Now available as an audio CD, in Eudora Welty's own voice, or as a book. Eudora Welty was born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi. In a "continuous thread of revelation" she sketches her autobiography and tells us how her family and her surroundings contributed to the shaping not only of her personality but of her writing. Homely and commonplace sights, sounds, and objects resonate with the emotions of recollection: the striking clocks, the Victrola, her orphaned father's coverless little book saved since boyhood, the tall mountains of the West Virginia back country that become a metaphor for her mother's sturdy independence, Eudora's earliest box camera that suspended a moment forever and taught her that every feeling awaits a gesture. She has recreated this vanished world with the same subtlety and insight that mark her fiction. Even if Eudora Welty were not a major writer, her description of growing up in the South--of the interplay between black and white, between town and countryside, between dedicated schoolteachers and the public they taught--would he notable. That she is a splendid writer of fiction gives her own experience a family likeness to others in the generation of young Southerners that produced a literary renaissance. Until publication of this book, she had discouraged biographical investigations. It undoubtedly was not easy for this shy and reticent lady to undertake her own literary biography, to relive her own memories (painful as well as pleasant), to go through letters and photographs of her parents and grandparents. But we are in her debt, for the distillation of experience she offers us is a rare pleasure for her admirers, a treat to everyone who loves good writing and anyone who is interested in the seeds of creativity.


Herman Kahn was the only nuclear strategist in America who might have made a living as a standup comedian. Indeed, galumphing around stages across the country, joking his way through one grotesque thermonuclear scenario after another, he came frighteningly close. In telling the story of Herman Kahn, whose 1960 book On Thermonuclear War catapulted him into celebrity, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi captures an era that is still very much with us - a time whose innocence, gruesome nuclear humor, and outrageous but deadly serious visions of annihilation have their echoes in the "known unknowns and unknown unknowns" that guide policymakers in our own embattled world. Portraying a life that combined aspects of Lenny Bruce, Hitchcock, and Kubrick, Ghamari-Tabrizi presents not one Herman Kahn, but many - one who spoke the suffocatingly dry argot of the nuclear experts, another whose buffoonery conveyed the ingenious absurdity of it all, and countless others who capered before the public, ambiguous, baffling, always open to interpretation. This, then, is a story of one thoroughly strange and captivating man as well as a cultural history of our moment. In Herman Kahn's world is a critical lesson about how Cold War analysts learned to fill in the ciphers of strategic uncertainty, and thus how we as a nation learned to live with the peculiarly inventive quality of strategy, in which uncertainty generates extravagant threat scenarios. Revealing the metaphysical behind the dryly deliberate, apparently practical discussion of nuclear strategy, this book depicts the creation of a world where clever men fashion Something out of Nothing - and establishes Herman Kahn as our first virtuoso of the unknown unknowns.


We provide a partial revision of the microhylid frogs of the genus Anodonthyla, endemic to Madagascar, based on comprehensive molecular, bioacoustic and morphological data sets that include newly collected specimens from multiple localities. The molecular trees provide strong evidence for the polyphyly of several nominal species as they were previously defined, especially of Anodonthyla boulengeri and A. nigrigularis. As a consequence, we here resurrect the nomen Mantella pollicaris Boettger as Anodonthyla pollicaris from the synonymy of A. boulengeri, and we describe four new species, all with strong genetic divergences to other nominal species: Anodonthyla emilei from Ranomafana National Park, a comparatively medium-sized species characterized by a multi-note advertisement call with high note repetition rate; A. theoi from Manombo Special Reserve, a small species characterized by low note repetition rate, long note duration and high spectral call frequency; A. vallani, a medium-sized species from Ambohitantely Special Reserve, characterized by low note repetition rate, long note duration and low spectral call frequency; and A. jeanbai, a small species from Andohahela National Park, characterized by a long and narrow head, presence of short dorsolateral folds, a very short first finger, and a yellowish ventral colour. A further candi date species comprises populations previously assigned to A. boulengeri from the Ranomafana region, which we do not describe because the corresponding data set is too fragmentary, and we refer to it as A. sp. aff. boulengeri 'Ranomafana'. The molecular phylogeny indicates recurrent shifts between high and low note repetition rates in calls, based mainly on three strongly supported sister groups: A. moramora with low repetition rate and A. nigrigularis with moderately low repetition rate; A. theoi with low repetition rate and A. pollicaris with high repetition rate; and A. vallani with low repetition rate and A. sp. aff. boulengeri 'Ranomafana' with high repetition rate. The two species with the northernmost ranges, A. hutchisoni and A. boulengeri, are phylogenetically nested within clades of species occurring further south, confirming that the center of origin of the genus Anodonthyla was most likely in the South East of Madagascar. Contents


A method has been developed for creating aerogel using normal pressure and ambient temperatures. All spacecraft, satellites, and landers require the use of thermal insulation due to the extreme environments encountered in space and on extraterrestrial bodies. Ambient dried aerogels introduce the possibility of using aerogel as thermal insulation in a wide variety of instances where supercritically dried aerogels cannot be used. More specifically, thermoelectric devices can use ambient dried aerogel, where the advantages are in situ production using the cast-in ability of an aerogel. Previously, aerogels required supercritical conditions (high temperature and high pressure) to be dried. Ambient dried aerogels can be dried at room temperature and pressure. This allows many materials, such as plastics and certain metal alloys that cannot survive supercritical conditions, to be directly immersed in liquid aerogel precursor and then encapsulated in the final, dried aerogel. Additionally, the metalized Mylar films that could not survive the previous methods of making aerogels can survive the ambient drying technique, thus making multilayer insulation (MLI) materials possible. This results in lighter insulation material as well. Because this innovation does not require high-temperature or high-pressure drying, ambient dried aerogels are much less expensive to produce. The equipment needed to conduct supercritical drying costs many tens of thousands of dollars, and has associated running expenses for power, pressurized gasses, and maintenance. The ambient drying process also expands the size of the pieces of aerogel that can be made because a high-temperature, high-pressure system typically has internal dimensions of up to 30 cm in diameter and 60 cm in height. In the case of this innovation, the only limitation on the size of the aerogels produced would be in the ability of the solvent in the wet gel to escape from the gel network. This work was done by Steven M. Jones and Jong-Ah Paik of Caltech for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, contact firstname.lastname@example.com. NPO-49008


In the consumer behaviour literature several perspectives on consumer decision making have been considered, including the 'value perspective', the 'information processing perspective', the 'emotional perspective', and 'cue utilization theory'. In this paper, a framework which integrates several perspectives on consumer decision making and which hypothesizes possible links between several basic constructs is developed. The framework is tested by the use of two experimental designs. The results of this study support the complexity of consumer decision making: (A) Consumers do not use their cognitive and affective skills independently, rather they affect each other; (B) the cognitive, evaluative constructs of quality and attitude had significant direct effects on buying intention in both experiments, whereas the affective construct of emotion had no significant effects on buying intention in both experiments; (C) price affected in both experiments perceived quality, which in turn affected attitude, which in turn affected buying intention. At the same time, price had no direct effect on buying intention.


Most changes to large systems that have been deployed are quite small compared to the size of the entire system. While standard summary-based analyses reduce the code that is reanalysed, they, nevertheless, analyse code that is not changed. For example, a backward summary-based analysis, will examine all the callers of the changed code even if the callers themselves have not changed. In this paper we present a novel approach of having summaries of the callers (called forward summaries) that enables one to analyse only the changed code. An evaluation of this approach on two representative examples, demonstrates that the overheads associated with the generation of the forward summaries is recovered by performing just one or two incremental analyses. Thus this technique can be used at commit-time where only the changed code is available.


We describe the implementation and deployment of a software decision support tool for the maintenance planning of gas turbines. The tool is used to plan the maintenance for turbines manufactured and maintained by Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT AB) with the goal to reduce the direct maintenance costs and the often very costly production losses during maintenance downtime. The optimization problem is formally defined, and we argue that feasibility in it is NP-complete. We outline a heuristic algorithm that can quickly solve the problem for practical purposes, and validate the approach on a real-world scenario based on an oil production facility. We also compare the performance of our algorithm with results from using mixed integer linear programming, and discuss the deployment of the application. The experimental results indicate that downtime reductions up to 65% can be achieved, compared to traditional preventive maintenance. In addition, using our tool is expected to improve availability with up to 1% and reduce the number of planned maintenance days with 12%. Compared to a mixed integer programming approach, our algorithm not optimal, but is orders of magnitude faster and produces results which are useful in practice. Our test results and SIT AB's estimates based on operational use both indicate that significant savings can be achieved by using our software tool, compared to maintenance plans with fixed intervals.


A software tool that automates the analysis of functional tests for air-handling units is described. The tool compares the performance observed during manual tests with the performance predicted by simple models of the components under test that are configured using design and of information catalog data. Significant differences between observed and expected performance indicate the presence faults. Fault diagnosis is performed by analyzing the variation of these differences with operating points using expert rules and fuzzy inferencing. The tool has a convenient user interface to facilitate manual entry of measurements made during a test. A graphical display compares the measured and expected performance, highlighting significant differences that indicate the presence of faults. The tool is designed to be used by commissioning providers conducting functional tests as part of either new building commissioning or retrocommissioning as well as by building owners and operators conducting routine tests to check the performance of their HVAC systems. This paper describes the input data requirements of the tool, the software structure, and the graphical interface and summarizes the development and testing process used.


The aim of this study was to establish the level of job satisfaction amongst teachers at special schools. Teachers in special schools need to cope with curriculum changes, the administrative duties that come with these changes, and the learners with their diverse needs. Learners with special needs require a specific educational programme and also schools that cater for the needs of learners with emotional, social, neurological or physical problems. The research group consisted of 101 teachers working at six different special schools situated in various parts of the Bloemfontein area, two in the Mangaung area, and four were situated in suburban areas. The group consisted of English- and Afrikaans-speaking teachers of both genders and from different race groups. The data for this study were compiled by means of a short biographical questionnaire and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. The results indicated that the teachers experienced an average level of job satisfaction. In addition to this finding, differences were also found in the levels of job satisfaction between different races, but not between genders. Keywords: job satisfaction; Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire; South African education; special schools


Inquire Biology is a prototype of a new kind of intelligent textbook — one that answers students' questions, engages their interest, and improves their understanding. Inquire Biology provides unique capabilities via a knowledge representation that captures conceptual knowledge from the textbook and uses inference procedures to answer students' questions. Students ask questions by typing free-form natural language queries or by selecting passages of text. The system then attempts to answer the question and also generates suggested questions related to the query or selection. The questions supported by the system were chosen to be educationally useful, for example: what is the structure of X? compare X and Y? how does X relate to Y? In user studies, students found this question-answering capability to be extremely useful while reading and while doing problem solving. In an initial controlled experiment, community college students using the Inquire Biology prototype outperformed students using either a hardcopy or conventional E-book version of the same biology textbook. While additional research is needed to fully develop Inquire Biology, the initial prototype clearly demonstrates the promise of applying knowledge representation and question-answering technology to electronic textbooks.


An antichain is a collection of sets in which no two sets are comparable under set inclusion. An antichain ${\cal A}$ is flat if there exists an integer $k\geq 0$ such that every set in ${\cal A}$ has cardinality either $k$ or $k+1$. The size of ${\cal A}$ is $|{\cal A}|$ and the volume of ${\cal A}$ is $\sum_{A\in{\cal A}}|A|$. The flat antichain theorem states that for any antichain ${\cal A}$ on $[n]=\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ there exists a flat antichain on $[n]$ with the same size and volume as ${\cal A}$. In this paper we present a key part of the proof of the flat antichain theorem, namely we show that the theorem holds for antichains on three consecutive levels; that is, in which every set has cardinality $k+1$, $k$ or $k-1$ for some integer $k\geq 1$. In fact we prove a stronger result which should be of independent interest. Using the fact that the flat antichain theorem holds for antichains on three consecutive levels, together with an unpublished result by the author and A. Woods showing that the theorem also holds for antichains on four consecutive levels, A. Kisvolcsey completed the proof of the flat antichain theorem. This proof is to appear in Combinatorica . The squashed (or colex ) order on sets is the set ordering with the property that the number of subsets of a collection of sets of size $k$ is minimised when the collection consists of an initial segment of sets of size $k$ in squashed order. Let $p$ be a positive integer, and let ${\cal A}$ consist of $p$ subsets of $[n]$ of size $k+1$ such that, in the squashed order, these subsets are consecutive. Let ${\cal B}$ consist of any $p$ subsets of $[n]$ of size $k-1$. Let $|\triangle_N{\cal A}|$ be the number of subsets of size $k$ of the sets in ${\cal A}$ which are not subsets of any set of size $k+1$ preceding the sets in ${\cal A}$ in the squashed order. Let $|{\bigtriangledown}{\cal B}|$ be the number of supersets of size $k$ of the sets in ${\cal B}$. We show that $|\triangle_N{\cal A}| + |{\bigtriangledown}{\cal B}| > 2 p$. We call this result the 3-levels result . The 3-levels result implies that the flat antichain theorem is true for antichains on at most three, consecutive, levels.


Since its inception in 1980, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans have provided consumers with science-based nutritional principles and advice for making healthy food choices. So far, there is little evidence that Americans' overall diet quality has improved in response to updated Dietary Guidelines issued every 5 years. However, a recent study by ERS finds that, for whole grains, the 2005 Guidelines were able to nudge consumption patterns in the direction desired by the public health community--at least for some consumers. The 2005 Guidelines recommended that half of all grains consumed be whole grains. A comparison of grocery store bread purchases before and after the release of the 2005 Guidelines shows that the quantity of whole-grain bread purchased rose nearly 70 percent, while refined-grain bread purchases fell 13 percent. Of course, these purchase shifts cannot be fully attributed to the Dietary Guidelines. While overall bread prices were rising over this period, whole-grain bread prices relative to refined-grain bread prices were falling. Demand analysis by ERS, which separated the impact of the Dietary Guidelines from other economic factors affecting purchase decisions, shows that falling relative prices of whole-grain bread accounted for much of the shift toward whole-grain bread purchases. Nonetheless, after accounting for relative prices, changing consumer incomes, seasonality in bread demand, and regional differences in food preferences, there are additional changes in purchasing behavior that can reasonably be attributed to the Dietary Guidelines. The 2005 Guidelines appear to have encouraged Americans to reduce purchases of refined-grain breads by 3 percent and increase purchases of whole grain bread by 14 percent. After accounting for price effects and other factors influencing demand, ERS finds that the 2005 Guidelines were responsible for households with incomes above 185 percent of the Federal poverty level increasing their whole-grain bread purchases by 19 percent (from 0.66 to 0.79 pounds per month) and decreasing refinedgrain purchases by 5 percent (from 3.13 to 2.98 pounds per month). When looking at lower income households, there was no evidence that the Dietary Guidelines provided much of a nudge. While lower income households also increased their purchases of whole-grain bread, this was found to be almost entirely due to declining relative prices of whole-grain bread. The 2005 whole-grain recommendation may owe its positive impact to a couple factors. The advice on healthy substitutes was specific and relatively easy to follow--buying a loaf of whole-grain bread is very much like buying a loaf of refined-grain bread. At the same time, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines may have provided manufacturers with incentives to reformulate their products in anticipation of increased demand for whole-grain products, and this may have created a spillover benefit. When manufacturers ramped up their whole-grain production, they likely created some scale economies, lowering per unit production costs and thereby lowering the relative price of whole-grain bread for all consumers.


Presenting twelve breakthrough practices for bringing creativity into all human endeavors, The Art of Possibility is the dynamic product of an extraordinary partnership. The Art of Possibility combines Benjamin Zander's experience as conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and his talent as a teacher and communicator with psychotherapist Rosamund Stone Zander's genius for designing innovative paradigms for personal and professional fulfillment. The authors' harmoniously interwoven perspectives provide a deep sense of the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in every aspect of life. Through uplifting stories, parables, and personal anecdotes, the Zanders invite us to become passionate communicators, leaders, and performers whose lives radiate possibility into the world.


Get complete instructions for manipulating, processing, cleaning, and crunching datasets in Python. Updated for Python 3.6, the second edition of this hands-on guide is packed with practical case studies that show you how to solve a broad set of data analysis problems effectively. Youll learn the latest versions of pandas, NumPy, IPython, and Jupyter in the process. Written by Wes McKinney, the creator of the Python pandas project, this book is a practical, modern introduction to data science tools in Python. Its ideal for analysts new to Python and for Python programmers new to data science and scientific computing. Data files and related material are available on GitHub. Use the IPython shell and Jupyter notebook for exploratory computing Learn basic and advanced features in NumPy (Numerical Python)Get started with data analysis tools in the pandas library Use flexible tools to load, clean, transform, merge, and reshape data Create informative visualizations with matplotlib Apply the pandas groupby facility to slice, dice, and summarize datasets Analyze and manipulate regular and irregular time series dataLearn how to solve real-world data analysis problems with thorough, detailed examples


Those creative professionals seeking the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Creative Suite CS6 Production Premium choose Adobe Creative Suite CS6 Production Premium Classroom in a Book from the Adobe Creative Team at Adobe Press. (From planning to playback, this book covers it all! With focused attention on the workflow and integration between the components of Production Premium, readers will learn to take their project from concept all the way through the production and post-production pipelines using the all the tools necessary. Chapters cover planning and organizing projects, editing in Premiere Pro, creating motion graphics and visual effects using After Effects, working with audio, color correcting in SpeedGrade (a new product in the suite), finishing and rendering compositions, and authoring for DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and the Web. Readers will also discover how easy it is to use Adobe Media Encoder and Dynamic Link across the suite for easy-to-manage workflow processes as well. The companion DVD includes lesson files so readers can work step-by-step along with the book. The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students. Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training Classroom in a Book, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, helps you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily. Classroom in a Book offers what no other book or training program doesan official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.


This paper reviews the evolution of information skills and information literacy (IL) work and associated research in UK schools over the past thirty years as reflected in the literature. A brief report is then offered of a recent small study of library-based IL work in primary schools in England, using structured focus groups of teachers and library assistants and telephone interviews with Heads. The remainder of the paper reports on the IL aspects of the first major surveys of UK post-primary school libraries and what librarians do for more than twenty years. It draws on an activity survey of library staff in 1,044 schools in the UK, conducted through a combination of peer interviews with an e-survey, across a range of post-primary schools. A set of questions was asked about the preferred term used in the school for IL, the extent of learning support by library staff, and the distribution of IL efforts across student years. These replies were then compared with responses about management supervision and about librarian-generated planning to show that these are both influencing factors in IL work. Further questions were asked about the types of IL work undertaken by library staff – from supporting IL efforts of teachers to conducting lessons in the library or classroom and preparing guidance for students. Respondents then identified the phases of the IL cycle on which they concentrated their efforts and the main activities which they engaged in when collaborating with teachers. In presenting the results, comparisons are made between replies from professionally-qualified librarians and other categories of respondent. Three models of IL intervention in schools are then presented, drawing upon activity descriptions contributed by survey respondents (including those interviewed). These are characterised as: • Sporadic opportunism • Systematic development • Strategic orchestration A brief comment is made on the limitations of the survey and some conclusions are offered, relating to the growing gap between 'the best and the rest', the implications of declining school library budgets at all levels, and the difference that a professionally-qualified school librarian can make to IL work in the school.


In this thesis work, two major problems confronting elections system in Africa; multiple registrations and diversion/shortages of election materials, taking the Nigerian content into consideration is addressed. These problems have been described as being so corrosive in nature such that ICTs in the form of eVoting if fully implemented will only compound or exacerbate the current situation due to poor ICTs awareness in the continent. However, in order to contain these problems with some form of ICTs tools along side the traditional election system, we proposed an RFID-based framework where voter's identification and election materials are RFID-based. We believe this will enhance effective and efficient identification and tracking. Operations similar to the chain supply and inventory management are utilized. Also benefits resulting from the adoption of this framework; national ID card, national register, etc. are addressed.


The New Teachers' Roundtable (NTRT) is a democratically run collective of new teachers who have become critical of neoliberal reform since relocating to New Orleans, with organizations including Teach For America, as a part of the post-Katrina overhaul of public schools. Through interviews and observations, this study examines the ways in which collective members support each other in attempts to navigate experiences they perceive as dehumanizing to themselves, their students, and their students' communities. By developing relationships amongst themselves and with other stakeholders affected by and resisting privatization, they are able to challenge their own privilege and begin shifting their perspective and pedagogy. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of how teachers who have been affiliated with market-based movements can be galvanized to work in service of movements that are democratic, anti-racist, and accountable to communities.


An asymptotic-induced scheme for kinetic semiconductor equations with the diffusion scaling is developed. The scheme is based on the asymptotic analysis of the kinetic semiconductor equation. It works uniformly for all ranges of mean free paths. The velocity discretization is done using quadrature points equivalent to a moment expansion method. Numerical results for different physical situations are presented.


Celebrating 40 years of the World Heritage Convention, the proceedings of the Closing Event of the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, has been published. This electronic publication provides the vivid record of the three-day landmark event, which was organized jointly by the Government of Japan and UNESCO World Heritage Centre, in Kyoto, Japan, 6-8 November 2012. During the Closing Event, challenges the Convention faced in its early years as well as today's key issues in the World Heritage community, were discussed.
Keynote speaker Christina Cameron, Canada Research Chair at the University of Montreal, presented the history and the development of the Convention from the years prior to its adaption to this date, noting its many successes while pointing out recent trends that threaten its credibility. UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Genshitu Sen, in his commemorative speech, offered a message on the need to share cultural traditions to cultivate peace and mutual respect.
Five themes discussed in panel discussions were: how World Heritage community dealt with challenges in its early years; sustainable development and World Heritage; disaster prevention, recovery from disaster with communities; capacity-building and communication, and; engaging the civil society and public and private partnerships.
The production of the publication was financed by the Japan Funds-in-Trust.


At a time when LGBT individuals enjoy an unprecedented degree of social acceptance and legal protection, many LGBT elders face the daily challenges of aging isolated from family, detached from the larger LGBT community, and ignored by mainstream aging initiatives. The corrosive legacy of the pre-Stonewall views of homosexuality makes many LGBT elders reluctant to declare themselves and demand equal treatment from policy makers and health care providers. As a result, they are denied the basic dignity of being able to share their memories of a life well lived without fear of rejection and reprisal. The concerns of LGBT elders have not been well represented by the existing ethnic model of LGBT identity that emphasizes the positive and heteronomative aspects of LGBT lives and seldom foregrounds points of difference or intersecting identities. The concerns of LGBT elders require a more nuanced theory of LGBT identity and advocacy -- one that extends over an individual's lifespan, incorporates pre-Stonewall LGBT history, and confronts difficult issues head on, including ageism and internalized homophobia. It must embrace not only the sameness of LGBT individuals, but also their differences. For example, LGBT elders frequently rely on single generational "chosen families" to provide support and care. The recognition of same-sex relationships, while important to LGBT elders, would not be sufficient to address this concern. This Article examines the three signature issues of the LGBT equality movement (same-sex marriage, ENDA, and Don't Ask, Don't Tell) from the perspective of LGBT elders. It then compares these issues to three distinct areas of concern for LGBT elders: the legal fragility of chosen family, financial insecurity, and the availability of LGBT-positive housing and eldercare. The current ethnic model of LGBT identity has a strong essentializing tendency that presumes a sameness among LGBT individuals. Queer theory, critical race theory, and feminist theory have all produced sustained critiques of this tendency. The study of LGBT elders adds another dimension to this critique because the essentializing impulse of the ethnic model also obscures an important generational element. The pre-Stonewall generation is not the same as their "out and proud" post-Stonewall progeny. Their identities were formed at different times and under dramatically different circumstances. Thus, LGBT identity as it is lived and experienced is not only multivalent, it is also historically contingent.


40 pages; includes photographs and drawings. This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu.


Tired of reading HTML books that only make sense after you're an expert? Then it's about time you picked up Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML and really learned HTML. You want to learn HTML so you can finally create those Web pages you've always wanted, so you can communicate more effectively with friends, family, fans and fanatic customers. You also want to do it right so you can actually maintain and expand your Web pages over time, and so your Web pages work in all the browsers and mobile devices out there. Oh, and if you've never heard of CSS, that's okay - we won't tell anyone you're still partying like it's 1999 - but if you're going to create Web pages in the 21st century then you'll want to know and understand CSS. Learn the real secrets of creating Web pages, and why everything your boss told you about HTML tables is probably wrong (and what to do instead). Most importantly, hold your own with your co-worker (and impress cocktail party guests) when he casually mentions how his HTML is now strict, and his CSS is in an external style sheet. With Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, you'll avoid the embarrassment of thinking Web-safe colors still matter, and the foolishness of slipping a font tag into your pages. Best of all, you'll learn HTML and CSS in a way that won't put you to sleep. If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect: a visually-rich format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, this book will load HTML, CSS, and XHTML into your brain in a way that sticks. So what are you waiting for? Leave those other dusty books behind and come join us in Webville. Your tour is about to begin. "Elegant design is at the core of every chapter here, each concept conveyed with equal doses of pragmatism and wit." --Ken Goldstein, Executive Vice President, Disney Online "This book is a thoroughly modern introduction to forward-looking practices in web page markup and presentation." --Danny Goodman, author of Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Guide "What used to be a long trial and error learning process has now been reduced neatly into an engaging paperback." --Mike Davidson, CEO, Newsvine, Inc. "I love Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML--it teaches you everything you need to learn in a 'fun coated' format!" --Sally Applin, UI Designer and Artist "I haven't had as much fun reading a book (other than Harry Potter) in years. And your book finally helped me break out of my hapless so-last-century way of creating web pages." --Professor David M. Arnow, Department of Computer and Information Science, Brooklyn College "If you've ever had a family member who wanted you to design a website for them, buy them Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML. If you've ever asked a family member to design you a web site, buy this book. If you've ever bought an HTML book and ended up using it to level your desk, or for kindling on a cold winter day, buy this book. This is the book you've been waiting for. This is the learning system you've been waiting for." --Warren Kelly, Blogcritics.org


Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is characterized by rapid growth, invasion and resistance to chemo−/radiotherapy. The complex cell surface morphology with abundant membrane folds, microvilli, filopodia and other membrane extensions is believed to contribute to the highly invasive behavior and therapy resistance of GBM cells. The present study addresses the mechanisms leading to the excessive cell membrane area in five GBM lines differing in mutational status for PTEN and p53. In addition to scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the membrane area and folding were quantified by dielectric measurements of membrane capacitance using the single-cell electrorotation (ROT) technique. The osmotic stability and volume regulation of GBM cells were analyzed by video microscopy. The expression of PTEN, p53, mTOR and several other marker proteins involved in cell growth and membrane synthesis were examined by Western blotting. The combined SEM, ROT and osmotic data provided independent lines of evidence for a large variability in membrane area and folding among tested GBM lines. Thus, DK-MG cells (wild type p53 and wild type PTEN) exhibited the lowest degree of membrane folding, probed by the area-specific capacitance C m = 1.9 µF/cm2. In contrast, cell lines carrying mutations in both p53 and PTEN (U373-MG and SNB19) showed the highest C m values of 3.7–4.0 µF/cm2, which corroborate well with their heavily villated cell surface revealed by SEM. Since PTEN and p53 are well-known inhibitors of mTOR, the increased membrane area/folding in mutant GBM lines may be related to the enhanced protein and lipid synthesis due to a deregulation of the mTOR-dependent downstream signaling pathway. Given that membrane folds and extensions are implicated in tumor cell motility and metastasis, the dielectric approach presented here provides a rapid and simple tool for screening the biophysical cell properties in studies on targeting chemo- or radiotherapeutically the migration and invasion of GBM and other tumor types.


How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine. In Success and Luck, bestselling author and New York Times economics columnist Robert Frank explores the surprising implications of those findings to show why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in success—and why that hurts everyone, even the wealthy. Frank describes how, in a world increasingly dominated by winner-take-all markets, chance opportunities and trivial initial advantages often translate into much larger ones—and enormous income differences—over time; how false beliefs about luck persist, despite compelling evidence against them; and how myths about personal success and luck shape individual and political choices in harmful ways. But, Frank argues, we could decrease the inequality driven by sheer luck by adopting simple, unintrusive policies that would free up trillions of dollars each year—more than enough to fix our crumbling infrastructure, expand healthcare coverage, fight global warming, and reduce poverty, all without requiring painful sacrifices from anyone. If this sounds implausible, you'll be surprised to discover that the solution requires only a few, noncontroversial steps. Compellingly readable, Success and Luck shows how a more accurate understanding of the role of chance in life could lead to better, richer, and fairer economies and societies.


Law professors have struggled with the issue of laptops in the classroom since students started bringing laptops to class almost fifteen years ago. Some believe they are a powerful educational tool while others believe that they inhibit learning. Many balance these competing thoughts when deciding how to handle the issue; some decide to ban laptops altogether.What has troubled me about this debate is that both sides make arguments based on untested assumptions about student laptop use and without taking account of existing knowledge about today's law student learners. Thus, I decided to survey law students about how they use their laptops to support their learning. The results, when combined with knowledge about how today's law students learn, show that many of our assumptions are incorrect and that laptops provide a tremendous opportunity to enhance student learning in an age of changing classroom dynamics.Thus, I conclude that law professors should allow students to use laptops in lecture courses. In the article, I analyze five assumptions that arise in the laptop debate — what I call "laptop myths." I first set forth the arguments commonly made in the laptop debate. I then provide background on generational research, including the modern law student's relationship with technology. I then summarize my survey and use the survey data and learning theory to challenge some of the assumptions that underlie the laptop debate. Ultimately, I conclude that students' self-directed learning makes good use of laptops and therefore laptops should not be completely banned from law school classrooms. Finally, I offer some thoughts and examples of alternatives to all-out laptop bans.


A credit score is a numerical summary of a consumer's apparent creditworthiness, based on the consumer's credit report, and reflects the relative likelihood that the consumer will default on a credit obligation. Credit scores can have a significant impact on a consumer's financial life. Lenders rely on scores extensively in decision making, including the initial decisions of whether to lend and what loan terms to offer, for most types of credit, including mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards. Credit scores also influence the marketing offers that consumers receive, such as offers for credit cards. Further, credit scores affect account-management decisions, like raising or lowering credit limits or changing interest rates. A good credit score can mean access to a wide range of credit products at the better rates available in the market, while a bad credit score can lead to greatly reduced access to credit and much higher borrowing costs.

Lenders use credit scores that are produced by many different scoring models. The most widely used scores are the "FICO scores" sold by FICO (the brand used to identify the Fair Isaac Corporation). There are a number of FICO score models in use by lenders, and many other credit score models besides the FICO scores. Consumers can also purchase a wide range of credit scores. Some scores sold to consumers are used by lenders, but others, referred to as "educational scores," are either not used by lenders at all or are used only infrequently. It is important to note that many of the credit scores sold to lenders are not offered for sale to consumers.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to "conduct a study on the nature, range, and size of variations between the credit scores sold to creditors and those sold to consumers by consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) that compile and maintain files on consumers on a nationwide basis,… and whether such variations disadvantage consumers." Consumers can purchase scores from the CRAs in several ways. They can purchase scores when they request copies of their credit reports directly from the CRAs, or with their annual free credit file disclosure available through annualcreditreport.com . The CRAs or their marketing partners also sell scores as part of "credit monitoring" or "identify theft" products.

When a consumer purchases a score from a CRA, it is likely that the credit score that the consumer receives will not be the same score as that purchased and used by a lender to whom the consumer applies for a loan. This could occur if the score the consumer purchased is an educational score that is not used by lenders, but differences between the score a consumer buys and the score a lender buys can occur for other reasons as well. Since so many scores are in use in the marketplace, it could also be the case that the particular lender to which the consumer applies uses a different scoring model than the one purchased by the consumer, or that the CRA from which the consumer obtains a score is not the same CRA that the lender uses to obtain scores, or that the underlying data in the consumer's credit report changes significantly between the time the consumer purchases a score and the time the lender obtains a score for that consumer. It is also possible that a consumer and a lender could access different reports from the CRA, if they were to use different identifying information about the consumer. Any of these differences could lead to differences between the credit score a consumer sees and the credit score a lender uses to assess that consumer.

A consumer, unaware of the variety of credit scores available in the marketplace, may purchase a score believing it to be his or her "true" (or only) credit score, when in fact there is no such single score. Believing he or she had purchased a FICO score may lead to dissatisfaction upon learning otherwise. The consumer may be frustrated to learn that they cannot know exactly how a creditor will view them.

But the most significant adverse impact on a consumer from score differences would likely occur if the credit scores the consumer buys give a substantially different impression of his or her credit risk than credit scores that a lender would use. This could occur if there are substantial differences between the scores sold to consumers and those sold to lenders. In this scenario, some consumers may settle for less favorable terms or may forego applying for credit if the scores they purchase lead them to believe they will be viewed as poor credit risks, although the scores received by lenders would imply otherwise. Alternatively, a consumer who incorrectly expects to be considered a good credit risk may apply for loans for which he or she could not qualify, leading to disappointment, wasted effort, and unnecessary inquiries on a credit report, which could depress his or her score further.

This report provides context for understanding these issues by describing the industry as a whole, important industry players, and the complexity of the credit scoring process. It then examines the ways credit scores are obtained and used, and discusses how the differences between the scores provided to creditors and those provided to consumers could disadvantage consumers. Additionally, the report details a substantial data collection and analysis project being carried out by the CFPB that will help characterize the differences between the scores provided to consumers and those provided to creditors.


The nature of the firm and its financing are closely interlinked. To produce significant net present value, an entrepreneur has to transform her enterprise into one that is differentiated from the ordinary. To achieve the control that will allow her to execute this strategy, she needs to have substantial ownership, and thus financing. But it is hard to raise finance against differentiated assets. So an entrepreneur has to commit to undertake a second transformation, standardization, that will make the human capital in the firm, including her own, replaceable, so that outside financiers obtain rights over going-concern surplus. I argue that the availability of a vibrant stock market helps the entrepreneur commit to these two transformations in a way that a debt market would not. This helps explain why the nature of firms and the extent of innovation differ so much in different financing environments.


What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called Quirks at age four? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless? Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn't got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny...


There is still lack of conceptual clarity in the notion of poverty as a violation of human rights. This is a problem for human rights practitioners that take the indivisibility of human rights seriously, understand the centrality of poverty in the plight of many human rights victims and want to work professionally, through binding internationally recognized human rights obligations, in the fight against poverty. This paper tries to clarify the conceptual gap. It presents a critical summary of the most important attempts to conceptually clarify the connection between poverty and human rights from an international human rights law perspective. It analyzes different conceptual frameworks, their strengths and weaknesses. The paper identifies three different models for linking both concepts: (1) theories that conceive poverty as per se a violation of human rights; (2) theories that conceptualize poverty as a violation of one specific human right, namely the right to an adequate standard of living or to development; and (3) theories that conceive poverty as a cause or consequence of human rights violations. The paper concludes that the third approach is the most useful in the current state of development of international human rights law and jurisprudence, but that the second approach has a lot of potential to push the poverty and human rights agenda forward and it should be developed further.


0963-0643 Copyr Current Opinion in Urology was launched in 1991. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of urology is divided into 12 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Editors and Section Editors for this issue.


In this paper we introduce a binary autoregressive model. In contrast to the typical autoregression framework, we allow the conditional distribution of the observed process to depend on past values of the time series and some exogenous variables. Such processes have
potential applications in econometrics, medicine and environmental sciences. In this
paper, we establish stationarity and geometric ergodicity of these
processes under suitable conditions on the parameters of the model. Such properties are
important for understanding the stability properties of the model as well as for deriving the
asymptotic behavior of the parameter estimators.


As the largest and one of the most influential countries in Latin America, Brazil has emerged as a leading voice for developing countries in setting regional and multilateral trade agendas. Brazil is critical of U.S. trade policies such as the Byrd Amendment (repealed, but program in effect until October 1, 2007), which directs duties from trade remedy cases to affected industries, the administration of trade remedy rules, and what it considers to be discriminatory treatment in the U.S. expansion of free trade agreements in Latin America. Despite the differences, both countries recognize the potential for important gains to be had from mutually acceptable trade liberalization at all levels.


This article analyses the 2009 German federal election campaign with specific emphasis on the three categories of actors that play key roles in contemporary election campaigns – parties and their candidates, the mass media, and the voters. Mainly aiming at a theoretically informed comprehensive description, the article addresses some key themes of the recent literature on electioneering. The Bundestag election on 27 September 2009 was preceded by a campaign that lacked drama. There were several reasons for the absence of a more polarised campaign, not least the fact that CDU/CSU and SPD had been tied together in a Grand Coalition and had to deal with massive political challenges. Against the background of an unclear picture painted by the media, the feasibility and likelihood of various types of government coalitions were dominant topics of the campaign. The CDU/CSU in many respects had an edge over the SPD.


Codes, laws and guidelines governing international commercial arbitration developed by such organizations as the International Court of Arbitration, the International Bar Association and the International Chamber of Commerce have been drafted against the background of Common Law and Civil Law values. In balancing these two great legal traditions, it was assumed that together they represent a composite legal tradition governing international commercial arbitration. The result of that assumption was decades of fine work enshrining international arbitration doctrines, principles, and rules of law and procedures that blend these two important legal traditions. More recent concerns have begun to raise such questions as: How pervasive are the Common and Civil Law traditions? Part I of this article asks: What is a legal tradition and how should it be distinguished from a legal culture in relation to international commercial arbitration? Part II reflects on the influence of legal culture on international commercial arbitration. Parts III, IV and V investigate the Common and Civil legal traditions in relation to national, regional and international commercial arbitration. Part VI evaluates the public traditions that surround international commercial arbitration. Part VII considers whether change in the traditions of international commercial arbitration represent culture change or culture shock. Part VIII emphasizes the value of building an inclusive international arbitration tradition. Part IX suggests ways in which international commercial arbitration can accommodate diffuse and changing local, regional and global influences upon it.


Nearly a hundred years after its debut in 1897, "Dracula" is still one of the most popular of all Gothic narratives, always in print and continually adapted for stage and screen. Paradoxically, David Glover suggests, this very success has obscured the historical conditions and authorial circumstances of the novel's production. By way of a long overdue return to the novels, short stories, essays, journalism, and correspondence of Bram Stoker, "Vampires, Mummies, and Liberals" reconstructs the cultural and political world that gave birth to Dracula.To bring Stoker's life into productive relationship with his writing, Glover offers a reading that locates the author within the changing commercial contours of the late-Victorian public sphere and in which the methods of critical biography are displaced by those of cultural studies. Glover's efforts reveal a writer who was more wide-ranging and politically engaged than his current reputation suggests. An Irish Protestant and nationalist, Stoker nonetheless drew his political inspiration from English liberalism at a time of impending crisis, and the tradition's contradictions and uncertainties haunt his work. At the heart of Stoker's writing Glover exposes a preoccupation with those sciences and pseudo-sciences - from physiognomy and phrenology to eugenics and sexology - that seemed to cast doubt on the liberal faith in progress. He argues that Dracula should be read as a text torn between the stances of the colonizer and the colonized, unable to accept or reject the racialised images of backwardness that dogged debates about Irish nationhood. As it tracks the phantasmatic form given to questions of character and individuality, race and production, sexuality and gender, across the body of Stoker's writing, "Vampires, Mummies, and Liberals" draws a fascinating portrait of an extraordinary transitional figure. Combining psychoanalysis and cultural theory with detailed historical research, this book will be of interest to scholars of Victorian and Irish fiction and to those concerned with cultural studies and popular culture.


An optimization algorithm is developed to retrieve liquid water cloud properties including cloud optical depth (COD), droplet size distribution and cloud top height (CTH), and above‐cloud aerosol properties including aerosol optical depth (AOD), single‐scattering albedo, and microphysical properties from sweep‐mode observations by Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI) instrument. The retrieval is composed of three major steps: (1) initial estimate of the mean droplet size distribution across the entire image of 80–100 km along track by 10–25 km across track from polarimetric cloudbow observations, (2) coupled retrieval of image‐scale cloud and above‐cloud aerosol properties by fitting the polarimetric data at all observation angles, and (3) iterative retrieval of 1‐D radiative transfer‐based COD and droplet size distribution at pixel scale (25 m) by establishing relationships between COD and droplet size and fitting the total radiance measurements. Our retrieval is tested using 134 AirMSPI data sets acquired during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) field campaign ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS. The retrieved above‐cloud AOD and CTH are compared to coincident HSRL‐2 (HSRL‐2, NASA Langley Research Center) data, and COD and droplet size distribution parameters (effective radius reff and effective variance veff) are compared to coincident Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies) data. Mean absolute differences between AirMSPI and HSRL‐2 retrievals of above‐cloud AOD at 532 nm and CTH are 0.03 and <0.5 km, respectively. At RSP's footprint scale (~ 323 m), mean absolute differences between RSP and AirMSPI retrievals of COD, reff, and veff in the cloudbow area are 2.33, 0.69 μm, and 0.020, respectively. Neglect of smoke aerosols above cloud leads to an underestimate of image‐averaged COD by ~15%.


SUMMARY Protein from forest wildlife is crucial to rural food security and livelihoods across the tropics. The harvest of animals such as tapir, duikers, deer, pigs, peccaries, primates and larger rodents, birds and reptiles provides benefits to local people worth millions of USS annually and represents around 6 million tonnes of animals extracted yearly. Vulnerability to hunting varies, with some species sustaining populations in heavily hunted secondary habitats, while others require intact forests with minimal harvesting to maintain healthy populations. Some species or groups have been characterized as ecosystem engineers and ecological keystone species. They affect plant distribution and structure ecosystems, through seed dispersal and predation, grazing, browsing, rooting and other mechanisms. Global attention has been drawn to their loss through debates regarding bushmeat, the "empty forest" syndrome and their ecological importance. However, information on the harvest remains fragmentary, along with understanding of ecological, socioeconomic and cultural dimensions. Here we assess the consequences, both for ecosystems and local livelihoods, of the loss of these species in the Amazon and Congo basins.


Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.


Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts . . . A graphical representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding. (William Gibson, Neuromancer, 1984)


Throughout history, rich and poor countries alike have been lending, borrowing, crashing--and recovering--their way through an extraordinary range of financial crises. Each time, the experts have chimed, "this time is different"--claiming that the old rules of valuation no longer apply and that the new situation bears little similarity to past disasters. With this breakthrough study, leading economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff definitively prove them wrong. Covering sixty-six countries across five continents, This Time Is Different presents a comprehensive look at the varieties of financial crises, and guides us through eight astonishing centuries of government defaults, banking panics, and inflationary spikes--from medieval currency debasements to today's subprime catastrophe. Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, leading economists whose work has been influential in the policy debate concerning the current financial crisis, provocatively argue that financial combustions are universal rites of passage for emerging and established market nations. The authors draw important lessons from history to show us how much--or how little--we have learned. Using clear, sharp analysis and comprehensive data, Reinhart and Rogoff document that financial fallouts occur in clusters and strike with surprisingly consistent frequency, duration, and ferocity. They examine the patterns of currency crashes, high and hyperinflation, and government defaults on international and domestic debts--as well as the cycles in housing and equity prices, capital flows, unemployment, and government revenues around these crises. While countries do weather their financial storms, Reinhart and Rogoff prove that short memories make it all too easy for crises to recur. An important book that will affect policy discussions for a long time to come, This Time Is Different exposes centuries of financial missteps.


Throughout history, the copper pyrometallurgical processes have been carried out mostly in discontinuous or batch systems. In recent decades new continuous technologies have been developed but focused only on Smelting and Converting stages leaving aside the Refining one. In 2002 a novel technology was proposed by the Department of Mining Engineering of Chile University which consists in two cylindrical packed bed furnaces in cascade for treating molten blister copper from converting contains around 0.01 and 0.5 mass % of dissolved sulfur and oxygen, respectively. The first furnace, containing a refractory packed bed has the function of removing the sulfur until about 0.0025 mass % as SO2 using a countercurrent airflow, while the second furnace, containing a coal or coke packed bed that of reducing the oxygen to around 0.15 mass % as CO, CO2 and H2O(g). The proposed technology has both investment and operating costs lower than those of the traditional rotatory refining furnace one. Besides it is characterized by increasing the kinetics of refining and decreasing the amount of fugitive combustion gas emissions. Figure 1 represents a schematic drawing of the reduction stage for the new technology. The purpose of the present work was to model this technology at a laboratory scale during the reduction stage in order to obtain both design and operational optimum scaled parameters for the actual pilot-industrial plant. The modeling allowed investigating the profiles of oxygen concentration and copper flow during the reduction stage inside the reactor, which represents essential information for an optimal packed bed condition of the actual pilot-industrial furnace and for the future industrial furnace design. Figure 2 shows the experimental array at laboratory scale. The modeling considers a random mono-sized spherical graphite packed bed in a cylindrical container with a stationary gravitational flow of oxidized copper. The system considers a first order kinetic law regarding to oxygen concentration. Figure 3 shows the 3D packed bed geometry, it was created by using a soft spherical algorithm in MATLAB® and then exported to COMSOL Multiphysics for its simulation. Four experimental parameters were investigated; the initial oxygen concentration in copper, the packed bed height, the furnace outlet diameter and, the diameter of spheres. Figure 4 shows some results of the CFD simulation, they correspond to the copper flow lines (left) and the profile of oxygen concentration (right). The modeling results were corroborated through experimental tests at 1473 K in a laboratory scale electric furnace, feeding it with industrial molten oxidized copper. The obtained refined copper from each experiment was analyzed by Inductively Couple Plasma, ICP, and the information was fed back to the CFD model for its optimization. The model will be scaled and used to run new computer simulations in order to predict optimum design and operational parameters for the actual pilot-industrial plant. Figures used in the abstract Figure 1: Schematic drawing of the reduction stage for the new technology. Figure 2: Experimental array at laboratory scale. Figure 3: 3D packed bed geometry with three different diameters of spheres. Figure 4: CFD results: Copper flow lines (left), Oxygen concentration profile (right).


Numerous analyses, including the "Prism" analysis at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), show that energy conservation and distributed resource integration are critical elements of an overall strategy to reduce carbon emissions. The smart grid is the enabling infrastructure that makes much higher levels of distributed resource integration possible. The value is maximized by leveraging Distributed Resources at both the local and overall system level as a "virtual power plant" to better match energy supply with demand along with related value-added benefits. Due to the complexity, number and scale of the systems and devices involved in creating a demand-side virtual power plant, interoperability between the various systems is the key to success. An interoperable smart grid fosters increased competition among suppliers, innovation, choice, reduced costs and reduced capital risk caused by technology or vendor obsolescence, and enables automation resulting in increased value and improved reliability. Unfortunately, interoperability cannot realistically be achieved by a single entity and requires collaboration from numerous organizations including utilities, regulatory bodies, standards bodies, vendors and more. An approach of structured regional utility demonstrations designed to promote and evaluate integration of distributed resources at all levels of power system operations will further smart grid interoperability. Utilizing a standardized approach like the IntelliGrid® methodology to develop use cases and standard functional requirements can further communication, information, and control infrastructures required to support integration of emerging technologies as well as identify critical gaps in existing standards providing focus for future research and development.


The Complete Book of Intelligence TestsPhilip Carter 2009-10-06 Enjoyable mental exercises to help boost performance on IQ tests This engaging book offers readers the ultimate in calisthenics for the brain. Using the same fun, informative, and accessible style that have made his previous books so popular, Philip Carter helps people identify mental strengths and weaknesses, and provides methods for improving memory, boosting creativity, and tuning in to emotional intelligence. Featuring never-beforepublished tests designed specifically for this book, plus answers for all questions, this latest treasure trove from a MENSA puzzle editor outlines a fun, challenging program for significantly enhancing performance in all areas of intelligence.


[Francis] Frank M. Zwart III arrived at the University of California, Santa Cruz as a student at Cowell College in 1967, when the campus was a mere two years old and the students were "walking across planks where pipe trenches were still open." Zwart graduated in mathematics from UCSC and boarded a train east to study architecture at Princeton University, where he matriculated in 1976. After graduation, Zwart worked with architectural firms in Princeton, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Aptos, California, Philadelphia, and Carmel before returning to UC Santa Cruz in 1985 as a staff architect and project manager. Thus he commenced a long and distinguished career at UCSC that spanned the tenures of seven UCSC chancellors. Zwart became Campus Architect in 1988 and directed UCSC's Office of Physical Planning & Construction (PP&C) until his retirement in April 2010. From 1999 until 2010 he also held the title of Associate Vice Chancellor for Physical Planning & Construction. This 420-page oral history is the result of nine recorded interviews and documents Zwart's experience during over four decades at UC Santa Cruz—from his years as an undergraduate during the late 1960s, when the campus gained national attention as a prestigious and visionary experiment in public higher education, to his career as Campus Architect during UCSC's expansion into a major research university.


Some courts appear to have begun to revise the standard for granting class certification, including in antitrust cases. The new standard, if there is one, may empower courts to find facts relevant to the merits in a way that historically they have not been permitted to do. If courts are ratcheting up the standard at class certification by forcing plaintiffs to make a showing on the merits, then it seems an unfortunate development for various reasons. First, the rationale for the change is unsubstantiated and implausible. Neither theory nor evidence supports the claim that corporations settle meritless class actions with any frequency, particularly in antitrust. Second, a heightened certification standard fits poorly in the existing procedural framework, potentially forcing a decision on the merits prematurely and possibly violating the Seventh Amendment. Third, such a standard may distort other aspects of the class certification decision. In particular, it may encourage courts to put undue emphasis on methods of proving class-wide injury, or "common impact," at class certification. Fourth, the new standard would involve a back-door change to the procedural rules. Rule 23 does not contemplate that judges will rule on merits issues at class certification. If some modification of the class certification process is in order - if a procedural decision is going to morph into a merits determination - courts should follow the right method of effecting that change, including careful deliberation, empirical study, and a formal amendment to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.


It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS and his massive fortune will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation. For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle. Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize, a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed.


Osteoclasts play a key role in the development of cancer-associated osteolytic lesions. The number and activity of osteoclasts are often enhanced by tumors. However, the origin of osteoclasts is unknown. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are one of the pre-metastatic niche components that are induced to expand by tumor cells. Here we show that the MDSCs can differentiate into mature and functional osteoclasts in vitro and in vivo. Inoculation of 5TGM1-GFP myeloma cells into C57BL6/KaLwRij mice led to a significant expansion of MDSCs in blood, spleen, and bone marrow over time. When grown in osteoclastogenic media in vitro, MDSCs from tumor-challenged mice displayed 14 times greater potential to differentiate into mature and functional osteoclasts than those from non-tumor controls. Importantly, MDSCs from tumor-challenged LacZ transgenic mice differentiated into LacZ+osteoclasts in vivo. Furthermore, a significant increase in tumor burden and bone loss accompanied by increased number of osteoclasts was observed in mice co-inoculated with tumor-challenged MDSCs and 5TGM1 cells compared to the control animals received 5TGM1 cells alone. Finally, treatment of MDSCs from myeloma-challenged mice with Zoledronic acid (ZA), a potent inhibitor of bone resorption, inhibited the number of osteoclasts formed in MDSC cultures and the expansion of MDSCs and bone lesions in mice. Collectively, these data provide in vitro and in vivo evidence that tumor-induced MDSCs exacerbate cancer-associated bone destruction by directly serving as osteoclast precursors.


In the modern age of institutions, whistleblowing is now established as one of the most important processes – if not the single most important process – by which governments and corporations are kept accountable to the societies they are meant to serve. This essential Handbook provides researchers and policy makers from around the world with a comprehensive overview of the state of our knowledge regarding this vital process. In addition to drawing from the last 30 years of progressively more systematic research into whistleblowing, it also provides cutting-edge analysis of the conceptual and practical challenges that researchers will want to confront in the next decade.


In RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC v Amalgamated Bank, the Supreme Court's statutory interpretation focuses on an emerging theme of its bankruptcy jurisprudence: the proper domain of the bankruptcy judge. While one might expect the Court to approach that question of domain as it has for administrative agencies, that is not the approach taken. This article explores the Court's approach to bankruptcy's domain. In doing so, we connect three principal strands of the Court's bankruptcy jurisprudence. The first strand, embodied in Butner v United States, centers on the idea that the bankruptcy forum must vindicate nonbankruptcy rights. The second, most recently addressed in Stern v Marshall, focuses on the limits of bankruptcy judges in deciding and issuing final judgment on the issues before them. Bankruptcy judges must limit themselves to deciding issues central to the administration of the bankruptcy process. RadLAX is the continuation of a third strand that makes it plain that the Court reads ambiguous provisions of the Bankruptcy Code to narrow the range of decisions over which the bankruptcy judge may exercise her discretion — at least when the exercise of that discretion might impact nonbankruptcy rights. The resulting bankruptcy jurisprudence is in stark contrast with the Court's approach in administrative law. This paper attempts to make sense of this state of affairs and connect it with the realities of bankruptcy practice today.


Towards the end of the 1950s, about halfway through its nearly 100-year history, jazz evolution and innovation increased at a faster pace than ever before. By 1959, it was evident that two major innovative styles and many sub-styles of the major previous styles had recently emerged. Additionally, all earlier practices were in use, making a total of at least ten actively played styles in 1959. It would no longer be possible to denote a jazz era by saying one style dominated, such as it had during the 1930s' Swing Era. This convergence of styles is fascinating, but, considering that many of the recordings of that year represent some of the best work of many of the most famous jazz artists of all time, it makes 1959 even more significant. There has been a marked decrease in the jazz industry and in stylistic evolution since 1959, which emphasizes 1959's importance in jazz history. Many jazz listeners, including myself up until recently, have always thought the modal style, from the famous 1959 Miles Davis recording, Kind of Blue, dominated the late 1950s. However, a few of the other great and stylistically diverse recordings from 1959 were John Coltrane's Giant Steps, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz To Come, and Dave Brubeck's Time Out, which included the very well-known jazz standard Take Five. My research has found many more 1959 recordings of equally unique artistic achievement. My study identifies over 500 jazz recordings of 1959. To explain the high level of creativity and innovation during that pivotal year, I analyze ten top recordings from 1959, and I examine the forces in American society that affected jazz. A lecture/recital of the ten transcriptions accompanied this study, given on March 27, 2008 at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.


Should virtual income be subject to real world taxes? For most people, intuition suggests that the answer to this question is no, at least if the income is left in-world. However, virtual income can have significant real-world value, making it difficult to square intuition with existing tax doctrine and policy. Those who have attempted to do so have justified exclusion by classifying virtual income as falling either outside the theoretical definition of income or into an existing tax category that is excluded from the real-world tax base. In this Article, I argue that the analysis to date and the proposals they produce are not fully satisfactory. Instead, I offer a new approach that focuses on virtual income's impact on a taxpayer's ability to pay real-world taxes. The ability to pay is a core tax concept, and using it yields results consistent with intuitions, existing doctrine and tax policy. Relying on ability to pay, I argue that the taxation of virtual income should be a function of a taxpayer's ability to cash out. Virtual income from worlds that preclude participants from cashing out should be excluded from the tax base, as the receipt of virtual income does not increase their ability to pay real-world taxes. Virtual income from worlds that permit participants to cash out should be taxed. However, practical concerns regarding tax evasion and costs may warrant overriding these initial conclusions. To account for these concerns, I propose that Congress empower the IRS to issue world-specific rulings on the taxability of virtual income and adopt a de minimis threshold based on the $600 reporting threshold found in the code. Taxpayers whose virtual income in a taxable world exceeds the threshold would owe tax on all their virtual income from that world.


Iron overload (IO) because of multiple blood transfusion as a definite therapy for hematological disease with chronic and severe anemia has become a major concern. Deleterious complication contributed by chemically reactive deregulated iron may affect cellular homeostasis systemically lead to tissue and organ damage. When this toxicity occurred in blood cells, alteration of peripheral hematological profile concerning erythrocyte, leucocyte, and platelet most likely to be modified and imperatively need to be evidenced. The experimental IO mice model was established by injecting a low and high dose of iron dextran intraperitoneally. Peripheral erythrocyte, leucocyte and platelet indices measured by hematology analyzer were analyzed. A dynamic tendency of leucocyte absolute cell number and differential cell count of low and high dose iron treatment and a significant decrease of differential monocyte count were found. In addition, high dose iron treatment showed a significantly lower mean platelet volume. In conclusion, this study verified that IO impaired the cellular hematological indices by selectively suppress monocyte number addressing that this mononuclear phagocyte was the most affected immune cell. Furthermore, low mean platelet volume following acquired platelet function defect was evidenced. This research provided an animal experimental model that could be used for further study in finding alternative therapeutic targets on the pathophysiology of iron overload diseases, such as thalassemia.


Photograph of the atrium of the Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas. Janis Zilker Becker motions towards the Frederic Remington sculpture named The Broncho Buster which is displayed along with two of his other bronzes. Jennifer Stafford looks on from the right. There are five Navajo blankets hanging on a wall above them.


Progressive Era court reform led to creation of new courts that had both formal and informal positions, some of which were filled by women lawyers and representatives of women's organizations. The Juvenile Court in Chicago, the Chicago Morals Court, and the New York Night Court (subsequently Women's Court) differed in the network of activists promoting their creation, and therefore also differed in the amount of influence organized women and women lawyers wielded in these institutions.


This Statement of Rights and Responsibilities ("Statement," "Terms," or "SRR") derives from the Facebook Principles, and is our terms of service that governs our relationship with users and others who interact with Facebook. By using or accessing Facebook, you agree to this Statement, as updated from time to time in accordance with Section 14 below. Additionally, you will find resources at the end of this document that help you understand how Facebook works.


This is the first paper reporting on results obtained in a metal bioaccumulation study in the Vaal River system. It discusses concentrations of four non-essential elements (strontium, aluminium, lead and nickel) in water, sediment and various fish tissues. A second paper will report on concentration levels of the remaining five essential trace metals (chrome, copper, iron, manganese and zinc) studied. While heavy metals did accumulate in C. gariepinus tissues, no clear trends emerged with regard to differences between localities (Vaal Dam and Vaal River Barrage) or surveys. The highest non-essential element metal concentrations were generally recorded in gill (filaments and arches), followed by muscle, liver and lastly skin. This general trend appears to be in agreement with trends observed by other workers and reported in the literature. Variability in tissue metal concentrations in C. gariepinus within locality and seasons observed in this study is also reflected in results from available literature. This accentuates the importance of factors that influence the concentrations and bioavailability of trace metals.


Summary We report a case of metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma presenting with a recurrent right-sided cervical lymph node necrotic cyst. A 55-year-old woman presented with a 3-month history of a right-sided upper neck mass following an upper respiratory tract infection. Past medical history includes a right-sided nephrectomy secondary to a benign renal tumor and hypertension. She was evaluated by Otolaryngology, and fine-needle aspiration was performed. The mass recurred 2 months following aspiration. Ultrasound of the neck showed a 2.2 × 1.4 × 1.9 cm right cervical lymph node with a small fatty hilum but a thickened cortex. Neck computed tomography (CT) scan showed a well-defined 2.3 cm mass in the right upper neck corresponding to a necrotic cervical lymph node at level IIA. It also revealed a 7 mm calcified left thyroid nodule. Cytology revealed a moderate collection of murky fluid with mildly atypical cells presumed to be reactive given the clinical history of infection. The cyst had re-grown 2 months following aspiration. Excisional biopsy was performed and revealed metastatic classic papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Subsequently, a total thyroidectomy and right neck dissection was performed. Pathology confirmed metastatic unifocal classic PTC of the right thyroid lobe and two lymph node metastases out of a total of 17 resected lymph nodes. The patient underwent radioactive iodine ablation. Subsequent I-131 radioiodine whole-body scan showed no evidence of metastases. In conclusion, metastatic PTC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a recurrent solitary cystic cervical lymph node. Learning points: Metastatic PTC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a recurrent solitary cystic cervical lymph node. A dedicated thyroid ultrasound is the preferred modality for identifying thyroid lesion over computed tomography. There is a risk of non-diagnostic cytology following FNA for cystic neck lesions, largely predicted by the cyst content of the nodule.


The objective and motivation behind this research is to provide applications with easy-to-use interfaces to communities of deaf and functionally illiterate users, which enables them to work without any human assistance. Although recent years have witnessed technological advancements, the availability of technology does not ensure accessibility to information and communication technologies (ICT). Extensive use of text from menus to document contents means that deaf or functionally illiterate can not access services implemented on most computer software. Consequently, most existing computer applications pose an accessibility barrier to those who are unable to read fluently. Online technologies intended for such groups should be developed in continuous partnership with primary users and include a thorough investigation into their limitations, requirements and usability barriers. In this research, I investigated existing tools in voice, web and other multimedia technologies to identify learning gaps and explored ways to enhance the information literacy for deaf and functionally illiterate users. I worked on the development of user-centered interfaces to increase the capabilities of deaf and low literacy users by enhancing lexical resources and by evaluating several multimedia interfaces for them. The interface of the platform-independent Italian Sign Language (LIS) Dictionary has been developed to enhance the lexical resources for deaf users. The Sign Language Dictionary accepts Italian lemmas as input and provides their representation in the Italian Sign Language as output. The Sign Language dictionary has 3082 signs as set of Avatar animations in which each sign is linked to a corresponding Italian lemma. I integrated the LIS lexical resources with MultiWordNet (MWN) database to form the first LIS MultiWordNet(LMWN). LMWN contains information about lexical relations between words, semantic relations between lexical concepts (synsets), correspondences between Italian and sign language lexical concepts and semantic fields (domains). The approach enhances the deaf users' understanding of written Italian language and shows that a relatively small set of lexicon can cover a significant portion of MWN. Integration of LIS signs with MWN made it useful tool for computational linguistics and natural language processing. The rule-based translation process from written Italian text to LIS has been transformed into service-oriented system. The translation process is composed of various modules including parser, semantic interpreter, generator, and spatial allocation planner. This translation procedure has been implemented in the Java Application Building Center (jABC), which is a framework for extreme model driven design (XMDD). The XMDD approach focuses on bringing software development closer to conceptual design, so that the functionality of a software solution could be understood by someone who is unfamiliar with programming concepts. The transformation addresses the heterogeneity challenge and enhances the re-usability of the system. For enhancing the e-participation of functionally illiterate users, two detailed studies were conducted in the Republic of Rwanda. In the first study, the traditional (textual) interface was compared with the virtual character-based interactive interface. The study helped to identify usability barriers and users evaluated these interfaces according to three fundamental areas of usability, i.e. effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. In another study, we developed four different interfaces to analyze the usability and effects of online assistance (consistent help) for functionally illiterate users and compared different help modes including textual, vocal and virtual character on the performance of semi-literate users. In our newly designed interfaces the instructions were automatically translated in Swahili language. All the interfaces were evaluated on the basis of task accomplishment, time consumption, System Usability Scale (SUS) rating and number of times the help was acquired. The results show that the performance of semi-literate users improved significantly when using the online assistance. The dissertation thus introduces a new development approach in which virtual characters are used as additional support for barely literate or naturally challenged users. Such components enhanced the application utility by offering a variety of services like translating contents in local language, providing additional vocal information, and performing automatic translation from text to sign language. Obviously, there is no such thing as one design solution that fits for all in the underlying domain. Context sensitivity, literacy and mental abilities are key factors on which I concentrated and the results emphasize that computer interfaces must be based on a thoughtful definition of target groups, purposes and objectives.


[1] A method for discriminating Types Ia and Ib Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs) from Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM) satellite occultation measurements of aerosol extinction coefficient is described. The method has been validated by applying several statistical tests to the results and by using Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) and Ozone Lidar Experiment (OLEX) lidar observations made during Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment/Third European Stratospheric Experiment on Ozone II (SOLVE/THESEO 2000). Type Ia PSCs are believed to be composed of large nitric-acid-containing particles that will sediment out of the stratosphere, causing denitrification and facilitating ozone depletion. Type Ib PSCs are believed to be much smaller and will not sediment out of the stratosphere. Discriminating between these two types of PSCs is significant because it will permit a better understanding of ozone depletion today and predict the fate and effect of PSCs using the more continuous temporal coverage and larger areal coverage that can be obtained from satellites. The method is made possible by the character of POAM observations when plotted as normalized extinction versus wavelength dependence. As the extinction increases, observations of Types Ia and Ib PSCs bifurcate. This behavior is also observed in idealized simulations of the formation of Supercooled Ternary Solutions (STS) and nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) particles, which are believed to make up Types Ib and Ia PSCs, respectively. Analysis of POAM observations from the 1999/2000 Arctic winter using the PSC discrimination algorithm revealed that the number of PSC observations peaked in January. In November, December, and January, the ratio of Type Ia to Ib PSCs was about 3. In February and March, this ratio was about 0.3. The average altitude of Type Ia PSCs descended more than the Type Ib, especially in the spring where the Type Ia observations were 2–3 km below the Type Ib observations. This is consistent with observations of denitrification during the 1999/2000 winter. The PSC discrimination algorithm is applicable to previous winters in both hemispheres and will work with SAGE III observations as well. This will permit a more extensive study of the statistical significance of some features of the PSCs observed during the 1999/2000 Arctic winter. It is our belief that the present method of analyzing satellite data to discriminate Type I PSCs will be of great utility in the study of PSCs and ozone depletion.


The definitive monograph of American photographer Vivian Maier, exploring the full range and brilliance of her work and the mystery of her life, written and edited by noted photography curator and writer Marvin Heiferman; featuring 250 black-and-white images, color work, and other materials never seen before; and a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman. Vivian Maier's story-the secretive nanny-photographer during her life who becomes a popular sensation shortly after her death-has, to date, been pieced together only from previously seen or known images she made and the handful of facts that have surfaced about her life. During her lifetime she shot more than 100,000 images, which she kept hidden from the world. In 2007, two years before her death, Chicago historic preservationist John Maloof discovered a trove of negatives, and roll upon roll of undeveloped film in a storage locker he bought at auction. They revealed a surprising and accomplished artist and a stunning body of work, which Maloof championed and brought to worldwide acclaim. Vivian Maier presents the most comprehensive collection and largest selection of the photographer's work-created during the 1950s through the 1970s in New York, Chicago, and on her travels around the country-almost exclusively unpublished and including her previously unknown color work. It features images of and excerpts from Maier's personal artifacts, memorabilia, and audiotapes, made available for the first time. This remarkable volume draws upon recently conducted interviews with people who knew Maier, which shed new light on Maier's photographic skill and her life.


The origin of Pacific islanders is still an open issue in human population genetics. To address this topic we analyzed a set of 18 Alu insertion polymorphisms in a total of 176 chromosomes from native Easter Island inhabitants (Rapanui). Available genealogical records allowed us to subdivide the total island sample into two groups, representative of the native population living in the island around 1900, and another formed by individuals with some ancestors of non‐Rapanui origin. Significant genetic differentiation was found between these groups, allowing us to make some biodemographic and historical inferences about the origin and evolution of this geographically isolated island population. Our data are consistent with equivalent and recent contributions from Amerindian and European migrants to the 1900s Rapanui population, with an accelerated increase in the European gene flow during the 20th century, especially since the 1960s. Comparative analysis of our results with other available Alu variation data on neighbouring populations supports the "Voyaging Corridor" model of Polynesian human settlement, which indicates that pre‐Polynesians are mainly derived from Southeast Asian and Wallacean populations rather than from Taiwan or the Philippines. This study underlines the importance of sampling and taking into account historical information in genetic studies to unravel the recent evolution of human populations.


In 2003, the Scottish Parliament enacted the Land Reform (Scotland) Act, which, among other reforms, grants to "everyone" a right to access virtually all land in Scotland for a wide variety of purposes, including recreation, educational activities, and even some commercial or for-profit activities. Legal recognition of this broad-ranging "right to roam" comes after more than a century of debate over the public's right to access privately-owned land in the Scottish Highlands. This paper is the first historical account of the origins of the remarkable Scottish right to roam. It sets the debate over the right to roam with a clash between two different visions of the sporting life: One, older, rooted in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, viewed the sporting life as one of hunting, aided by the use of modern technology — rifles and such — and much older technology in the form of dogs and horses. The other vision is of more recent vintage. It is a vision of contact with nature through walking, hiking, and similar forms of unmediated interaction with nature. Curiously, both visions of the sporting life claimed the mantle of preservation and conservation. The paper argues that the culture of unmediated contact with nature ultimately prevailed as a democratic culture became more entrenched in both politics and society.


Improved validation for models of complex systems has been a primary focus over the past year for the Resilience in Complex Systems Research Challenge. This document describes a set of research directions that are the result of distilling those ideas into three categories of research—epistemic uncertainty, strong tests, and value of information. The content of this document can be used to transmit valuable information to future research activities, update the Resilience in Complex Systems Research Challenge's roadmap, inform the upcoming FY18 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) call and research proposals, and facilitate collaborations between Sandia and external organizations. The recommended research directions can provide topics for collaborative research, development of proposals, workshops, and other opportunities.