Within the full risk assessment of a chemical, developmental toxicity testing is one of the endpoints that require the highest percentage of experimental animals. With the high number of experimental animals, cost and time involved in in vivo developmental toxicity testing there is an urgent need for in vitro methods for these toxicological endpoints. Unfortunately, until now the Embryonic Stem cell Test (EST), one of the few well established alternative system for developmental toxicity testing that does not require the use of any animals, has not been accepted for implementation into regulatory settings. One of the reasons why this is the case for the ESTc is that the predictivity and applicability domain of the assay, in terms of the chemical classes and biological mechanisms for which it can make a accurate prediction has not been satisfactory defined. Furthermore, the assay currently only uses cardiomyocyte differentiation to determine the potential embryotoxic effect of compounds which could lead to false-negative results for compounds only affecting other differentiation lineages, hereby reducing the predictive value of the assay. The first aim of the thesis was to assess the use of category approaches in evaluating the applicability domain of the EST by performing in vitro – in vivo comparisons within chemical classes. Furthermore, we assessed how incorporating data on kinetic properties could enhance these in vitro – in vivo extrapolations. The second aim of this thesis was to investigate if incorporating an osteoblast differentiation route into an EST test panel could improve the overall predictive value of the method. The results of the thesis show that the category approach represents a useful method to evaluate the applicability domain of alternative assays. For the ESTc to be implemented within a risk assessment setting the in vitro effect concentrations need to be extrapolated to in vivo doses. We showed that the category approach leads to far more favorable in vivo effective dose estimates based on the in vitro – in vivo correlations compared to studies were a set of diverse chemicals are used. This supports the use of the category approach as it allows a more reliable extrapolation of in vitro concentration to in vivo doses that could be used in risk assessment. Furthermore, we showed that the in vitro - in vivo extrapolations could be enhanced by the use of a PBK model for chemical classes that show diverse kinetic properties. With regard to the second aim of the thesis, we found that the results on the osteoblast differentiation assay developed and described in this thesis show that although there is a large overlap for most compounds in their effect on different differentiation routes, there are some compounds, for example TCDD, that can only be identified as embryotoxicants by investigating very specific differentiation endpoints. This shows that an EST test panel incorporating multiple differentiation endpoints, including osteoblast differentiation, can improve its predictive value in determining the embryotoxicity of compounds compared to an assay that only assess the effect of compounds on a single differentiation pathway.


Background Currently, human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV and AIDS) education and training in nursing suffer from various inadequacies and lack any real formalisation in their governance. As a result, Bachelor of Nursing students find themselves challenged in providing effective HIV and AIDS healthcare management, largely because of the deficit in training identified. An HIV and AIDS education intervention programme was introduced at a selected KwaZulu-Natal university to assist in bridging the perceived knowledge gap. This article communicates programme evaluation findings. Objectives The aim of this article was to determine levels of HIV knowledge achieved following an HIV education intervention programme. Methods A pure, descriptive quantitative research design was employed, using total population sampling (N = 133). A modified G3658-11 Collecting Evaluation Data: End-of-Session Questionnaire, developed by the University of Wisconsin–Extension, was administered for data collection. Results Females predominated in the study, and most participants were African with 1 to 3 years of education programme exposure. Perceived HIV knowledge increase was evident: pathophysiology (n = 93, 70.2%); immunology (n = 97, 72.9%); transmission (n = 116, 87.5%); diagnosis (n = 109, 81.8%); prevention strategies (n = 118, 88.4%); staging and monitoring (n = 106, 80%); pre- and post-test counselling (n = 104, 78%). Conclusion Pre- and ongoing in-service HIV and AIDS training can improve perceived HIV knowledge levels for both nursing students and professionals. Mandatory HIV and AIDS healthcare management training is therefore recommended in planning for its effective impartation by nursing educators.


One essential element of open data ecosystems concerns their development through feedback loops, discussions and dynamic supplier and user interactions. These user-centric features communicate the users' needs to the open data community as well to the public sector bodies responsible for data publication. Addressing these needs by the corresponding public sector bodies or even by utilising the power of the community as ENGAGE supports will actually accelerate innovation. However, these elements appear barely to be part of existing open data practices. We conducted a survey which showed that most professional open data users did not know at least one open data infrastructure that enabled five specific types of discussion and feedback mechanisms. The survey showed that much can still be done to improve feedback and discussion on open data infrastructures. In this paper we discuss an open data platform which has started to contribute to filling this gap and present a usage scenario explaining the sequence of the underlined functionality. The discussed ENGAGE open data infrastructure combines functionalities to close the feedback loop and to return information to public authorities for better open data use and publication as well as establishing communication channels between stakeholders. This may effectively lead to the stimulation and facilitation of value generation from open data, as such functionality position the user at the centre of the open data publication process.


Removal of heavy hydrocarbons from natural gas streams is necessary in all liquefaction processes to prevent freeze-out in the main cryogenic equipment. In addition, more valuable products are obtained giving the process an economical benefit. The process of removing natural gas liquids (NGL) is either done upstream the liquefaction process, or as an integrated part of the pre-cooling of the gas. Both of these possibilities were studied in this master thesis. The purpose of the thesis is to use the built in Hyprotech SQP optimizer in Aspen HYSYS software program to optimize four different NGL extraction processes. The results have been used to evaluate and compare the different extraction schemes, focusing on performance parameters. Simulation models were used to test the robustness of the optimizer, and to study how it coped with small changes. This is a relevant topic, as the goal for many gas projects is to optimize the process efficiency of the plant. The results suggest that the Hyprotech SQP optimizer is very sensitive to changes in the setup of the derivative utility. Any changes to input data in the optimizer will affect the results obtained. The optimizer should always be configured after the modeller has made a final decision on the variables start and boundary values. When configured correctly, the optimizer produces good simulation results that satisfy the process constraints. The optimized processes were improved by 19 21 % compared to the initial objective function values. The integrated APCI process proved to be the best performing NGL extraction scheme. It had the best performance for criteria process complexity, process safety, product recovery, and production capacity. The upstream Fluor process had the lowest specific power, and was therefore leading among the schemes in process efficiency. In conclusion, it is challenging to set up the derivative utility and optimizer parameters properly. On the other hand, if configured correctly, the Hyprotech SQP optimizer has the ability to provide substantial improvements to a process model.


Protein Z is a vitamin-K-dependent plasma protein that serves as a cofactor for the inhibition of factor Xa. Although the precise physiologic function of protein Z is still unknown, abnornal plasma protein Z concentrations have been associated with a number of thrombotic disease states. There is the evidence of universal activation of the hemostatic system in Behqet's disease (BD), which represents a hypercoagulable/prothrombotic state. Circulating protein Z levels in patients with BD were evaluated. Plasma protein Z concentrations were assayed in 24 patients with BD (male/female: 13/11, mean age 35.4 years) and in 24 healthy controls (males/females: 14/10, mean age 59.8 years). The disease duration was 10.6 years (range, 1-30 years). None of the subjects in either group had received anticoagulants within 3 weeks before the study, and none of them had liver dysfunction. Patients complicated with vascular disease were also excluded from the study. Mean plasma concentrations of protein Z were 141 ng/mL (range, 56.8-257) in healthy controls and 107.8 ng/mL (range, 21.2-202) in BD patients (p<0.05). There was a positive correlation between the disease duration and protein Z levels in the study group (p<0.05, r=0.448). Alterations of protein Z concentrations could complicate the pathobiology of the prothrombotic state of BD. Furthermore, the tendency of increment in the protein Z with the passage of time may reflect the diminution of the disease activity.


In Hard Disk Drive (HDD), there are two control modes. One is a head positioning control mode, the other is a seek control mode. In the head positioning control mode, a feedback controller is optimally designed to suppress a disturbance. In the long span seek mode, a velocity feedback control system is applied in order to move a head fast. Thus, a HDD has plural control systems, and the head is moved to the target position while changing from one control system to the other. However, the changing of the control system causes a discontinuous control signal, which activates the resonance mode of an actuator. The past methods only can decrease the discontinuous control. Therefore, a single control system that can be used for both a seek control mode and a head positioning control mode is necessary for narrow track pitch. In the proposed method, the feedback controller is decomposed to an integrator and a phase compensator. The VCM model is updated by the output of the phase compensator, and the integrator and the output of the velocity feedback controller control the VCM. The validity of the proposed method was confirmed by numerical and experimental results using a miniature 2.5-inch Hard Disk Drive.


A method is described that uses particle hygro-scopicity measurements, made with a humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA), to determine solution water activity as a function of composition. The use of derived water activity data in computations determining the ability of aerosols to serve as cloud condensation nu-clei (CCN) is explored. Results for sodium chloride and ammonium sulfate are shown in Part I. The methodology yields solution water activities and critical dry diameters for ammonium sulfate and sodium chloride in good agreement with previously published data. The approach avoids the assumptions required for application of simplified and modified Köhler equations to predict CCN activity, most importantly , knowledge of the molecular weight and the degree of dissociation of the soluble species. Predictions of the dependence of water activity on the mass fraction of aerosol species are sensitive to the assumed dry density, but predicted critical dry diameters are not.


Aim: Using the clinical audit as a quality improvement tool with evidence of better results in high-volume centres in Catalonia (Spain), a re-organisation of specialized surgical procedures and rare tumour distribution among reference hospitals was implemented. Using rectal cancer as a case study, we assess the impact of centralization of high-complexity cancer care services. Methods: Mixed methods combining quantitative and qualitative data were used. Quality of cancer care in rectal cancer was audited in accordance with the clinical practice guideline (CPG), and outcomes in all patients surgically treated for the first time in public hospitals in Catalonia in two-time periods (2005/7 and 2011/12) were assessed. Indicators of the quality of rectal cancer care and its results, comparing both periods, were analysed in order to measure the impact of centralization. In addition, key informant semi-structured interviews (n = 15) were undertaken with the managers and the lead clinicians involved in the process, to obtain their perception of this re-organisation. Results: From 2005/7 to 2011/12 the number of hospitals performing rectal cancer surgery decreased from 51 to 29 centres. A better quality of TME (36.2% vs 79.6%), more preoperative radio-chemotherapy (51% vs 65.8%) and more lymph node extractions (median: 10 vs 14 n.) were observed comparing both periods. Also, the rate of LR during the first year after surgery fell from 3.49 to 2.75/100.000. Qualitative assessment showed a favourable stance towards centralisation among the stakeholders involved, although critical views arose in regard to a surgery-centred concentration, the takeover of the diagnostic process by the referring center including the associated costs, and the lack of policy guidance in respect of continuity of care. Conclusions: Health policy approach combining assessment from the clinical audit with reorganisation of the delivery of complex treatments has been associated with better outcomes. A model of care based on the centralisation of high-complexity cancer treatments should be reinforced by managed regional networks and improved referral of patients. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Luis-Manuel Garcia is a Lecturer in ethnomusicology and Popular Music Studies at the university of Birmingham, with previous appointments at the Max Planck institute for Human development (Berlin) and the university of Groningen (netherlands). His research focuses on urban electronic dance music scenes, with a particular focus on affect, intimacy, stranger-sociability, embodiment, sexuality, creative industries and musical migration. He is currently conducting a research project on "techno-tourism" in Berlin while preparing a book manuscript, Together Somehow: Music, Affect, and Intimacy on the Dancefloor.


A small neuronal network in the lobster stomatogastric ganglion, composed of impulse-producing motor neurons, gives rise to cyclic patterned outputs. This network continues to generate its cyclic motor program if impulse production within the ganglion is blocked. Continuously graded, nonimpulse-mediated, chemical synaptic transmission is suffucient to coordinate neuronal activity in a functioning pattern generator.


While financial inclusion is typically addressed by improving the financial infrastructure we show that financial literacy, representing the demand-side of financial markets, also has a beneficial effect. We study this effect at the cross-country level, which allows to consider institutional variation. Regarding "access to finance", financial infrastructure and financial literacy are mainly substitutes. However, regarding the "use of financial services", the effect of higher financial literacy strengthens the effect of more financial depth. The causal interpretation of these results is supported by IV-regressions. Moreover, the positive impact of financial literacy holds across income levels and several subgroups within countries.


Abstract Today we are living in an age when science has had a profound effect on our thinking and behaviour. Almost every sphere of our life has been affected by science to such an extent that we have developed a mistrust of all that is not part of science. Scientific spirit has come to characterise and almost determine our mental attitudes. Thanks to this overwhelming influence of science, it was natural for the modern man to judge the validity of all that he considers true against the touchstone of science. More recently, the word scientific has become a blanket term to denote accuracy and correctness. Unconsciously (and at times even consciously) the adjective scientific is equated with true and perhaps the only true. Today, more than ever, a great many scholars and theists are desperately striving to adapt religion to the advancements and discoveries of science. Scholars belonging to different religions are taking great pride in flaunting the so-called scientific character of their respective religions, not realising that science itself is much given to change and revision. In this apologetic attitude there is a tacit acknowledgement that truth is an exclusive monopoly of science and anything not confirmed by the empirical investigation of science is bound to be untrue. We are hardly aware that this attitude is not doing any service to religion and, more precisely, by vindicating religion through science we are not providing religion very strong bases to rest on. This paper seeks to work out answers to questions such as the following: How much, if any, of the current scientific lore constitutes knowledge? What is the extent to which scientific method can effectively reach? Are there matters that science is not competent to deal with? This paper will demonstrate that science, by nature, is falsifiable and amenable to change whereas religion is not given to these changes. The study also proposes to demonstrate that science is not without its inherent limitations and inner contradictions and much of science itself is based upon relativities and contingencies, and that any attempt to make religion conformable to science or vice versa does good neither to science nor to religion. (ProQuest: ... denotes formula omitted.) Introduction: The Scientific Factor Herbert Butterfield, an eminent Cambridge historian, once said that the Scientific Revolution reduced the Renaissance and the Reformation "to the rank of mere episodes," and that it marked "the real origin both of the modern world and of the modern mentality."1 Given the overwhelming importance of science and the scientific worldview obtaining in the modern world it is easy to see what he meant. Today science figures very prominently in our everyday discourse and has come to pervade the entire fabric of human existence. From mythic and ritualistic beginnings, it has developed into one of the greatest and most influential fields of human endeavour. Numerous branches of science investigate almost everything "from China to Peru;"2 and science as a whole shapes the way we understand the universe, our planet, ourselves, and other living things. Organized empirical science provides the most impressive result of human rationality3 and the Scientific Revolution of our time took the world by surprise and relegated all that was unscientific to the realm of skepticism and superstition. This onslaught of science tended to equate religious teachings with false fears and ornamentations of life of no intellectual value. Thanks to this pervading awe of science, religion began to be perceived as a way of responding psychologically to pressures in society. Belief in miracles, and in fact belief in whatever is supernatural was considered to belong to the domain of fantasy. Two factors, in particular, intensified confrontation between science and religion. The first of these was the Industrial Revolution. Never has science been as pervasive and influential as it has been since the Industrial Revolution. …


The principle of free, prior and informed consent (fpic) is increasingly considered a core element of the international Indigenous rights regime. From its early iteration in the 1989 Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ilo) to its more robust articulation in the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (undrip),1 fpic has taken on central importance in relations between Indigenous peoples and states, particularly in the context of natural resource governance. However, like other concepts found in fundamental laws such as constitutions or international treaties, fpic is the product of a negotiated compromise and its sometimes ambiguous wording is subject to different interpretations. To this day theorists and practitioners from around the world, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, continue to debate its precise meaning and implications.2 Empirical studies looking at states policies and practices, from Canada and Australia to Latin America, also suggest wide variations in its operationalisation.3


This paper explores, from a philosophical and speculative rather than empirical perspective, and within the design disciplines in general, the complex relationships, between practice and education, and their respective assumptions and prejudices. The paper begins by characterising design education from three perspectives: first, education 'about' the discipline, in the sense of providing information that explicates the general disciplinary 'content' and focus; second, education 'for' the discipline, which usually accords to notions of training; and third, education as the 'instilling' of discipline itself, the elucidation and establishment of rigour and control. It then explores the nature of disciplinary 'for practice' education and sets out the extensive range of presumptions which often underlies the relationship between education and practice. Examining the current relationship between disciplinary education and tertiary studies, the paper looks at critical inquiry and disciplinary research, before focusing on competing institutional values and their operational and material consequences. The paper concludes with the example of architectural education's response to the demise of modernism, and at the lessons that might be learned from such educational change.
 Keywords:
design education; design philosophy; ideology; training; disciplinarity


Maleic anhydride (MA) compatibilized polypropylene (MPP) hybrid composites reinforced with potassium titanate whiskers (K 2Ti6O13) and liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) were prepared in a twin-screw extruder followed by injection molding. The surface of whiskers were treated with tetrabutyl orthotitanate before blending. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) examination showed that elongated LCP fibrils are formed in the skin section of hybrids reinforced with whiskers of various concentrations. Consequently, the hybrids reinforced with both LCP fibrils and whiskers exhibited anisotropic mechanical properties. Tensile test showed that longitudinal Young's modulus and tensile strength of hybrids tend to increase with increasing whisker content. Moreover, the stiffness and tensile strength of hybrids were higher than those of MPP/K2Ti6O13 composites. Such enhancement in mechanical properties resulted from the compatibilizing effect of MA-grafted-PP, and from the hybrid reinforcing effect of LCP fibrils and K 2Ti6O13 whiskers. Torque measurements revealed that LCP addition is beneficial in reducing the melt viscosity of MPP/K 2Ti6O13/LCP hybrids. The results of SEM observations generally correlate well with the mechanical measurements. The effects of MA compatibilization on the microstructure and mechanical properties of hybrids are discussed. q 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


Structural health monitoring (SHM) is the process of using measurements of a structure's response to known excitations and trying to determine if damage has occurred to the structure. This also fits the description of non-destructive evaluation (NDE). The main difference is that NDE takes place while the structure is out of service and SHM is intended to take place while the structure is in service. As such, SHM provides the opportunity to provide early warning against structural failure. This thesis intends to advance the state of the art in SHM by examining two approaches to SHM: vibration based and impedance based, and to associate these with the NDE method of stress intensity factors. By examining these methods the goal is to try and answer some of the important questions in SHM process. The first is to experimentally validate a crack model and to see how small of a crack can be detected by vibration methods. The second is to use the concept of stress intensity factor to perform an SHM type of measurement to determine the remaining life of a structure once the impedance method has determined that damage has occurred. The measurement system considered consists of using several different piezoceramic materials as self-sensing actuators and sensors. The structures are a simple beam and a more complex lug element used in aircraft applications. The approach suggested here is to use the impedance and vibration methods to detect crack initiation and then to use the proposed stress intensity method to measure the stress intensity factor of the structure under consideration.


As solar cell modules are becoming larger, it is important to pay attention to defects originating from the fabrication process and degradation during operation in the ambient. In this article, a simple method of using computer screen display as a light source to map the photoresponse of the solar cells, is reported. The method requires only a conventional computer loaded with a software code that enables a light spot of defined size to raster scan across the cell area as the photogenerated voltage is read out by a voltmeter using a USB connection. Screen-display-induced photoresponse (SDIP) mapping is an enabling technique to reveal the defective regions in the active layer as well as at the electrode interface, which, in many instances, cannot be deciphered simply by visual examination. Spectral response mapping by using light spots of different colors is also possible.


In this rigorous distillation of his political philosophy, Philip Pettit, author of the landmark work Republicanism, champions a simple standard for our most complex political judgments, offering a challenging ideal that nevertheless holds out a real prospect for social and democratic progress. Whereas many thinkers define freedom as the absence of interference-we are left alone to do as we please-Pettit demands that in their basic life choices free persons should not even be subject to a power of interference on the part of others. This notion of freedom as non-domination offers a yardstick for gauging social and democratic progress and provides a simple, unifying standard for analyzing our most entangled political quandaries. Pettit reaffirms the ideal, already present in the Roman Republic, of a free citizenry who enjoy equal status with one another, being individually protected by a law that they together control. After sketching a fresh history of freedom, he turns to the implications of the ideal for social, democratic, and international justice. Should the state erect systems for delivering mandatory healthcare coverage to its citizens? Should voting be a citizen's only means of influencing political leaders? Are the demands of the United Nations to be heeded when they betray the sovereignty of the state? Pettit shows how these and other questions should be resolved within a civic republican perspective. Concise and elegant in its rhetoric and ultimately radical in its reimagining of our social arrangements, Just Freedom is neither a theoretical treatise nor a practical manifesto, but rather an ardent attempt to elaborate the demands of freedom and justice in our time.


Abstract. On 6 April 2009 an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 occurred in L'Aquila city, Italy. In the city center and surrounding villages many masonry and reinforced concrete (RC) buildings were heavily damaged or collapsed. After the earthquake, the inspection carried out in the region provided relevant results concerning the quality of the materials, method of construction and the performance of the structures. The region was initially inhabited in the 13th century and has many historic structures. The main structural materials are unreinforced masonry (URM) composed of rubble stone, brick, and hollow clay tile. Masonry units suffered the worst damage. Wood flooring systems and corrugated steel roofs are common in URM buildings. Moreover, unconfined gable walls, excessive wall thicknesses without connection with each other are among the most common deficiencies of poorly constructed masonry structures. These walls caused an increase in earthquake loads. The quality of the materials and the construction were not in accordance with the standards. On the other hand, several modern, non-ductile concrete frame buildings have collapsed. Poor concrete quality and poor reinforcement detailing caused damage in reinforced concrete structures. Furthermore, many structural deficiencies such as non-ductile detailing, strong beams-weak columns and were commonly observed. In this paper, reasons why the buildings were damaged in the 6 April 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy are given. Some suggestions are made to prevent such disasters in the future.


We assess the color appearance of the samples with different inks on glossy substrates, five kinds of paper with different gloss levels. The color samples are measured using spectrophotometers under different illuminating/viewing geometries and visually estimated using the psychophysical method of magnitude estimation. The results of the two approaches are compared through the color appearance model of CIECAM02. The experimental data analysis indicates that the 0/45 and 15/0 geometries can be used to describe the two major aspects of gloss effect, the enlargement of color gamut, and the reduction of lightness. The agreement for hue attribute between instrumental measurement and visual assessment is better than those for colorfulness and lightness.


In recent years Portugal has embarked on a programme aimed at strengthening her economic ties with the countries and territories neighbouring Angola and Moc;:ambique. According to press statements released from time to time by the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs in Lisbon, protracted negotiations between Portugal and South Africa led to the conclusion of several treaties during 1964. Matters covered by these treaties include the sharing of the waters of the Cunene river between Angola and South West Africa and the sharing of hydro-electric power between the two territories; general questions of commercial exchange, economic planning and investment; civil aviation and the development of the airports; and the use by South Africa of the rail and port facilities in Mozambique.


The goal of my thesis is to understand why Kant thinks that transcendental idealism can secure empirical realism, the idea that there really exists an objective world that we can come to know through experience. I maintain that, according to Kant, the possibility of coming to know objective reality depends upon the possibility of referring to objects, which itself, Kant thinks, can be explained by transcendental idealism. The transcendental idealist worldview is supposed by Kant to explain the possibility of referring to objects because it recognizes that objects must conform to cognition and not the other way around. Therefore, I explore what Kant means by objects conforming to cognition. I start with the fact that Kant says that the conditions for the possibility of our experience of objects must be identical with the conditions for the possibility of those objects themselves. I then argue that this means that according to the transcendental idealist worldview, objective reality, if it is to be full-blooded objective reality, must be essentially able to show up for us in experience. In opposition to this worldview stands what Kant calls transcendental realism, the prevailing worldview that supposes that full-blooded objective reality simply cannot be essentially able to show up for us in experience. Kant says that the prevailing transcendental realist worldview, of which he claims all philosophies hitherto are variations, will never be able to explain the possibility of referring to objects, and that only his transcendental idealism can. Because Kant imputes so much importance to the opposition, I elaborate the distinction between transcendental idealism and transcendental realism, and clarify why only the latter can, as the former cannot, explain the possibility of referring to objects and thus the possibility of knowing an objective world, and thereby secure an empirical realism.


Sweden is considered as a leading nation in modern IT business. The growth of software development business provides an opportunity to strengthen the software engineering research in Sweden even further. This conference is intended as a starting point for a national network on software engineering and provides opportunity to discuss the current situation in software engineering research. Besides that the conference present a forum for Ph. D. students to meet and exchange ideas.


There is a rich array of timely high-frequency electronic data that potentially is informative about current economic conditions. In particular, data on electronic transactions and internet searches can be useful complements to more standard indicators of economic activity. While a limited selection of electronic data is currently used by national statisticians in the production of economic indicators, electronic data are likely to become an increasingly important source of information


Ejecta from impact craters on Venus are a major source of fine-grained materials across the planet, and crater spatial distribution has been studied as a guide to the relative age and resurfacing rates of large regions. Of particular interest is the potential intersection of distal crater deposits and tesserae, highly deformed landforms that may be the oldest materials on Venus. The composition of tesserae is unknown, but is key to understanding whether water played a role in crustal differentiation. Thus, tesserae are ideal sites for future landed missions to identify possible felsic materials, but the short lifespan of surface landers means that efforts must be made to avoid contaminating surface materials from craters. Here we develop a method to detect distal crater ejecta on tessera terrain across Venus using NASA Magellan radar data. Our results show that fine-grained ejecta are unevenly distributed in the tesserae with respect to nearby craters. Many tesserae within a few hundred kilometers of plains craters do not have evidence for thick (>5–10 cm) mantling material, indicating that eolian or mass-wasting processes have moved the debris off the highland ridge slopes. At Sudenitsa Tesserae, within the young Beta-Atla-Themis region, we observe a radar signature of mantling debris, but there is no apparent source crater to which this material can be traced. We infer that the source crater has been resurfaced by volcanic activity within the past 80 m.y., and suggest that similar fine-grained ejecta deposits may have built up over time in other tesserae across Venus.


Despite considerable advances in the field of retinal prosthetics during recent years, significant variability remains in the quality of vision restoration for patients. One target for refinement of prosthetic vision is to selectively activate one or more of the ~20 parallel channels of visual information that are established in the retina and subsequently travel to different visual networks in the brain. These different channels result in different spike train response patterns in the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) which constitute the sole output neuron population of the retina. Here we demonstrate, however, that the genuine visual response patterns of retinal ganglion cells can be altered by electrical stimulation, suggesting that the encoding of visual stimuli by retinal prosthesis devices may require consideration of stimulation-induced changes in the retina. Specifically, we demonstrate that ON and OFF response amplitudes increase significantly after stimulation. This leads to changes in the relative weighting of ON and OFF response types on a cell by cell basis - fundamentally altering the visual stimulus encoded by some RGCs.


We present a novel interaction device tracked in 6 degrees of freedom by two commodity cameras. The inexpensive Light Chisel is statically illuminated with two LEDs, and uses no additional sensor (e.g. inertial or magnetic) or means of communication or synchronization. Its form factor is well suited for a screwdriver or chisel grip, allowing the Light Chisel to be rolled between the fingers. The position and orientation of the tool is tracked absolutely, making the Light Chisel suited for complex interaction, e.g. geometric modeling in augmented reality. The Light Chisel is physically small, limiting the physical and optical collisions with the real world. The orientation of the tool is tracked in a wide range of angles: pitch and yaw ±90°, roll ±180°. We evaluated our system against the OptiTrack optical tracking system. Our system achieved mean differences from OptiTrack reference of 2.07 mm in position, 1.06° in yaw and pitch, and 5.26° in roll using a pair of VGA cameras. We demonstrate usefulness of our Light Chisel in four applications: character animation, modeling by swirls, volumetric modeling, and docking of CAD models.


Integrating theories of cognitive dissonance, system justification, and dynamic thought systems, the authors hypothesized that people would engage in anticipatory rationalization of sociopolitical outcomes for which they were not responsible. In two studies, the authors found that people adjusted their judgments of the desirability of a future event to make them congruent with its perceived likelihood, but only when the event triggered motivational involvement. In Study 1, a political survey administered to 288 Democrats, Republicans, and nonpartisans prior to the Bush-Gore presidential election manipulated the perceived likelihood that each candidate would win and measured the subjective desirability of each outcome. In Study 2, 203 undergraduate students rated the desirability of a large or small tuition increase or decrease that was low, medium, or high in likelihood. Under conditions evoking high motivational involvement, unfavorable as well as favorable outcomes were judged to be more desirable as their perceived likelihood increased.


Abstract The muddy Guyanas coastline in South America experiences significant short-term change involving alternations of accretion and erosion as a result of the influence of mud from the Amazon River. In French Guiana, the dynamic changes due to mud banks permanently migrating alongshore have a considerable impact on both coastal ecology and economic activities. As a result, monitoring of these mud banks constitutes an important coastal management issue. In this article, focus is placed on the development of a method for the monitoring mud bank migration rates since 1986 between the coastal cities of Cayenne and Kourou, spaced 60 km apart and using for the first time high temporal resolution satellite images rather than aerial photographs. To achieve this, 16 satellite pour l'observation de la terre (SPOT) images and one Landsat image covering the period 1986–2002 were acquired and integrated in a geographical information system (GIS). Because of tidal range variation on this mesotidal coast, mud bank characteristics cannot be objectively quantified using classical methods. Mathematical processing of the satellite imagery data, including correction for tides, was performed to obtain a set of coherent data for analysis of parts of the mud bank associated with intertidal mudflat development, from which quantification rates of mud bank migration becomes feasible. Rates of long shore migration of the mud bank recorded up to 2002 are highly variable. The intertidal part of the bank has slowed down in the past years, resulting in a cross-shore extension of the bank. This slowdown occurred following a rate of migration much higher than those reported in the literature. Seasonal events are also recorded between 2001 and 2002. The variability in rates of migration deduced from the method reported in this study corroborates a pattern reported from earlier studies in Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana based on more traditional methods, notably aerial photographs. This variability is tentatively attributed to changes in wind intensity and to local environmental parameters, such as coastline orientation, and the occurrence river estuary outflow and bedrock headlands.


1. Cultivation of freshly explanted chick embryonic heart tissues in Hanks's salt solution for 3 to 4 days has been shown to create a general state of nutritional deficiency in the cultures. Provided the depletion is not prolonged beyond 4 days, the cultures subsequently revive and survive to a normal period in synthetic medium M 150. 2. Paper chromatographic studies on the culture medium have shown that the amino acid metabolism of the depleted cultures is restored to a normal pattern within a few days in medium M 150. 3. By the use of the nutritional deficiency technique, a coenzyme A requirement for this type of culture has been established. 4. The application of these findings to tissue cell nutrition and the possible hazards of using serum, or other uncharacterized additions, either to establish cultures, or as part of the experimental medium, are discussed.


This article uses the life of Irina Layevska Echeverría Gaitán, a transgender and disability rights activist from Mexico, as a lens to examine the circulation and appropriation of the discursive New Man and the figure of Che Guevara by a broad set of actors from leftist revolutionaries to sexual rights activists in Mexico. Grappling with questions of temporality and intersectionality throughout, it follows her struggles to amend revolutionary discourses with her personal life despite her exclusion from normative models of the revolutionary figure. It argues that those excluded from the heteronormative able-bodied ideal of militancy—gay men, women, trans folk and those with disabilities—used the futurist, universal, and self-developmental aspects of the New Man to reject exclusionary leftist politics. Furthermore, the New Man as an aspirational yet abstract goal enabled the formulation of radically transgressive subject positions and provided a discourse with which to construct a militant identity that was inclusive and oppositional to the masculinist and ableist revolution.


The building sector is known as a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption. These impacts are commonly evaluated by life cycle assessment (LCA), which assess the potential impacts of a building from the construction to the end of life. LCA considers: the operating impacts (OI) occurring during the service life of buildings, and the embodied impacts (EI) occurring during the other lifecycle. Materials usually increase EI, but some of them, such the ones used for thermal inertia (TI), concur to energy efficiency and can reduce OI. This makes it difficult to understand the role of such materials in low carbon building strategies. The aim of this study is to understand how to weigh the overall environmental benefits of TI. Four building models were used to assess LCA with either low, medium, high or very high levels of TI. These are reached using materials characterized by different embodied impacts, such as concrete and earth. The difference with the low inertia case, taken as the base case, is evaluated for each model regarding OI and EI. The comparison between OI and EI determines which scenario brings the lowest impacts on LCA. To evaluate how the results are influenced by climate change, the analysis is made with two different scenarios: one with the typical meteorological year (TMY, Meteonorm) and the other with the weather conditions for 2050 (IPCC, International Panel on Climate Change). The paper shows a methodology to evaluate the effects of a design strategy on the LCA, applied to the case of TI. It demonstrates that TI is not very relevant in the frame of this case study because the EI related to the added materials is higher than the induced operating savings. Furthermore, it has been demonstrate that in the future when the carbon content of the energy may be lower, TI can change its effects and influence negatively the lifecycle environmental impacts.


Evidence for the tickborne nature of Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus (AHFV) is indirect because AHFV has not been detected in arthropods. One Ornithodoros savignyi tick from Saudi Arabia contained AHFV RNA. This is the first direct evidence that AHFV is a tickborne flavivirus and confirms the association between human AHFV cases and tickbite history.


The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed this document in furtherance of its statutory responsibilities under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002, Public Law 107-347. This publication seeks to assist organizations in designing, developing, conducting, and evaluating test, training, and exercise (TT&E) events in an effort to aid personnel in preparing for adverse situations involving information technology (IT). The events are designed to train personnel, exercise IT plans, and test IT systems, so that an organization can maximize its ability to prepare for, respond to, manage, and recover from disasters that may affect its mission. The guide describes the design, development, conduct, and evaluation of events for single organizations, as opposed to large-scale events that may involve multiple organizations.


This report describes Phase I of The Hyams Foundation's funding initiative for eight programs providing direct services to girls in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts. Although the programs varied in their sophistication and experience with gender-responsive approaches, in each case the programs served girls who were court involved and worked with the state social services or juvenile justice systems. The monograph describes the work of the initiative's Learning Community, participation in which was a requirement of funding, and findings from the Learning Community's participatory action research. Notably, the report describes nine lessons learned from the funding initiative, which are useful for foundations supporting girls' programs, as well as agencies and community based programs working with this population.


Abstract The currently available tools, such as RELAP5, RETRAN, and others, cannot easily and correctly perform the task of analyzing the system behavior during plant outages. Therefore, a medium-sized program aiming at reactor outage simulation and evaluation, such as midloop operation (MLO) with loss of residual heat removal (RHR), has been developed. Important thermal-hydraulic processes involved during MLO with loss of RHR can be properly simulated by the newly developed reactor outage simulation and evaluation (ROSE) code. The two-region approach with a modified two-fluid model has been adopted to be the theoretical basis of the ROSE code. To verify the analytical model in the first step, posttest calculations against the integral midloop experiments with loss of RHR have been performed. The excellent simulation capacity of the ROSE code against the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research Integral System Test Facility test data is demonstrated. To further mature the ROSE code in simulating a full-sized pressurized water reactor, assessment against the WGOTHIC code and the Maanshan momentary-loss-of-RHR event has been undertaken. The successfully assessed ROSE code is then applied to evaluate the abnormal operation procedure (AOP) with loss of RHR during MLO (AOP 537.4) for the Maanshan plant. The ROSE code also has been successfully transplanted into the Maanshan training simulator to support operator training. How the simulator was upgraded by the ROSE code for MLO will be presented in the future.


England, 1930s. Christopher Banks has become the country's most celebrated detective, his cases the talk of London society. Yet one unsolved crime has always haunted him; the mysterious disappearance of his parents, in Old Shanghai, when he was a small boy. Now, as the world lurches towards total war, Banks realises the time has come for him to return to the city of his childhood and at last solve the mystery - that only by his doing so will civilisation be saved from the approaching catastrophe. Moving between London and Shanghai of the inter-war years, When We Were Orphans is a story of memory, intrigue and the need to return; of a childhood vision of the world surviving deep into adulthood, indelibly shaping and distorting a person's life. If you enjoyed When We Were Orphans, you might also like Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, now available in Faber Modern Classics.


In this age of renewed interest in comparative constitutionalism and more focused attention on the legal regimes of foreign democracies, it is astonishingly difficult to learn about other countries' jury systems. There is no central, short, and easily-accessible English source to which scholars and policymakers interested in how the criminal jury functions worldwide can turn for basic facts about the jury systems in use in democratic countries. This paper hopes to fill that gap in part by furnishing jury system information about the twenty-eight democracies (excluding the United States) that have been consistently democratic since at least the early 1990s and have a population of five million or more (with allowance for Mexico and South Africa).


PDZ domains typically interact with the very carboxyl terminus of their binding partners. Type 1 PDZ domains usually require valine, leucine, or isoleucine at the very COOH-terminal (P0) position, and serine or threonine 2 residues upstream at P−2. We quantitatively defined the contributions of carboxyl-terminal residues to binding selectivity of the prototypic interactions of the PDZ domains of postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95) and its homolog synapse-associated protein 90 (SAP102) with the NR2b subunit of theN-methyl-d-aspartate-type glutamate receptor. Our studies indicate that all of the last five residues of NR2b contribute to the binding selectivity. Prominent were a requirement for glutamate or glutamine at P−3 and for valine at P0 for high affinity binding and a preference for threonine over serine at P−2, in the context of the last 11 residues of the NR2b COOH terminus. This analysis predicts a COOH-terminal (E/Q)(S/T)XV consensus sequence for the strongest binding to the first two PDZ domains of PSD-95 and SAP102. A search of the human genome sequences for proteins with a COOH-terminal (E/Q)(S/T)XV motif yielded 50 proteins, many of which have not been previously identified as PSD-95 or SAP102 binding partners. Two of these proteins, brain-specific angiogenesis inhibitor 1 and protein kinase Cα, co-immunoprecipitated with PSD-95 and SAP102 from rat brain extracts.


Laser scanning has been widely adopted for the digital preservation and study of cultural heritage artifacts. However, surface scans alone are not sufficient for a variety of intricate objects such as the Cantonese chess pieces that were delicately carved from ivory throughout the 19th Century. These pieces incorporate a puzzle ball base, which is comprised of several balls, one inside the other. In this project we explore the use of x-ray micro-CT technology to scan the piece with a voxel separation of less than 9 μm, By using masking and editing software we generate 3D surface models of the separate parts to enable close inspection of both exterior and interior sections. Visualizing the dataset at a much larger scale enables the viewer to appreciate the fine surface details imperceivable in the original piece. Finally, 3D scaled versions are printed where the small details are also easily observed and the inner balls within the puzzle ball base move freely. The work flow demonstrated in this article has important possibilities in digital preservation, documentation, and presentation.


This paper details the research work carried out on masonry mortars produced employing recycled aggregates in 100% substitution for natural sand aggregates. The main objective of the work being the validation of the resulting recycled aggregate mortar for use as a new construction material in Cuba. The recycled aggregates were acquired from the crushing of demolition material obtained from four different houses of distinct construction types. The work was carried out in two experimental stages. In stage 1, mortars with different percentages of recycled aggregates were produced and analysed. The analysis was carried out in order to achieve the optimal mix dosage, while employing the largest usable volume of recycled aggregates and in compliance with the functional requirements established by Cuban regulations. In stage 2, all mortars were produced employing the defined optimal mix proportion The fresh state properties (water retentivity) and hardened state (flexural, compression and bond strengths and capillary absorption capacity) were evaluated in the mortars produced with the other three mixed recycled aggregates of different compositions.  It was concluded that the mortars produced with recycled aggregates needed less filler than that of the control mortar in order to obtain adequate properties in their fresh state. However, these recycled aggregate mortars obtained lower mechanical properties and higher capillary absorption that those of the control mortar. Nevertheless they were in compliance with the minimum requirements established in the Cuban regulation.


Johan Galtung coined the term peace journalism in 1970s and developed two opposing modes of reporting wars i.e., "peace or conflict journalism" and "war or violence journalism." He did not follow the conventional pattern of reporting in the war situation rather he provided an alternative route of peace journalism that focuses on conflict transformation. He classified peace and war journalism on the basis of four broad orientations. He explained that today's reporting is war reporting and oriented toward war/violence, propaganda, wining and defeating of the warring groups. He provided an alternative that is based on four principles of peace/conflict, truth, people, and solutions. He not only considered content but also assessed language and words used in reporting for the media. According to him, peace-oriented journalists must first accept that the conflict exists, and explore conflict formations by identifying the parties, goals and issues. Galtung wants to see "objective journalists" who are going to cover all aspects of the conflict. They must understand the conflict's historical and cultural roots, and create empathy and understanding by giving voice to all parties (not only two opposing sides). Peace journalism brings before the audience all the black and the white sides of the conflict. In this way, it de-escalates the tension and minimises the rift between opposing parties. It does not repeat those facts that demonise one side or the other and sets the ground for further conflict (Lynch & Mcgoldrick, 2001). The number of conflicts in the modern world is increasing day by day. As the population of different societies is growing and mobility increasing, the multi-ethnic societies are appearing on the surface. This phenomenon has made the world more complex. Resultantly, peace journalism is the need of the post modern era and is now taking the form of discipline like other disciplines in universities. It is now an ideal subject for Faculties of Communication Sciences all over the world and there is a need for more research in this field especially in war torn developing countries like Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. By applying peace journalism practices in reports of the conflict, the peace journalist creates a setting in which the causes of and possible solutions to the conflict become transparent and obvious. Other peace journalism approaches prescribed by Galtung include writing editorials and columns to urge reconciliation and focusing on common ground rather than on vengeance, retaliation, and differences. He suggests that these writings must emphasise the invisible effects of violence such as emotional trauma, and damage to social structure and culture. In contrast, the traditional war journalism approach plays up with conflict. It places participants into two opposing sides and its focus is on the visible effects of war such as casualties, injuries, and damage to property. It is practiced in a closed space and times such as battlefield and bounded by ground and time constraints. Several communication scientists worked on this paradigm and expanded it in their writings. Several other aspects that were blur and left unexplained at the beginning, were properly explained and highlighted by Lych, Mcgoldrick, Hanitzsch and Maslog. Literature Review Lynch expansion of peace theory Mcgoldrick and Lynch (2000) expanded Galtung's (1986) classification of peace journalism and war journalism and proposed 17 peace journalism-based practices for news coverage of war. War reporting is often based on sensationalism because it is done to increase circulations and to gain ratings. This approach uses military triumph list language. Its focus is on action so it is action orientated and its narrative is superficial with little context, background or historical perspective. Peace journalism focus is on the cultural and structural causes of violence, and does not follow simple dichotomy. …


Nutrition contributes approximately 75% of the total input costs to an intensive ostrich production unit. An increase in the price of traditional protein sources thus necessitates finding cheaper alternatives. Sweet lupins were identified as a possible alternative; therefore, the effect of feeding various sweet lupin inclusion levels was evaluated throughout the different feeding phases. One hundred and forty ostrich chicks were randomly divided into five dietary treatments with three replications each. The chicks all received a standard commercial pre-starter ostrich diet. Five iso-nutritional diets were formulated for each feeding phase according to specifications set out for each of the different feeding phases using Mixit2+ software. For each feeding phase the diets contained either soybean oilcake meal (control diet, 0LD) or sweet lupins (alternative protein source). The 100 lupin diet (LD) was formulated to include the maximum amount of sweet lupins according to the specifications for the specific species and the feeding phase, and therefore differs between the three feeding phases. Soybean oilcake meal was thus gradually replaced by sweet lupins in the following ratios: 100:0 (0LD), 75:25 (25LD), 50:50 (50LD), 25:75 (75LD), and 0:100 (100LD). Feed and water were supplied ad libitum. Feed intakes and live weights were measured every fortnight until slaughter at ca . 11 months of age. No differences were found between the treatment diets for the live weight, dry matter intake (DMI), average daily gain (ADG) or feed conversion ratio (FCR) at the end of each feeding phase. However, the birds on the 75LD tended to have the highest end weight and ADG, and those on the 100LD the lowest at the end of the starter phase. No differences were found for slaughter weight, dressing percentage and big drum muscle weight of the birds. Birds on the 50LD and 75LD tended to have the heaviest cold carcasses; this differed from the 100LD birds which had the lightest. Birds fed the 50LD had heavier thigh weights than those on the other diets. The results of this study indicate that soybean oilcake meal can be replaced in the diets of slaughter ostriches with sweet lupins up to 15% (75LD) in starter diets and 30% (100LD) in grower and finisher diets without any significant effect on any of the production and slaughter traits. Keywords: alternative protein, average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed conversion ratio, lupins, ostrich nutrition, production


The Competition Commission of South Africa has maintained concerns about four areas of legal practice:
Professional fees: the setting of tariffs, guidelines and rules as to the fees charged by attorneys for certain services (in particular conveyancing);
Reservation of work: the reservation of certain work for attorneys and in certain circumstances for specially qualified attorneys (again, in particular,conveyancing);
Multidisciplinary practices: the prohibition on offering a number of disciplines within a firm of attorneys; and
Advertising, marketing and touting: the limitations on the type, medium and standard of advertising and marketing within the profession.


The mimetic butterflies Heliconius erato and Heliconius melpomene have undergone parallel radiations to form a near-identical patchwork of over 20 different wing-pattern races across the Neotropics. Previous molecular phylogenetic work on these radiations has suggested that similar but geographically disjunct color patterns arose multiple times independently in each species. The neutral markers used in these studies, however, can move freely across color pattern boundaries, and therefore might not represent the history of the adaptive traits as accurately as markers linked to color pattern genes. To assess the evolutionary histories across different loci, we compared relationships among races within H. erato and within H. melpomene using a series of unlinked genes, genes linked to color pattern loci, and optix, a gene recently shown to control red color-pattern variation. We found that although unlinked genes partition populations by geographic region, optix had a different history, structuring lineages by red color patterns and supporting a single origin of red-rayed patterns within each species. Genes closely linked (80–250 kb) to optix exhibited only weak associations with color pattern. This study empirically demonstrates the necessity of examining phenotype-determining genomic regions to understand the history of adaptive change in rapidly radiating lineages. With these refined relationships, we resolve a long-standing debate about the origins of the races within each species, supporting the hypothesis that the red-rayed Amazonian pattern evolved recently and expanded, causing disjunctions of more ancestral patterns.


Fever is the most common reason for a child under 5 years to be taken to the doctor. It is important for family physicians to have a guideline designed to assist them in the initial assessment and immediate treatment of young children with fever presenting to primary care. After correct temperature measurement, the family doctor should assess children with feverish illness to identify the risk of serious disease. Using the traffic light system they should be recognised as being at high risk, intermediate risk or low risk of serious diseases. The management of children with fever should be directed by the level of risk. As anti-pyretic medication the use of paracetamol or ibuprofen should be considered only in children with fever who appear distressed. Advise parents to encourage their child to drink more fluids and to seek further advice if they detect warning signs.


Cellular Automata (CA) are a remarkable example of morphogenetic system, where cells grow and self-organize through local interactions. CA have been used as abstractions of biological development and artificial life. Such systems have been able to show properties that are often desirable but difficult to achieve in engineered systems, e.g., morphogenesis and replication of regular patterns without any form of centralized coordination. However, cellular systems are hard to program (i.e., evolve) and control, especially when the number of cell states and neighborhood increase. In this paper, we propose a new principle of morphogenesis based on compositional pattern producing networks (CPPNs), an abstraction of development that has been able to produce complex structural motifs without local interactions. CPPNs are used as CA genotypes and evolved with a neuroevolution of augmenting topologies (NEATs) algorithm. This allows complexification of genomes throughout evolution with phenotypes emerging from self-organization through development based on local interactions. In this paper, the problems of 2-D pattern morphogenesis and replication are investigated. Results show that CA-NEAT is an appropriate means of approaching cellular systems engineering, especially for future applications where natural levels of complexity are targeted. We argue that CA-NEAT could provide a valuable mapping for morphogenetic systems, beyond CA systems, where development through local interactions is desired.


Research involving preservice or initial teacher education (ITE) indicates that mathematics education is a vital component of study. Little is known however, of indigenous student views of their compulsory mathematics education courses for a teaching degree. This research contributes to that knowledge space as it explores Māori medium ITE students' perceptions of mathematics education in Aotearoa New Zealand. A thematic and qualitative analysis of a focused group discussion provides insights into key factors that students reported as significant links between their university and practicum experiences (teaching practice in schools). Some suggestions for strengthening that programme were also expressed. Findings indicate that factors linked to teacher 'cultural competencies', including an ethic of care, respectful relationships, revision of content knowledge, language learning, assessment practices, exposure to different ideas and planning and pedagogy were important. Navigating student-mentor teacher tensions as well as clarifying the significance of ideas in texts were highlighted as areas for strengthening. Mathematics educators preparing students for indigenous primary school settings may find this study useful.


This paper considers an endogenous growth model with public capital and government debt. In setting the level of public investment each period, the government is assumed to follow two commonly used in the growth literature fiscal rules: public investment is either equal to a constant fraction of output or equal to a constant share of tax revenues. In our model, we allow revenues to be raised by the government through progressive income taxation and bonds issue. For both fiscal rules, we show that the potential occurrence of either indeterminacy or instability crucially depends on whether the government is a debtor or a creditor. In particular, government indebtedness causes the economy to be prone to either belief-driven aggregate fluctuations or unstable dynamics. This is a novel result in the related literature which has largely overlooked the role of public debt as a possible contributing factor to the presence of indeterminacy and instability in growth models.


We are developing a prototype of a simulation development tool to aid administrators in the process of redesigning organizational structures. The purpose of the system is to help organization designers to more precisely model their hypothetical designs, and, by simulation, to predict key facets of the overall behavior of their proposed organizational structures. The tool will help them to evaluate the restructured organization's potential for improved efficiency, or spot potential weaknesses in the system during peak loads. With this tool, organizational models are built using a library of simulation components characterizing commonly used coordination structures and communications mechanisms. Our hypothesis is that the structuring of the design tool around a model construction library of coordination mechanisms will allow designers to readily compose existing and proposed organizational structures to effectively evaluate their options.


Two broad positions have dominated the history of economic thought with respect to chattel slavery. The view of the classical economists, dating back as far as Adam Smith and including a good many abolitionists, was that slavery was inefficient and therefore unprofitable. The contrasting position of the new economic historians, most closely identified with Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, is that slavery was profitable and therefore efficient. Both positions are partly wrong (as well as partly right). Southern slavery was indeed profitable but nevertheless inefficient; it operated like other obvious practices — from piracy through monopoly to government subsidies — where individual gains do not translate into social benefits. In the terminology of economics, it was a system that imposed significant "deadweight loss" on the Southern economy, despite being lucrative for slaveholders. The paper presents both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence for the peculiar institution's inefficiency. In the process it throws into fresh perspective many historical controversies about the antebellum South. A recognition of slavery's deadweight loss has major implications for the origins of the Civil War. Slavery's survival required extensive subsidies from government at all levels. A federal Fugitive Slave Law was among the most crucial ways that the national government socialized the system's enforcement. That is why runaway slaves were such an important ingredient in sectional strife. A comparative investigation of slavery not just within the United States but elsewhere demonstrates that, wherever slaves could easily run away, the entire system was compromised.


This paper reports and reflects on studies about the problems encountered in the implementation of education policies in several contexts in developed and developing countries. In these studies special attention is paid to the problems of the youth at risk between education and the labour market. In developing countries policies are in general framed by international policy initiatives such as those formulated in the Education for All Millennium Goals. However, in many cases there is an overproduction of such policies and extreme underperformance in the implementation. Obstacles are, for instance, problems concerning policy standards and their implementation; discontinuities between the national, provincial and district levels; lack of funding and at the same time corruption; lack of contextualisation; and, most prominently, lack of participation at grassroots level. In the case of the youth in sub-Saharan Africa, despite more access to education, poor implementation leads to problems such as high drop-out rates, low quality of education and too little attention paid to skills development. The existing dysfunctionality of the education system and the growing skills gap between what the youth can offer and what the labour market requires (especially in countries such as Uganda with a fast population growth) lead to a growing divide between the learning rich (minority) and the learning poor (majority). People are experiencing an alarming decrease in social cohesion. In many European countries the legitimacy of the welfare state is increasingly coming under pressure due to the recent economic crisis. The willingness to provide the tools for achieving an inclusive society is no longer self-evident. Here as well, the question is which policies respond to the demands of the labour market and at the same time avoid marginalisation of the unemployed, disabled, ethnic minorities and disadvantaged people - in other words, how to achieve, in this period of economic crisis, the goal of continuously creating equal opportunities and equal access to services for all citizens. In the past the educational policy strategies of many governments privileged technocratic efficiency over grassroots participation in decision making, such that the existing power patterns were reinforced. To break with this technocratic hindrance, bot-top-down approaches seem to be needed in policy development to improve the quality of implementation. This means that while honouring the central role the government or departments of education (the top) should play in policy development and implementation, policies must be founded on solid needs analysis (bottom) so that it is possible to address problems on the ground (down). This supports the relevance of participatory approaches, which help by identifying a range of complex economic and social issues at grassroots level, by empowering communities to identify problems, through the development of plans for comprehensive and long-term solutions and, finally, by taking action. Important partners could be universities, policy makers, practitioners, companies and civil society. These types of (public-private) partnerships could be further developed into learning partnerships to facilitate working on bot-top-down strategies and capacity building of practitioners in the educational field. To have policies that are grounded in relevant issues and to develop strategies that are intended to address those issues is one step in the right direction towards effective implementation.


Computational Analysis of Zel'dovich-von Neumann-Doering (ZND) Detonation. (May 2010) Tetsu Nakamura, B.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Adonios N. Karpetis The Transient Inlet Concept (TIC) involves transient aerodynamics and wave interactions with the objective of producing turbulence, compression and flow in ducted engines at low subsonic speeds. This concept relies on the generation and control of multiple detonation waves issuing from different "stages" along a simple ducted engine, and aims to eliminate the need for compressors at low speeds. Currently, the Zel'dovichvon Neumann-Doering (ZND) steady, one-dimensional detonation is the simplest method of generating the waves issuing from each stage of the TIC device. This thesis focuses on the primary calculation of a full thermochemistry through a ZND detonation from an initially unreacted supersonic state, through a discontinuous shock wave and a subsonic reaction zone, to the final, reacted, equilibrium state. Modeling of the ZND detonation is accomplished using Cantera, an open-source object-oriented code developed at Caltech. The code provides a robust framework for treating thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, and transport processes, as well as numerical solvers for various reacting flow problems. The present work examines the effects of chemical kinetics on the structure of ZND detonation, by using a detailed chemical kinetics mechanism that involves 53 species and 325 simultaneous reactions (Gas Research Institute 3.0). Using a direct integration of the system of inviscid ordinary differential equations for the ZND detonation, I obtain results for the combination of different fuels (hydrogen and methane) and oxidizers (oxygen and air). The detailed thermochemistry


South Africa is a country marked by cultural and linguistic diversity with 11 official languages. The majority of school children do not receive their formal schooling in their home language. There is a need for language assessment tools in education and rehabilitation contexts to distinguish between children with language learning problems and/or SLI, and language delay as a result of limited exposure to the language of learning. The Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS-MAIN) provides clinicians and researchers with an appropriate and culturally relevant tool to assess bilingual children in both languages. So far MAIN has been widely used in Afrikaans- English bilingual children. However, translating and adapting MAIN to our other nine official languages to achieve functional and cultural equivalence is more challenging.


The combination of the very different chemical natures of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and proteins gives rise to systems with unprecedented performance, thanks to a rich pool of very diverse chemical, electronic, catalytic and biological properties. Here we review recent advances in the field, including innovative and imaginative aspects from a nanoscale point of view. The tubular nature of CNTs allows for internal protein encapsulation, and also for their external coating by protein cages, affording bottom-up ordering of molecules in hierarchical structures. To achieve such complex systems it is imperative to master the intermolecular forces between CNTs and proteins, including geometry effects (e.g. CNT diameter and curvature) and how they translate into changes in the local environment (e.g. water entropy). The type of interaction between proteins and CNTs has important consequences for the preservation of their structure and, in turn, function. This key aspect cannot be neglected during the design of their conjugation, be it covalent, non-covalent, or based on a combination of both methods. The review concludes with a brief discussion of the very many applications intended for CNT-protein systems that go across various fields of science, from industrial biocatalysis to nanomedicine, from innovative materials to biotechnological tools in molecular biology research.


Wastewaters from chemical industries usually contain pollutants which are toxic and non-biodegradable. Treatment of chemical wastewaters is always a challenging topic in view of the stringent environmental regulations that have to be adhered to. Since 2014, the Chinese government has been continuously tightening the industrial wastewater (IWW) discharge standards, which requires improved quality of IWW effluent. This poses great challenges to the chemical industries in China, especially to many of the chemical industry clusters where the wastewaters usually contain more toxic and non-biodegradable contaminants. Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology has been proved to be a reliable and cost-effective solution for the treatment of IWW. However, MBR alone could not effectively remove non-biodegradable organics, it needs to be integrated with advanced oxidization process and/or other physical-chemical treatment processes to improve the overall treatment efficiency. In this paper, studies on the performance of different integrated MBR processes in Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant-A (IWTP-A) will be discussed, including Fenton + MBR, MBR + ozonation + biological aerated filter, and MBR + porous resin sorption.


This work-in-progress paper 1 examines in detail the issue of qualitative research method evaluation. In particular, it focuses on method evaluation from the perspective of Computer Science education research. To this end, it presents the reader with an evaluative framework. The key issue underlying the development of this framework is pragmatism, i.e. one that provides the researcher with a simplistic and context-specific evaluation technique. In terms of simplicity, it proposes a broad- brush approach to evaluation where approximation is used and based on a number of evaluative criteria. In addition, the framework is based on a set of properties that may be construed as pragmatic, in terms of them reflecting issues of real importance to a researcher, who is attempting to decide on which qualitative method to use in a given context. An example of framework utilisation is then presented with respect to the Grounded Theory research method in the context of computer science education re- search. This entails a multiple-litmus type test on the Grounded Theory research method where measurements are presented for each of the framework properties. Finally, the paper will draw attention to the reusability of the framework by present- ing its structure from a meta-perspective and indicates that it can be used to evaluate any qualitative research method in any context.


Loliondo Game Controlled Area (LGCA) is unique in East Africa that provides mixed land use activities for the community. The main land uses in LGCA are livestock keeping, wildlife conservation, small scale agriculture, tourism and hunting of wild animals. For decades, Maasai pastoralists coexisted with LGCA but restricted to hunt, set snares and conducting large scale farming. From the year 2000 expansion of agricultural activities have been noted which has escalated the decline of wildlife. I this study the land use/cover change occurred in LGCA for the period of 20 years have been determined and assessed. Supervised classification method was used whereby six classes namely forest, bare land, sand, water, grass land and agriculture were categorized. The results show that from 1996 to 2016 there is a major land cover change on forest, agriculture, bare land, grassland, water bodies and sand by 19.63%, 8.74%, 15.32%, 50.08%, 4.51 %and 1.72%, respectively. Specifically, forest cover is decreasing at 1467.81 ha per year while agriculture is increasing at the rate of 1,467 ha per year. The study concluded that clearing of forest and large scale agriculture has destroyed vegetation cover threatening the existence of wildlife which to a great extent requires immediate measures to counterbalance this effect.


In the absence of a single authoritative mechanism to interpret humanitarian law, a number of treaty bodies, national courts, regional human rights courts/commissions, international tribunals, and thematic mechanisms have been called upon to address humanitarian law issues. Prime among these institutions is the United States Supreme Court. Though only in a small number of cases, the Court has relied on humanitarian law principles and treaties from the early days of the Republic to the "war on terrorism." In what ways does the Court invoke this body of law and how competent is its analysis? Is the Court institutionally equipped to play a meaningful role in the development of humanitarian law? This article assesses the historical, current, and potential role of the Court in interpreting and developing humanitarian law. Through a comprehensive examination of the Court's humanitarian law jurisprudence, the article argues that while the Court has offered useful and precedential interpretations of humanitarian law, its analysis suffers from a relatively superficial engagement with the Geneva Conventions. In short, the Court is reluctant to probe too deeply into this complex body of law; its reliance on humanitarian law is often minimal and sometimes haphazard. Despite these shortcomings, the Court has an important role to play. Throughout its history, but most notably in the years after September 11, 2001, the Court has unearthed various substantive propositions of humanitarian law and offered a novel interpretation of at least one of them. As national and international courts grapple with the implications of international terrorism, the Court will remain an important voice.


Introduction: Breakfast is repeatedly called to as the most important meal of the day and has positive effects on nutritional profile, cognitive activities and disease prevention in schoolchildren. The aim of this study was to assess the eating breakfast status in a sample of primary students of Ilam city. Materials and methods: Participants of this cross-sectional study were 298 schoolchildren grade 4th, 5th and 6th from 8 primary schools of Ilam city. Data were collected by researcher-made self-report brief questionnaire and were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics data editor. Results: The subjects included 148 boys (49.7%) and 150 girls (50.3%) from eight primary schools. The majority of sample (35.9%) educating in 4th grade and 54.0% of sample were living in the inner city areas. The results showed that 32.2% of study schoolchildren skipped breakfast. There was a significant difference between boys and girls breakfast habit, (P<0.018). Also, the results revealed that boys (47.22%) more likely to skip the breakfast than girls (23.07%) in outskirt, (P<0.004). But, there was no significant difference between boys (30.26%) and girls (27.05%) to breakfast skipping in inner city, (P=0.728). Furthermore, lack of appetite and breakfast not ready at home reported as main reasons for not eating breakfast. As with this study results, breakfast eaters usually ate more bread (76.5%), tea (69.8%) and milk (53.7%), But ate less fruits/vegetables (11.1%), fruit juices (13.4%) and breakfast cake (14.4%). Conclusion: With attention to high rate of skipping breakfast in this study sample and also weak quality of breakfast in breakfast eaters, it is needed to conduct the schools health promotion programs to encourage students to eat healthy breakfast.


This paper presents the use of an artificial neural network for classification on a residence house that uses local air temperature and solar insulation predictions to identify patterns at the desired location, in order to obtain a stochastic distribution of the daily solar profile. This is a first step on the further creation of a short-term operation model that allows determining the technical and economic impact of stationary/mobile batteries of electric vehicles in presence of microrenewables. This short-term operation model will be in the day-ahead perfect market operation (unit commitment) where specific changes are made to consider stationary and mobile operation.


This article argues that reading Heliodorus' Aethiopica alongside post-Nicene Patristic texts sheds new light on its place within the multifaceted religious world of Late Antiquity. Through an analysis of three discrete test cases, this article brings to light the complexities of the Aethiopica's incorporation of ideas which are prominent in contemporary Christian thought.  In so doing, it presents new evidence for the fourth-century context in which Heliodorus produced his work.


Stimulated emission is formulated in completely classical terms and is shown to occur in general only in nonlinear systems. Our approach is based on the frequency-dependent susceptibility, which in both the classical and quantum-mechanical descriptions is the main characteristic determining whether there is absorption or stimulated emission. By using Bom's correspondence rule, we derive an expression for the lowest-order quantum correction to the classical susceptibility.


J ack, a COBOL programmer, after years of being taken for granted and treated as a technological dinosaur by all the UNIX programmers and Client/Server programmers and website developers, finally started getting some respect in 1994. He 'd become a private consultant specializing in Year 2000 conversions. He was working short-term assignments for prestige companies, traveling all over the world on different assignments. He was working 70 and 80 and even 90 hour weeks, but it was worth it. After a few years of this relentless, mind-numbing work, Jack started having problems sleeping and began having anxiety dreams about the Year 2000. It had reached a point where even the thought of the year 2000 made him nearly violent. He must have suffered some sort of breakdown, because all he could think about was finding a way he could avoid the year 2000 and all that came with it. Jack made a deal with a company that specialized in cryogenics to have himself frozen until March 15th, 2000. This was a very expensive process and totally automated. He was thrilled. The next thing he would know is he 'd wake up in the year 2000; after the New Year celebrations and computer debacles; after the leap day. Nothing else to worry about except getting on with his life. He was put into his cryogenic receptacle, the technicians set the revive date, he was given injections to slow his heartbeat to a bare minimum, and that was that. The next thing that Jack saw was an enormous and very modem room filled with excited people. They were all shouting "I can't believe it!" and "It 's a miracle" and "He's alive!". There were cameras (unlike any he 'd ever seen) and equipment that looked like it came out of a science fiction movie. Someone who was obviously a spokesperson for the group stepped forward. Jack couldn't contain his enthusiasm. "Is it over?" he asked. "Is 2000 already here? Are all the millennial parties and promotions and crises all over and done with?" The spokesman explained that there had been a problem with the programming of the timer on Jack's cryogenic receptacle: it hadn't been year 2000 compliant. It was actually eight thousand years later, not the year 2000. But the spokesman told Jack that he shouldn't get excited; someone important wanted to speak to him. A wall-sized projection screen displayed the image of a man that looked very much like Bill Gates. This man was Prime Minister of Earth. He told Jack not to be upset. That this was a wonderful time to be alive. That there was world peace and no more starvation. That the space program had been reinstated and there were colonies on the moon and on Mars. That technology had advanced to such a degree that everyone had virtual reality interfaces which allowed them to contact anyone else on the planet, or to watch any entertainment, or to hear any music recorded anywhere. "That sounds terrific," said Jack. "But I ' m curious. Why is everybody so interested in me?" "Well," said the Prime Minister. "The year 10000 is just around the comer, and it says in your files that you know COBOL."


The implementation of educational policies and practices is closely linked to the assessment of student learning, as it enables the monitoring of progress and achievements, the improvement of teaching in the classroom, the improvement of policies and the assessment of program effectiveness, among many other objectives. To ensure that assessment achieves its purposes, it is essential to make an appropriate choice of the learning assessment instruments to be used. In this context, teachers, policy implementers, researchers and staff of the ministries of education are frequently faced with the need to select tools for learning assessment, withou necessarily having an extensive knowledge of the subject. Therefore, this technical note is aimed at people working in the education sector who do not have training in the area of learning assessment, and its objective is to provide technical, practical and ethical guidance on the elements that must be taken into account when selecting or constructing a learning assessment instrument.


This thesis focuses on the research conducted on in situ process monitoring (cure and flow) of resin transfer molded glass fiber reinforced polymer composites using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG), etched bare fiber optic sensors and Fresnel refractometers. In this direction, a laboratory scale resin transfer molding (RTM) apparatus was used with the capability of visually monitoring the resin filling process as well as embedding fiber optic sensors. Both FBG and etched fiber sensors are embedded into glass fiber reinforcements in the RTM mold, and are used to monitor the flow front during the resin injection and subsequently the cure cycle. Moreover, the cure cycle of the resin system utilized in this work is studied using an in-house developed Fresnel based refractometer. The data gathered from corresponding cure monitoring experiments have been compared with the results of polymer extraction experiments and excellent correlation between the results was observed. The embedded FBG sensors also allow the determination of mechanical stresses or loads on the inservice composite parts, through interrogating these sensors. This process is referred to as Structural Health Monitoring, which is not considered within the scope of this thesis work.


The importance and necessity of implementing the balance system of farmland requisition and compensation are reasoned. The changing path of the balance system of farmland requisition-compensation is overviewed. In addition, the problems exist in the implementation of the balance system of farmland requisition-compensation are analyzed as well, covering the increasing demands on land in the process of economic development; the serious phenomenon of wasting land in urban construction; part of farmlands should be revoked from the perspective of ecological construction and environmental protection, which lead to the shortage of reserved farmlands and it is hard to implement the balance system of farmland requisition-compensation; the problems of "occupying more but compensating less,occupying good land but compensating bad land" are universal; the development and reclamation of farmlands have taken certain threats to ecological environment; the differences of various regions have not been taken into consideration in implementing the balance system of farmland requisition-compensation. Some notes on the developing trend of farmlands requisition-compensation balance system are put forward. The farmlands should be occupied after being compensated first, so as to ensure the dynamic balance of the total amount of farmlands; the government should encourage the improvement of farmlands with mediocre and low output, so as to enhance its production capability; the potential of urban and rural construction land use should be fully developed and the occupation of farmlands should be reduced as few as possible; various aspects should be cooperated to increase the possibility of requisition-compensation among different regions.


Photography and China is the first overview of the subject to be published in English, providing a comprehensive account of this previously neglected relationship. Spanning the period from the inception of photography until the present, the book foregrounds Chinese photographers and subjects, and draws on works in museum, archival and private collections across China, the USA, Europe and Australia. Taking a thematic approach to her historical survey, Claire Roberts brings together commercial, art and documentary photography, locating the images within the broader context of Chinese history. With a constant focus on the images, and the studios or individuals that created them, Roberts describes the long tradition of Chinese artistic culture into which photography was at first absorbed, and which it subsequently expanded. She recounts the stories of practitioners who were agents in that process of change, both from China and overseas, and examines the different purposes for which they used photography, be they commercial, political or artistic. Featuring a strong narrative and numerous striking images, many unfamiliar to a Western audience, Photography and China will appeal to all those with an interest in China, photography, Chinese art and visual culture, or twentieth-century history and society. The book will also be relevant to a general audience, as well as students, scholars, photographers, curators and collectors.


It was evaluated by the Cornell System carbohidrates fractions and nitrogenous compounds of the following grasses at the cutting ages of 14, 28, 42, and 56 days: nilo grass (Acroceras macrum), angola grass (Brachiaria purpurascens), aleman grass (Echinochloa polystachya), limpo grass (Hemarthria altissima), setaria grass (Setaria anceps), tanner grass (Brachiaria arrecta), and tifton-85 grass (Cynodon spp). The experiment was carried out in a complete randomized block design, in a split plot arrangement in a way that the grasses were evaluated in the plots and the ages of cut in the split-plots. The age of cutting had an effect on the composition of the studied grasses. In most of the grasses, total carbohydrate levels, non-fibrous carbohydrates and A+B1 fraction carbohydrates increased linearly according to the age of cutting. The potentially degradable fraction of carbohydrates (fraction B2) showed a quadratic behavior according to the cutting ages for all grasses. The C fraction of the carbohydrates in tifton-85 grass linearly increased with the age but it did not increase significantly for the other grasses. In setaria grass, the intermediate levels of B2 and B3 nitrogenous fractions were high, which might represent a potential source of protein for ruminal degradation and for the small intestine. Except for setaria grass, all studied grasses show similar values of the A, B1, B2 and B3 nitrogenous fractions.


A fiber-optic sensor system is designed to measure magnetic fields associated with a lightning stroke. Field vector magnitudes are detected and processed for multiple locations. Since physical limitations prevent the sensor elements from being located in close proximity to highly conductive materials such as aluminum, the copper wire sensor elements (3) are located inside a 4-cubic-in. (.66-cubic-cm) plastic housing sensor head and connected to a fiber-optic conversion module by shielded cabling, which is limited to the shortest length feasible. The signal path between the conversion module and the avionics unit which processes the signals are fiber optic, providing enhanced immunity from electromagnetic radiation incident in the vicinity of the measurements. The sensors are passive, lightweight, and much smaller than commercial B-dot sensors in the configuration which measures a three-dimensional magnetic field. The system is expandable, and provides a standard-format output signal for downstream processing. Inside of the sensor head, three small search coils, each having a few turns on a circular form, are mounted orthogonally inside the non-metallic housing. The fiber-optic conversion module comprises three interferometers, one for each search coil. Each interferometer has a high bandwidth optical phase modulator that impresses the signal received from its search coil onto its output. The output of each interferometer travels by fiber optic cable to the avionics unit, and the search coil signal is recovered by an optical phase demodulator. The output of each demodulator is fed to an analog-to-digital converter, whose sampling rate is determined by the maximum expected rate of rise and peak signal magnitude. The output of the digital processor is a faithful reproduction of the coil response to the incident magnetic field. This information is provided in a standard output format on a 50-ohm port that can be connected to any number of data collection and processing instruments and/or systems. The measurement of magnetic fields using fiber-optic signal processing is novel because it eliminates limitations of a traditional B-dot system. These limitations include the distance from the sensor to the measurement device, the potential for the signal to degrade or be corrupted by EMI from lightning, and the size and weight of the sensor and associated plate.