In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., the Supreme Court clearly expressed its understanding that the common law of tort provides the foundation for third party copyright liability. Grokster did not, however, offer a complete account of how tort law defines guides the application of third party copyright liability. Accordingly, lower courts now face the challenges of filling in the details that Grokster left out. This Article examines two recent, closely followed opinions that apply tort law to the problem of third party copyright liability, Perfect 10 v. Amazon and Perfect 10 v. Visa. It makes sense to study Amazon and Visa because they involved large, high profile businesses whose primary services simultaneously supported infringing and noninfringing behavior. In Amazon, the plaintiff Perfect 10 (copyright holder in a number of photographic images) sued Google because Google's search engine helped Internet users find and view infringing copies of the plaintiff's photographs. In Visa, Perfect 10 sued credit card companies for processing credit card payments on behalf of websites that charged users to view infringing images. Claims like these are both plausible and problematic. The scope of copyright infringement on the Internet is significant. It is arguably wrong for businesses to profit from assistance provided to illegal activities. Furthermore, if Google and Visa withdrew that assistance, the incidence of copyright infringement would presumably decrease. At the same time, however, it is perhaps unfair to hold a business liable for supporting the infringement of others when the business did not act with the specific purpose of supporting infringement. Moreover, it may be socially undesirable to impose liability on these businesses for two reasons. First, attempts to stop infringement may be very costly and ineffective. Second, while liability may force entities like Google and Visa to withdraw their services from those who have committed infringement, liability might also result in withdrawing services from those who have not infringed. Society must therefore balance the potential benefits of third party copyright liability against its associated costs. Amazon and Visa try to integrate third party copyright liability and tort law, but with only modest success. Two problems share the blame. First, the doctrinal formulations of third party copyright liability do not map cleanly onto tort law. Accordingly, those formulations can easily distract courts from the considerations most relevant to tort. Second, although both opinions acknowledge the importance of tort law to the construction of third party copyright liability, they pay insufficient attention to the overall structure of tort, distinctions between basic types of tort actions, and the reasons for those distinctions. This robs Amazon and Visa of truly cogent explanations for their results. This Article proceeds in four parts. Part I describes the general problem of third party copyright liability and applies tort law to it without regard to existing copyright doctrine. Part II lays out the present doctrinal formulations of third party copyright liability, namely inducement, contributory liability, and vicarious liability. Part II then explains how these formulations correspond to the overall structure of tort and describes areas of possible confusion. Part III uses Parts I and II to analyze Amazon and Visa. It shows how those opinions struggle to make sense of third party copyright liability's doctrinal formulations in light of tort and how more attention to the overall structure of tort could have improved the opinions. Part IV concludes by arguing that future decisions will more effectively apply tort to third party copyright liability if courts must significantly rework third party copyright liability's doctrinal formulations or their interpretation.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effectiveness of community based occupational therapy on daily functioning of patients with dementia and the sense of competence of their care givers.

DESIGN
Single blind randomised controlled trial. Assessors were blinded for treatment allocation.

SETTING
Memory clinic and day clinic of a geriatrics department and participants' homes.

PARTICIPANTS
135 patients aged > or =65 with mild to moderate dementia living in the community and their primary care givers.

INTERVENTIONS
10 sessions of occupational therapy over five weeks, including cognitive and behavioural interventions, to train patients in the use of aids to compensate for cognitive decline and care givers in coping behaviours and supervision.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Patients' daily functioning assessed with the assessment of motor and process skills (AMPS) and the performance scale of the interview of deterioration in daily activities in dementia (IDDD). Care giver burden assessed with the sense of competence questionnaire (SCQ). Participants were evaluated at baseline, six weeks, and three months.

RESULTS
Scores improved significantly relative to baseline in patients and care givers in the intervention group compared with the controls (differences were 1.5 (95% confidence interval 1.3 to 1.7) for the process scale; -11.7 (-13.6 to -9.7) for the performance scale; and (11.0; 9.2 to 12.8) for the competence scale). This improvement was still significant at three months. The number needed to treat to reach a clinically relevant improvement in motor and process skills score was 1.3 (1.2 to 1.4) at six weeks. Effect sizes were 2.5, 2.3, and 1.2, respectively, at six weeks and 2.7, 2.4, and 0.8, respectively, at 12 weeks.

CONCLUSIONS
Occupational therapy improved patients' daily functioning and reduced the burden on the care giver, despite the patients' limited learning ability. Effects were still present at 12 weeks, which justifies implementation of this intervention.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinical Trials NCT00295152 [ClinicalTrials.gov].


Prescribed fires are increasingly implemented throughout eastern deciduous forests to accomplish various management objectives, including maintenance of oak-dominated (Quercus spp.) forests. Despite a regional research-based understanding of prehistoric and historic fire regimes, a parallel understanding of contemporary fire use to preserve oak forests is only emerging, and with somewhat inconsistent results. For prescribed fires to be effective, they must positively influence oak regeneration at one or more critical life stages: pollination, flowering, seed set, germination, establishment, seedling development, and release into the canopy. We posit that a simplistic view of the relationship between fire and oak forests has led to a departure from an ecologically based management approach with prescribed fire. Here, we call for a refinement in our thinking to improve the match between management tools and objectives and provide some guidelines for thinking more ecologically about when and where to apply fire on the landscape to sustain oak-dominated forests.


There are two distinct approaches to solving reinforcement learning problems, namely, searching in value function space and searching in policy space. Temporal difference methods and evolutionary algorithms are well-known examples of these approaches. Kaelbling, Littman and Moore recently provided an informative survey of temporal difference methods. This article focuses on the application of evolutionary algorithms to the reinforcement learning problem, emphasizing alternative policy representations, credit assignment methods, and problem-specific genetic operators. Strengths and weaknesses of the evolutionary approach to reinforcement learning are presented, along with a survey of representative applications.


In the plenary sessions of the Royal Zoological of NSW forum Science under siege: zoology under threat, Charles Krebs and Gordon Grigg expressed the view that scientists should speak up about the crisis in biodiversity. Indeed, they asserted that scientists should act as the ecological conscience of a nation. Their opinion became the organising theme of this book. The importance of this idea emerges clearly from the writings of Aldo Leopold: "If we grant the premise that an ecological conscience is possible and needed, then its first tenet must be this: economic provocation is no longer a satisfactory excuse for unsocial land-use (or, to use somewhat stronger words, for ecological atrocities)." Since Leopold's initial publications in the late 1940s, his powerful ideas have affected thinkers in a variety of fields, including theology, agriculture, journalism, philosophy, and psychology. This paper examines how thinkers in these fields have engaged with the idea of an ecological conscience. It also examines media coverage of environmental issues in early 2013, and shows that although media stories are valuable in publicising issues which may otherwise receive little attention, these stories rarely convey the idea of an ecological conscience. Although the grumpy scientists in this book belong to a variety of disciplines, they share a belief in the critical importance of an ecological conscience. They contend that we need a shift in values away from human exceptionalism – the belief that humans are superior and in control of a passive world – and towards the acceptance of human responsibility for environmental degradation. The collective voice of the grumpy scientists adds valuable weight to the already compelling case for the urgency of developing an ecological conscience.


In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson called for a Nationwide War on the Sources of Poverty to "strike away the barriers to full participation" in our society. Central to that war was an understanding that given poverty's complex and multi-layered causes, identifying, implementing, and monitoring solutions to it would require the "maximum feasible participation" of affected communities. Equally central, however, was an understanding that such decentralized problem-solving could not be fully effective without national-level orchestration and support. As such, an Office of Economic Opportunity was established – situated in the Executive Office of the President itself – to support, through encouragement, funding, and coordination, the development and implementation of community-based plans of action for poverty alleviation, as identified and prioritized by the poor themselves. This Article urges a return to this practical, locally-responsive, yet federally-orchestrated orientation of U.S. social welfare law. It argues that while the regulatory and political context of the 1960s provided inauspicious ground for the early "maximum feasible participation" policy to effectively take root, four decades later, two broad paradigm shifts have yielded a new, more fertile opportunity framework. The first involves the shift in U.S. regulatory law away from earlier command-and-control structures favoring fixed rules and centralized enforcement, toward a New Governance model that privileges decentralization, flexibility, stakeholder participation, performance indicators, and guided discretion. The second is the concurrent paradigm shift in U.S. social movement approaches to poverty – what I call "New Accountability" – which similarly promotes local voice and inclusive participation, performance monitoring around human rights standards, and negotiated policymaking (rather than non-negotiable material demands and mass confrontation, the preferred tactics of 1960s activism). Supported by a renewed U.S. interest in collecting and reporting performance indicators for government programs, these two shifts converge to create a theory and policy-based environment in which it is both practically feasible and normatively coherent to re-embrace the participatory orientation of the early "War on the Sources of Poverty" strategy. The challenge for U.S. social welfare rights law, I argue, is how to bring these two complementary paradigms together in constructive synergy to mount a 21st century battle against poverty. A set of national subsidiarity-based institutions to support this effort is proposed, each mandated to orchestrate and competitively incentivize targeted anti-poverty efforts by all social stakeholders, while opening new institutional spaces for the active participation of the poor in all aspects of meeting the nation's poverty reduction targets.


The good forecasting performance of factor models has been well documented in the literature. While many studies focus on a very limited set of variables (typically GDP and inflation), this study evaluates forecasting performance at disaggregated levels to examine the source of the improved forecasting accuracy, relative to a simple autoregressive model. We use the latest revision of over 100 U.S. time series over the period 1974-2009 (monthly and quarterly data). We employ restrictions derived from national accounting identities to derive jointly consistent forecasts for the different components of U.S. GDP. In line with previous studies, we find that our factor model yields vastly improved forecasts for U.S. GDP, relative to simple autoregressive benchmark models, but we also conclude that the gains in terms of forecasting accuracy differ substantially between GDP components. As a rule of thumb, the largest improvements in terms of forecasting accuracy are found for relatively more volatile series, with the greatest gains coming from improvements of the forecasts for investment and trade. Consumption forecasts, in contrast, perform only marginally better than a simple AR benchmark model. In addition, we show that for most GDP components, an unrestricted, direct forecast outperforms forecasts subject to national accounting identity restrictions. In contrast, GDP itself is best forecasted as the sum of individual forecasts for GDP components, but the improvement over a direct, unconstrained factor forecast is small.


Interfaces that talk and listen are populating computers, cars, call centers, and even home appliances and toys, but voice interfaces invariably frustrate rather than help. In Wired for Speech, Clifford Nass and Scott Brave reveal how interactive voice technologies can readily and effectively tap into the automatic responses all speech -- whether from human or machine -- evokes. Wired for Speech demonstrates that people are "voice-activated": we respond to voice technologies as we respond to actual people and behave as we would in any social situation. By leveraging this powerful finding, voice interfaces can truly emerge as the next frontier for efficient, user-friendly technology.Wired for Speech presents new theories and experiments and applies them to critical issues concerning how people interact with technology-based voices. It considers how people respond to a female voice in e-commerce (does stereotyping matter?), how a car's voice can promote safer driving (are "happy" cars better cars?), whether synthetic voices have personality and emotion (is sounding like a person always good?), whether an automated call center should apologize when it cannot understand a spoken request ("To Err is Interface; To Blame, Complex"), and much more. Nass and Brave's deep understanding of both social science and design, drawn from ten years of research at Nass's Stanford laboratory, produces results that often challenge conventional wisdom and common design practices. These insights will help designers and marketers build better interfaces, scientists construct better theories, and everyone gain better understandings of the future of the machines that speak with us.


After an extraordinarily promising beginning in 1937 with The Structure of Social Action, Talcott Parsons abandoned his attempt to ground social theory in a theory of purposive action. The functionalism that resulted moved in one direction, while social research has progressively moved in an individual-behavioristic direction, resulting in an ever-widening divergence between research and theory. This paper describes paths in research and in theory development, that will reconstitute relevance of each for the other. The essential elements are two. The first is use of a theory of purposive action as a foundation for social theory; this entails acceptance of a form of methodological individualism and rejection of holism. The second is a focus in social research and theory on the movement from the level of individual actions to macrosocial functioning, that is, the level of system behavior.


CrAssphage is yet to be cultured even though it represents the most abundant virus in the gut microbiota of humans. Recently, sequence based classification was performed on distantly related crAss-like phages from multiple environments, leading to the proposal of a familial level taxonomic group [Yutin N, et al. (2018) Discovery of an expansive bacteriophage family that includes the most abundant viruses from the human gut. Nat Microbiol 3(1):38–46]. Here, we assembled the metagenomic sequencing reads from 702 human faecal virome/phageome samples and obtained 98 complete circular crAss-like phage genomes and 145 contigs ≥70kb. In silico comparative genomics and taxonomic analysis was performed, resulting in a classification scheme of crAss-like phages from human faecal microbiomes into 4 candidate subfamilies composed of 10 candidate genera. Moreover, laboratory analysis was performed on faecal samples from an individual harbouring 7 distinct crAss-like phages. We achieved propagation of crAss-like phages in ex vivo human faecal fermentations and visualised Podoviridae virions by electron microscopy. Furthermore, detection of a crAss-like phage capsid protein could be linked to metagenomic sequencing data confirming crAss-like phage structural annotations. Significance CrAssphage is the most abundant biological entity in the human gut, but it remains uncultured in the laboratory and its host(s) is unknown. CrAssphage was not identified in metagenomic studies for many years as its sequence is so different from anything present in databases. To this day, it can only be detected from sequences assembled from metagenomics or viromic datasets (crAss – cross Assembly). In this study, we identified 243 new crAss-like phages from human faecal metagenomic studies. Taxonomic analysis of these crAss-like phages highlighted their extensive diversity within the human microbiome. We also present the first propagation of crAssphage in faecal fermentations and provide the first electron micrographs of this extraordinary bacteriophage.


This paper provides an overview of the current state of the arts and health field in England, through an examination of practice, research and policy developments. Five features of arts and health practice are identified: the scale of the sector, regional variations, mapping of arts and health initiatives, recent conferences and symposia, and the role of key agencies supporting arts and health initiatives. Eight areas of arts and health research activity are considered: retrospective qualitative evaluations, prospective evaluations with some quantitative assessments, experimental research on arts and health initiatives, economic evaluations of arts interventions, systematic reviews of arts and health research, theory development to underpin research efforts, and the establishment of dedicated arts and health research centres and research programmes. The final section considers three 2007 arts and health publications from the Department of Health and Arts Council England. There has been disappointment that the policy recommendations in these documents have not been acted upon. At the time of writing, however, there are some signs of renewed efforts to encourage national leadership from the Department of Health.


The GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing 2008 (GREAT08) Challenge focuses on a problem that is of crucial importance for future observations in cosmology. The shapes of distant galaxies can be used to determine the properties of dark energy and the nature of gravity, because light from those galaxies is bent by gravity from the intervening dark matter. The observed galaxy images appear distorted, although only slightly, and their shapes must be precisely disentangled from the effects of pixelisation, convolution and noise. The worldwide gravitational lensing community has made significant progress in techniques to measure these distortions via the Shear TEsting Program (STEP). Via STEP, we have run challenges within our own community, and come to recognise that this particular image analysis problem is ideally matched to experts in statistical inference, inverse problems and computational learning. Thus, in order to continue the progress seen in recent years, we are seeking an infusion of new ideas from these communities. This document details the GREAT08 Challenge for potential participants. Please visit www.great08challenge.info for the latest information.


In "The Dog Who Couldn't Stop Loving", Masson considers the far-reaching consequences of the coevolution of dogs and humans, drawing upon recent scientific research. Over the past forty thousand years a collective domestication has occurred that brings us to where we are today - humans have formed intense bonds with dogs, and the adoration is almost always reciprocal. Masson himself has experienced a profound bond with his new dog, Benjy, a failed guide dog for the blind, who possesses an abundance of uninhibited love. Masson knows that the love he feels for Benjy - the same feeling Benjy has for all the people and animals around him - is not unique, but exemplifies a love affair unmatched in the animal world. With wisdom, insight, and a brilliant analysis of recent scientific findings, bestselling author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson delivers a provocative and compelling book that will change the way we think about love and our canine companions.


The present study deals with sponge species collected along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey in 2005. A total of 29 species belonging to 19 families were encountered, of which Phorbas plumosus is a new record for the eastern Mediterranean, 8 species are new records for the marine fauna of Turkey (Clathrina clathrus, Spirastrella cunctatrix, Desmacella inornata, Phorbas plumosus, Hymerhabdia intermedia, Haliclona fulva, Petrosia vansoesti, and Ircinia dendroides), and 19 species are new records for the Levantine Sea (C. clathrus, Sycon raphanus, Erylus discophorus, Alectona millari, Cliona celata, Diplastrella bistellata, Mycale contareni, Mycale cf. rotalis, Mycale lingua, D. inornata, P. plumosus, Phorbas fictitius, Lissodendoryx isodictyalis, Hymerhabdia intermedia, H. fulva, P. vansoesti, I. dendroides, Sarcotragus spinosulus, and Aplysina aerophoba). The morphological and distributional features of the species that are new to the Turkish marine fauna are presented. In addition, a check-list of the sponge species that have been reported from the coasts of Turkey to date is provided.


The success of culturing of "Kopyor" coconut (matured coconut with broken meat particles due to abnormal formation of endosperm) through embryo culture depends on the medium used. A revised protocol on medium embryo culture was done to increase embryo germination and plantlet production of kopyor coconut obtained from Sumenep. Embryos excised from mature nuts were cultured in solid Eeuwens basal media supplemented with 150 ml coconut water, 150 ml coconut milk, 50 mg/l thio-urea, and 100 mg/l thio-urea. Germinating embryos were transferred to solid Eeuwens basal media containing 100, 150, and 200 ml/l coconut water. Subsequent transfers of the germinating embryos to fresh media to complete seedling development were done at different periods of subculture, i.e., 1, 2, 3, and 4 months. The highest viability of kopyor embryo was shown by 150 ml/l coconut water, about 95% embryos in this medium germinated. At plantlet phase, addition of coconut water did not give a positive result to the growth of kopyor plantlets. However, coconut water could increase the complete plantlet, i.e., plantlet with shoot and good root. Growth and number of kopyor plantlets obtained were the best when the plantlets transferred into fresh medium every 2 months.


ABSTRACT Marshallia mohrii (Asteraceae) is a perennial forb endemic to grasslands in the southeastern United States. Despite having been listed as federally threatened for three decades, little is known about its biology and life history. In this study, we examined the role of light, temperature, seed age, and cold stratification on seed dormancy break and germination in M. mohrii. We also quantified soil temperatures in a Ketona glade population of M. mohrii to infer dormancy breaking and germination phenologies under natural conditions. Relatively high proportions (>65%) of cold stratified seeds germinated across a range of temperature regimes in both light and darkness, whereas nonstratified seeds only germinated to high proportions in light at high temperatures. Germination proportions of laboratory stored seeds were slightly greater than freshly matured seeds, but remained much lower than those of cold stratified seeds. According to laboratory experiments, both autumn and spring germination phenologies are possible depending on the temperature and light conditions seeds experience after dispersal. Seeds of M. mohrii exhibited type 3 non-deep conditional physiological dormancy, which has been found in other members of Asteraceae from temperate grasslands. Overall, the germination niche of M. mohrii is defined by conditional seed dormancy, reduced dormancy levels following cold stratification, dark germination after dormancy loss, seasonal germination cueing, and seed traits consistent with short-term persistence in soil. Results from our study are useful for future conservation and recovery actions with M. mohrii and represent the first known published report of germination traits in this genus, which contains several other rare and range-restricted species.


———————————————————————————————————————– The field of computer vision has repeatedly been recognised as an intellectual frontier whose boundaries of applicability are yet to be stipulated. This thesis explores one novel application: visual animal biometrics. The work demonstrates that vision can achieve an automatic identification of animals filmed in their natural habitat. The thesis proposes and evaluates algorithms for detecting a species and – in the case that the animals carry Turing patterns – for recognising individuals in visual material comprising various poses, changing lighting and clutter. Lions, plains zebras and African penguins serve as sample species to showcase the different capabilities and limitations of the approach. First, an algorithmic framework for species recognition is discussed. In particular, it is shown that the appearance context of a number of reference points on coat patterns contains a species-specific component, which can be utilised for achieving a robust detection of the investigated animal specimens. The proposed model employs boosted point-surround classifiers as local appearance descriptors. Second, it is illustrated how pose-normalised texture maps of Turing-patterned coat regions can be extracted based on the extracted reference points. The maps are shown to contain individually-specific features which – using an extension of shape contexts – can be represented as deformation-robust sets of histograms. Finally, it is discussed how distance measures can be used for comparing these sets with population databases to retrieve animal identities. In order to provide a practical proof of concept, a prototype system was tested in a colony of African penguins and in a preliminary study on a photo collection of plains zebras. The results indicate a system performance that allows for disambiguating individuals with a level of confidence sufficient for tasks of population monitoring. This outcome marks a promising first step towards an automated, truly non-invasive observation of wild animal populations, which would benefit field-based biology and assist the conservation of species in decline. ———————————————————————————————————————–


From the Publisher:
About the Authors

James W. Nilsson taught at Iowa State University for 39 years. Since retiring from Iowa State, he has been a visiting professor at Notre Dame, California Polytechnic at San Luis Obispo, and the United States Air Force Academy. In 1962, he co-authored (with R. G. Brown) Introduction to Linear Systems Analysis (John Wiley & Sons). In 1968, he authored Introduction to Circuits, Instruments, and Electronics (Harcourt Brace and World). Professor Nilsson received a Standard Oil Outstanding Teacher Award in 1968, the IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1992, and the McGraw-Hill Jacob Millman Award in 1995. In 1995 he was elected a Fellow of the IEEE.

Susan A. Riedel has been a member of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Marquette University since 1981. She also holds a clinical research appointment with the Department of Orthopaedics, Medical College of Wisconsin. She was a visiting professor with the Bioengineering Unit, University of Strathclyde, Glascow, Scotland, as a Fulbright Scholar during the 1989-1990 academic year. She has received two awards for teaching excellence at Marquette, and was recognized for her research contributions with an award from the Chicago Unit of the Shriner's Hospitals.


Transformed cancer cells differ from normal cells in several important features like anchorage independence, Warburg effect and mechanosensing. Consequently, transformed cancer cells develop an anaplastic morphology and respond aberrantly to external mechanical forces. Consistent with altered mechano-responsiveness, here we show that transformed cancer cells from many different tissues have reduced growth and become apoptotic upon cyclic stretch as do normal cells after the transformation. When matrix rigidity sensing is restored in transformed cancer cells, they survive and grow faster on soft surface upon cyclic stretch like normal cells but undergo anoikis without stretch by activation of death associated protein kinase1 (DAPK1). In contrast, stretch-dependent apoptosis (mechanoptosis) of transformed cells is driven by stretch-mediated calcium influx and calcium-dependent calpain 2 protease activation on both collagen and fibronectin matrices. Further, mechanosensitive calcium channel, Piezo1 is needed for mechanoptosis. Thus, cyclic stretching of transformed cells from different tissues activates apoptosis, whereas similar stretching of normal cells stimulates growth.


We present an algorithm using principal component analysis (PCA) to subtract galaxies from imaging data and also two algorithms to find strong, galaxy-scale gravitational lenses in the resulting residual image. The combined method is optimised to find full or partial Einstein rings. Starting from a pre-selection of potential massive galaxies, we first perform a PCA to build a set of basis vectors. The galaxy images are reconstructed using the PCA basis and subtracted from the data. We then filter the residual image with two different methods. The first uses a curvelet (curved wavelets) filter of the residual images to enhance any curved/ring feature. The resulting image is transformed in polar coordinates, centred on the lens galaxy. In these coordinates, a ring is turned into a line, allowing us to detect very faint rings by taking advantage of the integrated signal-to-noise in the ring (a line in polar coordinates). The second way of analysing the PCA-subtracted images identifies structures in the residual images and assesses whether they are lensed images according to their orientation, multiplicity, and elongation. We applied the two methods to a sample of simulated Einstein rings as they would be observed with the ESA Euclid satellite in the VIS band. The polar coordinate transform allowed us to reach a completeness of 90% for a purity of 86%, as soon as the signal-to-noise integrated in the ring was higher than 30 and almost independent of the size of the Einstein ring. Finally, we show with real data that our PCA-based galaxy subtraction scheme performs better than traditional subtraction based on model fitting to the data. Our algorithm can be developed and improved further using machine learning and dictionary learning methods, which would extend the capabilities of the method to more complex and diverse galaxy shapes.


Affirming that international cooperation along North-North, North-South, and South-South lines is essential for mutual survival, Mr. Waiyaki calls upon international understanding, good w ill, determination, and compromise in achieving mutually beneficial socioeconomic development for developing nations, while avoiding serious international confrontation and internal civil strife. He cites remaining instances of colonialism and the debate over Africa's debt repayment as potential conflict areas, then provides previously suggested resolving steps involving the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Economic Commission for Africa. Regarding internal strife, he discusses the hardships imposed upon African populations by structural adjustment programs. Should such exacerbatory measures be implemented in the hope of fostering development, negative international ramifications are possible. Specifically, the potential failure of measures to redress regional population and environmental problems should not be discounted. Improved communications and increasing interdependence continue to make the world seem smaller, allowing regional changes to affect the world on a broader scale. Key issues in high population growth, especially in Africa, Latin America, and Oceania, and environmental concerns are explored. The address includes specific mention of determinant factors and suggestions for Northern country interventions in finding solutions to these comprehensive concerns.


The ground beetle (Carabidae) fauna of Timor is reviewed based on recent collecting by the Australian Museum, in Timor Leste. 53 species were collected, of which the following nine species are described as new: Mecyclothorax timorensis sp. nov. Baehr; M. reidi sp. nov. Baehr; Rhytisternus externus sp. nov. Baehr; Arhytinus timorensis sp. nov. Baehr; Notagonum reidi sp. nov. Baehr; N. angusticolle sp. nov. Baehr; Perigona timorensis sp. nov. Baehr; Aristolebia timorensis sp. nov. Baehr; Lebia timorensis sp. nov. Baehr The new species are compa red with their nearest relatives. The remaining material is identified to species, or at least to genus, and discussed according to the current classification of Carabidae. Several species and genera are newly recorded for Timor. In spite of the rather small number of species contained, the sample allows some insight into the relations of the Carabid fauna of Timor to the Oriental and Australopapuan Regions, with about two thirds of the species belonging to the Oriental fauna, and one third to the Australopapuan fauna. A few species also belong to subgroups that are restricted to the southeasternmost Oriental Region "Wallacea"—Sulawesi, and the Maluku, Aru and Kei Islands.


This paper proposes a torque control method for interior permanent-magnet (IPM) motors operating in a wide speed range requiring high torque/power accuracy and a fast dynamic response. Using the fact that the motor parameters are nonlinear and significantly vary with direct and quadrature cur- rent operating points, a new optimal operating plane is generated. This operating plane combines the maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) curve, current limit circle, and maximum torque per volt (MTPV) curve, voltage limitations, and torque calculation under the nonlinear parameter variations. As a result, new feedforward tables are generated, which make full use of measured motor parameters. The new torque and flux regulators built around the feedforward tables provide a fast dynamic response and accurate steady-state torque/power production. The proposed controller was implemented and successfully tested on a 105-kW IPM motor electric drive used in a fuel-cell vehicle program.


1. Estimates of seed bank depletion rates are essential for modelling and management of plant populations. The seed bag burial method is often used to measure seed mortality in the soil. However, the density of seeds within seed bags is higher than densities in natural seed banks, which may elevate levels of pathogens and influence seed mortality. The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of fungi and seed density within buried mesh bags on the mortality of seeds. Striga hermonthica was chosen as the study species because it has been widely studied but different methods for measuring seed mortality in the soil have yielded contradictory estimates. 2. Seed bags were buried in soil and exhumed at regular time intervals to monitor mortality of the seeds in three field experiments during two rainy seasons. The effect of fungal activity on seed mortality was evaluated in a fungi exclusion experiment. Differences in seed-to-seed interaction were obtained by using two and four densities within the seed bags in consecutive years. Densities were created by mixing 1000 seeds with 0, 10, 100 or 1000 g of coarse sand. 3. The mortality rate was significantly lower when fungi were excluded, indicating the possible role of pathogenic fungi. 4. Decreasing the density of seeds in bags significantly reduced seed mortality, most probably because of decreased seed-to-seed contamination by pathogenic fungi. 5. Synthesis and applications. Models of plant populations in general and annual weeds in particular often use values from the literature for seed bank depletion rates. These depletion rates have often been estimated by the seed bag burial method, yet seed density within seed bags may be unrealistically high. Consequently, estimates of seed mortality rates may be too high because of an overestimation of the effects of soil or seed-borne pathogens. Species that have been classified from such studies as having short-lived seed banks may need to be re-assessed using realistic densities either within seed bags or otherwise. Similarly, models of seed bank dynamics based on such overestimated depletion rates may lead to incorrect conclusions regarding the seed banks and, perhaps, the management of weeds and rare species.


The influence of global climate change due to greenhouse effects on the earth's environment will require impact assessment, mitigation and adaptation strategies for the future of our society. This study predicts future ocean wave climate in comparison with present wave climate based on the atmospheric general circulation model and global wave model. The annual averaged and extreme sea surface winds and waves are analyzed in detail. There are clear regional dependences of both annual average and also extreme wave height changes from present to future climates. The wave heights of future climate will increase at both middle latitudes and also in the Antarctic Ocean, with a decrease at the equator.


Rapid axonal transport was studied by several methods in rats with serum glucose levels above 300 mg/dl as a result of treatment with streptozotocin (45–50 mg/kg) 3 days, 1 wk, 4 wk, 8 wk, or 4 mo earlier. With untreated age-matched rats as controls, rapid anterograde axonal transport in the sciatic nerves of diabetic rats appeared entirely normal. Statistically significant differences were never observed between experimental and control nerves in the basal content of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DBH) activity or in the rate of accumulation of these enzymes proximal or distal to a ligature. Therefore, the basic capacity for rapid anterograde and retrograde axonal transport of proteins was probably unimpaired in the diabetic nerves. The accumulation of labeled glycoproteins proximal to ligatures on the contralateral nerves of the same rats after injection of the L5 dorsal root ganglion with 3H-fucose was likewise normal. However, rats with 1, 4, and 8 wk of diabetes did show reduced accumulation of fucose-labeled protein distal to nerve ligations, indicating a long-lasting abnormality of retrograde axonal transport. Furthermore, this abnormality was reversed by daily insulin treatment during the second half of an 8-wk experimental period. It is therefore unlikely that the depression of retrograde transport reflects direct toxic effects of streptozotocin. We conclude that streptozotocin-induced diabetes leads to: (1) abnormal delay in the turnaround of transported proteins in distal nerve regions, perhaps combined with (2) an abnormal metabolism of glycoproteins. A delayed onset of retrograde transport is consistent with present observations of reduced accumulation of 125I-labeled nerve growth factor (NGF) below a midthigh ligature on the sciatic nerve after injection of this protein into the hindfoot of rats with 3–5 wk of diabetes. Further work on the factors controlling rapid retrograde transport of proteins in diabetic nerve is warranted.


This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of Japanese male family caregivers in terms of their sense of care burden, their capacity to deal with stress, and their subjective sense of well-being. A survey consisting of questionnaires and interviews was conducted from March to May 2014 in the subjects' homes. Subjects were 27 Japanese males (the age range: 54 - 85) who provided home care for their family member. Caregivers who were good at relieving stress or who had a subjective sense of well-being were found to have a low care burden. The types and seriousness of diseases of the care recipients were not related to the caregivers' sense of burden, capacity to deal with stress, or subjective sense of well-being. Based on the interview results, caregivers were found to have the following characteristics: they were particular about methods of care; they learned how to provide home care by themselves; they used their social intelligence in home care; they always provided home care while keeping the future in mind; and most notably, they considered home care to be their primary occupation. On the whole, male caregivers were found to alleviate the burdens of home care by making use of the nursing-care service systems that enabled them to relieve stress and enjoy their leisure time. Caregivers considered home care to be their occupation and used their past social experiences. The workforce helped them deal with the care recipients' health conditions or day-to-day changes so that they could overcome the care burden.


We consider the problem of reaching a propositional goal condition in fully-observable nondeterministic (FOND) planning under a general class of fairness assumptions that are given explicitly. The fairness assumptions are of the form A/B and say that state trajectories that contain infinite occurrences of an action a from A in a state s and finite occurrence of actions from B, must also contain infinite occurrences of action a in s followed by each one of its possible outcomes. The infinite trajectories that violate this condition are deemed as unfair, and the solutions are policies for which all the fair trajectories reach a goal state. We show that strong and strong-cyclic FOND planning, as well as QNP planning, a planning model introduced recently for generalized planning, are all special cases of FOND planning with fairness assumptions of this form which can also be combined. FOND+ planning, as this form of planning is called, combines the syntax of FOND planning with some of the versatility of LTL for expressing fairness constraints. A sound and complete FOND+ planner is implemented by reducing FOND+ planning to answer set programs, and its performance is evaluated in comparison with FOND and QNP planners, and LTL synthesis tools. Two other FOND+ planners are introduced as well which are more scalable but are not complete.


Nonlinear three-dimensional (3-D) dynamic finite element (FE) analyses are carried out to examine the structural performance of a pavement foundation system with and without the presence of geosynthetic reinforcement. Preliminary analyses are aimed at constructing a realistic finite element model representing a conventional pavement system in terms of geometry, loading system, boundary conditions and materials mechanical behavior. The dynamic implicit mode is used to handle dynamic equilibrium equations of the pavement system under traffic triangular wave load. Different strategies and provisions are made for considering the domain dimensions, choice of mesh and the constraints. In these preliminary analyses, the asphalt concrete (AC) viscoelastic behavior, the elastoplastic and elastoplastic strain hardening behavior of the base and subgrade, in addition to the linear elastic material of each layer are all covered in details and tested for the suggested finite element mesh. As a result of such analyses, a linear elastic asphalt concrete layer resting on a Drucker-Parger granular base underlined by a Cam Clay subgrade are adopted for conducting the parametric studies for reinforced and unreinforced conventional pavement systems. For the unreinforced systems, the results show that the subgrade strength has a significant effect on the pavement system rutting and little effect on its fatigue For the geosynthetic reinforced pavement system analyses, it is found that the geosynthetic placed at the bottom of AC leads to the highest fatigue resistance.


A 56-year-old male presented with a history of right loin pain of two months duration. Physical examination showed a firm non-tender mass in the left upper quadrant. Blood and urinary investigations including serum Cortisol and urinary cathecholamines were normal. CT scan showed an oval, welldefined, heterogeneous mass measuring 14-10 cm. in the region of the left suprarenal gland (Fig. 1). There was no evidence of infiltration into the surrounding tissue. In view of the size and supra-renal location of the mass it was decided to remove the retroperitoneal tumor and the ipsilateral adrenal gland through a left thoraco-abdominal incision to permit adequate exposure and vascular control.


In this paper, we report a fabrication of a three-dimensional (3D) carpet cloak that works for any polarization in free space. Two-dimensional (2D) conformal mapping is first employed and the 3D structure is generated by a rotation of the 2D cloak. The structure of the cloak is hole-in-dielectric. The triangular invisible region has a height of 36 mm (one third of the height of the whole device) and a width of 240 mm. The cloaking effect is examined in free space by measuring the scattering parameters. The results show our device has very good cloaking performance in a wide frequency range from 4 to 10 GHz.


THE REGULATION OF ALTERNATIVE SPLICING BY ONCOGENIC SIGNALING PATHWAYS. Jacqueline Coates Shultz, Ph.D. A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Dissertation Director: Charles E. Chalfant, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology In the presented study, we demonstrate that the alternative splicing of caspase 9 was dysregulated in a large percentage of NSCLC tumors and cell lines. These findings led to the hypothesis that survival pathways activated by oncogenic mutation regulated this mechanism. Indeed, the oncogenic PI3-Kinase/Akt pathway was demonstrated to regulate the alternative splicing of caspase 9. Further mechanistic studies demonstrate that multiple Akt isoforms can regulate the alternative splicing of caspase 9 in NSCLC. Akt was additionally shown to mediate the exclusion of the exon 3,4,5,6 cassette of caspase 9 via the phospho-state of the RNA trans-factor, SRp30a. Mutagenesis studies identified serine 199 , serine 201 , serine 227 , and serine 234 as critical residues regulating the alternative splicing of caspase 9, as well as playing a role in the anchorage-independent growth of A549 cells. Since dysregulation of this splicing mechanism correlated with NSCLC tumors/cell lines and constitutively active Akt, oncogenic factors for NSCLC known to activate the PI3Kinase/Akt pathway were examined in HBEC-3KT cells. In contrast to k-ras V12 expression, the overexpression/mutation of EGFR affected the alternative splicing of caspase 9 in a pro-oncogenic manner, dramatically lowering the caspase 9a/9b mRNA ratio. Stable downregulation of caspase 9b by shRNA blocked the ability of E746-A750 del EGFR expressing HBEC-3KTs to induce anchorage-independent growth, suggesting a role for caspase 9b as a cooperative oncogenic factor. These findings were further corroborated by the ability of caspase 9b expression to completely block the inhibition of clonogenic colony formation by erlotinib. Therefore, this study demonstrates that oncogenic factors activating the PI3-Kinase/Akt pathway regulate the alternative splicing of caspase 9, to produce caspase 9b, via a coordinated mechanism involving the phosphorylation of SRp30a. In additional studies, we demonstrate that the PI3Kinase/PKCη pathway, a pathway important for cancer cell survival and transformation of lung epithelial cells, regulates the alternative splicing of Bcl-x pre-mRNA via modulation of SAP155 expression to produce an anti-apoptotic phenotype in NSCLC. Therefore, these studies link oncogenic mechanisms in NSCLC to the therapeutically relevant and distal target mechanisms of caspase 9 and Bcl-x pre-mRNA splicing.


Running so hard you think you'll choke on your next breath. Lungs burning like they're drenched in battery acid. Peripheral vision blurred by the same adrenaline that drowns out the cheers coming from the full stadium. And of course, the reporters. The men scribbling furiously on their notepads so they can publish every stumble, sprain, and sniffle. This was the world of the female athletes in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the first games in which women were allowed to compete in track and field on a trial basis. Nicknamed "The Peerless Four," the Canadian track team included some of the strongest, most diversely talented women on the scene. Narrated by the team's chaperone--a former runner herself--the women embark on their journey with the same golden goals as every other Olympian, male or female. But as the Olympic tension begins to rise with unexpected injuries and disqualifications, each woman discovers new fears and priorities, all while the weight of women's future in the Olympics rests on their performance. The Peerless Four is more than a sports novel, more than a record of women's rights. It's a meditation on sacrifice, loyalty, perseverance, and the courage to live a true underdog tale.


Meritocracy continues to dominate conventional thinking in the postmodern West. Yet, recently, an increasing number of critics have highlighted how meritocracy has gone wrong. One such critic is Daniel Markovits, author of The Meritocracy Trap. In this article, we highlight the major themes of Markovits's book, identify how the ideology of meritocracy has infiltrated kinesiology and sport, and then propose how to reconceptualize and redirect kinesiology toward a more humane and morally sound discipline, which can avoid the pitfalls of the meritocracy trap. Most notably, we propose that kinesiology should (a) recognize the frailty and temporality of humans, (b) embrace the wide middle of human skill performance capabilities, (c) value mid-level jobs and occupations such as physical education teaching and YMCA and/or city recreation department positions, and (d) redefine what counts as success.


EACS 2016 Paper No. 201It is widely accepted that tool wear has a direct impact on a
machining process, playing a key part in surface integrity, part quality, and
therefore process efficiency. By establishing the state of a tool during a
machining process, it is possible to estimate both the surface properties and
the optimal process parameters, while allowing intelligent predictions about
the future state of the process to be made; thus ultimately reducing unexpected
component damage. This state estimate can be achieved by implementing a variety
of in-process monitoring techniques, and observing the development of selected
data features as the wear state of the tool progresses. This paper explores the
use of a principal component analysis (PCA) along with a multi-class support
vector machine (SVM) to cluster a set of tools' wear states, based upon sampled
acoustic emissions (AE) released during ball-nosed milling of Titanium-5Al-
5Mo-5V-3Cr (Ti-5553).


This thesis deals with the self-organization of individual building blocks, specifically organic molecules and metal atoms, into supramolecular structures on metal surfaces under ultra high vacuum conditions (UHV). Self-organization of supramolecular systems is a promising candidate for a bottom-up approach in the fabrication of complex structures with specific properties. This process is steered by interactions between functional groups of the individual building blocks and is of apparent interest to gain a detailed understanding of the influence and the behavior of these functional groups enabling intermolecular binding. In the first part of the thesis, we investigate hydrogen bonded structures on metal surfaces. Of especial interest is the possibility of the formation of ionic hydrogen bonds, a special class of hydrogen bond which connects a charged donor (acceptor) and a neutral acceptor (donor) and is important in biological systems. By combined Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) measurement we show the deprotonation of carboxylic functions in the molecules, forming carboxylate groups involved in intermolecular binding. With our complementary experimental and theoretical examinations we clearly show that the carboxylate groups are indeed still charged although adsorbed onto a conducting metal surface and that the observed structures can be computationally reproduced by using these charges in classical molecular dynamic calculations. Our investigations clearly reveal that all requirements for the formation of ionic hydrogen bonds in these samples at metal surfaces under solvent free conditions are fulfilled. In the second part, the confinement of surface state electrons in self-assembled hydrogen-bonded structures is investigated. The examined structure contains two-dimensional cavities, with different inner diameters in the periodic arrangement and in domain boundaries. Inside the cavities we detect a spatially localized modification in the local density of states (LDOS) of the Ag(111) surface state electrons. The energy of the peak correlates with the cavity area as predicted by a simple "particle in a box" model. This clearly shows that the surface state electrons form a confined state inside the cavities. Furthermore we examine self-assembled periodic structures as templates for binding single macrocyclic molecules. The macrocyclic molecules can be deposited by sublimation, as STM-topographs with submolecular resolution reflect the shape of the intact molecules and reveal a coverage dependent aggregation behavior. We show that it is possible to fabricate a structure in which at most one macrocyclic molecule per pore can be found in a defined binding position. In the last part of the thesis we investigate the influence of individual metal atoms on the chemical activity and the self-assembly process of molecules on metal surfaces. First, we demonstrate the high chemical reactivity of these metal atoms. In our experiments we address the chemical reactivity of static active sites, like kinks and step edges, and of dynamic active sites, like the metal atoms, separately. Doing this we show that a non-negligible amount of the chemical reactivity of a metal surface is due to this dynamic adatom gas. Furthermore the influence of metal atoms on the structure formation of organic molecules is investigated. We show that two-dimensional structures based on a complex formation between metal centers and ligands can be formed and that the coordination number is independent of the substrate symmetry. Furthermore, we show the possibility that on metal surfaces one can prepare three-fold coordinated Fe-centers, a coordination number which is rarely seen in three dimensional chemistry. In the last part we study catenanes, which consist of two interlocked macrocyclic molecules. Main interest is on the confirmation of a structural change of the catenanes adsorbed on a metal substrate. For our experiments we use the fact that the catenanes are designed to "trap" a Cu-atom by complex formation. As this reaction is associated with a structural change and a change in intermolecular interaction, we can verify a reaction of catenanes adsorbed onto a surface with Cu adatoms and therefore a structural alteration by simply imaging the formed structures. Our measurements show the possibility of depositing large molecules like catenanes by sublimation and of their potential for use as molecular machines adsorbed onto metal surfaces.


There is a growing recognition of agriculture's potential to spur growth and reduce poverty in Africa. Agriculture accounts for one-third of the continent's gross domestic product (GDP), and two-thirds of its citizens rely on the sector for their incomes. Investments in agriculture will hence not only improve productivity and the continent's ability to feed a growing population, but will also lift families out of poverty. Over 90 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's extreme poor are engaged in agriculture, and growth originating in the sector is 2-4 times more effective at directly reducing poverty than growth originating in other sectors. Yet agriculture in Africa has not fulfilled its potential, suffering from a lack of investment and insufficient attention from policy-makers. A key hindrance to agricultural development and broader growth is a wide and pervasive gender gap in agricultural productivity. Women comprise nearly half of the labor force in Africa's agriculture sector, and more than half in several countries, but on the whole they produce less per hectare than men. Existing evidence from small-scale studies across the continent documents the numerous disadvantages that women face in accessing the same resources, training, markets and opportunities as men. They also face ingrained norms and institutional barriers that further widen the gap. Tackling the barriers that hold back the productivity of female farmers could both enhance gender equality and usher in broader economic growth. The African Union has declared 2014 to be the 'year of agriculture and food security', bringing much needed attention to the sector's potential to transform the continent. This is an opportunity not only to revitalize the agriculture sector, but to rally African governments and development organizations to commit to concrete policy action to redress the inequalities within the sector, and in so doing to reap greater rewards from future investments.


This extended abstract presents findings from a live HRI study carried out in the UH robot house. The participants (33 in total) were approached by a robot for 3 different interaction types and the amount of control the participant had over the robot's approach was varied. This study focuses on the participant post-experimental evaluation of their comfort with the robots approaches in these different scenarios. The results indicate that both the degree of control and the purpose of the interaction independently influence how comfortable participants were with the spatial behaviour of the robot.


Although morbidity among HIV/AIDS victims has decreased, the rate of new infections has remained steady for several years, substantially increasing the likelihood that this epidemic will continue and expand as a concern for social workers and their clientele, both of whom will need to be kept informed of the complex laws governing the milieu and the consequences of the disease. This is certainly the case with its spread throughout Asia and Africa. In this new work, the author draws upon statutes and court decisions from across the United States to provide a comprehensive and current picture of the many facets of HIV/AIDS law, including health policy; confidentiality; privacy; bioethics; the workplace; and criminal law and corrections. The volume of legal, medical, social science, and popular literature pertaining to HIV/AIDS that has been published over the past two decades is staggering. Hence, any addition to this collection needs some justification. What Dickson offers is different from what has preceded. Rather than one more contribution to the extensive legal or social science literature, this book attempts to integrate the perspectives from two fields: law and social work. The hope is that this will give social workers, practitioners, and teachers a better understanding of one of the major issues that may face them in their work with patients and clients every day. To date, although there is extensive HIV and AIDS-related literature in social work and the social sciences, it is primarily focused on social work practice issues. Where law has been introduced in these works, it often is narrow in focus and, given the rapid changes in the field, no longer up to date. This book does not purport to discuss all legal issues in all jurisdictions relating to HIV/AIDS, but rather to choose selectively those that have particular relevance for social work and social policy. The author has placed reliance on those published medical works cited with approval in the legal and social science literature. This is a seminal work on the relationship of law, medicine, and ethics. Donald T. Dickson is professor in the School of Social Work at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in New Brunswick.


Three great economic shtfts have shaken the world in the last thirty orfory years. The Soviet Union, the torch-bearer of socialism, after engaging in an inner-generated perestroika (reconstruction), increasingy veered toward a stronger role for the market until it moved to fullblown capitalism. At about the same time, China, another beacon of socialism, also moved inexorably toward a socialist market economy and eventually to a virtualy capitalist approach. But the Soviet Union, now fragmented, with the Russian Republic its remaining flagsh , moved politically toward an imperfect democrag and suffered a painful economic decline. Meanwhile, China retained the authoritarian rule of the Communist Pary in full control and its reaction to the change was suprisingly favorable with spectacular growth and remarkable prospects. And while these profound transitions rocked the sodalist powers, the US, the capitalist titan, together with the whole capitalist world, suffered its own slide into sudden recession with severe hardshj, unemployment and exploding fscal defdts. This Article explores the ramfications and relationship involved in these various and contrasting developments. Table of


Enhancing the affinity of weak interactions through multivalency and avidity is a cornerstone of many biological recognition processes. Through assembly of influenza hemagglutinin (HA) virosomes, we found that high densities of this spike protein, normally needed to bind the primary viral receptor sialyl oligosaccharide (SO), also promote self-agglutination following two-dimensional membrane presentation of HA. Sterically blocking HA-SO binding prevented this and allowed for virosome formation, predicting that the sialidases normally present in the influenza virion are important for displaying HA at high density.


The significantly increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in longstanding colonic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) justifies the need for endoscopic surveillance. Unlike sporadic CRC, IBD-related CRC does not always follow the predictable sequence of low-grade to high-grade dysplasia and finally to invasive carcinoma, probably because the genetic events shared by both diseases occur in different sequences and frequencies. Surveillance is recommended for patients who have had colonic disease for at least 8-10 years either annually, every 3 years or every 5 years with the interval dependant on the presence of additional risk factors. Currently, the recommended endoscopic strategy is high-definition chromoendoscopy with targeted biopsies, although the associated lengthier procedure time and need for experienced endoscopists has limited its uniform uptake in daily practice. There is no clear consensus on the management of dysplasia, which continues to be a challenging area particularly when endoscopically invisible. Management options include complete resection (and/or referral to a tertiary centre), close surveillance or proctocolectomy. Technical advances in endoscopic imaging such as confocal laser endomicroscopy, show exciting potential in increasing dysplasia detection rates but are still far from being routinely used in clinical practice.


A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration (Corporate Management)of the School of Business KCA University


The state paradigm is imperiled in Africa so much that there are whispers in Western capitals and among disillusioned Africans whether surrender of these fragile sovereignties to their former imperial powers would not be a viable option. The continent's security challenges and the concomitant political fragility of most African States add to the development crisis plaguing the continent today. New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) was established in order to tackle African developmental crisis and make African States economically buoyant to the extent that their sovereignty will be represented more by sovereign will and might than by sovereign emblems. This paper argues that the theoretical assumptions of NEPAD are misconceived and subjects them to an unremitting philosophical critique. In doing so, the paper re-conceptualizes the fundamentals of NEPAD in the light of African Socio-political milieu and interests and points out the path not taken which, if taken, would put African States in economically viable and competitive status. The paper concludes that no development paradigm will lift African states from the extant economic dependency on the Western and Asian economies if it is not driven by the exigencies of African Socio-political milieu and interests. Keywords: Africa, Crisis, Critique, Partnership, Development, Philosophy .


Pete Egoscue learned a lot about pain when, as a Marine officer, he was wounded in Vietnam. He segued from patient to physical therapist, and now runs a famous clinic in San Diego, where he claims hes helped 95 percent of his patients cure chronic pain--including Jack Nicklaus and Charles Barkley, whose athletic careers he helped prolong. At the heart of his program are stretches and motion exercises to restore proper function to muscles and joints. His methods are often surprising and counterintuitive. For example, for foot pain, he suggests a series of hip exercises. In fact, this is one of the most startling books youll read about the human organism. Egoscue has strong opinions about how modern life is changing the way our bodies function, reducing the tasks we must perform and thus reducing the functional range of motion of our muscles and joints. Fortunately, he offers movement exercises to restore what nature meant us to have.


Medication adherence among HIV-infected individuals is critical to limit disease progression and onward transmission. Evidence indicates that among youth living with HIV (YLH), adherence is suboptimal and related to co-morbid psychosocial conditions. Cross-sectional data from 212 YLH, ages 16-29, collected between 2011-2014 in Chicago were analyzed to assess the relationship of multiple psychosocial conditions (e.g., depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, moderate/heavy marijuana use, moderate/heavy alcohol use, HIV-related stigma) to ART adherence (i.e., a "syndemic.") Adherence was regressed on an index of increasing numbers of psychosocial conditions, controlling for demographic and treatment factors as well as enrollment site. The mean age of participants was 24, 89% were male, 87% black, and 91% behaviorally infected. Psychosocial conditions were prevalent, including 38% and 34% with high depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively, 54% and 25% with a moderate/high level of marijuana and alcohol use, respectively, and 46% reporting high HIV-related stigma. In regression analysis, the likelihood of ART adherence decreased with the number of syndemic conditions (linear dose response, p = 0.02) as did the odds of viral load suppression (p = 0.008). Interventions to address these conditions in concert with biomedical treatment as prevention for YLH are needed.


The threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is a diverse superspecies that exists mainly in coastal temperate zones ofthe Northern hemisphere with a variety of life history modes. Past phylogenetic analyses of the populations ofthreespine stickleback have been completed using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data. However, mitochondrial introgression has been observed in many fish species, including threespine stickleback, which causes phylogenetic studies using mtDNA to be false. Here, mitochondrial introgression refers to the movement of mitochondrial genes from one population to another population. Nuclear DNA (nDNA) was analyzed in this study to assess the validity of the mtDNA phylogenetic studies of Californian populations. Up to three nuclear loci containing a total of 41 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were analyzed from five Californian populations ofthreespine stickleback and compared to stickleback from Pacific North America. Neighbor-joining trees were constructed and showed different relationships than found in the mtDNA-based study. Californian populations were found to be distinct from a British Columbian population and two different clades of Californian populations were found, including a Lost Lake/Shay Creek/Fillmore clade and a Holcomb Creek!williamsoni clade. These results, however, are inconclusive due to a large amount of intrapopulation variation at the sites assayed. Lost Lake seems to contain an unusually large amount of variation that makes it unique. Further study, though, must be completed to determine the validity of the these results and those from the previous mtDNA-based studies. Specifically, Shay Creek Stickleback may be confirmed as being closely related to Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni, which is already on the endangered species list or Lost Lake may be found to be another unique population. Conservation efforts may then be made to protect Shay Creek and/or Lost Lake Stickleback.


Abstract. Ozone profile trends over the period 2000 to 2016 from several merged satellite ozone data sets and from ground-based data measured by four techniques at stations of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change indicate significant ozone increases in the upper stratosphere, between 35 and 48 km altitude (5 and 1 hPa). Near 2 hPa (42 km), ozone has been increasing by about 1.5 % per decade in the tropics (20° S to 20° N), and by 2 to 2.5 % per decade in the 35 to 60° latitude bands of both hemispheres. At levels below 35 km (5 hPa), 2000 to 2016 ozone trends are smaller and not statistically significant. The observed trend profiles are consistent with expectations from chemistry climate model simulations. This study confirms positive trends of upper stratospheric ozone already reported, e.g., in the WMO/UNEP Ozone Assessment 2014 or by Harris et al. (2015). Compared to those studies, three to four additional years of observations, updated and improved data sets with reduced drift, and the fact that nearly all individual data sets indicate ozone increase in the upper stratosphere, all give enhanced confidence. Uncertainties have been reduced, for example for the trend near 2 hPa in the 35 to 60° latitude bands from about ±5 % (2σ) in Harris et al. (2015) to less than ±2 % (2σ). Nevertheless, a thorough analysis of possible drifts and differences between various data sources is still required, as is a detailed attribution of the observed increases to declining ozone-depleting substances and to stratospheric cooling. Ongoing quality observations from multiple independent platforms are key for verifying that recovery of the ozone layer continues as expected.


One of the great paradoxes of post-medieval Europe, is why instead of bringing peace to a disorganised and violent world, modernity instead produced a seemingly endless string of conflicts and social upheavals. Why was it that the foundation and institutionalisation of secured peace and the rule of law seemed to go hand-in-hand with the proliferation of war and the violation of individual and collective rights? In order to try to better understand such profound questions, this volume explores the history and theories of political thought of international relations in the seventeenth century, a period in which many of the defining features and boundaries of modern Europe where fixed and codified. With the discovery of the New World, and the fundamental impact of the Reformation, the complexity of international relations increased considerably. Reactions to these upheavals resulted in a range of responses intended to address the contradictions and conflicts of the anarchical society of states. Alongside the emergence of "modern" international law, the equation of international relations with the state of nature, and the development of the "balance of power", diplomatic procedures and commercial customs arose which shaped the emerging (and current) international system of states. Employing a multidisciplinary approach to address these issues, this volume brings together political scientists, philosophers, historians of political thought, jurists and scholars of international relations. What emerges is a certain tension between the different strands of research which allows for a fruitful new synthesis. In this respect the assembled essays in this volume offer a sophisticated and fresh account of the interactions of law, conflict and the nation state in an early-modern European context.; ;


The fate of Iraqis accused of having links to ISIS presents political, legal and security challenges for the new Iraqi government that will emerge from the May 2018 elections. The formation of a new Iraqi government could offer an important opportunity for the country to adjust its approach to those accused of ISIS affiliation. Considering the heavy influence of the views and interests of the Shia majority upon policy-making, legislation and application of law in the country, it is worth investigating what Iraq's Shia population considers to be the best way for the Iraqi justice system to treat ISIS fighters, civilians associated with it, as well as relatives of ISIS members. This Centre for Policy Research paper, written by Ali Al Tuma, seeks to answer these questions about the views of the Iraqi Shia by presenting the results of a survey of 1,146 people in five Shia-majority provinces in the populous Mid-Euphrates region. It seeks to understand the degree of support among Iraqi Shia for current legal practices regarding ISIS suspects, as well as their openness to alternative leniency approaches. These insights may provide some impetus for the new government to review current approaches and encourage the application of responses that differentiate among individuals who played diverse roles (e.g., fighting vs. non-violent support roles), under diverse conditions (e.g., willing members vs. those who developed an association with ISIS out of a need to survive). The survey's findings may also be useful to Iraq's international partners, such as the United Nations and the European Union, as well as international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), that have encouraged Iraq to uphold international human rights and other standards in dealing with ISIS suspects.


This study deals with the application of kurtosis and skewness based approximate and detailed coefficients in walking speed measurement. Gait data (force information of foot and positional information of ankle) are gathered through sensors during level walking on motorised treadmill of normal individuals at various speeds and features are extracted from the data using discrete wavelet tools, namely kurtosis of approximate coefficients, kurtosis of detailed coefficients, skewness of approximate coefficients, and skewness of detailed coefficients. The features corresponding to the different discrete wavelet transformation levels are analysed and results are demonstrated. Specific relations have been found between walking speeds and those parameters, where from optimisation has been done with respect to a parameter, type of sensors, and number of sensors. Finally, an algorithm is proposed accordingly for walking speed measurement using the gait data and subsequently validated through experiments.


This paper describes an evaluation of a joint project in 2001 between Sheffield Hallam University, regional further education (FE) colleges and the Building Pathways team. The project's purpose was to develop clear progression routes into higher education (HE) for FE students studying on Advanced Diploma, Higher National Certificate and Higher National Diploma courses in childcare and education. The work reported here represents the first part of the evaluation and seeks to illuminate some of the key factors involved in translating principles and objectives associated with widening participation into reality. The main aims of this evaluation were to review the process by which a set of widening participation agreements were reached, to identify key factors for success and to ascertain any issues arising from and during the process itself. The evaluation also sought to elicit information from respondents concerning possible future strategies to further develop the agreed progression routes. The second phase of the evaluation (2002–2003) will focus on the student experience and seek to understand factors that enable or hinder the success of those students who take advantage of these routes. The paper is set in the context of national widening participation policy developments since 1997, with FE and university responses to these developments relating to early childhood studies and early years education degrees. The paper discusses factors, identified by participants in the project, that facilitated or hindered attempts to widen and improve access for regional FE students onto the HE early years provision at Sheffield Hallam University.


Recent experimental progress in cavity optomechanics has allowed cooling of mesoscopic mechanical oscillators via dynamic backaction provided by the parametric coupling to either an optical or an electrical resonator. Here we analyze the occurrence of normal-mode splitting in backaction cooling at high input power. We find that a hybridization of the oscillator's motion with the fluctuations of the driving field occurs and leads to a splitting of the mechanical and optical fluctuation spectra. Moreover, we find that cooling experiences a classical limitation through the cavity lifetime.


Data erasure is considered an essential requirement for a practical optical time-domain memory, and it requires that the laser used have very good frequency stability. Such a laser is developed for this work, and data erasure is demonstrated with a sample of YSiO5:Eu3+ for write/rewrite pulse sequences of up to a duration of 100 μs. This is two orders of magnitude longer than had been achieved previously. Phase-sensitive detection is introduced and is shown to be invaluable for monitoring the write, rewrite, and read processes.


This is the definitive, the official, the most lavish, the completely-different-to-anything-done-before Pythons' autobiography, reissued to coincide with the eagerly-anticipated live shows. Over forty years ago, a group of five Englishmen - and one wayward American - rewrote the rules of comedy. MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS, an unheralded, previously unseen half-hour show of sketches, hilarities, inanities and animations, first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact has been felt on the world ever since. From its humble beginnings, it blossomed into the most influential movement in modern comedy. THE PYTHONS' AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY THE PYTHONS is a unique look at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age, with 64 pages of photographs, many culled from the team's own personal collections, many more seen for the first time. This is the definitive word on all things Pythonesque.


This report presents technical evaluation and case studies of the use of wearable and mobile computing mobile devices in further and higher education. The first section provides technical evaluation of the current state of the art in wearable and mobile technologies and reviews several innovative wearable products that have been developed in recent years. The second section examines three scenarios for further and higher education where wearable and mobile devices are currently being used. The three scenarios include: (i) the delivery of lectures over mobile devices, (ii) the augmentation of the physical campus with a virtual and mobile component, and (iii) the use of PDAs and mobile devices in field studies. The first scenario explores the use of web lectures including an evaluation of IBM's Web Lecture Services and 3Com's learning assistant. The second scenario explores models for a campus without walls evaluating the Handsprings to Learning projects at East Carolina University and ActiveCampus at the University of California San Diego . The third scenario explores the use of wearable and mobile devices for field trips examining San Francisco Exploratorium's tool for capturing museum visits and the Cybertracker field computer. The third section of the report explores the uses and purposes for wearable and mobile devices in tertiary education, identifying key trends and issues to be considered when piloting the use of these devices in educational contexts.


Fisheries are often considered a paradigmatic example of the tragedy of the commons, and many fisheries around the world are indeed overfished. However, this article emphasizes that the biological health of many U.S. fisheries under federal management has improved over roughly the past decade. As a result, it is no longer accurate to think of many U.S. fisheries as tragic or tending toward tragedy. The bulk of the article is concerned with outlining three possible explanations for the impressive improvement in U.S. fisheries. The first is a legal hypothesis, which attributes the improvement to changes in the main federal statute governing the management of these fisheries, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (the Magnuson-Stevens Act or MSA). The second is an economic hypothesis. It ascribes the improvement to the spread of property rights in fisheries called catch shares, a policy change that economists have been advocating for decades. The third is the community hypothesis. It credits the improvement to fishing communities becoming engaged in more sustainable management of fisheries. The article calls for empirical testing of these three and other hypotheses for the improvement in U.S. fisheries. It concludes by emphasizing that the legal, economic and community hypotheses all raise an underlying question that itself is worthy of further inquiry: what was the political confluence of interests that facilitated the changes in fisheries management that appear to have benefited fish stocks?


The types of glandular trichomes and their distribution on the vegetative and reproductive organs of Lamium orientale (syn. Wiedemannia orientalis) are studied for systematic purposes in this paper. Two morphologically different types of glandular trichomes (peltate and capitate) are described. Peltate trichomes are characterized by a short stalk, which is connected with a large spherical head composed of four cells in a single layer. Capitate glandular trichomes are subdivided into capitate type A and capitate type B. On the vegetative organs peltate trichomes are abundant, while on reproductive organs capitate trichomes are numerous and the peltate trichomes are rare or absent.


This paper describes the design of a distributed system built using Java that supports peer-to-peer communication among processes spread across a network. We identify the requirements of a software layer that supports distributed computing, and we propose a design that meets those requirements. Our primary concerns are (I) the identification, specification, and implementation of software components that can be composed in different ways to develop correct distributed applications; (2) reasoning about the components systematically; and (3) providing services to the components. This paper deals with the last of these concerns. Though our implementation uses Java, the fundamental ideas apply to any object-oriented language that supports messaging and threads. Alternative implementations use such languages coupled with object request brokers or remote procedure invocation mechanisms.


Abstract : Robust parameter design (RPD) is used to identify a systems control settings that offer a compromise between obtaining desired mean responses and minimizing the variability about those responses. Two popular combined-array strategies the response surface model (RSM) approach and the emulator approachare limited when applied to simulations. In the former case, the mean and variance models can be inadequate due to a high level of non-linearity within many simulations. In the latter case, precise mean and variance approximations are developed at the expense of extensive Monte Carlo sampling. This research combines the RSM approachs efficiency with the emulator approachs accuracy. Non-linear metamodeling extensions, namely through Kriging and radial basis function neural networks, are made to the RSM approach. The mean and variance of second-order Taylor series approximations of these metamodels are generated via the Multivariate Delta Method and subsequent optimization problems employing these approximations are solved. Results show that improved prediction models can be attained through the proposed approach at a reduced computational cost. Additionally, a multi-response RPD problem solving technique based on desirability functions is presented to produce a solution that is mutually robust across all responses. Lastly, quality measures are developed to provide a holistic assessment of several competing RPD strategies.


Refractive-index measurements of ten liquids were made at nine discrete wavelengths over the 589–1674-nm spectral range using a Hilger-Chance refractometer with a modified viewing system. The total error in refractive-index measurement was considered to be ±3 × 10−4. In all cases, the variation in refractive index with increasing wavelength was found to be a smooth monotonically decreasing function that could be accurately fitted by the Cauchy formula. Constants for the latter have been given.


OF DISSERTATION PARENTING BEHAVIORS OF SLEEPY PARENTS: ASSOCIATIONS WITH EMOTION REGULATION AND STRESS Over the last decade, the topic of sleep has garnered a great deal of interest from psychologists, due to the physiological, emotional, and behavioral outcomes associated with its deprivation. However, questions remain to be answered regarding sleep's influence in the day-to-day life of families. The current study examines the importance of sleep deprivation for parents' parenting behaviors during problem solving discussions with their children; emotion regulation and stress reactivity are examined as mediators of these associations. Participants were 196 families with a child between the ages of 6-11. Parents filled out diaries for 7 days prior to their in-lab visit, reporting on their sleep quality and quantity. During the lab visit, parents participated individually in a 5-minute problem-solving task with their child. Parent respiratory sinus arrhythmia was attained throughout the interaction task and videos were recorded for later coding. Following the interaction, parents reported on their experiences of emotion during the task. Results supported the author's hypothesis regarding the importance of parent emotional experience for parent changes in behavior. Stress reactivity and parent sleep, however, did not reveal significant associations to parenting practices. Limitations and future directions are discussed.


Mice with a targeted deletion of either the interferon (IFN)-gamma gene or the IFN-gamma receptor gene (IFN-gamma R(0/0) mice) fail to survive infection with the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) strain of Mycobacterium bovis. Here we show that resident peritoneal macrophages isolated 2 weeks after BCG infection from IFN-gamma R(0/0) mice produced significantly less nitric oxide (NO) than wild-type macrophages. However, the response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was not completely abrogated in the IFN-gamma R(0/0) macrophages. BCG infection of wild-type mice led to a marked increase in their urinary nitrite/nitrate levels, as previously described. This increase in urinary nitrite/nitrate was not detected in BCG- infected IFN-gamma R(0/0) mice, indicating that no other cytokine can replace IFN-gamma as a mediator of increased NO synthesis after BCG infection in the intact organism. A comparison of circulating levels of IFN-gamma in BCG-infected animals revealed that sera from IFN-gamma R(0/0) mice contained up to 66-fold more IFN-gamma than sera from identically treated wild-type mice. To determine if the higher levels of circulating IFN-gamma were due to increased IFN-gamma synthesis, we compared the amounts of IFN-gamma mRNA present in the spleens of BCG-infected wild-type and IFN-gamma R(0/0) mice. No increase in IFN-gamma mRNA levels was detected in the spleens from IFN-gamma R(0/0) mice. Since the generation of IFN-gamma protein in cultured spleen cells was also not increased in IFN-gamma R(0/0) mice, we conclude that clearance of IFN-gamma from the circulation is impaired in IFN-gamma R(0/0) mice, thus revealing a heretofore unrecognized important role for the IFN-gamma receptor in the regulation of IFN-gamma levels in the intact organism.


The goal of this work was to produce water-soluble fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals suitable to interact specifically with biomolecules and thereby creating hybrid supramolecular structures composed of nanocrystals and proteins. Hydrophobic TOPO-coated cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanocrystals (NCs) were synthesized using published protocols (TOP/TOPO method). The challenge was to find a novel procedure to solubilize and functionalize the NCs in water for further specific interactions with biomolecules. We therefore coated the NCs with a lipid mono-layer (lipid-NCs) in a one-step process. The lipid monolayer made the NCs water soluble and simultaneously allowed to decorate the NCs surface with different functional groups. The resulting lipid-NCs are functionalized, fluorescent and stable; they can thus be used for further interaction with biomolecules. The ability of the functionalized lipid-NCs to bind specifically to biomolecules was demonstrated for His6-NCs, biotin-NCs and NTA-NCs (hexahistidine, biotin and nitrilotriacetic acid NCs) using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Multifunctional NCs were also produced by decorating the NCs with biotin and NTA simultaneously; these NCs showed specific interactions toward to the complementary partner molecules. The properties of the lipid monolayer coat on the NCs surface were characterized by investigating its interaction with the peripheral membrane protein cytochrome c. This protein bound to the lipid-NCs only in the presence of negatively charged lipids, very similarly as in the case of lipid vesicles and mitochondrial membranes. The functionalized-NCs could also be immobilized on micro-patterned surfaces for creation of a photostable, fluorescent patterned surface for biosensor applications. We could observe via FRET the specific binding of a fluorescent protein on the NCs patterns.


I will look at how the United Kingdom has attempted to handle its own obligations under the Refugee Convention of 1951 and the European Convention on Human Rights under the pressures of the increased numbers of those arriving in the country and claiming protection. I propose to survey the development of the system over the years, and in what seems to be a crisis management manner, the role played by the judiciary, and the overall effect on the refugee and how he or she establishes the claim. I will draw attention to some of the cases, particularly in the higher courts, which have sought (not always with lasting effect) to limit the increasing restrictions on welfare provisions while the claimant's application is being processed, and to confine the extent of detention without trial of terrorist suspects, and address the ever-tightening approach toward the remedies available against an adverse status determination. This Article coincides with the entry into force of the latest Act in this progressively restrictive legislation, the Prevention of Terrorism Act. It is too early to be dogmatic about its ultimate effect, but I will conclude by posing some questions on the issue of impact/effect and proffering some tentative answers. THE JUDICIARY, THE STATE, AND THE REFUGEE: THE EVOLUTION OF JUDICIAL PROTECTION IN ASYLUMA U.K_ PERSPECTIVE


China's diplomatic and economic presence in Africa has grown considerably in recent years. From the establishment of the Forum on China - Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and efforts to strengthen diplomatic, cultural and economic relations with African nations, to the rapid growth in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) and bilateral trade, this relationship is likely to continue to play a defining role in African economies. These trends are important for African nations that see this relationship as an opportunity to catalyse much-needed investments in infrastructure and industry, to stimulate job creation and exports, and to counter-balance the historical influence of western nations. Yet a perceived lack of transparency in Sino-African diplomacy (and related lending conditionalities) and lesser concern for social and environmental impacts among Chinese investors has raised concerns about the potential risks of this emerging partnership. In the absence of strong evidence on the uniqueness of Chinese diplomatic and economic relations in specific countries in the region and related impacts, it is impossible to assess the opportunities and risks posed by China's growing influence in the region. This report, and the wider project in which it is embedded, aims to shed light on this debate by examining the Chinese influence on the forestry sector in Congo Basin and Miombo woodland countries. Through a comparative analysis of patterns of aid, trade and investment with Chinese and other 'development partners', and their social, economic and environmental implications for key sectors shaping African forests (agriculture, forestry, mining), the project aims to explore the nuances behind the emerging Sino-African partnership. Towards this end, this report explores the diplomatic and economic relations between China and three miombo woodland countries (Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe). Emphasis is placed on the identification of key patterns of Sino-African trade and investment in sectors of interest, as a means of identifying trends of importance to forests and exploring key themes for more in-depth research. Initial findings suggest that while Chinese aid, trade and investment are playing a significant and often defining role in the sectors of interest, the level and mode of influence - and anticipated impacts on forests - vary considerably across countries and sectors. The report also highlights the trade-offs that often accompany the activities of state and non-state, small- and large-scale operators alike.


The present study is a bibliometric analysis of some selected open access Library and Information Science (LIS) journals indexed in Scopus database during the period 2001 to 2015. The study has covered 10 LIS open access journals with 5208 publications to establish an idea about the pattern of authorship, research collaboration, collaboration index, degree of collaboration, collaboration coefficient, author's productivity, ranking of prolific authors etc. of said journals. Lotkas's inverse square law has been applied to know the scientific productivity of authors. Results show that, the covered LIS open access journals are dominant with single authorship pattern. The value of Collaborative Index (0.73), Degree of Collaboration (0.72), and Collaboration Coefficient (0.29) do not show the trend of collaboration. Lotka's law of author's productivity is fitting to the present data set. The country wise distribution of authorship based on the country of origin of the corresponding author shows that 83 countries across the Globe are active in publication of their research in LIS open access journals. United States of America (USA) is the leader country producing of 2822(54.19%) authors alone.


We analyze trading opportunities that arise from differences between the bond and the CDS market. By simultaneously entering a position in a CDS contract and the underlying bond, traders can build a default-risk free position that allows them to repeatedly earn the difference between the bond asset swap spread and the CDS, known as the basis. We show that the basis size is closely related to measures of company-specific credit risk and liquidity, and to market conditions. In analyzing the aggregate profits of these basis trading strategies, we document that dissolving a position leads to significant profit variations, but that attractive risk-return characteristics still apply. The aggregate profits depend on the credit risk, liquidity, and market measures even more strongly than the basis itself, and we show which conditions make long and short basis trades more profitable. Finally, we document the impact of the financial crisis on the profits of long and short basis trades, and show that the formerly more profitable long basis trades experienced stronger profit decreases than short basis trades.