Praise for Forensic Discovery"Farmer and Venema do for digital archaeology what Indiana Jones did for historical archaeology. Forensic Discovery unearths hidden treasures in enlightening and entertaining ways, showing how a time-centric approach to computer forensics reveals even the cleverest intruder. I highly recommend reading this book."--Richard Bejtlich, TaoSecurityPraise for Real Digital Forensics"Real Digital Forensics is as practical as a printed book can be. In a very methodical fashion, the authors cover live response (Unix, Windows), network-based forensics following the NSM model (Unix, Windows), forensics duplication, common forensics analysis techniques (such as file recovery and Internet history review), hostile binary analysis (Unix, Windows), creating a forensics toolkit and PDA, flash and USB drive forensics. The book is both comprehensive and in-depth; following the text and trying the investigations using the enclosed DVD definitely presents an effective way to learn forensic techniques."--Anton Chuvakin, LogLogicPraise for File System Forensic Analysis"Carrier has achieved what few technical authors do, namely a clear explanation of highly technical topics that retains a level of detail making it valuable for the long term. For anyone looking seriously at electronic forensics, this is a must have. File System Forensic Analysis is a great technical resource."--Jose Nazario, Arbor NetworksThe Computer Forensics LibraryWith the ever-increasing number of computer-related crimes, more and more professionals find themselves needing to conduct a forensics examination. But where to start? What if you don't have the time or resources to take a lengthy training course? We've assembled the works of today's leading forensics experts to help you dive into forensics, give you perspective on the big picture of forensic investigations, and arm you to handle the nitty-gritty technicalities of the toughest cases out there.Forensic Discovery, the definitive guide, presents a thorough introduction to the field of computer forensics. Authors Dan Farmer and Wietse Venema cover everything from file systems to memory andkernel hacks and malware. They expose many myths about forensics that can stand in the way of success. This succinct book will get you started with the realities of forensics.Real Digital Forensics allows you to dive right in to an investigation and learn by doing. Authors Keith J. Jones, Richard Bejtlich, and Curtis W. Rose walk you through six detailed, highly realistic investigations and provide a DVD with all the data you need to follow along and practice. Once you understand the big picture of computer forensics, this book will show you what a Unix or Windows investigation really looks like.File System Forensic Analysis completes the set and provides the information you need to investigate a computer's file system. Most digital evidence is stored within the computer's file system, so many investigations will inevitably lead there. But understanding how the file system works is one of the most technically challenging concepts for digital investigators. With this book, expert Brian Carrier closes out the set by providing details about file system analysis available nowhere else.


It is not impossible for there to be another economist of Milton Friedman's stature, but it is unlikely. Milton had a rare combination of characteristics. His brilliance showed up in his economics work early in his life and led him to some major contributions that affected the profession's views on Keynesian economics, the causes of the Great Depression, and inflation. But if that had been 'all' he had done, we would not be having this symposium. He also was a passionate, warm man of great integrity. His fight against the military draft, his public appearances on television, and his willingness to give advice to young people all demonstrate those characteristics.


Rigidness of the Internet causes its architectural design issues such as interdependencies among the layers, no cross-layer information exchange, and applications dependency on the underlying protocols implementation.

G-Lab (i.e., http://www.german-lab.de/) is a research project for Future Internet Architecture (FIA), which focuses on problems of the Internet such as rigidness, mobility, and addressing. Where the focus of ICSY (i.e., www.icsy) was on providing the flexibility in future network architectures. An approach so-called Service Oriented Network Architecture (SONATE) is proposed to compose the protocols dynamically. SONATE is based on principles of the service-oriented architecture (SOA), where protocols are decomposed in software modules and later they are put together on demand to provide the desired service.
This composition of functionalities can be performed at various time-epochs (e.g., run-time, design-time, deployment-time). However, these epochs have trade-off in terms of the time-complexity (i.e., required setup time) and the provided flexibility. The design-time is the least time critical in comparison to other time phases, which makes it possible to utilize human-analytical capability. However, the design-time lacks the real-time knowledge of requirements and network conditions, what results in inflexible protocol graphs, and they cannot be changed at later stages on changing requirements. Contrary to the design-time, the run-time is most time critical where an application is waiting for a connection to be established, but at the same time it has maximum information to generate a protocol graph suitable to the given requirements.

Considering limitations above of different time-phases, in this thesis, a novel intermediate functional composition approach (i.e., Template-Based Composition) has been presented to generate requirements aware protocol graphs. The template-based composition splits the composition process across different time-phases to exploit the less time critical nature and human-analytical availability of the design-time, ability to instantaneously deploy new functionalities of the deployment time and maximum information availability of the run-time. The approach is successfully implemented , demonstrated and evaluated based on its performance to know the implications for the practical use.


Professional Penetration Testing walks you through the entire process of setting up and running a pen test lab. Penetration testing-the act of testing a computer network to find security vulnerabilities before they are maliciously exploited-is a crucial component of information security in any organization. With this book, you will find out how to turn hacking skills into a professional career. Chapters cover planning, metrics, and methodologies; the details of running a pen test, including identifying and verifying vulnerabilities; and archiving, reporting and management practices. Author Thomas Wilhelm has delivered penetration testing training to countless security professionals, and now through the pages of this book you can benefit from his years of experience as a professional penetration tester and educator. After reading this book, you will be able to create a personal penetration test lab that can deal with real-world vulnerability scenarios. All disc-based content for this title is now available on the Web. Find out how to turn hacking and pen testing skills into a professional career Understand how to conduct controlled attacks on a network through real-world examples of vulnerable and exploitable servers Master project management skills necessary for running a formal penetration test and setting up a professional ethical hacking business Discover metrics and reporting methodologies that provide experience crucial to a professional penetration tester


The traditional finance researcher sees financial settings populated not by the error-prone and emotional Homo sapiens, but by the awesome Homo economicus. The latter makes perfectly rational decisions, applies unlimited processing power to any available information, and holds preferences well-described by standard expected utility theory. Anyone with a spouse, child, boss, or modicum of self-insight knows that the assumption of Homo economicus is false. Behavioralists in finance seek to replace Homo economicus with a more-realistic model of the financial actor. Richard Thaler, a founding father of behavioral finance, captured the conflict in a memorable National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) conference remark to traditionalist Robert Barro: "The difference between us is that you assume people are as smart as you are, while I assume people are as dumb as I am." Thaler's tongue-in-cheek comparison aptly illustrates how the modest substantive differences in traditionalist and behavioralist viewpoints can be exaggerated by larger differences in framing and emphasis, bringing to mind the old quip about Britain and America being "two nations divided by a common tongue." (For what it is worth, when confirming this account of the exchange, Thaler reports that Barro agreed with his statement.) The purpose of this article is to guide readers through this debate over fundamental assumptions about human behavior and indicate some directions behavioralists might pursue. The article provides general map of research in finance and describes in greater detail the similarities and differences between behavioral and traditional finance. I then the disagreements between the two camps in the context of the philosophy of science: Behavioralists argue, a la Thomas Kuhn, that behavioral theories are necessary to explain anomalies that cannot be accommodated by traditional theory. In return, traditionalists use a philosophy of instrumental positivism to argue that the competitive institutions in finance make deviations from Homo economicus unimportant, as long as simplifying assumption is sufficient to predict how observable variables are related to one another. A brief history of behavioral research in financial reporting then shows that while these two philosophical perspectives are powerful, they are incomplete. The success of behavioral financial reporting also depends heavily on sociological factors, particularly the commingling of behavioral and traditional researchers within similar departments. Because most finance departments lack this form of informal interaction, behavioralists must redouble their efforts to pursue a research agenda that will persuade traditionalists. The last section proposes a research agenda that behavioralists can use to address both their substantive and sociological challenges: developing and testing models explaining how the influence of behavioral factors is mediated by the ability of institutions (like competitive markets) to scrub aggregate results of human idiosyncrasies. Such research should establish common ground between traditionalists and behavioralists, while also identifying settings in which behavioral research is likely to have the most predictive power.


Synthetic color is added to foods to replace natural color lost during processing. It is causes health problems mainly in children that considered Avery venerable group. This study was carried out investigate the effect of using color foods (Color fruit juice for 6 - 12 hr. Tomato ketchup potato chips (TKPC) color sweet and color chocolate at low (15%) and high (30%)) concentration on serum biochemical, WBC (white blood cell)and histopathology of liver and kidney of rats for 13 week. The results indicated that no significant change in body weight gain, serum glucose, HDL and LDL cholesterol. TKPC (30%) showed that significant increase in total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG). Low and high concentration of color chocolate and color sweet was exhibited significant increase of TG. The level of ALT and AST was significant increase of rat's administration color fruit juice (for 12 hr.) and TKPC at 30%. High concentration of color foods and long time administration of color fruit juice showed significant increase in serum creatinine and albumin compared to control group. Both low and high consumed of color foods exhibited significant decrease in liver GSH. High concentration of color foods lead to increase number of WBC as the result to the response of the immune system to the inflammation. Color foods were reveled change in histological structure of liver and kidney. In conclusion, the use synthetic color in various foods has adverse effect on some of biochemical analysis; and the liver and kidney histopathological structure.


Indo-European Lexicon: Old Lithuanian Reflex Index. These Indo-European materials are intended to provide background information about early Indo-European languages, specifically the portions of their lexicons derived from the Proto-Indo-European language, which was spoken ca. 5000 - 3000 B.C. This page lists more modern words, in Indo-European languages, derived from an ancient Proto-Indo-European etymon.


This presentation provides an overview of national obstacles to wind deployment, with regional assessments. A special mention of offshore projects and distributed wind projects is provided. Detailed maps examine baseline capacity, military and flight radar, golden and bald eagle habitat, bat habitat, whooping crane habitat, and public lands. Regional deployment challenges are also discussed.


A review of:

Curry, Ann and Deborah Copeman. "Reference Service to International Students: A Field Stimulation Research Study." Journal of Academic Librarianship 31.5 (Sep. 2005): 409-20.

Objective – To evaluate the quality of reference service provided to non-native, English-speaking international students in academic libraries.

Design – Field stimulation (unobtrusive testing).

Setting – Eleven college and university libraries in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada, in the fall of 2003.

Subjects – Library staff offering reference service at one of the participating libraries.

Methods – The study utilized field stimulation, whereby an individual, or "proxy," posed as a library user and initiated a reference encounter with library staff at each institution. In each case the proxy asked the same question to the library staff member. After the interaction was completed the proxy recorded all observed behaviours. Data were collected using a checklist of actions; a narrative record written by the proxy; and several evaluative questions. Each library was visited by the same proxy on two separate occasions for a total of 22 visits, of which 20 instances resulted in usable data. The narrative recordings of the reference encounters were analyzed using an open coding process.

Main results – In 75% of the cases, the proxy was "'satisfied" or "very satisfied" with help received from the library staff member and was "likely to" or "definitely would return to the staff member" in the future. The reference encounters lasted between a few minutes to half an hour in length, with most lasting between 5 and 15 minutes. Encounters that were brief (less than 5 minutes) resulted in an evaluation of "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" and "not likely to" or "definitely would not return." Encounters where the library staff member extended an invitation to the proxy to return in the future were all rated with "high satisfaction" and "willingness to return." The following reference service actions were observed in at least half of the encounters:
• Asked questions for clarification (20)
• Avoided overwhelming the user with information (19)
• Provided instruction on how to use information sources (18)
• Explained what he / she was doing at every stage (17)
• Demonstrated awareness of language barriers and modified his / her behaviour accordingly (16)
• Had a respectful attitude toward the user and her question (16)
• Looked approachable (15)
• Used library jargon (12)

The remaining reference service actions from the checklist were observed in less than half the encounters:
• Accompanied the user to information sources (9)
• Invited the user to return if she needed more help (6)
• Asked the user if she had found what she needed (4)
• Referred the user to someone else (2)

The data collected from the narrative recordings of the reference encounters resulted in the identification of 17 themes. Most of these themes corresponded with the literature reviewed as important qualities for positive reference interactions. Nine of these themes were found to correlate with the proxy's positive evaluation of the reference encounter: approachability, awareness of language barriers, asking questions, rephrasing, explanation, library jargon, instruction, early termination of interview, patience, and follow up.

Conclusion – This preliminary study documents the actions of reference staff in academic libraries when answering a question from an international student. The researchers found a relationship between some library staff behaviours and the user's level of satisfaction and likelihood to return to the staff member in the future. The research suggests that reference staff pay special attention to the needs of non-native English speakers in order to provide a positive reference encounter.


With the near bankruptcy of centrally planned economies now apparent and with capitalism seemingly incapable of generating egalitarian outcomes in the first world and economic development in the third world, alternative approaches to managing economic affairs are an urgent necessity. Until now, however, descriptions of alternatives have been unconvincing. Here Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel support the libertarian socialist tradition by presenting a rigorous, well-defined model of how producers and consumers could democratically plan their interconnected activities.After explaining why hierarchical production, inegalitarian consumption, central planning, and market allocations are incompatible with "classlessness, " the authors present an alternative model of democratic workers' and consumers' councils operating in a decentralized, social planning procedure. They show how egalitarian consumption and job complexes in which all engage in conceptual as well as executionary labor can be efficient. They demonstrate the ability of their planning procedure to yield equitable and efficient outcomes even in the context of externalities and public goods and its power to stimulate rather than subvert participatory impulses. Also included is a discussion of information management and how simulation experiments can substantiate the feasibility of their model.


The violence wrought by climate change, toxic drift, deforestation, oil spills, and the environmental aftermath of war takes place gradually and often invisibly. Using the innovative concept of "slow violence" to describe these threats, Rob Nixon focuses on the inattention we have paid to the attritional lethality of many environmental crises, in contrast with the sensational, spectacle-driven messaging that impels public activism today. Slow violence, because it is so readily ignored by a hard-charging capitalism, exacerbates the vulnerability of ecosystems and of people who are poor, disempowered, and often involuntarily displaced, while fueling social conflicts that arise from desperation as life-sustaining conditions erode. In a book of extraordinary scope, Nixon examines a cluster of writer-activists affiliated with the environmentalism of the poor in the global South. By approaching environmental justice literature from this transnational perspective, he exposes the limitations of the national and local frames that dominate environmental writing. And by skillfully illuminating the strategies these writer-activists deploy to give dramatic visibility to environmental emergencies, Nixon invites his readers to engage with some of the most pressing challenges of our time.


#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR VINCE FLYNN RETURNS WITH HIS MOST EXHILARATING POLITICAL THRILLER TO DATE, A PULSE-POUNDING TALE OF ESPIONAGE, COVERT INTELLIGENCE, AND COUNTERTERRORISM. The action begins six days after a series of explosions devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up in arms over whether to make friends or foes of the agents who stepped between the enemy's bullets and countless American lives regardless of the legal consequences. Not for the first time, Rapp finds himself in the frustrating position of having to illustrate the realities of national security to politicians whose view from the sidelines is inevitably obstructed. Meanwhile, three of the al Qaeda terrorists are still at large, and Rapp has been unofficially ordered to find them by any means necessary. No one knows the personal, physical, and emotional sacrifices required of the job better than Rapp. When he sees Nash cracking under the pressure of the mission and the memories of the horrors he witnessed during the terrorist attack, he makes a call he hopes will save his friend, assuage the naysayers on Capitol Hill, and get him one step closer to the enemy before it's too late. Once again, Rapp proves himself to be a hero unafraid "to walk the fine line between the moral high ground and violence" ("The Salt Lake Tribune") for our country's safety, for the sake of freedom, for the pursuit of honor.


In the wake of the still ongoing global financial crisis, bank interdependencies have come into focus in trying to assess linkages among banks and systemic risk. To date, such analysis has largely been based on numerical data. By contrast, this study attempts to gain further insight into bank interconnections by tapping into financial discourse. We present a text-to-network process, which has its basis in co-occurrences of bank names and can be analysed quantitatively and visualized. To quantify bank importance, we propose an information centrality measure to rank and assess trends of bank centrality in discussion. For qualitative assessment of bank networks, we put forward a visual, interactive interface for better illustrating network structures. We illustrate the text-based approach on European Large and Complex Banking Groups during the ongoing financial crisis by quantifying bank interrelations and centrality from discussion in 3M news articles, spanning 2007Q1 to 2014Q3.


One of the main goals of an organization developing software is to increase the quality of the software while at the same time to decrease the costs and the duration of the development process. To achieve this, various decisions e.ecting this goal before and during the development process have to be made by the managers. One appropriate tool for decision support are simulation models of the software life cycle, which also help to understand the dynamics of the software development process. Building up a simulation model requires a mathematical description of the interactions between di.erent objects involved in the development process. Based on experimental data, techniques from the .eld of knowledge discovery can be used to quantify these interactions and to generate new process knowledge based on the analysis of the determined relationships. In this paper blocked neuronal networks and related relevance measures will be presented as an appropriate tool for quanti.cation and validation of qualitatively known dependencies in the software development process.


On September 30, 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Five months later, thousands of Muslims inundated the newspaper with outpourings of anger and grief by phone, email, and fax; from Asia to Europe Muslims took to the streets in protest. This book is the first comprehensive investigation of the conflict that aroused impassioned debates around the world on freedom of expression, blasphemy, and the nature of modern Islam. Jytte Klausen interviewed politicians in the Middle East, Muslim leaders in Europe, the Danish editors and cartoonists, and the Danish imam who started the controversy. Following the winding trail of protests across the world, she deconstructs the arguments and motives that drove the escalation of the increasingly globalized conflict. She concludes that the Muslim reaction to the cartoons was not--as was commonly assumed--a spontaneous emotional reaction arising out of the clash of Western and Islamic civilizations. Rather it was orchestrated, first by those with vested interests in elections in Denmark and Egypt, and later by Islamic extremists seeking to destabilize governments in Pakistan, Lebanon, Libya, and Nigeria. Klausen shows how the cartoon crisis was, therefore, ultimately a political conflict rather than a colossal cultural misunderstanding.


Abstract. In a previous paper, we discovered a surprising spectrally-invariant relationship in shortwave spectrometer observations taken by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program. The relationship suggests that the shortwave spectrum near cloud edges can be determined by a linear combination of zenith radiance spectra of the cloudy and clear regions. Here, using radiative transfer simulations, we study the sensitivity of this relationship to the properties of aerosols and clouds, to the underlying surface type, and to the finite field-of-view (FOV) of the spectrometer. Overall, the relationship is mostly sensitive to cloud properties and has little sensitivity to other factors. At visible wavelengths, the relationship primarily depends on cloud optical depth regardless of cloud phase function, thermodynamic phase and drop size. At water-absorbing wavelengths, the slope of the relationship depends primarily on cloud optical depth; the intercept, by contrast, depends primarily on cloud absorbing and scattering properties, suggesting a new retrieval method for cloud drop effective radius. These results suggest that the spectrally-invariant relationship can be used to infer cloud properties near cloud edges even with insufficient or no knowledge about spectral surface albedo and aerosol properties.


Racial prejudice apparently stems from deep evolutionary roots and a universal tendency to form coalitions and favor our own side. And yet what makes a "group" is mercurial: In experiments, people easily form coalitions based on meaningless traits or preferences—and then favor others in their "group." Researchers have explored these innate biases and begun to ask why such biases exist. What factors in our evolutionary past have shaped our coalitionary present—and what, if anything, can we do about it now? Several avenues of research are probing the origins of what many psychologists call in-group love and out-group hate. Researchers are testing the implicit biases of young children and even primates, and devising experiments to ratchet bias up and down. Evolutionary researchers are trying to parse the group environments of our ancestors and are debating just how big a selective pressure came from out-group male warriors.


This commentary paper explores experiences of Muslims being identified as an exotic/other by the media after September 11, 2001. The writer's experience of being chosen for attention because of her Muslim female dress code, headscarf, during a National Aboriginal Day of Action, was a surprise for her. Instead of paying attention to the event, a media reporter questioned "why I covered". This narrative introduces a poignant awareness of the power of media to make choices that identify and define the exotic/other. Narratives of another Muslim woman and two Muslim men illustrate the role of the media and popular culture to form and represent identities. The purpose of this commentary is to show how, in becoming aware of how we as individuals and the media in our culture, in the post 9 – 11 society, are reacting, choosing, refusing, and accepting the making of our identities.


This paper studies on-line list colouring of graphs. It is proved that the on-line choice number of a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices is at most $\chi(G) \ln n+1$, and the on-line $b$-choice number of $G$ is at most ${e\chi(G)-1\over e-1} (b-1+ \ln n)+b$. Suppose $G$ is a graph with a given $\chi(G)$-colouring of $G$. Then for any $(\chi(G) \ln n +1)$-assignment $L$ of $G$, we give a polynomial time algorithm which constructs an $L$-colouring of $G$. For any $({e\chi(G)-1\over e-1} (b-1+ \ln n)+b)$-assignment $L$ of $G$, we give a polynomial time algorithm which constructs an $(L,b)$-colouring of $G$. We then characterize all on-line $2$-choosable graphs. It is also proved that a complete bipartite graph of the form $K_{3,q}$ is on-line $3$-choosable if and only if it is $3$-choosable, but there are graphs of the form $K_{6,q}$ which are $3$-choosable but not on-line $3$-choosable. Some open questions concerning on-line list colouring are posed in the last section.


The analysis of stone artefacts from the open-air localities of Geelbek and Anyskop in the Western Cape of South Africa offers new insight into the behaviour of Middle Stone Age hunters and gatherers. We examined five deflation bays in these mobile dune systems which, in contrast to caves or rockshelters, display large-scale spatial patterning with regard to the distribution of lithic artefacts and faunal remains. The definition of raw material units enabled us to reconstruct the patterns of production, use and discard of stone artefacts. The results reveal that hunters and gatherers, such as those who produced Howiesons Poort stone artefacts, employed diverse planning strategies in terms of raw material exploitation, transport technology and site use. Although the faunal remains are not yet fully evaluated, the presence of stone points and segments suggests that hunting played an important role among the activities documented at Geelbek and Anyskop. The low number and heterogeneity of the stone artefacts suggest that people of the Middle Stone Age were highly mobile. RESUME


Despite a North American oil boom, non-OPEC crude oil production is not increasing, because new production roughly balances existing oil field decline. This situation allows OPEC, which has spare production capacity, to control the total global oil supply and therefore oil pricing. OPEC has raised crude oil prices by a factor of about four since 2002, reducing world demand. Thus, world crude oil production has been flat since 2005, and a major source of carbon emissions has been capped. This production plateau has been maintained in spite of significantly increased demand from China, India, and other developing countries. But governments in both developed and developing countries could reduce emissions more efficiently and fairly by putting in place, for example, a zero-net-revenue surcharge regime for fossil fuels, with all collected funds returned directly to consumers.


Using Big Bear Solar Observatory film data recently digitized at NJIT, we investigate a Moreton wave associated with an X9 flare on 1990 May 24, as well as its interactions with four filaments F1–F4 located close to the flaring region. The interaction yields interesting insight into physical properties of both the wave and the filaments. The first clear Moreton wavefront appears at the flaring-region periphery at approximately the same time as the peak of a microwave burst and the first of two γ-ray peaks. The wavefront propagates at different speeds ranging from 1500–2600 km s−1 in different directions, reaching as far as 600 Mm away from the flaring site. Sequential chromospheric brightenings are observed ahead of the Moreton wavefront. A slower diffuse front at 300–600 km s−1 is observed to trail the fast Moreton wavefront about one minute after the onset. The Moreton wave decelerates to ∼550 km s−1 as it sweeps through F1. The wave passage results in F1's oscillation which is featured by ∼1 mHz signals with coherent Fourier phases over the filament, the activation of F3 and F4 followed by gradual recovery, but no disturbance in F2. Different height and magnetic environment together may account for the distinct responses of the filaments to the wave passage. The wavefront bulges at F4, whose spine is oriented perpendicular to the upcoming wavefront. The deformation of the wavefront is suggested to be due to both the forward inclination of the wavefront and the enhancement of the local Alfvén speed within the filament channel.


Abstract. The effect of the Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) flux on Earth's climate is highly uncertain. Using a novel sampling approach based around observing periods of significant cloud changes, a statistically robust relationship is identified between short-term GCR flux changes and the most rapid mid-latitude (60°–30° N/S) cloud decreases operating over daily timescales; this signal is verified in surface level air temperature (SLAT) reanalysis data. A General Circulation Model (GCM) experiment is used to test the causal relationship of the observed cloud changes to the detected SLAT anomalies. Results indicate that the anomalous cloud changes were responsible for producing the observed SLAT changes, implying that if there is a causal relationship between significant decreases in the rate of GCR flux (~0.79 GU, where GU denotes a change of 1% of the 11-year solar cycle amplitude in four days) and decreases in cloud cover (~1.9 CU, where CU denotes a change of 1% cloud cover in four days), an increase in SLAT (~0.05 KU, where KU denotes a temperature change of 1 K in four days) can be expected. The influence of GCRs is clearly distinguishable from changes in solar irradiance and the interplanetary magnetic field. However, the results of the GCM experiment are found to be somewhat limited by the ability of the model to successfully reproduce observed cloud cover. These results provide perhaps the most compelling evidence presented thus far of a GCR-climate relationship. From this analysis we conclude that a GCR-climate relationship is governed by both short-term GCR changes and internal atmospheric precursor conditions.


The U.S. Treasury Department's conduct-based, intelligence-grounded, targeted financial sanctions have thus far proven to be among the twenty-first century's most effective and important new counterterrorism and counterproliferation tools. The imposition of such sanctions on Iran has resulted in more than eighty banks around the world, including most of the world's top financial institutions, curtailing business with Iran. The Treasury Department's financial sanctions strategy against Iran includes several innovations that seem highly likely to impact the design of future sanctions against other targets. These include direct outreach to individual foreign private financial institutions, the aggressive use of financial authorities to pursue political goals, and the effective development and harnessing of intelligence about global financial transactions. Although this novel breed of financial sanctions was designed and first implemented under the administration of George W. Bush, the Obama Administration cast a vote of confidence in it, including by taking the extraordinary decision to retain in place Stuart Levey, the Bush-appointed Under Secretary of the Treasury who is principally known as the leading architect of these financial sanctions. The decision to retain Levey is both a vote of confidence in this novel breed of financial sanctions and an indication that their design is likely to have a strong influence on any Obama Administration efforts to increase the range and impact of sanctions on Iran or other rogue states. This Article analyzes the motivation, design, implementation, impact, and future prospects for this new breed of financial sanctions. The Article also identifies and analyze the several innovative aspects of these sanctions that seem highly likely to be replicated in the design of a wide range of future sanctions against other targets.


The vascular factor in Alzheimer's disease (AD), affecting its development and progression, is one of the most urgent problems of modern neuroangiology. The research investigates the characteristics of cerebral angioarchitectonics identified at different stages of AD. The research included 106 patients: 1) The Test Group—47 patients suffering from various stages of AD; 2) The Control Group—59 patients suffering from the most common lesions of the brain accompanied by neurodegenerative changes, the development of dementia and cognitive impairment, but not having AD. All the patients underwent: the testing of cognitive functions (MMSE), the determination of severity of dementia (CDR) and AD stages (TDR), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), scintigraphy of the brain (SG), rheoencephalography (REG), and cerebral multigated angiography (MUGA). Patients with AD different stages showed the following changes in angioarchitectonics and microcirculation: Absence of pronounced atherosclerotic lesions of intracranial vessels, reduction of the capillary bed in the temporal and temporo-parietal regions, development of multiple arteriovenous shunts in the same areas, early venous discharge, abnormal expansion of venous trunks that receive blood from arteriovenous shunts, venous congestion at the border of the frontal and parietal region, increased looping of intracranial arteries. Control Group patients had no combination of the abovementioned changes. These vascular changes are specific for AD and are in fact the vascular factor of this disease; they may also be called dyscirculatory angiopathy of Alzheimer's type (DAAT). Patients suffering from other diseases that are accompanied by neurodegenerative changes in the brain, dementia and cognitive impairment do not have them.


The Emergency Unemployment Compensation program created in the summer of 2008 provided for unprecedented extensions in the duration of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Combined with persistent high unemployment and historically long durations of unemployment during the 2008 and 2009 recession, this extension of UI has prompted renewed interest in the impact of UI benefits on job search, the duration of unemployment, and the unemployment rate. In a recent op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Robert Barro contributed to this discussion by comparing the duration of unemployment observed in the current recession with that of 1982 and estimating how much lower the unemployment rate would have been in the summer of 2010 if it had not been for the extension of the duration of UI benefits. His conclusion, that the unemployment rate would have been 2.7 points lower in the absence of UI extensions, is based on a questionable assumption—that the severity of the 2008-09 recession could not be responsible. This paper uses multiple regression analysis to estimate the impact of extended UI benefits on the unemployment rate after controlling for the severity of the recent recession. The extension of UI is found to have a positive and significant impact on the national unemployment rate, but the impact is not as large as Barro suggests. The UI benefit extensions that have occurred between the summer of 2008 and the end of 2010 are estimated to have had a cumulative effect of raising the unemployment rate by .77 to 1.54 percentage points.


In view of the recent evidence that the impact of microfinance is being overstated, this study assesses the causal link between receiving credit from a microfinance institution and poverty reduction among rural households in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Using consumption expenditure as the outcome variable, we test the hypothesis that receiving credit has a poverty reducing effect. Treatment effect estimation technique is used to examine data on 250 beneficiaries and 250 non-beneficiaries from five Districts in the Region. Although the method of study is based on a quasi-experimental approach, the process of selecting the beneficiary and non-beneficiary sample cautiously made an attempt to minimize the potential problems that will arise from contamination, spill-over effects and programme and self-exclusion selection biases. The results support the hypothesis that microfinance has 0.12% poverty reducing effect. Premised on this, we conclude that even in very poor areas microfinance is capable of reducing poverty. Therefore microfinance investment is recommended to broaden the scale and scope of beneficiaries reached and improve delivery strategies to suite context specific characteristics.


This paper has had a major impact on distributed message-passing algorithms. It focused a spotlight on the notion of locality in distributed computation and raised interesting questions concerning the locality level of various distributed problems, in terms of their time complexity on different classes of networks. Towards that goal, in this paper, Linial developed a model particularly suitable for studying locality, which ignores message sizes, asynchrony and failures. This clean model allowed researchers to isolate the effects of locality and study the roles of distances and neighborhoods, as graph theoretic notions, and their interrelations with algorithmic and complexitytheoretic problems in distributed computing. In addition to this major conceptual contribution, Linial's paper presents an O(Δ)-coloring algorithm for graphs with maximum degree at most Δ that runs in O(log∗ n) time. It is based on a new connection between extremal set theory and distributed computing. This result serves as a cornerstone for many other distributed coloring algorithms, including the current best algorithm. Whether one can get an O(Δ − )-coloring within the same time bound remains a major open problem. His paper also proves that, for any function f , any f(Δ)-coloring algorithm requires Ω(log∗ n) time. Moreover, the same bound is shown for 3-coloring an oriented path or cycle. To obtain these lower bounds, Linial introduced the concept of the neighborhood graph of a distributed network and analyzed it. An enhanced form of his technique was recently used for establishing the best known lower bounds for Maximal Independent Set and Maximal Matching. In summary, Linial's paper opened new approaches to distributed symmetry breaking and remains one of the most important papers in this area. The Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing is awarded for an outstanding paper on the principles of distributed computing, whose significance and impact on the theory and/or practice of distributed computing has been evident for at least a decade. The Prize is sponsored jointly by


This Article examines the adoption of rights in national constitutions in the post-World War II period in light of claims of global convergence. Using a comprehensive database on the contents of the world's constitutions, we observe a qualified convergence on the content of rights. Nearly every single right has increased in prevalence since its introduction, but very few are close to universal. We show that international rights documents, starting with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have shaped the rights menu of national constitutions in powerful ways. These covenants appear to coordinate the behavior of domestic drafters, whether or not the drafters' countries are legally committed to the agreements (though commitment enhances the effect). Our particular focus is on the all-important International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, whose ratification inclines countries towards rights they, apparently, would not otherwise adopt. This finding confirms the complementary relationship between treaty ratification and domestic constitutional norms, and suggests that one important channel of treaty efficacy may be through domestic constitutions.


In this thesis we explicitly solve several portfolio optimization problems in a very realistic setting. The fundamental assumptions on the market setting are motivated by practical experience and the resulting optimal strategies are challenged in numerical simulations.

We consider an investor who wants to maximize expected utility of terminal wealth by trading in a high-dimensional financial market with one riskless asset and several stocks.
The stock returns are driven by a Brownian motion and their drift is modelled by a Gaussian random variable. We consider a partial information setting, where the drift is unknown to the investor and has to be estimated from the observable stock prices in addition to some analyst's opinion as proposed in [CLMZ06]. The best estimate given these observations is the well known Kalman-Bucy-Filter. We then consider an innovations process to transform the partial information setting into a market with complete information and an observable Gaussian drift process.

The investor is restricted to portfolio strategies satisfying several convex constraints.
These constraints can be due to legal restrictions, due to fund design or due to client's specifications. We cover in particular no-short-selling and no-borrowing constraints.
One popular approach to constrained portfolio optimization is the convex duality approach of Cvitanic and Karatzas. In [CK92] they introduce auxiliary stock markets with shifted market parameters and obtain a dual problem to the original portfolio optimization problem that can be better solvable than the primal problem.

Hence we consider this duality approach and using stochastic control methods we first solve the dual problems in the cases of logarithmic and power utility.
Here we apply a reverse separation approach in order to obtain areas where the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman differential equation can be solved. It turns out that these areas have a straightforward interpretation in terms of the resulting portfolio strategy. The areas differ between active and passive stocks, where active stocks are invested in, while passive stocks are not.

Afterwards we solve the auxiliary market given the optimal dual processes in a more general setting, allowing for various market settings and various dual processes.
We obtain explicit analytical formulas for the optimal portfolio policies and provide an algorithm that determines the correct formula for the optimal strategy in any case.
We also show optimality of our resulting portfolio strategies in different verification theorems.

Subsequently we challenge our theoretical results in a historical and an artificial simulation that are even closer to the real world market than the setting we used to derive our theoretical results. However, we still obtain compelling results indicating that our optimal strategies can outperform any benchmark in a real market in general.


Since the 19th century, thousands of footprints were observed in the geological series of the French Mesozoic. All are located in the Triassic and Jurassic. After a promising beginning, in France, it is only a few papers which will be published in the first half 20th century, unlike the USA and of others countries of Western Europe. One ought to wait about 1950 for a revival and now they are nearly 200 papers which were devoted to the ichnofossils. The literature abundance and the renewed interest of the naturalists for the palichnologic studies decided to us to write a synthesis work. This one begins with a stratigraphic inventory in which, localisation, age and paleontological contents of about 180 fossiliferous sites are specified. After having pointed out the followed methods, the footprints paleontological interpretation is then approached in detail and the results obtained are replaced in stratigraphy to deduce the fauna evolution during the Mesozoic. So, it appears that Ichnologic data, more varied and rich in the Triassic and Liassic that those relating to the bones, very rare for the considered periods, are very informative. The middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladinian), thus reveals Cotylosauria, Lepidosauria, Crurotarsi with Rauisuchia, Ornithosuchidae, Crocodylia and Dinosauromorpha more the "Prodinosauria": Dinosauriforme whose skeletons are known in Argentina but only in Ladinian. The rather fast domination of Dinosaurs during Norian is also as well shown. The almost exclusive presence of their footprints, up to fifty cm long, in the Lower Hettangian indicates their supremacy in the environments. Footprints characterise not very deep life places located between inter-supratidal limits and often out of water. Sedimentologic and Palaeontologic studies showed that they were great coastal spaces during Middle Triassic, flood-plain with sebkhas while Upper Triassic, and a large "coastal marsh" in Grands-Causses during Liassic in which, mainly, fine stromatolithic layers were deposited. During the same period, bay beaches spread in Vendee. During the Middle Jurassic, they are also brackish to lacustrine environments and recifal lagoons in the Upper Jurassic. Numerous measurements of the footprints and trackways directions showed that the animals moved there in well defined directions, for long periods. They seem due to the palaeotopography of the life environments relatively stable. Also, the discovery of vegetal radicular networks and small footprints far away from the continental borderlands has suggested that the animals continuously lived in these palaeoenvironnements, belonging to large ecosystems, where the sedimentation rate was weak. This explains that the bodies could not fossilize there but only their footprints through the cyanobacterian action in main cases. From the vertical distribution of different ichnospecies, defined with adapted statistical methods, explained in this work, a palichnostratigraphy was established for the Middle Triassic. Although the footprints are also abundant in Hettango-Sinemurian of "Grands-Causses" and the Vendee, it was not possible, up to now, to establish any zonation in this series; Probably because the palichnofauna is too little diversified there, currently reduced to a majority of Theropods II-IV tridactyl traces.


Novel Mouse Model Developed to Show Transformative Link, Results Validated in Human Tumors Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center showed for the first time that the loss or decreased expression of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN plays a central role in the malignant transformation of benign nerve tumors called neurofibromas into a malignant and extremely deadly form of sarcoma. The work, a collaboration between the Institute for Molecular Medicine, the molecular and medical pharmacology department and the cancer center's Sarcoma Program, could lead to the development of new therapies that target the cell signaling pathway regulated by PTEN. A novel mouse model of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) developed at UCLA first illustrated the importance of PTEN tumor suppressor in malignant transformation and this finding was validated in human malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST), the deadly sarcomas. The study is being published in the early online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The loss of expression of PTEN in the human sarcomas we studied mirrored the loss of PTEN in mice, and we anticipate being able to target this pathway abnormality for the development of new methods of diagnosis and treatment" said Dr. Fritz Eilber, director of the Sarcoma Program and an assistant professor of surgical oncology. "Within the sarcoma world, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors are one of the most lethal sub-types, so this is a significant finding and may lead to new and more effective treatments." NF1 is one of the most common genetically inherited disorders, with an incidence of about 1 in every 2,500 births, said, Dr. Hong Wu, associate director of the molecular medicine institute, a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher and senior author of the study. "Patients with NF1 have an about 10 percent lifetime risk of developing this lethal sarcoma sub-type," Wu said. The study also showed that Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning with the glucose analogue FDG - both in the mice and in humans - is a highly accurate way to distinguish between the benign tumors and the malignant ones, indicating that this non-invasive imaging technology is valuable in assessing therapeutic response to new treatments. Wu created the mouse model with two of her graduate students, Caroline Gregorian and Jonathan Nakashima, co-first authors of this paper. It was created by altering two cell signaling pathways that are commonly activated in peripheral and central nervous system cancers, the RAS/RAF/MAPK & PTEN/P13K/AKT pathways, known to regulate cell proliferation, survival and differentiation. "When we began to generate mouse models to mimic different human cancers, we usually did gene-based analysis to see the relevance of a specific gene in the development of the cancer," Wu said. "But we realize that sometimes targeting the cell signaling pathways that organize and instruct cells to function, both for normal functions of our body and also in abnormal ways in disease, are more important and informative than the individual gene" The mouse model developed benign neurofibromas, but then progressed to the deadly sub-type of sarcoma. The neurofibromas had half the normal levels of PTEN and the sarcomas had a complete loss of PTEN. Since PTEN is an important factor in suppressing cells from becoming malignant, this could provide an explanation for the sequence of the normal cells transforming into benign neurofibromas that could then transform into cancer. Wondering if this was also the case in people, Dr. Wu collaborated with Eilber and pathologist Dr. Sarah Dry, director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine's Pathway Pathology Center, and a multidisciplinary team of physician-scientists to determine if people with this sarcoma sub-type also had little or no PTEN. "This type of collaboration is the hallmark of the work at the Jonsson Cancer Center and molecular medicine institute - translating discoveries in a basic science lab into discoveries in patients," Wu said. Currently, there are no effective treatments to prevent the benign NF1 tumors from transforming into cancer. The genetically engineered mouse model will be used to screen drugs that may be able to target the signaling pathway regulated by PTEN, to block signals that instruct the cells to change from a benign state to a malignant one, providing treatment options for patients with the deadly form of cancer. "I think these findings will help us provide a better diagnosis that can determine if the neurofibroma is becoming a malignant tumor or not," Eilber said. "But more importantly, the loss of the PTEN and its associated signaling pathways gives us targets for therapy and it may lay the foundation for treatment in other sarcomas as well." Also involved in the research were Dr. Paul Mischel, Dr. Simin Liu, Dr. Phioanh Leia Nghiemphu, Dr. Greg Lawson, Dr. Michael Sofroniew and Dr. Michael Phelps, director of the molecular medicine institute and creator of the PET scanner The study was funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the American Cancer Society, the Brain Tumor Society, the Henry Singleton Brain Cancer Research Program and the James S. McDonnell Foundation. UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has more than 240 researchers and clinicians engaged in disease research, prevention, detection, control, treatment and education. One of the nation's largest comprehensive cancer centers, the Jonsson center is dedicated to promoting research and translating basic science into leading-edge clinical studies. In July 2009, the Jonsson Cancer Center was named among the top 12 cancer centers nationwide by U.S. News & World Report, a ranking it has held for 10 consecutive years. For more information on the Jonsson Cancer Center, visit our website at http://www.cancer.ucla.edu. Kim Irwin UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (310) 206-2805


Abstract. Single-particle mass spectrometry (SPMS) instruments
characterize the composition of individual aerosol particles in real time.
Their fundamental ability to differentiate the externally mixed particle
types that constitute the atmospheric aerosol population enables a unique
perspective into sources and transformation. However, quantitative
measurements by SPMS systems are inherently problematic. We introduce a new
technique that combines collocated measurements of aerosol composition by
SPMS and size-resolved absolute particle concentrations on aircraft
platforms. Quantitative number, surface area, volume, and mass
concentrations are derived for climate-relevant particle types such as
mineral dust, sea salt, and biomass burning smoke. Additionally, relative
ion signals are calibrated to derive mass concentrations of internally mixed
sulfate and organic material that are distributed across multiple particle
types. The NOAA Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometry (PALMS) instrument
measures size-resolved aerosol chemical composition from aircraft. We
describe the identification and quantification of nine major atmospheric
particle classes, including sulfate–organic–nitrate mixtures, biomass
burning, elemental carbon, sea salt, mineral dust, meteoric material, alkali
salts, heavy fuel oil combustion, and a remainder class. Classes can be
sub-divided as necessary based on chemical heterogeneity, accumulated
secondary material during aging, or other atmospheric processing.
Concentrations are derived for sizes that encompass the accumulation and
coarse size modes. A statistical error analysis indicates that particle
class concentrations can be determined within a few minutes for abundances
above ∼10  ng m −3 . Rare particle types require longer
sampling times. We explore the instrumentation requirements and the limitations of the
method for airborne measurements. Reducing the size resolution of the
particle data increases time resolution with only a modest increase in
uncertainty. The principal limiting factor to fast time response
concentration measurements is statistically relevant sampling across the
size range of interest, in particular, sizes D µ m for
accumulation-mode studies and D  > 2  µ m for coarse-mode
analysis. Performance is compared to other airborne and ground-based
composition measurements, and examples of atmospheric mineral dust
concentrations are given. The wealth of information afforded by
composition-resolved size distributions for all major aerosol types
represents a new and powerful tool to characterize atmospheric aerosol
properties in a quantitative fashion.


The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Practical men, who believe themselves quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribblers of a few years back." Quote from John Maynard Keynes The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936)


The aim of this master's thesis in spatial planning is to research the conditions in the historic city centre of San Salvador and make a strategy and urban design proposal for the area, but also to investigate the relationship between economic development, public institutions and the public space in this area. The research has been done through literature studies on El Salvador and formal/informal economy, onsite inventory, studies of good examples and interviews with people in the area. In the analysis of the area we investigate four topics; Functionality, Economy, Sustainability and Place Qualities. To do this we use concepts concerning city life and form from Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl and sustainability concepts from The Natural Step. The urban design proposals have been created through sketching, discussing and testing in threedimensional modelling. The republic of El Salvador is located on the pacific coast of Central America and it is the smallest country in the region. It has a population of 6,2 million and the capital San Salvador which is located in the middle of the country is the demographic and economic centre with 1,5-2 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area. The country was in civil war between 1980 and 1992, when the left wing guerrilla was fighting the military government for the people's right to the land. The historic city centre has a grid structure and contains many historically important places and monuments, like the national palace and theatre. The grid structure is several hundred years old but because the city is located in a region that is frequently struck by earthquakes the area has been rebuilt several times. One of the main problems is the extensive street vending in the public space. These informal markets are competing with the formal economy in the area and one of the consequences is that there are no longer any investments made into the built structure. Together with other causes, such as extensive regulations on what can be changed or built in the area, it causes the historic centre to deteriorate while investors are choosing more peripheral areas of the city to invest in. Most of the down town is commercial space and 90 % of the buses pass through this area. It is not a pedestrian friendly city and people who can afford a car will choose driving before the public transport. An alternative development for the public transportation has been made by the Leon Sol Arquitectos office. It suggests a network of faster and more efficient busses in a Bus Rapid Transit model. In the core of the down town there is a concentration of plazas which together with the historic buildings makes it a unique part of the city. In the interviews conducted people expressed that the city centre was disorganized and neglected, few people had public space as their favourite place down town. The street vending is a part of the informal economy, which consists of economic activity that occurs outside the government registered formal economy. The informal economies are growing in developing countries. We found a good example on how to develop the public space in the neighboring municipality of Santa Tecla. There a stable political majority and more economic funds made it possible to renovate an old building to create a cultural centre and at the same time renovate the public space connecting it with another public building. This resulted in a very nice public space with good prerequisites for restaurants and shops. The analysis is divided into four topics; functionality, economy, sustainability and place qualities. In the functionality analysis we find that the city centre could be functioning better when it comes to traffic and street environment, the street vending together with too many buses is causing chaotic and crowded streets. The public space is also worn down and badly maintained in many places. In the economy analysis we conclude that the informal economy is making it unattractive for the formal economy causing the built structure to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance. In our sustainability analysis we find that the street vending as an informal economic activity is hindering people to meet their human needs of participation, leisure and protection. But the area has good prerequisites for people to lead a lifestyle without fossil fuels extracted from the earth's crust, due to the location and accessibility to public transport. A more efficient use of the existing structure could make the area contribute to less land being degraded through human activities elsewhere. The qualities of this area are, as mentioned earlier, unique for San Salvador. No other part of the city has such a walkable structure with so many plazas and historic buildings. Despite this the environment is not good enough for people to do optional activities. Our conclusion is that the street environment needs to be improved when it comes to the traffic, the street vending and the quality of the physical structure. This will also give the formal economy of the area a new chance to grow and improve the economical willingness to take care of the built structure. The street vendors need to be provided new places or alternative employment and to be incorporated into the formal economy. Measurements like this may be difficult to implement because of political instability, criminal gangs, corruption and lack of economic means. The studies and analyses resulted in a general strategy, recommendations and urban design proposals. We recommend a strategy similar to the Santa Tecla example, the municipality need to make the area attractive to people to make it attractive for investments and development of the formal economy in the area. To achieve this the street vendors need to be moved and be provided an alternative location, the streets and plazas need to be renovated and in combination with the renovation and activation of public buildings. The traffic situation should be improved through implementation of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. The recuperated and renovated public space also needs to be maintained through policing, cleaning and reparations. This strategy is the basis for the individual design proposals. The proposals aim to provide suggestions on what the public spaces in the city centre could look like. Each proposal has a distinct character and serves different purposes to create diversity in the area. Julia's proposals transforms Plaza San Martin to a plaza integrated with a bus station for a new BRT bus line, develops Plaza Barrios through a monumental pavement and makes Parque Libertad more accessible for recreation. Elisabet is proposing to develop Calle Arce into a pedestrian street with organized street vending, making Hula Hula into a centre for the street vendors and suggesting a transformation of Plaza Morazan to better cooperate with the theatre.


The literature has identified foreign credential devaluations and the shifting origins of immigrants to non-European sources as two factors that explain why some immigrants earn more than others. This study uses data from the Ethnic Diversity Survey to see how foreign credentials affect immigrants' earnings, and whether immigrants with disadvantaged foreign credentials may be able to use ethnic social capital to mitigate the negative effect. Substantial gross earnings disparities exist among immigrant men and women of different origins, but much difference is due to human capital variations and duration of work. The study produces three major findings. First, foreign credentials benefit majority member immigrants but penalize visible minority immigrants. Second, immigrant men and women who maintain weak ethnic ties earn more than their counterparts with strong ties, suggesting that the enabling capacity of social capital for immigrants has been overstated. Third, there is no evidence of ethnic social capital being able to mitigate the negative effect of a credential deficit.


One of the fastest advancing areas of modern science is functional genomics. This science seeks to understand how the complete complement of molecular components of living organisms (nucleic acid, protein, small molecules and so on) interact together to form living organisms. Functional genomics is of interest to AI because the relationship between machines and living organisms is central to AI and because the field is an instructive and fun domain to apply and sharpen AI tools and ideas, requiring complex knowledge representation, reasoning, learning, and so on. This article describes two machine learning (inductive logic programming [ILP])-based approaches to the bioinformatic problem of predicting protein function from amino acid sequence. The first approach is based on using ILP as a way of bootstrapping from conventional sequence-based homology methods. The second approach used protein-functional ontologies to provide function classes and a hybrid ILP method to predict function directly from sequence. Both ILP approaches were successful in producing accurate prediction rules that could biologically be interpreted. The work was also of interest to machine learning research because it highlighted the flexibility of ILP systems in dealing with heterogeneous data, the importance of problems where classes are related hierarchically, and problems where examples have more than one functional class.


The amount of damage caused by the soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is determined, in large part, by the population densities or numbers of the nematode present in the field. More severe yield losses generally occur in fields with high SCN population densities compared to damage in fields with low or moderate numbers of SCN. Long-term, profitable soybean production in fields infested with SCN requires growing SCN-resistant soybeans and nonhost crops, such as corn, to keep nematode population densities in check.


A map is a graph equipped with a circular order of edges around each vertex. These circular orders represent local planar embeddings. The genus of a map is the minimal genus of an orientable surface in which it can be embedded. The maps of genus at most $g$ are characterized by finitely many forbidden maps, relatively to an appropriate ordering related to the minor ordering of graphs. This yields a "noninformative" characterization of these maps, that is expressible in monadic second-order logic. We give another one, which is more informative in the sense that it specifies the relevant surface embedding, in addition to stating its existence.


This wide-ranging collection of essays is inspired by the memory of the cognitive psychologist John Macnamara, whose influential contributions to language and concept acquisition have provided the basis for numerous research programs. The areas covered by the essays include the foundations of language and thought, congnitive and linguistic development, and mathematical approaches to cognition.


The macroeconomic policies of states can produce significant costs and benefits for other states, yet international macroeconomic cooperation has been one of the weakest areas of international law. We ask why states have had such trouble cooperating over macroeconomic issues, when they have been relatively successful at cooperation over other economic matters such as international trade. We argue that although the theoretical benefits of macroeconomic cooperation are real, in practice it is difficult to sustain because optimal cooperative policies are often uncertain and time variant, making it exceedingly difficult to craft clear rules for cooperation in many areas. It is also often difficult or impossible to design credible self-enforcement mechanisms. Recent cooperation on bank capital standards, the history of exchange rate cooperation, the European monetary union, and the prospects for broader monetary and fiscal cooperation are all discussed. We contrast the reasons for successful cooperation on international trade policy.


Aim To analyze the influence of the needle type, insertion depth, and irrigant flow rate on irrigant flow pattern, flow velocity, and apical pressure by ex-vivo based endodontic irrigation computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Methods Human upper canine root canal was prepared using rotary files. Contrast fluid was introduced in the root canal and scanned by computed tomography (CT) providing a three-dimensional object that was exported to the computer-assisted design (CAD) software. Two probe points were established in the apical portion of the root canal model for flow velocity and pressure measurement. Three different CAD models of 27G irrigation needles (closed-end side-vented, notched open-end, and bevel open-end) were created and placed at 25, 50, 75, and 95% of the working length (WL). Flow rates of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 mL/s were simulated. A total of 60 irrigation simulations were performed by CFD fluid flow solver. Results Closed-end side-vented needle required insertion depth closer to WL, regarding efficient irrigant replacement , compared to open-end irrigation needle types, which besides increased velocity produced increased irrig-ant apical pressure. For all irrigation needle types and needle insertion depths, the increase of flow rate was followed by an increased irrigant apical pressure. Conclusions The human root canal shape obtained by CT is applicable in the CFD analysis of endodontic irrigation. All the analyzed values –irrigant flow pattern, velocity, and pressure – were influenced by irrigation needle type, as well as needle insertion depth and irrigant flow rate. Irrigation of human prepared root canal – ex vivo based computational fluid dynamics analysis DENTAL MEDICINE


This study extends the earlier contribution of Azamathulla et al. in 2005. Artificial neural networks (ANNs), due to their excellent capabilities for modeling complex processes, have been successfully applied to a variety of problems in hydraulics. However, one of the major criticisms of ANNs is that they are just black-box models, since a satisfactory explanation of their behavior has not been offered. They, in particular, do not explain easily how the inputs are related to the output, and also whether the selected inputs have any significant relationship with an output. In this paper, a perturbation analysis for determining the order of influence of the elements in the input vector on the output vector is discussed. The approach is illustrated though networks recommended in Azamathulla et al. 2005 for prediction of scour using neural networks. The analyses of the results suggest that each variable in the input vector (discharge intensity, head, tail water depth, bed material, lip angle and radius of the bucket) influences the depth of scour in different ways. However, the magnitude of the influence cannot be clearly quantified by this approach. Further it adds that the selection of input vector based on linear measures between the variables of interest, which is commonly employed, may still include certain spurious elements that only increase the complexity of the model.


Full-length antibodies have captured a significant fraction of the sales volume and value of the biopharmaceuticals market. With increasing knowledge, however, it has been recognized that full-length antibodies may not always be necessary or even desirable. Antibody fragments provide the opportunity for new therapeutic possibilities. Moreover, antibody fragments have the potential for simpler, high-yielding production processes, which can translate into a lower manufacturing cost-of-goods and extended therapeutic benefit. This article discusses the structure and production strategies available for various types of antibody fragment therapeutics.


Academic Vocabulary in Use Second Edition is the perfect study aid for anyone using English for their academic work. Ideal for students of any discipline, this second edition has been updated to reflect changes in education, technology and communications, includes a selection of new reading passages, and is now in full colour. 50 easy-to-use, two-page units give clear explanations of new vocabulary, along with a variety of practice exercises. A comprehensive answer key, and phonemic transcriptions to help with pronunciation, make it perfect for self-study as well as for use in the classroom. This book is designed for students at good intermediate level and above, and is also useful for those preparing for IELTS and university entrance examinations.


THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER THE TIMES BESTSELLER MAIL ON SUNDAY BESTSELLER GUARDIAN BESTSELLER AMAZON TOP TEN BESTSELLER LIVE MAGAZINE BESTSELLER IRISH TIMES NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER THE SECRETS OF PERFECT DECISION-MAKING Have you ever...Invested time in something that, with hindsight, just wasn't worth it? Overpaid in an Ebay auction? Continued doing something you knew was bad for you? Sold stocks too late, or too early? Taken credit for success, but blamed failure on external circumstances? Backed the wrong horse? These are examples of cognitive biases, simple errors we all make in our day-to-day thinking. But by knowing what they are and how to spot them, we can avoid them and make better choices - whether dealing with a personal problem or a business negotiation; trying to save money or make money; working out what we do or don't want in life, and how best to get it. Already an international bestseller, THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY is essential reading for anyone with important decisions to make. It reveals, in 100 short chapters, the most common errors of judgement, and how to avoid them. Simple, clear and always surprising, this indispensable book will change the way you think and transform your decision-making - at work, at home, every day.


The inclination for optimizing returns by taking maximum risk has implications for both individual investors, as well as fund managers. For the former, risk tolerance will determine the appropriate composition of assets in a portfolio, which is optimal in terms of risk and returns relative to the needs of the individual. For fund managers, the inability to effectively determine investor risk tolerance may lead to homogeneity among investment funds. This paper investigates the extent to which financial attributes affect individual investor risk tolerance at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Kenya. Financial attributes in this study were measured in two main aspects: individual monthly earnings income and home ownership. A sample of 500 Central Depository System (CDS) account holders was selected from a population of 932,510 investors at the NSE. Single independent variable cross tabulation on risk tolerance as well as paired cross tabulation on the dependent variable was performed. Analysis of variance was also used to determine how each group of the independent variable affects the dependent variable. Ordinal logistic regression model (OLRM) was employed to establish the contribution of financial attributes on risk tolerance. Single independent variable cross tabulation revealed that home owners were more risk tolerant than non owners. However, one way Analysis of Variance revealed that the variable had a P value of 0.710, hence not significantly affecting risk tolerance. The result of ANOVA on income was significant at a P value of 0.014 individual earnings, hence influences risk tolerance. Risk tolerance increased with earnings up to very high, except for those who earned more than 120,000 per month. OLMR fitted well with a significance level of 0.027 less than ?=5%, although it showed that home ownership is not a significant determinant at a P value of 0.761. For every single unit of home ownership for those with homes to those without, the expected log of odds increased by 0.060 as the threshold of risk tolerance increased, holding other factors constant. Income levels for those earning 90,000-120,000 per month showed a P value of 0.006, hence income was a major determinant of risk tolerance. For every single unit increase of investors earning 90,000-120,000, the expected ordered log of odds of risk tolerance reduced by 1.077 as the threshold of risk tolerance increased, holding other factors constant. Therefore fund managers, investment advisors and individual investors should consider the contribution of financial attributes in financial decision making.


In this era of superheated rhetoric and vitriolic exchanges between the leaders of Iran and Israel, the threat of nuclear violence looms. But the real roots of the enmity between the two nations mystify Washington policymakers, and no promising pathways to peace have emerged. This book traces the shifting relations among Israel, Iran, and the United States from 1948 to the present, uncovering for the first time the details of secret alliances, treacherous acts, and unsavory political maneuverings that have undermined Middle Eastern stability and disrupted U.S. foreign policy initiatives in the region. Trita Parsi, a U.S. foreign policy expert with more than a decade of experience, is the only writer who has had access to senior American, Iranian, and Israeli decision makers. He dissects the complicated triangular relations of their countries, arguing that America's hope for stability in Iraq and for peace in Israel is futile without a correct understanding of the Israeli-Iranian rivalry. Parsi's behind-the-scenes revelations about Middle East events will surprise even the most knowledgeable readers: Iran's prime minister asks Israel to assassinate Khomeini, Israel reaches out to Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War, the United States foils Iran's plan to withdraw support from Hamas and Hezbollah, and more. This book not only revises our understanding of the Middle East's recent past, it also spells out a course for the future. In today's belligerent world, few topics, if any, could be more important.


Two national commissions established by the U.S. Congress recommend replacing the current system of funding transportation based on fuel taxes with a new distance-based system of user fees. The State of Oregon has done a pilot project demonstrating a system for transitioning to mileage-based fees by paying the fees at the gas pump. The University of Iowa has conducted pilot tests around the country to determine how drivers respond to a mileage-based fee approach using Global Positioning System (GPS)-based technology. The Puget Sound Regional Council has conducted a test of congestion tolling. Finally, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is testing an approach for collecting mileage-based user charges using commercially available smartphones with built-in GPS devices, in which the charge element is just one of the applications. While there have been discussions among many transportation leaders regarding why fuel taxes are no longer a good way of funding the transportation system, there is by no means a public understanding of why this is so. The public assumes that the taxes they pay at the pump are paying for the system, and that if funding problems exist, they are due to waste and inefficiency. This examination–of the rationale, technology, and transitional issues in shifting from a financing system for surface transportation based on fuel taxes to one that is based on a mileage-based user fee or vehicle-miles traveled fee–sets the stage for a policy discussion on transportation-related user fees and lays the groundwork for an extensive public outreach effort. The discussion includes information on efficiency, equity issues, revenue adequacy and sustainability, environmental sustainability, feasibility, and implementation issues.


Nonprofits are faced with several distinct challenges. They encounter competition for resources and they face increasing demands for program effectiveness. Additionally, nonprofits must frame their focus within a wider and more globalized sphere where new patterns of employment and philanthropic global organizations are defining the third sector's role in the world in new and complex ways. Many suggest that as nonprofits attempt to manage these emerging trends, creativity and focus are the necessary and vital tools for growth and sustainability. Most relevant to nonprofit success is the strategic planning process that allows an organization to flow and adapt to these emerging changes. Design thinking, a relatively new term and concept, is changing the way products are designed and businesses achieve success. At its core, design thinking utilizes "prototpying" through multidisciplinary team research. Proponents of design thinking advocate that organizations cannot successfully plan without going "into the field" to engage with customers and stakeholders to understand their responses to a product or service. As nonprofits need to remain relevant and effective in the future, the strategic planning process aids in anticipating future needs. This paper will reveal how design thinking, as a concept or system, can assist nonprofits with the long range strategic planning.


Flawlessly accounting for the behavior of matter on scales from the subatomic to the astronomical, quantum mechanics is the most successful theory in all the physical sciences. It is also the weirdest. In the quantum realm, particles seem to be in two places at once, information appears to travel faster than the speed of light, and cats can be dead and alive at the same time. Physicists have grappled with the quantum world's apparent paradoxes for nine decades, with little to show for their struggles. Unlike evolution and cosmology, whose truths have been incorporated into the general intellectual landscape, quantum theory is still considered (even by many physicists) to be a bizarre anomaly, a powerful recipe book for building gadgets but good for little else. The deep confusion about the meaning of quantum theory will continue to add fuel to the perception that the deep things it is so urgently trying to tell us about our world are irrelevant to everyday life and too weird to matter.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate, theoretically and empirically, how entrepreneurial firms' perceptions of formal institutions differ across Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses data from the World Bank Group's World Business Environment Survey (WBES) compare entrepreneurial firms' perceptions of changes in different components of regulative institutions in Latin and orthodox CEE economies. The data used in this paper capture a decade's progress in the development of regulative institutions in these economies. Findings – It was found that the state's regulatory, participatory, and supportive roles are more favorable to businesses in the Latin countries than in the orthodox countries. The findings provide support for the notion that informal institutions influence the degree of generalizeability and replicability of Western political and economic institutions' success in driving firms' entrepreneurial behavior in emerging economies. Research limitations/implications – The first limitation is that the data used were collected about a decade ago. Another limitation relates to a lack of coverage of many former Soviet republics and some other CEE countries in the WBES. Practical implications – The findings point to the need of strategic planning and various degrees of adaptation of business strategies across the CEE economies. Second, businesses may differ in terms of the relative importance of regulatory, participatory, and supportive roles of the government in their operations. Finally, some CEE economies can be influenced more than others by international pressures. Originality/value – This paper's greatest value stems from the fact that it uses internationally comparable firm-level data to empirically examine entrepreneurial firms' perceptions of regulative institutions in CEE economies.


The research community has highlighted for several decades the implications of greenhouse gas emissions for climate change. In response, world governments have agreed to limit global temperature change to 2°C, which requires drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. In advanced economies, a commitment to a 2°C limit generally represents a reduction of emissions of between 80-95% from the 1990 baseline. Despite this, emissions from international aviation increased by 53 % between 1990 and 2011 in those countries. Academic researchers are among the highest emitters, primarily as a result of emissions from flying to conferences, project meetings, and fieldwork. Here we review the rationale for and alternatives to the current high-carbon research culture. We find no clear obstacles to justify an exemption for the research community from the emission reduction targets applied elsewhere. While stimulating ideas and creating personal links of trust are important benefits of face-to-face meetings, these benefits may be outweighed by the opportunities to reach much wider communities by developing and using new social media and online platforms. We argue that the research community needs a roadmap to reduce its emissions following government targets, which ironically are based on findings of the research community. A roadmap to a low-carbon research space would need simple monitoring, an example of which is presented here and documents the Tyndall Travel Tracker, incentives from international and national research platforms and funders, and a fundamental change in the research culture to align the walk with the talk. Such a change in practice would strengthen the trust of the public in research.


During the past 40 years, eutrophication has become an increasing threat to the usability of South African freshwater resources. Despite legislation moderating the discharge of phosphorus from some wastewater treatment works since the 1980s, eutrophication of freshwater resources is now widespread. Two important consequences are blooms of cyanobacteria, carrying the threat of cyanotoxin contamination, and excessive growth of macrophytes, which clog water-supply structures and reduce the recreational value of aquatic resources. Eutrophication-management options include reduction of phosphorus in detergents, biomanipulation of the food web, accurate prediction of cyanobacterial growth cycles, and mechanical disturbance of the epilimnion. The implementation of adaptive management to deal with eutrophication would ensure the testing and application of the most appropriate methodology to each eutrophic water body. Continued monitoring and reporting of trophic status are essential to establish whether interventions are having any effect.


One of the most important factors for creating the sustainable society is that the individuals in that society behave in an environmentally sustainable fashion. Yet achieving appropriate behavior in any society is difficult, and the challenge is no less with regards to sustainability. Three of the most important factors for determining behavior have recently been highlighted by psychologists: personal efficacy, social influence, and internal standards. Because these three factors play a prominent role in behavior, it is necessary to examine what role they play in creating sustainability and how they may be utilized to achieve optimal behavior patterns. Ultimately, in order to achieve sustainability solutions must focus on individual action, realistic governmental regulation, and sustained, direct encounters with the natural world. While much time and energy has been spent on social influence and personal efficacy, less has been devoted to internal standards and this area needs more attention if there is to be any realistic attempt at creating proper behavior patterns.


Abstract. We analyze the theoretical basis of three different methods to validate and intercompare satellite measurements of atmospheric composition, and apply them to tropospheric ozone retrievals from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). The first method (in situ method) uses in situ vertical profiles for absolute instrument validation; it is limited by the sparseness of in situ data. The second method (CTM method) uses a chemical transport model (CTM) as an intercomparison platform; it provides a globally complete intercomparison with relatively small noise from model error. The third method (averaging kernel smoothing method) involves smoothing the retrieved profile from one instrument with the averaging kernel matrix of the other; it also provides a global intercomparison but dampens the actual difference between instruments and adds noise from the a priori. We apply the three methods to a full year (2006) of TES and OMI data. Comparison with in situ data from ozonesondes shows mean positive biases of 5.3 parts per billion volume (ppbv) (10%) for TES and 2.8 ppbv (5%) for OMI at 500 hPa. We show that the CTM method (using the GEOS-Chem CTM) closely approximates results from the in situ method while providing global coverage. It reveals that differences between TES and OMI are generally less than 10 ppbv (18%), except at northern mid-latitudes in summer and over tropical continents. The CTM method further allows for CTM evaluation using both satellite observations. We thus find that GEOS-Chem underestimates tropospheric ozone in the tropics due to possible underestimates of biomass burning, soil, and lightning emissions. It overestimates ozone in the northern subtropics and southern mid-latitudes, likely because of excessive stratospheric influx of ozone.


This paper examines the South African economic sector's electricity consumption in response to fluctuations in electricity prices and economic output for the period 1993 to 2006. The results of the panel data analysis show that the industrial sector was the only one with statistically significant price elasticity over the study period. Further, economic output was a positive contributing factor to the industrial and commercial sectors (having high and significant coefficients). This is in contrast with the other three sectors, agriculture, transport and mining, whose electricity consumption was affected neither by price nor by their production. This anomaly is the result of both the relatively low and declining (in real terms) electricity prices over the study period, and the fact that the proportion of electricity cost to total cost is relatively small for the majority of sectors. There was therefore no major incentive to reduce electricity consumption and/or to be efficient. While these results explain, at least in part, the historical increases in electricity consumption, they may not hold for the period since 2008 (for which adequate data is not yet available), given the sharp increases in electricity prices recently experienced by the country.


Zulu is an indigenous language of South Africa, and one of the eleven official languages of that country. It is spoken by about 11 million speakers. Although it is similar in size to some Western languages, e.g. Swedish, it is considerably under-resourced. This paper presents a new open-source morphological corpus for Zulu named Ukwabelana corpus. We describe the agglutinating morphology of Zulu with its multiple prefixation and suffixation, and also introduce our labeling scheme. Further, the annotation process is described and all single resources are explained. These comprise a list of 10,000 labeled and 100,000 unlabeled word types, 3,000 part-of-speech (POS) tagged and 30,000 raw sentences as well as a morphological Zulu grammar, and a parsing algorithm which hypothesizes possible word roots and enumerates parses that conform to the Zulu grammar. We also provide a POS tagger which assigns the grammatical category to a morphologically analyzed word type. As it is hoped that the corpus and all resources will be of benefit to any person doing research on Zulu or on computer-aided analysis of languages, they will be made available in the public domain from http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/Research/MachineLearning/Morphology/Resources/.


Folate, a water soluble B vitamin, serves as a methyl donor for the synthesis of nucleotides and methionine. Folate deficiency has been linked to a variety of health problems that include developmental defects, cancer and neurological diseases. The relation between folate deficiency and human health problems has not been fully
explained. Our preliminary results and limited published data have shown that the activity of NF-? B increases in folate deficient conditions. NF-?B is a cytosolic dimeric transcription factor that responds to a variety of stimuli by regulating genes involved in immune response, cell survival and cell growth. The purpose of the study was to determine if folate deficiency leads to altered NF-?B activity, protein levels and nuclear localization, and to determine the possible mechanisms behind this alteration. NIH3T3
cells containing a NF-?B reporter construct (NF-?B-LUC-3T3 cells) were grown for 7 and 11 days in folate sufficient and folate deficient DMEM medium either with or without TNF-a (stimulator of NF-?B). NF-?B activity was higher in folate deficient medium at days 7 and 11 in both unstimulated and stimulated cells, as measured by luciferase assay per unit DNA. NF-?B protein levels analyzed by Western Blot showed
no difference between folate sufficient and deficient cells. Immunofluorescence by confocal microscopy showed that there was no significant change in the nuclear localization of NF-?B in folate deficient conditions even when stimulated with TNF-a. Analysis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) using a fluorescent assay with flow cytometry revealed that there was more fluorescence per cell in folate deficient cells at day 11. This increase in ROS could be one of the mechanisms behind the increase in NF-?B activity in folate deficient cells.


Reliable methods are needed for classifying the robustness of buildings and building materials for many reasons, including ensuring that constructions can withstand the climate conditions resulting from global warming, which might be more severe than was assumed in an existing building's design. Evaluating the robustness of buildings is also important for reducing process-induced building defects. We describe and demonstrate a flexible framework for classifying the robustness of building materials, building assemblies, and whole buildings that incorporates climate and service life considerations.