Labour markets of developing countries are typically characterised by low
unemployment but high informality. In Latin America, about half of the workforce
is informal. This includes wage workers without registration and those self
employed who do not make social security contributions. Informality is an issue
because it has been associated with low productivity jobs and low general human
capital investment, despite being a source of employment. The first two chapters
focus on extending and estimating labour market models to evaluate the impact
of labour market policies on welfare, employment, informality, and wages in developing
countries. The first chapter presents a model with search frictions where
workers and firms decide whether to be formal or informal. The second chapter
assumes firms' sector is exogenous however allows for workers to become
self employed. In common, simulations using these two different frameworks
show that increasing the cost of informality has a small impact on unemployment
and informality levels. Such policies reduce informal sector wages which are
on average the lowest in the economy. Consequently, wage inequality increases.
Nonetheless, results show that welfare may improve significantly. The first reason
is the increased competition in the formal sector which may occur if firms can
choose sector. The second reason is a large increase in formal labour force size
because of improved rent-sharing between firms and workers since the latter can
enter self employment. In either case, formal wages rise, along with all workers'
welfare. The third chapter provides an empirical test for the impact of enforcement
of labour legislation on measures of workers' welfare. Stricter enforcement
increases compliance with mandated benefits (registration, social security and
minimum wage). However, there are two tradeoffs, one between the provision
of mandated benefits and wages, and another between mandated and important
optional job benefits, such as private health.


The experience of engaging with the television show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is structurally and affectively analogous to the experience of an alternate reality game. The community presents multiple tiers of engagement in which individual contributions can be recognized; the creators of the show include material with the specific intent that it be taken up by the community but without any control of the way in which it is used, and material created by the community is folded into the text by the creators in a dialogue. The context of the cocreative dialogue that surrounds the show and its community is a good example of both what Paul Booth identifies as a digi-gratis economy and the forensic fandom used by Jason Mittell to understand community engagement and response to Lost.


Istanbul, a host of many different civilizations- being a city of tourism, art, and culture, with a mega-city area of 5712 km2, having more than 1,000,000 buildings with a population exceeding 10 million, has been exposed to numerous earthquakes in its history and, has experienced damaged extensively as a result of these earthquakes. Istanbul was also affected by the recent August 17th Golcuk and November 12th Duzce Earthquakes; and approximately 32,637 buildings were damaged. When the regional earthquake accelerations were examined, it was observed not even a design earthquake had occurred in Istanbul as a result of these earthquakes. On the other hand, damage, destruction, and the losses of life were observed to be more than the expected values. As one can comprehend from these figures, it can be stated that the building stock of Istanbul is defective; and these buildings contain the risk of severe damage or total collapse. It is considerably significant to repair these negativities in the defective buildings and remove the apparent defects for minimizing the risks. Moreover, it was pointed out that a great danger awaits Istanbul and the Marmara Region because of the seismic risk and structural damage scenarios. Consequently, the investigation of the present building stock of Istanbul would help for better determination of earthquake scenarios for Istanbul and the Marmara Region. A detailed examination was conducted on a total of 467 buildings with reinforced concrete or masonry structural systems, from 23 different districts of Istanbul, and the results obtained were evaluated in this study. The damage conditions of the buildings, their suitability to the original project, concrete strength values, reinforcement conditions, project and building defects, and other architectural and structural system faults, not suitable as regards to the seismic design, were determined. As a result, apparent defects and faults for the investigated buildings were marked.

 Key words: Earthquake, present building stock, structural defects, risk analysis, Marmara region.


The present study integrates co-kriging as spatial estimator and self-organizing map (SOM) as clustering technique to identify spatially homogeneous clusters of groundwater quality data and to choose the most effective input data for feed-forward neural network (FFNN) model to simulate electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS) of groundwater. The methodology is presented in three stages. In the first stage, geostatistics approach of co-kriging is used to estimate groundwater quality parameters at locations where the groundwater levels are measured. In stage two, SOM clustering technique is used to identify spatially homogeneous clusters of groundwater quality data. The dominant input data, selected by spatial clustering and mutual information are then imposed into the FFNN model for one-step-ahead predictions of groundwater quality parameters at stage three. The performance of the newly proposed model is compared to conventional linear forecasting method of multiple linear regression (MLR). The results suggest that the proposed model decreases dimensionality of the input layer and consequently the complexity of the FFNN model with acceptable efficiency in spatiotemporal simulation of groundwater quality parameters. The application of FFNN for modeling EC and TDS parameters increases the accuracy of predictions respectively up to 84.5% and 17% on average with regard to the MLR model.


The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the concept of social capital and to distinguish its different forms, focusing on their potential effects on health. According to many scholars, social capital comprises social networks, norms of reciprocity or social support and social trust. In this article the core element, the social network, has been further distinguished by the direction of ties and levels of formality, strength and diversity. In the past few years there has been increased interest in social capital in the health field and a great deal of research has suggested that social capital is generally positively related to health. However, little research has been conducted into how different forms of social capital or social networks influence health. What is the difference, for instance, between bonding and bridging social capital in terms of health outcomes? It is important to distinguish the different forms because they imply different resources, support and obligations. More research needs to be conducted into the different forms of social capital and their effects on health. A special focus should be placed on the health impacts of cross-cutting — or bridging and linking — forms of social capital.


Structural bioinformatics provides the scientific methods and tools to analyse, archive, validate, and present the biomolecular structure data generated by the structural biology community. It also provides an Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article. generated by the structural biology community. It also provides an important link with the genomics community, as structural bioinformaticians also use the extensive sequence data to predict protein structures and their functional sites. A very broad and active community of structural bioinformaticians exists across Europe, and 3D-Bioinfo will establish formal platforms to address their needs and better integrate their activities and initiatives. Our mission will be to strengthen the ties with the structural biology research communities in Europe covering life sciences, as well as chemistry and physics and to bridge the gap between these researchers in order to fully realize the potential of structural bioinformatics. Our Community will also undertake dedicated educational, training and outreach efforts to facilitate this, bringing new insights and thus facilitating the development of much needed innovative applications e.g. for human health, drug and protein design. Our combined efforts will be of critical importance to keep the European research efforts competitive in this respect. Here we highlight the major European contributions to the field of structural bioinformatics, the most pressing challenges remaining and how Europe-wide interactions, enabled by ELIXIR and its platforms, will help in addressing these challenges and in coordinating structural bioinformatics resources across Europe. In particular, we present recent activities and future plans to consolidate an ELIXIR 3D-Bioinfo Community in structural bioinformatics and propose means to develop better links across the community. These include building new consortia, organising workshops to establish data standards and seeking community agreement on benchmark data sets and strategies. We also highlight existing and planned collaborations with other ELIXIR Communities and other European infrastructures, such as the structural biology community supported by Instruct-ERIC, with whom we have synergies and overlapping common interests. - Multi-target paradigm for innovative ligand identification in the drug discovery - Understanding Movement and Mechanism in Molecular Machines, COST The manuscript of Orengo et al presents the goals of the Elixir initiative in the context of historical achievements in the field of 3D Bioinformatics. It is a conceptual piece to provide guidance to an entire field and therefore I would reflect on that. 'Computational approaches in biology' from an identity I this manuscript does not help to resolve it and as such it might be a missed opportunity. One major issue is if one approaches computational structural biology as a discipline or a technology. I believe Elixir efforts all about boosting the potential of this discipline but the scope of this effort is still presented rather as a technology that can support other disciplines. The manuscript by Orengo et al. describes the proposed activities of the ELIXIR 3D-Bioinfo user community. This is a useful and necessary contribution to describe the scope and plans of a new ELIXIR user community. The introduction provides a recapitulation of the uses and relevance of structural bioinformatics in different contexts. As the authors note, this is a mature field where several key data resources and initiatives alredy exist. The manuscript reads well and tries to make convincing arguments for the proposed activities. The authors describe the main goals and provide a road-map of the 3D-Bioinfo community, a new Elixir community. A first part states the major contributions and the leading role of many European teams and initiatives in the structural bioinformatics field. Then, the current limitations and challenges faced by this field are discussed, as well as current European initiatives to address them. The core of the paper is the detailed presentation of the goals of the 3D-Bioinfo community, subdivided in activities (or topics) and few main tasks per activity. Details on the implementation of those tasks and on their interconnections are also provided, as well as their complementarity with other European initiatives (especially within ELIXIR).


The study reports an analysis of the social integration of six focus children with developmental disabilities in four preschool programs and their relative competences in relation to the typically developing children in the early childhood programs. For the 85 children in the preschool programs, including the children with developmental disabilities, peer acceptance was measured with sociometric interviews; social competence was rated by teachers; and observations of play activities and social engagement were made during four free play periods. A social constructivist analysis focuses on how learning was supported in the settings and implications are drawn about how opportunities for learning could be extended in inclusive early childhood programs.


The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and scavenging of the superoxide radical by superoxide dismutase (SOD) was studied in mat-like canopies of the green macroalga Ulva rotundata Bliding in a tidal brine pond system in southern Spain. Artificial canopies were covered with different cut-off filters, generating different radiation conditions. ROS and SOD were assessed after three days of exposure. ROS induced lipid peroxidation depended on the position of individual thalli within the canopy and on radiation conditions. Samples exposed to the full solar spectrum were most affected, whereas samples either exposed to photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) alone or UV radiation without PAR exhibited fewer peroxidation products. The activity of SOD appeared to be controlled by the impinging UV-A and UV-B radiation and also increased in response to oxidative stress. The results provide evidence for additive effects of high PAR and UV-B under field conditions and support the previously proposed hypothesis that UV-B effects are mediated by an inhibition of the xanthophyll cycle, which increases ROS production and, consequently, causes oxidative damage to components of the photosynthetic machinery, such as proteins and pigments.


Abstract Aphorisms that "rising tides raise all boats" or that material advances of the rich eventually "trickle down" to the poor are really maxims regarding the nature of stochastic processes that underlay the income/wellbeing paths of groups of individuals. This paper looks at the implications for the empirical analysis of wellbeing of conventional assumptions regarding such processes which are employed by both micro and macro economists in modeling economic behavior. The implications of attributing different processes to different groups in society following the club convergence literature are also discussed. Various forms of poverty, inequality, polarization and income mobility structures are considered and much of the conventional wisdom afforded us by such aphorisms is questioned. To exemplify these ideas the results are applied to the distribution of GDP per capita in the continent of Africa.


In this paper, the problem of assigning channel slots to a number of contending stations is modeled as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP). A learning MAC protocol that uses deterministic backoffs after successful transmissions is used as a decentralized solver for the CSP. The convergence process of the solver is modeled by an absorbing Markov chain (MC), and analytical, closed-form expressions for its transition probabilities are derived. Using these, the expected number of steps required to reach a solution is found. The analysis is validated by means of simulations and the model is extended to account for the presence of channel errors. The results are applicable in various resource allocation scenarios in wireless networks.


The task of economic rebalancing is likely to demand much of the new Xi Jinping–Li Keqiang administration's energy and attention. Rebalancing entails implementation of large changes to fundamental economic policies, such as removing lingering price controls and opening up the closed financial system. It will also bring about a shift away from the economic winners of the past decade, namely manufacturers and property developers, towards private consumers and the service sector. Despite these challenges, rebalancing can be achieved while sustaining moderately fast economic growth.


Athletes have long been activists, but the historical presentation and understanding of that activism is complex, constantly shifting, and wrought with contradictions and paradoxes. In this article, I call attention to facts and narratives around social justice, including how kinesiology and its subdisciplines embrace and afford opportunities to women and racial and ethnic minorities and casts them in their visions for the future. Neither raw statistics of (under- or over-) representation nor promises of a brighter future are likely to have any impact or contribute to understanding until they are presented in coherent narratives that include, or are preferably created by, affected voices. Only when kinesiology is producing a critical volume of these narratives can it truly claim to be contributing to social justice.


Turn on the news and it looks as if we live in a time and place unusually consumed by the specter of disaster. The events of 9/11 and the promise of future attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans, and the inevitable consequences of environmental devastation all contribute to an atmosphere of imminent doom. But reading an account of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, with its vivid evocation of buildings "crumbling as one might crush a biscuit," we see that calamities - whether natural or man-made - have long had an impact on the American consciousness. Uncovering the history of Americans' responses to disaster from their colonial past up to the present, Kevin Rozario reveals the vital role that calamity - and our abiding fascination with it - has played in the development of this nation. Beginning with the Puritan view of disaster as God's instrument of correction, Rozario explores how catastrophic events frequently inspired positive reactions. He argues that disasters have shaped American life by providing an opportunity to take stock of our values and social institutions. Destruction leads naturally to rebuilding, and here we learn that disasters have been a boon to capitalism, and, paradoxically, indispensable to the construction of dominant American ideas of progress. As Rozario turns to the present, he finds that the impulse to respond creatively to disasters is mitigated by a mania for security. Terror alerts and duct tape represent the cynical politician's attitude about 9/11, but Rozario focuses on how the attacks registered in the popular imagination - how responses to genuine calamity were mediated by the hyperreal thrills of movies; how apocalyptic literature, like the best-selling Left Behind series, recycles Puritan religious outlooks while adopting Hollywood's style; and how the convergence of these two ways of imagining disaster points to a new postmodern culture of calamity. "The Culture of Calamity" will stand as the definitive diagnosis of the peculiarly American addiction to the spectacle of destruction.


I. Let me first say that I am really excited about this roundtable and think it could offer a counterpoint to the general framework of the Annual Meeting. As I read the Meeting's general statement on "Confronting Complexity," I was struck by at least three main assumptions: (1) complexity is a problem; (2) international law can solve the problems/chaos/challenges stemming from complexity (social, economic, political); and (3) international law can fix these problems by providing order, predictability, peaceful settlement of disputes, and clarifying rights and obligations. For various reasons, these assumptions seem to me problematic, and I welcome the critical perspective of our roundtable as an alternative to the Annual Meeting's statement. I do not mean to pick on this statement specifically, but perhaps we can use it as reflective of what might still be resilient assumptions of international law as a discipline. My initial reactions were that: (1) whether complexity is a problem or not depends on what the previous order was, and it is impossible to answer this question without an analysis of the particular domain under consideration and an account of the different actors involved. So this calls for a distributional analysis that highlights the importance of asking who wins and who loses. (2) the problems or challenges do not exist in a vacuum for international law to "solve," although international law is often constitutive of them. So poverty, immigration, and war, to name but a few important problems, are all legal regimes. They are not pre-legal or extralegal, but rather are constituted by law. In other words, law is constitutive of complexity, not foreign to it. So if these phenomena are a problem, the first question would be to ask how law contributes to it rather than how can it "solve" them. (3) the usual toolkit of solutions to these problems--clarification or formalization of entitlements, consistency and predictability, dispute settlement, and so on--strike me as odd or ill-informed. This is not because they are bad on their own, but because they are offered as general solutions to problems in which the role of law is often misdiagnosed or not understood. And they reinforce the idea that all international law can offer is a procedural framework to organize what was previously chaotic. II. I take Barbara Stark's initial statement and the references to Freud's (1) and Stiglitz's (2) work as an opportunity to reflect on the international community's consciousness and on globalization's distributional consequences. Let me offer some preliminary ideas here derived from my own interpretations of these works. Freud presents us with the paradox that, despite the great achievements of civilization, people are deeply unhappy. They experience a general sense of malaise in the midst of unparalleled economic prosperity, scientific advancement, and cultural achievement. This malaise Freud attributes to civilization's repressive force, which effectively quenches people's desires for power, sex, and death. These unrealized desires are then expressed in the form of guilt and existential angst. Law is the civil face of repression, and it is crucial in making civilization possible. But Freud's analysis also invites us to think of the downsides of law and the toll it exerts on the human condition precisely by creating order, predictability, consistency, and enabling peaceful settlement of disputes, all of which in his view contribute to making civilization possible. My impulse here is to push Freud' s pre-Realist understanding of law further and examine what we can gain from understanding law not only as a constraint but also as an enabler. In other words, law not only as the handmaiden of civilization but also as the enabler of civilization's opposite impulses. Law from the point of view of Holmes' "bad man," (3) which not only restricts but channels and enables the will to power, money, sex, and death. …


Sustainability assessments of buildings are well known to result in certificates, which are mainly used for marketing purposes. This conference contribution does not tackle the marketing perspective but focuses on the sustainability assessment of buildings as a risk management tool for corporate real estate management. Buildings have a long life span, and it is important to ensure a stable performance of the property during several decades. Regarding market demand, the building location is undoubtedly a very high ranked criterion when it comes to making the decision to buy or rent a building or building unit or not. Nevertheless, building specific quality characteristics such as energy efficiency characteristics related with the building envelope and the HVAC system, characteristics related with the indoor air quality, and quality characteristics from the facility management perspective to reduce running cost have been gaining in importance, due to the following exemplary reasons: (1) Energy: Even if clients seldom demand for energy efficiency, this topic is definitely on the rise due the legal framework conditions such as the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) and the EED (Energy Efficiency Directive); if a building is not fit to be able to comply with the requirements to come, upgrading might be more expensive than taking energy efficiency into account from the beginning. (2) Indoor climate: Productivity depends on social aspects, but also on building related aspects such as air quality, summer and winter comfort, quality of light, and noise level; this area is more a subject of competition on the market than energy, because of the impact on people's health and productivity. (3) Materials: The type of facade and choice of materials in general has a strong influence on running costs; a wise choice results in a reduction of cleaning costs. All these aspects are finally cost-related factors, which might affect the saleability of a property. Building assessment schemes provide a full range of decision-making criteria to consider all building related aspects, which are already on the rise or might become important in the near future. However, it is the responsibility of the informed expert to decide between options. This conference contribution uses the Austrian sustainable building assessment scheme (OGNB – ASBC) to demonstrate the relation between building assessment criteria and risk factors.


The basic aim of this research is to study the impact that educational level and vocational training programmes (mainly funded by the European Community Support Frameworks) had on the labour market of semi-peripheral EU countries, using Greece as a case study. In particular, the paper focuses on the Greek regions of Attica and Central Macedonia, as well as Greece as a whole, during the period 1988-2000. It investigates econometrically whether the training courses in these two regions were compatible with the skill needs and thus, helped the trainees to increase their chances of finding a job, as well as to what extent there were skill mismatches between education-training programmes and the labour market. Attica and Central Macedonia were chosen because they are the largest regions in Greece in terms of population, and the two biggest urban centres in the country (Athens and Thessaloniki) are situated in the regions under study. So, in effect, the analysis investigates half of the Greek population and compares it econometrically with the rest of Greece. This investigation was undertaken using Labour Force Survey (LFS) micro-level data. As all training actions in the country are cofinanced by EU funds, the research also probes the outcomes of these funds during the period of the Community Support Framework - CSF-1 (1989-93) and CSF-2 (1994-99) in the domain of training. My analysis at the micro-level indicates that this training "revolution" was not accompanied by any real improvement in matching supply with demand or increasing people's chances of finding a job. The study moves beyond the micro-level and embeds the empirical findings within the institutional/organizational environment of Greek vocational training (meso-level) and the broader political economy of Greece and its position in the EU political economy (macro-level) to provide a comprehensive explanation of what empirically is identified as the minimal impact of these policies. That is, the study goes further than the often narrow micro-economic explanations of the impact of training upon labour markets in that it explores the wider politico-economic context of these policies and assesses its impact on their effectiveness. Consequently, the findings are of relevance beyond the Greek case as they are also useful for comparative research pertaining to European regions or countries. Moreover, the study outcomes will be valuable to those who are interested in designing and implementing training programmes for structural change, as a number of key failings that have occurred in the Greek case are identified. The results of my research challenge the usefulness of the active labour market policies (ALMPs) alone. Training mechanisms, concrete political economy, inadequate public administration and the clientelistic system were the main obstacles to the matching process. This does not mean that training and ALMPs are not needed in Greece, but they can only function effectively in the presence of a suitable institutional framework, which has yet to become a reality.


OBJECTIVES
To determine the acetabular depth as well as acetabular and centre edge angles; to assess the influence of sex, if any, in these geometric measurements; and to determine the prevalence of hip dysplasia in adult Malawians.

DESIGN
A retrospective study.

SETTING
Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) and Blantyre Adventist Hospital (BAH).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The acetabular and centre edge angles, acetabular depth and the prevalence of hip dysplasia were determined.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two hundred and fifty three bilateral radiographs of the hip from adults, 133 men and 129 women, were used to measure the acetabular depth, angle and centre edge angle using a calliper and goniometer. The radiographs were taken from patients with no underlying bone disease between January 1997 and February 2001 at QECH and BAH.

RESULTS
The prevalence of hip dysplasia was 11.54% for men and 13.16% for women with respect to centre edge angles but this difference by sex was not significant (P>0.1). However, the prevalence of hip dysplasia with respect to centre edge angle showed significantly more dysplasia in Malawian men than Nigerian and Chinese men (P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively). Centre edge angles also showed a wider range in Malawian men (19-51 degrees right, and 15-52 degrees left) than women (18-45 degrees right, 20-46 degrees left). In both hips, the acetabular angles were more obtuse in men (35.52 degrees right, 34.21 degrees left) than women (29.43 degrees right, 29.29 degrees left), and this difference was significant (P<0.001). The ranges of acetabular angles were wider in women (11-38 degrees right, 8-40 degrees left) than men (24-49 degrees right, 20-40 degrees left). Acetabular depth was also greater in men than in women (P<0.01 right hip, P<0.02 left hip).

CONCLUSION
Sex influences geometrical measurements of the acetabulum. The prevalence of hip dysplasia with respect to centre edge angle was significantly higher in women than men and the prevalence for men with respect to centre edge angle was significantly different when compared with Nigerian and Chinese men. This information will assist clinicians in the region and Malawi in particular to interpret hip X-rays of African patients.


Research on the National Spherical Torus Experiment, NSTX, targets physics understanding needed for extrapolation to a steady-state ST Fusion Nuclear Science Facility, pilot plant, or DEMO. The unique ST operational space is leveraged to test physics theories for next-step tokamak operation, including ITER. Present research also examines implications for the coming device upgrade, NSTX-U. An energy confinement time, τE, scaling unified for varied wall conditions exhibits a strong improvement of BTτE with decreased electron collisionality, accentuated by lithium (Li) wall conditioning. This result is consistent with nonlinear microtearing simulations that match the experimental electron diffusivity quantitatively and predict reduced electron heat transport at lower collisionality. Beam-emission spectroscopy measurements in the steep gradient region of the pedestal indicate the poloidal correlation length of turbulence of about ten ion gyroradii increases at higher electron density gradient and lower Ti gradient, consistent with turbulence caused by trapped electron instabilities. Density fluctuations in the pedestal top region indicate ion-scale microturbulence compatible with ion temperature gradient and/or kinetic ballooning mode instabilities. Plasma characteristics change nearly continuously with increasing Li evaporation and edge localized modes (ELMs) stabilize due to edge density gradient alteration. Global mode stability studies show stabilizing resonant kinetic effects are enhanced at lower collisionality, but in stark contrast have almost no dependence on collisionality when the plasma is off-resonance. Combined resistive wall mode radial and poloidal field sensor feedback was used to control n = 1 perturbations and improve stability. The disruption probability due to unstable resistive wall modes (RWMs) was surprisingly reduced at very high βN/li > 10 consistent with low frequency magnetohydrodynamic spectroscopy measurements of mode stability. Greater instability seen at intermediate βN is consistent with decreased kinetic RWM stabilization. A model-based RWM state-space controller produced long-pulse discharges exceeding βN = 6.4 and βN/li = 13. Precursor analysis shows 96.3% of disruptions can be predicted with 10 ms warning and a false positive rate of only 2.8%. Disruption halo currents rotate toroidally and can have significant toroidal asymmetry. Global kinks cause measured fast ion redistribution, with full-orbit calculations showing redistribution from the core outward and towards V∥/V = 1 where destabilizing compressional Alfvén eigenmode resonances are expected. Applied 3D fields altered global Alfvén eigenmode characteristics. High-harmonic fast-wave (HHFW) power couples to field lines across the entire width of the scrape-off layer, showing the importance of the inclusion of this phenomenon in designing future RF systems. The snowflake divertor configuration enhanced by radiative detachment showed large reductions in both steady-state and ELM heat fluxes (ELMing peak values down from 19 MW m−2 to less than 1.5 MW m−2). Toroidal asymmetry of heat deposition was observed during ELMs or by 3D fields. The heating power required for accessing H-mode decreased by 30% as the triangularity was decreased by moving the X-point to larger radius, consistent with calculations of the dependence of E × B shear in the edge region on ion heat flux and X-point radius. Co-axial helicity injection reduced the inductive start-up flux, with plasmas ramped to 1 MA requiring 35% less inductive flux. Non-inductive current fraction (NICF) up to 65% is reached experimentally with neutral beam injection at plasma current Ip = 0.7 MA and between 70–100% with HHFW application at Ip = 0.3 MA. NSTX-U scenario development calculations project 100% NICF for a large range of 0.6 < Ip(MA) < 1.35.


In this paper, we propose and study an energy-efficient trajectory optimization scheme for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assisted Internet of Things (IoT) networks. In such networks, a single UAV is powered by both solar energy and charging stations (CSs), resulting in sustainable communication services, while avoiding energy outage. In particular, we optimize the trajectory design of UAV by jointly considering the average data rate, the total energy consumption, and the fairness of coverage for the IoT terminals. A dynamic spatial-temporal configuration scheme is operated for terminals working in the discontinuous reception (DRX) mode. The module-free, action-confined on-policy and off-policy reinforcement learning (RL) approaches are proposed and jointly applied to solve the formulated optimization problem in this paper. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy by comparing it with other dynamic benchmark algorithms. The extensive simulation results provided in this paper reveal that the proposed scheme outperforms the benchmarks in terms of data transmission, energy efficiency and adaptivity of avoiding battery depletion. By deploying the proposed trajectory scheme, the UAV is able to adapt itself according to the temporal and dynamic conditions of communication networks.


0 0 1 276 1579 University of Colorado, CIRES 13 3 1852 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Sustainability science requires interdisciplinary and even trans-disciplinary frameworks for research in order to shift from disciplinary and sectorial studies to more appropriate ways of understanding whole system sustainability. While this shift is difficult to achieve within current traditions, an actual crisis seems to trigger many of the characteristics that would also be appropriate for holistic science. Disciplinary research tends to be the norm when we have a carefully planned research agenda and well-posed questions; but when we don't know the questions, as is the case in a crisis, we instinctively invoke trans-disciplinary modes of learning. We may thus learn a great deal about system sustainability and system research by looking at the characteristics of 'crisis science'. Here we review personal experience from scientific responses to oil spills in the 1970's.We suggest a general framework in terms of R-Theory (Kineman, 2012), which is a relational holon theory based on four archetypal domains corresponding to Aristotle's general explanatory hierarchy and many other similar frameworks that have been developed separately in various disciplines and perennial philosophy. We propose general development of "Crisis Science" as a complex systems research field that has strong parallels with holistic paradigms many are struggling to establish in ecology and environmental management. Not only is there a strong theoretical affinity between these two domains, but by promoting Crisis Science publically and in mainstream programs, funding may be more easily obtained for critical integrated research that supports both purposes. As part of a Crisis Science research program it is necessary to train between crisis responses, and shared principles and methods are possible across many holistic problems we face otherwise in anticipation of possible crises. Pursued together, Crisis Science and Holistic Science can establish the Anticipatory capacity we need to avoid crises.


Agricultural and forestry GHG emissions are a key feature of New Zealand's emissions profile, and New Zealand is the only country, to date, to have indicated that agricultural and forestry emissions will be covered under their domestic climate policy – the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. Coupled with climate policy development is the increasing scrutiny of agricultural impacts on water. This paper uses New Zealand Forest and Agriculture Regional Model (NZ-FARM) to assess the potential economic and environmental impacts of imposing both a climate and nutrient reduction policy on the agricultural and forestry industries in the Manawatu and Hurunui/Waiau catchments in New Zealand. We find that adding a scheme that reduces catchment-level nutrients by 20% on top of a national policy that puts a price of $25 per ton carbon dioxide equivalent on agricultural GHG emissions could result in greater environmental benefits at a relatively small cost, but the converse is not always true and could be significantly more costly for landowners.


A study on phosphorus (P) segregation at grain boundaries and intergranular embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel steels due to thermal aging and neutron irradiation has been performed for A533B steel plates and weld metals doped with different bulk levels of P. The initial P concentration at grain boundaries of these materials determined by scanning Auger microscopy ranged from 9 to 33 %. The materials thermally aged at temperatures ranging from 450 to 550°C for up to 10000 h exhibited increases in P concentration described by the McLean's equation. A linear correlation was obtained between P concentration and Charpy 41 J transition temperature (T41J). Fracture toughness tests in the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature region have been conducted by the Master Curve method using 1T-CT specimens. The material subject to intergranular embrittlement exhibited the dual fracture toughness distributions typically observed in inhomogeneous materials. This was probably due to two types of initiation of cleavage and intergranular fracture. The lower tail analysis based on the Master Curve method enabled conservative fracture toughness estimates by fitting the lower fracture toughness arising from intergranular fracture. The relation between median KJc values estimated from the lower tail analysis and temperature appeared to follow the Master Curve. For neutron irradiated materials up to a fluence of 6.9×1019 n/cm2 (E>1 MeV) at 290°C by the Japan Materials Testing Reactor, an increase in grain boundary P segregation associated with decrease in carbon segregation was observed with increasing fluence. Relative significant hardening was recognized for the material with high bulk P content. Shifts in the reference temperature T0 and T41J were comparable for the thermally aged and irradiated materials.


Mixture of Softmaxes (MoS) has been shown to be effective at addressing the expressiveness limitation of Softmax-based models. Despite the known advantage, MoS is practically sealed by its large consumption of memory and computational time due to the need of computing multiple Softmaxes. In this work, we set out to unleash the power of MoS in practical applications by investigating improved word coding schemes, which could effectively reduce the vocabulary size and hence relieve the memory and computation burden. We show both BPE and our proposed Hybrid-LightRNN lead to improved encoding mechanisms that can halve the time and memory consumption of MoS without performance losses. With MoS, we achieve an improvement of 1.5 BLEU scores on IWSLT 2014 German-to-English corpus and an improvement of 0.76 CIDEr score on image captioning. Moreover, on the larger WMT 2014 machine translation dataset, our MoSboosted Transformer yields 29.6 BLEU score for English-toGerman and 42.1 BLEU score for English-to-French, outperforming the single-Softmax Transformer by 0.9 and 0.4 BLEU scores respectively and achieving the state-of-the-art result on WMT 2014 English-to-German task.


Matthew Kaufman was a professor of anatomy at the University of Edinburgh [4], in Edinburgh, UK, who specialized in mouse [5] anatomy, development, and embryology [6] during the late twentieth century. According to The Herald, he was the first, alongside his colleague Martin Evans, to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells [7]. Researchers initially called those cells EvansKaufman cells. In 1992, Kaufman published The Atlas of Mouse Development, a book that included photographs of mice and mice organ development. Kaufman also wrote books about UK medical history, phrenology, or the study of craniums as an indicator of character or mental ability, and medical teaching in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Kaufman's anatomical records and experiments in mouse [5] development contributed to genetic engineering, embryology [6], and anatomy.


In this paper, we study the effectiveness of object management policies based on users' personal signals, available on YouTube-like content distribution systems, for improving content availability in P2P-CDN networks. Three policies are introduced and evaluated using real data collected from YouTube video collection, the most accessed multimedia distribution system in the Internet. We found those policies can improve content availability, over 60%, compared to the LFU policy, and over 25%, compare to the GDSP policy, in hybrid P2P-CDN networks.


The roots of American globalization can be found in the War of 1898. Then, as today, the United States actively engaged in globalizing its economic order, itspolitical institutions, and its values. Thomas Schoonover argues that this drive to expand political and cultural reach -- the quest for wealth, missionary fulfillment, security, power, and prestige -- was inherited by the United States from Europe, especially Spain and Great Britain. "Uncle Sam's War of 1898 and the Origins of Globalization" is a pathbreaking work of history that examines U.S. growth from its early nationhood to its first major military conflict on the world stage, also known as the Spanish-American War. As the new nation's military, industrial, and economic strength developed, the United States created policies designed to protect itself from challenges beyond its borders. According to Schoonover, a surge in U.S. activity in the Gulf-Caribbean and in Central America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was catalyzed by the same avarice and competitiveness that motivated the European adventurers to seek a route to Asia centuries earlier. Addressing the basic chronology and themes of the first century of the nation's expansion, Schoonover locates the origins of the U.S. goal of globalization. U.S. involvement in the War of 1898 reflects many of the fundamental patterns in our national history -- exploration and discovery, labor exploitation, violence, racism, class conflict, and concern for security -- that many believe shaped America's course in the twentieth and twenty-first century.


Today in the world of cloud and grid computing integration of data from heterogeneous databases is inevitable. Virtual Database Technology (VDB) is one of the effective solutions for integration of data from heterogeneous sources. This will become complex when size of the database is very large. MapReduce is a new framework specifically designed for processing huge datasets on distributed sources. Apache's Hadoop is an implementation of MapReduce. Currently Hadoop has been applied successfully for file based datasets. This paper proposes to utilize the parallel and distributed processing capability of Hadoop MapReduce for handling heterogeneous query execution on large datasets. So Virtual Database Engine built on top of this will result in effective high performance distributed data integration.


We present a study of the effective (half-light) radii and other structural properties of a systematically selected sample of young, massive star clusters (≥5 × 103 and ≤200 Myr) in two nearby spiral galaxies, NGC 628 and NGC 1313. We use Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3/UVIS and archival ACS/WFC data obtained by the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS), an HST Treasury Program. We measure effective radii with GALFIT, a two-dimensional image-fitting package, and with a new technique to estimate effective radii from the concentration index of observed clusters. The distribution of effective radii from both techniques spans ∼0.5–10 pc and peaks at 2–3 pc for both galaxies. We find slight positive correlations between effective radius and cluster age in both galaxies, but no significant relationship between effective radius and galactocentric distance. Clusters in NGC 1313 display a mild increase in effective radius with cluster mass, but the trend disappears when the sample is divided into age bins. We show that the vast majority of the clusters in both galaxies are much older than their dynamical times, suggesting they are gravitationally bound objects. We find that about half of the clusters in NGC 628 are underfilling their Roche lobes, based on their Jacobi radii. Our results suggest that the young, massive clusters in NGC 628 and NGC 1313 are expanding, due to stellar mass loss or two-body relaxation, and are not significantly influenced by the tidal fields of their host galaxies.


Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a protein integral to innate immunity, is elevated in skeletal muscle of obese and type 2 diabetic humans and has been implicated in the development of lipid-induced insulin resistance. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of TLR4 as a modulator of basal (non-insulin-stimulated) substrate metabolism in skeletal muscle with the hypothesis that its activation would result in reduced fatty acid oxidation and increased partitioning of fatty acids toward neutral lipid storage. Human skeletal muscle, rodent skeletal muscle, and skeletal muscle cell cultures were employed to study the functional consequences of TLR4 activation on glucose and fatty acid metabolism. Herein, we demonstrate that activation of TLR4 with low (metabolic endotoxemia) and high (septic conditions) doses of LPS results in increased glucose utilization and reduced fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle and that these changes in metabolism in vivo occur in concert with increased circulating triglycerides. Moreover, animals with a loss of TLR4 function possess increased oxidative capacity in skeletal muscle and present with lower fasting levels of triglycerides and nonesterified free fatty acids. Evidence is also presented to suggest that these changes in substrate metabolism under metabolic endotoxemic conditions are independent of skeletal muscle-derived proinflammatory cytokine production. This report illustrates that skeletal muscle is a target for circulating endotoxin and may provide critical insight into the link between a proinflammatory state and dysregulated metabolism as observed with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.


The past decade has witnessed a major revival in attempts to separate biodiversity signals from biases imposed by sampling and the architecture of the rock record. How large a problem this poses to our understanding of biodiversity patterns remains debatable, and new approaches are being developed to investigate this question. Here palaeobiologists with widely differing approaches and interests explore the problems of extracting reliable information on biodiversity change from an imperfect geological record. Topics covered range from the application of information-theoretic approaches that identify directional causal relationships to an in-depth study of how geological biases could influence our understanding of dinosaur evolution. A wide range of new insights into the links between the land, shallow-marine and deep-sea rock and fossil records are presented, making this volume invaluable to anyone in the Earth or life sciences who wishes to remain abreast of this dynamic and rapidly evolving research area.


We have converted nanoscale mechanical energy into electrical energy by means of piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowire (NW) arrays. The aligned NWs are deflected with a conductive atomic force microscope tip in contact mode. The coupling of piezoelectric and semiconducting properties in zinc oxide creates a strain field and charge separation across the NW as a result of its bending. The rectifying characteristic of the Schottky barrier formed between the metal tip and the NW leads to electrical current generation. The efficiency of the NW-based piezoelectric power generator is estimated to be 17 to 30%. This approach has the potential of converting mechanical, vibrational, and/or hydraulic energy into electricity for powering nanodevices.


Data from the National Survey of Families and Households are used to compare the psychological well-being of the rural and urban poor. Overall, the urban poor are higher in perceived health than the rural poor, although no differences are apparent in happiness or depression. Significant interactions are present between rural/urban poverty and sex, race, and family status. The psychological well-being of poor African Americans is higher in rural than urban areas, whereas the well-being of poor whites is higher in urban than rural areas. This trend is especially pronounced for depression among males. In addition, single men without children have especially high depression scores in rural areas, whereas married women without children have especially low depression scores in urban areas. The results are interpreted in terms of the environmental quality of inner-city neighborhoods and attitudes toward poverty in urban and rural communities.


This paper estimates Taylor rules using real-time inflation forecasts of the Swiss National Bank's (SNB) ARIMA model and real-time model-based internal estimates of the output gap since the onset of the monetary policy concept adopted in 2000. To study how market participants understand the SNB's behavior, we compare these Taylor rules to marketexpected rules using Consensus Economics survey-based measures of expectations. In light of the recent financial crisis, the zero-lower bound period and the subsequent massive Swiss franc appreciation, we analyze potential nonlinearity of the rules using a novel semi-parametric approach. First, the results show that the SNB reacts more strongly to its ARIMA inflation forecasts three and four quarters ahead than to forecasts at shorter horizons. Second, market participants have expected a higher inflation responsiveness of the SNB than found with the central bank's data. Third, the best fitting specification includes a reaction to the nominal effective Swiss franc appreciation. Finally, the semiparametric regressions suggest that the central bank reacts to movements in the output gap and the exchange rate to the extent that they become a concern for price stability and economic activity.


Identification of community structures and the underlying semantic characteristics of communities are essential tasks in complex network analysis. However, most methods proposed so far are typically only applicable to assortative community structures, that is, more links within communities and fewer links between different communities, which ignore the rich diversity of community regularities in real networks. In addition, the node attributes that provide rich semantics information of communities and networks can facilitate in-depth community detection of structural information. In this paper, we propose a novel unified Bayesian generative model to detect generalized communities and provide semantic descriptions simultaneously by combining network topology and node attributes. The proposed model is composed of two closely correlated parts by a transition matrix; we first apply the concept of a mixture model to describe network regularities and then adjust the classic Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model to identify community semantically. Thus, the model can detect broad types of network structure regularities, including assortative structures, disassortative structures, and mixture structures and provide multiple semantic descriptions for the communities. To optimize the objective function of the model, we use an effective Gibbs sampling algorithm. Experiments on a number of synthetic and real networks show that our model has superior performance compared with some baselines on community detection.


In the early twentieth century, Max Born attempted to develop a theory he called
the "principle of reciprocity". He observed that many formulae of physics remain
unchanged under the following transformation of space-time coordinates and
momentum-energy variables: xμ -> pμ; pμ -> −xμ. Examples include Hamilton's
equations and Heisenberg's commutation relations. Born's attempts to expand
this observation to a general theory were largely unsuccessful. More recently,
Stephen Low has made use of the group theoretical methods of Eugene Wigner,
Valentine Bargmann and George Mackey to study a group which possesses Born
reciprocity as an intrinsic symmetry, called the "quaplectic group", Q(1, 3). This
involves the postulation of a new fundamental constant: the maximum rate of
change of momentum (or maximum force) - denoted by b. It also involves a new
space-time-momentum-energy line element:
ds2 = −dt2 +
1
c2
dx2 +
1
b2 (dp2 −
1
c2
de2),
which remains invariant under quaplectic transformations.
In this work we consider the different contraction limits of the quaplectic group
in analogy to the contraction of the Poincar´e group to the Galilei group in the limit
c -> 1. In particular, the quaplectic group contracts to the Poincar´e group in the
limit b -> 1 (under the constraint that the reference frames must be inertial) and
to the Hamilton group - the group of non-inertial classical mechanics - in the limit
b, c -> 1. For the compact group Q(2) acting on two dimensional Euclidean space
we consider the branching rules and use the P2 Casimir operator of the Euclidean
subgroup to label states. We consider the implications of Born reciprocity to
the Schr¨odinger-Robertson inequality, concluding that the covariance matrix
is quaplectic invariant and that physically distinct semi-classical limits of two
different but unitarily-equivalent minimal uncertainty states must be related by a
unitary transformation which does not belong to the quaplectic group. Finally, we
explore the worldline quantisation of a system invariant under reciprocal relativity,
finding that the square of the energy-momentum tensor is continuous over the
entire real line. The resulting states therefore include tachyonic and null states as
well as massless states of continuous spin which cannot be projected out in the
current formulation. These states are discussed along with the massive states.


The Tularosa study was designed to understand how defensive deception–including both cyber and psychological–affects cyber attackers. Over 130 red teamers participated in a network penetration task over two days in which we controlled both the presence of and explicit mention of deceptive defensive techniques. To our knowledge, this represents the largest study of its kind ever conducted on a professional red team population. The design was conducted with a battery of questionnaires (e.g., experience, personality, etc.) and cognitive tasks (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory, etc.), allowing for the characterization of a "typical" red teamer, as well as physiological measures (e.g., galvanic skin response, heart rate, etc.) to be correlated with the cyber events. This paper focuses on the design, implementation, data, population characteristics, and begins to examine preliminary results.


Land use planning and management have an obvious spatial dimension where complex models and methods of assessment are used. The use of information technologies and spatial concepts promise many benefits to planners and decision-makers in the land use planning process. However, current land use planning systems lack flexibility in accommodating changes of land use parameters. This prevents decision makers from generating alternate land use scenarios. This research aims to develop a flexible Spatial Decision Support System for Land use Planning (SDSS-LP). The SDSS-LP development lifecyc1e methodology consists of five phases,
namely, planning, analysis, design, implementation and testing phases. SDSS-LP was developed in the modules by using Arc View programming language A venue and dialog designer extension. The system modules are categorized into three subsystems i.e. database management, analysis and modeling. The system permits decision-makers to view and access its own planning domain database without any constraints. Next, SDSS-LP also helps the decision-makers to manipulate and analyze spatial and attribute data so as to be able to decide on significant suitability factors. These factors will facilitate the production of alternative allocation maps that can be used to represent different planning scenario. Thus, the SDSS-LP is valuable software that can be used within the land use planning process.


Professor Silver advocates recognition of an inherent judicial power to send or authorize notice of pending litigation to potentially interested persons with unfiled claims. Recognizing such a judicial power is consistent with recent legal developments establishing a role for judges in expediting and managing federal litigation. Although the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure only explicitly provide for notice to potential parties in Rule 23 class action litigation, Professor Silver demonstrates that a more general judicial power to notify putative plaintiffs is consistent with the federal rules and the Constitution. She also shows that first amendment values support a judicial role in providing notice. Finally, the judiciary's role in protecting the disadvantaged, the public interest in private actions arising from mass torts and other collective actions, and the conservation of both public and private resources resulting from case consolidation, justify the federal district court's inherent power to send or authorize notice to putative plaintiffs.


Construction planning involves the choice of construction technologies, the definition of work tasks, the estimation of required resources and durations, the estimation of costs, and the preparation of project schedules. A knowledge-based expert system design to accomplish these tasks, CONSTRUCTION PLANEX, is described in this paper. This system synthesizes activity networks, diagnose resource needs and predicts durations and costs. The CONSTRUCTION PLANEX system could be useful as an intelligent assistant in routine planning, as a laboratory for the analysis and evaluation of planning strategies, and as a component of more extensive construction assistance systems involving design or project control. The operation of a prototype system to plan building excavation tasks is described and illustrated with an example. University Libraries Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213


We use Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) trace gas measurements to investigate whether water vapor (H2O) injected into the stratosphere by the Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) eruption affected the 2022 Antarctic stratospheric vortex. Other MLS‐measured long‐lived species are used to distinguish high HTHH H2O from that descending in the vortex from the upper‐stratospheric H2O peak. HTHH H2O reached high southern latitudes in June–July but was effectively excluded from the vortex by the strong transport barrier at its edge. MLS H2O, nitric acid, chlorine species, and ozone within the 2022 Antarctic polar vortex were near average; the vortex was large, strong, and long‐lived, but not exceptionally so. There is thus no clear evidence of HTHH influence on the 2022 Antarctic vortex or its composition. Substantial impacts on the stratospheric polar vortices are expected in succeeding years since the H2O injected by HTHH has spread globally.


English is a vehicle for international communication. In order to meet the demands of modern society, English teachers need to pay more attention to the development of learners' competence and focus on a more effective and successful method. However traditional approaches to English language teaching still dominate Thai classrooms. Language teachers should not focus on reciting but should teach from their own understanding of language learning and help learners gain more competence with confidence. This study is a collaborative action research investigation to develop pronunciation training and communicative competence for Thai students studying English in Thailand. This study investigated pronunciation training and language learning strategies, how they influenced the learning behaviour of Thai students studying English and improved their speaking confidence. The purpose of the training was to improve students' pronunciation and spoken intelligibility. It drew upon data collected in pronunciation training in one school in Thailand using language learning strategies and evaluated improvement after being trained in developing speaking confidence. The project contained two cycles, the first of which was to train five teachers using pronunciation training and language learning strategies. We evaluated their improvement in correct speech and in developing speaking confidence. In the second cycle, these teachers in turn taught a group of four students each and similar improvements were observed. The action phases showed the implications of the importance of pronunciation training in the Thai context and the usefulness of dictionary usage to help learners to improve their competence and to have more confidence to speak English. The project resulted in a change of policy by the school to include pronunciation teaching and to allocate English classes to teachers who understood that process. The pronunciation learning strategies in this study and those of other researchers were presented to formulate strategies as a contribution for teachers to include teaching pronunciation in their classroom instruction. The researcher intends that the data will be useful for language teachers to help them further their understanding of their students' learning behaviour to achieve improved pronunciation. In addition, the phonetic symbol system used in the training was chiefly inspired from the symbols of the International Phonetic Association (IPA) to be standardized and easy to apply.


A large number of hazards all over the world are caused by debris flows and landslides, and this is especially so every year in Japan. In June 1999, August 2005, July 2010 in the Hiroshima prefecture, and in July 2009 in the Yamaguchi prefecture, there were many hazardous occurrences of large debris flows and landslides owing to torrential downpours. Through the survey made of these hazards it seems that there are two main factors causing the increase of hazards and consequent risks. The two main factors are the contiguity of urbanization of hillsides and the bio-deterioration of mechanical structures of the ground on hillsides caused by eutrophication (nutrient enrichment). The eutrophication promotes microbial activities that deteriorate the mechanical structures of the ground on the hillside slopes. Microorganisms promote the weathering of rocks to soils and cause aggregation of soils by their metabolites. Aggregated structures of soils wet the ground to decrease the resistance to landslides. It seems that microbial activities accelerate the occurrence of debris flows. The eutrophication causes the bio-weathering of the ground. This contribution describes the investigation of the relationships between debris flows and microorganisms activated by eutrophication of hillside ecosystems in order to construct a precise model of occurrence of debris flows. The model may be able to mitigate the hazards. Identification of microorganisms in the subsurface of the hillside was obtained by using a molecular biological technique. It was observed that the values of the eutrophication index (TC and TN) are high in the weathered rock and low in the unweathered rock. Thus weathering of rock can


A detailed Pliocene oxygen isotope record from the Ontong Java Plateau, based on measurements of the surface-dwelling planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer, was produced for the period from 5 to 2 Ma. The record documents major longand short-term climate changes. The results show periods of enhanced ice volume at 4.6 to 4.3 Ma and after 2.85 Ma, a long-term warming trend from 4.1 to 3.7 Ma, and a distinct cooling trend that was initiated at 3.5 Ma and progressed through the initiation of large-scale Northern Hemisphere glaciation after 2.85 Ma (according to the time scale of Shackleton and others proposed in 1990). Periods of high average ice volumes also show the highest δ 1 8 θ amplitudes. The pattern of climate cyclicity changed markedly at about 2.85 Ma. Earlier times were marked by high-frequency variability at the precessional frequencies or even higher frequencies, pointing to low-latitude processes as a main controlling factor driving planktonic δ 1 8 θ variability in this period. The high-frequency variability is not coherent with insolation and points to strong nonlinearity in the way the climate system responded to orbital forcing before the onset of large scale Northern Hemisphere glaciation. After 3 Ma, stronger 41-k.y. cyclicity appears in the record. The shift in pattern is clearest around 2.85 Ma (according to the time scale proposed by Shackleton and others in 1990), 100-200 k.y. before the most dramatic spread of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. This indicates that high-latitude processes from this point on began to take over and influence most strongly the δ 1 8 θ record, which now reflects ice-volume fluctuations related to the climatic effects of obliquity forcing on the seasonality of high-latitude areas, most probably in the Northern Hemisphere. The general Pliocene trend is that high-latitude climate sensitivity and instability was increasing, and the causal factors producing the intensified glacial cyclicity during the Pliocene must be factors that enhance cooling and climate sensitivity in the subarctic areas.


We consider two related problems: the first is the minimization of the "Coulomb renormalized energy" of Sandier-Serfaty, which corresponds to the total Coulomb interaction of point charges in a uniform neutralizing background (or rather variants of it). The second corresponds to the minimization of the Hamiltonian of a two-dimensional "Coulomb gas" or "one-component plasma", a system of n point charges with Coulomb pair interaction, in a confining potential (minimizers of this energy also correspond to "weighted Fekete sets"). In both cases we investigate the microscopic structure of minimizers, i.e. at the scale corresponding to the interparticle distance. We show that in any large enough microscopic set, the value of the energy and the number of points are "rigid" and completely determined by the macroscopic density of points. In other words, points and energy are "equidistributed" in space (modulo appropriate scalings). The number of points in a ball is in particular known up to an error proportional to the radius of the ball. We also prove a result on the maximal and minimal distances between points. Our approach involves fully exploiting the minimality by reducing to minimization problems with fixed boundary conditions posed on smaller subsets.


In this paper, the effect of state loans on real estate market prices in Iran is investigated through a system dynamics approach. Although the government has given loans to the demand side for the purpose of stabilizing the housing price, the price has increased. In the proposed model, the effects of giving loans to the demand and supply sides of the market have been studied. The market includes investors as well as non-owner families and constructors in the supply and demand side. The results indicate that granting loans to the supply side for construction will be more beneficial than the demand side. In addition, the monetary policies of the government which influence the liquidity in society can influence the market behavior considerably. Thus, it is suggested that first, the government reduce the amount of liquidity in society and second, the government give state loans to the supply side of the market.


In this paper, we propose a quasi-synchronous checkpointing algorithm and a low-overhead recovery algorithm based on it. The checkpointing algorithm preserves process autonomy by allowing them to take checkpoints asynchronously and uses communication-induced checkpoint coordination for the progression of the recovery line which helps bound rollback propagation during a recovery. Thus, it has the easiness and low overhead of asynchronous checkpointing and the recovery time advantages of synchronous checkpointing. There is no extra message overhead involved during checkpointing and the additional checkpointing overhead is nominal. The algorithm ensures the existence of a recovery line consistent with the latest checkpoint of any process all the time. The recovery algorithm exploits this feature to restore the system to a state consistent with the latest checkpoint of a failed process. The recovery algorithm has no domino effect and a failed process needs only to rollback to its latest checkpoint and request the other processes to roll back to a consistent checkpoint. To avoid domino effect, it uses selective pessimistic message logging at the receiver end. The recovery is asynchronous for single process failure. Neither the recovery algorithm nor the checkpointing algorithm requires the channels to be FIFO. We do not use vector timestamps for determining dependency between checkpoints since vector timestamps generally result in high message overhead during failure-free operation.


Abstract The zero accident mantra has become embedded within the safety discourse of large UK construction organisations, but the extent to which zero-focused approaches yield reductions in accident frequency is yet to be empirically investigated. By way of an evidence-based critique, we examine the relationship between major accidents and zero approaches by drawing on Health and Safety Executive accident data over a 4 year period, together with an analysis of major contractors' safety approaches. This reveals that working on a project subject to a zero safety policy or programme actually appears to slightly increase the likelihood of having a serious life-changing accident or fatality; a possible 'zero paradox'. Although these findings should be treated with caution, they suggest that the apparent trend towards abandoning zero amongst some large organisations is well-founded. As such, if zero policies stymie learning whilst failing to reduce accidents, the need for a countervailing discourse is clear.


The literature regarding consumer demand for safer food in developing countries is scant, and the general assumption is that these consumers' willingness to pay (WTP, as an indicator of their demand) is constrained by their low ability to pay (ATP). There are, however, a number of developing countries with growing middle-income populations whose ATP has been steadily increasing, although low food safety standards in these countries still prevail. In this paper, we argue that ATP, while necessary, is not the sole condition for WTP and that credible information about and certification of food safety are required to ensure that ATP translates into WTP. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a randomized market experiment in two branches of a supermarket chain in Mumbai, India, a city that hosts one of the world's fastest growing middle-income populations. In this experiment, we sold grapes with credible food safety certification labels and the exact same grapes (a placebo) without such labels. We provided all consumers with extensive food safety information comprising banners and posters announcing the sale of food-safety-certified grapes in the supermarket. We also randomly selected one-half of the consumers and provided them with intensive information (a short documentation flier) describing what credible certification of food safety entails. By continuously varying the prices (with the labeled grapes priced higher than unlabeled ones) during the month in which the experiment was implemented, we found that those consumers who received intensive information (the treatment group) are more likely to purchase grapes labeled as certified. This result is robust to the inclusion of an extensive set of controls (income, gender, and education) gathered through a structured survey instrument implemented following the purchase of the grapes. To further investigate the marginal impact of credible information on consumer demand for food safety, we studied consumers' answers to various knowledge, attitude, perception, and practice (KAPP) questions also collected through the survey instrument. Using KAPP responses, we created a consumer-specific food safety consciousness index (FSCI) and stratified consumers according to those below and those above the sample mean FSCI. We find that the marginal impact of credible information and certification on the purchase of labeled grapes is significantly greater for consumers with higher FSCI. We therefore conclude that credible information and certification are important determinants of consumer demand for food safety.


Protocols satisfying Local Differential Privacy (LDP) enable parties to collect aggregate information about a population while protecting each user's privacy, without relying on a trusted third party. LDP protocols (such as Google's RAPPOR) have been deployed in real-world scenarios. In these protocols, a user encodes his private information and perturbs the encoded value locally before sending it to an aggregator, who combines values that users contribute to infer statistics about the population. In this paper, we introduce a framework that generalizes several LDP protocols proposed in the literature. Our framework yields a simple and fast aggregation algorithm, whose accuracy can be precisely analyzed. Our in-depth analysis enables us to choose optimal parameters, resulting in two new protocols (i.e., Optimized Unary Encoding and Optimized Local Hashing) that provide better utility than protocols previously proposed. We present precise conditions for when each proposed protocol should be used, and perform experiments that demonstrate the advantage of our proposed protocols.


Evidence demonstrating that immune response is under the control of central nervous system has been accumulated during the past two decades. Central catecholamines have been proved to play a pivotal role in modulation of humoral and cellular immunity both in vitro and in vivo. However, the modulation of central catecholamine depletion on peripheral cellular immune response remains somewhat unclear. Therefore, we designed a set of experiments to analyse the influence of central catecholamine depletion by i.c.v. 6-OHDA injection on peripheral cellular immune functions. Two, four and seven days after the injection in rats, they were sacrificed and spleen and blood samples were collected to measure the lymphocyte proliferation, cytokine production and IL-2 mRNA expression. Brain and spleen samples were obtained for catecholamine determination as well. Our data demonstrate that two, four and seven days after i.c.v. 6-OHDA treatment, dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine levels in the hypothalamus and in the cortex are significantly reduced. Additionally, norepinephrine and epinephrine concentrations in the spleen are significantly decreased four days after the injection. In contrast, the serotonin levels in the brain and in the spleen are not changed seven days after the central 6-OHDA treatment. More importantly, Con A-induced lymphocyte proliferation and splenocyte cytokine production at both protein (IL-2 and IFN-?) and mRNA (IL-2) levels are significantly reduced seven days after i.c.v. 6-OHDA injection. These results confirm the important role of central catecholamines in modulating peripheral cellular immune response. Although the precise mechanism of how central catecholamine depletion alters peripheral cellular immunity is still not clear, the fact that a significant reduction in splenic catecholamine contents is observed four days after i.c.v. 6-OHDA treatment suggests that peripheral sympathetic nervous system plays a role in these effects.


Blastocystis is a common single-celled enteric parasite found in a large variety of hosts. Recent molecular analysis supports the concept that this eukaryotic organism is a stramenopile most closely related to Proteromonas lacertae, a parasite of reptiles. In this study, the internal transcribed spacer region, partial small subunit rRNA and large subunit rRNA genes from 7 Blastocystis isolates (5 human, 1 pig and 1 sheep), and a Proteromonas lacertae isolate were amplified by PCR, cloned and sequenced. Blastocystis was found to be a typical eukaryote with both ITS1 and ITS2 regions present. Phylogenetic analysis based on the entire PCR amplicon revealed that the Blastocystis isolates did not segregate according to host or geographic origin. The highest sequence identities with the conserved Blastocystis 5·8S rDNA sequence were with the stramenopiles Fibrocapsa japonica, Chattonella marina, Cylindrotheca closterium and Hyphochytrium catenoides. The most parsimonious tree based on the 5·8S rDNA sequence from P. lacertae, 11 other stramenopiles, 2 fungi, 3 algae and 3 alveolates showed Blastocystis positioned within the stramenopiles, with P. lacertae as its closest relative. This work therefore supports the hypothesis that Blastocystis is most closely related to P. lacertae, and that it should be regarded as an unusual stramenopile.


THE TEACHING of traditional grammar has been on the wane in education for the last 25 to 50 years, in the face of more interactive classrooms, more exotic developments in transformational grammar, and research suggesting that it may not play an effective role in improving student's writing. Recently, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in teaching at least some of its fundamental concepts. This new interest has taken on a more imperative bent as secondary schools and to some extent primary schools have been feeling pressure to teach basic grammatical concepts in order to prepare students for the 45 multiple-choice questions on grammar and usage in the new SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). Teachers and schools that have not done well enough in this area will be held to account by parents and politicians, both of whom tend to believe that instruction in traditional formal grammar is the best means to this end. Teachers who send students off, without this training, to undergo the new SAT will have some serious questions to answer if those students scores are too low.


In Emotional Diplomacy, Todd H. Hall explores the politics of officially expressed emotion on the international stage, looking at the ways in which state actors strategically deploy emotional behavior to shape the perceptions of others. Examining diverse instances of emotional behavior, Hall reveals that official emotional displays are not simply cheap talk but rather play an important role in the strategies and interactions of state actors. Emotional diplomacy is more than rhetoric; as this book demonstrates, its implications extend to the provision of economic and military aid, great-power cooperation, and even the use of armed force. Emotional Diplomacy provides the theoretical tools necessary for understanding the nature and significance of state-level emotional behavior and offers new observations of how states seek reconciliation, strategically respond to unforeseen crises, and demonstrate resolve in the face of perceived provocations. Hall investigates three specific strands of emotional diplomacy: those rooted in anger, sympathy, and guilt. Presenting original research drawing on interviews and sources in five different languages, Hall provides new insights into the 1995–1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, the post-9/11 reactions of China and Russia, and relations between West Germany and Israel after World War II. He also demonstrates how his arguments can be extended to further cases ranging from Sino-Japanese relations to diplomatic interactions in Latin America. Emotional Diplomacy offers a unique take on the intersection of strategic action and emotional display, offering a means for making sense of why states appear to behave emotionally


: Purpose: The main goal of this work is to substantiate the need to consider microeconomic statistics when analyzing consumer lending to the population, as well as implementing approaches to modeling household credit behavior at the micro level. Design/Methodology/Approach: The article proposes and implements a comprehensive statistical approach that allows identifying the specificity of the influence of demographic, socio-economic characteristics of households on their credit activity. Findings: The article states that loan borrowings are more often found in households with children of preschool age who are in relatively high-income groups, who much more often inform about cash incomes that do not correspond to the declared level of consumption. Members of these households are more likely to work. The age range of borrowers expanded during the study period, and no prevalence of any age group was observed. Practical Implications: This result is of great practical importance, since, as already indicated, in assessing the solvency of the borrower, credit organizations are mainly focused on individual characteristics. Originality/value: It was found that the hypothesis that individual characteristics are important determinants of household lending activity has not been confirmed. And variables that characterize households significantly affect their credit behavior.


ABSTRACT The potential trade-off between environmental protection and employment stability has been a concern in the literature. However, in the case of China, the employment issue has not been adequately addressed despite government's big push on investing in renewable energy since 2007. This essay addresses the employment issue through estimating the relative employment impacts of renewable energy investments versus spending within the traditional fossil fuel sectors based on input-output modeling with China-specific data of sector and subsector weighting techniques. I find that spending within three segments of the renewable energy sectors – solar, wind and bioenergy, will produce in combination about twice as many jobs per dollar of expenditure than an equal amount of spending on fossil fuels. I also find that, more than 70 percent of jobs from renewable energy sectors are created in the informal economy. This raises questions about the quality of the jobs created through renewable energy investments.


Introduction: Motivation is an impetus for patients to seek orthodontic treatment; it also affects adherence, treatment outcomes, and satisfaction towards orthodontic treatment. The aim of this study was to assess the lack of motivation of adult male patients or the other reasons responsible for not seeking orthodontic treatment, and classify the patients according to their reasons. Prejudiced notions about treatment and various fears have created a resistance or hesitation towards orthodontic treatment in men. The aim of this study is to assess the mind set and overall attitude of male adolescent patients toward not seeking orthodontic correction for malocclusion. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire based study was conducted at the department of Orthodontics, Private Dental College, a total of 50 male subjects with malocclusions requiring orthodontic interventions were selected for the study. Data was collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire which was designed after reviewing recent articles, developments and also similar questionnaires that are based on the objectives of the study. Results: Sixty-nine percent of subjects were aware that they had a malocclusion whereas the remaining 31% were not aware. On asking as to why they were not correcting the malocclusion, 18% stated that it was embarrassing to wear braces, 4% stated that the treatment was too expensive, 19% stated that the treatment was that of a long duration, 7% felt they were too old for seeking orthodontic treatment, 6% had no interest to do the treatment, 9% stated it would painful, another 16% had concerns that food would get stuck to the braces, 21% were scared to undergo treatment. Conclusion: The unwillingness of male adolescent patients for seeking orthodontic treatment is studied and the reasons are discussed. This will help in educating them on the long term effects of malocclusion and to convince them for opting to go ahead with orthodontic treatment.


The ranking of n objects based on pairwise comparisons is a core machine learning problem, arising in recommender systems, ad placement, player ranking, biological applications and others. In many practical situations the true pairwise comparisons cannot be actively measured, but a subset of all n(n-1)/2 comparisons is passively and noisily observed. Optimization algorithms (e.g., the SVM) could be used to predict a ranking with fixed expected Kendall tau distance, while achieving an Ω (n) lower bound on the corresponding sample complexity. However, due to their centralized structure they are difficult to extend to online or distributed settings. In this paper we show that much simpler algorithms can match the same Ω (n) lower bound in expectation. Furthermore, if an average of O(n log(n)) binary comparisons are measured, then one algorithm recovers the true ranking in a uniform sense, while the other predicts the ranking more accurately near the top than the bottom. We discuss extensions to online and distributed ranking, with benefits over traditional alternatives.


We consider the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to a disaster like the one that occurred at Fukushima Daiichi. Examination of Japanese nuclear plants affected by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 shows that three variables were crucial at the early stages of the crisis: plant elevation, sea wall elevation, and location and status of backup generators. Higher elevations for these variables, or waterproof protection of backup generators, could have mitigated or prevented the disaster. We collected information on these variables, along with historical data on run-up heights, for 89 coastal nuclear power plants in the world. The data shows that 1. Japanese plants were relatively unprotected against potential inundation in international comparison, but there was considerable variation for power plants within and outside of Japan; 2. Older power plants and plants owned by the largest utility companies appear to have been particularly unprotected.


Southeast Asia has been undergoing a transition to more democratic forms of governance over the last two decades. The 2007 Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stated that henceforth ASEAN would pursue democratic forms of governance, the rule of law and the attendant fundamental human rights, which are the hallmark of liberal democratic states. This major normative evolution is one chapter of ASEAN's post-Cold War efforts to deepen its members' interactions in the economic, politico-security and socio-cultural realms. ASEAN has been engaging in "community-building" in these areas. A community presupposes the development of common values among its member-states and among all of their citizens. It has been argued by constructivist scholars, for example, that in the politico-security realm a security community has been forged via a diplomacy of accommodation, or the "ASEAN Way", that respects the core principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states. An ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) envisages a liberalised economic space through free trade and the creation of an integrated production platform. The new democracy and human rights order aims to create a more "people-centred" ASEAN.


The biological functions of interleukin-6 (IL-6) are mediated through a signal-transducing component of the IL-6 receptor, gp130, which is associated with the ligand-occupied IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) protein. Binding of IL-6 to IL-6R induced disulfide-linked homodimerization of gp130. Tyrosine kinase activity was associated with dimerized but not monomeric gp130 protein. Substitution of serine for proline residues 656 and 658 in the cytoplasmic motif abolished tyrosine kinase activation and cellular responses but not homodimerization of gp130. The IL-6-induced gp130 homodimer appears to be similar in function to the heterodimer formed between the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) receptor (LIFR) and gp130 in response to the LIF or ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF). Thus, a general first step in IL-6-related cytokine signaling may be the dimerization of signal-transducing molecules and activation of associated tyrosine kinases.


The list [3] of uniform titles from IFLA's Working Group on Uniform Headings for Liturgical Works [4] includes useful explanations of liturgical terminology. Spoken Sung or chanted A term that is a type of composition is linked to its entry in Types of Composition for Use in Authorized Access Points for Music [5] Links to definitions (from Indiana University) are in italics Proper Ordinary Proper Ordinary 1. Introit [6] definition [7] 2. Kyrie [8] definition [9] 3. Gloria [10] definition [11] 4. Collect 5. Epistle 6. Gradual [12] definition [13] 7. Alleluia (Tract) definition [14] 8. Gospel 9. Credo [15] definition [16] 10. Offertory [17] definition [18] 11. Secret 12. Preface 13. Sanctus [19] definition [20] and Benedictus 14. Canon 15. Agnus Dei [21] definition [22] 16. Communion definition [23] 17. Postcommunion 18. Ite, missa est (Benedicamus Domino) definition [24] 19. Last Gospel The Gloria is omitted in seasons of Advent and Lent.


Multiple constellations has been proposed recently as a way of improving the system performance when used in conjunction with Orthogonal Transmit Diversity (OTD) for high level linear modulation schemes. This paper considers the use of multiple constellations in Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna systems. The premise is that the same modulation scheme is used with different bits to symbols mapping for each branch. This improved beamforming results in better performance as compared to MIMO-MRC where the same bits to symbols mapping is used on all branches. Analytical expression for Symbol Error Probability (SEP) is derived. The results obtained show that the new proposed improved beamforming scheme outperforms conventional MIMO-MRC with a performance dividend that increases with the linear modulation level.


This paper investigates the design of an output feedback linear parameter-varying (LPV) gain-scheduled controller for the speed regulation of a surface permanent magnet synchronous motor (SPMSM). Motor dynamics is defined in the stationary reference (α – β) frame and a parameter-varying model formulation is provided to describe the SPMSM nonlinear dynamics. In this context, a robust gain-scheduled LPV output-feedback dynamic controller is designed to satisfy the asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system and meet desired performance requirements, and guarantee robustness against norm-bounded uncertainties and disturbances. The real-time impact of temperature variation on the winding resistance and magnet flux during motor operations are considered in the LPV modelling and the subsequent control design to address demagnetization effects in the motor response. The controller synthesis conditions are formulated in a convex linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraint framework. Finally, the validity of the proposed control strategy is assessed in simulation studies, and the results are compared to the results of the conventional field-oriented control (FOC) method. The results of the simulation demonstrate that the proposed controller provides improved transient response with respect to settling time, overshoot, and disturbance rejection in tracking the velocity profile under the influence of parameter and temperature variations and disturbances.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss a curriculum change in the provision of health promotion in pre-service teacher education in a one-year postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) secondary course in one Higher Education Institution (HEI) in England.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes the iterative development process, from an initial survey and mapping of the existing pre-service teacher training programme, which provided an evidence base for the piloting of a new health promotion component in the curriculum, and its subsequent evaluation. Changes to the health promotion element of the curriculum reflect the programme philosophy which balances the requirements of a competency based curriculum with a more liberal approach to education and training in which pre-service teachers are expected to critically reflect on, and evaluate their practice. This work adopts a socio-constructivist approach to teacher education, in which teachers develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes by interacting with others through dialogue, and learning from more knowledgeable others in a cooperative and scaffolded manner.

Findings – The paper presents the results of these changes and discusses implications for their sustainability. The changes made to the health promotion component of the programme and their implementation would not have been possible without the inter-professional collaboration that took place over three years.

Originality/value – To the authors' knowledge similar work involving a multi-disciplinary collaborative approach to the development of a health education component of a pre-service teacher education curriculum has not been employed or reported.


Brightness induction is the modulation of the perceived intensity of an area by the luminance of surrounding areas and reveals fundamental properties of neural organization in the visual system. Several phenomenological models have been proposed that successfully account for psychophysical data (Pessoa et al. 1995, Blakeslee and McCourt 2004, Barkan et al. 2008, Otazu et al. 2008). Neurophysiological evidence suggests that brightness information is explicitly represented in V1 and neuronal response modulations have been observed following luminance changes outside their receptive fields (Rossi and Paradiso, 1999). In this work we investigate possible neural mechanisms that offer a plausible explanation for such effects. To this end, we consider the model by Z.Li (1999) which is based on biological data and focuses on the part of V1 responsible for contextual influences, namely, layer 2–3 pyramidal cells, interneurons, and horizontal intracortical connections. This model has proven to account for phenomena such as contour detection and preattentive segmentation, which share with brightness induction the relevant effect of contextual influences. In our model, the input to the network is derived from a complete multiscale and multiorientation wavelet decomposition which makes it possible to recover an image reflecting the perceived intensity. The proposed model successfully accounts for well known pyschophysical effects (among them: the White's and modified White's effects, the Todorović, Chevreul, achromatic ring patterns, and grating induction effects). Our work suggests that intra-cortical interactions in the primary visual cortex could partially explain perceptual brightness induction effects and reveals how a common general architecture may account for several different fundamental processes emerging early in the visual pathway.


Concrete filled tube (CFT) columns have been used as primary axial load-carrying members in high-rise building especially in seismic zones. The structural member has become popular as it has a number of distinct advantages over an equivalent steel, reinforced concrete, or steel-reinforce concrete structural member. This paper is intended to presents numerical modeling of elliptical concrete-filled steel tube columns. Elliptical steel tube is relatively a new shape used as composite columns structure and currently the data for the column is insufficient with very limited understanding therefore it deserve further investigation. This project will investigate the behaviour, capacity and failure pattern up to and beyond the ultimate load of this cross-sectional shape of composite column. Finite element program, ABAQUS also has been used as this method allows the analyses of complex structures and structural phenomena. In order to study the nonlinear response, three dimensional finite element model is develop by considering material non-linearity of the structure.