This essay is Professor Pierce's contribution to the annual Duke Law Journal symposium on administrative law. The topic of this year's symposium is "Taking Administrative Law to Tax." The other participants in the symposium make three main points: (1) IRS and Treasury have long engaged in practices that are inconsistent with the APA, specifically including issuance of legislative rules without complying with the notice and comment procedure described in APA section 553; (2) courts should require IRS and Treasury to comply with the APA; and, (3) several opinions issued by the Supreme Court in recent years suggest that courts are prepared to require IRS and Treasury to comply with the APA when they issue tax rules.Professor Pierce agrees with the other participants on all three of those points. He parts company with the other participants on one important question, however. He argues that courts should not require IRS and Treasury to comply with APA section 553 as that section has been interpreted by courts. He describes the many ways in which courts have dramatically expanded the requirements of APA section 553. He argues that courts should not be encouraged to apply the judicial version of APA section 553, as opposed to the original version Congress contemplated, to tax rules because to do so would so "interrupt the flow of revenues as to jeopardize the nation's fiscal stability" in violation of the Anti-Injunction Act. Professor Pierce argues that the courts should continue to refuse to allow pre-enforcement review of tax rules to discourage courts from applying the unduly demanding judicial version of APA section 553 to tax rules.


This paper traces the history of international corporate taxation, discusses how transnational corporations (TNCs), through their tax advisers, have helped to shape the system, and suggests that this is important in understanding the development of TNCs. It argues that a key competitive advantage of TNCs is their ability to exploit differences in corporate tax rules, as a form of regulatory arbitrage, which is facilitated by the inadequate coordination of those rules. It focuses on the divergence between the understanding in business, economics and international studies that TNCs are unitary firms and the principle which has increasingly hardened in international tax rules, especially on transfer pricing, that the various affiliates of TNCs in different countries should be treated as if they were independent entities dealing with each other at arm's length. It argues that this facilitates tax avoidance, which is one of the strategies of the exploitation of regulatory differences, or regulatory arbitrage, which has contributed to the growth and oligopolistic dominance of large TNCs. While claiming that they merely obey the laws of each country where they do business, TNCs have taken advantage of their global reach to mould laws and normative practices, and develop structures taking maximum advantage of the loose coordination of global governance regimes.


FINANCIAL REPORTING IN QATAR: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ALY E. SENOUN Department of Accounting University of Qatar This study is concerned with providing a comprehensive review of financial reporting in Qatar and statistically assessing the quality of such reporting. The methodology adopted is as follows: the relevant accounting literature is reviewed; the accounting environment and the accounting practice in Qatar are examined, and the level of disclosure of information in financial reports is then tested empirically. In sum, the results obtained suggest that Qatari companies are disclosing more information than strictly required by law. However, the need for improved financial reporting in Qatar has been recognized. Findings of this study should be of significant interest to the financial accounting legislative authorities in Qatar. Such findings may be considered as a necessary precedent before taking any major accounting policy decisions for establishing any formal requirement to be given in financial reports of companies. Findings should also be of significant interest to the international financial accounting policy-making bodies for the development of international accounting standards.


Background Malaria accounts for a small fraction of febrile cases in increasingly large areas of the malaria endemic world. Point-of-care tests to improve the management of non-malarial fevers appropriate for primary care are few, consisting of either diagnostic tests for specific pathogens or testing for biomarkers of host response that indicate whether antibiotics might be required. The impact and cost-effectiveness of these approaches are relatively unexplored and methods to do so are not well-developed. Methods We model the ability of dengue and scrub typhus rapid tests to inform antibiotic treatment, as compared with testing for elevated C-Reactive Protein (CRP), a biomarker of host-inflammation. Using data on causes of fever in rural Laos, we estimate the proportion of outpatients that would be correctly classified as requiring an antibiotic and the likely cost-effectiveness of the approaches. Results Use of either pathogen-specific test slightly increased the proportion of patients correctly classified as requiring antibiotics. CRP testing was consistently superior to the pathogen-specific tests, despite heterogeneity in causes of fever. All testing strategies are likely to result in higher average costs, but only the scrub typhus and CRP tests are likely to be cost-effective when considering direct health benefits, with median cost per disability adjusted life year averted of approximately $48 USD and $94 USD, respectively. Conclusions Testing for viral infections is unlikely to be cost-effective when considering only direct health benefits to patients. Testing for prevalent bacterial pathogens can be cost-effective, having the benefit of informing not only whether treatment is required, but also as to the most appropriate antibiotic; this advantage, however, varies widely in response to heterogeneity in causes of fever. Testing for biomarkers of host inflammation is likely to be consistently cost-effective despite high heterogeneity, and can also offer substantial reductions in over-use of antimicrobials in viral infections.


LANGUAGE AND LITERACY MULTILEVEL CONSTRUCTS IN YOUNG NONMAINSTREAM AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEAKERS: EXAMINING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LATENT VARIABLES by Souraya Mansour Mitri According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP, 2013), children from race and language minority groups continue to perform significantly lower than their peers on reading achievement tests. Current perspectives suggest that multiple factors (e.g., household income, parent education) likely contribute to the achievement gap between African American children and their White peers and children from low income and middle income households (Barton & Coley, 2010; Chatterji, 2006; Jencks & Phillips, 1998), leading to multiple approaches (e.g., Head Start Early Reading First) to prevent or alleviate the trend (Barnett, Coralon, Fitzgerald, & Squires, 2011). However, African American children continue to perform lower than their White peers, and continue to be over-represented in special services. It has become increasingly important to understand the contributors to early reading development among African American children. The purpose of this study was to provide a descriptive view of early language and literacy among typically developing children in prekindergarten who speak nonmainstream American English at child and classroom levels. Approximately 673 typically developing children in 95 prekindergarten classrooms were included in this study from a larger cross-sectional study. Results support a model with language, literacy, and dialect as separate constructs at the child level while language and literacy as one construct and dialect as the second construct at the classroom level. Language and literacy were highly related but distinct at the child level but perfectly correlated at the classroom level. The dialect construct was moderately and negatively related to language and literacy at both levels.


In contrast to the Supreme Court, which typically reverses the cases it hears, the United States Courts of Appeals almost always affirm the cases that they hear. We set out to explore this affirmance effect on the U.S. Courts of Appeal by using insights drawn from law and economics (i.e., selection theory), political science (i.e., attitudinal theory and new institutionalism), and cognitive psychology (i.e., heuristics and biases, including the status quo and omission biases).


George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) is a central, founding figure of modern sociology, comparable to Karl Marx and Max Weber. Mead's early work, prior to his posthumous publications that appeared after 1932, is believed to be a series of articles contemporary scholarship defines as disconnected. A previously unknown, never published set of galleys for a book of essays by Mead, written between 1892 and 1910, unites these articles into a logical perspective. Essays on Social Psychology, Mead's "first" book, clearly locates him within a significantly different tradition and network than documented in his posthumous volumes. The discovery of this work is a major scholarly event. Instead of being abstract and unemotional, as some scholars argue, Mead's early scholarship focused on the significance of emotions, instincts, and childhood as well as political issues underlying political problems in Chicago. During these early years, he was involved with the emerging Laboratory Schools at the University of Chicago which was then the center of progressive education. These early topics, interpretations, and scholarly networks are dramatically different in these writings from those of Mead as a mature scholar. They demonstrate that he was clearly making a transition from psychology to social psychology at a time when the latter was in its infancy. Mary Jo Deegan, a world-renowned Meadian scholar, has comprehensively edited this volume, footnoting now obscure references and authors. Her introduction explains how this previously lost manuscript affects contemporary Meadian scholarship and how it reflects the city and times in which he lived. Unlike the posthumous volumes, assembled from lecture notes, Essays in Social Psychology is the only book actually written by Mead and challenges most current scholarship on him. The selections are highly readable, surprisingly timely yet historically significant. Psychologists, sociologists, and educators will find it immensely important. George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) taught at the University of Chicago from 1894 to 1931. His posthumous volumes are The Philosophy of the Present, Mind, Self, and Society, and The Philosophy of the Act. Mary Jo Deegan is professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She is the author of Jane Addams and the Men of the Chicago School, 1892-1918, named by Choice as among the outstanding academic books of 1989.


ABSTRACT The Russian renewable energy industry has not yet succeeded in breaking through into the domestic market despite its potential, particularly in remote Arctic settlements. This article examines broad issues that influence national policy-makers and provides an analysis of the type of objectives that are emphasized in Russian energy policies. It can be assumed that the priorities behind these objectives have a more stable status than more concrete plans to boost the use of renewables, since they often fail to materialize. In order to discover these priorities, I analyze several relevant policy-making documents with the help of public justification analysis, a method developed to examine public claims made in favor of a certain cause, and the commonly known values that the claim-makers refer to in order to convince others. This paper reveals that Russian energy policy documents tend to emphasize concrete, technical tasks over more abstract, holistic goals. In addition, industrial needs dominate all policies, even those related to socio-economic or environmental issues. I conclude that the tendencies listed above may prevent fundamental structural change in the Russian energy industry, despite the potential of renewable energy, especially in the Arctic regions.


Investing in energy efficiency and saving is crucial to support energy accessibility and environmental protection, and it is the world's best interest to share and implement forms of energy efficiency. This implies a stronger and effective transnational policy to promote and disseminate know-how about new technologies both at the market and R&D level. In this respect, development of projects centered on energy efficient technologies based on nanostructured organic materials certainly is a strategic field. The progresses in mastering organic matter by self-assembly and self-organization to form ordered softmaterials revolutionized the field opening new frontiers for both fundamental and applied research. However the route towards organic materials for application at the industrial scale is restricted by difficulties in the control and manipulation of the structural organization at the molecular level and its manifestation at higher scales. Motivated by the potential for significant energy savings, the INFUSION project aims to create a strongly interdisciplinary and inter-sectorial environment in which the principles of self-organization are poured from the Academia into the private sector and vice-versa to create new paradigms to engineer electrochromic devices. Through a detailed plan of 83 secondments, the project aims at cross-fertilize the electrochromic technology joining specific expertise to realize a bottom-up approach toward the design, preparation and characterization of self-organized organic materials (chromophores, CNSs, polymers...) at different interfaces (ITO, graphene) and exhibiting superior performances (optical, durability...). For the transfer of knowledge, the project combines the multidisciplinary expertise of 6 universities, 1 research institute, and 3 companies representing 4 EU and 2 TC countries (Pakistan and Argentina) in the field of organic chemistry, photochemistry, surface science, polymer and materials science, and device engineering.


For the last decade, Jacquelyn Martino has focused her artistic practice on the design of a rule-based computational language to generate works in the visual design language of her evolving style. Travel Stones is an installation that applies this computational language to the creation of a collection of cultural artifacts from a fictitious ancient culture. Martino makes use of her rule system to generate a series of realistic cultural artifacts made plausible by the combination of their consistent design language and their grounding in a number of historical references. In the installation, the viewer reads a museum-style exhibition text detailing the origins of the artifacts. The imagined culture derives from an ancient people who carry their travel stones -- much as house keys -- as a way to access their home center, which is ultimately more spiritual than physical. The text leads the viewer to believe that the four accompanying paintings document a first-hand exposure to the stones by someone external to the culture. Passed from generation to generation, the stones further serve as resonant objects in the tracing of the people's history. Prompted by the drawings on the stones, the ancients recount tales of their origins to the next generations as well as to those they meet in travel. Through their stories, they maintain their sense of identity and place while simultaneously transferring fragments of their culture to others. In this piece, the enabling algorithmic production system is integral to Martino's process, but not particularly apparent to the viewer. The visual separation of high-tech process from pseudo-historic product calls into question any easy distinction between technology and culture in our own place and time.


Volume 1 Schoolboy honour - a tale of Halminster College, Henry Cadwaller Adams. Volume 2 St Winifred's, or the world of school, Frederic William Farrar. Volume 3 The fifth form at St Dominics, Talbot Baines Reed. Volume 4 The thing that hath been, Arthur Herman Gilkes. Volume 5 Gerald Eversley's friendship, a study in real life, James Edward Cowell Welldon.


Universities globally have continued to strategically increase work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities for students to enhance graduate employability However, meeting the needs of the increasing number of placements in industry settings places challenges on employers and academic programme coordinators This paper examines an innovative teaching and learning initiative demonstrating non-placement WIL practice on-campus and online through an exercise prescription clinic (EPC) The benefits provided by these opportunities have not only been for student learning, but for clients, in particular those impacted by neurological and/or muscular skeletal problems The development of the on-campus EPC has focused on key elements of good practice in WIL highlighted by Agnew, Pill and Orrell (2017) The recent Covid-19 pandemic and the related government restrictions have resulted in the on-campus EPC being flipped online, requiring adaptability and flexibility of both students and clients This paper reinforces the importance of developing WIL experiences that enhance the learning outcomes for both the student and the client It also highlights the transferability of authentic industry non-placement WIL clinical experiences for future health professionals to both on-campus and online settings, which enable students the opportunity to engage with a range of clients in a safe environment, enhancing both personal and professional learning outcomes


The paper discusses al-Kindī's response to doctrines held by contemporary theologians of the Mu'tazilite school: divine attributes, creation, and freedom. In the first section it is argued that, despite his broadly negative theology, al-Kindī recognizes a special kind of "essential" positive attribute belonging to God. The second section argues that al-Kindī agreed with the Mu'tazila in holding that something may not yet exist but still be an object of God's knowledge and power (as the Mu'tazila put it, that "non-being" is a "thing"). Also it presents a new parallel between al-Kindī and John Philoponus. The third section gives an interpretation of al-Kindī as a compatibilist, in other words as holding that humans may be free even though their actions are necessitated. In all three cases, it is argued, al-Kindī is close to the Mu'tazilite point of view, though he departs from them in the arguments he gives for that point of view.


The present study describes food blogs as a genre of computer-mediated communication (CMC). The combined approach of corpus linguistic and pragmatic methods reveals the characteristics of food blogs as a hybrid genre that mixes elements from various other discourse types. Lexical and syntactic analyses depict the use and frequencies of (1) CMC related phenomena: innovative vocabulary and spelling; (2) food related jargon: specialized vocabulary, grammatical patterns; (3) phenomena related to spoken interaction: discourse markers, hedges and address. The pragmatic analysis reviews these elements in their blog context. They contribute to creating an audience directed text through features such as humor, repetition and expert knowledge. We thus provide evidence that one of the main goals of this discourse type is interaction and describe how this interaction is systematically achieved.


Temporal action localization is an important task of computer vision. Though a variety of methods have been proposed, it still remains an open question how to predict the temporal boundaries of action segments precisely. Most works use segment-level classifiers to select video segments pre-determined by action proposal or dense sliding windows. However, in order to achieve more precise action boundaries, a temporal localization system should make dense predictions at a fine granularity. A newly proposed work exploits Convolutional-DeconvolutionalConvolutional (CDC) filters to upsample the predictions of 3D ConvNets, making it possible to perform per-frame action predictions and achieving promising performance in terms of temporal action localization. However, CDC network loses temporal information partially due to the temporal downsampling operation. In this paper, we propose an elegant and powerful Temporal Preservation Convolutional (TPC) Network that equips 3D ConvNets with TPC filters. TPC network can fully preserve temporal resolution and downsample the spatial resolution simultaneously, enabling frame-level granularity action localization. TPC network can be trained in an end-to-end manner. Experiment results on public datasets show that TPC network achieves significant improvement on per-frame action prediction and competing results on segment-level temporal action localization.


The middle Archean (3.25-3.20Ga) coastal Pilbara Terrane was formed by an immature oceanic island arc-continent collision [D1: 3.15-3.05Ga] and was deformed by regional intraplate strike-slip deformations [D2: 3.0-2.95Ga; D3: 2.90-2.80Ga] (Kiyokwa and Taira, 1999; Kiyokawa et al., submit). The immatured oceanic island arc unit of the Cleaverville-Roebourne Supercomplex tectonically overthrusts the granitecontinental shelf metasedimentary Karratha Supercomplex (see cross section) (Kiyokawa and Taira, 1998). D1 thrust deformation evidences, such as klippen structure, imbricated thrust piles and a basal decollement with quartz mylonite, are well preserved in the complexes boundary. On the other hand, the D2 event identified regional strike-slip deformations (eg. reactivated quartz mylonite, steep axis asymmetric fold) and the D3 deformation locally preserved at the terrane boundary with mylonite shear zone [Sholl shear zone]. These deformations are identified as formation of a juvenile continent and stabilization of early continent in Middle Archean.


Communication networks have vital roles in our daily lives, both in small-scale and large-scale perspective. First, in small-scale networks, nanonetworks consisting of nano-scale devices have been proposed to solve problems in environmental monitoring, healthcare (in the form of nanomedicine), industrial, and military fields. An emerging means of supporting communication between nano-scale devices is molecular communication (MC), where information is encoded in the type, quantity or timing of molecules released by a transmitter. These molecules are then either carried, drift, or diffuse from the transmitter to a receiver, where decoding can take place. In the large-scale networks, with the exponential growth of the data traffic and the massive increase in the number of connected devices in the age of Internet-ofThings (IoT), future wireless communication networks have to satisfy some main requirements, such as a capability of serving many devices simultaneously, providing high per-user data rate, and serving realtime applications. Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), where many access points (APs) coherently serve all users in the networks, is one potential candidate as it can offer very high spectral efficiency (SE), energy efficiency (EE), and coverage probability. The major challenge to both MC and cell-free massive MIMO, which significantly affects on system performance, is noise and interference management. Therefore, the main motivation of this thesis is to propose methods to manage noise and interference in both MC and cellfree masive MIMO systems. In the first part, I focus on noise management in the MC systems. Two main challenges in MC, namely noise and coexistence, are investigated. In particular, I develop a detection framework that can cope with noise in scenarios where the molecules propagate according to anomalous diffusion instead of the conventional Brownian motion. Then, I develop a framework to establish coexistence conditions based on the theory of chemical reaction networks. I specialize the framework in two settings: an enzyme-aided MC system; and a low-rate MC system near a biochemical system. In the second part, we focus on design and optimisation for cell-free massive MIMO by applying interference management techniques. I propose a new method which aims at improving the channel estimation by using pilot power control technique to reduce the mean square channel estimation error. Then, I design and optimise cell-free massive MIMO systems with multi-antennas at users. A simple and insightful closed-form expression for the SE is derived. This closed-form expression enables us to formulate a data power control problem to improve the system SE. Moreover, I propose the framework to achieve sub-optimal of SE regardless the number of users in the system.


Stimuli-responsive (smart) hydrogels have attracted widespread attention as biomimetic systems due to their ability to respond to subtle changes in external and internal stimuli ranging from physical triggers such as temperature and electric field to chemical triggers like glucose and pH. Besides their intriguing behavior, the main interest in such smart hydrogels lies in their potential industrial and biomedical applications. Some of these applications include injectable biomaterials, tunable surfaces for cell sheet engineering, sensors, and actuators. In this review, we discuss the fundamental principles underlying the stimuli-responsive behavior of hydrogels and how these properties have led to major technological innovations. We also review recent advancements in the field of hydrogels, including self-healing and stimuliresponsive degradation in hydrogels. We conclude by providing a perspective on the potential use of smart hydrogels as multifunctional, bioactuating systems for cell and tissue engineering.


We study the linear post-Newtonian approximation to general relativity known as gravitoelectromagnetism (GEM); in particular, we examine the similarities and differences between GEM and electrodynamics. Notwithstanding some significant differences between them, we find that a special nonstationary metric in GEM can be employed to show explicitly that it is possible to introduce gravitational induction within GEM in close analogy with Faraday's law of induction and Lenz's law in electrodynamics. Some of the physical implications of gravitational induction are briefly discussed.


In recent decades, the doctrine of content neutrality has become the cornerstone of First Amendment jurisprudence. In the leading case of Police Department v. Mosley (1972), the Supreme Court declared that speech may "never" be regulated because of its content, for that would be "the essence of . . . censorship." If this view were taken literally, however, it would disable government from regulating speech even when necessary to prevent serious injury to individuals or society. In response to this concern, the Court has carved out several exceptions to the neutrality doctrine. Yet the Justices have never succeeded in explaining the rationale for these exceptions, or in squaring them with the general principle of content neutrality. As a result, the Court's First Amendment opinions often seem arbitrary and unpersuasive. Far from illuminating free speech problems, the doctrine of content neutrality, when taken as the central concern of the First Amendment, only makes them more obscure. The time has come to reconsider the content neutrality doctrine. In this Essay, I argue that content neutrality is an important element of free speech jurisprudence, but that it should not be regarded as "the first principle of the First Amendment." Instead, it should be understood within a broader normative framework. The neutrality doctrine is rooted in an underlying conception of autonomy. When individuals act within the scope of their own autonomy, government may not intrude into this realm by regulating the content of thought or expression. Nor may government interfere with the collective autonomy of citizens by imposing unjustified restrictions on public debate. Some acts of speech, however, should be regarded as invading the autonomy or rights of others. In such cases, the rationale for content neutrality no longer holds; in regulating speech, the government is not invading the autonomy of speakers, listeners, or the community, but instead is protecting the rightful freedom of others. After developing this view, the Essay explores the shortcomings of content neutrality when it is treated as the central principle of the First Amendment, divorced from the normative framework that is developed here. Focusing on judicial efforts to deal with hate speech in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, and with pornography in American Booksellers Association v. Hudnut, I argue that the courts' increasing reliance on the content discrimination doctrine to resolve difficult First Amendment problems only obscures the crucial substantive issues at stake, and leads to hypertechnical decisions that are inaccessible to the public. This approach not only gives short shrift to other values affected by speech, it also fails to persuasively articulate and defend the values that underlie the First Amendment itself. Finally, the Essay discusses how the theory and doctrine of content neutrality should be reformed in order to avoid these difficulties while preserving its legitimate role in First Amendment jurisprudence.


Surface and interfacial tensions are key parameters affecting nonaqueous‐phase liquid (NAPL) movement and redistribution in the subsurface after spill events. In this study, the impact of major additive components on surface and interfacial tensions for organic mixtures and wastewater was investigated. Organic mixture and wastewater compositions were based on CCl4 mixtures released at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford site, where CCl4 was discharged simultaneously with dibutyl butyl phosphonate, tributyl phosphate, dibutyl phosphate, and a machining lard oil. A considerable amount of wastewater consisting primarily of nitrates and metal salts was also discharged. The measured tension values revealed that the addition of these additive components caused a significant lowering of the interfacial tension with water or wastewater and the surface tension of the wastewater phase in equilibrium with the organic mixtures, compared with pure CCl4, but had minimal effect on the surface tension of the NAPL itself. These results led to large differences in spreading coefficients for several mixtures, where the additives caused both a higher (more spreading) initial spreading coefficient and a lower (less spreading) equilibrium spreading coefficient. This indicates that if these mixtures migrate into uncontaminated areas, they will tend to spread quickly but will form a higher residual NAPL saturation after equilibrium than pure CCl4 With time, CCl4 probably volatilizes more rapidly than other components in the originally disposed mixtures and the lard oil and phosphates would become more concentrated in the remaining NAPL, resulting in a lower interfacial tension for the mixture. These results show that the behavior of organic chemical mixtures should be accounted for in flow and transport models.


Below are links to databases and scholarly web sites that support the study of urban planning and its related sub-disciplines.


Seasonality of food supply is a major driver of physiological and ecological adaptations of marine zooplankton. High-latitude marine copepods accumulate lipids for maintenance and reproductive maturation during the food-depleted winter period. The relationship between latitude and lipid storage in copepods is well established, but it is influenced by many factors, such as trophic position, sex, and depth distribution. In this study, the influence of latitude and collection depth, trophic level, sex, and the presence or absence of dormancy on the relative amount and composition of lipids stored was assessed by analysing published data. Our analyses confirmed higher lipid contents (expressed as % dry weight) in high-latitude species, and in deep-dwelling tropical copepods compared to shallow-living ones. Contrary to our original hypothesis, carnivorous and herbivorous copepods had similar lipid levels. Copepod species that undergo dormancy had higher levels of wax ester and were more common at polar and temperate latitudes. Lastly, adult male and female copepods did not significantly differ in the amount of lipids they store, suggesting that the portion of male reproductive investment, which may depend on lipid stores, has been underestimated. Taken together, these results both confirm some previously reported trends and refute others.


This paper presents the generalization of a delayed version of the logistic map. The effect of the added two general parameters is studied, which offers the option of having three different maps. The dynamic behavior of the vertical, zooming and the general map is analyzed. The study of the fixed points, stability ranges and bifurcation diagram of the delayed logistic map at hand is detailed in this work. The flow of the system behavior from stability to chaos is also presented with its transient response as well as its phase plane portraits. Moreover, using the general parameters, the option of designing any specific map is validated by some design examples, which makes it more optimal for any specific applications. The added general parameters offer increased randomness with controllability of the map design, making it more suitable for pseudo-random sequence generators which are used in image encryption algorithms and in secure communication transfer.


In this paper, we investigate the hybrid tractability of binary Quantified Constraint Satisfaction Problems (QCSPs). First, a basic tractable class of binary QCSPs is identified by using the broken-triangle property. In this class, the variable ordering for the broken-triangle property must be same as that in the prefix of the QCSP. Second, we break this restriction to allow that existentially quantified variables can be shifted within or out of their blocks, and thus identify some novel tractable classes by introducing the broken-angle property. Finally, we identify a more generalized tractable class, i.e., the min-of-max extendable class for QCSPs.


Ecological stoichiometry can be a powerful tool to understand food web consequences of altered biogeochemical cycles as well as consequences of biodiversity loss on biogeochemistry and has proved to be a suitable framework to predict effects of consumers on the nutrient content of their prey. However, predictions from ecological stoichiometry have mainly been tested using single consumer species, whereas in most natural ecosystems several consumer species coexist. We conducted 2 outdoor mesocosm experiments with marine rock pool communities to test whether species richness and species combination of benthic invertebrates affected the nutrient content of periphyton. We independently manipulated 12 different consumer combinations ranging from 0 to 6 (2004) or 0 to 4 (2005) grazer species and measured the biomass and nutrient content of the algae. Grazers included 3 gastropods and 3 crustaceans. In 2005, we additionally analyzed animal nutrient content and N excretion rate. Algal biomass and C:N ratios decreased in the presence of grazers in both years, indicating that the remaining algae had higher internal N content. Also, both biomass (2004 and 2005) and C:N ratios (only 2004) decreased even further when grazer richness increased. In 2004, significant net diversity effects of grazer richness on periphyton C:N ratios indicated that periphyton N content under multispecies grazing could not be predicted from the effect of single species. In 2005, significant net diversity effects on C:N ratios were rare, but periphyton C:N ratios consistently decreased with increasing grazer excretion rate, indicating that higher nitrogen regeneration by grazers led to higher N incorporation by algae. The effects of species richness were mainly affected by the presence of one efficient grazer, the gastropod Littorina littorea. Our experiments indicate that non-additive intraguild interactions may qualitatively alter the stoichiometric effects of multispecies consumer assemblages.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the spectral effects of an interface between vacuum
and a negative-index material (NIM), that is, a dispersive material whose electric permittivity and
magnetic permeability become negative in some frequency range. We consider here an elementary
situation, namely, 1) the simplest existing model of NIM : the non dissipative Drude model, for which
negativity occurs at low frequencies; 2) a two-dimensional scalar model derived from the complete
Maxwell's equations; 3) the case of a simple bounded cavity: a polygonal domain partially filled with
a portion of Drude material. Because of the frequency dispersion (the permittivity and permeability
depend on the frequency), the spectral analysis of such a cavity is unusual since it yields a nonlinear
eigenvalue problem. Thanks to the use of an additional unknown, we linearize the problem and we
present a complete description of the spectrum. We show in particular that the interface between
the NIM and vacuum is responsible for various resonance phenomena related to various components
of an essential spectrum.


For many of us, physics, like math, has always been a thing of mystery and complexity. In First You Build a Cloud, K. C. Cole provides cogent explanations through animated prose, metaphors, and anecdotes, allowing us to comprehend the nuances of physics-gravity and light, color and shape, quarks and quasars, particles and stars, force and strength. We also come to see how the physical world is so deeply intertwined with the ways in which we think about culture, poetry, and philosophy. Cole, one of our preeminent science writers, serves as a guide into the world of such legendary scientific minds as Richard Feynman, Victor Weisskopf, brothers Frank Oppenheimer and J. Robert Oppenheimer, Philip Morrison, Vera Kistiakowsky, and Stephen Jay Gould.


In order to promote pedagogically informed use of technology, educators need to develop an active, inquisitive, design-oriented mindset. Design Patterns have been demonstrated as powerful mediators of theory-praxis conversations yet widespread adoption by the practitioner community remains a challenge. Over several years, the authors and their colleagues have facilitated many workshops in which participants shared experiences, captured these as design narratives, extracting design patterns, and applied them to novel teaching challenges represented as design scenarios. This paper presents the core elements of the methodology that emerged from these workshops: the Participatory Patterns Workshops (PPW) methodology. Keywords: design patterns; design narratives; scenarios; workshops; methodology (Published: 30 August 2012) http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.19197


This thesis presents research from two interrelated studies examining the marketing practices of local food businesses in Southwestern Ontario. Focus groups were held with food system stakeholders to examine their attitudes and insights toward developing new technologies (i.e., smartphone and web-based tools) to promote local food. A survey of direct-market farmers sought to uncover their marketing practices and motivations. A combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that although technology already plays a prominent role in marketing, there is a strong desire for more metrics to measure the efficacy of marketing efforts. Further, new technologies should facilitate producer-consumer connections, as this practice plays an important role in marketing local food. This research will help to inform future efforts to 'scale-up' local food systems by examining the preferences and perspectives of local food businesses. This ensures the needs of these businesses are addressed in the pursuit of sustainable, resilient local food systems.


Sacramental Imagery in the Fiction of James Joyce, Flannery O'Connor, and Wendell Berry Alienation, nihilism, disenchantment, and destruction of the Earth are some of the widespread maladies of modernity and post-modernity. Dualisms between body and soul, the physical and spiritual, nature and grace, and fact and value have separated humans from other people, from the Earth, from the divine, and ultimately from themselves. Ambivalence about embodiment has characterized Western Civilization since at least the time of Plato and early Christianity. Over time, a confluence of powerful philosophical, religious, and scientific ideas and movements deepened the fissures of these destructive dualisms. Modern science with its claims to hegemony over objective ways of knowing the world is not capable of addressing the issues that are of most importance to human beings—questions about meaning, purpose, and values. Traditional forms of meaning making like narrative, metaphor, art, religion, and ritual were relegated to the realm of subjectivism and regarded as subservient to scientism. By contrast, the sacramental imagination that typified the pre-modern and early modern worldview saw connections everywhere between God, humankind, and the cosmos. The sacramental imagination sees the material and the spiritual as being intimately intertwined in the warp and woof of reality. This thesis begins by tracing the genesis of the body-soul dualism in the West and how the sacramental tapestry was woven and then torn asunder. On the darkling plain of modernity there arose three poet-prophets to call humanity back to a holistic and embodied way of engaging the world: James Joyce, Flannery O'Connor, and Wendell Berry. Although they represent secular, Catholic, and Protestant viewpoints, respectively, they each demonstrate how to recover the sacramental imagination. This thesis enters into the critical conversation concerning the sacramental nature of their works, including comparing and contrasting their sacramental approach. Through a close reading of one work of fiction from each author (Joyce's novel Ulysses, O'Connor's short story "Parker's Back, and Berry's novel Remembering), their use of sacramental imagery and the functioning of their fictional works as sacramental texts is explored. Recovery of the sacramental imagination is put forth as a way to embrace embodiment and to regain connections between humans, the world, and the transcendent.


Scandia doped dispenser cathodes were prepared by powder metallurgy method using mixed powder of scandia doped tungsten, barium–calcium aluminates obtained by sol–gel method. The scanning electron microscope observation results indicate that the cathode has submicron quasi–spherical tungsten grains structure with homogeneous distribution of Sc2O3 and barium–calcium aluminates which dispersed over and among W grains. The cathode exhibits good emission property, i.e. the current density of this cathode can reach more than 40A/cm² at 850°Cb. The cathode has low work function of 1.43 eV. Active substance of Sc, Ba and O diffuse from the inner part of cathode to the surface to form a Ba–Sc–O multilayer having certain ratios of Ba:Sc:O which contains much more Ba than normal dispenser cathode at the surface of Sc2O3–W matrix cathode during the activation period. This active–multi–layer is considered to be responsible for copious emission capability.


Background Epidemiologic studies are reporting associations between lead exposure and human cancers. A polymorphism in the 5-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) gene affects lead toxicokinetics and may modify the adverse effects of lead. Methods The objective of this study was to evaluate single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tagging the ALAD region among renal cancer cases and controls to determine whether genetic variation alters the relationship between lead and renal cancer. Occupational exposure to lead and risk of cancer was examined in a case-control study of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Comprehensive analysis of variation across the ALAD gene was assessed using a tagging SNP approach among 987 cases and 1298 controls. Occupational lead exposure was estimated using questionnaire-based exposure assessment and expert review. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using logistic regression. Results The adjusted risk associated with the ALAD variant rs8177796CT/TT was increased (OR = 1.35, 95%CI = 1.05–1.73, p-value = 0.02) when compared to the major allele, regardless of lead exposure. Joint effects of lead and ALAD rs2761016 suggest an increased RCC risk for the homozygous wild-type and heterozygous alleles (GGOR = 2.68, 95%CI = 1.17–6.12, p = 0.01; GAOR = 1.79, 95%CI = 1.06–3.04 with an interaction approaching significance (pint = 0.06).. No significant modification in RCC risk was observed for the functional variant rs1800435(K68N). Haplotype analysis identified a region associated with risk supporting tagging SNP results. Conclusion A common genetic variation in ALAD may alter the risk of RCC overall, and among individuals occupationally exposed to lead. Further work in larger exposed populations is warranted to determine if ALAD modifies RCC risk associated with lead exposure.


Researchers investigated whether sleep practices in pregnant women were associated with risk of late stillbirth.1 A case-control study design was used. Cases were 155 women with a singleton late stillbirth (without congenital abnormality) that occurred at 28 weeks' gestation or later. Cases were identified by clinicians at participating maternity units and were also recruited from a registry. Controls were 310 women with single ongoing pregnancies. Controls were matched to cases on stage of gestation when the stillbirth occurred. Information about sleep practices, including maternal snoring, daytime sleepiness, and sleep position at the time of going to sleep and on waking (left side, right side, back, and other) was obtained through questionnaires that were administered by interviewers. The women who served as cases were interviewed in the first few weeks after stillbirth and asked about their sleep practices the night before stillbirth occurred (when the baby had probably died); controls …


The Chairman of the European Commission J.M Barroso, as the main "Europe 2020" strategic target for the upcoming ten years, indicates the creation of an innovative, stable and integrated economy. Higher education and business communication promotion and synergy are being dedicated as a prior target for all EU and EU member countries to be able to continue increasing employment, productivity, as well as social connections. The research of the enterprise and its stimulation in higher education (using higher education and business collaboration) is not deep enough, although the enterprise's multiple phenomenon were analysed from many perspectives. It is being planned to raise EU's investments to youth much more compared to other main parts of the budget in 2014-2020. Analysis of European Union documents and Lithuanian case studies was chosen on purpose according to the enterprise's created added value for European development. Realization, creativity, initiative, motivation, taking risks, planning and reaching personal goals are the main parts of the enterprise. Development of these skills in higher education is becoming very important because of "the advantage of the competitiveness is being determined by country's social education therefore the effective usage of human recourses is the most important part seeking to increase stabile economical and social well being." Research of the EU's and Lithuania's national documentation and scientific literature review of entrepreneurship in higher education identifies the current enterprise position in education. According to the analyses of the documentation and the scientific literature review, the enterprise's evaluation level was appointed. The new beginning of the enterprise in higher education is being started after the research was done and centrepiece's promotion was critically evaluated in the EU and Lithuania. In October, 2011 the committee of the EU created a new work group for enterprise promotion to create new guidelines for upcoming years. According to this, results of the research are being useful for the mechanism of enterprise promotion in higher education in Lithuania and EU. Higher education is the main entry in a growing country's competitiveness in the long term and it is asking for new decisions to be made. Developing a knowledge society which is able to adjust to the fast changing world is hard to achieve, but it is necessary in trying to adapt to social reality, innovations and financial market needs. The question of enterprise policy is still painful for the whole EU and it is trying to find a common answer to be able to improve understanding which has a direct impact on personality development, job market, and innovative business stimulation and is creating a stronger role for young people in social and economical life.


We study the emergence of chaotic behavior of Follow-the-Regularized Leader (FoReL) dynamics in games. We focus on the effects of increasing the population size or the scale of costs in congestion games, and generalize recent results on unstable, chaotic behaviors in the Multiplicative Weights Update dynamics to a much larger class of FoReL dynamics. We establish that, even in simple linear non-atomic congestion games with two parallel links and any fixed learning rate, unless the game is fully symmetric, increasing the population size or the scale of costs causes learning dynamics to become unstable and eventually chaotic, in the sense of Li-Yorke and positive topological entropy. Furthermore, we show the existence of novel non-standard phenomena such as the coexistence of stable Nash equilibria and chaos in the same game. We also observe the simultaneous creation of a chaotic attractor as another chaotic attractor gets destroyed. Lastly, although FoReL dynamics can be strange and non-equilibrating, we prove that the time average still converges to an exact equilibrium for any choice of learning rate and any scale of costs.


The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus , is a palm borer native to South Asia which has spread mainly due to the unintended movement of infested planting material. As a result, this species has become the most destructive palm pest in the world. The difficulty of detecting the early stages of infestation due to its cryptic life cycle has led many countries to implement, strict pre- and post-entry quarantine regulations to prevent further spread. However, there are no quarantine protocols to ensure that palm material for planting is free of R. ferrugineus . The aim of this study has been to determine the efficacy of aluminium phosphide as a safe quarantine treatment against different stages of R. ferrugineus and the possible phytotoxic effects on live Phoenix canariensis palms. Our results confirm that a dose of 1.14 g/m 3 for 2 days is enough to kill all stages of R. ferrugineu s in live palms with no phytotoxic effects on treated palms for up to one year after the treatment. This procedure, which could be easily applied in sealed containers used for palm trade, could drastically reduce risks associated to palm movement worldwide.


In this chapter, we provide a developmental outline of the emergence of referential skills during early childhood. We first briefly outline the major theoretical frameworks of reference as based on the adult literature and also introduce the growing body of developmental work. In two subsequent sections, we focus on typically developing children's comprehension and production skills, respectively. Next, we look to clinical populations, summarising research on referential skills in children with autism spectrum disorders. We conclude by outlining a developmental sketch of children's referential skills, considering some of the current debates within the development of reference.


EXAMINING TWILIGHT THROUGH A BIBLICAL LENS People around the world are asking the same question, enraptured with Edward and Bella's forbidden romance in the Twilight Saga, a four-book serial phenomenon written by Stephenie Meyer. The bestsellers tell the story of a regular girl's relationship with a vampire who has chosen to follow his "good" side. But the Saga isn't just another fantasy-it's teaching girls about love, sex, and purpose. With 48 million copies in print and a succession of upcoming blockbuster films, now is the time to ask the important question: Can vampires teach us about God's plan for love? Touched by a Vampire is the first book to investigate the themes of the Twilight Saga from a Biblical perspective. Some Christian readers have praised moral principles illustrated in the story, such as premarital sexual abstinence, which align with Meyer's Mormon beliefs. But ultimately, Beth Felker Jones examines whether the story's redemptive qualities outshine its darkness. Cautionary, thoughtful, and challenging, Touched by a Vampire is written for Twilight fans, parents, teachers, and pop culture enthusiasts. It includes an overview of the series for those unfamiliar with the storyline and a discussion guide for small groups.


This paper is a study of the noun phrase construction in L2 learner language and the base for the study are the tools for measuring syntactic maturity presented by Kellog W. Hunt (1966). Hunt and other scholars have used T-units, the smallest terminable unit in language, to analyze L2 learner language. This study however, analyzes the construction of the noun phrase instead of T-units. Although the focus differs there are many similarities between the method used in this study and in those analyzing T-units. This means that the study tries to create indexes which we can use as tools for measuring syntactic maturity and complexity among L2 learners, by measuring consolidation and postmodification. The outcome of the study shows that it is possible to measure consolidation of the noun phrase and that this figure may very well function as a tool for measuring language development. Furthermore this paper investigates opportunities for teachers to teach syntax and concludes that there are ways of improving L2 teaching by utilizing knowledge about L2 learner syntax.


This essay charts how two important journalists, Alex Haley and Hunter S. Thompson, represent elements of the American counterculture in the 1960s and 1970s, especially in their influential writings about the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, the Chicana/o movement, and drug culture. By analyzing The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and Haley's and Thompson's other magazine writings for Playboy, Rolling Stone, and the Saturday Evening Post, the essay argues that Haley's and Thompson's nonfiction prose styles articulate a view of the social world that can now, retrospectively, be described as neoliberalism. The neoliberal style this essay explicates allows for subjects under neoliberalism to inhabit a position that limits politics to the confines of individual entrepreneurialism and consumerism, thus broadcasting politics as not a collective enterprise but instead a set of individual postures and consumer choices.


Although neuron-glia crosstalk has been studied extensively in the past, it has not been clear that the signaling mediating this crosstalk exhibits any activity-dependent plasticity, such as the phenomenon of long-term potentiation (LTP) that is thought to represent the electrophysiological representation of memory. Ge et al. now report that neuronal signaling to NG2 glial cells in hippocampal slices exhibits LTP-like plasticity. The NG2 cell response is mediated by AMPA receptors and undergoes LTP after theta burst stimulation. LTP induction depends on postsynaptic Ca2+ and glutamate receptors, but not on NMDA receptors, and can be blocked by philanthotoxin, suggesting an involvement of Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors. W.-P. Ge, X.-J. Yang, Z. Zhang, H.-K. Wang, W. Shen, Q.-D. Deng, S. Duan, Long-term potentiation of neuron-glia synapses mediated by Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors. Science 312, 1533-1537 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Members of conflicting groups are motivated to restore their ingroup's agency, leading to antisocial tendencies against the outgroup. The present research tested the hypothesis that affirming conflicting groups' agency would increase their members' mutual prosociality. The effectiveness of agency affirmation was demonstrated in three contexts of conflict between groups: Switzerland and the EU following the 2014 referendum (Study 1), Israelis and Palestinians (Study 2), and Israeli rightists and leftists (Study 3). Study 1 found that in a nonconflictual context Swiss participants prioritized their moral (prosocial) over agentic goals, yet in the context of conflict with the EU, they prioritized their agentic over moral goals. This "primacy-of-agency" effect, however, was eliminated once their ingroup's agency was affirmed. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated the positive effect of agency affirmation on prosociality among Israelis referring to Palestinians and Israeli rightists and leftists referring to the adversarial political camp. This effect was mediated by group members' readiness to relinquish some power for the sake of morality. Pointing to the importance of the affirmation's specific content, Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that morality affirmation failed to increase prosociality. As such, the present research puts forward a promising strategy to reduce hostility and promote prosociality between conflicting groups.


In this study we investigated the use of a DNA dosimeter to accurately measure changes in ultraviolet B radiation (UVBR; 280–315 nm) under Antarctic ozone hole conditions. Naked DNA solution in quartz tubes was exposed to ambient solar radiation at Rothera Research Station, Antarctica, between October and December 1998 for 3 h during UVBR peak hours (1200–1500 h). Trends in UVBR‐mediated DNA damage (formation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers [CPD]) were related to cloud cover, ozone‐column depth and spectroradiometric measurements of ambient radiation. Ozone‐column depths ranged from 130 to 375 DU during the study period, resulting in highly variable UVBR doses, from 1.6 to 137 kJ m−2 over the 3 h exposure, as measured by spectroradiometry. There was a strong positive correlation (86%) between dosimeter CPD concentrations and DNA‐weighted UVBR doses. Ozone depth was a strong predictor of DNA damage (63%), and there was no significant relationship between CPD formation and cloud cover. Subtle changes in spectral characteristics caused by ozone depletion were detected by the biodosimeter; the highest CPD concentrations were observed in October when ozone‐mediated shifts favored shorter wavelengths of UVBR. We conclude that the DNA biodosimeter is an accurate indicator of biologically effective UVBR, even under highly variable ozone conditions.


This study presents a motif classification, quantification, and regional comparisons for engraved rock art from the Maderas Volcano on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua. Maderas has the largest concentration of petroglyphs thus far reported in Central America. A formal analysis was conducted, which included construction of a typology for, then quantitative analysis of motifs found on over 700 bouldersonly a portion of that known to exist on the island.


Objectives To examine very preterm (gestational age at birth <32 weeks) and/or very low birth weight (birth weight <1500 g: VP/VLBW) adults' personality and risk taking when compared with term controls. To investigate whether differences between VP/VLBW adults and controls remain after taking their general cognitive abilities into account. Design The Bavarian Longitudinal Study is a geographically defined prospective cohort study of neonatal at-risk children born in 1985/1986 in Germany. A total of 200 VP/VLBW and 197 controls completed main outcome measures including broad autism phenotype, personality traits (eg, introversion, neuroticism), and risk taking at 26 years of age. Results When compared with term controls, VP/VLBW adults scored significantly higher in autistic features, introversion and neuroticism but not in conscientiousness and closeness scales. They also reported lower risk taking. Profile analysis showed higher introversion, autistic features and neuroticism and lower risk taking as unique features of VP/VLBW adults (Fwithin-group=0.81, ns; Fbetween-group=49.56, p<0.001). These characteristics were found to load onto a single profile factor which was equivalent between the VP/VLBW and control samples (χ2=12.49, df=7, ns; comparative fit index=0.98). VP/VLBW birth significantly predicted the profile factor (β=0.33, p<0.001) and explained 11% of its variance. Adjusting for general cognitive deficits did not alter the findings. Conclusions VP/VLBW birth poses an important risk for a global withdrawn personality, as indicated by being less socially engaged (introversion), low in taking risks, poor in communication (autistic features) and easily worried (neuroticism). This profile might help to explain the social difficulties VP/VLBW individuals experience in adult roles, such as in peer/partner relationships and career.


Background: One area of public health research specialises in examining public views and opinions surrounding infectious disease outbreaks. Although interviews and surveys are valid sources of this information, views and opinions are necessarily generated by the context, rather than spontaneous. As such, social media has increasingly been viewed as legitimate source of pragmatic, unfiltered public opinion.

Objectives: This research attempts to better understand how users converse about infectious disease outbreaks on the social media platform Twitter. The study was undertaken in order to address a gap in knowledge because previous empirical studies that have analysed infectious disease outbreaks on Twitter have focused on employing quantitative methods as the primary form of data analysis. After analysing individual cases on Ebola, Zika, and swine flu, the study performs an important comparison in the types of discussions taking place on Twitter and is the first empirical study to do so.

Methods: A number of pilot studies were initially designed and conducted in order to help inform the main study. The study then manually labels tweets on infectious disease outbreaks assisted by the qualitative analysis programme NVivo, and performs an analysis using the Health Belief Model, concepts around information theory, and a number of sociological principles. The data were purposively sampled according to when Google Trends Data showed a heightened interest in the respective outbreaks, and a case study approach was utilised.

Results: A substantial number of themes were uncovered which were not reported in previous literature, demonstrating the potential of qualitative methodologies for extracting greater insight into public health opinions from Twitter data. The study noted several limitations of Twitter data for use in qualitative research. However, results demonstrated the potential of Twitter to identify discussions around infectious diseases that might not emerge in an interview and/or which might not be included in a survey.


The skill of a coupled ocean‐atmosphere model in predicting ENSO has recently been improved using a new initialization procedure in which initial conditions are obtained from the coupled model, nudged toward observations of wind stress. The previous procedure involved direct insertion of wind stress observations, ignoring model feedback from ocean to atmosphere. The success of the new scheme is attributed to its explicit consideration of ocean‐atmosphere coupling and the associated reduction of ''initialization shock'' and random noise. The so-called spring predictability barrier is eliminated, suggesting that such a barrier is not intrinsic to the real climate system. Initial attempts to generalize the nudging procedure to include SST were not successful; possible explanations are offered. In all experiments forecast skill is found to be much higher for the 1980s than for the 1970s and 1990s, suggesting decadal variations in predictability.


Analyzing Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of resting brains to determine the spatial location and activity of intrinsic brain networks–a novel and burgeoning research field–is limited by the lack of ground truth and the tendency of analyses to overfit the data. Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is commonly used to separate the data into signal and Gaussian noise components, and then map these components on to spatial networks. Identifying noise from this data, however, is a tedious process that has proven hard to automate, particularly when data from different institutions, subjects, and scanners is used. Here we present an automated method to delineate noisy independent components in ICA using a data-driven infrastructure that queries a database of 246 spatial and temporal features to discover a computational signature of different types of noise. We evaluated the performance of our method to detect noisy components from healthy control fMRI (sensitivity = 0.91, specificity = 0.82, cross validation accuracy (CVA) = 0.87, area under the curve (AUC) = 0.93), and demonstrate its generalizability by showing equivalent performance on (1) an age- and scanner-matched cohort of schizophrenia patients from the same institution (sensitivity = 0.89, specificity = 0.83, CVA = 0.86), (2) an age-matched cohort on an equivalent scanner from a different institution (sensitivity = 0.88, specificity = 0.88, CVA = 0.88), and (3) an age-matched cohort on a different scanner from a different institution (sensitivity = 0.72, specificity = 0.92, CVA = 0.79). We additionally compare our approach with a recently published method [1]. Our results suggest that our method is robust to noise variations due to population as well as scanner differences, thereby making it well suited to the goal of automatically distinguishing noise from functional networks to enable investigation of human brain function.


In Amazonia, prehistoric settlement was especially concentrated along the major rivers. This has been explained by the superior soil and wildlife resources of the floodplain (varzea) compared to the interfluve uplands (terra firme). However, the floodplain is a high-risk habitat because of regular and periodic extreme flooding of even the highest terrain. A bluff model is proposed arguing that most settlement was not in the floodplain but rather on the valley-side bluff tops adjacent to active river channels. Subsistence was a multistrategy utilizing floodplain playa (beach) and levee soils and aquatic wildlife periodically in combination with more stable bluffedge gardens, agroforestry, and hunting. That permanent and semipermanent cultivation systems were established on the poor bluff soils is evidenced by archaeology, ethnohistory, paleoecology, and zones of anthropogenic soils (terra preta). However, bluff occupation was sporadic rather than continuous, with large settlements mostly located where main river channels impinged against bluffs. This pattern persisted with colonial missions, and it continues today.


Mathematical model simulation is a useful method for understanding the complex behavior of a living system. The construction of mathematical models using comprehensive information is one of the techniques of model construction. Such a comprehensive knowledge-based network tends to become a large-scale network. As a result, the variation of analyses is limited to a particular kind of analysis because of the size and complexity of the model. To analyze a large-scale regulatory network of neural differentiation, we propose a contractive method that preserves the dynamic behavior of a large network. The method consists of the following two steps: comprehensive network building and network reduction. The reduction phase can extract network loop structures from a large-scale regulatory network, and the subnetworks were combined to preserve the dynamics of the original large-scale network. We confirmed that the extracted loop combination reproduced the known dynamics of HES1 and ASCL1 before and after differentiation, including oscillation and equilibrium of their concentrations. The model also reproduced the effects of the overexpression and knockdown of the Id2 gene. Our model suggests that the characteristic change in HES1 and ASCL1 expression in the large-scale regulatory network is controlled by a combination of four feedback loops, including a large loop, which has not been focused on. The model extracted by our method has the potential to reveal the critical mechanisms of neural differentiation. The method is applicable to other biological events.


The 21st century has been marked by the first ever social environment encompassing four distinct generations: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials. These cohorts grew up in different times, shaped by various political, technological and social events, which carved their character, mentality and perceptions in a contrasting manner. The results have been a clash of ambitions, opinions and personalities that has been prominent in both the private and the professional life. The university and in particular the Business School of the Hochschule Furtwangen University is a place where cross-generational members collide and experience the differences first-hand. In addition, it is the last frontier before the students and their respective careers as professionals. Thus, it is equally relevant to be explored as a potential ground zero for misunderstandings and conflicts as any other social environment. For these reasons, the thesis focuses on analyzing the three predominant generations of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials and identifying the key characteristics that differentiate them, which would provide a better understanding behind their actions and behavior. In addition, the findings aim at bringing relevance of the analysis to the university in question and improve the generational interactions and collaborations. In the end, it has been concluded that the generational gap exists and its influence is strongly present. Furthermore, it has been established that there is a lack of awareness on campus regarding the issue and more measures should be taken into consideration. Therefore, a number of recommendations have been made, the goal of which are to improve the environment and tighten the gap as much as possible.
In the pursue of findings, the thesis includes a primary research in the form of a questionnaire, distributed to the students and faculty staff, as well as a secondary research, encompassing literature review and relevant topics.


We present HyFlow — a distributed software transactional memory (D-STM) framework for distributed concurrency control. Lockbased concurrency control suffers from drawbacks including deadlocks, livelocks, and scalability and composability challenges. These problems are exacerbated in distributed systems due to their distributed versions which are more complex to cope with (e.g., distributed deadlocks). STM and D-STM are promising alternatives to lock-based and distributed lock-based concurrency control for centralized and distributed systems, respectively, that overcome these difficulties. HyFlow is a Java framework for D-STM, with pluggable support for directory lookup protocols, transactional synchronization and recovery mechanisms, contention management policies, cache coherence protocols, and network communication protocols. HyFlow exports a simple distributed programming model that excludes locks: using (Java 5) annotations, atomic sections are defined as transactions, in which reads and writes to shared, local and remote objects appear to take effect instantaneously. No changes are needed to the underlying virtual machine or compiler. We describe HyFlow's architecture and implementation, and report on experimental studies comparing HyFlow against competing models including Java remote method invocation (RMI) with mutual exclusion and read/write locks, distributed shared memory (DSM), and directory-based D-STM. Our studies show that HyFlow outperforms competitors by as much as 40-190% on a broad range of transactional workloads on a 72-node system, with more than 500 concurrent transactions.


Spatial dynamics of surface chlorophyll concentrations, diatom abundance and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures of surface suspended particulate matter (SPM) were investi- gated during a bloom event observed in March 2003 in the vicinity of the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands. The surface water composition was studied to estimate the overall importance and spatial extent of kelp derived SPM in the water column of the islands. It was observed that high chlorophyll concentrations (up to 2 mg m -3 ) between and downstream of the islands could not be explained by the development of the diatom bloom. Instead, microscopic and stable isotope analyses suggested that the chlorophyll signal was largely derived from the residual chlorophyll in fresh and decaying particles of small fragments of the kelp Macrocystis laevis, an endemic kelp species abun- dant along the shoreline of the islands. The findings of this study suggest that the dietary subsidy of kelp-derived carbon and nitrogen to benthic communities and possibly the plankton is not limited to the vicinity of kelp beds, but rather is a widespread phenomenon between the islands. Due to the dominating unidirectional Antarctic Circumpolar Current, large quantities of kelp-derived SPM may be transported and utilised tens of kilometres downstream of the islands.


ABSTRACT Two nuclear explosions were carried out by the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea in January and September 2016. Epicenters were located close to those of the 2006, 2009, and 2013 previous explosions. We perform a seismological analysis of the 2016 events combining the analysis of full waveforms at regional distances and seismic array beams at teleseismic distances. We estimate the most relevant source parameters, such as source depth, moment release, and full moment tensor (MT). The best MT solution can be decomposed into an isotropic source, directly related with the explosion and an additional deviatoric term, likely due to near‐source interactions with topographic and/or underground facilities features. We additionally perform an accurate resolution test to assess source parameters uncertainties and trade‐offs. This analysis sheds light on source parameters inconsistencies among studies on previous shallow explosive sources. The resolution of the true MT is hindered by strong source parameters trade‐offs, so that a broad range of well‐fitting MT solutions can be found, spanning from a dominant positive isotropic term to a dominant negative vertical compensated linear vector dipole. The true mechanism can be discriminated by additionally modeling first‐motion polarities at seismic arrays at teleseismic distances. A comparative assessment of the 2016 explosion with earlier nuclear tests documents similar vertical waveforms but a significant increase of amplitude for the 2016 explosions, which proves that the 9 September 2016 was the largest nuclear explosion ever performed in North Korea with a magnitude M w  4.9 and a shallow depth of less than 2 km, although there are no proofs of a fusion explosion. Modeling transversal component waveforms suggests variable size and orientation of the double‐couple components of the 2009, 2013, and 2016 sources.


This article presents a conceptual map of the purposes served by continuing
custody of prisoners of war and captured non-combatants. Morally legitimate and non-controversial purposes include preventing prisoners of war from rejoining their comrades-in-arms, preventing both prisoners of war and captured non-combatants from giving material support to combatants still in the field, facilitating orderly release and repatriation at the end of hostilities, and the prosecution for war crimes. Morally illegitimate purposes include punishment, exploitation as conscript labour, recruitment or conscription as combatants, exploitation for intelligence, display as proof of victory, and ideological indoctrination. Analysis of historical cases illustrating each purpose reveal that continuing custody is often motivated by multiple purposes, both legitimate and illegitimate. What explains adoption of
multiple and illegitimate purposes for continuing custody? Prisoners are available for legitimate and illegitimate purposes because neither elites nor masses within the captor state typically view prisoners as members of the moral community.1 Continuing custody does not alter the perceived status of the captured as aliens who cannot be intuitively invested with expectations of reciprocity. This suggests both ending custody as soon as legitimate purposes are served and bringing the captured within the moral community while in continuing captivity. Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies Vol. 36 (2) 2008: pp. 19-35


We conduct a randomized controlled trial in Mexico City to determine willingness to pay (WTP) for SMS air quality alerts and to study the effects of air quality alerts, reminders, and a reusable N95 mask on air pollution information and avoidance behavior. At baseline, we elicit WTP for the alerts service after revealing whether the household will receive an N95 mask and participant compensation, but before revealing whether they will receive alert or reminder services. While we observe no significant impact of mask provision on WTP, higher compensation increases WTP, suggesting a possible cash-on-hand constraint. The perception of high pollution days prior to the survey is positively correlated with WTP, but the presence of actual high pollution days is not correlated with WTP. Follow-up survey data demonstrate that the alerts treatment increases reporting of receiving air pollution information via SMS, a high pollution day in the past week, and staying indoors on the most recent perceived high pollution day. However, we observe no significant effect on the ability to correctly identify which specific days had high pollution. Similarly, households that received an N95 mask are more likely to report utilizing a mask with filter in the past two weeks, but we observe no effect on using a filter mask on the specific days with high particulate matter. Although we nd that air quality alerts increased the salience of air quality and avoidance behavior, these results illustrate the difficulty that information treatments face in overcoming perceptions to effectively reduce exposure to air pollution.


Received 11th December, 2016 Received in revised form 8th January, 2017 Accepted 26th February, 2017 Published online 28th March, 2017 Climate warming and associated post-Little Ice Age recession of glacier ice and permanent snow in high mountains of the Swedish Scandes have opened a new view for alpine palaeoecology. Receding glaciers and snow/ice patches, high above current tree-lines of all boreal tree species, have exposed forefields with a plethora of megafossil tree remnants, representing discrete multi-species tree groves. Radiocarbon-dating of associated wood debris offers new insight into the early Holocene structure and species composition of the tree-line ecotone. The emerging pattern deviates substantially from the conventional view, deduced from the pollen stratigraphical approach, which needs to be questioned in general, both with respect to tree-line reconstruction and in the context of more general biogeographic evolution. Boreal tree species were present in the concerned settings from late-glacial, 16 800 cal. yr BP to the late Holocene, about 4000 cal. yr BP. The frequency of megafossil tree remains peaked 9600-9000 cal. yr BP, maximum 600-700 m above modern tree-lines. This implies (corrected for land uplift) that the summer temperatures may have been 3 °C warmer than current standards. The postglacial immigration history of Picea abies to the Scandes, a stumbling stock in Scandinavian palaeobiogeography, is at least 8000 years prior to traditional pollen-based text book narrative. Discrete tree groves, embracing most presentday boreal tree species, were strictly confined to empty glacier cirques and snow hollows. These populations may have played an important role as dispersal nodes for the postglacial afforestation of the mountain landscape. In addition, the results add to the increasingly recognized view that Larix sibirica, an eastern species, currently not native to Scandinavia, prevailed quite frequently at high elevations during the early Holocene. Further shortcomings of traditional methods of vegetation reconstruction are highlighted when viewed in perspective of megafossil analyses, which support a relatively firm framework on which the detailed vegetation history can be built.


The Dutch National Care for the Elderly Programme was an initiative organized by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) between 2008 and 2016. The aim of the programme was to collect knowledge about frail elderly, to assess their needs and to provide person-centred and integrated care better suited to their needs. The budget of EUR 88 million was provided by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. Putting the needs of elderly people at the heart of the programme and ensuring their active participation were key to the programme's success. The programme outcomes included the establishment of eight geriatric networks around the medical universities with 650 organisations and the completion of 218 projects. These projects, involving 43,000 elderly people and 8500 central caregivers, resulted in the completion of 45 PhD theses and the publication of more than 400 articles and the development of 300 practice toolkits, one database and a website, www.beteroud.nl. The Dutch National Care for the Elderly Programme has since developed into a movement and continues under the consortium Ageing Better, made up of eight organisations. Through the use of ambassadors, Ageing Better promotes the message that ageing is not a disease but a new phase of life.


The Internet of Things is almost a new paradigm that is revolutionizing not only our society but also our entire life. Like any growing industry the Internet of Things it is in a continuous growth being a part of the Internet of the future. The concept of Internet of Things means a structure of physical objects or "things" that have Internet connections, sensors, software and electronic components, which collect and distributes data. The number of objects it is also growing year by year so, each object have one or more embedded sensors that can capture huge amounts of data, data to be stored, processed and communicated with a reduced human intervention.
The building blocks of IoT vision are the smart things - objects around us, not necessarily visible, being connected in order to provide seamless communication and contextual services, able to respond to their internal states and/or to external factors, to sense, compute and integrate with the surrounding environment. IoT is a fabric of numerous connections between things and between humans and things, potentially more complex and dynamic than the Internet of People.
In the same time, the development of Internet of Things (IoT) give rise to a number of security-related and ethical issues which gain a new dimension in the light of the increased complexity of these technologies.
This paper discusses emerging Sensing as a Service as a business model of Internet of Things, large scale sensor network application, sensor data and related context capturing techniques and processing of sensor data.


Recent work on DVD and home cinema technologies, audience and the context of reception has tended to focus on fandom, privileging the fanaticism that underpins the etymology of that term. This article is premised on focus group work that suggests, in counterpoint, that many contemporary collectors of DVDs do not see themselves as 'fans'. What does this mean for the discourses that are developing around the consumption of new media technologies and their role in everyday life? Drawing on interview material, this article discusses the relationship between Western masculinity and the phenomenon of DVD collection. It considers the pleasures of this activity alongside the spaces of resistance it produces and we argue that commentary that interprets such phenomena in terms of fetishism does not account fully enough for what is at stake. Drawing on object relations psychoanalysis, we suggest that the material object of the DVD works in tandem with its psychical equivalent to produce new spaces of exploration and creativity for men. Against the backdrop of the commonplace assumption that masculinity is in 'crisis', we suggest that men make use of technologies to forge new spaces of interaction with one another, arguing that this creates new formations through which to think about the cultural structuration of homosociality and its creative potential.


The physical and chemical characteristics of the two differential weathering effects, case hardening and core softening, are examined to determine their formation mechanisms by investigating several field areas exhibiting differential weathering effects. The terms differential weathering effects, factors, mechanisms, processes, morphologies and their cause and effect relationships are defined in the context of the overall problem. Because differential weathering effects are defined on the basis of spatial variations in relative and absolute hardness, a portable field instrument has been developed to measure rock hardness as manifested in the abrasion resistance of the material. The design and operation of the instrument as well as results from standard materials are discussed in light of abrasive wear theory. The way in which the instrument removes material appears dominated by abrasive wear mechanisms. However, the concept of hardness implied by such mechanisms is profoundly different for rock than for homogeneous materials, and the effective hardness calculated for rock material using this instrument is more insensitive to mineralogy than expected, and is sensitive to the character of the intergranular bond. At the first locality, Valley of Fire, Nevada, cavernous weathering of the Aztec Sandstone results from the differential weathering effect of case hardening. The case-hardened crust is an induration phenomenon consisting primarily of host rock, calcite cement, kaolinite and finegrained quartz. The calcite occurs in a wide range of concentrations (0.001 to 5.0 wt%). The hydrated calcium borate, colemanite, was also found as a non-cementing hardening agent on two outcrops and can be used as a tracer constituent. In all cases kaolinite and quartz were the major constituents of the indurating materials by weight and are necessary components of the crust. Eolian deposition and interaction with meteoric water were determined to be the primary differential weathering mechanism within the Valley of Fire. At Catavina, Baja California, tonalite exhibiting cavernous weathering is found to be core-softened. Soft cores are more chemically weathered than the exterior rock as indicated by higher kaolinite contents. Hematite formed from the leaching of biotite occurs in coatings on rock surfaces, but the hardening effect of the coating is insignificant compared to the core-softening of the interior. The hardness, measured by the abrasion resistance hardness tester, is inversely correlated with kaolinite content in the tonalite. A one-dimensional water flow model was developed for core-softened, cavernously weathered boulders, and indicates that during infiltration and dessication the moisture flux through a boulder's surface is greatest at the interior cavern wall because of changes in the hydraulic conductivities induced by core softening. The differential weathering effects developed in the Ferrar dolerite within the Labyrinth of the Dry Valleys, Antarctica are caused by two different mechanisms. The primary mechanism is precipitation of a brown, iron-stained silica coating in the exterior rock of outcrops and joint blocks. This is also true for the case-hardened Beacon Sandstone. Precipitation can occur in the rock's outer few millimeters to centimeters, thereby decreasing the exterior rock's permeability, and consequently its susceptibility to chemical weathering. The coating's effect on a dolerite block's internal moisture regime is modeled for the case of saturated flow, and shows that the contours of the pore water flow mimic subsequent morphology. Weathering of material underlying the coating results in core softening of the dolerite. In dolerite blocks of intermediate size, expansion of the interior owing to weathering can cause the less weathered outer zone to separate into an array of polyhedral cracks. Further weathering and removal of the underlying rock by the combined action of hydration, salt weathering and eolian processes leads to the development of cavernous weathering. A less common differential mechanism occurs in the bottom of the Antarctic Labyrinth troughs in which an eolian polish develops on rock surfaces exposed to the austral winter winds. Development of the polish protects the underlying material with similar, but less dramatic effects, than accompanies the presence of the silica coating. Exposures of the Bishop Tuff in the Mono Basin exhibit the differential weathering effect of case hardening. Early devitrification along joint planes to an average depth of 1 cm greatly increased the resistance of the joint faces to weathering over that of the joint block interiors. The absolute and relative hardnesses between interior and exterior change systematically with exposure age, and cavernous weathering results only on outcrops with long enough exposure ages, on the order of ten to twenty thousand years. The Towel Creek Tuff in Cottonwood Basin, Arizona, weathers into peculiar forms: conical-shaped tepees which show cavernous weathering as a result of case-hardening by calcite precipitation in the exterior rock. Calcite contents of different materials are observed to vary directly with the abrasion hardness of the material. Basal surfaces are formed at the base of the tepees by heterogeneous fluvial erosion and the cavernous hollows are initiated in these zones. Although infiltration of meteoric water into the tepees occurs through all surfaces, moisture flow during dessication of the tepees occurs primarily through the basal surfaces and the lower cavernous hollows. Equilibrium aqueous chemistry limits the interior rock's carbonate content, but calcite can accumulate at the rock exterior. Because of the overall differences in the intergranular bonding character between crystalline materials such as granite and clastic materials such as sandstone, the results of this study indicate that crystalline rocks tend to core-soften whereas clastic materials case-harden. Clastic materials will be affected by redistribution of secondary cements and greater accumulation at an interface can result in case hardening. In clastic rocks therefore, the hardness of different areas can either increase or decrease with time. On the other hand, a crystalline rock in a weathering environment will have its intergranular and intragranular bonds disrupted by chemical alteration. Spatial variations in disruption can result in core softening or case softening, but the hardness of all areas will decrease with time. Accumulation of secondary cements can often enhance differential effects in crystalline rocks but without case hardening the rock.


Electronic documents form an integral part of the modern computer age—virtually all personal computers have the ability to create, store and display their content. A connection to the Internet provides users with an almost endless source of documents, be they web-pages, word-processor files or emails. However, the entire contents of an electronic document are often too large to be usefully presented on a user's screen, at a single point in time. This issue is usually overcome by placing the content inside a scrolling environment. The view onto the document is then modified by directly adjusting a scrollbar or by employing tools such as the mousewheel or paging keys. Applications may also provide methods for adjusting the document's zoom and page layout. The scrollbar has seen widespread adoption, becoming the default tool used to visualise large information spaces. Despite its extensive deployment, researchers have little knowledge on how this and related navigation tools are used in an everyday work environment. A characterisation of users' actions would allow designers to identify common behaviours and areas of inefficiency as they strive to improve navigation techniques. To fill this knowledge gap, this thesis aims to understand and improve navigation within desktop-based electronic documents. This goal is achieved using a five step process. First, the literature is used to explore document navigation tasks and the tools currently available to support electronic document navigation. Second, a software tool called AppMonitor, that logs users' navigation actions, was developed. Third, AppMonitor was deployed in a longitudinal study to characterise document navigation actions in Microsoft Word and Adobe Reader. Forth, to compliment this study, two task-centric observations of electronic document navigation were performed, to probe the reasons for navigation tool selection. Finally, the Footprints Scrollbar was developed to improve one common aspect of navigation—within-document revisitation. To begin, two areas of current knowledge in this domain are overviewed: paper and electronic document navigation and electronic document navigation tools. The literature review produced five categories of document navigation tasks: 'overviewing and browsing', 'reading', 'annotating and writing', 'searching' and 'revisitation'. In a similar fashion, electronic document navigation tools were reviewed and divided into eight categories: core navigation tools (those commonly found in today's navigation systems), input devices, scrollbar augmentations, content-aware navigation aids, visualisations that provide multiple document views, indirect manipulation techniques, zooming tools and revisitation tools. The literature lacked evidence of an understanding of how these current document navigation tools are used. To aid the gathering of empirical data on tool use, the AppMonitor tool was developed. It records user actions in unmodified Windows applications—specifically for this research, Microsoft Word and Adobe Reader. It logs low-level interactions such as "left mouse button pressed" and "Ctrl-f pressed" as well as high level 'logical' actions such as menu selections and scrollbar manipulations. It requires no user input to perform these tasks, allowing study participants to continue with their everyday work. To collect data to form a characterisation of document navigation actions, 14 participants installed AppMonitor on their computer for 120 days. This study found that users primarily employ the mousewheel, scrollbar thumb and paging keys for navigation. Further, many advanced navigation tools that are lauded for their efficiency, including bookmarks and search tools, are rarely used. The longitudinal study provided valuable insights into the use of navigation tools. To understand the reasons behind this tool use, two task-centric observations of electronic document navigation were conducted. The first asked participants to perform a series of specific navigation tasks while AppMonitor logged their actions. The second was performed as a series of interactive sessions, where users performed a particular task and were then probed on their tool choice. These two studies found that many users are not aware of the advanced navigation tools that could significantly improve their navigation efficiency. Finally, the characterisations highlighted within-document revisitation as a commonly performed task, with current tools that support this action rarely used. To address this problem, the analysis, design and evaluation of a Footprints Scrollbar is presented. It places marks inside the scrollbar trough and provides shortcuts to aid users return to previously visited locations. The Footprints Scrollbar was significantly faster and subjectively preferred over a standard scrollbar for revisitation tasks. To summarise, this thesis contributes a literature review of document navigation and electronic document navigation tools; the design and implementation of AppMonitor—a tool to monitor user actions in unmodifiedWindows applications; a longitudinal study describing the navigation actions users perform; two taskcentric studies examining why actions are performed; and the Footprints Scrollbar, a tool to aid within-document revisitation tasks.


Despite the exponential growth in the availability of online education programs, there appears to be little empirical evidence that could provide a cogent basis to guide the practice of, or judge the quality of, such offerings. The purpose of the current paper is to explore certain elements of existing pedagogical theory that can help provide a framework for empirical research that should ultimately establish instructional design principles that can shape potentially efficacious practice in online teaching and learning. Such research efforts are fundamental to the long-term credibility and viability of distance education theory and practice.