A pilot Postharvest Training and Services Center (PTSC) was launched in October 2012 in Arusha, Tanzania as part of a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project. The five key components of the PTSC are (1) training of postharvest trainers, (2) postharvest training and demonstrations for local small-scale clientele, (3) adaptive research, (4) postharvest services, and (5) retail sales of postharvest tools and supplies. During the years of 2011–2012, a one year e-learning program was provided to 36 young horticultural professionals from seven Sub-Saharan African countries. These postharvest specialists went on to train more than 13,000 local farmers, extension workers, food processors, and marketers in their home countries in the year following completion of their course. Evaluators found that these specialists had trained an additional 9300 people by November 2014. When asked about adoption by their local trainees, 79% reported examples of their trainees using improved postharvest practices. From 2012–2013, the project supported 30 multi-day training programs, and the evaluation found that many of the improved practices being promoted were adopted by the trainees and led to increased earnings. Three PTSC components still require attention. Research activities initiated during the project are incomplete, and successful sales of postharvest goods and services will require commitment and improved partnering.


Department of Molecular Genetics,Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The NetherlandsEnhanced fatty acid uptake may lead to the accumulation of lipid intermediates. Thisis related to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Rodent studies suggestthat fatty acid transporters are acutely regulated by insulin. We investigateddifferences in fatty acid transporter content before and at the end of ahyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp in skeletal muscle (m. vastus lateralis) of obese,glucose-intolerant men (IGT) and obese normal glucose tolerant controls (NGT).The fatty acid transporter FAT/CD36 protein content increased 1.5-fold (P < 0.05)after 3-hrs of insulin stimulation with no difference between IGT and controlsubjects. No change was seen in cytosolic fatty acid binding protein (F ABPc) proteincontent. The increase in FAT/CD36 protein content was positively related to insulinresistance as measured during the clamp (r = 0.56, P < 0.05). An increase inFAT/CD36 protein content in skeletal muscle may result in a higher fractionalextraction of fatty acids (larger relative uptake) after a meal, enhancing triglycerideaccumulation in the muscle. We conclude that also in obese humans the FAT/CD36protein content in skeletal muscle is dynamically regulated by insulin


In stereoscopic and multiview video, binocular suppression theory states that the visual subjective quality of 3-D experience is not much affected by asymmetrical blurring of the individual views. Based on these studies, mixed-resolution frameworks applied for multiview systems offer great data-size reduction without incurring in significant quality degradation in 3-D video applications. However, it is interesting to recover high-frequency content of the blurred views, to reduce visual strain due to long-term exposure and to make the system suitable for free-viewpoint television. In this paper, we present a novel super-resolution technique, in which low-resolution views are enhanced with the aid of high-frequency content from neighboring full-resolution views, and the corresponding depth information for all views. Occlusions are handled by checking the consistency between views. Tests for synthetic and real image data in stereo and multiview cases are presented, and results show that significant objective quality gains can be achieved without any extra side information.


Diosmin is a nutrient that is widely contained in citrus and that has been indicated to improve glucose metabolism in diabetic disorders. Recently, we demonstrated that diosmin induces β-endorphin to lower hyperglycemia in diabetic rats. However, the mechanisms of diosmin in opioid secretion were unclear. Therefore, we focused on the secretion of opioids from isolated adrenal glands induced by diosmin. The changes in the released β-endorphin-like immunoreactivity (BER) were determined using ELISA. Diosmin increased the BER level in a dose-dependent manner, and this effect was markedly reduced in the absence of calcium ions. Activation of the imidazoline I-2 receptor (I-2R) has been introduced to induce opioid secretion. Interestingly, we observed that diosmin activates CHO cells expressing I-R. Additionally, diosmin-increased BER was inhibited by the blockade of I-2R in isolated adrenal glands. Additionally, an antagonist of I-2R blocked diosmin-induced effects, including the reduction in hyperglycemia and the increase in plasma BER in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats (STZ-diabetic rats). Repeated treatment of STZ-diabetic rats with diosmin for one week induced changes in hepatic glycogen, lipid levels, and the expression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK). Furthermore, an antagonist of I-2R blocked the diosmin-induced changes. Additionally, plasma lipids modified by diosmin were also reversed by the blockade of I-2R in STZ-diabetic rats. Taken together, we suggest that diosmin may activate I-2R to enhance the secretion of β-endorphin from adrenal glands and to influence metabolic homeostasis, resulting in alleviation of blood glucose and lipids in STZ-diabetic rats.


Purpose:American Indians/Alaska Natives (AIs/ANs) have higher rates of chronic illness and lack access to palliative/end-of-life (EOL) care. This integrative review ascertained the state of the science on culturally acceptable palliative/EOL care options for Indigenous persons in the United States. Design: Databases searched: CINAHL, PubMed/MEDLINE, SocINDEX, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, ERIC, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, and EBSCO Discovery Service 1880s-Present. Key terms used: palliative care, EOL care, and AI/AN. Inclusion criteria: peer-reviewed articles published in English. Findings/Results: Twenty-nine articles were identified, 17 remained that described culturally specific palliative/EOL care for AIs/ANs. Synthesis revealed four themes: Communication, Cultural Awareness/Sensitivity, Community Guidance for Palliative/EOL Care Programs, Barriers and two subthemes: Trust/Respect and Mistrust. Discussion/Conclusion: Limitations are lack of research funding, geographic isolation, and stringent government requirements. Palliative/EOL care must draw on a different set of skills that honor care beyond cure provided in a culturally sensitive manner.


This Note gives the legal background of the doctrine of dormant foreign affairs preemption, examines the laws governing the recognition of foreign judgments under the lens of dormant foreign affairs preemption, and argues that courts should adopt an objective standard for future dormant foreign affairs preemption cases. Dormant foreign affairs preemption is premised on the idea that the federal government should have exclusive control over foreign affairs. The doctrine allows courts to preempt state laws in some cases where there is no conflicting federal policy or statute. The U.S. Supreme Court has only once held a state statute unconstitutional under the doctrine. In addition, not all scholars agree that courts should apply dormant foreign affairs preemption, and many argue the federal government merely has supreme, rather than exclusive, authority in foreign affairs. However, lower courts continue to apply a wide variety of tests to preserve the federal government's exclusive role in foreign affairs. Dormant foreign affairs preemption is best understood by exploring an area of law that captures the competing interests in current dormant foreign affairs preemption analyses. This Note considers the laws governing the recognition of foreign judgments, an area of traditional state competence that also has a substantial and growing impact on modern conceptions of foreign affairs. Finally, this Note argues that courts would benefit from applying an objective standard that looks at whether other countries would reasonably expect the federal government to have exclusive jurisdiction over an area of law. Unlike current standards, this analysis accounts for changing notions of foreign affairs and protects against encroachments on state sovereignty.


OBJECTIVES
Main goal of this review is to identify predictive factors for the outcome of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) with a focus on Supported Employment (SE) and of pre-vocational training (PVT) of individuals with mental illness.

METHOD
A systematic search of PsychInfo, PubMed, PsychIndex and PsyArticles was conducted. Studies were included if they compared both approaches, SE and PVT, contained predictors to optimize SE or PVT, investigated the effectiveness of SE or examined what constitutes adequate job coaching.

RESULTS
45 articles have been included. 27 articles referred to predictors that influence the outcome of SE or PVT, 9 showed a direct comparison between both approaches, 5 investigated job coaching and 4 examined the effectiveness of SE.In summary motivation, work experience and high fidelity of IPS criteria seem to be the most important predictors for a successful job reintegration using SE.

DISCUSSION
Overall, SE is more effective than PVT. The success of SE can be enhanced by keeping the predictors in mind. However, future research should focus more specifically on predictors.


Word Version
 August 21, 2013
 TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
 Subject: Texas STaR Charts and ePlan Timelines
 As the new school year begins, this letter is to inform you that the Texas Campus STaR Chart and the Texas Teacher STaR Chart are open for the 2013-2014 school year. The Texas Campus STaR Chart must be completed for each active campus in your school district before your district can submit a technology plan in the Texas ePlan system.
 The Texas Education Agency (TEA) requires school districts to submit technology plans through the Texas ePlan system. Starting with the E-Rate Funding Year 2011, schools and libraries applying for Priority 2 services (internal connections and basic maintenance) must have an approved technology plan for E-Rate purposes. To ensure that your ePlan is approved prior to the start of the 2014 E-Rate funding year on July 1, 2014, please submit your technology plan through the Texas ePlan system by March 31, 2014. Plans entered into the system are electronically routed to your regional education service center for peer review before being recommended to the TEA for final review and approval. If your school district educational technology contact would like to serve as a peer reviewer, please contact your regional education service center's technology department at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology (Education Service Centers). Both the Texas Campus STaR Chart and the Texas Teacher STaR Chart can be accessed online at http://starchart.epsilen.com/.
 The Texas ePlan system is available online at https://www.sedl.org/cgi-bin/mysql/eplan/eplan.cgi.    If you have additional questions, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com. Sincerely,

Anita Givens
Associate Commissioner
Standards and Programs


The Epistle to the Hebrews has been characterised as being a late and strongly Hellenistic text, which displays a high incarnational Christology very similar to, if not as fully developed as, that expressed in the Fourth Gospel. These scholarly assumptions have resulted in Hebrews remaining peripheral to the modem debate about the person of Christ, an approach which this thesis explores and questions.

Some modem scholars have recognised that the Epistle also contains an important depiction of the historical human Jesus. This has led many scholars to argue that the Epistle
contains two conflicting and juxtaposed portraits of Christ - one concerned with the human historic Jesus - the other concerned with Christ the Divine Son of God This thesis attempts to examine these assumptions and explores the possibilty that Hebrews simply juxtaposes different Christological portraits.

Through the exploration of questions of authorship,audience and the background of thought which enables the most assured reading of this enigmatic text, this thesis questions some of these traditional scholarly assumptions. This survey demonstrates how a case can be constructed for an earlier dating of this text, which also recognises its essential `Jewish' Christian character.

Some modem scholars recognise that Hebrews contains a distinctive portrait of the human historic Jesus. On the basis that modem study has advocated that Christology should be constructed from below, this thesis first considers the historical Jesus which is the central
concern of the Epistle's thinking about the person of Christ. Close study of significant textual features demonstrates that Hebrews' Christology displays a pronounced concern to secure Jesus' close solidarity with humanity, a solidarity which is functionally necessary given the Epistle's use of Old Testament concepts of priesthood in order to explore the meaning of Christ's redemptive activity.

Subsequent consideration of the contrasting `high' Christological elements within the Epistle demonstrates both why these have dominated scholarly discussion, and also, more significantly how they also focus attention on the redemptive activity of Jesus' life. Whereas concepts of Divine Sonship and Priesthood might be expected to establish Christ's exalted status, this study demonstrates how these concepts also stress ideas of humiliation and human solidarity. This rather unexpected finding is reflected in a marked ambiguity in the language
Hebrews chose to use in expressing his teaching, and I maintain here that this is not an unintentional outcome of the Old Testament citations used but the reflection of the author's deliberate theological intentions.

Attention is then focused on a fuller consideration of Hebrews' use of Old Testament concepts and traditions concerning priesthood in constructing its theological and Christological argument. The consideration of these features is divided into two separate but inter-linked
studies. The first of these explores concepts of priesthood and sacrifice by consideration of the motifs of human solidarity, the union of priest and victim and ideas concerning a sinless high priest. These discussions include a consideration of Hebrews' use of the idea of `perfection'
and its teaching about the sinlessness of Jesus. It is then shown how these ideas provide a basis for uniting the contrasting portraits of Hebrews' Christology. The second of these studies explores Hebrews' use of the traditions associated with the Old Testament priestly figure of
Melchizedek, by means of which the Epistle establishes the superiority of Christ's priesthood and redemptive activity. In establishing this superiority Hebrews demonstrates the redundancy of the Levitical priesthood and cultic traditions. This approach typifies Hebrews' positive attitude towards Old Testament religious traditions, which he believes have been both superseded and fulfilled in the person of Christ. Modem scholarship has characterised this approach as an eschatological approach to the revelation of God.

The concluding chapter of this thesis considers Hebrews' understanding of Christ's work - both in terms of his past redemptive activity and his present heavenly work of
representation and intercession. It is maintained that Christ's work, especially his redemptive activity, is the central concern and focus upon which Hebrews' Christological scheme is constructed, a scheme which unifies the human and divine in the historical Jesus. Hebrews' teaching results in a very dynamic depiction of the person of Christ, which suggests that Hebrews contains many valuable insights on which those involved in the modem debate about the person of Christ might draw.


Enterokinase and recombinant enterokinase light chain (rEK(L)) have been used widely to cleave fusion proteins with the target sequence of (Asp)(4)-Lys. In this work, we show that their utility as a site-specific cleavage agent is compromised by sporadic cleavage at other sites, albeit at low levels. Further degradation of the fusion protein in cleavage reaction is due to an intrinsic broad specificity of the enzyme rather than to the presence of contaminating proteases. To offer facilitated purification from fermentation broth and efficient removal of rEK(L) after cleavage reaction, thus minimizing unwanted cleavage of target protein, histidine affinity tag was introduced into rEK(L). Utilizing the secretion enhancer peptide derived from the human interleukin 1 beta, the recombinant EK(L) was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and efficiently secreted into culture medium. The C-terminal His-tagged EK(L) was purified in a single-step procedure on nickel affinity chromatography. It retained full enzymatic activity similar to that of EK(L), whereas the N-terminal His-tagged EK(L) was neither efficiently purified nor had any enzymatic activity. After cleavage reaction of fusion protein, the C-terminal His-tagged EK(L) was efficiently removed from the reaction mixture by a single passage through nickel-NTA spin column. The simple affinity tag renders rEK(L) extremely useful for purification, post-cleavage removal, recovery, and recycling and will broaden the utility and the versatility of the enterokinase for the production of recombinant proteins.


A study was undertaken to evaluate the physical and mechanical properties of plywood made from coconut veneers bonded with urea formaldehyde resin. Five coconut trunks were obtained from a coconut plantation in Bagan Datoh, Hutan Melintang, Perak Trunks were cut into 165 em billets of different portions, bottom,
middle and top from which veneers were obtained. The specific objectives of the study were, firstly, to evaluate veneer recovery percentage from peeling process, secondly, to evaluate physical properties of plywood made of coconut trunk. The portions were peeled to get the inner and the outer veneers. The study showed that the veneer recovery rate of the coconut trunks decreased from the bottom to the top portion of the stem. However, the difference of the recovery rate between each portion was not significant. The mean values of the green veneer recovery for the bottom , the middle, and the top were 53.71%, 48.41% and 47.00% respectively. The veneer recovery rate was also evaluated through different diameters of coconut trunks. The diameter classes chosen for the study were 23.1cm-25cm (class 1), 25.1cm-28cm (class 2), and 28.1cm-33cm (class 3). Veneer recover rate showed insignificant differences in height level and diameter classes. There was insignificant different in Me % even though inner part of trunks possessed higher Me % compared to the outer part. By comparing the Me % between bottom, middle and top parts, it seemed that higher Me % values were recorded from the top part compared to the middle and bottom parts. As for density study of the veneers, it could be seen that inner veneers
had lower density from that of the outer veneers. The outer part showed higher density due to the concentration of vascular bundles present in the region. The bottom part of the trunk exhibited higher density value compared to the middle and top parts.Pressing pressure and time were also evaluated. The study revealed that the best pressing pressure and time to manufacture coconut-based plywoods were 500psi and 10 minutes respectively. The evaluation was made based on the physical and
mechanical properties of the plywoods made at three different pressing pressure and time. The pressing pressure and time were used to fabricate more coconut-based plywoods for further physical and mechanical testing. This time, only density test was
included for physical testing. Three types of mechanical testing were conducted on the plywoodc made from coconut i.e modulus of rupture (MOR) (BS EN 310:1993), modulus of elasticity (MOE) (BS EN 310: 1993), screw withdrawal (SW) CBS EN 699:
Part 1:1989) and shear strength (88) (BS EN 314-1:1993). The physical and mechanical examinations showed that the plywoods made of the determined pressing pressure and time was suitable to produce plywoods which has strength that surpassed
the standard requirement values of each testing.


The given state-of-the-art review of BIPV design and management tools presents recent developments in BIPV modelling concerning design and management processes with different levels of detail, targeting various stakeholders and their requirements in the BIPV value chain in relation to geophysical, technical, economic and environmental aspects. It goes beyond focusing only on PV modelling and gives an overview of the BIPV tools from the perspective of BIPV integration in design and multi-performance modelling and planning.

The report examines features and functions, as well as potential development and limitations of currently available tools used in BIPV planning process, including tools specifically designed for BIPV and PV tools with capacity to simulate certain BIPV cases. Moreover, report provides information on limitation and reliability of these tools in different settings and for different BIPV categories, indicating pathways and tools selection that would provide the highest confidence and fidelity of results as well as positive user experience throughout the process.

The report streamlines workflows according to the type and complexity of BIPV integration and offers pathways and tools suitable for required case. The report included 15 domains of BIPV planning such as geophysical, technical, economic and environment which affect successful BIPV integration. 27 software, 9 online tools and 4 apps were compared against the aforementioned domains.

The findings of this review showed none of the examined software and apps can cater to all the factors pertaining to PV project design and management. Results have shown that majority of tools used in BIPV modelling come from PV domain and consequently still lack important features regarding BIPV integration, especially for vertical or externally mounted BIPV.

Therefore, this study propose a decision support system which will address stakeholders practical difficulties by providing the main features: (1) a local


One of the crucial challenges in the clinical management of cancer is resistance to chemotherapeutics. Multidrug resistance (MDR) has been intensively studied, and one of the most prominent mechanisms underlying MDR is overexpression of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. Despite research efforts to develop compounds that inhibit the efflux activity of ABC transporters and thereby increase classical chemotherapy efficacy, to date, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the use of any ABC transporter inhibitors due to toxicity issues. Hedgehog signaling is aberrantly activated in many cancers, and has been shown to be involved in chemotherapy resistance. Recent studies showed that the Hedgehog receptor Ptch1, which is over-expressed in many recurrent and metastatic cancers, is a multidrug transporter and it contributes to the efflux of chemotherapeutic agents such as doxorubicin, and to chemotherapy resistance. Remarkably, Ptch1 uses the proton motive force to efflux drugs, in contrast to ABC transporters, which use ATP hydrolysis. Indeed, the "reversed pH gradient" that characterizes cancer cells, allows Ptch1 to function as an efflux pump specifically in cancer cells. This makes Ptch1 a particularly attractive therapeutic target for cancers expressing Ptch1, such as lung, breast, prostate, ovary, colon, brain, adrenocortical carcinoma, and melanoma. Screening of chemical libraries have identified several molecules that are able to enhance the cytotoxic effect of different chemotherapeutic agents by inhibiting Ptch1 drug efflux activity in different cancer cell lines that endogenously over-express Ptch1. In vivo proof of concept has been performed in mice where combining one of these compounds with doxorubicin prevented the development of xenografted adrenocortical carcinoma tumors more efficiently than doxorubicin alone, and without obvious undesirable side effects. Therefore, the use of a Ptch1 drug efflux inhibitor in combination with classical or targeted therapy could be a promising therapeutic option for Ptch1-expressing cancers.


Leafhoppers and psyllids species which occur in citrus ecosystem were studied in the Sao Paulo State. The capture was realized with a portable vacuum sampler. Leafhoppers of the Cercopidae, Cicadellidae, Cixiidae, Delphacidae, Derbidae, Flatidae, Fulgoridae, Membracidae, Nogodinidae, and Psyllidae (Hemiptera) family were collected. The main family was Cicadellidae with 58 species of leafhopper collected. In the subfamily Cicadellinae sharpshooters of the Cicadellini and Proconiini tribes were collected, with 17 and five species respectively. The most important sharpshooters/leafhoppers were Plesiommata corniculata Young, Hortesia similis (Walker), Ciminius albolineatus (Taschenberg), Ferrariana trivittata (Signoret), and Sonesimia grossa (Signoret),Planicephaliuns flavicosta Stal, Haldorellus divergens Menezes,Clorotettix minimus Baker, and one specie of Deltocephalinae. In citrus plant, the most important species were Bahita infuscata (Osborn), Scaphytopius hambletoni Delong, and Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Psyllidae), but the leafhoppers which were proved as vector of the Xylella fastidiosa, were not so abundant. In weeds, the most important sharpshooters/leafhoppers were H. similis, P. corniculata, H. divergens, P. brasiliensis, and one specie of Deltocephalinae were considered constant, and in the citrus plant only D. citri.


Today the oil and gas industry suffers significant production losses due to fines migrations in high permeability sandstone formations or sand packs. During drilling, production or injection, fines migration continues to cause formation impairment resulting in oil and gas inflow reductions or injectivity resistance. The problem is further enhanced in mature reservoirs where increased water ingress and multiphase production aggravate the fines mobilisation. Proper fines management can optimise productivity, injectivity, safeguard facilities and reduce well maintenance cost. Today˜s core flood tests as part of risk assessment limit tests to single phase or at best two-phase oil/water flow. Meanwhile existing reservoir simulators have no facilities to analyse solid particles impact on productivity and injectivity. This research work presents the unique technique adopted to analyse fines migration mechanisms in a true multiphase environment. The methodologies adopted include studies of fines particle impacts on pressure drawdowns in several sensitivities of rock permeability, water cut, multiphase flow, liquid flow, porosity, fines grain size, and the rest of relevant rock and fluid properties performed using an appropriate Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulator. The resultant drawdown pressures were then used to back-calculate corresponding particle-damaged permeabilities using a conventional field approach. From the results obtained, detailed mapping of prevailing pore blocking mechanisms and corresponding permeability impairment profiles are presented as functions of operating conditions. The technique integrates the CFD and 3-D reservoir simulation concepts to define and quantify the effects of different operating conditions on discretised reservoir blocks. Among the major research outcomes are two developed particle-damaged absolute permeability models for multiphase and liquid flow conditions involving fines migration in porous media. The models were tested and validated using ten examples of field data with acceptable error margins in the majority of the cases. Contributions to knowledge include: i) new analysis of particle impact in multiphase and liquid flows, ii) integration of CFD with 3-dimensional reservoir simulator and iii) the developed particle-damaged models. Areas where more study is required include: a) dry gas CFD simulation, b) use of real rock (thin-section) pore structure scans as the computational mesh and c) adapting the application to EOR (enhanced oil recovery) operations such as steam injection, miscible fluid injection and others. These are highlighted as suggestions for further work to improve effectiveness of the developed advances towards better fines migration management. The research work is concluded with recommendations (supported by flow efficiency case studies) on contemporary innovations in fines management.


This article discusses the recent proposal for debt restructuring in the euro zone by Pierre Paris and Charles Wyplosz. It argues that the plan cannot realize the promised debt relief without producing moral hazard. Ester Faia revisits the Redemption Fund proposed in November 2011 by the German Council of Economic Experts and argues that this plan, up to date, still remains the most promising path towards succesful debt restructuring in Europe.


ABSTRACT There is a growing expectation in the UK for teachers to have an understanding of common mental health problems in young people. This study aims to identify the training needs of secondary school teachers to enable them to adequately support and educate their students around mental health. Nine focus groups, each with between four to eight participants, were conducted with secondary school teachers in the UK. Discussions were centred on the needs and wants of teachers in terms of mental health training, provision and advice. Participants were also shown three online resources as an example of existing training. Thematic analysis was used to structure the data. Participants wanted training on how to identify and provide early support for students who are struggling, without taking on the perceived role of a therapist. Participants also emphasised the strong need for practical, interactive and expert-led training that provides resources that can be adapted to individual settings. Implications and recommendations are discussed.


Compressed sensing theory shows that any signal which is defined as sparse in a given domain can be reconstructed using fewer linear projections instead of using all Nyquist-rate samples. In this paper, we investigate basis pursuit, matching pursuit, orthogonal matching pursuit and compressive sampling matching pursuit algorithms, which are basic compressed sensing based algorithms, and present performance curves in terms of mean squared error for various parameters including signal-to-noise ratio, sparsity and number of measurements with regard to mean squared error. In addition, accuracy of estimation performances has been supported with theoretical lower bounds (Cramer-Rao lower bound and deterministic lower mean squared error). Considering estimation performances, compressive sampling matching pursuit yields the best results unless the signal has a non-sparse structure.


Abstract. We investigate the potential of polarization lidar to provide vertical profiles of aerosol parameters from which cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) and ice nucleating particle (INP) number concentrations can be estimated. We show that height profiles of particle number concentrations n50, dry considering dry aerosol particles with radius  > 50 nm (reservoir of CCN in the case of marine and continental non-desert aerosols), n100, dry (particles with dry radius  >  100 nm, reservoir of desert dust CCN), and of n250, dry (particles with dry radius  >  250 nm, reservoir of favorable INP), as well as profiles of the particle surface area concentration sdry (used in INP parameterizations) can be retrieved from lidar-derived aerosol extinction coefficients σ with relative uncertainties of a factor of 1.5–2 in the case of n50, dry and n100, dry and of about 25–50 % in the case of n250, dry and sdry. Of key importance is the potential of polarization lidar to distinguish and separate the optical properties of desert aerosols from non-desert aerosol such as continental and marine particles. We investigate the relationship between σ, measured at ambient atmospheric conditions, and n50, dry for marine and continental aerosols, n100, dry for desert dust particles, and n250, dry and sdry for three aerosol types (desert, non-desert continental, marine) and for the main lidar wavelengths of 355, 532, and 1064 nm. Our study is based on multiyear Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) photometer observations of aerosol optical thickness and column-integrated particle size distribution at Leipzig, Germany, and Limassol, Cyprus, which cover all realistic aerosol mixtures. We further include AERONET data from field campaigns in Morocco, Cabo Verde, and Barbados, which provide pure dust and pure marine aerosol scenarios. By means of a simple CCN parameterization (with n50, dry or n100, dry as input) and available INP parameterization schemes (with n250, dry and sdry as input) we finally compute profiles of the CCN-relevant particle number concentration nCCN and the INP number concentration nINP. We apply the method to a lidar observation of a heavy dust outbreak crossing Cyprus and a case dominated by continental aerosol pollution.


Background Oseltamivir is an antiviral approved for treatment and chemoprophylaxis of uncomplicated illness caused by influenza A or B virus for people of all ages over 3 months. Purpose With the increase in the incidence of influenza A in Guadalajara in the winter of 2013–2014, reaching epidemic proportions, it was decided to analyse the use of oseltamivir in the treatment of influenza A. Material and methods Retrospective observational study of patients treated with oseltamivir between November 2013 and February 2014. Variables: age, sex and risk factors (RFs), ward, dose, duration and confirmation of influenza vaccination status. It was felt that the treatment was completed after 5 days of treatment in the case of 75 mg and 10 days of 150 mg. The information was obtained from the Farmatools drug history and Mambrino and Turriano electronic medical records. Results 174 patients were collected on treatment with oseltamivir. 51% were male and 49% female with a mean age of 63.61 years (2–92). 82% of patients had some RFs. The main RFs were age >65 years (53%), respiratory failure (36%), diabetes (25%), heart failure (22%), obesity (17%), immunosuppression (17%) and renal failure (15%). The main prescriber service was Internal Medicine (37%). The dose was 75 mg/12 h in 87% of patients, and 150 mg/12 h in 13%. 7% required titration to 30 mg/12 and 2% changed regimen during hospitalisation. 67% of patients completed the treatment. 57% (n = 93) had a confirmed diagnosis of influenza A. In this subgroup 10% did not complete the treatment with oseltamivir, 40% had been vaccinated previously for influenza and 18% had no RFs. In the subgroup of patients without influenza (n = 81) 36% completed treatment with oseltamivir. Conclusion Oseltamivir has been used in a similar percentage for both treatment and prophylaxis and it has mainly been used in patients with advanced age and associated RFs. Most patients were treated as uncomplicated influenza A. In the subgroup of patients with a diagnosis of influenza A were patients whom the vaccine didn't protect against influenza A and others who did not complete the treatment. It would be interesting to analyse the efficacy of the vaccine against influenza in a second phase of the study. References and/or Acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


Conventional smart antennas create flexible beam patterns using weights that have both magnitude and phase. This requires expensive hardware in the form of individual receivers and transmitters, high-speed D/A and A/D converters and capable DSP or FPGA processors. This paper looks at the use of low-complexity spatial antenna arrays that can create reasonably complex antenna patterns using a phased array approach. Convex optimization is applied to solve the highly non-linear optimization problem. Square array geometries were studied in depth by applying various penalty functions. We found that convex optimization is a novel and effective way to compute the complex antenna weights, and that this low-complexity approach is an interesting alternative to more expensive smart antennas


Gosta Esping-Andersen's (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism has become one of the most cited works in social policy (over 20,600 Google Scholar citations; 20 October 2014). This path-breaking work, with its identification of three distinct forms of welfare capitalism in high income countries, has become the basis for a whole academic industry described as the Welfare Modelling Business (Abrahamson 1999; Powell and Barrientos 2011). According to Headey et al. (1997: 332), it has become a canon in comparative social policy against which any subsequent work must situate itself. Abrahamson (1999) notes that, since the publication of the book, every welfare state scholar has referred to Esping-Andersen's tripolar scheme. Scruggs and Allen (2006: 55, 69) remark that it 'is difficult to find an article comparing welfare states in advanced democratic countries (or a syllabus on social policy) that does not refer to this seminal work', and 'it is hard to overstate the significance of the impact of The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (TWWC) on comparative studies of the welfare state'. Its seminal status is evidenced by the extent to which it continues to be cited in articles on comparative welfare states. It also remains required reading for most (graduate) students of comparative political economy and social policy (Scruggs and Allen, 2008). Kröger (2011) claims that, with few exceptions, comparative social policy research is shaped by welfare regime analysis. Arts and Gelissen conclude that TWWC is a defining influence upon the whole field of comparative welfare state research (2010: 569). Danforth (2014) writes that the 'three worlds' typology has become one of the principal heuristics for examining modern welfare states. In short, TWWC is a 'modern classic' (Arts and Gelissen, 2002).


Land transformation from grassland to cropland in the Northern Great Plains (NGP) has become a growing concern among many stakeholders. A growing body of work has sought to determine the amount and rate of land use change with less emphasis on the systemic structures or feedback processes of land use decisions. This paper presents the development of a system dynamics simulation model to integrate ecological, economic, and social components influencing land use decisions, including cattle ranching, cropland production, rural communities, land quality, and public policies. Evaluation indicated that the model satisfactorily predicted historical land, agricultural commodity, and rural community data from the model structure. Reference modes for key variables, including the farmland area, were characterized by a bias correction of 0.999, root mean squared error of prediction of 0.053, R2 of 0.921, and concordance correlation coefficient of 0.0959. The model was robust under extreme and varying sensitivity tests, as well as adequately predicting land use under changing system context. The model's major contributions were the inclusion of decision‐making feedbacks from economic and social signals with connectivity to land quality and elasticity values that drive land transformation. Limitations include lack of spatial input and output capabilities useful for visual interfacing.


Community structure is one of the most important and characteristic features of social networks. Numerous methods for discovering implicit user communities from a social graph of users have been proposed in recent years. However, most of them have performance and scalability issues which make them hardly applicable to population-wide analysis of modern social networks (billions of users and growing). In this paper we present EgoLP - an efficient and fully distributed method for social community detection. The method is based on propagating community labels through the network with the help of friendship groups of individual users. Experimental evaluation of Apache Spark implementation of the method showed that it outperforms some state-of-the-art methods in terms of a) similarity of extracted communities to the reference ones from synthetic networks, b) precision of user attributes prediction in Facebook based solely on community memberships, c) likelihood of the discovered community structure according to the proposed generative model. At the same time, the method retains near-linear complexity in the number of edges and is thus applicable to social graphs of up to 109 users.


We report on a boy who presented with acute renal failure and bilateral ureteral obstruction 5 days after an uneventful appendectomy. In contrast to the few cases described in the literature, bilateral ureterothiasis was the pathogenesis of ureteric obstruction. The clinical signs and diagnostic findings, and an overview of the literature are presented. The severity of permanent renal damage in a child underlines the importance of this report.


In this article, the motion control problem of a robotic EXOskeletal WRIST (EXOWRIST) prototype is considered. This novel robotic appliance's motion is achieved via pneumatic muscle actuators, a pneumatic form of actuation possessing crucial attributes for the development of an exoskeleton that is safe, reliable, portable and low-cost. The EXOWRIST's properties are presented in detail and compared to the recent wrist exoskeleton technology, while its two degrees-of-freedom movement capabilities (extension-flexion, ulnar-radial deviation) are experimentally evaluated on a healthy human volunteer via an advanced nonlinear PID-based control algorithm.


A variety of developmental defects occur as a result of prenatal exposure to alcohol (ethanol) in utero. In humans [5], those defects are collectively classified as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [6] (FAS) representing the more severe defects. FAS is defined by preand post-natal growth retardation [7], minor facial abnormalities, and deficiencies in the central nervous system [8] (CNS). In addition to those defects, prenatal exposure to alcohol impacts cardiogenesis, the developmental stage of heart formation.


Content-based querying allows efficient retrieval of images based on the information they contain, rather than acquisition date or geographical extent. We extend the potential of a content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system based on Self- Organizing Maps (SOMs), to the analysis of remote sensing data. A database was artificially created by splitting each satellite image to be analyzed into small images. After training the CBIR system on this imagelet database, both interactive and off-line queries were made to detect man-made structures, as well as changes. Experimental results suggest that this new approach is suitable for analyzing very high-resolution optical satellite imagery. Possible applications include interactive detection of man-made structures and supervised monitoring of sensitive sites.


Quality improvement initiatives can become bogged down by excessive data collection. Sometimes the question arises—are we doing an adequate job with respect to a recommended practice? Are we complying with some guideline in at least X% of our patients? The perception that one must audit large numbers of charts may present a barrier to initiating local improvement activities. The model for improvement and its Plan–Do–Study–Act (PDSA) cycles typically require frequent data collection to test ideas and refine the planned change strategy. The perception that data collection must involve many patients can lead to insufficiently frequent PDSA cycles.1 In this review, we demonstrate the important contributions that small samples can make to improvement projects, including local audits, PDSA cycles and during broader implementation and evaluation.

Suppose you are a hospital-based clinician who has joined a medication reconciliation working group. Medication reconciliation refers to efforts to avoid unintentional changes to medication regimens at transition points such as hospital admission and discharge.2 You notice that medication reconciliation did not occur for several patients on your service this week. Your institution sets a target medication reconciliation rate of at least 80%, based on external standards and internal commitments to patient safety. You decide to audit 20 consecutive admissions, and find that only 10 charts (50%) have completed medication reconciliation. You present your findings at the weekly team meeting. Your colleagues tactfully point out that your sample is far too small to draw any meaningful conclusions.

Surprisingly, your sample of 20 consecutive admissions actually provides strong evidence that local performance falls short of your performance target. If your service were actually performing medication reconciliation 80% of the time, a sample of 20 charts would produce an observed reconciliation rate of only 50% (or worse) about three times out of every 1000 similar audits. …


The thesis is a socio-legal account of Italian penality between 1970 and 2000. It analyses the
Italian experience as a critical case study with which to test David Garland, Alessandro De
Giorgi and Nicola Lacey's theories of punishment in contemporary Western polities. It argues
that Italian penality is not sufficiently explained by reference to Garland or De Giorgi's meta theories of 'late modern' and 'post-Fordist' punishment. Lacey's institutional analysis
provides a better framework, if modified to allow for the centrality of political dynamics in
Italy.
The thesis argues that Italian penality is a 'volatile penal equilibrium', whose 'differential
punitiveness' is marked by oscillations between repression and leniency. The thesis provides
an institutional analysis of Italian punishment, investigating in turn the Italian political
economy, political culture and state-citizen relations, judicial contributions to penal trends,
and the punishment of non-EU migrants. The thesis argues that Italian penality can be
systematised by reference to political dynamics, in particular political conflict and political
dualisms. Political conflict can broadly be defined as conflict between political interests,
ranging from parties through to broader political groups such as families; dualisms are
tensions produced by opposing institutional dynamics. The thesis analyses these conflicts and
dualisms in terms of penal pressures, either in favour of penal exclusion or moderation. Italy's
institutional structure incorporates political conflict, and fosters structural tensions. The result
is that Italy's volatile political equilibrium is conveyed through its institutions to the penal
realm, producing a volatile penal equilibrium.
Ultimately, the Italian case study demonstrates that contemporary theories of penality should
explicitly incorporate political dynamics and their institutional anchorage. Italian penality can
be analysed in terms of the nature of the state and its institutions and inclusion and exclusion
from political belonging. Contemporary theories would profit from incorporating this
analysis.


The habeas lawyer, I therefore suggest modestly, is the legal mirror-image of the state as torturer and as outlaw information-gatherer. One of my clients was kept in total darkness for weeks be-fore being transferred to Guantanamo; he was subjected to blaring music in what is commonly known as the "Dark Prison" at Bagram, with the darkness and noise interrupted only by an occasional interrogation session which took place in a red-lit room. I also find compelling her definition of torture as the sum of pain and questioning-an equation that, interestingly, allows Scarry to argue that the torturer asks his questions in order to deconstruct the voice and dismantle the humanity of the torture victim. The information-forcing rationale transforms and rationalizes the motive for torture and acts, in Luban's words, as a "last resort" for people profoundly reluctant to torture-thus providing what he calls the "liberal ideology of torture." All of this is crystallized in the "ticking time bomb" scenario, whose purpose is to persuade liberals to concede a single situation where even he would torture, and having obtained this concession, prove that he really does not have a principled stand against torture. The right strategy is not to deny that abusive interrogations are necessary in order to gather intelligence, to dismiss the very notion that coercion is a re-grettable but necessary tool to protect our national security, or to assert that the proffered need for gathering intelligence is always a "false" motive put forth by a torture regime.


The oceans offer abundant resources for research and development yet the potential of this domain as the basis for new biotechnologies remains largely unexplored. Study of marine microbial biodiversity is of vital importance for the understanding of the different processes of the ocean, which may present potent novel microorganisms for screening of bioactive compounds. As the microbial communities have a complex ecosystem processes, biodiversity study explore the distribution and roles in the habitat, estimation of microbial diversity is required for understanding the biogeography, community assembly and ecological processes.

To investigate the biodiversity of bacteria of Baluchistan coast, a total of 100 attached and free-living bacteria were isolated. Bacterial strains were identified by studying Gram reaction, cellular and colonial morphology biochemical reactions and. by QTS-24 (quick test strip) and confirmation of three selected strains was carried out by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Out of the 100 bacterial isolates 81 were identified as Gram-negative and 19 were Gram positive. A remarkable percentage of isolated strains showed resistance against antibiotics and metals.

All of the 100 bacterial strains were analyzed for their ability to hydrolyze calcium phytate. Fifteen percent of the strains hydrolyzed calcium phytate on solid media and four strains showed hydrolysis of calcium phytate both on solid and liquid media. The strains which showed release of soluble phosphate as a result of hydrolysis of calcium phytate were selected for bioremediation of lanthanum nitrate from aqueous solution. A bioreactor was constructed using biofilm of mix culture of phytate hydrolysing strains (CMGI00l and CMGI083). Maximum removal of lanthanum was detected after 24 hrs of contact and white precipitates of lanthanum phosphate were observed on polyutherane foam cubes. These precipitates of lanthanum phosphate were observed using scanning electron microscope.

Isolated bacterial strains were checked for their ability to solubilize complex form of compounds containing phosphorous, four percent of the strains solubilized insoluble compounds both on solid and liquid media. The ability of the most efficient phosphate solubilizing bacterial strains to enhance the growth of maize plants was studied in potted soil experiment in green house. Experiments have showed that the strains, which released free phosphate from insoluble phosphate

Compounds, stimulated growth of maize plants. Isolated bacterial strains were also tested for their ability to produce antibacterial metabolite. A remarkable fraction 5 % of the strains exhibited antagonistic properties against antibiotic resistant clinical isolates and against indigenous marine bacteria. CMG1030 identified as Pseudomonas stutzeri exhibited a broad antibacterial spectrum.

To determine nature of antibacterial activity, different experiments were conducted. The antibacterial compound produced by CMG1030 was an extra cellular compound. Persistence of antibacterial activity in the presence of protease enzyme showed that antibacterial activity was not protein in nature. Siderophore involvement was not possible as antibacterial activity persisted at elevated concentration of Fe3+ ions in the growth medium. Screening of extra cellular chromosomal DNA showed that this strain does not harbor any plasmid DNA. To determine chemical nature of the antibacterial compound, extraction with organic solvents was done. Crude extract were prepared using organic solvents. Three novel antibacterial compounds designated as bushrin, zafrin and compound-1 were purified by column chromatography from the crude extract of CMGI030 and their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic techniques. The antibacterial compound bushrin was determined to be 7-(3-furyl)-3, 7-dimethyl 7, 8-dihydro-l-naphthalenol. The molecular formula C16H1602 of bushrin was deduced from HR-EIMS at m/z =240.2712

The antibacterial compound zafrin was determined to be 4b-methyl - 5, 6, 7, 8 tetrahydro-l (4b-H)-phenanthrenone. The molecular formula, C15H16O of zafrin was deduced from HR-EIMS at m/ z = 212.2871.

The antibacterial compound, compound-l was determined to be I-methyl-I, 4 dihydroquinoline. The molecular weight of compound-l was 145.2011 with a molecular formula C10 H11 N deduced from HR-EIMS.

The time kill experiment showed that bushrin was able to decrease the counts of S. nureus (ATCC33591) at MIC 60 ug/ml. The inhibitory activity was observed after at least. 8 hrs of exposure, whereas zafrin decreased the number of viable bacterial cells after 10 hr of exposure at MIC (75 ug/ml). A decrease in bacterial cell counts was more readily found when the bacterial cells were exposed to bushrin and zafrin at higher concentration.

The morphological changes in S. aureus (ATCC33591) and B. subtilis induced by bushrin were observed under phase contrast microscope and time lapse images were captured, decrease in size of cells of B. subtilis was observe after one minute of treatment with bushrin. When cells of S. aureus were treated with this compound complete lysis was observed immediately after treatment. Microscopic examination of exponentially growing cells of S. aureus treated with sub lethal concentration of bushrin suggests cell lysis and some ghost cells and big cells were also observed.

The morphological changes in S. aureus (ATCC33591) and B. subtilis induced by zafrin were also observed under phase contrast microscope. Two morphological changes were observed one was decrease in size of cells of B. subtilis immediately after treatment with zafrin and the other was the accumulation of large electron dense mass in the cytoplasm. When cells of S. aureus were treated sub lethal concentration of zafrin some very large cells were observed.

In conclusion coastal zone of Baluchistan was found to be rich source of bacterial flora which exhibited diverse characters.


Stereo displays suffer from crosstalk, an effect that reduces or even inhibits the viewer's ability to correctly perceive depth. Previous work on software crosstalk reduction focussed on the preprocessing of static scenes which are viewed from a fixed viewpoint. However, in virtual environments scenes are dynamic, and are viewed from various viewpoints in real-time on large display areas. In this paper, three methods are introduced for reducing crosstalk in virtual environments. A non-uniform crosstalk model is described, which can be used to accurately reduce crosstalk on large display areas. In addition, a novel temporal algorithm is used to address the problems that occur when reducing crosstalk in dynamic scenes. This way, high-frequency jitter caused by the erroneous assumption of static scenes can be eliminated. Finally, a perception based metric is developed that allows us to quantify crosstalk. We provide a detailed description of the methods, discuss their tradeoffs, and compare their performance with existing crosstalk reduction methods


Abstract. Chlorine monoxide (ClO) is the key species for anthropogenic ozone losses in the middle atmosphere. We observed ClO diurnal variations using the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) on the International Space Station, which has a non-sun-synchronous orbit. This includes the first global observations of the ClO diurnal variation from the stratosphere up to the mesosphere. The observation of mesospheric ClO was possible due to 10–20 times better signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of the spectra than those of past or ongoing microwave/submillimeter-wave limb-emission sounders. We performed a quantitative error analysis for the strato- and mesospheric ClO from the Level-2 research (L2r) product version 2.1.5 taking into account all possible contributions of errors, i.e. errors due to spectrum noise, smoothing, and uncertainties in radiative transfer model and instrument functions. The SMILES L2r v2.1.5 ClO data are useful over the range from 0.01 and 100 hPa with a total error estimate of 10–30 pptv (about 10%) with averaging 100 profiles. The SMILES ClO vertical resolution is 3–5 km and 5–8 km for the stratosphere and mesosphere, respectively. The SMILES observations reproduced the diurnal variation of stratospheric ClO, with peak values at midday, observed previously by the Microwave Limb Sounder on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS/MLS). Mesospheric ClO demonstrated an opposite diurnal behavior, with nighttime values being larger than daytime values. A ClO enhancement of about 100 pptv was observed at 0.02 to 0.01 hPa (about 70–80 km) for 50° N–65° N from January–February 2010. The performance of SMILES ClO observations opens up new opportunities to investigate ClO up to the mesopause.


Largely missing from the liberal tradition's economic and political doctrines is an idea of the political community in its own right with its own purpose. Liberal government is a reflex of free persons rather than an office of responsibility in a political community recognized to be as original to human identity as life, property, and economic enterprising. This article argues that the flourishing of entrepreneurial responsibilities requires a political community constituted, first of all, to guard the public trust and the commonwealth and to protect a wide range of human responsibilities. Only in such a framework can the limits of government be properly defined so that nonpolitical responsibilities are able to flourish in a stable and just public order. The argument for a "responsibilities economy," upheld by a just political community, concludes with illustrative reference to family life, schooling, and business/finance.


Introduction The National Commission on Excellence in Education appointed by T.H. Bell, Secretary of Education in 1981, concerned about students graduating in the year 2000, studied our nation's schools in considerable detail in relation to accountability. After studying the nation's schools for nearly two years, in April, 1983 he published an alarming report entitled "A Nation at Risk" citing two basic problems in relation to our high schools (Bell, 1983): "Research clearly shows that those students with clearly defined goals and a sense of `direction' are more likely to persist and attain a college degree" (page 42), and "Even with your parents' best example and your teachers' best efforts, in the end it is your (student's) work that determines how much and how well you learn" (page 83). Urgent Need for Tentative Job-Career Plans The high schools of our nation (9th through 12th grade) have been reliably described as the bridge between the home and the work place or college. Personal goals and an individual's motivation to achieve in school are largely dependent on each other; for without intrinsic goals (related to job-career) there is little personal motivation (Cassel, 1974). It is clear that the two basic problems cited in relation to accountability in our schools are intimately related, and that personal motivation of a student is intimately related to personal goals embraced for that moment in time. The typical student enters 9th grade at 14 years of age and the bridge from school to work does not simply occur; schools are expected to facilitate the process. Early in the high school experience, the guidance counselor needs to plan a vigorous assessment process for each and every individual to understand the three high career activity interests, and the three low areas of interest. Students must be guided to seek job-career preparation involving their own high career interest activity areas, and to avoid job-careers involving low career activity interest areas. In a democracy the likes and dislikes of gainful employment activity are considered to be critical in relation to their later happiness. The most critical time in life to discover those likes is in 9th and no later than 10th grade, and that is the law under the School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994 where tentative job-career plans must be made before 11th grade. E.F. Lindquist, the chief architect for the ACT college prediction test, once said, "A student's success in fourth grade math is the best predictor we have of his/her ultimate success as an engineer later in life." Tentative job-career plans of a student are the best single motivator for success in most of the hard core subjects, i.e., biology, physics, calculus, etc. The career plans in high school are usually "tentative" but never-the-less real, for the nature of changes that typically take place later among students tends to be more or less general, as opposed to being specific. Students in the professional areas tend to pursue professional lines; and those in technical areas tend to pursue similar lines, etc.; so that where educational pursuit is concerned, the differences in relation to the students changing career plans tends to be rather minor in nature. This seems to be the case for both the career interest areas, and the general and special aptitude areas of life, and even with job careers that tend to change with the new communication age. No builder would ever think of building a house without a detailed plan, and the absence of a tentative job-career plans in 11th grade students is a challenge of the first order for students and school personnel. School to Work Opportunity Act of 1994 This act was passed by Congress as a partial response to "A Nation at Risk Report" and it provided for a "job-career plan" before 11th grade. The act was intended for local school districts to build effective school to work systems as an extension to the typical career guidance program where the interest and aptitude of the student were considered the primary concerns. …


Abstract : This report discusses exemplar practices recommended by Department of Defense (DoD) laboratory staff, Offices of Research and Technology Applications (ORTAs), DoD legal staff, and other stakeholders to transfer technology from the laboratory to the marketplace. The purpose is to inform staff at DoD laboratories and technology transfer offices about these practices and encourage their adoption across the DoD. Using themes identified in a review of academic literature, government reports, and legal documents on technology transfer, the research team interviewed DoD laboratory ORTA and legal staff and other stakeholders. From the data collected from these interviews, the research team selected 24 practices as exemplar and organized them into the following categories: ensuring effective ORTA organization and staffing; empowering, training, and rewarding scientists and engineers; capturing and managing intellectual property; using technology transfer mechanisms to full potential; managing and monitoring technology transfer processes; marketing laboratory technologies and capabilities to industry; and building partnerships. Many DoD technology transfer organizations have implemented creative approaches within the boundaries of existing regulations, directives, and instructions. The adoption of these exemplar practices is likely to accelerate the transfer of innovations to the marketplace.


While there is no easy way to define terrorism, it may generally be viewed as a method of violence in which civilians are targeted with the objective of forcing a perceived enemy into submission by creating fear, demoralization, and political friction in the population under attack. At one time a marginal field of study in the social sciences, terrorism is now very much in center stage. The 1970s terrorist attacks by the PLO, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Japanese Red Army, the Unabomber, Aum Shinrikyo, Timothy McVeigh, the World Trade Center attacks, the assault on a school in Russia, and suicide bombers have all made the term "terrorism" an all-too-common part of our vocabulary. This edition of Political Terrorism was originally published in the 1980s, well before some of the horrific events noted above. This monumental collection of definitions, conceptual frameworks, paradigmatic formulations, and bibliographic sources is being reissued in paperback now as a resource for the expanding community of researchers on the subject of terrorism. This is a carefully constructed guide to one of the most urgent issues of the world today. When the first edition was originally published, Choice noted, "This extremely useful reference tool should be part of any serious social science collection." Chronicles of Culture called it "a tremendously comprehensive book about a subject that any who have anything to lose - from property to liberty, life to limbs - should be forewarned against."


Summary Surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyposis is performed by a large number of ENT surgeons worldwide. Sinonasal surgery is associated with the potential for serious complications and minor complications are relatively common. Therefore, the risks of adverse events, although small, should be minimised where possible. This review addresses both pre- and peri-operative steps that may help to do so. Should complications occur, early recognition and management may prevent long-lasting disability, and this is discussed.


The conflict between transparency and secrecy is a particularly stark instantiation of the principal-agent problem in public law. It is the province of institutional design to come up with effective means to ensure that government actors act in accordance with voters' desires. Much of the time, elections and other disciplining mechanisms (such as impeachment for judges and indirect political control for unelected members of the executive branch) deter official behavior that diverges too widely from voters' interests, at least over the long term. However, because these traditional incentive-alignment methods require political involvement by the public, they cannot prevent self-interested behavior by political actors if the voters have no way of learning about the malfeasance. Transparency seems essential from this perspective, since it allows voters to monitor the actions of their agents. Transparency and accountability are seen as inherently linked, and secrecy is considered by many to produce large agency costs. The main point of disagreement is where to determine the point at which government operations go from being "open" to being "closed" in order to strike a "balance" between secrecy and accountability.This Note explores alternatives to this dichotomous conception of secrecy and accountability. It considers the problem of secrecy and transparency from the perspective of the principal-agent relationship and advocates creative approaches that focus on reducing the total agency costs in the relationship between voters and their representatives. Toward that end, this Note explores three mechanisms that could, if used appropriately, minimize agency costs while still allowing the government the freedom to make important decisions or conduct sensitive operations in secret. This Note's goal is not to critique existing secrecy law systematically, nor to propose a feasible replacement system. Rather, it aims to explore new ways to think about the secrecy/transparency dilemma and to suggest that it is worth investigating mechanisms (including, but not limited to, the three suggested here) that capture as many of the benefits of secrecy as possible while minimizing agency costs.Part I evaluates secrecy and transparency in terms of the potential agency costs that each creates. Parts II, III, and IV each explore a different, potentially agency cost-minimizing mechanism of secrecy. Each Part describes the mechanism and its ideal implementation. Each Part also investigates two examples of the strategy in American law: one that is well designed in light of the preceding discussion of optimal implementation, and one that is more poorly designed. Part II explores proxy monitoring, in which one governmental actor (or other third party) polices another governmental actor's use of secrecy. Part III examines bottom-line disclosure, in which the public is allowed to monitor the performance of the government, but only along a specified "bottom line" metric. Part IV discusses delayed disclosure, in which the government is required to reveal its decisions or actions after a specified period of time.


Stage-specific ontogeny of main digestive enzymes in common dentex, Dentex dentex, were assayed during early life development according to notochord flexion studied from hatching to 45 days after hatching (DAH). The notochord was straight in yolk-sac larvae of D. dentex and preflexion stage was observed between 0 and 18 DAH as 2.75 and 6.27 mm at total length (TL). Then, flexion of the notochord was estimated between 19 and 30 DAH as 6.27 and 10.9 mm at TL. Important alterations in specific activities of all digestive enzymes measured during period of this study were mostly related with metamorphosis and co-feeding. Trypsin and chymotrypsin specific activities were firstly detected on day 3 and were related with mouth opening, whereas they slightly increased until 25 DAH respectively. Pepsin was firstly detected on day 28 and related with stomach formation and a sharp increase was observed until 30 DAH. Both amylase and lipase were measured on day 2 and 4, respectively and they also sharply increased during the first week of life. Additionally, except pepsin, most of the digestive enzyme activities were firstly secreted in the preflexion stage and also gastric secretion started and functional development digestive system were occurred in in flexion and postflexion stages, respectively.


Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) is one of the essential tasks people encounter in their everyday use of information systems. In MCDM, people weigh the relative importance of multiple decision criteria to assess decision candidates. Such an MCDM task is ubiquitous yet can be cognitively taxing without the explicit support of user interfaces (UIs). However, there has been a lack of approaches aiming at systemically understanding how the design of UIs can affect users' attitudes and behavior in performing their exploratory use of information systems under MCDM scenarios. To better understand the role of UIs in MCDM, we determine two factors in characterizing UI for MCDM; (1) the internal representation, the way that UI frames end-users in determining preferences of decision criteria (i.e., individual, proportional, and pairwise quantifies), and (2) the external representation, the way that UI externalizes user preferences while the users interact with systems (1D and 2D layouts). We conducted two studies to understand how different design choices affect users' MCDM processes. We found 2D layout improves a set of attitudinal aspects in MCDM scenarios while using different quantifiers introduces a set of trade-offs.


In order to enable the capsule endoscopes to move actively in human digestive organs, a variable screw propeller mechanism is proposed in this study. The screw propeller consists of variable threads whose direction is linked with the rotating direction of the capsule endoscopes. When the capsule body equipped with disktype permanent magnets is rotated by an external magnetic field, the threads are then swung by the friction force between intestine wall and their tips. According to the rotating direction, the variable threads will be rightor left-handed. Therefore, the capsule endoscope moves always in forward direction, regardless of its rotating direction and its operator can select either leftor righthanded threads considering locomotive conditions. As the thread angle is variable, the capsule endoscopes can be put in the spiral motion or in the axial translation arbitrarily. In order to evaluate the performance of the new screw propellers, their moving speed is tested in an artificial tract, changing the parameters such as rotational speed of the external magnetic field, distance between the external magnet and the capsule, and viscosity of lubrication oil in artificial GI tract. In addition to it, invivo tests were carried out. In a pig's colon and esophagus they recorded up to 200mm/min, rotating at 18rpm.


The purpose of the European Master's Programme in Sport and Exercise Psychology (EMPSEP) is to pool expertise of 12 European universities within one Master's programme (see http://www.fepsac.com/). The 60 ECTS European programme provides students with advanced knowledge and skills. The EMPSEP comprises a joint intensive course, a study module similar in all the participating universities, lectures and seminars, a Master's thesis, and a mobility period of 4-5 months at an EMPSEP host university. Ten years after the graduation of the first students the EMPSEP consortium conducted an online survey. Seventy of the invited 174 former students participated in the study (mean age 31.5 years, SD= 4.7). The aim of the survey was to discover the participants' employment status and how their participation in the master's program was related to this. Results indicate that 86% of the participants have started working since they completed their degree. Forty percent of those participants who have started working in their first job have managed to receive a permanent position, 27% a fixed term or temporary job, 25% a part time job, 6% are self employed and 1 person (2%) was employed by subsidies in his/ her first job after graduation. On a scale from extremely dissatisfied (1) to extremely satisfied (6), the participants rated their satisfaction with the program in relation to their career as 4.72 (SD=1.13) on average. Sixty nine of the participants felt that they had benefited from the international network provided by the students and teachers within the programme, and 94% would recommend the European Master's program to other students in their field.


This thesis presents detailed studies of 4 large earthquakes. The 2006 Mw 8.6 Nias-Simeulue earthquake and 2007 Sumatra Mw 8.4 and 7.9 earthquake sequence which occurred on the Mentawai Island area of Sunda megathrust are studied using teleseismic, long period, GPS, and field data. Two crustal earthquakes, the 2005 Mw 7.6 Kashmir and the 1999 Mw 7.1 Duzce earthquakes, are studied using satellite image cross-correlation, seismic, GPS and SAR data. The 2005, Mw 8.6, Nias-Simeulue earthquake was caused by rupture of a portion of the Sunda megathrust offshore northern Sumatra. Based on the excitation of the normal modes and geodetic data, we put relatively tight constrains on the seismic moment and the fault dip, where the dip is determined to be 8o to10o with corresponding moments of 1.24 x 1022 to 1.00 x 1022 Nm, respectively. The geodetic constraints on slip distribution help to eliminate the trade-off between rupture velocity and slip kinematics. Our results indicate a relatively slow average rupture velocity of 1.5 to 2.5 km/s and long average rise time of up to 20 s. Our study of the 2007 Mentawai Islands earthquakes shows the influence of permanent barriers on the extent of large megathrust ruptures, which can be a cause of some regularity of the seismic behavior, but also that the same portion of a megathrust can rupture in different patterns depending on whether asperities break as isolated seismic events or cooperate to produce a larger rupture. This variability arises mostly from the influence of nonpermanent barriers, probably zones with locally lower prestress due to the past earthquakes. The state of stress on that portion of the Sumatra megathrust was not adequate for the development of a single major large rupture at the time of this seismic crisis. However, the slip deficit that has accumulated since the 1833 and 1797 events remains large, and so is the potential for a large megahrust event in the Mentawai area. We analyzed the rupture process of 1999 Mw 7.1 Duzce earthquake using geodetic and seismic data. Applying subpixel cross-correlation of SPOT images acquired before and after the event, we mapped a continuous fault trace over 55 km; 15 km longer than the field reports. We investigated the spatiotemporal evolution of the earthquake using four-segment fault geometry with constraints on surface offsets based on satellite imagery, incorporated GPS and InSAR data and four strong-motion stations in the vicinity of the rupture. Our joint modeling shows a very stable slip distribution that does not depend on constraints imposed on rupture velocity. We show that no constant rupture velocity can explain the strong-motion data. Due to constraints from fault geometry and geodetic data, the rupture velocity has to vary rapidly. The rupture starts slow, accelerates to supershear speeds toward east and subsequently slows down. Supershear rupture is local and only toward the east of the hypocenter. Teleseismic data are consistent with the joint near-field model when 2 s time shifts are applied to their hand-picked arrivals. This implies that the weak beginning of the earthquake is not observable at teleseismic distances. This appears to be a common problem with teleseismic modeling and leads to more compact models with major slip around the hypocenter than the actual phenomenon. We performed teleseismic inversion models comparing four-segment fault geometry based on satellite imagery to one-segment geometry based on CMT solution. The four-segment model gives better predictions of near-field ground motions. We analyzed the Mw 7.6 Kashmir earthquake of October 8, 2005, using sub-pixel correlation of ASTER images to measure ground deformation, and modeling SAR imagery data along with seismic waveforms. The surface rupture is continuous over a distance of 75 km. The rupture lasted about 25 s and propagated up-dip and bilaterally by ~2 km/s, with a rise time of 2-5 s. The shallowness and compactness of the rupture, both in time and space, provide an explanation for the intensity of destructions. By comparing the teleseismic models with SAR data, we infer that satellite image correlation puts constraints on teleseismic models, which lead to more coherent models with the geodetic data. This kind of satellite image analysis could be achieved as soon as a postearthquake image is available, and would provide key information for early assessment of damages.


This paper is concerned with computation and graphical characterization of robust equilibrium postures suited to quasistatic multilegged locomotion. Quasistatic locomotion consists of postures in which the mechanism supports itself against gravity while moving its free limbs to new positions. A posture is robust if the contacts can passively support the mechanism against gravity as well as disturbance forces generated by its moving limbs. This paper is concerned with planar mechanisms supported by frictional contacts in two-dimensional gravitational environments. The kinematic structure of the mechanism is lumped into a rigid body B having the same contacts with the environment and a variable center of mass. Inertial forces generated by moving parts of the mechanism are lumped into a neighborhood of wrenches centered at the nominal gravitational wrench. The robust equilibrium postures associated with a given set of contacts become the center-of-mass locations of B that maintain equilibrium with respect to all wrenches in the given neighborhood. The paper formulates the computation of the robust center-of-mass locations as a linear programming problem. It provides graphical characterization of the robust center-of-mass locations, and gives a geometric algorithm for computing these center-ofmass locations.The paper reports experiments validating the equilibrium criterion on a two-legged prototype. Finally, it describes initial progress toward computation of robust equilibrium postures in three


Predicting a phenotype and understanding which variables improve that prediction are two very challenging and overlapping problems in analysis of high-dimensional data such as those arising from genomic and brain imaging studies. It is often believed that the number of truly important predictors is small relative to the total number of variables, making computational approaches to variable selection and dimension reduction extremely important. To reduce dimensionality, commonly-used two-step methods first cluster the data in some way, and build models using cluster summaries to predict the phenotype. It is known that important exposure variables can alter correlation patterns between clusters of high-dimensional variables, i.e., alter network properties of the variables. However, it is not well understood whether such altered clustering is informative in prediction. Here, assuming there is a binary exposure with such network-altering effects, we explore whether use of exposure-dependent clustering relationships in dimension reduction can improve predictive modelling in a two-step framework. Hence, we propose a modelling framework called ECLUST to test this hypothesis, and evaluate its performance through extensive simulations. With ECLUST, we found improved prediction and variable selection performance compared to methods that do not consider the environment in the clustering step, or to methods that use the original data as features. We further illustrate this modelling framework through the analysis of three data sets from very different fields, each with high dimensional data, a binary exposure, and a phenotype of interest. Our method is available in the eclust CRAN package.


Several techniques were adopted to evaluate the influence on food safety of technological
developments in the commercial manufacture of shelf-stable and refrigerator-
stable heat-processed foods and these were as follows:
1. Development and assessment of a predictive model (known as DWC's
Method) for calculating process lethality across a range of processing conditions.
After analysis of data from 15 different heat penetration trials conducted
in commercial manufacturing plants it was found that DWC's Method
computed F values with errors of between -6 and +4% of the theoretical values
calculated with an internationally accredited reference model (FMC's
NumeriCal), whereas the model that is used extensively by manufacturers
and regulators in Australia and New Zealand produced average errors of between
-27 and -40% of the theoretical values calculated with NumeriCal.
2. Determination of the adequacy of thermal processes in commercially manufactured
refrigerator-stable heat-processed foods (known as refrigerated pasteurised
foods of extended durability or REPFEDs) and comparison of Fp values
received in these processes with those recommended in Good
Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines. Of 16 thermal processes that were
considered 11 (69%) satisfied GMP while, in five instances (31 %), the thermal
processes failed to deliver minimum Fp requirements and, in three of
these cases, safety would have been compromised.
3. Evaluation of the adequacy of thermal processes used in commercially
manufactured shelf-stable foods and comparison of F0 values received in
these processes with those recommended in GMP guidelines. Of 32 thermal
processes reviewed, 25 (78%) had F0 values~ 2.4 min which satisfied GMP,
while in seven instances (22%) the F0 values were< 2.4 min and were insufficient
for safety.
4. Development and evaluation of microbiological challenge techniques (known
as Biotests) to assess the ability of hermetic seals to prevent post-process
leaker contamination (PPLC) in metal cans, glass containers and barrier
plastic trays and pouches used in commercial manufacture of shelf-stable
foods.
5. Development of a software package (known as DWC Analyser) to evaluate
data gathered during heat distribution studies in retorting systems.
6. Evaluation of the performance of 16 commercial retorting systems in terms of
compliance with GMP guidelines issued by international processing and
regulatory authorities. It was found that three systems (19%) complied with
the United States Food and Drug Administration requirements (Anon., 2002),
which were the strictest of all the guidelines considered; five (31%) complied
with guidelines recommended by May (1997a), Smout and May (1997) and
the writer, and eight (50%) of the retorts failed to comply with any recognised
GMP guidelines.


The production of the marine trace gas dimethyl sulfide (DMS) provides 90% of the marine biogenic sulfur in the atmosphere where it affects cloud formation and climate. The effects of increasing anthropogenic CO2 and the resulting warming and ocean acidification on trace gas production in the oceans are poorly understood. Here we report the first measurements of DMS‐production and data on growth, DMSP and DMS concentrations in pH‐stated cultures of the phytoplankton haptophyte Emiliania huxleyi. Four different environmental conditions were tested: ambient, elevated CO2 (+CO2), elevated temperature (+T) and elevated temperature and CO2 (+TCO2). In comparison to the ambient treatment, average DMS production was about 50% lower in the +CO2 treatment. Importantly, temperature had a strong effect on DMS production and the impacts outweighed the effects of a decrease in pH. As a result, the +T and +TCO2 treatments showed significantly higher DMS production of 36.2 ± 2.58 and 31.5 ± 4.66 μmol L−1 cell volume (CV) h−1 in comparison with the +CO2 treatment (14.9 ± 4.20 μmol L−1 CV h−1). As the cultures were aerated with an air/CO2 mixture, DMS was effectively removed from the incubation bottles so that concentration remained relatively low (3.6–6.1 mmol L−1 CV). Intracellular DMSP has been shown to increase in E. huxleyi as a result of elevated temperature and/or elevated CO2 and our results are in agreement with this finding: the ambient and +CO2 treatments showed 125 ± 20.4 and 162 ± 27.7 mmol L−1 CV, whereas +T and +TCO2 showed significantly increased intracellular DMSP concentrations of 195 ± 15.8 and 211 ± 28.2 mmol L−1 CV respectively. Growth was unaffected by the treatments, but cell diameter decreased significantly under elevated temperature. These results indicate that DMS production is sensitive to CO2 and temperature in E. huxleyi. Hence, global environmental change that manifests in ocean acidification and warming may not result in decreased DMS as suggested by earlier studies investigating the effect of elevated CO2 in isolation.


Distributed systems can be defined as systems that are scattered over geographical distances and provide different activities through communication, processing, data transfer and so on. Thus, increasing the cooperation, efficiency, and reliability to deal with users and data resources jointly. For this reason, distributed systems have been shown to be a promising infrastructure for most applications in the digital world. Despite their advantages, keeping these systems secure, is a complex task because of the unconventional nature of distributed systems which can produce many security problems like phishing, denial of services or eavesdropping. Therefore, adopting security and privacy policies in distributed systems will increase the trustworthiness between the users and these systems. However, adding or updating security is considered one of the most challenging concerns and this relies on various security vulnerabilities which existing in distributed systems. The most significant one is inserting or modifying a new security concern or even removing it according to the security status which may appear at runtime. Moreover, these problems will be exacerbated when the system adopts the multi-hop concept as a way to deal with transmitting and processing information. This can pose many significant security challenges especially if dealing with decentralized distributed systems and the security must be furnished as end-to-end. Unfortunately, existing solutions are insufficient to deal with these problems like CORBA which is considered a one-to-one relationship only, or DSAW which deals with end-to-end security but without taking into account the possibility of changing information sensitivity during runtime. This thesis provides a proposed mechanism for enforcing security policies and dealing with distributed systems' security weakness in term of the software perspective. The proposed solution utilised Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), to address security concerns during compilation and running time. The proposed solution is based on a decentralized distributed system that adopts the multi-hop concept to deal with different requested tasks. The proposed system focused on how to achieve high accuracy, data integrity and high efficiency of the distributed system in real time. This is done through modularising the most efficient security solutions, Access Control and Cryptography, by using Aspect-Oriented Programming language. The experiments' results show the proposed solution overcomes the shortage of the existing solutions by fully integrating with the decentralized distributed system to achieve dynamic, high cooperation, high performance and end-to-end holistic security.


We propose a liquid crystal (LC) polarization grating that conserves the polarization state of incident light, wherein the variation range of the twist angle is 2π. The design scheme for theoretically 100% diffraction efficiency of the first-diffraction order is derived, and a prototype LC grating is evaluated. Under zero voltage, the fabricated LC grating exhibits high efficiency of the first-order diffraction, validating the proposed design scheme. The high efficiency of the second-order diffraction can also be achieved under a high voltage so that the LC director in the midplane is vertical to the substrate plane. The circular polarization sense of the second-order diffraction is identical to that of the incident light as in the case of the first-order diffraction. This grating functions as a beam deflector, steering the input beam in three different directions (zeroth-, first-, and second-order diffractions) by adjusting the applied voltage.


M any chemical-induced toxic insults involve oxidative events as major components. Yet, we know that certain oxidative events are essential components of complex signaling processes in cell growth and regulation. Although natural antioxidants have essential roles in optima cellular functions and health, proper balance in both oxidative events and antioxidart functions remains to be fully elucidated. In this chapter, efforts are directed towards understanding and analyzing the oxidative events that appear crucial to toxicology. The formation and functions of protein sulfenic acids that are formed by oxidative processes are covered in an overview (UNIT 17.1). Sulfenic acids in proteins are formed upon reaction of cysteinyl thiols with oxidizing agents including mild oxidizing agents such as molecular oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. Topics covered in this overview include peroxide sensitivity, detection of nitrosative stress, participation of protein sulfenic acids in redox catalysis by antioxidant enzymes, in other catalytic functions and in transcriptional regulators. Examples of the role of protein sulfenic acids in catalysis and regulation are given including redox sensing mechanisms.


The meteoric rise in popularity of the Learning Analytics (LA) field and its recent advances, has attracted the attention of researchers, teachers and educational technology system developers alike. However, despite the profusion of LA proposals and tools (in the last year, the submissions to the LAK conference have almost doubled), very often practitioners are unsure of whether a certain LA tool or method is suitable for them, or how to translate the tool's outputs into practical pedagogical actions. In a similar manner, new system designers/developers entering the field (e.g., coming from other markets like business analytics) fail to grasp the specific needs and constraints of authentic educational settings. This disconnect between research/technology proposals and everyday pedagogical practice, however, is not exclusive to learning analytics: in the wider field of technology-enhanced learning it has been posited as a well-known problem and challenge. The notion of "technologies for orchestration" (or "orchestrable technologies") has been put forward as a way of helping researchers and system developers understand the constraints and complexity of teachers' activities in authentic educational practice, thus leading to the design/proposal of classroom technologies that are easier to adopt in everyday educational settings. Stemming from their previous orchestration and learning analytics research, their experience in applying such research to authentic classroom settings, as well as from an extensive literature review, the workshop organizers have identified a series of crucial aspects for the mutual understanding of educational stakeholders that are considering the proposal/adoption of a novel learning analytics intervention. These aspects have been formalized into OrLA, a conceptual framework and guidelines to support such activities.


I measure the returns to lobbying for US local governments in terms of federal earmarks. Because a local government's decision to lobby may be endogenous to receiving an earmark, I instrument for lobbying with local housing prices. Since the time period of my analysis covers the Housing Crisis, I argue that the variation in housing prices over this time was largely exogenous to federal earmark distributions. The strong correlation that I find between housing price growth rates and lobbying provides evidence that local governments lobbied to buffer against impending property tax losses. I find no evidence that lobbying is associated with increased earmark awards overall. However, conditional on selection into receiving an earmark, I do find evidence that lobbying served to increase the size of earmark awards.


This thesis set out to study how an online serious game could affect users? motivation on learning Python. One of the projects core goals is to find out whether learning Python is more motivating when having an effortless start through a web based game. A second goal is to find out if Python as a programming language are well suited for a serious game. After the development and implementation of the game, it was performed a user experiment in order to receive feedback. Data from this user experiment were collected in a questionnaire and the results regarding usability were collected in a System Usability Scale. The results were positive, and indicates that most users were satisfied with the game. Feedback from users indicate that the game was both fun and educational, and more motivating than traditional task solving. However, some changes need to be applied in order to publish this serious game.


" In collaboration with DAIMON, Galerie UQO, and the National Arts Centre's Canada Scene, AXENEO7 presents Endless Landscape, a major visual arts event in Gatineau's historic La Fonderie building. Measuring over 58,000 square feet, La Fonderie is one of the few remaining vestiges of Gatineau's industrial heritage and is an inspiring place for the creation and elaboration of in situ works and large-scale installations. To encourage a wide-range of proposals demonstrating the multifarious approaches to interventionist and in situ work, AXENEO7 sought, from all regions of Canada, visual artists who have experience working in installation. These selected artists have produced new monumental works that bring artists, thinkers, and audiences together to reflect upon the intricate relationship Canadians and First Peoples maintain with the land. " -- Publisher's website.


This paper investigates whether normalization and shining-through effects in translations lead to a hybridization of target texts and whether this has an impact on the target language. The case studies presented in the paper deal with the quantification of these phenomena on the basis of a monolingual comparable corpus of translated and non-translated text and their explanation using a parallel corpus. By including diachronic texts, the relation between translation properties and language change can be investigated. Finally, psycholinguistic studies reveal how translated texts are received and accepted by the target audience. The product- and process-oriented methods used for these different analyses are chosen to complement each other in order to pave the way for empirically modeling the nature of translation.