cartesian product of graphs $C_n$ (or $P_n$) and $G$. In the present paper, we construct Pfaffian orientations of graphs $C_4\times G$, $P_4\times G$ and $P_3\times G$, where $G$ is a non bipartite graph with a unique cycle, and obtain the explicit formulas in terms of eigenvalues of the skew adjacency matrix of $\overrightarrow{G}$ to enumerate their perfect matchings by Pfaffian approach, where $\overrightarrow{G}$ is an arbitrary orientation of $G$.


The Grace children discover the faerie world is closer than you think in this repackage of the first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles. After finding a mysterious, handmade field guide in the attic of the ramshackle old mansion they ve just moved into, Jared; his twin brother, Simon; and their older sister, Mallory, discover that there s a magical and maybe dangerous world existing parallel to our own the world of faerie. The Grace children want to share their story, but the faeries will do everything possible to stop them... In honor of the tenth anniversary of the #1 New York Times bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles series, which has more than 12 million copies in print worldwide, this edition of The Field Guide features a larger trim size and an original cover with all-new art from Tony DiTerlizzi."


This book documents in pictures the most exciting and diverse period in fashion: from 1900 to today, covering high society, uniforms, sportswear, streetwear and couture. It will appeal to everyone with an interest in fashion as well as students.

The last hundred or so years bore witness to the transformation of women's fashion. The restrictive corsetry of the early twentieth century gave way to looser styles such as those made fashionable by French fashion designer Paul Poiret. As women's lives changed dramatically under the shadow of two World Wars, so the style of female dress was altered beyond recognition. From home dressmaking to couture, from rationing to 'The New Look', from the birth of the teenager to mass manufacture, from high society to celebrity culture.

Over 400 photographs and illustrations, many published for the first time, tell the stylish story of a fashion revolution.


The Proceedings of the 9th Open German-Russian Workshop on Pattern Recognition and Image Understanding include publications (extended abstracts), that cover but are not limited to the following topics: - Mathematical Theory of Pattern Recognition, Image and Speech Processing, Analysis, Recognition and Understanding. - Cognitive Technologies, Information Technologies, Automated Systems and Software for Pattern Recognition, Image, Speech and Signal Processing, Analysis and Understanding - Databases, Knowledge Bases, and Linguistic Tools - Special-Purpose Architectures, Software and Hardware Tools - Vision and Sensor Data Interpretation for Robotics - Industrial, Medical, Multimedia and Other Applications - Algorithms, Software, Automated Systems and Information Technologies in Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics. The workshop took place from December 1st-5th, 2014, at the University of Koblenz-Landau in Koblenz, Germany.


We explore the hypothesis that high home-ownership damages the labor market. Our results are relevant to, and may be worrying for, a range of policymakers and researchers. We fi nd that rises in the home-ownership rate in a US state are a precursor to eventual sharp rises in unemployment in that state. Th e elasticity exceeds unity: A doubling of the rate of home-ownership in a US state is followed in the long-run by more than a doubling of the later unemployment rate. What mechanism might explain this? We show that rises in home-ownership lead to three problems: (i) lower levels of labor mobility, (ii) greater commuting times, and (iii) fewer new businesses. Our argument is not that owners themselves are disproportionately unemployed. Th e evidence suggests, instead, that the housing market can produce negative 'externalities' upon the labor market. Th e time lags are long. Th at gradualness may explain why these important patterns are so little-known.


Globalization needs effective global governance. The important question of whether this governance can also become democratic is, however, the subject of a political and academic debate that began only recently. This multidisciplinary book aims to move this conversation forward by drawing insights from international relations, political theory, international law and international political economy. Focusing on global environmental, economic, security and human rights governance, it sheds new light on the democratic deficit of existing global governance structures, and proposes a number of tools to overcome it.