BACKGROUND
Low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis (AS), associated with a poor prognosis, can be caused by a reduced stroke volume despite a preserved ejection fraction (left ventricular ejection fraction). We hypothesized that impaired ventricular diastolic filling secondary to constrictive pericarditis (CP) could contribute to reduced transaortic gradients in patients with AS+CP. We sought to examine the characteristics and outcomes of this unique cohort.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We analyzed 84 patients with different degrees of AS and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (≥50%): 28 diagnosed with concomitant CP by echocardiography and 56 patients without CP matched by age, sex, and AS severity during 1998 to 2013. Prior mediastinal radiation (32.1% versus 5.4%; P=0.0072) and cardiac surgery (50.0% versus 3.6%; P=0.0016) were more common in AS+CP patients than those with AS only. AS+CP patients had lower left ventricular stroke volume index and mean transaortic gradients. Five-year survival was 34.3% for AS+CP patients and 89.1% for those with AS only (P<0.001). In univariate analysis, prior mediastinal radiation (hazard ratio, 8.35; 95% confidence interval, 3.38-20.62; P<0.001), reduced left ventricular stroke volume index of <35 mL/m(2) (hazard ratio, 12.52; 95% confidence interval, 3.97-39.48; P<0.001), and concomitant CP (hazard ratio, 13.65; 95% confidence interval, 4.85-38.41; P<0.001) were highly associated with increased mortality.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings highlighted the possibility of CP as a pathophysiological mechanism for low-flow, low-gradient AS. Left ventricular stroke volume index and transaortic gradients were commonly reduced in AS in the setting of CP despite a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction, which may result in underestimation of AS severity. Prior mediastinal radiation, lower left ventricular stroke volume index, and concomitant CP were associated with poorer survival in AS patients.


Two-dimensional semiconductor materials, such as transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and black phosphorus (BP), have emerged as materials of great promise for the future of electronic materials. However, a significant challenge in the application of 2D materials in optoelectronic devices is the lack of precise control over charge carrier doping and in some cases an inherent chemical instability. This Highlight discusses recent advances in combining polymers with 2D TMDCs and BP in studies aiming to improve device performance, photostability, and/or chemical stability. We emphasize non-covalent polymer functionalization approaches which do not rely on the presence of lattice defects in the 2D materials or on surface functional groups that hinder charge transport. We also describe challenges associated with the design of these hard–soft material interfaces and directions for progress.


Intrusion Detection Systems are widely deployed in computer networks. As modern attacks are getting more sophisticated and the number of sensors and network nodes grow, the problem of false positives and alert analysis becomes more difficult to solve. Alert correlation was proposed to analyse alerts and to decrease false positives. Knowledge about the target system or environment is usually necessary for efficient alert correlation. For representing the environment information as well as potential exploits, the existing vulnerabilities and their Attack Graph (AG) is used. It is useful for networks to generate an AG and to organize certain vulnerabilities in a reasonable way. In this article, a correlation algorithm based on AGs is designed that is capable of detecting multiple attack scenarios for forensic analysis. It can be parameterized to adjust the robustness and accuracy. A formal model of the algorithm is presented and an implementation is tested to analyse the different parameters on a real set of alerts from a local network. To improve the speed of the algorithm, a multi-core version is proposed and a HMM-supported version can be used to further improve the quality. The parallel implementation is tested on a multi-core correlation platform, using CPUs and GPUs.


Dear Editor, Central toxic keratopathy (CTK) is a noninflammatory postsurgical condition involving central corneal opacity and a significant hyperopic shift [1]. This disorder is typically characterized by the triad of noninflammatory central corneal opacification, striae, and loss of stromal bed tissue, and it results in a hyperopic shift that causes a reduction in vision quality [2]. CTK is relatively rare, with a reported incidence of 0.016%, and usually resolves in 2 to 18 months [3]. Small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) is a flapless refractive surgery technique in which a corneal stromal lenticule is formed using a femtosecond laser system and removed through a small peripheral corneal incision. Previous studies have demonstrated that SMILE is a safe and effective procedure for correction of myopia and myopic astigmatism [4]. SMILE is considered an alternative to conventional laser in situ keratomileusis because of its benefits of reduced denervation, less postoperative dry eye, and no flap-related complications [5]. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first documented case of CTK after SMILE. A 35-year-old man was referred to our outpatient clinic with a complaint of decreased and blurred vision in his right eye. He had undergone uneventful femtosecond laser-assisted SMILE surgery 10 months earlier at a local clinic and started complaining of decreased vision in his right eye 1 week after surgery. Preoperatively, he had a manifest refraction of -6.75 sph -1.00 cyl × 35 in his right eye and -5.75 sph -0.75 cyl × 50 in his left eye, and the corrected distance visual acuity of both eyes was 20 / 20. The keratometric reading (Pentacam; Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) was 44.70 / 44.90 diopters in his right eye and 44.60 / 44.80 in his left eye. His central corneal thickness was 565 μm in his right eye and 555 μm in his left eye. The surgery was performed uneventfully first in the right eye and then in the left eye. One week postoperatively, the corrected distance visual acuity was 20 / 25 with a manifest refraction (MR) +1.75 sph -0.75 cyl × 15 in his right eye and 20 / 20 with a MR +0.25 sph -0.25 cyl × 150 in his left eye. Henceforth, a central anterior stromal dense opacity had formed in the right eye with surrounding superficial stromal haze. Therefore, he was referred to our hospital, and 10 months after surgery, examination revealed the typical CTK triad of corneal thinning, hyperopic shift, and a reduction in best-corrected visual acuity to 20 / 25 (Fig. 1A-1C). The manifest refraction in his right eye was +4.00 sph -0.75 cyl × 90, and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (Casia SS-1000 OCT; Tomey, Nagoya, Japan) showed central corneal haziness and stromal thinning in the right eye (Fig . 1A). No unusual findings were observed on the fellow eye (Fig. 1D). We did not prescribe eye drops for CTK, but blepharitis was present, so daily lid cleansing was recommended. The last follow-up visit 16 months after surgery revealed uncorrected visual acuity and best-corrected visual acuity of 20 / 50 in his right eye, where the MR was +3.25 sph -0.75 cyl × 110. The etiology of CTK remains a matter of debate [2]. Sonmez and Maloney [1] hypothesized that the underlying etiology of CTK was a toxic reaction to a substance that undergoes photoactivation by laser. Possible precipitating factors include photoactivation of povidone-iodine and exposure to meibomian gland secretions, marking pen ink, talc from surgical latex gloves, and postsurgical debris from the microkeratome blade [3]. Contaminated forceps for extracting the lenticule of the intrastromal corneal tissue could be another cause of CTK. After extracting the intrastromal corneal tissue, the operative area is irrigated using balanced salt solution to ensure complete removal of lenticules. Contaminated balanced salt solution could be another cause of CTK. Poor lid hygiene with high concentration of tear film bacteria may contribute to degradation of the exposed collagen stromal tissue, possibly resulting in stromal opacity formation. SMILE entails a small opening, and contaminated materials could become trapped in the stroma, leading to inflammation of the cornea. ThereKorean J Ophthalmol 2020;34(3):254-255 ht tps: / /doi.org /10.3341/k jo.2019.0122


The purpose of this paper is to expose the shortage of senior academics in Australian accounting schools, to relate the way one school is addressing this crisis through an innovative mentoring program, and to challenge existing institutional arrangements. This is a qualitative case study of one mentoring program set within the institutional context of Australian accounting schools. Data collected from semi-structured interviews, archival sources and personal reflections, is presented using metaphor to theorize (Llewellyn 2003). The scheme achieved some notable individual successes, but raised many issues and challenges to extant mentoring models and existing structures. Mentoring is a multifaceted investment in vocational endeavour and intellectual infrastructure, which will not occur unless creative means are developed over the long term to overcome current chronic staff shortages. The paper tells the story about one mentoring project in one Australian university, thus limiting its generalisability. The use of metaphor to theorise and explain qualitative data carries its own inherent limitations. This mentoring scheme exemplifies the possibility of finding creative solutions to staff shortages, but acknowledges the need for major structural changes. The paper makes three contributions: first, it addresses the lacuna in research mentoring for accounting academics; secondly, it uses metaphor as theory in a qualitative research paper, in response to Llewelyn's (2003) observation that metaphor in qualitative research is both undervalued and underdeveloped; and thirdly, by exposing a crisis in Australian accounting schools the paper opens debate on how that crisis can best be addressed.


Polar codes asymptotically achieve the symmetric capacity of arbitrary binary-input discrete memoryless channels under low-complexity sequential decoding algorithms such as successive cancellation decoding. However, in their original formulation, the block length of polar codes is limited to integer powers of the dimension of the underlying polarization kernel used, thus imposing strict constraints on possible application scenarios. While leeway in the choice of kernel or concatenation with other codes mitigates this drawback to a certain extent, puncturing presents a promising approach to specify the target length of a polar code with much greater flexibility. In this paper, we present an efficient implementation of the construction of punctured polar codes based on density evolution, a crucial tool in the construction of both regular, i.e., unpunctured, as well as punctured polar codes. Our implementation of density evolution covers the construction of both regular and punctured polar codes and allows for treating the construction of both code classes in a unified framework. Using our implementation, we achieve substantial reductions in the number of density convolutions necessary for the construction of punctured polar codes and obtain tight upper bounds on the block error rates.


BACKGROUND:Radiofrequency identification (RFID) detection systems are used to detect retained surgical sponges and may cause electromagnetic interference (EMI), altering intended function of cardiac pacing systems. Three pediatric patients requiring temporary pacing for postoperative atrioventricular block experienced transient inhibition of ventricular pacing during the use of RFID detection system. Bench testing was performed to evaluate the mechanism of pacemaker inhibition. METHODS:Impedance of temporary pacing wires was obtained using a pacing system analyzer. Temporary pacemakers (Medtronic 5388, Medtronic 5392, and Biotronik Reocor D) at nominal settings (VVI 120 bpm, output 10 mA) were attached at the ventricular terminal to temporary pacing wires and a resistor for sham impedance in physiologic range. An RFID detection system and wand (RF Assure, model 200) or mat was tested over wires. Induced current and voltages were recorded via an oscilloscope attached to lead terminals. Inhibition of pacing was determined for the following variables: distance from wires, sham impedance, and programmed sensitivity. RESULTS:In bench testing, the RFID system induced a stereotyped EMI signal in temporary pacing wires with peak root-mean-square voltage demonstrating an exponential decay relationship with increasing distance from pacing wires. Induced voltages overlapped with normal sensing range of temporary pacemakers, resulting in pacemaker inhibition at nominal settings (ventricular sensitivity 2.0 mV, distance from wand <23 cm). Increasing height, decreasing device sensitivity, or increasing sham impedance (at fixed sensitivity) attenuated EMI and inhibition for all 3 temporary pacemakers used and with the automated RFID detection mat in place of the wand. Programming pacemakers asynchronously prevented inhibition. CONCLUSIONS:Normal operation of RFID detection systems may cause inhibition of temporary pacing systems consistent with oversensing from EMI. Precaution should be taken, including considering pacing asynchronously to avoid effects of inhibition.


Historians have long tethered American overland migration to U.S. westward expansion, and they have presumed that Americans who left U.S. borders for Oregon and California in the early 1840s desired—and even assumed—that the United States would soon conquer the Far West. This article examines the words and actions of western migrants before U.S. expansion in 1846. It argues that, in fact, migrants left U.S. borders because their economic prospects were poor in the United States and thus that most migrants cared little whether the United States conquered the West in the near future. Indeed, some of the more ambitious migrants were even hostile to U.S. expansion, for they longed for a western republic of their own. Ultimately, Americans who traveled west did not ascribe to the idea of the United States' Manifest Destiny but instead were seeking their own individual destinies.


We have evaluated the use of Genetic Programming to directly control a miniature robot. The goal of the GP-system was to evolve real-time obstacle avoiding behaviour from sensorial data. The evolved programs are used in a sense-think-act context. We employed a novel technique to enable real time learning with a real robot. The technique uses a probabilistic sampling of the environment where each individual is tested on a new real-time tness case in a tournament selection procedure. The tness has a pain and a pleasure part. The negative part of tness, the pain, is simply the sum of the proximity sensor values. In order to keep the robot from standing still or gyrating, it has a pleasure componentton tness. It gets pleasure from going straight and fast. The evolved algorithm shows robust performance even if the robot is lifted and placed in a completely diierent environment or if obstacles are moved around.


Traditional Canadian pavement construction contracts provide detailed specifications for the work that needs to be carried out. This is the case for both maintenance and rehabilitation contracts. However, for many road agencies around the world, this traditional way of contracting had shortcomings. These agencies have been proactive in changing their contracts to maintain the road networks while reducing the cost. The challenge of maintaining the road networks to the highest possible condition while investing the minimal amount of money has promoted innovative contracting approaches. Furthermore, road agencies have increased the private sector involvement through warranty contracts. According to road agencies around the world, there has been a movement over the last two decades towards Performance Based Contracts (PBCs); a long term warranty contract.
In PBCs, the client agency specifies certain clearly defined minimal performance measures to be met or exceeded during the contract period and payments are explicitly linked to the contractor successfully meeting or exceeding those performance measures. Therefore, the PBC maintenance and rehabilitation selection differs significantly from that of traditional asset management contracts and more complex due to the pavement deterioration process and probability of failure to achieve the specified level of service for various performance measures along the contract period.
This thesis involves the development of a novel framework that facilitates the selection of maintenance and rehabilitation activities for pavement assets under PBCs. The framework consists of two phases. Phase-One, called the Initial Program, uses historical data, performance modeling, and optimization to establish and select the maintenance and rehabilitation program for the bidding stage. Phase-Two, called Project Asset Management, is implemented after the contract is awarded. This phase uses the contract performance monitoring data and the cost estimate from Phase-One as a baseline budget to update and validate the established program through performance modeling and optimization. A case study using data from the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) second generation Pavement Management System (PMS2) is used to illustrate the framework.


This study analyses coaches'thinking about talent detection in basketball. The aim of this article is to know what the coaches think about the new direction in the process of discovering new talent, which aspects they observe and which aspects they consider important in this process. To reach this aim, we have divided the investigation in two parts. First of all, we did a general survey of coaches, and secondly, we conducted individual interviews. In general, we observed that the coaches'thinking is in line with the new approach of the talent detection process, "bottom-up", and their concept of talent is very similar to the experts' concepts that we can find in specialized literature. KEY WORDS: Talent, detection, coaches, basketball.


Let f : M! M be a C 2 dieomorphism of a compact surface. We give a complete description of the dynamics of any compact invariant set having dominated splitting. In particular, we prove a Spectral Decomposition Theorem for the limit set L(f) under the assumption of dominated splitting. Moreover, we describe all the bifurcations that these systems can exhibit and the dierent types of dynamics that could follow for small C r perturbations.


Objective To assess the psychometric properties of the French-language version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC). Methods Data were obtained from a staff survey at a Swiss multisite hospital. We computed descriptive statistics and internal consistency coefficients, then conducted a confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, and performed construct validity tests. Results 1171 staff members participated (response rate 74%). The internal consistency coefficients of the 12 dimension scores ranged from 0.57 to 0.86 (median 0.73). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a reasonable but not perfect fit of the hypothesised measurement model (root mean square error of approximation 0.043, comparative fit index 0.89). Exploratory data analysis suggested 10 dimensions instead of 12, grouping items from teamwork across hospital units with those of hospital handoffs and transitions, and items from communication openness with those of feedback and communication about error. However, the loading pattern was clean: 41 of 42 main loadings exceeded 0.40, and only 3 of 378 cross-loadings exceeded 0.30. All 10 process scores were higher among respondents who rated the global safety grade as 'excellent' or 'very good' rather than 'good', 'fair' or 'poor' (effect sizes 0.41–0.79, all p<0.001), but score differences between those who have and have not reported an incident in the past year were weak or inconsistent with theory. Discussion The French version of the HSOPSC did not perform as well as the original in standard psychometric analyses.


Waste management has become one of the major global environmental concerns of
our times associated, as it is, with the consumerist tendencies which fuel the engine of
economic growth and environmental impacts. Existing policies in the UK have not
yet managed to curb the problem of steadily increasing waste generation despite
efforts by Central government and the European Union to set inflexible national
targets for waste management. A major problem is that while central government sets
the overall goals to be achieved, actual waste collection and disposal are functions of
'local government.
In many cases local governments lack the resources and capacity to make
economically efficient and environmentally effective decisions. Waste management
infrastructure must be developed for the long-term, yet economic efficiency
considerations often conflict with local political objectives and with a wide range of
resource constraints. Local government is not always the most suitable level to deal
with problems that often have regional impacts or can be more efficiently organised
within larger geographic units. The European Commission is starting to re-consider
the application of its rigid waste management hierarchy in light of suggestions that
sustainable solutions may vary across regions.
Changes in the regulatory environment for solid waste and the regionalisation of
disposal infrastructure present economic opportunities which pose the need for
institutional change in waste practices. The study examines the institutional
arrangements for municipal solid waste management within the South West of
England region. Using in-depth key actor interviews, questionnaires, and Force Field
Analysis, key actor and stakeholders perceptions on the concept of sustainable waste
management are examined, and opportunities and obstacles arising from evolving
institutional arrangements are identified.
The study finds that there are significant barriers to the development of more
sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in the South West Region,
iii
especially in the areas of 'culture' (both public culture and organisational), regional
institutional capacity, and related markets. Amongst the issues that need to be
addressed are the interrelated issues of public awareness, participation and
empowerment, parochialism and the lack of power of regional institutions to deal
with Local Authority waste management contracts within an implementable strategy
for the region, the (often negative) influence of the markets related to MSWM, the
lack of responsibility for funding of programmes aimed at changing public
behaviour, and potential conflict of interest amongst stakeholder groups. Central
government, Local Authorities and the waste management industry all need to
instigate significant changes in institutions and institutional arrangements in order to
achieve a move towards more sustainable MSWM.


OBJECTIVE
The goals of this study were 1) to determine the extent of substance abuse in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia and 2) to assess the relevance of such abuse to subsequent response to treatment with clozapine.

METHOD
The subjects were 118 treatment-resistant patients with DSM-III-R diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who underwent detailed demographic, clinical, and psychopathological evaluations before commencing treatment with clozapine. Lifetime and current histories of substance abuse were also systematically evaluated and characterized according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria and DSM-III-R. Response to clozapine treatment at 6 months was determined with measures of psychopathology and psychosocial function.

RESULTS
An antecedent or current history of substance abuse was determined for 29 patients. Although predominantly male, the abusers did not differ from the nonabusers on other demographic features. The substance abusers actually showed less psychopathology (negative and disorganization symptoms) and better psychosocial functioning at baseline; however, both groups attained similar improvements on these measures after 6 months of clozapine therapy.

CONCLUSIONS
A modest extent of previous or current substance abuse was observed among neuroleptic-resistant schizophrenic patients who subsequently received treatment with clozapine. This antecedent history of substance abuse did not appear to negatively influence subsequent response to clozapine treatment.


T cell activation plays a central role in inflammation, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Cancer immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitor, bi-specific antibody, chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell, and adoptive tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies require the characterization and monitoring of T cell activation. Here we describe a novel, multiplex immune assay platform based on high-throughput flow cytometry technology and advanced computational algorithms for data analysis. The assay simultaneously measures T cell dynamics including phenotype, time-dependent expression of activation markers, secreted effector cytokines, and proliferation. The assay screened a kinase chemogenomic library and identified 25 kinase inhibitors with distinct inhibition profiles on early (CD69) and late (CD25) activation markers and the cytokines IFNγ and TNFα. We identified 5 kinase inhibitors with dissimilar effects on CD69 and CD25 expression, and a cluster of total 4 MEK1//2 inhibitors with similar activation profiles. The screening revealed 3 kinase inhibitors for PKC, IKK2, and MEK1/2 respectively, all with a phenotypic signature similar to ruxolitinib, a Jak1/2 inhibitor used to treat myelofibrosis disease. These results suggest this multiplexed assay platform, combined with a chemogenomic library screening, may be used as primary screen for phenotypic or target-based drug discovery, target identification, and potential drug repositioning.


An ever increasing demand for instant and reliable information on modern communication networks forces codewords to operate in a non-asymptotic regime. To achieve reliability for imperfect channels in this regime, codewords need to be re-transmitted from receiver to the transmit buffer, aided by a fast feedback mechanism. Large occupancy of this buffer results in longer communication delays. Therefore, codewords need to be designed carefully to reduce transmit queue-length and thus the delay experienced in this buffer. We first study the consequences of physical layer decisions on the transmit buffer occupancy. We develop an analytical framework to relate physical layer channel to the transmit buffer occupancy. We compute the optimal code-rate for finite-length codewords operating over a correlated channel, under certain communication service guarantees. We show that channel memory has a significant impact on this optimal code-rate.
Next, we study the delay in small ad-hoc networks. In particular, we find out what rates can be supported on a small network, when each flow has a certain end-to-end service guarantee. To this end, service guarantee at each intermediate link is characterized. These results are applied to study the potential benefits of setting up a network suitable for network coding in multicast. In particular, we quantify the gains of network coding over classic routing for service provisioned multicast communication over butterfly networks. In the wireless setting, we study the tradeoff between communications gains achieved by network coding and the cost to set-up a network enabling network coding. In particular, we show existence of scenarios where one should not attempt to create a network suitable for coding.
Insights obtained from these studies are applied to design a distributed rate control algorithm in a large network. This algorithm maximizes sum-utility of all flows, while satisfying per-flow end-to-end service guarantees. We introduce a notion of effective-capacity per communication link that captures the service requirements of flows sharing this link. Each link maintains a price and effective-capacity, and each flow maintains rate and dissatisfaction. Flows and links update their respective variables locally, and we show that their decisions drive the system to an optimal point. We implemented our algorithm on a network-simulator and studied its convergence behavior on few networks of practical interest.


Dynamic message signs (DMS) are used in conjunction with other media to communicate traffic conditions, general information, and recommended diversion strategies to motorists. Previous studies using loop detector data to estimate diversion rates attributable to advisory messages on DMS have found that diversion is minimal when vague messages are displayed or a distant alternate route is the only option. For motorists traveling on I-95 through Richmond in the Virginia Department of Transportation's Central Region, however, when DMS alert motorists of incidents, I-295 serves as a comparable alternate route, adding no significant travel time to through trips. This scenario provides the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of DMS in traffic diversion without the major concerns of added trip time and the quality of the route. This study investigated the impacts of existing message strategies to determine messages that maximize diversion for specific circumstances and to develop new messages for future deployment. An analysis was done for various message types and split into two diversion scenarios: (1) an incident on the primary freeway, I-95, encourages diversion of I-95 traffic to an alternate route, I-295; and (2) an incident on an intersecting freeway, I-295, encourages exiting I-295 traffic to remain on I-95 as an alternate route. The results showed trends where the use of particular words in messages is more effective than the use of others in achieving diversion when percentage of diverted traffic was used as the performance measure. The effects on traffic flow by drivers' reactions to non-traffic messages were also investigated. Transportation agencies are frequently asked to post public service announcements on DMS when they are not being used for traffic-related purposes. It has been suggested that these messages are a distraction to drivers and result in queuing, creating mobility and safety hazards. An analysis that used speed as the performance measure showed minimal impacts on traffic flow from the display of non-traffic messages during weekday non-peak hours. The study recommends that (1) travel time estimates for both the primary and alternate routes or the length or time of the delay be provided on DMS; (2) specific wording, as noted in the text, be used to induce diversion or simply to provide information; (3) messages be displayed in "title case" instead of "ALL CAPS" (i.e., all letters in a word are capitalized) for lowfrequency messages; and (4) left-justified or "staircase" messages be used. Further, non-traffic messages should be one-phase messages and should be displayed only during non-peak periods to minimize the potential for queuing. If the recommendations of this research are implemented, the enhanced effectiveness of diversion strategies will result in reductions of delay, fuel consumption, and emissions, as well as the potential for secondary accidents created by major incidents and other traffic flow disruptions. In 2007, the cost of delay for motorists in Richmond, Virginia, resulting from incidents was estimated at $119 million. A modest 1 percent reduction in this cost attributable to better diversion strategies that use DMS more effectively would result in an annual cost savings to VDOT of more than $1 million.


Technical analysis is an art or science of planting the stock information like price movements, trading volume and market scenario in the form of charts for the purpose of forecasting the future price trends. It can aid the investors to anticipate what is 'possible' to happen to prices over the short - run time. And also helps in understanding the intrinsic value of shares and knowing whether the scripts are undervalued or over valued by scrutinizing the turning points of the market. This research study attempts to apply technical analysis tool s& techniques on selective scripts to assist precise investment decision in Indian equity/stock market. This analyti cal study is purely based on secondary data which had been collected from National Stock Exchange (NSE) website, journals and magazines. For the purpose of analysis Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) technique is used to identify the scripts are technically strong or not. It facilitates investors' to recognize the current trend and risks associated with the scrip at par with the market. This paper aims at carrying out Technical analysis of the securities of selected companies and to assist investm ent decisions in the Indian stock market. And technical analysis provides unbiased solutions in a biased world.


Research on corporate credit risk modeling for privately-held firms is limited, although these firms represent a large fraction of the corporate sector worldwide. Research in this area has been limited because of the lack of public data. This study is an empirical application of credit scoring and rating techniques to a unique dataset on private firms bank loans of a Portuguese bank. Several alternative scoring methodologies are presented, validated and compared. Furthermore, two distinct strategies for grouping the individual scores into rating classes are developed. Finally, the regulatory capital requirements under the New Basel Capital Accord are calculated for a simulated portfolio, and compared to the capital requirements under the current regulation.


Intermittently powered applications create a need for low-cost security and privacy in potentially hostile environments, supported by primitives including identification and random number generation. Our measurements show that power-up of SRAM produces a physical fingerprint. We propose a system of fingerprint extraction and random numbers in SRAM (FERNS) that harvests static identity and randomness from existing volatile CMOS memory without requiring any dedicated circuitry. The identity results from manufacture-time physically random device threshold voltage mismatch, and the random numbers result from runtime physically random noise. We use experimental data from high-performance SRAM chips and the embedded SRAM of the WISP UHF RFID tag to validate the principles behind FERNS. For the SRAM chip, we demonstrate that 8-byte fingerprints can uniquely identify circuits among a population of 5,120 instances and extrapolate that 24-byte fingerprints would uniquely identify all instances ever produced. Using a smaller population, we demonstrate similar identifying ability from the embedded SRAM. In addition to identification, we show that SRAM fingerprints capture noise, enabling true random number generation. We demonstrate that a 512-byte SRAM fingerprint contains sufficient entropy to generate 128-bit true random numbers and that the generated numbers pass the NIST tests for runs, approximate entropy, and block frequency.


A monopolist offers a product to a market of consumers with heterogeneous quality preferences. Although initially uninformed about the product quality, they learn by observing past purchase decisions and reviews of other consumers. Our goal is to analyze the social learning mechanism and its effect on the seller's pricing decision. This analysis borrows from the literature on social learning and on pricing and revenue management. Consumers follow a naive decision rule and, under some conditions, eventually learn the product's quality. Using mean-field approximation, the dynamics of this learning process are characterized for markets with high demand intensity. The relationship between the price and the speed of learning depends on the heterogeneity of quality preferences. Two pricing strategies are studied: a static price and a single price change. Properties of the optimal prices are derived. Numerical experiments suggest that pricing strategies that account for social learning may increase revenues considerably relative to strategies that do not.


Based on the 2014 German hourly feed-in and consumption data for electric power, this paper studies the storage and buffering needs resulting from the volatility of wind and solar energy, focusing on a "double-structure-cum-storage strategy". While buffering wind and solar energy jointly requires less storage capacity than buffering them separately, joint buffering requires a storage capacity of over 6,000 pumped-storage plants, which is 183 times Germany's current capacity. Taking the volatility of demand into account would not reduce storage needs, and managing demand by way of peak-load pricing would only marginally do so, given that storage is primarily needed for seasonal fluctuations. Thus, only a buffering strategy based on double structures, i.e. conventional energy filling the gaps left in windless and dark periods, seems feasible. With this strategy, green and fossil plants would be complements rather than substitutes, contrary to widespread assumptions. Unfortunately, however, a buffering strategy based on double structures loses its effectiveness when wind and solar production overshoots electricity demand. This is shown to happen when average wind and solar power production exceeds about one third of aggregate electricity production. Voluminous, costly and inefficient storage devices will then be unavoidable to avoid progressively increasing efficiency losses. Buffering the overshooting production spikes associated with a market share of wind and solar of 50% would require an ideal, frictionless storage volume of 2.5 TWh or a storage capacity of 2.1 TWh in ordinary pumped-storage plants. This is about seven times the entire pumpedstorage capacity currently available in western Europe, including Norway and Switzerland; and 81% of the volume that the EU's ESTORAGE project considers as "realisable" in western Europe. This will make it difficult for Germany to pursue its energy revolution towards green autarchy, as intended. Full Text Link http://www.hanswernersinn.de/dcs/2017%20Buffering%20Volatility%20EER%2099%202017_ 0.pdf


Housing markets in several countries are suffering. The prolonged and strong housing price rises of recent years have turned around. Historical records suggest that housing price drops may happen slowly but be large. Housing prices continue to fall because capital losses have substituted capital gains, housing equities are falling, and housing price expectations have become negative. Household debt had increased to the same degree as housing prices or even more in some countries. Access to mortgage and credit had improved and lenders used "cruise control" when financing still higher housing market prices. Now, housing demand is further weakened because access to credit has been tightened. During a downturn, owner-occupiers' housing price risk is increased and a growing number of owners have negative equity and payment troubles. Under these conditions, arrears and foreclosures will be widespread in owner-occupation. The effects on the wider economy of a housing price downturn are discussed. Not only does the lenders' increased credit risk lead to tightened credit access, losses threaten the banks and can create financial crises. Falling housing prices clearly depress the housing market and housing construction activities and thereby the contribution of residential investments to economic growth, while it is less obvious that average housing consumption and residential investments over the whole cycle are affected. The reduction of non-housing consumption as a result of a wealth effect is a reality for years for depressed owner-occupiers but in the aggregate, the housing wealth effect is more dubious.


The Gilded Age and Dawn of the Modern: 1877-1919, a new title in the six-title series History Through Literature: American Voices, American Themes, provides insights and analysis regarding the history, literature, and cultural climate of the Gilded Age and early twentieth century. It brings together informational text and primary documents that cover notable historic events and trends, authors, literary works, social movements, and cultural and artistic themes. The Gilded Age and Dawn of the Modern begins with an interdisciplinary chronology that identifies, defines, and places in context the notable historical events, literary works, authors' lives, and cultural landmarks of the period. This is followed by a comprehensive overview essay that summarizes the era's major historical trends, social movements, cultural and artistic themes, literary voices, and enduring works as reflections of each other and the spirit of the times. The core content comprises 20-30 articles on representative writers of the period, along with excerpts from essential literary works that highlight a historical theme, sociocultural movement, or the confluence of the two. These excerpts serve the Common Core emphasis on "informational texts from a broad range of cultures and periods", including "stories, drama, poetry, and literary nonfiction".


The Exchange Traded Fund market is growing, and passive investors need to have reasonable grounds for choosing this investment vehicle as well as robust selection criteria. The author motivates the assertion that a tracker performance must be assessed relative to its benchmark index and not be based on absolute returns nor fund characteristics, such as expense ratio. Furthermore, the different indicators of tracking quality used in the industry, as well as some variations, are reviewed. Using examples of three major equity indices, the author argues that Exchange Traded Fund selection cannot be based on a single performance measure assessing quality common to all investors due to their various specific investment purposes and the divergent ETFs rankings according to the different indicators. Therefore, the author highlights that Exchange Traded Fund selection should be carried in an investor-specific framework founded on statistical measurements related to tracking quality relevant for each investor.


Abstract: This article provides an opportunity to look at issues related to capacity building--how the concept has evolved and how it is currently being applied--and a review of the components of effective capacity building in working with individuals and organizations. This is followed by a description of capacity-building projects undertaken by ECDVU students that illustrate the application of these principles at all levels of society--from working with parents as they support their children's development, to providing training and support to caregivers, to building the capacity of those responsible for creating and evaluating programs, to developing community capacity to sustain programs, to raising the awareness of civil society at large to issues related to early childhood development. In spite of the variety of audiences for whom capacity-building activities were created, the set of projects reviewed in this article have several commonalities, a key one being the fact that the capacity-building activities created have been developed within the context of the cultures where the projects were operating. Another notable quality is that the capacity-building activities were developed in consultation with those who were seeking new knowledge and skills. ********** Let us understand capacity building as a journey, or a series of journeys. There is a path, and a facilitator.... There is an inner as well as outer journey. Therefore a capacity building journey must be understood in both senses. One is of the organic body of the organization, the other of the minds of the people working there. (Sakil Malik, 2003) As African countries increase their efforts to address poverty and social inequities, the demand within Africa (and from external donor agencies) is for the development of local capacity. From the community perspective there is recognition of the need for support in the development of civil society (Fowler, 1997, 2000). From the donors' perspective there is a realization of limits in the absorptive capacity of government and country-based organizations to handle the breadth of work that could be funded (Cisse, Sokona, & Thomas, n.d.; Eade, 1996; Gupta, 2004). As Malik (2003) notes, the link between needs and supply is weak, and there is a need for capacity building support to accomplish change. These issues also arise in relation to the field of ECD. As awareness has increased of the crucial importance of ECD, this has led to greater investment in programs for young children and their families, resulting in an increased demand for people who can implement effective early childhood programs. However, to date, many capacity-building programs in relation to ECD: (1) have seldom provided a holistic perspective on children's development; (2) often have not provided people with the knowledge and skills required to work in a specific context; (3) have tended to be highly Western-oriented; (4) have only sporadically been built on local strengths and wisdom; and (5) have frequently been conducted by institutions and organizations that are isolated from others attempting to undertake similar activities (Evans & Ilfeld, 2002). What is capacity building? One definition states that the purpose of capacity building is "to strengthen or fortify the operation of systems and the skills of individuals" (Evans, Myers, & Ilfeld, 2000, p. 392). Malik (2003) states: "Capacity building is much more than training and includes the following: human resource development, the process of equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively" (para. 1). While technically these definitions are accurate, they do little to emphasise the importance of process in the development of human capacity. A more dynamic interpretation of capacity building is provided by Ahmed (2004, quoting Ball, 2000, p. …


We study UV-laser-induced melting and ablation of 10 nm thick LiF films by UV laser irradiation. Our method combines a molecular dynamics scheme for LiF and a set of equations describing the temporal evolution of the conduction-electron density and temperature due to laser irradiation. We find that with increasing laser fluence, the crystal is heated, then melts, then temporary voids form, until it finally ablates, and even multifragmentation occurs. This sequence of events parallels that found in other materials, such as in metals, with similar values for the relative energization thresholds, if normalized to the cohesive energy of the material or to the melting temperature. The ablation mechanism is shown to be mechanical spallation of the molten crystal due to the high tensile pressure building up after the oscillatory relaxation of the initial high thermoelastic pressure.


Imaging is a dominant strategy for data collection in neuroscience, yielding stacks of images that often scale to gigabytes of data for a single experiment. Machine learning algorithms from computer vision can serve as a pair of virtual eyes that tirelessly processes these images, automatically constructing more complete and realistic circuits. In practice, such algorithms are often too error-prone and computationally expensive to be immediately useful. We address these shortcomings with a new fast, flexible, learning-free method for sparse segmentation and reconstruction of neural volumes. Unlike learning methods, our Flexible Learning-free Reconstruction of Imaged Neural volumes (FLoRIN) pipeline exploits structure-specific contextual clues and requires no training. This approach generalizes across different modalities, including serially-sectioned scanning electron microscopy (sSEM) of genetically labeled and contrast enhanced processes, spectral confocal reflectance (SCoRe) microscopy, and high-energy synchrotron X-ray microtomography (μCT) of large tissue volumes. We deploy the FLoRIN pipeline on newly published and novel mouse datasets, demonstrating the high biological fidelity of the pipeline's reconstructions, which are of sufficient quality for preliminary biological study. Compared to existing supervised learning methods, it is both significantly faster (up to several orders of magnitude) and produces high-quality reconstructions that are robust to noise and artifacts.


There is much interest in using self-assembly to build materials at the microscopic level by using soft matter systems such as block copolymers and DNA coated colloids. Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) has seen much success in examining the equilibrium structure of polymer systems. We have designed a model using SCFT that describes a system of isotropically interacting particles. This model can be used a starting point to exploring different types of soft matter systems that exhibit self-assembly. This approach is a quick and efficient approach to finding equilibrium structures, and can be used as a high throughput method for finding equilibrium structures. We present here two different systems: a triblock star polymer and a colloidal system. We show that our approach, while extremely coarse grained can replicate the robust phases of those systems. In the triblock copolymer system we can show that the honeycomb lattice phase, the lamella phase and the lamella with beads phase are easily obtained. We compare the phases found in our model to the most common phases found using SCFT for polymers systems. In the colloidal system, we can replicate some of properties of a large colloidal particle surrounded by a solution of much smaller solution particles.


In his early dialogue 'On order' ( De ordine ) Augustine dramatises a discussion of theodicy in which the Manichaean solution is clearly rejected, even though the debate ends in aporia . It is argued in this paper that the dialogue's dramatic setting at the villa in Cassiciacum is strongly reminiscent of Manichaean imagery and the stock motifs of the Manichaean mythological system. It is proposed in the dialogue itself, that the scenic elements (Augustine's ill health, night and darkness, the dawning day, dirt and ugliness, fighting cocks) have the character of signs which illustrate the significance of the not-beautiful and the negative in the divine order. The dialogue setting thus presents an ontological scale that leads from the levels of reduced being up to the highest being, linking night or darkness to light or day, dirt to purity, sickness to health, defeat to victory, the ugly to the beautiful. The dialogue setting becomes a semiotic system in which even the ontologically deficient forms of phenomenon always also refer to something at the highest level, namely the omnipotent divine creator. The scenic design of De ordine can thus be read as an extension of the Manichaean system of codes, and hence as a message also addressed to a Manichaean readership.


The overall conclusion for the case study sectors is as signalled for ease of economic activity more generally that there is a high but not perfect correlation between competition laws and market conditions and outcomes. Competition laws generally make a significant positive contribution, but are not the sole determinant of how well markets behave and perform. Other influences can compensate for less developed competition laws or detract from more developed competition laws. The implication for policy makers is that developing, implementing and enforcing competition laws may not be sufficient to achieve competitive market conditions and outcomes in all sectors, nor necessary for some sectors, but can generally be expected to be significantly conducive.


We present KrF excimer laser-induced dynamics of Bragg grating growths in GeO2 doped microstructured optical fibers. The studied fibers all have 6 rings of airholes in a hexagonal lattice and a GeO2 doped region in the center of the microstructure. We compare the growth rates of fiber Bragg gratings in the different microstructured fibers with UV grating inscription. The influence of the doping level, the airhole filling factor, the airhole pitch distance and the fiber orientation are investigated. We expand the range of microstructured optical fibers in which Bragg gratings can be inscribed, achieving reflection strengths that are useable for FBG-based sensing applications, even for doped regions with GeO2 concentrations as low as 1.36 mol% and 0.45 mol%.


he aim of this In Vivo study was to evaluate the influence of the cavosurface angle (with bevel, and no preparation), of direct composite resin restorations in previous fractured teeth after 4 years of clinical performance. The restorations were performed by a single operator, following a restorative standardized protocol. For the study were selected 24 upper central incisors with fracture or with class IV restorations with an indication of replacement. According to the restorative technique, the teeth were divided into 2 groups: group I (n = 12) Class IV Restorations with a bevel preparation technique; and group II (n = 12) Class IV Restorations performed with no preparation. The restorations were evaluated at 7 days and 4 years, by two examiners, previously calibrated using modified USPHS criteria. After 4 years, two restorations were excluded, representing 22 restorations (11 with bevel preparation, and 11 without). The Fisher test demonstrates no significant differences between groups (p > 0.05). This study presents clinical evidence that the cavosurface angle configuration does not influence the clinical performance of direct composite resin restorations in fractured teeth. Thus, we recommend no preparation of the cavosurface angle to preserve sound dental tissue based on a Minimally Invasive Dentistry approach.


The hypothesis of the present research is that older adults relative to young adults will be perceived in a manner analogous to how low status individuals are perceived relative to high status individuals. Study 1 examines young participants' perceptions of older adults and young adults by having them rate traits that have been used to describe the typical old person (Schmidt and Boland, 1986). The findings are consistent with past research which reveals multiple types of older adults and young adults. Study 2 examines young participants' perceptions of low status and high status individuals by having participants rate the same traits used in Study 1. The methodology of Study 2 is derived from a study by Conway, Pizzamiglio, and Mount (1996) which measures people's perceptions of low status and high status individuals. Participants' representations of older adults in Study 1 are relatively complex as compared with their perceptions of status in Study 2. Older adults are not only attributed traits associated with low status (e.g., quiet, arouses pity, neglected) but are also attributed traits associated with high status (e.g., prejudiced and set in ways). Participants did not attribute traits associated with low status to young adults. However, participants did attribute traits reflecting selfishness to young adults and to high status individuals.


Understanding the biological roots of intimate behavior is a complex undertaking that involves the integration of evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, anthropology and sociology. Evolutionary biology describes theories that explain the persistence of certain types of behavior in terms of presumed evolutionary pressures or advantages, focusing on the human mind. Evolutionary biologists assume that behavior that maximizes the presence of associated genes in the next generation is the behavior most likely to persist. In this paper, we take the growing insights that arise from the study of the biology of attachment to frame the emerging policy choices underlying the governance of adult relationships. We have chosen to focus on the idea of commitment because we see two developments operating in tandem: the biological understanding of attachment has been expanding exponentially at a time of reexamination of the importance of long-term family stability. We believe that putting the two together--integrating biological understandings with sociology - will lead to the conclusions that the tendency to form pair-bonds is a deeply ingrained part of the species, lifelong fidelity cannot be expected on a widespread basis absent substantial coercion, and long term partnership is a "compromise that children win." These conclusions, however, will always leave some questions unanswered so that they can do no more than frame the unfolding policy debates. The question of what policy choices work - and at what price - can never be answered by biology alone. A better understanding of the new scientific insights underscores the conclusion that the determination of what is "natural" produces complex and varied answers, and the most natural of human tendencies is the desire to reorder human society. Accordingly, in light of the developing understandings of human pair-bonds from both the biological and sociological perspectives, we suggest various strategies that support long-term commitment between adults.


Two datasets, each with 390,751 date samples from the UNT Libraries' digital collections. These samples were compiled for research regarding the Extended Date/Time Format (EDTF) standard. The first dataset contains a concatenated list of date values from the metadata records in The Portal to Texas History, the UNT Digital Library, and The Gateway to Oklahoma History. The "classified" dataset includes labels expressing whether each date is EDTF-valid and the level of conformance.


The best-selling Differentiating Instruction With Menus series has helped teachers nationwide differentiate instruction for their high-ability learners with easy-to-use menus and exciting tools to challenge and reach gifted and advanced students in the classroom. Each book includes an updated, student-friendly rubric that can assess different types of products, free choice proposal forms to encourage independent study, and new and favorite challenging menus to meet the needs of these diverse higher level learners. Readers will also be able to save time by using updated guidelines that reflect changes in technology for each of the products included in the menus and find direct alignment with standards approved in recent years. Topics addressed in Differentiating Instruction With Menus: Language Arts (Grades 3-5, 2nd ed.) include genres, writing skills, and mechanics.Grades 3-5


Background and Purpose: One of the most important elements of nursing ethics is patient advocacy, which instills patients' sense of independence and autonomy. Nurses' perceptions of this concept can significantly influence their advocacy role. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to assess nurses' perceptions about this phenomenon. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 385 nurses were selected via quota sampling from three hospitals, affiliated to Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Iran in 2012. Data were collected, using a self-administered questionnaire for assessing nurses' perceptions of patient advocacy (with a score range of -1 to 1). The obtained data were analyzed, using descriptive and inferential statistical tests. Results: As the results indicated, nurses' perceptions about patient advocacy were relatively positive (0.73%). Moreover, there was a statistically significant relationship between patient advocacy and nurses' educational level (P=0.01), working in different hospital wards (P<0.001), participation in workshops on patient rights (P<0.001) and working in different hospitals (P=0.01). Conclusion: In this study, nurses were highly responsible regarding patient advocacy, despite the fact that patient advocacy is not considered as a professional nursing role in Iran. However, further studies are required to confirm the obtained findings.


The World Trade Organization --backbone of today's international commercial relations --requires member countries to self-enforce exporters' access to foreign markets. Its dispute settlement system is the crown jewel of the international trading system, but its benefits still fall disproportionately to wealthy nations. Could the system be doing more on behalf of developing countries? In Self-Enforcing Trade , Chad P. Bown explains why the answer is an emphatic ""yes."" Bown argues that as poor countries look to the benefits promised by globalization as part of their overall development strategy, they increasingly require access to the WTO dispute settlement process to protect their trading interests. Unfortunately, the practical realities of WTO dispute settlement as it currently stands create a number of hurdles that prevent developing countries from enjoying the trading system's full benefits. This book confronts these challenges. Self-Enforcing Trade examines the WTO's ""extended litigation process,"" highlighting the tangle of international economics, law, and politics that participants must master. He identifies the costs that prevent developing countries from disentangling the self-enforcement process and fully using the WTO system as part of their growth strategies. Bown assesses recent efforts to help developing countries overcome those costs, including the role of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law and development focused NGOs. Bown's proposed Institute for Assessing WTO Commitments tackles the largest remaining obstacle currently limiting developing country engagement in the WTO's selfenforcement process --a problematic lack of information, monitoring, and surveillance.


There is little consensus on the skills set required of a system dynamics practitioner. In this paper we use the teaching approach and learning goals of the system dynamics courses at the Delft University of Technology as a starting point to explore the development of system dynamics modeling skills. System dynamics is embedded in the curriculum of students at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) of the Delft University of Technology. The staged approach by which real world complexity is introduced in the system dynamics curriculum is first explained and the learning goals of the system dynamics education at TPM are described. The role of the quadruple jump approach to system dynamics education in achieving the learning goals of the curriculum is then illustrated using the case of urban dynamics. Finally, we compare the results of the teaching approach, as exemplified in the learning goals, with the skills needed by system dynamics modelers as derived from literature. We conclude that the question of which skills can be taught and which need to be learnt in (professional) practice remains open.


Coral reefs can exist as coral- and macroalgae-dominated habitats often separated by only a few hundred metres. While herbivorous fish are known to depress the abundance of algae and help maintain the function of coral-dominated habitats, less is known about their influence in algae-dominated habitats. Here, we quantified herbivorous fish and benthic algal communities over a 6 mo period in coral-dominated (back-reef) and algal-dominated (lagoon) habitats in a relatively undisturbed fringing coral reef (Ningaloo, Western Australia). Simulta - neously, we tested the effects of herbivorous fish on algal recruitment in both habitats using recruitment tiles and fish exclusion cages. The composition of established algal communities differed consistently between habitats, with the back-reef hosting a more diverse community than the Sargassum-dominated lagoon. However, total algal biomass and cover only differed between habitats in autumn, coinciding with maximum Sargassum biomass. The back-reef hosted high coral cover and a diverse herbivorous fish community, with herbivore biomass an order of magni- tude greater than the lagoon. Despite these differences in herbivore composition, exclusion of large herbivores had a similar positive effect to foliose macroalgae recruitment on experimental tiles in both back-reef and lagoon habitats. Additionally, territorial damselfish found in the back- reef increased turf algae cover and decreased crustose coralline algae cover on recruitment tiles. Collectively, our results show that disparate herbivorous fish communities in coral- and algae- dominated habitats are similarly able to limit the recruitment of foliose macroalgae, but suggest that when herbivorous fish biomass and diversity are relatively low, macroalgal communities are able to escape herbivore control through increased growth.


In the south-central United States tularemia endemic region, approximately 10% of human cases occur during the fall-winter season when the questing activity of its primary tick vectors for this region Dermacentor variabilis and Amblyomma americanum is minimal. It is also been reported that approximately 40% of tularemia infected domestic cats contract the disease during the fall-winter season. To more fully characterize the potential role of I. scapularis, whose host seeking activity peaks during the fall-winter season in the south-central United States, as a vector for tularemia, the biology of F. tularensis subspecies holarctica strain LVS in colony-reared I. scapularis artificially infected with LVS by capillary feeding was studied. Capillary-fed I. scapularis larva and nymph were initially colonized with 1.9 × 103 and 1.1 × 104 CFU/tick, respectively. For nymphs molted from colonized larvae, the percent of molted nymphs colonized declined at the time of molting, but LVS persisted in 15% of molted nymphs up to 175 days post-capillary feeding. In contrast, only 5% of adults molted from infected nymphs maintained LVS colonization through 150 days post-capillary feeding. For capillary-fed adults, LVS initially colonized the gut and disseminated to hemolymph and salivary glands by 14 day post-feeding. Post-capillary feeding larvae and nymphs maintained LVS colonization initially and persisted although in a low percentage in molted nymphs and molted adults. Based on the feeding habits of I. scapularis adults, this tick species has the potential to act as a bridging vector for human tularemia for fall-winter cases of tularemia.


In 2001, Manfred Gorg published a new reading of a fragmentary name ring on a topographical pedestal relief in the Berlin Museum (no. 21687).  Although the inscription had previously been listed in topographical studies, the reading of the fragmentary third name ring had not received adequate attention. Gorg suggested reading the broken name as an archaic form for "Israel" and argued that it could have been copied during the Nineteenth Dynasty from an earlier list. As his publication was in German, his proposal has so far been unavailable to a wider English-speaking readership. Two scholars, Bryant Wood and James Hoffmeier, have briefly discussed Gorg's proposal; while the former welcomed it, the latter rejected it on linguistic grounds.  The present authors republish the relief agment here in English and include new evidence that appears to support Gorg's original reading. DOI:10.2458/azu_jaei_v02i4_van_der_veen


When Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka's The Open Sore of a Continent appeared in 1996, it received rave reviews in the national media. Now comes Soyinka's powerful sequel to that fearless and passionate book, The Burden of Memory. Where Open Sore offered a critique of African nationhood and a searing indictment of the Nigerian military and its repression of human and civil rights, The Burden of Memory considers all of Africa-indeed, all the world-as it poses the next logical question: Once repression stops, is reconciliation between oppressor and victim possible? In the face of centuries long devastations wrought on the African continent and her Diaspora by slavery, colonialism, Apartheid and the manifold faces of racism what form of recompense could possibly be adequate? In a voice as eloquent and humane as it is forceful, Soyinka examines this fundamental question as he illuminates the principle duty and "near intolerable burden" of memory to bear the record of injustice. In so doing, he challenges notions of simple forgiveness, of confession and absolution, as strategies for social healing. Ultimately, he turns to art-poetry, music, painting-as one source that may nourish the seed of reconciliation, art as the generous vessel that can hold together the burden of memory and the hope of forgiveness. Based on Soyinka's Stewart-McMillan lectures delivered at the Du Bois Institute at Harvard, The Burden of Memory speaks not only to those concerned specifically with African politics, but also to anyone seeking the path to social justice through some of history's most inhospitable terrain.


During the practice sessions for the 1932 Olympic bobsled events, Lake Placid's Mt. Van Hoevenberg slide endured multiple crashes involving over a dozen athletes. An analysis of the slide from inception to construction to competition as well as the resulting management of the accidents produces significant historical insight into the administration of the winter Olympic games. Using David Welky's paradigm suggesting that the analyses of ordinary Olympic happenings can be used to probe larger issues, this analysis uses the "seemingly mundane" happenings of facility construction and competition to provide historical insight into an attempt to use the Olympics as a promotional springboard to a host city's future commercial success. As the first sliding facility built in North America dedicated to both an Olympic games and for future commercial programming, this analysis also provides significant historical insight into modern Olympic issues including the fiduciary conundrum of building Olympic facilities with potentially limited post-Olympic commercial possibilities, the sometimes contentious nature of a host city's environmental stewardship and the final location of those facilities as it pertains to the facilities' future commercial success, and the nationalistic-laden gamesmanship that often plays out on these facilities during the administration of practice sessions and Olympic competition that can result in decision-making that potentially jeopardizes the safety of the athlete.


We model the density structure of the outer several tens of kilometers of Io on the basis of the assumption that condensed volatiles, mainly SO2, exist at shallow depths in a mafic to ultramafic lithosphere, which has a finite porosity due to its accumulation as a mixture of pyroclastic and effusive volcanic deposits, which include condensed volatiles. The porosity decreases with increasing depth due to pressure-driven compaction and temperature-driven melting of the volatiles, and this controls the bulk density structure of the lithosphere. We also model the densities of ascending magmas as a function the types and amounts of volatiles that are available in their source regions. The relative densities of the accumulated volcanic deposits and of the magmas rising through them control whether the magmas will erupt at the surface or will stall to form intrusions which can grow into magma reservoirs. We find that the depths at which magma reservoirs may exist are strongly influenced by the void space fraction in surface deposits and only weakly controlled by the mass fraction of SO2 in the deposits and the mass fraction of SO2 in the magmas. Once nucleated, a reservoir has the potential to grow to a very large vertical extent (∼15 km total height) before the magma immediately beneath its roof is again buoyant relative to the surrounding rocks. The presence of large-volume reservoirs may explain the great extent of the larger lava flow fields seen on Io and the longevity of some eruptions. The presence of very soluble volatiles, such as water, in magmas would have virtually no effect on these findings because these volatiles would influence the densities of magmas only very near the surface (though they would, even in very small amounts, then have a dramatic effect on the explosivities of eruptions).


Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complication of chronic pancreatitis (CP). Whether pancreatogenic diabetes associated with CP-DM represents a discrete pathophysiologic entity from type 2 DM (T2DM) remains uncertain. Addressing this question is needed for development of specific measures to manage CP-DM. We approached this question from a unique standpoint, hypothesizing that if CP-DM and T2DM are separate disorders, they should be genetically distinct. To test this hypothesis, we sought to determine whether a genetic risk score (GRS) based on validated single nucleotide polymorphisms for T2DM could distinguish between groups with CP-DM and T2DM. Methods: We used 60 T2DM single nucleotide polymorphisms to construct a weighted GRS in 1,613 subjects from the North American Pancreatitis Study 2 and 2,685 subjects from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, all of European origin. Results: The mean GRS was identical between 321 subjects with CP-DM and 423 subjects with T2DM (66.53 vs 66.42, P = 0.95), and the GRS of both diabetic groups was significantly higher than that of nondiabetic controls (n = 3,554, P < 0.0001). Exploratory analyses attempting to enrich the CP-DM group for pancreatogenic diabetes, such as eliminating diabetes diagnosed before CP, requiring pancreas-specific comorbidities, or removing those with a family history of diabetes, did not improve the ability of the GRS to distinguish between CP-DM and T2DM. Discussion: Recognizing that we lacked a gold standard to define CP-DM, our study suggests that CP-DM may be a subtype of T2DM, a notion that should be tested in future, large prospective studies.


Endothelial cell barrier dysfunction results in the increased vascular permeability observed in inflammation, tumor metastasis, angiogenesis, and atherosclerosis. Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), a biologically active phosphorylated lipid growth factor released from activated platelets, enhances the endothelial cell barrier integrity in vitro and in vivo. To begin to identify the molecular mechanisms mediating S1P induced endothelial barrier enhancement, quantitative proteomics analysis (iTRAQ™) was performed on membrane rafts isolated from human pulmonary artery endothelial cells in the absence or presence of S1P stimulation. Our results demonstrated that S1P mediates rapid and specific recruitment (1 μm, 5 min) of myristoylated alanine-rich protein kinase C substrate (MARCKS) and MARCKS-related protein (MRP) to membrane rafts. Western blot experiments confirmed these findings with both MARCKS and MRP. Finally, small interfering RNA-mediated silencing of MARCKS or MRP or both attenuates S1P-mediated endothelial cell barrier enhancement. These data suggest the regulation of S1P-mediated endothelial cell barrier enhancement via the cell specific localization of MARCKS and MRP and validate the utility of proteomics approaches in the identification of novel molecular targets.


The objectives of this study are to evaluate the efficiency of removal of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and to ascertain the fate of Cr(VI) in the treatment process. An SBR was operated with the FILL, REACT, SETTLE, DRAW and IDLE periods in the time ratio of 2:12:2:1.5:6.5 for a cycle time of 24 h. The study was divided into 5 phases with the addition of 0.5, 2.0, 3.0 and 5.0 mg/l of Cr(VI) in Phases II, III, IV and V for a duration of 46, 75, 43 and 16 operational cycles, respectively. The Cr(VI) removal efficiencies for SBR were found to be 79.8, 88.4 and 99.8% in Phases III, IV and V, respectively. The results revealed that Cr(VI) removal efficiency improved with acclimated activated sludge. Determination of Cr in the suspended sludge showed that around 95% of the Cr species were Cr(III). Determination of Cr concentration profiles during the FILL and REACT periods showed that the predominant species was Cr(III) as Cr(VI) was bio-reduced. The proposed Cr(VI) removal mechanism involves bioreduction to Cr(III) which was subsequently precipitated and adsorbed by activated sludge. Precipitation rather than sorption is envisaged to be the main path of removal of Cr(III) from the solution. Keywords: Sequencing batch reactor, hexavalent chromium, removal, transformation, mechanism


Introduction: High implantation of the hairline by the ear is a frequent, unpleasant stigma in rhytidoplasties. To overcome this problem, we created the Peninsula technique in the mid-1999. Initially used in secondary face liftings, its indication has since been broadened, becoming indispensable in primary cases of high hair implantation and in patients requiring major skin resection. Methods: The total number of rhytidoplasties performed was 7,356, with 2,512 patients operated using the Peninsula technique from 1999 to 2016. Mean age was 48, 98% were females and 2% males. The technique presents three variants. Results: Patients were monitored on a monthly basis until discharge at the end of six months. Among the results, there were some complications, which are usual in any type of facial surgery. In the great majority of cases, with the use of the Peninsula, it was possible to obtain good skin traction, with the greater correction of the mid third, maintaining the capillary implantation line. Conclusion: We can conclude that the Peninsula technique is a unique resource, easily reproducible, capable of reducing the learning curve in rhytidoplasty, as it allows generous skin resection without changing capillary implantation, avoiding post-surgical stigma and optimizing the quality of the results and patient satisfaction, with a little scar burden. ■ ABSTRACT


The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) has provided an improved capability for moderate resolution land surface monitoring and for studying surface temperature variations. Surface temperature is a key variable in the surface energy balance. To investigate the temporal variation of surface temperature in relation to different vegetation types, MODIS data from 2000–04 were used, especially in the reproductive phase of crops (September–October). The vegetation types used for this study were agriculture in desert areas, rainfed agriculture, irrigated agriculture, and forest. We found that among the different vegetation types, the desert‐based agriculture showed the highest surface temperature followed by rainfed agriculture, irrigated agriculture, and forest. The variation in surface temperature indicates that the climatic variation is mostly determined by the different types of vegetation cover on the Earth's surface rather than rapid climate change attributable to climatic sources. The mean land surface temperature (LST) and air temperature (T a) were plotted for each vegetation type from September to October during 2000 and 2004. Higher temperatures were observed for each vegetation type in 2000 as compared to 2004 and lower total rainfall was observed in 2000. The relationship between MODIS LST and T a measurements from meteorological stations was established and illustrated that years 2000 and 2004 had a distinct climatic variability within the time‐frame in the study area. In all test sites, the study found that there was a high correlation (r = 0.80–0.98) between LST and T a.


Abstract In the last decade the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) published several design concepts of tokamak based fusion-fission hybrids which use solid fuel consisting of the transuranic elements of spent nuclear fuel from Light-Water-Reactors. The objectives of the hybrids are the incineration of the transuranic elements and additional net energy production. The paper presents a rough scientific design of the blanket of a mirror hybrid which was derived from the results of neutron transport calculations. The main operation parameters of two hybrid options were specified. One is the analog to Georgia Techs first version of a "fusion transmutation of waste reactor" (FTWR) and the other is a possible near-term option which requires minimal fusion power.


In Honiara, capital city of the Solomon Islands, speakers of the local variety of Pijin are making extensive usage of the transitive suffix -em (and its variants -im and -um) to transform prepositions into prepositional verbs: daon /down/ becomes daonem /to lower/; ap /up/ becomes apum /to raise/; insaet /inside/ becomes insaetim /to insert, to take inside/; aot /out/ becomes aotim /to remove/, etc. Looking at data gathered in Honiara since 1981, this paper will hypothesize that the formation of prepositional verbs in Solomon Island Pijin (SIP) is best understood as an instance of paradigmatic regularization that is also present in other parts of the morphosyntax. The paper will argue that: (1) simplification and complexification are not the only types of linguistic changes affecting the life of PCs (Pidgin and Creole language); and (2) that regularization is internally-induced, and may not be linked to any substrate or superstrate effect.


This essay explores the representation of sexual and domestic violence in Northern Ireland, in the public forum of the theatre, during the years immediately preceding the 1994 Ceasefire and following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Drawing upon Richard Schechner's definition of performance as an inclusive term that incorporates a wide range of human activity from theatre to ritual and the performance of everyday life to sports, the arts, ceremonies and 'performances of great magnitude', this essay progresses from the assumption that these theatrical representations reflect aspects of the social world. Following an overview of the context of the works in relation to social attitudes towards sexual and domestic violence, the essay briefly explores the use of rape and gender violence as a metaphor for colonial and political violence, using the example of Carville's comedy 'Family Plot'. The essay then turns to an examination of more radical, or challenging works: Derry Frontline's Threshold, an overtly political, pre-Ceasefire, devised play, and works by Reid and Devlin that challenge the male-dominated narrative of the 'Troubles' by dramatizing the effects of the violence on ordinary women. Finally, the essay considers the post-Ceasefire period and the emergence of new, women-oriented initiatives like the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, drawing out a connection between the new emerging society, the persistence of traditional models of gendered behaviour, and contemporary work that dramatizes violence against women: Byrne's Don't Say a Word and Spallen's Pumpgirl.


The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that each special education student has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) developed at least once every year. In addition to school staff, regulations require that parents be invited to the IEP meetings. This study retrospectively reviewed the records of 270 students with educational disabilities in grades six through twelve. Demographic and descriptive data were gathered for each student and were separated according to whether the parent did or did not attend the IEP meeting. End-of-year information was examined regarding final report card grades, absenteeism, and cumulative days of detentions and suspensions. Of these variables, significant differences were found between the students whose parents participated in their IEP meetings and those students whose parents did not participate. The children of attending parents had higher grades in English/language arts, in mathematics, and in their overall grade point averages. These students also had significantly fewer absences. No differences were found regarding the frequency of detentions and suspensions between the two groups. Among demographic characteristics, ethnicity and socioeconomic status were associated with rates of parental participation. Some relationships may exist between parental participation and the category of their children's special education eligibility, but these results were inconclusive. Student gender and grade level were not predictive of parental attendance at IEP meetings.


Introduction Cutaneous abscesses are commonly treated in the emergency department (ED). Although incision and drainage (I&D) remains the standard treatment, there is little high-quality evidence to support additional interventions such as pain control, type of incision, and use of irrigation, wound cultures, and packing. Although guidelines exist to support clinician management of abscesses, they do not clearly specify these additional interventions. This study sought to describe the ED treatments administered to adults with uncomplicated superficial cutaneous abscesses, defined as purulent lesions requiring incision and drainage that could be managed in an ED or outpatient setting. Methods: Four hundred and seventy-four surveys were distributed to 15 EDs across the United States. Participants were queried about their level of training and practice environment as well as specific questions regarding their management of cutaneous abscesses in the ED. Results: In total, 350 providers responded to the survey (74%). One hundred eighty-nine respondents (54%) were attending physicians, 135 (39%) were residents, and 26 (7%) were midlevel providers. Most providers (76%) used narcotics for pain management, 71% used local anesthetic over the roof of the abscess, and 60% used local anesthetic in a field block for pain control. More than 48% of responders routinely used irrigation after (I&D). Eighty-five percent of responders used a linear incision to drain the abscess and 91% used packing in the wound cavity. Thirty-two percent routinely sent wound cultures and 17% of providers routinely prescribed antibiotics. Most providers (73%) only prescribed antibiotics if certain historical factors or physical findings were present on examination. Antibiotic treatment, if used, favored a combination of 2 or more drugs to cover both Streptococcus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (47%). Follow-up visits were most frequently recommended at 48 hours unless wound was concerning and required closer evaluation. Conclusion: Variability exists in the treatment strategies for abscess care. Most providers used narcotic analgesics in addition to local anesthetic, linear incisions, and packing. Most providers did not irrigate, order wound cultures, or routinely prescribe oral antibiotics unless specific risk factors or physical signs were present. Limited evidence is available at this time to guide these treatment strategies.


The purpose of this study was to emphasize up its main objective how new technologies can assist teachers. The use of information and communication technology in educational settings in the future of teaching is examined with regard to new functions and roles of teachers in coming university distance scenarios. The specific case of the virtual leader and mentor is studied. The article defines and explores the relatively new leadership paradigm of e-leadership that has arisen in little more than a decade. Special attention is given to the following topics: The first section is to develop a theoretical framework to improve understanding of this new form of work  related to tutors, the leader and distributed leadership in the virtual environment; also we review literature to build a comprehensive understanding of what constitute e– leadership in organizations. The second section discusses the main strengths and skills of the virtual leader and their importance in the management of education at a distance. We focus on delineating the dimensions of a typology to characterize different types of virtual teams; the dimensions are then used to draw leadership implications. Finally, the general research question guiding this investigation was what will bring about real progress and provide leadership to the virtual or distance learning?


This article identifies and analyzes current and potential synergies between the new EU Regulation 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species on the one hand, and the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats on the other. Besides focusing on the role the Convention could play in facilitating the Regulation's effective implementation generally, the article explores the scope for extending some of the actions provided for in the Regulation beyond the EU to Europe at large, using the framework of the Bern Convention. The article identifies and recommends several courses of action that may be taken in either regard. Cooperation on IAS appears to open a promising new chapter in the dynamic interplay that has characterized the relations between the Bern Convention and EU biodiversity law in the past.


To identify possible soft-tissue changes of the head and neck after radiation therapy, 102 CT scans from 78 patients with head and neck tumors were reviewed to assess (1) skin thickening, (2) epiglottic thickening, (3) stranding of subcutaneous fat, and (4) stranding of deep cervical fat. Scans were obtained after radiation therapy alone (10 cases), after radiation and surgery (27 cases), after surgery alone (24 cases), or before either surgery or radiation (41 cases). Skin thickening, epiglottic thickening, and stranding of subcutaneous fat were seen more frequently after radiation therapy than before such treatment. However, skin thickening and stranding of subcutaneous fat were sometimes also associated with tumor involvement and/or previous surgery, while epiglottic thickening was only occasionally associated with tumor involvement. Stranding of deep cervical fat was noted with increased frequency after radiation or surgery, but postradiation effects could not be reliably distinguished from postsurgical or tumor effects. We conclude that soft-tissue changes of the head and neck on CT may commonly be associated with previous radiation therapy, but these postradiation effects are not always distinguishable from postsurgical effects or tumor.


This paper presents the lubridate package for R, which facilitates working with dates and times. Date-times create various technical problems for the data analyst. The paper highlights these problems and offers practical advice on how to solve them using lubridate. The paper also introduces a conceptual framework for arithmetic with date-times in R.


Many papers have proposed elliptic curves which are faster and easier to implement than the NIST prime-order curves. Most of these curves have had fields of size around 2, and thus security estimates of around 128 bits. Recently there has been interest in a stronger curve, prompting designs such as Curve41417 and Microsoft's pseudo-Mersenne-prime curves. Here I report on the design of another strong curve, called Ed448-Goldilocks. Implementations of this curve can perform very well for its security level on many architectures. As of this writing, this curve is favored by IRTF CFRG for inclusion in future versions of TLS along with Curve25519.


We present a detailed analysis of the transverse Anderson localization of light in a one-dimensional disordered optical lattice in the language of transversely localized and longitudinally propagating eigenmodes. The modal analysis allows us to explore localization behavior of a disordered lattice waveguide independent of the properties of the external excitation. Various localization-related phenomena, such as the periodic revival of a propagating Anderson-localized beam, are easily explained in modal language. We characterize the localization strength by the average width of the guided modes and carry out a detailed analysis of localization behavior as a function of the optical and geometrical parameters of the disordered lattice. We also show that in order to obtain a minimum average mode width, the average width of the individual random sites in the disordered lattice must be larger than the wavelength of the light by approximately a factor of two or more, and the optimum site width for the maximum localization depends on the design parameters of the disordered lattice.


The tenth century dawned in violence and disorder. Charlemagne's empire was in ruins, most of Spain had been claimed by Moorish invaders, and even the papacy in Rome was embroiled in petty, provincial conflicts. To many historians, it was a prime example of the ignorance and uncertainty of the Dark Ages. Yet according to historian Paul Collins, the story of the tenth century is the story of our culture's birth, of the emergence of our civilization into the light of day. The Birth of the West tells the story of a transformation from chaos to order, exploring the alien landscape of Europe in transition. It is a fascinating narrative that thoroughly renovates older conceptions of feudalism and what medieval life was actually like. The result is a wholly new vision of how civilization sprang from the unlikeliest of origins, and proof that our tenth-century ancestors are not as remote as we might think.


This exploratory study examines the potential learning opportunities of interactions in the naturalistic setting of a German conversation group. Eleven intermediate L2 German learners participated in weekly conversation groups, which were recorded and then transcribed. In addition, information regarding learners' perceptions, confidence, and willingness to communicate was obtained by means of self-report surveys and interviews. A discourse analytic approach indicated that learners' styles were more passive or active depending on their ability to identify and use, consciously or unconsciously, German conversational style in the group interactions. These findings suggest that interaction in L2 conversation groups can play an important role in providing learners with opportunities to acquire native-like conversational styles and structures in an environment representative of authentic, real world conversational contexts.


We present the results of combined density functional and many-body calculations of the electronic and magnetic properties of the defect-free digital ferromagnetic heterostructures obtained by doping GaAs with Cr and Mn. While the local-density approximation +U predicts half-metallicity in these defect-free delta-doped heterostructures, we demonstrate that local many-body correlations captured by dynamical mean-field theory induce within the minority-spin channel nonquasiparticle states just above E-F. As a consequence of the existence of these many-body states the half-metallic gap is closed and the carriers' spin polarization is significantly reduced. Below the Fermi level the minority-spin highest valence states are found to localize more on the GaAs layers, being independent of the type of electronic correlations considered. Thus, our results confirm the confinement of carriers in these delta-doped heterostructures, having a spin polarization that follows a different temperature dependence than the magnetization. We suggest that polarized hot-electron photoluminescence experiments might uncover evidence for the existence of many-body states within the minority-spin channel and elucidate their finite-temperature behavior.


Endobronchial tuberculosis (EBTB) is a tuberculous infection of the tracheobronchial tree with microbial and histopathological evidence. Patients may present with symptoms secondary to disease itself or from the complication of disease like endobronchial obstruction. Diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion. Computed tomography (CT) and bronchoscopy along with microbiological investigations are the most useful diagnostic tools for the confirmation as well as for the evaluation of the tracheobronchial stenosis. The goals of treatment are eradication of tubercle bacilli with anti-tubercular medications and the prevention of airway stenosis. Interventional Bronchoscopic techniques and surgery is required for those patients who develop severe tracheobronchial stenosis that causing significant symptoms including dyspnea, repeated post obstructive pneumonia or bronchiectasis.


In our everyday experiences, we have developed a concept of dimension, neatly expressed as integers, i.e. a point, line, square and cube as 0-, 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensional, respectively. Less intuitive are dimensions of sets such as the Koch Curve and Cantor Set. The formal definition of toplogical dimension in a metric space conforms to our intuitive concept of dimension, but it is inadequate to describe the dimension of fractals. The purpose of this thesis is to develop notions of fractal dimension and in particular, to explore Hausdorff dimension with regard to self-similar tiles in detail. Methods of calculation of Hausdorff dimension will be discussed.


C demographics are forcing countries around the world to reexamine their public pension systems. The member states of the European Union are no exception. Indeed, the EU nations are among those facing the greatest social, budgetary, and economic challenges as a result of their aging populations. Therefore, EU members will be forced to rethink their public pension programs and move away from traditional pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) pension models to new systems based on savings and investment. The need for pension reform has engendered heated political debate in Europe. In many ways that debate mirrors the debate over Social Security reform in the United States. This paper examines many of the issues involved in reforming European pensions and reaches the following conclusions: • Long-run data from many countries show that the yield on market assets is sufficient to provide adequate retirement income at a reasonable cost. Indeed, such income is likely to be significantly higher than income that can be provided through PAYGO systems. • A market-based system would not necessarily reduce the redistribution that some Europeans consider an important characteristic of EU pension programs. Moreover, those programs may be far less redistributive than commonly believed. • Moving to a market-based pension system can help promote labor market flexibility by more closely linking contributions and benefits. In addition, a market-based system would eliminate incentives for older workers to leave labor markets prematurely. • Although transition financing would be a complex issue, it is cheaper to move to market-based systems than to continue current PAYGO systems. It is possible to design a transition scenario that is a winwin situation for all generations. • Administrative costs in a market-based system can be kept low. • Market-based systems would increase asset ownership and give workers greater control of the wealth-producing assets of society.