Hystrix javanica or usually called Sunda porcupine is wildlife animal that only found in Java, Bali, Sumbawa, Flores, Lombok, Madura, and Tonahdjampea (Indonesia) [1]. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has classified this Rodentia into Least Concern criteria, that means the species is relatively widespread and abundant [2]. Nevertheless, their population in nature was threatened, since this mammal was considered as pest by some people.There were anatomical data of Sunda porcupine organ, but it still limited. One of the ways to determine the detail function of the organ can be done by making histological preparations. Lectin histochemistry has been used widely as a probe to detect sugar residues in the organs or tissues because lectin can bind specifically to carbohydrate residues in term of glycoconjugates [3]. Analysis the composition or type of sugar residues in the organs can help to understanding the role of their function.The aims of this study were to detect and find out the distribution of complex oligosaccharide in the lingua of Hystrix javanica using lectin histochemistry method. This data will completes the information that has been obtained before about mucopolysaccharide type of major salivary glands of Hystrix javanica [4].


English Language Unity Act of 2003 - Amends specified Federal law to declare English to be the official language of the United States.Gives representatives of the Federal Government an affirmative obligation to preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language of the Federal Government, including encouraging greater opportunities for individuals to learn the English language.Requires the official functions of the United States (meaning, in this case, the States and the District of Columbia) to be conducted in English. Sets forth exceptions to and rules of construction for such requirements.Requires a uniform English language rule for U.S. naturalization, and all naturalization ceremonies to be conducted in English.Amends specified Federal law to declare, as a general rule of construction, that English language requirements and workplace policies, whether in the public or private sector, shall be presumptively consistent with the Laws of the United States.Requires the Department of Justice to issue for public notice and comment a proposed rule for uniform testing of English language ability of candidates for naturalization, based upon the principles that: (1) all citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Laws of the United States; and (2) any exceptions to this standard should be limited to extraordinary circumstances, such as asylum.


In the 2014 finalised timetable for Sweden 314 operation days had a unique set of trains i.e. a unique traffic pattern. Despite this, the finalised timetable generally provides only one conflict resolved train path for each train, and this train path is to be used for all of the
train's operation days. Further, once the yearly timetable has been finalised train paths may not be changed, causing great inflexibility in later planning stages.

Rather than finalizing entire train paths only certain characteristics of a train path, called delivery commitments, could be finalised. This allows for more flexibility in later planning stages. Delivery commitments could e.g. be arrival and departure times at important locations or the total running time, depending on the needs of the operator. In this paper we present a method for generating delivery commitments based on analyzing a yearlong timetable, called the control timetable. The control timetable is constructed using rolling horizon planning and a MIP-model that optimises the train paths for each day individually. Further, different train path characteristics are optimized for different operators.

The proposed method was tested in a case study from Sweden. The results show that by constructing one train path for each individual day rather than one for the entire year the
resulting delivery commitments allow for a more efficient use of infrastructure. The results also show that the proposed method allows for different train path characteristics to be optimised for different operators.


The paper develops and estimates a dynamic structural model that allows for the interrelations between girls' schooling and mothers' labor market participation decision, in a rural area of Pakistan where drop-out rates are considerably high. The model incorporates home production, which is critical for understanding the behavior of mothers when deciding girls' schooling. Results suggest that monetary incentives are a good mechanism to increase girls' school enrollment, but not the most cost effective. The impact of the conditional cash transfer program on secondary school enrollment rate was only one third of the impact of the school building program. Regarding welfare, the difference between schemes is smaller. Results also highlight the effectiveness of the role of conditionality.


A geologic investigation of the city of Memphis and southern Shelby County, Tennessee reveals Quaternary faulting. Structure contour maps and cross-sections of the top of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Upland Complex (Lafayette gravel), Eocene Upper Claiborne Group, and Eocene Lower Claiborne Group reveal two 20-m down-to-the-northwest faults that strike approximately N30°E The western fault is herein called the Memphis Fault and the eastern, the Ellendale Fault.

The Ellendale Fault is projected to pass beneath the Wolf River flood plain in east Memphis. At this location, a cut bank exposes flood-plain sands that are folded into an anticline with a wavelength of ∼ 100 m, an amplitude of ∼4 m, and a hinge oriented 10°N7°W. The folded sands are truncated by overlying, flat-lying, clayey silt overbank sediments. A 1-m-wide earthquake liquefaction sand dike was found above the crest of the anticline, in the overbank sediments. 14C dates reveal that the folding occurred between A.D. 390 and 450, and the liquefaction occurred post A.D. 450. Seismic-reflection lines indicate that the fold extends to more than 60 m depth into the Lower Claiborne Group, has a length of more than 1 km, and is thus tectonic in origin. The reflection lines also reveal a N25°E down-to-the-west fault with 5 m of displacement in the Upper Claiborne Group that we believe is within the Ellendale Fault zone. We believe the anticline formed during ∼5 m of Quaternary right-lateral strike-slip movement on the N25°E-trending fault. Based on these observations, we also believe that the Ellendale Fault, and perhaps the Memphis Fault, may pose seismic threats to the city of Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee.


This thesis deals with the path following problem the objective of which is to make the end effector of a robot manipulator trace a desired path while maintaining a desired orientation. The fact that the pose of the end effector is described in the task space while the control inputs are in the joint space presents difficulties to the movement coordination. Typically, one needs to perform inverse kinematics in path planning and inverse dynamics in movement execution. However, the former can be ill-posed in the presence of redundancy and singularities, and the latter relies on accurate models of the manipulator system which are often difficult to obtain. This thesis presents an alternative control scheme that is directly formulated in the task space and is free of inverse transformations. As a result, it is especially suitable for operations in a dynamic environment that may require online adjustment of the task objective. The proposed strategy uses the transpose Jacobian control (or potential energy shaping) as the base controller to ensure the convergence of the end effector pose, and adds a gyroscopic force to steer the motion. Gyroscopic forces are a special type of force that does not change the mechanical energy of the system, so its addition to the base controller does not affect the stability of the controlled mechanical system. In this thesis, we emphasize the fact that the gyroscopic force can be effectively used to control the pose of the end effector during motion. We start with the case where only the position of the end effector is of interest, and extend the technique to the control over both position and orientation. Simulation and experimental results using planar manipulators as well as anthropomorphic arms are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.


PURPOSE
Intravascular optical coherence tomography (IV-OCT) is a high-resolution imaging method used to visualize the microstructure of arterial walls in vivo. IV-OCT enables the clinician to clearly observe and accurately measure stent apposition and neointimal coverage of coronary stents, which are associated with side effects such as in-stent thrombosis. In this study, the authors present an algorithm for quantifying stent apposition and neointimal coverage by automatically detecting lumen contours and stent struts in IV-OCT images.

METHODS
The algorithm utilizes OCT intensity images and their first and second gradient images along the axial direction to detect lumen contours and stent strut candidates. These stent strut candidates are classified into true and false stent struts based on their features, using an artificial neural network with one hidden layer and ten nodes. After segmentation, either the protrusion distance (PD) or neointimal thickness (NT) for each strut is measured automatically. In randomly selected image sets covering a large variety of clinical scenarios, the results of the algorithm were compared to those of manual segmentation by IV-OCT readers.

RESULTS
Stent strut detection showed a 96.5% positive predictive value and a 92.9% true positive rate. In addition, case-by-case validation also showed comparable accuracy for most cases. High correlation coefficients (R > 0.99) were observed for PD and NT between the algorithmic and the manual results, showing little bias (0.20 and 0.46 μm, respectively) and a narrow range of limits of agreement (36 and 54 μm, respectively). In addition, the algorithm worked well in various clinical scenarios and even in cases with a low level of stent malapposition and neointimal coverage.

CONCLUSIONS
The presented automatic algorithm enables robust and fast detection of lumen contours and stent struts and provides quantitative measurements of PD and NT. In addition, the algorithm was validated using various clinical cases to demonstrate its reliability. Therefore, this technique can be effectively utilized for clinical trials on stent-related side effects, including in-stent thrombosis and in-stent restenosis.


Certain scholars (Johnson, Miller, Reventlow, Scharbert, Rhodes, et al) declare that prayer, especially intercession, was an integral part of the prophets' ministry. It is also significant that prayer was not neglected in the post-exilic literature of the Old Testament. Many of the longer prayers originated in the post-exilic period (Ezra 9; Neh 1; Neh 9; Dan 9; 1 Chr 29:10-19; etc.). The question posed by this article is: Does prayer play a prominent role in the ministries of the post-exilic prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi? One would expect a positive answer to this question. This article illustrates that there is no recorded prayer in these prophetic books and only a few indirect references to prayer (cf. Zech 7:2, 13; 8:20-23; 10:1, 6; 12:10; 13:9; 14:16-17; Mal 1:9). These passages do not refer to the prophet as petitioner, but to the interaction between YHWH and his people. Zechariah 7:13 even states that YHWH will not answer the prayers of his people. There may be different reasons for this scarcity of prayer references and the other post-exilic prophetic literature provides more questions than answers. We can probably say that prayer was not an integral part of the post-exilic prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi's ministries. Prayer was overshadowed by their proclamation of the word of God and their focus on the rebuilding of the temple and post-exilic community.


This article examines an 1842 literary exchange between Aleksandra Zrazhevskaia (1805-1867) and Praskov'ia Bakunina (1810-1880?) concerning the place of women writers in nineteenth-century Russian literature. It is followed by a translation of the exchange itself. Zrazhevskaia's "Zverinets" (The Menagerie), a formally innovative work of literary criticism addressed in part to Bakunina, challenged the social norms that discouraged women's writing, as well as the men literary critics who enforced them. In a verse epistle response, Bakunina repudiated Zrazhevskaia's ideas, maintaining that Russian men critics will extend hospitality and courtesy to women writers who comport themselves as guests in the men's club of Russian letters. The exchange raises questions about the critical reception of women writers in mid nineteenth-century Russia, women as literary critics, and the gendering of nineteenth century literary movements and aesthetics, which are discussed in relation to the wider pan-European literary climate of the time.


Soil water repellency arises as a consequence of initial soil water content and the type of organic matter incorporated into or adsorbed onto the individual soil particles. Water repellent soils create significant agronomic and hydrologic challenges, retarding water infiltration into the soil profile and often rendering entire areas impervious to water penetration. These soils often prevent effective wetting of the rootzone during precipitation or irrigation and lead to increased runoff and leaching of pesticides, fertilizers, and other amendments. Agriculturalists have approached the soil water repellency problem through the use of wetting agent surfactant compositions. The degree of wetting efficacy among surfactant chemistries and formulations has varied significantly. The wetting characteristics of alkyl glucosides and ethylene oxide-propylene block copolymers, two nonionic surfactant classes, were evaluated in the context of improving the infiltration of water through water repellent soil profiles. A laboratory column test was used to measure the initial effectiveness of the wetting agent compositions on synthetically hydrophobized and naturally water repellent soils. A synergistically enhanced wetting rate occurred when the alkyl glucoside to block copolymer ratio was from approximately 6:1 to 0.5:1 by weight, ideally when the ratio was from approximately 4:1 to 0.7:1. Within these ratios, synergism was inversely proportional to the HLB and proportional to the molecular weight of the block copolymer used. This research is the first to demonstrate the promising effects of formulations comprising alkyl glucosides and EO/PO block copolymers on improving the distribution and dynamics of water in repellent soils.


Enterprise Information Portals (EIPs) have become crucial components in contemporary organisations, including universities. Campus portals (CPs) have found their way into the academic environment and universities are increasingly implementing these technologies. While there are many studies concerning EIPs in organisations, there are few studies that touch this issue in the academic environment. This study investigates factors affecting the adoption, implementation and utilisation of CPs from the implementers" and users" perspectives. It adopts a comparative approach based on multiple case studies in some Saudi and UK universities. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and documentation, which was analysed using hermeneutics and other qualitative data analysis techniques. Findings show that adoption and implementation of CPs are affected by factors including: technological, organisational, environmental, financial, innovation and user-related factors. Results from the users perspective reveal that although CPs are perceived to be useful in terms of accessing information and services, there are many concerns related to system, content and service quality. Moreover, the study has identified two main gaps between users and the implementers: a communication gap and an expectations gap. Consequently, users complained about a lack of user involvement and poor communication. Findings are interpreted using elements from institutional theory. Development of CPs is affected by many institutional factors such as coercive, mimetic, normative and competitive pressures. Furthermore, the introduction of CPs could lead to a clash of institutional logics among various stakeholders. Institutional arguments are likely to arise between portal teams and other campus constituents such as service providers and users. This study has three major contributions. First, it used institutional theory to investigate CPs adoption and implementation. As a result, it extends the line of research on the use of this theory to study IS in organisations. Second, it responds to calls from other IS researchers to study portals by conducting indepth field investigation using qualitative research. Third, it addresses issues related to the development of bilingual portals in universities.


Proportional-Derivative (PD) controllers are commonly used in quadrotors due to their simple structure. Tuning of the gains of the PD controller is often cumbersome due to strong coupling of the dynamics between three linear and three angular degrees of freedom. This paper presents a novel method of auto adjusting the proportional and derivative gains of the quadrotor without the use of any stable reference model (unlike model reference adaptive control). The gains are automatically adjusted throughout the flight based on just the state errors. Lyapunov stability analysis and adaptive gain law is used to formulate the control algorithm to achieve way point navigation. It is shown that our proposed controller achieves effective way point navigation even when started off from random gain values.


The use of quick-stop device allows observing a sequence of frozen images focused on the chip formation area when machining in orthogonal turning tests. This work records the development of a quick-stop device employing a servo motor. The present invention relates generally to a quick stop device, for combination with a cutting machine that is able to abruptly interrupt the cutting process between a cutting tool and the surface being cut. A dead metal zone is clearly seen when using rounded-edge cutting tools. In this study, variation of the dead metal zone is examined with the computer aided quick-stop device (CAQSD). It is clear from the experimental photomicrographs that as the cutting edge radius increases, dead metal zone increases.


This general introduction locates the GBCS papers on the elite, and their respondents, within a context. It emphasizes some of the key points made by the respondents in order to intervene in a discussion about what is at stake in doing sociological research on class. It draws attention to the differences between on the one hand status and stratification, and on the other class struggle perspectives, and hence the difference between a hierarchical gradational analysis and a relational one based on the struggle between groups over value. I begin to answer a question raised by many of the respondents in this special issue: 'what is the question that the analysis of class is designed to answer?' I also draw attention to some of the problems with Bourdieu's 'structuring architecture', showing how the partial reproduction of Bourdieu presents fundamental problems, leading to a Great British Stratification Survey ('GBSs') rather than a GBCS. The different trajectories in class analysis that confusingly merge over the concept of culture in the present are briefly mapped, showing very different intentions in analysis. I argue that to understand class we need to understand the processes of classification: exploitation, domination, dispossession and devaluation, and their legitimation. Overall this special issue extends the sociological debate on class into a larger political frame about injustice, classification and value. It develops arguments from anthropology that maintain that it is the ability to define what value is (through culture) that is the ultimate difference in politics and power.


Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) has been proved to be an effective method in producing from extra heavy oil or bitumen resources. The main recovery mechanism in this process is viscosity reduction by introducing heat into the reservoir. The Solvent Co-Injection processes (SCI) or Expanding Solvent SAGD (ES-SAGD) are alternative methods to the conventional SAGD. In these processes reduction in the oil viscosity is achieved by a combination of latent heat from steam and dissolution of solvents into bitumen. These alternative methods lower the steam requirements and associated costs with it, as well as the amount of carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere caused by steam generation process.In this work some numerical simulations were conducted to examine the effect of relative permeability data on the performance of SAGD and ES-SAGD processes. Temperature dependant relative permeability data, that shows variation of end points with temperature, was tested against fixed relative permeabilities. Oil production was found to be strongly dependant on the end point relative permeability data. It is suggested to use temperature dependant relative permeabilities in numerical simulations. This must be considered as a matching criterion, when trying to history match field data.Solvent co-injection showed promising results both in terms of improved recovery factor and reduced steam oil ratio as an economical criterion. In addition, the high solvent recoveries of 97-100% in all solvent co-injection runs make the process even more economically interesting. Injecting only 2% on a molar basis of pentane, hexane or heptane as solvent, boosted the oil rates up.


Hydro-sedimentology development is a great challenge in Peru due to limited data as well as sparse and confidential information. This study aimed to quantify and to understand the suspended sediment yield from the westcentral Andes Mountains and to identify the main erosioncontrol factors and their relevance. The Tablachaca River (3132 km2) and the Santa River (6815 km2), located in two adjacent Andes catchments, showed similar statistical daily rainfall and discharge variability but large differences in specific suspended-sediment yield (SSY). In order to investigate the main erosion factors, daily water discharge and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) datasets of the Santa and Tablachaca rivers were analysed. Mining activity in specific lithologies was identified as the major factor that controls the high SSY of the Tablachaca (2204 t km2 yr-1), which is four times greater than the Santa's SSY. These results show that the analysis of control factors of regional SSY at the Andes scale should be done carefully. Indeed, spatial data at kilometric scale and also daily water discharge and SSC time series are needed to define the main erosion factors along the entire Andean range.


Background Alcoholism remains a prevalent health concern throughout the world. Previous studies have identified transcriptomic patterns in the brain associated with alcohol dependence in both humans and animal models. But none of these studies have systematically investigated expression within the unique cell types present in the brain. Results We utilized single nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) to examine the transcriptomes of over 16,000 nuclei isolated from prefrontal cortex of alcoholic and control individuals. Each nucleus was assigned to one of seven major cell types by unsupervised clustering. Cell type enrichment patterns varied greatly among neuroinflammatory-related genes, which are known to play roles in alcohol dependence and neurodegeneration. Differential expression analysis identified cell type-specific genes with altered expression in alcoholics. The largest number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including both protein-coding and non-coding, were detected in astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first single cell transcriptome analysis of alcohol-associated gene expression in any species, and the first such analysis in humans for any addictive substance. These findings greatly advance understanding of transcriptomic changes in the brain of alcohol-dependent individuals.


Demographic analysis of data on births, deaths, and migration, together with coverage measurement surveys that use capture-recapture methods, have established that U.S. Census counts are flawed for certain subpopulations. Previous work using 1990 Census data in African-Americans age 30–49 proposed a hierarchical Bayesian model that assembled Census, follow-up survey, and demographic data, providing a principled solution to the problem of negative estimated counts in some subpopulations, smoothing highly variable estimates across subpopulations, and providing estimates of precision that incorporate uncertainty in the demographic analysis estimates. This article extends that effort by refining the hierarchical model design, expanding the set of models considered, considering the presence of bias in the Census or follow-up survey counts, obtaining Bayes factors for use in model selection, and applying the methods to the entire 2000 U.S. Census. Comparisons with the 1990 U.S. Census results are included as well.


Whether the timing of mastectomy during the menstrual cycle influences the prognosis of premenopausal women with breast cancer is controversial. We retrospectively reviewed the cases of 97 regularly menstruating women treated for operable stages of breast cancer. At operation, 55 women were in the perimenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle (days 0 through 6 and days 21 through 36) and 42 were in the periovulatory phase (days 7 through 20). No relationship could be identified between the timing of surgical treatment and subsequent recurrence or survival. The timing of biopsy was also not associated with prognosis. We conclude that no delay of surgical treatment for breast cancer need be based on the phase of the menstrual cycle of premenopausal women.


Tilburg University in the Netherlands was the first university in Europe to enter into a license agreement with a publisher. After a year of discussions on technical, organizational and legal issues an agreement was signed between the university and Elsevier Science in December 1993. This agreement covered about 110 Elsevier journals to which the library subscribed. In 1999, Tilburg University Library defined as its goal for the year 2001 to have 50% of its journals available in electronic form and to deliberately move from print to electronic. These goals were set later than expected in 1993.


A great deal of research has focused on work group diversity, but management scholars have only recently focused on inclusion. As a result, the inclusion literature is still under development, with limited agreement on the conceptual underpinnings of this construct. In this article, the authors first use Brewer's optimal distinctiveness theory to develop a definition of employee inclusion in the work group as involving the satisfaction of the needs of both belongingness and uniqueness. Building on their definition, the authors then present a framework of inclusion. Their framework is subsequently used as a basis for reviewing the inclusion and diversity literature. Potential contextual factors and outcomes associated with inclusion are suggested in order to guide future research.


Carcinoma breast comprises 22.9% of invasive cancers in female and 16% of all female cancers. Worldwide breast cancer causes 13.7% of cancer deaths in women and 6.0% of all cancer deaths for men and women together. 55% of breast cancer is invasive ductal carcinoma. BCS followed by radiation therapy to the intact breast is most acceptable standard of care for the early stage invasive breast cancer. Various radiotherapy techniques are used for breast irradiation. Precise and accurate delivery of radiation to the target volume reduces the relapse and increases the overall survival. 50 patients of early breast cancer with age range of 2060yrs, who received radiotherapy as a treatment modality, were included in the study. Radiotherapy treatment procedure was analyzed and advantage of different radiotherapy parameters were compared on basis of side effects recorded. Median age of the patients was 45yrs and 70% were of stage-II breast cancer. 44% patients were treated with bolus and 56% were treated without any accessory. 46% minor side effects were recorded after radiotherapy treatment. There was no simulation and verification system for evaluation of radiotherapy treatment, because of lack of facility in the department. It is concluded that there must be availability of all the radiotherapy treatment parameters including simulation, accessories and treatment verification system for accurate delivery of radiotherapy. These parameters can also reduce the side effects of radiotherapy and increase the beneficial ratio of radiotherapy.


Provided here is an initial assessment of suspended sediment transport in several rivers on the North Slope of Alaska. This study was divided into two parts: the Umiat project, which involved the Chandler, Anaktuvuk and Itkillik Rivers, and the NPR-A study, which considered Prince, Seabee and Fish Creeks, as well as a brief look at the Ikpikpuk River, Otuk Creek, Judy Creek and the Ublutuoch River. Methods used included depth-integrated suspended sediment samples, grab samples, automatic pump-style samplers, discharge measurements, bed sediment grain size analysis and the inclusion of a variety of meteorological measurements from other projects. With slightly less than two years of data collection from May 2011 to September 2012, an initial analysis was completed. Suspended sediment rating curves developed for the Anaktuvuk and Chandler Rivers over the two-year study period revealed a strong correlation between suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and discharge. The most data was collected for the Anaktuvuk and Chandler Rivers; on these rivers, suspended sediment discharge was also analyzed, showing that over 90% of suspended sediment transport occurred during the spring melt period in 2011. Spring melt was not measured in 2012, so analysis was only completed for 2011. iii


The Indian subdistrict of Shahabad, located in the dwindling forests of the southeastern tip of Rajasthan, is an area of extreme poverty. Beset by droughts and food shortages in recent years, it is the home of the Sahariyas, former bonded laborers, officially classified as Rajasthan's only "primitive tribe." From afar, we might consider this the bleakest of the bleak, but in Poverty and the Quest for Life, Bhrigupati Singh asks us to reconsider just what quality of life means. He shows how the Sahariyas conceive of aspiration, advancement, and vitality in both material and spiritual terms, and how such bridging can engender new possibilities of life. Singh organizes his study around two themes: power and ethics, through which he explores a complex terrain of material and spiritual forces. Authority remains contested, whether in divine or human forms; the state is both despised and desired; high and low castes negotiate new ways of living together, in conflict but also cooperation; new gods move across rival social groups; animals and plants leave their tracks on human subjectivity and religiosity; and the potential for vitality persists even as natural resources steadily disappear. Studying this milieu, Singh offers new ways of thinking beyond the religion-secularism and nature-culture dichotomies, juxtaposing questions about quality of life with political theologies of sovereignty, neighborliness, and ethics, in the process painting a rich portrait of perseverance and fragility in contemporary rural India.


Abstract. New growth rate estimates for nine species from three genera of New Zealand Crassatellidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia), combined with existing morphometric ontogenetic descriptions, allow identification of heterochronic processes in the evolution of these genera. Both paedomorphosis (progenesis and neoteny) and peramorphosis (hypermorphosis and acceleration) have occurred within the clade. Overall, morphological variability and response to environmental pressure in this nonsiphonate group is restricted by the interplay of anatomical and life habit constraints. Stability in the substrate, predator avoidance, sluggish burrowing speed, and inability to escape by deep burial are suggested as key drivers of, or constraints on, morphological change. Two groups of shell characters are identified: heavy, armored "anchors" and elongate "snorkels," which combine juvenile and adult traits in shells of different sizes and ages, produced by heterochronic variation in developmental timing. Anchors and snorkels both represent different "solutions" to the problems of life as a nonsiphonate, infaunal bivalve.


Monstrilloid copepods were collected during zooplankton surveys in the Beagle Channel at the southernmost end of South America. These specimens represent two species of Monstrillopsis, one of them undescribed, and one new species of Monstrilla. Monstrillopsis igniterra n. sp. is related to forms of the M. dubia species group, and particularly to M. ferrarii and M. chilensis. It differs from these species in the relative length of the antennules, the shape and relative size of the genital double and anal somites, details of the antennular armature, and the possession of a short inner caudal seta. The other species of Monstrillopsis, M. chilensis, was previously known only from the Southeast Pacific off Chile, and was originally described from female specimens only. Male individuals found in the Beagle Channel are described and assigned herein to this species. These are the first records of Monstrillopsis from high latitudes of South America. The new species Monstrilla patagonica n.sp. is represented by males. It is characterized by the structure and relative size of the genital lappets, details of the antennular structure, armature, relative size and the number (6) of caudal setae. It belongs to a small group of species with highly modified, pectinate male antennules. A female specimen identified as M. helgolandica 35 years ago from southern Argentina is tentatively reidentified as the female of this new species, based on its differences from M. helgolandica and the rarity of this species group in the region.


Modern Pagan or Native Faith movements are "religious" movements in the sense of being concerned with "spiritual" and "sacred" matters such as the worship of deities, the articulation of values and ethics, and the organization of communal ritual activities, but are also, at least in part, social and political movements as they inevitably reflect upon and respond to political and social trends of their time and place. Indeed, the core Pagan project of revisiting and refashioning pre-Christian religions of the European past for use in the current day often expresses a fundamental discontent with the conditions of contemporary life and a wish to transform modern life in a Pagan manner, however differently this might be interpreted by Pagan movements in different locations. Our theme this year is intended to encourage scholars to reflect on the ways in which Native Faith or Modern Pagan religious movements address political and social trends in their respective national contexts.


Despite the known maternal and infant benefits of breastfeeding, only about two-fifths of infants are exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life, with low milk supply among the most commonly cited reasons for breastfeeding cessation. Although anecdotal reports from lactation consultants indicate that polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) interferes with lactation, very few studies have examined this relationship, and the association between PCOS and lactation dysfunction remains poorly understood. Moreover, studies have reported conflicting results when examining breastfeeding success in women with PCOS, and divergence of the PCOS phenotype may be responsible for the heterogeneous results to date. Specifically, insulin resistance may have an aggravating or even essential role in the pathogenesis of low milk supply. Recently, protein tyrosine phosphatase, receptor type, F has been identified as a potential biomarker linking insulin resistance with insufficient milk supply. Accordingly, interventions targeting insulin action have been recognized as potentially promising strategies toward the treatment of lactation dysfunction. This review will highlight studies linking PCOS with low milk supply and explore potential mechanisms that contribute to lactation dysfunction in these women.


To respond to the challenges of the 21st century, most universities had to make radical modifications in their systems. In Morocco, the recent modifications made at the level of modules brought some promises as teachers were also involved in decision-making. However, Moroccan students' voices went largely ignored during this process. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to understand students' opinions about one of the most important courses they studied after the last reform: "Critical Thinking". Three research questions were used: What are university students' perceptions and attitudes toward the critical thinking course in Morocco? To what extent are Moroccan students satisfied with the course contents and the teacher's pedagogy? What are the views of Moroccan university students about the critical thinking exam they took at the end of the semester? Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data from 10 respondents. Qualitative content analysis was used through coding and classifying emerging patterns and themes. The results showed that although the students were generally satisfied with the course contents, they bitterly complained about different issues such as the theory-practice gap. The results, also, revealed that implementing any change in higher education without taking into consideration students' needs and interests might be detrimental to the teaching-learning operation. Ultimately, this study offers university teachers of critical thinking a toolkit of skills and competencies for effective teaching.


As the Association of Government Accountants stands at the threshold of a new century and millennium, the Association is celebrating the past half-century's accomplishments in improving financial management at all levels of government while anticipating future challenges. To succeed, we will need to rely more and more on the expertise of our partner organizations who are on the forefront of the developing global community. This article highlights a few of these critical partners and shows how our world gets a little smaller every day. Dealing at a New Pace The Association's International Development Committee believes that the information age is being transformed to the connected age-as computer and communications technology combine to enable us to close the gaps of geography and time. AGA members from Hawaii to Puerto Rico are chatting, exchanging documents, solving problems and networking instantaneously via the Internet and other new tools, such as video conferencing. In governments, educational institutions and businesses, the new tools are also increasing our ability to become connected. As financial management leaders, we are compelled to think globally-looking at issues and ideas with a worldwide perspective. Thinking beyond our historical borders is not new-it's the pace, scope and impact of the challenges in our global environment that is really different. The world changes so quickly that it's hard to keep up. New inventions and innovations alter the way we live. Our values, attitudes and beliefs are changing. And as the pace of change accelerates, it becomes more difficult to prepare for tomorrow. The future does not just happen: people create it through their action-or inaction-today. Inaction is not an option for financial managers. Visions, missions, goals, objectives, programs and plans must be developed and, more importantly, effectively implemented. Change has been with us since the beginning of time. Leaders such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Lewis and Clark, Alexander Graham Bell, Marconi, Neil Armstrong and many other leaders, explorers and inventors have brought globalization and change to the world. We must expand our horizons beyond awareness of change, toward accepting and adapting to frequent, dramatic changes happening globally. We must be ready to anticipate events and the needs of the public that we serve while being ever-vigilant and responsive. The potential Y2K crisis is a preview of the type of challenges we will face more frequently in the coming years. On January 1, 2000, a potential problem, which can have far-reaching effects on all aspects of our lives, will encircle the globe and possibly affect us all within 24 hours. Facing Emerging Challenges As our governments go, so goes our nation, especially from the standpoint of financial and economic well-being. As government financial managers, it is incumbent upon us to be aware of legislation, technological developments, programming and planning that will affect our work. As developments occur, we must rely upon each other to plan for, respond to and manage changes that will affect our continuing growth and success in the next century. In our professional associations, we must place more emphasis on practicing what we preach in our employing organizations by ensuring that our employers have the best possible long-range strategic, tactical, business and financial plans. These plans will enable us to function better collectively as an Association while upholding our tradition of providing exceptional development and learning opportunities for our members. In national, state and local levels of governments, we have members who stay up-to-date on the most important globalization issues, such as world trade, emerging and sustained financial crises and environmental concerns. Security and quality of life issues will continue to challenge us as citizens and as financial management professionals, who must be prepared to provide decision-support information and transparent, easily understood reports. …


"How the War Was Won" describes the major role played by the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in defeating the German army. In particular, the book explains the methods used in fighting the last year of the war, and raises questions as to whether mechanical warfare could have been more widely used. Using a wide range of unpublished material from archives in both Britain and Canada, Travers explores the two themes of command and technology as the style of warfare changed from late 1917 through 1918. He describes in detail the British army's defense against the German 1918 spring offensives, analyzes command problems during these offensives, and offers an overriding explanation for the March 1918 retreat. He also fully investigates the role of the tank from Cambrai to the end of the war, and concludes that, properly used, the tank could have made a greater contribution to victory. "How the War Was Won" explodes many myths and advances newand controversial arguments. It will be essential reading for military historians and strategists, and for those interested in the origins of mechanical warfare.


Learning symbols and their arrangement in language involves learning associations across and within modalities. Research on implicit learning and chunking within modalities (e.g. N. C. Ellis, 2002) has identified how language users are sensitive to the frequency of language forms and their sequential probabilities at all levels of granularity from phoneme to phrase. This knowledge allows efficient language processing and underpins acquisition by syntactic bootstrapping. Research on explicit learning (e.g. N. C. Ellis, 2005) has shown how conscious processing promotes the acquisition of novel explicit cross-modal form-meaning associations. These breathe meaning into the processing of language form and they underpin acquisition by semantic bootstrapping. This is particularly important in establishing novel processing routines in L2 acquisition. These representations are also then available as units of implicit learning in subsequent processing. Language systems emerge, both diachronically and ontogenetically, from the statistical abstraction of patterns latent within and across form and function in language usage. The complex adaptive system (N. C. Ellis & Larsen-Freeman, 2009b) of interactions within AND across form and function is far richer than that emergent from implicit or explicit learning alone.


International Merger Policy: Applying Domestic Law to International Markets offers a compelling comparative assessment of domestic and regional merger laws and procedures. Identifying important areas of convergence and emerging best practice, it considers existing levels of international cooperation and identifies the key costs associated with transnational merger review before evaluating possible mechanisms by which they might be reduced. Presenting a holistic comparative treatment of competition law, merger regulation and a discussion of policy justifications for merger regulation, this authoritative study tackles the significant challenge of how the costs and conflicts associated with overlapping applications of national merger regimes should be managed. It provides an assessment of areas of convergence and emerging best practice in national and transnational treatment of mergers, as well as of the state of cooperation and comity in the treatment of transnational mergers. Finally, it offers an evaluation of costs and benefits of the current system of transnational merger regulation, as well as an examination of proposals for reducing the existing cost burden. The book examines emerging best practice and evaluates the merits of various reform proposals, thus will be of great use to policy makers and competition agencies. It also provides a useful rounded review of key issues surrounding merger policy and practice. Therefore, this book is ideal for researchers and students in this field.


Charles Rohlfs (1853--1936) ranked among the most innovative furniture makers at the turn of the twentieth century. Praised by the international press and exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, his beautiful works grew out of an interesting mix of styles that included Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and proto-modernism. This book presents the first major study of this important American designer and craftsman, drawing upon new photographs and fresh sources of information. Alongside traditional historical approaches, the book presents detailed formal, structural, and stylistic analyses of Rohlfs's well-known masterpieces from major museums, together with lesser-known objects in public and private collections. Topics include discovering the contribution of Rohlfs's wife--mystery novelist Anna Katharine Green--to his designs; the far-ranging sources of his idiosyncratic motifs; his influence on Gustav Stickley's designs; his commissioned interiors; his efforts at self-promotion and marketing; and his attempts to define a conceptual framework for his artistic endeavor. Handsomely designed and illustrated, the book also features a complete set of unpublished period illustrations of over seventy works.


Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this monograph on labour law in Slovak Republic not only describes and analyses the legal aspects of labour relations, but also examines labour relations practices and developing trends. It provides a survey of the subject that is both usefully brief and sufficiently detailed to answer most questions likely to arise in any pertinent legal setting.


Heterosexual HIV transmission remains the leading cause of HIV incidence in adult men and women in sub-Saharan Africa. This study assessed whether an HIV risk-reduction intervention would be more likely to increase sexual barrier acceptability and decrease risk behavior when delivered to couples in gender concordant groups or in an individual format. This study also examined the mutual impact of couple members as a source of influence on acceptability, and assessed whether product acceptability, intimate partner violence (IPV), and/or partner communication predicted sexual barrier use. HIV seroconcordant and serodiscordant couples (n=216) were recruited in Lusaka, Zambia, and randomized to a four session gender-concordant intervention. Participants were assessed at baseline, 6, and 12 months. Willingness to use barriers (p=0.012), acceptability (p<0.001), and barrier use (p<0.001) increased over time in both conditions, and were influenced by gender preferences. IPV decreased (p=0.040) and positive communication increased (p<0.001) in both conditions. Individual and gender concordant group sessions achieved similar increases in sexual barrier use following the intervention. Results highlight the influence of partners as well as product acceptability as predictors of sexual barrier use among couples in sub-Saharan Africa. Future prevention studies should consider both product acceptability and partner influence to achieve optimal sexual risk behavior outcomes.


Introduction: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are very common in dental professionals. Dentists spend their workdays in an awkward, static position, performing extremely precise procedures. However, maintaining a steady hand and posture comes at the cost of pain in various body parts of the dentist. Occasional pain from irregular stances or positions is to be expected while the dentists are performing static work. Irrespective of whether dentists work in an institutionalized setup or a private setup, they all are at risk. Hence, this study aims to identify their common musculoskeletal problems. Objectives: To identify various musculoskeletal problems of dental surgeons. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study carried out in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai, Maharashtra, India among 250 dental surgeons. A questionnaire was developed to incorporate basic information on job profiles and musculoskeletal issues. The data collected were analyzed using an appropriate statistical analysis method. Results: Our study found that the most commonly affected area among male subjects was the neck in institutional practitioners and the lower back in private practitioners. In females, the neck was the maximum area of pain followed by the wrist and hand in institutional as well as private practitioners. This investigation of this study revealed that almost all the participants reported musculoskeletal pain. Conclusion: The study showed that there was a significant association between the work posture, lifestyle, environmental factors, and MSDs.


HopsFS is an open-source, next generation distribution of the Apache Hadoop Distributed File System(HDFS) that replaces the main scalability bottleneck in HDFS, single node in-memory metadata service, with a no-sharedstate distributed system built on a NewSQL database. By removing the metadata bottleneck in Apache HDFS, HopsFS enables significantly larger cluster sizes, more than an order of magnitude higher throughput, and significantly lower clientlatencies for large clusters. In this paper, we detail the techniques and optimizations that enable HopsFS to surpass 1 million file system operations per second - at least 16 times higher throughput than HDFS. In particular, we discuss how we exploit recent high performance features from NewSQL databases, such as application defined partitioning, partition-pruned index scans, and distribution aware transactions. Together with more traditional techniques, such as batching and write-ahead caches, we show how many incremental optimizations have enabled a revolution in distributed hierarchical file system performance.


Wan (2013) argues that the statistical inferences in our Journal of Finance (2011) paper are not robust, as we do not prove that it is powerful CEOs that rig incentive contracts. Wan makes the theoretical claim that the rigging results are consistent with ex-post optimal re-contracting. However, optimal re-contracting cannot explain the loss in firm value from contract switching we show in the paper. Nor do we know of a theory that would predict that ex-post realignment could be tested using our contract switching term in the wage function, like Wan does. On the empirical front, Wan's critique has at least three flaws. First, his standardized performance measures — different than ours — result in accounting returns being 14 percentage points higher than stock returns. Consequently, switching between measures, necessary for identification, is infrequent and outlier-based, not surprisingly delivering regression estimates different from ours. Second, he interprets selectively among insignificant coefficients to make his claims. Third, regardless of interpretation, basic mathematics casts doubt on the premise of his estimation strategy. Wan makes one valid point: our original work could have provided more extensive cross-sectional empirical support for our rigging claims. We take this opportunity to present new cross-sectional (between-firm) evidence and conclude even more strongly that powerful CEOs sway boards to load their incentive pay on more favorably performing measures.


This study evaluated two biofilter designs to mitigate methane emissions from landfill vents. Water-spreading biofilters were designed to use the capillarity of coarse sand overlain by a finer sand to increase the active depth for methane oxidation. Compost biofilters consisted of 238-L barrels containing a 1: 1 mixture (by volume) of compost to expanded polystyrene pellets. Two replicates of each type of biofilter were tested at an outdoor facility. Gas inflow consisted of an approximately 1: 1 mixture (by volume) of CH4 and CO2. Methane output rates (J out; g m-2 day-1) were measured using the static chamber technique and the Pedersen et al. (2001) diffusion model. Methane oxidation rate (J ox; g m-2 day-1) and fraction of methane oxidized (f ox) were determined by mass balance. For methane inflow rates (J in) between 250 and 500 g m-2 day-1, the compost biofilter J ox, 242 g m-2 day-1, was not significantly different (P = 0.0647) than the water-spreading biofilter J ox, 203 g m-2 day-1; and the compost f ox, 69%, was not significantly different (P = 0.7354) than water-spreading f ox, 63%. The water-spreading biofilter was shown to generally perform as well as the compost biofilter, and it may be easier to implement at a landfill and require less maintenance.


Good organic material used as fertilizer is bioslurry and chicken manure fertilizer, bioslurry fertilizer will be maximized when combined with chicken manure fertilizer as chicken manure fertilizer has advantages over other animal manures. This research aims to determine the effect of bioslurry fertilizer combination with chicken manure fertlizer and get the best treatment combination in oil palm seed in main nursery . This experiment using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Consists of 10 treatments and 3 replications combination, in order to obtain 30 units of experiments, each unit consist of 2 plants. The treatments are: P0: bioslurry fertilizer 0 ml with chicken manure fertilizer 0 g, P1: 100 ml with 0 g, P2: 200 ml with 0 g, P3: 300 ml with  0 g, P4: 100 ml with 50 g P5: 200 ml with 50 g, P6: 300 ml with 50 g, P7: 100 ml with 100 g, P8: 200 ml with 100 g, P9: 300 ml with 100 g. Parameter observed were : the seeds height, number of leaves, stump diameter, root volume, root crown ratio and seeds dry weight. The results of research indicated the combination of bioslurry fertilizer application with chicken manure fertilizer real effect on all parameter of seeds height  and seeds root volume. Combination of 200 ml biogas fertilizer with 100 g chicken manure fertilizer is the best combination of all parameter. Keywords : Bioslurry fertilizer, chicken manure fertilizer, oil palm seed


A GOD WORTH WORSHIPING: TOWARD A CRITICAL RACE THEOLOGY Duane Terrence Loynes Sr., B.A., M.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2017 Theologian James Cone has declared that White supremacy is the American Church's greatest, original, and most persistent sin. Although the Church has engaged in numerous attempts to remedy racism, theology still seems to witness to a God that stands relatively unopposed to the status quo of racial injustice and marginalization. This dissertation begins with the claim that Christian theology still operates from the normativity of whiteness. I will argue that, although the Church has made admirable progress with regard to racial justice, the attempts have been at the surface: the underlying structural logic of White supremacy remains intact. My thesis will be that the systemic problem in North American Christianity of a persistent "White privileged theology" or "normalized whiteness" can best be eliminated by constructing a theological response in classical categories—theodicy, anthropology, and epistemology. A black existential phenomenological approach—perhaps best illustrated in the work of Lewis R. Gordon—and the intersectional analysis exemplified in critical race studies, offer significant promise for exposing and correcting the existing methodological privilege of White theology. First, this project begins with the challenge presented in William. R. Jones' Is God a White Racist? A Preamble to Black Theology. In this provocative work, Jones contends that Black suffering vis-à-vis God's divine justice should form the methodological core of any theology that purports to support economic, social, and political justice. In taking up Jones' challenge, I argue that the theodical question can be foregrounded without the humanist conclusions that Jones draws. Second, I look at the anthropological question of who counts as human before God. Focusing on how scholars of color have always prioritized an anthropological structuring of humanity that does not traffic in universal notions of value, I argue for a theological anthropology that specifically opposes the dehumanizing axiological systems that denigrate those who deviate from the normativity of whiteness. Thirdly, this dissertation looks at epistemology as a framing device for how some people are seen, mis-seen, or not seen at all. In particular, I evaluate how the Church has been complicit in the rendering of some as invisible or less worthy of concern.


The devastating impact and trauma that cataclysmic events cause in an interdependent and globalized society set the backdrop of increasing civil protection cooperation in the European Union. In order to prevent and respond to future natural and manmade crises a number of initiatives have emerged such as sophisticated early-warning response systems to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, and a Monitoring and Information Centre to warn and facilitate national responses on major crises. These mechanisms have been used in several crises ranging from the Prestige tanker oil spill in 2002 to the Haiti earthquake in 2010. Key to a successful EU performance has been an active and efficient participation of EU member states.So far research has mainly paid attention to the functioning of the Brussels based organs. This fifth report from the European Societal Security Research Group (ESSRG) complements this focus with an in-depth study on the participation of member states in the EU Community Mechanism for Civil Protection. It gives an overview of variations in national engagement and investigates the ways the Union is strengthening participation through programmes for training, exercises and exchanges of experts. This report will be highly useful for practitioners who wish to obtain an overall vision of the current status of civil protection cooperation and encourages further and much needed research for scholars on European security, integration and crisis management.


This paper is a contribution to the growing sociolinguistic literature on classroom foreign/second language learning and teaching (Duff 1995; Willett, 1995; Bailey and Nunan, 1996; Bremer et al., 1996; Coleman, 1996; Toohey, 1998; Heller, 1999; Rampton, 1999). We report two case studies of mainstream beginner-level FL instruction, using observational and interview data gathered in schools in Seoul, Korea, and in Southern England. In both cases, the public rationales offered for foreign language learning include a mix of 'internationalist' and 'instrumental' values (MoE, 1995; DES, 1991; DfEE/QCA, 1999). The dominant language-teaching ideologies to which the teachers in the different locations declare allegiance are also similar, involving commitment to various principles of the 'communicative approach' to language teaching. (In both settings, for example, the speaking skill is given priority, there is use of group work, etc.) Through analysis of selected lesson excerpts we identify similarities and differences in the classroom interpretations of communicative methodology, and in particular the opportunities available for individual students to engage in L2 interaction. We examine how the identity of the 'good language learner' is constructed in the different settings, for example, through differing teacher emphases on individual vs. collective responsibility for learning. Differences between the two classrooms are linked to broader features of the educational setting, but we show that these differences do not reflect common stereotypes about Anglo and Asian teaching styles in any simple way.


The ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Ubc5 is required for the activation of interferon regulatory factor 3 during the mitochondrial antiviral response. One mechanism by which cells detect the presence of cytosolic viruses is through retinoic acid–inducible gene I (RIG-I), which binds to viral RNA and associates with the mitochondrial outer membrane adaptor protein MAVS. MAVS activates the transcription factors nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3), which induce production of the type I interferons required for the antiviral response. However, the mechanism by which MAVS activates IRF-3 is incompletely understood. Noting that ubiquitination is thought to regulate the RIG-I pathway, Zeng et al. devised a cell-free system in which mitochondria isolated from uninfected or infected HEK 293T cells were incubated with cytosolic extracts from uninfected cells. Phosphorylated and dimerized (and therefore activated) IRF-3 was detected in cytosolic extracts incubated with mitochondria from infected HEK 293T cells. Purification of factors responsible for IRF-3 activation from cytosolic fractions led to the identification of the E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Ubc5. Experiments in cells treated with specific short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) showed that catalytically active Ubc5 was required for RIG-I- and MAVS-dependent activation of IRF-3. Tests of a panel of ubiquitin mutants showed that Lys63-mediated, but not Lys48-mediated, polyubiquitination was required for the activation of IRF-3; however, the E3 ubiquitin ligase involved was not identified. Consistent with a study that implicated inhibitor of NF-κB kinase γ (IKKγ, also known as NEMO) in the RIG-I to IRF-3 pathway, experiments in the cell-free system showed that two ubiquitin-binding domains of NEMO were required for the activation of IRF-3. Together, these data suggest that Lys63-mediated polyubiquitination is required to activate IRF-3 as part of the antiviral immune response. W. Zeng, M. Xu, S. Liu, L. Sun, Z. J. Chen, Key role of Ubc5 and Lysine-63 polyubiquitination in viral activation of IRF3. Mol. Cell 36, 315–325 (2009). [PubMed]


Vasopressin is a peptide hormone that regulates renal water excretion in part through its actions on the collecting duct. The regulation occurs in part via control of transcription of genes coding for the water channels aquaporin-2 (Aqp2) and aquaporin-3 (Aqp3). To identify transcription factors expressed in collecting duct cells, we have carried out LC-MS/MS-based proteomic profiling of nuclei isolated from native rat inner medullary collecting ducts (IMCDs). To maximize the number of proteins identified, we matched spectra to rat amino acid sequences using three different search algorithms (SEQUEST, InsPecT, and OMSSA). All searches were coupled to target-decoy methodology to limit false-discovery identifications to 2% of the total for single-peptide identifications. In addition, we developed a computational tool (ProMatch) to identify and eliminate ambiguous identifications. With this approach, we identified >3,500 proteins, including 154 proteins classified as "transcription factor" proteins (Panther Classification System). Among these, are members of CREB, ETS, RXR, NFAT, HOX, GATA, EBOX, EGR, MYT1, KLF, and CP2 families, which were found to have evolutionarily conserved putative binding sites in the 5'-flanking region or first intron of the Aqp2 gene, as well as members of EBOX, NR2, GRE, MAZ, KLF, and SP1 families corresponding to conserved sites in the 5'-flanking region of the Aqp3 gene. In addition, several novel phosphorylation sites in nuclear proteins were identified using the neutral loss-scanning LC-MS(3) technique. The newly identified proteins have been incorporated into the IMCD Proteome Database (http://dir.nhlbi.nih.gov/papers/lkem/imcd/).


In this paper we analyze contracts written on potentially non-verifiable states. We first show that the contract always enters a dispute phase. We analyze two possible legal rules which can be used to resolve the disputes. Under both rules the paper derives the optimal contract. An interesting feature of the optimal contract is that for low verifiability likelihood the agent is always rewarded unless there is failure. The other result is that under both legal rules used first-best effort and more than first-best-effort level can be implemented, depending on how small the likelihood of verifiability is.


The rate at which global climate change is happening is arguably the most pressing environmental challenge of the century and it affects our cities. Temperature is one of the most important parameters in climate monitoring and Earth Observation (EO) systems and the advances in remote sensing science increase the opportunities for monitoring the surface temperature from space. The EO4UTEMP project examines the exploitation of EO data for monitoring the urban surface temperature (UST). Large variations in surface temperatures can be observed within a couple of hours, particularly when referring to urban surfaces. The geometric, radiative, thermal, and aerodynamic properties of the urban surface are unique and exert particularly strong control on the surface temperature. EO satellites provide excellent means for mapping the land surface temperature, but the particular properties of the urban surface and the unique urban geometry in combination with the trade-off between temporal and spatial resolution of the current satellite missions impose the development of new sophisticated surface temperature retrieval methods particularly designed for urban areas. EO4TEMP develops a novel UST algorithm exploiting multitemporal, multi-sensor, multi-resolution EO data, to be validated with in-situ measurements in urban sites and to be applied to Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-2 data. Therefore, EO4UTEMP will provide an advanced methodology for deriving frequent UST estimations at local scale (100 m), capable of resolving the diurnal variation of UST and contribute to the study of the urban energy balance.


It is becoming increasingly clear that acquiring cognitive skills is feasible only with significant developmental constraints. However, recent research provides the strongest evidence to date for constructivist development. Here, we examine how these two apparently conflicting perspectives may be reconciled. Specifically, we suggest that subcortical and cortical structures possess divergent developmental strategies, with many subcortical structures satisfying Fodor's criteria for modularity. These structures constitute an early behavioral system that guides the construction of later emerging cortical structures, for which there is little evidence for modularity. Thus, we focus on how the dynamic time course of development itself implicitly constrains the emergence of cortical representations, reducing the requirement for built-in encodings of knowledge in cortical circuits, as on the traditional nativist conception.


Background: With limited statistical knowledge of most physicians it is not uncommon to find statistical errors in research articles. Objectives: To determine the statistical methods and to assess the statistical errors in family medicine (FM) research articles that were published between 2010 and 2014. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. All 66 FM research articles that were published over 5 years by FM authors with affiliation to Suez Canal University were screened by the researcher between May and August 2015. Types and frequencies of statistical methods were reviewed in all 66 FM articles. All 60 articles with identified inferential statistics were examined for statistical errors and deficiencies. A comprehensive 58-item checklist based on statistical guidelines was used to evaluate the statistical quality of FM articles. Results: Inferential methods were recorded in 62/66 (93.9%) of FM articles. Advanced analyses were used in 29/66 (43.9%). Contingency tables 38/66 (57.6%), regression (logistic, linear) 26/66 (39.4%), and t-test 17/66 (25.8%) were the most commonly used inferential tests. Within 60 FM articles with identified inferential statistics, no prior sample size 19/60 (31.7%), application of wrong statistical tests 17/60 (28.3%), incomplete documentation of statistics 59/60 (98.3%), reporting P value without test statistics 32/60 (53.3%), no reporting confidence interval with effect size measures 12/60 (20.0%), use of mean (standard deviation) to describe ordinal/nonnormal data 8/60 (13.3%), and errors related to interpretation were mainly for conclusions without support by the study data 5/60 (8.3%). Conclusion: Inferential statistics were used in the majority of FM articles. Data analysis and reporting statistics are areas for improvement in FM research articles.


Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) form a kinase tier module in which MAPK, MAP2K and MAP3K are held by scaffold proteins. The scaffold proteins serve as a protein platform for selective and spatial kinase activation. The precise mechanism by which the scaffold proteins function has not yet been fully explained. WD40-repeat protein 62, WDR62 is a novel scaffold protein of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway. WDR62 is a 1523 a.a. long protein with no significant sequence homology to a known gene. Previously WDR62 was shown to associate with JNK and MKK4/7 in a modular fashion. Here, we show that WDR62 is able to associate with multiple members of the MAP3K of the mixed lineage kinase family and we map WDR62-MLK3 interacting domains. We identify two separable interacting domains within WDR62 and MLK3 proteins that can cross associate. MLK3 association with WDR62 is independent of JNK and MKK4/7 domains and activities. CDC42 activation disrupts WDR62-MLK3 association independent of MLK3 kinase activity.


An apparatus is described for making time-resolved spectrograms of single sparks or other short-time sources of light. Our adaptation of a conventional quartz spectrograph provides for sweeping the image of a selected region of the light source along the length of the slit by means of a rotating mirror. The time base can be made as short as 10 μsec. and time resolution of events in the source as brief as 0.5 μsec.


Systemic administration of platelet activating factor (PAF; acetyl glyceryl ether phosphorylcholine) reduces renal blood flow, but the mechanism responsible for that effect has not been defined. To address that problem, we determined the effects on renal blood flow of PAF administered directly into the renal artery in pentobarbital (30 mg/kg)-anesthetized dogs. Bolus injections of PAF (0.2-0.8 microgram) caused transient renal vasoconstriction, reducing renal blood flow by 20 to 60% without altering systemic blood pressure; lyso-PAF (1 microgram) had no effect. The effects of PAF on renal blood flow were not altered by alpha-adrenergic blockade (phentolamine, 3 mg/kg) or by angiotensin II receptor blockade ([Sar1,Ala8]angiotensin II, 6 micrograms/kg/min), but they were increased in magnitude and duration by meclofenamate (5 mg/kg), a cyclooxygenase inhibitor. Methysergide (3 mg/kg), a serotonin antagonist, slightly reduced PAF effects, but a specific blocker of vascular serotonin receptors did not. Renal venous plasma platelet density was not altered by infusion of PAF into the renal artery at a dose (1-2 micrograms/min) that caused a sustained 20% renal blood flow decrease. Alprazolam, a benzodiazepine that competitively inhibited PAF-induced aggregation in canine platelet-rich plasma, also inhibited the renal vasoconstrictor action of PAF (0.8 mg/min, into the renal artery) but did not alter renal vasoconstrictor effects of norepinephrine or angiotensin II.


Clouds regulate the Earth's radiation budget, both by reflecting part of the incoming sunlight leading to cooling and by absorbing and emitting infrared radiation which tends to have a warming effect. Globally averaged, at the top of the atmosphere the cloud radiative effect is to cool the climate, while at the Arctic surface, clouds are thought to be warming. Here we compare a passive instrument, the AVHRR-based retrieval from CM-SAF, with recently launched active instru- ments onboard CloudSat and CALIPSO and the widely used ERA-Interim reanalysis. We find that in particular in win- ter months the three data sets differ significantly. While pas- sive satellite instruments have serious difficulties, detecting only half the cloudiness of the modeled clouds in the reanal- ysis, the active instruments are in between. In summer, the two satellite products agree having monthly means of 70- 80 percent, but the reanalysis are approximately ten percent higher. The monthly mean long- and shortwave components of the surface cloud radiative effect obtained from the ERA- Interim reanalysis are about twice that calculated on the basis of CloudSat's radar-only retrievals, while ground based mea- surements from SHEBA are in between. We discuss these differences in terms of instrument-, retrieval- and reanalysis characteristics, which differ substantially between the ana- lyzed datasets.


A consultant gastroenterologist who was found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council has won a ruling quashing the "irrational" decision after representing himself at the High Court in London.

Rakesh Aga, a consultant with Medway NHS Trust in Kent, argued that a GMC fitness to practise panel should not have found him guilty of misconduct for failing to spot immediately that a diabetic patient with impaired consciousness was hypoglycaemic. He was unable to appeal in the usual way because the panel had ruled, despite the "misconduct," that his fitness to practise was not impaired.

His only recourse was to apply for a judicial review at the High Court, where he appeared without a lawyer against a barrister instructed by the GMC.

The patient, X, whom Aga …


The overarching mission of the land-grant system is to combine teaching, research, and extension to create and disseminate knowledge that benefits society. One focus of this mission has been to improve the production capability and economic efficiency of farming. This agricultural mission has been achieved with mostly positive payoffs forthe environment, consumers, producers, and the nation. However, the real dollar value of federal support for agricultural research has stagnated. If federal support is to expand in the future, a new mission is needed.


This paper reviews the literature on taxation of the informal economy, taking stock of key debates and drawing attention to recent innovations. Conventionally, the debate on whether to tax has frequently focused on the limited revenue potential, high cost of collection, and potentially adverse impact on small firms. Recent arguments have increasingly emphasised the more indirect benefits of informal taxation in relation to economic growth, broader tax compliance, and governance. More research is needed, we argue, into the relevant costs and benefits for all, including quasi-voluntary compliance, political and administrative incentives for reform, and citizen-state bargaining over taxation.


Even though power and influence of children on family buying behavior is growing little is known about their involvement. Previous studies of family and household consumption often neglect the role of children in decision-making, but nowadays, children are becoming one of the most powerful influencers in family buying behavior. They dominate family buying decision and can influence their parents in many product categories from cars till regular grocery shopping and therefore the question arises, what influences children when requesting products and what strategies they use to make their parents yield to their requests. Thus, this research paper tries to explain how are influence strategies that children use and family complexity related to parents buying behavior of groceries. The primary data have been collected through an electronic questionnaire, which resulted in sample of 164 parents respondents from around the globe. The data were analyzed by using various statistical tools and concluded that (1) aggressive, persuasion, rational and knowledge strategies are positively affecting parents buying behavior, (2) non-traditional family structure has positive impact on buying behavior, (3) older children have more influence power over parents buying behavior and (4) number of children has no significant influence on parents buying behavior. Keyword: Family Buying Behaviour, Influence Strategies, Family Structure, Number of Children, Age of Children, Aggressive Strategy, Persuasion Strategy, Rational Strategy, Knowledge Strategy, Emotional Strategy


OBJECTIVE To assess the safety and efficacy of dual sodium–glucose cotransporter (SGLT) 1 and SGLT2 inhibition with sotagliflozin as adjunct therapy to insulin in type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We treated 33 patients with sotagliflozin, an oral dual SGLT1 and SGLT2 inhibitor, or placebo in a randomized, double-blind trial assessing safety, insulin dose, glycemic control, and other metabolic parameters over 29 days of treatment. RESULTS In the sotagliflozin-treated group, the percent reduction from baseline in the primary end point of bolus insulin dose was 32.1% (P = 0.007), accompanied by lower mean daily glucose measured by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) of 148.8 mg/dL (8.3 mmol/L) (P = 0.010) and a reduction of 0.55% (5.9 mmol/mol) (P = 0.002) in HbA1c compared with the placebo group that showed 6.4% reduction in bolus insulin dose, a mean daily glucose of 170.3 mg/dL (9.5 mmol/L), and a decrease of 0.06% (0.65 mmol/mol) in HbA1c. The percentage of time in target glucose range 70–180 mg/dL (3.9–10.0 mmol/L) increased from baseline with sotagliflozin compared with placebo, to 68.2% vs. 54.0% (P = 0.003), while the percentage of time in hyperglycemic range >180 mg/dL (10.0 mmol/L) decreased from baseline, to 25.0% vs. 40.2% (P = 0.002), for sotagliflozin and placebo, respectively. Body weight decreased (1.7 kg) with sotagliflozin compared with a 0.5 kg gain (P = 0.005) in the placebo group. CONCLUSIONS As adjunct to insulin, dual SGLT1 and SGLT2 inhibition with sotagliflozin improved glycemic control and the CGM profile with bolus insulin dose reduction, weight loss, and no increased hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes.


Dual enrollment continues to experience rapid growth throughout the United States and is viewed as one of the best ways to prepare students for college. Hispanics represent the largest and fastest growing minority ethnic population in the nation, but they are underrepresented in most dual enrollment programs. Although previous research has demonstrated that dual enrollment programs produce positive outcomes concerning academic achievement and college completion, few studies have captured the experiences of Hispanic students in dual enrollment. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to investigate how Hispanic students in an Arizona community college perceive how their experiences in dual enrollment in high school prepared them for college. Two research questions guided this study: (1) How do Hispanic community college students understand and describe their experience with dual enrollment classes? (2) How do Hispanic community college students perceive and relate the role of dual enrollment in their academic success? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants who took dual credit courses at six different high schools. Data analysis followed Moustakas' (1994) three-step process: Epoche, Transcendental-Phenomenological Reduction, and Imaginative Variation. Six themes emerged from this study: (1) significance of education to the Hispanic family and community; (2) encouragement and support; (3) high school dual enrollment as a positive transition to college; (4) social integration; (5) skills acquired from dual enrollment participation; and (6) obstacles to participation in dual enrollment iv in high school. Results revealed that participation in the dual enrollment program in high school exposed students to the academic rigor of college and helped them understand norms and acquire skills and behaviors to integrate into college and persist successfully. Findings also showed that Hispanic students face obstacles to dual enrollment participation. Policymakers and educators can encourage dual enrollment participation by implementing policies and procedures that minimize barriers to enrollment.


AbstractThe scour process around monopiles caused by breaking waves is studied experimentally using regular waves. The use of regular waves is conservative, which made it possible to avoid scour phenomena caused by nonbreaking waves such as scour generation and backfilling. The waves were breaking on a flat sand section after shoaling on a mildly sloping ramp. Various monopiles were exposed to plunging breakers that were breaking at various distances from the pile. It was found that the scour was caused by turbulence generated by the breaking and was diverted toward the bottom by the pile. The maximum scour depth found was approximately 0.60D. This was smaller than the scour observed around piles exposed to current; however, in some cases it was an order of magnitude larger than the scour caused by nonbreaking waves. This is apparently especially true for larger piles.


Metallic nanoparticles organized in regular arrays exhibit an extraordinary spectral feature that arises from electromagnetic coupling between localized surface plasmons and constructive interference from diffracted far-field radiation. A rapid semianalytical description of coupling between dipoles and scattering modes is applied to examine the influence of nanoparticle size, dielectric, and interparticle separation on the occurrence, resonant wavelength, and intensity of the extraordinary spectral feature. Introducing a dynamic polarizability that includes higher-order electric poles into the description accurately characterizes plasmon resonances of larger particles. Previously unrecognized patterns and periodic variations in the extraordinary feature were observed to result from modulations in polarizability, as well as from interference of scattered modes that were distinguishable for the first time using the rapid semianalytic solution. Streamlined rational design of metamaterials with optimum optical properties using the rapid semianalytic coupled dipole approximation is considered.


Despite an abundance of research on the representation of groups and minorities in traditional (mass) media, little work has focused on the representation of others on social media platforms, especially Twitter. More specifically, to the best of my knowledge, no study has yet approached the representation of Saudis on Twitter from a Critical-discourse and Corpus Linguistics perspective. Hence, the overall aim of this thesis is to investigate how Saudis are represented in tweets in English from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the United States and the rest of the world during two tragic events at Mecca in 2015 (the crane collapse at The Holy Mosque and the stampede at Mina). Unlike studies of media representation which focus on a one-to-many text context, the current study investigates the bottom-up discursive practices on social media, namely, the user-generated microblogging service, Twitter. The data comprise 89,928 tweets (1.9 million tokens) collected during the tragic events at Mecca starting from 10 September 2015 over a one-month period and including all English tweets mentioning Saudis. Drawing on theories from Critical Discourse Studies, the thesis deploys concepts and tools from the Discourse-historical approach and Systemic Functional Grammar. These are also supported by corpus-assisted methodologies to unravel the linguistic patterns associated with Saudis across five corpora. Integrating both quantitative and qualitative approaches substantiates the findings of the current study as well as enhance the synergy between Critical Discourse Studies and Corpus Linguistics approaches in examining social media texts, particularly Twitter data. The analysis revealed a hegemonic negative representation of Saudis across the corpora. Themes relating Saudis to war, terrorism and corruption are more prevalent than others. Constructing Saudis in relation to Islam and wealth (oil) triggers negative discourse prosody of extremism and corruption. Tweets about the tragic events at Mecca were generally condemning and reproachful. Additionally, comparing each corpus with others did not produced contradictory results, but rather triangulated the hegemonic, negative discourse recurring across the corpora, which sustains online racist and Saudiphobic discourse. These findings correspond remarkably to earlier findings identified in the analyses of representations of Muslims in Western media. The findings contribute to the ongoing academic discussion on the relationship between traditional media and social media regarding whether social media represent a largely safe space for maintaining and developing alternative discourses, or if it can mirror and reproduce existing hegemonic discourses, which may result in even stronger polarising effects on public discourse. In light of these findings, Twitter seems to serve as an online amplifier that mirrors and reinforces existing discourses in traditional media that are likely to have even stronger polarising effects on public discourse.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To describe spiritual issues addressed by users of a pancreatic cancer informational Web site.

DESIGN
Qualitative, descriptive.

SETTING
The patient and family chat room of Johns Hopkins Hospital's pancreatic cancer Web site.

SAMPLE
600 postings on the pancreatic cancer Web site.

METHODS
Identification of categories and themes in Web postings using the constant comparison method of content analysis.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Spirituality, relationship of the person posting a message (poster) to the person with cancer.

FINDINGS
Relationship of the poster to the person with pancreatic cancer was explicit in 68% (n = 410) of the 600 postings, and 83% of those 410 postings indicated that the poster was a family member. Issues of spirituality appeared in 19% (n = 114) of the 600 postings and addressed four themes: spiritual convergence, reframing suffering, hope, and acceptance of the power of God and eternal life. Six percent of postings were by family members reporting on the death of their loved ones, suggesting that the site also served a bereavement function.

CONCLUSIONS
Family members of patients with pancreatic cancer sought and received spiritual comfort in a variety of forms in an Internet-based cancer chat room.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Nurse developers of cancer information Web sites should periodically assess how the sites are being used and apply the information to the refinement of the sites to better meet user needs. Further study is needed to develop and evaluate cancer Web sites as an evolving medium for providing spiritual support to family members of patients with life-threatening forms of cancer.


This article reviews the Australian evidence concerning interventions in early childhood aimed at promoting children's psychological well-being and preventing social and psychological dysfunction in later life. Two kinds of research are surveyed. One is the Australian social science literature that has emerged in the last twenty years from five major research programs. The other is the evaluation studies that, more recently, have assessed the effectiveness of various early childhood preventive interventions. Together these studies provide an evidentiary platform for reviewing current policy in this field. A full analysis of 'what works' would need to include relevant international evidence, which is outside the scope of this article. However, the Australian evidence does support the current policy focus on good parenting programs, while also suggesting that a number of other factors matter in promoting children's well-being.


Motyxia Chamberlin is comprised of eight species of bioluminescent xystocheirine millipeds in which the gonopodal solenomere arises at different positions, from basally and subbasally on the acropodite to being fused with the companion acropodal branch and detaching proximad or near midlength. Previous synonymies of Amplocheir Chamberlin and Luminodesmus Loomis and Davenport under Motyxia are confirmed as is its assignment to the tribe Xystocheirini, which is redefined. Component species are M. kerna Chamberlin, the type species, monica Chamberlin, sequoiae (Loomis and Davenport), tularea (Chamberlin), sequoia (Chamberlin), pior Chamberlin, porrecta Causey and Tiemann, and tiemanni Causey. Motyxia sequoia is comprised of two races, the nominate and sequoia alia Causey and Tiemann; sequoia ollae Causey and Tiemann is properly a subspecies of tularea. Motyxia pior form secca is an invalid name without standing in nomenclature, and M. tejona Chamberlin, and M. expansa and exilis, both by Loomis, are placed in synonymy under M. monica, the oldest name for the southernmost species, as Polydesmue dissectus Wood is referrable to Xystocheir Cook. The bioluminescence is a continuous, neon-white glow of the entire dorsal surface including the antennae and legs. Its visibility at night suggests a warning function analogous to aposematic coloration. The phenomenon may observe a circadian rhythm, and controlled photoperiod experimentation may be productive.


Global development becomes more and more contradictory and dynamical. Russian oil and gas industry (OGI) work now in exhausted industrial potential mode. It faces significant problems preventing its development and threatening the Russia's energy security.This article aims to discover ways to enhance efficiency of functioning of the OGI as the basis for ensuring of Russian energy security.Findings and conclusions of the paper may be used in developing and enhancing both state and industrial instruments of enhancing efficiency of Russian OGI functioning.Ways to address the main conflict of interests in the OGI between the state and the subsurface user, the elaborated system of administrative and economic measures aimed at increasing efficiency of the OGI functioning as the basis of Russia's energy security, ways to improve the organizational and managerial mechanism to enhance efficiency of the OGI functioning, as the authors suggest herein, are recommended for practical implementation.


Research into work-related driver safety in corporate vehicle fleets has provided some descriptive information about driving for work and some of the common approaches to fleet safety. However, a lack of theoretical underpinnings has constrained the scope of this research. This paper outlines some theories and conceptual approaches from organisational and industrial psychology which are applicable for researching work-related driving and designing fleet safety countermeasures. Approaches described relate to contextual performance, occupational stress, organisational culture and climate. In using these approaches, work-related driving is conceptualised as an organisational behaviour – a behaviour of employees which occurs in the organisational setting. These are consolidated into an integrated approach to fleet safety. In addition to enhancing the understanding of work-related driving, utilising this integrated approach will result in intervention strategies designed to target the key psychosocial and organisational factors involved.


In an intriguing synthesis of current theories of international finance, trade, and industrial organization, Paul Krugman presents a provocative analysis of the extraordinary volatility of exchange rates in the 1980s.Krugman focuses on imperfect integration of the world economy, showing how this has become both a cause and effect of exchange rate instability. He outlines the costs and benefits of recent flexible-exchange rate policies and offers fresh insight into why the models that worked in the first half of the 1980s don't work in the growing uncertainty of the latter half. Krugman's analysis is succinct and accessible, with technical appendixes that offer powerful backing to his ideas."Exchange Rate Instability "contains a surprising reevaluation of the author's own work on exchange rates. Krugman questions the need for further devaluation of the dollar, arguing that uncertainty - rather than the lack of cost-competitiveness explains the failure of current policies to reduce the United States trade deficit. He proposes an eventual return to fixed exchange rates.Paul R. Krugman is Professor of Economics at MIT "Exchange Rate Instability "inaugurates the Lionel Robbins Lectures series.


High-mobility Ge p-MOSFETs with relaxed
high-quality Ge channel layers directly
grown on silicon substrates by surfactant-
mediated epitaxy (SME) have been
realised. The devices with 30 nm thick
LPCVD gate oxides were fabricated with a
low-temperature self-aligned W-gate
process which is compatible with
conventional Si CMOS technology. The
influence of a Si cap layer with 0 to 10 11m
thickness on top of the Ge channel layer
under the gate oxide was investigated
yielding a strong increase of saturation
transconductance and effective p-channel
mobility with decreasing cap layer thickness.
For 2 nm Si cap layer devices the
intrinsic saturation transconductance
reached a maximum of 46 mSlmm (at LG =
1 J.Il1'l) and an effective p-channel mobility
value of 31 0 cm21Vs at large gate voltages,
which exceeds the mobilities of any pMOSFET
fabricated on a silicon substrate


The recent efforts to extend measurement and communication infrastructures in power grids have brought about new potentials for a more efficient and optimized grid operation using the data which become available. Due to this integration, on the other hand, not only the network expansion and planning but also the development of new applications must be carried out under consideration of the interdependencies between the power grid and the underlying communication network. In this work, we present a co-simulation environment and tool chain to enable integrated planning and subsequent performance analysis of a wide area measurement system. In the first part of the paper, we investigate the performance of PMU-based state estimation techniques under several power system and communication network scenarios. In the second part of the paper, furthermore, the presented setup is extended for co-simulative investigations of the machine learning-based fault detection and classification techniques in power systems. The presented results not only validate the developed software solution for similar research studies but also scrutinize the impact of communication network performance on power system state estimation and PMU-based decision-making for fault detection and classification.


When Birmingham, Alabama Police Commissioner Bull Connor unleashed police dogs and fire hoses on civil rights demonstrators in the spring of 1963, his brutality shocked the nation. News reports with graphic photos also blanketed the international press, reinforcing international concern about racial justice in America. As it had during the Truman and Eisenhower years, the Soviet Union took advantage of the propaganda value of these images, and greatly increased its focus on American racial problems in anti-American broadcasts and print media. President John F. Kennedy was highly attuned to the impact of racial incidents on the U.S. image abroad. Birmingham created a crisis of greater magnitude for the Administration than had the Freedom Rides or James Meredith's admission to the University of Mississippi. Birmingham hit the international press as African leaders convened for a unity conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As African heads of state turned their attention to Birmingham, contemplating whether such incidents might cause a break in U.S.-African relations, the Kennedy Administration focused on damage control. The stakes were high. Protecting the image of American democracy had national security implications during the cold war years. In the early 1960s, following admission of newly independent African states to the U.N., it had important consequences for U.N. politics as well. Civil rights activists risked their lives to put racial justice on the nation's agenda in the 1960s, and civil rights reform during those years was certainly influenced by factors having nothing to do with diplomacy. Yet this paper argues that Kennedy Administration civil rights policy, even as it was pushed by the movement, was framed with the impact of civil rights on foreign affairs among the Administration's most pressing concerns.