FROM PASTORALS TO PATERSON: ECOLOGY IN THE POETRY AND POETICS OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS Daniel E. Burke, B.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2014 Modernist poet William Carlos Williams died in 1962 – a landmark year in the history of the modern environmentalist movement. He did not live to see contemporary culture come to the deeper appreciation of humanity's place in the world which we now know as ecology. This dissertation will argue, however, that supporting his entire oeuvre of poetry are philosophical and poetic underpinnings which resonate strongly with – and usefully anticipate – our modern understanding of the interpenetrative relationship between natural and culture, human and nonhuman. I begin by tracing the roots of Williams's "ecopoetics" back to the father of Williams's beloved free verse: Walt Whitman. Both Whitman and Williams use nature as subject and trope in their poetry, but the latter pointedly improves upon the work of the former by shifting the voice of his poetry from an anthropocentric (human-centered) perspective to a more ecocentric one – one which breaks down the traditional American Romantic notion of nature as apart from us, instead more readily acknowledging humanity as integral part and parcel of nature's cyclical systems. In the middle sections of the work, the focus centers exclusively upon Williams, especially in his earlier poetry and prose collection Spring and All (1921), as well as in his later five-book epic Paterson. In these, I reveal three distinct ecopoetic qualities of his poetry: 1) a continuation of the ecocentric poetic voice; 2) treatment of the "imagination" as a natural force (akin to steam or lightning) which humans harness to generate art; and, 3) an anticipation of modern ideas about the "local" in his use of his native New Jersey landscape as poetic subject. Through close readings, the study highlights these qualities as integral facets of Williams's poetics, marking his as a protoecopoet. The dissertation closes with a broader historical contextualization of Williams's ecopoetics as contrasted with other Modernists contemporary to his day – specifically Wallace Stevens and Lorine Niedecker. Through formal elements that mirror the previously argued traits of ecopoetics, we find Williams exceeding his peers and, I conclude, ultimately anticipating the kind of poetry we see being written by ecopoets in our own time.


The usage of turbochargers in diesel engines has led to the downsizing of the motors as well as usage of the waste gates in turbochargers. Any dimensional reduction in turbochargers and appurtenant leads to an enhancement on the performance of internal combustion engines and in environmental problems in terms of aerodynamic, thermodynamic and mechanical specifications for both engines and turbochargers. For this reason, the efforts need to be focused on the design of turbochargers and their waste gates accurately, in order to maintain its benefits as much as possible. The extent of waste gate opening, from full opened to closed valve, is demonstrated by the limiting compressor boost pressure ratio. Ultimately, an optimum point of limiting compressor boost pressure ratio is obtained then an increase in the values of BMEP and engine power for the same fuel consumption in range of waste gate opening is achieved


Literature represents human's experiences of life using language as its medium. Literature offers the readers either imaginative stories or any factual information. Therefore, literature is divided into two; imaginative and informative literature. Among imaginative literatures, song lyric is one of them. Hornby (1974:822) stated that, song lyric is a short poem in a number of verses set to music two be sung. In its writing, the songwriters or composers usually beautify the language they use by any figurative language, so that the listeners will be more attracted in listening the song. This study is aimed at describing the existance of figurative and moral lesson in the lyrics of Scorpion's song. The choice of Scorpion's songs is based on to reasons. The first is writer himself is a big fan of Scorpion. The second is the scorpion's songs does not only talk about love, but also freedom, equality, and other social issues. The writer of this thesis uses descriptive method. The population was fifteen song available in the album of Acoustica. Five songs are randomly drawn as the sample of the study by random sampling. Those song are You and I, Under the Same Sun, Love of My Life, Life is Too Short, and Wind of Change. In analyzing the lyrics, the writer of this thesis uses objective approach. After completing the study, the writer found out that the existing kind of figurative language in the lyric's of Scorpion's songs were paradox (5.7%), antithesis (18.57%), euphemism (20%), apostrophe (17.14%), synecdoche (5.7%), irony (5.7%), parallelism (2.85%), hyperbole (5.7%), simile (5.7%), personification (8.75%), and allusion (14.28%). Meanwhile the moral lesson found were: The war is so cruel that people should not declare in order to evade great loss of many innocent civilian's life (Under the Same Sun); Most citizens of any nation prefer to live democratically (Wind of Changes); A couple of lovers should trust and be loyal to each other (You and I); Loyalty is what a lover should give for his/her couple (Love of My Life); A lover should use time available wisely to please his couple (Love is Too Short).


-- With support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the UK and the Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau --

 The French Language in Russia provides the fullest examination and discussion to date of the adoption of the French language by the elites of imperial Russia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is interdisciplinary, approaching its subject from the angles of various kinds of history and historical sociolinguistics. Beyond its bearing on some of the grand narratives of Russian thought and literature, this book may afford more general insight into the social, political, cultural, and literary implications and effects of bilingualism in a speech community over a long period. It should also enlarge understanding of francophonie as a pan-European phenomenon. On the broadest plane, it has significance in an age of unprecedented global connectivity, for it invites us to look beyond the experience of a single nation and the social groups and individuals within it in order to discover how languages and the cultures and narratives associated with them have been shared across national boundaries.


Environment-dependent phenotypic expression, also known as phenotypic plasticity is exhibited to some degree by all organisms. Natural selection can act on the ability to respond to the environment allowing individuals to maintain fitness across heterogeneous environments. However, phenotypic plasticity can also potentially slow the rate of adaptive evolution within a population or result in maladaptive phenotypes. Despite the widespread occurrence and consequence for adaptive evolution, the genetic architecture and specific molecular variants that underlie phenotypic plasticity remain largely unknown. To evaluate patterns of plasticity and the genes that mediate the plastic response this work utilizes Drosophila melanogaster and its close sister specie Drosophila simulans. Individual lines collected from natural populations of D. melanogaster and D. simulans have previously been shown to exhibit phenotypic plasticity for several traits in response to changes in temperature and nutrition. However, these studies do not address patterns of plasticity across heterogeneous environments. To establish that the strength of the plastic response varies within and among natural populations isofemale lines of D. melanogaster and D. simulans were collected from three locations along the east coast and exposed to various larval rearing environment. The geographic pattern in the strength of the plastic response is only present in some traits and absent in others, which highlights the modular nature of phenotypic plasticity. To identify a gene that is able to modulate plasticity across several life history traits this work takes advantage of a candidate gene approach. A previously identified genetic polymorphism in the couch potato (cpo) gene in D. melanogaster mediates the propensity to diapause is shown in this work to affect the individual's ability to respond plastically across several life history traits. The patterns observed in the investigation of cpo parallel the patterns of plasticity observed in natural populations. Thus, polymorphism in cpo gene may play an important role in the meditation of plasticity in natural populations. These findings provide insight into plasticity within natural populations and the genes that underlie the strength of the plastic response. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Biology First Advisor Paul S. Schmidt


Games figured prominently in the myths of North American Indian tribes, and also in their ceremonies for bringing rain and fertility and combating misfortune. In his classic study, originally published in 1907 as a report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Stewart Culin divided the games played by Indian men and women into two general types. Volume 1 of this Bison Books edition takes up games of chance, involving guessing and throwing dice. Culin was able to show that the games of North American tribes were remarkably similar in method and purpose. He found that games using dice of various materials-wood, cane, bone, animal teeth, fruit stones-existed among 130 tribes belonging to 30 linguistic groups. The games are described in detail in this volume, and so are the popular guessing games drawing on sticks and wooden disks and involving hidden objects. Volume 2 is just as absorbing in its elaboration of skills like archery and games like snow-snake, in which darts or javelins were hurled over snow or ice. Played throughout the continent north of Mexico were the hoop and pole game and its miniature, solitaire form called ring and pin, here illustrated. With equal authority Culin discusses ball games: racket, shinny, football, and hot ball. He includes accounts of "minor amusements": shuttlecock, tipcat, quoits, popgun, bean shooter, and cat's cradle. Originally published in 1907, Stewart Culin's comprehensive work reveals a side of American Indian culture still only rarely shown. An experienced observer, Culin was curator of ethnology at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and the author of books about games in other cultures.


Adam Smith first suggested there is a strong link between the development of a nationalistic-oriented government, the rise of a capitalistic economy, and the expansion of an empathic gaze toward another's plight. From this, it follows that once someone becomes aware of misfortune or an injustice, an ethical imperative will arise to do something to alleviate the suffering of others. From this it follows that the more fully integrated a community, the greater its interdependence within the global economy. Communities that are less linked to a national or global economy should have a weakly internalised set of social values such as justice and altruism. To date, there is no study designed to probe this hypothesis. China presents an opportune moment to revisit this discussion. In this paper, I will examine the transformation of the Chinese moral universe as it is reflected primarily in their changing evaluation of the role of the lawyer in Chinese society. In addition, cultural attitudes and patterns of charity donation will also be discussed.


Using numerical simulations, we study how a solution of small active disks, acting as depletants, induces effective interactions on large passive colloids. Specifically, we analyze how the range, strength, and sign of these interactions are crucially dependent on the shape of the colloids. Our findings indicate that while colloidal rods experience a long-ranged predominantly attractive interaction, colloidal disks feel a repulsive force that is short-ranged in nature and grows in strength with the size ratio between the colloids and active depletants. For colloidal rods, simple scaling arguments are proposed to characterize the strength of these induced interactions.


There are three basic categories of optical disc drives--CD-ROM, Write Once Read Many (WORM) and Erasable/Rewritable. CD-ROM drives are definitely the most prevalent in the educational community, a phenomenon spurred on by the proliferation of educational CDROM titles. WORM drives are becoming more visible as administrators begin to understand the possible applications and benefits such drives provide. Erasable/Rewritable or write many read many drives are also coming into their own and may well overshadow WORM drives. Since an erasable drive can also be used to write once to a disc, it takes WORM applications one step further. The problem here is data security. Erasable media can be written on many times. As a response to this, a new breed of drives has emerged-the multifunction optical disc drive. Multifunction drives perform both tasks by writing to WORM and/or erasable media. * More and Less New items utilizing CD-ROM technology have also become available, the first of which is a CDROM changer. The Pioneer DRM-disc 600 changer's magazine holds up to six CD-ROM or CD audio discs, offering over three gigabytes of data storage. in addition, its two SCSI ports support the daisy-chaining of up to seven units from a single host computer. Network-compatible, the DRM-gives 600 students access to multi-volume CD-ROM databases or acts as a CD-Audio jukebox. Audio connectors enable the unit to be connected to an external sound system; it sports a built-in stereo headphone jack with volume control. The included JUKE utility program's menu builds a CD library plus offers an on-screen, remote control program window. A second utility supplied, Multi-Play Controller (MPC), is memory resident. MPC lets users access the changer while running other programs. Suited for use with portable, laptop or desktop computers, the CD Porta-Drive from CD Technology, Inc. displays CD-ROM materials on any portable computer. As an added benefit, the unit can be moved easily due to its compact, lightweight (4 lbs.) design. An external power supply, battery pack and optional carrying case further enhance the unit's portability. The CD Porta-Drive runs on DOS and Macintosh computers via a SCSI system interface and is network compatible. With a data capacity of 683MB, it also ships with software that enables it to play audio CDs. The unit's base price is $895; an additional amount is charged depending on the platform of intended use. Dr. H.D. Mayor in the department of microbiology College of Medicine uses the CD Porta-Drive to access DNA sequences and other genetic bank information stored on CD-ROM. The microbiologist has been using her CD-ROM drive with a Macintosh 11 for three months; it is used in the department's anatomy, cell biology and microbiology courses. She also takes advantage of its portability, taking it to various computers on campus. Mayor believes the drive will become even more useful to her as more CD-ROM discs are incorporated into department's curricula. * Magnetics and Optics CD-ROM and WORM technology are purely optical. In contrast, erasable/rewritable drives, developed over a year ago, use magneto-optical (MO) technology. The discs for these drives have several layers of polymers-usually either glass or plastic-with the active, center layer being magnetized. The device's laser heats up the polymer in the center layer. A nearby electromagnet reacts to this process by switching the polarity to either positive or negative. Particles are frozen into position when the polymer cools. The only way data integrity can be lost is through complete destruction of the disc. The only problem with MO is that it takes a little longer to write data because three passes are used-one to erase the section of the disc that will be written on, one to write the data and one to verify. Speed can be increased by instructing the drive to skip the verify pass. …


INTRODUCTION: Meningiomas originate from meningothelial cells. Meningioma is a common neoplasm in the CNS, representing about 15-20 percent of all primary intracranial tumors. Although malignant forms may spread via blood, lymphatic drainage and cerebrospinal fluid to distant sites, metastasis from a low-grade meningioma is very unlikely. CASE REPORT: A 19-year-old female was admitted to our hospital in 2001, with a one-month history of headache and two episodes of convulsions. Physical and neurological examinations were normal. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intracranial, extra-axial spaceoccupying lesion at the left frontal region. After total removal of the tumor, histopathology revealed WHO grade 1 meningioma. There was no neurological deficit after surgery. Three years after the tumor resection, subcutaneous metastasis developed on the scalp just behind the scar left by the previous surgery. Histopathology of the second lesion also revealed a WHO grade 1 meningioma. CONCLUSION: Isolated distinct metastasis from malignant meningioma has been mentioned in two reports previously. This is the first report that shows the seeding metastasis from low-grade meningioma to the surgical trajectory in the subcutaneous tissue of the scalp.


The tagging of objects or people with devices containing some form of unique ID that can be read remotely is a valuable technique for wearable computing applications. Many technologies have been adopted to support this functionality ranging from RFID tags to printed QR codes. In this demo we present an ultrasonic tag design with a range of over 8 metres which can be implemented using low power microcontrollers for both the tag and the receiver. In addition by using multiple devices we are able to achieve position estimation with an accuracy of better than 10cm.


This paper investigates empirically the effects of established country-to-country trade on income convergence across countries. Using the β-convergence criterion we demonstrate that poorer economies grow faster than richer economies with international trade. Consequently, we find empirical evidence of a convergence in per capita income among richer and poorer countries. Monte Carlo models are estimated to simulate the characterization of β-convergence in randomly created trading groups of 8 to 23 member countries' economies. Our results indicate that income convergence is less likely to occur in our randomly created trading partnerships than in those that are formed as part of existing trade relationships. This result reaffirms the argument that countries that have established trade relationships are more likely to experience income convergence than countries that lack such trade relationships. Additionally, our research provides new empirical evidence on the impact of international trade on economic growth in general. This information is particularly valuable for the current analyses of the costs and benefits of restricting international trade in the U.S. and elsewhere.


The time-dependent and temperature-dependent behavior of post-tensioned concrete bridges were investigated through a case study of the St. Anthony Falls Bridge, consisting of laboratory testing of concrete time-dependent behaviors (i.e., creep and shrinkage), examination of data from the in situ instrumented bridge, and time-dependent finite element models. Laboratory results for creep and shrinkage were measured for 3.5 years after casting, and the data were best predicted by the 1978 CEB/FIP Model Code provisions. To compare the in situ readings to constant-temperature finite element models, the time-dependent behavior was extracted from the measurements using linear regression. The creep and shrinkage rates of the in situ bridge were found to depend on temperature. An adjusted age using the Arrhenius equation was used to account for the interactions between temperature and time-dependent behavior in the measured data. Results from the time-dependent finite element models incorporating the full construction sequence revealed that the 1990 CEB/FIP Model Code and ACI-209 models best predicted the in situ behavior. Finite element analysis also revealed that problems associated with excessive deflections or development of tension over the lifetime of the bridge would be unlikely. The interactions between temperature and time-dependent behavior were further investigated using a simplified finite element model, which indicated that vertical deflections and stresses can be affected by the cyclic application of thermal gradients. The findings from this study were used to develop an anomaly detection routine for the linear potentiometer data, which was successfully used to identify short-term and long-term artificial anomalies in the data.


The European Market Coupling Company (EMCC) operates an interim tight volume coupling (ITVC) that implicitly allocates the interconnection capacities between Central West European (CWE) and Nordic (Nordpool) day-ahead electricity spot markets. Though it is to be replaced by a single price coupling in the near future, the volume coupling principle can still inspire pragmatic solutions for future challenges in other situations. In order to learn from the current experience, this paper offers elements of understanding on the interim volume coupling run by the EMCC that are not highlighted in the documents already available. In particular, a new analytical model of the tight volume coupling is developed to show that the ITVC principle would not generate any inefficiencies under three assumptions. This analysis thus offers a new perspective on the causality of adverse ow events. Furthermore, this model could be used to study other tight volume coupling mechanisms because it can be applied with minor modifications to any number of areas, other kinds of traded products or areas using a ow-based method. Learning from the ITVC experience, this paper proposes an example of improvement of the tight volume coupling method based on a stronger coordination between the numerical solvers. This improved mechanism could serve as an interim solution if a price coupling numerical solver does not provide satisfactory results because of the optimisation problem size or complexity. In this case, the proposed solution is expected to be a satisfactory implicit allocation method from both technical and governance points of view.


PURPOSE
To determine if selected client characteristics were factors influencing the provision of provider advice for diet, exercise, smoking cessation, alcohol cessation, eye and foot care, and influenza and pneumonia vaccine for those told by a provider that they had diabetes.

DATA SOURCES
Data from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey were used in a secondary analysis to answer the research question. This study used a subsample who self-reported having provider-diagnosed diabetes; the subsample comprised 2287 unweighted subjects that, when weighted, represent 6.38% of the civilian noninstitutionalized individuals with diabetes in the United States.

CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that many patients are not receiving all the eight processes of care studied, particularly those with new onset diabetes, elders, black people, and Hispanics.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
This study suggests that the present paradigm is not early prevention but treatment of established disease. Changes in entrenched thinking about clinical care need to be addressed. Patients with diabetes need to have an awareness that there is a standard of optimal care, and they should be encouraged to seek those who provide this care. Further, system changes may be required to address changes that are not easily made at the provider level.


A membrane-associated lipoprotein of Haemophilus influenzae type b has previously been shown to bind heme in vitro and to promote binding of this compound by Escherichia coli recombinants expressing this protein. The H. influenzae type b heme-binding protein A (HbpA) was found to be highly conserved with respect to both antigenicity and apparent molecular weight among heme-requiring Haemophilus species pathogenic for humans. To further the characterization of the structure and function of HbpA, the complete nucleotide sequence of its gene, hbpA, was determined. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence revealed a single large open reading frame of 1,638 bp encoding a protein of 546 amino acid residues, with a molecular weight of 60,695. The sequence of the amino-terminal end of this protein contained a potential site for lipid acylation and for cleavage by signal peptidase II, consistent with earlier biochemical evidence which indicated that HbpA is a lipoprotein. A search of GenBank for proteins with amino acid sequence similarity to HbpA revealed that the periplasmic dipeptide transport protein of E. coli, DppA, has 53% sequence identity to HbpA.


Phenology is a first‐order control on productivity and mediates the biophysical environment by altering albedo, surface roughness length and evapotranspiration. Accurate and transparent modelling of vegetation phenology is therefore key in understanding feedbacks between the biosphere and the climate system. Here, we present the phenor r package and modelling framework. The framework leverages measurements of vegetation phenology from four common phenology observation datasets, the PhenoCam network, the USA National Phenology Network (USA‐NPN), the Pan European Phenology Project (PEP725), MODIS phenology (MCD12Q2) combined with (global) retrospective and projected climate data. We show an example analysis, using the phenor modelling framework, which quickly and easily compares 20 included spring phenology models for three plant functional types. An analysis of model skill using the root mean squared (RMSE) error shows little or no difference regardless of model structure, corroborating previous studies. We argue that addressing this issue will require novel model development combined with easy data assimilation as facilitated by our framework. In conclusion, we hope the phenor phenology modelling framework in the r language and environment for statistical computing will facilitate reproducibility and community driven phenology model development, in order to increase their overall predictive power, and leverage an ever growing number of phenology data products.


A short review essay of Lawrence Friedman's "Guarding Life's Dark Secrets: Legal and Social Controls over Reputation, Propriety, and Privacy" (Stanford Press 2007). The essay argues that Friedman tells a nuanced and compelling story of the rise and fall of the "Victorian Compromise," a series of interlocking legal doctrines protecting the reputations of elites around the turn of the twentieth century. "Dark Secrets" undeniably advances our understanding of both the genesis of privacy law and the relationships between law and culture in the Gilded Age. As a work of legal history, it is an instant classic - a must-read for anyone interested in privacy law. But although Dark Secrets is first-rate legal history, it is less successful in its latter chapters when Friedman shifts his focus from the past to the present. The limits of Friedman's social criticism raise important questions about the ability of history alone to provide answers to social problems in our modern, networked information society.


Recently, edge computing has emerged as a promising computing paradigm to meet stringent quality-of-service requirements of an increasing number of latency-sensitive applications. The core principle of edge computing is to bring the capability of cloud computing in close proximity to mobile devices, sensors, actuators, connected things and end users, thereby supporting various types of services and applications at the network edge. In this article, we design capacity-centric FiWi broadband access networks enhanced with edge computing as well as resulting fiber backhaul sharing and computation offloading capabilities. More specifically, we introduce the concept of FiWi enhanced two-level edge computing at the access edge cloud and metro edge cloud. To guarantee low end-to-end latency, we propose a TDMA based polling scheme for resource management. Furthermore, given the vital importance of experimentally demonstrating the potential and practical limitations of edge computing, we develop an experimental testbed for edge computing across converged FiWi broadband access networks. The proof-ofconcept demonstration of the testbed is studied in terms of response time and response time efficiency of both edge clouds, including their respective energy consumption.


In this article, we develop a simulation model of the benefits and costs of managing the ponderosa pine forest ecosystem in the southwestern United States. Using the model, we evaluate and compare the economic benefits and costs of ecological restoration and hazardous fuel reduction treatments. Both treatment approaches increase the expected number of low-severity wildfires, which can promote postfire rehabilitation. Hazardous fuel reduction treatments are likely to reduce expected wildfire suppression costs, but not enough to offset the costs of implementing treatments. Conversely, ecological restoration treatments do not necessarily reduce expected wildfire suppression costs but fully restore the ecosystem in more than half of the simulation runs, which lowers the need for future fire suppression and reduces the chance of conversion to nonforest, alternative stable states. We find that the choice between hazardous fuel reduction and ecological treatments will depend on the management objective being pursued, as well as on site-specific factors such as the wildfire return interval and the economic value of biomass removed.


The use of scenario analysis to better understand portfolios has increased significantly since the global financial crisis. In this article, the authors describe a stress scenario framework and process that has been developed for risk management and investment management purposes. This hybrid framework, which the authors refer to as market-driven scenarios, works as follows. Scenario forecasts of key market indicators are first formulated by market practitioners. An econometric framework then uses these indicators as inputs to imply plausible shocks to a global set of risk factors. These factor shocks are finally put into a portfolio valuation engine, yielding hypothetical fund profit and loss (P&L) that can be decomposed into its underlying drivers. Key to the effectiveness of this approach is the cross-functional involvement of investors, risk managers, and economists. In conjunction, the authors define potential geopolitical or other macro events, specify potential economic outcomes, and translate them into shocks to key policy risk variables and risk model factors. The process is completed by applying the shocks to portfolios and evaluating whether P&L outcomes are consistent with fund mandates and whether positioning is deliberate, diversified, and scaled.


Sagebrush-steppe is experiencing vast changes due to biological invasions and changing fire characteristics. Understanding how these changes influence functionally important animals is essential for ecosystem management. American Badgers (Taxidea taxus) are an apex predator and ecosystem engineer within sagebrush ecosystems. Piute Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus mollis) are also an ecosystem engineer as well as an essential prey source for many predators.  Our objective was to evaluate the relative importance of large-scale changes, abiotic processes, and biotic processes on badgers and ground squirrels. We samples 163 1-ha plots across a gradient of burn histories within a 1,962 km2 area in Southern Idaho, USA. At each plot, we characterized ground squirrel and badger occupancy, ground squirrel relative abundance, and many environmental variables. We used information-theoretic approaches to evaluate competing hypotheses concerning occupancy of ground squirrels and badgers, and ground squirrel relative abundance. Results suggest that ground squirrel occupancy was positively associated with abiotic characteristics (e.g., higher precipitation and finer textured soil). Badger occupancy was positively associated with ground squirrel occupancy and agriculture. Relative abundance of ground squirrels was positively associated with finer textured soils, but negatively associated with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), fire frequency, agriculture and shrubs. Managers can focus restoration efforts on areas with high cheatgrass and shrub cover, if ground squirrels are a management objective. These results support previous hypotheses suggesting abiotic processes are important for herbivore occupancy. However, we provide support that a combination of abiotic, biotic and disturbance processes are important for mesocarnivore occupancy and herbivore abundance.


The Arctic Council (AC) is a stabilized and consolidated intergovernmental regional body created in 1996. It has deployed a consistent work on environment issues and produced key documents such as the Agreement on Search and Rescue (SAR) reached in 2011. In the context of the Barents region, the Arctic Council is not the core of the regional dynamics as other regional institutions emerged earlier in the 1990s. Meanwhile, the establishment of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) in 1993, and then the Barents Regional Council (BRC), has underlined the willingness to encourage the neighboring cooperation and coordination, it marks the openness process between the Russian Federation and Western countries, and particularly the Northern European countries. Far from being competing, these organizations according to their nature and functioning are complementing each other in some way. The lack of legal framework in the area for over two decades is substantially moving forward as concrete steps on both environmental issues and social and economic projects are further interlocked than ever. Adding that the Barents region is unique in the Arctic context for its evolving neighboring policy between Nordic countries and the Russian Federation. Despite the tumult of the geopolitical tensions, the Barents institutions followed by the support of the Arctic Council has demonstrated its ability to be resilient and bargain for further development. As a result, the Barents region converts itself as a major core for shaping Arctic governance.


Objectives & Background The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine recommend that adults should be tested for HIV in endemic areas with a prevalence >0.2%. It is estimated that approximately 25% of those living with HIV are unaware of their diagnosis. Late diagnosis is associated with a ten-fold increased risk of death in the following year,1 and increased risk of onwards HIV transmission. In July 2015 our Emergency Department commenced a pilot project to assess the feasibility of routine HIV testing within a busy inner city ED. Methods Patients over the age of 16 had an HIV test performed if they required venepuncture during their emergency department attendance. Tests were ordered using a pre-configured blood order set including a pre-selected HIV test. Patients were informed of the intention to test all attendances and were able to opt out if desired. Positive or equivocal results were followed up by our HIV team. Results Over 36 weeks, 64% of ED attendances (19,569/30,461) were tested for HIV. Our prevalence was 0.9% (n=172) and of those 0.3% were not aware of their positive HIV status (n=68). Thirteen patients were not currently engaged in services, although aware of their diagnosis. Median age was 36(18–61). Patients who tested positive were predominantly male (84%) and Caucasian (59%) (37% BME, 4% Asian). 50% of patients who tested positive self- identified as heterosexual, and 50% as MSM(men who have sex with men). A significant number (54%) of newly diagnosed patients had previously attended our emergency department prior to routine HIV testing. 23% of new diagnoses required an acute admission. Conclusion The Emergency Department provides a suitable environment for opportunistic HIV testing in areas of high prevalence. We have maintained testing rates of >65% of our ED attendances, achieved early diagnosis and treatment engagement in patients who were unaware of their HIV status. In addition, we have identified a number of patients who had been lost to follow-up and have now re-engaged in care. Use of pre-configured blood order sets, regular staff education and feedback on results improves testing rates.


The lack of engagement in e-business by small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), important contributors to economic activity, is of increasing concern to researchers and policy makers. This article explores the current situation of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in the South African arts and crafts sector. The empirical evidence draws on 77 enterprise-level interviews. The research findings reveal that e-commerce has not yet developed among the rural SME operators with socio-technical factors and current business practices heavily influencing the situation.
This article uses a conceptual framework that includes theoretical contributions from information and communication technology (ICT) adoption by SMEs, and e-business literature in an industry-specific context, the South African arts and crafts sector. Current levels of e-business adoption are considered through the use of survey research. The sector is investigated within the conceptual framework, resulting in recommendations that include training on ICT applications and benefits of e-commerce through social mobilisation strategies such as infomobilisation.


Despite widespread scepticism, there is a fundamental continuity in the stability of the European Monetary System (EMS) before and after the 1992 crisis. Although speculative pressures provoked European leaders to widen the fluctuation bands of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), thus altering substantially the official commitment of member governments to coordinate monetary policies and exchange rates, the values of currencies in the hardcore of the EMS have remained close to their pre-crisis parities with limited fluctuations. European monetary cooperation continues informally, achieving much more stability than the wide bands suggest. The task of the article is to explain the puzzling continued success of the EMS. First, this article re-specifies the problem of international monetary cooperation as a leader-follower interaction with inherently hierarchical attributes. Second, the article outlines the causes of exchange-rate stability in Europe. Finally, the article emphasizes that French monetary followership is the key to the stability of the post-crisis arrangement and offers a preliminary interpretation of the sources of French behaviour.


This article examines what the first American law schools can teach current legal educators about how best to develop law students' professional identity. Drawing upon the seminal reports of Educating Lawyers and Best Practices for Legal Education, the article underscores legal educators' responsibility to cultivate our students' professional identity and instill in them the key normative values of the profession. Turning to the lessons we can learn from early American law schools, the article then discusses how legal educators in America, from colonial times through the late nineteenth century, sought to teach aspiring lawyers both legal analysis and the study of — and reflection on — ethical and moral principles underlying the law. The article next considers how a variety of influences led to a de-emphasis on ethical formation in the instruction of law students and to the development of teaching legal analysis as the primary mission of law schools. This part also discusses related changes in the legal profession which accompanied these changes in legal education. The final part explores the elements of early law school education related to values formation, including the role of mentoring, and provides recommendations on how these elements can be integrated into modern law school teaching. The article concludes that law schools today can best marry present and past by employing modern pedagogical practices to re-emphasize the importance of developing "lawyer-statespersons" who exhibit practical wisdom and share a passion for pursuing the common good.


Diversifying engineering programs is a major goal for almost all universities because expanding the diversity of students will broaden and enrich the knowledge and experience associated with the science, technology, engineering and mathematics community. This study looked to explore those factors that contribute to minority students' success and more precisely what contributed to their success the most so that recommendations could be made on how universities can improve their minority student retention. In order to do this, African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, and Native American undergraduate engineering students of various disciplines were interviewed using theoretically grounded qualitative methods. The transcripts were coded for patterns using NVivo qualitative analysis software and the patterns found are described in detail within this paper. These patterns gave us insight into the factors that contribute to minority students' success and therefore lead to recommendations on ways for college campuses to encourage and foster their minority students' success. The insights reported in this paper will hopefully help universities make changes that will greatly improve the success of their minority students in engineering majors.


To avoid gas escaping from the gap between tube and projectile in mortar, some seal grooves structures are designed. The blow-by phenomena should be considered in the simulation of interior ballistics. In order to investigate the gas leakage, computational fluid dynamic study of seal groove during the mortar interior ballistic process is presented in this paper. By the seal groove, the pressure near the outlet decreases directly. The mass flow rate of the structures without seal groove and with seal groove at the inlet are similar. However, the mass flow rate of the structure without seal groove at the outlet is obviously bigger than that of structures with different seal grooves. The results show that the seal groove such as trapezoid seal groove can decrease the gas leakage and improve the interior ballistic performance. The further study on structure optimization will be a reference for the mortar design.


Background: Low birth weight (LBW), a crucial determinant of neonatal complications, represents a major public health concern worldwide. Epidemiological research is of crucial importance for designing and implementing ad hoc interventions for this issue, helping and guiding decision- and policy-makers in each country to prevent the increased prevalence of LBW in infants through estimating the prevalence rate, identifying and controlling major risk factors. The present investigation aimed to systematically assess LBW prevalence rate in Iran and its determinants. Methods: PubMed/Medline via Ovid, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus as well as Magiran, SID and Irandoc were searched from inception until November 2016. Also, the grey literature (via Google Scholar) was mined. The DerSimonian-Laird model was exploited. The I2 and Q-test tests were used to investigate heterogeneity between the studies. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses were performed to ensure the robustness and validity of our findings. Different cumulative meta-analyses were conducted stratifying according to the year of publication and sample size. Any potential bias in publication was assessed carrying out the Egger's test. Results: LBW prevalence rate was estimated to be 8% (95%CI: 7-9) in Iran. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of finding. Studies were cumulated by the year of publication, and the results did not change pre- and post-cumulative meta-analysis. No publication bias could be observed. Conclusion: LBW prevalence rate in Iran is well comparable with the prevalence figures of both developed and developing countries. This could be due to the health reforms implemented in Iran throughout the years.


Internet users can fail at several hurdles, e.g. issues related to trouble-free and selfexplanatory interaction. Not only users but also organizations are affected adversely by these difficulties. The purpose of this study is to enhance the limited repertoire of methods for quantifying web applications usability, which have remained unchanged for years. It first develops a model explaining the relationship between usability dimensions and success variables. Consecutively, the model's hypotheses are empirically validated by conducting an experiment for testing Internet Banking applications. Results show positive usability effects of increased recognizability, real world metaphors, anticipating support, dominant designs and a higher degree of freedom through the undo button. For practitioners, this research offers a quantitative method for development and quality management projects. Its scientific contribution consists of adding a novel approach for usability measurement in the field of Usability Engineering. It provides findings about the relationship between usability dimensions and usability success factors which presents a basis for further research in this field.


This paper presents a set of steady-state and transient data for dynamic process model validation of the chemical absorption process with monoethanolamine (MEA) for post-combustion CO2 capture of exhaust gas from a natural gas-fired power plant. The data selection includes a wide range of steady-state operating conditions and transient tests. A dynamic process model developed in the open physical modeling language Modelica is validated. The model is utilized to evaluate the open-loop transient performance at different loads of the plant, showing that pilot plant main process variables respond more slowly at lower operating loads of the plant, to step changes in main process inputs and disturbances. The performance of four decentralized control structures is evaluated, for fast load change transient events. Manipulation of reboiler duty to control CO2 capture ratio at the absorber's inlet and rich solvent flow rate to control the stripper bottom solvent temperature showed the best performance.


Background There is a paucity of high-level evidence on the optimal follow-up of patients with ovarian cancer after primary treatment. A debate is ongoing on the extent to which follow-up should consider patient preferences and patient-reported outcome measures. Incorporation of patient-reported outcome measures supports the dialog between patient and clinician and may be instrumental in symptom monitoring and detection of underlying issues, especially when used actively during the clinical consultation. Primary Objective and Endpoint The PROMova study aims to assess whether proactive use of patient-reported outcome measures during follow-up care increases patient involvement as perceived by the patient compared with standard care. Another objective is to measure satisfaction with the care provided. Study Hypothesis It is hypothesized that proactive use of patient-reported outcome measures during the clinical encounter will improve patients' experience of involvement in follow-up care. Trial Design PROMova is a multi-center, observational cohort study collecting data from eight departments in Denmark. Five departments use the patient-reported outcome measures proactively during the consultation and three provide standard care. Participants are followed up with patient-reported outcome measures for up to 3 years. The patient-reported outcome measures package comprises EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQ-OV28, a questionnaire screening tool for recurrence, CollaboRATE, and selected questions from the Patient Experience Questionnaire. Major Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria Patients older than 18 years diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer are eligible when entering the follow-up program after primary treatment. Participants must be able to speak and read Danish. Sample Size 223 patients with ovarian cancer. Estimated Dates for Completing Accrual and Presenting Results The protocol closed for enrollment in 2019. Publication of final results is expected in spring 2022. Trial Registration PROMova was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov November 2016 Identifier: NCT02916875.


ABSTRACT The adverse effect of seafood consumption on human health is related to the bioaccessibility in contrast with the total heavy metal level in the tissues. In this study, bioaccessibility of Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819) edible soft tissues collected along the southern Black Sea coast were investigated using in vitro digestion model. Total Pb concentration in the tissues was found to be higher than the maximum permissible limits set by European Commission. The bioaccessibility of metals in the tissues was found to be decreased in the order: Ni (83.11%) > Cu (80.47%) > Zn (76.86%) > Cd (73.32%) > Mn (69.11%) > Pb (61.07%) > Cr (58.44%). While significant positive linear regression was observed between total and bioaccessible concentrations for Mn, Pb, and Ni, significant negative linear regression was found for Cd (p < .05). The hazard quotients (HQ) calculated using bioaccessible amount were detected lower than the limit (HQ <1), which may not pose a potential hazard to humans reported by US Environmental Protection Agency. In sum, mussel consumption from sampling sites may cause a potential risk concerning human health especially for Cd and Pb in case of increased portion sizes.


The monitoring of land cover requires that stable land cover classes be distinguished from changes over time. Within this paper, a postclassification method is presented that provides land cover change information, based on a time series of land cover maps. The method applies a kernel filter to sequential land cover maps. Under some basic assumptions, it shows robustness against classification errors. Despite seasonality, land cover changes often occur at a low temporal frequency (e.g., maximum once every 5-10 years). If land cover maps are available more frequently, some of the information will become redundant (oversampling). The proposed method uses this redundancy for tolerating (nonsystematic) misclassifications. In order to demonstrate the benefits and limitations of the proposed method, analytical expressions have been derived. When compared to a simple postclassification comparison, one of the key strengths of the proposed approach is that it is able to improve both the overall and user's accuracy of change, while also maintaining the same level of producer's accuracy. As a case study, MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer remote sensing data from 2006-2010 were classified into forest (F)/nonforest (NF) at pan-European scale. Promising results were obtained for detecting forest loss due to natural disasters. Quality was assessed using burnt area maps in southern Europe and a forest damage report after a windstorm in France. Results indicated a considerable reduction of change detection errors, confirming the theoretical results.


Objectives: Current conceptualisations of social enterprise fail to fully satisfy an understanding of the movement. A focus on the economic implies a business model where deep tensions lie. A focus on social capital offers a different frame of reference, yet both these conceptualisations fail to fully identify the phenomena that is social enterprise. The objective of this paper seeks to fill that gap. Ethical capital is offered here as the missing conceptualisation in the field of social enterprise.
Prior work: Pearce (2003) describes social enterprises as part of the third system, closer to the first system (private business), than the second system (public provision), yet primarily social and secondly a business. Social Enterprises are described as trading organisations in a market (Pearce 2003). A focus and operationalisation for social enterprises to be 'business-like' and 'entrepreneurial' is well documented (Leadbeater 1997; Dees 1998; Nicholls 2006b).
Approach: Yet, if as part of the third sector, social enterprises are as Dart (2004) suggests; 'blurring the boundaries between non-profit and profit', but what blurs? What is compromised? What exactly is lost (or gained)? What challenges are there for social enterprises? And is a managerialist ideology taking precedence over the social? This paper provides a conceptual paper that seeks to outline the arguments on the table and develop an ethical capital conceptualisation of social enterprise.
Results: This paper very much aims at starting the process of intellectual debate about the notion of ethical capital in social enterprises. The conclusions of this paper outline further research questions that need to be addressed in order to fully develop this concept. Implications: The current ideology of the neo-classical economic paradigm it is argued in the paper pursues interests towards the self and towards the erosion of the moral basis of association. The outcome leaves society with a problem of low ethical virtue - the implications of this paper are that social enterprises maximise ethical virtue beyond any other form of organisation and as such hold great value beyond their missions and values.
Value: This paper offers great value in the understanding of social enterprise through fresh insight into the conceptualisation. A critical perspective to the current literature is taken and discussed but though the introduction of ethical capital this paper takes our understanding of the value of the sector into another light, providing practitioners, business support agencies and academics alike with a different level of conceptualisation that has not been explored before.


Because of the foreign business dealings of President Donald Trump and his family, interpreting the Foreign Emoluments Clause has become a nearly fulltime job for political pundits, with stories about the clause appearing in every conceivable media outlet. The clause provides that "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States] shall, without the Consent of Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." If the president is benefiting economically from business dealings with foreign governments (or organizations that might be treated as agencies of foreign governments) and the benefits constitute emoluments, he is arguably violating the clause. This article considers several interpretive issues, including whether the clause applies at all to the president and what the meaning of "emolument" is. The article supports an expansive interpretation of the clause, to ensure, as much as possible, that American officials, including the president, don't have divided loyalties—loyalty to the foreign state as well as to the United States.


WirelessHART is a networking technology that is widely used in industrial wireless sensor networks. Its reliability and real-time performance are essential to industrial production. Many works have studied these two aspects, primarily focusing on a single WirelessHART network. However, multiple WirelessHART networks usually coexist in a real industrial environment. Applying existing approaches to such coexisting networks would cause performance degradation due to communication interference among these networks. In this paper, we propose a holistic framework that optimizes both reliability and temporality for multiple coexisting networks. The framework consists of two levels. The upper level targets communication channel management, and the lower level addresses data flow scheduling. For the upper level, we propose a network isolation algorithm that improves the data transmission reliability through dynamically adjusting channel assignments to different WirelessHART networks. For the lower level, we propose data flow scheduling algorithms that guarantee the temporality of data flows within each isolated network. These algorithms minimize the number of channels reserved by each isolated network and further enhance the transmission reliability through alleviating channel resource contention. We conduct trace-driven simulations of the channel management algorithm, and the results demonstrate that our algorithm exhibits stable performance and reduces packet loss by  $36\%$. For the scheduling algorithms, the simulations demonstrate that in contrast with existing algorithms, the greater the number of coexisting networks, the fewer resources our algorithms use. When eight networks coexist, our algorithms outperform existing ones by consuming up to $63\%$ fewer channel resources.


The availability of immunosuppressive regimens adequate to prevent rejection of the transplanted intestine has enabled the development of multivisceral transplantation. The technical, immunologic, and infective problems that remain are still prohibitive, and these complex procedures are performed in small numbers in a limited number of transplant centers. Further development is likely to require more specific immunosuppressive strategies and novel approaches to prevent the recurrence of malignancy after transplantation for extensive tumors.


The first book written by C. S. Lewis after his conversion, The Pilgrim's Regress is, in a sense, the record of Lewis's own search for meaning and spiritual satisfaction -- a search that eventually led him to Christianity.Here is the story of the pilgrim John and his odyssey to an enchanting island which has created in him an intense longing 7mdash; a mysterious, sweet desire. John's pursuit of this desire takes him through adventures with such people as Mr. Enlightenment, Media Halfways, Mr. Mammon, Mother Kirk, Mr. Sensible, and Mr. Humanist and through such cities as Thrill and Eschropolis as well as the Valley of Humiliation.Though the dragons and giants here are different from those in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Lewis's allegory performs the same function of enabling the author to say simply and through fantasy what would otherwise have demanded a full-length philosophy of religion.


After almost 30 years of inertia in the field of sequencing, the emergence of a whole range of so-called "next-generation" sequencing technologies has revolutionized the way we approach genomic and genetic research. Sequencing all 3 gigabases of a human genome, once a costly task of 13 years of international efforts, can now be done within a matter of days with a coverage of 30x and more, and comes with a price tag that is affordable for a middle-sized lab. Among the different next-generation sequencing machines developed over the course of the last 6 to 8 years, four instruments from three different companies have established themselves on the market for human whole-genome sequencing: Illumina's HiSeq2000, Life Technologies' SOLiD 4 and 5500xl SOLiD, and Complete Genomics' technology.

However, these next-generation sequencing platforms are still relatively new, and a comprehensive comparative assessment of their performance is lacking. For this purpose, the DNA of two tumor-normal pairs from medulloblastoma patients was sequenced individually to 30x coverage on each of the four instruments. The resulting data was analyzed with respect to its coverage distribution and biases over the genome, in particular GC bias, and regions without coverage as well as specific genomic regions were assessed. SNP calls on the different sequencing machines were compared, and the benefits of combining read information from different instruments were evaluated. Additionally, somatic mutations were analyzed.

The most striking result is the poor coverage of GC-rich regions by SOLiD 4 and 5500xl SOLiD, discouraging their use in particular for methylation experiments and exome sequencing. In contrast, Complete Genomics seems the least affected by GC content and shows the most comprehensive coverage of many genomic regions, except for short repeats. HiSeq2000 exhibits the most even genome-wide coverage distribution and the least sample-to-sample variation, while consistently achieving the highest sensitivity in SNP calling. A combination of read data from different technologies is shown to entail limited improvement in most cases, and is advisable only for very specific applications. Finally, the comparison of somatic variation confirms that calling somatic alterations is still a big challenge, which is due in particular to low allele frequency. In summary, this comparative study illustrates the assets and drawbacks of each individual machine and can be used as a guide to find the most suitable platform for a specific experimental goal.


This dissertation aims to develop an effective and practical method to forecast chaotic time series. Chaotic behaviour has been observed in the areas of marketing, stock markets, supply chain management, foreign exchange rates, weather forecasting and many others. An effective forecasting model can reduce the potential risks and uncertainty and facilitate planning and decision making in chaotic systems. In this study, residual analysis using a combination of the embedding theorem and ensemble artificial neural networks is adopted to forecast chaotic time series. Based on the embedding theorem, the embedding parameters are determined and the time series is reconstructed into proper phase space points. The embedded phase space points are fed into the first neural network and trained. The weights and biases are kept to predict the future values of phase space points and accordingly to obtain future values of chaotic time series. The residual of the predicted time series is further analyzed; and, if a chaotic behaviour is observed, then the residuals are processed as a new chaotic time series and predicted. This iterative residual analysis can be repeated several times depending on the desired accuracy level and computational efficiency. Finally, the last neural network is trained using neural networks' result values of the time series and the residuals as input and the original time series as output. The initial weights and biases of the neural networks are improved using genetic algorithms. Taguchi's design of experiments is adopted to identify appropriate factor-level combinations to improve the result of the proposed forecasting method. A systematic approach is proposed to improve the combination of ensemble artificial neural networks and their parameters. The proposed methodology is applied to a number of benchmark and some real life chaotic time series. In addition, the proposed forecasting method has been applied to financial sector time series, namely, the stock markets and foreign exchange rates. The experimental results confirm that the proposed method can predict the chaotic time series more effectively in terms of error indices when compared with other forecasting methods in the literature.


Morocco presents a varied and globally important geology reflecting its successive continental-scale geological settings through geological time. Central, Southern and Western Morocco exhibits a rich geological history of crustal, magmatic, tectonic, metamorphic, sedimentary, and palaeontological features from Archaean to Quaternary, from large- to small-scale and varying in significance from international to local. The geostrategic position of Morocco renders it a land where many civilizations met through time leaving archaeological evidence of outstanding values - as such, its geodiversity is even more attractive as is related to historical, archaeological, architectural, cultural and traditional frames which vary with its geology. In this context, we focus on the central Anti-Atlas that consists of numerous Precambrian inliers amongst a matrix? of Palaeozoic strata, and each inlier has the merit to be transformed into thematic geoparks. Zenaga Inlier is a good example of an ensemble of geological features that have a regionally important geological story and geodiversity that can be transformed into a geopark. In this paper, we present geological information on potential geosites in the Zenaga region of the Central Anti-Atlas which could form the bases for future geoparks


SAMURAI is an electrically-driven robotic manipulator designed for autonomous sampling and recovery of specimens from the sea floor while mounted to an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Autonomous operation is enabled through the use of the autonomous vision system (AVATAR), which employs a pair of IEEE-1394 cameras in deep ocean housings to locate targets based on color, size and shape features. The highlevel planning program (HADES) then uses the location to command the SAMURAI manipulator to recover targets and deposit them in containers onboard the vehicle. HADES also issues commands to the AUV during sampling operations, and provides resiliency throughout operations by monitoring processor loads and all necessary programs. This paper provides an overview of the system and individual subsystems, including results of component and integrated systems testing to date. The system is scheduled for maiden sea trials on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Jaguar AUV in 2009 and will begin operational use on an NSF-sponsored science cruise in summer of 2010. Current work also includes the application of this system to nondestructive inspection of undersea structures, which would provide an inexpensive alternative to hazardous human inspection activities currently used on offshore oil platforms.


This book explains the fundamentals of cable television systems, the equipment they use, what services they can offer, and how cable television fits and compares with other broadcast technologies. Cable television (CATV) is a television distribution system that uses a network of cables to deliver multiple video, data, and audio channels. This book provides an overview of cable television system technology including cable modems, digital television, high definition television (HDTV), along with how cable systems are evolving to offer advanced services such as ultra broadband and video on demand (VOD). Described are the basic parts of cable television systems including set top boxes, cable modems, distribution systems, and head end equipment. Analog and digital video technology fundamentals are provided including the different types of analog video (NTSC, PAL, and SECAM) and the key types of digital video compression (MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and VC-1). You will discover why and how cable system operators are converting some of their networks from analog to digital to give more channel capacity and to provide for broadband Internet (cable modem) services. Described are the fundamentals of the data over cable service interface specifications (DOCSIS) and what each revision of DOCSIS provides to cable system operators. Explained are the different types of subscription services and value added pay per view (PPV) services including near video on demand (NVOD), video on demand (VOD), and personal video recorders (PVRs). You will learn how cable systems can upgraded to offer telephone services and why cable operators are transitioning from proprietary telephone systems to industry standard voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) systems. MMDS and LMDS wireless cable technology is described along with how cable operators can efficiently use these wireless systems to extend the range of their cable systems. The future of cable television is discussed including advances in interactive television and addressable advertising. Some of the most important topics featured in this book are: . Components and operation of CATV systems . Differences between analog and digital CATV systems . NTSC, PAL, and HDTV television signals . Video and audio compression . Cable modems using DOCSIS . MPEG digital formats . Video on demand (VOD) . Cable telephony . MMDS and LMDS wireless cable . How CATV is evolving into IPTV


This study sought to test Skehan's (1996, 1998) limited capacity hypothesis and Robinson's (1995, 2003) cognition hypothesis by investigating the effects of task complexity and pre-task planning on EFL learners' oral production (see also Genc, this volume). Twenty three Japanese-L1 high school students were given two sets of picture-based narrative tasks: a simple task with fewer characters and a complex task with more characters appearing in cartoon-based stories. Ten of these participants were given pre-task planning time, whereas thirteen were not. The results indicate that (a) the increased task complexity positively affects the specific measure of syntactic complexity, but negatively affects global accuracy and fluency; and (b) planning time positively affects global syntactic complexity, but negatively affects fluency. These findings partially support and partially disconfirm both Robinson's and Skehan's hypotheses, posing questions about making blanket predictions on the linguistic consequences of task manipulation. The findings also show the importance of employing task-discourse sensitive measures in investigating the effect of task complexity on learners' language use. The main value of the findings of the study comes from its focus on Japanese EFL high school students who have limited oral L2 proficiency, a population underrepresented in previous studies, despite their obvious importance for both research and teaching.


The focus of our contribution is to shed light on the importance of firm agglomerations and FDI as drivers of firm survival in Italy. We focus upon different types of agglomeration economies related to the geographical context checking how these economies impact differently on heterogeneous firms survival and whether effects are robust to different estimators (Probit, Cox hazard models, Probit Heckman) and to different assumptions about inter-and intra-regional spillovers. The novelty our paper with respect to previous studies is twofold. First of all, we focus both on external economies and on firm internationalization, two crucial determinants of firm productivity and competitiveness and ultimately of firm survival. Hence, we consider the intertwined role of firm global activities with respect to the local drivers of firm dynamics by comparing foreign investors in Italy and Italian firms' investing abroad to domestic firms to catch a crucial source of heterogeneity of firm behavior with respect to external economies (correcting for the endogeneity of the FDI variables and for sample selection). Secondly, we use a very large dataset at firm level which takes into account several different dimensions at firm, industry and province level (previous studies are mostly at sectoral or at province/regional level) for more than 500,000 observations concerning Italian manufacturing corporate firms disaggregated by sector and by 103 provinces over a long span of time (2002-2010) which allows to also catch the effect of the crisis. With respect to agglomeration economies the paper analyses whether and how firms' exit choices are influenced by five different agglomeration indicators related to the geographical context: 1) External economies arising from localization economies due to the spatial concentration of firms in the same industry (GLAESER et al., 1992) and to 2) local production systems (Industrial districts); 3) External economies available to all local firms irrespective of sector and arising from urban size and density (urbanization economies); 4) External economies available to all local firms stemming from specialisation of firms in different varieties which may favour intra- and inter industry knowledge spillovers via Jacobs externalities (JACOBS, 1969); 5) diversification due to unrelated variety to capture the portfolio effect arising from the spatial concentration of firms belonging to different and non-complementary industries which may protect the region from sector-specific shocks (FRENKEN et al., 2007). We check whether the relevance of these agglomeration economies differ substantially between Italian firms and firm which invest in active or passive FDI. We get evidence on three issues: 1) Benefits from geographically and industry bounded specialisation for survival; 2) Industrial districts economies impact on firm survival 3) Diversification economies relevance.


Dynamic slip pulse propagation along a material interface is of great interest because many faults are known to lie along material interfaces and such interfaces may cause pulse‐like ruptures. This subject has been extensively studied numerically over the last two decades. It has not, however, been studied very thoroughly from an analytical standpoint, although analytical studies would complement numerical ones. In particular, an analytical solution for removing stress singularities has not yet been obtained, even after an asymptotic analysis. In this article, we employ three physically plausible conditions in our theoretical modeling: (1) arbitrary propagation speeds in the sub‐Rayleigh range, (2) a slip‐weakening friction law, and (3) boundedness of stress. We can construct an analytical solution under these conditions, and as a result of our parameter study, we determine the dependence of slip‐weakening distance and the ratio of process zone size to pulse length on rupture direction and velocity. These results enable us to discuss a mechanism for limiting rupture velocity and estimating the slip‐weakening distance in seismic inversion analyses.


Int J Exerc Sci 5(2) : 127-135, 2012. Observational methods have been a primary methodology used by physical educators for assessing teacher and student behaviors in school physical education (PE) classes for over 30 years. Observational instruments traditionally used in PE are economical, but are time intensive and complicated. Recently national PE recommendations have been promoted to encourage practitioners to achieve ≥ 50% of PE class in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The purpose of this preliminary study was to develop, validate, and test the reliability of the Simple Activity Measurement (SAM) instrument for assessing MVPA during school PE classes. Students (N=36, representing grades 3-10) from a convenient sample of schools in San Antonio, TX were randomly selected to wear SUUNTOTM heart rate (HR) monitors during PE classes as an MVPA intensity measure, and the SAM instrument was used to observe 6 classes (N=281 students) for MVPA each minute using the SAM 0-10 scale. The SAM instrument was found to be a significant predictor for HR (r=0.555, r2=0.308, p<0.05) using linear regression, and the intra class correlation coefficient to test reliability was found to be R=0.803, p<0.05. Students averaged 88.5 % of class time spent in MVPA at the elementary level and only 36.5 % of class time spent in MVPA at the high school level. The results of this preliminary study indicate that the SAM has promise to provide school PE evaluators with an effective economical observation tool to document minutes of student MVPA in PE classes, and to promote accountability with national MVPA recommendations.


Mothers are often the most important determinant of traits expressed by their offspring. These "maternal effects" (MEs) are especially crucial in early development, but can also persist into adulthood. They have been shown to play a role in a diversity of evolutionary and ecological processes, especially when genetically based. Although the importance of MEs is becoming widely appreciated, we know little about their underlying genetic basis. We address the dearth of genetic data by providing a simple approach, using combined genotype information from parents and offspring, to identify "maternal genetic effects" (MGEs) contributing to natural variation in complex traits. Combined with experimental cross-fostering, our approach also allows for the separation of pre- and postnatal MGEs, providing rare insights into prenatal effects. Applying this approach to an experimental mouse population, we identified 13 ME loci affecting body weight, most of which (12/13) exhibited prenatal effects, and nearly half (6/13) exhibiting postnatal effects. MGEs contributed more to variation in body weight than the direct effects of the offsprings' own genotypes until mice reached adulthood, but continued to represent a major component of variation through adulthood. Prenatal effects always contributed more variation than postnatal effects, especially for those effects that persisted into adulthood. These results suggest that MGEs may be an important component of genetic architecture that is generally overlooked in studies focused on direct mapping from genotype to phenotype. Our approach can be used in both experimental and natural populations, providing a widely practicable means of expanding our understanding of MGEs.


Abstract : In recent years, we have seen a tremendous growth in the volume of text documents available on the Internet, digital libraries, news sources, and company-wide intranets. This has led to an increased interest in developing methods that can efficiently categorize and retrieve relevant information. Retrieval techniques based on dimensionality reduction, such as Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), have been shown to improve the quality of the information being retrieved by capturing the latent meaning of the words present in the documents. Unfortunately, the high computational requirements of LSI and its inability to compute an effective dimensionality reduction in a supervised setting limits its applicability. In this paper we present a fast dimensionality reduction algorithm, called concept indexing (CI) that is equally effective for unsupervised and supervised dimensionality reduction. CI computes a k-dimensional representation of a collection of documents by first clustering the documents into k groups, and then using the centroid vectors of the clusters to derive the axes of the reduced k-dimensional space. Experimental results show that the dimensionality reduction computed by CI achieves comparable retrieval performance to that obtained using LSI, while requiring an order of magnitude less time. Moreover, when CI is used to compute the dimensionality reduction in a supervised setting, it greatly improves the performance of traditional classification algorithms such as C4.5 and kNN.


Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), such as trichostatin A (TSA), can regulate gene expression by promoting acetylation of histones and transcription factors. Human tissue factor (TF) expression is partly governed by a unique, NF-κB-related "TF-κB" promoter binding site. We find that TSA and four other HDACi (apicidin, MS-275, sodium butyrate, and valproic acid) all inhibit by ∼90% TF activity and protein level induction in human umbilical vein endothelial cells stimulated by the physiologic agonists tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin-1β, lipopolysaccharide, and HOSCN without affecting expression of the NF-κB-regulated adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and E-selectin. TSA and butyrate also blunt TF induction ∼50% in vitro in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and in vivo in thioglycolate-elicited murine peritoneal macrophages. In human umbilical vein endothelial cells, TSA attenuates by ∼70% TNF-α stimulation of TF mRNA transcription without affecting that of ICAM-1. By electrophoretic mobility shift assay analyses, TNF-α and lipopolysaccharide induce strong p65/p50 and p65/c-Rel heterodimer binding to both NF-κB and TF-κB probes. TSA nearly abolishes TF-κB binding without affecting NF-κB binding. A chromatin immunoprecipitation assay and a promoter-luciferase reporter system confirm that TSA inhibits TF-κB but not NF-κB activation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and small interfering RNA inhibitor studies demonstrate that HDAC3 plays a significant role in TNF-α-mediated TF induction. Thus, HDACi transcriptionally inhibit agonist-induced TF expression in endothelial cells and monocytes by a TF-κB- and HDAC3-dependent mechanism. We conclude that histone deacetylases, particularly HDAC3, play a hitherto unsuspected role in regulating TF expression and raise the possibility that HDACi might be a novel therapy for thrombotic disorders.


There is a growing concern in reducing greenhouse gas emissions all over the world. The U.K. has set 34% target reduction of emission before 2020 and 80% before 2050 compared to 1990 recently in Post Copenhagen Report on Climate Change. In practise, Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools have been introduced to construction industry in order to achieve this such as. However, there is clear a disconnection between costs and environmental impacts over the life cycle of a built asset when using these two tools. Besides, the changes in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) lead to a change in the way information is represented, in particular, information is being fed more easily and distributed more quickly to different stakeholders by the use of tool such as the Building Information Modelling (BIM), with little consideration on incorporating LCC and LCA and their maximised usage within the BIM environment. The aim of this paper is to propose the development of a model-based LCC and LCA tool in order to provide sustainable building design decisions for clients, architects and quantity surveyors, by then an optimal investment decision can be made by studying the trade-off between costs and environmental impacts. An application framework is also proposed finally as the future work that shows how the proposed model can be incorporated into the BIM environment in practise.


Acoustofluidic devices for manipulating microparticles in fluids are appealing for biological sample processing due to their gentle and high-speed capability of sorting cell-scale objects. Such devices are generally limited to moving particles toward locations at integer fractions of the fluid channel width (1/2, 1/4, 1/6, etc.). In this work, we introduce a unique approach to acoustophoretic device design that overcomes this constraint, allowing us to design the particle focusing location anywhere within the microchannel. This is achieved by fabricating a second fluid channel in parallel with the sample channel, separated from it by a thin silicon wall. The fluids in both channels participate to create the ultrasound resonance, while only one channel processes the sample, thus de-coupling the fluidic and acoustic boundaries. The wall placement and the relative widths of the adjacent channels define the particle focusing location. We investigate the operating characteristics of a range of these devices to determine the configurations that enable effective particle focusing and separation. The results show that a sufficiently thin wall negligibly affects focusing efficiency and location compared to a single channel without a wall, validating the success of this design approach without compromising separation performance. Using these principles to design and fabricate an optimized device configuration, we demonstrate high-efficiency focusing of microspheres, as well as separation of cell-free viruses from mammalian cells. These "transparent wall" acoustic devices are capable of over 90% extraction efficiency with 10 μm microspheres at 450 μL min(-1), and of separating cells (98% purity), from viral particles (70% purity) at 100 μL min(-1).


Background: Mass Casualty incidents usually overwhelm the capabilities of any centre. It is an event whose nature is undetermined, unexpected and disrupts the normal trauma care in a hospital. Hospitals have established protocols to deal with mass casualty when it arises. Objectives: We sought to profile the presentations of mass casualty incidents and challenges in management in a regional trauma Centre in North-West Nigeria. Methodology: A retrospective look at the records of mass casualty presentations in our centre over a 12-month period (January-December 2011) was done. A mass casualty event in our setting is the presentation to our facility of eight or more patients from the same cause at the same. Results: There were a total of 18 mass casualty presentations with an average of 1.5 per month. There were a total of 236 victims including those brought in dead (BID). Males were 203 (86%) and females 33 (16%) with an M:F ratio of 6:1. Majority of the victims 222 (94%) were above 16 years and all the victims had a common mechanism of injury which was Road traffic crashes. One hundred and forty-three (61%) of the victims sustained lacerations and bruises while 31 (13%) were polytraumatized. Sixty-two (26%) of the victims were BID'S from the scenes of the Road Crashes. The outcome was that 131 (75%) of the victims were treated and discharged while 41 (24%) were admitted for further management. Two (1%) patients died during resuscitation and within 24 hours. Conclusion: Mass casualty presentations are a regular event in our centre hence there is the need for the establishment of a protocol and regular mass casualty drills to cope with future occurrences.


Since the mid-1980s, durable reforms coupled with prudent macroeconomic management have brought steady progress to the South Asia region, making it one of the world's fastest growing regions. Real GDP growth has steadily increased from an average of about 3 percent in the 1970s to 7 percent over the last decade. Although growth trajectories varied across countries, reforms supported strong per capita income growth in the region, lifting over 200 million people out of poverty in the last three decades. Today, South Asia accounts for one-fifth of the world's population and, thanks to India's increasing performance, contributes to over 15 percent of global growth.
Looking ahead, the authors find that South Asia is poised to play an even bigger role in the global economy, in both relative and absolute terms. India has overtaken China as the fastest growing large economy and South Asia's contribution to global growth is set to increase, while more mature economies decelerate. Greater economic diversification, with an expansion of the service sector, improvements in education, and a still sizable demographic dividend are among the key elements underpinning this performance.
Based on demographic trends, more than 150 million people in the region are expected to enter the labor market by 2030. This young and large workforce can be South Asia's strength, if supported by a successful high-quality and job-rich growth strategy. Amid a changing global economic landscape, the authors argue that South Asia will need to leverage on all sectors of the economy in a balanced way, supporting improvements in agricultural productivity and a sustainable expansion of manufacturing, while promoting higher-skill services, to achieve this goal.


Abstract. The paleoclimate of the late Pliocene Longmen flora from Yongping County located at the southeastern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was reconstructed using two leaf-physiognomy-based methods, i.e., leaf margin analysis (LMA) and Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP), to understand the paleoclimate condition and geographical pattern of monsoonal climate in southwestern China during the late Pliocene. The mean annual temperatures (MATs) estimated by LMA and CLAMP are 17.4 ± 3.3 °C and 17.4 ± 1.3 °C, respectively, compared with 15.9 °C at present. Meanwhile, the growing season precipitation (GSP) estimated by CLAMP is 1735.5 ± 217.7 mm in the Longmen flora, compared with 986.9 mm nowadays. The calculated monsoon intensity index (MSI) of the Longmen flora is significantly lower than that of today. These results appear consistent with previous studies on the late Pliocene floras in western Yunnan based on the coexistence approach (CA), and further suggest that there was a slightly warmer and much wetter climate during the late Pliocene than the present climate in western Yunnan. We conclude that the significant change of the monsoonal climate might have been resulted from the continuous uplift of mountains in western Yunnan, as well as the intensification of the eastern Asian winter monsoon, both occurring concurrently in the post-Pliocene period.


Despite the immense interest in magnetic, topological, and magnetoelectronic phenomena in isolated layers of 2D materials and their vertically stacked heterostructures, there remains a dearth of 2D magnetic materials that can be readily exfoliated into single layers. Here, we synthesize EuSn2As2, the first exfoliatable, layered magnetic Zintl–Klemm phase that features van der Waals bonding between neighboring layers. In these crystals, Eu2+ 4f7 spins magnetically order at 24 K and are coupled ferromagnetically within each layer and antiferromagnetically, with some potential canting, across adjacent layers. Magnetic ground state DFT calculations and temperature-dependent transport measurements on single crystals together establish that EuSn2As2 is semimetallic. Finally, we show that this material can be thinned down to a few layers having steps corresponding to SnAsEuAsSn layers via micromechanical exfoliation. This work opens up further explorations into the design, synthesis, and layer-dependent magnetic properties of exfoliatable, lanthanide-based magnetic van der Waals Zintl phases.


Dictionary of Toxicology, 3rd Edition presents a compendium of definitions of all current toxicological terminology. This authoritative reference illustrates and describes words, concepts, acronyms and symbols for both the toxicological theory and applied risk assessment, as well as providing guidance on the correct selection of problematic, similar and frequently-misused terms. Written by one of the world's foremost experts in toxicology, and with each entry peer reviewed, Dictionary of Toxicology, 3rd Edition is an essential reference for all scientific, medical and legal professionals who work with or encounter the toxicological effects of contaminants on biological systems. New to this edition: an update on every entry and the inclusion of all terminology and concepts relating to molecular toxicology, nanotoxicology and computational toxicology. * Presents peer-reviewed definitions on the most up-to-date toxicological terms and concepts.* Includes access to a frequently-updated website to ensure that readers can always access the most appropriate and up-to-date toxicological term.* New edition includes definitions within the fields of molecular toxicology, nanotoxicology, computational toxicology and risk assessment.* Companion website offers further definitions and ability to submit new terms and definitions. http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780124201699/


There is great interest in building intrinsic motivation into artificial systems using the reinforcement learning framework. Yet, what intrinsic motivation may mean computationally, and how it may differ from extrinsic motivation, remains a murky and controversial subject. In this paper, we adopt an evolutionary perspective and define a new optimal reward framework that captures the pressure to design good primary reward functions that lead to evolutionary success across environments. The results of two computational experiments show that optimal primary reward signals may yield both emergent intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The evolutionary perspective and the associated optimal reward framework thus lead to the conclusion that there are no hard and fast features distinguishing intrinsic and extrinsic reward computationally. Rather, the directness of the relationship between rewarding behavior and evolutionary success varies along a continuum.


Thirty years ago, I wrote an article on mental health conservatorships in California and the role of counsel for persons for whom a conservatorship has been proposed. Data was gathered on the performance of attorneys in court hearings conducted in San Diego County Superior Court. The data revealed that lawyers representing proposed conservatees were inactive and ineffective in representing their clients' interests. The lawyers did not consider themselves advocates in an adversary process in which conservatorship was to be avoided. A year after the article was published, the California Supreme Court, citing that article as authority for the "paternalistic attitude" exhibited by appointed counsel for proposed conservatees, ruled that proof beyond a reasonable doubt and jury unanimity are constitutionally mandated standards necessary to assure that mental health conservatorships are accurately established. I have now replicated that study to determine whether the California Supreme Court's critique of attorney performance has significantly improved the representation of persons who have been proposed for mental health conservatorships. The data reveal that the quality of legal representation for proposed conservatees has not improved significantly. Stated simply, paternalism persists. The article explores reasons why the paternalistic model of legal representation continues today, despite the California Supreme Court's disapproval of such model in these cases 29 years ago, and what changes are needed to assure that individuals for whom a conservatorship has been proposed receive effective assistance of counsel in proceedings to establish a conservatorship.


This paper collects an original database of publicly listed companies to determine prevailing gender ratios among board members and executives in Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC). Women are as under-represented in LAC as in the United States, but much less so in the Caribbean. It is then estimated whether companies with women board members are more likely to appoint women executives. This is the case in LAC, but the results are driven strongly by Caribbean companies. The paper finally estimates whether measures of female leadership at the firm are correlated with company performance, finding this to be the case only for board membership and only when the proportion of women on the board is greater than 30 percent. Again composition effects are important, with average results driven by Caribbean and Southern Cone companies. Overall, it is concluded that the LAC regions empirical regularities in under-representation of women in firm leadership positions are very similar to those found for high-income countries in Europe and North America.


Purpose – This paper reviews the knowledge assets that can be capitalized for successful Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) implementation in the Romanian banking industry. GSCM is defined as the company's ability to understand
and manage the environmental risks along the Supply Chain (SC) (Carter and Rogers,2008). Banks are very much members of the SCs (McKenzie and Wolfe, 2004), called to integrate the environmental management into both operational and core commercial activities and to manage the environmental risk in their supply chain (FORGE Group,2000; International Finance Corporation, 2006; UNEP Finance Initiative, 2009a).
Intellectual capital, or the 'stock' of knowledge-based equity firms hold, is recognized as a key contributor to their competitiveness (Bontis et al., 1999), which may act as a driver of environmental pro-activeness (Bernauer et al., 2006; Wu et al., 2007), as well as an obstacle in the process to design and implement GSCM (Post and Altman,
1994; Baresel-Bofinger et al., 2007), while organizational learning is seen as the key component in overcoming the organizational obstacles to environmental changes (Post
and Altman, 1992; Post and Altman, 1994; Anderson and Wolff, 1996).

Design/methodology/approach – This research paper describes the empirical results of a cross-sectional design employed in a sample of 41 banks operating in Romania with the purpose a. to explore the stage of designing and implementing GSCM practices in the Romanian banking sector; b. to determine which GSCM practices tend to be followed the most, c. which are the bank managers' perceived benefits from implementing GSCM practices, as well as perceived obstacles in GSCM implementation in the banking sector; and d. what is the relationship between the
aforementioned variables. For these purposes several statistical analyses were used, including both descriptive and inferential statistics.

Originality/value – This is the first study looking for GSCM issues in the Romanian banking industry. The results of this research provide insights into what
extent knowledge assets could be capitalized for successful Green Supply Chain Management implementation in the Romanian banking industry. Furthermore, it is increasing the ecological awareness, the theoretical and managerial insights for an effective implementation of GSCM practices in the banking sector. The analysis reveals that GSCM practices (especially practices in the immaterial flow) are
strongly and significantly correlated with perceived benefits and pressures. However,this should be addressed in future research because the present study offers only
correlational data and cannot establish causation. The study also concludes that bank's size and foreign/Romanian ownership do not influence at all the level of
GSCM practices implementation and related perceptions (pressures, obstacles,benefits) in the Romanian banking sector.

Practical implications – The findings of this paper point to the conclusion that the
banking sector in Romania is at a somehow advanced stage of ecological adaptation in the physical flow and at an early stage in the immaterial and commercial flows. Based on the literature and study's findings, regarding the role that the management of intellectual capital and knowledge flow plays, several recommendations are proposed for enhancing the implementation process of GSCM practices in the banking industry in Romania.