Female sexual offenders have recently become the subject of increased medical, legal and public attention. However, the medical and legal systems insist that female sex crimes are rare regardless of the fact that when sexual victimization experiences are surveyed, the incidence of female perpetrated sex crimes is often higher than expected. Additionally, lay discourses concerning female sexual perpetration remain charged with expressions of disbelief and the vast majority of attention on sexual crimes therefore remains focused on male offenders. As a result, female sexual offenders are understood and treated differently to their male counterparts in the media and medico-legal contexts. In light of the continued denial of female sexual perpetration, this research explored how such beliefs around female sexuality shape the self-knowledge of female sexual offenders. By doing so, this investigation aimed to illuminate how disciplinary power acts to produce self-knowledge that, in turn, leads to the discursive coordinates by which female sexual offenders come to define themselves. This was achieved by interviewing female sexual perpetrators and thereafter drawing on critical discourse analysis in order to interpret the transcriptions of these interviews. The results demonstrated that the participants' subjective experiences as agents and nonagents in the perpetration of sex crimes relied on social constructions of men, women, motherhood, sexuality and religion. All of the offenders constructed themselves as characteristically femalematernal, passive, vulnerable, victimised and innately virtuous. Their responses drew discernibly on rationalising discourse, gendered discourse, inversions of their femaleness, perceptions of the legal and correctional systems, institutionalised discourse, discourse on rehabilitation and expressions of morality and docility. Most of these discursive patterns, as both instruments and effects of power, simultaneously replicate and reproduce broader social discursive practices that imply that women are harmless, nurturing and incapable of female sexual perpetration. The availability of medical, academic and legal discourse on gender and sexuality allowed the participants to draw on victim discourse, histories of abuse and claims of psychological ailments to justify their crimes. These rationalisations also worked in conjunction with gendered discursive strategies that implied that men are aggressive perpetrators whilst women are harmless victims. As such, the perceived responsibility for the participants' crimes was most often displaced onto their male accomplices. In this way, the participants upheld their subjective innocence as well as assisted in the maintenance of the construction of the female sexual perpetrator as an unfathomable and impossible construct. This was further emphasised by the fact that not a single participant believed she was guilty of a crime. Such a belief is in line with gendered constructions of criminality as a predominantly male activity. As such, the participants' reproductions of traditional sexual scripts foreclosed alternative understandings of female sexual perpetration. While dominant patriarchal structures utilise discourse as a means to transmit, produce and reinforce power, this study drew on discourse as a means to resist traditional gendered understandings of sexual offending and to create new configurations of knowledge power by offering counter-knowledge of sex crimes. In doing so, academics, policy makers and the general public have access to a different and novel understanding of female sexuality in light of sexual offending. This has practical implications for the acknowledgement and awareness of female sexual perpetration as well as for future preventative efforts.


It is worthwhile to consider the basis for success in achieving diversity in MD programs and the failure to do so in PhD programs and to ask what can be done to remedy the situation. One reason medical schools have been more successful in achieving diversity than PhD programs is that more attention has been paid to the need for diversity.


Contextualization of Christianity in China: An Evaluation in Modern Perspective, edited by Peter Chen-main Wang. Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica, 2007. 316 pp. euro40.00 (paperback). This book provides a historical survey of the development of China's Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant) in the context of Sino-Western interaction. In contrast to recent scholarship that increasingly sees Christianity as a Chinese religion, this book holds the traditional view of Christianity as a foreign religion, and treats Christianity as part of Sino-Western relations. The book seeks to engage with a particular theological issue, namely the contextualization of Christianity, in modern Chinese history. Editor Peter Chenmain Wang uses a theology dictionary definition for "contextualization" as "a dynamic process of the Church's reflection, in obethence to Christ and his mission in the world, on the interaction of the text as the word of God and the context as a specific human situation" (p. 7). By adopting this theological notion, he advocates that scholars should "pay attention to the interaction between the Gospel and the Chinese context, between missionaries and the Chinese converts, between mission strategies and the Chinese response" (p. 8). Although full of theological terms, the book focuses on contextualized and historicized understandings of Christianity and Christians. Most essays can be characterized as theologically informed historical studies of Christianity in China. The contributors represent a variety of disciplines, including sinology, history, theology, religion, missiology, philosophy and political science. Most hold, explicitly or implicitly, a positive view of contextualization. Besides the editor's introduction, there are eleven chapters divided into four parts: "Early Mission", "Contextualization Efforts", "Individuals in the Light of Contextualization" and "Church and State Relations". The first two parts cover a range of mission-related issues, including Christian mission theology and mission philosophy, medical missions, Christian education and church music. With the exception of Jessie G. Lutz' s chapter on the sinification of the historiography of China's Christian colleges, these essays all portray and analyze contextualization mainly as a mission strategy, and view contextualized Christianity as a desired outcome of the evangelical process. The authors thus understand Christianity as the Gospel rather than as lived religious experience and practice. Part 3 focuses on individual missionaries and Chinese pastors and their complicated impacts on the institutional development of the Church in China. The analyses of their stories are all situated in the socio-historical contexts in which they were embedded. The first two chapters in Part 4 examine the relationship between Catholicism and the imperial Chinese state and are perhaps the most innovative and provocative chapters in the volume. Robert Entenmann shows how Chinese Catholics in Sichuan supported the Qing state during the campaign against the White Lotus Rebellion, though the cooperative relationship between Chinese Catholics and the state was rather unstable, due to the state's suspicion of the religion. …


The market is changing very quickly, demanding the companies the capability of producing better and/or more performing products. This changing market leads the companies to be more flexible and agile. In particular, for the tool makers and the stamping companies, they are requested to participate in the design phase of the product and process, as well as to produce prototypes and small series in very short time and with low costs. To answer to these demands in the stamping steps design and consequently in the tool design, several finite elements packages are widely used, allowing the tool designers to foresee the results of their options/decisions without the need to manufacture and test tools, with the inherent excessive cost of money and time. Following this methodology, CAE analysis, the final phase of tool try out, always necessary, will be certainly shorter and less expensive, once they start with a solution quite more worked and, for sure, closer to the final solution. In this industrial context, appeared the great motivation for the development of competences on the rapid manufacturing of stamping tools (active elements: punch, die and blankholder), on the numerical simulation of the process and, on the development of the modular tool concept. In this paper the main results of the development of these areas of research, are presented. In particular, the use of the numerical simulation, using PAM-STAMP 2G software, for the validation of the stamping phases, the realisation of laboratorial stamping tests using tools produced by the several techniques available on Portugal for rapid prototyping. At the same time, it was developed the modular tool concept, i.e., a tool in which by fast and easy change of the active elements, different parts can be formed. The active elements of the tool have been manufactured by several rapid tooling techniques, like DMLS - Direct Metal Laser Sintering, LOM - Laminate Object Manufacturing, HSM – High Speed Milling and also the machining of non-traditional materials such as nylon, ureol and aluminium. Some inserts have been produced by indirect techniques such as reinforced resins (polyurethane, epoxy and urethane) using shells produced by SLstereolithography. Finally some conclusions are drawn.


This work answers some questions related to detection of rheological properties of soft tissues exemplified in myometrium, stressed by external tensile force. In the first stage of the experiment the tissue samples were ciclically stressed and response loops were recorded. This test proved severe plastical deformation of samples, which is not usually being stated for living tissues. In addition to course, growth and stabilizing this deformation also energetical losses of individual hysteresis loops of the response were evaluated. In the second stage of the experiment the tissue samples were exposed to a loading force changed in step-wise manner in four steps. The sample response to each force step was processed and evaluated separately to obtain basic properties of used model. In next step, the changes in model characteristics were obtained and evaluated for each element in subsequent force steps. By reason of following easier interpretation, the quite simple visco-elastic model, defined by differential equation with analytic solution, is used. The results prove necessary to introduce in model both spring and damper constants dependent on the magnitude of the loading force and one damper with even time dependent constant. The interindividual variability of characteristic values of the model elements is surprisingly low. On the other side, they are strongly dependent on load magnitude. Complete mathematical model of uterine wall tissue is obtained by amending the principal equation by formulas describing changes in individual components of the model.


This chapter provides the results of a laboratory ecotoxicological study conducted to assess the acute toxicity of the organophosphorus pesticide fenthion toward the marine microalgal species Tetraselmis suecica . Bioassays were performed, and algal densities and chlorophyll pigments fractions were measured in the exponential phase after 96 h of exposure to fenthion. Two quantitative structure activity relationships (QSARs) were used to estimate the toxicity of 13 primary metabolites and degradation products of fenthion toward the selected organism; the first was based on the use of the n-octanol/water partition coefficient, whereas the second was based on the solubility of the compound in water. Results revealed that fenthion can have marked effects on the growth and pho - tosynthesis of the target primary producers of marine ecosystems T. suecica . The parent pesticide toxicant was found not toxic to the tested algal species up to 1.00 mg L −1 , while higher treatment concentrations not only affected algal densities and significantly decreased specific growth rate values ( μ ) (p < 0.05) but also decreased the contents of photosynthetic pigments. The comparison between the observed and the predicted toxic- ity values of the parent compound fenthion indicated that the predictive capability of the QSARs applied can be considered highly satisfactory. Consequently, both QSAR models were used for the prediction of toxicity data of fenthion's principal metabolites and degradation products. principal metabolites and degradation products of parent organic compound,


The base texts of most of the philosophical systems of ancient India are in the form of a collection of aphorisms (sūtra-s). The aphorisms are so brief and tersely worded that their significance can seldom be understood without the help of a commentary or commentaries. Sometimes, the literal meaning of an aphorism needs to be qualified or modified by an explanation found in the commentary. If a reader relies exclusively on the literal meaning of the aphorisms in the base text without having recourse to any commentary or disregards all commentaries, he or she may miss the point. Contrariwise, if a reader relies exclusively on a commentary and disregards the literal meaning of an aphorism, he or she will commit another kind of blunder. Ideally, equal attention should be paid to the base text as well as the commentary or commentaries. Even then, all problems are not automatically solved, for it is an uphill task to decide when to go by the literal meaning of the aphorisms and when to follow the commentary. In their polemics against the Cārvāka/Lokāyata, Jayantabhaṭṭa (c. ninth century C.E.) and Hemacandra (eleventh century C.E.) erred because they did not follow the golden rule stated above and consequently misunderstood and misrepresented their opponents' contentions.


Moving target search, where the goal state changes during a search, has recently seen a revived interest. Incremental Anytime Repairing A* (I-ARA*) is a very recent, state-ofthe-art algorithm for moving target search in a known terrain. In this work, we address the problem using compressed path databases (CPDs) in moving target search. CPDs have previously been used in standard, fixed-target pathfinding. They encode all-pairs shortest paths in a compressed form and require preprocessing and memory to store the database. In moving-target search, our speed results are orders of magnitude better than state of the art. The time per individual move is improved, which is important in real-time search scenarios, where the time available to make a move is limited. The number of hunter moves is very good, since CPDs provide optimal moves along shortest paths. Compared to previous successful methods, such as I-ARA*, our method is simple to understand and implement.


The aim of this thesis is to investigate of bootstrap methods (Efron, 1979), in the the performance estimation of parameter estimates in non-linear time series models, in particular SETAR models (Tong, 1993). First and higher order SETAR models in known and unknown thresholds cases are considered. To assess the performance of bootstrap methods, we first give an extensive simulation study (by using simulated normal errors), in chapters 3 and 4, to investigate large and small sample behaviours of the true sampling distributions of parameter estimates of SETAR models and how they are affected by sample size. First and higher order SETAR models in the known and unknown threshold cases are considered. An introduction to the bootstrap methods (Efron, 1979 ) is given in chapter 5. The effect of sample size on the bootstrap distributions of parameter estimates of first and higher order SETAR models in the known and unknown threshold cases ( for given order, delay and number of thresholds ) are also investigated in this chapter, via simulation and by using the same models used in the simulated normal errors 'true distribution' case ( chapters 3 & 4). The results are compared with simulated normal case in order to assess the bootstrap results. Tong and Lim (1980) method is used for fitting SETAR models to bootstrap samples, which is also used in the initial fit. Moreover, applications of bootstrap to celebrated data sets, namely, the logarithmically transformed lynx data covering the period (182-1934); and the sunspot numbers covering the period (1700- 1920), are attempted. The cyclical behaviours of bootstrap models are also examined. Finally, in chapter 5, an attempt is also made to study the problem of non-linear properties of the skeleton of a non-linear autoregressive process (Jones, 1976) via simulation and we study in particular a limit cycle behaviour.


Tropical peatland fires play a significant role in the context of global warming through emissions of substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. However, the state of knowledge on carbon loss from these fires is still poorly developed with few studies reporting the associated mass of peat consumed. Furthermore, spatial and temporal variations in burn depth have not been previously quantified. This study presents the first spatially explicit investigation of fire‐driven tropical peat loss and its variability. An extensive airborne Light Detection and Ranging data set was used to develop a prefire peat surface modelling methodology, enabling the spatially differentiated quantification of burned area depth over the entire burned area. We observe a strong interdependence between burned area depth, fire frequency and distance to drainage canals. For the first time, we show that relative burned area depth decreases over the first four fire events and is constant thereafter. Based on our results, we revise existing peat and carbon loss estimates for recurrent fires in drained tropical peatlands. We suggest values for the dry mass of peat fuel consumed that are 206 t ha−1 for initial fires, reducing to 115 t ha−1 for second, 69 t ha−1 for third and 23 t ha−1 for successive fires, which are 58–7% of the current IPCC Tier 1 default value for all fires. In our study area, this results in carbon losses of 114, 64, 38 and 13 t C ha−1 for first to fourth fires, respectively. Furthermore, we show that with increasing proximity to drainage canals both burned area depth and the probability of recurrent fires increase and present equations explaining burned area depth as a function of distance to drainage canal. This improved knowledge enables a more accurate approach to emissions accounting and will support IPCC Tier 2 reporting of fire emissions.


The ∼400,000 km 2 calc-alkalic Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic field is the largest component of the Tertiary ignimbrite flare-up of western North America. Laser-fusion 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology of sanidine and anorthoclase from ignimbrites sampled within three areas of concentrated geologic mapping in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Durango provides the first examination of fine-scale temporal fluctuations within this significant area of the ignimbrite flare-up. Overall, the 112 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages range from 28 to 46 Ma, with a separate group near 24 Ma. The oldest ages (40–46 Ma, with a strong cluster at 44–46 Ma) are found only along the eastern margin of the field. The predominant age concentration (28–36 Ma) is found across two east-west traverses of the volcanic field that are separated by 500 km. Within this interval, there are strong concentrations at 28–30 Ma, ca. 33 Ma, and 35–36 Ma in the northern traverse, and at 30–31 Ma and at 31.5 Ma in the southern traverse. A cluster of ages near 24 Ma is present in the western part of both traverses. Ignimbrite sequences of similar age are oriented in belts generally parallel to the axis of the Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic field. The belts partly overlap but are progressively younger toward the west. This geographic pattern fits with numerous studies that relate the position of arc magmatism to the delamination/rollback of the subducted Farallon slab. However, a more difficult challenge is to reconcile a pattern of discrete, brief (∼2 m.y.) and intense episodes of magmatism to behavior of the Farallon plate.


Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate applicability of nasopharyngeal airway (NPA) for the maintenance of patients' oxygenation during sevoflurane inhalational anesthesia through NPA against propofol infusion and traditional endotracheal intubation (ETT). Patients and methods The study included 111 patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Risk of OSA was evaluated preoperatively using the STOP-BANG Questionnaire. Patients were randomly allocated into three groups: group E received propofol infusion (50–150 μg/kg/min) with atracurium (0.3 mg/kg), group S received sevoflurane inhalation (1 MAC) through NPA, and group P was maintained on propofol infusion (50–150 μg/kg/min). The frequency and severity of hypoxemic attacks and the requirement for ETT in groups S and P were compared. Results Sixty-four patients (57.7%) had mild, whereas and 47 patients (42.3%) had an iintermediate OSA grade on STOP-BANG score. At the end of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and mean PSaO2 measures were found significantly lower in all patients compared with baseline estimates. Concentration of PSaO2 was significantly lower in group P compared with groups E and S. The frequency of hypoxemic attacks was nonsignificantly higher with NPA compared with ETT and only five patients required ETT. The frequency of procedural sedation-related adverse events was nonsignificantly lower with NPA compared with ETT (27 vs. 32.4%). The frequency till full recovery was significantly longer in group E compared with groups S and P, with a significant difference in favor of group S. Patients' satisfaction scorings were significantly higher in groups S and P compared with group E. Endoscopist satisfaction scorings were significantly higher in groups S and E compared with group P. Conclusion NPA could be applied for the oxygenation of patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, even on those having OSA with an acceptable frequency of hypoxic attacks and conversion rate to ETT. Sevoflurane sedation was an advantageous alternative to propofol sedation for an early, easy recovery with less adverse events.


Vos, Marita Communication in turbulent times: Exploring issue arenas and crisis communication to enhance organisational resilience This book is characterised by a broad approach towards corporate communication, emphasising change and crisis. The focus is not on crises as an exceptional situation but rather on broader volatility in the environment. The purpose of this book is to increase the understanding of multistakeholder communication concerning organisational issues and crises. From the perspective of organisational management, this book clarifies how communication contributes to organisational resilience—the ability to adapt to a changing environment and mitigate emergency crises. In todays' world, change is not the exception but a constant presence. Moreover, issues and risks occur that may grow to become crises. Coping with change and unexpected events, is what the concept of 'resilience' is about. Organisational resilience is the basis for the long-term viability of organisations in a turbulent environment. Communication, in various ways, is a bridging activity that supports the capacity of the organisation to function despite risks and disruptive incidents. Attention is needed for a resilient culture and collective mindfulness, in particular, in high reliability organisations. This book explains that the roots of current crises are complex. As many crises combine different kinds of threats, cooperation with other actors is needed for their mitigation. Communication brings such actors together. Communication has often aimed at enhancing dyadic relations between an organisation and its stakeholder groups. The issue arena approach instead focuses on competitive multi-actor interaction and poses that people primarily have a stake in issues that matter to them, rather than in organisations. Issues spread fast in social media and, hence, may result in organisational crises. To understand fast changing public views, developing digital communication and monitoring online discourse are vital. In addition, the diversity of environmental dynamics and crises requires a range of different communication strategies. Research can offer a better understanding of evolving multi-actor interaction concerning issues, risks and crises, and support communicative decision making. This also calls for attention for methodological and ethical constraints in using big data for monitoring purposes. Finally, the book advocates the use of simulations and serious gaming to investigate multi-actor interaction in turbulent environments.


To what extent do Dutch textbooks on Roman law reflect the controversy that has continued for almost a century over the interpretation of caput 3 of the lex Aquilia? In 1945, Van Oven discussed the relevant literature of his day, but since then Kaser's view has been favoured, even though, in 1976, Feenstra inclined towards Daube's alternative interpretation of quanti ea res erit and this led to the ongoing debate. The interpretation of caput 3 is clearly more controversial than students are usually led to believe.


Abstract. The purpose of this study is to develop an emission inventory for major anthropogenic air pollutants and VOC species in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region for the year 2007. A "bottom-up" methodology was adopted to compile the inventory based on major emission sources in the sixteen cities of this region. Results show that the emissions of SO 2 , NO x , CO, PM 10 , PM 2.5 , VOCs, and NH 3 in the YRD region for the year 2007 are 2392 kt, 2293 kt, 6697 kt, 3116 kt, 1511 kt, 2767 kt, and 459 kt, respectively. Ethylene, mp-xylene, o-xylene, toluene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, 2,4-dimethylpentane, ethyl benzene, propylene, 1-pentene, and isoprene are the key species contributing 77 % to the total ozone formation potential (OFP). The spatial distribution of the emissions shows the emissions and OFPs are mainly concentrated in the urban and industrial areas along the Yangtze River and around Hangzhou Bay. The industrial sources, including power plants other fuel combustion facilities, and non-combustion processes contribute about 97 %, 86 %, 89 %, 91 %, and 69 % of the total SO 2 , NO x , PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and VOC emissions. Vehicles take up 12.3 % and 12.4 % of the NO x and VOC emissions, respectively. Regarding OFPs, the chemical industry, domestic use of paint & printing, and gasoline vehicles contribute 38 %, 24 %, and 12 % to the ozone formation in the YRD region.


The primary focus of this project is to analyze the effect of tilt angle on effective medium properties in a tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) medium. A well log has been divided into nine blocks, where eight is vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) and one is TTI. The blocks are upscaled by using Backus (1962) averaging for the VTI-blocks, and Schoenberg & Muir (1989) averaging for the TTI-block. Several methods have been used to evaluate the responses of the effective parameters resulting from a variation in the tilt angle. These methods include direct comparison of the effective parameters from Schoenberg & Muir averaging, phase velocities and corresponding slowness curves and synthetic seismograms. Upscaling with different tilt angles results in increased effective velocities and reduced effective anisotropy parameters for increasing tilt angles. From the phase velocities and slowness curves, it has been found that the effective tilt behaves differently for P- and SV-waves. It starts at 0 degrees; for both waveforms in the case of VTI, but during the transition to horizontal transverse isotropy (HTI) their respective effective tilt is different. For SV-velocity the effective tilt gradually decreases to -45 degrees;. The effective tilt for P-waves is rotated to 15.2 degrees; for corresponding intrinsic tilt of 60 degrees, before returning back to 0 degrees; for HTI. Signs of tilt can be found in the synthetic seismograms, but it is difficult to uniquely connect it to tilt, without additional information. As the tilt angle increases, the reflectors below the TTI-block are slightly rotated counter-clockwise. For both slowness curves, phase velocities and the synthetic seismograms the biggest differences are found for higher tilt angles, in the range 50-90 degrees.


A procedure is described for measuring the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase in the intact adrenergic neurons of the mouse vas deferens. In this procedure, the L-dopa-1-14C which is formed from L-tyrosine-1-14C by the action of tyrosine hydroxylase is selectively and quantitatively decarboxylated by endogenous aromatic-L-amino acid decarboxylase. Although considerable tyrosine hydroxylase activity can be demonstrated with the intact mouse vas deferens in the absence of exogenous tetrahydropterin cofactor, the addition of 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6,7-dimethyltetrahydropteridine results in increased activity. Exogenous norepinephrine inhibits the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase in the intact mouse vas deferens and this inhibitory effect is competitively antagonized by 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6,7-dimethyltetrahydropteridine. When the vesicular catecholamine uptake mechanism is blocked by treatment of mice with 5 mg/kg of reserpine 24 hours prior to sacrifice, the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase in intact vas deferens is reduced and the inhibitory effect of exogenous norepinephrine is enhanced. Inhibition of monoamine oxidase with 0.15 mM pargyline does not affect the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase in the intact mouse vas deferens when the vesicular catecholamine uptake mechanism is intact but has a pronounced inhibitory effect following reserpine treatment. These observations lend further support to the conclusion that the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase in the intact adrenergic neuron is inversely related to the catecholamine concentration within an extravesicular pool. They also suggest that the catecholamines tend to accumulate within this extravesicular pool and thus become accessible to the action of monoamine oxidase when the vesicular uptake mechanism is inactivated or when the vesicular stores are filled to capacity.


A large body of work has examined the impact of corporate takeovers on the financial stakeholders (shareholders and bondholders) of the merging firms. Since the late 2000s, empirical research has increasingly highlighted the crucial role played by the non-financial stakeholders (labor, suppliers, customers, government, and communities) in these transactions. This article surveys studies that examine the interplay between corporate takeovers and the non-financial stakeholders of the firm.

Financial economists have long viewed the firm as a nexus of contracts between various stakeholders connected to the firm. Corporate takeovers not only play an important role in redefining the broad boundaries of the firm, they also result in major changes to corporate ownership and structure. In the process, takeovers can significantly alter the contractual relationships with non-financial stakeholders. Because the firm's relationships with these stakeholders are governed by implicit and explicit contracts, circumstances can arise that allow acquiring firms to, fully or partially, abrogate these contracts and extract rents from non-financial stakeholders after deal completion. In contrast, non-financial stakeholders can also potentially benefit from a takeover if they get to share in any efficiency gains that are generated in the deal.

Given this framework, the ex ante importance of these contractual relationships can have a bearing on the efficacy of takeovers. The ability to alter contractual relationships ex post can affect the propensity of a takeover and merging firms' shareholders, and, in turn, impact non-financial stakeholders. Non-financial stakeholders will be more vested in post-takeover success if they can trust the acquiring firm to not take actions that are detrimental to them. The big picture that emerges from the surveyed literature is that non-financial stakeholder considerations affect takeover decisions and post-takeover outcomes. Moreover, takeovers also have an impact on non-financial stakeholders. The directions of all these effects, however, are dependent on the economic environment in which the merging firms operate.


At the northern edge of the Saharan platform, the late Permian marine sequence and the detrital formation of the early-middle Triassic form a palaeogeographic high from Middle Carnian to Vraconian. From late Carnian to Aptian, marine transgressions alternated with detrital episodes associated with major unconformity outlining regional tectonic events. A detailed analysis of fault-slip data sets and joint sets allow us to propose the following succession of tectonic events in southern Tunisia: (1) a NE-SW trending late Permian extension, (2) a 160 late to middle Triassic extension, (3) a NNW-SSE trending Middle Carnian compression, and (4) a major N-S extensional event ranging in age from late Norian to Aptian. These events, mainly extensional are related to the rifting that originated the opening of the Tethyan ocean.


In modern tax systems, firms remit the majority of tax revenues raised by the government, which gives them opportunities to avoid and evade taxes by misreporting their activities. In this paper, we use a natural policy experiment to analyze how firms respond to different tax enforcement regimes. The Spanish Large Taxpayers' Unit (LTU) monitors and enforces the taxation of companies with operating revenue above €6 million, resulting in more frequent tax audits and more information requirements for those firms. We exploit this discontinuity in enforcement intensity to estimate the impact of low enforcement on tax reporting behavior, using a panel dataset of financial statements for 85% of Spanish firms in the period 1999-2007. We apply two different identification strategies. First, we find an excess mass of firms locating ("bunching") just below the revenue threshold. Based on the number of bunching firms, we estimate that firms reduce reported revenue by 1.4% to 7.5% to avoid falling in the high enforcement regime. Second, we run panel regressions with firm fixed effects and find that reported input costs do not respond significantly to the change in tax enforcement. This suggests that firms react to the enforcement discontinuity mostly by reporting lower revenues, without significantly distorting production. The efficiency costs of tax enforcement are thus likely to be small because tax evasion constitutes a reallocation of income to tax-evading firms. A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the loss in tax revenue due to tax evasion by non-LTU firms is, however, significant. In light of these results, we discuss potential reforms to improve tax enforcement policies.


The first five to six years of a long-term data set are presented for invertebrates and fish representing an array of physiological tolerances, trophic levels, and life history strategies in a lower mesohaline subestuary of Chesapeake Bay. Population abundances were estimated for infaunal invertebrates with cores taken four to six times per year at five stations, for nearshore fish with seines taken once per year at 14 stations, and for epibenthic fish and crabs taken in trawls eight times per year at three stations. Physical/chemical parameters of estuarine water were monitored continuously. Analyses of variance and covariacce were used to account for variation associated with seasonal cycles and to test for effects of year, station, and salinity on population abundances. A 16-year record of meteorological and water parameters showed that the study period spanned a multiyear period of regional drought in the 1980s, which resulted in markedly increased salinities and reflected a greater deviation from the long-term average than reduced salinities during major storms of the 1970s. ANOVA and ANCOVA models accounted for 12 to 82% of the variation in population abundance, depending on the species. All but two species showed significant differences in population abundances among years in six years' data for 19 infaunal invertebrate species, six years for 18 species of nearshore Ash, and five years for five species of epibenthic fish and crabs. Most species exhibited severalfoid differences in abundance among years. About half of the infaunal species, several of the nearshore fish, and four epibenthic species showed significant responses to elevated salinities. However, despite the overall importance of salinity on estuarine systems, only a small fraction (1 to 6%) of the variation in any one species was explained by salinity changes. Failure to account for more of the population ' Research ecologist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, P.O. Box 28, Edgewater. MD 21037. 2 Biological technician, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, P.O. Box 28, Edgewater, MD 21037. 140 MINES ET AL ON ESTUARINE INVERTEBRATES AND FISH 141 variation by salinity resulted from: (I) the significant spatial (station) variation and the significant interaction of time and spatial variation in nearly all species; (2) the importance of other meteorological and water quality parameters in regulating populations; (3) salinity being important primarily during a critical period (for example, during spring recruitment) because o(her factors (for example, predation) may override the controlling influence of salinity during other seasons; (4) the spatial scale of the study area being too small to exhibit major shifts in species abundance across the major salinity zones of the estuarine gradient; (5) the location of the study area at the low end of the mesohaline zone means that high salinities dominating the study period are unlikely to affect euryhaline species as much as low salinities; and (6) possible biases of short-term variation since most years of the study period were characterized by unusually high salinity.


Based on previous experience with parenteral prostanoids, we studied the effect of misoprostol treatment, an orally administered prostaglandin E1 analog, in patients with erythromelalgia. Treatment with placebo was followed by treatment with misoprostol (0.4-0.8 mg per d), both for 6 wk. The patients (n = 21) and a study nurse who administered the trial were blinded. The endpoints were change in pain and need for cooling and global assessment of the treatment. Following central body heat provocation, global skin perfusion, capillary morphology, and change in pain were also recorded before and after each treatment period. Results were compared with data from healthy control subjects (n =11) that did not undergo treatment. Clinical safety and tolerability evaluation included physical examinations, clinical laboratory tests, and monitoring of adverse events. All clinical outcome measures were significantly better after treatment with misoprostol (p<0.01) as compared with placebo treatment and after a 3mo follow-up without treatment. The heat-induced increase in global perfusion after misoprostol treatment was similar to the control group and significantly lower when compared with baseline (p<0.01) and placebo treatment (p<0.05), respectively. This study demonstrates that misoprostol is clinically superior to placebo in patients with erythromelalgia. The results of the perfusion studies may imply that the mechanism of action of the beneficial effect of misoprostol is reduced microvascular arteriovenous shunting in affected skin.


A large proportion of all crimes are committed against crime victims who have been victimized before, a phenomenon known as repeat victimization. There is thus a potential to achieve substantial benefits by focusing crime prevention measures on individuals, institutions or objects that have previously been exposed to crime. Successful strategies of this kind would prevent repeat victimization, and thus also would prevent a substantial proportion of all the crimes committed. The crime prevention measures that are implemented to this end may take several different forms. The strategy is not primarily about specific kinds of measures, but rather involves a way of directing crime prevention measures at relevant targets. An increasing number of crime prevention initiatives have been directed at repeat victimization especially to prevent repeat burglaries. But how well do they work? What does the research tell us? There are never sufficient resources to conduct rigorous evaluations of all the crime prevention initiatives employed in an individual country such as Sweden. For this reason, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Bra) has commissioned distinguished researchers to conduct a series of international reviews of the research published across a range of fields. This report presents a systematic review, including a statistical meta-analysis, of the effects of initiatives to prevent repeat victimization. The work has been conducted by Lecturer Louise E. Grove of Loughborough University (UK), Senior Research Fellow Graham Farrell of Simon Fraser University (Canada), Professor David P. Farrington of Cambridge University (UK), and Professor Shane D. Johnson of University College London (UK). The study follows the rigorous methodological requirements of a systematic review. The analysis combines the results from a number of evaluations that are considered to satisfy a list of empirical criteria for measuring effects as reliably as possible. The meta-analysis then uses the results from these previous evaluations to calculate and produce an overview of the effects associated with initiatives to prevent repeat victimization. The systematic review and the statistical meta-analysis presented in this report are based on a substantial number of empirical evaluations. Even though important questions remain unanswered, the study provides an accessible and far-reaching overview of the effects of initiatives to prevent repeat victimization. Generally, the results are encouraging; suggesting that appropriately targeted situational prevention measures can significantly reduce repeat burglaries.


Competition law is fun. As a noted expert consultant told one of us: 'Don't tell my spouse, but I'd work on these cases for the sheer joy of it.' The facts, the issues, the window into economies and legal systems -- it does not get much better than this. Not surprisingly, then, competition law academic seminars are also fun. At their best, they present opportunities for energized students to engage with scholars and wrestle with cutting edge issues in this particularly interesting field. Each of the two authors of this Editorial recently had the opportunity to participate in such seminars on the less familiar side of the Atlantic.The striking point, for both of us, is how different the experiences are. With all the talk about convergence of competition approaches, one might expect that the educational experiences would have harmonized. But they have not. This Editorial reflects on the differences we observed, implications from those differences for competition systems more generally, and the contributions of the four papers in this Special Issue.


This paper presents a unified framework for supervised learning and inference procedures using the divide-and-conquer approach for high-dimensional correlated outcomes. We propose a general class of estimators that can be implemented in a fully distributed and parallelized computational scheme. Modelling, computational and theoretical challenges related to high-dimensional correlated outcomes are overcome by dividing data at both outcome and subject levels, estimating the parameter of interest from blocks of data using a broad class of supervised learning procedures, and combining block estimators in a closed-form meta-estimator asymptotically equivalent to estimates obtained by Hansen (1982)'s generalized method of moments (GMM) that does not require the entire data to be reloaded on a common server. We provide rigorous theoretical justifications for the use of distributed estimators with correlated outcomes by studying the asymptotic behaviour of the combined estimator with fixed and diverging number of data divisions. Simulations illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed method, and we provide an R package for ease of implementation.


In recent years, some Canadian politicians and powerful interest groups have issued increasingly vocal calls for dramatic regulatory interventions into the country's payment cards system. In particular, they have called for a "hard cap" price-controls on interchange fees, a ban on contractual terms that prohibit card-accepting merchants from imposing surcharges on consumers that use payment cards, and a ban on so-called "honour all cards" rules that require a merchant to accept all payment cards issued under any payment network's logo.Advocates claim that these interventions will benefit businesses (especially small and medium-sized merchants) and consumers. An examination of economic theory and available empirical evidence, however, demonstrates that these claims of the benefits of intervention are unsupported. In particular, review of the effects of payment card regulation in the U.S., Australia, and elsewhere suggests that price controls and other interventions result in higher banking and credit card fees for consumers, while retailers are unlikely to pass on much of the savings to consumers. There is every reason to believe the same outcome will continue to occur in Canada if current efforts to regulate are enacted and unless existing regulations are relaxed.Instead of imposing regulations on the operators of payment card networks, which would undermine competition and harm consumers, Canada should seek to promote increased competition. The most effective way it can do that is by removing currently-existing legal barriers to competition that support a monopolistic structure in the debit card market and prevent Interac and other card networks from competing fairly with each other. Equally important is avoiding the imposition of costly new restrictions that would interfere with freely-bargained contractual rules between card networks and merchants that benefit consumers, such as no-surcharge rules (which protect consumers from surprise price increases at the register) or honour-all-cards rules (which guarantees ubiquitous acceptance of consumers' cards).


Third sector researchers often talk about 'third sector policies', but studies of the third sector as an actor in the policy process per se are surprisingly rare. Studies of policies which cut across the 'vertical policy fields' which completely dominate the policy process in all countries are exceptional. At first sight, there seem to be a range of persuasive reasons why this state of affairs could be expected to continue. However, in this paper, an attempt is made to argue that pressures have been building up across the EU which makes 'horizontal' policy an issue worthy of attention. The third sector is being connected, with increasing regularity, to policy problems whose credentials as 'European' are now accepted: unemployment in the context of globalisation; social exclusion; and the wider overall problem of the EU's systemic legitimacy. The precise content of this policy domain is now relatively open, and there is much to be contested. But it does seem to have found an increasingly firm place on the EU's public policy agenda, and as such merits attention from the research community. The first part of this paper examines linkages between the third sector literature and the policy process literature, proposing some guiding propositions and concepts. The second part of the paper examined one particular combination - European horizontal policy - and suggested that, contrary to first impressions, this is worthy of research effort as a space for policy development, even at the European Union level. The third part of the paper summarised the approach being taken by a new network, TSEP, to investigate this phenomenon. The paper also includes as an appendix a working glossary outlining some of the language being used by the network, which has built upon the concepts and categories suggested in this paper.


Venous function is a central mechanism of regulation of cell and tissue biology, although there is a lack of study on its influence in the central nervous system (CNS).1 The paper by Zamboni and co-workers (see page 392) illustrates a vascular picture that has not previously been described, correctly defined as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI), strongly associated with multiple sclerosis (MS).2 The picture is characterised by significant obstacles of the main extracranial cerebrospinal veins, the jugular and azygous system, and by the opening of substitute circles. When the venous flow is deviated into collaterals to bypass an obstacle, there exists …


Air pollution is a major driver of climate change. Anthropogenic emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for transportation and power generation emit large amounts of problematic air pollutants, including Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). Despite the importance of limiting GHG emissions to mitigate climate change, detailed information about the spatial and temporal distribution of GHG and other air pollutants is difficult to obtain. Existing models for surface-level air pollution rely on extensive land-use datasets which are often locally restricted and temporally static. This work proposes a deep learning approach for the prediction of ambient air pollution that only relies on remote sensing data that is globally available and frequently updated. Combining optical satellite imagery with satellite-based atmospheric column density air pollution measurements enables the scaling of air pollution estimates (in this case NO$_2$) to high spatial resolution (up to $\sim$10m) at arbitrary locations and adds a temporal component to these estimates. The proposed model performs with high accuracy when evaluated against air quality measurements from ground stations (mean absolute error $<$6$~\mu g/m^3$). Our results enable the identification and temporal monitoring of major sources of air pollution and GHGs.


We demonstrate that high-quality interference filters for the wavelength range 1300-1600 nm can be holographically fabricated in DuPont HRF-800X001 photopolymer material by use of visible laser illumination. We also summarize a chain-matrix technique, which we call thin-film decomposition, that is useful for modeling multilayer films with an arbitrary index profile n(z). We use the thin-film-decomposition technique to create design curves that allow one to choose the proper exposure angle and film thickness with which to fabricate a holographic interference filter with a desired transmission efficiency and bandwidth at a particular wavelength. These curves are of general utility and are not confined to any particular holographic recording medium. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment is found.


In this work, we leverage visual prompting (VP) to improve adversarial robustness of a fixed, pre-trained model at test time. Compared to conventional adversarial defenses, VP allows us to design universal (i.e., data-agnostic) input prompting templates, which have plug-and-play capabilities at test time to achieve desired model performance without introducing much computation overhead. Although VP has been successfully applied to improving model generalization, it remains elusive whether and how it can be used to defend against adversarial attacks. We investigate this problem and show that the vanilla VP approach is not effective in adversarial defense since a universal input prompt lacks the capacity for robust learning against sample-specific adversarial perturbations. To circumvent it, we propose a new VP method, termed Class-wise Adversarial Visual Prompting (C-AVP), to generate class-wise visual prompts so as to not only leverage the strengths of ensemble prompts but also optimize their interrelations to improve model robustness. Our experiments show that C-AVP outperforms the conventional VP method, with 2.1× standard accuracy gain and 2× robust accuracy gain. Compared to classical test-time defenses, C-AVP also yields a 42× inference time speedup. Code is available at https://github.com/Phoveran/vp-for-adversarial-robustness.


Capillary Isoelectric Focusing (CIEF) is a high-resolution technique which can be applied to the separation and characterisation of complex biological mixtures such as dairy proteins. Although dairy proteins are commonly analysed by traditional gel electrophoresis techniques including 2-Dimensional PAGE, CIEF offers the advantages of reduced analysis times, the ability to handle smaller sample volumes and increased sensitivity with improved separation efficiencies. Several methods for capillary isoelectric focusing of dairy proteins have been developed herein. For the analysis of soluble whey proteins methods that can be used with either UV or mass spectrometry (MS) detection have been set up. For MS detection a coaxial sheath flow interface in conjunction with electrospray ionisation has been utilised. For analysis of the inherently insoluble casein proteins with UV detection denaturing and reducing agents have been introduced into the system. Results have shown very close similarities to those obtained by IEF gels.


Background: Several observational studies have reported that higher visit-to-visit blood pressure variability is a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. However, no studies have investigated the association of day-to-day blood pressure variability assessed by home blood pressure measurement with the development of dementia. Methods: A total of 1674 community-dwelling Japanese elderly without dementia, ≥60 years of age, were followed up for 5 years (2007–2012). Home blood pressure was measured 3 times every morning for a median of 28 days. Day-to-day systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure variabilities, calculated as coefficients of variation (CoV) of home SBP and diastolic blood pressure, were categorized into quartiles. The hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals of the CoV levels of home blood pressure on the development of all-cause dementia, vascular dementia (VaD), and Alzheimer disease (AD) were computed with a Cox proportional hazards model. Results: During the follow-up, 194 subjects developed all-cause dementia; of these, 47 had VaD and 134 had AD. The age- and sex-adjusted incidences of all-cause dementia, VaD, and AD increased significantly with increasing CoV levels of home SBP (all P for trend <0.05). These associations remained unchanged after adjustment for potential confounding factors, including home SBP. Compared with subjects in the first quartile of CoV levels of home SBP, the risks of the development of all-cause dementia, VaD, and AD were significantly higher in those in the fourth quartile (hazard ratio=2.27, 95% confidence interval=1.45–3.55, P<0.001 for all-cause dementia; hazard ratio=2.79, 95% confidence interval=1.04–7.51, P=0.03 for VaD; hazard ratio=2.22, 95% confidence interval=1.31–3.75, P<0.001 for AD). Similar associations were observed for CoV levels of home diastolic blood pressure. Meanwhile, home SBP levels were significantly associated with the risk of VaD but not with the risks of all-cause dementia and AD. There was no interaction between home SBP levels and CoV levels of home SBP on the risk of each subtype of dementia. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that increased day-to-day blood pressure variability is, independently of average home blood pressure, a significant risk factor for the development of all-cause dementia, VaD, and AD in the general elderly Japanese population.


Certain ecological aspects of the feeding habits of 260 scalloped lobsters Panulirus homarus collected during monthly dives off the southeast coast of Iran were considered. Parameters under consideration included: water temperature, salinity, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen and macrobenthose of the lobsters habitat. The mean number of empty stomachs varied from 25% to 62%. Statistical analysis revealed no monthly or seasonal significant difference in the frequency of non-empty stomachs (P>0.05). 1 to 6 prey items were distinguishable in each non-empty stomach. Monthly mean of point counts of prey obtained was from 8.76±4.18 to 154.95±73.62, without any significant difference by Tukeys' HSD test. Bivalves often had the maximum amounts of Fi and Pi amongst different prey items. Pearson χ 2 test did not show any significant difference between frequency of occurrence of each prey item with different length classes, sex, moulting condition and presence of eggs in females (P>0.05). Ivlev electivity index of crabs, gastropods and bivalves was close to 1 and sloped to -1 for polychaetes and echinoderms. This index revealed crabs, bivalves and gastropods were more important in the diet than sediment throughout the year. Frequencies of food occurrence suggest bivalves as the main food; crabs, gastropods, barnacles and algae as secondary food and polychaetes, fish, echinoderms and Ascidiacea as incidental food for P. homarus in the area. Spearmans' correlation coefficients of stomach fullness against different length classes, sexes, moulting and ovigerous females were not significantly different (P>0.05). There was only a significant Pearsons' correlation between the number of point for bivalves in the stomach against body weight (P<0.05).


This empirical study attempted to develop an original theoretical framework aiming at understanding the psychosocial changes that occurred in the long - term among families living in a post conflict setting. During the last fifteen years, Kosovo has been transitioning from warfare and organized violence to stabilization and state building under the supervision and with the support of the international community. Drawing on different contributions from analytical psychology, attachment theory and the systemic family theory , the theoretical framework focused primarily on family relationships and observed them through both a psychological and a psychosocial perspective. The empirical study attempted to observe the complex relational matrix interconnecting individuals and families with their broader context encompassing societal, economic, cultural and political facets. A total of thirty-five families belonging to different ethnic and socio-economic groups participated in the study, originating from different areas of the region . They were exposed to war events with different intensity and to gross violations of human rights that occurred between the years 1998-1999. The research explored the process of psychological and psychosocial transformation that occurred in family life by focusing on the quality of family attachment behaviours between children and caregivers and on care - giving/parenting styles. Moreover, the impact of the process of 'internationalization' was taken into account, which has been defined as the whole of the interactions involving the local population and international community, taking place both in Kosovo as well as in third countries. The role of technology and social media in providing opportunities for regular contacts with relatives and friends living abroad and strengthening further family relationships was also considered. The results showed that when families were exposed to harsh daily stressors, marginalization and discrimination even before war-related events they were more likely to display limited family psychosocial functioning, inadequate parenting and caregiving and mothers to report more frequently psychopathological symptoms of depression and anxiety. Secondly, attachment security within family and responsive parenting styles appeared to have a mediational role towards potentially traumatic experiences and adverse environmental conditions by enhancing the capacity of positively coping with adversities at both a personal and family level. Thirdly , the long-term effects of war experiences seemed to be also linked to changes in the society, in particular to the transformations caused by the process of 'internationalization', such as the promotion of a human rights based culture, law enforcement and infrastructural interventions aiming at developing communication systems and information technology. The study discusses the potential factors supporting lasting resilience and the Adversity Activated Development responses in individuals and families.


An anthropomorphic underactuated prosthetic hand, endowed with position and force sensors and controlled by means of myoelectric commands, is used to perform experiments of hierarchical shared control. Three different hierarchical control strategies combined with a vibrotactile feedback system have been developed and tested by able-bodied subjects through grasping tasks used in activities of daily living (ADLs). The first goal is to find a good tradeoff between good grasping capabilities and low attention required by the user to complete grasping tasks, without addressing advanced algorithm for electromyographic processing. The second goal is to understand whether a vibrotactile feedback system is subjectively or objectively useful and how it changes users' performance. Experiments showed that users were able to successfully operate the device in the three control strategies, and that the grasp success increased with more interactive control. Practice has proven that when too much effort is required, subjects do not do their best, preferring, instead, a less-interactive control strategy. Moreover, the experiments showed that when grasping tasks are performed under visual control, the enhanced proprioception offered by a vibrotactile system is practically not exploited. Nevertheless, in subjective opinion, feedback seems to be quite important.


Civil disobedience is defined as "illegal public protest, [that is] non- violent in character." Examples of such activity include "trespassing on government property, blocking access to buildings, or engaging in disorderly conduct." Civil disobedience signifies disagreement with public policies that individuals feel are not being properly addressed through the normal political channels. The sense that they have no other political or legal recourse leads people to respond to the issue with protests. Not surprisingly, civil disobedience has been a popular avenue for climate change advocates. In fact, Kara Moss, an opinion writer for the Guardian, went so far as to claim that civil disobedience might be the only route left in the fight against climate change.
Civil disobedience in the realm of climate change has been successful in stopping, or at least slowing down, particular projects. For example, the Keystone XL Pipeline, a pipeline that would transfer fuel from Canadian tar sands to the United States, has been a hotly debated political issue. One reason protests have erupted across the country to try and thwart the construction of the pipeline is the exacerbation this source of energy could have on climate change. Some activists even turned to civil disobedience in a last ditch effort to make their disagreement with the construction of the pipeline known.
As a result, on November 6, 2015, President Barack Obama denied the pipeline an essential permit, stating it would not improve the United States' energy security, would not "make a meaningful long-term contribution to [the] economy," and would "undercut America's 'global leadership' on climate change." This was a major victory for climate change activists throughout the country. It showed the potential efficacy of climate change protests and civil disobedience, as it is unlikely that the government would have made such a determination without the public outcry. However, this victory was short lived, as President Trump granted approval for the Pipeline through an executive order in January of 2017, immediately after taking office. Still, despite the President's actions after the fact, the protests were able to affect political change at the highest level of the executive branch.
Although it is popular and effective, climate activists who wish to use civil disobedience still face a substantial problem. Their actions are, by definition, illegal. Therefore, individuals who plan on participating in such actions need to consider the risk of criminal prosecution. To avoid prosecution, the common law and, in some states, statutory law have provided defendants with a potential defense—the necessity defense. Put simply, "[t]he necessity defense asserts that breaking the law [is] justified in order to avert a greater harm that would occur as a result of the government policy the offender was protesting."
While it may be difficult to succeed on the assertion of a necessity defense in a climate change case, it has not stopped climate change advocates from attempting to assert the defense in the past. These activists—turned defendants—are not without help. The Climate Defense Project ("CDP") is a group of attorneys committed to filling "a gap in the legal landscape by supporting front-line activists, pursuing climate impact litigation, and connecting attorneys with communities and campaigns." One of the main avenues the group uses to support activists is facilitating climate activists' use of the necessity defense.
Inspired by the recent success of climate change defendants in asserting the necessity defense, and by the critical need for alternative avenues to combat climate change, this Note aims to provide guidance for climate change litigants who wish to use the necessity defense in climate change litigation. The goal of this Note is not to provide a thorough analysis of why the necessity defense is an appropriate mechanism to be used in climate change cases, as other scholars have already answered this question compellingly; rather, its aim is to provide climate change activists and litigants with important advice and considerations on how to use the necessity defense as effectively as possible. Since the burden to properly assert the necessity defense is extremely difficult to meet, especially in climate change cases, this Note hopes to play a role in assisting climate change litigants who attempt to use it.


Unrepaired DNA lesions in the template strand block the replication fork. In yeast, Mec1 protein kinase-mediated replication checkpoint prevents the breakdown of replication forks and maintains viability in DNA-damaged cells going through the S phase. By ensuring that the replisome does not dissociate from the fork stalled at the lesion site, the replication checkpoint presumably coordinates the action of lesion bypass processes with the replisome. However, it has remained unclear as to which of the lesion bypass processes-translesion synthesis (TLS) and/or template switching-depend on the activation of the replication checkpoint. Here we determine if the Mec1 kinase and the subunits of the checkpoint clamp and the clamp loader are required for TLS. We show that proficient TLS can occur in the absence of these checkpoint proteins in nucleotide excision repair (NER)-proficient cells; however, in the absence of NER, checkpoint protein-mediated Rev1 phosphorylation contributes to increasing the proficiency of DNA polymerase zeta-dependent TLS.


The aim of this research is to understand employees' contribution to the successful
implementation of total quality management (TQM) within construction companies in
Kuwait. A research model was developed based on previous studies to guide the research
and understand the different factors that contribute to employee contribution and
implementation of TQM.
The research begins with reviewing different literatures on employee contribution and TQM.
The factors studies the implementation and usage of quality management in the construction
companies and factors such as leadership, employee, teamwork, and information technology
on TQM. To understand employee contribution, data was collected from employees in the
construction companies in Kuwait. The data was collected using quantitative survey and
using questionnaires that were distributed by hand to the companies.
The collected data was entered in statistical software to generate different types of analyses.
The types of analyses were descriptive, crosstab, correlation, factor, regression, Kruskall
Wallis and Mann Whitney. Based on the results leadership, employee, teamwork and
information technology were found to be significant to the role of TQM in the construction
companies.
The recommendations were towards practicing continuous improvement, strengthening
employee training, increasing and enhancing communication between managers and
employees. The future research recommendations are towards gathering information from
senior managers and CEO. The data needs to be compared with this study to understand the
role of senior managers towards success of TQM in construction companies.
ii
ACKNOWLEDG


Vitamin B12 is a critical nutrient that is often inadequate in a plant-based (vegan) diet, thus the inclusion of a reliable vitamin B12 source in a vegan diet is recommended as essential. Unfortunately, many natural sources of vitamin B12 have been proven to contain biologically inactive vitamin B12 analogues, inadequate for human supplementation. The aim of this non-randomized open trial was to determine whether supplementation with a natural Klamath algae-based product ("AFA-B12", Aphanizomenon flos-aquae algae plus a proprietary mix of enzymes) could favorably affect the vitamin B12 status of a group of 15 vegan subjects. By assessing blood concentration of vitamin B12, folate, and more importantly homocysteine (Hcy, a reliable marker in vegans of their B12 absorption), the vitamin B12 status of the participants at the end of the 3-month intervention period, while receiving the Klamath-algae supplement (T2), was compared with their vitamin B12 status at the end of the 3-month control period (T1), when they were not receiving any supplement, having stopped taking their usual vitamin B12 supplement at the beginning of the study (T0). Compared to the control period, in the intervention period participants improved their vitamin B12 status, significantly reducing Hcy blood concentration (p=0.003). In conclusion, the Klamath algae product AFA-B12 appears to be, in a preliminary study, an adequate and reliable source of vitamin B12 in humans.


Past research has consistently found a negative relationship between psychological age and health. Nearly all of that research, however, has been cross-sectional, and the few panel studies that exist include only a single aspect of health and measured with older adults. The present study sought to replicate and expand on a recent 2-wave cross-lagged panel investigation that explored the causal interplay between several dimensions of health and psychological age in middle age and older adults. In the current study employees (N = 409), ranging in age from 22 to 70, from six manufacturing organizations participated in three surveys approximately 1.5 years apart, and two clinical health assessments approximately 3 years apart. Using cross-lagged panel path analysis, negative relationships were found between psychological age and four types of health. Chronological age was found to moderate these relationships, with different predictive patterns discovered for older and younger individuals. Psychological age predicted health for older adults, while for younger adults health predicted psychological age. The pattern of the relationship varied for each aspect of health, and also across age groups. Two theories, stereotype embodiment theory and social comparison theory, may explain the dissimilarities between the age groups in the results. Future research should explore the effect that other moderators, such as gender and employment status, play in the association between health and psychological assessments of age.


A three‐channel excitation (435 nm, 470 nm, and 532 nm) Chlorophyll fluorometer (695 nm emission) was calibrated and characterized to improve uncertainty in estimated in situ Chlorophyll concentrations. Protocols for reducing sensor‐related uncertainties as well as environmental‐related uncertainties were developed. Sensor calibrations were performed with thirteen monospecific cultures in the laboratory, grown under limiting and saturating irradiance, and sampled at different growth phases. Resulting uncertainties in the calibration slope induced by natural variations in the in vivo fluorescence per extracted Chlorophyll yield were quantified. Signal variations associated with the sensors (i.e., dark current configurations, drift, and stability) and the environment (i.e., temperature dependent dark currents and contamination by colored dissolved organic matter [CDOM] fluorescence) yielded errors in estimating in situ Chlorophyll concentration exceeding 100%. Calibration protocols and concurrent observations of in situ temperature and CDOM fluorescence eliminate these uncertainties. Depending upon excitation channel, biomass calibration slopes varied between 6‐ and 10‐fold between species and as a function of growth irradiance or growth phase. The largest source of slope variability was due to variations in accessory pigmentation, and thus the variance could be reduced among pigment‐based taxonomic lines. Fluorescence ratios were statistically distinct among the pigment‐based taxonomic groups, providing not only a means for approximating bulk taxonomic composition, but also for selecting the appropriate calibration slope to statistically improve the accuracy of in situ Chlorophyll concentration estimates. Application to 5 months of deployment in China Lake, Maine, USA reduced the error in estimating extracted Chlorophyll concentration from > 30% to < 6%.


Introduction.

During the course of my enquiries into the geology of this neighbourhood, I learnt that the tusk of an elephant had once been found in the cliff near Bridlington Quay by some fishermen, and I sought out one of the men, and questioned him as to the discovery. He told me they found the tusk in a bed of soft sand at the bottom of the cliff near where the chalk ends, about two miles east of Bridlington Harbour, opposite the village of Sewerby; but, when I came to examine the section, I could find no bed like that described, though I noticed that the chalk ended very abruptly, and also, that though the lower part of the cliff was much obscured by slipped drift, there were indications of beds between the boulder-clay and the chalk. I called attention to the discovery in a paper on "The Speeton Shell-bed" (in Geological Magazine, Dec. II., Vol. VIII., p. 174), and suggested that the remains had been obtained from some unexposed bed which underlay the boulder-clay.

The lower part of the section remained masked by slips till the winter of 1883–4, when the sea cleared away much of the displaced stuff, and revealed the long-looked-for bone-bed. I was first apprised of this by one of the fishermen who had made the previous discovery, who came to tell me that there were two bones in the cliff. I examined these bones, and thought that the greater part of a skeleton might ...


Structural design and analysis is an important and time-consuming process, particularly at the conceptual design stage. Decisions made at this stage can have an enormous effect on the entire project, as it becomes ever costlier and more difficult to alter the choices made early on in the construction process. Hence, optimisation of the early stages of structural design can provide important efficiencies in terms of cost and time. This paper suggests a structural design optimisation (SDO) framework in which Genetic Algorithms (GAs) may be used to semi-automate the production and optimisation of early structural design alternatives. This framework has the potential to leverage conceptual structural design innovation in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. Moreover, this framework improves the collaboration between the architectural stage and the structural stage. It will be shown that this SDO framework can make this achievable by generating the structural model based on the extracted data from the architectural model. At the moment, the proposed SDO framework is in the process of validation, involving the distribution of an online questionnaire among structural engineers in the UK. Keywords—Building Information Modelling, BIM, Genetic Algorithm, GA, architecture-engineering-construction, AEC, Optimisation, structure, design, population, generation, selection, mutation, crossover, offspring.


In this study we examined the interrelationship among extrinsic rewards and achievement goals (including a work-avoidance goal), competence beliefs, and task values associated with health-enhancing running tasks over a school year. A group of elementary school students ( n = 119) from a program that promoted running for running's sake and another ( n = 88) from a program that promoted running through games provided pre- and post-year data on students'achievement goals, competence beliefs, task values, achievement in running tests, and future intention to continue running as a health-enhancing activity. Results showed that students in the running-for-games program demonstrated
significant growth in task-involved achievement goals. The regression analyses showed that extrinsic reward and selected intrinsic motivation
constructs played a small role in predicting running-test scores. Interest, however, emerged as the most important intrinsic motivation construct for predicting future motivation for running. Interest seemed to override the effects not only of extrinsic reward but also of other intrinsic motivation sources. This finding suggests that interest-based motivation sources might have a strong and prolonged effect on learner motivation.


Pisani & AbouZahr write passionately about the need to change the culture of data sharing in public health research.1 They explain why this is in everybody's best interests and outline ways in which the main obstacles can be overcome. This is laudable and much appreciated; it is time for a change, the current situation is unacceptably inefficient in terms of scientific progress and value for money from research.

The two authors challenge institutions, in particular research funders, to take charge of the agenda to make these changes happen. They call for leadership but, while funding agencies are clearly influential and can certainly facilitate changes in scientific behaviour and culture, they are unlikely to be able to effect all the changes called for by Pisani & AbouZahr. While funders might support and encourage, we are not in a position to dictate changes to professional structures, to create career paths for scientific disciplines at academic institutions, nor to determine scientific reward mechanisms.

What is required as a first step is the facilitation of dialogue and the building of consensus between all interested parties, including funders, researchers, institutions, journal editors, ethics committees, multilateral agencies and governments. No one agency has the mandate or the legitimacy to take this whole agenda forward unilaterally. A more sustainable and palatable pathway be will to build consensus and to create a broad coalition.

It is worth reflecting on why data sharing is not more commonly practiced among epidemiologists and public health researchers. Pisani & AbouZahr point out many of the constraints, such as the lack of appropriate incentives from employers such as research councils, foundations and universities, the short supply of data managers especially in low- and middle-income countries, and concerns over the control and ownership of data. There are also technical issues, data sets for cohort studies are more complicated than standard genetic data sets because of their longitudinal nature, and there are no off-the-shelf tools available for managing and curating standardized and interoperable longitudinal data sets.

Overcoming these constraints requires a broad consensus among stakeholders. Indeed Pisani & AbouZahr seem to acknowledge this. When they write that "we" need to develop a search portal, invest in training in data management, develop reliable citation standards, develop methods to track the value of data sharing, and so on, these are clearly tasks for the wider scientific community.

Of course, individual institutions – and funders – can take the initiative over certain aspects of the agenda and form alliances with those agencies that can help in other domains. Indeed, the Wellcome Trust has already led various initiatives in this field, including convening international meetings of public health researchers and funding agencies, and has raised these issues at meetings of public health policy-makers and international journal editors. The Trust is currently revising its grant conditions about data sharing, which will be strengthened and, importantly, will provide more guidance about the technicalities of how to share data more effectively. We are ready to take the lead in those areas, where it is appropriate for us to do so, and we are open to the formation of alliances with other agencies that can help to facilitate progress in other areas.


The chronology of the Social War has for a long time been a source of dispute amongst historians of fourth-century Athens. The central problem has been the confusion that Diodoros, our main source for the period, got himself into. In the first of his two references to the Social War Diodoros refers to the outbreak of a 'three-year war' in the archonship of Cephisodotos (358/357). However, later on he refers to the closure of the war in the archonship of Elpines (356/355) after a 'four-year war.'


In view of the planned DT operations at JET, a calibration of the JET neutron monitors at 14 MeV neutron energy is needed using a 14 MeV neutron generator deployed inside the vacuum vessel by the JET remote handling system. The target accuracy of this calibration is  ±10% as also required by ITER, where a precise neutron yield measurement is important, e.g. for tritium accountancy. To achieve this accuracy, the 14 MeV neutron generator selected as the calibration source has been fully characterised and calibrated prior to the in-vessel calibration of the JET monitors. This paper describes the measurements performed using different types of neutron detectors, spectrometers, calibrated long counters and activation foils which allowed us to obtain the neutron emission rate and the anisotropy of the neutron generator, i.e. the neutron flux and energy spectrum dependence on emission angle, and to derive the absolute emission rate in 4π sr. The use of high resolution diamond spectrometers made it possible to resolve the complex features of the neutron energy spectra resulting from the mixed D/T beam ions reacting with the D/T nuclei present in the neutron generator target. As the neutron generator is not a stable neutron source, several monitoring detectors were attached to it by means of an ad hoc mechanical structure to continuously monitor the neutron emission rate during the in-vessel calibration. These monitoring detectors, two diamond diodes and activation foils, have been calibrated in terms of neutrons/counts within  ±5% total uncertainty. A neutron source routine has been developed, able to produce the neutron spectra resulting from all possible reactions occurring with the D/T ions in the beam impinging on the Ti D/T target. The neutron energy spectra calculated by combining the source routine with a MCNP model of the neutron generator have been validated by the measurements. These numerical tools will be key in analysing the results from the in-vessel calibration and to derive the response of the JET neutron detectors to DT plasma neutrons starting from the response to the generator neutrons, and taking into account all the calibration circumstances.


This paper demonstrates a large-break loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) sequence of the Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP) and station blackout sequence of the Maanshan NPP with the SCDAP/RELAP5 (SR5), Modular Accident Analysis Program (MAAP), and MELCOR codes. The large-break sequence initiated with double-ended rupture of a recirculation loop. The main steam isolation valves (MSIVs) closed, the feedwater pump tripped, the reactor scrammed, and the assumed high-pressure and low-pressure spray systems of the emergency core cooling system (ECCS) were not functional. Therefore, all coolant systems to quench the core were lost. MAAP predicts a longer vessel failure time, and MELCOR predicts a shorter vessel failure time for the large-break LOCA sequence. The station blackout sequence initiated with a loss of all alternating-current (ac) power. The MSIVs closed, the feedwater pump tripped, and the reactor scrammed. The motor-driven auxiliary feedwater system and the high-pressure and low-pressure injection systems of the ECCS were lost because of the loss of all ac power. It was also assumed that the turbine-driven auxiliary feedwater pump was not functional. Therefore, the coolant system to quench the core was also lost. MAAP predicts a longer time of steam generator dryout, time interval between top of active fuel and bottom of active fuel, and vessel failure time than those of the SR5 and MELCOR predictions for the station blackout sequence. The three codes give similar results for important phenomena during the accidents, including SG dryout, core uncovery, cladding oxidation, cladding failure, molten pool formulation, debris relocation to the lower plenum, and vessel head failure. This paper successfully demonstrates the large-break LOCA sequence of the Kuosheng NPP and the station blackout sequence of the Maanshan NPP.


Fault detection plays a serious role in high-cost and safety-critical processes. There are two main drivers for continuous improvement in the area of early detection of process faults safety and reliability of technical plants. Detect fault in Geophone string sensors (SG-10) are very important in oil exploration to avoid loss economy. Methods are developed to enable earlier detection of process faults than the traditional limit and trend checking based on a single process variable and the development of these methods is a key matter. Classification methods will be used for pattern recognition and as such is appropriate for fault detection. In supervised training input-output pairs, both for normal and fault conditions, are presented to the network. The models were trained on the free fault and fault sensors. Then the Quadratic Support Vector Machine (QSVM) and k-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) as the classifiers are used. The test results for measuring the performance of 1232 sample classifiers from data show that the accuracy of fault-free sensor recognition is 97.4 % and 100% consecutively for these classifiers.


OBJECTIVES
To estimate the transmission rate of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in households with recently hospitalized CPE carriers.

METHODS
We conducted a prospective case-ascertained cohort study. We identified the presence of CPE in stool samples from index subjects, household contacts and companion animals and environmental samples at regular intervals. Linked transmissions were identified by WGS. A Markov model was constructed to estimate the household transmission potential of CPE.

RESULTS
Ten recently hospitalized index patients and 14 household contacts were included. There were seven households with one contact, two households with two contacts, and one household with three contacts. Index patients were colonized with blaOXA-48-like (n = 4), blaKPC-2 (n = 3), blaIMP (n = 2), and blaNDM-1 (n = 1), distributed among divergent species of Enterobacteriaceae. After a cumulative follow-up time of 9.0 years, three family members (21.4%, 3/14) acquired four different types of CPE in the community (hazard rate of 0.22/year). The probability of CPE transmission from an index patient to a household contact was 10% (95% CI 4%-26%).

CONCLUSIONS
We observed limited transmission of CPE from an index patient to household contacts. Larger studies are needed to understand the factors associated with household transmission of CPE and identify preventive strategies.


Due the movement of the sun throughout the day, the insolation level incident on the fixed panel surface varies largely. The maximum level of insolation occurs only around noon. This leads to the panel to be under-utilised. To maximise the utilisation of the panel during the day, mechanical solar tracking is used. This method not only increases the utilisation of the, but increases the power being extracted from the panel. Solar tracking using one axis tracking increases the energy yield from the solar panel by 40 percent. Extended Abstract During the span of a day the sun's movement has been shown in figure 1. As the day passes by, the level of incident solar radiation (insolation) changes. This change takes place due to position of the sun. The angle at which the sun's rays fall on the photovoltaic panel affects the insolation level available for the panel to convert into electrical energy. For the fixed panel, the sun's rays are not normal to plane of the panel most of the time. This causes the panel to be under-utilised. To extract more energy from the same panel, solar tracking is required. This follows the sun's movement thereby increasing the insolation level throughout the day. This increase in the insolation level is due to the fact that the angle between the normal to the solar panel and incident light is to be kept minimum. Figure 1: Sun's movement throughout the day The principle of a single axis solar tracking has been shown in figure 2. The solar tracking can be accomplished by four methods: active tracking, passive tracking, chronological tracking and manual tracking [1]. Active trackers measure the light intensity from the sun using light sensors which give signal to the controller and driving mechanism. Passive trackers commonly make use of a low boiling point compressed gas. This gas is filled in two canisters each placed in east and west directions. The heating of the fluids cause the panel to tilt over to the side with more sunshine. These will have viscous dampers to prevent excessive motion in response to wind gusts [2]. A chronological tracker uses a rotation mechanism to counteract the effect of Earth's rotation. A simple rotation mechanism, turning at a constant speed of one revolution per day or 15 degrees per hour, is adequate for many purposes, such as keeping a photovoltaic panel pointing within a few degrees of the Sun. This can easily be achieved by the use of a stepper motor control. Figure 2: Principle of single axis solar tracking The data for the insolation level and temperature for the whole year have been obtained from the NASA website for Aligarh and Doha [3]. The simulations have been run assuming that there is no condition of partial shading. For the purpose of simulation of energy output during the day, five solar panels of 250 Wp were taken in parallel to give a total of 1.25 kWp of power under STC. The energy outputs for the months throughout the year were obtained for two conditions: first for the fixed panel condition, and second for the panel with continuous one-axis solar tracking. The results have been compared and shown for Aligarh and Doha in Figs. 3 and 4 respectively. In Fig. 5, the percentage increase in the energy output for each month has been shown for both the cities. Figure 3: Daily energy yield from a 1.25 kWp solar array on a monthly basis in Aligarh Figure 4: Daily energy yield from a 1.25 kWp solar array on a monthly basis in Doha Figure 5: Increase in daily energy yield on a monthly basis References [1] B H Khan 'Non-Conventional Energy Resources' Tata McGraw Hill, 2009. [2] Kamala J. and Alex J., 2014, 'Solar Tracking for Maximum and Economic Energy Harvesting', Int. J. of Engg. and Tech, Vol. 5(6), pp 5030–5037. [3] NASA Surface meteorology and Solar Energy website: https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov


Objective Uncertainty exists concerning the relative merits of pharmacological versus mechanical coronary reperfusion in patients presenting early with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) with extensive myocardium at risk. Accordingly, we investigated whether the extent of baseline ST-segment shift was related to the response of either reperfusion modality in patients with STEMI presenting within 3 h of symptoms. Methods We analysed baseline ECGs from 1859 patients enrolled in the STrategic Reperfusion Early After Myocardial Infarction (STREAM) trial. The sum of ST-segment elevation (∑STE) and ST-segment deviation (∑STD) was categorised into quartiles and associations with the primary endpoint (30-day death/shock/congestive heart failure/re-myocardial infarction) for each reperfusion strategy (early fibrinolysis vs primary percutaneous coronary intervention) were explored. Results Overall, there was a progressive rise in the 30-day primary endpoint according to quartiles of baseline ∑STE (10.3% (0–5 mm), 12.4% (5.5–8.5 mm), 12.1% (9–13.5 mm), 17.6% (>14.0 mm), p=0.008) and ∑STD (9.0% (0–9 mm), 13.5% (9.5–14 mm), 14.7% (14.5–20 mm), 15.3% (>20 mm), p=0.019). Both ∑STE and ∑STD were associated with the primary endpoint (∑STE: p=0.071; ∑STD: p=0.024). However, there was no interaction between quartiles of baseline ∑STE or ∑STD and efficacy of either reperfusion strategy on the 30-day clinical outcomes (∑STE: p (interaction)=0.696; ∑STD: p (interaction)=0.542). Conclusions These data demonstrate an association between ∑STE or ∑STD on the baseline ECG and clinical events at 30 days following reperfusion therapy in STEMI. More importantly, the response to different reperfusion strategies was not influenced by the extent of jeopardised myocardium. Trial registration number NCT00623623; Post-results.


At the end of the 20th century, we can look back on a spectacular development of numerical weather prediction, which has, practically uninterrupted, been going on since the middle of the century. High-resolution predictions for more than a week ahead for any part of the globe are now routinely produced and anyone with an Internet connection can access many of these forecasts for anywhere in the world. Extended predictions for several seasons ahead are also being done — the latest El Nino event in 1997/1998 is an example of such a successful prediction. The great achievement is due to a number of factors including the progress in computational technology and the establishment of global observing systems, combined with a systematic research program with an overall strategy towards building comprehensive prediction systems for climate and weather. In this article, I will discuss the different evolutionary steps in this development and the way new scientific ideas have contributed to efficiently explore the computing power and in using observations from new types of observing systems. Weather prediction is not an exact science due to unavoidable errors in initial data and in the models. To quantify the reliability of a forecast is therefore essential and probably more so the longer the forecasts are. Ensemble prediction is thus a new and important concept in weather and climate prediction, which I believe will become a routine aspect of weather prediction in the future. The limit between weather and climate prediction is becoming more and more diffuse and in the final part of this article I will outline the way I think development may proceed in the future. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.1999.00003.x