Thin films of metals and compounds have a very wide range of applications today. Many of the deposition methods used for the production of such films utilize plasma to support the growth the film, e.g. by the supply of energy and the enhancement of reactivity. This thesis focuses on the physical vapor deposition (PVD) of thin films by high density plasma sources based on hollow cathodes and aims to increase the understanding of the deposition process and its influence on the film properties.Titanium nitride films reactively deposited by the low-pressure hybrid plasma (HYP LP) source exhibited excellent properties and was deposited at considerable higher rates than films deposited by conventional methods.An original finding in this work is the influence of substrate material on the deposition process and consequently on the properties of the deposited film. In the deposition of TiN films by the HYP LP source it was found that the substrate temperature was higher for Si substrates than for steel substrates due to a more efficient absorption of microwave power in Si than in steel. Further, it was found that ferromagnetic substrates influence the film growth in magnetized plasma systems. An effect of the ferromagnetic substrates is the enhancement of ion bombardment that increases the growth temperature and affects the texture and morphology of the growing films. It was also found that a DC bias can change the TiN film properties considerably and compensate the effect of ferromagnetic substrates.High rate depositions of chromium and chromium nitride films by the RF hollow cathode plasma jet (RHCPJ) source were studied. The performance of the reactive diffuse arc process and the CrN film properties indicates that the process can be transferred from small cylindrical cathodes to linear magnetized hollow cathodes which allow deposition on considerable larger areas and this is important for industrial applications.


Cascading failure, which can be triggered by both physical and cyber attacks, is among the most critical threats to the security and resilience of power grids. In current literature, researchers investigate the issue of cascading failure on smart grids mainly from the attacker's perspective. From the perspective of a grid defender or operator, however, it is also an important issue to restore the smart grid suffering from cascading failure back to normal operation as soon as possible. In this paper, we consider cascading failure in conjunction with the restoration process involving repairing of the failed nodes/links in a sequential fashion. Based on a realistic power flow cascading failure model, we exploit a Q-learning approach to develop a practical and effective policy to identify the optimal way of sequential restorations for large-scale smart grids. Simulation results on three power grid test benchmarks demonstrate the learning ability and the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.


The impact of the introduction of EU Single Area Payments (SAP) on farm strategy in New Member States is investigated for a sample of Lithuanian farms, utilizing farm accounting and survey data. The application of two investment models demonstrates that the credit market in Lithuania was imperfect prior to accession and that some farms were financially constrained. The introduction of the SAP has a significant, positive influence on farmers' intentions to expand their farm area compared to a baseline scenario of the continuation of pre-accession policy. The switch in policy has a more pronounced effect on farms that were previously credit constrained. While the SAP has been presented as a policy support that is decoupled from production, its introduction will nevertheless have ex post coupled effects, most notably an income multiplier effect on credit constrained farmers.


In recent years the Latin American region has become a stage for the emergence of new indigeneities, that is, the organization of new political subjects based on new typologies of indigenous identities that challenge the narrow constructions of indigeneity that require fixed geographic or cultural-racial characteristics. This paper aims to contribute to this growing research and literature as it presents a case study in which an environmentally dispossessed group has implemented a novel ethnic strategy based on the concepts of "ancestrality" and "peoplehood" in order to demand collective mangrove land titles, and thus, gain more control over their natural resources. In particular, it addresses the reasons explaining why the mangrove gatherers' grassroots movement in Ecuador has declared itself to be the Pueblos Ancestrales del Ecosistema Manglar (Ancient People of the Mangrove Ecosystem). This paper argues that this ecosystem-based ethnic identity responds to a total lack of recognition and valuing of a cultural way of life with nature (mangroves). This case study highlights how current natural resource depletion is pushing novel deployments of indigeneity by the fact that this legal category entails rights to collective land and at the same time highlights the dangers of exclusion resulting from granting collective land titles exclusively in terms of indigeneity.


The Editors-in-Chief, Deputy Editors, Senior Editors, and Editorial Board wish to acknowledge with sincere appreciation the assistance of the following reviewers who have generously contributed their time and effort during the past year in the appraisal of manuscripts submitted to Cancer Immunology Research. These reviewers not only have been of inestimable help in assessing the merit of original articles but also, by their careful analysis and critique and their general and specific constructive recommendations, have often greatly enhanced the value of these manuscripts. The quality of the journal can be attributed in large measure to the quality of their effort. We are sincerely grateful.


In the first decades of the 21st century much healthcare spending will be concentrated on the end of life. Predictions for the year 2025 show an ageing population, with more people worldwide dying from chronic or progressive illnesses rather than acute conditions.1 Indeed, this revolution is already upon us. In the United States end of life expenditure through Medicare consumes 10-12% of the total health budget and 27% of the Medicare budget.2 Among older people healthcare expenditure for those in the last year of life was 276% higher than for people of similar age.3 Cartwright and Seale estimated that in England about 22% of hospital bed days were taken up by people in the last year of life.4 Although discussion of death is still taboo in our society, all health and social professionals must now be assessing the best way of caring for a person with a progressive illness and their family. This underlines the importance of palliative care.

Palliative care is a person centred approach concerned with physical, psychosocial, and spiritual care in progressive disease. It focuses on both the quality of life remaining to patients and supporting their families and those close to them. Throughout the world specialist palliative care services have grown, though their distribution is uneven. In 1999 there were over 6560 hospice or palliative care services in 84 countries, with 933 services in …


Autofocus methods used in biomicroscopy are either based on the search of an optimal focus position – which requires suspending data collection during the optimization process – or on the continuous monitoring of the position of a fiducial plane – which may not coincide with the sample itself. Here, we introduce RAPID (Rapid Autofocus via Pupil-split Image phase Detection), a method for real-time image-based focus stabilization, applicable in all wide-field microscopy systems. We demonstrate that RAPID maintains high image quality in various settings, from in vivo fluorescence imaging to light-sheet microscopy. RAPID provides a universal autofocus solution for automated microscopy, and enables quantitative assays otherwise impossible in a standard microscope, such as 3D tracking of fast-moving organisms.


The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has a long-standing policy to keep formal investigations confidential. In this study, we examine the extent to which compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides investors with information about on-going SEC investigations. We exploit a unique empirical setting whereby the SEC denies FOIA requests due to ongoing enforcement proceedings (hereafter, exemption denials). We find that exemption denials predict a substantial number of ongoing and future SEC investigations. Exemption denials are also associated with significant negative future abnormal returns, which is consistent with exemption denials providing a noisy public signal that allows certain sophisticated investors to earn future abnormal returns. Overall, our findings suggest that information transparency laws, such as FOIA, have the potential to limit the SEC's ability to maintain effective and confidential investigations.


DevOps is fast assuming greater importance in deciding the agility of an enterprise. A robust DevOps setup is crucial for successful agile delivery and minimal risks. It greatly optimizes release management costs and team productivity, resulting in reduced time to market. At the same time, DevOps enables organizations to make rapid product releases with increased quality and manage customers' expectations. In this paper we explore various aspects of DevOps. We look at key success attributes, main processes, tools, and frameworks that play an elementary role in DevOps.


The year 2003 was a momentous one for the energy sector in India, marked by two important and distinct developments. First, the legal framework governing the electricity sector was completely changed to make way for more progressive enabling legislation that would eventually enable a complete restructuring of the electricity sector and support greater private participation and growth in various aspects of generation, transmission, and distribution. Secondly, liquefied natural gas (LNG) achieved the status of a viable source of natural gas to fuel power generation and fertilizer industries with the completion of the first LNG import and regasification facilities. The opening of exploration and production of petroleum to private participants has started to give dividends as discovery of two large gas fields off the eastern coast of India has led to formulation of plans for a national gas pipeline grid to enable the gas to reach existing markets in northern and western India. This article seeks to discuss these major developments and also to evaluate the expectations surrounding them.


We re-examine the problem of global localization of a robot using a rigorous Bayesian framework based on the idea of random finite sets. Random sets allow us to naturally develop a complete model of the underlying problem accounting for the statistics of missed detections and of spurious/erroneously detected (potentially unmodeled) features along with the statistical models of robot hypothesis disappearance and appearance. In addition, no explicit data association is required which alleviates one of the more difficult sub-problems. Following the derivation of the Bayesian solution, we outline its first-order statistical moment approximation, the so called probability hypothesis density filter. We present a statistical estimation algorithm for the number of potential robot hypotheses consistent with the accumulated evidence and we show how such an estimate can be used to aid in re-localization of kidnapped robots. We discuss the advantages of the random set approach and examine a number of illustrative simulations.


The objective of this study was to determine whether tumor-infiltrating B cells (TIL-B) of infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast represent a tumor-specific humoral immune response. Immunohistochemical analysis of three Her-2/neu-negative IDC tumors from geriatric patients showed that TIL-B cluster in structures similar to germinal centers containing CD20+ B lymphocyte and CD3+ T lymphocyte zones with interdigitating CD21+ follicular dendritic cells, suggesting an in situ immune response. A total of 29, 31, and 58 IgG1 H chain clones was sequenced from the three IDC tumors, respectively. Intratumoral oligoclonal expansion of TIL-B was demonstrated by a preponderance (45–68%) of clonal B cells. In contrast, only 7% of tumor-draining lymph node and 0% of healthy donor PBL IgG H chains were clonal, consistent with the larger repertoires of node and peripheral populations. Patterns and levels of TIL-B IgG H chain somatic hypermutation suggested affinity maturation in intratumoral germinal centers. To examine the specificity of TIL-B Ig, a phage-displayed Fab library was generated from the TIL-B of one IDC tumor. Panning with an allogeneic breast cancer cell line enriched Fab binding to breast cancer cells, but not nonmalignant cell lines tested. However, panning with autologous tumor tissue lysate increased binding of Fab to both tumor tissue lysate and healthy breast tissue lysate. These data suggest an in situ Ag-driven oligoclonal B cell response to a variety of tumor- and breast-associated Ags.


The financial instruments and risky practices that caused the global financial crisis of 2008 were enabled by decades of deregulation and anemic government enforcement efforts. The elements that combined to create the crisis were subprime mortgage securities, credit default swaps, highly leveraged hedge funds, and excessive short-term borrowing at investment banks. They flourished without government oversight, transparency, or limits because proponents contended that "private ordering" of financial markets, instead of government intervention, was ideal. The champions of private ordering contended government interference was inappropriate for sophisticated investors (SIs) who had the expertise and incentives to properly assess risk, and to select and monitor complex investment options. They believed that by acting in their own interests, SIs would keep the market safe and ensure the efficient allocation of capital to businesses and individuals who would make the most productive use of the money. Sophisticated investors include, for example, government, corporate, and union pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, endowments, broker-dealers, insurance firms, banks, and sovereign funds. They also include individuals who earn as little as $200,000 per year. While many experts warned about the dangerous consequences of deregulation, Congress and regulators accepted the conventional perspective that sophisticated market participants would police and avoid irrational conduct.When a sophisticated institutional investor makes poor choices, this harms the ultimate investors, the people whom the securities laws were designed to protect. Former president Bill Clinton recently recognized this problem. He explained that the justification for the failure to regulate complex instruments was that: "these things are expensive and sophisticated and only a handful of investors will buy them and they don't need any extra protection, and any extra transparency. . . And the flaw in that argument was that first of all sometimes people with a lot of money make stupid decisions and make [them] without transparency . . . And secondly, the most important flaw . . . was even if less than 1 percent of the total investment community is involved in [these investments] so much money was involved that if they went bad, they could affect 100 percent of the investments, and indeed 100 percent of the citizens in countries."In other words, reliance upon the sophisticated investor ignores reality; the entities the law deems to meet the definition are largely neither sophisticated enough to match the complexity of the instruments or lack of data nor the actual investors who have placed their capital at risk.Looking back on the global financial crisis, it is clear that reliance upon SIs was misguided. There are numerous examples of how SIs were not able to make good choices. And, these incidents were not on the fringes but central to the crisis. As more information emerges concerning the creation and sale of toxic securities, it is clear that reliance upon SIs provided the rationalization for sharp if not illegal practices. Firms like Goldman Sachs invoked the SI concept while defending against securities fraud allegations that it created and sold some sophisticated clients bonds that were designed to fail while allowing others who helped create the bonds to bet against them. In addition, lobbyists and legislators continue to rely upon the sophisticated investor framework to shield certain financial institutions and instruments from government oversight. In this fashion, the SI concept continues to be trumpeted by those who seek carve-outs from reform efforts. Despite the reliance on the SI concept, little attention has been paid to the importance of the SI failure. Accordingly, an examination of the incapacity of sophisticated investors to monitor unregulated investment options and of the role sophisticated investors play in creating systemic risk is a necessary prerequisite to restoring financial safety and economic stability.


Graduate attributes (GAs) have become a necessary framework of reference for the 21 st century competency-based model of higher education. However, the issue of evaluating and assessing GAs still remains unchartered territory. In this article, we present a criteria-based method of assessment that allows for an institution-wide comparison of the various acquisition levels of different GAs. In order to achieve this, we first propose an understanding of GAs as knowledge, skills and attitude constructs, which directly impacts the operational development of GA scales. Second, after briefly discussing some shortcomings in current assessment/evaluation tests for GAs, we present the many features of the criteria-based model for assessing GAs, such as the importance of the proper interpretation of GAs as can-do statements, a theory-based development of the abstract categories that make up a scale for GA assessment and concrete examples of GA scales based on these abstract theories.


One way to address the multilayered architecture of international human rights law is to consider the various theories that have focused on the legal effects of globalisation. Based on a review of nine 'global law' theories, this article differentiates between three models of human rights integration. 'Hierarchical integration' as found in the theories of neo-naturalism, global constitutionalism, and global administrative law implies the recovery of a global hierarchical legal order. 'Coordinative integration' asserts that the most feasible approach to human rights integration is to establish links between the constitutive elements of an irreducible global legal pluralism. Its main proponents are theorists of ordered legal pluralism, neo-institutionalism, and systems theory. Finally, a model of 'conflictual integration' has been adopted by pragmatic approaches, critical legal studies, and theories of the Global South. These are skeptical of an imposition of order or coordination and hold that the driving force for the development of human rights law is the antagonistic relation between global actors. Our classification offers a clear and systematic way to deal with these fundamentally different notions of 'human rights integration'.


A common task for scatterplots is communicating trends in bivariate data. However, the ability of people to visually estimate these trends is under-explored, especially when the data violate assumptions required for common statistical models, or visual trend estimates are in conflict with statistical ones. In such cases, designers may need to intervene and de-bias these estimations, or otherwise inform viewers about differences between statistical and visual trend estimations. We propose data-driven mark orientation as a solution in such cases, where the directionality of marks in the scatterplot guide participants when visual estimation is otherwise unclear or ambiguous. Through a set of laboratory studies, we investigate trend estimation across a variety of data distributions and mark directionalities, and find that data-driven mark orientation can help resolve ambiguities in visual trend estimates.


Cultural tourism is considered a well-established field of study and a focus for many destinations that wish to encourage international visitation. Yet, there is little research published on cultural landscape, a concept that refers to the interrelation between landscape, nature, human culture and people that populate a specific region (Buckley, Ollenburg & Zhong, 2008). Cultural landscape is however a very important component of the Romanian tour operators' and travel agents' offer to potential visitors, particularly when it comes to historic regions such as Bucovina.

Bucovina is located in the North-East of Romania and is considered to be one of the most important destinations for cultural and heritage tourism in the country. The region is well-known for its customs and traditions, beautiful landscapes and, most importantly, for the medieval monasteries famous for their painted exterior walls included among the UNESCO World Heritage sites. The most popular and famous such monastery is located in Voronet, and therefore this rural area will be the focus of this study.

Following the fall of the Communist regime in 1989 and the opening of the borders to western visitors, over the past 20 years there has been a considerable increase in the number of tourists in Bucovina. As with many other destinations, the development of tourism in the area brought not only benefits but also negative impacts, in particular for the cultural landscape. Among the most noticeable are the rapid changes in the style and architecture of local houses and accommodation units which threaten the authenticity of the area. As highlighted by many researchers, authenticity is a very important motivator for visitors to travel to destinations, in particular for those who are interested in the local cultures and traditions, or in heritage tourism (Kolar & Zabkar, 2010).

This study aims to better understand the importance of the cultural landscape for the sustainable development of tourism in the region of Bucovina, Romania. In doing so, it adopts a case study methodology, which allows the researchers to analyse the destination from more than one perspective by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. It also allows the collection of data from different stakeholders involved in tourism development in the region, such as visitors, the tourism industry and the local authority. As this is work in progress, the authors expect the findings to contribute to the limited knowledge that exist on tourism development in Bucovina, a popular region among international tourists who visit Romania. Moreover, it would help policy makers to find solutions in implementing sustainable measures for the development of tourism in this region while protecting the authenticity of the area.


The article looks at the problem of criticism. How should we understand the role of criticism, staying in line with the noble tradition establishing the autonomy of science as a fundamental priority? This is the crucial question, framing the field of consideration. The question is put in a perspective created by an ongoing discussion exploring the mission of PAS. On the one hand criticism is viewed as the cornerstone of the scientific ethos, a key element shaping the particular profile of science. On the other hand it is approached as a necessary element of a communication strategy which should offer solutions protecting the interests of science, facing the challenges of late modern consumerism, with its patronizing understanding of science, reducing science to a specific form of "on demand" service and the source of profits. By combining these two perspectives the article tries to highlight fundamental questions concerned with the mission of PAS.


A compact carrier generation system enabling proper interoperability among quad-band GSM, WCDMA (FDD and TDD), and WLAN (802.11a/b/g) standards is developed. The implementation is achieved in 0.25-mum BiCMOS-SiGe process. The measured tuning range is higher that 1 GHz (3.05 to 4.1 GHz) exceeding the specifications by 25%. The voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) exhibits a phase noise of -118 and -125 dBc/Hz measured, respectively, at 400 kHz and 1 MHz offsets while drawing 2.5 mA from 2.5 V supply. The measured phase noise at 400 kHz offset of the PCS/DCS output local-oscillator (LO) signal and the GSM output LO signal is, respectively, -124 dBc/Hz and -130 dBc/Hz


This study investigates what makes a country newsworthy in economic news around the world. Employing Web-mining techniques on 35 leading news sites in the 10 most popular Internet languages, we calculated and tracked the relative prominence of countries in the world's economic news from 2009 to 2012, a time of economic recession. Our findings suggest that major changes in GDP, even in relatively small economies, are no less important than overall GDP in explaining countries' prominence in world economic news. Time-lag analysis of change in GDP and in news prominence identified three types of relation between news prominence and economic performance, reflecting the extent of world interest, press freedom, and the availability of reporting facilities. Network analysis of country co-mentions revealed three ripples when crisis hit noncore European countries, extending first to Europe's leading economies, then global leading economies, and finally global developing economies. We discuss our findings' implications for future research in the field.


Article history: Received: 28 Jan. 2017 Accepted: 14 July 2017 Published: 21 Aug. 2017 A common practice for detailed assessment of masonry bridges is to use recorded deflection signature of mid-span of such structures due to predefined loading schemes. However, measuring the deflection of bridges with tall piers or those situated over deep valleys introduces certain difficulties, since common deflection-meters require a reference point relative to which the measurement is carried out. Common approaches currently proposed by researchers include indirect measurement of deflection based on acceleration or tilt measurements. However, due to small values of deflection in masonry arch bridges, such approaches may not produce the expected results. Moreover, optical methods are difficult and rather expensive to implement due to small deflection values and far reaching points. This paper proposes the application of piers as the reference point of common deflection meters. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach, a case study is carried out in which a 70 years old railway masonry arch bridge is instrumented for structural health monitoring. The studied bridge is a seven span railway masonry arch bridge with tall piers of almost 40 meters and span lengths of 21.5m. It is concluded that vertical deflection signature of conventional method could be derived from inflating that of proposed method by a factor of 1.86. Therefore, the method proves to be practical for the purpose of structural health monitoring and calibration of numerical models.


This research was conducted to assess the intersection of gender and pesticide knowledge to identify gendered dynamics that may prove important to consider when implementing an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. Key findings include knowledge being associated with task undertaken, not necessarily the gender of a person. Often, due to social conceptions of appropriate gender roles, similar knowledge may be associated with a certain gender because they are engaging in similar tasks, but it is not their sex or gender that inherently gives them such knowledge. Therefore, knowledge generally associated with women can be associated with men if they are engaging in similar work. Additionally, triangulation of data through using various research methodologies, and interdisciplinary research are imperative for developing comprehensive research or development programs. Finally, even people who are concerned with the negative human and environmental health effects of pesticides may not be using them in a cautious manner. Outside factors such as market sale, education and income level must be taken into account when assessing why pesticides are used and the best methods to introduce an alternative pest control method, such as IPM.


This paper will explore the status and characteristics of 'expert' membership within an international organisation and its influence on the development of 'exosomatic resources'. Invoking the framework of the 'Community of Practice' (Wenger, 1998), it is argued that status and power are realised in the development and interpretation of policy and conventions within the organisation, through the 'negotiation of meaning' and through the 'politics of participation and reification'. Negotiations and decisions may take place over a period of time but are also situated within plenary debates. As such it is argued that power and hierarchy are not fixed structures but are emergent and fluid discursively over time and space. The paper defines the characteristics of 'expert' membership encompassing a consideration of the command of participatory and interactional norms, as well as knowledge of the status and content of reified products. To illustrate these characteristics a critical analysis of the discourse of one delegate is provided. This exemplifies how expert knowledge is applied within a debate to influence and inform the development and interpretation of texts and subsequently to contribute to the (re)production of shared meaning and agreement on issues under debate. It is argued that in considering both the forms of asymmetry in organisations and the practice of decision-making, research should focus on: the type of knowledge that is required and valued in any context; how this knowledge is accessed, enacted and exploited; and which members are instrumental in its construction, representation and reproduction.


It is often argued, though mostly informally, that outward foreign direct investment (FDI) is a synonym for the export of employment and thus detrimental to the home economy. To see whether and under what conditions this intuition indeed holds true, we construct a model of unionized duopoly and examine welfare implications of outward FDI on the home country. It is found that the presence of domestic competition gives rise to effects which have critical bearings on social welfare. There are two main findings. First, due to strategic interactions between the unions, the welfare effect of FDI can be negative, even when we disregard the fixed cost of FDI. Second, this negative effect arises more at the expense of consumers, rather than the unions: in fact, quite contrary to the popular belief, FDI may actually benefit the unions because it serves to soften price competition between them. The analysis reveals that the welfare effect of outward FDI hinges critically on the nature of domestic competition, especially among input suppliers, and their bargaining power against their respective downstream producers.


The charge transfer efficiency of a CCD is based on the average level of signal lost per pixel over a number of transfers. This value can be used to directly compare the relative performances of different structures, increases in radiation damage or to quantify improvements in operating parameters. This number does not however give sufficient detail to mitigate for the actual signal loss/deference in either of the transfer directions that may be critical to measuring shapes to high accuracy, such as those required in astronomy applications (e.g. for Gaia's astrometry or the galaxy distortion measurements for Euclid) based in the radiation environment of space. Pocket-pumping is an established technique for finding the location and activation levels of traps; however, a number of parameters in the process can also be explored to identify the trap species and location to sub-pixel accuracy. This information can be used in two ways to increase the sensitivity of a camera. Firstly, the clocking process can be optimised for the time constant of the majority of traps in each of the transfer directions, reducing deferred charge during read out. Secondly, a correction algorithm can be developed and employed during the post-processing of individual frames to move most of any deferred signal back into the charge packet it originated from. Here we present the trap-pumping techniques used to optimise the charge transfer efficiency of p- and n-channel e2v CCD204s and describe the use of trap-pumped images for on-orbit calibration and ground based image correction algorithms.


Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) differentiation in long bones is sensitive to mechanical loading. Increased loading promotes osteogenesis and reduces adipogenesis while reduced loading tips MSC differentiation away from the bone formation in favor of adipogenesis. To examine the effects of the unloading on epiphyseal bone and adipocyte content, subchondral femoro-tibial bones isolated from mice flown for 30 days in microgravity were assessed for evidence of altered bone area and adipocyte number. Consistent with the known response of bone to microgravity, 30 days of spaceflight resulted in approximately 25% less subchondral bone area. Concurrently, 10-fold more adipocytes were present in the bone marrow cavities of femur and tibia in flight compared to ground control samples. These data support the hypothesis that biomechanical unloading promotes adipogenic differentiation and confirms earlier studies in rat vertebrae of increased adipogenesis during 14 days of microgravity. The potential long-term effects of increased bone marrow adipocyte formation on flight personnel health is unknown and warrants further investigation.


Background: It is evident that seasonal changes can affect the function of animal reproductive system, and human reproductive system is no exception in this regard. These changes can be attributed to the effect of light during different seasons, especially on the reproductive system of females. There are, on the other hand, many reports that indicate no significant relation between seasons and the fertility rate of pregnancy and implantation. The aim of the present study was to clarify different views in case of seasonal effects on the rate of fertility and pregnancy. Methods: The present study was conducted on 1287 couples at the Infertility Center, Babol University of medical sciences. The couples received embryos after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was included in the study. The participants were divided into five groups based on their age (18-23, 24-28, 29-33, 34-38 and 39-43). The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Women who received embryos were between the age range of 18 and 43. It should be mentioned that the range of pregnancy in different seasons was different, and that the maximum number of pregnancies happened in autumn. Most pregnancies happened in 28 to 33 year olds. The quality of embryos was better in autumn than other seasons. Conclusion: The results indicated that seasonal changes can have an effect on the pregnancy rate through ICSI technique.


How long should it take a government agency to act on a nondiscretionary duty? When does the agency's decisionmaking process become unreasonably delayed, warranting judicial intervention to compel agency action? These questions are central to the operation and accountability of the modern administrative state. Agency delays in decisionmaking and action have been widely acknowledged as a fundamental impediment to the effective functioning of federal agencies for over thirty years; and more recently, significant delays in regulatory action have raised serious concerns about the political legitimacy of unfettered presidential control of the bureaucracy. Yet the appropriate role for courts to play in reviewing agency delays has garnered little attention in the academic literature, and the judicial doctrine is ad hoc, incoherent, and difficult to apply consistently. Thus, this Article argues, judicial review of agency delay is ripe for reform.Drawing upon the insights of positive political theory, this Article reframes agency delays as a principal-agent problem between congressional enacting coalitions and the agency, rather than merely a conflict between the agency and its beneficiaries, as the problem has traditionally been understood. Therefore, courts should assess whether agencies have abused their discretion over when to act in light of the type of decision delegated to the agency, whether the motivation behind the agency's timeline comports with its delegated authority, and the costs and benefits of inaction to the enacting coalition's statutory goals. This Article proposes that plaintiffs should have the burden of proving that the costs of delay due to other priorities outweigh the benefits, but that the burden of proof should shift to the agency once substantive decisionmaking is underway. This burden-shifting framework preserves agencies' discretion over their agendas while preventing foot-dragging caused by agency dysfunction, agency capture, or regulatory obstructionism by competing political principals. In addition, this Article proposes ways in which agencies' regulatory submissions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs can facilitate political oversight and provide additional tools for curing unreasonable delays.


Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop a scoring system for a novel naming task suitable for assessing naming performance in younger (18-30 years) and older (65+ years) adults in monolingual English, monolingual French, and English-French bilingual groups. This novel naming task will serve as an important health service to help diagnose and assess cognitively impaired older individuals, while also serving as an educational tool for healthcare providers.Materials and Methods: The Naming Task consists of 120 images organized in the same randomized order, and are shown on a white background displayed on a computer screen using PowerPoint. Participants are instructed to name the image displayed. Monolinguals completed the test in their native language and bilinguals completed the test in English only, French only, and a bilingual administration. Scoring criteria was established based on the responses from testing.Results: Strict and lenient scoring criteria developed for the Naming Task are presented. Eight items were removed from the original Naming Task due to quality and/or clarity, inability to name the image, or too many alternate responses. Performance in monolingual English and French was similar in younger and older adults for strict and lenient scoring. Bilinguals performed better with bilingual administration and worse with French administration, where scores were the lowest of all age and language groups.Conclusion: The Naming Task appears to be suitable for monolingual French and English individuals. Results suggest that a bilingual administration should be used when testing English-French bilinguals.


Abstract This paper describes a comprehensive study on the feasibility of advanced reactor core analyses within the framework of pin-by-pin multigroup transport calculations using a prototype of the object-oriented parallel core calculation code SCOPE. The SCOPE code enables the coupling of the diffusion theory method and the SPN transport theory method. The formulation of the method coupling and its verifications with benchmarks are presented. Quantitative estimation of the pin-cell homogenization effects within the octant core geometry of a three-loop-type pressurized water reactor (PWR) was performed. Comparisons between results by heterogeneous and homogeneous calculations revealed the effects on pin-cell homogenization in large-scale geometry. In order to preserve the neutronic property in the heterogeneous calculation within the framework of pin-cell homogenized pin-by-pin calculations, the applicability of the homogenized cross section corrected by the superhomogénéisation SPH method was studied. It was found that the pin-by-pin nine-group calculation by the SP3 transport theory method with the SPH-corrected cross sections gave good accuracy for the pin power distribution approximately <1% of the root-mean-square error. The calculation accuracy of the transport calculation and the effectiveness of the method coupling were also demonstrated through analyses of the initial core of an identical three-loop-type PWR. With fine-grained parallelism, the identical convergence property was obtained regardless of the number of processors. Parallel performance was almost scalable up to eight processors, 93% with eight processors in three-dimensional nine-group fine-mesh transport calculations with meshes of 180 × 180 × 30.


Recent research shows that the partition function for a class of models involving fermions can be written as a statistical mechanics of clusters with positive definite weights. This new representation of the model allows one to construct novel algorithms. We illustrate this through models consisting of fermions with and without spin. A Hubbard type model with both attractive and repulsive interactions becomes tractable using the new approach. Precision results in the two dimensional attractive model confirm a superfluid phase transition in the Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class.


Rates of bullying and victimization among gifted and non-gifted, high-achieving (HA) high school students were assessed by using the Reynolds Bully Victimization Scale (BVS; Reynolds, 2003). Results indicate that both gifted and HA high school students bully others and are victimized by others at unelevated rates based on scores on the BVS. The rates of bullying and victimization found among gifted and HA high school students were not significantly different from each other as well. Rates of bullying and victimization for male and female participants were also compared, and no significant differences were found between males and females for either bullying or victimization. Results from this study do not provide support for across-the-board social skills programs for gifted students as a group but suggest that gifted programs continue to focus on promoting primarily advanced intellectual endeavors (Colangelo, Assouline, & Gross, 2004). However, individual gifted students may need targeted interventions focused on reducing bullying and victimization.


In September 2015, Member States of the United Nations (UN) committed to work towards a transformative policy agenda consisting of 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. However, implementation progress has been slow and at the current rate the SDG agenda will fall far short on delivery of its 169 targets. In order to accelerate progress at global, national and local levels it is necessary to prioritize goals and targets. One standalone SDG that is also cross‐cutting and universal is Goal 5: Gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls. In this article we assemble evidence to make the case that decisively (and politically) placing the gender equality goal (SDG5 and its 9 targets) together with 54 gender indicators across all goals as the priority focus of the 2030 agenda is the most impactful way to ensure measurable achievements are made across the agenda to deliver on all 5 pillars of the global commitment: namely People, Planet, Peace, Prosperity and Partnerships.


Nobody doubts about cloud computing is and will be a sea change for the Information Tech
nology. Specifically, we address an application of this emerging paradigm into the web hosting providers. We create the Cloud Hosting Provider (CHP): a web hosting provider that uses the outsourcing technique
in order to take advantage of cloud computing infrastructures (i.e. cloud-based outsourcing) for providing scalability and availability capabilities to the web applications deployed. Hence, the main goal is to maximize the revenue obtained by the provider through both the analysis of Service Level Agreements (SLA) and the application of economic functions. This target is achieved by using an SLA-aware resource (i.e. web servers) management. Through the experimentation we demonstrate that the CHP is able to maximize the hosting provider's revenue while offering to the web applications scalability, availability and very good performance.


Game-theoretic approaches have been proposed for addressing the complex problem of assigning limited security resources to protect a critical set of targets. However, many of the standard assumptions fail to address human adversaries who security forces will likely face. To address this challenge, previous research has attempted to integrate models of human decision-making into the game-theoretic algorithms for security settings. The current leading approach, based on experimental evaluation, is derived from a well-founded solution concept known as quantal response and is known as BRQR. One critical difficulty with opponent modeling in general is that, in security domains, information about potential adversaries is often sparse or noisy and furthermore, the games themselves are highly complex and large in scale. Thus, we chose to examine a completely new approach to addressing human adversaries that avoids the complex task of modeling human decision-making. We leverage and modify robust optimization techniques to create a new type of optimization where the defender's loss for a potential deviation by the attacker is bounded by the distance of that deviation from the expected-value-maximizing strategy. To demonstrate the advantages of our approach, we introduce a systematic way to generate meaningful reward structures and compare our approach with BRQR in the most comprehensive investigation to date involving 104 security settings where previous work has tested only up to 10 security settings. Our experimental analysis reveals our approach performing as well as or outperforming BRQR in over 90% of the security settings tested and we demonstrate significant runtime benefits. These results are in favor of utilizing an approach based on robust optimization in these complex domains to avoid the difficulties of opponent modeling.


ABSTRACT: "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of information that exist. If a blind person has proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance."- National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Multi-touch screen is a relatively new and revolutionary technology in mobile phone industry. Being mostly software driven makes these phones highly customizable for all sorts of users including blind and visually impaired people. In this research, we present new interface layouts for multi-touch screen mobile phones that enable visionless people to enter text in the form of Braille cells. Braille is the only way for these people to directly read and write without getting help from any extra assistive instruments. It will be more convenient and interesting for them to be provided with facilities to interact with new technologies using their language, Braille. We started with a literature review on existing eyes-free text entry methods and also text input devices, to find out their strengths and weaknesses. At this stage we were aiming at identifying the difficulties that unsighted people faced when working with current text entry methods. Then we conducted questionnaire surveys as the quantitative method and interviews as the qualitative method of our user study to get familiar with users' needs and expectations. At the same time we studied the Braille language in detail and examined currently available multi-touch mobile phone feedbacks. At the designing stage, we first investigated different possible ways of entering a Braille "cell" on a multi-touch screen, regarding available input techniques and also considering the Braille structure. Then, we developed six different alternatives of entering the Braille cells on the device; we laid out a mockup for each and documented them using Gestural Modules Document and Swim Lanes techniques. Next, we prototyped our designs and evaluated them utilizing Pluralistic Walkthrough method and real users. Next step, we refined our models and selected the two bests, as main results of this project based on good gestural interface principles and users' feedbacks. Finally, we discussed the usability of our elected methods in comparison with the current method visually impaired use to enter texts on the most popular multi-touch screen mobile phone, iPhone. Our selected designs reveal possibilities to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the existing text entry methods in multi-touch screen mobile phones for Braille literate people. They also can be used as guidelines for creating other multi-touch input devices for entering Braille in an apparatus like computer.


This paper argues for a performative methodology that uses body's affect to create change in the current subjectivation to femininity. It locates this discussion into a context of fitness instruction to explore how a researcher can assume a role of a public intellectual through performative pedagogy. It is divided into four parts. The first part examines how critical pedagogy has been utilized previously within physical cultural studies to find ways to further understand how physical activity can be used for purposes of social change. The second part focuses on how physical education can inform critical body practices. The third part aims to link this discussion with feminist readings of critical pedagogy to further understand how femininity can be linked with practices of fitness instruction. It also introduces Deleuze's concept of affect. The final part discusses the implications of this literature for creating a performative pedagogy of the body through fitness instruction.


Introduction: No analyses have been reported on the impact of visceral pleura invasion (VPI) on staging, in relation with the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer proposals for the 7th edition of the tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) classification of the International Union Against Cancer staging system. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of VPI on survival and propose a method of incorporating VPI status into the TNM classification. Methods: We reviewed the data on 9758 non-small cell lung cancer patients, who underwent anatomic surgical resection in 1999, accumulated by the Japanese Joint Committee for Lung Cancer Registration, to gain insight into their clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes. VPI was defined as tumor extension beyond the elastic layer of the visceral pleura. Patients were divided into nine groups according to VPI status and tumor diameter, in accordance with the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer proposals. Results: On the basis of survival, the nine groups were divided into the following five levels: tumors ≤2 cm without VPI; tumors ≤2 cm with VPI and tumors 2.1 to 3 cm without VPI; tumors 2.1 to 3 cm with VPI and tumors 3.1 to 5 cm without VPI; tumors 3.1 to 5 cm with VPI and tumors 5.1 to 7 cm without VPI; and tumors 5.1 to 7 cm with VPI and tumors >7 cm without VPI or T3 tumors. Conclusions: The T status of tumors, 7 cm or less, with VPI should be upgraded to the next T level in the future edition of the TNM classification of International Union Against Cancer staging system.


Aims. The properties of the broad-band emission from the high-frequency peaked BLLac H 2356−309 (z = 0.165) are investigated. Methods. Very High Energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) observations of H 2356−309 were performed with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) from 2004 through 2007. Simultaneous optical/UV and X-ray observations were made with the XMM-Newton satellite on June 12/13 and June 14/15, 2005. NRT radio observations were also contemporaneously performed in 2005. ATOM optical monitoring observations were also made in 2007. Results. A strong VHE signal, ∼13σ total, was detected by HESS after the four years HESS observations (116.8 hrs live time). The integral flux above 240 GeV is I(>240 GeV) = (3.06 ± 0.26stat ± 0.61syst) × 10 −12 cm s, corresponding to ∼1.6% of the flux observed from the Crab Nebula. A time-averaged energy spectrum is measured from 200 GeV to 2 TeV and is characterized by a power law (photon index of Γ = 3.06±0.15stat ±0.10syst). Significant small-amplitude variations in the VHE flux from H2356−309 are seen on time scales of months and years, but not on shorter time scales. No evidence for any variations in the VHE spectral slope are found within these data. The XMM-Newton X-ray measurements show a historically low X-ray state, characterized by a hard, broken-power-law spectrum on both nights. Conclusions. The broad-band spectral energy distribution (SED) of the blazar can be adequately fit using a simple one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model. In the SSC scenario, higher VHE fluxes could be expected in the future since the observed X-ray flux is at a historically low level.


Intestinal failure (IF) patients are dependent on central venous access to receive parenteral nutrition. Longstanding central venous catheters are associated with life-threatening complications including infections and thromboses resulting in multiple line exchanges and the development ofprogressive central venous stenosis or occlusion. The Haemodialysis Reliable Outflow (HeRO) graft is an arterio-venous device that has been successfully used in haemodialysis patients with 'end-stage vascular access'. We describe a case series of HeRO graft use in patients with IF and end-stage vascular access. Four HeRO grafts were inserted into IF patients with end-stage vascular access to facilitate or support intestinal transplantation. In all patients the HeRO facilitated immediate vascular access, supporting different combinations of parenteral nutrition, intravenous medications, fluids or renal replacement therapy with no bloodstream infections. In a highly complex group of IF patients with central venous stenosis/occlusion limiting conventional venous access or at risk of life-threatening catheter-related complications, a HeRO® graft can be a feasible alternative.


Malaysia's New Economic Policy (NEP) has been a subject of intense debate since its inception. Admirers have acclaimed it as unleashing pro-poor growth while critics have labeled it with terms like cancer. Both parties have valid points. The implementation of the NEP has seen growth and addressed distribution, but has also heightened inequality, while the growth rate is diminishing. However, it is difficult to make summary judgments on a policy that has evolved and changed over nearly half a century. It is argued that assessments of the NEP should take into account changes in context as well as the manner in which the NEP has been implemented. Whilst summary judgments are unhelpful, an argument may nevertheless be made that, in common with experiences in many developing countries, a trade-off between growth and distribution exists where affirmative action is translated into ethnic discrimination.


The unexpected ocean fertilization experiment off the west coast of Canada in 2012 highlights the reality that non-governmental actors can already initiate small- to medium-scale environmental experiments and solar radiation management (SRM) field experiments with no government funding or approval. Without careful consideration and development of a governance framework for these types of experimentation, governments could be caught out having to respond ad hoc to situations driven by non-governmental actors. This two-day workshop considered and evaluated governance mechanisms that may be useful for managing proposed SRM field experiments. Two specific procedural mechanisms were under consideration: environmental impact assessments and research registries. To ensure discussions were as realistic as possible, participants used a set of recently published SRM field experiment proposals as hypothetical examples when considering and evaluating both mechanisms. The workshop operated under the Chatham House Rule, and no attempts were made to forge consensus positions or to generate policy recommendations. Rather, this workshop was exploratory in nature, with discussions ranging widely along with personal opinions on some topics.


This paper presents the mathematical framework of radial Tchebichef moment invariants, and investigates their feature representation capabilities for pattern recognition applications. The radial Tchebichef moments are constructed using the discrete orthogonal Tchebichef polynomials as the kernel, and they have a radial-polar form similar to that of Zernike moments. The discrete form of the moment transforms make them particularly suitable for image processing tasks. Experimental results showing the primary attributes such as invariance and orthogonality of the proposed moment functions are also given.


The encapsulation of mammalian cells within the bulk material of microfluidic channels may be beneficial for applications ranging from tissue engineering to cell-based diagnostic assays. In this work, we present a technique for fabricating microfluidic channels from cell-laden agarose hydrogels. Using standard soft lithographic techniques, molten agarose was molded against a SU-8 patterned silicon wafer. To generate sealed and water-tight microfluidic channels, the surface of the molded agarose was heated at 71 degrees C for 3 s and sealed to another surface-heated slab of agarose. Channels of different dimensions were generated and it was shown that agarose, though highly porous, is a suitable material for performing microfluidics. Cells embedded within the microfluidic molds were well distributed and media pumped through the channels allowed the exchange of nutrients and waste products. While most cells were found to be viable upon initial device fabrication, only those cells near the microfluidic channels remained viable after 3 days, demonstrating the importance of a perfused network of microchannels for delivering nutrients and oxygen to maintain cell viability in large hydrogels. Further development of this technique may lead to the generation of biomimetic synthetic vasculature for tissue engineering, diagnostics, and drug screening applications.


Abstract Objectives Comparison of PennHIP and a novel method to diagnose hip laxity, called the Vezzoni modified Badertscher distension device technique. Methods In a total of 10 dogs, it was first assessed whether the distraction index (DI) from the PennHIP evaluation center could be reproduced by two individual observers. In the next two steps, the DI measurements made by the individual observers and the PennHIP evaluation center were compared with the laxity index (LI) measured on the Vezzoni modified Badertscher distension device view. Finally, the interobserver agreement of the DI, LI and Norberg angle was assessed and compared with classification criteria. Results The results were similar for the first three comparisons: there was no evidence for bias, the relation between DI and LI was linear and the variability was small. A comparison of the interobserver agreement showed that the measurement variability for the NA was substantial, while the reproducibility for the DI and LI was equal. Clinical Significance While the standard ventrodorsal hip extended radiograph is most commonly used for diagnosis and screening of canine hip dysplasia, it lacks sensitivity to diagnose laxity. To improve the identification of hip joint laxity, distraction-based radiographic techniques are helpful. The Vezzoni modified Badertscher distension device technique allows for a reliable in-house evaluation of canine hip joint laxity.


Mathematics anxiety has always maintained a central focus in the education literature. However, there has been a recent focus on "statistics anxiety" as experienced by undergraduates. This paper presents the development of an instrument that assesses "statistical anxiety" in psychology graduate students. This measure was administered to 10 students enrolled in a graduate statistics course in an effort to refine the measure via student feedback. The refined instrument could be used as a screening tool for psychology students prior to taking graduate--level statistics course work; Such evaluation can assist instructors in identifying remedial need or counseling intervention. ********** Over the past several decades, there has been a high level of research interest in how college students approach the study of mathematics-related topics or coursework (Bessant, 1995; Schoenfield, 1987). Since 1970, much of this body of research has been published in the Journal of Research in Mathematics Education. In addition, several measures have been developed for the evaluation of students' concerns toward mathematics, such as the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (see Richardson & Suinn, 1972). The high level of stress experienced by students taking mathematics course work is evident by the large percentage (about one- third) of students who consult university-counseling centers for "math-anxiety" concerns. (Richardson & Suinn, 1972). For students in the social sciences, concerns about mathematics usually remain dormant until the first undergraduate "statistics" course that is a degree requirement. Most of these students manage to pass this challenge after some trepidation, tutorial assistance and perseverance. However, for a sizeable minority of students, the experience of in their introductory or basic statistics course is, unfortunately rather onerous and anxiety-laden. A sizeable number of undergraduate "social science" majors pursue graduate-level education in the field of psychology, with required course work in research design and graduate-level statistics. Therefore many of these psychology students experience high levels of stress in anticipation of successfully completing the statistics component of their graduate curriculum. Although several authors have developed instruments to assess "statistics anxiety" such as the Statistics Anxiety Scale (Pretorius & Norman, 1992) and the Mathematics Information Processing Scale (MIPS; Bessant 1997), there still is a dearth of studies in the literature that addresses this issue. The purpose of the present study was to design and refine a measure that would assist instructors in the identification of graduate-level psychology students who harbor negative feelings and anxiety toward statistics prior to the commencement of coursework. Such an evaluation could prove to be useful and constructive to both students and instructors in the advisement of a) prerequisite coursework, b) remedial self-study, c) tutorial assistance, and/or d) counseling. Method We undertook the initial development of the questionnaire based on our academic experience as mathematics professor (R.H.), statistics professor (S.C.B), and instructor in psychology (C.P.). This version of the questionnaire was comprised of three main sections: i) Prerequisite courses that were completed during high school, during undergraduate preparation, and graduate-level, in mathematics and statistics; ii) Anxiety-level regarding statistics; iii) Potential didactic strategies for the successful completion of the graduate statistics course. The second phase involved the administration of the initial questionnaire to 10 psychology students who were already enrolled in a graduate statistics course at the University of West Florida during the summer of 2001. Our objective here was to obtain feedback from these students on the relevance of the various queries. …


Coinciding with the December release of the film, the publication of The Making of Evita is certain to capture national attention and will appeal to movie-goers of all varieties--from historians and film buffs to fans of Madonna and Antonio Banderas. Go behind the scenes of the most talked-about and anticipated motion picture of the decade in acclaimed director Alan Parker's own version of the making of his epic film: Evita. 140 photos.


The purpose of this study was to describe instances of pedagogical practices of teachers using ICTs and the enhancements of practices using traditional methods, to more fundamental changes in their approach to teaching. Using a mixed method, the research examined the impact of increased education level on the ICT use competence perception and the influence of ICT knowledge level and skills on the adoption of blended learning contents. Four schools were used for this study; two picked out of 50 that are enhanced with ICT infrastructures while the other two were picked from schools without enough ICT infrastructures. Three research questions guided the study. Data collection included teachers, schools inspection officers, curriculum development experts, teacher trainees and policy makers' interviews, questionnaires, classroom observations, and document reviews. Data analysis concentrated on the central questions of the study. The results suggested that teachers' education level couldn't determine their ICT knowledge level. Either, the ICT knowledge level has influences on the decision to use blended learning. Barriers to ICT use in education were revealed as: internal -more of personal attitudes and perceptions about a technology, and external -lack of availability and accessibility to the relevant resources (hardware and software), lack of framework that address integration of ICTs in teaching and learning and unreliable Internet connection. Resulting from the results, this study suggests a goal oriented teacher training framework which should address a complex integration of technology, content, pedagogy, school infrastructures, and the overall objectives of the education systems as trivial of ICT use determining factors.


Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. is the U.S.Supreme Court's most recent preemption decision under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). In Gobeille, the Court completed the process of reconciling the restrained approach to ERISA preemption announced in New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Insurance Co. with the Court's literal and expansive approach adopted earlier in Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. Gobeille consummated this reconciliation by confirming the sub silentio retrenchment of Shaw and its "plain language" approach in favor of Traveler's broader construction of ERISA preemption.Gobeille held that Vermont's "all-payer claims database" is ERISA-preempted. The Court reached this conclusion in a way which indicates that, going forward, Traveler's more restrained approach to ERISA preemption exclusively prevails. This is particularly significant for state-sponsored private sector retirement plans, now immune from ERISA preemption challenge, as well as for state taxes as they apply to the investment trusts of ERISA-regulated retirement plans.


A bitumen containing high concentrations of sulfur, palladium, platinum, gold, and mercury has been found in the Boss mine, Clark County, Nevada, where rich ores of "invisible" palladium and platinum were mined from 1916 to 1919. The bitumen, analyzed with X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry on areas devoid of discrete particles down to a 40 Aa limit, contains 2.74 wt percent Pd + Pt + Au (Pd = 1.85%) and 5.83 wt percent Hg. It is associated with particulate potarite (Pd, Au, Pt) Hg, native gold, plumbojarosite, hydronium jarosite, argentojarosite, florencite, and bismuth oxides. The first four mineral species are also found included in the bitumen. The paragenesis was derivation and formation of bitumen from the local limestone, followed by interaction with the hydrothermal potarite and the supergene jarosite. This type of organic material, highly enriched in platinum group elements, previously had been reported only in Polish Kupferschiefer thucholite.


Images are an essential tool for communicating with children, particularly at younger ages when they are still developing their emergent literacy skills. Hence, assessments that use images to assess their conceptual knowledge and visual literacy, are an important component of their learning process. Creating assessments at scale is a challenging task, which has led to several techniques being proposed for automatic generation of textual assessments. However, none of them focuses on generating image-based assessments. To understand the manual process of creating visual assessments, we interviewed primary school teachers. Based on the findings from the preliminary study, we present a novel approach which uses image semantics to generate visual multiple choice questions (VMCQs) for young learners, wherein options are presented in the form of images. We propose a metric to measure the semantic similarity between two images, which we use to identify the four options – one answer and three distractor images – for a given question. We also use this metric for generating VMCQs at two difficulty levels – easy and hard. Through a quantitative evaluation, we show that the system-generated VMCQs are comparable to VMCQs created by experts, hence establishing the effectiveness of our approach.


Emotional communication is central to many jobs ( → Emotion). Stockbrokers express aggression, nurses communicate care, and emotions such as shame, pride, and fear are central in organizational evaluation. Nonetheless, organization studies have traditionally written out emotion, treating it as a private issue, a barrier to effectiveness, or something that should be controlled ( → Organizational Communication). Early research suggested that organizations were and should be rational, scientific entities ( → Bureaucracy and Communication). In this paradigm, if emotions were examined, they were measured as variables of job satisfaction, morale, or commitment. Furthermore, emotions have traditionally been subjugated to the private, personal, feminine sphere ( → Feminist and Gender Studies). Despite this early resistance, in the past 15 years, increasing numbers of scholars from communication, management, sociology, and psychology have examined emotion formation, expression, and control in the workplace. Researchers have explored how emergent work feelings are an integral part of organizational life (Mumby & Putnam 1992) and how emotional display and "emotional intelligence" (Goleman 1995) are co-opted by organizations to achieve an economic mission. As such, researchers have recognized that emotions are a core part of organizing and that emotionality is not the opposite of rationality or cognition (Planalp 1999), but, rather, is part of organizational processes.


Abstract The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has received much attention as a scheme that can help reduce corruption in mineral-rich developing economies. To our knowledge, this paper provides the first empirical attempt (using panel data) to explore how EITI membership links to changes in corruption levels. We also examine whether the different stages in EITI implementation (initial commitment, candidature, full compliance) influence the pace of changes in corruption. We find that EITI membership offers, on the whole, a shielding mechanism against the general tendency of mineral-rich countries to experience increases in corruption over time.


In September 2013 student leaders at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, used a chant about the rape of underage girls as part of an Orientation Week activity for new students. The incident garnered national and international media coverage. In this article, we analyze and critique a selection of Canadian media articles published in the weeks after the rape chant was used. We draw on feminist analysis of post-feminism and the sexualization of youth cultures to show how, in their struggle to make sense of the incident, the media critique reiterates harmful discourses of youth, gender and sexuality while undermining deeper understanding of rape culture.


: Together with the rapid industrialization of the world, urbanization is also uncontrollably increasing. Such an increase in urbanization exerts the greatest pressure on natural resources, obligating people to live in intense structural spaces and increasing the need for green spaces in cities. Because of the expensive costs of horizontal surfaces being "green", urban places are faced with serious green-infrastructure problems. In recent years, alternatives have been searched for to eliminate such deficiencies. These alternatives, such as rain gardens, green walls (GWs), ecological designs, and green roofs, are commonly included in urban landscape designs. Besides rocky or steep-slope natural green walls (NGWs), natural green covers over buildings, walls, and so forth, structural members are also encountered in urban or rural places. On the other hand, artificial green walls (AGWs) have recently been used as a significant component of urban design. Although the AGWs are able to address various functional needs, they have not yet gained the desired popularity because of construction costs, static loads, constructional damages, and maintenance costs. In addition, such sites are largely left to exotic species with limited ecological requirements; these species are far from meeting ecological functions and resistance to extreme conditions. This study was conducted for a benchmarking assessment of artificial and natural green walls (A&NGWs) with a high potential in urban landscape design not only for esthetics, but also for ecological and economical purposes. Plant species, initial establishment, maintenance costs, and some other parameters of selected GWs were assessed. The study was considered as pioneering research for low-cost minimum-maintenance AGWs to be included in urban landscape designs. It was concluded, on the basis of the present findings, that the GW systems established with natural plant species, rock, and other materials already existing in natural landscapes could be constructed at fairly low costs, and such wall systems could have great ecological contributions.


Across many countries a central element of political competition is arising from the multilevel dynamics of electoral politics. The evolution of this sub-field of electoral research has been especially relevant in electoral studies of federal states (e.g., Belgium, Canada, Germany, the US or Spain). Moreover, it is also related to a shift of authority from the national to the subnational or supranational level. This increased relocation of authority to govern is generally challenging the role of the democratic nation-state (Hooghe et al. 2010). This is all the more the case in the European Union (EU), which has become one of the most characteristic examples of multi-level politics, with supranational, national and subnational levels of jurisdiction cooperating and to some degree competing with one another. Under these circumstances, one research question for this chapter is about the relationship (or "interdependency") between elections at these different levels of government. Another question is whether "electoral actors" exhibit different motivations and behaviors depending on the level of jurisdiction at which an election is held (van der Eijk and Schmitt 2008). In order to explore these questions, many scholars have put forward two groups of contextual variables – one being the character and importance of the electoral contest, and the other being the political climate in the "main" political arena at the time of the election under study. The first group of contextual variables includes the perceived political importance (or salience) of the office(s) to be filled. National parliamentary elections or those for a president with executive powers are contests of "high salience" (or "high stimulus" elections), while all other types of elections are of "low salience" (or "low stimulus" elections) (see Campbell 1960 for this distinction). The political climate includes various short-term aspects related to the timing of the "low stimulus" election within the electoral cycle of the main political arena (such as the popularity of the government (see, for example, Stimson 1976); or the state of the economy (see, for example, Tufte 1975).


In 1931, the young Kurt Gödel published his First Incompleteness Theorem, which tells us that, for any sufficiently rich theory of arithmetic, there are some arithmetical truths the theory cannot prove. This remarkable result is among the most intriguing (and most misunderstood) in logic. Gödel also outlined an equally significant Second Incompleteness Theorem. How are these Theorems established, and why do they matter? Peter Smith answers these questions by presenting an unusual variety of proofs for the First Theorem, showing how to prove the Second Theorem, and exploring a family of related results (including some not easily available elsewhere). The formal explanations are interwoven with discussions of the wider significance of the two Theorems. This book – extensively rewritten for its second edition – will be accessible to philosophy students with a limited formal background. It is equally suitable for mathematics students taking a first course in mathematical logic.


This book recounts the fall of Greece, the invasion of Crete by the Germans and the Resistance. The book is based on interviews with both the Allies and the Germans who took part. It gives insights into the invasion from the air and explains how Ultra intelligence played a key role. It also reveals how General Freyberg actually misinterpreted German coded messages to devastating effects.


Inventory of records of Somervell County housed in the Somervell County Courthouse in Glen Rose, Texas. Begins with an introduction and explanation of the roles of various county government offices. Describes the records of the County Clerk, District Clerk, Justice of the Peace, Tax Assessor-Collector, Sheriff, Treasurer, and School Trustees.
Also provides an index.


This paper studies the relationship between fiscal decentralization and electoral accountability, by analyzing how decentralization impacts upon incentive and selection effects, and thus on voter welfare. The model abstracts from features such as public good spillovers or economies of scale, so that absent elections, voters are indifferent about the fiscal regime. The effect of fiscal centralization on voter welfare works through two channels: (i) via its effect on the probability of pooling by the bad incumbent; (ii) conditional on the probability of pooling, the extent to which, with centralization, the incumbent can divert rents in some regions without this being detected by voters in other regions (selective rent diversion). Both these effects depend on the information structure: whether voters only observe fiscal policy in their own region, in all regions, or an intermediate case with a uniform tax across all regions. More voter information does not necessarily raise voter welfare, and under some conditions, voters would choose uniform over differentiated taxes ex ante to constrain selective rent diversion.


MIXING PERFORMANCE OF A NOVEL, CONTINUOUS CONFINED IMPINGING JETS MIXER USING COMPETITIVE REACTIONS by Han Zheng In this work, a novel continuous flow apparatus featuring the impingement of fluid jet streams in the presence of ultrasonic energy provided by an ultrasonic probe was tested using competitive reactions in order to determine its mixing effectiveness. The ultrasonic energy enhances micromixing of the fluid jet streams, which results in an overall mixing effectiveness improvements in different physical and chemical processes. In the competitive reactions system used here (third Bourne reaction), one stream containing sodium hydroxide was continuously fed to the first impinging jet, while an aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid and ethyl chloroacetate was fed to the second jet. The concentration of ethanol in the final solution was experimentally determined by gas chromatography (GC) to determine the mixing efficiency: higher ethanol concentrations implied poorer mixing. In all experiments, the volumetric flow rate of sodium hydroxide solution was always kept the same, while the flow rate of the other solution was changed. The sonication power was also varied. It was experimentally found here that improved mixing was achieved by increasing volumetric flow rate with or without sonication. If sonication was applied, mixing also improved significantly and it was further improved when a higher sonication power was applied. This trend was especially evident at lower flow rates. At high flow rate, sonication played a smaller role. A quantitative comparison of the results based on the use of the Damköhler number is provided. MIXING PERFORMANCE OF A NOVEL, CONTINUOUS CONFINED IMPINGING JETS MIXER USING COMPETITIVE REACTIONS


Astronomers Professor Don Kurtz and Dr Robert Walsh, from the University of Central
Lancashire will be brightening up the 1gloom' of winter down under when they join the
world's leading experts at the Australian Festival of Astronomy in July.
Professor Kurtz and Dr Walsh, from the University's Centre for Astrophysics, have been
invited to lecture at the International Astronomical Union General Assembly at Sydney
in July. In addition to this, they will be joining a prestigious group of roving
astronomers giving lectures and answering questions about life, the universe and
everything in a series of tours around Australia. There's a lot of excitement about the
event, funded by the Australian Government and the British Council, with extensive
coverage in the Australian press.
Professor Kurtz has promised to share the musical secrets of the universe with
audiences in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. As the world-authority on
asteroseismology (the vibrations of the stars), he wi11 be asking Aussies to tune their
ears to the 'singing'of the stars. Not actually the music of Kylie Minogue and her
friends, but ringing which can be detected by sound waves in the stars that cause them
to vibrate, get hotter and cooler, brighter and dimmer, bigger and smaller and change
shape. The audience will get the chance to ilear' the sounds of an amazing group of
stars discovered by Professor Kurtz himself.
Meanwhile Solar physicist Dr Walsh has been rivalling Mulder and Scully in
investigating his own Astrophysics X-file. Lucky Astronomy buffs in Sydney,
Canberra, Wollengong and Adelaide will get the chance to hear about the magnetic
personality of our closest star, the Sun. His research into the halo of electrified gases
(the corona) that surround the Sun is uncovering fascinating information about its strong
magnetic field. For example, while the light surface of the Sun has a temperature of
6000 degrees, the corona is at a temperature of two million degrees.
"It really is like an X-file", he says. "It is totally counter-intuitive that the Sun's
temperature should rise as you move away from its surface .. .it's like walking away
from a fire and suddenly hitting a hotspot, thousands of times hotter than the fire itself!"
So it's not actually a holiday in the sun or a night out with the stars for the two wellrespected astronomers from the Preston-based University.
"It'll be hard work,", says Dr Walsh. "But we're looking forward to the trip and to
sharing our research with our peers and with the Australian public."
Further details of the International Astronomical Union Conference can be obtained
from the website at www.astronomy2003.com . For more information about the work
of the Centre for Astrophysics, go to www.uc lan.ac.uk/facs/science/physastr/cfa or
contact the University of Central Lancashire, tel: 01772 201201.
1 July 2003
nr062pc
Note to editors:
-ends-
1. Professor Kurtz received his PhD from the University of Texas, USA, in
1976. He was at the University of Cape Town in South Africa from 1977-
2001, when he joined the Centre for Astrophysics at the University of
Central Lancashire, UK. Professor Kurtz is a world authority on the highaccuracy
measurement of the brightness of variable stars. He discovered a
new and unexpected type of variable star, and his work in this area has led to
a greater understanding of the internal structure of such stars.
2. Dr Robert Walsh is currently holding a prestigious Research Fellowship by
the Leverhulme Trust, and will conduct research in Solar Astrophysics,
concentrating on how the Sun's atmosphere is heated. In December 2000, Dr
Walsh was bestowed the title of 'Scientist for the New Century', after
delivering an award-winning lecture at the Royal Institution of Great Britain
in London.
3. Both Dr Walsh and Professor Kurtz can be contacted at the Centre for
Astrophysics, University of Central Lancashire, tel: 01772 201201. For
Media Enquiries, please contact Pam Culley, Media & Public Relations
Office, University of Central Lancashire, tel: 01772 894425,
email@example.com


We develop a model that characterizes the joint determination of income distribution and macroeconomic aggregate dynamics. We identify multiple channels through which alternative public policies such as transfers, consumption and income taxes, and public investment will affect the inequality—efficiency trade off. Some policy changes can affect net income inequality both directly, and indirectly by inducing structural changes in the private-public capital ratio. This in turn influences market inequality and determines the distribution of the next period's investment and net income. Income tax and transfers have both a direct income effect and an indirect substitution effect, whereas the consumption tax has only the latter. After developing some theoretical propositions summarizing these policy tradeoffs, we present extensive numerical simulations motivated by the South African National Development Plan 2030, the objective of which is to tame soaring inequality and increase per capita GDP. Our numerical simulations illustrate how the judicious combination of these policies may help achieve these targets. The simulations also suggest that the sharp decline in private-public capital ratio coupled with high degree of complementarity between the public and private capitals could be behind the persistence of market inequality in South Africa during the last two decades.


Background: Newborn is considered to be tiny and powerless, completely dependent on other for life; within one minute of birth the normal new born adapts from a dependent fatal existence to an independent one; capable of breathing and carrying on life process. The first hours are crucial because multiple organ system is making the transition from intrauterine to extra uterine functions. The care given immediately after birth is simple but important.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess Knowledge and practice of immediate newborn care among health professionals in governmental health facilities of Bahir-Dar city from November to June, 2016.
Methods: An institutional based cross-sectional quantitative descriptive study design was used for this study. The total Sample size required was 141 Health professionals. Study subject were selected using non probability convenience methods. The data was collected through self-administered questionnaire, and check lists. The collected data was coded and data was exported to SPSS version 20.0. Finally, result was presented in texts, graphs and tables.
Results: Among the total participants (134), 56% have general good knowledge on immediate new-born care and 13.4% have poor knowledge. Regarding immediate new-born care practice 59.7% health professional practiced Immediate new-born care properly but the remaining 40.3% of respondents did not practiced. Out of the study participants 131 (97.8%) of health professionals had given vit k to immediately born baby.
Conclusion and recommendation: Most respondents have inadequate knowledge and practice on immediate newborn care. So it is better to strengthen in-service training to health professionals and conduct further study.


Background: Biological systems exhibit non-linear and spatiotemporal dynamics and structures even at rest. Humans demonstrate a remarkable ability to generate accurate and appropriate motor behaviour under many different and often uncertain environmental conditions. There are many motor movement tasks like eye open and close conditions, hand movements, fist movement etc. Brain controls all motor movement tasks. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a technique used to quantify the dynamics of physiological systems using non-invasive physiological monitoring and clinical investigation. The mental simulation of motor related tasks such as opening and closing of eye, left and right fist and fingers and other motor executive brain regions are commonly cognitive nature of tasks requires analysis using EEG motor movements.
Methods: To quantify and understand the dynamics of EEG motor movements tasks, we employed robust Multiscale Permutation Entropy (MPE) analysis technique to distinguish Eye Open (EO) and Eye-Closed (EC) conditions. Mann-Whitney rank test was used to find significant differences between the groups and result were considered statistically significant for p-values<0.05. The Receive Operator Curve (ROC) was also computed to find the degree of separation between the groups.
Results: The finding reveals that that frontal electrodes (F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8) and front polar electrodes gives the highest separations and significant results to distinguish the EEG Motor movements tasks between eye open and eye closed tasks. The parietal (P3, P4), occipital (O1, O2) and central (C3, C4) electrodes gives only significant results at various temporal scales. The extremely significant results were obtained at F5, Fp1 followed by F1, F4, Fp2, F6 and F7. It was also found that frontal electrodes give the highest significance results followed by parietal, occipital and central electrodes which imply that these regions accordingly will help to distinguish these conditions from EEG motor movement tasks. MPE give higher significance results and separation at all selected electrodes than MSE to discriminate the brain states during EC and EO during the motor movement/imaginary tasks.


Abstract This paper draws on insider accounts from UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officials to analyse the relationship between evidence and policy making at a time of rapid policy development relating to Universal Credit (UC). The paper argues, firstly, that evidence selection within the DWP was constrained by the overarching austerity paradigm, which constituted a Zeitgeist and had a significant bearing on the evidence selection and translation process, sharpening the focus of policy officials and analysts on the primacy of quantitative evidence when advising Ministers. Secondly, while methodological preferences (or an 'evidence hierarchy') impacted on evidence selection, this was not as significant as practitioners' perceived capabilities to handle and develop evidence for policy. These capabilities were linked to departmental structures and constrained by political feasibility. Together, these dimensions constituted a significant filtration mechanism determining the kinds of evidence that were selected for policy development and those omitted, particularly in relation to UC. The paper contributes to debates about the contemporary role of evidence in policymaking and the potential of the relationship between future evidence production and use.


This book describes how Bangladesh transformed its food markets and food policies to free the country from the constant threat of famine. Since 1990, the Bangladeshi government has dismantled its food rationing system, privatized grain distribution, eased restrictions on international trade, and reduced its own presence in grain markets. The foundation for these developments was laid in the preceding decades. Improvements in agricultural science in the 1970s roughly doubled farm yields, while in the 1980s liberalization of irrigation restrictions, the lifting of import barriers to irrigation technology, and the privatization of fertilizer distribution rapidly increased rice cultivation. These increases in production, coupled with improvements in infrastructure and a more slowly growing and increasingly urban population, have substantially changed the structure of food grain markets, leading to increased marketing volumes, lower prices, and significantly larger private grain stocks. The book sets the Bangladeshi case in the larger context of the South Asian subcontinent and other developing countries in Asia. The authors examine the shifting structure of supply and demand in the grain markets, the history of government intervention in those markets, and the more recent changes that altered the arguments for such intervention and led to policy changes. The case of Bangladesh also has more general relevance as a study of the outcomes of a market-oriented reform program.


The present article attempts at combining Big History potential with the potential of Evolutionary Studies in order to achieve the following goals: 1) to apply the historical narrative principle to the description of the star-galaxy era of the cosmic phase of Big History; 2) to analyze both the cosmic history and similarities and differences between evolutionary laws, principles, and mechanisms at various levels and phases of Big History. As far as I know, nobody has approached this task in a systemic way yet. It appears especially important to demonstrate that many evolutionary principles, patterns, regularities, and rules, which we tend to find relevant only for higher levels and main lines of evolution, can be also applied to cosmic evolution. Moreover, almost everything that we know about evolution may be detected in the cosmic history, whereas many of the evolutionary characteristics are already manifested here in a rather clear and salient way. Of course, many of the characteristics are manifested in initial or nonsystematic forms but some features, on the contrary, appear to be more distinct just in the cosmic phase. And at the same time when many characteristics and features which are typical of biological and social evolution unexpectedly reveal their roots or protoforms at earlier phases, one becomes aware that the universal character of evolution is real and it can be detected in a number of manifestations. One should also bear in mind that the origin of galaxies, stars, and other celestial objects is the lengthiest evolutionary process among all evolutionary processes in the Universe. Such an approach opens new perspectives for our understanding of evolution and Big History, of their driving forces, vectors, and trends, it also creates a consolidated field for the multidisciplinary research.


The purpose of this study was to examine middle school students' attitude toward a physical education program and to determine the various aspects of the program that appear to contribute to positive and negative attitudes towards middle school physical education. Students (N=348) from one middle school located in a mid-Atlantic state completed a survey regarding their attitudes toward physical education. All responses were categorized using a critical incident technique. Results indicate that positive attitudes towards physical education decline between grades six and eight. This trend was more apparent for females than for males. Major categories associated with positive and negative attitudes towards physical education include curriculum content, class atmosphere, teacher behavior, dressing out, and self-perception.


This paper conceptualizes the societal problem of companion-animal overpopulation and offers a framework to humanely reduce the current surplus of animals and prevent further overpopulation. Overpopulation is described as a societal problem, with the individual and collective behavior of people as a causal agent. Variables in the environment, including animal-welfare agencies and the pet industry, are also discussed as contributing factors. Behavior and environment factors described in the conceptualization are targeted in a proposed framework for intervention. The intervention framework details relevant target populations and agencies, target behaviors, and dependent measures for evaluating intervention programs. Finally, environmental contingencies are described that support current behavior deficits and will likely impede environment and behavior changes proposed in the framework. It is suggested that behavior analysis can be used to manipulate these contingencies to initiate and sustain proposed changes to beneficially impact companion-animal overpopulation.