Wind turbines and wind farms have become popular in the State of Kansas. Some general aviation pilots have expressed a concern about the turbulence that the spinning blades are creating. If a wind farm is built near an airport, does this affect the operations in and out of that airport? Other problems associated with wind farms are their impact on agricultural aviation and their influence on radar detection of aircraft in the vicinity of a wind farm. This research project has three objectives: 1. Determine the amount and pattern of the turbulence from a single wind turbine. 2. Determine the amount and pattern of wind turbulence from a wind farm, both in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction. 3. This information will result in recommendations concerning the location of wind farms and their impacts of the safe operation of airports and other aviation activities. The results of this project support the findings in the literature search that the turbulence from a wind turbine can impact operations at a general aviation airport. Two case studies were used to illustrate the impact of turbulence from a wind turbine on a general aviation airport. This project analyzed the roll hazard and the crosswind hazard resulting from a wind farm located near a general aviation airport. The wind turbine wake model is based on a theoretical helical vortex model and the decay rate is calculated following the aircraft wake decay rate in the atmosphere. The roll hazard analysis showed that for the Rooks County Regional Airport, the potential roll hazard index is in the high range as far out as 2.84 miles. For the Pratt Regional Airport, the roll hazard index is in the high range as far out as 1.14 miles. These numbers are based on a gust wind of 40 mph that is below the turbine brake wind speed of 55 mph. As the results show, the scenario is different according to the relative locations and orientations of the airport and the nearby wind farm. Therefore, the analysis has to be performed for each specific regional airport. The crosswind hazard analysis for the Rooks County Regional Airport showed part of the airport in the high range even under the mild wind condition at 10 mph. The wind turbine wake increases the crosswind component to more than 12 mph which is considered high risk crosswind for small general aviation aircraft. For the Pratt Regional Airport, the crosswind hazard is relatively small under the mild wind condition (10 mph). When there is a gust of 40 mph wind, the turbine wake induced crosswind puts the majority of runway areas to high hazard areas at both of the airports. It is recommended that additional studies should be performed to draw the proper correlation between the hazard index developed in this study and the safe operation of aircraft at low airspeeds and at low flight altitudes operating near or at a general aviation airport.


MoO2 microparticles act as an active catalyst for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in organic solvents such as acetonitrile and dimethylformamide. The catalytic activity and product selectivity depend on temperature and water content of the solvent.


n ABSTRACT: The anthropology of Buddhism may give the impression of already having a well-established lineage. However, understood as a collective endeavor bringing together specialists from different parts of the Buddhist world in a comparative spirit, it remains very much an emerging project. We outline in this introduction some of the striking features of the beginnings of this subfield, such as how it has undergone a process of emancipation from textualist interpretations of Buddhism, and survey some of its main thematic and analytic orientations, pointing in particular to its most substantial 'long conversation', on the structure and dynamics of Buddhist religious fields. Throughout, we focus primarily on the period following an assessment of the subfield made by David Gellner in 1990. Finally, we stress the importance and highlight the promise of a comparative anthropology of Buddhism that builds on a critical, reflexive examination of its central concepts.


Seeds germination rate and the early stage of seedl ing growth of eight species of plants were investigated in the absence of the main static component of geomagnetic field (ZMF) and in geomagnetic field as control (GMF), in quiet and increased geomagnetic field activity (GMA). We found a similar rate of seeds germination both in Z MF and GMF, in quiet GMA periods. In the presence of major storm, the germination rate of Medicago sativa L. and Secale cereale L. seeds was stimulated in ZMF conditions. After four days of in cubation, the growth of the tested plants was prevalently inhibited in ZMF in the early stage of stem elongation. However some plant species were stimulated. The results show that ZMF conditions could increase the rate of seeds germination in the presence of natural magnetic disturbance and affect the early stage of seedling growth in the dynamic growth phase. The response of plants to ZMF depends on plant species.


Circularity metrics are useful for empirically assessing the effects of a circular economy in terms of profitability, job creation, and environmental impacts. At present, however, there is no standardized method for measuring the circularity of products. We start by reviewing existing product‐level metrics in terms of validity and reliability, taking note of theoretically justified principles for aggregating different types of material flows and cycles into a single value. We then argue that the economic value of product parts may constitute a useful basis for such aggregation; describe a set of principles for using economic value as a basis for measuring product circularity; and outline a metric that utilizes this approach. Our recommendation is to use the ratio of recirculated economic value to total product value as a circularity metric, using value chain costs as an estimator. In order to protect value chain actors' sensitive financial data and facilitate neutrality regarding outsourcing or insourcing, we suggest a means to calculate product‐level circularity based on sequential approximations of adding one product part and activity at a time. We conclude by suggesting potential avenues for further research, including ways in which the proposed metric can be used in wider assessments of the circular economy, and ways in which it may be further refined.


A call count over a 20 mile route (beginning 1/2 hour before local official sunrise and with 20 stops of 3 minutes duration 1 mile apart) gives a more practical index to the abundance of mourning doves in the breeding season than roadside counts and area population studies tried in 1950. Calling activities showed relatively high peaks and low depressions during April and May of 1951, with a plateau in June; a decline in calling was noted after July 3, and continued until September 11, when activity apparently ceased. Although there seems to be a direct correlation between the total number of doves heard and the total number of calls recorded, available evidence indicates that the breeding index should still be based on the number of doves heard. In general, more doves were heard calling than were seen up to about mid-July, 1951, after which time doves became conspicuous and relatively few were heard; and there was an increase in doves seen from July through September with a noticeable decline in October in cental Maryland. Very little difference was noted between morning and evening roadside counts from the end of July through October, although one route indicated that morning was more favorable. Our data probably are too meager to determine if any significant difference exists. A statistical analysis of calling counts covering the period from May 15-June 26, 1951 indicates that with 3 routes, 12 trips per route must be made in order to reflect a 15 percent change. Calling counts should begin in this area (central Maryland and northeastern Virginia) no later than May 15, and the counts must be completed by the end of the third week in June to conform to the present schedule of formulating hunting regulations. Additional publication details Publication type Book chapter Publication Subtype Book Chapter Title Investigations of methods of determining abundance of breeding mourning doves in certain eastern states Year Published 1952 Language English Contributing office(s) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center


Environmentally benign metal-free tetramethylammonium methyl carbonate is effective as a catalyst for the chemoselective, scalable, and reusable transesterification of various esters and alcohols in common organic solvents. In situ-generated highly active species, tetramethylammonium alkoxides, can greatly avoid self-decomposition at ≤110 °C, and are reusable. In particular, chelating substrates, such as amino alcohols, diols, triols, sugar derivatives, alkaloids, α-amino acid esters, etc., which deactivate conventional metal salt catalysts, can be used. A 100 gram scale biodiesel production was also demonstrated.


This paper describes the running static analysis of an in-pipe mobile robot using a wheel drive mechanism for straight piping. The wheel mechanism, which is driven by planetary gears and worm gears, can both drive the wheels and press them against the pipe wall using only an actuator and simple mechanisms. The relation among the size of the load, carrier angle, and the pressing load against the pipe wall is theoretically analyzed and experimentally examined. The traction force of the robot is calculable with motor driving torque, and the maximum traction force is estimated with no-load driving torque of robot and torque constant of the motor. From the running experiments by the prototype robot, which is 45 mm in diameter and 130 mm in length, the maximum traction force was at least 20 times the weight of the robot.


Three types of problems are raised in this commentary: On the linguistic side, we emphasize the importance of an appropriate definition of the different domains of linguistics. This is needed to define the domains (lexicon-syntax-semantics) to which transformational relations apply. We then question the concept of Broca's aphasia as a "functional" syndrome, associated with a specific lesion. Finally, we discuss evidence from functional brain imaging. The breadth and potential impact of such evidence has grown considerably in the last few years, expanding our knowledge of the multiple contributions of the "Broca's region" to phonological, lexical-semantic, and syntactic processing. "Lumping" under diagnostic labels, such as Broca's aphasia, should be replaced by more detailed linguistic and neurological descriptions of the clinical cases.


Background. High rates of depression associated with childbirth have been reported in many parts of the developing world. However, the prevalence and associations of antenatal and post-natal depression in the rural population remain unknown. Disability associated with depression and its impact on infant health and development could have important public health implications for many developing countries where large proportions of the population are rural. Method. All women living in southern Kahuta, Pakistan, in their third trimester of pregnancy were interviewed at 6 weeks before delivery (N=632) and again at 10–12 weeks after delivery (N=541), using WHO Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN), Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ) and Brief Disability Questionnaire (BDQ). Results. The point prevalence of ICD-10 depressive disorder was 25% in the antenatal period and 28% in the post-natal period. Depressed mothers were significantly more disabled, had more threatening life events, and poorer social and family support than non-depressed mothers. Vulnerable mothers were more likely to be depressed during pregnancy, rather than have an onset in the post-natal period. Conclusion. Over one-quarter of mothers in a rural sub-district of Pakistan suffer from depression shortly before and after childbirth. Rapidly changing traditional family structures and practices may be increasing the risk of depression in many women. Recognizing and treating depression should be initiated during the antenatal, rather than post-natal period.


Benthic organisms living in shallow high-energy areas are regularly suspended into the water column, where they dwell for longer or shorter periods before they re-enter the benthos. Marine free-living nematodes, normally the most abundant metazoans in soft sediments, lack a pelagic larval stage and are exceedingly poor swimmers. Although empirical data are lacking, nema- todes are regularly considered to settle as passive particles through the water column. We carried out an experiment to assess whether nematodes are able to choose settling spots when descending from the water column. In the laboratory, nematodes were extracted from sediment collected from a shal- low sandy bay and allowed to settle in a water column of 1 m to the bottom, which was seeded with 4 small containers containing: nothing, sediment without organic matter, sediment with added pelagic algae and sediment with added benthic algae (BA). The nematodes showed a clear prefer- ence for the BA containers, being about 7 times as abundant there than in the other treatments (p < 0.001). The nematode composition was different among treatments with 3 abundant species more or less confined to BA. The size distribution of the nematodes shows that the smallest nema- todes are also the most efficient in choosing habitat. This is in concordance with the prediction that swimming ability is coupled to nematode size and water viscosity. The results obtained show that the conception of nematodes as passive particles in the water column is not entirely valid.


This essay provides an introduction to the ways in which Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman has been applied to Chinese cultural studies, and especially to media studies. It argues that the emerging phenomenon of "amusing ourselves to death" in China is fundamentally different from the phenomenon of "amusing ourselves to death" in the United States and that this difference has been masked by the decontextualized mechanical application of Western cultural theories, an increasingly common practice in Chinese cultural studies. In fact, Chinese-style "amusing ourselves to death" is a combination of George Orwell's Big Brother and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, as well as a product of Chinese post-totalitarianism or, in other words, of advanced totalitarianism. As such, it resembles neither a totalitarian culture of the Stalinist model nor an American-style "amusing ourselves to death," but rather a new culture that combines totalitarianism and consumerism and that calls for theoretical innovations and reconstructions in cultural studies.


The most surprising action from the Supreme Court's latest term may be what it did not do: strike down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) as unconstitutional. After the oral argument in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder (NAMUDNO), most Court observers expected the Court to issue a strongly divided opinion invalidating Congress's reauthorization of the provision that requires certain "covered jurisdictions" to seek preapproval, or preclearance, before enacting any change that affects voting. Instead, the Court issued an 8-1 opinion that avoided the constitutional question and decided the case on a narrower statutory ground. This Essay discusses what the Court said -- and did not say -- in NAMUDNO and explores the emerging trends in current election law jurisprudence.I proceed in three Parts. Part I discusses the Court's statutory interpretation and constitutional avoidance approach in NAMUDNO. In Part II, I explain how each current Justice generally views the VRA by coding each Justice's votes in prior VRA cases as either "expansive" or "restrictive" toward the Act. Part III concludes by analyzing how the Court's recent approach in NAMUDNO and other election law cases reveals a trend toward "strategic compromise" among the Justices in this area. Based on the Justices' typical voting patters, the decision in NAMUDNO was quite surprising. I explain the outcome by looking at how the Justices, over the past few years, have compromised their usual positions in election law cases in favor of a strategic and incremental approach to effectuate their long-term goals (or ward off starker and less favorable results).This Essay thus provides some historical and analytical backbone to the debate surrounding how the Court approaches VRA cases. That is, I hope to provide context for the continued discussion of these issues in light of the Court's constitutional avoidance approach in NAMUDNO. My goal here is merely descriptive: What did the Court do in NAMUDNO, how does that comport with the Justices' typical voting patterns in VRA decisions, and what does this mean for future cases?


The goal of hyperparameter tuning (or hyperparameter optimization) is to optimize the hyperparameters to improve the performance of the machine or deep learning model. spotPython (``Sequential Parameter Optimization Toolbox in Python'') is the Python version of the well-known hyperparameter tuner SPOT, which has been developed in the R programming environment for statistical analysis for over a decade. PyTorch is an optimized tensor library for deep learning using GPUs and CPUs. This document shows how to integrate the spotPython hyperparameter tuner into the PyTorch training workflow. As an example, the results of the CIFAR10 image classifier are used. In addition to an introduction to spotPython, this tutorial also includes a brief comparison with Ray Tune, a Python library for running experiments and tuning hyperparameters. This comparison is based on the PyTorch hyperparameter tuning tutorial. The advantages and disadvantages of both approaches are discussed. We show that spotPython achieves similar or even better results while being more flexible and transparent than Ray Tune.


Understanding the roots of human cooperation, a social phenomenon embedded in pressing issues including climate change and social conflict, requires an interdisciplinary perspective. We propose a unifying value-based framework for understanding cooperation that integrates neuroeconomic models of decision-making with psychological variables involved in cooperation. We propose that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex serves as a neural integration hub for value computation during cooperative decisions, receiving inputs from various neurocognitive processes such as attention, memory, and learning. Next, we describe findings from social and personality psychology highlighting factors that shape the value of cooperation, including research on contexts and norms, personal and social identity, and intergroup relations. Our approach advances theoretical debates about cooperation by highlighting how previous findings are accommodated within a general value-based framework and offers novel predictions.


Due to GPU's improved hardware performance, many researchers have tried to utilize the GPU for computer vision, image processing, cryptography, and artificial intelligence. As results, the GPU could successfully speed up algorithms from tens to hundreds of times in many cases. However, GPU programming is still known to be difficult because of its different characteristics from the traditional CPU programming. Also, it is hard to find the root causes of software failures because the failures are irreproducible in many cases. Our goal is to simplify the process of verifying intended actions when debugging GPGPU programs. To achieve this goal, we use the visualization method of executed codes because it can increase the human's understanding through seeing and analyzing the real actions by each thread. We developed a platform that can visualize the running OpenCL codes and algorithms that can identify data race, barrier divergence, and infinite loop in the GPU. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the visualizations of OpenCL operations and detection of infinite loops in the programs. We also suggest an algorithm for detecting data race with GPU-specific lock-step execution and barrier function.


BACKGROUND
Relatively high rates of emotional and behavioural difficulties have been reported among children with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Little is known about nature of the relationship between cognitive development and psychopathology in very young children.

METHODS
Secondary analysis of data from the first two waves of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study (n = 11,389) and the first two waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n = 4,606).

RESULTS
Two- to three-year- old children with developmental delay show significantly higher rates of emotional and behavioural difficulties than their peers. These differences appear to reflect a general association between cognitive performance and emotional/behavioural difficulties in the bottom half of the ability spectrum and threshold-based discontinuities within the bottom 3% of the distribution. In the UK, but to a much lesser extent in Australia, higher rates of emotional and behavioural difficulties among children with developmental delay may be partially attributed to greater risk of exposure to adverse socio-economic circumstances.

CONCLUSIONS
The results highlight the potential value of targeted preventative interventions for young children with developmental delay.


Abstract: This essay focuses on the global terrorist and militant group the Islamic State (IS), specifically on its use of terrorism targeting the energy sector as a strategic political instrument in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in 2014–16. The essay has two main thrusts. First, it analyzes the importance that the IS attributes to energy in general and, more specifically, to the strategy of terrorist attacks targeting the energy sector. Second, the essay describes examples, goals, and motives of terrorist attacks on the energy sector and the accompanying criminal activities conducted by the IS in selected MENA countries.


Pakistan is considered as an endemic country for Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever with sporadic cases reported during the last few years especially. The disease is transmitted mainly through infected animals directly or via infested ticks. Among all medically arboviruses and originated from segmented negative stranded RNA virus belonging to the Bunyaviridae, genus Nair virus and is characterized by acute hemorrhagic fever. The objective of the study is to evaluate the basic knowledge of CCHF, attitude towards CCHF and opinion regarding transmission of CCHF in students of different professionals. The design of the study was the cross sectional. To participate in the survey we offered the students from different departments. To participate in the survey total 100 students agreed and filled the questionnaire. A self-administered questionnaire was developed. Data was analyzed carefully by SPSS version 21. In professional education higher participation from the students of pharmacy department that constitute up to 47% while the least percentage obtained from the students of BBA that is 3%. The p-value of the entire knowledge and Attitude questions is found to be highly significant statistically. It has been concluded that inadequate knowledge has been found in our students that they even did not aware from CCHF that creates an alarming and emerging issue. Further studies regarding the knowledge, attitude and perception of CCHF should be recommended in the literature especially in students.


Tunnel face support during boring operations is gaining more interest as tunneling development expands towards geo-technically less appropriate zones with heavy tra c. Good tunnel face support is a pre-requisite for successful safe boring, and evaluating optimum pressure is an important factor in the performance of the Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) machine in urban tunneling. Applying pressures lower than equilibrium results in face subsidence, while higher than equilibrium causes an uplift in ground surface, leading in either case, to operation disruption, oor subsidence and damage to nearby buildings. Optimum pressure for face support is evaluated here using analytical and numerical methods, and parameters such as soil physical and mechanical characteristics, height of over-burden, water table level, tunnel geometry, and tra c and structural loads. As the tunnel for line 7 of the Tehran subway (Eastern-Western piece) was excavated in an urban zone, in this work, the Jancsecz analytical method was used to measure the required pressure for the tunnel face support. The tunnel was bored using a 9/164m diameter ground pressure balancing machine. The nal tunnel cover was tetragonal in geometry, 35cm thick and 1.50m wide, making an outside diameter of 8.85m for the tunnel. Data obtained for this study was obtained from 13 boreholes and 5 wells excavated deliberately along the tunnel. The ow direction of underground water about the tunneling zone was found to be north-east to south-west. Considering the average water level obtained from the boreholes, only 35% of the tunnel remains above water and 65% is below water level. To illustrate water pressure uctuation, this was considered in the analytical method, but ignored in the numerical one, which employed PLAXIS3D software. When comparing the results, a pressure di erence of 20-25 kPa was noted, indicating acceptable conformance of the data.


The archaeology of our built heritage is centred on the understanding of human experiences, rituals and social history that add meaningful narratives to physical fabric, structures and artefacts. The meaning of the building in the collective memory is intrinsically attached to the process by which it was produced and the manner with which it endured a series of critical socio-cultural change. Whilst we cannot live in the past, engaging with historic buildings or walking through traditional urban fabric and alleyways becomes an essential asset of the contemporary urban experience. This paper interrogates the dilemmas of authenticity, originality and legitimacy of the preservation of architectural and urban heritage through digital and virtual technologies. It addresses examples of historic buildings that have changed character, functions or got destroyed during times of wars and conflict. With advanced techniques of recording historic buildings through digital and virtual environments taking a leading role in modern preservation, integrating architectural heritage into the creative economy and income generating activities is critical to their survival in the digital age.


For a Western world anxious to understand Islam and, in particular, Shi'ism, this book arrives with urgently needed information and critical analysis. Hamid Dabashi exposes the soul of Shi'ism as a religion of protest - successful only when in a warring position, and losing its legitimacy when in power. Dabashi makes his case through a detailed discussion of the Shi'i doctrinal foundations, a panoramic view of its historical unfolding, a varied investigation into its visual and performing arts, and finally a focus on the three major sites of its contemporary contestations: Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. In these states, Shi'ism seems to have ceased to be a sect within the larger context of Islam and has instead emerged to claim global political attention. Here we see Shi'ism in its combative mode - reminiscent of its traumatic birth in early Islamic history. Hezbollah in Lebanon claims Shi'ism, as do the militant insurgents in Iraq, the ruling Ayatollahs in Iran, and the masses of youthful demonstrators rebelling against their reign. All declare their active loyalties to a religion of protest that has defined them and their ancestry for almost fourteen hundred years. "Shi'sm: A Religion of Protest" attends to the explosive conflicts in the Middle East with an abiding attention to historical facts, cultural forces, religious convictions, literary and artistic nuances, and metaphysical details. This timely book offers readers a bravely intelligent history of a world religion.


Contemporary psychology is currently growing very fast. A number of conceptual and theoretical formulations on human is created. This has led to a prediction that concept of human will be the leading topic in psychological studies. Human is an interesting and debatable topic of discussion, and therefore there is a specific field of psychology called the psychology of personality. The formulation of personality theories is part of human's endeavors to reveal
mysteries exist within themselves. In term of Islamic psychology, it should be admitted that fast - growing western theories of psychology has made Muslim sychologists unaware. Western thought is extensively adopted without any rigorous analysis. Referring to the discourse of Islamization of science introduced by Ismail Raji' al-Faruqi, this research is aimed at conducting a Comparison of Freud's and Ghazali's concept of human personality. The selection of these psychologists is based on the fact that they are central figure in contemporary psychology as well as Islamic psychology.
This research is qualitative using a library research approach. According to its level, this research can be categorized as inferential research by describing the situation that will be deeply analyzed. In addition to explanation, this research is also a comparison of Freud's and Ghazali's concept on human personality.
This research concluded that there are similarities as well as differences between Freud's and Ghazali's concept of personality. The obvious similarities can be revealed on physical aspects of human being, while striking differences can be clearly seen from spiritual aspect which never
been dealt with by Freud. These differences have impacted on the concept of personality patterns offered by both psychologists.


The last 20 years have seen a resurgence in systematic studies of parrots (Aves: Psittaciformes). Principally but not solely molecular in nature, this body of work has addressed the circumscription of higher level groupings within the Psittaciformes and relationships among them. Stability has now emerged on many formerly contentious matters at these levels. Accordingly, we consider it appropriate to underpin further work on parrot biology with a freshly revised classification at the taxonomic ranks spanned by family-group nomenclature, i.e., between superfamily and tribe. In light of the body of recent work, we advocate a framework of three superfamilies among parrots (Strigopoidea, Cacatuoidea and Psittacoidea) within which Linnaean taxonomy can accommodate present phylogenetic understanding by employing groupings at the ranks of family, subfamily and tribe. Just as importantly, we have addressed numerous issues of nomenclature towards stabilising the family-group names of parrots. We erect two new subfamily names, Coracopseinae Joseph, Toon, Schirtzinger, Wright & Schodde, subfam. nov. and Psittacellinae Joseph, Toon, Schirtzinger, Wright & Schodde, subfam. nov. We stress that rankings we have applied reflect the state of understanding of parrot phylogeny and how it can be summarized in a Linnaean system; comparisons with rankings in other groups are likely not appropriate nor relevant.


We provide an experimental study of the role of syntactic parsing in semantic role labeling. Our conclusions demonstrate that syntactic parse information is clearly most relevant in the very first stage - the pruning stage. In addition, the quality of the pruning stage cannot be determined solely based on its recall and precision. Instead it depends on the characteristics of the output candidates that make downstream problems easier or harder. Motivated by this observation, we suggest an effective and simple approach of combining different semantic role labeling systems through joint inference, which significantly improves the performance.


These 500 tables are more than just practical places to place a coffee cup or notepad; they're inspired works of art. Esteemed juror Andrew Glasgow has selected a wide array of styles and forms, from pieces that showcase masterful woodwork to ones that feature alternative materials and aesthetic sensibilities. The striking examples include Gord Peteran's end table fashioned from swirling red electrical wire, Boris Bally's small square transit table made of recycled aluminium traffic signs and Stephen Whittlesey's 'Eddy', which uses driftwood, salvaged oak and chestnut. More than 300 artists are featured and every work offers readers stunning craftsmanship, constant surprise and beauty.


Herein, we present a small and versatile optode system with integrated battery and logger for monitoring of O2, pH, and pCO2 in seawater. Three sensing materials designed for seawater measurements are optimized with respect to dynamic measurement range and long‐term stability. The spectral properties of the sensing materials were tailored to be compatible with a commercially available laboratory oxygen logger that was fitted into a pressure housing. Interchangeable sensor caps with appropriate "sensing chemistry" are conveniently attached to the end of the optical fiber. This approach allows using the same instrument for multiple analytes, which offers great flexibility and minimizes hardware costs. Applications of the new optode system were demonstrated by recording depth profiles for the three parameters during a research cruise in the Baltic Sea and by measuring surface water transects of pH. The optode was furthermore used to monitor the concentration of dissolved oxygen in a seagrass meadow in the Limfjord, Denmark, and sensor packages consisting of pO2, pH, and pCO2 were deployed in the harbors of Kiel, Germany, and Southampton, England, for 6 d. The measurements revealed that the system can resolve typical patterns in seawater chemistry related to spatial heterogeneities as well as temporal changes caused by biological and tidal activity.


Ab initio restricted Hartree Fock and density functional theory (DFT), as well as semiempirical Austin model 1 and parametrization method 3 molecular orbital calculations were carried out for a range of chlorinated dioxin molecules to obtain molecular descriptors such as HOMO–LUMO gaps (HOMO = highest occupied molecular orbital, LUMO = lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) and partial atomic charges. The HOMO–LUMO gap is an indicator of stability in a molecule: the larger the gap the greater the stability of the molecule toward further reaction. These calculations indicate that with increasing extent of chlorination, the gap decreases. The observed charge pattern shows that carbon atoms in the peri (1,4,6,9) ring positions have a partial negative charge while those in the lateral (2,3,7,8) position have a partial positive or small partial negative charge. The descriptors, from the more precise DFT method, were used to rationalize experimental observations of dechlorination of dioxins. Reductive dechlorination pathways from two different experimental studies were examined using partial charges and estimated Gibbs free energy of dechlorination. In both experimental studies, highly thermodynamically favorable and less thermodynamically favorable pathways were observed. For a given chlorinated dioxin, when more than one degradation pathway was possible, dechlorination in the most thermodynamically favored pathway occurred at the most positively charged carbon atom in the ring, which was usually a lateral carbon atom. These results are discussed in light of a possible mechanism for reductive dechlorination.


In the last decade, creating and sharing videos online has become a mainstream movement and has led to some creators generating one personal video per day, also called daily vlogging. Although robust solutions exist to suggest photographs based on aesthetic criteria, the rising number of online videos created and watched means that such recommendation systems are required more than ever for videos. The main purpose of this paper is to transfer the skill of computational aesthetic classification of photographs to videos while developing new ways of investigating video creation. Using a dataset of photographs rated on aesthetic criteria by an internet community and recently developed feature extraction algorithms, the computational aesthetic classifier is capable of state-of-the-art photograph classification depending on aesthetic preferences learnt from people's ratings. On a test set of YouTube videos, the same system then displays satisfying aesthetic classification results that consist of an attempt to match the provided human aesthetic quality ratings. Achieving a transfer of skill from photograph to video classification, the computational classifier is used to analyze the evolution of aesthetics in feature films; this highlighted the aesthetic classifier's visual preferences and caused some interesting patterns to emerge that were related to filmmakers' decisions. Aesthetic classification makes it possible to observe the evolution of aesthetics over the careers of daily content creators thanks to their abundant and regular online video content. It can aid the investigation into the impact of aesthetics on the popularity of online videos using the available metadata about the internet audience's appreciation. This can also provide a new tool for video content creators to assess their work and assist them in the production of content of higher aesthetic quality.


Methotrexate, an antifolate drug widely used in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and cancer, is known to cause vascular endothelial dysfunction by causing hyperhomocysteinemia, direct injury to endothelium or by increasing the oxidative stress (raising levels of 7,8-dihydrobiopterin). Curcumin is a naturally occurring polyphenol with strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action and therapeutic spectra similar to that of methotrexate. This study was performed to evaluate the effects of curcumin on methotrexate induced vascular endothelial dysfunction and also compare its effect with that produced by folic acid (0.072 μg·g(-1)·day(-1), p.o., 2 weeks) per se and in combination. Male Wistar rats were exposed to methotrexate (0.35 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1), i.p.) for 2 weeks to induce endothelial dysfunction. Methotrexate exposure led to shedding of endothelium, decreased vascular reactivity, increased oxidative stress, decreased serum nitrite levels, and increase in aortic collagen deposition. Curcumin (200 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1) and 400 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1), p.o.) for 4 weeks prevented the increase in oxidative stress, decrease in serum nitrite, aortic collagen deposition, and also vascular reactivity. The effects were comparable with those produced by folic acid therapy. The study shows that curcumin, when concomitantly administered with methotrexate, abrogated its vascular side effects by preventing an increase in oxidative stress and abating any reduction in physiological nitric oxide levels.


Compared to other aspects of agenda control, the organisation of legislative calendars has received scarce scholarly attention. However, setting the floor timetable affects parliament's decisions and may therefore become crucial for understanding the policy-making process better. This article examines the allocation of speaking time for plenary debates on bills by combining an interparty perspective with a focus on the agenda-setting powers of collective directing bodies in the parliament. It shows that, due to time pressures, parties have to make explicit trade-offs among bill proposals. Using an original dataset including information about 472 bill proposals scheduled for floor debates in three Italian legislative terms in the period 2001–13, the article provides evidence that parties agree to schedule longer debates for divisive and salient issues, while they decide to move more quickly on less divisive proposals.


This work examines the predictive power of public data by aggregating information from multiple online sources. Our sources include microblogging sites like Twitter, online message boards like Yahoo! Finance, and traditional news articles. The subject of prediction are daily stock price movements from Standard & Poor's 500 index (S&P 500) during a period from June 2011 to November 2011. To forecast price movements we filter messages by stocks, apply state-of-the-art sentiment analysis to message texts, and aggregate message sentiments to generate trading signals for daily buy and sell decisions. We evaluate prediction quality through a simple trading model considering real-world limitations like transaction costs or broker commission fees. Considering 833 virtual trades, our model outperformed the S&P 500 and achieved a positive return on investment of up to ~0.49% per trade or ~0.24% when adjusted by market, depending on supposed trading costs.


Dominic Lieven, ed. Imperial Russia, 1689-1917. Volume 2 of Cambridge History of Russia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. xxvii, 765 pp. Plates. Maps. Chronology. Bibliography. Index. $217.95, clothCambridge Histories have a distinguished lineage extending back over a century, in many ways defining the state of various fields of historical knowledge and interpretation since Lord Acton planned the monumental first Cambridge Modern History at the end of the nineteenth century. The present collection of essays is the middle volume of three on Russia's history from early Rus' to the end of the twentieth century, giving Russia far more sustained attention than in any previous Cambridge History, and in a remarkably wideranging and variegated way. Briefly recalling Acton's original conception may be relevant here. It is rather a convention when writing about edited collections for reviewers to comment on a volume's coherence or, most often, lack thereof. Serious questions of methodology in history can be at stake. When Acton was planning the first Cambridge Modern History in the late 1890s, he insisted that his goal was a definitive and unified "ultimate history," realizable "now that all information is within reach and every problem has become capable of solution" (see E. H. Carr's discussion in What Is History?). It did not take long for this empirical and interpretive optimism to collapse. By the time the second edition of the Cambridge Modem History appeared in the 1950s, the new editors acknowledged that the search for a complete and accurate vision of the past, in which all the connections are knowable, was a myth. Most historians today-even those who would never consider themselves "postmodern"-eschew Acton's positivist hubris in thinking that we can construct a unified and final historical account of our topics. In this spirit, the editor of the volume under review, Dominic Lieven, makes no bones about not trying to create a single coherent narrative. "Comprehensiveness" in recognizing the complexity and "diversity" of the historical past is more important than "coherence," he advises at the outset (p. 2). Indeed, with nearly 700 pages of text and contributions by thirty different authors, the volume is quite varied in its concerns, methodologies, and interpretations of the Russian past (though there are some important emphases and leitmotifs, a subject I will return to).Lieven concedes that only the rare "martyr" will read this book from cover to cover (p. 4). Book reviewers, of course, are one such category of necessary martyr. This toil is not without its rewards, however; the volume contains a number of exceptionally good contributions. But, as lieven implies, the book is designed as a reference. Students studying for examinations, for example (including doctoral students preparing for comprehensive exams), will find these articles to be excellent syntheses of a large scholarly literature. Teachers may find it worthwhile to assign students selected chapters (though the high cost of the book makes it impossible to use as a textbook). Scholars or students needing reliable, up-to-date, and compact coverage of key topics in imperial Russian history, ranging from literature and art to diplomacy and the military, will find quite useful articles in these pages. And the bibliography, organized around major topics, enhances this work as a starting point for further reading. Some of the excellent maps from Martin Gilbert's Routledge Atlas of Russian History are also included, as well as two dozen pictures, mostly formal portraits of important individuals but also a number of prerevolutionary tourist postcards.The volume is organized topically rather than by chronological period or ruler, which enhances the book's value as a reference work and its potential for interpretive and analytic depth. The scholars lieven has chosen to contribute chapters include many of the most widely recognized authorities on particular topics and eras, though also some less canonical choices (sometimes felicitous, sometimes not). …


The clinical management of cerebellar ataxia is challenging, mainly because ataxia is a symptom of many neurological diseases. Many types of ataxia disorders are genetic and some are extremely rare. Here, the authors suggest a diagnostic approach to ataxia developed around a case of sporadic, late-onset, slowly progressive ataxia. Clinical information such as age of onset, rate of progression, family history and certain non-cerebellar features can narrow the differential diagnosis. Brain MRI is almost obligatory and may reveal valuable diagnostic clues. Having ruled out structural lesions, the two other most common diagnoses are inflammatory and degenerative (including genetic) disorders. Although only a minority of underlying diseases are treatable, there are still many options for supportive care.


An enhancing Coleman-Hodgdon model is introduced to describe the hysteresis curves of the bimorph deformable mirror (DM). Hysteresis curves are measured from a bimorph DM and then experiment is set up for the correction of hysteresis. Finally, step response and transfer functions of a curvature adaptive optics (AO) system are compared in three cases: with DM hysteresis, without hysteresis, and with hysteresis but corrected. Simulation results show that the bandwidth of a curvature AO system is improved significantly under different loop gains after hysteresis of the DM is corrected.


Jack-up units have considerable economic significance because they are used to carry out a large proportion of the world's oil and gas exploration in water depths less than 90.0m. Due to the increase in use of jack-ups in harsher environments, analysis techniques assuming quasi-static and linear structural behaviour have had to be reassessed. This thesis is concerned with non-linear dynamic analysis methods appropriate for a jack-up assessment. Jack-up modelling requires realistic representation of the structure, the foundations and the environmental loading, together with the implementation of appropriate dynamic analysis algorithms. Techniques for each of these aspects of jack-up analysis are reviewed and the implementation of several of the methods in an advanced plane frame analysis program called JAKUP is described. Geometric non-linearity in the structure and work hardening plasticity at the foundations are accounted for in the program. Test cases are presented to verify the implementation of the methods and then some illustrative plane frame quasi-static and dynamic analyses are described. These simple models highlight the importance of accounting for dynamic motions in a jack-up analysis. For the quasi-static analyses, the assumption of pinned footing behaviour is seen to always result in the most conservative displacement and moment predictions. However, the analyses show that this is not always the case when dynamic amplification is accounted for.


Feminist HCI has made a profound impact on perceptions of women's health, emancipation through design, as well as gender identity, inclusion, and diversity. However, there is a distinct lack of connection between these disparate but inherently connected research spaces. This SIG meeting aims to bring scholars together to discuss emerging and evolving issues of feminist research, and finding ways of using feminist theory and practice as a tool in future HCI research. Ultimately, the SIG will facilitate the engagement of a community of feminist HCI researchers, designers, and practitioners. It brings together those who may feel isolated in their respective research groups or universities to create a platform for feminist thought within SIGCHI and facilitate collaboration to proactively move towards the mainstreaming of feminism in HCI.


Necessity about information that obtained from media more and more be recognized by society.
By media, we can get every information type, from information about political world, economic and business, social culture, knowledge and technology, health or sport. Thus, communication in organization represent one of requirement that to be fulfilled, so the objective can be achieved appropriate by organization expected. Communication activity include communication activity
with internal public or external public. The execution of organization communication able to be conducted direct or indirectly (by media). In communication by media can use electronic media that represent one of internal media of company namely using audio media like broadcast of
internal radio. Which is communication by media is very needed in a company to fluently of process and result of employee performance. From that phenomenon, researcher interest to research deeply about how response of employee about Daily Paging System (DPS) as communication medium of management with employee (Descriptive study in PT. Otsuka
Indonesia Lawang).
Whereas basic theory was used in these research was by using PR theories that to be related to theory about stimulus (about presence of media and it message) and resulting response (response from employee to stimulus).
Research method that to be used was survey method. And research type was used in these research was descriptive by qualitative approach, The key informant of these research was Co External Relations and also Daily Manager of Broadcast Program of DPS whereas research subject in these research were all employee of PT. Otsuka Indonesia Lawang that receive DPS broadcast directly. And the election of informant or research subject was conducted by purposive
sampling technique. Data analysis technique that to be used in these research was qualitative descriptive analysis because it data processing was simple and able to understood as clear appropriate with obtained data.
Result analysis of this research indicated that response of employee to DPS as communication medium of management to be seen from attention level, comprehension, assessment and message effect that to be broadcasted through DPS to employee PT. Otsuka Indonesia Lawang has given important role in development knowledge and insight of employee, because from announcer, broadcast time, presentation of information to be interest created, delivering various information and not monotonous, almost all of contains appropriate with necessity and need from responder.Until at effect appeared after consuming information from DPS from cognitive effect that able to give explanation to employee about company policy that was it willingness in receive and
consume information that to be served from DPS media, and appearing behavioral effect that was after receiving and consuming that information able to change attitude of employee become more diligent and active to work, more discipline and responsible in conduct duty and obligation
during working.
From result of discussion, hence able to took conclusion that response of employee to Daily Paging System as communication medium of management with employee in PT. Otsuka Indonesia Lawang has important role. Because of it function as medium information useful for give motivation to employee and also adding their insight and knowledge, as entertainment when they were working, so that able to increase creativity and productivity of work from employee.
Base on conclusion above, hence it is expected message delivery through Daily Paging System keep paying attention for advance of employee performance in the form of presentation or message delivery.


Unhandled exceptions crash programs, so a compile-time check that exceptions are handled should in principle make software more reliable. But designers of some recent languages have argued that the benefits of statically checked exceptions are not worth the costs. We introduce a new statically checked exception mechanism that addresses the problems with existing checked-exception mechanisms. In particular, it interacts well with higher-order functions and other design patterns. The key insight is that whether an exception should be treated as a "checked" exception is not a property of its type but rather of the context in which the exception propagates. Statically checked exceptions can "tunnel" through code that is oblivious to their presence, but the type system nevertheless checks that these exceptions are handled. Further, exceptions can be tunneled without being accidentally caught, by expanding the space of exception identifiers to identify the exception-handling context. The resulting mechanism is expressive and syntactically light, and can be implemented efficiently. We demonstrate the expressiveness of the mechanism using significant codebases and evaluate its performance. We have implemented this new exception mechanism as part of the new Genus programming language, but the mechanism could equally well be applied to other programming languages.


The water flow-like algorithm (WFA) is a relatively new metaheuristic algorithm, which has shown good solution for the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) and is comparable to state of the art results. There are various factor influence the performance of WFA for TSP.  However, initial solution has also influence the performance of the algorithm.  The basic of WFA uses a random searching method for initialization technique. Previous WFA-TSP used Nearest Neighbor for initial solution. Therefore this paper presents the performance of use Simulated Annealing in initial solution for WFA-TSP. The algorithms are evaluated using 16 benchmarks TSP datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed SA-WFA-TSP outperforms due to its capacity of reduce computing time compared with others algorithms especially for large dataset. Therefore, it can be concluded that SA-WFA-TSP has become the state of the art algorithm for TSP. Keywords: Nature-inspired Metaheuristics, Water Flow Liked Algorithm, Simulated Annealing Algorithm, Combinatorial Optimization, Traveling Salesman Problem JEL Classifications: C22, C61


SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S) is associated with the entry of virus inside the host cell by recruiting its loop dominant receptor binding domain (RBD) and interacting with the host ACE2 receptor. Our study deploying a two-tier approach encompassing evolutionary and structural analysis provides a comprehensive picture of the RBD, which could be of potential use for better understanding the RBD and address its druggability issues. Resorting to an ensemble of sequence space exploratory tools including co-evolutionary analysis and deep mutational scans we provide a quantitative insight into the evolutionarily constrained subspace of the RBD sequence space. Guided by structure network analysis and Monte Carlo simulation we highlight regions inside the RBD, which are critical for providing structural integrity and conformational flexibility of the binding cleft. We further deployed fuzzy C-means clustering by plugging the evolutionary and structural features of discrete structure blocks of RBD to understand which structure blocks share maximum overlap based on their evolutionary and structural features. Deploying this multi-tier interlinked approach, which essentially distilled the evolutionary and structural features of RBD, we highlight discrete region, which could be a potential druggable pocket thereby destabilizing the structure and addressing evolutionary routes.


Observations suggest that the earth's surface has been warming relative to the troposphere for the last 25 years; this is not only difficult to explain but also contrary to the results of climate models. We provide new evidence that the disparity is real. Introducing an additional data set, R2 2‐meter temperatures, a diagnostic variable related to tropospheric temperature profiles, we find trends derived from it to be in close agreement with satellite measurements of tropospheric temperature. This suggests that the disparity likely is a result of near‐surface processes. We find that the disparity does not occur uniformly across the globe, but is primarily confined to tropical regions which are primarily oceanic. Since the ocean measurements are sea surface temperatures, we suggest that the disparity is probably associated with processes at the ocean‐atmosphere interface. Our study thus makes unlikely some of the explanations advanced to account for the disparity; it also demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between land, sea and air measurements.


Objective: To investigate the long-term effects of the daily consumption of isoenergetic quantities of fresh banana, banana juice or water, as snacks, on energy intake and body weight in healthy women. Material-methods: Thirty-three pre-menopausal women aged 19–50 years old, having Body Mass Index between 24–30 kg/m2, were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: "Banana", "Juice" and "Water". Volunteers were asked to consume on a daily basis for two months, 30 min before lunch and dinner, 120 g of fresh banana or 170 mL of banana juice or 170mL of water, respectively. Body weight and dietary intake were evaluated at baseline and at the end of the study. At the end of the study, self-reported changes in their appetite-related feelings, compared to the pre-intervention state, were also recorded. Results: Body weight ("Banana Group": 74,7±11,4 and 75,2±11,4 kg, "Juice Group": 68,9±7,7 and 69,5±7,4 kg, "Water Group" 73,8±6,9 and 74,3±7,4 kg, at preand post-intervention respectively, P=0,979) or energy intake values were not significantly different at the end of the intervention, compared to the pre-intervention levels, in any of the three groups; furthermore, no significant intervention effect was found for these outcomes. Participants in the "Banana Group" reported greater reduction in the feeling of hunger (P=0,052) and a greater increase in the feeling of fullness (P=0,028), compared to those in the "Juice Group". Conclusions: Daily consumption of banana and banana juice does not lead to an increase in body weight, finding suggesting that adequate energy compensation takes place. 54 Γ. Κοκκινάκη και συν


Smart phones are widely used in our daily life on which there are much personal and sensitive information. To prevent information disclosure and to strengthen the authentication security for smartphones, implicit methods for authentication attract people's attention. Implicit authentication (IA) can continuously authenticate users by profiling their behavior using the variety of sensors prevalent. IA requires no explicit user action, which is much more user-friendly. In this paper, we focus on characteristic distribution probability evaluation for key-stroke dynamics and propose an authentication method based on Jensen-Shannon divergence(JS-divergence). Two phases, training phase and authentication phase, are used to identify the true user in our method. For authentication phase, the set of behavioral characteristics is preprocessed as the behavior characteristic distribution probability vector(BCDPV) to obtain the JS-divergence between two sets of behavioral characteristics. For training phase, a novel update strategy for training set based on sliding window is proposed, which can overcome the difficulties of retraining. The security of this method is estimated by False Rejection Rate (FRR), False Acceptance Rate (FAR) and Equal Error Rate(ERR). The result shows that the size of the training set (i.e. the size of the sliding window) is not the bigger the better and 5 for the best results. It also shows that our method based on JS divergence works better than that based on other measurement methods such as the cosine, chebyshev and correlation Euclidean.


Originally published in 1971, Merle Miller's On Being Different is a pioneering and thought-provoking book about being homosexual in the United States. Just two years after the Stonewall riots, Miller wrote a poignant essay for the New York Times Magazine entitled "What It Means To Be a Homosexual" in response to a homophobic article published in Harper's Magazine. Described as "the most widely read and discussed essay of the decade," the article was developed into the remarkable short book On Being Different - one of the earliest memoirs to affirm the importance of coming out. Merle Miller (1919-1986) was an editor at Harper's Magazine, Time and The Nation and was the bestselling author of several books, including the novel A Gay and Melancholy Sound and Plain Speaking, a biography of Harry S Truman. Dan Savage is the internationally syndicated columnist of 'Savage Love' and the author of several books. Charles Kaiser is an author, journalist and blogger. His books include 1968 in America and The Gay Metropolis.


The human hand comprises complex sensorimotor functions that can be impaired by neurological diseases and traumatic injuries. Effective rehabilitation can bring the impaired hand back to a functional state because of the plasticity of the central nervous system to relearn and remodel the lost synapses in the brain. Current rehabilitation therapies focus on strengthening motor skills, such as grasping, employ multiple objects of varying stiffness so that affected persons can experience a wide range of strength training. These devices have limited range of stiffness due to the rigid mechanisms employed in their variable stiffness actuators. This paper presents a novel soft robotic haptic device for neuromuscular rehabilitation of the hand, which is designed to offer adjustable stiffness and can be utilized in both clinical and home settings. The device eliminates the need for multiple objects by employing a pneumatic soft structure made with highly compliant materials that act as the actuator of the haptic interface. It is made with interchangeable sleeves that can be customized to include materials of varying stiffness to increase the upper limit of the stiffness range. The device is fabricated using existing 3-D printing technologies, and polymer molding and casting techniques thus keeping the cost low and throughput high. The haptic interface is linked to either an open-loop system that allows for an increased pressure during usage or closed-loop system that provides pressure regulation in accordance to the stiffness the user specifies. Preliminary evaluation is performed to characterize the effective controllable region of variance in stiffness. It was found that the region of controllable stiffness was between points 3 and 7, where the stiffness appeared to plateau with each increase in pressure. The two control systems are tested to derive relationships between internal pressure, grasping force exertion on the surface, and displacement using multiple probing points on the haptic device. Additional quantitative evaluation is performed with study participants and juxtaposed to a qualitative analysis to ensure adequate perception in compliance variance. The qualitative evaluation showed that greater than 60% of the trials resulted in the correct perception of stiffness in the haptic device.


For the better part of the past decade, the world economy has been dominated by a world economic order that combined Chinese export-led development with US over-consumption. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 likely marks the beginning of the end of the Chimerican relationship. In this paper we look at this era as economic historians, trying to set events in a longer-term perspective. In some ways China's economic model in the decade 1998-2007 was similar to the one adopted by West Germany and Japan after World War II. Trade surpluses with the U.S. played a major role in propelling growth. But there were two key differences. First, the scale of Chinese currency intervention was without precedent, as were the resulting distortions of the world economy. Second, the Chinese have so far resisted the kind of currency appreciation to which West Germany and Japan consented. We conclude that Chimerica cannot persist for much longer in its present form. As in the 1970s, sizeable changes in exchange rates are needed to rebalance the world economy. A continuation of Chimerica at a time of dollar devaluation would give rise to new and dangerous distortions in the global economy.


Teel, Leonard Ray. Ralph Emerson McGill: Voice of the Southern Conscience. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2001. 576 pp. $24.95. Ralph McGill, the Atlanta Constitution editor who stood for civil rights when it was unpopular and dangerous, now seems more symbol than flesh and blood. This biography, which took fourteen years to write, suggests reality was more complex. McGill, who died in 1969 at seventy, spent decades trying to move the South toward the rebirth envisioned in the 1880s by Constitution editor Henry Grady. He made his case carefully, always conscious that he would lose his readers if he got too far ahead of them. For example, he at first argued for Southerners to live up to the promise of separate but equal by increasing funding for African-American schools. After Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, McGill applied a bedrock principle-laws must be obeyed-to argue for integrated schools. He pointed out that closing schools to resist integration would deny white children an education. McGill also politicked behind the scenes. In 1942, he was a key political advisor to Ellis Arnell, a young progressive who defeated Georgia's segregationist governor, Eugene Talmadge. McGill had publicly criticized Talmadge for years. The book's most stunning revelation is McGill's secret relationship with J. Edgar Hoover. In 1955, Hoover named McGill a trusted cooperative for the special agent in charge in Atlanta. McGill would monitor "news and editorial content" published or broadcast by Cox enterprises, the owner of the Constitution, for negative material about the FBI. This relationship, which had begun in the 1940s, protected McGill from otherwise ruinous accusations that his support for civil rights made him a Communist. However, McGill's political and law enforcement activities demand more explanation than the book provides. His relationship with the FBI is particularly troubling given Hoover's hostility to civil rights. The lack of interpretation is also apparent when confronting the central question in McGill's life-what made him different from many other Southerners who did not oppose segregation? There are hints. He was haunted by Nazi appeals to hatred that he witnessed during a 1938 trip to Europe. He returned home to crusade for expanded civil liberties in America and for extending free speech around the world. But Leonard Teel, a communications professor at Georgia State University, says little about why McGill could step outside Southern culture and make connections challenging that culture's norms. …


The need for integration of all types of client and server applications that were not initially designed to interoperate is gaining popularity. One of the reasons for this popularity is the capability to quickly reconfigure a composite application for a task at hand, both by changing the set of components and the way they are interconnected. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) has recently become a popular platform in the IT industry for building such composite applications with the integrated components being provided as Web services. A key limitation of solely Web-service-based integration is that it requires extra programming efforts when integrating non-Web service components, which is not cost-effective. Moreover, with the emergence of new standards, such as Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGi), the components used in composite applications have grown to include more than just Web services. Our work enables progressive composition of non-Web-service-based components such as portlets, Web applications, native widgets, legacy systems, and Java Beans. Further, we proposed a novel application of semantic annotation together with the standard semantic Web matching algorithm for finding sets of functionally equivalent components out of a large set of available non-Web-service-based components. Once such a set is identified, the user can drag and drop the most suitable component into an Eclipse-based composition canvas. After a set of components has been selected in such a way, they can be connected by data-flow arcs, thus forming an integrated, composite application without any low-level programming and integration efforts. We implemented and conducted extensive experimental study on the above progressive composition framework on IBM's Lotus Expeditor, an extension of an SOA platform called the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP) that complies with the OSGi standard.


In research on news exposure and public opinion, media credibility is typically examined as the dependent variable and is rarely considered an independent variable of interest. We move the understanding of media credibility forward by examining its role in attenuating the effects of media exposure on public opinion and how individual differences may moderate the linkage between exposure and credibility. Testing our model of opinion formation in the competitive media landscape of Lebanon, our findings suggest that credibility evaluations of competing news sources mediate the relationship between news exposure and opinion formation. Religious group identity also acts as an inconsistent moderator of the link between media exposure and credibility. Theoretical implications for opinion formation and public diplomacy are discussed.


This article introduces the Special Issue Mobile Elites: Sojourners, Dwellers and Homecomers, in which five articles look into the hidden frictions and social and emotional costs involved in privileged forms of mobility. Such existentially oriented aspects of globalization are still relatively underresearched. It is argued that cultural studies hold a responsibility to carry out ethnographically oriented analyses of mobile elite groups in order to unveil the complexities of life trajectories commonly associated with social as well as economic success. The article outlines an epistemological platform for carrying out such analyses, combining the new mobilities paradigm with social field theory and social phenomenology. Based on the empirical analyses presented in the Special Issue, the article also introduces three 'registers of ambiguity and negotiation': ambiguities of moral geographies, ambiguities of re-embedding and ambiguities of flow-architectures.


International flows of personal information are more significant than ever, but differences in transatlantic data privacy law imperil this data trade. The resulting policy debate has led the EU to set strict limits on transfers of personal data to any non-EU country—including the United States—that lacks sufficient privacy protections. Bridging the transatlantic data divide is therefore a matter of the greatest significance.
In exploring this issue, this Article analyzes the respective legal identities constructed around data privacy in the EU and the United States. It identifies profound differences in the two systems' images of the individual as bearer of legal interests. The EU has created a privacy culture around "rights talk" that protects its "data subjects." In the EU, moreover, rights talk forms a critical part of the postwar European project of creating the identity of a European citizen. In the United States, in contrast, the focus is on a "marketplace discourse" about personal information and the safeguarding of "privacy consumers." In the United States, data privacy law focuses on protecting consumers in a data marketplace.
This Article uses its models of rights talk and marketplace discourse to analyze how the EU and United States protect their respective data subjects and privacy consumers. Although the differences are great, there is still a path forward. A new set of institutions and processes can play a central role in developing mutually acceptable standards of data privacy. The key documents in this regard are the General Data Protection Regulation, an EU-wide standard that becomes binding in 2018, and the Privacy Shield, an EU–U.S. treaty signed in 2016. These legal standards require regular interactions between the EU and United States and create numerous points for harmonization, coordination, and cooperation. The GDPR and Privacy Shield also establish new kinds of governmental networks to resolve conflicts. The future of international data privacy law rests on the development of new understandings of privacy within these innovative structures.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the indications for, complications of, and surgical outcomes of dogs and cats that were treated with double limb amputations.

ANIMALS
14 dogs and 4 cats that underwent double limb amputations.

PROCEDURES
Data collected retrospectively included patient-specific (species, age, weight, breed, sex, existing comorbidities) and amputation-specific (indication for amputation, full or partial limb amputation, associated complications, need for revision surgeries) variables. Owner satisfaction scores were also collected.

RESULTS
The most common indication for double amputations was trauma (12/18) patients. Eleven patients had both amputations performed simultaneously. Nine patients had double partial limb amputations versus full limb amputations. Twelve patients underwent bilateral pelvic limb amputations, 4 underwent bilateral thoracic limb amputations, and 2 had 1 pelvic and 1 contralateral thoracic limb amputated. Five patients had reported complications over the course of the follow-up period, and complications for 3 patients were considered major. Revision surgery was reported for 2 animals. Owner satisfaction scores were reported as very satisfied/excellent (14/18), mildly satisfied (3/18), and strongly dissatisfied (1/18). Median time to follow-up was 450 days (range, 85 to 4,380 days).

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Double limb amputation may be a viable alternative to advanced limb-sparing procedures or humane euthanasia based on the owner satisfaction data and the relatively low rate of major complications in this study. Future studies should clarify patient selection criteria and differences in function between surgical types.


We study motives for and impacts of management discretion in inventory valuation. The semiconductor industry, with continual output price declines and rapid product obsolescence, provides an ideal setting to examine managers' inventory write-down and production decisions. In this context, we develop a measure of 'excess inventory' and find that inventory write-downs are strongly correlated with this measure. We also find that inventory write-downs are timed strategically in periods of poor performance consistent with 'big bath' incentives. We construct a proxy for abnormal write-downs, and find that it is positively associated with subsequent operating performance, and negatively associated with future write-downs. Neither analysts, nor investors appear to fully appreciate the predictable implications of abnormal write-downs for subsequent operating performance.


The development of an operating system that is a central component of a fault-tolerant multiprocessor is described. The operating system, while relatively simple and small, supports multitasking and multiprocessing, as well as both self-diagnostics and cross-diagnostics for fault detection. In the event of a fault, the system permits rapid reconfiguration in a manner that retains processing for the highest-priority tasks. Since the hardware needed to provide fault tolerance is available when there are no faults, the operating system can utilize this excess capacity to accomplish lower-priority tasks during normal operation. This approach yields graceful degradation in response to faults in the system components.<<ETX>>


The main source of HIV infection in young children is of their mothers, during pregnancy, labor and delivery, or by breastfeeding. The rate of HIV transmission from infected mothers to their newborn children varies from 15% to 40% with one-thirds of these infections was through breastfeeding. This paper examines cross-sectional population-based survey data of HIV test results among mothers and their children in Uganda, Swaziland to estimates of mother-to- child transmission (MTCT) rate of HIV infection. The prevalence of HIV among women aged 15 - 49 who gave birth in the past 5 years in Uganda is 7.3%, and in Swaziland is 37.9%. The HIV prevalence of children who mothers were HIV positive were very similar: 10.3% in Uganda and 11.5% in Swaziland. This association represents the crude rate of MTCT in these two countries at the time of the survey. Presence of HIV antibody in early age (0 - 11 months) is due to both true infection and passive antibody from mothers. The seroconversion dropped nearly half in the second year of age which was likely that many of these children died before reaching the age of 12 - 23 months and passive antibody were gradually cleared at this point. This analysis demonstrated that cross-sectional data can be used to estimate indirectly the magnitude and dynamic of MTCT.


Tests were made to fill partly the need for information on the effect of afterbody dimensions on the hydrodynamic stability of a flying boat in smooth water. The dimensions investigated were depth of step, angle of afterbody keel, and length of afterbody. An analysis of the data showed that as either the afterbody length or keel angle was increased an accompanying increase in depth of step was required in order to maintain adequate landing stability. The landing-tests results have been reduced to an empirical formula giving the minimum depth of step in terms of afterbody length and keel angle. This formula is compared with results from other tank tests, and the correlation is fairly good. The formula thus becomes of use in preliminary design.


Abstract Purpose: The goal of this research was to see how Internal Control, Cultural Control, Incentives, and work discipline affected Employee Performance at PT Lestari Jaya Raya. Research methodology: The type of this research is a quantitative descriptive study that used a questionnaire to collect data. This study has a population, they were all employees of PT Lestari Jaya Raya with the sample in this study were office staff of 53 people. Results: The results of this study showed that Cultural Control and Work Discipline had a positive impact on Employee Performance. Meanwhile, Internal Control and Incentives have no impact on Employee Performance. This means that the greater the Cultural Control and Work Discipline of the employee, the better the resulting Employee Performance Limitations: This study is limited to the office staff of PT Lestari Jaya Raya so it has not described the overall condition of the employees of PT Lestari Jaya Raya which consists of office staff and operational staff. Contribution: The results of this study are intended to be beneficial as management input, especially in the field of management accounting related to Employee Performance.


Abstract. Longwall mining activity in the Ruhr coal mining district leads to mining-induced seismicity. For detailed studies the seismicity of a single longwall panel beneath the town of Hamm-Herringen in the eastern Ruhr area was monitored between June 2006 and July 2007 with a dense temporary network of 15 seismic stations. More than 7000 seismic events with magnitudes between –1.7 ≤ ML ≤ 2.0 were detected and localized in this period. Most of the events occurred in the vicinity of the moving longwall face. In order to find possible differences in the brittle failure types of these events an association of the events to distinct clusters is performed based on their waveform characteristics. This task is carried out using a new clustering algorithm utilizing a network similarity matrix which is created by combining all available 3-component single station similarity matrices. The resultant network matrix is then sorted with respect to the similarity of its rows leading to a sorted matrix immediately indicating the clustering of the event catalogue. Finally, clusters of similar events are extracted by visual inspection. This approach results in the identification of several large clusters which are distinct with respect to their spatial and temporal characteristics as well as their frequency magnitude distributions. Comparable clusters are also found with a conventional single linkage approach, however, the new routine seems to be able to associate more events to specific clusters without merging the clusters. The nine largest observed clusters can be tentatively divided into three different groups that indicate different types of brittle failure. The first group consists of the two largest clusters which constitute more than half of all recorded events. Results of a relative relocation using cross-correlation data suggest that these events are confined to the extent of the mined out longwall and cluster close to the edges of the active longwall at the depth of active mining. These events occur in lockstep with the longwall advance and exhibit a high b value of the Gutenberg–Richter relation (GR) of about 1.5 to 2.5 and consist of small magnitude events. Thus, these events represent the immediate energy release adjacent to the mined out area. The second group consists of clusters located either slightly above or below the depth of active mining and occurring at the current position of the longwall face within the confines of the longwall. They consist of generally stronger events and do not follow GR. This activity might be linked to the failure of more competent layers above and below the mined out seam resulting in larger magnitude events. Finally, one cluster represents seismic activity with a rather low b value below 1 and events located partly towards the north of the longwall which are delayed with respect to the advance of the longwall face. These events are interpreted as brittle failure on pre-existing tectonic structures reactivated by the mining activity.


Background: microRNAs (miRs)-371-3 are suggested to be novel biomarkers of germ cell tumors (GCTs), but their specificity is unresolved. We aimed at clarifying the origin of miR 371a-3p by measuring this miR in peripheral vein blood, and in fluids present in the vicinity of GCTs. Methods: miR-371a-3p levels were measured by quantitative PCR in 9 tumor surrounding hydroceles and in cubital vein blood (CVB) and testicular vein blood (TVB) of 64 GCT patients, 51 with clinical stage (CS) 1, 13 with CS2-3. Thirty three CS1 cases had also postoperative CVB measurement. TVB miR levels were compared with those of CVB. Associations with clinical factors were analyzed statistically. Results: TVB miR levels were 294-fold, 80-fold and 4.6-fold higher than those in CVB of CS1 patients, CS2-3 patients and controls, respectively. Neoplastic hydrocele fluid comprised of very high miR levels. In CS1, miR levels dropped to normal postoperatively. Statistically, CVB miR levels are significantly associated with tumor size (p = 0.0211) and testis length (p = 0.0493). TVB miR levels are associated with testis length (p = 0.0129). Conclusions: This study provides evidence for the origin of circulating miR 371a-3p molecules from GCT cells. miR-371a-3p represents a specific serum biomarker for germ cell cancer.


This research investigates the processes of adaptation of participatory budget (PB) institutions to France, Germany, and Great Britain in relation to frames of citizen participation, for instance 'participatory' democracy or 'community empowerment'. I define frames as relatively coherent but flexible idea combinations that contain cognitive and normative assumptions about the issue at stake (in the present case citizen participation). The process of PB, developed in Porto Alegre, Brazil, includes ordinary citizens in the allocation of public funds and thereby breaks with a traditional approach to democracy. Various actors and actor networks have imported it into Europe since around 10 years, where it belongs to the most interesting participatory instruments. But how far-reaching are the results of PB in Europe? Central questions of the research, a comparative case study of three PB processes investigated with qualitative methods, concern the relation between frames of citizen participation and PB institutions, the degree of procedural and political innovation of PB, and the similarities and differences between frames of citizen participation in Germany, France, and Great Britain today. I argue that frames, of which the national and cross-country diffusion is strongly related to the activities of single policy entrepreneurs and networks, are never simply 'put into practice', but are adapted to the respective institutional setting and interpreted or re-interpreted in line with contextual features and the changing political interests and normative perspectives of the organising actors. Whereas new frames are in the beginning promoted by a small group of people, they might develop into more widely shared assumptions about the conduct of public policies, i.e. become a new referentiel of public policies. The three cases of PB analysed show distinct results in relation to the degree of innovation, which is influenced by different intervening factors (namely the frame of citizen participation, political and administrative support), as well as by the pace of the procedural development. Once implemented, a PB process may produce unexpected results, which in some cases become even more important than the initial goals. One hypothesis that emerges from this study is indeed that despite the political focus of many organisers, PB processes might contribute primarily to the introduction of a user-oriented administration rather than a 'democratisation of democracy'. With regard to the frames of citizen participation in France, Germany, and Great Britain today, the current situation is characterised by more differences than similarities. Although all frames considered here share an overall criticism with regard to a 'pure' model of representative democracy, their particular focus differs (e.g. devolution of power to local citizens and communities without modifying the centres of power; participation in terms of top-down consultative devices or as a second, equally legitimate basis of democracy next to the vote for representatives). These differences, as well as diverse PB and other participatory practices, reflect different political traditions in Europe as well as distinct scenarios with regard to the future development of the democratic order. Jury: Yves Sintomer (Paris 8 University), Hans-Peter Muller (Humboldt University, external supervisor)), Donatella Della Porta (EUI, supervisor)


BACKGROUND
Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis, a recently identified spotted fever transmitted by the Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum), was first described in 2004. We summarize the clinical and epidemiological features of 12 patients in the United States with confirmed or probable disease attributable to R. parkeri and comment on distinctions between R. parkeri rickettsiosis and other United States rickettsioses.

METHODS
Clinical specimens from patients in the United States who reside within the range of A. maculatum for whom an eschar or vesicular rash was described were evaluated by > or =1 laboratory assays at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA) to identify probable or confirmed infection with R. parkeri.

RESULTS
During 1998-2007, clinical samples from 12 patients with illnesses epidemiologically and clinically compatible with R. parkeri rickettsiosis were submitted for diagnostic evaluation. Using indirect immunofluorescence antibody assays, immunohistochemistry, polymerase chain reaction assays, and cell culture isolation, we identified 6 confirmed and 6 probable cases of infection with R. parkeri. The aggregate clinical characteristics of these patients revealed a disease similar to but less severe than classically described Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

CONCLUSIONS
Closer attention to the distinct clinical features of the various spotted fever syndromes that exist in the United States and other countries of the Western hemisphere, coupled with more frequent use of specific confirmatory assays, may unveil several unique diseases that have been identified collectively as Rocky Mountain spotted fever during the past century. Accurate assessments of these distinct infections will ultimately provide a more valid description of the currently recognized distribution, incidence, and case-fatality rate of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.


This work discusses the growing political contest between conservative and reform-orientated defenders of capitalist societies on the one side, and the policies and imagined futures advanced by green and socialist critics on the other. All are subjected to detailed scrutiny. Is 'green growth' innovation able to resolve deep-seated global inequality and other socio-political and environmental problems? Can new technology sustain capitalist production and high consumption by decoupling economic growth from the limits of nature? How feasible or utopian are 'post-work' or post-capitalist societies based on full automation and a universal basic income? What are the political economic strengths and weaknesses of green post-growth or degrowth proposals? These and other crucial issues are analysed by the author in a challenging and thought-provoking work covering an extensive range of policy reports, social theories, environmental proposals and political practices across the world.


This paper establishes the spawning habitat of the Brazilian sardine Sardinella brasiliensis and investigates the spatial variability of egg density and its relation with oceanographic conditions in the shelf of the south-east Brazil Bight (SBB). The spawning habitats of S. brasiliensis have been defined in terms of spatial models of egg density, temperature-salinity plots, quotient (Q) analysis and remote sensing data. Quotient curves (Q(C)) were constructed using the geographic distribution of egg density, temperature and salinity from samples collected during nine survey cruises between 1976 and 1993. The interannual sea surface temperature (SST) variability was determined using principal component analysis on the SST anomalies (SSTA) estimated from remote sensing data over the period between 1985 and 2007. The spatial pattern of egg occurrences in the SBB indicated that the largest concentration occurred between Paranaguá and São Sebastião. Spawning habitat expanded and contracted during the years, fluctuating around Paranaguá. In January 1978 and January 1993, eggs were found nearly everywhere along the inner shelf of the SBB, while in January 1988 and 1991 spawning had contracted to their southernmost position. The SSTA maps for the spawning periods showed that in the case of habitat expansion (1993 only) anomalies over the SBB were zero or slightly negative, whereas for the contraction period anomalies were all positive. Sardinella brasiliensis is capable of exploring suitable spawning sites provided by the entrainment of the colder and less-saline South Atlantic Central Water onto the shelf by means of both coastal wind-driven (to the north-east of the SBB) and meander-induced (to the south-west of the SBB) upwelling.


The high temperature in the horizontal section and bottom of a horizontal well has a significant impact on the performance of mud and the safety of drilling equipment. The high bottomhole temperature is lowered often by reducing the inlet temperature. To explore how the inlet temperature impacts the bottomhole temperature during horizontal well drilling, a computational model for transient temperature during horizontal well drilling was established in this paper. Finite difference approach was utilized for the model discretization, while the relaxation iteration technique was adopted for the model resolution. The influence of inlet temperature on bottomhole temperature was analyzed during alterations of inlet flow rate and horizontal section length. On the basis of the obtained results, the impact of inlet temperature on bottomhole temperature decreases as the horizontal section length increases. On the premise that the horizontal section is long enough, lowering the inlet temperature exerts little impact on the bottomhole temperature fluctuation. As the inlet flow rate declines, the influence of inlet temperature on bottomhole temperature decreases. In addition, with the inlet flow rate being small enough, lowering inlet temperature rarely impacts the bottomhole temperature fluctuation.


Study Design Narrative review. Objective The study aims to critically review the outcomes associated with the surgical repair or conservative management of spondylolysis in athletes. Methods The English literature listed in MEDLINE/PubMed was reviewed to identify related articles using the term "spondylolysis AND athlete." The criteria for studies to be included were management of spondylolysis in athletes, English text, and no year, follow-up, or study design restrictions. The references of the retrieved articles were also evaluated. The primary outcome was time to return to sport. This search yielded 180 citations, and 25 publications were included in the review. Results Treatment methods were dichotomized as operative and nonoperative. In the nonoperative group, 390 athletes were included. A combination of bracing with physical therapy and restriction of activities was used. Conservative measures allowed athletes to return to sport in 3.7 months (weighted mean). One hundred seventy-four patients were treated surgically. The most common technique was Buck's, using a compression screw (91/174). All authors reported satisfactory outcomes. Time to return to play was 7.9 months (weighted mean). There were insufficient studies with suitably homogenous subgroups to conduct a meta-analysis. Conclusion There is no gold standard approach for the management of spondylolysis in the athletic population. The existing literature suggests initial therapy should be a course of conservative management with thoracolumbosacral orthosis brace, physiotherapy, and activity modification. If conservative management fails, surgical intervention should be considered. Two-sided clinical studies are needed to determine an optimal pathway for the management of athletes with spondylolysis.


Abstract Polintons (polintoviruses), polinton-like viruses (PLVs) and virophages belong to a recently described major class of eukaryotic viruses that is characterized by a distinct virion morphogenetic protein module and, in many members, a protein-primed family B DNA polymerase (pDNAP). All Polintons, by definition, encode a pDNAP and a retrovirus-like integrase. Most of the PLV lack these genes and instead encode a large protein containing a superfamily 1 (SF1) helicase domain. We show here that the SF1 helicase domain-containing proteins of the PLV also contain an inactivated pDNAP domain. This unique helicase-pDNAP fusion is also encoded by transpovirons, enigmatic plasmid-like genetic elements that are associated with giant viruses of the family Mimiviridae. These findings indicate the directionality of evolution of different groups of viruses and mobile elements in the Polinton-centered class. We propose that the PLV evolved from a polinton via fusion of the pDNAP gene with a helicase gene that was accompanied by mutations in the pDNAP active site, likely resulting in inactivation of the polymerase activity. The transpovirons could have evolved from PLV via the loss of several genes including those encoding the morphogenetic module proteins. These findings reaffirm the central evolutionary position of the Polintons in the evolution of eukaryotic viruses and other mobile genetic elements.


'Complexity theory' seems to provide some metaphors, concepts and theories essential for examining the intractable disorderliness of the contemporary world. Relations across that world are complex, rich and non-linear, involving multiple negative and, more significantly, positive feedback loops. This article shows how globalization should be conceptualized as a series of adapting and co-evolving global systems, each characterized by unpredictability, irreversibility and co-evolution. Such systems lack finalized 'equilibrium' or 'order'; and the many pools of order heighten overall disorder. They do not exhibit and sustain unchanging structural stability. Complexity elaborates how there is order and disorder within these various global systems. The global order is a complex world, unpredictable and irreversible, disorderly but not anarchic.