The quasar 3C 345 is one of the archetypical examples of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) featuring a complex parsec-scale jet with a pronounced helical morphology and
a range of distinct emitting regions moving at apparent superluminal speeds. The thesis at hand presents results from a study of the long-term jet evolution, with a particular focus on the evolution of trajectories, kinematics, and emission in more than 20 distinct regions embedded in the jet over a period of over 30 years. Unique insights into the longterm evolution of the parsec-scale radio emission were gained from the formation of an unprecedented database comprising over 300 archival and new observations. The effect of frequency dependent opacity has been investigated, providing evidence for position variability of the observed origin of the jet, relating to changes in the viewing angle and to the activity state of the jet. A "closeup" on physical properties of individual features implied that shocks dissipate at distances of about 2 mas (150 pc de-projected distance) and the outer jet is most likely dominated by Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. Studies of general trends in properties of those features provide certain evidence for their apparent trajectories to result from an underlying (slowly evolving) pattern lit up by passages of plasma condensations ejected during high activity states. The longterm evolution of this pattern indicates its possible relation to the elliptical mode of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

In the present work, special attention is paid to the onset of a new period of high activity in the source that began in 2008, which has been observed from radio through gamma-rays. The relation between the radio/optical emission and the production of high energy photons in 3C 345 has been investigated. This provided the first identification of gamma-ray emission from 3C 345 and the nearby quasar NRAO 512. Observations with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) reveal morphology and kinematics of the flow on scales of up to approximately 5 mas (de-projected linear distances of 380 pc). Evolution of the gamma-ray, optical, and parsec-scale radio emission indicated similar physical origins based on long-term trends and on a shock-shock interaction scenario for short events. All short gamma-ray events are explained in a single framework, directly connecting moving features observed in the radio jet with high energy emission. The observations indicate that both the quiescent and flaring components of the gamma-ray emission are produced in a region of the jet of about 25 pc in extent. This region marks the Compton-loss dominated zone of the flow and its large extent may favor the synchrotron self-Compton mechanism for gamma-ray production in the relativistic jet of the quasar 3C 345.


This study investigates the effects of audiobooks on listening comprehension skills of EFL Students, and their attitudes towards using audiobooks in a foreign language classroom. The participants are 66 first-year students of a state university in Turkey. The research follows a prepost-test control group research design using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative data, obtained from the General Listening Comprehension Skills Scale (GLCSS) scores of the students before and after the treatments, were analyzed using independent samples t-tests. As for the qualitative data, participants' opinions about the use of audiobooks were elicited via a survey and subjected to content analysis. The outcomes of the GLCSS, developed and conducted by the researchers, revealed similar listening comprehension scores for both groups before the treatment. Throughout a 13 week period, in the experimental group, the teacher used both printed and audio versions of the selected books. The control group was allowed to use only printed versions while all the other in class processes remained the same for both groups. The findings showed that using audiobooks had a positive impact on students' listening comprehension skills. The analysis of the survey data showed that audiobooks had contributed to participants' listening comprehension, pronunciation, and motivation.


Hafnium is one of the most important elements for favouring the high temperature oxidation resistance of alloys and superalloys when present in low quantity. It may also lead to the development of interdendritic eutectic HfC carbides in cobalt alloyswhen several weight percents are added to their compositions. Such carbides are especially stable at high temperature and then potentially very efficient for the mechanical resistance at high temperature. Three alloys strengthened by eutectic HfC carbides were tested for 50 hours in oxidation at 1200°C in synthetic air with thermogravimetrymeasurements. The mass gains recorded during the heating, the isothermal high temperature stage and during the cooling were all analyzed and the results compared with the ones obtained with ternary Co-Cr-C alloys with the same chromium and carbon contents, in the same operating conditions. It appeared that hafnium strongly influences the oxidation kinetic during heating and during the isothermal stage, as well as concerning the oxide spallation at cooling. The effects of so high hafnium contents are either beneficial or detrimental for the high temperature oxidation behaviour, this depending on the criterion followed.


The voyages of the Norsemen, or Vikings, across the North Atlantic to Iceland c. 860-70, Greenland c. 986, and the east coast of North America was a turning point in world history and one of the greatest adventures of all time. In Norse Atlantic Saga, Gwyn Jones re-tells the dramatic story of the Viking voyages in vivid, striking prose and includes translations of six classic Viking epics: "The Book os the Icelanders," "The Book of the Settlements," "The Greenlander's Saga," "Eirik the Red's Saga," "Karlsefni's Voyage to Vinland," and "The Story of Einar Sokkason." Published to great acclaim in 1964, The Norse Atlantic Saga is now available in an expanded edition, which takes into account the tremendous gains that have been made in Viking scholarship in the past 22 years: the discrediting of the Vinland Map, greatly extended knowledge of the Vikings' life in Greenland and proof that Norsemen did indeed land and establish a settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows in the New World. For this expanded edition, Jones has largely rewritten his account of the Viking voyages, and added numerous new maps, plates, and illustrations, as well as appendices in which Robert McGhee, Thomas H. McGovern and Brigitta Linderoth Wallace, three prominent archaeologists, discuss their recent findings. The incorporation of this latest research into Gwyn Jones's narrative account of the Viking story guarantees its continued importance to Viking scholars as well as to readers interested in tales of bravery and heroic adventure.


With the proliferation of novel technology-infused learning environments, there is a need to further our understanding of their impact on learners, the learning process, and the learning outcomes for diverse student bodies in various study programs. Investigating gender differences in usage and attitudes towards different technologies is important because educational institutions, especially public ones, are seen by policy makers as structures that aim to reform societal inequalities.
The objective of this dissertation is to conduct a systematic review of the literature to establish the relationship between (a) gender and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) usage and (b) gender and attitudes towards the use of ICT, in the context of formal educational settings from elementary to postsecondary levels. This dissertation takes an in-depth look at ICT attitudes in learning by avoiding treating it as one indivisible construct. I subdivided the attitudinal construct into the different theoretical frameworks embedded in the literature related to technologies in pedagogical settings. These include Computer Anxiety, Negative Attitudes Towards ICT, Computer Confidence, Perceived Ease of Use of ICT, Perceived Usefulness of ICT, Perceived Satisfaction with ICT, Positive Attitudes Towards ICT, Motivation to Use ICT, Computer Self-efficacy, Intention to Use ICT, and Mixed Perceptions Towards ICT.
After a systematic literature review, I synthesized the results of 213 studies and used random-effects meta-analytic techniques to evaluate gender differences across students' reported usage and attitudes towards ICT in learning. Findings of this dissertation reveal significant gender differences between female and male students' reported usage of ICT and attitudes towards ICT in favor of males. Average effect sizes ranged from small to moderate. The highest average effect size belonged to the construct of Computer Confidence where male students typically reported higher confidence with computers, with .38 standard deviations above the female students. The lowest effect size belonged to the construct of Perceived Satisfaction with ICT where male students typically reported higher perceived satisfaction with ICT, with .05 standard deviations above the female students.
A number of contextual factors impacted the results of the outcomes to differing degrees. These include 'research country', 'grade level of students', 'technology type surveyed', 'questionnaire used', 'ethnicities', 'subject matter', 'participation rate', 'sampling selectivity', 'competency', 'publication date', 'technology acceptance model', 'class context', and 'socioeconomic status'.
This dissertation concludes with educational implications and suggestions for future research investigating gender differences in students' usage and attitudes towards ICT in learning. Considerable effort should be made by researchers to contextualize the studies as possible and as such, I recommend that gender should not be researched as a homogeneous independent variable. After all, gender is embedded in many other variables, in the same way that it is embedded in the many structures of society. Gender therefore needs to be researched with other intersecting demographics, including but not limited to participants' home country, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic background.

Intersectionality is a theory and a methodology that is suited to addressing the complexities of gender differences concerning the usage of and attitudes towards ICT. It imparts differences and particularities in social statuses in the hope of militating against those silent prejudices that result in social inequities. This theory allows us to inspect social demographic variables as they truly are: complex and interwoven. Adopting this theory does not mean that each study investigating gender differences needs to include all possible demographic variable interactions. However, it invites social scientists to be more comprehensive in their sampling selections and to be more aware of the complexity of social phenomena. Last but not least, intersectional methods require more than just an analysis of statistical interactions among social groups. They need to analyze the fundamental and significant impacts of these interactions.


Emergency personnel, like all workers, carry out their duties within an environment composed of a set of discrete elements. First, there is the emergency itself. Whether a forest fire in France, a tornado in the American Midwest, or a mining disaster in Russia, the emergency imposes certain exigencies upon the responders. Second, a social structure exists with specific social units, rules, and forms of association. An emergency response, therefore, takes place within a context of prescribed behaviors, expectations, and value judgments that are sometimes in conflict with each other. Third, there is a technology that must be understood in order to accomplish group goals. If the technology itself is implicated in the emergency, the entire emergency environment may be impacted. Clearly, a breakdown in any of these elements could result in worker injury and might heighten responder stress. This paper discusses how emergency workers not only get injured but may come to experience burn-out, post-traumatic stress syndrome, or impaired work and family relationships, even though their normal work setting (the emergency) is expected to be 'abnormal'. The authors suggest areas in each of the three environmental elements that deserve further inquiry.


Background and Purpose— High blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cerebral white matter lesions (WMLs). There is limited evidence from one randomized trial that blood pressure-lowering is able to slow WML progression. We investigated whether telmisartan prevents WML progression in the imaging substudy of the Prevention Regimen for Effectively Avoiding Second Strokes (PRoFESS) trial. Methods— This predefined substudy comprised 771 patients (mean age, 65 years) with recent ischemic stroke of noncardioembolic origin who received telmisartan or placebo during a mean follow-up of 27.9 (SD, 7.6) months and had 2 evaluable MRI examinations after index stroke and at study closeout. All MRI scans were centrally adjudicated for progression of periventricular and subcortical WML by 2 neuroradiologists blinded to treatment allocation. Results— Mean blood pressure was 3.0/1.3 mm Hg lower with telmisartan compared with placebo at follow-up MRI. There was no statistically significant difference in progression of the mean periventricular WML score (least squares mean difference, 0.14; 95% CI, −0.12 to 0.39; P=0.29) and mean subcortical WML diameter (least squares mean difference, −0.35 mm; 95% CI, −1.00 to 0.31 mm; P=0.30) during follow-up between patients on telmisartan and placebo. Conclusions— Treatment with telmisartan on top of existing antihypertensive medication did not result in significant blood pressure-lowering and did not prevent the progression of WML in patients with a recent ischemic stroke in this patient cohort. Our analysis is limited by the relatively short follow-up period. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://clinicaltrials.gov. Unique Identifier: NCT00153062.


In the past few years, a number of microneedle designs have been proposed for transdermal drug delivery of high molecular weight drugs. However, most of them do not increase the drug permeability in skin significantly. In other cases, designs developed based on certain criteria (e.g. strength of the microneedles) have failed to meet other criteria (e.g. drug permeability in skin, throughputs of the drugs, etc.). It is obvious therefore that in order to determine the 'optimum' design of these microneedles, the effect of different factors (e.g. length of the microneedle, surface area of the patch, etc.) along with various transport properties of drug transport behaviour using microneedles should be determined accurately. Appropriate mathematical models for drug transport from these systems into skin have the potential to resolve some of these issues. To address this, a parametric analysis for transdermal delivery of a high molecular weight drug from a microneedle is presented in this paper. The simulations have allowed us to identify the significance of various factors that influence the drug delivery while designing microneedle arrays. A scaling analysis is also done which shows the functional dependence of drug concentration on other variables of skin and microneedle arrays.


Background Month of birth has previously been described as a risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS). This has been hypothesised to be related to maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy, although conclusive evidence to support this is lacking. To date, no large studies of latitudinal variation in the month of birth effect have been performed to advance this hypothesis. Methods Previously published data on month of birth from 151 978 MS patients were compared to expected birth rates. A linear regression model was used to assess the relationship between latitude and observed:expected birth ratio of MS patients for each month. Results Analysis of all reported data demonstrated a significant excess of MS risk in those born in April (observed:expected 1.05, p=0.05) and reduction in risk in those born in October (0.95, p=0.04) and November (0.92 p=0.01). A conservative analysis of 78 488 patients revealed an excess MS risk in those born in April (1.07, p=0.002) and May (1.11, p=0.0006), and a reduced risk in those born in October (ratio 0.94, p=0.004) and November (0.88, p=0.0002). A significant relationship between latitude and observed:expected ratio was demonstrated in December, and borderline significant relationships in May and August. Conclusions Month of birth has a significant effect on subsequent MS risk. This is likely to be due to ultraviolet light exposure and maternal vitamin D levels, as demonstrated by the relationship between risk and latitude.


Android is a free, open source, Java-based mobile platform developed by Google. Unlocking Android prepares the reader to embrace the Android mobile platform in easy-to-understand language and builds on this foundation with reusable Java code examples. It's ideal for corporate developers and hobbyists who have an interest, or a mandate, to deliver mobile software. The book first covers the big picture so the reader can get comfortable with the Android approach to the mobile applications. Then the reader learns to apply Android by following the many practical examples. The book concludes with two deep and hands-on examples. Unlocking Android addresses the Android application framework, its graphical capabilities and media support, data storage, communications capabilities, phone interactions, and notifications. Unlocking Android covers Android SDK 1.x


From the Publisher:
"Ming Design II is a welcome update of its predecessor, itself a useful compendium on the philosophy of cognitive science. This new volume retains the intellectual foundations, and some discussions of classical AI built on them, while adding connectionism, situated AI, and dynamic systems theory as extra storeys. Which of these is the most stable, and whether the foundations need to be re-worked, are questions readers will be eager to explore."
-- Margaret A. Boden, Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Sussex, UK
"Haugeland's Mind Design II brings together nearly all the essential philosophical perspectives in Cognitive Science. If you want to understand current opinion on the philosophy of mind, you should make sure you are familiar with the contents of this book."
-- James L. McClelland, Carnegie Mellon University and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition Mind design is the endeavor to understand mind (thinking, intellect) in terms of its design (how it is built, how it works). Unlike traditional empirical psychology, it is more oriented toward the "how" than the "what." An experiment in mind design is more likely to be an attempt to build something and make it work--as in artificial intelligence--than to observe or analyze what already exists. Mind design is psychology by reverse engineering.
When Mind Design was first published in 1981, it became a classic in the then-nascent fields of cognitive science and AI. This second edition retains four landmark essays from the first, adding to them one earlier milestone (Turing's "Computing Machinery and Intelligence") and eleven more recent articles about connectionism, dynamical systems, and symbolic versus nonsymbolic models. The contributors are divided about evenly between philosophers and scientists. Yet all are "philosophical" in that they address fundamental issues and concepts; and all are "scientific" in that they are technically sophisticated and concerned with concrete empirical research.
Contributors: Rodney A. Brooks, Paul M. Churchland, Andy Clark, Daniel C. Dennett, Hubert L. Dreyfus, Jerry A. Fodor, Joseph Garon, John Haugeland, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell, Zenon W. Pylyshyn, William Ramsey, Jay F. Rosenberg, David E. Rumelhart, John R. Searle, Herbert A. Simon, Paul Smolensky, Stephen Stich, A. M. Turing, Timothy van Gelder


Reported concentrations of 17 polychlorinated dibenzop-dioxin and furan congeners or congener groups in ten environmental media of the U.K. have been compiled. The relative equilibrium status of each congener is deduced with respect to its concentration in urban air which is regarded as the primary source of multimedia contamination. This is accomplished by calculating the equilibrium lipid partitioning (ELP) concentration for each congener and medium using partitioning information derived from measured physical chemical properties. It is shown that the extents of departure from equilibrium conditions between media are consistent for all congeners except the octa-chlorinated compounds. This method of analyzing monitoring data and the consistency of intermedia ELP concentration ratios facilitates the interpretation of the fate and levels of these persistent chemicals in a multimedia environment and yields an approximate predictive capability by which levels in one medium can be used to estimate levels in other media. Benefits of this ELP concentration approach are discussed as a means of enhancing the more complete and detailed interpretation of monitoring data for persistent compounds.


This article will provide you with guidance on how to prepare your library to respond a disaster, as well as, how to resume providing services to the public as quickly as possible in the aftermath of a local or regional crisis. You will learn how libraries contribute to community resiliency by providing a safe haven and needed services after a disaster that allow people and local businesses to begin to put their shattered lives back together and resume normal activities. Recent natural and manmade catastrophes have highlighted the important role public libraries play in enhancing their community's resiliency and post-disaster recovery efforts. Many community leaders and emergency responders now view libraries as disaster recovery and technology communication centers, recognizing the role of librarians as "Information First Responders." This article will help your library embrace this new role as an essential community service that quickly enables people to get back to work, back to their lives, and ensure recovery of the community's economic life after a disaster. Learn what you need to do to prepare your facility and staff before disaster strikes. You will be introduced to the New Jersey State Library's Disaster Preparedness & Community Resiliency Toolkit, which is a unique resource created by both librarians and emergency responders. Your library can be at the forefront in providing a safe haven in times of crisis, and helping your community return to normal life when you prepare in advance, and understand the essential and critical role libraries play in the resiliency of community life.


We propose a new approach to model and learn, without manual supervision, the symmetries of natural objects, such as faces or flowers, given only images as input. It is well known that objects that have a symmetric structure do not usually result in symmetric images due to articulation and perspective effects. This is often tackled by seeking the intrinsic symmetries of the underlying 3D shape, which is very difficult to do when the latter cannot be recovered reliably from data. We show that, if only raw images are given, it is possible to look instead for symmetries in the space of object deformations. We can then learn symmetries from an unstructured collection of images of the object as an extension of the recently-introduced object frame representation, modified so that object symmetries reduce to the obvious symmetry groups in the normalized space. We also show that our formulation provides an explanation of the ambiguities that arise in recovering the pose of symmetric objects from their shape or images and we provide a way of discounting such ambiguities in learning.


A method for distributed parameter estimation of a previously unknown wind field is described. The application is dynamic soaring for small unmanned air vehicles, which severely constrains available computing while simultaneously requiring updates that are fast compared with a typical dynamic soaring cycle. A polynomial parameterization of the wind field is used, allowing implementation of a linear Kalman filter for parameter estimation. Results of Monte Carlo simulations show the effectiveness of the approach. In addition, in-flight measurements of wind speeds are compared with data obtained from video tracking of balloon launches to assess the accuracy of wind field estimates obtained using commercial autopilot modules.


This chapter, a contribution to a book on International Legal Positivism in a Post-Modern World, gauges the potential for mutually enriching interactions between international legal positivism and legal realism. It first describes the encounter between legal positivism and legal realism in the U.S. legal academy and then proceeds to discuss the rise of a new legal realism in international legal theory. In a concluding section, the chapter assesses the compatibilities and tensions between the new international legal realism and the new international legal positivism.With its forthright embrace of the inescapability of uncertainty in law, the new international legal positivism adopts a sceptical position very similar to legal realism. However, this chapter contends, the new international legal positivism still requires a realist supplement in order to provide a fuller understanding of the way in which legal norms interact with non-legal factors and to help us describe, predict and analyse the behaviour of actors in international affairs. At the same time, new international legal realists can learn from the sceptical attitude towards sources of law that new international legal positivists have developed. The two movements can be symbiotic if brought into closer dialogue. Nonetheless, this chapter concludes with a dose of pessimism about the capacity of any of the currently available theories of international law to fully assimilate the complexities of both postmodern theory and postmodern global society into a comprehensive theory of international law in the postmodern world.


Force recordings of the pectoralis muscle of European starlings have been made in vivo during level flight in a wind tunnel, based on bone strain recordings at the muscle9s attachment site on the humerus (deltopectoral crest). This represents the first direct measurement of muscle force during activity in a live animal based on calibrated bone strain recordings. Our force measurements confirm earlier electromyographic data and show that the pectoralis begins to develop force during the final one-third of the upstroke, reaches a maximal level halfway through the downstroke, and sustains force throughout the downstroke. Peak forces generated by the pectoralis during level flight at a speed estimated to be 13.7ms −1 averaged 6.4N (28% of maximal isometric force), generating a mean mass-specific muscle power output of 104 W kg −1 . Combining our data for the power output of the pectoralis muscle with data for the metabolic power of starlings flying at a similar speed yields an overall flight efficiency of 13 %. The force recordings and length changes of the muscle, based on angular displacements of the humerus, indicate that the pectoralis muscle undergoes a lengthening--shortening contraction sequence during its activation and that, in addition to lift and thrust generation, overcoming wing inertia is probably an important function of this muscle in flapping flight.


Abstract An electron cyclotron resonance heating system is commissioned on Aditya tokamak to carry out pre-ionization, start-up, and heating experiments. A high-power microwave source (gyrotron), capable of delivering 200-kW cw power at 28 ± 0.1 GHz, is commissioned successfully using a water dummy load for pulsed operation. The output mode of the gyrotron is TE02. The output power of the gyrotron is measured using microwave probe couplers, a spectrum analyzer, and calorimetric techniques. A hardwired interlock operates a rail-gap-based crowbar system in less than 10 μs under fault condition and protects the gyrotron. The rail-gap crowbar operation has been qualified with the high-voltage power supply by performing a 10-J wire-burn test prior to energizing the gyrotron. A transmission line consisting of matching optic units, dc break, polarizer, miter bend, and corrugated waveguides terminates with a boron nitride window. The total attenuation in the line is measured to be less than 1.1 dB. Based on quasi-optical theory, a beam launcher is designed, fabricated, and tested for ultrahigh-vacuum compatibility prior to commissioning on tokamak. After successful operation of the gyrotron on the dummy load, the gyrotron output has been coupled to the ADITYA tokamak, and successful breakdown of neutral gas is observed without assistance from an ohmic transformer.


Purpose – This paper aims to present the results of a study into the effectiveness of the communication of anti-sectarian legislation in four of the largest public and private sector organizations in Northern Ireland (NI). The study had two related central objectives. Firstly, to ascertain the level of employee understanding of anti-sectarian rules and regulations in NI workplaces, and, secondly, to evaluate the relevance of an Episodic Communication Channels in Organization (ECCO) approach to the investigation of this key aspect of organizational practice. Design/methodology/approach – An ECCO questionnaire was used to evaluate and track employee understanding of existing legislation, and chart the sources, channels, location and timing of information dissemination. Findings – A clear finding was that there was a paucity of employee understanding of existing policies and procedures with regard to sectarianism. Practical implications – The results are discussed in relation to the importance of effective information flow on key organizational issues. Originality/value – The efficacy of ECCO as a communication audit tool for charting information dissemination is evaluated.


Abstract Context: Mini–medical school programs are designed to give participants, usually high school students, a more realistic perception of medicine and to leave students with a stronger desire to pursue a career in medicine. Objective: To determine if the annual High School Mini–Medical School program hosted by the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine increased interest in osteopathic medicine among high school students. Design: A survey was conducted before and after the program to test the program's effectiveness. Setting: West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine's Clinical Education Center. Participants: High school students from Charleston, Fairmont, and the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia. Interventions: The participants attended an outreach program designed to interest them in a career in medicine and specifically osteopathic medicine. Results: Sixty-nine participants came away with an improved understanding of a physician's life and medical school after the program. There was a mean increase in positive responses for the survey items "I understand what medical school life is truly like" (P=.0066) and "I understand what life as a doctor is really like" (P=.0004). Participants left the program with a stronger desire to pursue a career in medicine (P<.0001). Conclusion: Mini–medical school programs are an effective tool to inspire high school students to pursue careers in medicine, including osteopathic medicine.


ABSTRACT This research investigated social interactions within small significant networks across a range of higher education settings to determine their role in supporting improvements to assessment. Thirty-four academic staff from three higher education settings (Australia, Canada and Sweden) provided assessment change examples and drew network diagrams to explain their interactions. Significant social interactions were defined as engaged exchanges between people who trust and respect each other, around topics that hold common value. They led to an emotional response, promoted reflection and resulted in action and/or a shift in thinking. Significant social interactions were demonstrated to be effective in supporting changes in assessment practices. The qualitative findings were supplemented with quantitative investigation of the relational ties within the networks. The most significant relational ties related to changes in the assessment were the value of the interactions (d = .64) and the similarity between individuals (d = .50). Authors recommend that leaders in higher education heed lessons learned about how value was generated within networks and utilized for improvement activities. It is suggested that the following positive change-oriented behaviours be developed and actively encouraged: Building of diverse networks; appreciating reciprocity; forging trust; creation of time and space for significant social interactions; and external recognition of the shift toward quality assessment practices. This study builds on existing literature for improving teaching and assessment in higher education, and particularly highlights the benefits of informal academic networks and the potential for significant interactions as a mechanism for change toward a quality agenda.


Thermoplastic composites allows attractive advantages over their thermosetting counterparts like a higher toughness, faster and more flexible manufacturing and an intrinsic recyclability. Thermoplastic composite parts, nevertheless, are limited in size and thickness by traditional melt processing.
As an alternative, reactive processing of textile fibre-reinforced thermoplastics is a very attractive theme. Reactive processing systems stand as the next breakthrough of advanced composite development and materials research investigations due to their inherent synergy between thermoplastic characteristic performance and thermosetting manufacturing processes, representing an high technological hybrid solution for many industrial sectors. The idea of produce an epoxy-based reactive system which exhibit a thermoplastic behavior is not far away, due to consolidated know-how on reactive processing of thermosetting epoxy resins.
In this work, an epoxy-based system which can be reactively processed preserving the advantages of a thermoplastic system was investigated and characterized. Applications in polymer/carbon nanotubes nanocomposites ad fiber reinforced composites were analyzed and focused.


Anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases cause climate change and this change in turn induces various direct impacts, e.g., changes in regional weather patterns. The frequency of heat waves and droughts in Europe is likely to rise.

Yet, beyond these immediate effects of climate change, there are more indirect effects: Droughts in Europe will cause water scarcity and a lack in water supply will affect further sectors and critical infrastructures. An arising lack in water supply for cooling purposes will negatively affect the electricity generation in European nuclear power plants and this, in turn, will exert an influence on electricity exchanges between countries. In this study we analyze the influence of climate change on electricity exchanges between European countries.


ABSTRACT We believe that many future scenarios will exist where a partner robot will talk with people on walks. To improve the user experience, we aim to endow robots with the capability to select an appropriate conversation topics by allowing them to start chatting about a topic that matches the current scenery and to extend it based on the user's interest and involvement in it. We implemented a function to compute the similarities between utterances and scenery by comparing their topic vectors. First, we convert the scenery into a list of words by leveraging Google Cloud Vision library [Google Cloud Vision Api [Online]. Available from: https://cloud.google.com/vision/] . We form a topic vector space with the Latent Dirichlet Allocation method and transform a list of words into a topic vector. Our system uses this function to choose (from an utterance database) the utterance that best matches the current scenery. Then it estimates the user's level of involvement in the chat with a simple rule based on the length of their responses. If the user is actively involved in the chat topic, the robot continues the current topic using pre-defined derivative utterances. If the user's involvement sags, the robot selects a new topic based on the current scenery. The topic selection that is based on the current scenery was proposed in our previous work [Totsuka R, Satake S, Kanda T, et al. Is a robot a better walking partner if it associates utterances with visual scenes? ACM/IEEE Int. Conf. on Human–Robot Interaction (HRI2017), Aula der Wissenschaft, Vienna, Austria; 2017. p. 313–322]. Our main contribution is the whole chat system, which includes the user's involvement estimation. We implemented our system with a shoulder-mounted robot and conducted a user study to evaluate its effectiveness. Our experimental results show that users evaluated the robot with the proposed system as a better walking partner than one that randomly chose utterances. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


ABSTRACT Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a DNA vaccine encoding Ag85A from Mycobacterium tuberculosis were compared in BALB/c and C57BL (B6 and B10) mice immunized by intramuscular (i.m.) needle injection or epidermal gene gun (gg) bombardment. In BALB/c mice, gg immunization could induce elevated antibody and cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses with plasmid doses 50-fold lower than those required for i.m. immunization. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) secretion, however, was much lower in gg-immunized than in i.m.-immunized BALB/c mice. On the other hand, C57BL mice reacted only very weakly to gg immunization, whereas elevated Ag85A-specific antibody, IL-2, and IFN-γ responses (significantly higher than in BALB/c mice) were detected following vaccination by the i.m. route. Antibody isotypes were indicative of Th2 activation following gg injection of BALB/c and of Th1 activation following i.m. injection of C57BL mice. Finally, C57BL but not BALB/c mice were protected by i.m. Ag85A DNA immunization against intravenousM. tuberculosis challenge, as measured by reduced numbers of CFU in spleen and lungs, compared to animals vaccinated with control DNA. Gene gun immunization was not effective in either BALB/c or C57BL mice. These results indicate that i.m. DNA vaccination is the method of choice for the induction of protective Th1 type immune responses with the Ag85A tuberculosis DNA vaccine.


DNA replication is a crucial step for cell survival. All the information useful for the cells to propagate and complete their tasks is indeed kept in the DNA molecules that are needed to be duplicated in a proper way. Cdc45 is a fundamental factor involved both in the initiation and in the elongation phases of the DNA replication process. According to its function in the DNA replication mechanism it has been shown to be a proliferation-associated antigen and in fact it is expressed only in proliferating cells. Even if a peak for the mRNA codifying for Cdc45 can be observed at the G1/S border, levels of Cdc45 are stable throughout the cell cycle in proliferating cells. The loading of Cdc45 onto the chromatin has been shown to coincide with the origin firing (i.e. replication origins activation). During late M and G1 phases of the cell cycle, replication origins, the peculiar sequences on the genome where DNA replication process is supposed to start, are bound by the Origin Recognition Complex (ORC). This latter is itself bound by two other factors, Cdc6 and Cdt1, which are involved in the loading onto the chromatin of the MCM2-7 complex. This complex represents the molecular motor of the replicative DNA helicase, but at this stage it remains in an inactive state. At the G1/S border the GINS complex and Cdc45 are recruited at the replicative forks and associate with the MCM2-7 complex, bringing to the formation of the so called CMG complex, which is finally able to start working as DNA helicase, unwinding the DNA helix which can now be duplicated by the DNA polymerases. Even if the peculiar mechanism by which Cdc45 is loaded onto DNA is not fully understood, it is known that the activity of CDK2 and DDK kinases is required to this purpose. Cdc45 is the last factor to be loaded onto chromatin at the replicative fork and it is actually used by cells to switch on the DNA replication process. Once DNA replication has started, Cdc45 will keep on moving with the replicative fork co-operating together with GINS and MCM2-7 to provide DNA helicase activity. When we started our analyses on the human Cdc45 factor, not much was known about the biochemistry of this protein. Indeed, no structural data were available for Cdc45 and no enzymatic activity was known to be associated with it. We carried out a Blast search, using the human Cdc45 aminoacidic sequence as query, looking into archaeal genome databases. We started from the observation that all the other factors forming the eukaryotic CMG complex were found to have a counterpart in the archaeal DNA replication machinery, while no homologous was known for Cdc45 in these organisms. The result we got was actually highlighting a match between the human Cdc45 protein and an archaeal protein belonging to the DHH protein superfamily, which includes a wide range of phosphoesterases present in all organisms (i.e. Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya). Comparing the human Cdc45 primary sequence with the ones from many other bacterial and archaeal DHH super-family members, a good degree of similarity can be observed in the N-terminal portion of these sequences. Comparison of the secondary structure elements of the core of DHH proteins with the predicted secondary structure motifs for the human Cdc45
protein, a good degree of similarity can be observed along the whole sequences. We produced and purified human Cdc45 from E. coli cells in recombinant form and we carried out SAXS analyses on this protein, in collaboration with Dr. Silvia Onesti (Sincrotrone, Trieste). The reconstruction model based on the results of these analyses shown that human Cdc45 seems to be folded in a kind of cornet shape,
with a more compact central core and two long lateral extensions. The crystal structure of the Thermus thermophilus RecJ-like protein (a DHH phopshoesterase) can be properly superimposed with the central compact core of the hCdc45 predicted structure. Instead the two lateral extensions can be attributed to two long aminoacidic insertions which are not present in the bacterial proteins. Since DHH phosphoesterases usually bind two metal ions that are required for their catalytic activity, we checked if also the human Cdc45 protein was able to bind any kind of
metal ion. According to the absence of most of the aminoacidic residues responsible for binding metal ions in the DHH proteins, Cdc45 was found not to bind any metal ion and, in agreement with this finding, it was found to show neither phyrophosphatase nor DNA exonuclease activity. We demonstrated that human Cdc45 has the ability to bind single-stranded DNA, while it shows no affinity for
double-stranded DNA or RNA molecules. All these results were in agreement with the idea that Cdc45 has evolved from an ancestor DHH protein, that lost the enzymatic activity and just retained the ability to bind single-stranded DNA. We demonstrated that the N-terminal region of Cdc45 is not involved in the DNA binding activity, which can be likely ascribed to the C-terminal portion of the protein. Moreover, by using the Xenopus laevis egg extract experimental system we demonstrated that the "L1 loop", a long aminoacidic insertion which is unique to the eukaryal Cdc45 proteins and is absent in the related archaeal and bacterial proteins,
is not needed for the role played by Cdc45 in DNA replication in not perturbed conditions. To study the role played by Cdc45 in association with GINS and MCM2-7, we finally set up a method to produce the CMG complex in insect cells co-infected with multigenic baculoviruses.


In 2005, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Commonwealth v. Adjutant announced a new rule of evidence that allows a defendant raising self -defense to introduce evidence of specific acts of violent conduct that the victim is reasonably alleged to have initiated, when the identity of the first aggressor is in dispute. Left undecided, however, was whether a defendant's choice to take advantage of this new option would open the door to similar evidence of his or her own violent character. This Note argues that Massachusetts should adopt such a two-way street approach, similar to the treatment of character evidence under the Federal Rules of Evidence. Such a rule would allow for a more complete and balanced presentation of evidence to the jury and prevent the prosecution from being placed at an unfair disadvantage, while still maintaining important safeguards for the defendant.


Detrital thermochronometer data collected from modern rivers or sedimentary basins have the potential to record the evolution of topographic relief, fault kinematics and erosion within drainage basins. However, few studies have addressed the effects of these different factors on detrital thermochronometer age distributions. Here we use transient 3-D thermokinematic and landform evolution models to simulate the effects of time-varying topography and fault kinematics on the thermal field through which detrital samples cool. Cooling-rate-dependent apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe), zircon fission track and muscovite 40Ar/39Ar (MAr) grain age distributions are predicted for samples collected from modern river and basin sediments. These distributions are interpreted to determine the sensitivity of different thermochronometer systems to denudation and deformation histories in drainage basins of varying size. We find that detrital thermochronometers in rapidly eroding regions have a strong sensitivity to the kinematics of exhumation, but lack sensitivity to changes in topographic relief under most conditions. In addition, we find potential for significant overestimation of denudation rates derived from conventional 1-D age-elevation relationships as compared to 3-D model-prescribed rates. At rapid (~2.5 mm/y) model-prescribed denudation rates, 1-D techniques predict rates that are ~5 and ~2 times greater than the 3-D model rate for the AHe and MAr systems, respectively. In models that explore age distributions in foreland basin sediments, we confirm that the lag time concept is a useful and reliable means for identifying denudation rate changes as no significant change in lag time occurs for changing topographic relief scenarios.


By the dynamic calibration of the shock-wave pressure test system of the cannon, the dynamic features are achieved. The influence of test results from the dynamic features is analyzed. The conclusion is that the peak value of the shockwave pressure from the cannon is correct, the impulse we test of the shockwave is lower.


Abstract. Dust plumes emitted from the narrow Arabian Red Sea coastal plain are often observed on satellite images and felt in local population centers. Despite its relatively small area, the coastal plain could be a significant dust source; however, its effect is not well quantified as it is not well approximated in global or even regional models. In addition, because of close proximity to the Red Sea, a significant amount of dust from the coastal areas could be deposited into the Red Sea and serve as a vital component of the nutrient balance of marine ecosystems. In the current study, we apply the offline Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) to better quantify dust emission from the coastal plain during the period of 2009–2011. We verify the spatial and temporal variability in model results using independent weather station reports. We also compare the results with the MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero). We show that the best results are obtained with 1 km model spatial resolution and dust source function based on Meteosat Second Generation Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) measurements. We present the dust emission spatial pattern, as well as estimates of seasonal and diurnal variability in dust event frequency and intensity, and discuss the emission regime in the major dust generation hot spot areas. We demonstrate the contrasting seasonal dust cycles in the northern and southern parts of the coastal plain and discuss the physical mechanisms responsible for dust generation. This study provides the first estimates of the fine-scale spatial and temporal distribution of dust emissions from the Arabian Red Sea coastal plain constrained by MERRAero and short-term WRF-Chem simulations. The estimate of total dust emission from the coastal plain, tuned to fit emissions in MERRAero, is 7.5 ± 0.5 Mt a−1. Small interannual variability indicates that the study area is a stable dust source. The mineralogical composition analysis shows that the coastal plain generates around 76 ± 5 kt of iron oxides and 6 ± 0.4 kt of phosphorus annually. Over 65 % of dust is emitted from the northern part of the coastal plain.


At century's end, states have assumed a very different role in the design, implementation, and operation of health service programs than they did twenty-five years ago. In the current volatile political atmosphere particularly at the federal level, states have taken up the mantel of healthcare reform in the final years of the 1990s. Yet there remain problems and difficulties with the current federal-state relationship in health reform. The critical question is whether states can successfully accomplish genuine reform given its politically charged, complex and costly nature. This question takes on particular significance for the most important reform--expanding coverage to the uninsured poor. This article explores the contours of a federal-state partnership that will move toward the societal goal of universal health coverage, and especially coverage of the uninsured poor. The article suggests several legislative and regulatory changes. The most practical and immediate steps that Congress could take are to reform the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1973 (ERISA) and provide matching funds for state health insurance programs for the uninsured that allow states great flexibility in designing programs that really reach the uninsured within their boundaries.


Spatial verification is a crucial technique for particular object retrieval. It utilizes spatial information for the accurate detection of true positive images. However, existing query expansion and diffusion methods cannot efficiently propagate the spatial information in an ordinary graph with scalar edge weights, resulting in low recall or precision. To tackle these problems, we propose a novel hypergraph-based framework that efficiently propagates spatial information in query time and retrieves an object in the database accurately. Additionally, we propose using the image graph's structure information through community selection technique, to measure the accuracy of the initial search result and to provide correct starting points for hypergraph propagation without heavy spatial verification computations. Experiment results on ROxford and RParis show that our method significantly outperforms the existing query expansion and diffusion methods.


The history of Shakespeare in America, writes James Shapiro in his introduction to this groundbreaking anthology, is also the history of America itself. Shakespeare was a central, inescapable part of America s literary inheritance, and a prism through which crucial American issues revolution, slavery, war, social justice were refracted and understood. In tracing the many surprising forms this influence took, Shapiro draws on many genres poetry, fiction, essays, plays, memoirs, songs, speeches, letters, movie reviews, comedy routines and on a remarkable range of American writers from Emerson, Melville, Lincoln, and Mark Twain to James Agee, John Berryman, Pauline Kael, and Cynthia Ozick. Americans of the revolutionary era ponder the question to sign or not to sign; Othello becomes the focal point of debates on race; the Astor Place riots, set off by a production of Macbeth, attest to the violent energies aroused by theatrical controversies; Jane Addams finds in King Lear a metaphor for American struggles between capital and labor. Orson Welles revolutionizes approaches to Shakespeare with his legendary productions of Macbeth and Julius Caesar; American actors from Charlotte Cushman and Ira Aldridge to John Barrymore, Paul Robeson, and Marlon Brando reimagine Shakespeare for each new era. The rich and tangled story of how Americans made Shakespeare their own is a literary and historical revelation. As a special feature, the book includes a foreword by Bill Clinton, among the latest in a long line of American presidents, including John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Abraham Lincoln, who, as the collection demonstrates, have turned to Shakespeare s plays for inspiration."


Objective To assess the effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention based on industrial process improvement to identify and sustainably correct deficiencies in thromboprophylaxis delivery. Summary background data Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism are major causes of morbidity and mortality in surgical patients, but effective prophylactic treatments are available. Ensuring reliable delivery of the intended thromboprophylaxis is, however, a long-standing problem. Methods Delivery of thromboprophylactic treatment on an emergency general surgery admissions ward was targeted during a multidisciplinary intervention to improve process reliability using industrial quality improvement approaches. Delivery was audited against guidelines before and after 3- month intervention. Clinical outcome was evaluated by reviewing all radiological investigations for suspected Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) or Pulmonary Embolism (PE) from patients admitted to the unit in the 1 year immediately before and that immediately after intervention. Results Delivery of thromboprophylaxis according to guidelines was improved from 35% before to 87% 3 months after intervention (χ2=87.412, p<0.0001) and sustained at 86% 10 months after intervention. Radiologically identified thromboembolic events occurring up to 60 days after admission in patients admitted for over 48 h fell from 23/3075 (0.75%) before to 9/3080 (0.29%) after intervention (HR 0.39, CI 0.29 to 0.53, χ2=6.18, p=0.01292). The risk of thromboembolism in the two groups diverged during follow-up to 60 days, before converging again. Conclusions A quality improvement process resulted in major sustainable improvements in the delivery of thromboprophylaxis associated with a 61% reduction in radiologically detected clinical episodes of thromboembolism 2 months after admission. Further study of this approach to improving care quality is warranted.


A glycoprotein secreted by a parasitic nematode inhibits TLR4 signaling and could be used to treat sepsis. Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to microbial infection that can be fatal. A common trigger for sepsis is the bacterial product lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which binds to Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and activates inflammatory signaling pathways. Puneet et al. (see also Smith and Maizels) found that the glycoprotein ES-62, which is secreted by the parasitic nematode Acanthocheilonema viteae, induced the internalization of TLR4. Macrophages from healthy individuals that were preincubated with ES-62 showed a decreased inflammatory response to LPS, as indicated by reductions in the activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and in the release of proinflammatory effectors, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and IL-6. In addition, ES-62–treated macrophages showed a decreased inflammatory response to the TLR2 agonist BLP, although the surface abundance of TLR2 was not altered. The abundance of MyD88 (myeloid differentiation marker 88), which functions as an adaptor protein in TLR signaling, was decreased in ES-62–treated macrophages. In neutrophils and macrophages from individuals with sepsis, ES-62 decreased the surface abundance of TLR4 and the total abundance of MyD88 and reduced the release of various inflammatory mediators in response to LPS or BLP. In ES-62–treated human macrophages, TLR4 and MyD88 colocalized with the lysosomal marker LAMP-1 and with vesicles containing the autophagosome marker LC3, suggesting that TLR4 and MyD88 were degraded in autophagosomes. Indeed, the ES-62–induced decrease in MyD88 abundance was attenuated by various manipulations that decrease autophagy. ES-62 pretreatment enabled mice to survive LPS-induced endotoxemia as well as cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), which induces polymicrobial sepsis, a model for human sepsis. In the latter model, ES-62–treated mice showed decreased inflammatory damage to lungs and liver and reduced release of inflammatory mediators but unaltered ability to fight bacterial infection. The protective effect of ES-62 pretreatment in polymicrobial sepsis was lost in mice deficient in TLR4 or two proteins involved in autophagosome formation, ATG5 or ATG7. Mice survived CLP-induced polymicrobial sepsis when treated with ES-62 1 hour after CLP, and survival rates were improved when ES-62 was administered at longer time points (6 and 8 hours) after CLP. Mortality at 6 hours after CLP was eliminated when ES-62 was administered with amoxicillin and clavulanic acid, an antibiotic combination that is given to septic individuals. Thus, ES-62 inhibits TLR4 signaling by redirecting TLR4 and MyD88 to autophagosomes and could be developed as a treatment for sepsis. P. Puneet, M. A. McGrath, H. K. Tay, L. Al-Riyami, J. Rzepecka, S. M. Moochhala, S. Pervaiz, M. M. Harnett, W. Harnett, A. J. Melendez, The helminth product ES-62 protects against septic shock via Toll-like receptor 4–dependent autophagosomal degradation of the adaptor MyD88. Nat. Immunol. 12, 344–351 (2011). [PubMed] K. A. Smith, R. M. Maizels, Defeating sepsis by misleading MyD88. Nat. Immunol. 12, 284–286 (2011). [PubMed]


Risk and investment management in liberalized electricity markets Electricity markets around the world are currently undergoing a liberalization process that changes the way electricity is traded and priced as a commodity. The electricity system has unique technical characteristics and the importance of electricity as a good in today's informational society is signi cant. Liberalization does not change the fact that politicians and regulators will be held responsible for keeping the lights on at reasonable costs. What changes is the tool used by regulators to accomplish this task. The introduction of competitive markets implies that market participants will be held financial responsible for their decisions. Regulated system operators remain responsibility for the physical balancing and electricity markets will therefore remain strongly regulated even after liberalization. The combination of strongly regulated but competitive trading arrangements creates an environment where market participants will face a new set financial of risks comprising elements of competition, physical electricity characteristics and potential political regulatory intervention. On the other side of the market regulators and politicians will face the complex task of designing an electricity market that can outperform the previously regulated monopolies with respect to the three main requirements of security of supply, economical e ciency and environmental protection. The economic theory of electricity markets forms an essential basis for decision making in a liberalized setting. The effect of financial risk on decision making is becoming an increasingly important topic within this eld of electricity economics, due to the significant elements of uncertainty in electricity markets. A primary goal of the thesis is to increase the understanding of how the introduction of competitive markets affects the nancial risk related to different decision problems within the areas of risk management and investments in liberalized electricity markets. Focus is on applied microeconomics and analyzes of the interplay between market design parameters and the technical characteristics of the electricity system. Theory, literature and introduction to speci c problem areas related to risk management and investments is provided in two separate introductory chapters. Contributions to research within specific problems areas is then subsequently provided by five research papers. The two topics are relatively broad, however the two chapters and ve papers all share analyzes of nancial risk in liberalized electricity markets as a common underlying theme. The risk management part of the thesis focusses on modelling and measurement of financial risk in electricity markets. Key topics are electricity price modelling and the development of risk measures suitable for electricity market portfolios. Risk management tools used for nancial assets have until recently largely been transferred more or less directly to electricity market portfolios which include physical assets such as power plants and retail contracts. The hypothesis of this thesis is that the relevance of nancial tools for electricity market risk management, depends critically on the technical characteristics of electricity assets and on the demands placed by the stakeholders in the electricity sector. In many cases such technical characteristics and stakeholder demands will imply a need for revised and renewed tools compared to those used for portfolios of nancial assets. Chapter 2 in the thesis discuss such developments and provides a literature review of risk management modelling theory and applications in electricity markets.


SUMER, S. K., H. KOCABIYIK, S. M. SAY and G. CICEK, 2010. Comparisons of 540 and 540E PTO operations in tractors through laboratory tests. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 16: 526-533 The objective of this study was to determine differences between the standard 540 rpm power take-off (PTO) revolution in tractors and its alternative, namely "the economical PTO revolution (540E)." Loads were applied to three tractors (JD 5625, NH TD85, MF 3085) with similar technical specifications, by means of a PTO dynamometer (Eddy-current) under laboratory conditions. Measurements were made of tractor PTO torque, engine fuel consumption, specific fuel consumption, and engine exhaust gas and cooling water temperatures on the basis of load (power kW) steps applied at a constant PTO revolution of 540 rpm. Data analysis showed an average fuel saving was performed with the 540E PTO of 27.18%, 18.62% and 15.88% for the JD 5625, MF 3085, and NH TD85 tractors, respectively. Fuel savings decreased with the increase in PTO load. Engine-PTO speed rates were also found to be effective in fuel saving. The torque values for the three tractors varied directly proportionally to the increase in the PTO load steps. Exhaust gas temperature data showed that coercions had occurred in the tractor engines when certain load values were exceeded when using the 540E operation (35 kW, 20 kW, and 30 kW, respectively for JD 5625, MF 3085, and NH TD85 tractors). In conclusion, the economical PTO operation was shown to have important advantages, particularly in terms of fuel and specific fuel consumptions for many power-driven machines.


The objective of the current study was to determine whether providing stable pen management affected displacements from the feed bunk and feeding behavior of prepartum dairy cows. Two hundred and twenty-four nonlactating Jersey primiparous and multiparous cows were enrolled in the study. The 2 treatments were all-in-all-out (AIAO; 44 cows were moved into the close-up prepartum pen as 1 group, with no additions during the 5-wk repetition) or traditional (TRD; with weekly entrance of new cows to maintain a pen density of 44 cows). Cows (253 ± 3 d of gestation) were balanced for parity and projected 305-d mature-equivalent milk yield and assigned randomly to either AIAO or TRD treatments. At enrollment, cows with a body condition score <2 or >4 (1-5 scale; 1 = emaciated and 5 = obese) or with a locomotion score >3 (1-5 scale; 1 = normal gait and 5 = severely lame) were not included. Displacements from the feed bunk were measured weekly for both treatments when TRD cows were moved into the close-up pen (d 0) and additionally on d 1, 2, 3, and 7 for 3h after fresh feed delivery. A displacement rate was created to take into account differences in stocking density throughout the experiment. Displacement rate was calculated as the number of displacements divided by the number of cows in the pen at that time. Feeding behavior was measured using video 10-min scan sampling for 24-h periods at d 0, 1, 2, and 7. Displacements and feeding behavior were recorded for all 5 wk of each repetition. Treatment × week interactions were detected for number of displacements and displacement rate. The TRD treatment had more displacements from the feed bunk than AIAO in wk 1, 3, and 5, with no differences in wk 2 and 4. Similarly, the TRD treatment had a greater displacement rate than the AIAO treatment in wk 1 and 5, with a tendency in wk 3. No differences between the treatments were detected in wk 2 and 4. A treatment × week interaction existed for feeding time. Cows housed in the AIAO treatment had longer average feeding times in wk 2 with a tendency in wk 3, but spent 39 fewer minutes eating than those in the TRD treatment during the wk 1 of the study. Housing prepartum close-up cows with stable pen management reduced displacements from the feed bunk and altered average daily feeding times.


Increase of allergic conditions has occurred at the same pace with the Great Acceleration, which stands for the rapid growth rate of human activities upon earth from 1950s. Changes of environment and lifestyle along with escalating urbanization are acknowledged as the main underlying causes. Secondary (tertiary) prevention for better disease control has advanced considerably with innovations for oral immunotherapy and effective treatment of inflammation with corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors, and biological medications. Patients are less disabled than before. However, primary prevention has remained a dilemma. Factors predicting allergy and asthma risk have proven complex: Risk factors increase the risk, while protective factors counteract them. Interaction of human body with environmental biodiversity with micro‐organisms and biogenic compounds as well as the central role of epigenetic adaptation in immune homeostasis have given new insight. Allergic diseases are good indicators of the twisted relation to environment. In various non‐communicable diseases, the protective mode of the immune system indicates low‐grade inflammation without apparent cause. Giving microbes, pro‐ and prebiotics, has shown some promise in prevention and treatment. The real‐world public health programme in Finland (2008–2018) emphasized nature relatedness and protective factors for immunological resilience, instead of avoidance. The nationwide action mitigated the allergy burden, but in the lack of controls, primary preventive effect remains to be proven. The first results of controlled biodiversity interventions are promising. In the fast urbanizing world, new approaches are called for allergy prevention, which also has a major cost saving potential.


Gender-related inequalities are pervasive in the developing world. Although women account for almost 80 per cent of the agricultural sector in Africa, they remain vulnerable and poor. Seventy per cent of the 1.3 billion people in the developing world living below the threshold of poverty are women. It is important that the consequences of climate change should not lead already marginalised sections of communities into further deprivation. But key development issues have been at best sidetracked, and at worst blatantly omitted, from policy debates on climate change. The threats posed by global warming have failed to impress on policy-makers the importance of placing women at the heart of their vision of sustainable development. This article argues that if climate change policy is about ensuring a sustainablefuture by combining development and environment issues, it must take into account the interests of all stakeholders. The Global Environment Facility and the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol can play a role in ensuring sustainable development, provided they are implemented in a way that does not disadvantage women and the poor.


Preparing for all three parts of the Diagnostic ABR Physics boards is more than just studying as much material as possible. There will always be material that is missed and gaps in one's knowledge. Therefore it is crucial to understand how the materials relate to each other and to clinical experiences in order to fill those gaps. Each part of the board exam presents its own difficulties: Part I: Determining what material to study, most of which might have been learned a long time ago. Part II: Memorizing how all types of imaging devices work, how their techniques affect images, and the doses delivered by them. Part III: Gaining crucial clinical experiences and being able to explain orally how they are performed and what they mean. All three require different skill sets and preparation, from memorizing vast amounts of material, to rapidly recognizing and solving calculations, to being able to easily and confidently respond to oral questions about all aspects of working in the clinic and why those clinical methods and procedures are performed that way. This symposium is not a comprehensive review of all required study material. Instead it focuses on the previously mentioned problems and required skill sets that are needed for each part of the board exam. Expert Medical Physicists and Medical Faculty will share their experiences and methods to help students best prepare for the challenges of each individual exam along with helping students cope with the anxiety of the exam process.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. How to Prepare for Part 1 by determining study material 2. How to Prepare for Part 2 by learning to solve clinical calculations rapidly 3. How to Prepare for Part 3 by determining critical clinical experiences and learning how to answer questions orally.


This paper proposes a novel approach called ITE to extract web data records in a fully automatic way. The approach effectively utilizes the tag index information in different layers of the HTML DOM tree and abstracts the concept of index tree together with its repetitiveness and consecutiveness, which can characterize the key structural information in a web page. The concept of repetitiveness indicates the structural similarities among data records, and the concept of consecutiveness represents the sequential features of multiple records. Then, the complex DOM tree can be compressed to a set of index trees based on these concepts. We also provide a series of properties as theoretical support. The extraction process is divided into three steps, namely, repetitiveness discovery, consecutiveness discovery, and index tree merging. To handle data field missing, multiple record roots, and other complicated situations, we propose a digital sequence similarity measurement and a hierarchical clustering approach to find the repeating patterns. Then, data records are identified based on the consecutiveness discovery method, and the data blocks containing full data records are restored by merging the index trees. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach. It outperforms existing classic work in accuracy and has a satisfying execution time, which means it is applicable to large datasets. The time complexity is linear to the number of leaf nodes in the DOM tree of a web page.


Abstract Context: Osteoarthritic knee pain is very common, as are leg length discrepancies (LLDs). The relationship between LLDs and osteoarthritic knee pain is not well understood. Objective: To confirm a clinical impression that osteoarthritic knee pain is more common in the short (ie, superior-presenting) leg, as measured by supine physical examination of 3 bony landmarks: the medial malleoli, the anterior superior iliac spines, and the iliac crests. The secondary objective was to measure the relative positions of the 3 bony landmarks to better understand functional contributions to LLD. Methods: A prospective single-occasion observational design was used. Patients who reported osteoarthritic knee pain during an office visit were recruited, and data were collected on 3 bony landmarks and which knee was usually most painful. Results: Of the 32 participants who were recruited, 28 were women and 4 were men. Of the 17 participants who reported having right knee pain, 10 had a short right leg and 7 had a short left leg. Of the 15 participants who reported having left knee pain, 13 had a short left leg, 1 had a short right leg, and 1 had equal leg lengths. Knee pain was most severe in the short leg for 23 of 32 participants (71.9%). The most common pattern was for both iliac crests to be equal and the short leg to be concordant with a superior anterior superior iliac spine, which occurred in 23 of 32 participants (71.9%). In the present study population, the magnitude of LLD ranged from 0 to 2.1 cm. Conclusion: Osteoarthritic knee pain was more common in the apparent short leg. More sophisticated studies, including investigations into the role of pelvic torsion in knee pain, as well as investigations for interoperator reliability and validity, are needed to build on the findings reported in this observational study.


In the Footsteps of Eve, with its carefully reasoned argument, challenges the conventional wisdom of half a century. It suggests that the true cradle of our species lies the fossil-rich limestone of South Africa rather than East African sites where Louis and Mary Leakey revolutionised modern paleoanthropology and where Don Johanson made the discovery of the ancient skeleton immortalised as Lucy. Dr.Lee Berger, a leader of the new generation of scientists whose recent discoveries have reshaped our ideas about human genesis, is an expert and engaging guide who offers a detailed yet always clear and readable overview of the quest for our origins, from Darwin to the present day. He makes a persuasive case for redrawing our ancient family tree. The reader joins him in deep caves where miner's head-lamp illuminate the long-buried bones that are the clues in the detective story that spanes more than three million years, and laboratories where patient researchers spend years assembling tiny shardes into the scull of the creature who walked into the Earth more than 5,000 generations ago. Readers can sit in on conferences where brilliant scientists engage in intellectual sparing matches as tense as any courtroom drama. And we share the electric thrill when he runs his fingertips across the fossilized footprint of young human female who walked along a South African beach more than 100,000 years ago- and suddenly realizes that this extraordinary find may alter our current perceptions of human history. In Footsteps of Eve introduces readers both to an outstanding, wonderfully articulate new voice in paleoanthropology and to a bold new theory of our earliest ancestry. Combining hard science and high drama, it is a book as it is important.


Since 2001, the federal circuit courts of appeals have remained split on the propriety of enforcing heightened standard of review clauses contained in arbitration agreements governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (the "FAA"). After reviewing the history of arbitral awards and the text, structure, and legislative history of the FAA as well as the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the FAA, this Note proposes a resolution to the heightened-review circuit split, which is consistent with the FAA's proarbitration policy and U.S. Supreme Court precedent. This Note's proposed resolution would require courts to reject heightened-review clauses through application of the extraordinary circumstances test that the U.S. Supreme Court developed hi U.S. Bancorp Mortgage Co. a Boar Mall Partnership. This Note argues that the adoption of Bonner Malts extraordinary circumstances test will protect judicial integrity and preserve arbitration as a viable litigation alternative for the entire legal conununity.


This study reports one of the first detailed analysis of an experimentally-induced association (not occurring naturally) between two unicellular protistans, a slime mold, Physarum polycephalum (Mycetozoa), and a chlorophyte alga, Chorella pyrenoidosa (Chlorophyceae), in laboratory cultures. The host, Physarum, was inoculated with Chlorella resulting in the uptake of algae and greening of the plasmodia. Ultrastructural analysis showed that the algae were initially engulfed by Physarum, subsequently retained in perialgal vacuoles, distributed within the plasmodia and formed a stable association lasting for weeks as long as the plasmodia were active. Some of the Chlorella were cyclically exocytized and reengulfed. The inoculated Physarum-Chlorella system had significantly increased survival, some living up to 31 days, as compared to uninoculated hosts. Fluorometric analysis of chlorophyll a and phaeopigments of the Physarum-Chlorella cultures and exocytized Chlorella resulted in higher acid ratios and chlorophyll a concentrations as compared to unialgal cultures indicating viability of the Chlorella in the host cell. At the end of the association, the Physarum host, which was transformed from a plasmodium phase containing algae to the sclerotia phase, exocytized viable Chorella onto the top of the sclerotia. While not a natural or evolutionary established relationship, the Physarum-Chlorella model system provided notable findings of the initial events during Chlorella engulfment and physiological significance of the experimentally induced association between the two protists. This research provides evidence that new host-algal associations may become established rather rapidly under favorable environmental conditions and yields further evidence of the plasticity of host-symbiotic associations that may have promoted endosymbiotic associations during eukaryotic evolution.


The role of transaction cost economics in developing research in strategy has been a hotly debated topic over the last decade. This paper presents the radical argument that transaction cost insights are more than merely useful complements to existing approaches to strategy. Rather, they are necessary for adequately understanding the nature of strategizing. This is because transaction costs are essential aspects of processes of creating, capturing and protecting value. If transaction costs are zero, these processes do not pose any strategic problems; strategizing is trivialized in such a world. When transaction costs are positive, on the other hand, opportunities for value creation through the reduction of inefficiencies caused by transaction costs exist, and protecting and appropriating value are costly activities that dissipate value. Also, contracting and expectations enter as central aspects of strategizing. Arguments are provided for why economizing (with transaction costs) is more fundamental than strategizing (in the sense of exploiting market power). Thus, the paper argues that models in which the fullest possible account of transaction costs is made be used as the proper foundations and benchmarks for economics-based strategy research, rather than the patched-up competitive equilibrium models that are now used, more or less implicitly, as the benchmark in important parts of strategy research, most notably in the resource-based view.


The aim of this master thesis is to characterize the fluid forces applied to a fuel assembly inthe core of a nuclear power plant in case of seism. The forces are studied with a simplifiedtwo-dimensional model constituted of an array of 3 by 3 infinite cylinders oscillating in aclosed box. The axial flow of water, which convects the heat in the core of a nuclear powerplant, is also taken into account. The velocity of the axial flow reaches 4m/s in the middle ofthe assembly and modifies the forces features when the cylinders move laterally.The seism is modeled as a lateral displacement with high amplitude (several cylinderdiameters) and low frequencies (below 20 Hz). In order to study the effects of the amplitudeand of the frequency of the displacement, the displacement taken is a sine function withboth controlled amplitude and frequency. Four degrees of freedom of the system will bestudied: the amplitude of the displacement, its frequency, the axial velocity amplitude andthe confinement (due to the closed box).The fluid forces exerted on the cylinders can be seen as a combination of three terms: anadded mass, related to the acceleration of cylinders, a drift force, related to the damping ofthe fluid and a force due to the interaction of the cylinder with residual vortices. The firsttwo components will be characterized through the Morison expansion, and their evolutionwith the variation of the degree of freedom of the system will be quantified. The effect ofthe interaction with the residual vortices will be observed in the plots of the forces vs. timebut also in the velocity and vorticity map of the fluid.The fluid forces are calculated with the CFD code Code_Saturne, which uses a second orderaccurate finite volume method. Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes simulations arerealized with a k-epsilon turbulence model. The Arbitrary Lagrange Euler model is used todescribe the structure displacement. The domain is meshed with hexahedra with thesoftware gmsh [1] and the flow is visualized with Paraview [2]. The modeling techniquesused for the simulations are described in the first part of this master thesis.


Background: During the last few decades, the use of psychotropic medication by the general population has been a topic of scientific and public interest. However there have been few studies in Latin America to assess this situation. Aims: To study the prevalence in use of psychotropic medication in the city of Santiago and the associations with sociodemographic and physical and mental health factors. Methods: Cross-sectional survey of private households randomly chosen with a probabilistic sampling design. Results: Three-thousand-eight-hundred-and-seventy subjects were interviewed. The overall prevalence of the use of psychotropic medication in Greater Santiago was 6.4% (95% CI). Sex, age, mental and physical health problems were all significantly associated with a higher prevalence of psychotropic medication use. Conclusions: The prevalence of psychotropic use in the Greater Santiago area seems lower than in other cities. However similar socio-demographic and health factors were associated with the use of psychotropic medication as in other countries. There is a need to unify methodologies to be able to compare results internationally.


Achieving the continuous business performance is also closely related to the quality and timeliness of business decisions made based on the information provided by accounting in close relation to tax. In this context, in Romania there is an increasing trend to generalize the professional management and, therefore, we think it is of great interest to clarify the main issues related to the impact of accounting-tax relationship upon managerial decisions, which issues represent the theme of our approach.


Prepares students for field placement in mental health settings by providing a wide range of both practical and theoretical information. In conversational, accessible language, Matthews & Walker equip students with the knowledge needed to anticipate, prevent, and resolve common difficulties that may arise in practicum placement. Readers will find helpful background material such as basic psychopathology, introduction to psychotropic medication, and coverage of ethical issues, as well as illustrations of common situations they may face and guidance about how to behave in settings. Numerous vignettes and case examples help readers to understand basic concepts. This book is essential reading for students who want to best prepare for this fundamental and formative educational experience.


ABSTRACT Background: Beneficial effects of vegetarian and vegan diets on health outcomes have been supposed in previous studies. Objectives: Aim of this study was to clarify the association between vegetarian, vegan diets, risk factors for chronic diseases, risk of all-cause mortality, incidence, and mortality from cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, total cancer and specific type of cancer (colorectal, breast, prostate and lung), through meta-analysis. Methods: A comprehensive search of Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar was conducted. Results: Eighty-six cross-sectional and 10 cohort prospective studies were included. The overall analysis among cross-sectional studies reported significant reduced levels of body mass index, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and glucose levels in vegetarians and vegans versus omnivores. With regard to prospective cohort studies, the analysis showed a significant reduced risk of incidence and/or mortality from ischemic heart disease (RR 0.75; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.82) and incidence of total cancer (RR 0.92; 95% CI 0.87 to 0.98) but not of total cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, all-cause mortality and mortality from cancer. No significant association was evidenced when specific types of cancer were analyzed. The analysis conducted among vegans reported significant association with the risk of incidence from total cancer (RR 0.85; 95% CI, 0.75 to 0.95), despite obtained only in a limited number of studies. Conclusions: This comprehensive meta-analysis reports a significant protective effect of a vegetarian diet versus the incidence and/or mortality from ischemic heart disease (−25%) and incidence from total cancer (−8%). Vegan diet conferred a significant reduced risk (−15%) of incidence from total cancer.


Abstract There is a longstanding debate about how to appropriately model the combinability of affixes, especially English suffixes. One widely accepted principle is the notion of so-called selectional restrictions, i.e. grammatical requirements of particular affixes. For example, the suffix -ness can only combine with adjectival bases. Hay (2002) proposed a psycholinguistic approach to affix ordering now known as Complexity-Based Ordering (CBO), which claims that affix order is determined by the parsability of the affixes, i.e. more separable affixes can appear only outside of less separable affixes. Hay shows that this principle accounts for why many grammatical affix combinations are unattested. CBO has since been supported by research of derivational affixes (English prefixes, English suffixes and Russian suffixes). However, as a processing model, CBO should apply very broadly, and in this paper, I discuss some difficulties of reconciling CBO with inflectional affixes. I also examine combinations of Russian prefixes which have some properties typical of inflection - and show, surprisingly, that they can be ordered with a significantly low number of cycles, as CBO predicts. I discuss alternatives to CBO that explain this phenomenon, and suggest future research to distinguish them.


This thesis examines the ways in which the process of exhibition development and the politics this involves affects the practice of history in the museum. It does this by establishing the broad parameters of history practice in the museum and places this in relation to academic practice, focusing on the New Zealand context and specifically upon Auckland War Memorial Museum. From this basis the thesis examines the development of City exhibition at Auckland Museum as a large-scale museum history exposition. The development process for this exhibition was created with the aim of changing the traditional Museum approach so as to create a more engaging and scholarly history exhibition than is traditional. At the same time however, there was also an aim of retaining the appearance of the traditional Museum within this programme of change. These aims were to be met by the innovation of the collaboration between an academic historian and the Museum's practitioners in the development process. The research is based upon a detailed investigation of the roles played by the exhibition team members and the decisions, negotiations and compromises that they made through the development process. Beginning with their original intentions and concepts for the exhibition its metamorphosis into the exhibition as it was installed in the Museum gallery is traced. Emphasis is placed on the resonance that the various decisions and changes carried into the finished exhibition. The findings indicate that the Museum's traditions of developing and displaying knowledge exerted a strong conservative effect over the exhibition development in conflict with the programme of change. This conservatism vied with the authorial intentions of the exhibition development team. As a result of this influence the exhibition developed leant towards the conventional. The unexpectedly orthodox outcome resulted from the absence of critical museological practice. The thesis argues that although Auckland Museum had undergone extensive restructuring, including the introduction of new exhibition development processes and a new outlook as an organisation, the conception of history in the Museum had not changed. Ultimately this precluded that the practice of history in the institution would advance through the revised exhibition development process. However, the development of City did help achieve the updating of social history in the Museum and remains a platform upon which a more critical approach to the past can be


Acute Diarrhea (AD) is a highly prevalent condition that causes significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Conventional therapies include Oral Rehydration Solutions (ORS), Antibiotics and Zinc Products. Emerging data suggest that Probiotics use in the treatment and control of AD cases in children may help supplement current therapies for further control.
Herein, we review the evidence of several Probiotics modalities for AD treatment. We describe the Clinical Impact and prevalence of Acute Diarrhea in children and its complications, provide an overview of current treatments, and finally, discuss recent emergent Gut approaches to AD management. Specifically, we will describe - in a Comparative study - on the utility of different kinds of Probiotics known and used and common natural products in the treatment of acute cases of AD and focus on recent, high-quality studies. Adverse effects and potential interactions of each therapy will be highlighted where applicable.


This book is about understanding Pakistan's structural transformation over six decades in a political economy framework. The author examines how and where such transformations have taken place, in the economy, society, in class and gender relations, in manifestations of consumerism and culture, and in other ways. He assesses Pakistan's trajectory of economic and political development, and focuses on an economic and social history of Pakistan, using a political economy framework to examine the nature of this structural transformation. This book follows the narrative of the evolution of Pakistan's social, economic and even political dispensation over many decades, highlighting key developments and events. As has happened so many times in Pakistan's history, unintended consequences have shaped developments. Yet, social and economic change has also been somewhat anticipated and predictable, giving rise to relatively more certain outcomes. The immense growth of urban populations, a middle class, and a buoyant informal sector, alongside the breakdown of state authority and of state institutions, have been unfolding almost expectedly. The previous trend of the 'urbanization of everybody', seems to have morphed into an 'urbanization with informalization', with the co-movements of urbanization and informal relations of production and exchange dominating social and political interactions. What this means for subsequent development remains uncertain. Issues in Pakistan's Economy: A Political Economy Perspective, will interest serious scholars of Pakistan's economic history and its developments, as well as those who seek to understand how social and economic processes have an impact on numerous outcomes and forms of structural transformation, and how state and society evolve in a political economy perspective.


This study aimed to examine trust in information provided by public authorities and financial measures put in place to address the impact of COVID-19. Using a cross-national approach among four Western countries; the United States of America, Norway, Australia, and the United Kingdom provides an analysis of responses related to trust and how they were associated with age group, gender, education level, employment status, size of place of residence, infection sta-tus, and social media use. When controlling for all included variables in logistic regression analyses, the likelihood of having trust in the public authorities' information was higher for women, those with higher levels of education, and those living in urban areas. Being infected with the coronavirus, and spending more time daily on social media was associated with lower likelihood reporting trust in information. Although policies implemented to respond to eco-nomic concerns varied cross-nationally, higher age, identifying as female, being employed, liv-ing in a city, and lower levels of social media usage were associated with higher likelihood of trusting in the financial measures put in place to counteract the economic effects of COVID-19.


A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle, focused on course development and delivery and using the best educational practices. Moodle is relatively easy to install and use, but the real challenge is to develop a learning process that leverages its power and maps effectively onto the content established learning situation. This book guides you through meeting that challenge. This book is for anyone who wants to get the best from Moodle. Beginners will get a thorough guide to how the software works, with great ideas for getting off to a good start with their first course. More experienced Moodlers will find powerful insights into developing more successful and educational courses.


Diagnosing the aetiology of infectious diseases at autopsy, such as pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis or SUDI, is complicated due to issues including post mortem contamination, difficulty culturing fastidious organisms and subjective interpretation of polymicrobial cultures. Death of organisms may also occur post mortem, especially if antibiotics were given to the patient, but residual DNA from non-viable organisms, amenable to molecular detection, may remain. The 16S rRNA gene is present in all bacteria with conserved and hyper-variable regions along its length, allowing amplification and sequencing of all bacterial 16S sequences present in a sample. 16S sequencing offers potential advantages over culture-based diagnostics and is increasingly used in clinical practice. It has been used to identify bacteria in formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) surgical pathology specimens but its use has not been reported in autopsy diagnosis. This talk will summarise a study aimed to assess the utility of 16S sequencing as an adjunctive microbiological test in the autopsy. Our preliminary work has used post mortem lung tissue samples from children dying with pneumonia as part of the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) project. The technique has identified known pathogens in some cases and provided additional diagnostic information in others. The presentation will discuss the technical aspects of 16S sequencing from FFPE and autopsy material, and the issues surrounding its application to diagnosis in comparison with standard culture based diagnostics on surgical/autopsy material.


Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is a climate engineering method that is reputed to be very effective in cooling the planet but is also thought to involve major risks and side effects. As a new option in the bid to counter climate change, it has attracted an increasing amount of research and the debate on its potential gained momentum after it was referred to in the 5th IPCC assessment report (IPCC 2013). One major objection to SAI and the research done on it is that it could undermine commitment to the mitigation of greenhouse gases. Policymakers, interest groups or individuals might wrongly perceive SAI as an easy fix for climate change and accordingly reduce their mitigation efforts. This is the first study to provide an empirical evaluation of this claim for individuals. In a large-scale framed field experiment with more than 650 participants, we provide evidence that people do not back-pedal on mitigation when they are told that the climate change problem could be partly addressed via SAI. Instead, we observe that people who have been informed about SAI mitigate more than people who have not. Our data suggest that the increase is driven by a perception of SAI as potential threat.


Mind is seen as a collection of abilities to take decisions in biologically relevant situations. Mind shaping means to form habits and decision rules of how to proceed in a given situation. Problem-specific decision rules constitute a modular mind; adaptive mind-shaping is likely to be module-specific. We present examples from different behaviour 'faculties' throughout the animal kingdom, grouped according to important mind-shaping factors to illustrate three basically different mind-shaping processes: (I) external stimuli guide the differentiation of a nervous structure that controls a given behaviour; (II) information comes in to direct a fixed behaviour pattern to its biological goal, or to complete an inherited behaviour program; (III) specific stimuli activate or inactivate a pre-programmed behaviour. Mind-shaping phenomena found in the animal kingdom are suggested as 'null-hypotheses' when looking at how human minds might be shaped.