We demonstrate the generation of two-photon correlation trains based on spectral filtering of broadband biphotons. Programmable amplitude filtering is employed to create biphoton frequency combs, which when coupled with optical dispersion allows us to experimentally verify the temporal Talbot effect for entangled photons. Additionally, an alternative spectral phase-filtering approach is shown to significantly improve the overall efficiency of the generation process when a comb-like spectrum is not required. Our technique is ideal for the creation of tunable and high-repetition-rate biphoton states.


The estimation of treatment effects is a pervasive problem in medicine. Existing methods for estimating treatment effects from longitudinal observational data assume that there are no hidden confounders, an assumption that is not testable in practice and, if it does not hold, leads to biased estimates. In this paper, we develop the Time Series Deconfounder, a method that leverages the assignment of multiple treatments over time to enable the estimation of treatment effects in the presence of multi-cause hidden confounders. The Time Series Deconfounder uses a novel recurrent neural network architecture with multitask output to build a factor model over time and infer latent variables that render the assigned treatments conditionally independent; then, it performs causal inference using these latent variables that act as substitutes for the multi-cause unobserved confounders. We provide a theoretical analysis for obtaining unbiased causal effects of time-varying exposures using the Time Series Deconfounder. Using both simulated and real data we show the effectiveness of our method in deconfounding the estimation of treatment responses over time.


In order to obtain reliable data on vaginal carriage of Streptococcus agalactiae in pregnant women and to formulate a prevention program of neonatal Group B Streptococcus (GBS) disease, we carried out a prospective cross sectional study for 6 months. The general objective of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of vaginal carriage and the resistance profile of GBS. The study involved 142 pregnant women presenting for antenatal care in Yaounde Gynecology-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital (YGOPH). Participants were interviewed using a standard structure questionnaire. Low vaginal swabs were collected and cultured on specific media. A presumptive identification of isolates was made using standard bacteriological methods. Confirmative identification of Group B Streptococcus was done and antimicrobial sensitivity testing was performed. Among the 142 pregnant women GBS colonization was confirmed in 11 (7.7%). The rate of carriage was 3.8% in the first trimester, 7% in the second trimester and 11.1% in the third trimester. The predominant germ was Candida albicans with a frequency of 45.2% among the germs found in monomicrobial culture and Gardnerella vaginalis (77.8%) among the germs in polymicrobial culture, followed by Candida spp (11.8%), S. agalactiae (8.6%) and Escherichia coli (4.3%). The result of antimicrobial sensitivity testing showed that all the GBS strains were sensitive to major antibiotics drugs tested. The highest rates of resistance were found with gentamycin (100%) and Cefuroxim (81.8%). The vaginal carriage of GBS among pregnant women is still high. Thus, well-planned, prospective studies will be necessary to fully appreciate the magnitude of the problem of GBS in our hospitals.

 Key words: Group B Streptococcus, neonatal infections, antibiotic, low vaginal swabs.


The sustainability challenges facing society today require approaches that look beyond single product-user interactions. Focusing on socially shared practices—e.g. cooking, laundering—has been identified as a promising direction. Building on a growing body of research in sustainable HCI that takes practices as unit of analysis, this article explores what it means to take practices as a unit of design. Drawing on theories of practice, it proposes that practice-oriented design approaches should: involve bodily performance, create crises of routine and generate a variety of performances. These guidelines were integrated into a Generative Improv Performances (GIP) approach, entailing a series of performances by improvisation actors with low-fidelity prototypes in a lab environment. The approach was implemented in an empirical study on bathing. Although the empirical example does not deal with common types of interactive technologies, the guidelines and GIP approach offer sustainable HCI a way to think beyond immediate interactions and to conceptualize change on a practice level.


This article is a response to the challenge of global citizenship in an age of global crisis. Citizenship has to do with where one feels 'at home', namely the space that gifts identity and life. What kind of narrative is necessary to transform global space into a home from where we can go beyond our borders to embrace the other in multidisciplinary research or interfaith praxis? The different models for multidisciplinary research are made possible by the idea that research seeks that which is beyond its borders. This search could be a common space where the different traditions can accommodate one another, but it is not a home. The dominant discourse of this common space is to seek commonality and identities across borders while being aware of but ignoring differences – identity at the expense of differences. A home founded on identity at the expense of difference will always exclude. Theology can either be interpreted as thinking beyond the borders toward the Divine, or the Divine thinking us. The Exodus, the Incarnation and the Cross are all narratives of the Other crossing borders, liberating from boundaries, deconstructing the laws and norms that exclude. The religious traditions of these sacred narratives have something to offer, namely: to be thought by the Other, to receive life and (alien) identity from the Other, the gift of a home which is continuously deconstructed by the home still to come, therefore always open for the Other.


The modern federal income tax and the Northwestern University Law Review have something rather peculiar in common. Both suffered false starts in the late nineteenth century, only to shortly thereafter be reconstituted and to emerge as significant legal institutions in the early twentieth century, and to continue as significant institutions on into the twenty-first. Northwestern University School of Law's first law journal-then called the Northwestern Law Review-was published from 1893 through 1896 and had only a slightly longer life than the first modern income tax. The income tax was enacted in 1894,' and struck down as unconstitutional in 1895, having produced no revenue.2 A law review-then called the Illinois Law Review-reemerged at Northwestern in 1906 and has continued since, although not always under the same name or the same type of management.3 The income tax reemerged on the political agenda after a similar ten-year interval, but took a bit longer to finally become established, since it required a constitutional amendment to ensure its permanency.4 The income tax, like the Northwestern University Law Review, was born in an era in which optimism about law and legal institutions prevailed. In the case of the income tax, support came both from those who held firm to nineteenth-century notions about the nature of law and legal institutions, and from those who saw promise in new and expanded roles for law and an administrative state through which it would operate. This curious mix-of faith in traditional legal institutions, including the capacity of legislators and courts to work together in refining and implementing statutory law, and in the possibility of innovation in public policy implemented through those institutions-produced the income tax as we know it. The income tax as implemented in the United States remains one of the more remarkable institutions created in that era. The current income tax is arguably the most effective revenue-raising mechanism ever created. In fiscal year 2004, it (and the payroll taxes that rely on its conceptual and compliance foundations5) resulted in receipts of more than 1.9 trillion dollars,6 constituting just over sixteen percent of GDP.7 The income tax and the many public policies that are implemented through it now dominate the national political agenda. Nevertheless, the income tax is at the moment-as it has been for much of its history-under serious challenge for its distortive burden on the economy, for its complexity, for its progressivity, and for its lack of progressivity.8 The President recently convened an advisory panel to suggest reforms. Although the President's charge to the panel included a direction that at least one proposal should "use the Federal income tax as the base for its recommended reforms,'" there are many in Congress and elsewhere who are willing to let us believe they would rather just kill it off. Again in the 109th Congress, as in several recent Congresses, there is legislation that would simply repeal the income tax.10 Why, given the persistent attacks against it, has the federal income tax proven to be such a remarkably durable institution? And why, if it has been so successful and so durable, does it always seem so vulnerable? Some of the reasons for the durability of the income tax are fairly obvious. The income tax, along with its companion payroll taxes, simply raises a lot of money with little pain, relative to other possible taxes. Pulling the plug on the most effective revenue-raising system in history-no matter what its flaws-would be a drastic act." This fact contributes both to its durability and to its current lack of popularity.12 It is an easy target of criticism, since it touches virtually the entire population, and almost always in an unpleasant, if not painful, way. Nobody likes to pay taxes. But since not paying taxes at all is rarely a viable long-term option, most of us settle for hoping that we are asked to pay our share, and no more than our share. …


Additive manufacturing (AM) opens new possibilities for innovative product designs. However, due to a lack of knowledge and restrained creativity because of design fixations, design engineers do not take advantage of AM's design freedom. Especially multi-material AM provides new opportunities for functional integration that hardly considered in ideation. To overcome barriers in the development of solution ideas and utilizing such new design potentials, new design methods and tools are needed. Therefore, in this contribution, a methodological approach for a function-oriented provision of solution principles specific to material extrusion is presented. A tool is developed to facilitate effective guidance in developing solution ideas and to foster a realistic concretization by providing a combination of opportunistic and restrictive AM knowledge. Besides general levers of AM, process-specific design opportunities support the design engineers in exploiting AM's potentials, especially those who are not familiar with Design for AM. Finally, the applicability of the methodological approach is evaluated in an academic study by means of redesigning a hand prosthesis with a grab function.


In 2001, the IRS issued a ruling allowing firms to engage in nontaxable real estate investment trust (REIT) spinoffs. In a REIT spin-off, a corporation places real estate assets into a subsidiary, which it then distributes to shareholders as a REIT. A nontaxable spin-off triggers no immediate taxation of unrealized gains and the future earnings of the REIT generally are not subject to corporate level taxation; the earnings are instead taxed at the investor level. REIT spin-offs thus provide a means to avoid the double-taxation of at least some part of corporate earnings. The ruling was promptly followed by a large REIT spin-off of timber properties by Georgia-Pacific and there has been much speculation about how many and what kinds of firms will follow. Given that the total real estate held in the corporate sector is in the trillions of dollars, the potential revenue loss is of serious concern. This paper simulates the effects of the REIT spin-off ruling by analyzing the actual real estate holdings of over 4,000 publicly traded companies. Specifically, we estimate the potential tax benefits for each firm and for each industry, both in absolute terms and compared to market value, to determine the types of firms and industries most likely to restructure as a result of the ruling. The calculations take into account the related impact of likely reductions in debt levels on corporate taxes, as well as the likely increase in investor level taxes from the requirement that REITs pay out nearly all of their income each year as dividends. The results suggest that the benefits to REIT spin-offs are heavily concentrated in a few industries and that while there may be a subset of firms for which REIT spin-offs would provide substantial tax benefits, in the aggregate, revenue losses are likely to be modest.


Hepatitis C (HCV) is a global pandemic. The World Health Organization has developed a strategic plan for HCV elimination that focuses on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-risk populations, including people who inject drugs (PWID). While direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapies are highly effective at eliminating HCV infections and have few side effects, medical professionals and policymakers remain concerned about the risk of reinfection among PWID. This study is a systematic review of research measuring the rate of HCV reinfection among PWID in LMICs and identifies additional areas for further research. A systematic search strategy was used to identify studies documenting HCV reinfection after sustained virologic response in PWID in LMICs. We refined results to include studies where at least 50% of participants had DAA treatment for primary HCV infection. Pooled reinfection rate was calculated across all studies. Seven studies met eligibility criteria. Most studies were conducted in six upper middle-income countries (Mexico, Romania, Russia, Taiwan, Georgi, and Brazil) and one lower middle-income country (Bangladesh) with a total of 7665 participants. No study included information from PWID in low-income countries. Sample sizes ranged from 200 to 3004 individuals, with demographic data missing for most participants. Four studies used deep gene sequencing, and reflex genotyping procedures to differentiate reinfection (infection by a different HCV genotype/subtype) from virologic relapse (infection by the same strain). The follow-up time of people cured from primary chronic HCV infection ranged from 12 weeks to 6.6 years. The pooled reinfection rate of all seven studies was 2.8 (range: 0.02 to 10.5) cases per 100 person-years (PY). In the five studies that differentiated relapse from reinfection, the incidence of reinfection was 1.0 per 100 PY. To date, research on reinfection rates among PWID in LMICs remains limited. Research focused on PWID in low-income countries is particularly needed to inform clinical decision making and evidence-based programs. While rates of reinfection among PWID who complete DAA treatment in upper and lower middle-income countries were similar or lower than rates observed in PWID in high-income countries, the rates were highly variable and factors may influence the accuracy of these measurements. This systematic review identifies several areas for continued research. Policies concerning access to HCV testing and treatment should be comprehensive and not place restrictions on PWID in these settings.


Chronic mesenteric ischemia (CMI) can be treated with surgical revascularization or with angioplasty and stenting. As experience has been gained, endovascular treatment appears safe and effective in selected patients. Currently, surgical revascularization has better success and patency rates but also a higher short- and midterm mortality and morbidity, especially in patients at high surgical risk. A 72-year-old female with severe respiratory dysfunction presented with CMI resulting in profound malnutrition. Serial percutaneous interventions averted urgent surgery and reversed the mesenteric ischemia. Nine months later, after repeated angioplasty and stenting had failed, elective uncomplicated iliomesenteric bypass, in a medically optimized patient, resolved the ischemia. At an 18-month follow-up, the graft remained widely patent and the patient asymptomatic with a body weight corresponding to her ideal body weight. Compared to surgical revascularization, reocclusion or restenosis occurs more frequently after endovascular treatment of CMI, and reintervention may be necessary. Nevertheless, percutaneous intervention effectively provides relief from mesenteric ischemia and has lower perioperative complication rates compared to surgery in patients at high surgical risk. After initial relief of the CMI, the patient's condition may improve, allowing for more definitive secondary surgical revascularization, if needed.


This chapter discusses the forensic mentality that pervades Samuel Richardson's novels, his correspondence, and his writings about fiction. Scholars have explored numerous doctrinal contexts in which Richardson's novels address legal issues including marriage, rape, inheritance, citizenship, copyright, and liability for accidents. This chapter extends that discussion by asking how his fiction, and his writings on fiction, engage with the logic of the case, understood both as an example that may set a precedent, and a specific instance that illustrates a general principle. Although Richardson held out both his characters and his novels as exemplifying general laws, when pressed about their exemplary status he repeatedly defended them by stressing their unique individuality, effectively undercutting his claims about their precedential significance. We see a similar pattern when he complained about the Dublin booksellers who reprinted his last novel, Sir Charles Grandison (1753), without authorization. Treating their conduct as an affront to "the Cause of Literature, in general," Richardson held out his own very unusual case (as someone who was both a successful novelist and a printer of his own novels) as exemplifying the harms of literary piracy.


Since the mid-1990s, South Africa's industry has seen extensive use of polygraph testing and the trend continues to grow, despite the ongoing debate surrounding the polygraph's accuracy. Its use in private employment is not regulated and hence an employer can require its employees to undergo testing at any time for any purpose. Employees are disciplined and / or dismissed because they fail an examination or simply refuse to take one, while job applicants are not employed. Many employers use employment contracts which contain a polygraph clause. Test results are accepted as evidence in labour disputes. The law also permits polygraph testing in some parts of the public sector.
Although polygraph examinations are extensively used in the private and public sectors, the subject matter is not receiving sufficient attention. This paper briefly looks at the theoretical foundation of polygraph testing and its empirical basis in the employment context. We then examine the legitimacy of polygraph testing in terms of international labour law. The ILO, for example, states explicitly that polygraph testing should not be used under any circumstances. The paper also considers the United States of America, which experienced a similar situation in the 1980s, with about two million tests administered to employees every year. Finally, Germany has always demonstrated a general rejection of polygraph testing, and it has no known application in employment. The approaches of these two countries could be instructive in finding solutions to South Africa's problems.


The role of the perforated pipe in a simple elliptical expansion chamber, especially its ability to improve noise reduction by decreasing the level of resonance caused by traverse waves, is presented. The characteristics of the perforated pipe have been studied by means of impedance which depends on the shape and porosity of a pipe. The following phenomena regarding sound‐pressure distribution when the perforated pipe is located at the center of a simple elliptical expansion chamber have been observed. (1) The resonance frequencies of higher‐order modes shifted to the lower frequency ranges in comparison with those when a pipe was not attached, and (2) the resonance frequencies inside a perforated pipe are similar to the ones outside; however, the resonance level inside is higher than the one outside. In addition, an arrangement of the output pipe is also studied based on the distribution of higher‐order modes in a chamber. The experimental results which tend to prove the effectiveness of the perforated p...


As part of the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative, satellite remote sensing was used to identify potential wetland amphibian habitat in Yellowstone National Park. Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery was combined with ancillary predictors of wetland occurrence including habitat type, cover type, landform type, bedrock geology, soil attributes, terrain measures, and climate data. Classification trees were used to predict the likelihood of palustrine wetland occurrence across the Yellowstone landscape. Wetland maps generated by this study are intended to address shortcomings of the National Wetland Inventory in Yellowstone; namely, errors-of-omission and the temporally invariant nature of the inventory. Relative importance of Thematic Mapper imagery, image texture information, terrain measures, and thematic spatial data were assessed by comparing the accuracy of classification trees trained with different subsets of predictors. In general, classification trees using all available predictors exhibited the greatest accuracy. Classification tree structure was similar in models generated with satellite imagery from different years. Also, similar accuracy rates were found across years. The results indicate that the method could be applied to annual wetland monitoring. Average producer's accuracy for the palustrine wetland class was approximately 0.92. Five palustrine wetland classes were discriminated with an average overall accuracy of approximately 0.83. A wetland map derived from a 1 August, 2003 Thematic Mapper image was field-verified in late-summer and early-autumn of 2003. The classification tree methodology appears to be sensitive to within-season wetland condition and yearly wetland variability. Satellite remote sensing located wetlands not mapped by the National Wetland Inventory and also identified upland sites erroneously classified as wetland. Methods developed by this study are general enough to be applied in other physiographic settings and should prove to be useful to amphibian conservation efforts over large geographic extents.


With respect to the molecular system of donor materials for organic solar cells (OSCs), the π-conjugated backbone is the most important component in determining their OSC-related physicochemical properties. On the other hand, selecting side chains is essential in designing photovoltaic materials, since side chains (especially alkylthio side chains) have a considerable effect, not only on enabling the solubility of materials for solution-processed device fabrication, but also on physicochemical properties, molecular packing and thus the OSC device performance. In this work, we introduce alkylthio side-chains in the molecular π-conjugated backbone to develop a new oligothiophene-based donor material (namely BDT-S-TRS) for OSCs. The theoretical calculations and molecular simulation with density functional theory (DFT) and cyclic voltammetry results reveal that BDTT-S-TRS showed a lower HOMO energy level than its alkyl side-chain counterpart. Especially, BDTTT-S-TRS has a linear backbone with better planarity. The OSC device based on BDT-S-TRS exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.07%, with a notable fill factor (FF) of 0.705.


Introduction: Although the antioxidant properties (AOP) of herbs and vegetables are well known, the effects of different processing methods are poorly studied. In this study, the effects of blanching, microwave, freezing, brining, and pickling on the AOP of selected herbs and vegetables were analysed and evaluated for the first time. Methods: The AOP based on phenolic content (total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and caffeoylquinic acid content), and antioxidant activity (free radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing power, and ferrous ion chelating ability) were analysed using the Folin-Ciocalteu, aluminium chloride, molybdate, DPPH radical scavenging, potassium ferricyanide, and ferrozine assays, respectively. Processing methods were blanching, microwave, freezing, brining, and pickling. Results: Of the 10 fresh herbs assessed, leaves of Anacardium occidentale displayed the strongest AOP followed by Polygonum minus and Cosmos caudatus. Although vegetables are low in phenolic content and weak in primary antioxidant activity, they are strong in secondary antioxidant activity. Blanching, microwave, and freezing treatments had variable effects on the AOP of herbs, which included significant loss or gain and relatively unchanged. Brining with salt and pickling with vinegar over a three-week period led to declines in the AOP of vegetables. The effect of pickling was more adverse as the process involved pasteurisation. Conclusion: Herbs are rich in phenolics with potent primary antioxidant activity. Vegetables are strong in secondary antioxidant activity. The effects of processing on the AOP largely depend on the type of herbs and vegetables.


The present macroeconomic model aims to provide a theory-consistent representation of the general structure of the Viet Nam economy and, as such, it offers real and financial sector forecasting and policy simulation capabilities targeted to the needs of the State Bank of Viet Nam. The model serves a dual purpose. First, it provides a framework for making rational and consistent predictions about Viet Nam's overall economic activity, the standard components of the balance of payments, and the production and expenditure concepts of the national accounts. Secondly, it offers a means of quantitatively evaluating the impact of exchange rate policies and other policy changes on the Vietnamese economy, and assessing the feedback effects that changes in key macroeconomic variables of the economy produce in other sectors. The modeling procedure has sought to account for the structure of the Viet Nam economy, the availability of data, and the degree of stability of time-series estimates of parameters during the country's transition process. The present model therefore aims to provide a mechanism to link policies and targets while, at the same time, providing an easy and adaptable means of both forecasting key macroeconomic variables and simulating the interrelationships between economic policy initiatives.


We examined the effects of shade from multiple kelp canopy layers (surface Macrocystis pyrifera canopy, understory Pterygophora californica canopy), both individually and in combination, on an understory algal assemblage in a central Californian kelp forest. The removal of both kelp canopies resulted in a dense recruitment of the understory brown alga Desmarestia ligulata that formed a third canopy layer, which significantly decreased bottom light and the abundance of under- story red algae. We subsequently created an additional canopy treatment by removing this third canopy layer. In general, the understory red algae fluctuated seasonally with winter swell intensity, changes in kelp canopy cover, and grazing; and although species richness increased significantly with increased bottom light, red algal bottom cover did not respond significantly to the canopy clear- ings until 2 yr after the canopies were initially cleared. Red algal cover within the Pterygophora canopy treatment was similar to that in the control treatment. In the absence of Pterygophora, the Macrocystis canopy treatment and 'no canopy' treatment were found to have greater red algal cover and species richness. Individual understory species were rare, which resulted in small effects sizes and thus low statistical power. However, when grouped post hoc, according to how they responded to the canopy clearings (i.e. response groups), we were able to detect canopy treatment effects as much as 1 yr earlier. This method identified that some understory red algae adapted to areas of canopy removal (light-adapted), and others adapted to a variety of light regimes (shade-tolerant). We were able to classify the light-adapted algae into 2 subgroups: the high-light species and the inter- mediate-light species. Although this method of grouping was done post hoc, our results indicate that it may provide the clearest assessment of how understory algae respond to shading from kelp canopies.


Aerosols, transported from distant source regions, influence the Arctic surface radiation budget. When deposited on snow and ice, carbonaceous particles can reduce the surface albedo, which accelerates melting, leading to a temperature-albedo feedback that amplifies Arctic warming. Black carbon (BC), in particular, has been implicated as a major warming agent at high latitudes. BC and co-emitted aerosols in the atmosphere, however, attenuate sunlight and radiatively cool the surface. Warming by soot deposition and cooling by atmospheric aerosols are referred to as "darkening" and "dimming" effects, respectively. In this study, climatologies of spectral aerosol optical depth AOD (2001–2011) and Equivalent BC (EBC) (1989–2011) from three Arctic observatories and from a number of aircraft campaigns are used to characterize Arctic aerosols. Since the 1980s, concentrations of BC in the Arctic have decreased by more than 50% at ground stations where in situ observations are made. AOD has increased slightly during the past decade, with variations attributed to changing emission inventories and source strengths of natural aerosols, including biomass smoke and volcanic aerosol, further influenced by deposition rates and airflow patterns.


The purpose of the ARCI (1992) and AI (198) Acts is to cover those who suffered from personal injury by accident. This purpose should not be distorted. This review does not aim to suggest that cover be extended to victims of disease. Equally it is inappropriate that imaging be used to detect asymptomatic, age-related change--or reveal asymptomatic abnormalities that do not place the patient at increased risk of symptoms over the general population--so as to unfairly deny coverage to the victims of accidents. This is particularly important to those who suffer personal injury to the lumbar spine where the cause is wholly or substantially an accident, and in whom, without the specified accident having occurred, personal injury (symptoms and disability) would have not been likely to occur. Physicians managing spinal disorders must correlate clinical findings with imaging studies when planning treatment. Those considering entitlement for cover under third party/ACC provisions must pay close attention to the history and clinical evaluation, correlating these with the investigation findings, and not assume that the abnormalities found on sensitive investigations are the cause of the symptoms.


The cellular redox state, or balance between cellular oxidation and reduction reactions, serves as a vital antioxidant defence system that is linked to all important cellular activities. Redox regulation is therefore a fundamental cellular process for aerobic organisms. Whilst oxidative stress is well described in neurodegenerative disorders including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), other aspects of redox dysfunction and their contributions to pathophysiology are only just emerging. ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons, with few useful treatments. Hence there is an urgent need to develop more effective therapeutics in the future. Here, we discuss the increasing evidence for redox dysregulation as an important and primary contributor to ALS pathogenesis, which is associated with multiple disease mechanisms. Understanding the connection between redox homeostasis, proteins that mediate redox regulation, and disease pathophysiology in ALS, may facilitate a better understanding of disease mechanisms, and lead to the design of better therapeutic strategies.


Research data gathered through the Freedom of Information Act and the use of the Grow files provide the framework for this account of the general court-martial of one of General George S. Patton's famous armoured division commanders of World War II. The 1952 court-martial of Major General Robert W. Grow, senior US military attache in Moscow during the Korean War era, involved a general officer who had used questionable judgement in securing a personal diary that contained impolitic statements, portions of which had been photocopied by an alleged Soviet agent in Frankfurt, West Germany. This era of Cold War tensions and McCarthyism, Western media sensationalism, and communist propaganda created a cause celebre and influenced the Army Staff in the Pentagon, led by Lieutenant General Maxwell D. Taylor, to exercise controversial command influence under the aegis of the new Uniform Code of Military Justice. While the State Department and Central Intelligence Agency recommended refuting the implications of the published diary, the Army Staff decided to prosecute the unfortunate attache. Grow, a career soldier, welcomed a formal hearing in order to clear his name. The result became an exercise in Army politics and an example of the corruption of the military justice system through managerial careerism and unlawful command influence. Through his analysis of the Grow incident, Hofmann traces the actual operation of military judicial process under the Uniform Code and examines the bureaucratic intrigues, influence of the media, Cold War propaganda, and resulting conflict between service and self-interest.


The tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) was originally described using a cough test for tape adjustment. More recently, the usefulness of this technique has been questioned and the authors performed a case control series to address this issue. Patients after TVT performed with (n=52) or without cough test (n=54) were invited for review. Matching of the groups was undertaken for age, pre-existing urge incontinence, preoperative maximum flow rate (MFR) centile, concomitant anterior repair and length of follow up. There were no significant differences between groups for subjective cure, satisfaction, subjective symptoms of incontinence, frequency or nocturia. There were more symptoms of voiding dysfunction after cough test (p=0. 019). Postoperative flowmetry did not differ significantly, but ultrasound data indicate that the cough test results in a tighter tape. In conclusion, avoiding the cough test seems to have no negative effect on patient satisfaction or subjective symptoms of stress incontinence in the short-term.


Objective Alcohol-related pancreatitis is associated with a disproportionately large number of hospitalisations among GI disorders. Despite its clinical importance, genetic susceptibility to alcoholic chronic pancreatitis (CP) is poorly characterised. To identify risk genes for alcoholic CP and to evaluate their relevance in non-alcoholic CP, we performed a genome-wide association study and functional characterisation of a new pancreatitis locus. Design 1959 European alcoholic CP patients and population-based controls from the KORA, LIFE and INCIPE studies (n=4708) as well as chronic alcoholics from the GESGA consortium (n=1332) were screened with Illumina technology. For replication, three European cohorts comprising 1650 patients with non-alcoholic CP and 6695 controls originating from the same countries were used. Results We replicated previously reported risk loci CLDN2-MORC4, CTRC, PRSS1-PRSS2 and SPINK1 in alcoholic CP patients. We identified CTRB1-CTRB2 (chymotrypsin B1 and B2) as a new risk locus with lead single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs8055167 (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.6). We found that a 16.6 kb inversion in the CTRB1-CTRB2 locus was in linkage disequilibrium with the CP-associated SNPs and was best tagged by rs8048956. The association was replicated in three independent European non-alcoholic CP cohorts of 1650 patients and 6695 controls (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.42 to 1.86). The inversion changes the expression ratio of the CTRB1 and CTRB2 isoforms and thereby affects protective trypsinogen degradation and ultimately pancreatitis risk. Conclusion An inversion in the CTRB1-CTRB2 locus modifies risk for alcoholic and non-alcoholic CP indicating that common pathomechanisms are involved in these inflammatory disorders.


Follicular Lymphoma (FL) is the second most frequent non-Hodgkin lymphoma accounting for approximately 10-20% of all lymphomas in Western Countries. Histologic transformation (HT) is a frequent event in the clini-cal course of patients with indolent lymphoma that is often accompanied by a dramatic change in the clinical fea-tures of the disease towards a more aggressive course. Although the transformation of Follicular Lymphoma (tFL) was described several decades ago, there is a strong need for a better understanding of both the dynamics of the tumor clonal evolution and the genetic events leading to ()transformation. In addition, the management of patients with tFL is challenged by the heterogeneity of the previous treatments. The present review describes the state of art of tFL, outlining recent advances in the understanding of genetic basis and the evolutionary pro-cess governing the initiation and persistence of tumor evolution. It will be also addressed the key questions pend-ing on this incurable disease, such as a lack of a standard therapeutic strategy for tFL patients as well as its out-come in the Rituximab (R) era.


Over the last few decades, there have been many proposals for collective housing in which architectural forms have arisen from processes of infinite iteration. These designs put special emphasis on the concept of the element or basic unit, but also focus on the mechanisms by which these elements and units relate to one another and grow. This essay is an exploration of the historical precedents that inform these proposals, as well as a parallel comparison of the geometry behind infinitely iterative inhabitable cells and those strategies found in other creative disciplines, nature, and in the internal structures of compounds.


Summary The (context-aware services). A crucial requirement for the context-aware service provisioning is the dynamic retrieval and interaction with local resources, i.e., resource discovery. The high degree of dynamicity and heterogeneity of mobile environments requires to rethink and/or extend traditional discovery solutions to support more intelligent service search and retrieval, personalized to user context conditions. Several research efforts have recently emerged in the field of service discovery that, based on semantic data representation and technologies, allow flexible matching between user requirements and service capabilities in open and dynamic deployment scenarios. Our research work aims at providing suitable answering mechanisms of mobile requests by taking into account user contexts (preferences, profiles, physical location, temporal information…). This paper proposes an ontology, culled O'Neurolog, to capture semantic knowledge a valuable in Neurology domain in order to assist users (doctor, patient, administration …) when querying Neurology knowledge bases in mobile environment. increasing diffusion of portable devices with wireless connectivity enables new pervasive scenarios, where users require tailored service access according to their needs, position, and execution/environment conditions


This interdisciplinary project focused on online speech directed at women and seeks to provide a primer on (i) what legal remedies, if any, are available for victims of sexist, misogynist, or harassing online speech, and (ii) if such legal remedies and procedures exist, whether practical hurdles stand in the way of victims' abilities to stop harassing or defamatory behavior and to obtain legal relief. The study concluded that while online harassment and hateful speech is a significant problem, there are few legal remedies for victims. This is partly due to issues of jurisdiction and anonymity, partly due to the protection of internet speech under the First Amendment, and partly due to the lack of expertise and resources on online speech at various levels of law enforcement. Given this landscape, the problem of online harassment and hateful speech is unlikely to be solved solely by victims using existing laws; law should be utilized in combination with other practical solutions. The objective of the project is to provide a resource that may be used by the general public, and in particular, researchers, legal practitioners, Internet community moderators, and victims of harassment and hateful speech online.


GALFACTS is a large-area spectro-polarimetric survey on the Arecibo Radio telescope. It uses the seven-beam focal plane feed array receiver system (ALFA) to carry out an imaging survey project of the 12,700 square degrees of sky visible from Arecibo at 1.4 GHz with 8192 spectral channels over a bandwidth of 300 MHz sampled at 1 millisecond. The aggregate data rate is 875 MB/s. GALFACTS observations will create full-Stokes image cubes at an angular resolution of 3.5' with a band-averaged sensitivity of 90 $\mu$Jy, allowing sensitive imaging of polarized radiation and Faraday Rotation Measure from both diffuse emission and extragalactic sources. GALFACTS is a scientific pathfinder to the SKA in the area of cosmic magnetism. Key to magnetism science with the SKA is the technique of RM synthesis. The technique of RM synthesis is introduced and we discuss practical aspects of RM synthesis including efficient computational techniques and detection thresholds in the resulting Faraday spectrum. We illustrate the use of the technique by presenting the current development of the RM synthesis pipeline for GALFACTS and present early results.


Marine geophysical studies have revealed that crustal accretion processes at mid-ocean ridges are largely dependent on the relative contribution of magmatism and tectonism to plate separation. At high levels of magmatic accretion, the ridge is associated with large amounts of surficial volcanism and the formation of closely spaced, continuous abyssal hills that parallel the ridge axis. In contrast, when magmatic accretion is low, tectonic extension prevails and crustal structure is markedly different. In this latter scenario, long-lived detachment faulting forms oceanic core complexes (OCCs) that expose lower crustal rocks and mantle material at the seafloor. Whilst many of the general features of this 'magma-poor' terrain have been identified, there is still widespread debate as to the exact conditions that necessitate and regulate OCC formation.
This study presents the results of a deep-towed and shipboard geophysical survey of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between 13 – 14°N. This area is an ideal place to test and develop models for OCC structure and formation as the ridge axis exhibits multiple core complexes at various evolutionary stages. The data presented here include: deep-towed TOBI sidescan sonar and tri-axial magnetometer data, shipboard gravity and bathymetric data, and detailed seabed sampling results.
High resolution sidescan sonar data reveal that active core complexes in this region are associated with a neovolcanic hiatus within the axial valley. In contrast, a recently terminated near-axis OCC is associated with widespread neovolcanism, thus confirming that OCC formation is regulated by variations in melt supply to the ridge axis. Forward modelling of gravity data shows that beneath the domal sections of OCC footwalls (from which serpentinised peridotites were ubiquitously sampled), a low density zone (LDZ) exists. This area is interpreted as comprising predominantly gabbroic material that has been captured by each detachment fault at depth beneath the ridge axis (thus explaining the gap in neovolcanism at the surface). Furthermore, magnetic data suggest that OCC footwalls are highly heterogeneous, reflecting significant compositional and thickness variations of the LDZ.
Analyses of sidescan sonar imagery, combined with models of gravity and magnetic anomalies, reveal significant across- and along-axis asymmetry in the region. In general, the quadrants of the survey area within the inside-corners of the non-transform offset at 13°38'N are associated with widespread OCC formation, elevated tectonic strain (Te = 25 – 30%), thin crust and faster spreading (20 – 40%) compared with conjugate ridge flanks; these areas are characterised by crust that is typically ~0.5 – 1.0 km thicker than OCC-forming areas, and tectonic strain (Te = 10 – 15%) is partitioned across numerous, small faults.
On the basis of these results, a model is presented for the structure of the 13 – 14°N region, and for the life cycle of oceanic core complexes. These models have implications for our current understanding of the magmato-tectonic conditions within which OCCs are expected to operate, and, in a broader sense, for the long wavelength processes that govern crustal accretion at low levels of magmatism.


Universities are beginning to brand themselves. The days when the doors to higher-ed opened and students flooded into the classrooms are no more. Colleges have to find ways to separate themselves from each other in a noisy marketplace. Also there is a decline in newsroom resources for academic coverage, which leaves university marketers searching for ways to communicate their messages. However, universities have another available marketing outlet, which is not seeing declining media attention: sports. College sports are a big business, which generate national media attention. The Southeastern Conference had revenues of over $100 million from the marketing of its sports to television networks. The national reach of college sporting events is immense and university marketing officials have the opportunity to capitalize. This study examined a communications campaign launched by Louisiana State University's Office of University Relations to see how it translated athletic coverage generated by its 2003 college football national championship appearance into academic promotion. This case study was used to determine if athletics are a viable academic marketing tool in higher education. It used student enrollment, licensing revenue, and movement in the U.S. News and World Report's college rankings subsequent to the championship to evaluate the campaign and determine if sports are a viable academic marketing vehicle. Athletic success provided a Halo around the LSU brand and its Office of University Relations capitalized by launching a marketing campaign titled A Great Game Plan On and Off the Field. Since winning a football national championship LSU has realized a 208% increase in licensing royalties, student enrollment has reached record numbers, and its academic reputation ranking in U.S. News and World Report's college rankings increased. The positive results realized by LSU after winning an athletic national championship are an indicator that sports are an effective academic marketing vehicle in higher education.


The purpose of this study was to analyze the number of situations of one versus one in Mini-basketball, on playing with a three-point line delimited by the area of the restricted zone compared with a three-point line delimited by the rectangular area. Sixty seven Mini-basketball female players (age: M = 10.39 years, SD = 0.67) from six teams participated in two championships. 1.642 ball possessions were examined during the first championship and 1.669 during the second one. The observational methodology was applied. After training four observers, the register's reliability achieved values between .83 and .93 according to the Pearson concordance coefficient. The found significant differences between the two championships (p = .019), revealed that, when playing with the three-point line delimited by the area of the restricted zone 3,9% more values of situations of one versus one are obtained, what can favors in greater measurement the development of intelligence before the decision-making skill. However, the number of situations of one versus one in both championships is little according to the bibliography. From these results, some recommendations are indicated on the regulation. Key Words: Cognitive capacity, decision-making, mini-basketball, three-point line.


Summary If we were to start from scratch today to design a quality-controlled archive and distribution system for scientific and technical information, it could take a very different form from what has evolved in the past decade from pre-existing print infrastructure. Recent technological advances could provide not only more efficient means of accessing and navigating the information, but also more cost-effective means of authentication and quality control. This article discusses relevant experiences of the past decade from open electronic distribution of research materials in physics and related disciplines, and describes their implications for proposals to improve the implementation of peer review.


Several active volcanic arcs are present in the Philippine Mobile Belt, the region enclosed by the Philippine Trench and the Manila-Negros-Cotabato Trench systems. One of the most prominent among them is the Bicol Arc, a~260km long volcanic arc located in the central-eastern margin of the Philippine Mobile Belt. The Bicol Arc hosts three of the active volcanoes in the country, including the Mayon Volcano, which has erupted repeatedly within the last decade. Aside from the three active volcanoes, there are at least nine other Pleistocene major volcanic centers that make up the volcanic arc. Although the rocks from the arc range in composition from basalt to rhyolite, they are mostly basaltic andesites and andesites. Magma mixing and fractional crystallization accompanied the generation of these rocks. The rocks exhibit typical island arc geochemical signatures. In addition, the Sr and Y ratio plots suggest that the Bicol Arc is mainly composed of mantle-wedge derived magmas with some samples from Bacon-Manito and Culasi showing similarities to adakites. Along-arc geochemical variation may be related to the variation in crustal thickness of the volcanic arc. The petrological and geochemical characterizations of the rocks provide information on how the volcanic centers evolved. This is important in assessing the attendant geohazards related to this volcanic arc.


The RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) is used in conjunction with the Real-
time Transport Protocol (RTP) in order to provide a variety of short-
term and long-term reception statistics. The available reporting may
include aggregate information across longer periods of time as well as
individual packet reporting. This document specifies a per-packet
report metric capturing individual packets discarded from the de-
jitter buffer after successful reception.


Scant research exists on the language learning outcomes of Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) to assist foreign language teachers in deciding whether and how to implement PBLL. This study therefore asks: What are the perceived English language learning outcomes associated with Project-Based Language Learning when applied to a Japanese junior college's EFL courses? Working within a constructivist paradigm appropriate for classroom-based research, a mixed methods design was used to conduct a case study. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via pre-/post-project surveys and semi-structured interviews, field observation notes, Students' Project Activities (SPA) surveys and students' project output. The setting was a Japanese junior college with 28 low-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students divided across three groups: Writing (n=13), Presentation (n=9) and Oral English (n=6). Participants' pre-project surveys provided self-evaluated baseline levels in speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. After finishing one of three eight-week long projects to develop these EFL areas, participants completed a post-project survey to obtain revised self-evaluations. Changes in perceived levels were calculated and are presented and discussed with reference to other data. Results indicate perceived slight improvements in EFL macro-skills and knowledge categories. SPA data confirm these findings, refute quantitative indications of no perceived improvement in some cases and provide concrete examples of items learned or corrected. Data from the pre-/post-project interviews, field observation notes and project output generally support these findings, often adding context, aiding interpretation. While group work, peer-learning and the process approach to writing appear to enhance perceptions of learning and the learning process, students' excessive L1 use likely detract from them. PBLL appears to enhance the perception of EFL skills and knowledge development to varying degrees in this setting. Related discussion acknowledges the study's limitations, highlights implications for pedagogic practice and suggests directions for future research.


The radiation of angiosperm lineages during the Cretaceous Period
(145.5–65.5 Ma) initiated one of the greatest floral turnovers to have
occurred on our planet. Much of our understanding of the floral
biology and diversity of these early angiosperms derives from exceptionally
preserved charcoalified and coalified Cretaceous fossil floras.
Although fire played an integral role in the production of charred
early angiosperm flowers, research has not considered whether the
fire is capable of creating a bias in the nature of the charcoalified
flowers that are produced. Here we use calorimetry to experimentally
produce morphologically variable charcoalified flowers. Our findings
indicate that combustion behavior, floral structure, the number of
flowers, and their arrangement (inflorescence) all affect the number
of charred flowers that are produced. These observations suggest that
charred flowers are not equally likely to be represented in Cretaceous
charcoal assemblages, and some species may be missing from the fossil
record entirely. This may in turn alter our understanding of early
angiosperm evolution and the fossil record of fire.


The conservation of nature is a problem that has concerned the scientific community for many years. Plants and plant communities play a main role in evaluation and land management studies, owing to their importance as natural and cultural resources. Several studies from the perspective of flora and vegetation have been carried out in the last fifty years (some of them directly related to Phytosociology). According to that, the Dynamic-Catenal Phytosociology must be considered as a very useful tool to evaluate the conservation status of vegetation and to establish suitable models for land management. The fundamental phytosociological concepts to take into account in the evaluation processes of the conservation status of vegetation are reviewed in this study.


Aggregate factors (that is, those based on aggregate functions such as SUM, AVERAGE, AND etc.) in probabilistic relational models can compactly represent dependencies among a large number of relational random variables. However, propositional inference on a factor aggregating n k-valued random variables into an r-valued result random variable is O(r k 2n). Lifted methods can ameliorate this to O(r nk) in general and O(r k log n) for commutative associative aggregators. In this paper, we propose (a) an exact solution constant in n when k = 2 for certain aggregate operations such as AND, OR and SUM, and (b) a close approximation for inference with aggregate factors with time complexity constant in n. This approximate inference involves an analytical solution for some operations when k > 2. The approximation is based on the fact that the typically used aggregate functions can be represented by linear constraints in the standard (k –1)-simplex in Rk where k is the number of possible values for random variables. This includes even aggregate functions that are commutative but not associative (e.g., the MODE operator that chooses the most frequent value). Our algorithm takes polynomial time in k (which is only 2 for binary variables) regardless of r and n, and the error decreases as n increases. Therefore, for most applications (in which a close approximation suffices) our algorithm is a much more efficient solution than existing algorithms. We present experimental results supporting these claims. We also present a (c) third contribution which further optimizes aggregations over multiple groups of random variables with distinct distributions.


We propose a technique that combines generative adversarial networks with probabilistic graphical models to explicitly model dependencies in structured distributions. Generative adversarial structured networks (GASNs) produce samples by passing random inputs through a neural network to construct the potentials of a graphical model; maximum a-posteriori inference in this graphical model then yields a sample. To train a GASN, one must differentiate a bi-level optimization, which is non-trivial. We present a solution based on "smoothing" the generator, and propose two methods for obtaining the smoothed gradient. We show preliminary experimental results, demonstrating that training GASNs is feasible.


Ionomeric polymer transducers exhibit electromechanical coupling capabilities. The transport of charge due to electric stimulus is the primary mechanism of actuation for a class of polymeric active materials known as ionomeric polymer transducers (IPTs). The research presented in this dissertation focuses on modeling the cation transport and cation steady state distribution due to the actuation of an IPT. Ion transport in the IPT depends on the morphology of the hydrated Nafion membrane and the morphology of the metal electrodes. Recent experimental findings show that adding conducting powders at the polymer-conductor interface increases the displacement output. However, it is difficult for a traditional continuum model based on transport theory to include morphology in the model. In this dissertation, a two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation of ion hopping has been developed to describe ion transport in materials that have fixed and mobile charge similar to the structure of the ionic polymer transducer. In the simulation, cations can hop around in a square lattice. A step voltage is applied between the electrodes of the IPT, causing the thermally-activated hopping between multiwell energy structures. By sampling the ion transition time interval as a random variable, the system evolution is obtained. Conducting powder spheres have been incorporated into the Monte Carlo simulation. Simulation results demonstrate that conducting powders increase the ion conductivity. Successful implementation of parallel computation makes it possible for the simulation to include more powder spheres to find out the saturation percentage of conducting powders for the ion conductivity. To compare simulation results with experimental data, a multiscale model has been developed to increase the scale of Monte Carlo simulation. Both transient responses and steady state responses show good agreement with experimental measurements.


Introduction Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), an autosomal dominant disorder of lipid metabolism, results in accelerated onset of atherosclerosis if left untreated. Lifelong treatment with diet, lifestyle modifications and statins enable a normal lifespan for most patients. Early diagnosis is critical. This protocol trials a primary care-based model of care (MoC) to improve detection and management of FH. Methods and analysis Pragmatic cluster intervention study with pre-post intervention comparisons in Australian general practices. At study baseline, current FH detection practice is assessed. Medical records over 2 years are electronically scanned using a data extraction tool (TARB-Ex) to identify patients at increased risk. High-risk patients are clinically reviewed to provide definitive, phenotypic diagnosis using Dutch Lipid Clinic Network Criteria. Once an index family member with FH is identified, the primary care team undertake cascade testing of first-degree relatives to identify other patients with FH. Management guidance based on disease complexity is provided to the primary care team. Study follow-up to 12 months with TARB-Ex rerun to identify total number of new FH cases diagnosed over study period (via TARB-Ex, cascade testing and new cases presenting). At study conclusion, patient and clinical staff perceptions of enablers/barriers and suggested improvements to the approach will be examined. Resources at each stage will be traced to determine the economic implications of implementing the MoC and costed from health system perspective. Primary outcomes: increase in number of index cases clinically identified; reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of treated cases. Secondary outcomes: increase in the number of family cases detected/contacted; cost implications of the MoC. Ethics and dissemination Study approval by The University of Notre Dame Australia Human Research Ethics Committee Protocol ID: 0 16 067F. Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ID: 12616000630415. Information will be disseminated via research seminars, conference presentations, journal articles, media releases and community forums. Trial registration number Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ID 12616000630415; Pre-results.


The growing prospect of deep reinforcement learning (DRL) being used in cyber-physical systems has raised concerns around safety and robustness of autonomous agents. Recent work on generating adversarial attacks have shown that it is computationally feasible for a bad actor to fool a DRL policy into behaving sub optimally. Although certain adversarial attacks with specific attack models have been addressed, most studies are only interested in off-line optimization in the data space (e.g., example fitting, distillation). This paper introduces a Meta-Learned Advantage Hierarchy (MLAH) framework that is attack model-agnostic and more suited to reinforcement learning, via handling the attacks in the decision space (as opposed to data space) and directly mitigating learned bias introduced by the adversary. In MLAH, we learn separate sub-policies (nominal and adversarial) in an online manner, as guided by a supervisory master agent that detects the presence of the adversary by leveraging the advantage function for the sub-policies. We demonstrate that the proposed algorithm enables policy learning with significantly lower bias as compared to the state-of-the-art policy learning approaches even in the presence of heavy state information attacks. We present algorithm analysis and simulation results using popular OpenAI Gym environments.


Abstract In standard rational choice modelling decisions are made according to given information and preferences. In the model presented here the 'information technology' of individual decision-makers as well as their preferences evolve in a dynamic process. In this process decisions are made rationally by players who differ in their informational as well as in their preference type. Relative success of alternative decisions feeds back on the type composition of the population which in turn influences rational decision-making. An indirect evolutionary analysis of an elementary yet important basic game of trust shows that under certain parameter constellations the population dynamics of the evolutionary process specify a unique completely mixed rest point. However, as opposed to previous studies of preference formation in the game of trust there is no convergence to but only circumventing the rest point if the informational status of individuals evolves rather than being chosen strategically.


This cross-sectional study investigated the relationships among the Bridge Drawing with Path (BDP) art-based assessment and two positive psychology instruments: the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ; Steger et al., 2006) and the Adult State Hope Scale (ASHS; Snyder et al., 1996). All three assessments (BDP, MLQ and ASHS) are intended to test for an individual's goal-related pursuits. Forty-four higher education students studying in Britain and Canada participated in the study. Results indicated that an association exists between BDP written associations and MLQ-presence of meaning sub-scores. Participants who scored high on MLQ – presence of meaning generated more sources of life meaning paths in their BDP images leading to home, relationships, careers, education and spirituality than participants who scored low on MLQ presence of meaning. Based on the results of the study, the BDP best complements the MLQ. In the clinical setting, the two measures can be introduced at intake to gather client presence of life meaning, sources of life meaning and goal-directed information and could be readministered at termination in order to assess therapeutic outcomes. The study was the first step in the development of an adult database for the BDP art-based assessment. The study's collective theoretical framework fortifies the connection between art therapy, meaning therapy (Wong, 2010) and positive psychology. The study launched a pencil-and-paper BDP Manual to be used by future mental health professionals such as art therapists, meaning therapists and positive psychologists. Future joint BDP-MLQ studies may explore older adults' end-of-life meaning and paths from life to the unknown.


Digital technologies and global electronic networks present unparalleled opportunities for international knowledge sharing and collaboration. But these same technologies and networks can also be used by authors in ways that significantly limit access and sharing for the purposes of education, innovation, and development. Through the efforts of librarians, archivists, academics and activists, vast new reserves of information and knowledge are being made available for free public consumption, and even adaptation, on the Internet. At the same time, however, electronic networks and digital technologies are being used to limit non-commercial access to some learning materials. For example, large educational publishers charge high subscription fees to universities for access to databases, with restrictions on use that are often more prohibitive than in the offline, paper-based environment.
This fundamental schism present in the digital, globally-networked era - between the building of an "information commons" on the one hand, and the privatisation of knowledge on the other - is generating a variety of dynamic activist responses, including the free/libre open source software (FLOSS) movement, the "open access" movement in scholarly communication, and the "open content" approach to online sharing and collaboration among authors. The open access movement revolves mostly around the practice of academics making their research outputs and writings freely available on the Internet, either through open access online journals or online institutional repositories (archives). The open content movement is in some cases even broader than open access, encouraging online adaptation of materials by users, with the Wikipedia collaborative encyclopedia being perhaps the best-known such project. Another important open content initiative is the Creative Commons (cc) licensing system, which allows authors to adopt a "some rights reserved" approach when publishing their materials online. Under the terms of a cc licence, users are permitted unlimited copying and distribution of materials, and in some cases, are permitted to even adapt and/or derive commercial benefit from the materials. Open access and open content initiatives aim not to eliminate copyright in the online environment but rather to ensure that copyright does not restrict the potential of new technology to overcome barriers to access and innovation.
The debates around the information commons and the restrictive practices of copyright rights-holders in the online environment are of particular relevance to the developing world and the African continent. Much of the world's copyrighted material is owned by developed-world multinationals, leaving developing nations as the "payers" or consumers of knowledge and culture, and the developed world as the "payees" in much of the flow of monetary value derived from copyrighted materials. This article outlines the global information commons debates and players, and then focuses on efforts to maximise the potential benefits of digital networks for the developing world, and in particular Africa.


This Article analyzes the application of employment discrimination law to sexual minorities-lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex individuals. It evaluates Title VII and state anti-discrimination laws' treatment of these individuals, and is the first article to use masculinities research, theoretical and empirical, to explain employment discrimination against sexual minorities.

While the Article concludes that new legislation would further the interests of sexual minorities, it posits that it is neither necessary nor sufficient to solving the employment discrimination problems of sexual minorities. A major problem lies in the courts' binary view of sex and gender, a view that identifies men and women as polar opposites, and that sees gender as naturally flowing from biological sex. Without courts' understanding that our current binary concept of gender may be socially constructed and artificially rigid rather than a natural result of biology, even new legislation may fail to protect the workers it seeks to protect.

The Article demonstrates that research on masculinities can help courts better understand sexual minorities and the motivations of those who discriminate against them in the workplace. It concludes that even in the absence of new legislation, a proper interpretation of Title VII's sex discrimination provision would protect sexual minorities from discrimination and would provide reasonable accommodation to allow sexual minorities to live and work with dignity and security. With an understanding of sexual minorities and the reasons why discrimination occurs, Title VII's prohibition of discrimination "because of sex" should be sufficient to grant sexual minorities workplace rights.


It is well known that GPS C/A codes present cross correlation peak potentially causing false acquisitions. These cross-correlations peaks can in addition cause tracking errors and C/No degradation [1], [2], [3] and [4], not in traditional GPS tracking situations, but for applications where signals are received with low Doppler. There are several applications that can have low relative Doppler, and thus more frequent Doppler collision causing code cross-correlation interference : the first application occurs with the use of ranging signal broadcasted from geostationary satellites (SBAS systems) when two or more geostationary satellites are in common views of a fixed or low dynamic receiver (control station, reference station for differential positioning or any ground user with none or little motion), the second application occurs when ground pseudolites are used, with a receiver either on board a geostationary satellite or in a plane and on the ground as well. The findings described in this paper are part of the work performed by M3 Systems under a project initiated by the CNES (French Space Agency) which aims at studying the EGNOS RIMS performances. The work presented here aimed at: _Characterizing precisely these C/A codes interference tracking errors, _Identifying the exact factors driving the occurrence of these errors


The urban system consists of subsystems that cannot be meaningfully separated; though rigid layered approaches in Dutch Urban design and planning treat the social and the physical subsystem as autonomous in urban designs and plans. This article develops a critique on these approaches through a comparison of socio-spatial models by Lefebvre (Social Space), Castells (Space of flows), Dupuy (Network City) and Heeling (Urban Ground Plan as mediator). As to stratified models in general it can be concluded that relations – as between levels (in stead of layers) of socio-spatial systems – should become a central issue in specific designs when this type of model is used. Urban designers and planners though have to acknowledge the importance of coexisting varied perspectives on the same subject to be able to deal with the complexity of urban issues and other models, not using layers at all, but relational approaches, might provide a better grip.


The development of a vertebrate organism requires a single cell to become all of the cells that make up the adult, through the processes of proliferation and differentiation. A relationship has been observed between the cell cycle, specifically the gap phases, and a stem cell's decision to remain undifferentiated or differentiate into a specific cell type. My research is focused on understanding this relationship by manipulating the cell cycle and observing the effects on vertebrate development. A transgenic line of zebrafish [tg(hsp70l:ccnd1DN)] allowed for prolonging the normally short gap 1 phase observed in stem cells by expressing a mutated form of cyclin D1. I determined the timing of heat induced gene expression from the transgene in order to understand how an altered gap phase affects the critical windows of tissue development during embryogenesis. Using this information, I looked at how expression of a gene involved in differentiation of sensory neurons changed with a manipulated gap 1 phase. The decrease in expression observed in transgenic organisms suggests that there is a relationship between the length of the first gap phase and specification of sensory neurons in zebrafish.


Literature on academic libraries and the accrediting process has centered on regional accrediting agencies. Library guidelines from seventeen specialized accrediting bodies were evaluated and compared to guidelines from regional accreditors. Like the regional accrediting agencies, most specialized accrediting agencies stress input or process measures over output measures. A few specialized accreditors were found to be more prescriptive than the regional accreditors in their demands for collection inputs, particularly journal holdings. An overview of specific characteristics of the specialized accrediting process is offered, along with suggestions for improving the library's participation in the process


Nanoclay-polymer shear-thinning composites are designed for a broad range of biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, drug delivery, and additive biomanufacturing. Despite the advances in clay-polymer injectable nanocomposites, colloidal properties of layered silicates are not fully considered in evaluating the in vitro performance of shear-thinning biomaterials (STBs). Here, as a model system, we investigate the effect of ions on the rheological properties and injectability of nanoclay-gelatin hydrogels to understand their behavior when prepared in physiological media. In particular, we study the effect of sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium chloride (CaCl2), common salts in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and cell culture media (e.g., Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium, DMEM), on the structural organization of nanoclay (LAPONITE® XLG-XR, a hydrous lithium magnesium sodium silicate)-polymer composites, responsible for the shear-thinning properties and injectability of STBs. We show that the formation of nanoclay-polymer aggregates due to the ion-induced shrinkage of the diffuse double layer and eventually the liquid-solid phase separation decrease the resistance of STB against elastic deformation, decreasing the yield stress. Accordingly, the stress corresponding to the onset of structural breakdown (yield zone) is regulated by the ion type and concentration. These results are independent of the STB composition and can directly be translated into the physiological conditions. The exfoliated nanoclay undergoes visually undetectable aggregation upon mixing with gelatin in physiological media, resulting in heterogeneous hydrogels that phase separate under stress. This work provides fundamental insights into nanoclay-polymer interactions in physiological environments, paving the way for designing clay-based injectable biomaterials.


Microreactors are small devices with sub-millimeter internals which have superb mass and heat transfer. Initially, they were used for reactions with very high demands on the latter, e.g. very exothermic reactions, gas-liquid reactions with interfacial transport issues, reactions with very fast kinetics which demands even faster mixing, and more. In this way, the processing window was opened widely and, also due to the minute volumes only present in the reaction zone, safe processing under otherwise hazardous conditions was enabled. This includes processing of reactions which are prone to thermal runaway and in the explosive regime. Scale-up of promising reactions and products which was hindered with conventional technology is now possible using the new equipment. This has widened the process development possibilities in chemical industry. In the last years, micro process technology was not only used for the very problematic synthetic issues which formerly had a dead-end position in industry's process development. Rather, the scope of chemical reactions to be processed in microreactors was considerably widened by exploring new process conditions with regard to temperature, pressure, concentration, solvents, and more. This is commonly referred to as flow chemistry. This allowed to reduce the processing time-scale for many reactions to the minute range or even below which fits well to the residence times of microreactors. In addition, the process integration of several reactions in one flow to a multi-step synthesis has opened a new door in molecular diversity as well as system and process complexity. The same holds for the combination of reactions and separations in micro-flow. To achieve throughputs relevant for industrial production, smart scale-out to milli-flow units has established and supplemented the numbering-up concept (parallelization of microchannels/-reactors operated under equal conditions). New innovations and enabling technologies need anyhow evaluation and benchmarking with conventional technology on the full-system level. Yet, microreactor technology has in the last years deepened so much into process intensification on a holistic scale that the focus increasingly is given towards the process dimension—to process design and automation, real-case applications, cost analysis, life-cycle assessment, and more. The impact on cost competitiveness and sustainability becomes well assessed. Facing this very recent scientific achievement, the special issue "Design and Engineering of Microreactor and Smart-Scaled Flow Processes" of the journal Processes aims to cover recent advances in the development of microreactor and smart-scaled flow processes towards the process level — in the sense as given above.


Despite claims that we now live in a post-truth society, it remains commonplace for policy makers to consult research evidence to increase the robustness of decision making. Few scholars of evidence-policy interfaces, however, have used legislatures as sites of study, despite the fact
 that they play a critical role in modern democracies. There is thus limited knowledge of how research evidence is sourced and used in legislatures, which presents challenges for academics and science advisory groups, as well as to others interested in ensuring that democratic decisions are
 evidence-informed. Here, we present results from an empirical study into the use of research in the UK Parliament, obtained through the use of a mixed methodology, including interviews and surveys of 157 people in Parliament, as well as an ethnographic investigation of four committees. Here
 we are specifically interested in identifying the factors affecting the use of research evidence in Parliament with the aim of improving its use. We focus on providing advice for the Higher Education Sector, which includes improving knowledge of, and engagement in, parliamentary processes,
 reform of academic incentives to stimulate the production of policy-relevant information and to assist engagement, and working with trusted knowledge brokers. Implementing this advice should improve the chances that parliamentary decision making is informed by research evidence.


Representational Similarity Learning (RSL) aims to discover features that are important in representing (human-judged) similarities among objects. RSL can be posed as a sparsity-regularized multi-task regression problem. Standard methods, like group lasso, may not select important features if they are strongly correlated with others. To address this shortcoming we present a new regularizer for multitask regression called Group Ordered Weighted l1 (GrOWL). Another key contribution of our paper is a novel application to fMRI brain imaging. Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA) is a tool for testing whether localized brain regions encode perceptual similarities. Using GrOWL, we propose a new approach called Network RSA that can discover arbitrarily structured brain networks (possibly widely distributed and non-local) that encode similarity information. We show, in theory and fMRI experiments, how GrOWL deals with strongly correlated covariates.


Significant igneous events mark the geodynamic evolution of the Lombardy Southern Alps from Late Palaeozoic to Mesozoic times During the Early Permian, a transtensional geodynamic regime developed along the southern Palaeoeurope, due to a dextral transform margin between Gondwana and Laurasia. The calc-alkaline intermediate to acidic volcanics and alluvial to lacustrine deposits infilling fault-bounded pull-apart basins, are accompanied by widespread granitoids and minor gabbros from asthenospheric upwelling and crustal contributions. During the Late Permian to Anisian, an extensional regime linked to plate reorganization, and likewise to the opening of the Meliata back-arc basin to the east, gave rise to a second sedimentary cycle after a stratigraphic gap of about 20-25 Ma. The siliciclastic and marine sedimentation, representative of a rapid shallow transgression from the east and lacking volcanic activity, was associated with a progressive peneplanation. The transition to epicontinental arc/back-arc conditions, due to the NW-wards subduction of Palaeotethys between Anisian to Carnian times was defined by the extensive regression of the Bovegno "Carnieule" locally represented by evaporites and extra-formational clastics. In particular, the Ladinian-Carnian interval was characterized by a new magmatic cycle, with (base to top): (1) fine-grained rhyolitic tuffs ("pietra verde" Auct.) interbedded with limestones; (2) large volumes of acidic high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic subvolcanics rare intermediate dykes and abundant extrusives; (3) high-K calc alkaline to shoshonitic subaerial volcaniclastic rocks. A marked geodynamic change probably related to late Carnian is suggested by transitional basaltic dykes (217+ or -3 Ma) and lavas. This rifting event preludes the opening of the Neotethys Ocean.


Livestock depredation has implications for conservation and agronomy; it can be costly for farmers and can prompt retaliatory killing of carnivores. Lethal control measures are readily available and are reportedly perceived to be cheaper, more practical and more effective than nonlethal methods. However, the costs and efficacy of lethal vs non-lethal approaches have rarely been compared formally. We conducted a 3-year study on 11 South African livestock farms, examining costs and benefits of lethal and non-lethal conflict mitigation methods. Farmers used existing lethal control in the first year and switched to guardian animals (dogs Canis familiaris and alpacas Lama pacos) or livestock protection collars for the following 2 years. During the first year the mean cost of livestock protection was USD 3.30 per head of stock and the mean cost of depredation was USD 20.11 per head of stock. In the first year of non-lethal control the combined implementation and running costs were similar to those of lethal control (USD 3.08 per head). However, the mean cost of depredation decreased by 69.3%, to USD 6.52 per head. In the second year of non-lethal control the running costs (USD 0.43 per head) were significantly lower than in previous years and depredation costs decreased further, to USD 5.49 per head. Our results suggest that non-lethal methods of human–wildlife conflict mitigation can reduce depredation and can be economically advantageous compared to lethal methods of predator control.


We analyze the effect of public information on rational investors' incentives to reveal private information during the bookbuilding process and their demand for allocations in the IPO. Our model generates several new predictions. First, investors require more underpricing to truthfully reveal positive private information in bear markets than in bull markets (the incentive effect). Second, the fraction of positive private signals and of underpriced IPOs is increasing in market returns (the demand effect). Combined, these two effects can explain why IPO underpricing is positively related to pre-issue market returns, consistent with extant evidence. Using a sample of 5,000 U.S. IPOs from 1981-2008, we show that the empirical implications of the model are borne out in the data.


Advertising within video games is rapidly growing as a potential marketing communication
tool for businesses. This paper is intended to analyze the impact on video game player's attitudes
towards different forms of ingame
advertising within video games. The intent of the research is
to discover the video game players' opinions and reactions to the advertisements being used. The
goal of the research is to uncover the impact that ingame
advertisements have on players'
purchasing behavior with respect to the actual video game the advertisement is located in, as
opposed to the product that is being advertised in the video game. First, the paper will discuss the
background and reason for pursuing this topic. Following that, the paper will analyze the
definition and types of "ingame"
advertising utilized, while providing recent industry statistics
to support the purpose for the research.
The structure of the assignment extends and builds on previous research conducted by
initially presenting past findings, and then using these findings to develop an educated
hypothesis in the form of a research question. Using the research question as a guide, a
questionnaire was developed and administered via personal interviews to male and female video
game players aged 18 – 40 years old.


Botnets are emerging as the most serious cyber threat among different forms of malware. Today botnets have been facilitating to launch many cybercriminal activities like DDoS, click fraud, phishing attacks etc. The main purpose of botnet is to perform massive financial threat. Many large organizations, banks and social networks became the target of bot masters. Botnets can also be leased to motivate the cybercriminal activities. Recently several researches and many efforts have been carried out to detect bot, C&C channels and bot masters. Ultimately bot maters also strengthen their activities through sophisticated techniques. Many botnet detection techniques are based on payload analysis. Most of these techniques are inefficient for encrypted C&C channels. In this paper we explore different categories of botnet and propose a detection methodology to classify bot host from the normal host by analyzing traffic flow characteristics based on time intervals instead of payload inspection. Due to that it is possible to detect botnet activity even encrypted C&C channels are used.


From the early days of the Internet, commentators have warned that it would be impossible for those who act on the Internet ("Internet actors") to comply with the copyright laws of all Internet-connected countries if the national copyright laws of all those countries were to apply simultaneously to Internet activity. A multiplicity of applicable copyright laws seems plausible at least when the Internet activity is ubiquitous — i.e., unrestricted by geoblocking or by other means — given the territoriality principle that governs international copyright law and the choice-of-law rules that countries typically use for copyright infringements.This Article posits that the multiplicity of applicable national copyright laws on the Internet is not as significant a problem for law-abiding Internet actors as some commentators fear. What makes the multiplicity workable for Internet actors are the realities — or inefficiencies — of cross-border copyright enforcement that de facto limit the number of potentially applicable national copyright laws. This Article reviews the solutions that have been proposed to address the multiplicity problem and examines the objections to the proposals that have already been or could be raised. The Article then analyzes the current realities of copyright enforcement on the Internet and contrasts the realities with the anticipated workings of the proposed solutions.


In order to assess the effect of salinity constraint on some agro-physiological and biochemical traits in Medicago sativa L., four Alfalfa populations (Tafilalet 1, Tafilalet 2, Demnate and Tata), originated from mountains and oasis of Morocco, were tested. The plants were grown under greenhouse conditions in pots filled with sand and peat under three salt treatments (0, 100 and 200 mM NaCl). Thereafter, plants were harvested 45 days after salt treatment and some agro-physiological and biochemical parameters related to salt tolerance, such as plant biomass, water content, membrane permeability, nutrients contents, nitrate reductase and acid phosphatase activities, were measured. Results showed that increase in NaCl concentration gradually reduced plant biomass, which displayed significant differences among the tested populations. Thus, Tata population appeared to be the most tolerant population to salinity, Tafilalet 1 population was the least tolerant one, while Tafilalet 2 and Demnate displayed moderate salinity tolerance. Variations in plant growth were associated with changes in physiological and biochemical parameters. Indeed, salinity caused a decrease in relative water content, perturbation of membrane permeability, and nutrients concentrations. Results also showed that salinity inhibited nitrate reductase activity in leaves of all tested populations, but acid phosphatase activity was increased in both leaves and roots of stressed plants. Salt tolerance of alfalfa populations was associated with high inorganic ion accumulation and the maintenance of membrane integrity and an adequate level in terms of nitrate reductase and acid phosphatase activities.


While some accounts of rights and property paradigms see property as an inherent incident of a colonizing form of human rights law and discourse, others draw out the contradictions between them, suggesting that human rights and property have opposing impulses towards inclusion and exclusion respectively. While not rejecting the insights of either of these positions, the author argues that a fundamental ambivalence lies at the heart of human rights law and discourse demonstrating both oppressive and emancipatory potential. This ambivalence is, the author argues, also internal to the Western property concept – a claim facilitating a renewed emphasis upon property's inclusory potential as an institutional foundation for a more eco-humane and vulnerability-responsive ordering of legal relations.


Will brain scientists ever be able to read our minds? Why are some things harder to remember than others? Based on recent brain research and neural network modeling, The Brain-Shaped Mind addresses these and other questions, and provides a clear account of how the structure of the brain influences the workings of the mind. Neuroscientists are now learning about our minds by examining how the neurons in the brain are connected with one another and the surrounding environment. This book explores how neural networks enable us to recognize objects and learn new things, and what happens when things go wrong. The reader is taken on a fascinating journey into what is arguably one of the most complicated and remarkable aspects of our lives.


This presentation will reflect on Cetis' involvement with the Learning Registry and Jisc's Learning Registry Node Experiment at Mimas (The JLeRN Experiment), and their application to UKOER initiatives. Initially funded by the US Departments of Education and Defense, the Learning Registry (LR) is an open source network for storing and distributing metadata and curriculum, activity and social usage data about learning resources across diverse educational systems. The LR's innovative technical methodology applies a new approach to the perennial problems of describing and managing OERs. Rather than mandating specific standards, the LR is metadata agnostic; it ingests all kinds of resource descriptions and data into a document-oriented, schema-free database. Described as "social networking for metadata", the LR should make it possible to mine networks to build useful services based on the context in which educational resources are used, and the conversations users have around them. Since its inception, there has been sustained interest in the LR from a number of innovative technologists and developers within the UKOER community. Part of Cetis' and JLeRN's brief was to engage this group to explore the applicability of the LR approach to UKOER initiatives, and to scope the type of services that could usefully be built on top of an open LR node. As a result, a small number of projects and developers have engaged with JLeRN and the LR and have established the technical feasibility of implementing the LR architecture and ingesting and extracting data, and have also demonstrated a range of innovative services that can be built on top of an LR node. However, the network effect currently remains unproven, as there are only a handful of nodes in existence. In exploring the benefits and drawbacks of the LR approach, JLeRN and CETIS surfaced a number of issues. These include managing expectations of the LR's promise in light of its early stage of development; examining the technical skills and capacity available in the sector; identifying the benefits of adopting the LR versus other technologies (e.g. basic schema-free noSQL databases, RDF triple stores); and exploring the value of the LR approach to subject areas with clearly defined curricula and learning outcomes. The problem of sharing the educational context and value of resources is one that the sector has struggled with for many years. The LR may not conclusively solve this messy problem, but by taking a new approach to the challenge, it certainly merits further attention.


Controlled condensation reactions of tertiary silanetriols CH3(CH2)n(CH3)2CSi(OH)3 (1b–f; n = 1–5) in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid and the hydrolysis of CH3(CH2)6(CH3)2CSiCl3 (3) lead to the selective formation of the corresponding disiloxane tetrols [CH3(CH2)n(CH3)2CSi(OH)2]2O (2b–g; n = 1–6) in good yields. The TBAF-driven condensation reactions of the silanetriols CH3(CH2)n(CH3)2CSi(OH)3 (1a–c; n = 0–2) as well as of the disiloxane-1,1,3,3-tetrol 2d (n = 3) yield in the selective formation of the first T8 cages bearing tertiary carbon substituents, CH3(CH2)n(CH3)2C (4a–d; n = 0–3), which was not possible via the condensation of their alkoxysilane counterparts so far. The resulting compounds 2b–g and 4a–d have been characterized by multinuclear NMR, MS, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction.