We examine how online commenting is affected by different degrees of commenters' identifiability: 1) real name accounts on social networking sites (or "real name-SNS accounts"; e.g., Facebook); 2) pseudonym accounts on social networking sites (or "pseudonym-SNS account"; e.g., Twitter); 3) pseudonymous accounts outside social networking sites (or "non-SNS accounts"; e.g., an online newspaper website's account). We first construct a conceptual model of the relationship between the degree of identifiability and commenting behavior. When users can freely choose the account type between a non-SNS account and an SNS account to write a comment, the decision determines degree of identifiablity. This decision will be correlated to the propensity of using 'offensive' words (classified from a comprehensive list of swear terms in the Korean language) in their comments. To take endogeneity into consideration, we estimate a bivariate probit model between the choice of account type and the choice of using offensive words. We apply our model to a unique set of data consisting in over 75,000 comments attached to news stories collected from a variety of online news media websites. Our analysis highlights interesting dynamics between the degree of identifiability and commenters' behavior. When commenters use an SNS account (which consists in a more identifiable condition) rather than a non-SNS account, they are less likely to use offensive words. We also find that the use of real name-SNS accounts (which provide an even more identifiable condition due to the disclosure of one's real name), is associated with lower occurrence of offensive words than the case in which commenters use a pseudonym-SNS account for commenting. While the disclosure of true identity is likely to reduce the probability of using offensive words, the greater number of users seems to prefer participating in the commenting activity by using their pseudonym accounts


Although Jonathan Richardson had recommended this subject as an excellent one for a picture as early as 1734 in his book 'Explanatory Notes and Remarks on Milton's 'Paradise Lost'', Henry Fuseli was apparently the first to depict it in a drawing of 1781-2. He was followed by Thomas Freeman, who exhibited a canvas entitled 'Satan Departing from the Court of Chaos' at the Royal Academy in 1784. At about the same time William Blake executed a drawing of Satan approaching the Court of Chaos. It is instructive to compare Barry's and Fuseli's interpretations of this same scene. Both employ a low point of view, but Barry avoids the extravagance of Fuseli's constricted poses, exaggerated expressions, and expansive, dynamic setting, relying instead on an adventurous use of a close-up focus and abrupt foreshortening to supply the dramatic tension.' (Pressly, 110-1)


The performance of a venturi scrubber is evaluated by the balance between its particulate collection efficiency and the operating pressure drop.

A wide array of models with varying complexity describing the flow in venturis has been presented in the literature, often validated with the experimental data.

Most of the experimental work has been carried out in small and laboratory-scale scrubbers [1] rendering the extrapolation of results to industrial size designs open to question.

In the present work, a large scale cylindrical venturi was built for measuring the most relevant operating parameters for industrial applications and to provide a reliable experimental data base that can be used for model validation.

This paper discusses the application of a model describing the performance of venturi scrubbers to this large scale venturi. The model combines simultaneously a 1D model for the converging section and a 2D boundary layer model for the diverging section, to predict total pressure drop and collection efficiency of dust particles.

Various parameters which affect pressure drop and collection efficiency have been investigated and results are compared very favourably with large scale venturi scrubber experimental data.


Few studies have compared the nature of tolerance that develops following chronic in vivo opioid treatment with that which develops after chronic cannabinoid exposure in the same tissue and species. Based on similarities in signaling and overlapping neuroanatomical receptor localization the candidate determined whether the tolerance that develops to hypothermic, analgesic and inhibitory action on neurogenic contractions of the longitudinal muscle-myenteric plexus (LM/MP) in the guinea pig is qualitatively similar regardless of the agonist employed. Since previous in vitro drug exposure studies using the LM/MP model have reported bidirectional heterologous tolerance, it was hypothesized: 1) that in vivo exposure to either agonist would result in heterologous tolerance 2) that the type of tolerance could be used to define the underlying cellular mechanisms; 3) that homologous tolerance would employ a mechanism that involved receptor regulation; 4) that co-localization of opioid and cannabinoid receptors may provide a basis for some cross-tolerance between agonists; and 5) that the mechanisms that underlie the development of tolerance can vary among different tissues or models. Specific aim 1 assessed the effect of chronic cannabinoid or opioid exposure on the sensitivity of the LM/MP to inhibitory agonists (WIN-55,212-2-2, CADO or morphine) or an excitatory agent (nicotine). Animals pretreated with morphine in vivo developed an increased responsiveness to nicotine and tolerance to all inhibitory agonists tested: the magnitude of rightward shift (i.e. ratio of mean IC50 values) or loss of sensitivity of the treated compared to the control group was 4.8-fold for DAMGO, 3.5-fold for CADO, and 5.2-fold for WIN-55,212-2. In contrast, in vivo WIN-55,212-2 pretreatment resulted in subsensitivity to WIN-55,212-2 only (factor of rightward shift of the IC50 values was 9.8) and reduced maximum responses to WIN-55,212-2 and DAMGO; no shift was observed in the dose response curves for DAMGO, CADO and nicotine. Specific aim 2 sought to determine the effect of chronic WIN-55,212-2 or morphine exposure on the levels of both mu-opioid receptor (MOR) and cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) protein in homogenates of the LM/MP. WIN-55,212-2 treatment resulted in a selective reduction in CB1 receptor protein levels by 35% while MOR levels remained unchanged whereas morphine exposure altered neither MOR nor CB1 receptor protein levels. Specific aim 3 sought to determine the qualitative nature of tolerance that develops in analgesic (thermal and mechanical) and hypothermic models. Chronic morphine treatment resulted in heterologous tolerance to the thermal analgesic effect of morphine and WIN-55,212-2 but did not alter the sensitivity to the hypothermic effect of WIN-55,212-2. The nature of tolerance observed in the hot plate test corresponds closely to that observed in the LM/MP studies where chronic morphine treatment produced heterologous tolerance and WIN-55,212-2 pretreatment resulted in homologous tolerance. In contrast to the results in the LM/MP studies, WIN-55,212-2 pretreatment resulted in tolerance to the analgesic effect of morphine in the paw pressure model despite the fact that WIN-55,212-2 did not produce analgesia in this model. Unlike chronic treatment with WIN-55,212-2, chronic morphine treatment did not induce tolerance to the hypothermic effect of WIN-55,212-2. However, since only a very modest hypothermia was observed in response to a morphine challenge, tolerance to this effect was difficult to assess and may not be pharmacologically relevant. For specific aim 4 the candidate explored the distribution of MOR and CB1 receptor expressing neurons in the LM/MP and hypothalamus. Immunofluorescence assessment of the distribution of neurons expressing MOR and CB1 receptors in the LM/MP revealed significant co-localization of receptors on myenteric plexus neurons thus raises the possibility of intracellular crosstalk between the two receptor systems. Furthermore, neither opioid nor cannabinoid treatment altered the density or distribution pattern of neurons expressing MOR or CB1 receptors. Assessment of neurons expressing MOR and CB1 receptors in the preoptic anterior hypothalamus revealed extensive co-localization suggesting possible interaction of the two receptor systems in the regulation of body temperature. In conclusion, the variable tolerance expression observed in different models affirms the notion that nature and potential cellular mechanisms of tolerance can vary depending on the model system, the drug, the species, and regimen used to establish the phenomenon. The data also suggest that multiple cellular effects may play a role in the induction of functional tolerance in different model systems.


Purpose
To determine the roles of dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs) and dopamine D1 receptors (D1Rs) in the inhibition of form-deprivation myopia (FDM) by the nonselective dopamine agonist apomorphine (APO) in D2R-knockout (D2R-KO) and D1R-KO mice.

Methods
Retinal layer thicknesses and electroretinograms (ERGs) were analyzed in KO mice and in D2R and D1R antagonist-treated mice. D2R-KO or D1R-KO mice and wild-type (WT) littermates were subjected to form deprivation during postnatal weeks 5 to 8. Both groups were intraperitoneally injected daily with either APO (5 μg/g body weight) dissolved in 1 μg/μL ascorbic acid or vehicle alone. Refraction, vitreous chamber depth (VCD), and axial length (AL), among other parameters, were measured prior to and at the end of the treatment period.

Results
The retinal layer thicknesses and ERGs in KO mice were similar to those treated with D2R and D1R antagonists. APO administration in WT mice inhibited the development of FDM by approximately 80%. FDM in D2R-KO mice was inhibited approximately 50% compared with WT mice and was further inhibited by APO to a level similar to that in APO-treated WT mice. FDM development in D1R-KO mice was similar to that in WT mice and was not affected by APO administration. The changes in VCD and AL were consistent with refraction data.

Conclusions
In mice, APO-mediated FDM inhibition was abolished by D1R KO but not D2R KO. This indicates the specificity of D1Rs for the pharmacologic inhibitory effect of APO on FDM and a nonessential role of D2Rs in this process in mice.


We have observed rotational and translational diffusion of single molecules using a near-field scanning optical microscope with two polarization detection channels. The measurements were performed under ambient conditions with the molecules dispersed on glass or embedded in polymer. Tn successive images the fluorescence of single molecules was followed over about I h, with 10 ms integration time, until photodissociation, The position of single molecular fluorescence could be located with an accuracy of 1 nm. From the lateral diffusion of Rhodamine SG molecules on glass during successive images, a diffusion constant of (6.7 +/- 4.5) x 10(-15) cm(2)/s was determined, The orientation of the in-plane emission dipole of all molecules irt one image could be directly determined with an accuracy of a few degrees by simultaneous detection in two perpendicular polarization directions. By rotating the excitation polarization we could selectively excite different sets of molecules and compare their in-plane absorption and emission dipole orientation. Monitoring Dil molecules in PMMA over 1 h, we found rotation of less than 10 degrees for the majority of molecules, while incidental fast rotation and transition to a dark state occurs. The fluorescence intensity was observed to be molecule dependent, which is an indication for out-of-plane orientation and different local photophysical environment.


There have been numerous attempts to model fast reactor fuel behavior in the last 40 years. The US currently does not have a fully reliable tool to simulate the behavior of metal fuels in fast reactors. The experimental database necessary to validate the codes is also very limited. The DOE-sponsored Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) has performed various experiments that are ready for analysis. Current metal fuel performance codes are either not available to the AFC or have limitations and deficiencies in predicting AFC fuel performance. A modified version of a new fuel performance code, FEAST-Metal , was employed in this investigation with useful results. This work explores the modeling and analysis of AFC metallic fuels using FEAST-Metal, particularly in the area of constituent actinide diffusion behavior. The FEAST-Metal code calculations for this work were conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in support of on-going activities related to sensitivity analysis of fuel performance codes. A sensitivity analysis of FEAST-Metal was completed to identify important macroscopic parameters of interest to modeling and simulation of metallic fuel performance. A modification was made to the FEAST-Metal constituent redistribution model to enable accommodation of newer AFC metal fuel compositions with verified results. Applicability of this modified model for sodium fast reactor metal fuel design is demonstrated.


In this paper we discuss how three types of fuzzy partitions can be used to describe the results of three types of cluster structures. Standard fuzzy partitions are suitable for centroid based clusters, and I-fuzzy partitions for clusters represented by segments or lines (e.g., c-varieties). In this paper, we introduce hesitant fuzzy partitions. They are suitable for clusters defined by sets of centroids. Because of that, we show that they are useful for hierarchical clustering. We also establish the relationship between hesitant fuzzy partitions and I-fuzzy partitions.


The present investigation represents an exhaustive interpretation of the incident of the golden calf as it is related in Exodus 32. The study engages in a survey of hermeneutical paradigms from ancient to modern times to discover the insights of past generations of scholars, to aid in the understanding of the text, to provide a basis of continuity with the Jewish and Christian communities of faith through the centuries, and to determine the relationship between an interpreter and his Sitz im Leben. The history of the passages interpretation extends from the Old Testament scriptures through the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Hellenistic-Jewish writers, the Greek and Aramaic versions, the New Testament, the Patristic writers, the Rabbinical schools, mediaeval and post-Reformation eras to the rise and subsequent establishment of critical orthodoxy. The hermeneutical methods employed over this span of time vary greatly and have contributed to mutual suspicion within the theological academies. It is the attempt of the present investigation to clarify the issues confronting the academy and discern the contemporary or applicative significance that Exodus 32 has for the modern Church. Central to this investigation has been the work of Brevard S. Childs whose "canonical criticism" methodology


We present Paged Graph Visualization (PGV), a new semi-autonomous tool for RDF data exploration and visualization. PGV consists of two main components: a) the "PGV explorer" and b) the "RDF pager" module utilizing BRAHMS, our high per-formance main-memory RDF storage system. Unlike existing graph visualization techniques which attempt to display the entire graph and then filter out irrelevant data, PGV begins with a small graph and provides the tools to incrementally explore and visualize relevant data of very large RDF ontologies. We implemented several techniques to visualize and explore hot spots in the graph, i.e. nodes with large numbers of immediate neighbors. In response to the user-controlled, semantics-driven direction of the exploration, the PGV explorer obtains the necessary sub-graphs from the RDF pager and enables their incremental visualization leaving the previously laid out sub-graphs intact. We outline the problem of visualizing large RDF data sets, discuss our interface and its implementation, and through a controlled experiment we show the benefits of PGV.


Steven R. Corman and Marshall Scott Poole, eds, Perspectives on Organizational Communication. Finding Common Ground. New York: The Guildford Press, 2000 When I began teaching organization studies in 1978 I found the field extraordinary narrow, gendered and dull for someone trained, like myself, in industrial sociology. One hundred and one ways of making organizations more efficient wasn't my idea of an exciting teaching career. But times were hard and sociologists had to find jobs somewhere, anywhere. Yet, one year later, in 1979 my perspective on organizational analysis was radically changed for the better by the publication of Burrell and Morgan's Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis. The book opened up several doors. To begin with, it added to the growing critique of (what it termed) the functionalist dominance of the field. By challenging the apparent one-dimensional character of the field it helped to legitimate other foci and concerns. Enabling many of us to reconstruct organizational analysis as the study of the impact of organization on people, without abandoning traditional concerns with the impact of people on organizational outcomes. Finally, it provided a much needed heuristic for teaching organizational analysis: the notion of organizational paradigms provided a way of comparing and contrasting theoretical approaches, opening each up to scrutiny as we interrogated the underlying ontology, epistemology, and methodology. The work is so enduring that I still use it to frame my Ph.D. course in Management Thought. That, in a nutshell, explains something of the power and value of the book that has become so popular among organizational scholars over the years. For some the persuasiveness of Burrell and Morgan's paradigms has also encouraged a strengthening of the barriers between organizational scholars, lending an ideological rationale for standing behind assumed paradigmatic barriers. For Steven R. Corman and Marshall Scott Poole this had engendered a series of paradigmatic wars and paradigmatic "apartheid" that reduces the potential for scholarly endeavour. They argue that "after twenty years of differentiating, it is time ... to devote attention to constructing some common ground" (Introduction, p.4). To that end, they have brought together a number of established and emerging scholars in the field of organizational communication to "persuade readers to give more attention to what different perspectives have in common, and less attention to what divides them" (Ibid.) The book has wide appeal but whether or not you think it succeeds will depend on how you approach it in the first place. Although written for and by scholars in the field of organizational communication the focus on paradigmatic debates is of interest to anyone concerned with theory construction and the processes of research in the social sciences. For that reason I found this book to be extraordinarily useful and have adopted it for my Ph. …


Many incentives are monetary, and when private or public institutions seek to change behavior, it is natural to change monetary incentives. But many other incentives are a product of social meanings, about which people may not much deliberate, but which can operate as subsidies or as taxes. In some times and places, for example the social meaning of smoking has been positive, increasing the incentive to smoke; in other times and places, it has been negative, and thus served to reduce smoking. With respect to safety and health, social meanings change radically over time, and they can be dramatically different in one place from what they are in another. Often people live in accordance with meanings that they deplore, or at least wish were otherwise. But it is exceptionally difficult for individuals to alter meanings on their own. Alteration of meanings can come from law, which may, through a mandate, transform the meaning of action into a bland, "I comply with law," or into a less bland, "I am a good citizen." Alteration of social meanings can also come from large-scale private action, engineered or promoted by "meaning entrepreneurs," who can turn the meaning of action from, "I am an oddball," to, "I do my civic duty," or, "I protect others from harm." Sometimes subgroups rebel against new or altered meanings, produced by law or meaning entrepreneurs, but often those meanings stick and produce significant change.


At the funeral service for Archbishop James Hubert Blenk of New Orleans in 1917, Bishop John Edward Gunn of Natchez painted a grim picture of the state of Catholicism in this Latin city of the South: If anyone imagines the position of Archbishop of New Orleans to be a sinecure, let him explain why it is a proverb here that no Archbishop can survive ten years work .... Is it the worry? Is it the want of responsiveness? Is it the consciousness that in spite of a devoted clergy, of efficient educational advantages, the old Voltairianism still lingers...? Blenk, a native of Bavaria, Germany, had been Archbishop of New Orleans since 1905. In his funeral speech, Gunn had undoubtedly referred to Blenk's frustrated attempts to improve the standing of the Catholic Church in his diocese. These efforts had been beset by opposition and outright antagonism from both clergy and laity alike. Much to Blenk's humiliation, the Catholic population failed to respond to his appeals for a major seminary for New Orleans. His campaign to restore the crumbling St. Louis Cathedral also came to nothing. These constant setbacks may well have contributed to Blenk's untimely death from a heart attack in 1917 at the age of 61.1 Gunn was not the only contemporary observer who noted the widespread religious indifference of so much of the Catholic population of New Orleans. In 1916, in an unpublished manuscript entitled, "Our Native Clergy," the Reverend Leo Gassler, the Swiss vicar general of the diocese, posed the question,"Is Catholic Louisiana backwards in matters religious?" Gassler argued that the Church in Louisiana was somehow less American than the Catholic Church elsewhere. Writing in 1916, two years after World War I had cut off the European supply of priests to the city, he lamented the inability of the diocese to produce its own native clergy. Gassler also noted that his clerical colleagues in the North often spoke disparagingly about Louisiana Catholicism. The Swiss prelate fully accepted their criticism and by way of explanation referred to the grim legacy of the French colonial heritage that still manifested itself. Under French rule the colonists had never provided for the Church, which had always relied on state and aristocratic philanthropy. In the Northern cities Gassler noted that "persecution from without" had stimulated the Church.' Interestingly, Gassler pointed to the lack of immigrants as a major reason for the backward state of Catholicism in his diocese. However, this view of New Orleans history needs to be questioned. New Orleans was hardly devoid of Catholic immigrants in its history. Indeed, during the four decades before the Civil War, it had drawn more immigrants through its port than any North American city except for New York. True, this immigration flow slowed dramatically from 1860 to 1880, but thereafter significant new immigration from Sicily, South America, and the Philippines added to the ranks of foreign-born Catholics in New Orleans. Clearly, what preoccupied Gassler was not so much the number of immigrants in New Orleans but their failure to have any great impact on the character of Catholicism in the city. This view of immigrant church relations seems paradoxical. One might assume that immigrants would hinder rather than enhance the development of an American Catholic Church. Yet, when one studies the history of American Catholicism on a national level, one cannot ignore the vital role played by immigrants, above all Irish immigrants, in transforming the Catholic Church in the United States into an American institution. But Gassler was correct: New Orleans was an anomaly. Somehow its nineteenth-century immigrants failed to seize control and transform the Catholic Church in New Orleans. Despite a heavy influx of Irish into the city in the mid-nineteenth century, they proved unable to push aside the French and Creole leaders of New Orleans Catholicism, in marked contrast to their victories elsewhere in the United States. …


The Gulf of Georgia is among the most comprehensively studied regions on the Northwest Coast. However, few archaeological studies focus on Late Phase sites (1 200 B.P.-250 B.P.) especially those in inlets; examinations of intra-site activity areas are also rare. I analyse the archaeofauna from Late Phase deposits inside and outside a small structure at the Cove Cliff site, Indian Arm, British Columbia. Those results are compared to published results from two other inlet sites and a site on the Fraser River Delta to explore how the inlet environment was utilised. I also test for intra-site spatial patterns that may signify activity areas. My findings suggest people took full advantage of their local environment but also had socio-economic relations with distant groups to procure certain resources. The spatial analyses identify three activity areas. These results begin to address some gaps in our understanding of Late Phase Gulf of Georgia prehistory.


This study examines the role of Stanford University in the transformation from the Valley of Heart''s Delight to the Silicon Valley. At the dawn of the Twentieth Century, California''s Santa Clara County was an agricultural paradise. Because of the benign climate and thousands of acres of fruit orchards, the area became known as the Valley of Heart''s Delight. In the early 1890''s, Leland and Jane Stanford donated land in the valley to build a university in memory of their son. Thus, Leland Stanford, Jr., University was founded. In the early 1930''s, there were almost no jobs for young Stanford engineering graduates. This was about to change. Although there was no organized plan to help develop the economic base of the area around Stanford University, the concern about the lack of job opportunities for their graduates motivated Stanford faculty to begin the chain of events that led to the birth of Silicon Valley. Stanford University''s role in the transformation of the Valley of Heart''s Delight into Silicon Valley is history, but it is enduring history. Stanford continues to effect the local economy by spawning new and creative ideas, dreams, and ambitions.


n order to be effective, approaches to justice and reconciliation need to be multi-faceted: state and non-state; judicial and non-judicial; legal and paralegal. The Village Mediation Programme (VMP) impacts positively on social harmony in the community, reducing conflict and creating greater understanding of the risks of unmanaged or mismanaged disputes. The ultimate goal in resolving disputes is to repair harm and promote understanding between citizens of all religions, culture, gender, and race. The values which underpin mediation – empowerment, honesty, respect, engagement, voluntarism, healing, restoration, personal accountability, inclusiveness, collaboration, and problem-solving – apply to the length and breadth of best practices of community legal aid. Communities where the VMP is active have responded by saying that the programme has brought harmony to their villages. The VMP ensures that the provision of legal aid to communities respects the participants' diversity and equality and is non-discriminatory in upholding the rule of law. Standards are assured to protect its users, and its effectiveness continues to be measured through monitoring and evaluation.


In this paper we study the queuing system that describes the operations of data services in cellular networks, e.g., UMTS, LTE/LTE-A, and most likely the forthcoming 5G standard. The main characteristic of all these systems is that after service access, resources remain allocated to the end user for some time before release, so that if the same user requests access to service again, before a system timeout, the same resources are still available. For the resulting queuing model, we express the blocking probability in closed form, and we also provide recursive expressions in the number of connections that can be handled by the base station. Closed form expressions are also derived for other useful performance metrics, i.e., throughput and network service time. Analytical results are validated against results of a detailed simulation model, and compared to traditional queueing models results, such as the Erlang B formula iteratively applied to the resources that are not blocked by potentially returning users. Our analysis complements the performance evaluation of the other key mechanism used to access data services in cellular networks, namely the random access, which precedes the resource allocation and utilization phase studied in this paper.


As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to embed itself in our daily lives, many focus on the threats it poses to privacy, security, due process, and democracy itself. But beyond these legitimate concerns, AI promises to optimize activities, increase efficiency, and enhance the accuracy and efficacy of the many aspects of society relying on predictions and likelihoods. In short, its most promising applications may come, not from uses affecting civil liberties and the social fabric of our society, but from those particularly complex technical problems lying beyond our ready human capacity. Climate change is one such complex problem, requiring fundamental changes to our transportation, agricultural, building, and energy sectors. This Article argues for the enhanced use of AI to address climate change, using the energy sector to exemplify its potential promise and pitfalls. The Article then analyzes critical policy trade-offs that may be associated with an increased use of AI and argues for its disciplined use in a way that minimizes its limitations while harnessing its benefits to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.


In a variety of fields, in particular those involving imaging and optics, we often measure signals whose phase is missing or has been irremediably distorted. Phase retrieval attempts to recover the phase information of a signal from the magnitude of its Fourier transform to enable the reconstruction of the original signal. Solving the phase retrieval problem is equivalent to recovering a signal from its auto-correlation function. In this paper, we assume the original signal to be sparse; this is a natural assumption in many applications, such as X-ray crystallography, speckle imaging and blind channel estimation. We propose an algorithm that resolves the phase retrieval problem in three stages, first, we leverage the finite rate of innovation sampling theory to super-resolve the auto-correlation function from a limited number of samples, second, we design a greedy algorithm that identifies the locations of a sparse solution given the super-resolved auto-correlation function, finally, we recover the amplitudes of the atoms given their locations and the measured auto-correlation function. Unlike traditional approaches that recover a discrete approximation of the underlying signal, our algorithm estimates the signal on a continuous domain, which makes it the first of its kind. Along with the algorithm, we derive its performance bound with a theoretical analysis and propose a set of enhancements to improve its computational complexity and noise resilience. Finally, we demonstrate the benefits of the proposed method via a comparison against Charge Flipping, a notable algorithm in crystallography.


'Aryan,' a word that today evokes images of racial hatred and atrocity, was first used by Europeans to suggest bonds of kinship, as Thomas Trautmann shows in his far-reaching history of British Orientalism and the ethnology of India. When the historical relationship uniting Sanskrit with the languages of Europe was discovered, it seemed clear that Indians and Britons belonged to the same family. Thus the Indo-European or Aryan idea, based on the principle of linguistic kinship, dominated British ethnological inquiry. In the nineteenth century, however, an emergent biological 'race science' attacked the authority of the Orientalists. The spectacle of a dark-skinned people who were evidently civilized challenged Victorian ideas, and race science responded to the enigma of India by redefining the Aryan concept in narrowly 'white' racial terms. By the end of the nineteenth century, race science and Orientalism reached a deep and lasting consensus in regard to India, which Trautmann calls 'the racial theory of Indian civilization,' and which he undermines with his powerful analysis of colonial ethnology in India. His work of reassessing British Orientalism and the Aryan idea will be of great interest to historians, anthropologists, and cultural critics.


Our research is investigating how to allow designers and other creative professionals to easily prototype and create interactive computer applications and web sites. In this paper, we discuss several studies we have conducted to better understand the requirements of an environment to support the authoring of interactive behaviors by creative professionals. Then we summarize our proposal for a new environment that tries to address those requirements. This environment would include the ability to explore multiple designs, support for collaboration, and the use of metaphors that better support the creative process. Finally, this paper poses questions related to computational support of creativity.


The degree of stochasticity or determinism in the dynamics of ecological systems varies with sampling scale. We propose the application of a determinism test from nonlinear data analysis to describe this variation and to identify a characteristic length scale at which to average spatiotemporal systems. Specifically, we investigate the spatial scale at which to aggregate individuals into densities in a system that combines demographic noise with local density-dependent interactions. The proposed approach is applied to the dynamics of a spatial and individual-based predator-prey model. The selected spatial scale is smaller than the one obtained by a previously proposed method whose similarities and differences we discuss. Two models, the simplest candidates for approximating the dynamics of densities at the selected scale, are examined: a predator-prey system of differential equations that ignores the local nature of the dynamics, and an extension of it that adds demographic noise. These approximations perform poorly, failing to capture broad statistical features of the predator and prey fluctuations. These findings indicate that spatial factors are nonnegligible at the selected intermediate scale of aggregation. Thus, predator-prey systems and other oscillatory ecological systems may display a dynamic regime at an intermediate scale of aggregation in which local interactions are still important. We discuss the type of model needed to approximate population densities in this dynamic regime.


The manufacturing industry has experienced a great deal of improvement in efficiency and cost reductions throughout the last centuries. But although there have been improvements in the manufacturing industry, the principles and work methods in the construction industry have stood still for more than a hundred years. Based on principles of mass customization applied in the manufacturing industry, two cases of successful implementation of mass customization and modularization have been investigated as a means of showcasing the possibility to incorporate standardization in parts of the construction industry. The investigation examined two different companies that have standardized parts of a construc- tion. One, Altan.dk, standardized the method for constructing balconies; and NCC Skakt standardized the construction of shafts. Altan.dk standardized their balconies by studying the balconies they previously built and constructing solution spaces in which a configured balcony can be constructed. The information gathered from studying these balconies was then put into a Product Variant Master, so that an overview of the product was achieved. All the information gathered was put into a configurator in order to guide the entire construction process. NCC Skakt standardized their shafts by studying apartments already constructed and extracting different archetypes of toi- lets and kitchens. Much information was gathered, which was fed into a Product Variant Master, so that an overview could be achieved. This led to a standardization of the shafts. Three types of shafts that make up 95 percent of the investi- gated market were defined. Based on the findings and experiences gathered through the standardization, it is concluded that the principles of mass customization of a sub-part can be successful when implemented stepwise. The case shows that substantial benefits can be gained through implementing modularized construction. It is especially interesting to note that these benefits are achieved through the development of a module with focus on the internal interfaces.


In 1920, J. W. Alexander proved that, if M3 is a closed orientable three-dimensional manifold, then there exists a covering M3→S3 that branches over a link [same Bull. 26 (1919/20), 370–372; Jbuch 47, 529]. In the paper under review, the author proves a precision, piquant reformulation of Alexander's result: M3 is a closed orientable three-manifold, then there is a threefold irregular covering M3→S3 that branches over a knot; exactly two points of M3 cover each point of the singular set (the branching knot), one point with index of branching one; the other, with index of branching two. H. M. Hilden has independently proved the same theorem [ibid. 80 (1974), 1243–1244]. Suppose that g is the genus of M3, let both Xg and Xg′ denote a handlebody of genus g, and let φ:∂Xg→∂Xg′ be a homeomorphism for which Xg∪φXg′ is a Heegard splitting of M3. Let B and B′ both denote three-cells, and let A be a collection of g+2 disjoint arcs properly imbedded in B; let A′ be a similar collection of arcs in B′. Hilden constructs two irregular three-fold coverings p:Xg→B and p′:Xg′→B′; the covering p branches over A and the covering p′, over A′. The homeomorphism φ:∂Xg→∂Xg′ (or a homeomorphism isotopic to φ) projects to a homeomorphism γ:∂B→∂B′ such that γ(A∩∂B)=A′∩∂B′ and such that A∪γ|(A∩∂B)A′ is a knot in B∪γB′, the three-sphere. The branched covering we are seeking is p∪p′:Xg∪φXg′→B∪γB′. The author proves the theorem differently. Let L denote two unliked trivial knots, K1 and K2, in S3, and let Σ3 denote the symmetric group on {0,1,2}. The assignment of a meridian of Ki to the transposition (0i) (i=1,2) induces a representation π1(S3−L)→Σ3 and, thereby, a three-fold irregular covering, p:Σ3→S3, branched over L. The manifold Σ3 is S3, and p−1(Ki) contains exactly two curves, one with branching index one, the other, K˜i, with branching index two (i=1,2). Furthermore, the curves of p−1(Ki) are unknotted and unlinked. Now surgery on an appropriate μ-link L in Σ3 produces the manifold M3 [W. B. R. Lickorish, Ann. of Math. (2) 82 (1965), 414–420]. We can assume that each component of L cuts K˜1∪K˜2 in exactly two points, and we can find a second-regular neighborhood Vj for each component kj of L such that p(Vj) is a three-cell and such that p(Vj)∩L consists of two disjoint arcs (j=1,⋯,μ). Appropriate surgery on the solid tori V1,⋯,Vμ in Σ3 induces surgery on the corresponding three-cells p(V1),⋯,p(Vμ), and one obtains a three-fold, irregular covering M3→S3, branched over a link. Then, applying tools he developed in a previous paper [Rev. Mat. Hisp-Amer. (4) 32 (1972), 33–51], the author modifies the covering so that branching occurs over a knot.


[1] Simultaneous observations of Venus by Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer and Venus Monitoring Camera onboard the Venus Express spacecraft are used to map the cloud top altitude and to relate it to the ultraviolet (UV) markings. The cloud top altitude is retrieved from the depth of CO2 absorption band at 1.6 μm. In low and middle latitudes the cloud top is located at 74 ± 1 km. It decreases poleward of ±50° and reaches 63–69 km in the polar regions. This depression coincides with the eye of the planetary vortex. At the same latitude and hour angle, cloud top can experience fast variations of about 1 km in tens of hours, while larger long-term variations of several kilometers have been observed only at high latitudes. UV markings correlate with the cloud altimetry, however, the difference between adjacent UV dark and bright regions does not exceed several hundred meters. Surprisingly, CO2 absorption bands are often weaker in the dark UV features, indicating that these clouds may be a few hundred meters higher or have a larger scale height than neighboring clouds. Ultraviolet dark spiral arms, which are often seen at about −70°, correspond to higher altitudes or to the regions with strong latitudinal gradient of the cloud top altitude. Cloud altimetry in the polar region reveals the structure that correlates with the thermal emission maps but is invisible in UV images. This implies that the UV optically thick polar hood is transparent in the near IR.


In assessing the security posture of Industrial Control Systems (ICS), several approaches have been proposed, including attack graphs, attack trees, Bayesian networks and security ideals. Predominantly focusing on technical vulnerabilities, challenges stemming from social and organisational factors are often reviewed in isolation, if at all. Taking a mean time-to-compromise (MTTC) metric as a base for expansion, we explore the impact social engineering attack vectors (malicious e-mails) could have on such assessments. The applied method takes a holistic view, to better understand the potential impact of social engineering across a small European utility company. The results of this review are analysed and discussed, highlighting the level of access an attacker could gain through social engineering, and the need for assessment metrics to include vulnerabilities stemming not only from technical factors, but social and organisational ones as well.


This paper proposes an overview of the development of oil palm production in Indonesia combining two levels: (i) a national and historical perspective of the development of the sector; (ii) a regional approach considering two contrasting provinces, Riau and Jambi. Starting with colonial times, the national approach deals first with the main periods that punctuate the development of oil palm plantations up to the contemporary period, marked by the liberalization of the economy. It emphasizes several factors that played a strategic role in the development of palm oil production, such as the role of the State and migration. After presenting the different models that structure the relationships among stakeholders and how these relationships have evolved, the role of small family planters is analyzed. This section ends with a review of some controversial issues: livelihood improvement, land tenure and customary rights, inclusion versus exclusion, market risks, forest and environmental threats and governance. The regional approach gives context to the development of palm oil production within two territories that have different historical backgrounds, with Jambi entering into production relatively recently. In each of the two provinces, the themes and issues involved in palm oil development identified at national level are analyzed, with specific emphasis on stakeholders� strategic behaviours. The paper concludes with a comparative perspective on both provinces.


This study aimed at accessing the impact of Covid-19 on Ghana's teaching and learning. The study employed a Descriptive survey design in which 11 items Likert-scale type of questionnaires was administered to 214 respondents mainly students in the second cycle and tertiary institutions of Ghana. The study employed simple random sampling technique in selecting the respondents for the study. The study revealed some challenges students encounter in the close down of schools due to the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19: Students are unable to study effectively from the house thus, making the online system of learning very ineffective. Again, parents are incapable of assisting their wards on how to access online learning platform, neither can they entirely supervise the learning of their children at home without any complications. It came to light that the pandemic really has had a negative impact on their learning as many of them are not used to effectively learn by themselves. The e-learning platforms rolled out also poses challenge to majority of the students because of the limited access to internet and lack of the technical knowhow of these technological devices by most Ghanaian students. The study therefore recommends that students should be introduced to e-learning platforms to supplement classroom teaching and learning. Article visualizations:


This paper looks at some critical and technical issues of relevance to generative art. In particular, it examines the concept of emergence, looking at its historical origins and salient issues surrounding its classification and meaning for developing generative art. These issues include the hierarchy of levels associated with emergence, recognition and ontology of patterns, prediction and determinism. Each of these are then related to attempts to create emergent phenomena with computers for artistic purposes. Several methodologies for developing emergent generative art are discussed including what is termed in the paper "the computational sublime". This definition is considered in relation to historical and contemporary definitions of the sublime and is posited as a way for artists to suggest their work is more than the sum of its parts.


Recent advances have extended the scope of Bayesian optimization (BO) to expensive-to-evaluate black-box functions with dozens of dimensions, aspiring to unlock impactful applications, for example, in the life sciences, neural architecture search, and robotics. However, a closer examination reveals that the state-of-the-art methods for high-dimensional Bayesian optimization (HDBO) suffer from degrading performance as the number of dimensions increases or even risk failure if certain unverifiable assumptions are not met. This paper proposes BAxUS that leverages a novel family of nested random subspaces to adapt the space it optimizes over to the problem. This ensures high performance while removing the risk of failure, which we assert via theoretical guarantees. A comprehensive evaluation demonstrates that BAxUS achieves better results than the state-of-the-art methods for a broad set of applications.


Constitutional interpretation is problematic because it can be difficult to distinguish legitimate interpretation from illegitimate change. The distinction depends largely on what a constitution is. A constitution, like any other law, necessarily has a meaning, which pre-exists judicial interpretation: it is not a set of meaningless marks on paper. Any plausible constitutional theory must offer an account of the nature of that meaning. In doing so, it must address two main questions. The first is whether the meaning of the constitution is given solely by its words, or also by additional evidence of underlying intentions, purposes or values. The second question is whether, in either case, its meaning is determined by the original meanings, intentions, purposes or values of the founding generation, or by contemporary meanings, intentions, purposes or values. This question divides so-called 'originalists' from 'non-originalists'. This article discusses all these alternatives, and the main arguments for and against them. It is subtitled 'Originalism' because it defends a moderate version of that position; however, it is argued that this is equivalent to a moderate version of non-originalism.


Alongside arguments based on principles of states' rights and deference to majoritarian white supremacist traditions, a libertarian critique of antidiscrimination policy was a basic element of the white South's legal case against civil rights. A claim of a "right to discriminate" had little to no chance of being accepted in a court of law. Nonetheless, this claim — described variously as a question of freedom of choice, property rights, privacy rights, associational rights, even freedom from involuntary servitude — provided a prominent and powerful language for opposing or limiting civil rights reform. Although rarely recognized as a judicially cognizable right, the right to discriminate was a powerful presence in practically all legislative and public debates over antidiscrimination laws during the civil rights era.A focus on the right to discriminate expands our understanding of the legal history of the civil rights movement in several ways: (1) It presents an ideal case study of extrajudicial constitutional development. (2) It shows how the civil rights movement nurtured constitutional rights claims not only among proponents of the black freedom struggle, but also by those opposed to the cause. (3) It challenges accounts of the civil rights movement that over-emphasize the exceptionalism of the Jim Crow South. (4) It demonstrates how the battles of the past remain very much alive today. Because of continued societal ambivalence about the most expansive visions of government-imposed antidiscrimination norms and because it taps into widely shared commitments to privacy and personal freedoms, the right to discriminate continues to this day to play a central role in policy debates.


Objective: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is a relatively frequent primary immunodeficiency disorder characterized by impaired B cell differentiation with hypogammaglobulinemia in the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) registry system. Increased inflammatory cytokines, prolonged and/or recurrent infections, gastrointestinal complications, and anti-inflammatory medications are risk factors for diminished bone mineral density (BMD) in CVID patients. Materials and Methods: The study group included 32 patients with CVID (19 males and 13 females; mean age: 37.33 ± 13.70 years, 40.6% female), who had been followed up on a regular basis for a period of four years. The patients were categorized into two groups according to their BMD: low BMD and normal BMD. Results: Seventeen patients (8 females and 9 males) had normal BMD (mean age 34.94 ± 11.41 years, 47.1% female) and fifteen patients (5 females and 10 males) had low BMD (mean age 40.03 ± 15.87 years, 33.3% female). In the low BMD group, three patients had osteoporosis and 12 patients had osteopenia. Univariate regression analysis revealed that lymphopenia (odds ratio, OR:6.562, 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.095-39.324, p=0.039) was significantly associated with low BMD. Multivariate regression analysis showed that higher alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels (OR:1.017, 95% CI 1.001-1.033, p=0.041), lymphopenia (OR:11.028, 95% CI 1.326-91.709, p=0.026), and lower folic acid levels (OR:1.284, 95% CI 1.007-1.637, p=0.043) were also independent predictors for low BMD. Conclusion: Even with some limitations such as the small number for the study population, a single center experience, and a crosssectional design, we recommend that clinical immunologists should be alert for diminished BMD in CVID patients, especially those with low folic acid and high ALP levels and lymphopenia.


Proteomic analysis of the tumor-associated stroma reveals extensive and coordinated regulation by breast cancers. Profiling the tumor stroma proteome Communication between a tumor and cells in the surrounding stroma contributes to tumor growth, progression, and drug resistance. Thus, targeting this communication, in the primary tumor and especially in metastatic niches, may be an effective way to treat cancer. Wang et al. grew patient breast tumors subcutaneously in mice and obtained species-distinguished proteomic profiles of the tumors (human) and tumor-associated stroma (mouse). The authors found that all breast tumors consistently altered clustered subsets of the stromal proteome, particularly proteins involved in immune signaling, but that these varied in a subtype- and stage-specific manner. These findings may have future implications for treatment stratification and provide a platform from which to understand this experimental model and tumor-stroma interactions on a large-scale protein level. Cancer forms specialized microenvironmental niches that promote local invasion and colonization. Engrafted patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) locally invade and colonize naïve stroma in mice while enabling unambiguous molecular discrimination of human proteins in the tumor from mouse proteins in the microenvironment. To characterize how patient breast tumors form a niche and educate naïve stroma, subcutaneous breast cancer PDXs were globally profiled by species-specific quantitative proteomics. Regulation of PDX stromal proteins by breast tumors was extensive, with 35% of the stromal proteome altered by tumors consistently across different animals and passages. Differentially regulated proteins in the stroma clustered into six signatures, which included both known and previously unappreciated contributors to tumor invasion and colonization. Stromal proteomes were coordinately regulated; however, the sets of proteins altered by each tumor were highly distinct. Integrated analysis of tumor and stromal proteins, a comparison made possible in these xenograft models, indicated that the known hallmarks of cancer contribute pleiotropically to establishing and maintaining the microenvironmental niche of the tumor. Education of the stroma by the tumor is therefore an intrinsic property of breast tumors that is highly individualized, yet proceeds by consistent, nonrandom, and defined tumor-promoting molecular alterations.


Business intelligence (BI) solutions have been adopted within organizations as a mean to achieve a more grounded decision making process that results in better organizational outcomes. Nowadays, about 70% to 80% of business intelligence implementation projects fail due to both technological and managerial issues. Multi-methodology proposed by Mingers (2006) was followed to develop the research in four phases: appreciation, where documental search was conducted through a literature review; analysis, where hypothetical structures related with the key success factors were proposed; assessment, where key success factors were assessed along with experts; and action, where research results discussion was shown. As a result, 13 factors that affect the business intelligence solution's success were identified. Those factors contribute to improve planning and implementation of business intelligence projects, accomplishing in a greater extent the purposes of these projects.


Immunoglobulin E (IgE) occurs exclusively in mammals and is one of five immunoglobulin (Ig) classes found in man. Unlike other isotypes, IgE is best known for its pathological effects, whereas its physiological role remains somewhat elusive. To trace the emergence of IgE and other post-switch isotypes we have studied Ig expression in two monotreme species, the duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), leading to the cloning of IgE, two IgG isotypes in platypus and echidna IgE. The presence of IgE and the conservation of the overall structure in all extant mammalian lineages indicates an early appearance in mammalian evolution and a selective advantage of structural maintenance. Furthermore, both of the two highly divergent platypus γ-chains have three constant domains. Hence, the major evolutionary changes that gave rise to the IgE and IgG isotypes of present day mammals occurred before the separation of monotremes from the marsupial and placental lineages, estimated to have occurred 150-170 million years ago.As the central mediator in atopic allergy, IgE is a prime target in the development of preventive treatments. This thesis describes an active immunization strategy that has the potential to reduce IgE to a clinically significant extent. The active vaccine component is a chimeric IgE molecule, Ce2-Ce3-Ce4. The receptor-binding target domain, Ce3, is derived from the recipient species, whereas the flanking domains, acting both as structural support and to break T-cell tolerance, are derived from an evolutionarily distant mammal. Vaccination of ovalbumin-sensitized rats resulted in a substantial reduction in total IgE in three out of four strains, accompanied by a significant reduction in skin-reactivity upon allergen challenge. No cross-linking activity was observed and the response to vaccination was reversible with time. The apparent safety and efficacy of the vaccine suggest that active immunization against IgE has the potential to become a therapeutic method for humans. Furthermore, the cloning and expression of the pig (Sus scrufa) e-chain will facilitate the development of sensitive and specific assays for pig IgE, thus increasing the possibilities of using the pig model in future studies of IgE-mediated reactions.


In 2003 and again in 2005, the international community was called to take part in a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). This two-phase United Nations summit placed an unprecedented global spotlight on information and communication issues. Civil Society, Communication and Global Governance provides a sweeping portrait of the players, structures and themes of the WSIS, as well as a critical analysis of the summit's first phase, the issues it raised and the groundbreaking role played by civil society. Including an extensive bibliography, list of relevant web sites and key documents, this will be a basic reference source for everyone interested in the role of information and communication on shaping twenty-first-century societies.


What is the role of the indigenous critic and conscience of society in the neoliberal university? Much has been written about neoliberalism in higher education but less attention is given to how it is enacted in settler-colonial societies where intellectual labour is shaped by histories of imperialism, invasion and violence. These historical forces are reflected in a political economy of knowledge forged in the interplay of power relations between coloniality and free-market capitalism. Indigenous academics who mobilise a form of public/tribal scholarship alongside native publics and counter-publics often have an uneasy relationship with the neoliberal academy which celebrates their inclusion as diversity 'partners' at the same time as consigning them to the institutional margins. This article traces a cohort of Māori senior academics in New Zealand whose intellectual labour is structured around public/tribal scholarship and examines how this unsettles and challenges the problem of neoliberal inclusivity in settler-colonial institutions.


Abstract : After 13 years of prolonged ground combat, a weary American public is leery of further interventions requiring land forces. Shifting geo-strategic conditions, such as a revanchist Russia and a rising China, reinforce this reluctance. At the same time, technological innovation once more offers the chimera of war from a distance that does not endanger land forces. Nonetheless, at some point, a highly volatile international security environment will place U.S. national interests at risk, requiring the use of military power. Given the increasing rise of interdependence among all components of military power (air, cyberspace, land, sea, and space), a better understanding of Landpower is essential if national leaders are to have a full range of policy options for protecting and promoting those interests. Landpower, the ability by threat, force, or occupation to gain, sustain, exploit control over land, resources, and people, stems from a country s geostrategic conditions, economic power, population, form of government, and national will. The military elements of Landpower include a country s ground forces, the institutions that generate and sustain those forces, and the human dimension intelligent, highly adaptable, and innovative individuals so vital to the successful employment of Landpower. Landpower offers policymakers tremendous utility in peace, crisis, or war, as it can defeat, deter, compel, reassure, engage, and support the nation. Within each of these roles, as well as across them, Landpower can carry out the broadest range of military operations. This versatility across the spectrum of conflict offers national leaders the greatest number of effective policy options.


Evidence is reviewed indicating that psychological and social factors render people more or less susceptible to stress‐related health effects from noise. Factors such as appraised meaning, personality traits, and perceived control are considered in terms of their relationship to physiological variables and in terms of the mechanisms underlying adverse effects. The limitations of epidemiological and dose‐response methods for determining and understanding health effects are discussed. Modifications in these approaches are suggested to clarify the role of intervening psychological factors, to understand the physiological mechanisms implicated, and to delineate public health risks.


This paper provides a comprehensive overview of state‐of‐the‐art computational techniques to thermodynamically model magnetic and chemical order–disorder transitions. Recent advances as well as limitations of various approaches to these so‐called lambda transitions are examined in detail, focussing on calphad models and first‐principles methods based on density functional theory (DFT). On the one hand empirical implementations –based on the Inden–Hillert–Jarl formalism –are investigated, including a detailed interpretation of the relevant parameters, physical limiting cases and potential extensions. In addition, Bragg–Williams‐based approaches as well as cluster‐variation methods of chemical order–disorder transitions are discussed. On the other hand, it is shown how magnetic contributions can be introduced based on various microscopic model Hamiltonians (Hubbard model, Heisenberg model and beyond) in combination with DFT‐computed parameters. As a result of the investigation we were able to indicate similarities between the treatment of chemical and magnetic degrees of freedom as well as the treatment within the calphad and DFT approaches. Potential synergy effects resulting from this overlap have been derived and alternative approaches have been suggested, in order to improve future thermodynamic modelling of lambda transitions.


We describe the first endocast reconstruction of a hyaenodont mammal based on X‐ray microtomography. The endocast belongs to the type material of the European hyaenodont Proviverra typica. We performed phylogenetic analysis to contextualize the evolution of endocranial size and complexity in Hyaenodonta. We added several European hyaenodonts and modified several codings of the most recent character–taxon matrix established to question the relationships within Hyaenodonta. Including these new species in a phylogenetic analysis reveals a new clade: Hyaenodontoidea. Comparisons with several previously described endocasts show that there was an increase in complexity in the convolutions of the encephalon within Hyaenodontidae history. Moreover, the analysis of the encephalization quotient reveals that the endocranium of the Hyaenodonta is not smaller than those of fossil Carnivora or some extant Carnivora. Therefore, the extinction of Hyaenodonta may not be linked to the relative size of hyaenodont brains.


The A. M. MCGREGOR HOME, incorporated in 1904, was established by two sisters as a residence for white Protestants of means over age sixty-five. Tootie Barber McGregor (later Mrs. Marshall Terry) donated a house and land on Terrace Road, EAST CLEVELAND, in memory of her husband, Ambrose McGregor, and provided $5,000 per year for the home's first five years. The McGregor Home opened in 1908, with Anna Huntley its first matron and Sophia Barber McCrosky, McGregor's sister, president of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Marshall Terry donated hospital equipment and served on the board for many years. The facility housed only twenty-five residents. Enlargements in 1916 and 1925 increased capacity to forty-five, and later sixty-five, but the facility strove to remain as "homelike" as possible. When the fire warden condemned the structure in 1940, the board built a new home, finished in 1941, at 14900 Private Drive, across Terrace Road and up the hill from the original site. It contained a small hospital and room for seventy-two residents. Additions in 1961 and 1971 increased capacity to 100, expanded the home's hospital facilities, and added an auditorium, craft shop, beauty salon, snack bar, and gift shop. In 1987 the AMASA STONE HOUSE became a division of McGregor Home. The home opened The Meadow in 1992, a sixteen-bed residential unit for the memory-impaired, which also offered per-diem temporary care. In 1995 Sue W. Neff served as the executive director of the Home. "History of the A. M. McGregor Home" (Nina Kendrick, Comp. Printed for the A. M. McGregor Home, 1984).


This volume contains the proceedings of the 12th International Workshop on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2015), which was held July 15-17, 2015 at Oxford University. The goal of this workshop series is to bring together researchers working on mathematical foundations of quantum physics, quantum computing, spatio-temporal causal structures, and related areas such as computational linguistics. Of particular interest are topics that use logical tools, ordered algebraic and category-theoretic structures, formal languages, semantical methods and other computer science methods for the study of physical behaviour in general.


One of the main objectives of the European Union is the economic convergence between member countries. In the following paper we examine how this objective has been met in the case of two of the most recent expansions of the union (in 2004 and 2007) for the periods 2001-2006 and 2001-2012. The model developed in this paper aims to find evidence for convergence, as well as determine some important causing factors of it. Furthermore, we look at the different speeds of convergence between the more recent and the older EU members. Our empirical work shows that convergence is present in the European Union in both periods discussed in the paper and has been faster in the group of new member states in the period 2001-2006. Moreover, we have concluded that migration turnover is significant factor fostering convergence, while the effect of corruption is ambiguous.


An assessment of metal contamination in surface sediments of the Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao, one of the rapidly developing coastal economic zones in China, is provided. Sediments were collected from 10 stations and a total of 15 heavy metals were analyzed. Concentrations of metals show significant variability and range from 210 to 620 ppm for Ti, 2.7 to 23 ppm for Ni, 4.2 to 28 ppm for Cu, 5.2 to 18 ppm for Pb, 12 to 58 ppm for Zn, 0.03 to 0.11 ppm for Cd, 5 to 51 ppm for Cr, 1.5 to 9.9 ppm for Co, 5.3 to 19 ppm for As, 12 to 32 ppm for Se, and 19 to 97 ppm for Sr. Based on concentration relationships and enrichment factor (EF) analyses, the results indicate that sediment grain size and organic matter played important roles in controlling the distribution of the heavy metals in surface sediments of the Jiaozhou Bay. The study shows that the sediment of the Jiaozhou Bay has been contaminated by heavy metals to various degrees, with prominent arsenic contributing the most to the contamination. The analysis suggests that the major sources of metal contamination in the Jiaozhou Bay are land-based anthropogenic ones, such as discharge of industrial waste water and municipal sewage and run-off. Notably, the elevated heavy metal concentrations of the Jiaozhou Bay sediments could have a significant impact on the bay's ecosystem. With the rapid economic development and urbanization around the Jiaozhou Bay, coastal management and pollution control should focus on these contaminant sources, as well as provide ongoing monitoring studies of heavy metal contamination within the bay.


Background Relapses occur in about 20% of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Approximately one-third of these children can be cured. Their risk for late effects is high because of intensified treatment, but their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was largely unmeasured. Our aim was to compare HRQOL of ALL survivors with the general population, and of relapsed with non-relapsed ALL survivors. Methodology/Principal Findings As part of the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SCCSS) we sent a questionnaire to all ALL survivors in Switzerland who had been diagnosed between 1976–2003 at age <16 years, survived ≥5 years, and were currently aged ≥16 years. HRQOL was assessed with the Short Form-36 (SF-36), which measures four aspects of physical health and four aspects of mental health. A score of 50 corresponded to the mean of a healthy reference population. We analyzed data from 457 ALL survivors (response: 79%). Sixty-one survivors had suffered a relapse. Compared to the general population, ALL survivors reported similar or higher HRQOL scores on all scales. Survivors with a relapse scored lower in general health perceptions (51.6) compared to those without (55.8;p=0.005), but after adjusting for self-reported late effects, this difference disappeared. Conclusion/Significance Compared to population norms, ALL survivors reported good HRQOL, even after a relapse. However, relapsed ALL survivors reported poorer general health than non-relapsed. Therefore, we encourage specialists to screen for poor general health in survivors after a relapse and, when appropriate, specifically seek and treat underlying late effects. This will help to improve patients' HRQOL.


We present Phone as a Pixel: a scalable, synchronization-free, platform-independent system for creating large, ad-hoc displays from a collection of smaller devices. In contrast to most tiled-display systems, the only requirement for participation is for devices to have an internet connection and a web browser. Thus, most smartphones, tablets, laptops and similar devices can be used. Phone as a Pixel uses a color-transition encoding scheme to identify and locate displays. This approach has several advantages: devices can be arbitrarily arranged (i.e., not in a grid) and infrastructure consists of a single conventional camera. Further, additional devices can join at any time without re-calibration. These are desirable properties to enable collective displays in contexts like sporting events, concerts and political rallies. In this paper we describe our system, show results from proof-of-concept setups, and quantify the performance of our approach on hundreds of displays.


An analysis of the formation and distribution of oil pools within the Varandey-Adz'va Zone in the northeast of the Timan-Pechora Basin has revealed differing patterns of oil migration and accumulation in various parts of the area. Oil fields in the north and centre of the Sorokina Swell and in the Gamburtseva Swell are reservoired over a wide stratigraphic ranger: from the Triassic through the Lower Devonian. This suggests the possibility of uninterrupted upward transit of fluids from lower stratigraphic levels (Ordovician-Lower Devonian). The oils found in the Upper Devonian at the Saremboy-Lekkeyaga Swell and in the south of the Sorokina Swell are syngenetic, mixed with oils brought by inflow from underlying strata. Oils in the other complexes are epigenetic. Triassic through Lower Permian strata have not yet entered the main oil window and cannot be the sources of commercial hydrocarbons.


ABSTRACT The role of migration and mobility of people across the steppe has often been cited as key to Bronze Age developments across Eurasia, including the emergence of complex societies in the steppe and the spread of material culture. The central Eurasian steppe (CES) is a focal point for the investigation of the shifting nature of pastoral societies because of the clear transition in archaeological patterning that occurred from the Middle (MBA) to Late Bronze Age (LBA). The spread of LBA (1700–1400 cal BC) Andronovo cultural materials found across wide swaths of the steppe provide indirect evidence for broad scale interactions, but the degree to which people moved across the landscape remains poorly understood. This study takes a first step into documenting human movement during these critical periods through strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18O) isotopic analyses of tooth enamel recovered from human individuals buried in the cemeteries of Bestamak (MBA) and Lisakovsk (LBA) in northern Kazakhstan. Strontium isotope results, referenced against the distribution of contemporary bioavailable strontium in the vicinity of both sites, suggest local communities engaged in small-scale mobility with limited ranges. Reduced strontium and oxygen isotopic variation visible in humans from Lisakovsk suggests mobility decreased from the Middle to Late Bronze Age likely indicative of a shift in resource and landscape use over time.


CONTEXT
The World Health Organization (WHO) places major depressive disorder (MDD), or depression, as the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide. Some studies have found that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) represents the most superior approach in treating mild to severe symptoms. Recent literature has indicated a number of limitations to this therapeutic approach. An approach that has received increasing attention within the literature is the emotional freedom technique (EFT).

OBJECTIVE
The current pilot study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CBT and EFT in the treatment of depression and comorbid anxiety.

DESIGN
The research team designed a pilot study structured as a randomized, controlled trial with 2 intervention arms.

SETTING
The study took place at Bond University in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS
Participants (n = 10) were local community members who had screened positive for a primary diagnosis of MDD.

INTERVENTION
Participants were randomly assigned to an 8-wk CBT or EFT treatment program, the intervention groups. A sample of individuals from the community was assessed for comparative purposes (control group) (n = 57).

OUTCOME MEASURES
Pre- and postintervention, all participants were interviewed using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) 6.0, and they completed the following validated questionnaires: (1) the Beck Depression Inventory, second edition (BDI-2) and (2) the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21).

RESULTS
Findings revealed that both treatment approaches produced significant reductions in depressive symptoms, with the CBT group reporting a significant reduction postintervention, which was not maintained with time. The EFT group reported a delayed effect involving a significant reduction in symptoms at the 3- and 6-mo follow-ups only. Examination of the individual cases revealed clinically significant improvements in anxiety across both interventions.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the findings provide evidence to suggest that EFT might be an effective treatment strategy worthy of further investigation.


An explicit formula for the normal-incidence polar Kerr magneto-optical coefficient in a general multilayer structure consisting of a magnetic film and multilayers has been derived. The optimum condition of the multilayer-medium structure for maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio in the readout system is analytically derived by means of an equivalent bilayer treatment. For the case of the quarter-wave multilayer structure, numerical examples are given. It is shown that the optimization of both the multilayer structure and the readout optical components can greatly increase the signal-to-noise ratio in the readout system.


In September 2016, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) controversially approved Exondys 51 (eteplirsen) for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Submitted under the FDA's Accelerated Approval pathway, eterplirsen is the first drug approved to treat DMD, a rare and fatal genetic disorder characterized by progressive loss of muscle function. Just five months earlier, the FDA's scientific advisory committee had voted against approval over the objections of a crowd of more than one thousand patients and advocates who had arrived to observe and provide testimony during the committee's public hearing. Despite anecdotal accounts from patients and their caregivers of the drug's benefits, the committee determined that Sarepta's twelve-person trial had failed to present substantial evidence of the drug's effectiveness. FDA's internal scientific review team agreed. Yet, in the face of significant pressure from patients and their advocates, FDA reversed the negative recommendations of the advisory committee and its internal review team in approving the drug. This Article presents an account and critical appraisal of the role that patients and their advocates played in securing eteplirsen's approval, using the case to understand FDA's attempts to meet congressional demands over the past few decades for greater patient involvement and expanded expedited review programs. In light of the 21st Century Cures Act's recent directive to FDA to significantly develop both its patient involvement and expedited approval programs, the lessons of the eteplirsen approval are particularly timely.


In this paper we present an extension to the KinectFusion algorithm that allows a robust real-time face tracking and modeling using the Microsoft's Kinect sensor. This is achieved changing two steps of the original algorithm: pre-processing and tracking. In the former, we use a real-time face detection algorithm to segment the face from the rest of the image. In the latter, we use a real-time head pose estimation to give a new initial guess to the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm when it fails and an algorithm to solve occlusion. Our approach is evaluated in a markerless augmented reality (MAR) system. We show that this approach can reconstruct faces and handle more face pose changes and variations than the original KinectFusion's tracking algorithm. In addition, we show that the realism of the system is enhanced as we solve the occlusion problem efficiently at shader level.


Objective. The objective of this article is to examine whether public expenditure on higher education has an effect on income inequality by increasing enrollment. Methods. Combining data from the World Bank Development Indicators with data from the World Income Inequality Database version 2, we study the relation between government education expenditure and enrollment rates, as well as the relation between government education expenditure and the change in income inequality during the 1980s and the 1990s. Results. We find that public expenditure on higher education has no positive effect on enrollment. Increased enrollment is mainly explained by higher GDP per capita. Using carefully selected Gini coefficients to ensure comparability over time, we do not find a robust relation between higher education expenditure and lower income inequality, contrary to some previous studies. Conclusions. Government expenditure on higher education has very limited effects on enrollment and inequality. This finding, however, does not imply that there are no social benefits from such subsidies. For example, in countries where high marginal tax rates decrease the economic returns to education, governments may wish to compensate for this through subsidies.


Background: Today's occupational therapy models emphasize that a person's choice of, satisfaction with, and performance in occupations are markedly influenced by the context. For students undergoing a group-based study module, the group is an important context factor. Until recently, there has been a lack of instruments available for the assessment of functioning and participation at the group level. This mixed methods pilot study aimed to examine occupational therapy students' perceptions of their group's level of functioning and course of development during one study module. Methods: The students' perceptions of their group's functioning were assessed in two ways: by examining their scores on the Social Profile (SP), a new instrument, and by examining their qualitative descriptions of the groups and how the groups developed over time. The sample consisted of four occupational therapy students. Results: Two students perceived their group functioning as stable over time. One student's scores indicated an increase in group functioning over time, whereas one student's showed a decrease. The interview statements showed varying degrees of connectedness with the SP items. Conclusions: Descriptions of stability and change corresponded very well with the students' SP trajectories, indicating content validity of the assessment as a whole. Comments Tore Bonsaksen: Associate Professor at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health, Department of Occupational Therapy, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Oslo, Norway Mari N. Eirum: Occupational therapy student at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health, Department of Occupational Therapy, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Oslo, Norway Mary V. Donohue: PhD., Retired Clinical Professor, New Jersey, USA


The decision maker in environmental planning problems usually faces a complex system of interrelated components, such as resources, objectives, persons or groups of persons, etc. Often a decision maker has to choose among a finite number of alternatives according to some criteria. One of the problems in development decision making is to account for the interaction between knowledge and politics. In some circumstances political goals and power rather than knowledge easily dominate development decisions but in other circumstances the reverse may be true. In parallel with quantitative estimations the qualitative and relative estimations of parameters are available for the decision maker. So there is a problem to combine different types of estimations. There is also the problem of missing and uncertain data.

In recent years some approaches were proposed to support the decision making process for such complex problems. We can mention Bayesian decision analysis, fuzzy-set based decision analysis, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as outranking methods. There is corresponding software based on these approaches to support decision making process such as Supertree, COPE, Expert Choice, Rank Master, Trigger, etc. Here we consider the problem of choosing of the most appropriate flue gas desulfurization (FGD) technologies for implementation on a power plant as a good example of a complex semistructural problem. The purpose of this work to solve this problem as a test problem using a software package CHOICE designed in the Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. This package is intended to analyze the structure of the problem and then present it and support the decision making process. As Kaplan notes: "A theory is not just the discovery of a hidden fact; the theory is a way of looking at the facts, of organizing and representing them".


In the first part of this paper, we describe a review in the Laplace transform technique applied to SN two-dimensional transport equation in a rectangular domain considering Compton scattering. In Compton scattering the incident photon interacts with an electron of the irradiated medium, giving the electron kinetic energy, and also producing a scattered photon. In order to track that electron, in the second part of this paper, we apply the PN approximation to X,Y-geometry electron transport problems. In this derivation, the energy deposited by the free electron is taken into account. To reach this objective we solve two model problems: the first one for the transport of photons, assuming the Klein-Nishina scattering kernel as the scattering differential cross-section as well as the multigroup model in the energy variable; and the second one for the transport of free electrons considering the screened Rutherford scattering kernel. The results are presented under absorbed energy form in several points of interest. We report numerical simulations and comparisons with results obtained by using the Geant4 version 9.1 program which applies the Monte Carlo's technique to low energy libraries for both two-dimensional problems.


Purpose: The paper determines the similarities and divergences in the public procurement system in Germany and the Czech Republic. The authors assessed the contribution of the public procurement system in each country's GDP, identified similarities in the procurement process and how they affect the overall outcome. Divergences in the two countries procurement process and how they affect the outcome were also identified. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research was designed by using secondary research method as it has a wide scope that would be a challenge to achieve using primary research method. Secondary research methods were utilized to generate data which is analyzed by quantitative techniques. Findings: The most notable similarities include the use of e-procurement and the different types of public procurement contracts to enhance transparency and efficiency. Apart from that, there are some divergences where Germany seems to be a little bit more efficient compared to the Czech procurement system. Some of the divergences include higher corruption levels in the Czech Republic system than in Germany and also higher efficiency in terms of processing tender in German system than in the Czech Republic. Practical Implications: The study compares the public procurement systems in Germany and the Czech Republic and underlines potentials and disadvantages of both systems. Originality/Value: The research delivers a legal-economic comparison of German and Czech public procurement systems, including influence and effects made by European Law.


An extremely facile and efficient procedure has been developed for the synthesis of dihydropyrrol-2-ones. One-pot four-component reaction of amines, dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates and formaldehyde in the presence of N,N,N,Ntetramethylguanidinium acetate [TMG][Ac] in methanol at ambient temperature provides substituted dihydropyrrol-2-ones in good to high yields. The important aspects of this multi-component heteroannulation are simple operations under mild conditions, readily available starting material and catalyst. Furthermore, all products were obtained through a simple filtration and washed with ethanol, and there was no need for column chromatography. It is found that the catalyst is recyclable and can be used up to four times without significant loss of its activity.


This paper evaluates Proyecto Joven, a training program targeted to poor young individuals in Argentina. The authors used a non-experimental evaluation methodology to answer the following set of questions: 1) Did the program increase the probability of employment?; 2) Did it increase the probability of a formal employment?; 3) Did it increase the labor income of trainees? The methodology used is the matching estimators approach calculating first propensity scores for program participation and then the matching estimators to calculate the program impact. The impact of the program is negligible in terms of employment and income, but not in terms of formality, which was an important achievement in the case of Argentina, since labor informality was increasing economy wide and more specifically for the group targeted by Proyecto Joven.


This paper attempts to make the connection between the theory of sustainability and the practice of urban design. In doing so it draws from a wide body of literature to establish ten universal principles of sustainable urban design. These it relates to some of the widely accepted precepts of sustainable development. In linking theory to practice, consideration is given to how these principles impact across the range of different spatial scales: building, space, quarter and settlement-wide. The paper concludes by briefly examining how more sustainable patterns of design might be delivered and by whom. It argues that fundamentally good urban design is sustainable, but this implies much more than simply reducing energy use and carbon emissions. Instead, it implies a much more profound basis upon which to make decisions that impact on the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the built environment.


Normally the experiments conducted in laboratories are done manually. This may
lead to unpredictable accidents. It can cause damage to both experiment apparatus
and its user. Results obtained from the experiment conducted manually are not
accurate especially if the same experiment has to be repeated for many times. This
technique needs to be improved.
The main objective of this project is to provide a robotic system that is capable of
handling hazardous chemical processing and experiments at laboratories. It can be
reprogrammed to perform various tasks with flexible degrees of freedom. This system is called Robolab. This project starts from the development of a simple
concept of XYZ movements and gripper, into a final form of a Cartesian robot.
The main structure of the Robolab can be divided into software and hardware
parts. The software is responsible to drive the robotic arms in order to move to a
precise position and at the same time control the inputs and outputs devices of the
system. The program consists of various functions such as home routine, stop
routine, process routine, jog/manual routine and on-error routine. Meanwhile, the
hardware of the Robolab system can be divided into electrical and mechanical
modules.
The electrical module consists of a power distribution system, a SmartStep/3
control board and a personal computer. The mechanical consists of an end
effector, a pneumatic system, a Z-axis module, a Y-axis module, an X-axis
module, a pipette module, a vibrator module, a conveyor belt system, a system
base and jigs and fixtures module.
A personal computer is needed to download program into the EPROM of the
motion controller through the connection of RS232 host link system. The motion
controller acts as the main processor of the robotic system. The actuators are used
to drive the mechanical robotic arm. This robot also has a built-in fault detection
system. It will inform its main controller if any particular faults occur to the
system.The SmartStep/3 controller is chosen for this project to control the robot. CTERM,
a terminal emulator is specially configured for the controller to use on pc. MlNT's
flexible and powerful command set is used as a solution to motion control
applications.
From the experimental results, it is proven that the proposed robotic arm was
successfully designed, constructed and controlled.


Fiscal federalism comprises the distribution of functions and tax revenue sources between central and regional governments. Fiscal federalism issues in respect of value added tax (VAT) do not arise in unitary states; in federal states questions arise as to which level of government should levy the tax, and how revenue should be divided between central and regional governments. While a single VAT levied by a federal government with some, or in one case all, of the revenue being distributed to regional governments is common, in practice there are many variations. China levies a single national VAT, but distributes half the tax to provinces on the basis of the location from which supplies are made. Member states of the European Union (EU) levy separate VATs, subject to conformity with an EU law, the VAT Directive, and revenue is redistributed through a combination of VAT rules and a central clearing house on the basis of place of consumption. Most Canadian provinces impose a surcharge on federal VAT, which is collected by the federal government on behalf of the provinces – except in the province of Quebec, where the provincial government collects Quebec Sales Tax and federal Goods and Services Tax (as VAT is called in Canada), and passes the federal portion on to the central government. The revenue attributable to provincial surcharges is distributed to provincial governments on the basis of place of consumption, and the federal government portion flows to the federal governments consolidated revenue. The bifurcated Ethiopian VAT may be unique, with VAT administration and revenue being assigned on the basis of the legal status of businesses.


This paper examines the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in Sierra Leone, a country where an empirical econometric study on aid effectiveness is yet to exist. Using a triangulation of approaches involving the ARDL bounds test approach and the Johansen maximum likelihood approach to cointegration for the period 1970-2007, we find that foreign aid has a significant contribution in promoting economic growth in the country. This finding is found to be robust across approaches and specifications. Whilst aid may have been associated with improvement in economic growth in the country, its impact during the period of war is found to be either weak or non-existent. Further, aid during the pre-war period is found to be marginally more effective than aid during the post-war period. The latter results suggest that the impact of aid may change with time.


Planning methods for deterministic planning problems traditionally exploit factored representations to encode the dynamics of problems in terms of a set of parameters, e.g., the location of a robot or the status of a piece of equipment. Factored representations achieve economy of representation by taking advantage of structure in the form of dependency relationships among these parameters. In recent work, we have addressed the problem of achieving the same economy of representation and exploiting the resulting encoding of structure for stochastic planning problems represented as Markov decision processes. In this paper, we extend our earlier work on reasoning about such factored representations to handle problems with large action spaces that are also represented in factored form, where the parameters in this case might correspond to the control parameters for different effectors on a robot or the allocations for a set of resources. The techniques described in this paper employ factored representations for Markov decision processes to identify and exploit regularities in the dynamics to expedite inference. These regularities are in the form of sets of states (described for example by boolean formulas) that behave the same with respect to sets of actions where these sets are thought of as aggregate states and aggregate actions respectively. We present theoretical foundations, describe algorithms, provide examples in which our techniques provide leverage and examples in which they fail to do so, and summarize the results of experiments with a preliminary implementation.


This book presents an integrated approach to measuring the level of intra-party democracy through deductive and standardized content analysis of party statutes. Following the two main criteria of intra-party democracy—inclusiveness and decentralization—three main categories of intra-party democracy are theoretically derived: members' rights, organizational structure, and decision-making. On the basis of theoretical considerations further sub-categories and individual items are deduced from these main categories and put together into a comprehensive coding scheme. Furthermore, precise coding instructions are presented. Since it is the ultimate aim of this book to present an approach to measuring the level of intra-party democracy for any party statute and to express this in numerical terms, the final step is the quantification of the coded data and the calculation of a numerical measure of intra-party democracy. The level of intra-party democracy ranges from −1 (lowest level of intra-party democracy) to +1 (highest level of intra-party democracy) and can be calculated for any statute of any political party. Additionally, we present some empirical examples from Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania.


This article examines the engagement by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights over the period since the Charter was made formally binding by the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. A survey of the output of the Court during that time reveals a sharp rise in the number of cases in which a provision of the Charter was cited or argued before the Court. Further, the Court has engaged substantively with and given prominence to the Charter argument in a growing number of these cases. In other words, the incidence of human rights adjudication before the CJEU has been significantly augmented by the adoption of the Charter as a binding legal instrument. The article considers the implications for the Court of Justice of the growing demand for it to function in certain cases as a human rights adjudicator. More particularly, it questions whether the long-standing judicial style and approach of the Court – its self-referential, formulaic and often minimalist style of reasoning – is appropriate to this expanded role. The article argues that the nature and context of the increasing number of human rights claims being made before the Court call for greater openness on the part of the CJEU to the use of international and comparative law and to the possibility of third party interventions. Further, and particularly given the evident unwillingness of the CJEU to countenance the practice of separate concurring or dissenting opinions, the Court should, particularly in cases involving human rights claims, rethink its increasingly frequent practice of dispensing with the Opinion of an Advocate General.