We study the executive compensation structure in the largest 14 U.S. financial institutions during 2000-2008. Our results are mostly consistent with and supportive of the findings of Bebchuk, Cohen and Spamann (2010), that is, managerial incentives matter - incentives generated by executive compensation programs led to excessive risk-taking by banks leading to the current financial crisis. Also, our results are generally not supportive of the conclusions of Fahlenbrach and Stulz (2009) that the poor performance of banks during the crisis was the result of unforeseen risk.We recommend the following compensation structure for senior bank executives: Executive incentive compensation should only consist of restricted stock and restricted stock options – restricted in the sense that the executive cannot sell the shares or exercise the options for two to four years after their last day in office. However, managers should be permitted to annually liquidate about 5% to 15% of their ownership positions, but these annual ownership position liquidations should be restricted to an amount of $5 million to $10 million. This compensation structure will provide managers stronger incentives to work in the interests of long-term shareholders, and avoid excessive risk-taking.While our focus here is on banks, corporate board compensation committees of firms in other industries should also give the above executive incentive compensation structure serious consideration. Additionally, we suggest that directors should adopt a similar incentive compensation structure with regard to their own incentive compensation.


Current software interfaces for entering text on touch screen devices mimic existing mechanisms such as keyboard typing or handwriting. Unfortunately, these techniques are poor for entering private text such as passwords since they allow observers to figure out what has been typed just by watching. In this paper, we present the Spy-Resistant Keyboard, a novel interface that allows users to enter private text without revealing it to an observer. We describe a user study we ran to explore the usability of the interface as well as additional security provided by it. Results indicate that although users took longer to enter their passwords, using the Spy-Resistant Keyboard rather than a standard onscreen soft keyboard resulted in a drastic increase in their ability to protect their passwords from a watchful observer. We discuss future extensions to these ideas.


Alpha-Beta pruning is one of the most powerful and fundamental MiniMax search improvements. It was designed for sequential two-player zero-sum perfect information games. In this paper we introduce an Alpha-Beta-like sound pruning method for the more general class of "stacked matrix games" that allow for simultaneous moves by both players. This is accomplished by maintaining upper and lower bounds for achievable payoffs in states with simultaneous actions and dominated action pruning based on the feasibility of certain linear programs. Empirical data shows considerable savings in terms of expanded nodes compared to naive depth-first move computation without pruning.


Learning can be an effective way for robot systems to deal with dynamic environments and changing task conditions. However, popular single-robot learning algorithms based on discounted rewards, such as Q learning, do not achieve cooperation (i.e., purposeful division of labor) when applied to task-level multirobot systems. A task-level system is defined as one performing a mission that is decomposed into subtasks shared among robots. We demonstrate the superiority of average-reward-based learning such as the Monte Carlo algorithm for task-level multirobot systems, and suggest an explanation for this superiority.


The past few years have witnessed exciting discoveries in different areas of coding theory and computational number theory. The present monograph, which exhibits the author's "Habilitationsschrift," is a collection of five different topics dealing with these two important fields. We will start with a purely coding theoretic question and finish with a discussion of some problems from computational number theory. Along the way, we will gradually change our focus from coding theory to number theory. Our emphasis is almost entirely on the development of fast and practical algorithms for the problems involved. In many cases it turns out that having a view for both number theory and coding theory is a clear advantage. This is best demonstrated by Chapters 2 and 3, where we encounter most of the interrelations between coding and number theory


This thesis concerns with Binx Boiling's search for self-realization in Walker Percy's The Moviegoer. In Percy's novel, the main character, Binx Boiling feels lost in the everyday problems and struggles to confront the haunted past to make the present a living condition. Besides, what concerns the novelist is the search for whatever it is that can banish despair in the modern era. Thus, this thesis will analyze what the main character's problems are and how the main character reaches his self-realization. In addition, the thesis writer wants to show that Binx Boiling's search has an important role in the success of his self-realization by using the repetition way, which means the return to the past to find comfort from the painful reality of his present life, and the rotation way, which means the quest for new experiences by turning to the future in order to avoid the absurd present and any unplanned attempt to increase one's consciousness by breaking through the everydayness. To analyze and support the analysis, the writer uses literary approach especially the theory of characterization and theory of conflict. Besides, the writer also needs theory of self-realization in order to have the right schemata, and to analyze the growth of Binx's realization of his despair that leads Binx to accept the reality of his life through his mother, his cousin, Kate Cutrer, and his half-brother, Lonnie Smith. Finally, through the study, the writer concludes that only after Binx learns and tries to analyze his life through recollecting of his past and having new experiences, further on affects his life such a way. It does not only develop and improve him and gain his self-realization, but it also gives Binx a lively spirit to be himself. He becomes courageous to face his life and accepts himself and others both as human beings.


We develop a model in which special interest groups make political contributions in order to influence an incumbent government's choice of trade policy. In the political equilibrium. the interest groups bid for protection, and each group's offer is optimal given the offers of the others. The politicians maximize their own welfare. which depends on the total amount of contributions collected and on the aggregate welfare of voters. We study the structure of protection that emerges in political equilibrium and the equilibrium contributions that are made by the different industry lobby groups. and show why these groups may in some cases prefer to have the government use trade policy to transfer income rather than more efficient means. We also discuss how our framework might be extended to include endogenous formation of lobby groups. political competition between incumbents and challengers. and political outcomes in a multicountry trading system.


Nonlocal neural networks have been proposed and shown to be effective in several computer vision tasks, where the nonlocal operations can directly capture long-range dependencies in the feature space. In this paper, we study the nature of diffusion and damping effect of nonlocal networks by doing spectrum analysis on the weight matrices of the well-trained networks, and then propose a new formulation of the nonlocal block. The new block not only learns the nonlocal interactions but also has stable dynamics, thus allowing deeper nonlocal structures. Moreover, we interpret our formulation from the general nonlocal modeling perspective, where we make connections between the proposed nonlocal network and other nonlocal models, such as nonlocal diffusion process and Markov jump process.


Abstract Drought and soil salinity are at present the major factors responsible for the global reduction of crop yields, and the problem will become more severe in the coming decades because of climate change effects. The most promising strategy to achieve the increased agricultural production that will be required to meet food demands worldwide will be based on the enhancement of crop stress tolerance, by both, traditional breeding and genetic engineering. This, in turn, requires a deep understanding of the mechanisms of tolerance which, although based on a conserved set of basic responses, vary widely among plant species. Therefore, the use of different plant models to investigate these mechanisms appears to be a sensible approach. The genus Portulaca could be a suitable model to carry out these studies, as some of its taxa have been described as tolerant to drought and/or salinity. Information on relevant mechanisms of tolerance to salt and water stress can be obtained by correlating the activation of specific defence pathways with the relative stress resistance of the investigated species. Also, species of the genus could be economically attractive as 'new' crops for 'saline' and 'arid', sustainable agriculture, as medicinal plants, highly nutritious vegetable crops and ornamentals.


A 51 year old man with mild rheumatoid arthritis developed pulmonary hypertension in the absence of interstitial lung disease. A cutaneous vasculitis subsequently responded to immunosuppressive therapy, but the lung disease was refractory to treatment. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, dyspnoea should be investigated at an early stage, even in the absence of obvious pleural or interstitial lung disease.


Real-time interactive virtual classroom with teleeducation experience is an important approach in distance learning. However, most current systems fail to meet new challenges in extensibility and scalability, which mainly lie with three issues. First, an open system architecture is required to better support the integration of increasing human-computer interfaces and personal mobile devices in the classroom. Second, the learning system should facilitate opening its interfaces, which will help easy deployment that copes with different circumstances and allows other learning systems to talk to each other. Third, problems emerge on binding existing systems of classrooms together in different places or even different countries such as tackling systems intercommunication and distant intercultural learning in different languages. To address these issues, we build a prototype application called Open Smart Classroom built on our software infrastructure based on the multiagent system architecture using Web Service technology in Smart Space. Besides the evaluation of the extensibility and scalability of the system, an experiment connecting two Open Smart Classrooms deployed in different countries is also undertaken, which demonstrates the influence of these new features on the educational effect. Interesting and optimistic results obtained show a significant research prospect for developing future distant learning systems.


This chapter studies foreign policymaking by regional states in the Middle East based on a 'complex realist' approach. This acknowledges the weight of realist arguments but highlights other factors such as the level of dependency on the United States, processes of democratization, and the role of leadership in informing states' foreign policy choices. To illustrate this approach, the chapter examines decision-making by four leading states — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Egypt — in relation to the key events and crises of the last decade: the 2003 Iraq War; the 2006 Hezbollah War; and the post-2014 War with the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS). The cases indicate that, as realists expect, states' foreign policies chiefly respond to threats and opportunities, as determined by their relative power positions.


ABSTRACT Francisella novicida is a close relative of Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia. The genomes of F. novicida-like clinical isolates 3523 (Australian strain) and Fx1 (Texas strain) were sequenced and compared to F. novicida strain U112 and F. tularensis strain Schu S4. The strain 3523 chromosome is 1,945,310 bp and contains 1,854 protein-coding genes. The strain Fx1 chromosome is 1,913,619 bp and contains 1,819 protein-coding genes. NUCmer analyses revealed that the genomes of strains Fx1 and U112 are mostly colinear, whereas the genome of strain 3523 has gaps, translocations, and/or inversions compared to genomes of strains Fx1 and U112. Using the genome sequence data and comparative analyses with other members of the genus Francisella, several strain-specific genes that encode putative proteins involved in RTX toxin production, polysaccharide biosynthesis/modification, thiamine biosynthesis, glucuronate utilization, and polyamine biosynthesis were identified. The RTX toxin synthesis and secretion operon of strain 3523 contains four open reading frames (ORFs) and was named rtxCABD. Based on the alignment of conserved sequences upstream of operons involved in thiamine biosynthesis from various bacteria, a putative THI box was identified in strain 3523. The glucuronate catabolism loci of strains 3523 and Fx1 contain a cluster of nine ORFs oriented in the same direction that appear to constitute an operon. Strains U112 and Schu S4 appeared to have lost the loci for RTX toxin production, thiamine biosynthesis, and glucuronate utilization as a consequence of host adaptation and reductive evolution. In conclusion, comparative analyses provided insights into the common ancestry and novel genetic traits of these strains.


Quantum interference in the rate of two-photon excitation of the 6S((1/2)) ?6P(3/2) ? 6D(5/2) transition in atomic cesium is exploited to demonstrate phase-sensitive frequency demodulation for an optical interval of +/- 12.5 THz. By thus using atoms as ultrafast nonlinear mixing elements, we suggest and analyze a new avenue for absolute comparisons of a dense set of frequencies over the range of 200-2000 nm.


Introduction: We aimed to perform a multi-institutional study using a national database led by the Japanese Society of Endourology to investigate the effect of surgeon or hospital volume on the safety of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). Materials and Methods: Clinical data of 3,214 patients who underwent RARP for the treatment of clinically localized prostate cancer between April 2012 and March 2013 in Japan were evaluated. Surgical outcomes and all intra- and perioperative complications were collected. Results: The intraoperative complication rate was 0.56%. In a total number of 241 patients, 261 perioperative complications were observed. The following percentages of patients presented the Clavien-graded complications: 7.2%, grades 1-2; 0.84%, grade 3; and 0.093%, grade 4a. No cases of multiple organ dysfunction or death (grades 4b and 5) were found. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the hospital volume (OR 3.6; p = 0.010) for intraoperative complications and surgeon volume (OR 0.19; p < 0.0001) and extended lymph node discectomy (OR 3.9; p < 0.0001) for perioperative complications were significant independent risk factors. Conclusions: Hospital volume for intraoperative complications and surgeon volume and extended lymph node dissection for perioperative complications were significantly associated with increased risk of each complication in RARP.


Background In the Nordic countries, substantial policy and intervention efforts have been made to increase adolescents' consumption of fruit and vegetables and to reduce their intake of sweets and soft drinks. Some initiatives have been formulated in a Nordic collaboration and implemented at national level. In recent years, social inequalities in food habits have been attracted particular governmental interest and several initiatives addressing the socioeconomic gradient in food habits have been highlighted. However, few internationally published studies have evaluated how trends in adolescents' food habits develop in the context of Nordic nutrition policy, or have compared differences between the Nordic countries. Methods The study was based on Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish cross-sectional data from the international Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study, collected via three nationally representative and comparable questionnaire surveys in 2001/2002, 2005/2006 and 2009/2010. Food habits were identified by students' consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets and sugar sweetened soft drink. Socioeconomic status (SES) was measured with the Family Affluence Scale (FAS). Multilevel logistic regression was used to analyze the data. Results Trends in fruit consumption developed differently across countries, characterized by an increase in Denmark and Norway and more stable trends in Sweden and Finland. Vegetable consumption increased particularly in Denmark and to a lesser extent in Norway, whereas Sweden and Finland displayed stable trends. Decreased trends were observed for sweet and soft drink consumption and were similar in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Sweet consumption decreased across all survey years, whereas soft drink consumption decreased between 2001/2002–2005/2006 and was stable thereafter. Denmark displayed an increase between 2001/2002–2005/2006 followed by a similar decrease between 2005/2006–2009/2010 for both sweet and soft drink consumption. Socioeconomic inequalities in fruit and vegetable consumption were observed in all countries, with no cross-country differences, and no changes over time. Small but not significant cross-country variation was identified for SES inequalities in sweet consumption. Reduced SES inequalities were observed in Sweden between 2005/2006 and 2009/2010. SES was not associated with soft drink consumption in this study population, with the exception of Denmark for the survey year 2009/2010. Conclusion Different trends resulted in increased country differences in food habits during the time of observations. In survey year 2009/2010, Danish students reported a higher intake of fruit and vegetable consumption than their counterparts in the other Nordic countries. Finnish students reported the lowest frequency of sweets and soft drink consumption. Despite the positive dietary trends documented in the present study, the majority of Nordic adolescents are far from meeting national dietary recommendations. Our findings underline the need for more comprehensive initiatives targeting young people's food habits as well as a more deliberate and focused action to close gaps in social inequalities that affect food choices.


Radioactivity in drinking water is a concerning international public health issue. Recently attention has been drawn to this issue by moves in the USA and several other developed countries to lower the permissible levels of naturally occurring radioisotopes in drinking water.

The primary goal of this thesis is to investigate the levels of naturally occurring radioisotopes in drinking water supplies in the South West of Western Australia particularly those that are predominately sourced from groundwater and to determine whether any elevated levels exist. As isotopes, such as Ra-228 and Po-210, are difficult to measure in low concentrations a secondary aim of the project was to develop faster, reliable techniques for measuring them at low levels commonly found in drinking water derived from groundwater.

Radiochemical analysis of samples taken from 52 public drinking water supplies in Western Australia was carried out at the University of Vienna, Austria during 2005- 2006. All samples were analyzed for Ra-226, Ra-228 and Pb-210. Twenty five of the samples were analyzed for Po-210 and twenty three were analyzed for U-234 and U- 238. Ra-224 was only found in one sample.

Radionuclide activities in the drinking water samples ranged from < 5.0 to 77.7 mBq L-1 for Ra-224, 3.2 to 151.1 mBq L-1 for Ra-226, < 4.0 to 296.1 mBq L-1 for Ra-228, < 2.0 to 13.4 mBq L-1 for Pb-210, 0.6 to 21.7 mBq L-1 for Po-210, 0.6 to 12.8 mBq L-1 for U- 234 and 0.4 to 14.3 mBq L-1 for U-238. The mean concentrations were 1.5 mBq L-1 for Ra-224, 32.6 mBq L-1 for Ra-226, 47.3 mBq L-1 for Ra-228, 0.7 mBq L-1 for Pb-210, 7.1 mBq L-1 for Po-210, 3.3 mBq L-1 for U-234 and 2.3 mBq L-1 for U-238. V A comparison was made to determine whether or not the 52 drinking water samples from Western Australia comply with the radiological safety guidelines of other developed countries. Particular attention was paid to potential impacts on children with regard to setting radiological safety parameters for drinking water.

The annual dose received by the population in the sampled Western Australian communities, ranged from 0.002 to 2.059 mSv y-1 with a mean annual dose of 0.15 mSv y-1. The main contributing radionuclides to the annual dose were Ra-226 and Ra-228. These trends are explained in terms of the local geology and groundwater resources, particularly the historical development of the heavy mineral sands industry along the southern coastline and known uranium deposits in Western Australia.

Of the 52 drinking water samples tested, 94% complied with the current Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, 15% complied with the current Canadian, European, United Kingdom and the WHO's radiological guidelines for drinking water, 12% complied with the US EPA's radiological guideline for drinking water but none of the samples complied with the new 2006 California EPA's Public Health Goals for Ra-226 and Ra- 228 in drinking water.

 Based on these findings recommendations are made about the need for further monitoring and possible epidemiological studies of communities that have elevated levels of radionuclides in their drinking water supplies.


Shared Mental Models (SMM) is a well-established concept in cognitive psychology with strong links to team performance. Despite the extensive body of research in this area, the literature still presents varied perspectives and definitions for the SMM construct. Also, SMM empirical studies are limited to mostly the investigations of small disciplinary teams and are underutilized for inter-organizational project teams, such as those in the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. This study presents a detailed review of SMM literature resulting in a comprehensive framework and discusses the implications of SMM on AEC project teams, making a case for integrated project delivery. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a theoretical lens of SMM through which to analyze the AEC literature related to project delivery processes.


The fact that women constitute two-thirds of the world's non-literate population has been a cause for concern for several decades now. Despite a number of high-profile literacy interventions specifically targeting women – including UNESCO's LIFE initiative – the disparity between male and female literacy rates persists in many countries of the world (UIL, 2013). This starting point for thinking about women's literacy has however often led to a narrow focus on literacy access and outcomes. Whilst educational policy makers and planners have attempted to identify and overcome barriers to women's participation, researchers have directed their attention to measuring the social and economic benefits of women's literacy (see Robinson-Pant, 2004). Statistical correlations have been presented as evidence of the impact of women's literacy: for instance, in Pakistan, women with a high level of literacy earned 95% more than women with no literacy skills yet there was only a 33% differential amongst men (UNESCO 2012: 196). Barriers to participation have been analysed in terms of structural (timing, location, women-only versus mixed gender) and social (marriage, poverty, language hierarchies) factors (see Ballara 1991). Within such analysis however, little attention has been given to the social processes associated with literacy learning and development. By contrast, this paper sets out to take a wider lens on literacy in order to explore not only 'what works' in practical terms of encouraging women to participate programmes, but also to look at how and why literacy programmes can contribute to sustainable development and processes of empowerment. Taking this perspective on women's literacy involves asking alternative questions from the more usual 'how can we make more women literate?' Approaching literacy through the lens of sustainable development and women's empowerment means that we develop a more nuanced understanding of how different kinds of literacy emerge from or support different development approaches and how women engage with such processes of change. How is literacy related to sustainable development programmes? What does empowerment mean to different women in different situations? What kind of research evidence and knowledge are literacy programmes and policy building on? How can adult learning facilitate economic, social and environmental change? These larger questions will guide the conceptual exploration of sustainable development, women's empowerment and literacy, as well as the review of literacy programmes presented in this paper. The starting assumption is that only by looking in depth at the processes of literacy learning and development practice can we begin to address the challenge of narrowing the gender gap in literacy attainment.


The contribution of the present thesis is describing and explaining how value is co-created by addressing customer-employee role constellations during service encounters. There is a specific focus on customers' and employees' resource integration when co-creating value. The thesis consists of five separate papers, one of which is a literature review and four are empirical papers. The empirical papers are based on data from the public employment service and the customs service inSweden. The thesis offers two main contributions; the first of which is to service research by expanding knowledge of resource integration and value co-creation using e-government as the empirical context for outlining customers' and employees' value co-creation. The second contribution concerns which roles customers and employees enact during resource integration when value is being co-created. It was found that the roles of the employees were; interactor; customer oriented party, co-creator, and empowered party, while a customer can have the role of information integrator, accessibility needer, dialogue keeper, and/or knowledge transferee. Based on these two contributions, the thesis outlines understandings regarding role constellations in value co-creation. The role constellations suggest that customers and employees enact roles that impact how their resources are integrated. Finally, the thesis contributes towards building a theory of value co-creation by proposing that the ten foundational premises of S-D logic, together with the four theoretical propositions and the role constellations presented in this thesis, should be seen as an approach to building a theory of value co-creation. Together, these three building blocks offer the following explanation as to what occurs when a customer and an employee co-create value: (1) The ten foundational premises focus on resource integration and value co-creation. (2) The four theoretical propositions offer the explanation that resource integration occurs in the context of roles since a role decides how to use the knowledge and skills. (3) The role constellations give concrete examples of how customers and employees integrate their resources to co-create value.


Nationally, transportation agencies have embarked on efforts to collect information digitally on highway attributes to help understand factors that contribute to traffic crash occurrences. Instrumented vehicles, database modeling efforts, and enhancements in crash-data collection are salient examples of such efforts. This paper provides insights into the prospective value of roadway information as it pertains to statistical analysis of severity of crashes. It presents a case study analysis from Washington State that involves divided highway crash data. A statistical model is presented that demonstrates an empirical relationship between key roadway variables and distributions of crash severity. The other notable output of this paper involves the contribution of weather information to the distributions of crash severity. While the case study is restricted to divided highways in the northwest part of the United States, the statistical insights from the analysis of severity distributions indicate the prospective value of key data elements in relation to their regular measurement and updates to statewide crash risk management.


Allomerus ants ensure that they have sufficient nitrogen in their diet by trapping and consuming other insects. In order to construct their traps, like the more extensively studied leaf cutter ants, they employ fungal farming. Pest management within these fungal cultures has been speculated to be due to the ants' usage of actinomycetes capable of producing antifungal compounds, analogous to the leafcutter ant mutualism. Here we report the first identification of a series of antifungal compounds, the filipins, and their associated biosynthetic genes isolated from a bacterium associated with this system.


Recently, many studies have been made for intelligent controls using the neural-network (NN). These NN approaches for control strategies are based on the concept of replacing the conventional controller with a new NN controller. However, it is usually difficult and unreliable to replace the factory-installed controller with another controller in the workplace. In this case, it is desirable to install an additional outer control loop around the conventional control system to compensate for the control error of the preinstalled conventional control system. This paper presents an adaptive NN compensator for the outer loop to compensate for the control errors of conventional control systems. The proposed adaptive NN compensator generates a new command signal to the conventional control system using the control error that is the difference between the desired reference input and the actual system response. The proposed NN-compensated control system is adaptable to the environment changes and is more robust than the conventional control systems. Experimental results for a SCARA-type manipulator show that the proposed adaptive NN compensator enables the conventional control system to have precise control performance.


Background Blood cultures remain the gold standard for detecting bacteremia despite their limitations. The current practice of blood culture collection is still inefficient with low yields. Limited focus has been given to the association between timing of specimen collection at different time points during admission and their yield. Methods We carried out a retrospective observational study by analyzing all 3,890 sets of cultures collected from the 1,962 admitted patients over the seven-month period of this study. We compared the blood culture yield between the early group (≤24 hours after admission) and the late group (> 24 hours of admission). We also investigated the effect of prehospital oral antibiotics and pre-analytical time on the first cultures in the emergency department. Epidemiology and efficiency of blood cultures were studied for each medical specialty. Results In total, 3,349(86.1%) blood cultures were negative and 541(13.9%) were positive for one or more microorganisms. After correcting for contamination, the overall yield was 290 (7.5%). The early group (n = 1,490) yielded significantly more true-positive cultures (10.1% versus 5.8%, P<0.001) than the late group (n = 2,400). The emergency department had a significantly higher yield than general wards, 11.2% versus 5.7% (p<0.001). Prehospital oral antibiotic use and pre-analytical time did not affect the yield of first cultures at the emergency department (p = 0.735 and 0.816 respectively). The number of tests needed to obtain one true-positive culture varied between departments, ranging from 7 to 45. Conclusion This study showed that blood cultures are inefficient in detecting bacteremia. Cultures collected during 24 hours after admission yielded more positive results than those collected later. Significant variations in blood culture epidemiology and efficiency per specialty suggest that guidelines should be reevaluated. Future studies should aim at improving blood culture yield, implementing educational programs to reduce contamination and cost-effective application of modern molecular diagnostic technologies.


We show that B clusters, produced by self-interstitial interaction with substitutional B in crystalline Si, dissolve under annealing according to two distinct paths with very different characteristic times. The two regimes generally coexist, but while the faster dissolution path is predominant for clusters formed at low B concentration (1×1019B∕cm3), the slower one is characteristic of clusters formed above the solubility limit and dominates the dissolution process at high B concentration (2×1020B∕cm3). The activation energies of both processes are characterized and discussed. It is showed that the faster path can be connected to mobile B direct emission from small clusters, while the slower path is demonstrated not to be self-interstitial limited and it is probably related to a more complex cluster dissolution process.


First published in 2004, this is a rigorous but user-friendly book on the application of stochastic control theory to economics. A distinctive feature of the book is that mathematical concepts are introduced in a language and terminology familiar to graduate students of economics. The standard topics of many mathematics, economics and finance books are illustrated with real examples documented in the economic literature. Moreover, the book emphasises the dos and don'ts of stochastic calculus, cautioning the reader that certain results and intuitions cherished by many economists do not extend to stochastic models. A special chapter (Chapter 5) is devoted to exploring various methods of finding a closed-form representation of the value function of a stochastic control problem, which is essential for ascertaining the optimal policy functions. The book also includes many practice exercises for the reader. Notes and suggested readings are provided at the end of each chapter for more references and possible extensions.


Differential geometric Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) strategies
exploit the geometry of the target to achieve convergence in fewer MCMC iterations at the cost of increased computing time for each of the iterations. Such computational complexity is regarded as a potential shortcoming of geometric MCMC in practice. This paper suggests that part of the additional computing required by Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and Metropolis adjusted Langevin algorithms produces elements that allow concurrent implementation of the zero variance reduction technique for MCMC estimation. Therefore, zero variance geometric MCMC emerges as an inherently unified sampling scheme, in the sense that variance reduction and geometric exploitation of the parameter space can be performed simultaneously without exceeding the computational requirements posed by the geometric MCMC scheme alone. A MATLAB package is provided, which implements a generic code framework of the combined methodology for a range of models.


Scholars and practicing lawyers alike consider legal entities to be essential. Who can imagine running a large business without using a business organization, such as a corporation or partnership? This Article challenges conventional wisdom by showing that vast enterprises—with millions of customers paying trillions of dollars—often operate without any meaningful use of entities.

This Article introduces the reciprocal exchange, a type of insurance company that operates without any meaningful use of a legal entity. Instead of obtaining insurance from a common nexus of contract, customers directly insure one another through a dense web of bilateral agreements. While often overlooked or conflated with mutual insurance companies, reciprocal exchanges include some of America's largest and best-known insurance enterprises.

This Article explores how it is possible to run an international conglomerate with essentially no recourse to organizational law as it is normally conceived, and it then draws out the important implications of these findings. The viability of reciprocal exchanges stands as a powerful foil to the academic consensus that legal entities are somehow essential, while nevertheless validating the underlying logic that led scholars to elevate entities in the first place.


A technique for controlling the integration step size in multistep methods is developed. It is based on a combined use of the principal terms of the local and global errors for calculating the optimal step size and controlling the accuracy of the numerical solution. An advantage of the new technique is the ability to automatically provide an arbitrary predefined accuracy. The algorithm is theoretically substantiated and verified on test problems.


The 2014/15 influenza season to date in Canada has been characterised by predominant influenza A(H3N2) activity. Canada's Sentinel Physician Surveillance Network (SPSN) assessed interim vaccine effectiveness (VE) against medically attended, laboratory-confirmed influenza A(H3N2) infection in January 2015 using a test-negative case-control design. Of 861 participants, 410 (48%) were test-positive cases (35% vaccinated) and 451 (52%) were test-negative controls (33% vaccinated). Among test-positive cases, the majority (391; 95%) were diagnosed with influenza A, and of those with available subtype information, almost all influenza A viruses (379/381; 99%) were A(H3N2). Among 226 (60%) A(H3N2) viruses that were sequenced, 205 (91%) clustered with phylogenetic clade 3C.2a, considered genetically and antigenically distinct from the 2014/15 A/Texas/50/2012(H3N2)-like clade 3C.1 vaccine reference strain, and typically bearing 10 to 11 amino acid differences from the vaccine at key antigenic sites of the haemagglutinin protein. Consistent with substantial vaccine mismatch, little or no vaccine protection was observed overall, with adjusted VE against medically attended influenza A(H3N2) infection of ?8% (95% CI: ?50 to 23%). Given these findings, other adjunct protective measures should be considered to minimise morbidity and mortality, particularly among high-risk individuals. Virus and/or host factors influencing this reduced vaccine protection warrant further in-depth investigation. .


The United States has increasingly designed certain public spending programs not as traditional tax-financed programs, but rather as mixtures of private expenditures, subsidies, and limited taxes. Thus part of what could have gone to the government as a tax is instead used to purchase the good or service directly, with only incremental taxes and subsidies to manage distributional goals. This Article terms this "quasi-public spending," and argues that it is descriptive of our evolving approaches to both health care and higher education. Based on this observation, the Article defines and analyzes quasi-public spending and compares it to both traditional public spending and tax expenditures. The Article finds that in some situations, quasi-public spending may be a worthwhile approach to financing public programs, though with some qualifications. Based on this analysis, the Article puts forward a framework for when policymakers should use quasi-public spending and applies that framework to a number of policy questions.


To date, work in evolvable and adaptive hardware (EAH) has been largely isolated from primary inclusion into larger design processes. Almost without exception, EAH efforts are aimed at creating systems whole cloth, creating drop-in replacements for existing components of a larger design, or creating after-the-fact fixes for designs found to be deficient. This paper will discuss early efforts in integrating EAH methods into the design of a controller for a flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FWMAV). The FWMAV project is extensive, multidisciplinary, and on going. Because EAH methods were in consideration during its earliest design stages, this project provides a rich environment in which to explore means of effectively combining EAH and traditional design methodologies. In addition to providing a concrete EAH design that addresses potential problems with FWMAV flight in a unique way, this paper will also provide a provisional list of EAH design integration principles, drawn from our experiences to date.


The Wnt signaling pathway regulates numerous cellular responses including those that govern axis formation and dorsal-ventral patterning in the developing Xenopus laevis embryo. Upon binding to its receptor Frizzled, a signaling cascade is triggered that results in β-catenin-dependent transcription of Wnt target genes. The TCF family of DNA-binding proteins are known nuclear effectors of Wnt signaling. Zorn et al. report that the Sox family of DNA-binding proteins inhibits the Wnt pathway in Xenopus. Ectopic expression of Sox repressed Wnt and β-catenin-stimulated transcription from a TCF-dependent reporter gene. Although Sox and TCF did not compete for the same DNA-binding site, the two proteins did compete for binding to β-catenin. The authors further determined that binding sites for Sox and TCF on β-catenin overlap. Overexpression of Sox inhibited expression of the endogenous Wnt target gene Siamois, but also stimulated expression of an endogenous endodermal gene. The authors suggest that Sox binds to β-catenin or to a β-catenin-TCF complex and inhibits Wnt signaling, which may be important for endoderm development. However, it is not clear as to whether Sox proteins are normally involved in axis formation. Zorn, A.M., Barish, G.D., Williams, B.O., Lavender, O., Klymkowsky, M.W., and Varmus, H.E. (1999) Regulation of Wnt signaling by Sox proteins: XSox17α/β and XSox3 physically interact with β-catenin. Mol. Cell 4: 487-498. [Online Journal]


In "The General Retires," "Without a King," and "Crime and Punishment," three short stories written between 1987 and 1990 by Nguyễn Huy Thiệp, the authoritative father figure is omnipresent. Whether an army dignitary, a modest bicycle repairer, or a humble farmer, these fathers all have difficult relationships with their children—relationships which, although not devoid of love or affection, suffer from grudges, conflict, and hate. These fathers call their sons cowards, set them against each other, and rape their daughters. But their death at the end of each story is systematic. The plots within the stories present the father as a species threatened with extinction and even likely to be assassinated by his own children. This paper on the literature at the beginning of the Renovation [Đổi Mới] offers a reading of the theme of patricide in the work of Nguyễn Huy Thiệp as an indication of profound ideological crisis and as a metaphor for the keen desire for change.


Abstract Purpose: Little is known about the illness experiences of people with Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD). The aim of this study was to provide insight into the illness experiences of people with FSHD in order to tailor rehabilitation programs to individual needs and expectations. Methods: Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with people with FSHD. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and member checked. Computerized (MAXqda) and manual techniques were used for thematic data analysis. Results: Intra- as well as extra-individual aspects play a role in the illness experiences of people with FSHD. Integrating the consequences of the diagnosis and symptoms, coping with heredity and progenity, adjusting to a decreasing independence, and the accompanying changing relationship with one's partner, are mentioned as intra-individual aspects. As extra-individual factors are the responses of the social environment, which was mentioned as well as used assistive devices, and maintaining or giving up work. Conclusions: Better understanding of the individual illness experiences, cognitions, and social context of people with FSHD can give health professionals tools to improve their care and give researchers direction for future studies to evaluate healthcare improvements from a holistic, patient-centred perspective. Implications for Rehabilitation FSHD has a major impact on people's lives. Besides the physical consequences, issues such as heredity, progenity, changing (intimate) relationships, social interactions and work should be addressed by rehabilitation professionals. Dependent on the timing of the diagnosis (early or later in life) people with FSHD could, in addition to medical consultation and physical therapy, profit from support by a social worker, occupational therapist and/or genetic Counselor for the above-mentioned themes to be addressed more extensively. It is relevant for rehabilitation professionals to become familiar with the personal characteristics and social circumstances of the patient before communicating the diagnosis and prognosis in order to individually tailor the content of the communication.


Background: Several large series have established endoscopic transnasal sellar surgery as the procedure of choice for removal of tumors in the sellar area. Although this procedure provides a less invasive approach to the sella, it entails complications such as nasal bleeding, impaired olfactory function, atrophic rhinitis, synechiae, etc. No studies have yet reported potential morbidities such as empty nose syndrome (ENS), although patients have a relatively empty nasal cavity after surgery. Therefore, we sought to verify the percentage of patients who truly met the diagnostic criteria for ENS after endoscopic transnasal sellar surgery, determine the variation between pre- and postoperative scores in each Empty Nose Syndrome 6-Item Questionnaire (ENS6Q) item, and further evaluate the symptoms that may affect the patients the most after surgery. Methods: Between March 2015 and January 2019, eventually 11 patients who underwent extended endoscopic transnasal sellar surgery in Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, a tertiary referral medical center in Taipei, Taiwan, were enrolled. The patients completed the recently validated ENS6Q after surgery. Results: One patient met the objective diagnostic criteria for ENS (score ≥ 11 in ENS6Q). Significant differences were observed in the pre- and postoperative total ENS6Q scores. The pre- and postoperative scores of "nose feeling too open" and nasal crusting showed statistically significant differences. Further, compared with the other items, the postoperative score of nasal crusting increased most obviously, and it may be the most apparent operation-related symptom. Conclusion: This study is the first to report the possibility of developing ENS after endoscopic transnasal sellar surgery. Although the transnasal endoscopic approach is a safe and minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of sellar lesions, possible complications such as ENS should be considered.


Context modeling has been long acknowledged as a key aspect in a wide variety of problem domains. In this paper we focus on the combination of contextualization and personalization methods to improve the performance of personalized information retrieval. The key aspects in our proposed approach are a) the explicit distinction between historic user context and live user context, b) the use of ontology-driven representations of the domain of discourse, as a common, enriched representational ground for content meaning, user interests, and contextual conditions, enabling the definition of effective means to relate the three of them, and c) the introduction of fuzzy representations as an instrument to properly handle the uncertainty and imprecision involved in the automatic interpretation of meanings, user attention, and user wishes. Based on a formal grounding at the representational level, we propose methods for the automatic extraction of persistent semantic user preferences, and live, ad-hoc user interests, which are combined in order to improve the accuracy and reliability of personalization for retrieval.


Compared to conventional material flow controls, self-organized material handling systems and the Internet of Things in facility logistics promise several advantages during the life-cycle. Most important is the increased adaptability in case of expansions or modifications due to a consistent modular design; this also promotes an increased robustness due to clearly defined interfaces and a decreased complexity of each module. The use of RFID technology increases the availability of real-time data about the system and the transported units. However, the introduction of selforganized material handling systems also causes costs, e.g. for necessary RFID tags and readers. Against this background, it is unsatisfactory that the increased adaptability as the main advantage of these systems is hard to grasp. This paper proposes a methodology to analyze the advantages of adaptability in facility logistics during the life-cycle of a material handling system and illustrates its usage. The proposed methodology is based on a dynamic optimization of payoffs during the life-cycle; thereby, all payoffs which are influenced by the adaptability of the material-handling system are included; therefore, the methodology allows to consider the adaptability of all material handling systems.


Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) regulates diverse cellular processes through its reversible, covalent attachment to target proteins. Many SUMO substrates are involved in transcription and chromatin structure. Sumoylation appears to regulate the functions of target proteins by changing their subcellular localization, increasing their stability, and/or mediating their binding to other proteins. Using an in vitro expression cloning approach, we have identified 40 human SUMO1 substrates. The spectrum of human SUMO1 substrates identified in our screen suggests general roles of sumoylation in transcription, chromosome structure, and RNA processing. We have validated the sumoylation of 24 substrates in living cells. Analysis of this panel of SUMO substrates leads to the following observations. 1) Sumoylation is more efficient in vitro than in living cells. Polysumoylation occurs on several substrates in vitro. 2) SUMO isopeptidases have little substrate specificity. 3) The SUMO ligases, PIAS1 and PIASxβ, have broader substrate specificities than does PIASy. 4) Although SUMO1 and SUMO2 are equally efficiently conjugated to a given substrate in vitro, SUMO1 conjugation is more efficient in vivo. 5) Most SUMO substrates localize to the nucleus, and sumoylation does not generally affect their subcellular localization. Therefore, sumoylation appears to regulate the functions of its substrates through multiple, context-dependent mechanisms.


This study analyzes the use of linguistic stereotypes in two fantasy role-playing games, Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt and Dragon Age: Origins with a focus on phonology. It investigates how accent stereotypes are used and why they are important for characters in video games, for example regarding prestige and attractiveness. It analyzes each character from a character type perspective: hero, villain, comic-relief, mentor and lover. The results show that there are accent stereotypes in fantasy role-playing games and that they are, most likely, deliberately placed as such. It also shows that standard variations of English are mainly used for characters that serves a purpose to the story while nonstandard variations are used for characters that serves no purpose to the game other than working as tools to enrich the world with a sense of life.


Climate variability and change has been considered to be posing the greatest threat to agriculture and food security in many of the poor, agriculture-based countries in Africa. In recognition of this, an assessment of climate change impacts on small-scale farmers was conducted in Nyandarua South District to assess the impacts of climate variability and change on the small-scale farmers in the area. The area is nationally known as a high agricultural potential area producing all year round horticulture produce. Data was obtained through administration of questionnaires, observation and focused group discussions. Through systematic random sampling the researcher administered 375 households' questionnaires representing 10% of the total households in the study area. Descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, percentages) and inferential statistics (chi square) were used to produce associations between variables assessed. The results indicate that small-scale farmers in North Kinangop Division are struggling with impacts of climate variability. According to analysis, there was a strong association between perceived rainfall intensity variations and impacts on small-scale farmers in North Kinangop (X2 = 15.411, P =0.05) and strong association between rainfall distribution and loss of crops and reduced freshwater (X2 = 41.226, P=0.001). Extreme climatic events occurrences had a strong association with impacts on small-scale farmers (X2 = 32.692, P = 0.001). It can therefore be concluded that small-scale farmers have perceived climate variability to be impacting heavily on their agricultural activities as rainfall intensities, reliability and distribution continue to vary in time and space. Other meteorological extreme events (droughts and frost) have been observed to intensify in the area with consequent impacts on crop production. This paper therefore recommends more capacity building programmes to be initiated in the area to enhance awareness of climate variation and change, impacts and adaptation measures to enhance the farmers' resilience.


BEYOND "ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER": SECOND LANGUAGE WRITERS, ACADEMIC LITERACY, AND ISSUES OF IDENTITY IN THE U.S. HIGH SCHOOL by Christina M. Ortmeier-Hooper University of New Hampshire, September 2007 This study examines the writing experiences of U.S. adolescent second language writers and considers how students' identities as "''English Language Learners (ELL)" contributes to their learning, their sense of self, and their academic writing. Within the perspective that writing is a socially-embedded activity, I conducted five case studies documenting the academic writing experiences of immigrant students from various countries (Nigeria, Taiwan, Dominican Republic and El Salvador) during their first year of high school. During the year-long study, I collected data from sources, including: student interviews, classroom observations, students' writing samples, students' social influence maps, and community/school artifacts. Using a theoretical framework derived from social identity theory and Ivanic's work on writing and identity, I explored how students negotiated their social identities as "English Language Learners" in academic settings and analyzed the impact of "ELL identity" in the development of their writing skills in English and ELL classrooms. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Findings revealed that students found the institutional category of "English Language Learner," often limited their social standing and academic opportunities in the classroom and wider school setting. Students' writing instruction was often compromised by administrative pressures to meet federal/ state testing mandates, by a lack of teacher training in second language writing, and by the limited amount of classtime that was dedicated to discussions on writing and rhetorical analysis. As a result, students had limited exposure to advanced academic genres and to rich discussions on writing and rhetoric. Despite these curricular limitations, the students of their own volition worked to develop and demonstrate literacy and rhetorical competencies in English through other in-school and out-of school activities. These competencies, which included: genre awareness, rhetorical analysis, digital literacy, professional writing, and creative writing, underscored the rich literacy resources and critical thinking skills that L2 writers can bring to their writing and their writing classrooms. These findings suggest several implications for composition theory and pedagogy, L2 writing, English education, and immigrant student education. The study offers insights into the lasting effects of institutional labels on students' academic literacy development, and it adds to the growing body of research and pedagogy on identity and writing. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.


This essay deals with the history of the perception of Tibet in the consciousness of Korea's intellectuals from the seventh to nineteenth centuries. Since Tibet was peripheral from the viewpoint of Koreans, and direct contact between the two lands was sporadic at best, little continuity in the perceptions of Tibet can be traced. By the eighteenth century, much of the earlier contacts with Tibet, which had centred on Buddhism, were simply forgotten because, from the fifteenth century onward, Buddhism no longer enjoyed the status of the royally protected religio . For eighteenth- and nineteenth century Korean intellectuals, Tibet was first and foremost a part (albeit rather heterogeneous) of the China-centred political space and known mostly from Chinese sources. It is noteworthy, however, that in eigteenth century Korea, such faraway outskirts of the Sinitic oikoumene as Tibet increasingly drew attention. It points to an important epistemological shift that saw the "periphery" gaining in importance vis-a-vis the "centre".


This paper explores whether and how technological innovation, in conjunction with policy measures, can improve the process of correspondent banking cross-border payments. The paper builds on the empirical validation of existing shortcomings in this area of business by using a questionnaire and industry expert focus group sessions. Having identified the key areas of concern (e.g. cost, transparency, speed), several new network models for cross-border payments are assessed, in terms of their ability to address existing problems. Among the possible models, we also explore the use of innovative technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT). As a final step, we evaluate the different models and complement our findings with policy recommendations, in particular with a view to further streamlining Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist-Financing (CTF) as well as conduct of business rules in payments and supporting information sharing on suspicious transactions between institutions globally.


The article gives the meaning and definition of open access. It throws light on emergence and development of open access initiatives and various declarations in the world. The types of open access and their characters are given. The gradual increase of journals in DOAJ is shown. The impacts of OA are various facts of the academic community and the challenges for OA are dealt. The OA initiatives in India are listed.


Elevated levels of government debt raise concerns about their effects on long-term growth prospects. Using the cross section of US stock returns, we show that (i) high-R&D firms are more exposed to government debt and pay higher expected returns than low-R&D firms, and (ii) higher levels of the debt-to-GDP ratio predict higher risk premiums for high-R&D firms. Furthermore, rises in the cost of capital for innovation-intensive firms predict declines in subsequent productivity and economic growth. We propose a production-based asset pricing model with endogenous innovation and fiscal policy shocks that can rationalize key aspects of the empirical evidence. Our study highlights a novel and distinct risk channel shaping the link between government debt and future growth. JEL classification: E62, H32, O33


The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of student teaching as perceived by first year teachers, university supervisors and cooperating classroom teachers. The objectives of the study were as follows: 1) to describe student teaching in agricultural education as perceived by first year teachers, university supervisors, and cooperating classroom teachers, 2) to determine first year teachers' self-perceived preparedness for teaching vocational agriculture, 3) to identify perceptions of first year teachers of vocational agriculture regarding sources of selfperceived preparedness, and 4) to identify significant sources of variance in perceived preparedness explained by components of the preservice program and characteristics of first year teachers of vocational agriculture. Data collected were obtained from questionnaires returned by 59 first year teachers, 52 university supervisors and 112 cooperating classroom teachers who were involved in the agricultural education student teaching programs in the AATEA Southern Region during the Fall of 1984 and Spring of 1985. First year teachers rated their preparation for classroom and laboratory instruction the highest (mean = 3.81) using the scale of 1 * unprepared and 5 » very well prepared. Perceived preparedness for conducting adult education programs was rated the lowest (mean « 2.99). For all areas, first year teachers rated their preparation ix between the categories of acceptable and well prepared. There is a lack of uniformity of student teaching experiences among states in the southern region. Most experiences last for less than 12 weeks and approximately 40 percent of the students feel this time is too short. Regardless of the length of student teaching the participants, which included students, university supervisors and cooperating teachers, are generally satisfied with the student teaching experience. The three groups perceived student teaching to be effective. First year teachers perceived on-the-job/self study as making the highest contribution toward preparedness (mean 3.56) based on a scale of 1 ■ no contribution to 5 = very high contribution. Yet, regression analysis revealed that the perceived contribution of university agricultural education courses was an important factor in teacher preparation. Sixty-one percent of the variance in perceived preparedness was explained by the perceived contribution of university agricultural education courses.


By means of a literature review, this paper strives to provide some clarity on the much-debated relationship between product market competition and firmsi¯ incentives to innovate. It shows that in the literature there does not exist a robust relationship between competition and incentives to innovate. Therefore, it would be futile to continue the debate over whether competition stimulates or hinders innovation. A more useful approach is to make a distinction between pre-innovation competition and post-innovation competition, as it provides a way for reconciling many of the seemingly contradictory findings from the literature. Another important insight from the literature is that the relationship between competition and innovation depends on the source of increased competition.


A common problem of kernel-based online algorithms, such as the kernel-based Perceptron algorithm, is the amount of memory required to store the online hypothesis, which may increase without bound as the algorithm progresses. Furthermore, the computational load of such algorithms grows linearly with the amount of memory used to store the hypothesis. To attack these problems, most previous work has focused on discarding some of the instances, in order to keep the memory bounded. In this paper we present a new algorithm, in which the instances are not discarded, but are instead projected onto the space spanned by the previous online hypothesis. We call this algorithm Projectron. While the memory size of the Projectron solution cannot be predicted before training, we prove that its solution is guaranteed to be bounded. We derive a relative mistake bound for the proposed algorithm, and deduce from it a slightly different algorithm which outperforms the Perceptron. We call this second algorithm Projectron++. We show that this algorithm can be extended to handle the multiclass and the structured output settings, resulting, as far as we know, in the first online bounded algorithm that can learn complex classification tasks. The method of bounding the hypothesis representation can be applied to any conservative online algorithm and to other online algorithms, as it is demonstrated for ALMA2. Experimental results on various data sets show the empirical advantage of our technique compared to various bounded online algorithms, both in terms of memory and accuracy.


How is it possible, through drawing, to identify and translate the elements of a
specific experience into drawings? The thesis presents the findings of the
practice-led research, which sought, through engagement with processes of
drawing and phenomenology (notably Heidegger 1962 and Merleau-Ponty
2002) and/or psychoanalysis (notably Csikszentmihalyi 1990, Bollas 1987), to
address this question. The research has been specific to the translation,
through drawing, of luminary into drawings. The experience researched and
translated, through drawing into drawings, is identified as luminary and refers
to the author's experience of a night sky. The research identified the elements
of luminary as; external elements - luminosity, blackness and vastness;
internal elements - awareness of being, awareness of the continuum of time
and fluctuating state of consciousness. The fluctuating state of consciousness generated during luminary was noted
to have resonance with the experience of certain artworks (notably Kapoor
2000 and Cardiff 2001) initiating the thought that it would be possible and
valid to translate luminary into drawing. The elements of luminary are not
specific to the researcher and the drawings themselves are a form of artwork.
Previous work relevant to the fluctuating state of consciousness, concentrates
on the experience from a third person perspective, through the experience of
the artworks of others (Dewey 1934, De Bolla 2001). This research offers
conclusions from a first person perspective - the researcher is also the
researched - furthering understanding of human experience. The
documentation of implicit elements of processes of drawing offers insights
into, and consequently, furthers understanding of a creative process. The hybrid methodology adopted for the research is referred to as action
theoria, taking its name from the combination of action research (Dick 1993)
and theoria (Davy 2006). Action theoria incorporates the cyclical and iterative
process of action research - intention; action; review - with a process of
theoria - the dialogue of both practice and theory's relationship to a given subject matter. This research responds to luminary - as its subject matter -
and is led through the investigations of drawing and drawings. Action theoria
also involves reflective practice, as outlined by Schon (1983) as a means of
evaluating the research findings.
The effectiveness of the hybrid methodology action theoria, developed for this
research, made it possible to answer the research question by uncovering the
possibilities for translating a specific experience, in this case luminary, into
drawings. The research culminated in a freestanding drawing that could be
entered into. The drawing was considered to contain the identified elements of
luminary: luminous black, infinite black, continuum of time, and fluctuating
state of consciousness. The presence of a luminous black was created by the
perforations in the drawing's surface. The presence of an infinite black
appeared through the vast compressed charcoal surface. The suggestion of
infinity was implied by the continuation of the repetitive fingertip marks and
perforations drawn between the concertina folds. Evidence of the fluctuating
state of consciousness was a visible trace through the marks on the paper. As a consequence, the final drawing of Phase Three, Series 8, (figure 89) was
considered to be an effective translation of the identified elements of luminary;
external elements - luminosity, blackness and vastness; internal elements -
awareness of being, awareness of the continuum of time and fluctuating state
of consciousness and therefore, the drawing concluded the research by
demonstrating - it is possible, through drawing, to identify and translate the
elements of a specific experience into drawings.


TradiTionally, neurosurgical education is carried out by academically inclined neurosurgeons at teaching institutions. For the most part, these neurosurgeons are excellent role models who teach by example, but who lack formal instruction in adult educational principles; however, increasing pressure for more formalized educational methods in resident training exists.17,81 This pressure to increase the efficacy of neurosurgical education has developed for several reasons, including resident duty-hour restraints, public concerns about supervision of trainees, and the realization that the ever-increasing fund of knowledge required by a practicing neurosurgeon mandates acquiring lifelong learning skills.8,41, 43, 44, 58,72 Furthermore, the contemporary neurosurgeon is expected to be the leader of a medical team that includes advanced practice clinicians, operating room nurses and technicians, and staff in the intensive care and surgical wards. Part of this leadership role involves the instruction, supervision, and assessment of those involved in caring for patients with neurological illnesses. Furthermore, a neurosurgeon is responsible for the education of patients and patient families before treatment plans can be formulated. The goal of this paper is to review the literature regarding education in neurosurgery and to identify principles of adult learning and assessment that should be woven into the framework of neurosurgery education.


This chapter reviews empirical evidence from China that bears on the general theory of the income taxation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Prior theoretical literature has offered three conflicting views of SOE taxation. The first is that SOE taxation is superfluous, because the government shareholder can simply demand profit distributions. The second is that SOE taxation is necessary to put state-owned and private firms on an equal competitive footing. The third view holds that the significance of SOE taxation lies in the fact that SOE managers, like managers of private firms, may be dividend averse; in the absence of other effective mechanisms to secure adequate payout, SOE taxation serves the purpose of forcing distributions. These conflicting theoretical views should be empirically testable. In particular, the first view suggests that SOEs should be insensitive to the income tax, that they would not pursue domestic tax planning, and that a firm's tax sensitivity should rise as it becomes more privatized. By contrast, the third view suggests that SOEs are likely to be tax sensitive, and that such tax sensitivity is as much a function of managerial compensation and the degree of shareholder monitoring as it is of the proportion of government ownership. The chapter shows that recent advanced accounting research on Chinese listed companies augments already strong historical and legal evidence that supports the third view. Chinese SOEs, particularly centrally-owned SOEs, engage in extensive tax lobbying, and display degrees of tax planning similar to private firms. The chapter suggests that further empirical research on SOE taxation should be designed with a more explicit aim of testing the above theories, for example by examining whether countries that encounter greater problems with SOE corporate governance also rely more heavily on SOE income taxation.


Terrain generation is a convoluted and a
popular topic in the VFX industry. Whether you are part of the film/TV or
gaming industry, a terrain, is a highly nuanced feature that is usually
present. Regardless of walking on a desert like terrain in the film, Blade
Runner 2049 or fighting on different planets like in Avatar, 3D terrains is a
major part of any digital media. The purpose of this thesis is about developing
a workflow for large-scale terrains using complex data sets and utilizing this
workflow to maintain a balance between the procedural content and the artistic
input made especially for smaller companies which cannot afford an enhanced
pipeline to deal with major technical complications. The workflow consists of two
major elements, development of the tool used to optimize the workflow and the
recording and maintaining of the efficiency in comparison to the older
workflow. My research findings indicate that despite the
increase in overall computational abilities, one of the many issues that are
still present is generating a highly advanced terrain with the added benefits
of the artists and users' creative variations. Reducing the overall time to
simulate and compute a highly realistic
and detailed terrain is the main goal, thus this thesis will present a method
to overcome the speed deficiency while keeping the details of the terrain present.


As we navigate our environment, we are constantly assessing the objects we encounter and deciding on their subjective interest to us. In this study, we investigate the neural and ocular correlates of this assessment as a step towards their potential use in a mobile human-computer interface (HCI). Past research has shown that multiple physiological signals are evoked by objects of interest during visual search in the laboratory, including gaze, pupil dilation, and neural activity; these have been exploited for use in various HCIs. We use a virtual environment to explore which of these signals are also evoked during exploration of a dynamic, freeviewing 3D environment. Using a hierarchical classifier and sequential forward floating selection (SFFS), we identify a small, robust set of features across multiple modalities that can be used to distinguish targets from distractors in the virtual environment. The identification of these features may serve as an important factor in the design of mobile HCIs.


This paper presents performance of two robust gradient-based heuristic optimization procedures based on 3n enumeration and tunneling approach to seek global optimum of constrained integer problems. Both these procedures consist of two distinct phases for locating the global optimum of integer problems with a linear or non-linear objective function subject to linear or nonlinear constraints. In both procedures, in the first phase, a local minimum of the function is found using the gradient approach coupled with hemstitching moves when a constraint is violated in order to return the search to the feasible region. In the second phase, in one optimization procedure, the second sub-procedure examines 3 integer combinations on the boundary and within hypercube volume encompassing the result neighboring the result from the first phase and in the second optimization procedure a tunneling function is constructed at the local minimum of the first phase so as to find another point on the other side of the barrier where the function value is approximately the same. In the next cycle, the search for the global optimum commences in both optimization procedures again using this new-found point as the starting vector. The search continues and repeated for various step sizes along the function gradient as well as that along the vector normal to the violated constraints until no improvement in optimum value is found. The results from both these proposed optimization methods are presented and compared with one provided by popular MS Excel solver that is provided within MS Office suite and other published results. Keywords—Constrained integer problems, enumerative search algorithm, Heuristic algorithm, tunneling algorithm.


Headwater streams remove, transform, and store inorganic nitrogen (N) delivered from surrounding watersheds, but excessive N inputs from human activity can saturate removal capacity. Most research has focused on quantifying N removal from the water column over short periods and in individual reaches, and these ecosystem-scale measurements suggest that assimilatory N uptake accounts for most N removal. However, cross-system comparisons addressing the relative role of particular biota responsible for incorporating inorganic N into biomass are lacking. Here we assess the importance of different primary uptake compartments on reach-scale ammonium (NH4+-N) uptake and storage across a wide range of streams varying in abundance of biota and local environmental factors. We analyzed data from 17 15N-NH4 tracer addition experiments globally, and found that assimilatory N uptake by autotrophic compartments (i.e., epilithic biofilm, filamentous algae, bryophytes/macrophytes) was higher but more variable than for heterotrophic microorganisms colonizing detrital organic matter (i.e., leaves, small wood, and fine particles). Autotrophic compartments played a disproportionate role in N uptake relative to their biomass, although uptake rates were similar when we rescaled heterotrophic assimilatory N uptake associated only with live microbial biomass. Assimilatory NH4+-N uptake, either estimated as removal from the water column or from the sum uptake of all individual compartments, was four times higher in open- than in closed-canopy streams. Using Bayesian Model Averaging, we found that canopy cover and gross primary production (GPP) controlled autotrophic assimilatory N uptake while ecosystem respiration (ER) was more important for the heterotrophic contribution. The ratio of autotrophic to heterotrophic N storage was positively correlated with metabolism (GPP:ER), which was also higher in open- than in closed-canopy streams. Our analysis shows riparian canopy cover influences the relative abundance of different biotic uptake compartments and thus GPP:ER. As such, the simple categorical variable of canopy cover explained differences in assimilatory N uptake among streams at the reach scale, as well as the relative roles of autotrophs and heterotrophs in N storage. Finally, this synthesis links cumulative N uptake by stream biota to reach-scale N demand and provides a mechanistic and predictive framework for estimating and modeling N cycling in other streams.

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Is the relationship between populist leaders and those in their parties always charismatic? Although many scholars of populism assume this, the attribution of 'charisma' is invariably based on how leaders present themselves rather than how purported followers within parties perceive them. In line with the literature on charisma, this article takes the latter approach, using interviews conducted between 2009 and 2011 with 111 elected representatives and grassroots members (i.e. 'the coterie') to examine how three European populist leaders regularly termed 'charismatic' – Silvio Berlusconi, Christoph Blocher and Umberto Bossi – were viewed within their parties. The article finds evidence of three different leadership types, with Bossi very clearly satisfying the conditions for coterie charisma, Berlusconi largely (but not entirely) fulfilling them, and Blocher only partially doing so. Finally, it presents new data showing the very damaging effects of Bossi's subsequent downfall on his party's organisation.


Diastereomeric oligopyridine-ruthenium(II)-amino acid conjugated complexes of the general formulas Lambda- and Delta-[Ru(bpy)(2)(4,4'(CO(2)Y)(2)-bpy)](2+), where Y = L-AlaCONH(2), L-LysCONH(2), L-HisCONH(2), L-TyrCONH(2)), were synthesized and characterized. Their binding properties with ct-DNA and the oligonucleotide duplex d(5'CGCGCG-3')(2), by means of circular dichroism (CD), NMR spectroscopy and DNA thermal denaturation (T(m)) curves were studied. CD and T(m) data indicate that all diastereomeric complexes bind to the DNA major groove, Delta-diastereomers in a similar manner, while Lambda-diastereomers in dependence of the nature of the amino acid. NMR studies of d(5'CGCGCG-3')(2), and the complexes Delta-1, Delta-2, Lambda-1 and Lambda-2 indicate that Delta-1 and Delta-2 were bound having the ancillary bpy ligands towards the DNA groove, while the corresponding Lambda-1 and Lambda-2 were orientated in a similar way, facing the ligand 4,4'(CO(2)Y)(2)bpy towards the DNA major groove. Photoinduced DNA cleavage was observed in all cases studied, which take place through singlet oxygen production. Delta-4 and Lambda-4 show the lower photoinduced cleavage yield, probably because the singlet oxygen ((1)O(2)) oxidizes not only the DNA phosporodiesteric bonds but the tyrosine's phenolic OH bond as well.


The current European economic crisis is principally fiscal in nature. During the weekend of May 8-9, 2010, European leaders crafted a very important and constructive political "grand bargain" between EU member states and the European Central Bank (ECB) with far reaching, positive implications for the credibility of the European Union's fiscal policy framework and the long-term sustainability of European government finances. There is no chance that the eurozone will break up as a result of the current economic crisis and in the long term from the effects of the grand bargain. Leaving the euro will come at catastrophic cost to any nation that tries to do so out of economic weakness. If Greece is ultimately forced to default on its debts, it is certain the Greek government would want to do it within the eurozone. As such, a Greek default poses no risk to the composition of the eurozone, which considering that a German departure is equally unlikely is a secure monetary union. Kirkegaard suggests a set of required next steps for Europe: (1) European governments must immediately begin to address the lingering uncertainties surrounding the capital adequacy of the eurozone banking system; (2) it is crucial that eurozone governments, particularly among the Southern members, deliver expeditiously on the austerity and not least structural reform commitments recently made; and (3) the eurozone should consider introducing a potential "carrot" for members that successfully manage to put their government finances on a sustainable path. This carrot could come in the form of a future common "Maastricht bond," similar to the often suggested "eurobond," but open only to eurozone member s that actually adhere to the Maastricht Treaty debt stock criteria of a maximum level of government debt of 60 percent over an entire business cycle. A successfully launched pan-European Maastricht bond, backed by the credibility of years of painfully endured austerity measures across a sufficient number of participating member states, could achieve a scale and market depth not far off today's US treasury market. A Maastricht bond could consequently pose the first serious threat to an increasingly fragile US treasury market as the "global safe haven" asset.


Rapid population ageing and economic transformation in Asia underline the policy challenges associated with ensuring income security in old age. This article examines the potential role of social pensions in securing old-age income security in Asia. It assesses the main policy trade-offs associated with adopting alternative social pension designs, especially around two critical policy points: the comparative advantages of social assistance and social pensions; and the integration of non-contributory transfers within advanced contributory pension schemes.


Against the background of governments' consolidation strategies, ETUI researcher Vera Glassner provides an overview of recent developments in terms of pay, employment and reforms of the pay system in the public sector. Cuts and freezes of public sector wages were most frequently imposed unilaterally by the state. The author argues that the re-establishment of collective bargaining as a mechanism to settle public sector pay is of vital importance in order to prevent downward pressures on wages, maintain workers' purchasing power and contribute to a stable and balanced economic development within the Eurozone and across the business cycle.


In this dissertation, we consider the variable chaplygin gas (VCG) model as derived from the Tachyon gas model and search for a sub-class of models that provide an adequate fit to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. We find that, for an appropriate choice of VCG parameters, up to ∼ 80% of the VCG collapses into a gravitationally bound condensate which behaves as matter; the evolution of the remaining VCG, as governed by its equation of state, brings about accelerated expansion at late times. In light of this high collapsed fraction, we approximate the VCG transfer function with that of cold dark matter. We show that we can sufficiently describe the VCG cosmology from decoupling to today in terms of a model in which the gravitationally bound condensate plays the role of cold dark matter and the remaining VCG takes the place of dark energy in the concordance model. We then compute the CMB temperature anisotropy spectrum for a subset of VCG models and proceed to find a best-fit model to the WMAP-9yr data [46]. Our best-fit model has a χ per degrees of freedom of 2.03.


In the domain of printed electronics (PE), field-effect transistors (FETs) with an oxide semiconductor channel are very promising. In particular, the use of high gate-capacitance of the composite solid polymer electrolytes (CSPEs) as a gate-insulator ensures extremely low voltage requirements. Besides high gate capacitance, such CSPEs are proven to be easily printable, stable in air over wide temperature ranges, and possess high ion conductivity. These CSPEs can be sensitive to moisture, especially for high surface-to-volume ratio printed thin films. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive experimental study on the effect of humidity on CSPE-gated single transistors. At the circuit level, the performance of ring oscillators (ROs) has been compared for various humidity conditions. The experimental results of the electrolyte-gated FETs (EGFETs) demonstrate rather comparable currents between 30%–90% humidity levels. However, the shifted transistor parameters lead to a significant performance change of the RO frequency behavior. The study in this paper shows the need of an impermeable encapsulation for the CSPE-gated FETs to ensure identical performance at all humidity conditions.


Animal shelters, pounds and rescue organisations have evolved over time. Today they serve three purposes: to reduce animal welfare harms, to reduce harms to the community associated with free-roaming, stray or unwanted companion animals, and to reduce their associated environmental harms. This discussion explores the evolution of animal shelters, and argues that they are justified on utilitarian grounds. It explores unintended harms of shelters on animal welfare, including humane killing for the purposes of population control and shelter population management, as well as risks associated with confinement including behavioural deterioration and infectious diseases. It also explores harms to non-human animals, including moral distress and compassion fatigue. Finally, it explores potential environmental harms of shelters. The One Welfare concept, utilised in the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) Global Animal Welfare Strategy, acknowledges the interplay between animal welfare, human well-being and environmental sustainability. It is argued that the One Welfare framework is critical in minimising harms and maximising benefits associated with animal shelters.


The recognition of dialogue act is a task of crucial importance for the processing of natural language in many applications such as dialogue system. However, it is one of the most challenging problems. The current dialogue act recognition models, namely cue-based models, are based on machine learning techniques, particularly statistical ones. Despite the success of the cue-based models, they still have serious drawbacks. Among them are, inadequate representation of dialogue context, intra-utterance and inter-utterances independencies assumptions, inaccurate estimation of the recognition accuracy and suboptimality of the lexical cues selection approaches.
Motivating by these drawbacks, this research proposes a new model of dialogue act recognition in which dynamic Bayesian machine learning is applied to induce dynamic Bayesian networks models from task-oriented dialogue corpus using sets of lexical cues selected automatically by means of new variable length genetic algorithm. In achieving this, the research is planned in three main stages. In the initial stage, the dynamic Bayesian networks models are constructed based on a set of lexical cues selected tentatively from the dialogue corpus. The results are compared with the results of static Bayesian networks and naive bayes. The results confirm the merits of using dynamic Bayesian networks for dialogue act recognition.
In the second stage, the previous ranking approaches are investigated for the selection of lexical cues. The main drawbacks of these approaches are highlighted, and based on that an alternative approach is proposed. The proposed approach consists of preparation phase and selection phase. The preparation phase transforms the original dialogue corpus into phrases space. In the selection phase, a new variable length genetic algorithm is applied to select the lexical cues. The results of the proposed approach are compared with the results of the ranking approaches. The results provide experimental evidences on the ability of the proposed approach to avoid the drawbacks of the ranking approaches.
In the final stage; the dynamic Bayesian networks models are redesigned using the lexical cues generated from the proposed lexical cues selection approaches. The results confirm the effectiveness of proposed approaches for the design of dialogue act recognition model.


We investigate, by simulations and experiments, the light scattering of small particles trapped in photonic crystal membranes supporting guided resonance modes. Our results show that, due to amplified Rayleigh small particle scattering, such membranes can be utilized to make a sensor that can detect single nano-particles. We have designed a biomolecule sensor that uses cross-polarized excitation and detection for increased sensitivity. Estimated using Rayleigh scattering theory and simulation results, the current fabricated sensor has a detection limit of 26 nm, corresponding to the size of a single virus. The sensor can potentially be made both cheap and compact, to facilitate use at point-of-care.


This study investigated the effects of prior lycopene supplementation on behaviour and haematology of Wistar rats subjected to psychological stress. Four groups of Wistar rats, each comprising seven animals were investigated: unstressed (U-Control), unstressed + lycopene (U+Lyco), stressed (SControl) and stressed + lycopene (S+Lyco). Olive oil was given by oral gavage to each rat in the groups, either singly or mixed with 10 mg/kg lycopene daily for two weeks. S-Control and S+Lyco groups were subjected to psychological stress followed by behavioural assessment using excitability score test. Blood samples were collected after sacrificing the animals and then analyzed. Psychological stress increased (P 0.05) erythrocyte MDA concentration. In conclusion, antioxidant properties of lycopene may be attenuating the effects of psychological stress on excitability score and erythrocytes of Wistar rats.

 Key words: excitability score, erythrocytes, total plasma proteins, fear stress, oxidative stress, antioxidant supplementation


A standard approach to learning object category detectors is to provide strong supervision in the form of a region of interest (ROI) specifying each instance of the object in the training images [17]. In this work are goal is to learn from heterogeneous labels, in which some images are only weakly supervised, specifying only the presence or absence of the object or a weak indication of object location, whilst others are fully annotated.

To this end we develop a discriminative learning approach and make two contributions: (i) we propose a structured output formulation for weakly annotated images where full annotations are treated as latent variables; and (ii) we propose to optimize a ranking objective function, allowing our method to more effectively use negatively labeled images to improve detection average precision performance.

The method is demonstrated on the benchmark INRIA pedestrian detection dataset of Dalal and Triggs [14] and the PASCAL VOC dataset [17], and it is shown that for a significant proportion of weakly supervised images the performance achieved is very similar to the fully supervised (state of the art) results.


A research project submitted to the WITS School of Education, Faculty of Humanities,
University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
of Master of Education by combination of coursework and research
Johannesburg, 2016


Many implementations of adaptive signal processing in the nervous system are likely to require a mechanism for gain control at the single neuron level. To properly adjust the gain of an individual neuron, it may be necessary to use information carried by neurons in other parts of the system. The ability to adjust the gain of neurons in one part of the brain, using control signals arising from another, has been observed in the electrosensory system of weakly electric fish, where descending pathways to a first-order sensory nucleus have been shown to influence the gain of its output neurons. Although the neural circuitry associated with this system is well studied, the exact nature of the gain control mechanism is not fully understood. In this paper, we propose a mechanism based on the regulation of total membrane conductance via synaptic activity on descending pathways. Using a simple neural model, we show how the activity levels of paired excitatory and inhibitory control pathways can regulate the gain and baseline excitation of a target neuron.


What can we possibly be thinking of with this title? It is monstrous to ponder an undemocratic world, one without citizenship and the media. Yet just such a monster is proposed by this very book, which postulates the decline of conventional media forms because the political economy underpinning TV drama, event cinema, print journalism, sport, music, advertising, and so on is undergoing unprecedented change: black-box techniques and technologies, once set away from audiences, are increasingly part of public debate and use. Consumer electronics connect to information and communication technologies and vice versa; televisions resemble computers; books are read on telephones; newspapers are written through clouds; and so on. Genres and gadgets that were separate are now linked, and the mystification of conventional media is supposedly undermined. It is human, all too human (Malmodin, Moberg, Lunden, Finnveden, & Lovehagen, 2010).

In this chapter, we provide a cautious welcome to a life without media—and we include new as well as ancient and middle-aged media in that speculative fiction. Why? Both utopic advocates and dystopic critics have failed to consider the ecological impact of past, present, and future media. This should be a principal concern of both discourses, since the phrase "life without media" presumes disposability. Despite the environmental benefit of a life without media, we query such a future, given the role they have played in democratization.