Inference from an observed or hypothesized condition to a plausible cause or explanation for this condition is known as abduction. For many tasks, the acquisition of the necessary knowledge by machine learning has been widely found to be highly effective. However, the semantics of learned knowledge are weaker than the usual classical semantics, and this necessitates new formulations of many tasks. We focus on a recently introduced formulation of the abductive inference task that is thus adapted to the semantics of machine learning. A key problem is that we cannot expect that our causes or explanations will be perfect, and they must tolerate some error due to the world being more complicated than our formalization allows. This is a version of the qualification problem, and in machine learning, this is known as agnostic learning. In the work by Juba that introduced the task of learning to make abductive inferences, an algorithm is given for producing k-DNF explanations that tolerates such exceptions: if the best possible k-DNF explanation fails to justify the condition with probability ε, then the algorithm is promised to find a k-DNF explanation that fails to justify the condition with probability at most O(nkε), where n is the number of propositional attributes used to describe the domain. Here, we present an improved algorithm for this task. When the best k- DNF fails with probability ε, our algorithm finds a k-DNF that fails with probability at most O ̃(nk/2ε) (i.e., suppressing logarithmic factors in n and 1/ε). We also examine the empirical advantage of this new algorithm over the previous algorithm in two test domains, one of explaining conditions generated by a "noisy" k-DNF rule, and another of explaining conditions that are actually generated by a linear threshold rule.


Background Coping with behavioral changes is a daily challenge for family caregivers in all phases of dementia, and assistance is needed for it. An online self-management support intervention was therefore developed and conducted involving the following elements: (1) email contact with a specialized dementia nurse, (2) online videos, and (3) e-bulletins containing information about behavior changes and how to manage them. Objective The aim of this study was to understand (1) family caregivers' actual use of various elements of the online self-management support, (2) family caregivers' evaluation and satisfaction with the various elements, and (3) nurses' usage and evaluations of the online support through the tailored email contacts. Methods A mixed methods design was used in this process evaluation, combining quantitative and qualitative methods including analyses of dementia nurses' registration forms, the number of clicks on online videos and e-bulletins, evaluation questions answered by family caregivers in a survey questionnaire, semistructured interviews with family caregivers and nurses, and analysis of the content of the email contacts. Results The actual use of various elements of the online self-management support by family caregivers varied: 78% (21/27) of family caregivers had an email contact with the specialist nurse, 80% (43/54) of family caregivers clicked on an online video, and 37% (30/81) clicked on an e-bulletin. Family caregivers showed positive evaluations and satisfaction. The tailor-made approach in the personal email contacts in particular was valued by the family caregivers. Nurses' evaluations about providing self-management support online were mixed as it was a relatively new task for them. Conclusions An important insight is that not all participants made optimum use of the various elements of the intervention. Nurses also said that the email contacts were more often used to express feelings about coping with behavioral changes. More research is needed to investigate the reasons why people accept, adopt, and adhere to online interventions to reduce cases where they are not used and to back them up appropriately with tailored (online) information and advice for their personal situations.


Kleene algebra with tests (KAT) is an equational system for program verification that combines Kleene algebra (KA), or the algebra of regular expressions, with Boolean algebra. It can model basic programming and verification constructs such as conditional tests, while loops, and Hoare triples, thus providing a relatively simple equational approach to program equivalence and partial correctness. In this paper we show how KAT can be used to give a rigorous equational treatment of control constructs involving nonlocal transfer of control such as unconditional jumps, loop statements with multi-level breaks, and exception handlers. We develop a compositional semantics and a complete equational axiomatization. The approach has some novel technical features, including a treatment of multi-level break statements that is reminiscent of de Bruijn indices in the variable-free lambda calculus. We illustrate the use of the system by giving a purely calculational proof that every deterministic flowchart is equivalent to a loop program with multi-level breaks.


In the recent years a growing interest in Cognitive Science has been directed to the cognitive role of the agent's ability to predict the consequences of their actions, without actual engagement with their environment. The creation of an experimental model for Hesslow's simulation hypothesis, based on the use of a simulated adaptive agent and the methods of evolutionary robotics within the general perspective of radical connectionism, is reported in this dissertation. A hierarchical architecture consisting of a mixture of (recurrent) experts is investigated in order to test its ability to produce an 'inner world', functional stand-in for the agent's interactions with its environment. Such a mock world is expected to be rich enough to sustain 'blind navigation', which means navigation based solely on the agent's own internal predictions. The results exhibit the system's vivid internal dynamics, its critical sensitivity to a high number of parameters and, finally, a discrepancy with the declared goal of blind navigation. However, given the dynamical complexity of the system, further analysis and testing appear necessary.


Since the late 1960s, the lives of South Koreans have been reconstructed on the shifting ground of urbanization, industrialization, military authoritarianism, democratic reform, and social liberalization. Class and gender identities have been modified in relation to a changing modernity and new definitions of home and family, work and leisure, husband and wife. "Under Construction" provides a portrait of south Koreans in the 1990s - a decade that saw a return to civilian rule, a loosening of censorship and social control, and the emergence of a full-blown consumer culture. It shows how these changes impacted the lives of Korean men and women and the very definition of what it means to be "male" and "female" in Korea. In a series of provocative essays written by Korean and Western scholars, we see how Korean women and men actively engage, and at times openly contest, the limitations of gender. "Under Construction" is part of a turn in the anthropology of gender - from its early quest for the causes of female subordination to a finely tuned analysis of the historical, cultural, and class-based specificities of gender relations and the tension between gender as an ideological construct and as a lived experience. Grounded in the political and economic history of south Korea, this volume fills a gap in Korean studies and East Asia gender studies in English.


1. Introduction In the 2002 special issue of Style on metaphor, several writers discuss the importance of embodiment in metaphor. For instance, Raymond Gibbs and Nicole Wilson discuss a number of idioms involving lexis for parts of the human body, arguing that these are "not simply rhetorical devices but cognitively underlie and help structure our understandings" (528). Their examples include "turn a deaf ear" and "to go in one ear and out the other," two phrases used to talk about someone who does not attend to what others say to him or her. It will be shown in this paper that there is a strong argument for considering these expressions to be metonymic, at least in origin, rather than purely metaphorical, an argument that can be applied to many of the expressions quoted in the literature of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Analysis of metaphors in naturally occurring language, by Alice Deignan ("Corpus-Based Research") and Jonathan Charteris-Black, among others, has shown that expressions such as those cited by Gibbs and Wilson are frequent, both as types and as tokens. To see them now as metonymous rather than metaphorical raises the question of whether metonymy should be regarded as a more central trope than metaphor. A less strong position is to argue that expressions of this kind have elements of both metonymy and metaphor, the view that will be put forward in this paper. I begin by describing some central examples of metonymy, then use corpus data to discuss the apparent metonymic basis for many metaphors. I argue that there is a cline from metonymy through to metaphor, following Gunter Radden (94). I also assert that some fixed points can be established on this cline and that these points are reflected in linguistic patterns. (The theoretical model outlined here is described in more detail in Deignan's Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics.) I identify three groups of figurative expressions resulting from mappings located at different points on this metonymy-metaphor cline, and I analyze concordance data for these expressions. I am particularly concerned with the relationships of synonymy, antonymy, and hyponymy between the source and target domain uses of each group, because, as I will show, these indicate the degree of coherence with which source-domain relationships are metaphorically mapped onto the target domain. The degree of metonymic basis of each mapping, I argue, has an effect on the lexical structure of the target domain, the structure having a greater degree of overall coherence where the mapping is metaphorical and being more fragmented where metonymy is partly involved. Research in Conceptual Metaphor Theory has drawn extensively on language data, complementing psycholinguistic techniques for investigating the processing of literal and nonliteral language. However, much of the language data used has been elicited from informants and is therefore, to a corpus linguist, suspect. Corpus linguists have argued for several decades that there is a mismatch between the patterns found in elicited examples and those found in naturally occurring corpus citations. It seems that people are not good at producing naturalistic language data when asked to do so consciously (Sinclair, Corpus, Concordance, Collocation). This is one reason for using corpus data in the investigation of metaphor and metonymy where possible. Another reason is the richness of the data that are available through a large corpus and the ease with which they can be sorted and examined. The corpus used in the research described here is a 59 million word section of the Bank of English, owned by HarperCollins Publishers and held at the University of Birmingham, England. The texts in the corpus have been produced within the last fifteen years, are both written and spoken, and are mainly British English, with some U.S. and Australian English. All examples are taken from the corpus, unless otherwise stated. 2. Metonymy Possibly the best known examples of metonymy are uses such as ham sandwich, in sentences like "The ham sandwich is sitting at table 20" (Nunberg 149). …


A detailed finite-element analysis of the thermal characteristics of semiconductor disk lasers with AlGaAs mirrors is presented. A comparison of the thermal resistance of devices operating in the 1200-1600 nm wavelength range using either lattice-matched GaAs-based active regions or lattice-mismatched InP-based active regions is performed and reveals similar performance. A variety of semiconductor chip design, mounting, and pumping strategies are subsequently investigated to help define guidelines for an effective thermal management of these devices. As it could be anticipated, the results suggest that best thermal performance is generally achieved when the heat extraction path is minimized.


This section presents a variety of conditions, treatments, clinical procedures and developments in the field of cardiovascular care. It aims to update and refresh nurses' knowledge on correct theory and practice, as well as introduce students and junior nurses to aspects of practice


Abstract Louis Kahn′s architectural works embody his rational tectonic epistemological perspective by exhibiting the ways he respected the nature of construction materials and how he built his structures in accordance to how he believed that space, itself, desired to be portrayed. From the Exeter Library, which was completed in 1972, it is evident that Kahn integrates two different structural systems, bricks and reinforced concrete, into a design concept that exhibits his profound respect for the innate characteristics of the chosen construction materials and the space that they create. The current study focuses on the concept of spatial formation, structural systems, piping distribution, and their integration into the construction of Louis I. Kahn′s Exeter Library. A review of the literature is first presented, which is followed by a comparison and analysis of a number of various plans, and 3D simulation models of the project. The relationships existing between the methods that Louis Kahn employed and the nature of the materials he used during spatial formation are presented, which is followed by a description of how these techniques enabled Kahn to express his rational tectonic ideals in the integration of construction materials and piping distributions. It is shown, for example, that Kahn endeavored to integrate various types of piping distribution in relation to the demands of construction and structural forms. In this way, Kahn′s work interprets different characteristics of space in various types of architecture to display a rational tectonic method that responds to the form of a space.


The Reserve Bank hosted a small business finance roundtable on 22 May 2012. The purpose of the roundtable was to better understand how the small business sector is financed and where there might be information gaps. The attendees included small business owners, sector representatives, financial institutions, academics, data providers and policymakers. While the roundtable focused on the financing of the small business sector, it also considered a number of other issues including the characteristics of small businesses and the challenges facing the sector. The discussion papers presented at the roundtable are listed at the end of this article and can be found on the Bank's website (www.rba.gov.au).


Intense proton or ion beams in charged-particle accelerators are of fundamental importance for many research areas, which relay on such beams, such as those requiring spallation neutrons or radioactive beams. The main subject of this thesis is the detailed investigation of the intense beam motion and instability in synchrotrons, based on two approaches: particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and the numerical methods for calculating the beam's envelope motion. In the former approach, the accelerator simulation code pyORBIT is employed. In the latter, the widely-used two dimensional (2-D) beam envelope model is extended with a dispersion equation, to describe the beam's coherent motion under the combined effect of space charge and dispersion in circular accelerators. Full numerical solution of the extended envelope model reveals that a new coherent mode, namely, dispersion mode, exists besides the well-known envelope modes. Based on the perturbation theory, the analysis of the beam stability shows that for a phase advance larger than $120^{\circ}$ and sufficiently high intensity, the dispersion mode becomes unstable, and induces the newly discovered ``$120^{\circ}$ dispersion instability''. These numerical results were validated with PIC simulations, showing good agreement.

Bunch compression achieved via a fast bunch rotation in longitudinal phase space is a well-accepted scheme to generate short, intense ion bunches for various applications. In this thesis, the set of transverse envelope equations including dispersion are coupled with the longitudinal envelope equation to describe the three dimensional (3-D) beam motion during bunch compression. Furthermore, based on the 3-D coupled envelope model and PIC simulations, an analysis of the relevant space-charge driven beam instability and the particle resonance phenomena during bunch compression is presented. The agreement between the envelope and PIC results indicates that the stop band of the $120^{\circ}$ dispersion instability should be avoided during bunch compression.

This work also investigates the stability of all possible second order coherent modes of beams, with a complete set of second-moment oscillation equations. Results are compared with earlier results on mode frequencies obtained from the linearized Vlasov-Poisson equation. Excellent agreement is found in the case of the ``tilting instability'' in constant focusing, which confirms the equivalence of both models - on the level of second order perturbations. In periodic focusing structures the stop bands of the ``sum envelope instability'' are obtained and found to be in very good agreement with PIC simulations, which completes the picture of second order coherent modes in 2-D high intensity beams.


: Reinforcement Learning (RL) studies the problem of an agent learning to interact with an environment to maximize its reward. Recent breakthroughs in Go, Atari, and Robotics are a result of combining advances from Deep Learning with RL algorithms, which has moved the field from hand-designing features to learning features directly from raw data. However, RL practitioners still need to define what predictive knowledge an agent needs to learn to maximize its performance, instead of the agent autonomously discovering them. Developing the ability to discover knowledge could allow the agents to learn as efficiently as humans. In this thesis, we propose methods that enable an agent to discover some forms of knowledge directly from experience. First part of this thesis explores an approach to efficiently learn multiple chunks of knowledge, in the form of optimal behaviors to achieve goals in an environment, from a single trajectory of experience. Second part of the thesis explores approaches to discover useful knowledge of various forms to maximize the agent's task performance. It consists of three works: the first one introduces an architecture and an associated meta-gradient algorithm to discover predictive questions about the agent's experience to drive representation learning. Second work introduces another meta-gradient approach to discover temporal-abstractions in the form of options that enables a hierarchical RL agent to learn faster on new, unseen tasks. The third one presents an algorithm to select a small number of affordances in the form of actions or options from a continuous space to improve the performance of a model-based planning agent on hierarchical tasks. Final part of this thesis studies the problem of learning many option-conditional predictions in a complex environment. We demonstrate the extensive thought experiment from Ring (2021), which conjectured that high-level, abstract knowledge could be represented as layered predictions of agent's sensorimotor stream. We also introduce an approach to discover those option-conditional predictions which were previously hand-defined and demonstrate the feasibility of this approach on simple partially-observable environments. Overall, the main contributions of this thesis are new learning algorithms to enable agents to identify and acquire useful predictive knowledge directly from experience.


An increase in the unmanaged development of hillsides is causing environmental, social and economic problems in Trinidad and Tobago. Improved environmental awareness and deepening environmental concerns in recent years have focused attention on the need to move towards a more sustainable pattern of development. Scientific criteria for managing hillside development do not seem to exist and attempts in this regard are seriously compromised amongst other things by the lack of effective and reliable information base for decision making, i.e. information poverty. This paper advances a geoinformatics based methodology for determining suitability for built development on hillsides and to develop and implement a simple scientific criterion strategy for managing hillside development in Trinidad and Tobago whilst enduring information poverty. Additionally, a case study is presented to highlight the applicability of the concept to Tobago. The results showed all potential areas suitable for hillside development in Tobago and also identified areas not suitable and the reason(s) for disqualifying these areas. The proposed approach is adaptable, scientifically justifiable and open to scrutiny, and will lend itself to public acceptance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


Most people convicted of felonies are not sentenced to prison; a majority receive straight probation, or probation with a jail term. However, this hardly means that the conviction is inconsequential. Tens of thousands of federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and ordinances restrict the civil rights, employment, eligibility for public benefits, residence and other aspects of the status of convicted persons. Accordingly, for many, the most serious and long-lasting effects of conviction flow from the status of being convicted and the concomitant lifetime subjection to collateral consequences. However, courts generally treat collateral consequences as non-punitive civil regulations, and therefore not subject to constitutional limitations on criminal punishment. This treatment of collateral consequences is surprising. In cases like Weems v. United States and Trop v. Dulles, the Supreme Court understood systematic loss of status not only to be punishment, but to be cruel and unusual punishment. Further, collateral consequences have practically revived the traditional punishment of civil death. Civil death deprived offenders of civil rights, such as the right to sue, and other aspects of legal status. Most civil death statutes were repealed in the Twentieth Century, but its equivalent has been reproduced through systematic collateral consequences. Instead of losing rights immediately, convicted people now hold their rights at sufferance, subject to limitation and restriction at the discretion of the government. The new civil death, loss of equal legal status and susceptibility to a network of collateral consequences, should be understood as constitutional punishment. In the era of the regulatory state, collateral consequences may now be more significant than was civil death in past decades. The actions of judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors should attend to what is really at stake in criminal prosecutions.


This policy brief explores how innovation becomes an increasingly important topic in international relations, with a deep impact on collaboration as well as on competition between countries. It analyses how the patterns of techno-economic change lead to changes in the global distribution of innovative activities around the world. It outlines three near future scenarios of the international politics of innovation. The first, called "populism and protectionism" describes an international environment which is becoming dominated by populist and nationalist tendencies. The second outlines the consequences of an approach of "innovation as a global public good", in which ultimately everybody benefits, and global collaboration is the dominant model. The third scenario is called "bottom-up innovation" and describes what happens to the international dimensions when large international firms and the regions in which they are based become the dominant forces. Together these scenarios describe the range of potential developments over the next 10 years. The final paragraph discusses what Europe can and should do in its external relations to provide adequate answers to the forces outlined in the three scenarios. It results in a vision, which is laid down in four policy directions: a) the European "open" model of research and innovation should remain the starting point; b) Europe should actively seek to build level playing fields for commercial, technological and innovation powers; c) Europe should identify and foster its technological strengths and the critical technologies that need special attention, both in offensive and defensive ways; and d) Europe must identify and spread the key social values and goals (e.g. in relation to quality of life, quality of labour, culture including privacy, and sustainability) that it wants to pursue in its internal and external innovation policies and collaborations. This vision must guide the development of an international innovation policy and the work of innovation diplomats.


This provocative book assesses the implications of a disturbing trend in U.S. security policy: an increased willingness to use military force as an instrument of diplomacy. In The Illusion of Control , Seyom Brown shows how U.S. officials are relying on force to counter a wide range of threats to America's global interests --eclipsing previous strategies that restricted the use of military force to situations in which the country's vital interests were at stake. Brown points out that a disposition to employ military power broadly as an instrument of diplomacy was on the rise well before September 11, 2001 -- and it shows every sign of persisting into the future. While resorting to force may seem to be a reliable way to establish control over a disorderly world, Brown cautions that expecting to gain and maintain control through military prowess could turn out to be a dangerous illusion. In fact, employing new military technologies in an effort to control international terrorist activities, wars, and civil conflicts is likely to pull the United States into excessive commitments and imprudent action. Brown analyzes the growing willingness of U.S. government officials to use force, then critically assesses the strategic, political, and moral implications for the United States. Adapting traditional ""just war"" concepts to contemporary strategic, political, and technological realities, he offers a set of guidelines to help ensure that use-of-force decisions are approached with the judicious care and gravity they warrant.


Architectural structures such as buildings, towers, bridges and roofs are of fundamental importance in urban environments. Their design, planing, construction and maintenance carry numerous challenges in engineering due to the complex interplay of material, form, spaces and statics. The history of architecture shows proof of the many approaches humanity has come up with to tackle those challenges. To mention a few, think of tents, timber huts, pyramids, masonry bridges, steel structures and modern skyscrapers. The methods presented in this thesis are tailored to handle the general case of freeform architectural structures. A common way to develop novel architectural structures is to produce prototypes at various scales. Physical prototypes, however, do not allow for quick changes of aspects of a design such as material and form. The advent of computer-aided design tools alleviated some of these limitations, but brought with it new challenges in terms of simulation of physics and interaction with virtual content. Compared to physical prototypes, digital ones can in theory include many more types of constraints by leveraging numerical computation. To be practical, however, a digital prototyping tool needs to be designed carefully considering efficiency, generality, accuracy, simplicity and robustness of its implementation. Also, there are currently many unsolved problems in the digital exploration of desirable and feasible designs with respect to constraints. Important constraints are imposed directly or indirectly by the ease and cost of realization and maintenance of a freeform architectural structure. For example, the geometry of components making up a structure can have a big impact on the cost of fabrication: planar components can simply be cut out of material that usually comes in flat sheets, while curved ones tend to require more costly production processes. The construction and assembly of architectural structures can cause a considerable part of the full cost. A well-chosen assembly sequence can reduce both labor and necessary temporary support structures such as scaffolds. This thesis approaches challenges in the context of computational prototyping tools for architectural structures by studying three concrete subproblems and proposing practical solutions to them. We present a constraint-aware modeling tool capable of robustly simulating physics and handling various geometric constraints at interactive rates. We show how constraints relevant to aesthetics and production can be implemented in our tool, yielding a fabrication-aware modeling tool. We present a computational method for finding a mass-producable approximation of a given surface which minimizes fabrication cost. The method optimizes for a set of molds each of which can be used to produce multiple components, so-called panels, of the approximation, while respecting user-defined constraints on the continuity and deviation. The problem this method solves is referred to as paneling, which in turn is an instance of the rationalization problem: approximating input under constraints relevant to the physical realization of a structure. We present a computational method for minimizing the work necessary for the construction of a freeform self-supporting structure. We study the use of chains to support the structure during assembly. Our method searches for an assembly sequence of the structure's components which minimizes the number of times a chain has to be rehung.


ECONOMIC RELEVANCE OF FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS (FTA) FTAs provide partner nations with reciprocal duty-free access to each others' markets, effectively creating a common market, thereby facilitating trade flows and increasing economic efficiencies. The increase in scope and speed of market access results in faster turnover and creation of investible domestic surpluses. FTAs normally provide better and cheaper goods and services through increased competition, which leads to consumer surpluses for all partners. Economic welfare gains from a FTA may be viewed as the total of increases in consumer and producer surpluses net of the changes in revenue from customs tariffs. There are also other spillover benefits of FTAs including higher levels of innovation and investment that can contribute to economic recovery, growth and distribution (Hoekman and Schiff, 2002). Over 200 regional FTAs now account for about one-third of global trade. While these generally promote economic growth in member nations, they can also create obstacles for multilateralism. There is speculation whether a large number of FTAs will threaten the health of the worldwide free trade system (Newfarmer, 2005). THE UNITED STATES--COLOMBIA FTA The United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) is the proposed FTA, which is a bilateral commercial treaty for eliminating obstacles to trade and favoring private investment between the United States and Colombia. This agreement emerged from failed multilateral negotiations between the United States, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. The United States concluded negotiations with Peru in December 2005 while negotiations with Ecuador are continuing. The first bilateral trade negotiations between United States and Colombia were initiated in May 2004, and the US-Colombia FTA (will be henceforth called the CTPA) was signed in November 2006. The agreement was renegotiated to include more rigorous environmental and labor standards via a Protocol of Amendment that was signed in June 2007 which was presented by both countries to their respective congresses. The proposed CTPA is a comprehensive FTA that will address issues relating to trade commerce, customs administration and trade facilitation, and remove technical barriers to trade, while safeguarding intellectual property rights, and labor and environmental standards. It will additionally include government procurement, investment, telecommunications and electronic commerce. Under this agreement, Colombia will eliminate most of its tariffs on US exports, and US companies will have greater access to Colombia's services sectors than other World Trade Organization (WTO) members. US companies will gain an advantage in Colombian markets by the elimination of tariffs on 80 percent of US consumer, industrial and agricultural goods. An additional 7 percent of US exports will be covered under the duty-free umbrella within five years of implementation, while the remaining tariffs will be eliminated ten years after implementation of the CTPA (Eslava, Haltinwanger and Kugler, 2004). On the Columbian side, after the CTPA was signed it was submitted to the Colombian Congress in November 2006 and was approved in June 2007 and became a public law, Ley 143, in July 2007. The Amendment was subsequently approved by Columbian Senate and House and became public Law, Ley 1116, in November 2007. The Colombia's Constitutional Court completed its review in July 2008 and concluded that the Agreement conforms to Colombia's Constitution. The CTPA is still languishing in the US Congress. It was not approved before the change of administration in January 2009, because it failed to garner bipartisan support. The current administration will reportedly favor the free trade initiative, provided Colombia can demonstrate adequate protection of human and labor rights. But there is no declared timetable yet, to implement the CTPA, given the looming controversy over the safety of Colombian labor leaders. …


Fundamentally, poverty reduction is about bringing growth processes to poor areas. Because poor areas can benefit from technical and organizational innovations made elsewhere in the world, it is possible today to create productive jobs faster and in greater quantity than ever before. The puzzle is what helps spread such"best practices."Saving, investment, education, resources, and new technology are all needed-and fairly easy to obtain. What is hard to obtain are the institutions that allow these factors of production to be combined and translated into productive job creation. Firms are the key vehicles that spread best practices and productive jobs to areas where poor people live. Because we can never be sure which firm will be successful, it is necessary that new firms can enter markets, that substandard firms are allowed to fail, and that good firms face few barriers to growth. This is the definition of competition, and competition is what selects good firms and thus drives the spread of best practice and productive jobs. Governments need to provide the framework in which capable firms can emerge. Yet, the right mix of state activity and how it best interacts with firms are not fully understood. Some selection mechanism, which allows for policy experiments and selects successful ones, is valuable for national, provincial, and local governments. Thus competition among jurisdictions and firms is an integral part of dynamic social systems that hold promise for creating wealth and ending poverty.


The potential of geoengineering as an alternative or complementary option to mitigation and adaptation has received increased interest in recent years. The scientific assessment of geoengineering is driven to a large extent by assumptions about its effectiveness, costs, and impacts, all of which are highly uncertain. This has led to a polarizing debate. This paper evaluates the role of Solar Radiation Management (SRM) on the optimal abatement path, focusing on the uncertainty about the effectiveness of SRM and the interaction with uncertain climate change response. Using standard economic models of dynamic decision theory under uncertainty, we show that abatement is decreasing in the probability of success of SRM, but that this relation is concave and thus that significant abatement reductions are optimal only if SRM is very likely to be effective. The results are confirmed even when considering positive correlation structures between the effectiveness of geoengineering and the magnitude of climate change. Using a stochastic version of an Integrated Assessment Model, the results are found to be robust for a wide range of parameters specification.


This volume contains the Proceedings of the Conference on Interpolation Theory and Applications in honor of Professor Michael Cwikel (Miami, FL, 2006). The central topic of this book is interpolation theory in its broadest sense, with special attention to its applications to analysis. The articles include applications to classical analysis, harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, function spaces, image processing, geometry of Banach spaces, and more. This volume emphasizes remarkable connections between several branches of pure and applied analysis. Graduate students and researchers in analysis will find it very useful.


Professor Robert Shiller's cyclically adjusted price/earnings ratio (CAPE) has proven to be a powerful descriptor, as well as a useful predictor, of long-term equity returns in the United States and many global markets. CAPE uses a 10-year average of real earnings to simultaneously filter noise in earnings and to estimate corporate profitability over a business cycle. In this article, the authors simplify the CAPE methodology by separating the filtering of noise from the detection of cyclicality in earnings. They filter noise by discarding the worst quarter's earnings in each year, allowing them to use one year's earnings instead of 10, and proxy temporal variation in profit margins using the sales-to-price ratio. In addition, they account for an empirical nonlinearity in the relationship between valuation ratios and equity market returns. They combine the output of two models, one based on earnings and the other on sales, to create a robust forecast of 10-year forward returns. In out-of-sample tests, their technique increases the correlation between out-of-sample-forecasts and realizations from 0.69 to 0.87, reduces the standard deviation of the forecast error for the 10-year returns of the S&P 500 relative to CAPE by 40%, and linearizes the relationship between forecast and realized returns. TOPICS: Global markets, accounting and ratio analysis, fundamental equity analysis Key Findings • Campbell and Shiller's CAPE predicts equity market returns using the average of the past 10 years' earnings. The authors show that significantly better forecasts can be obtained using only one year's quarterly earnings and revenues. • Noise reduction similar to that obtained using the 10-year average can be obtained by discarding the worst quarter's earnings in each year to construct a new earnings measure based on the three best quarters' earnings. Additionally, the sales-to-price ratio, which reflects current profit margins, usefully predicts future margins and earnings growth. • In out-of-sample tests, the new model's predictions are statistically significant, while CAPE's predictions are not.


There is a traditional belief in the Middle East that camel milk may aid in prevention and treatment of numerous cases of cancer yet, the exact mechanism was not investigated. Therefore, we examined the ability of camel milk to modulate the expression of a wellknown cancer-activating gene, Cytochrome P450 1a1 (Cyp1a1), and cancer-protective genes, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (Nqo1) and glutathione S-transferase a1 (Gsta1), in murine hepatoma Hepa 1c1c7 cell line. Our results showed that camel milk significantly inhibited the induction of Cyp1a1 gene expression by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), the most potent Cyp1a1 inducer and known carcinogenic chemical, at mRNA, protein, and activity levels in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, camel milk significantly decreased the xenobiotic responsive element (XRE)-dependent luciferase activity, suggesting a transcriptional mechanism is involved. Furthermore, this inhibitory effect of camel milk was associated with a proportional increase in heme oxygenase 1. On the other hand, camel milk significantly induced Nqo1 and Gsta1 mRNA expression level in a concentration-dependent fashion. The RNA synthesis inhibitor, actinomycin D, completely blocked the induction of Nqo1 mRNA by camel milk suggesting the requirement of de novo RNA synthesis through a transcriptional mechanism. In conclusion, camel milk modulates the expression of Cyp1a1, Nqo1, and Gsta1 at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels.


We examine the problem of Transfer in Reinforcement Learning and present a method to utilize knowledge acquired in one Markov Decision Process (MDP) to bootstrap learning in a more complex but related MDP. We build on work in model minimization in Reinforcement Learning to define relationships between state-action pairs of the two MDPs. Our main contribution in this work is to provide a way to compactly represent such mappings using relationships between state variables in the two domains. We use these functions to transfer a learned policy in the first domain into an option in the new domain, and apply intra-option learning methods to bootstrap learning in the new domain. We first evaluate our approach in the well known Blocksworld domain. We then demonstrate that our approach to transfer is viable in a complex domain with a continuous state space by evaluating it in the Robosoccer Keepaway domain.


Shunt capacitive RF MEMS switches have been developed using III-V technology and employing (tantalum pentoxide) Ta2O5 thin films as dielectric layers. In order to evaluate the potential of the Ta2O5 thin films for the considered application, the compositional, structural, and electrical characterization of the deposited films has been performed, demonstrating that they are good candidates to be used as dielectric layers for the fabrication of RF MEMS switches. Specifically, Ta2O5 films are found to show a leakage current density of few nA/cm2 for MV/cm and a high dielectric constant of 32. Moreover, the charging process has been investigated, finding that it follows a stretched exponential law. The fabricated switches show actuation voltages in the range 15–20 V, an insertion loss better than −0.8 dB up to 30 GHz, and an isolation of ~−40 dB at the resonant frequency which is around 25 GHz.


To reduce the mortality rate of sepsis, treatment needs to be started as soon as possible. One should however first be sure about the occurrence of sepsis. Currently, the suspicion of sepsis in premature infants is based on non-specific physiological changes. The detection of alterations in the inter-heartbeat interval preceding sepsis can offer a solution. The aim of this study was to design a predictive model which captures the relation between physiological changes and variability in the inter heart beat interval, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and the development of sepsis. A retrospective study was performed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Sophia Children's Hospital from January 2016 to June 2016. The study focussed on very preterm infants, of Gestational Age (GA) <32 weeks, with a birth weight below 1500 gram. Sepsis was defined as a blood culture proven Late-ONset Sepsis (LONS) with elevated levels of C-reactive Protein (CRP). Logistic mixed effect modelling was used to estimate the probability of developing sepsis based on GA, gender, birth weight, CRP, percentage weight, bradycardia, median RR and HRV. During the inclusion period, 18 of the 60 infants developed at least one event of sepsis. Infants with sepsis had lower birth weight and GA, with higher mortality rates and length of stay. Logistic mixed effect models showed a significant relation between CRP, bradycardia, median RR, HRV and the probability of developing sepsis. Bradycardia, CRP, median RR and HRV are found to be useful predictors of sepsis. Since the authorisation of a blood culture to prove sepsis takes about four days and the model predicts sepsis at the moment the blood culture is taken, the model is faster in providing results.


Hyperthermophilic L-arabinose isomerases (AIs) are useful in the commercial production of D-tagatose as a low-calorie bulk sweetener. Their catalysis and thermostability are highly dependent on metals, which is a major drawback in food applications. To study the role of metal ions in the thermostability and catalysis of hyperthermophilic AI, four enzyme chimeras were generated by PCR-based hybridization to replace the variable N- and C-terminal regions of hyperthermophilic Thermotoga maritima AI (TMAI) and thermophilic Geobacillus stearothermophilus AI (GSAI) with those of the homologous mesophilic Bacillus halodurans AI (BHAI). Unlike Mn(2+)-dependent TMAI, the GSAI- and TMAI-based hybrids with the 72 C-terminal residues of BHAI were not metal-dependent for catalytic activity. By contrast, the catalytic activities of the TMAI- and GSAI-based hybrids containing the N-terminus (residues 1-89) of BHAI were significantly enhanced by metals, but their thermostabilities were poor even in the presence of Mn(2+), indicating that the effects of metals on catalysis and thermostability involve different structural regions. Moreover, in contrast to the C-terminal truncate (Δ20 residues) of GSAI, the N-terminal truncate (Δ7 residues) exhibited no activity due to loss of its native structure. The data thus strongly suggest that the metal dependence of the catalysis and thermostability of hyperthermophilic AIs evolved separately to optimize their activity and thermostability at elevated temperatures. This may provide effective target regions for engineering, thereby meeting industrial demands for the production of d-tagatose.


The problem: Risk and uncertainty are integral to child protection decisions because of the need to protect children from intrafamilial maltreatment, which is more common than abuse by strangers and occurs in the private sphere of the home. The problem of assessing intrafamilial risks to children following abuse and neglect referrals has received little attention in the UK compared with North America. Improved assessment of such risks would inform child protection plans, enabling risk reduction and improved safeguarding of children. There are currently no UK
recommended valid and reliable risk assessment tools available for child protection teams, who rely on unaided professional judgement where information may be incomplete, expertise is variable and the process open to bias. Currently, UK child protection risk assessments are based on professional opinions about the range and weighting of factors associated with families where children have been abused or neglected. Study purpose: Selecting and weighting the most significant predictive factors of risk to children by using actuarial statistical methods is more likely to lead to yield accurate risk ratings. Whilst not perfect predictors, such actuarial tools categorise cases into low or high risk groups better than unaided professional judgements or consensus based assessments. Actuarial risk assessments have not previously been tested for UK child protection work, so this study selected and applied the best
available North American tool. Method: The Michigan Family Risk Assessment for Abuse or Neglect (FRAAN) was selected on the basis of its published evidence base and applied to a cohort of UK Serious Case Review reports from Thirteen Counties (SCRs) to identify and rate pre-existing risks before the abusive event. Further analysis of risk factors singly and in combination was extended to compare the Thirteen Counties data with two large recently published SCR studies and one study of UK child homicide perpetrators.
Findings: The FRAAN assessment scores correctly identified most cases as High or Intensive Risk. FRAAN performed adequately in identifying these very high risk cases (Sensitivity = 88%) but specificity could not be assessed using these exclusively high risk cases. Most frequent neglect risk factors were inadequate physical care of children, unsupported primary carers and their inability to prioritise the child's needs over their own. Most frequent abuse risk factors were families not cooperating with a
need for parenting improvement, prior abuse incidents, a youngest child aged <6 years and domestic violence.
Comparing those cases where children died versus those where they survived, risk factor frequencies for Deceased and Survivor groups were strongly positively correlated, showing no statistical differences between the direction of scores for the two groups. Parental substance misuse was more common in the Deceased group, whilst households where a child had a disability or delinquency problems were both
more common in the Survivor group. FRAAN risk scores could not effectively distinguish between fatal and non fatal outcomes. Comparisons between this Thirteen Counties study dataset and a UK study of child homicides and two major recent reviews of SCRs demonstrated no statistical
differences between the ages and sexes of the children, the causes of death and parental characteristics, except for in the cases of men with convictions for violence, which were possibly under recorded in SCRs. Key risk factors in all the studies were parental mental illness, chaotic neglectful families and substance misuse. These factors appear to distinguish high risk families where there are further risks of fatal child abuse. Conclusions: The use of formal risk assessment tools is likely to help child
protection teams identify cases where extra support, or substitute care, is required to protect children at high risk of further intrafamilial maltreatment. The use of such
tools in low and medium risk cases was not tested in this study due to lack of access to a mix of cases. Policy, practice and further research directions are recommended to extend the testing of the FRAAN risk assessment tool.


Land surface temperature and emissivity (LST&E) products are generated by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Terra satellite. These products are generated at different spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions, resulting in discrepancies between them that are difficult to quantify, compounded by the fact that different retrieval algorithms are used to produce them. The highest spatial resolution MODIS emissivity product currently produced is from the day/night algorithm, which has a spatial resolution of 5 km. The lack of a high-spatial-resolution emissivity product from MODIS limits the usefulness of the data for a variety of applications and limits utilization with higher resolution products such as those from ASTER. This paper aims to address this problem by using the ASTER Temperature Emissivity Separation (TES) algorithm, combined with an improved atmospheric correction method, to generate the LST&E products for MODIS at 1-km spatial resolution and for ASTER in a consistent manner. The rms differences between the ASTER and MODIS emissivities generated from TES over the southwestern U.S. were 0.013 at 8.6 μm and 0.0096 at 11 μm, with good correlations of up to 0.83. The validation with laboratory-measured sand samples from the Algodones and Kelso Dunes in CA showed a good agreement in spectral shape and magnitude, with mean emissivity differences in all bands of 0.009 and 0.010 for MODIS and ASTER, respectively. These differences are equivalent to approximately 0.6 K in the LST for a material at 300 K and at 11 μm.


Biopharmaceutical processes typically require a significant investment in equipment-often a substantial obstacle for start-up companies. The risk of drug development failure is often high, further limiting access to the required capital. Flexibility and lower capital outlays are required not only by start-up companies, but also by research organizations with multiple product lines and by companies requiring quick capacity increases. Disposable technologies offer the highest potential for these companies to meet their business requirements. With lower capital requirements and increased flexibility, disposables are an important part of these companies' risk management strategy. Development of single-use components is revolutionizing the approach to biopharmaceutical drug development and manufacturing. Disposables provide more solutions each year.


The overall purpose of this study was to examine, record, and describe teacher practices that were considered culturally responsive to preschoolers with disabilities who do or do not share the same racial background as the teacher. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to explore the relationship between the teacher's racial background and her teaching practices when compared between two preschoolers with
disabilities. First, it examined teacher practices of African American and European
American teachers across specific teaching behaviors to determine whether or not
similarities existed across these groups of teachers when compared between the two children. Second, it examined the same teacher practices to determine whether or not differences existed in the interactive patterns of African American (AA) and European American (EA) teachers across these same teaching behaviors and the same sample of
children. Using a mixed methods research design, two African American teachers and two European American teachers from separate Head Start programs participated in this fiveweek study along with two children with disabilities; one from the same racial background and one from a different racial background as the teacher. Teachers were observed using a teacher-child interaction scale and missed opportunities records to document observed practices that could be considered culturally responsive. A single
audiotaped teacher interview was used to examine each teacher's articulated practices. Teachers were asked to complete two cultural-focused surveys to help gain insight in their self-reported practices that could be considered culturally responsive. The utilization of qualitative and quantitative measures helped to create a profile of each teacher's practices (observed, articulated, and self-reported) as she interacted with the children under study. Results showed several similarities among the observed and self-reported practices for both groups of teachers, African American and European American. Across both groups, (a) the level of physical involvement differed between the two children; and
(b) the teachers' communicative style showed some variation between the two children, were common themes that emerged through the comparison. Additional outcomes suggested that some differences among the two groups were more indicative of each individual teacher's personality and disposition, rather than solely her racial background. Future studies are needed on more pro-longed time within each teacher's classroom to further understand the role of culture on the teacher and her practices.


The design of new functional metal-semiconductor heteronanostructures with improved photovoltaic efficiencies has drawn significant attention because of their unprecedented properties and potential applications. Herein, we report a phase selective synthesis of ternary CuGaS2 (wurtzite and tetragonal) by simple solution based thermal decomposition of a new binuclear single molecular precursor [Ga(acda)3Cu(PPh3)2]NO3 (acda = 2-aminocyclopentene-1-dithiocarboxylic acid, PPh3 = triphenylphosphine) where the phase selectivity has been achieved easily by changing the combination of surface active agents. Furthermore, we have extended our approach to develop a well-controlled synthetic strategy for the preparation of a Au-CuGaS2 heteronanocomposite with both the phases. A detailed microscopic study reveals that during heterostructure synthesis, an epitaxial junction has been formed at the interface of ternary CuGaS2 and metallic Au. To find out the influence of this epitaxial connectivity on the properties, we have studied the photocurrent and photoresponse behavior of the material and compared them with that of bare CuGaS2. For both the wurtzite and tetragonal phases, the Au-CuGaS2 twin structure exhibits a plasmon enhanced superior charge transport ability and an abruptly high photocurrent density compared to that of pure CuGaS2. Due to efficient charge separation by strong plasmon-exciton coupling at the interface, Au-CuGaS2 can be used as a potential candidate for photoelectrochemical applications.

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This paper analyzes two methods of deferring costs associated with the installation of batch automation systems. The first defers cost by postponing the configuration of recipes and batch management until after start-up. With this method operations personnel manually coordinate the execution of phases and maintain a paper batch record. Often this leads to a design that uses larger and more specialized phases since the execution of the recipe is not automated. A batch management package and recipes can be added at some later time to create a fully automated process. The alternative design implements the batch management package up-front, postponing the configuration of automatic phases until later. Operations personnel would then use the batch management package to guide them through the process as they manipulate the control modules at the direction of the batch management package. Automated phases are implemented in stages deferring costs over time. This implementation can be carried out in a prioritized order, based on operator input, specifying which process operations are the most time consuming and difficult. The two methodologies are examined for potential pitfalls and benefits of each. Compromises that must be made, as well as the functional advantages and deficiencies of each approach will be discussed.


Based on the concept of complementary media and optical transformation, a multifunctional complementary cloak composed of homogeneous anisotropic materials with no singularities is proposed in this paper. The full-wave simulations based on the finite element method are performed to demonstrate the multifunctional characteristics of the proposed multifunctional cloak. The simulation results show that the proposed multifunctional cloak can be used as a complementary cloak, a transparency device, and an illusion cloak. In addition, the effect of loss on the performance of the multifunctional cloak is analyzed for future practical application.


ABSTRACT This article investigates the determinants of the size of domestic bond market using economic, social and institutional factors. We expand the body of existing literature by suggesting that economic and social environment as well as institutional settings vary between developed and emerging economies. The article uses recent data from a wide range of countries, incorporates a variety of macroeconomic variables, social indicators and institutional factors to reassess the determinant of domestic bond markets. Robustness of the empirical analysis is established through both two-stage least squares and generalized method of movements techniques. The results of this article show that the size of the economy, breadth and depth of the banking system, the monetary policy stance, the degree of openness, the level of corruption, the degree of civil liberty and status of market access to investors, all play a crucial role in the determination of the size of the domestic bond market. We also find differences across developed and emerging market samples. The results are robust to different specifications and the corresponding estimation techniques.


Abstract
Background: According to the recommendation made by World Health organization, vaccinating 70% of the dog population helps to control rabies and prevent rabies virus in human population. However, the exponential increase in the population of free roaming dogs is a serious challenge to this strategy in Eastern African countries including Ethiopia and Kenya. Understanding the dynamics of free roaming dog populations is, thus, a step to be taken prior to designing effective rabies prevention and control strategy in these countries.
Objectives: The present study was designed to determine the number of free roaming dogs in selected settings in Ethiopia and Kenya, and describe the level of community knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) on rabies incidence/human exposures. The study also described the socio-cultural value of dog keeping in the areas considered in the study.
Methodology: Counting free roaming dogs were a major means of collecting data in both Ethiopia and Kenya. Dog count was made using the markup capture approach. Other than counting, questionnaire was used to obtain data for the study. Three-hundred and ninety-eight copies of questionnaires were administered to the study participants in Ethiopia, while the number of respondents to the questionnaire in Kenya was 351. In addition, a five-year retrospective data on dog/animal bite cases were collected from selected health facilities of the study sites.
Results: A total of 2991 and 386 free roaming dogs were counted in Ethiopia and Kenya, respectively. A five-year retrospective data showed cases of 1524 (in Mekelle) and 429 (Assela) individuals who were bitten/infected by rabies-suspected animals. Evidence obtained from the health facilities in Mekelle and Assela showed the bitten/infected individuals took PEP within the specified period.
In Kenya, a total of 3441 and 4997 animal bite cases were reported from 2010-2014 in Kisumu and Siaya, respectively. The number of animal bite cases may signify the economic burden incurred (cost of PEP and other related costs), public health impact and social value of the disease. The questionnaire data also indicated the existing dog management practices, awareness of the community about rabies and its zoonotic importance, the first line of action taken at home for individuals bitten by rabies suspected animal, awareness of the community on dog vaccination, importance of free roaming dogs and their management.
Conclusion: The significant proportion of free roaming dogs and number of animal bite cases calls for an integrated action between human and veterinary professionals to control the number of free roaming dog population, initiate awareness creation programs in the community and increase the vaccination of owned dogs there by to control and prevent rabies. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2018;32(1):11-20]
Key words: Ethiopia, Kenya, Free roaming dogs, Rabies, Animal Bites, KAP


Understanding the genetic basis of repeated evolution of the same phenotype across taxa is a fundamental aim in evolutionary biology and has applications to conservation and management. However, the extent to which interspecific life-history trait polymorphisms share evolutionary pathways remains under-explored. We address this gap by studying the genetic basis of a key life-history trait, age at maturity, in four species of Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus) that exhibit intra- and interspecific variation in this trait – Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, and Steelhead Trout. We tested for associations in all four species between age at maturity and two genome regions, six6 and vgll3, that are strongly associated with the same trait in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). We also conducted a genome-wide association analysis in Steelhead to assess whether additional regions were associated with this trait. We found the genetic basis of age at maturity to be heterogeneous across salmonid species. Significant associations between six6 and age at maturity were observed in two of the four species, Sockeye and Steelhead, with the association in Steelhead being particularly strong in both sexes (p = 4.46×10−9 after adjusting for genomic inflation). However, no significant associations were detected between age at maturity and the vgll3 genome region in any of the species, despite its strong association with the same trait in Atlantic Salmon. We discuss possible explanations for the heterogeneous nature of the genetic architecture of this key life-history trait, as well as the implications of our findings for conservation and management.


Conversion of native rainforest ecosystems in Limón Province of Costa Rica to banana and pineapple monoculture has led to reductions in biodiversity and soil quality. Agroforestry management of cacao (Theobroma cacao) is an alternative system that may maintain the agricultural livelihood of the region while more closely mimicking native ecosystems. This study compared physical, biological and chemical soil quality indicators of a cacao plantation under organic agroforestry management with banana, pineapple, and pasture systems; a native forest nearby served as a control. For bulk density and earthworm analysis, 18 samples were collected between March and April 2012 from each ecosystem paired with 18 samples from the cacao. Cacao had a lower bulk density than banana and pineapple monocultures, but greater than the forest (p < 0.05). Cacao also hosted a greater number and mass of earthworms than banana and pineapple (p < 0.05), but similar to forest and pasture. For soil chemical characteristics, three composite samples were collected in March 2012 from each agroecosystem paired with three samples from the cacao plantation. Forest and pineapple ecosystems had the lowest pH, cation exchange capacity, and exchangeable nutrient cations, while cacao had the greatest (p < 0.05). Total nutrient levels of P and N were slightly greater in banana, pineapple and pasture than in cacao; probably related to addition of chemical fertilizer and manure from cattle grazing. Forest and cacao also had greater %C, than other ecosystems, which is directly related to soil organic matter content (p < 0.0001). Overall, cacao had more favorable physical, biological and chemical soil characteristics than banana and pineapple monocultures, while trends were less conclusive compared to the pastureland. While organic cacao was inferior to native forest in some soil characteristics such as bulk density and organic carbon, its soil quality did best mimic that of the native forest. This supports the organic cultivation of cacao as a desirable alternative to banana and pineapple monoculture.


We analyze environmental agreements in contexts with asymmetric information, voluntary participation by sovereign countries and possibly limited enforcement. Taking a mechanism design perspective, we study how countries can agree on effort levels and compensations to take into account multilateral externalities. We delineate conditions for efficient agreements and trace out possible inefficiencies to the conjectures that countries hold following disagreement. We show how optimal mechanisms admit simple approximations with attractive implementation properties. Finally, we also highlight how limits on commitment strongly hinder performances of optimal mechanisms.


Software risk management can be defined as an attempt to formalize risk oriented correlates of development success into a readily applicable set of principles and practices. By using a survey instrument we investigate this claim further. The investigation addresses the following questions: 1) What are the components of software development risk? 2) how does risk management mitigate risk components, and 3) what environmental factors if any influence them? Using principal component analysis we identify six software risk components: 1) scheduling and timing risks, 2) functionality risks, 3) subcontracting risks, 4) requirements management, 5) resource usage and performance risks, and 6) personnel management risks. By using one-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons we examine how risk management (or the lack of it) and environmental factors (such as development methods, manager's experience) influence each risk component. The analysis shows that awareness of the importance of risk management and systematic practices to manage risks have an effect on scheduling risks, requirements management risks, and personnel management risks. Environmental contingencies were observed to affect all risk components. This suggests that software risks can be best managed by combining specific risk management considerations with a detailed understanding of the environmental context and with sound managerial practices, such as relying on experienced and well-educated project managers and launching correctly sized projects.


The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instruments onboard the series of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites offer the longest available meteorological data records from space. These satellites have drifted in orbit resulting in shifts in the local time sampling during the life span of the sensors onboard. Depending upon the amplitude of the diurnal cycle of the geophysical parameters derived, orbital drift may cause spurious trends in their time series. We investigate tropical deep convective clouds, which show pronounced diurnal cycle amplitude, to estimate an upper bound of the impact of orbital drift on their time series. We carry out a rotated empirical orthogonal function analysis (REOF) and show that the REOFs are useful in delineating orbital drift signal and, more importantly, in subtracting this signal in the time series of convective cloud amount. These results will help facilitate the derivation of homogenized data series of cloud amount from NOAA satellite sensors and ultimately analyzing trends from them. However, we suggest detailed comparison of various methods and rigorous testing thereof applying final orbital drift corrections.


Background: There has been insufficient and contradictory research to date on the impacts of caring for a child with cleft lip/palate. Therefore this pilot study sought to investigate the mental health and quality of life of primary caregivers of children with cleft lip/palate. Materials and Methods: Seventy-nine primary caregivers of children with cleft lip/palate awaiting a surgical procedure in India completed questionnaires to measure their mental health, quality of life, and demographic variables. Results: The results indicated that half of the sample suffered from poor mental health and a reduced quality of life. Overall perceptions of quality of life were significantly associated with the age of the child requiring care and the contact hours per day spent with the child. Conclusion: It is apparent that caregivers for this population do suffer from a reduced quality of life and poorer mental health. This is especially relevant for older caregivers and those with greater caring responsibilities.


Automatic enrollment has been widely embraced for raising employee participation in 401(k) plans. However, the empirical evidence is based on data with limitations that, up until now, have prevented researchers from extrapolating the effects of automatic enrollment to the broader population of workers. This paper reexamines the determinants of 401(k) participation and contributions in the presence of automatic enrollment using nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for 2006 through 2012. The results confirm previous findings that automatic enrollment is associated with a higher proportion of workers included in DC plans; however, automatically enrolled workers are less likely to contribute to their DC plans than voluntarily enrolled workers. Auto enrollment is also associated with lower employee contribution amounts and rates. However, the employers of auto-enrolled workers are more likely to contribute to their employees' accounts than are the employers of voluntarily enrolled workers. Additionally, employer contribution amounts and rates are higher among workers who are automatically enrolled. Even so, the combined effect is that the retirement accounts of automatically enrolled older workers receive, on average, $900 less in combined annual contributions and have contribution rates that are 1.6 percentage points lower than those of voluntarily enrolled workers. The paper found that: - Automatic enrollment is associated with a higher probability of being included in a DC plan. - On average, workers who are automatically enrolled in a DC plan tend to be less likely to contribute positive amounts than those who opt in. - However, the employers of automatically enrolled workers are more likely to make contributions and to contribute, on average, higher amounts and a higher percentage of their employees' earnings. - The correlation between automatic enrollment and combined (employer and employee) contribution amounts and contribution rates, however, is still negative, despite controlling for a range of factors. The policy implications of the findings are: - Auto enrollment could do a better job of boosting overall contribution levels among participants. - Possible ways to achieve this might be by offering a more generous employer match and by using auto escalation. - More research and better data are needed to assess the potential impact on retirement plan contributions of implementing automatic enrollment features in DC plans on a national scale.


PURPOSE
We determined whether functional visual acuity (VA) parameters and a dry eyes (DEs) symptoms questionnaire could predict DEs in a population of visual terminal display (VDT) users.

METHODS
This prospective study included 491 VDT users from the Osaka Study. Subjects with definite DE, diagnosed with the presence of DE symptoms, tear abnormality (Schirmer test ≤ 5 mm or tear breakup time [TBUT] ≤ 5 seconds), and conjunctivocorneal epithelial damage (total staining score of ≥3 points), or probable DE, diagnosed with the presence of two of them, were assigned to a DE group, and the remainder to a non-DE group. Functional VA was assessed, and DE questionnaires were administered. We assessed whether univariate and discriminant analyses could determine to which group a subject belonged. Sensitivity and specificity were assessed.

RESULTS
Of 491 subjects, 320 and 171 were assigned to the DE and non-DE groups, respectively. No significant differences were observed between DE and non-DE groups in Schirmer test value and epithelial damage, but TBUT value (3.1 ± 1.5 vs. 5.9 ± 3.0 seconds). The sensitivity and specificity of single test using functional VA parameters were 59% and 49% in functional VA, 60% and 50% in visual maintenance ratio, and 83% and 30% in frequency of blinking, respectively. According to a discriminant analysis using a combination of functional VA parameters and a DE questionnaire, six variables were selected for the discriminant equation, of which area under the curve (AUC) was 0.735. Sensitivity and specificity of diagnoses predicted by the discriminant equation were 85.9% and 45.6%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The discriminant equation obtained using functional VA measurement combined with a symptoms questionnaire may suggest the possibility for the first step screening of DE with unstable tear film. Since the questionnaire has an overall poor sensitivity and specificity, further amelioration may be necessary for the actual utilization of this screening tool.


"A Postcolonial People" is a lively, critical survey of contemporary South Asian Britain that fills a conspicuous gap in the literature. This specially commissioned book combines conceptually innovative analysis with empirically rich studies to map out the diversity of the British Asian way of life. The migration and settlement of South Asians in large numbers in Britain is examined in the context of the postcolonial condition, in which boundaries between the West and Rest, centre and periphery, home and abroad are increasingly blurred. The contributors provide both fresh insights and vital information on the Asian British experience in its socio-economic, historical and cultural dimensions. The topics covered include: identity, the transformation of urban space, policing, healthcare, electoral politics, music, British Asian theatre and cinema.


The study of Canadian English has, for the most part, relied on synchronic data and description. Via the apparent-time method and earlier linguistic studies, evidence is available for the most part of the twentieth century. This paper provides possible pathways towards examining pre-twentieth century evidence for Canadian English. Using principles of sociohistorical research, the paper offers an outline of how to make the best use of existing data by combining evidence from both literary and authentic written sources. As a test case, central focus is given to the reconstruction of a pivotal Canadian feature, the low-back vowel merger. Texts are used, in conjunction with secondary materials, such as Canadian informants in linguistic atlas data, accounts of settlement history and anecdotal evidence, to show the possibilities and limitations of written evidence in historical phonetics and phonology. As a test case, the approach, which is complemented by a rudimentary sketch of sources across the country, is intended to be easily transferrable to other linguistic levels.


Virtual machine consolidation techniques
provide ways to save energy and cost in cloud data centers.
However, aggressive packing of virtual machines can cause
performance degradation. Therefore, it is essential to strike
a trade-off between energy and performance in data
centers. Achieving this trade-off has been an active research
area in recent years. In this paper, a host underload
detection algorithm and a new VM selection and VM
placement techniques are proposed to consolidate Virtual
machines based on the growth potential of VMs. Growth
potential is calculated based on the utilization history of
VMs. The interdependence of VM selection and VM
placement techniques are also studied in the proposed
model. The proposed algorithms are evaluated on real-
world PlanetLab workload on Cloudsim. The experimental
evaluation shows that our proposed technique reduces
Service Level Agreement Violation (SLAV) and energy
consumption compared to the existing algorithms.


Dynamic infrared linear dichroism (DIRLD) measurements of films of a thermo-plastic polyester/polyurethane random copolymer (Estane 5703, B. F. Goodrich) are reported. Step-scan Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) is used for dynamic measurements, and a photoelastic modulator (PEM) is used to create broadband polarization modulation as the carrier frequency for the strain modulation. A novel modulation/demodulation strategy has been employed that simplifies the triple-modulation experiment into a double-modulation experiment; the theory is thoroughly discussed. Both static and dynamic dichroic absorption difference spectra have been measured on the prestretched polymer film. The results are of high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and clearly indicate the static and dynamic orientation of the transition dipole moments due to the tensile deformation. The dynamic orientation responses are primarily in phase with the perturbation. The orientation magnitudes of the infrared absorption bands are quantified and compared, and the orientations of the hard and soft domains are differentiated. To assist in the interpretation of the dynamically measured data, we also describe a static linear dichroic measurement using a wire-grid polarizer and FT-IR in the rapid-scan mode for a sample incrementally drawn until the point of breaking. The orientation functions of selected bands have been calculated, and the static results agree with the dynamic data, indicating the dependency of the dynamic orientation response on the preorientation state.


GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT ABSTRACT A series of polyfunctionalized anthraquinonehydrazones have been prepared using azo-coupling reaction between anthraquinone-based triazenes and methylene active compounds in acetic acid without a catalyst. The structures of new synthesized compounds were confirmed by their IR, LCMS,1H and 13C NMR spectroscopic data. Some of the synthesized compounds were screened for their in vitro anticancer activity according to US NCI protocols. Biological screening data led to the identification of 1-{N'-[3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-oxo-2-thioxothiazolidin-5-ylidene]hydrazino}anthraquinone 3.4 as having antitumor activity on the non-small cell lung cancer NCI-H460 (GP = 13.25%) and colon cancer HCT-116 (GP = 13.69%) cell lines.


Rear-end collisions in which the leading vehicle was stationary prior to impact and at least one vehicle was towed from the crash site represent 18% of all yearly crashes in the United States. Forward Collision Avoidance Systems (FCASs) are becoming increasingly available in production vehicles and have a great potential for preventing or mitigating rear-end collisions. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of five crash avoidance algorithms that are similar in design to systems found on production vehicles of model year 2011. To predict the effectiveness of each algorithm, this study simulated a representative sample of rear-end collisions as if the striking vehicle was equipped with each FCAS. In 2011, the ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V) published a test report comparing advanced emergency braking systems. The ADAC tested production vehicles of model year 2011 made by Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Volvo, and VW. The ADAC test results were used in conjunction with video evidence and owner's manual information to develop mathematical models of five different FCASs. The systems had combinations of Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Assisted Braking (AB), and Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB). The effectiveness of each modeled system was measured by its ability to prevent collisions or reduce the collision severity of reconstructed crashes. In this study, 977 rear-end crashes that occurred from 1993 to 2008 were mathematically reconstructed. These crashes were investigated as part of NHTSA's National Automotive Sampling System, Crashworthiness Data System (NASS/CDS). These crashes represent almost 800,000 crashes during that time period in which the struck vehicle was stationary. Part of the NASS/CDS investigation was to reconstruct the vehicle change in velocity during impact, ∆V. Using energy and Newtonian based methods, the ∆V in each crash was calculated as if the vehicle was equipped with each modeled FCAS. Using the predicted reduction in crash ∆V, the expected reduction in the number of moderately-to-fatally injured (MAIS2+) drivers was predicted. This study estimates that the most effective FCAS model was the Volvo algorithm which could potentially prevent between 79% and 92% of the crashes simulated in this study and between 76% and 94% of associated driver injuries. This study estimates that the BMW algorithm would prevent the fewest number of crashes (between 11% and 14%), but would provide admirable benefits to driver safety by preventing between 21% and 25% of driver injuries. The VW algorithm would be the least effective at preventing driver injuries if the system were to be implemented across the U.S. fleet. This algorithm offers a 19% reduction in crashes, but only prevents 15% of driver injuries. This study introduces and demonstrates a unique method of comparing potential benefits of competing FCAS algorithms. This method could be particularly useful to system designers for comparing the expected effects of design decisions on safety performance. This method could also be useful to government officials who wish to evaluate the effectiveness of FCASs.


As a participant in cellular signaling, the 14-3-3 binding protein is essential to cellular function in both plants and animals. Two Arabidopsis thaliana 14-3-3 genes from phylogenetically different families were studied: the GF14-chi and GF14-231, 14-3-3 epsilon which were previously shown to be expressed in developing Arabidopsis seed. One of the principal functions of these proteins is to mediate signals by binding specific client proteins. One strategy to characterize these interacting client proteins is to use purified recombinant 14-3-3 proteins as bait in pull-down assays. The objective of this thesis was to create the expression constructs and purify the recombinant protein. To obtain a cloned gene, isolation of plasmid DNA was followed by PCR amplification. After a ligation reaction and transformation into E.coli Top 10, products were digested. The digested products were sent for sequencing. The GF14-231, 14-3-3 epsilon was successfully cloned. To express the 14-3-3 protein in E.coli, the construct was transformed in BL21 Star (DE3) One Shot cells. After transformation, IPTG was added to induce protein expression. Recombinant 14-3-3 protein was then purified by Ni-NTA column chromatography and analyzed by SDS-PAGE analysis. After obtaining purified protein an antibody will be developed. Future work will include a similar analysis of the GF14-chi.


"I'm not a lawyer. That's why I can see what the law is like. It's like a single-bed blanket on a double bed and three folks in the bed and a cold night. There ain't ever enough blanket to cover the case, no matter how much pulling and hauling, and somebody is always going to nigh catch pneumonia."1 As e-commerce has expanded and evolved over the past decade,2 so have methods of collecting, organizing, and analyzing the data that unwitting consumers make available to interested commercial entities as they venture through cyberspace. Commentators, courts, consumer advocates, policymakers, regulators, and e-businesses have struggled to imagine systems that could safeguard consumer privacy while maximizing commercial interests in capitalizing on the back and forth stream of information that constitutes the Internet.3 An assumption that commercial entities violate consumer privacy by collecting data from Internet transactions pervades the information privacy discourse,4 but in this Note I seek to interrogate that assumption by focusing on the actual processes through which consumer data are collected as well as the broader dynamics of the interactions between consumers and interested commercial parties. While the wholesale aggregation and disposition of consumer data may well pose a viable threat to consumer interests in certain contexts,5 I have found that the extant schema of legal and extralegal checks on the manner in which commercial entities may employ Internet-derived consumer information is broader and more protective of consumers than is generally recognized. However, although these protections are broad, an examination of their imperfect and improvisational nature reveals that business interests still generally prevail over consumer interests under the current regime. Nevertheless, I seek to demonstrate how certain privacy scholars exaggerate both the probability and the actual extent of harm suffered by individuals as a result of commercial data aggregation. It is my position that many privacy scholars make their case by overemphasizing the tenuous link between personal information and person/hood.6 By taking a measured look at both the context in which most Internet information privacy concerns arise and the existing system regulating the collection of such information, I attempt to expose some of the shortcomings of certain academic abstractions characterizing what is at stake with respect to consumer information privacy on the Internet. After all, we are no more defined by the junk email in our inboxes or the ads flashing across our screens than we are defined by the junkmail in our mailboxes or the ads on television programs. Fundamentally, e-tailers are not too different from brick-and-mortar retailers-they just want to sell us stuff. Lots of stuff. More stuff than we need, if they can just figure out how to tell us what we need. Businesses collect consumer data so that they can more effectively market their products, not, as some would argue, to hijack our identities for any sort of dark, Orwellian purpose. While any such motives-if they existed and if a company were willing to follow through with them-would make for an engaging conspiracy narrative, once such motives made their way into public view, it would be very, very bad for business. In this Note, I portray the nature and extent of information exchanged between consumers and "commercial websites"7 and information exchanged between consumers and third party advertising companies that commercial websites hire to manage their Internet advertising practices. I do not examine spyware or adware utilized by a certain fringe sector of e-commerce participants8 but instead focus on information technologies employed by more reputable companies. Nor do I give extensive treatment to the issues raised by information crimes such as identity theft, other than to the limited extent that the threat of identity theft arises in the context of transactions between consumers and commercial websites. …


The ability of social media to rapidly disseminate judgements on ethnicity to wide publics and to influence offline ethnic relations creates demand for methods of automatic monitoring of ethnicity-related online content (Burnap & Williams 2015). In this study we seek to measure the overall volume of ethnicity-related discussion in the Russian-language social media and to develop an approach that would automatically detect various aspects of judgements on ethnicity. We develop a comprehensive list of ethnonyms that embrace 100 Post-Soviet ethnic groups and obtain all messages containing one of those items from a two-year period from all Russian-language social media (N=2,850,947 texts). We find meaningful regional variation in the volume of attention to different ethnicities. We hand-code 7,181 messages where rare ethnicities are over-represented and train a number of classifiers (logistic regressions) to recognize different text features. We reach good quality in detecting presence of intergroup conflict, positive intergroup contact, and overall negative and positive sentiment, as well as fair quality in predicting general attitude to an ethnic group. Relevance to the topic of ethnicity is least well predicted, while some aspects such as calls for violence against an ethnic group are not sufficiently present in the data to be predicted. Unlike previous studies (Bessudnov 2016), here we see that various Central Asians, not Caucasians, take the lead in negative representation. Caucasians lead in producing their own discourse which is most likely to shift their scores up. Finally, Ukrainians are among most negatively represented because of the recent military conflict.


Abstract. The problem of providing safety to ultra-high rockfill dams with concrete faces is urgent and unresolved. It is proved by the facts of face structural failure of several ultra-high dams. As a rule, these facts are attributed to the face non-uniform bending deformations or are explained by high compressive stresses in the face central part. With the aid of numerical modeling the author investigated the conditions of forming stress-strain state (SSS) of ultra-high rockfill dams with concrete faces. Analysis was made of internal forces appearing in a concrete face: longitudinal forces and bending moments. It was established that high tensile stresses are most dangerous for concrete face strength in ultra-high rockfill dams. They create a threat by formation of horizontal and inclined cracks oriented along the contact with the foundation. These tensile stresses are the result of not only concrete face transverse bending deformations but also the presence of longitudinal tensile forces and longitudinal bending deformations in it. It is possible to minimize the impact of these adverse effects by decreasing friction at the contact of the face with the dam, however, this does not provide favorable SSS of the concrete face. It is necessary to take special measures on concrete face SSS regulation. Namely, it was established that rockfill deformation modulus should make up at least 300÷400 MPa. Absence of precedent cases of crack formation in the faces of the existing ultra-high rockfill dams may be explained by relaxation of stresses due to creep of concrete.


BACKGROUND
Migraine is very common. In addition to affecting visual quality of life, migraine can be seen in the neuro-ophthalmology office with regularity. Treatment is critical to assist in the reduction of disability and symptoms. Knowing the evidence-based new treatments is important for every neuro-ophthalmologist.

METHODS
Using PubMed, and using the term migraine as it related to the terms treatment, evidence-based, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) inhibitor or antibody, electrical stimulation, vagal nerve stimulation, a literature review was performed.

RESULTS
Aside from standard well-described and evidence-based therapies for the acute treatment and prevention of migraine, many new therapies have received FDA approval. In this review, we summarize the contribution of new classes of migraine-specific therapies: CGRP antibodies (erenumab, fremanezumab, galcanezumab, and eptinezumab) for prevention and inhibitors referred to as gepants (ubrogepant and rimegepant) for acute treatment. We also cover newer medications about to be approved, such as lasmitiditan. Devices, including the hand-held vagal nerve stimulator, supraorbital stimulation, transmagnetic stimulation, and remote electrical stimulation, are now approved by the FDA for treatment of migraine.

CONCLUSION
Many new and exciting therapies exist for the treatment of migraine. Keeping up with this rapidly evolving field is important in reducing disability from the common disease of migraine.


What can Russian images and objects-a tsar's crown, a provincial watercolor album, the Soviet Pioneer Palace-tell us about the Russian people and their culture? This wide-ranging book is the first to explore the visual culture of Russia over the entire span of Russian history, from ancient Kiev to contemporary, post-Soviet society. Illustrated with more than one hundred diverse and fascinating images, the book examines the ways that Russians have represented themselves visually, understood their visual environment, and used visual images in social and political contexts. Expert contributors discuss images and objects from all over the Russian/Soviet empire, including consumer goods, architectural monuments, religious icons, portraits, news and art photography, popular prints, films, folk art, and more. Each of the concise and accessible essays in the volume offers a fresh interpretation of Russian cultural history. Putting visuality itself in focus as never before, Picturing Russia adds an entirely new dimension to the study of Russian literature, history, art, and culture. The book enriches our understanding of visual documents and shows the variety of ways they serve as far more than mere illustration.


Chronic debilitating pruritus is a cardinal feature of atopic dermatitis (AD). Little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Antihistamines lack efficacy in treating itch in AD, suggesting the existence of histamine-independent itch pathways in AD. Transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) is essential in the signaling pathways that promote histamine-independent itch. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that TRPA1-dependent neural pathways play a key role in chronic itch in AD using an IL-13– transgenic mouse model of AD. In these mice, IL-13 causes chronic AD characterized by intensive chronic itch associated with markedly enhanced growth of dermal neuropeptide-secreting afferent nerve fibers and enhanced expression of TRPA1 in dermal sensory nerve fibers, their dorsal root ganglia, and mast cells. Inhibition of TRPA1 with a specific antagonist in these mice selectively attenuated itch-evoked scratching. Genetic deletion of mast cells in these mice led to significantly diminished itch-scratching behaviors and reduced TRPA1 expression in dermal neuropeptide containing afferents in the AD skin. Interestingly, IL-13 strongly stimulates TRPA1 expression, which is functional in calcium mobilization in mast cells. In accordance with these observations in the AD mice, TRPA1 expression was highly enhanced in the dermal afferent nerves, mast cells, and the epidermis in the lesional skin biopsies from patients with AD, but not in the skin from healthy subjects. These studies demonstrate a novel neural mechanism underlying chronic itch in AD and highlight the complex interactions among TRPA1 + dermal afferent nerves and TRPA1 + mast cells in a Th2-dominated inflammatory environment. The Journal of Immunology , 2013, 191: 000–000.


In this paper, we examine the expenditure of whale shark tour participants at Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia; the location of the world's first whale shark tourism industry, established in 1989. We demonstrate that in 2006, participants' expenditure in the region was $894 per trip, total expenditure was $6.0 million (all figures are in Australian dollars), and between $2.4 and $4.6 million would have been lost to the region if whale shark tourism did not exist. Our measure of participants' expenditure is substantially lower than the calculation of $2370 per participant from a previous study of whale shark tourists using data collected in 1995. We argue that this is consistent with a change in the types of wildlife tourists that participate in an activity as the industry reaches the point of consolidation. Our results also suggest that using old data to forecast wildlife tourists' expenditure needs to take into account the industry's stage of development.