Every family is a ghost story ...' As a child, Charley Benetto was told by his father, 'You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's boy, but you can't be both.' So he chooses his father, only to see him disappear when Charley is on the verge of adolescence. Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been destroyed by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits rock bottom after discovering he won't be invited to his only daughter's wedding. And he decides to take his own life. Charley makes a midnight ride to his small hometown: his final journey. But as he staggers into his old house, he makes an astonishing discovery. His mother - who died eight years earlier - is there, and welcomes Charley home as if nothing had ever happened. What follows is the one seemingly ordinary day so many of us yearn for: a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets and to seek forgiveness.


Adult and continuing education practitioners must engage in continuing professional education as a means of developing and maintaining their professional competence. This paper reviews the literature on competencies for continuing educators and examines the strengths of existing instruments for continuing educators to self-assess their competencies. One of the challenges in this process has been a means to systematically and comprehensively assess existing knowledge and skills and to identify where competencies are not adequate. This paper describes an assessment instrument that addresses these challenges and builds on the strengths of existing tools. It describes the development of a tool through a consultative process that identified the range of practitioner competencies required of adult and continuing educators. The assessment tool incorporates a behaviorally based approach to assessing identified competencies. It is unique because it addresses many of the needs identified in the literature including well articulated criteria for making judgments about a person's current knowledge and skills, a format that allows for clear identification of gaps in learning so that meaningful professional development can take place, the clear structure needed to develop a "portfolio" of skills, and a format that requires the provision of evidence to support claims of proficiency in the identified areas. Though the development of the tool was initiated through the development of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition processes, it is anticipated that it will be useful for continuing educators to undertake self-assessments as a basis for hiring, career laddering, and planning their ongoing professional development activities and goals. In both cases it provides a framework for meaningful reflection, assessment, gap identification, and planning.


Pain is one of medicine's greatest mysteries. When farmer John Mitson caught his hand in a baler, he cut off his trapped hand and carried it to a neighbor. "Sheer survival and logic" was how he described it. "And strangely, I didn't feel any pain." How can this be? We're taught that pain is a warning message to be heeded at all costs, yet it can switch off in the most agonizing circumstances or switch on for no apparent reason. Many scientists, philosophers, and laypeople imagine pain to operate like a rigid, simple signaling system, as if a particular injury generates a fixed amount of pain that simply gets transmitted to the brain; yet this mechanistic model is woefully lacking in the face of the surprising facts about what people and animals do and experience when their bodies are damaged. Patrick Wall looks at these questions and sets his scientific account in a broad context, interweaving it with a wealth of fascinating and sometimes disturbing historical detail, such as famous characters who derived pleasure from pain, the unexpected reactions of injured people, the role of endorphins, and the power of placebo. He covers cures of pain, ranging from drugs and surgery, through relaxation techniques and exercise, to acupuncture, electrical nerve stimulation, and herbalism. Pain involves our state of mind, our social mores and beliefs, and our personal experiences and expectations. Stepping beyond the famous neurologic gate-control theory for which he is known, Wall shows that pain is a matter of behavior and its manifestation differs among individuals, situations, and cultures. "The way we deal with pain is an expression of individuality."


This thesis presents a novel, generic framework for information segmentation in document images.
A document image contains different types of information, for instance, text (machine printed/handwritten), graphics, signatures, and stamps.
It is necessary to segment information in documents so that to process such segmented information only when required in automatic document processing workflows.

The main contribution of this thesis is the conceptualization and implementation of an information segmentation framework that is based on part-based features.
The generic nature of the presented framework makes it applicable to a variety of documents (technical drawings, magazines, administrative, scientific, and academic documents) digitized using different methods (scanners, RGB cameras, and hyper-spectral imaging (HSI) devices).
A highlight of the presented framework is that it does not require large training sets, rather a few training samples (for instance, four pages) lead to high performance, i.e., better than previously existing methods.
In addition, the presented framework is simple and can be adapted quickly to new problem domains.
This thesis is divided into three major parts on the basis of document digitization method (scanned, hyper-spectral imaging, and camera captured) used.

In the area of scanned document images, three specific contributions have been realized.
The first of them is in the domain of signature segmentation in administrative documents.
In some workflows, it is very important to check the document authenticity before processing the actual content.
This can be done based on the available seal of authenticity, e.g., signatures.
However, signature verification systems expect pre-segmented signature image, while signatures are usually a part of document.
To use signature verification systems on document images, it is necessary to first segment signatures in documents.
This thesis shows that the presented framework can be used to segment signatures in administrative documents.
The system based on the presented framework is tested on a publicly available dataset where it outperforms the state-of-the-art methods and successfully segmented all signatures, while less than half of the found signatures are false positives.
This shows that it can be applied for practical use.

The second contribution in the area of scanned document images is segmentation of stamps in administrative documents.
A stamp also serves as a seal for documents authenticity.
However, the location of stamp on the document can be more arbitrary than a signature depending on the person sealing the document.
This thesis shows that a system based on our generic framework is able to extract stamps of any arbitrary shape and color.
The evaluation of the presented system on a publicly available dataset shows that it is also able to segment black stamps (that were not addressed in the past) with a recall and precision of 83% and 73%, respectively.
%Furthermore, to segment colored stamps, this thesis presents a novel feature set which is based on intensity gradient, is able to extract unseen, colored, arbitrary shaped, textual as well as graphical stamps, and outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

The third contribution in the scanned document images is in the domain of information segmentation in technical drawings (architectural floorplans, maps, circuit diagrams, etc.) containing usually a large amount of graphics and comparatively less textual components. Further, as in technical drawings, text is overlapping with graphics.
Thus, automatic analysis of technical drawings uses text/graphics segmentation as a pre-processing step.
This thesis presents a method based on our generic information segmentation framework that is able to detect the text, which is touching graphical components in architectural floorplans and maps.
Evaluation of the method on a publicly available dataset of architectural floorplans shows that it is able to extract almost all touching text components with precision and recall of 71% and 95%, respectively.
This means that almost all of the touching text components are successfully extracted.

In the area of hyper-spectral document images, two contributions have been realized.
Unlike normal three channels RGB images, hyper-spectral images usually have multiple channels that range from ultraviolet to infrared regions including the visible region.
First, this thesis presents a novel automatic method for signature segmentation from hyper-spectral document images (240 spectral bands between 400 - 900 nm).
The presented method is based on a part-based key point detection technique, which does not use any structural information, but relies only on the spectral response of the document regardless of ink color and intensity.
The presented method is capable of segmenting (overlapping and non-overlapping) signatures from varying backgrounds like, printed text, tables, stamps, logos, etc.
Importantly, the presented method can extract signature pixels and not just the bounding boxes.
This is substantial when signatures are overlapping with text and/or other objects in image. Second, this thesis presents a new dataset comprising of 300 documents scanned using a high-resolution hyper-spectral scanner. Evaluation of the presented signature segmentation method on this hyper-spectral dataset shows that it is able to extract signature pixels with the precision and recall of 100% and 79%, respectively.

Further contributions have been made in the area of camera captured document images. A major problem in the development of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) systems for camera captured document images is the lack of labeled camera captured document images datasets. In the first place, this thesis presents a novel, generic, method for automatic ground truth generation/labeling of document images. The presented method builds large-scale (i.e., millions of images) datasets of labeled camera captured / scanned documents without any human intervention. The method is generic and can be used for automatic ground truth generation of (scanned and/or camera captured) documents in any language, e.g., English, Russian, Arabic, Urdu. The evaluation of the presented method, on two different datasets in English and Russian, shows that 99.98% of the images are correctly labeled in every case.

Another important contribution in the area of camera captured document images is the compilation of a large dataset comprising 1 million word images (10 million character images), captured in a real camera-based acquisition environment, along with the word and character level ground truth. The dataset can be used for training as well as testing of character recognition systems for camera-captured documents. Various benchmark tests are performed to analyze the behavior of different open source OCR systems on camera captured document images. Evaluation results show that the existing OCRs, which already get very high accuracies on scanned documents, fail on camera captured document images.
Using the presented camera-captured dataset, a novel character recognition system is developed which is based on a variant of recurrent neural networks, i.e., Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) that outperforms all of the existing OCR engines on camera captured document images with an accuracy of more than 95%.

Finally, this thesis provides details on various tasks that have been performed in the area closely related to information segmentation. This includes automatic analysis and sketch based retrieval of architectural floor plan images, a novel scheme for online signature verification, and a part-based approach for signature verification. With these contributions, it has been shown that part-based methods can be successfully applied to document image analysis.


How architecture and urbanism can help to care for and repair a broken planet: essays and illustrated case studies.Today, architecture and urbanism are capital-centric, speculation-driven, and investment-dominated. Many cannot afford housing. Austerity measures have taken a disastrous toll on public infrastructures. The climate crisis has rendered the planet vulnerable, even uninhabitable. This book offers an alternative vision in architecture and urbanism that focuses on caring for a broken planet. Rooted in a radical care perspective that always starts from the given, in the midst of things, this edited collection of essays and illustrated case studies documents ideas and practices from an extraordinarily diverse group of contributors.Focusing on the three crisis areas of economy, ecology, and labor, the book describes projects including village reconstruction in China; irrigation in Spain; community land trust in Puerto Rico; revitalization of modernist public housing in France; new alliances in informal settlements in Nairobi; and the redevelopment of traditional building methods in flood areas in Pakistan. Essays consider such topics as ethical architecture, land policy, creative ecologies, diverse economies, caring communities, and the exploitation of labor. Taken together, these case studies and essays provide evidence that architecture and urbanism have the capacity to make the planet livable, again.Essays byMauro Baracco, Sara Brolund de Carvalho, Jane Da Mosto, Angelika Fitz, Helene Frichot, Katherine Gibson, Mauro Gil-Fournier Esquerra, Valeria Graziano, Gabu Heindl, Elke Krasny, Lisa Law, Ligia Nobre, Meike Schalk, Linda Tegg, Ana Carolina Tonetti, Kim Trogal, Joan C. Tronto, Theresa Williamson, Louise WrightCase studiesaaa atelier d'architecture autogeree, Ayuntamiento BCN, Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury/Urbana, Ciclica [Space.Community.Ecology] + CAVAA arquitectes, Care+Repair Tandems Vienna (including Gabu Heindl, Zissis Kotionis + Phoebe Giannisi, rotor, Meike Schalk + Sara Brolund de Carvalho, Cristian Stefanescu, Rosario Talevi and many others), Colectivo 720, Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, EAHR Emergency Architecture & Human Rights, Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Cano Martin Pena CLT, Anna Heringer, Anupama Kundoo, KDI Kounkuey Design Initiative, Lacaton & Vassal, Yasmeen Lari, muf architecture/art, Paulo Mendes da Rocha + MMBB, RUF Rural Urban Framework, Studio Vlay Streeruwitz, De Vylder Vinck Taillieu, Xu Tiantian/DnA_Design and Architecture, ZUsammenKUNFT BerlinCopublished with Architekturzentrum Wien


In November of 2006, the North Carolina State Board of Education voted to discontinue the use of the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards as the guiding and foundational knowledge base for the training of future educational leaders in North Carolina. In December of 2006, a new set of benchmark standards was established in the form of The North Carolina Standards for School Executives. The purpose of this study was to discover the effectiveness in using the ISLLC Standards for equipping education leadership graduates with the skills needed to be successful in their roles and responsibilities as school leaders. The research study was conducted in two phases: interviews and a survey. In total, 127 individuals participated in one of the two phases of research. Participants were graduates from one of three University of North Carolina at Greensboro Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations (ELC) programs between the years of 1998-2008. The second phase of research was conducted using a web-based survey software. The study yielded a great deal of usable information regarding the effectiveness of an ISLLC-based education in preparing educational leaders for the roles and responsibilities of the workplace. The study also yielded substantial feedback about the effectiveness of the MSA, Ed.S, and Ed.D programs, as a whole, within the ELC Department at UNC-Greensboro.


Menopause is a complex time in the lives of mid-aged women, and this contributes to the diversity of attributions of menopausal experience. In this study, participants' comments on a survey of attitudes about menopause were analyzed discursively to consider how mid-aged women account for their own and other women's experience of menopause. Two discourses drawn upon to make attributions about menopausal experience were identified. Women account for menopausal experience either by reporting a range of healthy habits such as good diet and exercise or by suggesting women can overcome menopause with a "get-on-with-it" approach to life. These discourses construct women as social actors within a moral order in which the absence of menopausal symptoms is an indicator of virtuous behavior, and health is a moral imperative. The way these attributions of menopausal experience position mid-aged women has important implications for women's self-image and health-seeking behaviors.


The deep structure of an image is investigated, and a Multi-Scale Singularity Tree (MSST) is constructed based on the pair-wise annihilations of critical points. This report contains two main contributions. Firstly, we describe a fast, simple, and robust method of extracting feature lines from data sets of up to four dimensions, which we apply in order to extract critical paths from scale-spaces. Secondly, we investigate the extracting of MSSTs using either support regions or extrema partitions. Given an image, both methods produce a binary tree that mathematically represents the topological structures of the image. The software described in this report is available through the EU-project, Deep Structure, Singularities, and Computer Vision. 1 Scales, Deep Structures, and Trees The concept of scales is applied everywhere, explicitly otherwise implicitly. Images of the same scene might look completely different when measured at different scales. Without relevant prior knowledge, we do not know what scale is better than another and all scales are equally important. We have to take all of them into account resulting in multi-scale schemes. In this report, we use a simple mathematical frame-work for working with multi scales called the Gaussian scale-space[8, 21, 10]. In practice, the finest and the coarsest scales are limited by the inner scalethe resolution of the measurement device and the outer scalethe size of the image, respectively. Between the inner and the outer scale, critical points move, annihilate and possibly are created. The movements and interactions of these critical points at all scales are called the deep structure of the image. It incorporates the structure of an image at all possible scales. The deep structure depends on the dimensionality of the image[10, 3]. Only annihilations of critical points occur in one-dimensional signal, while creations of critical points are also possible for images of higher dimensionality. For generic images1, only pair-wise creations and annihilations of critical points of opposite Hessian signatures2 can occur. These annihilations and creations are called catastrophe events and the points that they occur in scale-spaces are called catastrophe points. The merging of image structures, suggests a hierarchy which can be represented mathematically using trees [11]. We call such a tree a MultiScale Singularity Tree(MSST). The long-term goal of our work is to use the extracted MSSTs as images descriptors. The approach is relatively new in computer-vision literatures. Using trees as image descriptors transforms the computervision problems into tree manipulation problems, which are well-studied mathematical problems. We expect that this approach will be useful in applications, such as image matching and recognition, image database indexing, image compression, etc. 2 Introduction to Gaussian Scale-Space The dimensional Gaussian scale-space of an dimensional image is an ordered stack of images, where each image is a blurred version of the former. The blurring is performed according to the diffusion equation, (1) where is the first partial-derivative of the image in the scale direction , and is the Laplace operator, which in 3 dimensions reads !#" $#" % . Images whose structure is not perturbed by noise. The sign of the determinant of the matrix of all second-order derivatives. Version: October 7, 2003 2 3 COMPUTING THE DEEP STRUCTURE IN GENERIC SCALE-SPACE IMAGES The Gaussian kernel is the Green's function of the heat diffusion equation, i.e. (2) ! ! "! (3) where # is the image at scale , is the original image, is the convolution operator, is the Gaussian kernel at scale , is the dimensionality of the problem, and %$ &(' , given $ being the standard deviation of the Gaussian kernel. The Gaussian scale-space is the only scale-space we will consider in this report, it will henceforth be called the scale-space. Convolution in spatial domain is equivalent to multiplication in Fourier domain, ) +* ,*.*/ 0 (4) with * as the Fourier transformation operator. Further, since differentiation commutes with convolution and the Gaussian kernel is infinitely differentiable, differentiation of scale-spaces is conveniently computed, ! 1 # ! 1 ) 2 ! 1 3 (5) Alternative implementations of the scale-space are spatial convolutions, finite differencing schemes for the heat diffusion equation, additive operator splitting[20], and recursive implementation[4, 19]. The Fourier implementation is the most convenient for specifying derivative operators and it is precise and fast for coarse scales. 3 Computing the Deep Structure in Generic Scale-Space Images Constructing a scale-space of an image adds a scale dimension, e.g. the scale-space of a two-dimensional image has dimensionality of three. We call such scale-space a ' scale-space. Similarly, constructing the scale-space of a three-dimensional image gives a scale-space. Although the dimensionality of the constructed scale-space depends on the dimensionality of the original image, critical points, namely maxima, minima and saddles, in the image at each scale are always points, and critical paths, which are the paths of critical points when the scale is varied, are therefore also always curves embedded in the scalespace. The following sections describe a method used to extract critical paths, the scale-space saddles and the catastrophe points on them. At each scale in a scale-space, points with vanishing spatial gradients are called critical points. The type of a critical point is derived from the configuration of the eigenvalues of the Hessian matrix computed at that position. Critical points with all positive eigenvalues are minima, critical points with all negative eigenvalues are maxima, and critical points with a mixture of both negative and positive eigenvalues are saddles. As we increase the scale parameter, the critical points move smoothly forming critical paths. At some scales, a pair of critical points with opposite Hessian signatures might meet and annihilate or be created. Such events are called catastrophe events, and the points where they occur are called catastrophe points. Generically3 , there are only two types of generic catastrophe events in scale-space namely creation events and annihilation events. It is further known that these events only occur between pairs of critical points differing in the sign of one and only one eigenvalue of the Hessian matrix. The notion of genericity is useful for regarding only the likely catastrophes, i.e. non-generic events disappear with small perturbations such as added random noise, while generic events do not. Version: October 7, 2003 3 3 COMPUTING THE DEEP STRUCTURE IN GENERIC SCALE-SPACE IMAGES


Adaptation in response to selection on polygenic phenotypes occurs via subtle allele frequencies shifts at many loci. Current population genomic techniques are not well posed to identify such signals. In the past decade, detailed knowledge about the specific loci underlying polygenic traits has begun to emerge from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we combine this knowledge from GWAS with robust population genetic modeling to identify traits that have undergone local adaptation. Using GWAS data, we estimate the mean additive genetic value for a give phenotype across many populations as simple weighted sums of allele frequencies. We model the expected differentiation of GWAS loci among populations under neutrality to develop simple tests of selection across an arbitrary number of populations with arbitrary population structure. To find support for the role of specific environmental variables in local adaptation we test for correlations with the estimated genetic values. We also develop a general test of local adaptation to identify overdispersion of the estimated genetic values values among populations. This test is a natural generalization of QST /FST comparisons based on GWAS predictions. Finally we lay out a framework to identify the individual populations or groups of populations that contribute to the signal of overdispersion. These tests have considerably greater power than their single locus equivalents due to the fact that they look for positive covariance between like effect alleles. We apply our tests to the human genome diversity panel dataset using GWAS data for six different traits. This analysis uncovers a number of putative signals of local adaptation, and we discuss the biological interpretation and caveats of these results.


OpenGL is a powerful software interface used to produce high-quality, computer-generated images and interactive applications using 2D and 3D objects, bitmaps, and color images. The OpenGLProgramming Guide, Seventh Edition, provides definitive and comprehensive information on OpenGL and the OpenGL Utility Library. The previous edition covered OpenGL through Version 2.1. This seventh edition of the best-selling red book describes the latest features of OpenGL Versions 3.0 and 3.1. You will find clear explanations of OpenGL functionality and many basic computer graphics techniques, such as building and rendering 3D models; interactively viewing objects from different perspective points; and using shading, lighting, and texturing effects for greater realism. In addition, this book provides in-depth coverage of advanced techniques, including texture mapping, antialiasing, fog and atmospheric effects, NURBS, image processing, and more. The text also explores other key topics such as enhancing performance, OpenGL extensions, and cross-platform techniques. This seventh edition has been updated to include the newest features of OpenGL Versions 3.0 and 3.1, including Using framebuffer objects for off-screen rendering and texture updates Examples of the various new buffer object types, including uniform-buffer objects, transform feedback buffers, and vertex array objects Using texture arrays to increase performance when using numerous textures Efficient rendering using primitive restart and conditional rendering Discussion of OpenGLs deprecation mechanism and how to verify your programs for future versions of OpenGL This edition continues the discussion of the OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) and explains the mechanics of using this language to create complex graphics effects and boost the computational power of OpenGL. The OpenGL Technical Library provides tutorial and reference books for OpenGL. The Library enables programmers to gain a practical understanding of OpenGL and shows them how to unlock its full potential. Originally developed by SGI, the Library continues to evolve under the auspices of the Khronos OpenGL ARB Working Group, an industry consortium responsible for guiding the evolution of OpenGL and related technologies.


The decomposition and burning of straw results in serious environmental pollution, and research is needed to improve strategies for straw collection to reduce pollution. This work presents an integrated design of multi-functional rice combine harvester that allows grain harvesting and straw baling. This multi-functional combine harvester could reduce the energy consumption required for rice harvesting and simplify the process of harvesting and baling. The transmission schematic, matching parameters and the rotation speed of threshing cylinder and square baler were designed and checked. Then the evaluation of grain threshing and straw baling were tested on a transverse threshing cylinders device tes rig and straw square bales compression test rig. The test results indicated that, with a feeding rate of 3.0 kg/s, the remaining straw flow rate at the discharge outlet was only 1.22 kg/s, which indicates a variable mass threshing process by the transverse threshing cylinder. Then the optimal diameter, length and rotating speed of multi-functional combine harvester transverse threshing cylinder were 554 mm, 1590 mm, and 850 r/min, respectively. The straw bale compression rotating speed of crank compression slider and piston was 95 r/min. Field trials by the multi-functional combine harvester formed bales with height×width×length of 40×50×54-63 cm, bale mass of 22.5 to 26.0 kg and bale density 206 to 216 kg/m 3 . This multi-functional combine harvester could be used for stem crops (such as rice, wheat and soybean) grain harvesting and straw square baling, which could reduce labor cost and power consumption.


There is no doubt that one of the unresolved contradictions of representation in postcolonial fiction is that of the relation between the colonizer and the colonized. This issue generates a wide spectrum of critical hues, exploring how present circumstances shape a postcolonial narrative technique. The present paper explores Ben Okri's In Arcadia (2002), attempts to display this innovative disturbing representation by investigating the narrative experimentation in the novel of Ben Okri. Okri's novel reflects the dilemma of individual freedom and libration, and the contemporary situation of fragmentation, rootlessness, dehumanization, displacement, and disorientation in a world where man finds himself suspended in a void of meanings. Okri's response to this dilemma is given by those scapes which become the new responsible creators of their own world by shaping fresh values, lives, and realities, which is reflected in the reshaping of the narrative mode of a postcolonial and postmodern Nigerian novelist, tempered with the narrative form and its representation of the experience of reality. His fiction has subverted the narrative modes of representation thereby dislocating the structure of narrative technique through the juxtaposition of spatial fragments from different situations. Thus, the hypothesis was that it would be valuable to analyze and examine Okri's narrative experimentation as a contemporary writer, in order to see the extent of innovative progression.


Citigroup has served as the poster child for the elusive promises and manifold pitfalls of universal banking. When Citicorp merged with Travelers to form Citigroup in 1998, Citigroup's leaders and supporters asserted that the new financial conglomerate would offer unparalleled convenience to its customers through "one-stop shopping" for banking, securities and insurance services. They also claimed that Citigroup would have a superior ability to withstand financial shocks due to its broadly diversified activities.By 2009, those bold predictions of Citigroup's success had turned to ashes. Citigroup pursued a high-risk, high-growth strategy during the 2000s that proved to be disastrous. As a result, the bank recorded more than $130 billion of losses on its loans and investments from 2007 to 2009. To prevent Citigroup's failure, the federal government provided $45 billion of new capital to the bank and gave the bank $500 billion of additional help in the form of asset guarantees, debt guarantees and emergency loans. The federal government provided more financial assistance to Citigroup than to any other bank during the financial crisis.During its early years, Citigroup was embroiled in a series of high-profile scandals, including tainted transactions with Enron and WorldCom, biased research advice, corrupt allocations of shares in initial public offerings, predatory subprime lending, and market manipulation in foreign bond markets. Notwithstanding a widely-publicized plan to improve corporate risk controls in 2005, Citigroup continued to pursue higher profits through a wide range of speculative activities, including leveraged corporate lending, packaging toxic subprime loans into mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations, and dumping risky assets into off- balance-sheet conduits for which Citigroup had contractual and reputational exposures.Post-mortem evaluations of Citigroup's near-collapse revealed that neither Citigroup's managers nor its regulators recognized the systemic risks embedded in the bank's far-flung operations. Thus, Citigroup was not only too big to fail but also too large and too complex to manage or regulate effectively. Citigroup's history raises deeply troubling questions about the ability of bank executives and regulators to supervise and control today's megabanks.Citigroup's original creators - John Reed of Citicorp and Sandy Weill of Travelers - admitted in recent years that Citigroup's universal banking model failed, and they called on Congress to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act's separation between commercial and investment banks. As Reed and Weill acknowledged, the universal banking model is deeply flawed by its excessive organizational complexity, its vulnerability to culture clashes and conflicts of interest, and its tendency to permit excessive risk-taking within far-flung, semi-autonomous units that lack adequate oversight from either senior managers or regulators.


264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them larger than a matchbox: potter Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in the Tokyo apartment of his great uncle Iggie. Later, when Edmund inherited the 'netsuke', they unlocked a story far larger than he could ever have imagined...The Ephrussis came from Odessa, and at one time were the largest grain exporters in the world; in the 1870s, Charles Ephrussi was part of a wealthy new generation settling in Paris. Marcel Proust was briefly his secretary and used Charles as the model for the aesthete Swann in Remembrance of Things Past. Charles' passion was collecting; the netsuke, bought when Japanese objects were all the rage in the salons, were sent as a wedding present to his banker cousin in Vienna. Later, three children - including a young Ignace - would play with the netsuke as history reverberated around them. The Anschluss and Second World War swept the Ephrussis to the brink of oblivion. Almost all that remained of their vast empire was the netsuke collection, smuggled out of the huge Viennese palace (then occupied by Hitler's theorist on the 'Jewish Question'), one piece at a time, in the pocket of a loyal maid - and hidden in a straw mattress. In this stunningly original memoir, Edmund de Waal travels the world to stand in the great buildings his forebears once inhabited. He traces the network of a remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century. And, in prose as elegant and precise as the netsuke themselves, he tells the story of a unique collection which passed from hand to hand - and which, in a twist of fate, found its way home to Japan.


This article explores subversion as a practice of resistance and draws on the example of subversive radio for illustration. Radio became an important site of power struggles in the twentieth century, often placed in the service of both resistance and oppression. An examination of subversive acts in radio broadcasting, I argue, helps shift the focus away from the myths of heroic resistance, directing attention to the uncertainties encountered by the subversive actor. To make this argument, I build on Frantz Fanon's influential work on the resistant potential of radio and engage with literature on subversion and everyday resistance. The article illustrates the ambiguity of subversion on the case study of Radio Bantu, a broadcaster of ethnic-specific radio programmes established by the South African apartheid regime.


This paper presents FOLKER, an annotation tool developed for the efficient transcription of natural, multi-party interaction in a conversation analysis framework. FOLKER is being developed at the Institute for German Language in and for the FOLK project, whose aim is the construction of a large corpus of spoken present-day German, to be used for research and teaching purposes. FOLKER builds on the experience gained with multi-purpose annotation tools like ELAN and EXMARaLDA, but attempts to improve transcription efficiency by restricting and optimizing both data model and tool functionality to a single, well-defined purpose. This paper starts with a description of the GAT transcription conventions and the data model underlying the tool. It then gives an overview of the tool functionality and compares this functionality to that of other widely used tools.


Preharvest factors including agro-ecological conditions, cultural practices and crop variety selection greatly impact fruit quality potential at harvest and postharvest longevity. In this study, quality attributes of banana fruits (Musa spp), cultivars 'Williams' and 'Grande naine' produced under low chemical production system (LCPS) and conventional production systems (CPS) in Ecuador were investigated. The fruits produced under the two production systems were evaluated for various physicochemical attributes including peel hue angle, firmness, moisture content, starch, soluble sugars and titratable acidity (TTA). Sensory evaluation by untrained panelists was done to compare the organoleptic attributes of the banana fruits. The results showed that 'Williams' bananas from the LCPS had better eating quality as evidenced by higher soluble sugars, less starch and lower firmness and higher moisture content of ripened fruits' flesh. 'Grande naine' bananas generally had higher levels of TTA compared to 'Williams' and in both cultivars LCPS bananas had higher TTA levels compared to CPS bananas. These quality attributes were affected by variability in climatic conditions during the year-long period of evaluation. Sensory panelists did not clearly discriminate between LCPS and CPS bananas but showed preference for 'Williams' bananas over 'Grande naine' bananas. These results show that banana variety, cultural practices and harvest season affect the banana quality attributes at harvest and affect the eating quality of the fruits.


BACKGROUND. Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) causes an estimated 180,000 deaths annually, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa, where most patients receive fluconazole (FLC) monotherapy. While relapse after FLC monotherapy with resistant strains is frequently observed, the mechanisms and impact of emergence of FLC resistance in human CM are poorly understood. Heteroresistance (HetR) — a resistant subpopulation within a susceptible strain — is a recently described phenomenon in Cryptococcus neoformans (Cn) and Cryptococcus gattii (Cg), the significance of which has not previously been studied in humans. METHODS. A cohort of 20 patients with HIV-associated CM in Tanzania was prospectively observed during therapy with either FLC monotherapy or in combination with flucytosine (5FC). Total and resistant subpopulations of Cryptococcus spp. were quantified directly from patient cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Stored isolates underwent whole genome sequencing and phenotypic characterization. RESULTS. Heteroresistance was detectable in Cryptococcus spp. in the CSF of all patients at baseline (i.e., prior to initiation of therapy). During FLC monotherapy, the proportion of resistant colonies in the CSF increased during the first 2 weeks of treatment. In contrast, no resistant subpopulation was detectable in CSF by day 14 in those receiving a combination of FLC and 5FC. Genomic analysis revealed high rates of aneuploidy in heteroresistant colonies as well as in relapse isolates, with chromosome 1 (Chr1) disomy predominating. This is apparently due to the presence on Chr1 of ERG11, which is the FLC drug target, and AFR1, which encodes a drug efflux pump. In vitro efflux levels positively correlated with the level of heteroresistance. CONCLUSION. Our findings demonstrate for what we believe is the first time the presence and emergence of aneuploidy-driven FLC heteroresistance in human CM, association of efflux levels with heteroresistance, and the successful suppression of heteroresistance with 5FC/FLC combination therapy. FUNDING. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust Strategic Award for Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology 097377/Z/11/Z and the Daniel Turnberg Travel Fellowship.


The definition of the decline of long term yields in the light of increasing short term yields as a conundrum by Chairman Greenspan in February 2005 has generated a significant amount of research. This paper presents a study of yield curve dynamics over this period using economic surprise data as the diagnostic tool. Results are presented for both US and Japanese data which indicate a non-linear response of the yield curve to economic data and monetary policy over the period in question. Further, a limited model is presented that is consistent with the observations. This can lead to an explanation of the conundrum in terms of a non-linear yield response to expected long term inflation and a variable expected long term real rate.


This thesis addresses the electronic structure of molecular and correlated solids using resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering (RIXS), non-resonant X-ray emission, photoemissionand X-ray absorption spectroscopies. The use of monochromatised synchrotron radiation and improved energy resolution for X-ray emission have made it possible to elucidate the normal state transport properties and to get further insight into the electron-vibration coupling in fullerenes and the related compounds. The latter is particularly important in order to understand the physical mechanism of superconductivity in fullerene materials. The characteristic intermolecular charge transfer times in K3C60 are found to be longer than the X-ray scattering time-scale (a few femtoseconds). The slow intermolecular charge transport emphasizes that the reduced fullerene compounds can not be treated as simple metals, but rather as systems with strong electron correlation. The electron structure and the bonding character of the more covalent transition metal (V, Ti, Nb) fullerides have been addressed. Evidence indicating the existence of chemical bond between the metal atom(s) and C60 is presented, and the nature of the bond is discussed by comparing RIXS spectroscopic measurements and theoretical predictions. The (crystal) momentum conservation is discussed by comparing the spectroscopic data of a quasi-1D (carbon nanotubes) and quasi-2D (graphite) systems. Finally, the intra-atomic electron-electron correlation is discussed in the case of double core-hole state photo-excitation and de-excitation processes. RIXS including intermediate states with two core vacancies has been observed for the first time in the soft X-ray region.


As Chinese agricultural schools have gradually transferred from ineffective academic institutions to vocational education, the need for renewing teachers' attitudes, knowledge, and skills to implement the curriculum innovations is evident. The purpose of this study was to describe teachers' perceptions toward teacher training and reforms of curriculum and instruction in agricultural schools in China. The population for the study was teachers in 12 agricultural schools. A systematic random sampling technique generated a sample of 398 teacher participants. The results revealed that teachers supported curriculum reforms and they were interested in trying new ideas in their teaching practice. They believed that high quality of teacher training and professional development programs would help them to carry out the reform initiatives in curriculum and instruction. They also thought that knowledge and skills of teachers, attitudes of teachers, and new facilities and equipment were important factors affecting the process of curriculum reforms in agricultural schools. Therefore, policy makers and administrators should seize this opportunity to develop effective teacher education programs and address the needs of teachers in the process.


There is a deepening crisis in the funding of legal services in the United States. The House of Representatives has proposed cutting the budget of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), one of the main funders of legal assistance to America's poor, to an all time low in inflation-adjusted terms. Other sources of funding, such as Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) are also way down due to low interest rates. More than 135 state and local organizations providing LSC assistance are now in a precarious position. The community was already decimated by the last round of cuts in January 2011, that led to the laying off of 1,226 lawyers and support staff at LSC-funded organizations, and 81,000 fewer low-income Americans receiving aid. This is all occurring at a time of extremely high unemployment and state budget cuts in services supporting low-income people, meaning demand for many of these services is going up.The deepening crisis in funding of legal services only makes more pressing and manifest a sad reality: There is and always will be persistent scarcity in the availability of both criminal and civil legal assistance. Given this persistent scarcity, this Article will focus on how existing Legal Service Providers (LSPs), both civil and criminal, should ration their services when they cannot help everyone.To illustrate the difficulty these issues involve, consider two types of LSPs, the Public Defender Service and Connecticut Legal Services, that I discuss in greater depth below. Should the Public Defender Service favor offenders under the age of 25 instead of those older than 55? Should other public defenders offices with death eligible offenses favor those facing the death penalty over those facing life sentences? How should Connecticut Legal Services prioritize its civil cases and clients? Should it favor clients with cases better suited for impact litigation over those that fall in the direct service category? Should either institution prioritize those with the most need? Or, should they allocate by lottery?These are but a small number of the difficult questions faced by those who have to ration legal services. Very little has been said as to what principles should govern the rationing of legal services. This is surprising given that civil and criminal LSPs are often funded through a mixture of government funding and charitable support in such a way that they should be answerable on questions of justice, and because their decisions whether or not to support a client is likely to have significant effects on that person's life prospects. Thus, it seems as though the rationing decisions of LSPs deserve significant ethical scrutiny.In this Article, I seek to remedy this deficit in the existing literature by engaging in a comprehensive analysis of how LSPs should allocate their resources given the reality of persistent scarcity. Luckily, this work does not have to begin at square one. There is a developed literature in bioethics on the allocation of persistently scarce medical goods (such as organs, ICU beds, and vaccine doses) that I use to illuminate the problems facing LSPs and the potential rationing principles they might adopt.


An integrated, generic unibody composite pressurized structure (UCPS) combined with a positive expulsion device (PED), consisting of an elastomeric bladder for monopropellant hydrazine, has been quasi-standardized for spacecraft use. The combination functions as an all-composite, non-metallic, propellant tank with bladder. The integrated UCPS combines several previous innovations - specifically, the linerless, all-composite cryogenic tank technology; all-composite boss; resin formulation; and integrated stringer system. The innovation combines the UCPS with an integrated propellant management device (PMD), the PED or bladder, to create an entirely unique system for in-space use. The UCPS is a pressure vessel that incorporates skirts, stringers, and other structures so that it is both an in-space hydrazine tank, and also a structural support system for a spacecraft in a single, all-composite unit. This innovation builds on the progress in the development of a previous SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Phase I with Glenn Research Center and an SBIR III with Johnson Space Center that included the fabrication of two 42-in. (107-cm) diameter all-composite cryogenic (LOX and liquid methane) UCPS test tanks for a lunar lander. This Phase II provides hydra zine compatibility testing of the elastomeric bladder, a see-through PED to validate the expulsion process and model, and a complete UCPS-based PED with stringers and skirts that will be used to conduct initial qualification and expulsion tests. This extends the UCPS technology to include hydrazine-based, in-space pro - pulsion applications and can also be used for electric propulsion. This innovation creates a system that, in comparison to the traditional approach, is lower in weight, cost, volume, and production time; is stronger; and is capable of much higher pressures. It also has fewer failure modes, and is applicable to both chemical and electric propulsion systems.


In this dissertation a model of melt spinning (by Doufas, McHugh and Miller) has been investigated. The model (DMM model) which takes into account effects of inertia, air drag, gravity and surface tension in the momentum equation and heat exchange between air and fibre surface, viscous dissipation and crystallization in the energy equation also has a complicated coupling with the microstructure. The model has two parts, before onset of crystallization (BOC) and after onset of crystallization (AOC) with the point of onset of crystallization as the unknown interface. Mathematically the model has been formulated as a Free boundary value problem. Changes have been introduced in the model with respect to the air drag and an interface condition at the free boundary. The mathematical analysis of the nonlinear, coupled free boundary value problem shows that the solution of this problem depends heavily on initial conditions and parameters which renders the global analysis impossible. But by defining a physically acceptable solution, it is shown that for a more restricted set of initial conditions if a unique solution exists for IVP BOC then it is physically acceptable. For this the important property of the positivity of the conformation tensor variables has been proved. Further it is shown that if a physically acceptable solution exists for IVP BOC then under certain conditions it also exists for IVP AOC. This gives an important relation between the initial conditions of IVP BOC and the existence of a physically acceptable solution of IVP AOC. A new investigation has been done for the melt spinning process in the framework of classical mechanics. A Hamiltonian formulation has been done for the melt spinning process for which appropriate Poisson brackets have been derived for the 1-d, elongational flow of a viscoelastic fluid. From the Hamiltonian, cross sectionally averaged balance mass and momentum equations of melt spinning can be derived along with the microstructural equations. These studies show that the complicated problem of melt spinning can also be studied under the framework of classical mechanics. This work provides the basic groundwork on which further investigations on the dynamics of a fibre could be carried out. The Free boundary value problem has been solved numerically using shooting method. Matlab routines have been used to solve the IVPs arising in the problem. Some numerical case studies have been done to study the sensitivity of the ODE systems with respect to the initial guess and parameters. These experiments support the analysis done and throw more light on the stiff nature and ill posedness of the ODE systems. To validate the model, simulations have been performed on sets of data provided by the company. Comparison of numerical results (axial velocity profiles) has been done with the experimental profiles provided by the company. Numerical results have been found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental profiles.


This Essay demonstrates that the theory underlying ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.13(c), granting lawyers the option to reveal certain client confidences on a discretionary basis, doesn't work. Despite some compelling reasons for permitting disclosure of clients' "bad" behavior, economics dictate that it should be a rare case in which a lawyer will actually disclose. The Essay utilizes the facts of a recent case involving in-house certified public accountants who revealed to state tax authorities that their employer had not been compliant with state tax laws, and were fired from their jobs. In thinking about whether similarly situated attorneys could be fired or would violate their professional ethical duties if they engaged in the same acts, the Essay reviews and reflects upon the existing commentary on organizational/corporate lawyers' duties of confidentiality and the Model Rules' up-the-ladder reporting requirements. The conclusion: Even if the Rules permit disclosure in some circumstances, the real possibilities of being fired or tagged as a lawyer who can't be trusted with a secret are simply too great for even well-intentioned lawyers. The rule, then, is unlikely to encourage lawyers to disclose.The argument is made through a brief Essay rather than a longer analytical piece for two reasons. First, there exists ample and excellent literature filled with good and comprehensive analyses of the rules. What is lacking is an examination of how theory plays out in the real world. Second, the Essay is meant to provoke thought both among scholars, who function primarily in the realm of theory, and practitioners, who reside in the world of practice.


Joan Jonas approaches video as a drawing tool, a mirror, and a framing device. Since 1968, she has used video and performance to explore ways of seeing, the rhythms of ritual, and the archetypal authority of objects and gestures. With her influential 1976 work, I Want to Live in the Country (And Other Romances) Jonas nimbly structures an elliptical narrative that unmistakably establishes her voice and visual lexicon. I Want to Live in the Country features two locations--the untamed landscape of Nova Scotia and an artist's studio in New York City--as it examines themes of loss, displacement, time, and memory through still life compositions and Super-8 footage. Jonas creates a meditation of frames within frames, monitors within monitors, overlaid with poetic musings--a murmured story of the unconscious.Jonas's influences have included the writing of Samuel Beckett, the films of Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese Noh theater, and the work of John Cage. Stripped down to intimate, indelible gestures, I Want to Live in the Country (And Other Romances) explores a Beckettian dilemma: "I am both the observer and the object that I observe. Which of the two is the real 'I'?" In this richly illustrated Afterall book, Susan Morgan examines the emergence of Jonas's original work from this synthesis of influences and ideas.Joan Jonas, Professor of Visual Arts at MIT, is known for her pioneering video and performance art.


The recent, highly publicized cases of maltreatment of athletes have garnered critical attention by the public at large and stakeholders in sport, alike. For many, these cases threaten popular views that sport contributes in important ways to positive youth development. The growing evidence showing that maltreatment occurs to youth sport participants highlights the need for safe, harm-free sport environments as a fundamental prerequisite for positive developments to be reaped. By unpacking the case study of USA Gymnastics and Dr. Larry Nassar's abuses in this paper, the authors show that for athlete maltreatment to occur and be sustained across so many victims and so many years, more than a perpetrator is needed. The nature of the environment, from the interpersonal level to organizational policies and societal influences, contributes to the occurrence and perpetuation of athlete maltreatment. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological-systems model, the authors argue for a systemic approach to preventing and addressing athlete maltreatment. Recommendations are posed for safeguarding youth athletes and fostering the sporting conditions in which positive youth development can occur.


How do you cope in a world without your mother? When Barbara realizes time is running out, she writes letters to her four daughters, aware that they'll be facing the trials and triumphs of life without her at their side. But how can she leave them when they still have so much growing up to do? Take Lisa, in her mid-thirties but incapable of making a commitment; or Jennifer, trapped in a stale marriage and buttoned up so tight she could burst. Twentysomething Amanda, the traveler, has always distanced herself from the rest of the family; and then there's Hannah, a teenage girl on the verge of womanhood about to be parted from the mother she adores. But by drawing on the wisdom in Barbara's letters, the girls might just find a way to cope with their loss. And in coming to terms with their bereavement, can they also set themselves free to enjoy their lives with all the passion and love each deserves? This heartfelt novel by bestselling author Elizabeth Noble celebrates family, friends... and the glorious, endless possibilities of life. THINGS I WANT MY DAUGHTERS TO KNOW © Copyright 2011 by Elizabeth Noble. Reprinted with permission by Harper Paperbacks. All rights reserved.


In this brief response I address critiques of my book, Lawyers and Fidelity to Law, in the Texas Law Review by Tony Alfieri, Kate Kruse, David Luban, Steve Pepper, and Bill Simon. Although the critical response varies in detail, in general one can understand our differences using H.L.A. Hart's idea of an opposition between the nightmare and the noble dream of some practice or institution. A theory of law or legal ethics may be animated by a fear that a different approach is the road to some imagined hell, and I think this metaphor helps explain some of the points of contention in the debate over the book. The major figures in the field of legal ethics -- many of whom I'm honored to have as critics in this review symposium -- seem ironically to be worried about an excessive tendency on the part of citizens and lawyers to obey the law. Simon exalts civil disobedience and even nullification of law, Luban reminds us that the Milgram Experiments demonstrated that people are not particularly inclined to resist unjust authorities, and even Pepper, who has resolutely defended the standard conception against its academic critics for many years, has been concerned to provide avenues for conscientious objection by lawyers. The nightmare case in the back of the minds of these theorists is the German legal profession in the Third Reich or the American legal profession in the Jim Crow South, all too willing to lend their assistance and expertise to the administration of an unjust regime by faithfully interpreting and applying positive law. The figure of the lawyer-as-Eichmann haunts many legal ethicists. Their noble dreams invoke real lawyers like Louis Brandeis or fictional characters such as Atticus Finch to highlight the virtues of wisdom, discretion, and informed judgment about both morality and the law. Not surprisingly, these lawyers tend to be nonconformists and mavericks, willing to disobey orders or blow the whistle if they believe the client's ends are unjust. My nightmare, on the other hand, is set in a world in which not all lawyers possess the rectitude and trustworthiness of Brandeis and Finch, but are just as keen to act as moral free agents. The fear is not anarchy but the abuse of power. The figure that haunts my dreams is that of lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel presenting their "legal" advice with a straight face to the President, informing him that the law authorizes waterboarding, or of the in-house and retained lawyers for Enron who authorized the transactions that eventually toppled the company. In this nightmare vision, the lawyers do not believe themselves to be acting wrongly; rather, they think they are respecting the ethical principle of zealous advocacy. Never mind that they are counseling clients or structuring transactions, not acting as advocates -- they believe themselves to be ethically permitted to rely on strained, distorted, and implausible (or, stated more positively, creative and aggressive) interpretations of law to advance their clients' ends. My noble dream is not a lawyer of extraordinary wisdom and discretion, but merely a regular person who balks at bending the law out of shape to permit her client to do something. Within a moderately decent society, the ethics of lawyers acting as lawyers has to be oriented toward the law, not morality or justice. If lawyers wish to be activists or dissidents, they can be, but it is essential that they not confuse these very different social roles. I am not blind to the injustices that remain in the United States, but the legal response to this injustice should not be individual acts of sabotage or nullification. Lawyers can, and should advocate for change, but as always it should be zealous advocacy . . . within the bounds of the law. One of the principal aims of the book was to restore the last part of the lawyer's mantra just quoted to its proper place in legal ethics. Without the constitutive obligation of fidelity to law, lawyers are just sophists, offering nothing beyond the kind of half-baked moral advice that any decent client could supply for herself. If there is something distinctive about our profession, it has to be a commitment to the value of legality and a corresponding obligation to respect the law.


Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie educate readers in one of the hottest trends in business: "design thinking," or the ability to turn abstract ideas into practical applications for maximal business growth. Liedtka and Ogilvie cover the mind-set, techniques, and vocabulary of design thinking, unpack the mysterious connection between design and growth, and teach managers in a straightforward way how to exploit design's exciting potential.

 Exemplified by Apple and the success of its elegant products and cultivated by high-profile design firms such as IDEO, design thinking unlocks creative right-brain capabilities to solve a range of problems. This approach has become a necessary component of successful business practice, helping managers turn abstract concepts into everyday tools that grow business while minimizing risk.


The cold alpine saddle Colle Gnifetti, Monte Rosa, Swiss-Italian Alps resembles very much polar and subpolar ice masses in terms of glaciological conditions.It has been the site for several ice-core drilling campaigns over more than 20 years to determine paleoclimatological and glaciological conditions.To investigate the feasibility of geophysical methods for improved characterization of ice masses surrounding borehole and ice-core sites, a combined active reflection seismic and ground-penetrating radar pilot study has been carried out in summer 2008.Aims are the characterization of density, internal layering, seismic and radar wave speed and attenuation, identification of anisotropic features (like crystal orientation or bubble content and shape).Here we present the overall setup and first results. Seismic and GPR profiles were centered on an existing borehole location covering the full ice thickness of 62 m.Active seismics was carried out with 24-channel 3-m spacing recording, using a Seismic Impulse Source System (SISSY) along two profiles parallel and perpendicular to the ice-flow direction.The same profiles were complemented with GPR measurements utilizing 250, 500 MHz frequencies.Additionally, circular profiles with 250, 500 and 800 MHz were carried out circumferencing the borehole to detect anisotropic features.


The purpose of this study is to examine the issues surrounding why and how children and students are experiencing levels of disservice through school counseling programs within formal educational settings. The goal of this examination is to transform the school counseling profession to better serve children and students in a socially and educationally responsible manner. This aspect of the educational process is critiqued as having the potential to positively or negatively impact the present and future lives of everyone involved in the education of children and students, hence fostering productive growth or perpetuating oppression and the status quo. An examination of the author's lived experiences and literature pertaining to school counseling, counseling theories, education, race, and empowerment are utilized to illustrate why this issue needs to be addressed, why a philosophical and conceptual approach is needed, and what core factors influence the status of school counseling from historical inception to present-day theory and practice. The result of this examination is a recommendation to shift away from the traditional school counseling paradigm to an empowerment philosophy for both school counselors and their practice. This shift will require critical reflection of self, actions/practice, and world view, including one's life purpose, social responsibility, and concept of others. Everyone involved in the lives of children and students must be invested in this empowerment process. Factors that impact the operational framework of an empowerment school counseling philosophy are also discussed as critical to the overall implementation and perceived effectiveness.


One of the main issues with the use of nickel titanium alloy (NiTi) implants in cardiovascular implants (stents) is that these devices must be of very high quality in order to avoid subsequent operations due to failing stents. For small stents with diameters below ca. 2 mm, however, stent characterization is not straightforward. One of the main problems is that there are virtually no methods to characterize the interior of the NiTi tubes used for fabrication of these tiny stents. The current paper reports on a robust hybrid actuator for the characterization of NiTi tubes prior to stent fabrication. The method is based on a polymer/hydrogel/magnetic nanoparticle hybrid material and allows for the determination of the inner diameter at virtually all places in the raw NiTi tubes. Knowledge of the inner structure of the raw NiTi tubes is crucial to avoid regions that are not hollow or regions that are likely to fail due to defects inside the raw tube. The actuator enables close contact of a magnetic polymer film with the inner NiTi tube surface. The magnetic signal can be detected from outside and be used for a direct mapping of the tube interior. As a result, it is possible to detect critical regions prior to expensive and slow stent fabrication processes.


How did we go from John F. Kennedy declaring that religion should play no role in the elections to Bush saying, "I believe that God wants me to be president"?Historian Randall Balmer takes us on a tour of presidential religiosity in the last half of the twentieth century--from Kennedy's 1960 speech that proposed an almost absolute wall between American political and religious life to the soft religiosity of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society; from Richard Nixon's manipulation of religion to fit his own needs to Gerald Ford's quiet stoicism; from Jimmy Carter's introduction of evangelicalism into the mainstream to Ronald Reagan's co-option of the same group; from Bill Clinton's covert way of turning religion into a non-issue to George W. Bush's overt Christian messages, Balmer reveals the role religion has played in the personal and political lives of these American presidents.Americans were once content to disregard religion as a criterion for voting, as in most of the modern presidential elections before Jimmy Carter.But today's voters have come to expect candidates to fully disclose their religious views and to deeply illustrate their personal relationship to the Almighty. God in the White House explores the paradox of Americans' expectation that presidents should simultaneously trumpet their religious views and relationship to God while supporting the separation of church and state. Balmer tells the story of the politicization of religion in the last half of the twentieth century, as well as the "religionization" of our politics. He reflects on the implications of this shift, which have reverberated in both our religious and political worlds, and offers a new lens through which to see not only these extraordinary individuals, but also our current political situation.


Background: Telehealth-supported clinical interventions may improve diabetes self-management. We explored the feasibility of stepwise self-titration of oral glucose-lowering medication guided by a mobile telephone-based telehealth platform for improving glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. Methods: We recruited 14 type 2 diabetes patients to a one-year feasibility study with 1:1 randomization. Intervention group patients followed a stepwise treatment plan for titration of oral glucose-lowering medication with self-monitoring of glycemia using real-time graphical feedback on a mobile telephone and remote nurse monitoring using a Web-based tool. We carried out an interim analysis at 6 months. Results: We screened 3476 type 2 diabetes patients; 94% of the ineligible did not meet the eligibility criteria for hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) or current treatment. Mean (standard deviation) patient age at baseline was 58 (11) years, HbA1c was 65 (12) mmol/mol (8.1% [1.1%]), body mass index was 32.9 (6.4) kg/m2, median [interquartile range (IQR)] diabetes duration was 2.6 (0.6 to 4.7) years, and 10 (71%) were men. The median (IQR) change in HbA1c from baseline to six months was −10 (−21 to 3) mmol/mol (−0.9% [-1.9% to 0%]) in the intervention group and −5 (−13 to 6) mmol/mol (−0.5% [-1.2% to 0.6%]) in the control group. Six out of seven intervention group patients and four out of seven control group patients changed their oral glucose-lowering medication (p = .24). Conclusions: Self-titration of oral glucose-lowering medication in type 2 diabetes with self-monitoring and remote monitoring of glycemia is feasible, and further studies using adapted recruitment strategies are required to evaluate whether it improves clinical outcomes.


Mangrove forests in Peninsular Malaysia are found mainly on the sheltered coasts, estuaries, rivers and some near-shore islands. Mangrove forests support a diverse range of animals and plants and are important breeding ground for a vast array of organisms. The importance of mangrove forests in providing invaluable goods and services both in economics and environmental terms are well understood and documented. Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (FDPM) has been keeping abreast with current issues at the national, regional and international levels in managing the mangrove forests. FDPM has always been fully committed to the implementation of the sustainable forest management practices and in line with current concerns such as climate change, conservation of biological diversity and natural calamities including tsunami, have brought about a heightened expectation to the forestry profession. The policy and management of mangrove forests have great impacts on the political, social, economic, ecological and environmental well- being of the country, and thus managing mangrove forests is very challenging to the department. Mangrove forests management system has undergone changes from merely managing for its wood produce, to a management system that incorporates multiple roles, protection and conservation. Systematic management of mangrove forests started as early as 1904, with the adoption of the first working plan for Mangrove Forests in Matang. The Matang mangroves are identified as the best described mangrove forests in the world and is an exemplary of the sustainable managed mangrove forests. The Matang mangroves is in its third ten-year period of the second rotation, and after more than 100 years of management, the forest is still intact, providing sustainable various goods and services. This in itself is a manifestation of the success of forest management practices that aptly earned Matang mangroves as the best managed mangrove forests in the world. Special emphasis to the protection of the mangrove forests is enshrined in the National Forest Policy 1978 (revised1992) and duly recognized and given specific attention in the National Forestry Act 1984 (revised 1993). Future management of mangrove forests in Peninsular Malaysia will adopt an integrated approach by further refining the current management approach and incorporating latest findings and updated information through more vigorous R&D, scientific expeditions and studies on mangrove forests. A paradigm shift to conserve biodiversity even in the management of production mangrove forests will be emphasized. The National Forestry Policy and other policies related to mangrove forests need to be revised from time to time to match prevailing conditions and requirements, to ensure the realization of its multi-functions in perpetuity. The success in the sustainable management of mangrove forests by FDPM has in fact contributed to the sustainability of the Wetlands in Malaysia which is crucial to the survival and future health of the earth too.


Mandatory continuing education (MCE) has become widely accepted across many professions and jurisdictions in Canada as a re-credentialing mechanism. MCE is defined as continuing professional education (CPE) courses and/or programs, beyond the entry-level educational requirements, required by a licensure board, professional organization, or the workplace in order to maintain competence or retain licensure, certification, and/or employment. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the nature and characteristics of the CPE systems of the major health care professions in Canada. Overall, mandatory systems of CPE are increasing among allied health professional groups in Canada. This introduces significant opportunities for providers of CPE for the health professions. Important trends appear to include an increase in distance education formats, an increase in collaborative arrangements between providers, and an increase in the use of CPE to regulate practice.


There are fundamental tasks common to every society: children have to be raised, homes need to be cleaned, meals need to be prepared, and people who are elderly, ill, or disabled need care. Day in, day out, these responsibilities can involve both monotonous drudgery and untold rewards for those performing them, whether they are family members, friends, or paid workers. These are jobs that cannot be outsourced, because they involve the most intimate spaces of our everyday lives-our homes, our bodies, and our families. Mignon Duffy uses a historical and comparative approach to examine and critique the entire twentieth-century history of paid care work-including health care, education and child care, and social services-drawing on an in-depth analysis of U.S. Census data as well as a range of occupational histories. Making Care Count focuses on change and continuity in the social organization along with cultural construction of the labor of care and its relationship to gender, racial-ethnic, and class inequalities. Debunking popular understandings of how we came to be in a "care crisis," this book stands apart as an historical quantitative study in a literature crowded with contemporary, qualitative studies, proposing well-developed policy approaches that grow out of the theoretical and empirical arguments.


In this article, we present Spar (simultaneous planner for assembly robots), an implemented system that reasons about high-level operational goals, geometric goals, and uncertainty-reduction goals to create task plans for an assembly robot. These plans contain manipulations to achieve the assembly goals and sensory operations to cope with uncertainties in the robot's environment. High-level goals (which we refer to as operational goals) are satisfied by adding operations to the plan using a nonlinear, constraint-posting method. Geometric goals are satisfied by placing constraints on the execution of these operations. If the geometric configuration of the world prevents this, Spar adds new operations to the plan along with the necessary set of constraints on the execution of these operations. When the uncertainty in the world description exceeds that specified by the uncertainty-reduction goals, Spar introduces either sensing operations or manipulations to reduce this uncertainty to acceptable levels. If Spar cannot find a way to sufficiently reduce uncertainties, it augments the plan with sensing operations to be used to verify the execution of the action and, when possible, posts possible error-recovery plans, although at this point, the verification operations and recovery plans are predefined.


Preface. List of commonly--used abbreviations. Chapter 1 Fundamentals. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Inlets. 1.3 Collision--induced dissociation. 1.4 Detectors. 1.5 Mass resolution. 1.6 Data processing. 1.7 Isotopes. References. Chapter 2 Mass analysers. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Sectors. 2.3 Quadrupoles. 2.4 Quadrupole Ion Trap. 2.5 Time--of--flight. 2.6 Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance. References. Chapter 3 Ionisation techniques. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Electron ionisation. 3.3 Chemical Ionisation. 3.4 Field ionisation / Field desorption. 3.5 Plasma Desorption. 3.6 Fast Atom Bombardment / Liquid Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. 3.7 Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation. 3.8 Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. 3.9 Electrospray ionisation. References. Chapter 4 The ESI MS behaviour of simple inorganic compounds. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Simple metal salts. 4.3 Polyanions formed by main group elements. 4.4 Oxoanions formed by main group elements. 4.5 Borane anions. 4.6 Fullerenes. 4.7 Inorganic phosphorus compounds: phosphoranes and cyclophosphazenes. 4.8 Summary. References. Chapter 5 The ESI MS behaviour of coordination complexes. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Charged, "simple" coordination complexes. 5.3 (Neutral) metal halide coordination complexes. 5.4 Metal complexes of polydentate oxygen donor ligands: polyethers, crown ethers, cryptands and calixarenes. 5.5 Porphyrins and metalloporphyrins. 5.6 Metal alkoxides -- highly moisture--sensitive coordination compounds. 5.7 b--Diketonate complexes. 5.8 Metal complexes of carbohydrates. 5.9 Metal complexes of amino acids, peptides and proteins. 5.10 Oxoanions, polyoxoanions and related species. 5.11 Metal clusters. 5.12 Compounds with anionic sulfur and selenium donor ligands. 5.13 Characterisation of metal--based anticancer drugs, their reaction products and metabolites. 5.14 In situ formation of coordination complexes as an ionisation technique. 5.15 Summary. References. Chapter 6 The ESI MS behaviour of main group organometallic compounds. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Organometallic derivatives of group 14 elements. 6.3 Organometallic derivatives of group 15 elements. 6.4 Organometallic derivatives of group 16 elements organo--sulfur, --selenium and --tellurium compounds. 6.5 Organomercury compounds. 6.6 Other organometallic derivatives. 6.7 Summary. References. Chapter 7 The ESI MS behaviour of transition metal and lanthanide organometallic compounds. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Metal carbonyl complexes. 7.3 Metal isocyanide complexes. 7.4 Metal cyclopentadienyl and related complexes. 7.5 Metal h3--allyl complexes. 7.6 Metal arene complexes. 7.7 Formation of p--hydrocarbon complexes and their use as an ionisation aid. 7.8 Metal--acetylene/acetylide complexes, and complexes of metal--acetylides. 7.9 Transition metal s--alkyl and aryl complexes. 7.10 Mass spectrometry of lanthanide organometallic complexes. 7.11 Summary. References. Chapter 8 A selection of special topics. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 The characterisation of dendrimers using ESI and MALDI--TOF MS techniques. 8.3 Investigating the formation of supramolecular coordination assemblies using ESI MS. 8.4 Using ESI MS as a tool for directing chemical synthesis: A case studyinvolving the platinum metalloligands [Pt2(m--E)2(PPh3)4] (E = S, Se). 8.5 Applications of ESI MS in the detection of reactive intermediates and catalyst screening. References. Appendix 1 Naturally occurring isotopes. Appendix 2 Periodic table of the elements. Appendix 3 Alphabetical list of elements. Appendix 4 Mass Spectrometry Glossary of Terms. Appendix 5 Useful sources of information on mass spectrometry.


In this thesis the feasibility of a GPGPU (general-purpose computing on graphics processing units) approach to natural feature description on mobile phone GPUs is assessed. To this end, the SURF descriptor [4] has been implemented with OpenGL ES 2.0/GLSL ES 1.0 and evaluated across different mobile devices. The implementation is multiple times faster than a comparable CPU variant on the same device. The results proof the feasibility of modern mobile graphics accelerators for GPGPU tasks especially for the detection phase in natural feature tracking used in augmented reality applications. Extensive analysis and benchmarking of this approach in comparison to state of the art methods have been undertaken. Insights into the modifications necessary to adapt and modify the SURF algorithm to the limitations of a mobile GPU are presented. Further, an outlook for a GPGPU-based tracking pipeline on a mobile device is provided.


For indexing archived documents the Dutch Parliament uses a specialized thesaurus. For good results for full text retrieval and automatic classification it turns out to be important to add more synonyms to the existing thesaurus terms. In the present work we investigate the possibilities to find synonyms for terms of the parliaments thesaurus automatically. We propose to use distributional similarity (DS). In an experiment with pairs of synonyms and non-synonyms we train and test a classifier using distributional similarity and string similarity. Using ten-fold cross validation we were able to classify 75% of the pairs of a set of 6000 word pairs correctly.


Abstract'Smart cities' is a term that has gained traction in academia, business and government to describe cities that, on the one hand, are increasingly composed of and monitored by pervasive and ubiquitous computing and, on the other, whose economy and governance is being driven by innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, enacted by smart people. This paper focuses on the former and, drawing on a number of examples, details how cities are being instrumented with digital devices and infrastructure that produce 'big data'. Such data, smart city advocates argue enables real-time analysis of city life, new modes of urban governance, and provides the raw material for envisioning and enacting more efficient, sustainable, competitive, productive, open and transparent cities. The final section of the paper provides a critical reflection on the implications of big data and smart urbanism, examining five emerging concerns: the politics of big urban data, technocratic governance and city development, corporatisation of city governance and technological lock-ins, buggy, brittle and hackable cities, and the panoptic city.


A steadily mounting body of social science research suggests that ascertaining a person's conscious motives for an action may not always provide a complete explanation of why he did it. The phenomenon of unconscious bias presents a worrisome impediment to the achievement of fair equality in the workplace. There have been numerous deeply insightful articles discussing various aspects of this problem and canvassing its implications for antidiscrimination law. My purpose in this paper is to focus directly on what might be called a more naive question: should implicit bias be a basis of disparate treatment liability under Title VII? The question might fairly be regarded as naive insofar as any proposal for such liability would surely be unripe for present implementation, in light of serious issues pertaining to problems of proof in individual cases, not to mention intramural disputes among experts about the proper practical inferences that can be drawn from extant social science research. My interest, however, is more theoretically basic. I want to understand whether and how the notion of unconsciously biased action fits into our operative legal concept of actionable discrimination. To reach that issue, I devise a thought experiment in which I assume, first, that unconscious or implicit bias is real in a sense that I will make explicit, and second, that unconscious discrimination is provable – i.e., that the influence of implicit bias on an agent's action is something that can, in principle, be proved in individual cases. With these assumptions, I construct an hypothetical test case that squarely raises what I regard to be the hard question for theorizing about unconscious discrimination. Should an employment action give rise to liability when that action was provably affected by the actor's unconscious bias in respect of a statutorily protected classification, even when the actor consciously acted only on legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons? The payoff of this thought experiment is not only a clearer picture of the theoretical commitments entailed by liability based on unconscious bias, but also a keener understanding of our currently prevailing notions of actionable discrimination.


Abstract Non-traditional source countries of FDI play an increasingly important role, notably in developing host countries. This raises the question of whether the location choices differ systematically between traditional and non-traditional source countries. We perform Logit and Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood estimations to assess the determinants of bilateral FDI flows. We find that economic geography variables are more relevant for FDI from nontraditional sources. The risk aversion of non-traditional investors is not consistently weaker than that of traditional investors. Resource abundance and superior technology in the host countries represent minor pull factors of FDI from non-traditional sources.


The Intersection Decision Support (IDS) research project is sponsored by a consortium of states (Minnesota, California, and Virginia) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) whose objective is to improve intersection safety. The Minnesota team's focus is to develop a better understanding of the causes of crashes at rural unsignalized intersections and then develop a technology solution to address the cause(s). In the original study, a review of Minnesota's rural crash records and of past research identified poor driver gap selection as a major contributing cause of rural intersection crashes. Consequently, the design of the rural IDS technology has focused on enhancing the driver's ability to successfully negotiate rural intersections by communicating information about the available gaps in the traffic stream to the driver. In order to develop an IDS technology that has the potential to be nationally deployed, the regional differences at rural intersections must first be understood. Only then can a universal solution be designed and evaluated. To achieve this goal of national consensus and deployment, the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Transportation initiated a State Pooled Fund study, in which nine states are cooperating in intersection-crash research. This report documents the crash analysis phase of the pooled fund study for the State of New Hampshire.


In modern textile manufacturing industries, the function of human eyes to detect disturbances in the production processes which yield defective products is switched to cameras. The camera images are analyzed with various methods to detect these disturbances automatically. There are, however, still problems with in particular semi-regular textures which are typical for weaving patterns. We study three parts of that problem of automatic texture analysis: image smoothing, texture synthesis and defect detection. In image smoothing, we develop a two dimensional kernel smoothing method with locally and directionally adaptive bandwidths allowing correlation in the errors. Two approaches are used in synthesising texture. The first is based on constructing a generalized Ising energy function in the Markov Random Field setup, and for the second, we use two-dimensional periodic bootstrap methods for semi-regular texture synthesis. We treat defect detection as multihypothesis testing problem with the null hypothesis representing the absence of defects and the other hypotheses representing various types of defects. We develop a test based on a nonparametric regression setup, and we use the bootstrap for approximating the distribution of our test statistic.


In the twenty-first century, at the very moment that our economic and social lives are increasingly dominated by information technology and information flows, the judge-made doctrines of the First Amendment seem increasingly irrelevant to the key free speech battles of the future. The most important decisions affecting the future of freedom of speech will not occur in constitutional law; they will be decisions about technological design, legislative and administrative regulations, the formation of new business models, and the collective activities of end-users. Moreover, the values of freedom of expression will become subsumed withing a larger set of concerns that I call knowledge and information policy. The essay uses debates over network neutrality and intermediary liability as examples of these trends. Freedom of speech depends not only on the mere absence of state censorship, but also on an infrastructure of free expression. Properly designed, it gives people opportunities to create and build technologies and institutions that other people can use for communication and association. Hence policies that promote innovation and protect the freedom to create new technologies and applications are increasingly central to free speech values. The great tension in twentieth century free speech theory was the increasing protection of the formal freedom to speak against the background of mass broadcast technologies that reserved practical freedom to a relative few. The tension in twenty-first century free speech theory is somewhat different: New technologies offer ordinary citizens a vast range of new opportunities to speak, create and publish; they decentralize control over culture, over information production and over access to mass audiences. But these same technologies also make information and culture increasingly valuable commodities that can be bought and sold and exported to markets around the world. These two conflicting effects - toward greater participation and propertization - are produced by the same set of technological advances. Technologies that create new possibilities for democratic cultural participation often threaten business models that seek to commodify knowledge and control its access and distribution. Intellectual property and telecommunications law may be the terrain on which this struggle occurs, but what is at stake is the practical structure of freedom of speech in the new century.


The National Curriculum Statement for matric physical science places strong emphasis on the development of critical thinking and reasoning abilities of pupils. The successful implementation of this curriculum therefore requires teachers who are competent in the cognitive (intellectual) skills and strategies needed for learning science effectively. Testing of teachers' competence in this aspect is therefore important. I therefore analysed teachers' answers to questions that were carefully designed to test competence in some basic intellectual strategies that are important for problem solving in physical science courses. A total of 73 matric physical science teachers, from about 50 Dinaledi schools in the North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces in South Africa, were tested in five intellectual strategies: clear representation of problems, identifying and focusing on the goal, identification and use of relevant principles, use of equations for deductions and proceeding step-by-step with the solution. The teachers' competence was poor in all the intellectual strategies tested. About 60% (the average performance in all 13 questions used for testing) of teachers tested were unable to solve the questions correctly. An important objective of the curriculum is the development of critical thinking, scientific reasoning and strategies of pupils. This study shows that the achievement of this objective will be seriously handicapped because of the lack of competence of many teachers in intellectual strategies. There is therefore a need to train teachers in order to increase their competence in this aspect.


If you've ever spent hours renaming files or updating hundreds of spreadsheet cells, you know how tedious tasks like these can be. But what if you could have your computer do them for you? In Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, you'll learn how to use Python to write programs that do in minutes what would take you hours to do by handno prior programming experience required. Once you've mastered the basics of programming, you'll create Python programs that effortlessly perform useful and impressive feats of automation to:Search for text in a file or across multiple files Create, update, move, and rename files and folders Search the Web and download online content Update and format data in Excel spreadsheets of any size Split, merge, watermark, and encrypt PDFs Send reminder emails and text notifications Fill out online forms Step-by-step instructions walk you through each program, and practice projects at the end of each chapter challenge you to improve those programs and use your newfound skills to automate similar tasks. Don't spend your time doing work a well-trained monkey could do. Even if you've never written a line of code, you can make your computer do the grunt work. Learn how in Automate the Boring Stuff with Python.


Work, not just jobs or employment, is crucial for human progress: of the world's 7.3 billion people, 3.2 billion are in jobs, and many others engage in unpaid care, creative and voluntary work as well as other activities or prepare themselves as future workers. [This report] examines the links, both positive and negative, between work and human development in a rapidly changing world of work. Fast globalization, technological revolution, demographic transitions and many other factors are creating new opportunities, but also posing risks. The report examines how the benefits of this new world of work are not equally distributed, generating winners and losers. The report argues for a broader notion of work, one that goes beyond the jobs framework, to confront both persistent challenges such as human deprivations, inequalities, unsustainability, and gender imbalances in paid and unpaid work - as well as emerging ones - erosion of jobs, skills gaps, climate change and others. It concludes with a series of policy recommendations on how to enhance human progress through promotion of workers' rights and broader access to social protection.


This article investigates the problematic field of authentic speech in a fragile South African society where the imminence of shattering fragmentation is often addressed either by aggravating hate- speech or pacifying speech that seems to lack the will to come to terms with the full implications of the issues at hand. We attempt to reflect on the possibility of authentic speech in this context by picturing God and his purposeful presence in our fragmented world; speech that reflects and acts out the implications of what is observed in the revealing light of God`s living Word. In addressing the research problem the following aspects are researched: (1) we briefly reflect on the theological aesthetics involved in picturing God through the eyes and acts of faith, (2) explore the painful manifestation of fragmentation in the South African society (with poverty and HIV and AIDS as examples), and (3) attempt to homiletically speak the language of faith by picturing God in our fragmented world through the lens of the parable of the Good Samaritan. We come to the conclusion that authentic homiletic speech can only flow from a heart in which the hardened crust of perpetual attempts at self-righteousness and conservation of the own comfort-zone are shattered by the words and deeds of our Lord. It is through the words and deeds of our Lord that the preacher is enlightened to bear authentic witness to how God fuses a shattered reality and a shattered heart into a prismatic, multifaceted witness to the glory of his all-conquering healing power.


Ordained ministry, says Willimon, is a gift of God to the church--but that doesn't mean that it is easy. Always a difficult vocation, changes in society and the church in recent years have made the ordained life all the more complex and challenging. Is the pastor primarily a preacher, a professional caregiver, an administrator? Given the call of all Christians to be ministers to the world, what is the distinctive ministry of the ordained? When does one's ministry take on the character of prophet, and when does it become that of priest? What are the special ethical obligations and disciplines of the ordained? In this book, Willimon explores these and other central questions about the vocation of ordained ministry. He begins with a discussion of who pastors are, asking about the theological underpinnings of ordained ministry, and then moves on to what pastors do, looking at the distinctive roles the pastor must fulfill. The book also draws on great teachers of the Christian tradition to demonstrate that, while much about Christian ministry has changed, its core concerns--preaching the word, the care of souls, the sacramental life of congregations--remains the same. Ordained ministry is a vocation to which we are called, not a profession that we choose. To answer that call is to open oneself to heartache and sometimes hardship; yet, given the one who calls, it is to make oneself available to deep and profound joy as well.