In recent years, the field of Universal Access has made significant progress in consolidating theoretical approaches, scientific methods and technologies, as well as in exploring new application domains. Increasingly, professionals in this rapidly maturing area require a comprehensive and multidisciplinary resource that addresses current principles, methods, and tools. Written by leading international authorities from academic, research, and industrial organizations and nonmarket institutions, The Universal Access Handbook covers the unfolding scientific, methodological, technological, and policy issues involved in the process of achieving universal access in the information society. In a collection of 61 chapters, the book discusses how to systematically apply universal design principles to information technologies. It explains the various dimensions of diversity in the technological platforms and contexts of use, including trends in mobile interaction and ambient intelligence environments. The implications of Universal Access on the development life cycle of interactive applications and services are unfolded, addressing user interface architectures and related components. Novel interaction methods and techniques for Universal Access are analyzed, and a variety of applications in diverse domains are discussed. The book reflects recent developments, consolidates present knowledge, and points towards new perspectives for the future. A quick glance through the contents demonstrates not only the breadth and depth of coverage but also the caliber of the contributions. An indispensible source of information for interdisciplinary and cross-thematic study, the book provides a baseline for further in-depth studies, as well as an important educational tool in an increasingly globalized research and development environment.


The recent approaches of extending the GRAPHPLAN algorithm to handle more expressive planning formalisms raise the question of what the formal meaning of ``expressive power'''' is. We formalize the intuition that expressive power is a measure of how concisely planning domains and plans can be expressed in a particular formalism by introducing the notion of ``compilation schemes'''' between planning formalisms. Such compilation schemes restrict the growth of planning domains and the corresponding plans. Using this notion, we analyze the expressiveness of a large family of propositional planning formalisms, ranging from basic STRIPS to a formalism with conditional effects, partial state specifications, and propositional formulae in the preconditions. One of the results is that conditional effects cannot be compiled away if plan size should grow only linearly but can be compiled away if we allow for polynomial growth of the resulting plans. This result confirms that the recently proposed extensions to the GRAPHPLAN algorithm concerning conditional effects are optimal with respect to the ``compilability'''' framework. Another result is that general propositional formulae cannot be compiled into conditional effects if the plan size should be preserved. This implies that allowing general propositional formulae in preconditions and effect conditions adds another level of difficulty in generating a plan.


Healthcare environments need to focus on how to empower and engage staff nurses during these times of decreasing resources and increasing demands to support the creative ability of health care teams to give safe, quality patient care. A review of the literature reveals the factors of structural empowerment, transformational leadership, person-job fit, and personal resources as areas that organizations, leaders, and nurse professional development educators can modify to promote nurse empowerment and engagement. A proposed systems model of nurse empowerment and engagement depicts the relationship between the factors (structure) that promote empowerment and engagement (process) which leads to an increase in nurse-job satisfaction, improved professional performance, and empowered peers and teamwork; which ultimately lead to an increase in quality patient care, empowered and satisfied patients, productivity, positive healthy work environments, effective education of next generation of nurses, high professional standards of nursing practice, and encouragement of lifelong learning (outcomes). These outcomes of excellence re-energize the process of nurse empowerment and engagement, creating a self-generating cycle of positive energy and motivation that is contagious to the healthcare team, and serve as a catalyst that strengthens and renews the healthcare system. STAFF NURSE EMPOWERMENT AND ENGAGEMENT 3 Healthcare organizations are in flux. With the 2010 Affordable Care Act overhauling the healthcare reimbursement system to reward value (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2010) it is more important than ever that patients receive quality care. This issue is compounded by the fact that the largest part of the healthcare workforce is registered nurses (RNs) and it is estimated that by 2020 there will be a deficit in RNs by 20% (Buerhaus, Staiger, & Auerbach, 2000). The ongoing nursing shortage coupled with the complex working environments that nurses work in makes it difficult for nurses to remain empowered and engaged. More than 40% of hospital staff nurses score in the high range for job-related burnout, and more than 1 in 5 hospital staff nurses say they intend to leave their hospital jobs within 1 year (Vahey, Aiken, Sloane, Clarke, & Vargas, 2004). So the problem is not only how to retain nurses, but how to help them thrive in the demanding, stressful environments they work in to achieve the desired high quality care the profession and society demands. With burnout rates so high and demands increasing, nurses must remain motivated and engaged for healthcare organizations and the nursing profession to stay viable, and to keep patient care safe. In these difficult economic times with decreasing overall resources there is a need to work more creatively, but how do emotionally exhausted nurses accomplish this? What are the factors that promote staff nurse empowerment and engagement which transform care at the bedside? The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that promote staff nurse empowerment and engagement in order to develop strategies for healthcare organizations, leaders, and professional staff nurse educators. It is also the goal of this paper to investigate the role of the nurse professional development (NPD) educator regarding these factors and their implications for nurse empowerment and engagement which ultimately lead to a positive working environment and high quality care. STAFF NURSE EMPOWERMENT AND ENGAGEMENT 4


The processes that control past monsoon
variability in the East African Tropics during the Holocene are poorly
understood. Especially the role of Sea Surface Temperatures (SST)
controlling East African Rainfall on millennial timescales, as it is
observed on decadal timescales, is currently intensely debated. In
addition, it has been suggested recently that the longitudinal
migration of the Congo Air Boundary (CAB) modulates East African precipitation on a regional scale as well [Tierney et al., 2011].
Here, we present a high-resolution marine sediment record for the
past 12 kyrs from offshore Tanzania, close to the Rufiji River delta,
to contribute to the current debate from a marine point of view. We
reconstructed past SST and !18Oseawater, derived from planktic
foraminiferal Mg/Ca and !18O, and past Sea Surface Salinity (SSS)
variations, derived from planktic foraminiferal Ba/Ca-ratios. In the
vicinity of river deltas, Ba/Ca-ratios have potential to record
precipitation changes in the rivers' catchment area.
Our records show that East African precipitation, derived from
Ba/Ca-ratios, roughly varies in concert with Indian Ocean SST,
suggesting higher Indian Ocean SST to be an important prerequisite
for stronger precipitation, and hence an intense monsoon episode in
East Africa. We calculated the difference ("SST) between our
record of Indian Ocean SST and SST of the tropical Atlantic
[Weldeab et al., 2005], showing that "SST variability resembles the
isotopic pattern of the Kilimanjaro ice core record [Thompson et al.,
2002]. We suggest this to be the consequence of a longitudinal
movement of the CAB over the African Continent, changing the
trajectory of Indian Ocean moisture into the continent and therefore
affecting the !18O of the East African rainout.


These remarks are a transcript of a talk that was given on October 14, 2016, at the Kernochan Center Annual Symposium at Columbia Law School.
Session I, the Keynote Panel of the Symposium, addressed the legal landscape of copyright treatises and free trade agreements, including the role of FTAs and their benefits and disadvantages, and how copyright obligations in FTAs may differ from those in international treaties.
Session Panelists:
Probir Mehta, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Innovation and Intellectual Property
Steven J. Metalitz, Partner, Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP and Counsel to the International Intellectual Property Alliance


It has been 6 years since the Edmonton group published their outstanding results with pancreatic islet transplantation patients, demonstrating one-year insulin independence of 100% with type I diabetics. In order to assess what has been achieved for past six years we analyzed the actual state of islet transplantation, based on the updated summary of results from Edmonton and compare this experience with combined results from 19 institutions in North America as reported to the Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry (CITR). CITR data have largely substantiated the reproducibility of the Edmonton procedure. Complete insulin-independence was achieved in more then 55% of patients 1 year after transplant, but this state has not been sustained permanently. Although only 10% of patients remained insulin-free after 5 years, more then 80% of them had still detectable levels of C peptide and substantially improved glycemic control without episodes of hypoglycemia. Even though currently, the islet graft is still not a remedy for every brittle diabetic, islet transplantation has already obtained "nonresearch" status in Canada and is close to having a biological license status approved by the FDA in the United States that would further stimulate progress in the field.


Public health educators serve as a vital interface between medical and public health authorities and community members for the dissemination of important information related to disease prevention and health promotion. Public health educators deliver packaged educational programs, develop their own original programs, field impromptu health questions, and conduct community health assessments. This dissertation research employed a survey in January 2011 to illuminate the informationrelated attitudes and activities of health educators working in public health departments in Appalachia. The research questions explored how these health educators find and use information, how they perceive their information needs and their abilities to find and evaluate information related to their work, their satisfaction with the information resources available to them, and the impact of the economic and health status of their county or region on their information behavior. Key findings include that respondents are frequent information seekers with highspeed Internet access, but they need better access to information and data related to their work. Respondents use the web heavily but have concerns about evaluating online information. Information literacy training must accommodate their workflows and budgets. Library resource use is currently low but has the greatest potential for meeting their complex needs. Suggestions include multi-dimensional collaborations between health educators and information professionals and a new, more information-centric role for health educators.


The treatment of undulant fever has occupied the minds of investigators in this subject and practicing physicians since the time of the first discovery of one of the causative species of the genus by Bruce. Although many agents have been reported on and proposed for the specific treatment of the disease, it has been difficult to evaluate their efficacy due to the nature of the disease and to the fact that their use has been limited to a small number of cases. No attempt will be made here to review the agents that have been used with reported success or to discuss their value since this paper is only preliminary to a more extensive report which will appear later.
This laboratory has been engaged in the study of the therapeutic value of various agents in the treatment of Brucella infection in animals and man for a number of years.


On the basis of the sequence similarity between mammalian epoxide hydrolases and bacterial haloalkane dehalogenase reported earlier (Arand, M., Grant, D. F., Beetham, J. K., Friedberg, T., Oesch, F., and Hammock, B. D.(1994) FEBS Lett. 338, 251-256; Beetham, J. K., Grant, D., Arand, M., Garbarino, J., Kiyosue, T., Pinot, F., Oesch, F., Belknap, W. R., Shinozaki, K., and Hammock, B. D.(1995) DNA Cell. Biol. 14, 61-71) we selected candidate amino acid residues for the putative catalytic triad of the rat soluble epoxide hydrolase. The predicted amino acid residues were exchanged by site-directed mutagenesis of the epoxide hydrolase cDNA, followed by the expression of the respective mutant enzymes in Escherichia coli. A total of 25 different mutants were analyzed for their epoxide hydrolase activity toward the model substrate trans-stilbene oxide. In case of impaired catalytic activity of a given mutant, the structural integrity of the recombinant enzyme protein was assessed either by its ability to covalently bind the substrate trans-stilbene oxide or by affinity purification on benzyl thio-Sepharose, using the soluble epoxide hydrolase-specific competitive inhibitor 4-fluorochalcone oxide to release the bound enzyme from the affinity matrix. Of the mutants under investigation, only those with changes in the positions Asp, Asp, and His were completely inactive toward the model substrate trans-stilbene oxide while retaining the proper protein fold. These amino acids were exactly those previously predicted by sequence alignment. Exchange of the amino acid residues flanking the catalytic nucleophile Asp significantly changed the kinetic properties of the enzyme. Mutation of His to Gln had no apparent effect on the K but led to a heavily reduced V (5% that of the wild type) of the mutant enzyme, while the exchange of Trp against Phe strongly increased the K (7-fold) and also moderately enhanced the V (2-fold) of the corresponding mutant. Mutation of Trp apparently had a strong effect on the protein conformation.


Aim: The determined stage of ischemia and unknown HF in critical CVD events well-defined the higher incidence of SCD risk factors in the long-term modes of responsiveness with reduced LVEF if the idiopathic fibrillation lacking is not treated with counseling of LV remodeling in the association of rehospitalization survival rates.

Methods and results: The acute study in the time-dependent logistic evaluation of randomized decompensate HF characteristic reduce the all-cause mortality within each consecutive 180 days. Among 3000 patients of combined study on Kaplan-Meier event rates of 6.1 SCD alive [95% Confidence Interval 4.8- 8.5] and 3.2 SCD death [95% Confidence Interval 2.5 – 4.4] account 20% of SCD with hazard ratio 4.8 (2.6- 8.7). In the multivariable model of rate and rhythm control of 6-12 months per year highly affected the NYHA class II-IV 70- 78% with the P value <0.001 on wider QRS complex adjustments in overall (n= 2,427) responding to LVESV and LVEDV median to the follow-up of 85% females predicted improvement by LV reverse remodeling.

Conclusion: The identified relative risk in the comparison of controlling and preventions make the proportion of VT/VF death cause noted every 30 days denying the significance of obvious beneficial proof when implantation alternatively select LV remodeling in standard parameters.


The research into the use of small molecules as drugs continues to be a key driver in the development of molecular databases, computer-aided drug design software and collaborative platforms. The evolution of computational approaches is driven by the essential criteria that a drug molecule has to fulfill, from the affinity to targets to minimal side effects while having adequate absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties. A combination of ligand- and structure-based drug development approaches is already used to obtain consensus predictions of small molecule activities and their off-target interactions. Further integration of these methods into easy-to-use workflows informed by systems biology could realize the full potential of available data in the drug discovery and reduce the attrition of drug candidates.


There is a growing bipartisan consensus that flaws in America's death-penalty system have reached crisis proportions. Many fear that capital trials put people on death row who don't belong there. Others say capital appeals take too long. This report?the first statistical study ever undertaken of modern American capital appeals (4,578 of them in state capital cases between 1973 and 1995)?suggests that both claims are correct. Capital sentences do spend a long time under judicial review. As this study documents, however, judicial review takes so long precisely because American capital sentences are so persistently and systematically fraught with error that seriously undermines their reliability. Our 23 years worth of results reveal a death penalty system collapsing under the weight of its own mistakes. They reveal a system in which lives and public order are at stake, yet for decades has made more mistakes than we would tolerate in far less important activities. They reveal a system that is wasteful and broken and needs to be addressed. Our central findings are as follows: Nationally, during the 23-year study period, the overall rate of prejudicial error in the American capital punishment system was 68%. In other words, courts found serious, reversible error in nearly 7 of every 10 of the thousands of capital sentences that were fully reviewed during the period. Capital trials produce so many mistakes that it takes three judicial inspections to catch them ?leaving grave doubt whether we do catch them all. After state courts threw out 47% of death sentences due to serious flaws, a later federal review found "serious error"?error undermining the reliability of the outcome?in 40% of the remaining sentences. Because state courts come first and see all the cases, they do most the work of correcting erroneous death sentences. Of the 2,370 death sentences thrown out due to serious error, 90% were overturned by state judges?many of whom were the very judges who imposed the death sentence in the first place; nearly all of whom were directly beholden to the electorate; and none of whom, consequently, were disposed to overturn death sentences except for very good reason. This does not mean that federal review is unnecessary. Precisely because of the huge amounts of serious capital error that state appellate judges are called upon to catch, it is not surprising that a substantial number of the capital judgments they let through to the federal stage are still seriously flawed. To lead to reversal, error must be serious, indeed. The most common errors?prompting a majority of reversals at the state post-conviction stage?are (1) egregiously incompetent defense lawyers who didn't even look for?and demonstrably missed?important evidence that the defendant was innocent or did not deserve to die; and (2) police or prosecutors who did discover that kind of evidence but suppressed it, again keeping it from the jury. [Hundreds of examples of these and other serious errors are collected in Appendix C and D to this Report.] High error rates put many individuals at risk of wrongful execution: 82% of the people whose capital judgments were overturned by state post-conviction courts due to serious error were found to deserve a sentence less than death when the errors were cured on retrial; 7% were found to be innocent of the capital crime. High error rates persist over time. More than 50% of all cases reviewed were found seriously flawed in 20 of the 23 study years, including 17 of the last 19. In half the years, including the most recent one, the error rate was over 60%. High error rates exist across the country. Over 90% of American death-sentencing states have overall error rates of 52% or higher. 85% have error rates of 60% or higher. Three-fifths have error rates of 70% or higher. Illinois (whose governor recently declared a moratorium on executions after a spate of death-row exonerations) does not produce atypically faulty death sentences. The overall rate of serious error found in Illinois capital sentences (66%) is very close to?and slightly lower than?the national average (68%). Catching so much error takes time?a national average of 9 years from death sentence to the last inspection and execution. By the end of the study period, that average had risen to 10.6 years. In most cases, death row inmates wait for years for the lengthy review procedures needed to uncover all this error. Then, their death sentences are reversed. This much error, and the time needed to cure it, impose terrible costs on taxpayers, victims' families, the judicial system, and the wrongly condemned. And it renders unattainable the finality, retribution and deterrence that are the reasons usually given for having a death penalty. Erroneously trying capital defendants the first time around, operating the multi-tiered inspection process needed to catch the mistakes, warehousing thousands under costly death row conditions in the meantime, and having to try two out of three cases again is irrational. This report describes the extent of the problem. A subsequent report will examine its causes and their implications for resolving the death penalty crisis.


The use of tattoo removal as an example of NHS rationing is now so common that it is in danger of trivialising an important debate. Behind such questions as "Should the NHS be devoting resources to tattoo removal?" lies a more fundamental issue: what kinds of benefit should the NHS provide?

Most readers will assume that defining a healthcare "package" is a means of rationing healthcare resources. In other words, faced with the task of managing the limited NHS budget one option is to exclude some services altogether. But my case rests on a different interpretation of a package and involves asking a preliminary question. Before deciding how to ration, we need to know what to ration: What is the range of services relevant to the role of the NHS? What "business" is the NHS in? Is it the NHS's job to provide fertility treatment, physiotherapy for sports injuries, long term nursing care, gender reassignment, adult dentistry, and cosmetic surgery? Or should these services be provided by local authorities, voluntary agencies, or the private sector? The question does not rely on clinical judgment. It is about the boundary of a public institution's responsibilities. And it is a question which has been muddled up with issues of rationing proper.

The need to address this question derives from a growing sense of confusion and uncertainty about what it is reasonable to expect from the NHS. For example, where one lives can have a decisive effect on whether or not NHS treatment is available. The 1991 NHS reforms were an important catalyst in this process: purchasing authorities now concentrate on commissioning health care for their resident populations, rather than on management issues. Wishing to be seen to be making the best use of financial allocations, some took the view that certain services were …


Wilf and Ewens argue in a recent paper that there is plenty of time for evolution to occur. They base this claim on a mathematical model in which beneficial mutations accumulate simultaneously and independently, thus allowing changes that require a large number of mutations to evolve over comparatively short time periods. Because changes evolve independently and in parallel rather than sequentially, their model scales logarithmically rather than exponentially. This approach does not accurately reflect biological evolution, however, for two main reasons. First, within their model are implicit information sources, including the equivalent of a highly informed oracle that prophesies when a mutation is "correct," thus accelerating the search by the evolutionary process. Natural selection, in contrast, does not have access to information about future benefits of a particular mutation, or where in the global fitness landscape a particular mutation is relative to a particular target. It can only assess mutations based on their current effect on fitness in the local fitness landscape. Thus the presence of this oracle makes their model radically different from a real biological search through fitness space. Wilf and Ewens also make unrealistic biological assumptions that, in effect, simplify the search. They assume no epistasis between beneficial mutations, no linkage between loci, and an unrealistic population size and base mutation rate, thus increasing the pool of beneficial mutations to be searched. They neglect the effects of genetic drift on the probability of fixation and the negative effects of simultaneously accumulating deleterious mutations. Finally, in their model they represent each genetic locus as a single letter. By doing so, they ignore the enormous sequence complexity of actual genetic loci (typically hundreds or thousands of nucleotides long), and vastly oversimplify the search for functional variants. In similar fashion, they assume that each evolutionary "advance" requires a change to just one locus, despite the clear evidence that most biological functions are the product of multiple gene products working together. Ignoring these biological realities infuses considerable active information into their model and eases the model's evolutionary process.


Platelet transfusions are a common intervention for thrombocytopenia. Although the main reason for transfusing platelets is to improve hemostasis, platelets have many additional physiological roles, including interactions with immune pathways. Much of the evidence base for safe and effective transfusions has been informed by randomized trials in adult patients with hematological malignancies. Only three randomized trials have been conducted in sick neonates. These trials have indicated evidence of harm, including a significantly higher rate of death or major bleeding within 28 days after randomization for the largest trial, which enrolled 660 infants. The overall research indicates limited effectiveness of platelet transfusions to reduce bleeding risk. It is important that the results of trials are implemented into practice, but uptake of research findings into neonatal medicine remains inconsistent, as for many areas of health care. There is a need to establish which potential implementation strategies (cost‐) efficiently enact change, such as audit and feedback, automated reminder systems for ordering transfusions, and use of opinion leaders. Research is exploring potential mechanisms underlying the lack of effectiveness of platelet transfusions and the increased bleeding and mortality observed in neonatal randomized trials. One potential mechanism concerns the roles of platelets to promote excessive angiogenic signals during a vulnerable period of brain development. A further hypothesis explores the effects of transfusing "adult" platelets into "neonatal" thrombocytopenic blood on primary hemostasis and immune responses.


We study principal-agent problems in which a principal commits to an outcome-dependent payment scheme (a.k.a. contract) so as to induce an agent to take a costly, unobservable action. We relax the assumption that the principal perfectly knows the agent by considering a Bayesian setting where the agent's type is unknown and randomly selected according to a given probability distribution, which is known to the principal. Each agent's type is characterized by her own action costs and action-outcome distributions. In the literature on non-Bayesian principal-agent problems, considerable attention has been devoted to linear contracts, which are simple, pure-commission payment schemes that still provide nice approximation guarantees with respect to principal-optimal (possibly non-linear) contracts. While in non-Bayesian settings an optimal contract can be computed efficiently, this is no longer the case for our Bayesian principal-agent problems. This further motivates our focus on linear contracts, which can be optimized efficiently given their single-parameter nature. Our goal is to analyze the properties of linear contracts in Bayesian settings, in terms of approximation guarantees with respect to optimal contracts and general tractable contracts (i.e., efficiently-computable ones). First, we study the approximation guarantees of linear contracts with respect to optimal ones, showing that the former suffer from a multiplicative loss that grows linearly in the number of agent's types. Nevertheless, we prove that linear contracts can still provide a constant multiplicative approximation ρ of the optimal principal's expected utility, though at the expense of an exponentially-small additive loss 2-Ω(ρ). Then, we switch to tractable contracts, showing that, surprisingly, linear contracts perform well among them. In particular, we prove that it is NP-hard to design a contract providing a multiplicative loss sublinear in the number of agent's types, while the same holds for contracts that provide a constant multiplicative approximation ρ at the expense of an additive loss 2-ω(ρ). We conclude by showing that, in Bayesian principal-agent problems, an optimal contract can be computed efficiently if we fix either the number of agent's types or the number of outcomes.


Distributed real-time embedded systems operating in uncertain and contested environments are of great relevance to the aerospace community. Such systems rely on components with unpredictable behavior to provide mission-critical capability. However, these components pose a challenge to assuring system-level safety and security. Runtime assurance (RA) has been used successfully to balance such capability with confidence in various nonDRTS domains. This paper presents a project we are pursuing with the aim of developing a provably correct approach for RA of DRTS. We discuss the core technical thrust areas, present two challenge problems we are using to guide our research, and conclude with an experimental testbed and initial results.


Independence from the coordinate system is one source of efficiency and robustness for the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES). The recently proposed Adaptive Encoding (AE) procedure generalizes CMA-ES adaptive mechanism, and can be used together with any optimization algorithm. Adaptive Encoding gradually builds a transformation of the coordinate system such that the new coordinates are as decorrelated as possible with respect to the objective function. But any optimization algorithm can then be used together with Adaptive Encoding, and this paper proposes to use one of the simplest of all, that uses a dichotomy procedure on each coordinate in turn. The resulting algorithm, termed Adaptive Coordinate Descent (ACiD), is analyzed on the Sphere function, and experimentally validated on BBOB testbench where it is shown to outperform the standard (1+1)-CMA-ES, and is found comparable to other state-of-the-art CMA-ES variants.


This paper shows that initial cross-country institutional differences can explain to a substantial extent the relative GDP performance of European countries since 1995, after controlling for the initial level of GDP per capita and government debt. It shows that improving the quality of institutions could lead to significantly higher per capita GDP. It also shows that an initial government debt level above a threshold (e.g. 60-70%) coupled with institutional quality below the EU average tends to be associated with particularly poor subsequent real growth performance during this period. Interestingly, the detrimental effect of high debt levels seems cushioned by the presence of very sound institutions. This might be because good institutions help to alleviate the debt problem in various ways, e.g. by ensuring sufficient fiscal consolidation in the longer-run, allowing for better use of government expenditures and promoting sustainable growth, social fairness and more efficient tax administration. The results are confirmed across a large sample of countries, also including OECD countries outside Europe. The empirical findings on the importance of institutions are robust to various measures of output growth, different measures of institutional indicators, different sample sizes, different country groupings and to the inclusion of additional control variables. Overall, the results tend to support the call for structural reforms in general and reforms enhancing the efficiency of public administration and regulation, the rule of law and the fight against rent-seeking and corruption in particular. JEL Classification: O43, C23, E02, H63


As SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating for over a year, dozens of vaccine candidates are under development or in clinical use. The BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine induces spike protein-specific neutralizing antibodies associated with protective immunity. The emergence of the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants has raised concerns of reduced vaccine efficacy and increased re-infection rates. Here we show, that after the second dose, the sera of BNT162b2-vaccinated health care workers (n = 180) effectively neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 variant with the D614G substitution and the B.1.1.7 variant, whereas the neutralization of the B.1.351 variant is five-fold reduced. Despite the reduction, 92% of the vaccinees have a neutralization titre of >20 for the B.1.351 variant indicating some protection. The vaccinees' neutralization titres exceeded those of recovered non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Our work provides strong evidence that the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine induces efficient cross-neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants currently circulating in the world.


Although bank capital regulation permits a bank to choose freely between equity and subordinated debt to meet capital requirements, lenders and investors view debt and equity as imperfect substitutes. It follows that the mix of debt in regulatory capital should isolate the role that the market plays in disciplining banks. I document that since the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA) reduced the ability of the FDIC to absorb losses of subordinated debt investors, the mix of debt has had a positive effect on the future outcomes of distressed banks, as if the presence of debt investors has worked to limit moral hazard. To mitigate concerns about selection, I use the variation across banks in the mix of debt in capital generated by cross-state variation in state corporate income tax rates. Interestingly, instrumental variables (IV) estimates document that selection problems are indeed important, but suggest that the benefits of subordinated debt are even larger. I conclude that the market may play a useful direct role in regulating banks.


Rationale: Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a key mediator of intracellular signaling in the heart. However, the tools currently available for assessing dynamic changes in CaMKII localization and activation in living myocytes are limited. Objective: We use Camui, a novel FRET-based biosensor in which full-length CaMKII is flanked by CFP and YFP, to measure CaMKII activation state in living rabbit myocytes. Methods and Results: We show that Camui and mutant variants that lack the sites of CaMKII autophosphorylation (T286A) and oxidative regulation (CM280/1VV) serve as useful biosensors for CaMKII&dgr; activation state. Camui (wild-type or mutant) was expressed in isolated adult cardiac myocytes, and localization and CaMKII activation state were determined using confocal microscopy. Camui, like CaMKII&dgr;, is concentrated at the z-lines, with low baseline activation state. Camui activation increased directly with pacing frequency, but the maximal effect was blunted with the T286A, consistent with frequency-dependent phosphorylation of CaMKII at T286 mainly at high-frequency and high-amplitude Ca transients. Camui was also activated by 4 neurohormonal agonists. Angiotensin II and endothelin-1 activated Camui, largely through an oxidation-dependent mechanism, whereas isoproterenol- and phenylephrine-mediated mechanisms had a significant autophosphorylation-dependent component. Conclusions: Camui is a novel, nondestructive tool that allows spatiotemporally resolved measurement of CaMKII activation state in physiologically functioning myocytes. This represents a first step in using Camui to elucidate key mechanistic details of CaMKII signaling in live hearts and myocytes.


Mechanisms of increased epithelial lung clearance of DTPA in diffuse fibrosing alveolitis. S. Labrune, Th. Chinet, M.A. Collignon, L. Barritault, G.J. Huchon. ERS Journals Ltd 1994. ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to elucidate possible mechanisms of increased epithelial lung clearance in diffuse fibrosing alveolitis (DFA). We investigated the relationships between epithelial lung clearance as assessed by the clearance of aerosolized 99mTc-diethylene-triamine-penta-acetic acid (RCDTPA), luminal alveolitis as assessed by bronchoalveolar lavage, and pulmonary function, in 30 nonsmokers with DFA. In 14 of these patients, RC-DTPA and lung function were determined before and during therapy with prednisolone (0.5 mg·kg-1 daily). RC-DTPA was higher in patients with DFA (4.45±2.50%·min-1) than in normal subjects (1.18±0.31%·min-1). RC-DTPA did not correlate with the number of alveolar neutrophils, but correlated positively with the number of alveolar lymphocytes, and negatively with vital capacity (VC). RC-DTPA decreased from 6.1±2.8 to 3.8±1.9%·min-1 with prednisolone. RC-DTPA before prednisolone correlated positively with the prednisolone-associated improvement in VC. We conclude that in patient with DFA, RC-DTPA is increased, and decreases but does not return to normal with corticosteroid therapy. Our data suggest that in DFA the increase in RC-DTPA could be related to the recoil-induced stretch of the respiratory epithelium and to alveolar lymphocytic inflammation. Eur Respir J., 1994, 7, 651–656. Université de Paris René Descartes, Laboratoire de Biologie et Pharmacologie des Epithelia Respiratoires and Service de Pneumologie, Hôpital Ambroise Paré, Boulogne, and Service de Médecine Nucléaire, Hôpital Laënnec, Paris, France.


Current word alignment models do not distinguish between different types of alignment links. In this paper, we provide a new probabilistic model for word alignment where word alignments are associated with linguistically motivated alignment types. We propose a novel task of joint prediction of word alignment and alignment types and propose novel semi-supervised learning algorithms for this task. We also solve a sub-task of predicting the alignment type given an aligned word pair. In our experimental results, the generative models we introduce to model alignment types significantly outperform the models without alignment types.


Pathological remodeling, degeneration and reactivity of astrocytes are fundamental astrogliopathies contributing to all neurological diseases. In neurodegenerative disorders (including Alzheimer's disease [AD]) astroglia undergo complex changes that range from atrophy with loss of function to accumulation of reactive cells around disease-specific lesions (senile plaques in the case of AD). The cellular pathology of astroglia in the context of human AD remains enigmatic; mainly because of the severe limitations of animal models, which, although reproducing some pathological features of the disease, do not mimic its progression in full. Human-induced pluripotent stem cells technology creates a novel and potentially revolutionizing platform for studying fundamental mechanisms of the disease and for screening to identify new therapeutic compounds.


This paper presents a robust ensemble filtering methodology for storm surge forecasting based on the singular evolutive interpolated Kalman (SEIK) filter, which has been implemented in the framework of the H? filter. By design, an H? filter is more robust than the common Kalman filter in the sense that the estimation error in the H? filter has, in general, a finite growth rate with respect to the uncertainties in assimilation. The computational hydrodynamical model used in this study is the Advanced Circulation (ADCIRC) model. The authors assimilate data obtained from Hurricanes Katrina and Ike as test cases. The results clearly show that the H?-based SEIK filter provides more accurate short-range forecasts of storm surge compared to recently reported data assimilation results resulting from the standard SEIK filter.


The Annual Policy Report on Migration and Asylum 2013 provides an overview of trends, policy developments and significant debates in the area of asylum and migration during 2013 in Ireland. Some important developments in 2013 included:- - Ireland held the Presidency of the EU for the first six months of 2013. A number of developments occurred related to asylum and migration in the area of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). - Four pieces of secondary legislation relevant to the migration and international protection area were introduced. - Under the European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 426 of 2013), responsibility for the processing of applications for subsidiary protection, both new cases and those on hand, transferred from the Minister for Justice and Equality to the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner. - The Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) (Amendment) Act 2013 was enacted. - In May 2013 Ireland announced that it would not be exercising an option under the Accession Treaty to restrict access to Ireland?s labour market for nationals of Croatia. - In July 2013, changes to the Immigrant Investor Programme were announced. - In November 2013, Thailand was added to the list of applicable countries under the Visa Waiver Scheme, bringing the number of countries covered by the Scheme to eighteen. - The Departments of Justice and Equality, and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation announced a series of initiatives related to changes for highly-qualified workers; a Highly Skilled Job Interview Authorisation and an Atypical Working Scheme. - Automated border e-gates were tested at Dublin Airport for the first time. - Ireland completed the necessary parliamentary procedures to opt-in to 11 EU readmission agreements in accordance with Article 4 of the Protocol to the TFEU. Key figures for 2013: - An estimated 166,000 new applications (including for visas, residence, protection and citizenship) were received by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS). - Over 97,100 new or renewed registrations were issued by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). - Approximately 120,000 non-EEA nationals had permission to remain in the State. - The total net outward migration remained broadly consistent with the previous 12-month period (33,100 compared with 34,400 respectively). - Immigration to Ireland decreased by nearly 51 per cent (or from 113,500 in 2008 to 55,900 in 2013). - Emigration from Ireland has risen by almost 81 per cent (or from 49,200 to 89,000) in the same period. - 95,000 entry visa applications were received, with an overall approval rate of 91 per cent. - 946 applications for asylum were received. - 425 persons were assisted to return home voluntarily (340 assisted by IOM and 85 by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service). - 922 persons were granted leave to remain in Ireland.


Power system monitoring capabilities and requirements are evolving rapidly. The traditional monitoring framework in Australian distribution networks involves biannual readings of maximum demand at each distribution substation. As utilities respond to developments in metering and communications technology, automated collection and retrieval of quasi-real-time system data between substations and central repositories is now feasible. This gives network managers a significantly increased understanding of distribution network dynamic activity such as daily and seasonal load profiles. This leads to the increased ability of utilities to exploit metering data for power quality analysis purposes. This paper examines the scope for, and challenges associated with, integration of power quality monitoring with advanced metering. Emphasis is directed towards technical and regulatory conditions applying to Australian distribution utilities. Particular consideration is given to the different characteristics of the various types of sites where monitoring is required.


For pt. I see ibid., vol. 47, no. 11, p. 1571-1583 (2000). Chaos-based DS-CDMA systems in presence of a dispersive channel are analyzed to obtain analytical expression for key quantities involved in performance evaluation. To do so a simple but realistic exponential model for dispersive channel characterization is adopted to derive an estimation of the magnitude of error causes in terms of second-, third- and fourth-order correlation properties of the spreading sequences. These properties are analytically computed by choosing a suitable set of chaotic-maps for sequences generation and using some tools from the general theory developed in the companion paper. Such a theory expresses higher order expectations as products between tensors made of the spreading symbols and tensors accounting for the mixed causal-stochastic nature of the chaotic generators. The factorization of these tensors naturally leads to a handy exponential form for correlations. With this a closed form is given for the variances of disturbing terms which, under the standard Gaussian assumption, determine the system performance. Such closed forms are finally exploited to optimize the performance of the system under different channel and load conditions, showing an improvement over what can be obtained by some classical spreading sequences.


Due to the inherent nature of the construction industry, all construction projects have some amount and type of uncertainty. Personnel involved with the project compensate for the uncertainty by adding buffers. This research is focused on "time buffers" added to construction task durations. We define "time buffer" as time added to task durations to compensate for uncertainty and protect against variation. Although previous research acknowledges this addition of time buffer, the root causes of buffer have not been thoroughly researched. The research objectives include determining which factors are the most prevalent and severe causes of buffer and determining opinion differences amongst various groups. A survey was developed and then completed by 180 construction personnel across the United States. The top twelve most frequent and severe causes of buffer in task durations were identified. The factors were analysed in how they are viewed differently by foremen, superintendents, and project managers; trade to trade; general contractors to subcontractors; level of experience; and companies regularly using the Last Planner System and those who do not. The findings will help construction managers understand what drives the need for buffer in construction schedules and focus efforts on strategically addressing critical areas of concern or uncertainty.


Abstract. The dynamical coupling process between the stratosphere and troposphere in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) during a~stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) in boreal winter was investigated using simulation data from a global non-hydrostatic model (NICAM) that does not use cumulus parameterization. The model reproduced well the observed tropical tropospheric changes during the SSW, including the enhancement of convective activity following the amplification of planetary waves. Deep convective activity was enhanced in the latitude zone 20–10° S, in particular over the southwest Pacific and southwest Indian Ocean. Although the upwelling in the TTL was correlated with that in the stratosphere, the temperature tendency in the TTL changed little due to a compensation by diabatic heating originating from cloud formation. This result suggests that the stratospheric meridional circulation affects cloud formation in the TTL.


The idea of dialogue occupies arguably the most central position in Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics (Gadamer 1960/1989). Dialogue is here not understood merely as the conversation between two subjects about something of common interest in a shared medium of understanding, but rather as the foundational phenomenon within which objects and themes, subjects and perspectives, and common interest and shared understanding are grounded. The foundational character of dialogue derives from the fact that all experience is understood to be linguistically mediated, while language as a medium exists in its true and essential form as dialogue. The strongest support for this approach comes from a phenomenological perspective on understanding, i.e. on what really happens when we understand something, when we make sense of something by interpreting it. Bringing together the encompassing and foundational role of dialogue with its concrete origin in the act of interpretation will yield, as I will show, a post- metaphysical concept of understanding as dialogue. Gadamer's own philosophical-hermeneutic conception of dialogue both suggests and yet misses its full articulation, as our analysis of the idea of dialogue in philosophical hermeneutics, the question of the metaphysical grounds of understanding in language, and the issue of the epistemological significance of dialogue will show.


The synthesis of piano-stool type complexes [(Cp-R)99mTc(CO)3] from water and, if possible, directly from [99mTcO4]- is a persisting challenge. Such complexes are very convenient for labeling biomolecules since they are small in size and "innocent" with respect to noncovalent interactions in biological systems. We found that [(Cp-R)99mTc(CO)3] can be prepared directly from the dimerized Diels−Alder precursors and from [99mTcO4]-. Since the concentration of the respective monomers in the reaction solutions was undetectable, the formation of [(Cp-R)99mTc(CO)3] must be based on a metal-mediated retro Diels−Alder reaction with concerted Cp coordination. The authenticity of the formed 99mTc complexes was confirmed by comparing their HPLC retention times with those of the structurally characterized rhenium surrogates. Besides the principle access to piano-stool complexes for radiopharmaceutical studies, a metal-mediated retro Diels−Alder reaction under concomitant formation of the corresponding piano-stool comp...


Article History: Received 10.01.2013 Received in revised form 27.03.2013 Accepted 08.01.2013 Available online 15.12.2013 The purpose of the study is to determine relationship between stigma tendencies of school administrators' and teachers' and organizational culture by using quantitative research methods. Relational survey model is used in research. Administrators' and teachers' opinions on stigma tendencies and organizational culture were reviewed. Research sample is consisted of 655 teachers and 125 administrators who have been working in public schools (elementary and high) in Zonguldak. Stigma Scale and School Culture Scale was used for data collection. Mean, standard deviation, independent samples t-test, paired samples t-test, Peason correlation coefficient techniques was used by analyzing of collected data. According to research results, administrators' and teachers' stigma tendencies was high in psychological health and prejudice sub-scales and so primary schools' organizational culture was relatively stronger than both of vocational high schools and academic high schools; stigma tendencies of teachers who have been working in vocational high schools was higher than teachers who have been working in primary school and academic high school; stigma tendencies of academic high school administrators' was higher than primary school administrators and vocational high school administrators. Finally, we can say that, stigma tendency is one of the factors affecting school culture negatively. If administrators' and teachers' stigma tendencies are decreased, school culture will strengthen. © 2013 IOJES. All rights reserved


The advent of Cloud computing platforms, and the growing pervasiveness of Multicore processor architectures have revealed the inadequateness of traditional programming models based on sequential computations, opening up many challenges for research on parallel programming models for building distributed, service-oriented systems. More in detail, the dynamic nature of Cloud computing and its virtualized infrastructure pose new challenges in term of application design, deployment and dynamic reconfiguration. An application developed to be delivered as a service in the Cloud has to deal with poorly understood issues such as elasticity, infinite scalability and portability across heterogeneous virtualized environments. In this position paper we define the problem of providing a novel parallel programming model for building application services that can be transparently deployed on multicore and cloud execution environments. To this end, we introduce and motivate a research plan for the definition of a novel programming framework for Web service-based applications. Our vision called "Liquid Architecture" is based on a programming model inspired by core ideas tied to the REST architectural style coupled with a self-configuring runtime that allows transparent deployment of Web services on a broad range of heterogeneous platforms, from multicores to clouds.


The demographic upheavals that altered the social landscape of the Southwest from the thirteenth through the seventeenth centuries forced peoples from diverse backgrounds to literally remake their worlds transformations in community, identity, and power that are only beginning to be understood through innovations in decorated ceramics. In addition to aesthetic changes that included new color schemes, new painting techniques, alterations in design, and a greater emphasis on iconographic imagery, some of the wares reflect a new production efficiency resulting from more specialized household and community-based industries. Also, they were traded over longer distances and were used more often in public ceremonies than earlier ceramic types. Through the study of glaze-painted pottery, archaeologists are beginning to understand that pots had 'social lives? in this changing world and that careful reconstruction of the social lives of pots can help us understand the social lives of Puebloan peoples. In this book, fifteen contributors apply a wide range of technological and stylistic analysis techniques to pottery of the Rio Grande and Western Pueblo areas to show what it reveals about inter- and intra-community dynamics, work groups, migration, trade, and ideology in the precontact and early postcontact Puebloan world. Through material evidence, the contributors reveal that technological and aesthetic innovations were deliberately manipulated and disseminated to actively construct ?communities of practice that cut across language and settlement groups. The Social Life of Pots offers a wealth of new data from this crucial period of prehistory and is an important baseline for future work in this area.


When a portion of a straight open-channel is replaced by a channel with a side cavity zone, water surface in the main channel in front of the cavity as well as that within the side cavity zone begins to show significant surface oscillation for specific experimental conditions. The mode of the oscillation changes with hydraulic condition and aspect ratio of the side cavity shape. When the aspect ratio is small, only a seiche-like oscillation within the cavity zone can be observed. However, as the streamwise length of the cavity increases, i.e. for a large aspect ratio, the oscillation in the cavity zone propagates into the main channel and a longitudinal oscillation becomes evident. In order to understand the mechanism of such mode-change, we performed a stereoscopic measurement of the water surface flow oscillation by gradually changing the aspect ratio of the side cavity.


R package mixAK originally implemented routines primarily for Bayesian estimation of finite normal mixture models for possibly interval-censored data. The functionality of the package was considerably enhanced by implementing methods for Bayesian estimation of mixtures of multivariate generalized linear mixed models proposed in Komarek and Komarkova (2013). Among other things, this allows for a cluster analysis (classification) based on multivariate continuous and discrete longitudinal data that arise whenever multiple outcomes of a different nature are recorded in a longitudinal study. This package also allows for a data-driven selection of a number of clusters as methods for selecting a number of mixture components were implemented. A model and clustering methodology for multivariate continuous and discrete longitudinal data is overviewed. Further, a step-by-step cluster analysis based jointly on three longitudinal variables of different types (continuous, count, dichotomous) is given, which provides a user manual for using the package for similar problems.


Emerging many-core chip multiprocessors will integrate dozens of small processing cores with an on-chip interconnect consisting of point-to-point links. The interconnect enables the processing cores to not only communicate, but to share common resources such as main memory resources and I/O controllers. In this work, we propose an arbitration scheme to enable equality of service (EoS) in access to a chip's shared resources. That is, we seek to remove any bias in a core's access to a shared resource based on its location in the CMP. We propose using probabilistic arbitration combined with distance-based weights to achieve EoS and overcome the limitation of conventional round-robin arbiter. We describe how nonlinear weights need to be used with probabilistic arbiters and propose three different arbitration weight metrics – fixed weight, constantly increasing weight, and variably increasing weight. By only modifying the arbitration of an on-chip router, we do not require any additional buffers or virtual channels and create a simple, low-cost mechanism for achieving EoS. We evaluate our arbitration scheme across a wide range of traffic patterns. In addition to providing EoS, the proposed arbitration has additional benefits which include providing quality-of-service features (such as differentiated service) and providing fairness in terms of both throughput and latency that approaches the global fairness achieved with age-base arbitration – thus, providing a more stable network by achieving high sustained throughput beyond saturation.


Degree of long term degradation damage of a retired gas turbine vane made of a Ni-based superalloy which had been operating for about 20000 hrs in a land-based gas turbine, was experimentally evaluated, through an assessment on the change in fatigue crack propagation resistance. For the purpose, a new testing apparatus has been developed to measure the local area fatigue crack propagation resistance, by extracting the miniature size compact tension specimens from the vane, where the specimens were extracted from the leading and the trailing edge, respectively. It was shown, the propagation rate of the crack that grew at the trailing edge part was significantly higher that that at the leading edge part. It was also shown that the crack propagation rates in the miniature specimen were generally higher than those in the standard size specimen. In order to explore an possibility to recover the degradation damage, the effect of a simple reheat treatment on the fatigue crack propagation resistance was also investigated


"This research report on India addresses an important policy issue faced by policy-makers in many developing countries: how to allocate public funds more efficiently in order to achieve both growth and poverty-reduction goals in rural areas. This research is particularly important at a time when many developing countries are undergoing substantial budget cuts as part of macroeconomic reforms and adjustment. The econometric model employed in this research includes a broad range of government expenditure items. It traces their effects on productivity growth and poverty alleviation and ranks them, exploring the potential trade-offs and complementarities of the two goals. Of the various investments weighed, the report finds that investments in rural roads and agricultural research and development have the greatest impact, while government spending specifically targeted to poverty reduction such as rural development and employment pro rams have only modest effects. In the light of these results, many developing countries may want to take a second look at their policies for poverty reduction and growth." (Forward by Per Pinstrup-Andersen)


By the first half of the Twentieth Century, the Odonate fauna of Trentino (Oriental Alps, Italy) was quite well known; subsequently, few surveys on dragonflies were carried out, resulting in a limited update of the knowledge on this taxon. The aim of this study is to provide a critical and annotated check-list of the Odonata of this province for the period from 1851 to 2018. This synthesis is based on a total of 3814 records obtained from the literature (955 records), revision of collections (1048 records), and unpublished recent data (1811 records). An updated and comprehensive Odonatological bibliography of the region is also provided. Overall, sixty-one species were confirmed to occur (or have occurred) in Trentino. These represent the 64% of the species recorded in Italy and the 43% of the species recorded in Europe. Presence of five additional species (Ceriagrion tenellum, Coenagrion lunulatum, C. ornatum, Ophiogomphus cecilia, and Epitheca bimaculata) should be considered doubtful for Trentino. Further two species (Platycnemis latipes and Onychogomphus uncatus) have to be excluded from the fauna of the study area. Fifty-four species were recorded also after 2000, whereas seven species were not confirmed after this year (Lestes dryas, L. virens, L. barbarus, Sympecma paedisca, Coenagrion scitulum, Brachytron pratense, and Sympetrum flaveolum). Several new records resulting from this study (referred to: Erythromma najas, Aeshna subarctica, Aeshna caerulea, Aeshna grandis, Leucorrhinia pectoralis) have a conservation or biogeographical relevance which transcends the borders of the study area, being noteworthy from an Italian or Alpine perspective and are thus commented in detail. Taxonomic notes on subspecies are also given when relevant.


The Shareholders Assembly is a body of the shareholders of a company that includes and incorporates all the shareholders with a goal to exercise their rights in the work of the company.

The decisions of the Shareholders Assembly, since its institutionalization, and during its operations, are legal acts (legal work). Just like any other legal action, the decisions of the Shareholders Assembly must be in accordance with the Constitution, the law sand good business practices. However, the decisions of the Assembly are not always in accordance with the law, or they may be illegal from legal and substantive perspective. In such case, the decision of the Shareholders Assembly shall be invalid (entirely or partially) because the conditions for its validity in accordance with the law and the statutes of the company will not be met. The Decisions of the Shareholders Assembly are significant as well for achieving the business venture of the company. The illegality of these decisions can lead to repercussions of economic and social nature. Subsequently, the adoption of illegal decisions must be prevented.

The main objective of this paper is to assist in determining and clarifying the types of unlawful decisions, to clarify the manner of exercising judicial protection against unlawful adopted decisions, to specify the types of law suits challenging the unlawful decisions and to indicate the legal consequences from the court decisions.


Three conditions of becoming-image weave their way through this analysis in a consideration of violence as an ethical imperative with respect to the experimental sensate cinema of French filmmaker Philippe Grandrieux , in particular, his second feature La Vie Nouvelle (2002). The weave of movement, rest and proximity tighten, in suggesting violence as an ethical moment in our becoming-image. This paradoxical critique of an ethics of violence eventually finds an arresting moment in proximity of the image-experience through its ontological montage structure as that continuous passage of our existence as proximate beings. With a critique of telecommunication and networked information technologies as those delivery systems for pain at a distance, we locate in Grandrieux something arresting that testifies to the impossibility of being elsewhere. All image encounters today, given their excessive presence, testify without alibi, without elsewhere as reference point, to the perpetuation of us as being in a middle ( milieu ) of an "immense clip" without end or establishment. Becoming imperceptible in the becoming-image of our material sensate being incepts three moments of imperceptibility : Deleuze and Guattari's shadow-plane as chaos that envelopes us all for future possible people and earth; Grandrieux's mutant-style productive of perpetual darkness ; and Maurice Blanchot's riveting thought on the artwork as that testimony to a without exit of our being in what he describes as le mourir or the "other night." Together they weave something akin to a poetics of darkness on the thought of image and image of thought.


Aircraft design is an iterative process of creating a design concept from a set of requirements. Conceptual design is an early phase in the process, during which preliminary decisions and trade studies are made from a set of requirements related to mission objective and costs. Although much attention has been paid to applying autonomy technologies to robotic systems, including air vehicles, there has been little attention paid to incorporating autonomy as part of the conceptual design process. Consequently, designing for autonomy tends to be retrofitted to a vehicle that has already gone through a complete design process rather than as part of the initial process. This derivative approach to designing autonomous systems is suboptimal, and there is evidence that this has hindered the acceptance of autonomy technologies. This article proposes an approach to conceptual design for aircraft that incorporates autonomy into the conceptual design process. To illustrate the principles introduced, we consider the example of configuring an autonomous small unmanned aerial vehicle for searching and tracking a target of interest.


Abstract Endemic infectious diseases constantly circulate in human populations, with prevalence fluctuating about a (theoretical and unobserved) time-independent equilibrium. For diseases for which acquired immunity is not lifelong, the classic susceptible–infectious–recovered–susceptible (SIRS) model provides a framework within which to consider temporal trends in the observed epidemiology. However, in some cases (notably pertussis), sustained multiannual fluctuations are observed, whereas the SIRS model is characterized by damped oscillatory dynamics for all biologically meaningful choices of model parameters. We show that a model that allows for "boosting" of immunity may naturally give rise to undamped oscillatory behaviour for biologically realistic parameter choices. The life expectancy of the population is critical in determining the characteristic dynamics of the system. For life expectancies up to approximately $50$ years, we find that, even with boosting, damped oscillatory dynamics persist. For increasing life expectancy, the system may sustain oscillatory dynamics, or even exhibit bistable behaviour, in which both stable point attractor and limit cycle dynamics may coexist. Our results suggest that rising life expectancy may induce changes in the characteristic dynamics of infections for which immunity is not lifelong, with potential implications for disease control strategies.


Distrust between the United States and China continues to grow in Northeast Asia. Among many contributing factors, the North Korea issue is one of the most important, as illustrated by the controversy over the possible deployment of the United States' THAAD missile defense system in South Korea. Thus, resolving or mitigating the Korea problem, a significant goal in its own right to both the United States and China, is also essential to reducing U.S.-PRC strategic distrust. China and the United States share long-term interests vis-a-vis the Korean peninsula. The question is how its resolution might be achieved. U.S. efforts to induce North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs by offering incentives and imposing sanctions have failed, and Chinese attempts to encourage Pyongyang to adopt PRC-style economic reforms have not fared much better. With Washington, Beijing, and Pyongyang unlikely to change their approaches, the hope for any new initiative must rest with Seoul. South Korea's special relationships with the North, the United States, and the PRC, along with its status as a dynamic middle power, give it the potential to play a larger leadership role in dealing with North Korea. In doing so, South Korea should consult with the United States and China on a long-term strategy for inter-Korean reconciliation that would, for now, finesse the nuclear issue. Such a strategy would require U.S. and Chinese support of the South Korean leadership in addressing the Korea problem. The process of working together with Seoul to formulate and implement this strategy would allow both powers to ensure that their long-term interests on the peninsula are respected. Although there is no guarantee that such an effort will succeed, the worsening situation on and around the Korean peninsula and the U.S. and PRC's lack of progress all argue for this new approach, as do the potential benefits to the U.S.-PRC relationship.


Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) have emerged as highly active catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, insights into the trends and limitations in their activity are lacking, and there are presently no guidelines for systematically improving their intrinsic activity. The complexity and variations in their structures further pose challenges in theoretically estimating their activity. Herein, we demonstrate a combined experimental–theoretical approach: by synthesizing different TMPs and comparing experimentally determined HER activities with the hydrogen adsorption free energies, ΔGH, calculated by density functional theory, we determine the level of detail needed in the simulations to bring out useful trends in the experimental data. In particular, we show that the TMPs follow the HER volcano relationship. Using our combined experimental–theoretical model, we predict that the mixed metal TMP, Fe0.5Co0.5P, should have a near-optimal ΔGH. We synthesized several mixtures of Co and Fe phosphides alloys and confirmed that Fe0.5Co0.5P exhibits the highest HER activity of the investigated TMPs. Furthermore, our results suggest that there could be inherent limitations in the intrinsic HER activity of TMPs that prevent them from performing as well as Pt-group metals. Our work demonstrates that it is possible to generate and verify a model of activity trends with predictive capabilities even for new transition metal compounds with varied structures and surface terminations. The identification of an improved mixed metal TMP based on theoretical predictions and subsequent synthesis and testing demonstrates the need for an approach that combines theory and experiment to understand and ultimately design advanced catalysts.


The role of hydrotropic counteranions in governing the self-assembled structures of cationic bolaamphiphiles is studied in this work. We reveal that the ability of a hydrotropic counteranion to induce the formation of two-dimensional (2D) planar aggregates depends weakly on its polar head, but is strongly correlated to the size and substitution pattern of its organic portion. Additionally, the shape of the obtained 2D planar aggregates can be modulated, interestingly, by both hydrotropic counteranions and embedded conjugated moieties. 2D planar aggregates with triangular, quadrangular, and hexagonal shapes are obtained, and therefore this study may provide a simple and feasible methodology for fabricating organic self-assembled structures with controlled features.


The Burden of Power is the fourth volume of Alastair Campbell's diaries, and perhaps the most eagerly awaited given the ground it covers. It begins on September 11, 2001, a day which immediately wrote itself into the history books, and it ends on the day Campbell leaves Downing Street. In between there are two wars: first Afghanistan, and then, even more controversially, Iraq. It was the most difficult decision of Tony Blair's premiership, and almost certainly the most unpopular. Campbell describes in detail the discussions with President Bush and other world leaders as the steps to war are taken, and delivers a unique account of Blair as war leader. He records the enormous political difficulties at home, and the sense of crisis that engulfed the government after the suicide of weapons inspector David Kelly. And all the while, Blair continues to struggle with two issues that ran throughout his time in government - fighting for peace in Northern Ireland, and trying to make peace with Gordon Brown. And Campbell continues to struggle balancing the needs of his family with one of the most pressurised roles in politics. Riveting and revelatory, The Burden of Power is as raw and intimate a portrayal of political life as you are ever likely to read.


Despite the high population rates in developing countries, one in three couples are affected with infertility. The main causes of infertility in Africa are tubal occlusion and male factor due to sexually transmitted infections, postabortal and postpartum sepsis. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is often the only solution for these couples which are prohibitively expensive and sparsely available. This paper discusses alternative strategies to modify stimulation protocols and laboratory methods to make ART more affordable in low resource settings and public institutions.


The development of recent research information systems allows a transformation of citations in the full text of research papers into interactive elements. Such interactivity in some cases works as an instrument of direct scholarly communications between citing and cited authors. We discuss this challenge for research e-infrastructure development including opportunities for improvements in research cooperation and in collaboration mechanisms for the global research community.


Cellulose-based materials are widely used in a number of important applications (e.g. paper, wood, textiles). Additional developments are suggested by the growing interest for natural fibre-based composite and nanocomposite materials. The motivation is not only in the economic and ecological benefits, but is also related to advantageous properties and characteristics. The objective of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of process-structure-property relationships in some novel cellulose network materials with advanced functionalities, and showing potential large-scale processability. An important result is the favourable combination of mechanical properties observed for network-based cellulose materials.Compression-moulding of cellulose pulp fibres under high pressure (45 MPa) and elevated temperature (120 – 180 oC) provides an environmentally friendly process for preparation of stiff and strong cellulose composite plates. The structure of these materials is characterized at multiple scales (molecular, supra-molecular and microscale). These observations are related to measured reduction in water retention ability and improvement in mechanical properties.In a second part, cellulose nanofibrils (NFC) are functionalized with in-situ precipitated magnetic nanoparticles and formed into dense nanocomposite materials with high inorganic content. The precipitation conditions influence particle size distributions, which in turn affect the magnetic properties of the material. Besides, the decorated NFC network provides high stiffness, strength and toughness to materials with very high nanoparticle loading (up to 50 vol.%).Subsequently, a method for impregnation of wet NFC network templates with a thermosetting epoxy resin is developed, enabling the preparation of well-dispersed epoxy-NFC nanocomposites with high ductility and moisture durable mechanical properties. Furthermore, cellulose fibrils interact positively with the epoxy during curing (covalent bond formation and accelerated curing). Potential large scale development of epoxy-NFC and magnetic nanocomposites is further demonstrated with the manufacturing of 3D shaped compression-moulded objects.Finally, the wet impregnation route developed for epoxy is adapted to prepare UV-curable NFC nanocomposite films with a hyperbranched polymer matrix. Different chemical modifications are applied to the NFC in order to obtain moisture durable oxygen barrier properties.


: Placenta increta is a rare but dreadful complication of pregnancy; the term is used when chorionic villi invade into the myometrium of the uterine wall. We report a case of incomplete uterine rupture secondary to placenta previa increta at 32 weeks of pregnancy who presented with vaginal bleeding. Patient had history of previous one caesarean section and she was diagnosed as type IV placenta previa in present pregnancy. During emergency caesarean section, placenta was bulging out through lower uterine segment with intact peritoneum over it. After delivering the baby, lower uterine segment and placenta started bleeding profusely so decision of doing caesarean hysterectomy taken. After histopathological examination of hysterectomy specimen it was placenta increta. So in patients with previous caesarean delivery and placenta previa, a strong clinical suspicion and a careful radiological evaluation of uterine wall and placentation is required to detect invasive placenta.


In this work, we present a monitor and rescue system utilizing hybrid networks which is a integration of stationary sensor networks and mobile sensor networks: stationary sensor networks comprised of large numbers of small, simple, and inexpensive wireless sensors, and the mobile sensor network contains a set of mobile sensors (robots). The static sensors in our network have "monitoring" ability, i.e., any activated static sensor can detect the event as long as its sensing range intersects the event region. And the mobile sensors have "moving" and "rescuing" ability, e.g., they can move toward the event region with limited speed and further perform certain rescuing/processing operations on the event. We can consider the event as a hazard, e.g., wild fire, and the mobile sensors as fireman robots. As soon as the fire is detected by the static sensors, the fireman robots are expected to move from its initial location to the hazard region within minimum latency. We define the reaction delay of the system as the delay from the occurrence of event till at least one mobile sensor reaches the event. In order to satisfy certain reaction delay requirement while minimizing the total cost, we propose a number of deployment strategies for the stationary sensor network and mobile sensor network respectively. We further design a random wake-up scheduling for the static sensors for the sake of energy efficiency. Finally, we propose a pure distributed motion strategy for mobile sensors without reliance on localization services such as GPS, focusing on simple algorithms for distributed decision making and information propagation. We demonstrate the efficacy of our system in simulation, providing empirical results.


How should countries cooperate in setting fiscal and trade policies when government expenditures must be financed with distorting taxes? We show that even if countries cannot make explicit transfers to each other, every point on the Pareto frontier is production efficient, so that international trade and capital flows should be effectively free. Trade agreements must be supplemented with fiscal policy agreements. Residence-based income tax systems have advantages over source-based systems. Taxing all household asset income at a country-specific uniform rate and setting the corporate income tax to zero yield efficient outcomes. Value-added taxes should be adjusted at the border.


Culture has been an all too a common subject in today's, private and public, discourse. This is due to the challenges brought about by the changes occurring to the world as we know it. Issues like globalization and world migration have brought about the amalgamation of people from all quarters of life. The host countries have had regular discourses on how to deal with the influx of immigrants that they face and subjects like integration and assimilation have been the talk of day. But this is just one side of the coin. The immigrants have their own issues to face. They are subjected to adhere to the natives and integrate, if not assimilate, to the host country. They are expected to be more like their hosts in order to avoid any conflicts. This discourse was the motivation of this thesis. The thesis probed, through the eye of the immigrant (that is Kenyans), what are the cultural challenges that immigrants face and how do these challenges reshape their identities. In order for this research to be a success, certain strategies had to be taken. Interviews were undertaken on a face to face basis and observation was done in order to collect the non-verbal data, which is as important, in order to understand the anatomic factors of culture. The research did indeed find out that culture is not static and that it is rather relative to its environs. This brought about the issue of identity change and what are its effects and affects. This thesis is comprised of five chapters. The first chapter will be the introductory part to the study. Chapter two will discuss on the relevant literature, on the topic of culture and identity, used in developing relevant arguments. Chapter three will focus on the methodology used to carry out the research. Chapter four discusses the research findings, and chapter five will entail detailed discourse on the study.


When the authors of the United States Constitution drafted Article V, they intended to strike a balance between constancy and modernity. That balance would account for the authors' fallibility while at the same time establishing an enduring constitutional regime that was the unquestionable source of the nation's most deeply entrenched legal norms. Experience has shown that Article V fell short of that aim. Instead, it has handcuffed constitutional modernization, either precluding needed reforms or forcing constitutional changes to seep through alternative, informal pathways for the creation of new "constitutional" law. That pattern can and should be averted.In this Article, I propose a unique, tiered scheme for constitutional change that would work alongside existing Article V procedures. That scheme can solve the modernization problem facing our constitutional regime without undermining its constancy or fundamental status. The new amendatory procedure would contain three steps for the easier proposal, initial passage, and final ratification of an amendment that is based upon existing language in a state constitution. It would lower the supermajority requirements of Article V, but would be supported by many of the same justifications levied in favor of those stringent supermajority requirements in the first place. Such a change to the way we change the Constitution is sorely needed.


Genotype-environment interactions through different stability parameters and performance traits of four fine rice genotypes were studied. The traits were; days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of effective tillers per hill, panicle length (cm), number of fertile grains per panicle, number of sterile grains per panicle and yield (t/ha) in four fine rice genotypes across nine environments along with experimental farm of Genetics and Plant Breeding department, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) Mymensingh. Significant differences were observed for genotypes, environments and genotypes–environment interaction. Stability analysis after Eberhat and Russell's model suggested that the genotypes used in study were more or less responsive to environmental changes. Most of the genotypes performed better in Comilla. BAU125 was found stable for effective tillers per hill and comparatively less sensitive to other genotypes in panicle length and number of sterile grains per panicle. BR5 was stable for days to maturity and plant height whereas Kalizira performed better than other genotypes for fertile grains per panicle. In general, only the genotype BAU125 was found stable for effective tillers per hill, panicle length and lowest number of sterile grains per panicle. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbau.v10i1.12011 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 10(1): 1–7, 2012


This paper analyses the weight loss in Oystercatchers on the roost and after capture and attempts to investigate to what degree this weight loss is due to defecation of digested food, to dehydration and to utilisation of nutrient stores. The study emphasizes the need to record weight changes relative to the time of arrival at the roost, rather than relative to time since capture, as is common practice in correcting for weight loss In captive birds. If food is still defecated, the weight loss is 4.3 times as large as when the gut is empty. From then on, probably 10% of the weight loss is due to dehydration. It is estimated that the rest of the remaining weight decrease is about equally due to loss of dry lean muscles and fat. The weight loss of waders of different size is a function of body weight(3/4).


Abstract This paper discusses the outcome of the neighborhood unit as a North-American planning idea applied to the layout of three Brazilian new towns: Goiânia – the new capital of Goias state planned in 1933 and reshaped in 1937; Brasilia, whose pilot plan was selected through a 1957 national design competition; and Ruropolis, one of the several new towns planned and built along the Transamazonian highway in early 1970s. In distinct contexts, Brazilian town planners recurrently adopted the configuration of small residential communities grouped around the elementary school settled amid open spaces, apart from vehicles and within abundant greenery, as a modern way to constitute urban cells and thus foster the community sense. However, by analyzing the configuration of the neighborhood unit in these three case studies and report their eventual construction, occupation and use, this paper unveils the transformations of the original idea as a result of the residents' reactions, due to mismatching or rejection of a certain predetermined life style; thus the paper also points to issues as modern town planning utopia and ideal urban forms.


M. KATHERINE CLOUD: A Study of the Dynamic Relationships between Depression, Treatment, and Work Behavior (Under the direction of Donna B. Gilleskie) It has been shown in the literature that depression has a significant negative correlation with employment outcomes as measured by labor force participation, earnings, work attendance and job performance. I expand the understanding of this relationship by exploring the effect of depression on employment choices as well as treatment choices over time rather than simply examining correlations at a point in time. Other health related outcomes and the relationship between choices and mental health will be examined. My analysis follows initially depressed individuals for nine months and examines the dynamic relationship between health status and function, treatment decisions and employment outcomes. I consider a dynamic model of individual decisions over time where lagged endogenous behavior is allowed to influence current behavior or health outcomes. Results indicate that depression does have a significant effect on labor productivity. Individuals who were the most depressed at the baseline interview saw the largest improvements in productivity following treatment. However, the estimates imply that depression is not a significant determinant of the worker's attendance at work.


The scattered rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland are a classic example of habitat fragmentation. Many populations of cool-adapted species occurring in this area are restricted to small fragments and their habitat is expected to shrink further with climate change. If cool-adapted species are to persist into the future they will need to have the possibility to disperse to highland refugia. This thesis: "Patching up the divide: population dynamics and genetics of small mammals in a fragmented rainforest landscape" identifies key fragmentation aspects and evaluates the potential for connectivity on a landscape-wide and a fine scale.

I measured the influence of forest configuration, patch size, connectivity and isolation age on the population structure of rainforest mammals. In continuous and fragmented rainforest tree-kangaroos and possums were surveyed by spotlighting and rodents and other small marsupials by mark-recapture techniques. Population demography of three common and abundant rodent species: Melomys cervinipes, Rattus leucopus and Uromys caudimaculatus was studied in more detail. DNA was sampled from two focal rodent species, Melomys cervinipes and Rattus leucopus, to evaluate how the mosaic nature of the landscape affected genetic variation, differentiation, relatedness and gene flow. For genetic investigations five microsatellite loci were amplified in M. cervinipes and eight loci in R. leucopus. The mitochondrial DNA D-loop was also targeted in R. leucopus. Vegetation structure surveys were conducted to reveal fine-scale variation in the habitat and its influence on population demography and genetic structure of the two main study species.

I found that non-flying mammal species diversity was greatest in continuous forest and in large fragments with few climbing palms and less ground cover, indicating that large patches can support a near complete rainforest mammal species assemblage, including fragmentation-sensitive species that were mostly absent from small patches. Abundance of the three focal rodent species decreased with decreasing patch size, significantly so for R. leucopus. Decreasing patch size may have had negative impacts on breeding rates in the three focal rodent species. The number of M. cervinipes lactating females significantly declined in smaller patches. For the largest rodent species (Uromys caudimaculatus) subadults were found only in large fragments, suggesting that this species might only breed in large fragments, this result, however, was based on small sample sizes and should be treated with caution. Sex ratio and the proportion of adults to subadults did not vary significantly with patch size in the two smaller rodent species (M. cervinipes, R. leucopus). However M. cervinipes adults and R. leucopus subadult females were in poorer body condition in small fragments, potentially indicating that small fragments contained fewer resources.

Mark recapture in fragmented and continuous forest sites revealed that most movements by M. cervinipes and R. leucopus occurred on a small scale (30-60 m). The distances moved by most individuals were shorter in small fragments compared with larger remnants and continuous forest. This effect was primarily influenced by vegetation structure, while space limitation, resource availability and mating opportunities likely played an additional role. Vegetation structural elements most influential for routine movements and dispersal behaviour of both species were: ground cover, abundance of climbing palms and canopy height. Where climbing palms were common, rodents tended to be more sedentary, while in areas with a high percentage of ground cover and canopy cover more movements occurred. It appeared that the two smallest rodents (M. cervinipes and R. leucopus) had a population demography that was well adapted for life in small fragments and that these species adjusted their foraging behaviour to suit present resource availability and mating opportunities. The larger rodent (U. caudimaculatus) could experience a lack of good-quality breeding habitat in small sites but populations seemed to persist and dispersing individuals could use these remnants as stop-over places when migrating between larger sites.

Populations of M. cervinipes and R. leucopus have maintained high genetic variation and showed no clear evidence of inbreeding. Genetic variation and relatedness were not affected by site size, but were influenced by connectivity and time since isolation. Populations in small sites may have maintained genetic variation by retaining a sufficiently large population size and by gene flow. In currently unconnected sites that had been isolated for a short period of time, lower genetic diversity and higher relatedness was found than in continuous forest, or sites previously isolated and then reconnected by riparian corridors. This demonstrated that connectivity allowed gene flow to restore and maintain genetic variation. Population genetic structure reflected both historical and recent fragmentation. Historical environmental changes from the Pleistocene could be detected in separate populations from the eastern and the western Tablelands, but recent anthropogenic impacts also influenced genetic differentiation. Population differentiation and migration rates for M. cervinipes and R. leucopus were driven by an interaction between geographic distance and connectivity but these two factors did not explain the entire complexity. Directional gene flow from smaller towards larger sites consistently occurred across the landscape in both species. It appeared that individuals were selecting against low quality habitat (in small sites) and were dispersing towards higher quality habitat (in large sites). Although many individuals were emigrating from small patches, genetic diversity in these sites remained high, indicating that even low migration rates provided a regular influx of new genetic material.

Populations of M. cervinipes had lower genetic differentiation and relatedness and higher heterozygosity compared with R. leucopus. These species also experienced barriers and fine-scale structuring of the habitat differently. Values of spatial autocorrelation for R. leucopus in small and in large fragments were on average higher than for M. cervinipes, suggesting that the former species was more restricted by fine-scale changes, for example, in vegetation structure. Differences appeared to be related to the ecology of the two species. Melomys cervinipes is a scansorial species that can climb trees with great agility. This ability expands its niche and allows it to use food resources and shelter not available to terrestrial species such as R. leucopus. It also increases the resilience of M. cervinipes to fragmentation, allowing easier movements along vegetated riparian strips with canopy connectivity but sparse understorey. In contrast, the requirement for tree cover hampers the dispersal of M. cervinipes through grassland as migration rates were lower than those of R. leucopus when sites were separated by long distances of pasture. Nevertheless migration rates for both species were, on average, low, suggesting that dispersal movements were rare events in an ecological timeframe. Therefore continued gene flow will be crucial to avoid future negative effects caused by inbreeding and genetic drift. A well-connected metapopulation can maintain both species and genetic diversity as increased heterogeneity in the landscape can support a wider variety of species and genetic drift will increase the genetic difference between populations. Small patches appeared to perform an important function in the landscape, as valuable habitat and as stepping stones across the matrix between larger patches of forest. To ensure uniform distribution of gene flow across the landscape it will be important to improve habitat quality of small fragments and matrix permeability, while accommodating individual species characteristics and requirements. Therefore genetic estimates of dispersal were combined with resistance mapping and climate refugia models to identify key rainforest patches and potential areas for corridor construction.


Not only in Iran, but throughout the world, banks and banking industry are considered as very important parts of the economy. This study seeks to investigate the impact of the internal characteristics of banks, the structure of the banking industry and the economic situation of Iran on the profitability of the banking system of Iran by exploring the theory of the Structuralism school concerning the impact of structure on profitability. To this end, data relating to 18 private and public banks of Iran during 2003 to 2012 are analyzed by using panel data methods. First, the profitability of the banking system is calculated using relevant indicators; and then, the impact of various internal, structural and environmental factors on bank profitability is evaluated. The results show that internal factors - the amount of capital and the size of the bank - have a positive impact on profitability. Besides, structural factors including market share and concentration are shown to have a positive impact on profitability whereas ownership appears to have no significant impact. Furthermore, inflation and economic cycles - among environmental factors - exhibit a positive impact on profitability.