It has been estimated that up to 29,000 HCV-infected women gave birth each year from 2011 to 2014 (Ly, 2017). Additionally, there has been an increase in HCV among young adults, including women of childbearing age (Watts, 2017); (Koneru, 2016); (Kuncio, 2016). Identifying HCV infection as women engage in prenatal care would allow for appropriate assessment of liver disease status and ideally facilitate linkage to HCV care after delivery. In addition, prenatal HCV diagnosis is a prerequisite for appropriate screening and care for exposed children. Risk factor-based HCV screening has never been shown to be effective (Kuncio, 2015); (Waruingi, 2015); (Fernandez, 2016) and inconsistent screening and counseling practices have been reported among obstetricians and gynecologists (Boaz, 2003). Consequently, the US Preventative Task Force (Owens, 2020), US Centers for Disease Control (Schillie, 2020), have published recommendations for universal HCV screening of all adults, including screening during prenatal care. Recently, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have issued the Practice Advisory to test all women at the beginning of each pregnancy for HCV (https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-advisory/articles/2021/05/routine-hepatitis-c-virus-screening-inpregnant-individuals). Testing at the initiation of prenatal care is considered optimal to maximize opportunities for education, referral, and appropriate testing for the exposed infant. Early identification is key as women living with HCV and their exposed infants are at significant risk for not linking to appropriate HCV evaluation or care. Women should be tested with an HCV-antibody test. If positive, this should be followed with testing for HCV RNA.


Background: This paper considers automatic segmentation of the left cardiac ventricle in short axis magnetic resonance images. Various aspects, such as the presence of papillary muscles near the endocardium border, makes simple threshold based segmentation difficult. Methods: The endoand epicardium are modelled as two series of radii which are inter-related using features describing shape and motion. Image features are derived from edge information from human annotated images. The features are combined within a discriminatively trained Conditional Random Field (CRF). Loopy belief propagation is used to infer segmentations when an unsegmented video sequence is given. Powell's method is applied to find CRF parameters by minimizing the difference between ground truth annotations and the inferred contours. We also describe how the endocardium centre points are calculated from a single human-provided centre point in the first frame, through minimization of frame alignment error. Results: We present and analyse the results of segmentation. The algorithm exhibits robustness against inclusion of the papillary muscles by integrating shape and motion information. Possible future improvements are identified. Conclusions: The presented model integrates shape and motion information to segment the inner and outer contours in the presence of papillary muscles. On the Sunnybrook dataset we find an average Dice metric of 0.91± 0.02 and 0.93± 0.02 for the inner and outer segmentations, respectively. Particularly problematic are patients with hypertrophy where the blood pool disappears from view at end-systole.


What is the model During a 4-week program, patients with complex care needs and family caregivers receive specific tools and work with a 'Transitions Coach,' to learn self-management skills that will ensure their needs are met during the transition from hospital to home. This is a low-cost, low-intensity intervention comprised of a home visit and three phone calls. What makes this model unique In contrast to traditional case management approaches, the Care Transitions Intervention is a self-management model. The Care Transitions Program has modeled national Medicare data sets to demonstrate the frequency with which older adults making care transitions across settings will experience another transition in the near future. In other words, for most of these individuals, there will be a 'next time'. Using qualitative techniques, the Care Transitions Program worked with older adults to identify the key self-management skills needed to assert a more active role in their care. Next, a Transition Coach was introduced to help impart these skills and help the individual and the family caregiver become more confident in this new role. Although critics are quick to point out that this is only applicable to highly educated or motivated patients, our studies have shown that most patients and family caregivers are able to become engaged and do considerably more for themselves. In essence, the model involves making an investment in helping patients and family caregivers become more comfortable and competent in participating in their care during care transitions. Five months after the Transition Coach signed off, these patients continued to remain out of the hospital demonstrating a sustained effect from coaching. The intervention focuses on four conceptual domains referred to as pillars 1. Medication self-management 2. Use of a dynamic patient-centered record, the personal health record 3. Timely primary care/specialty care follow-up 4. Knowledge of red flags that indicate a worsening in their condition and how to respond What are the key findings Patients who received this program were significantly less likely to be readmitted to the hospital, and the benefits were sustained for five months after the end of the one-month intervention. Thus, rather than simply managing post-hospital care in a reactive manner, imparting self-management skills pays dividends long after the program ends. Anticipated net cost savings for a typical coach panel of 350 chronically ill adults with an initial hospitalization over 12 months is USD$ 295,594. Patients who received this program were also more likely to achieve self-identified personal goals around symptom management and functional recovery. To date more than 160 organizations have adopted the care transitions intervention. Project sponsors The John A. Hartford Foundation and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Where Can I Learn More? Please visit www.caretransitions.org or email: email@example.com


Background: Families play a critical role in their children's development and learning. Parents' understanding of their child's illness has a significant impact on the parent–child relationship and helps them to have realistic expectations. Objectives: The objective of this study is to understand the use of parental-group intervention for making parents understand the problems of the children and to develop skills to deal with the problems. Methods: A six-session parental-group intervention module was developed and tested. Data from the group session were collected for 6 months and have been analyzed. Results: Majority of the parents appreciated the intervention program as it led to skill-building and understanding of the mental health problems among children. Demonstration was liked most of the parents (74) parenting skills and stress management (71 parents); 68 parents liked session on school-related issues; 60 parents liked session on developmental disorders; 54 parents liked session on emotional and behavioral problems. Conclusion: Group-based parenting programs are found to be effective in improving the overall psychosocial health of parents and the emotional and behavioral problems of children and adolescents as a result of better parenting.


The study seeks to determine the main factors influencing stock selection decisions of individual investors in Borsa Istanbul (BIST). To achieve this objective, an integrated Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) method was used and a five-point Likert scale survey questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire included twenty one factors that belong to five categories, namely, accounting information; recommendations; personal financial needs, firm specific attributes and other factors. The results show that there are six most important factors affecting the stock selection decisions of individual investors at the BIST which are brokerage house recommendations, willingness of taking risk for high returns, get rich quick, opinions of the firm's majority stockholders, suggestions from friends and family and diversification needs. On the other hand, three factors were found to be the least influencing factors on individual investors' stock selection decisions. The least influencing factors in order of importance were sensitivity of firm performance to overall market performance, fluctuations/developments in the indices of the major markets, affordable share price.


Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programs improve exercise capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung disease (ILD), but few studies compare results between both pathologies. It is not yet obvious whether gains in 6-min walk distance (6MWD) accomplished by patients with ILD are comparable to those with COPD, because existing studies have yielded conflicting results. There are studies that reported similar improvement in exercise tolerance and quality of life in patients with COPD and non-obstructive lung disease. However, the duration of benefit may be shorter lived than that seen after PR among patients with COPD. Also, the type and severity of ILD may also influence outcomes of PR. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis on the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis showed a growing body of evidence of its benefit in exercise tolerance and quality of life. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of PR on exercise capacity using 6-min walk test (6MWT) within and between COPD and ILD patients. Outcomes were the change in 6MWD and maximum heart rate (HRmax), and the comparison of these changes between groups according to dyspnea level classified by modified Medical Research Council scale (mMRC). This study was performed at Pulmonary Rehabilitation Unit, Hospital Pulido Valente, Pulmonology Department of Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte, Lisboa, Portugal. COPD and ILD patients with mMRC of 2 and above who had completed an outpatient PR program at least 8-weeks long during 2016 were retrospectively selected and analyzed.


As postcolonial and postprocessual forces continue to exert their influence on the theory and practice of archaeology in the twenty-first century, the nature of the relationships between archaeology and its publics has become a topic of increasing interest to Australian archaeologists. A reassessment of archaeology's public relationships and its representation to the wider world has emerged as a fundamental issue for the ongoing processes of decolonisation and democratisation upon which the future meaning and relevance of archaeology in Australian society will depend. Yet, despite such growing realisations, there remains a major research gap concerning qualitative studies of public archaeology in Australia. A number of basic questions need to be answered. Who are the public? In what ways do people encounter archaeology in Australian society? And what do those encounters mean to them? In this study, I consider such questions through an ethnographic investigation of public interactions surrounding the Mill Point Archaeological Project, an historical archaeology research project at Lake Cootharaba, within the contemporary southeast Queensland community of Noosa. Through the participant observation method I explore the social contexts and popular meanings of archaeology amongst a variety of different people, including site visitors, fieldwork volunteers, and various members of the local community. In accordance with the reflexive methodology adopted for my study, I also undertake an autobiographical exploration of my own relationship with archaeology and my experiences of the Mill Point Archaeological Project. The observations and insights arising from my research inform a deeper understanding of archaeology's place in the day-to-day lives of contemporary Australians and provide some basic foundations upon which future models of public engagement might be constructed by a decolonising Australian archaeology. In particular, I identify popular culture, the education system, and community participation in archaeological research as key social contexts for engaging with mainstream Australian society. I propose that within these priority areas, the specific nature and shape of our public engagement activities should be guided by a reflexive understanding of our own transformative experiences of archaeology which include both physical and intellectual dimensions.


Numerous mine exposures, drillholes and marine seismic profiles have facilitated detailed study of the Late Cainozoic alluvium in Peninsular Malaysia. In 1979, Daud Batchelor, building on the work of D. Walker and others proposed a regional Late Cainozoic stratigraphic scheme incorporating the traditional division of "Old Alluvium" and "Young Alluvium", and correlated Indonesian offshore units of Aleva and others. The important distinction between Old Alluvium (OA) and Young Alluvium (YA) in presently emergent areas of the Sundaland continent shows that the OA comprises less well sorted generally aggrading alluvial fan/plain deposits of broad palaeochannel systems while the YA infills V-shaped valleys incising the palaeo-landscape. These units reflect a major intervening palaeogeomorphological change. The Transitional Unit erected by Batchelor in 1979 was deposited during transition between the two dominant regimes. In 1988 Batchelor published evidence for dating these units using eustatic sea level and climatic changes, palaeomagnetism, vertebrate palaeontology and radiocarbon dating. Suntharalingam in 1983 formally erected Late Cainozoic stratigraphic units including the continental Simpang Formation and Beruas Formation. He correlated the Simpang Formation with the Old Alluvium of Walker and believed it to be Pleistocene, and the Beruas Formation with Walker's the Young Alluvium. A difference in views exists on dating of the Simpang Formation/OA. Batchelor in 1988 demonstrated that its age extends from Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene time, prior to the Brunhes normal magnetic period (>0.775 Ma Before Present; BP), while the YA/Beruas Formation was determined as Late Pleistocene to Holocene. In 1993, Kamaludin and others suggested however, that the Simpang Formation dates until the Late Pleistocene based on "young" radiocarbon dates (28 ka BP to 67 ka BP). The present study argues strongly against such young OA/Simpang Formation ages and believes instead that young dates attributed to the OA have either (1) been wrongly attributed and actually derive from younger units, or (2) the original carbon has been contaminated with young carbon near the dating limit of the C-14 method. The former case is apparent where the upper sequence in the Pantai Remis area, Perak, attributed to the Simpang Formation/ OA by Kamaludin and others, is from my own studies believed to be mainly YA/Beruas Formation, as prefigured in the Teluk Mengkudu sequence published by Batchelor in 1988 (Table 2). As the prime YA equivalent, it is recommended that the Beruas Formation/YA be extended to include alluvium deposited from the beginning of the Wurm glacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 4) at around 75,000 years BP.


Distance metric learning (DML) approaches learn a transformation to a representation space where distance is in correspondence with a predefined notion of similarity. While such models offer a number of compelling benefits, it has been difficult for these to compete with modern classification algorithms in performance and even in feature extraction.
In this work, we propose a novel approach explicitly designed to address a number of subtle yet important issues which have stymied earlier DML algorithms. It maintains an explicit model of the distributions of the different classes in representation space. It then employs this knowledge to adaptively assess similarity, and achieve local discrimination by penalizing class distribution overlap.
We demonstrate the effectiveness of this idea on several tasks. Our approach achieves state-of-the-art classification results on a number of fine-grained visual recognition datasets, surpassing the standard softmax classifier and outperforming triplet loss by a relative margin of 30-40%. In terms of computational performance, it alleviates training inefficiencies in the traditional triplet loss, reaching the same error in 5-30 times fewer iterations. Beyond classification, we further validate the saliency of the learnt representations via their attribute concentration and hierarchy recovery properties, achieving 10-25% relative gains on the softmax classifier and 25-50% on triplet loss in these tasks.


This paper analyzes how markets for old-age care respond to the aging of populations. We consider how the biological forces, which govern the stocks of frail and healthy persons in a population, interact with economic forces, which govern the demand for and supply of care. We argue that aging many times may lower the demand for market care by increasing the supply of family-provided care, which substitutes for market care. By providing healthy spouses, aging may increase the supply of family care-givers. Unexpectedly, this implies that relative growth in healthy elderly males may contract the long-term care market, while relative growth in healthy elderly females may expand that market. We examine these implications empirically using individual, county, and national-level evidence on the US market for long-term care and find substantial support for them, particularly the negative output effect of growth in elderly males. We then decompose the per capita growth in long-term care output over the last three decades into the component accounted for by improvements in health and that accounted for by relative growth among elderly males. The novel effects of unbalanced gender growth among the elderly appear important in explaining the net decline in US per-capita output over the last 30 years, a decline which seems remarkable given the simultaneous rise in demand subsidies for long-term care, declining fertility rates, rising female labor-force participation, and the deregulation of entry barriers to the nursing home industry.


SUMMARY 1. Over 140 000 larvae of the case-building caddisfly Gumaga nigricula were self-marked as they incorporated glitter into small portions of their cases while reared in streamside troughs. These marked individuals were released into stream pools and their movements monitored in the dry season, when base flow was low and no spates occurred, and in the wet season when base flow was high and several spates occurred. 2. Of the 9,000‐10 000 larvae released in each of two stream pools in the dry season, 4‐ 20% (i.e. 377‐1817 marked individuals) were observed on three sampling dates (4, 11 and 24 d after release). Most larvae (87‐93%) remained within 4 m up- or downstream of the release line after 24 d. No larvae were found outside of the release pools, even after 37 d. 3. Of the > 120 000 larvae released in one stream pool near the beginning of the wet season, 408 larvae were recaptured 130‐167 d later, a period that included 30 days of high flow associated with six spates. Estimated survivorship over this period was 0.7‐6.2%; there was no relationship between survival and larval size at release. Most (75%) recaptured larvae were found in the pool where they were originally released. The remaining larvae were found downstream of the release pool. Larvae had generally dispersed only a short distance downstream of the release pool (median = 18 m, maximum = 222 m). In addition, four marked pupae were later found 436 m downstream of the release pool. 4. These results illustrate the sedentary nature of larval G. nigricula as well as the important role that high flow events play in larval mortality and dispersal. These casebuilding larvae move very little during low flow periods, even when food resources appear limiting. In contrast, the frequency and distance of larval dispersal are much greater during periods with high flow. 5. Our observations for G. nigricula support previously published inferences that larval dispersal within a stream can be limited for some aquatic insects. However, our observations also suggest that, even for a relatively sedentary species like G. nigricula, larval dispersal during periods with high flow may contribute significantly to gene flow within a stream reach.


This paper is concerned with interaction design for visualization-based computational tools that support the performance of complex cognitive activities, such as analytical reasoning, sense making, decision making, problem solving, learning, planning, and knowledge discovery. In this paper, a number of foundational concepts related to interaction and complex cognitive activities are syncretized into a coherent theoretical framework. This framework is general, in the sense that it is applicable to all technologies, platforms, tools, users, activities, and visual representations. Included in the framework is a catalog of 32 fundamental epistemic action patterns, with each action pattern being characterized and examined in terms of its utility in supporting different complex cognitive activities. This catalog of action patterns is comprehensive, covering a broad range of interactions that are performed by a diverse group of users for all kinds of tasks and activities. The presented framework is also generative, in that it can stimulate creativity and innovation in research and design for a number of domains and disciplines,


Woody residence time (τw) is an important parameter that expresses the balance between mature forest recruitment/growth and mortality. Using field data collected from the literature, this study explored the global forest τw and investigated its influence on model simulations of aboveground biomass (AGB) at a global scale. Specifically, τw was found to be related to forest age, annual temperature, and precipitation at a global scale, but its determinants were different among various plant function types. The estimated global forest τw based on the filed data showed large spatial heterogeneity, which plays an important role in model simulation of AGB by a dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM). The τw could change the resulting AGB in tenfold based on a site‐level test using the Monte Carlo method. At the global level, different parameterization schemes of the Integrated Biosphere Simulator using the estimated τw resulted in a twofold change in the AGB simulation for 2100. Our results highlight the influences of various biotic and abiotic variables on forest τw. The estimation of τw in our study may help improve the model simulations and reduce the parameter's uncertainty over the projection of future AGB in the current DGVM or Earth System Models. A clearer understanding of the responses of τw to climate change and the corresponding sophisticated description of forest growth/mortality in model structure is also needed for the improvement of carbon stock prediction in future studies.


Twentieth-century artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986)--legendary and self-mythologizing, enigmatic and controversial--remains an important influence on artists today. Beuys embraced radically democratic artistic and political ideas, proclaiming "Everyone is an artist," and advocating direct democracy through referenda. He famously worked with such nontraditional materials as felt, fat, and plants and animals both alive and dead. Beuys and his work--performance art, drawing, painting, sculpture, installation--received perhaps the most contentious reception of any postwar artist. This reader brings together the crucial writings on Beuys and his work, presenting key essays by prominent artists and critics from North America and Europe. With a foreword by Arthur C. Danto, "Style and Salvation in the Art of Beuys," Benjamin H. D. Buchloh's now classic 1980 essay, "Beuys, Twilight of the Idol," and influential texts by Vera Frenkel, Thierry de Duve, Rosalind Krauss, Peter Burger, Irit Rogoff, and others, Joseph Beuys: The Reader is the most significant gathering of critical texts on this challenging artist that has ever been assembled. It will be essential reading for any student of Beuys and for all those interested in postwar art, the cult of the artist, and art's engagement with politics and society. Claudia Mesch is Assistant Professor at the School of Art, Arizona State University. Viola Michely is a writer and curator and teaches art and philosophy at the August-Macke School, Bonn.ContributorsJoseph Beuys, Eugen Blume, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Peter Burger, Jean-Francois Chevrier, Catherine David, Thierry de Duve, Vera Frenkel, Stefan Germer, Rosalind Krauss, Barbara Lange, Dirk Luckow, Claudia Mesch, Viola Michely, Irit Rogoff, Gregory Ulmer, Theodora Vischer, Antje von Graevenitz, Dorothea Zwirner


Climate change with its potential to disrupt all facets of life on earth is arguably the greatest environmental threat that humankind has faced to date. The debates on the best methods and means of dealing with the threat are occupying the agendas of diverse actors in the international, national and local arenas. In an effort to address the effects of climate change, governments and policy-makers attempt to translate the results of this vibrant debate into meaningful policy at home. This article attempts to describe this journey from debate through policy into action, taking the complexities of policy environment into account. At the outset the largely divided international climate change regime endorses the contradictory stance of energy-intensive developing nations such as South Africa and inhibits the fostering of a meaningful climate change policy environment at a national level. The policy context with regard to climate change in South Africa is analysed and the salient causes of the troubled policy environment, aside from those commonly associated with developing nations, are identifi ed as largely administrative. Finally, the policy environment in South Africa is examined at local level and, while local governments enjoy more autonomy under the new dispensation, the administrative fragmentation experienced at a national level permeates down to the local sphere, with the EThekwini Municipality serving as a case in point.


Using event-by-event viscous fluid dynamics to evolve fluctuating initial density profiles from the Monte-Carlo Glauber model for U+U collisions, we report a "knee"-like structure in the elliptic flow as a function of collision centrality, located near 0.5% centrality as measured by the final charged multiplicity. This knee is due to the preferential selection of tip-on-tip collision geometries by a high-multiplicity trigger. Such a knee structure is not seen in the STAR data. This rules out the two-component MC-Glauber model for initial energy and entropy production. An enrichment of tip-tip configurations by triggering solely on high-multiplicity in the U+U collisions thus does not work. On the other hand, using the Zero Degree Calorimeters (ZDCs) coupled with event-shape engineering, we identify the selection purity of body-body and tip-tip events in the full-overlap U+U collisions. With additional constraints on the asymmetry of the ZDC signals one can further increases the probability of selecting tip-tip events in U+U collisions.


Through the doctrine of constitutional standing, federal courts have consistently attempted to limit their jurisdiction to claims in which they can redress the plaintiff's injury. This determination becomes more complicated when a third party asserts that it would "replace" the defendant's role and cause the same injury to the plaintiff that the defendant would have caused. Courts have generally responded by assessing if this replacement will actually occur. However, courts have neither clearly articulated nor consistently applied the standards that govern this replaceability inquiry. The replaceability approach also elides more fundamental questions of whether defendants should be able to escape judicial review simply because other parties might also commit the same harm. This Note addresses the third-party-replacement issue in the context of the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to conduct an environmental analysis prior to acting. Courts have adopted a special approach to standing for procedural statutes like the National Environmental Policy Act, which does not impose substantive restrictions once agencies have complied with its environmental review procedures. This Note reviews how courts have dealt with the interaction of replaceability and standing under the National Environmental Policy Act, focusing on cases where federal agencies provide funding and other services for wildlife management and energy projects. It concludes that the current replaceability approach is too uncertain for courts to rely on, and is systematically weighted against plaintiffs. The result is that federal programs involving third parties can evade judicial review for reasons that are unrelated to the Act's purposes.


The purpose of this study was to trace the development of the counseling movement in Hong Kong from its beginning to the present and to examine future directions confronting those who work in the counseling field in Hong Kong.
Originating from social unrest in 1966 and 1967, the counseling movement began as an attempt to meet the society's developmental needs of self-expression and direction. Although not a formal program, the first known counseling service in Hong Kong was offered by Ben Fong in 1967 at the Yang Memorial Social Service Center. In 1969 the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups established the first formal counseling service in Hong Kong.
Institutions of higher education and foreigners played a major role in the development of early counseling services in Hong Kong. In 197 0, Peter Whyte, an Australian, organized a counseling service at the University Hong Kong. In 1971, Ken Locke, an American, established a counseling service at the Hong Kong Baptist College. Counseling services grew rapidly in the early 1970s, and a 1975 survey identified fifty-five agencies which reported providing counseling services.
In the mid-1970s, helping professionals were struggling with the issue of "What is counseling?" A significant developmental step was the establishment of a master's degree program in counseling at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1977. The first professional counseling organization, the Association of Psychological and Educational Counselors of Asia-Hong Kong Branch, was organized in 1979 and the first counseling journal was published in 1980. In 1984, the Education Department of the Hong Kong Government established guidance services in secondary schools.
The challenge for the counselors of Hong Kong in the 1990s relates to two foreseeable changes in the Hong Kong community, the Chinese recovery of the sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997 and the aging of the population.


What every prosecutor is practically required to do is to select the cases for prosecution and to select those in which the offense is the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain. If the prosecutor is obliged to choose his case, it follows that he can choose his defendants. Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than cases that need to be prosecuted. With the law books filled with a great assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone. In such a case, it is not a question of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking for the man who has committed it, it is a question of picking the man and then searching the law books, or putting investigators to work, to pin some offense on him. It is in this realm--in which the prosecutor picks some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass, or selects some group of unpopular persons and then looks for an offense, that the greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power lies. It is here that law enforcement becomes personal, and the real crime becomes that of being unpopular with the predominant or governing group, being attached to the wrong political views, or being personally obnoxious to or in the way of the prosecutor himself. l Introduction The historical power struggles between the Legislative and Executive branches of government, as well as between the Democrat and Republican parties, have recently intensified. Investigations by the Independent Counsel(2) (hereinafter the "IC") have been an important weapon used against the Executive Branch. The IC's large base of supporters argue that the office is necessary to ferret out corruption and crime within the high ranks of the Executive Branch.3 Precisely because of the IC's independence, supporters point to the avoidance of any possible conflicts of interest or political power plays that could taint an ongoing investigation.4 In reply, others have argued that the IC unconstitutionally usurps executive control over its law enforcement duty.5 Many have also criticized the creation of the IC as poor policy, in practice achieving the opposite of the policy goals it was meant to promote. Questions remain regarding the constitutionality and policy rationale of the IC and its use as a check upon high level executive officials. This Note will attempt to answer these questions of constitutionality and policy by focusing on the role of the IC as created by its enabling legislation-the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (hereinafter "the Act").6 Part II provides a short overview of special prosecutions that formed the historical backdrop to the Act. Part III analyzes the Act's mechanics in order to give the reader a working knowledge of the IC's interworkings. Part IV discusses the Supreme Court's rationale in Morrison v. Olson,7 which upheld the Act's constitutionality. Using recent events involving the IC, Part V points out flaws in the Supreme Court's analysis of the Act's constitutionality and policy rationale. Part VI will advance a possible solution to achieve the desired result of holding upper executive officers accountable without creating the undesirable effect of imbalance in government. II. Historical Overview of Special Prosecutors The history of investigations into scandal and accusations of wrongdoing by upper level executive officers in the United States dates back at least as far as Grant's administration, when a Special Investigator was retained to look into the Whiskey Ring scandal.8 Following that, the Harding Administration's Tea Pot Dome scandal and the Truman Administration's tax evasion scandal were investigated by Special Assistants to the Attorney General.9 The next major scandal to occur and be investigated by an "outside" investigator was Watergate.10 The Special Investigators ("Regulatory Special Investigators") assigned to investigate these scandals were appointed by the Attorney General and remained under the control of the Executive Branch. …


We examine how participation in the Food Stamp and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs is associated with self-reported household food hardships, using data from a longitudinal survey of low-income families living in Boston, Chicago and San Antonio. In addition to the measures of hardships and program participation, the survey includes measures of income, wealth, social resources, disability, physical health and family structure, measures that help us to account for selection between recipient and non-recipient households. For our multivariate analyses, we estimate multiple indicator multiple cause models that are modified to incorporate discrete outcome variables and to account for longitudinal data. Estimates from these models reveal that participation in the Food Stamp Program is associated with fewer food hardships, while participation in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program has no detectable association with hardships. Article:


A pulse of random activity is sufficient for a brain network to retrieve a dormant activity state. How to reactivate forgotten memories Sophisticated techniques can decode stimulus representations for items held in a person's working memory. However, when subjects shift their attention toward something else, the neural representation of the now unattended item drops to baseline, as though the item has been forgotten. Rose et al. used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to briefly reactivate the representation of an unattended item. A short pulse of TMS enhanced recognition of "forgotten" stimuli, bringing an unattended item back into focal attention. Science, this issue p. 1136 The ability to hold information in working memory is fundamental for cognition. Contrary to the long-standing view that working memory depends on sustained, elevated activity, we present evidence suggesting that humans can hold information in working memory via "activity-silent" synaptic mechanisms. Using multivariate pattern analyses to decode brain activity patterns, we found that the active representation of an item in working memory drops to baseline when attention shifts away. A targeted pulse of transcranial magnetic stimulation produced a brief reemergence of the item in concurrently measured brain activity. This reactivation effect occurred and influenced memory performance only when the item was potentially relevant later in the trial, which suggests that the representation is dynamic and modifiable via cognitive control. The results support a synaptic theory of working memory.


We extend here results for escapes in any given direction of the configuration space of a mechanical system with a non singular bounded at infinity homogeneus potential of degree -1, when the energy is positive. We use geometrical methods for analyzing the parallel and asymptotic escapes of this type of systems. By using Riemannian geometry methods we prove under suitable conditions on the potential that all the orbits escaping in a given direction are asymptotically parallel among themselves. We introduce a conformal Riemannian metric with negative curvature in the interior of the Hill's region for a fixed positive energy level and we consider the boundary as a singular part of the infinity. The associated geodesic flow has as solution curves those of the problem for a fixed energy. We perform the compactification of the region via the limiting directions of the geodesic flow, obtaining a closed unit disk with a quasi-complete metric of negative curvature.


The Rmcf gene restricts the replication of recombinant murine mink cell focus-inducing (MCF) viruses in cell cultures derived from mice carrying the resistance allele (Rmcfr) and may play a role in resistance to retrovirus-induced leukemias in vivo. We have characterized the endogenous gp70 expressed by Rmcfr and Rmcfs mice with a panel of type-specific monoclonal antibodies which discriminate xenotropic and MCF gp70. Embryo and tail skin cultures derived from Rmcfr mice (DBA/2 and CBA/N) expressed gp70 bearing a determinant unique to MCF viruses, whereas cultures from Rmcfs mice expressed either no detectable gp70 (NFS/N and IRW) or a gp70 serologically related to a subgroup of xenotropic viruses (C57BL/6, CBA/J, and A/WySn). Studies of progeny embryos derived from a (C57BL/6 X DBA/2) X C57BL/6 backcross established that the Rmcf resistance allele was linked to the expression of the MCF gp70 and that the gene encoding the xenotropic gp70 expressed by C57BL/6 Rmcfs mice was allelic with the MCF gp70 from Rmcfr mice. These data indicate that the Rmcf locus contains an endogenous gp70 gene having two allelic forms, one of which inhibits exogenous MCF infection in vitro by a mechanism of viral interference.


As our economy continues to sputter along like a beat-up station wagon, politicians in Washington are searching for new ways to boost its prospects. Many, including President Barack Obama, are looking to spur small business growth as a solution to our economic woes. However, such growth is stymied by the lack of capital available to small businesses. As Representative McHenry stated, "lending to job creators and entrepreneurs remains dismal, [and] we must find new and modern means for capital formation to ignite our sputtering economy." Such "ignition" will come from crowdfunding, or at least politicians seem to think so. Crowdfunding is a means of capital formation that connects entrepreneurs with investors over the Internet. Entrepreneurs can post their business plans on crowdfunding websites, and anybody connected to the Internet can contribute, or invest, in these companies. However, there is catch; investors are limited in the types of returns they can receive from their capital contributions. Currently, investors cannot receive any form of security, because "crowdfunding does not mesh with federal securities regulation[s]." The Securities Act of 1933 makes it illegal to offer or sell any security unless the issuer has complied with the registration requirements under section 5 of the Act or has met a registration exemption. "Entrepreneurs seeking debt or equity financing through crowdfunding will often be selling [unregistered] securities," as compliance with the registration process is too expensive for most entrepreneurs and the Act's exemptions do not fit with the crowdfunding model. As such, there is a tremendous push in Washington to create a new exemption for securities issued through crowdfunding. Unfortunately, the movement to exempt crowdfunded securities overlooks the devastating consequences of such an exemption. This article discusses why securities offerings using crowdfunding should not be exempted from the registration requirements of the federal securities laws. First, the article introduces the concept of crowdfunding and the five different categories of crowdfunding. Then it discusses the registration requirements under the Securities Act of 1933, why registration is not feasible for most crowdfunded ventures, and the conflicts between crowdfunding and the current registration exemptions. Finally, the article discusses why crowdfunding should not be exempted from the registration requirements, specifically focusing on how such an exemption would severely weaken investor protections and open the door for fraud to permeate the market.


Understanding and creating mathematics using natural mathematical language - the mixture of symbolic and natural language used by humans - is a challenging and important problem for driving progress in machine learning. As a step in this direction, we develop NaturalProofs, a multi-domain corpus of mathematical statements and their proofs, written in natural mathematical language. NaturalProofs unifies broad coverage, deep coverage, and low-resource mathematical sources, allowing for evaluating both in-distribution and zero-shot generalization. Using NaturalProofs, we benchmark strong neural methods on mathematical reference retrieval and generation tasks which test a system's ability to determine key results that appear in a proof. Large-scale sequence models show promise compared to classical information retrieval methods, yet their performance and out-of-domain generalization leave substantial room for improvement. NaturalProofs opens many avenues for research on challenging mathematical tasks.


We consider an integrated usage and maintenance optimization problem for a k‐out‐of‐n system pertaining to a moving asset. The k‐out‐of‐n systems are commonly utilized in practice to increase availability, where n denotes the total number of parallel and identical units and k the number of units required to be active for a functional system. Moving assets such as aircraft, ships, and submarines are subject to different operating modes. Operating modes can dictate not only the number of system units that are needed to be active, but also where the moving asset physically is, and under which environmental conditions it operates. We use the intrinsic age concept to model the degradation process. The intrinsic age is analogous to an intrinsic clock which ticks on a different pace in different operating modes. In our problem setting, the number of active units, degradation rates of active and standby units, maintenance costs, and type of economic dependencies are functions of operating modes. In each operating mode, the decision maker should decide on the set of units to activate (usage decision) and the set of units to maintain (maintenance decision). Since the degradation rate differs for active and standby units, the units to be maintained depend on the units that have been activated, and vice versa. In order to minimize maintenance costs, usage and maintenance decisions should be jointly optimized. We formulate this problem as a Markov decision process and provide some structural properties of the optimal policy. Moreover, we assess the performance of usage policies that are commonly implemented for maritime systems. We show that the cost increase resulting from these policies is up to 27% for realistic settings. Our numerical experiments demonstrate the cases in which joint usage and maintenance optimization is more valuable. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 418–434, 2017


IMPORTANCE
Previous research has focused on examining the familial clustering of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Little is known about the clustering of other psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders among siblings of persons with ASD.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the risk for psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders among full siblings of probands with ASD.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
The Finnish Prenatal Study of Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders used a population-based cohort that included children born from January 1, 1987, to December 31, 2005, who received a diagnosis of ASD by December 31, 2007. Each case was individually matched to 4 control participants by sex and date and place of birth. The siblings of the cases and controls were born from January 1, 1977, to December 31, 2005, and received a diagnosis from January 1, 1987, to December 31, 2009. This nested case-control study included 3578 cases with ASD with 6022 full siblings and 11 775 controls with 22 127 siblings from Finnish national registers. Data were analyzed from March 6, 2014, to February 12, 2016.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
The adjusted risk ratio (RR) for psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders among siblings of probands with ASD vs siblings of matched controls. Additional analyses were conducted separately for ASD subgroups, including childhood autism, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified. Analyses were further stratified by sex and intellectual disability among the probands.

RESULTS
Among the 3578 cases with ASD (2841 boys [79.4%]) and 11 775 controls (9345 boys [79.4%]), 1319 cases (36.9%) and 2052 controls (17.4%) had at least 1 sibling diagnosed with any psychiatric or neurodevelopmental disorder (adjusted RR, 2.5; 95% CI, 2.3-2.6). The largest associations were observed for childhood-onset disorders (1061 cases [29.7%] vs 1362 controls [11.6%]; adjusted RR, 3.0; 95% CI, 2.8-3.3), including ASD (374 cases [10.5%] vs 125 controls [1.1%]; adjusted RR, 11.8; 95% CI, 9.4-14.7), tic disorders (28 cases [0.8%] vs 24 controls [0.2%]; adjusted RR, 4.3; 95% CI, 2.3-8.2), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (189 cases [5.3%] vs 180 controls [1.5%]; adjusted RR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.9-4.7), learning and coordination disorders (563 cases [15.7%] vs 697 controls [5.9%]; adjusted RR, 3.2; 95% CI, 2.8-3.6), intellectual disability (104 cases [2.9%] vs 137 controls [1.2%]; adjusted RR, 3.1; 95% CI, 2.3-4.2), conduct and oppositional disorders (180 cases [5.0%] vs 221 controls [1.9%]; adjusted RR, 2.8; 95% CI, 2.2-3.5), and emotional disorders with onset specific to childhood (126 cases [3.5%] vs 157 controls [1.3%]; adjusted RR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.9-3.4). Autism spectrum disorders were also associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, and other neurotic and personality disorders among siblings.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders cluster among siblings of probands with ASD. For etiologic research, these findings provide further evidence that several psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders have common risk factors.


This paper seeks to investigate if the theoretical and political trends towards a more collective dimension of energy use are reflected in the design and development of demand side management (DSM) pilot projects in Europe. Specifically, the paper analyses DSM projects in the database of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission to capture signs of a new attention towards the wider context in which consumers live and towards the social dimension associated with energy consumption. To this end, the paper investigates the projects' scope (in terms of project's partners, end-use sectors and targeted services) as well as the consumer engagement strategies that projects use. These elements reflect the projects' consideration for the socio-economic dimension of the community where the pilots take place and their inclination to build on community dynamics. The analysis shows that DSM projects in the EU are increasingly being designed and developed with a collegial approach to energy consumption in mind, although an integrated approach is still missing. In addition, research is still needed to link the use of this innovative approach to project results. A closer look at the developments and results of these projects can help to identify what works and what doesn't in real life experiences, thus supporting effective policy making at the EU and national level.


ABSTRACT We examined whether the early learning environment predicts children's 5th grade skills in 2,204 families from ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds; tested the mediating roles of children's pre-kindergarten school-related skills and later learning environment; and asked whether lagged associations generalize across White, Black, Hispanic English-speaking, and Hispanic Spanish-speaking samples. Children's early learning environment comprised measures of literacy activities, the quality of mothers' engagements with children, and learning materials assessed at 14 months, 2 and 3 years, and at pre-kindergarten; learning environments were again assessed in 5th grade. At pre-kindergarten and in 5th grade, children were assessed on pre-academic and academic skills respectively. Early learning environments predicted children's 5th grade academic skills, and children's pre-kindergarten skills and 5th grade learning environment mediated longitudinal associations. The early learning environment supports the emergence of pre-academic skills that are stable into early adolescence, and pathways generalize across ethnic/racial groups.


Access to higher education in Washington State public institutions has reached an unprecedented level for underrepresented minorities (URM); completion rates in STEM and high demand majors however lag behind other groups. Nationwide, URM make up 1/3 of school age population but only comprise 11% of those in STEM occupation. Job growth is increasing in the STEM and high employer demand fields faster than in other fields and, according to the US Census bureau, URM are the fastest growing ethnicities and will become the majority in the US in the coming decades. As demand for STEM and high employer demand graduates increases, higher education policy and practices need to support the reality that an innovative economy in the future will require leveraging a diverse workforce. This study surveys the access to STEM and high employer demand majors among URM students. The quantitative design at the institution level uses data from academic year 2013/14 from public higher education institutions in Washington State to determine URM's level of access and success; At the individual level, the design focuses on the fall 2010 and fall 2011cohorts of first time full time college goers enrolled at the University of Washington Bothell, and attempts to analyze how institutional policies and practices might be related to access for URM in STEM and high employer demand degrees.


It is essential to identify and determine the properties of native plants as natural genetic resources. The present study was performed to identify the Mindium (Michauxi) laevigata species using molecular and biochemical procedures such as genomic DNA extraction, sequencing, and antioxidant capacity and protein content determination at both vegetative and generative phases in various parts of the plant. For this purpose, Mindium laevigata plants were collected from natural habitats and their genomic DNAs were extracted and purified. This was followed by the extraction of 18S ribosomal DNA sequence from the genomic DNA by PCR and its analysis to determine the antioxidant enzymes (peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, and catalase). Accordingly, the proteins were quantitatively and qualitatively assayed at both vegetative and reproductive stages in the different plant organs of roots, stems, and leaves. Ascorbate peroxidase and catalase activities were detected in the stem samples at the vegetative and generative phases, respectively. Gel electrophoresis bands of the total protein were found to be different in various parts and at different developmental stages of the plant. Another aspect of the study involved the use of the phylogenetic tree for the biosystematic investigations of Mindium laevigata. Molecular analyses resulted in the inscription of a new gene in GenBank under the accession number KC294445.1. Mindium laevigata seems to be a rich source of antioxidant enzymes and proteins and as such it is recommended for further research.


A theoretical and experimental investigation has been made of the 2p53p–2p53s transition array in Ne i. Relative line strengths were experimentally measured, using electron-beam excitation of low-pressure neon gas and a single-photon counter, with an accuracy of better than 6%. Relative line strengths were also calculated in various coupling schemes and compared to experimental values. No choices of pure coupling schemes reproduced the experimental data. A recently modified intermediate-coupling calculation by Mehlhorn gives results in good agreement with our experimental values. By normalizing the measured relative line strengths to the experimental lifetimes of Bennett and Kindlmann, absolute A values were obtained which are believed to have an accuracy of better than 10%. The radial factor of the spontaneous dipole transition matrix was determined from the absolute A values and relative line strengths. This radial factor was found to be within 7% of the calculated radial factor using the Coulomb approximation.


In music, the rhythms of different instruments are often syncopated against each other to create tension. Existing perceptual theories of syncopation cannot adequately model such kinds of syncopation since they assume monophony. This study investigates the effects of polyphonic context, instrumentation and metrical location on the salience of syncopations. Musicians and nonmusicians were asked to tap along to rhythmic patterns of a drum kit and rate their stability; in these patterns, syncopations occurred among different numbers of streams, with different instrumentation and at different metrical locations. The results revealed that the stability of syncopations depends on all these factors and music training, in variously interacting ways. It is proposed that listeners' experiences of syncopations are shaped by polyphonic and instrumental configuration, metrical structure, and individual music training, and a number of possible mechanisms are considered, including the rhythms' acoustic properties, ecological associations, statistical learning, and timbral differentiation.


NAZI RESEARCHBERLIN-- As historians dig up disturbing new details about the complicity of German researchers in Nazi-era crimes, officials are calling for full disclosure of the tainted past of leading scientific institutions. Last month, a meeting, sponsored by the country's main science granting agency, was held here on "Interactions, Continuities, and Inconsistencies From the Late Empire to the Early German Federal Republic/Democratic Republic." And new evidence suggests that the cover-up of certain Nazi-era abuses, and the postwar scientific community's embrace of dozens of tainted researchers, was more widespread than previously imagined.


Intellectual property jurisprudence increasingly informs the way in which social order is maintained in the twenty-first century. By regulating cultural (re)production and patrolling the dissemination of knowledge, copyright law mediates the exercise of important social, political, and economic rights, thereby playing a critical role in the construction of our information society. In theory, ostensibly neutral ground rules guide the allotment, enforcement, and vindication of rights pertaining to creative works in a way that best advances the constitutionally mandated purpose of the copyright regime: progress in the arts. But, in reality, copyright law's procedural and substantive doctrines do more than just advance "progress in the arts" and can serve as powerful tools for the regulation, control, and manipulation of meaning. In recent years, scholars have begun to assess the relationship between intellectual property rights and cultural hierarchies, including those based on race, gender, orientation and class. Towards a Critical IP Theory first identifies this emerging body of literature — one that it refers to as "critical intellectual property" scholarship — and locates its origins in the common methodology of the more mature critical legal studies and critical race theory movements. The Article then builds upon the extant critical intellectual property scholarship by focusing on three moments of analytical interest for critical intellectual property inquiries: (1) the creation of rights; (2) the assertion of rights; and (3) the adjudication of rights. In drawing on a wide range of examples — the transformation of Shakespeare and the opera from popular entertainment to elite-only culture in late nineteenth century America, the comparison between the RIAA's response to the federal government's unauthorized use of music at the American detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay and its high profile litigation campaign against unauthorized individual file sharing on the Internet, and the use of aesthetic considerations in juridical responses to send-ups of two American classics (Gone with the Wind and The Catcher in the Rye) — the Article illustrates how the vesting of copyright protection, the enforcement of copyright and the implementation of copyright doctrine in the adjudicative process can maintain and perpetuate cultural hierarchy. The Article therefore introduces a theoretical framework for studying just how copyright transcends its small corner of the legal universe by shaping social structures and regulating individual behavior as part of a larger hegemonic project. In the end, Towards a Critical IP Theory ideally represents a helpful step in the development of a nascent literature that examines the broader societal impact of intellectual property rights.


It is widely recognized that the value of environmental assets such as biodiversity, unique locations and the atmosphere may be hard to quantify. In particular, option values, quasi-option values and non-use values have been the subject of extensive discussion. We propose here an evaluation of environmental assets based on the option value or shadow price associated with intertemporal welfare maximization under conditions of uncertainty about the future preferences. We show that these values can provide powerful motives for conservation of the goods, and are under certain conditions equivalent to a reduction in the discount rate to be applied to future benefits. We also show that the option value can be bounded below by a function of the degree of risk aversion and parameters of the probability distribution governing the uncertainty about future preferences. JEL Classification: Q 20, D 80


Abstract The family Eresidae C. L. Koch, 1850 is reviewed at the genus level. The family comprises nine genera including one new genus. They are: Adonea Simon, 1873, Dorceus C. L. Koch, 1846, Dresserus Simon, 1876, Eresus Walckenaer, 1805, Gandanameno Lehtinen, 1967, Loureedia gen. n., ParadoneaLawrence, 1968, Seothyra Purcell, 1903, and Stegodyphus Simon, 1873. A key to all genera and major lineages is provided along with corresponding diagnoses, as well as descriptions of selected species. These are documented with collections of photographs, scanning electron micrographs, and illustrations. A new phylogeny of Eresidae based on molecular sequence data expands on a previously published analysis. A species of the genus Paradonea Lawrence, 1968 is sequenced and placed phylogenetically for the first time. New sequences from twenty Gandanameno Lehtinen, 1967 specimens were added to investigate species limits within the genus. The genus Loureedia gen. n. is proposed to accommodate Eresus annulipes Lucas, 1857. Two species, Eresus semicanus Simon, 1908 and Eresus jerbae El-Hennawy, 2005, are synonymized with Loureedia annulipes comb. n. One new species, Paradonea presleyi sp. n. is described. Eresus algericus El-Hennawy, 2004 is transferred to Adonea Simon, 1873. The female of Dorceus fastuosus C. L. Koch, 1846 is described for the first time. The first figures depicting Paradonea splendens (Lawrence, 1936) are presented.


The specificity and potency of the immune system make immunotherapy a potential strategy for the treatment of cancer. To exploit this potential, we have developed cell-based cancer vaccines consisting of tumor cells expressing syngeneic MHC class II and costimulatory molecules. The vaccines mediate tumor regression in mice and activate human CD4+ T cells in vitro. Previous vaccines were generated by transducing MHC II negative tumor cells with a single HLA-DR allele. Because expression of multiple MHC II alleles would facilitate presentation of a broader repertoire of tumor antigens, we have now transduced tumor cells with the MHC class II transactivator (CIITA), a regulatory gene that coordinately increases expression of all MHC II alleles. Previous studies in mice indicated that coexpression of the MHC II accessory molecule invariant chain (Ii) inhibited presentation of endogenously synthesized tumor antigens and reduced vaccine efficacy. To determine if Ii expression affects presentation of MHC class II-restricted endogenously synthesized tumor antigens in human tumor cells, HLA-DR-MCF10 breast cancer cells were transduced with the CIITA, CD80 costimulatory molecule gene, and with or without small interfering RNAs (siRNA) specific for Ii. Ii expression is silenced >95% in CIITA/CD80/siRNA transductants; down-regulation of Ii does not affect HLA-DR expression or stability; and Ii(+) and Ii(-) transductants activate human CD4+ T cells to DRB1*0701-restricted HER-2/neu epitopes. Therefore, tumor cells transduced with the CIITA, CD80, and with or without Ii siRNA present endogenously synthesized tumor antigens and are potential vaccines for activating tumor-specific CD4+ T cells.


Migration routes used by Nearctic migrant birds can cover great distances; they also differ among species, within species, and between years and seasons. As a result, migration routes for an entire migratory avifauna can encompass broad geographic areas, making it impossible to protect continuous stretches of habitat sufficient to connect the wintering and breeding grounds for most species. Consequently, ways to enhance habitats converted for human use (i.e. for pasture, crop cultivation, human settlement) as stopover sites for migrants are especially important. Shelterbelts around pastures and fields, if planted with species targeted to support migrant (and resident) bird species that naturally occupy mature forest habitats and that are at least partially frugivorous, could be a powerful enhancement tool for such species, if the birds will enter the converted areas to feed. I tested this approach for Nearctic migrant birds during the spring migration through an area in Chiapas, Mexico. Mature forest tree species whose fruits are eaten by birds were surveyed. Based on life form, crop size and fruit characteristics, I selected three tree species for study: Cymbopetalum mayanum (Annonaceae), Bursera simaruba (Burseraceae) and Trophis racemosa (Moraceae). I compared the use of fruits of these species by migrants and residents in forest with their use of the fruits of isolated individuals of the same species in pasture and cropland. All three plant species were useful for enhancing converted habitats for forest-occupying spring migrants, although species differed in the degree to which they entered disturbed areas to feed on the fruits. These tree species could probably enhance habitats for migrants at sites throughout the natural geographic ranges of the plants; in other geographic areas for other target bird groups, other tree species might be more appropriate.


To reduce the complexities that advisors face in international equity investing, we have developed a measure that expresses the medium-term equity performance expectations of a country. This measure, the medium-term country yield forecast, is a simple yield forecast measure at the country level that builds on concepts that advisors already know from the widely popular cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (CAPE or Shiller's PE). We have formulated a country yield forecasting mechanism, which applies the cyclically adjusted country yield to derive the medium-term yield forecast on an inflation-adjusted (real) basis for any country outside the U.S. The cyclically adjusted country yield of any country, which feeds into the mechanism, is nothing but its Shiller's PE (a price multiple) expressed in yield form. The mechanism departs significantly from most applications of Shiller's PE found in investment literature from the recent past, where Shiller's PE is used primarily as a tool to gauge expectations of a national stock market in the long run. In our application, we use Shiller's PE to forecast expectations in the medium run, which for us is between three- to 10-years out in the future. Moreover, the model also augments the forecasting capabilities of Shiller's PE by incorporating into it a country's cyclically adjusted real exchange rate.


ARDRA (Amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis) is a simple method based on restriction endonuclease digestion of the amplified bacterial 16S rDNA. In this study we have evaluated the suitability of this method to detect differences in activated sludge bacterial communities fed on domestic or industrial wastewater, and subject to different operational conditions. The ability of ARDRA to detect these differences has been tested in modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) configurations. Samples from three activated sludge wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with the MLE configuration were collected for both oxic and anoxic reactors, and ARDRA patterns using double enzyme digestions AluI+MspI were obtained. A matrix of Dice similarity coefficients was calculated and used to compare these restriction patterns. Differences in the community structure due to influent characteristics and temperature could be observed, but not between the oxic and anoxic reactors of each of the three MLE configurations. Other possible applications of ARDRA for detecting and monitoring changes in activated sludge systems are also discussed.


A well-known furniture making region in Jepara, Indonesia, has a story to tell. Since the 19th century, the region has developed as an industrial district, creating many opportunities for subsidiary activities and other kinds of industries while supporting the livelihood of 4-5 million Indonesians. Jepara, with a total area of 167.8 km2 (64.7 sq. mi.), has nearly 12,000 wood-based furniture workshops, showrooms and warehouses, all of which employ approximately 120,000 workers, process 0.9 million cubic meters of wood per year, and account for 26% of the district's economy. However, research shows that although Jepara's furniture export is increasing, continued growth is not sustainable. This situation could jeopardize an industry that supports millions of people. This paper looks at the wooden furniture industry as a low-technology, resource- and labor-intensive sector in facing globalization. Therefore, it is important to understand how small-scale furniture producers are being affected by globalization. Are they change makers or, the opposite, change takers? Can they benefit from globalization? The question is asked in response to value chain inequality. Although the value added in Jepara's furniture production is relatively high, profit distribution is inefficient and inequitable. As an integral part of Jepara's Furniture Value Chain (FVC) project, this study was designed to gather information on how furniture production value chain actors might react to potential scenarios regarding the ways in which small-scale furniture producers could best thrive in an era of globalization. Four potential scenarios were considered through a literature analysis: (1) Fair Trade, (2) Green Furniture, (3) Vertical Integration, and (4) Capacity Building of Small-scale Producers. The purpose of this research involves determining which of these four scenarios would be the most relevant to improve the performance of small-scale furniture enterprises in Jepara. Recommended strategies include green furniture labels (e.g., eco-labels) and capacity building of small-scale producers.


Data analytics seems a promising approach to address the problem of unpredictability in MRO organizations. The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with the aviation industry has initiated a two-year applied research project to explore the possibilities of data mining. More than 25 cases have been studied at eight different MRO enterprises. The CRISP-DM methodology is applied to have a structural guideline throughout the project. The data within MROs were explored and prepared. Individual case studies conducted with statistical and machine learning methods, were successfully to predict among others, the duration of planned maintenance tasks as well as the optimal maintenance intervals, the probability of the occurrence of findings during maintenance tasks.


Human-robot interface has become one of main research areas on robotic systems. The authors propose an application to Pointing movement system for humanrobot interface, and focuses on developing a n intuitive operation using a new manner. Our application utilized a stereo camera to capture human's images, and utilize them as primary sources of information retrieval. We apply Foreground segmentation with Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) for fingertip recognition to be the main image processing method to propose system. The system is mainly executed in the following steps: a stereo camera captures the user's hand motion, the system recognizes the user's instruction from the hand motion and the situation (as well as environmental information), and then, control a robot motion. In this paper, we describe our applied image processing method, which employs foreground segmentation with GMM for fingertip recognition, and overall concepts of the proposed application is then also defined. We present a robot demonstration to specify proposed system. Finally, t he demonstration experiment is presented to show the effectiveness and research potential of our application.


Drawingupon recent psychological literature, we examine the effect of employment statuses pre- and post-unemployment on levels of subjective well-being (SWB),and the return to pre-unemployment levels, i.e. set points. Data came from the British Household Panel Survey. SWB was measured using the GHQ-12 and a question on life satisfaction; Employment status was self-reported. Multilevel, jointed, piecewise, growth curve regression models were used to explore associations by gender, specifically whether different labour force sequences produced different growth curves and rates of adaptation. Overall, there was a tendency for men and women to return to well-being set points for both outcomes. However, findings showed differences by labour force sequence and SWB measure. Women who experienced unemployment between spells of employment returned to their SWB setpoint at a faster rate of return for GHQ than for life satisfaction, while for men, the rates of return were similar to each other. Women who were employed prior to unemployment and then became economically inactive showed a return to their GHQ set point, but there was no return to their life satisfaction setpoint. Economically inactive participants pre-unemployment, who then gained employment, also showed a return to their well-being set point. After economic inactivity and then unemployment, only men experienced a significant increase in life satisfaction upon return to economic inactivity. The findings showed that following unemployment, return to subjective well-being setpoint was quicker for people who became employed than for people who became economically inactive. There were also differences in the return to SWB setpoint by type of economic inactivity upon exiting unemployment.


The relationship between the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fifth Amendment's prohibition of compelled self-incrimination has engendered a history wrought with doctrinal confusion and theoretical disarray, which current doctrine has only exacerbated. The lack of a proper theoretical understanding of this relationship has allowed a particular type of "entanglement" to occur, whereby the concerns, concepts, or rationales from one amendment become transposed into the doctrine of the other, and, consequently, problems proper to one amendment are mistakenly analyzed under the other. In this Article I offer a general theory of the relationship between the amendments that attempts to disentangle the doctrine and straighten out the analytic disarray. Part I discusses methodology. My approach is a middle way between the two dominant methods for constitutional theorizing in this area: top-down, normative and bottom-up, descriptive. Section II describes the core features of the doctrine for each amendment. Section III, after first discussing the shortcomings of alternative views, presents my view of the relationship between the two amendments. Incorporating the core features described in Section II, I argue for a view of the amendments as overlapping in the sense that potential Fifth Amendment events may arise within potential Fourth Amendment events. Accordingly, courts should subject government attempts at evidence gathering to a two-part inquiry: first, does the Fourth Amendment render the attempt unreasonable; second, if not unreasonable under the first inquiry, would the attempt compel incriminating propositional content from the mind of a suspect in order to use it against that suspect at a criminal trial? If the answer to the second inquiry is "yes," then the privilege applies. Part IV then employs this two-step inquiry to solve doctrinal problems regarding the government's subpoena power, stop-and-identify statutes, and the use of pre-arrest silence as evidence of guilt.


For the purpose of studying the spectral properties of energy transfer between large and small scales in high-Reynolds-number turbulence, we measure the longitudinal subgrid-scale (SGS) dissipation spectrum, defined as the co-spectrum of the SGS stress and filtered strain-rate tensors. An array of four closely spaced X-wire probes enables us to approximate a two-dimensional box filter by averaging over different probe locations (cross-stream filtering) and in time (streamwise filtering using Taylor's hypothesis). We analyse data taken at the centreline of a cylinder wake at Reynolds numbers up to Rλ ∼ 450. Using the assumption of local isotropy, the longitudinal SGS stress and filtered strain-rate co-spectrum is transformed into a radial co-spectrum, which allows us to evaluate the spectral eddy viscosity, v(k, kΔ). In agreement with classical two-point closure predictions, for graded filters, the spectral eddy viscosity deduced from the box-filtered data decreases near the filter wavenumber kΔ. When using a spectral cutoff filter in the streamwise direction (with a box-filter in the cross-stream direction) a cusp behaviour near the filter scale is observed. In physical space, certain features of a wavenumber-dependent eddy viscosity can be approximated by a combination of a regular and a hyper-viscosity term. A hyper-viscous term is also suggested from considering equilibrium between production and SGS dissipation of resolved enstrophy. Assuming local isotropy, the dimensionless coefficient of the hyper-viscous term can be related to the skewness coefficient of filtered velocity gradients. The skewness is measured from the X-wire array and from direct numerical simulation of isotropic turbulence. The results show that the hyper-viscosity coefficient is negative for graded filters and positive for spectral filters. These trends are in agreement with the spectral eddy viscosity measured directly from the SGS stress–strain rate co-spectrum. The results provide significant support, now at high Reynolds numbers, for the ability of classical two-point closures to predict general trends of mean energy transfer in locally isotropic turbulence.


Nitrification, the microbial conversion of ammonium to nitrate, is an important transformation in the aquatic nitrogen cycle, but the factors regulating nitrification rates in freshwater ecosystems are poorly understood. We investigated the effects of organic carbon quantity and quality on nitrification rates in stream sediments. First, we hypothesized that when environmental C: N ratios are high, heterotrophic bacteria are subject to N limitation and will outcompete nitrifying bacteria for available NH4+, thereby reducing nitrification rates. In laboratory experiments, organic carbon amendments (30 mg C L−1, as glucose) to stream sediments completely inhibited nitrification with or without addition of NH4+ (P < 0.0001), whereas amendment with NH4+ only (0.75 mg N L−1) increased nitrification by 40% compared with unamended controls (P < 0.0001). Carbon amendments also increased microbial respiration rates over controls by 4–6 times. Therefore, organic carbon additions significantly decreased nitrification rates but increased total microbial activity. Second, we hypothesized that carbon of high quality would have a stronger negative effect on nitrification than would carbon of low quality. To stream sediments, we added organic carbon as either glucose (higher quality) or sugar maple leaf extract (lower quality). Nitrification rates were reduced by the addition of either organic carbon source but were more severely inhibited by glucose (P = 0.001). Our results suggest that organic carbon is an important regulator of nitrification rates and is of key importance in understanding N dynamics in freshwater ecosystems.


In this letter, we estimate perceived image quality using sparse representations obtained from generic image databases through an unsupervised learning approach. A color space transformation, a mean subtraction, and a whitening operation are used to enhance descriptiveness of images by reducing spatial redundancy; a linear decoder is used to obtain sparse representations; and a thresholding stage is used to formulate suppression mechanisms in a visual system. A linear decoder is trained with 7 GB worth of data, which corresponds to 100 000 8 × 8 image patches randomly obtained from nearly 1000 images in the ImageNet 2013 database. A patch-wise training approach is preferred to maintain local information. The proposed quality estimator UNIQUE is tested on the LIVE, the Multiply Distorted LIVE, and the TID 2013 databases and compared with 13 quality estimators. Experimental results show that UNIQUE is generally a top performing quality estimator in terms of accuracy, consistency, linearity, and monotonic behavior.


Forty-one crude oil samples from the North Slope of Alaska have variable diamondoid and biomarker concentrations, indicating different extents of oil cracking. Some of the samples are mixtures of high- and low-maturity components containing high concentrations of both diamondoids and biomarkers. Compound-specific isotope analysis of diamondoids (CSIAD) shows that the Shublik Formation accounts for the higher maturity component in several mixed oil samples, whereas biomarkers, especially those providing information on the age of the source rock, show either a Cretaceous Hue-gamma ray zone (GRZ) or Triassic Shublik source for the lower maturity component. Oil samples in this study mainly correlate to six source rocks based on their biomarker characteristics and CSIAD. Chemometrics of selected source-related biomarker and isotope ratios helps to classify the oil samples into different genetic families. The source rocks include carbonate and shale organofacies of the Triassic Shublik Formation, Jurassic Kingak Shale, Lower Cretaceous Pebble shale, Lower Cretaceous Hue-GRZ, and Cenozoic Canning Formation. Oil presumed to originate from a seventh source rock interval, the Carboniferous–Permian Lisburne Group, was not clearly differentiated from well-established Shublik oil by any geochemical age-related parameter or CSIAD, which suggests that the Lisburne is not an effective source rock for any of the studied oil samples. Four oil samples collected from wells located north of the Barrow arch show unique biomarker characteristics, but age-related biomarker parameters indicate likely Triassic source rock organofacies that is not represented by any of the samples from south of the arch. The source rock for these four oil samples appears to be a clay-rich equivalent of the calcareous Shublik Formation that occurs to the north of the Barrow arch.


Aim: to study the outcomes of labour after the application of «KIWI» vacuum-system. Materials and Methods. Retrospective analysis of labour records with vacuum-extraction of fetus (main group: n=35) and with emergency cesarean section (comparison group: n=18)on indications similar to those in the main group, has been undertaken. Results. High rate of extragenital pathology in groups (70,7% and 72,3%) as well as aggravated obstetric-gynecologic anamnesis (36,9% and 55,6%) has been revealed. Pregnancies of 50,7% women of the main group have been complicated by placentofetal insufficiency and chronic fetal hypoxia; in the comparison group 27,7% threatened miscarriage has been observed accordingly in 20% and 33,3%. Conditions for vacuum extraction have been the following: fetus asphyxia (52,3%), labour pains weakness (47,7%). Having evaluated the state of health of the new-born children of the main groupstraight complications (cephalohematomas, cervical injury, subaponeurotic hemorrhage, Duchen-Erb paresis, intraventricularhemorrage) have been observed in 53,8% of children. In the comparison group direct complications have been marked in 22,3% of cases. Conclusions. Comparatively high rate of labour traumatism in the main group may be explained by violations in conditions and techniques of vacuum-extractions as well as by non-observance of indications and contra-indications for the application of this operational method during the labour of pregnant women of high risk groups.


An in-depth crash injury investigation was undertaken to provide data for an analysis of the probability of injury related to crash severity, as calculated using the CRASH 2 computer program. By use of probit analysis techniques estimates of the probabilities of injury have been calculated for unbelted and belted car occupants in frontal and side impacts. In the case of frontal impacts probabilities of injury are given for the head, chest and lower limbs and pelvis separately as well as for the body as a whole. In side impacts the probabilities of injury to individual body regions are not given but probabilities for the whole body are given separately for occupants seated on the impact side of the vehicle and for those seated on the opposite side. For those occupants seated on the impact side, the probability of injury has also been related to the extent of intrusion into the passenger compartment. In addition, the effects of overloading occupants by other unrestrained occupants in the car have been examined. (Author/TRRL)


Hybridization between native and non-native species has consequences for survival and growth rates of hybrid offspring, but the influences on their functional roles such as habitat use are little studied and poorly understood. The Japanese native common carp Cyprinus carpio coexist and hybridize with non-native domesticated carp in natural Japanese lakes. We have combined stable isotope and molecular information to examine whether habitat use of carp varies depending on the degree of hybridization between native and non-native carp. We sampled 69 carp from Lake Kasumigaura where hybrid swarms between native and non-native carp are advancing, evaluated the degree of hybridization for each individual by genotyping five single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, and analyzed their carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Although we did not find any genetically pure native carp in the lake, the results showed that carp δ13C increased with increasing frequency of non-native alleles but that δ15N did not change. This indicates that non-native carp use the littoral zone more frequently than native carp. This difference in habitat use was supported by a multisource mixing model, showing that the contribution of limnetic primary consumers to the diets of non-native carp was lower than that of individuals with the highest frequency of native alleles. By combining two very different methods, our results thus suggest that multiple-generation hybridization can influence habitat and resource use. Habitat partitioning should be considered when evaluating the genetic impacts of invasive species and races on native species and ecosystem processes.


Mitigating wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) is becoming a major wildlife conservation focus, particularly in areas characterized by increased anthropogenic development. Concomitantly, wildlife managers and transportation planners need better information regarding spatiotemporal patterns of WVCs to develop measures that mitigate negative impacts on wildlife. To address this need, in 2015 we conducted a yearlong WVC study in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, USA to determine the species composition of WVCs across mammals, birds, and herpetofauna. In addition, we compared patterns of WVC road mortalities across 2 adjacent routes with different vehicle traffic volumes and evaluated the relationships between temporal variations in WVC frequency and seasonal activity of focal taxa. The mean weekly WVC mortality rate across all species (n = 65) was 13.8 ± 1.73 per 100 km. The WVC mortalities were not evenly distributed across routes, with overall differences driven primarily by the relative abundance of meso-mammals. Temporal WVC rates differed for woodchucks (Marmota monax), eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina), and eastern ratsnakes (Pantherophis alleghaniensis), with contrasting peaks in frequency for passerine birds and birds of prey. Because of the substantial differences we observed in WVC mortality rates relative to traffic volumes and seasonal activity patterns of the taxa studied, any WVC mitigation strategies implemented will need to be site-specific.


Game of Thrones depicts a violent and, some might say, lawless world. Few would think that world evidences much international law. Yet, this article identifies several rules of international law observable on the show and relates them to real-world international law. Observable rules include some fundaments of the law of treaties, customary norms, and (most surprisingly) at least one humanitarian peremptory norm. These rules cover a range of subjects, including sovereignty, state responsibility, jurisdiction, immunities, and human rights. The article also discusses the special legal status of the Night's Watch, which is governed by the most important legal "text" in Game of Thrones. Finally, the article tries to have some fun.


Observation planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is a challenging task as it requires planning trajectories over a large continuous space and with motion models that can not be directly encoded into current planners. Furthermore, realistic problems often require complex objective functions that complicate problem decomposition. In this paper, we propose a local search approach to plan the trajectories of a fleet of UAVs on an observation mission. The strength of the approach lies in its loose coupling with domain specific requirements such as the UAV model or the objective function that are both used as black boxes. Furthermore, the Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) procedure considered facilitates the adaptation of the algorithm to specific requirements through the addition of new neighborhoods. We demonstrate the feasibility and convenience of the method on a large joint observation task in which a fleet of fixed-wing UAVs maps wildfires over areas of a hundred square kilometers. The approach allows generating plans over tens of minutes for a handful of UAVs in matter of seconds, even when considering very short primitive maneuvers.


New field and geochronologic data document the existence of Late Cretaceous extensional structures in the Death Valley region, California-Nevada. We have mapped two major, low-angle, ductile shear zones that omit stratigraphy in the footwall of the Funeral Mountains metamorphic core complex. Intervening strata have been strongly attenuated. Although stratigraphic offset across the shear zones is only 1.5 km, the presence of a large metamorphic discontinuity suggests that the amount of unroofing must be much greater. The timing of shear-zone formation, attenuation, and subsequent northwest-vergent folding is constrained by U-Pb geochronology on (1) prekinematic or synkinematic and (2) postkinematic pegmatites. Deformation was taking place by 72 Ma and had ended by 70 Ma. These results support earlier petrologic and geochronologic data that suggested substantial unroofing of the Funeral Mountains in Late Cretaceous time and add to a growing body of evidence for widespread Mesozoic extension in the hinterland of the Sevier thrust belt.


Advantages of consumer crediting for a client and the most beneficial types of credit for banks are under investigation in the article. Also the system of different measures used in the development of consumer credit in Ukraine is analysed. One of such measures is the need to establish credit wich will assist in development the connection between credit.


Three preliminary camp aigns for TOPEX /POSEIDON (T/P) wer e made in March 1999 and July 2000 and for JASON-1 in August 2002, in the NW Mediterran ean Sea at th e Begur Cape area. Dir ect abso lute altimeter calibration , and mapping of the sea surface, w ere made in these camp aigns from dir ect overflights using GPS buoys with a toroidal design performed at the I CC based in the orig inal design of the Univ ersity of Colorado at Boulder and a estimation of the TOPEX A lt- B bias w as made. A Spanish JASON-1 geoid gradien t campaign with Fench support has been made in June 2003 at the Ibiza island in the NW Mediterr anean Sea. Th e main objectiv e has b een to map w ith a new d esign ed, builded and calibrated GPS catamar an, the lo cal geoid gradien t in three ar eas around Ibiza island under the ascending (187) and descending (248) Jason-1ground tracks. The catamaran equ ipped with two GPS antennas to perform continuous sea lev el measur ements was towed by the Patro l Dev a from th e Span ish N avy. Five GPS reference stations were dep loyed on Ibiza island: one in Portinatx, two in San Anton io and two in Ibiza. The marin e geo id has been used to relate the coastal tide gauge data from Ibiza and San An tonio h arbours to off- shore altimetric data. In th e framework of the campaign, the levelling of the Ibiza and San Anton io tide gauges to the r espective GPS mark ers w as p erformed. We present synth esis of the resu lts obtained from Topex/Poseidon and th e first r esults on Jason-1 altimeter calibration using the direct measurements from GPS buoys and the derived marin e geoid. Th e Ibiza results agree relativ ely w ell with resu lts ob tained at Corsica, Harvest and Bass Strait calibration permanen t sites. Moreov er, the geod etic activities (e.g., GPS, levelling) has p ermitted to build a very accurate (few mm) local n etwork link ed to th e European one, w ith a reference frame compatible with th e satellite altimetry missions (ITRF2000). The GPS kinematic data wer e processed using two d ifferen t sof twar es allowing to check th e consistency of the solutions. A perspective of a new Jason-1, in cluding Envisat, Ibiza campaign to be made around 2007 will be pr esen ted. These camp aigns w ere supporte by th e Span ish Ministery of Scien ce and Technology under projects of the N ational Space Program ref : ESP1997-1816-CO4- 03 and ESP2001-4534-PE.


In 1945, the United States was not only the strongest economic and military power in the world; it was also the world's leader in science and technology. In American Hegemony and the Postwar Reconstruction of Science in Europe, John Krige describes the efforts of influential figures in the United States to model postwar scientific practices and institutions in Western Europe on those in America. They mobilized political and financial support to promote not just America's scientific and technological agendas in Western Europe but its Cold War political and ideological agendas as well.Drawing on the work of diplomatic and cultural historians, Krige argues that this attempt at scientific dominance by the United States can be seen as a form of "consensual hegemony," involving the collaboration of influential local elites who shared American values. He uses this notion to analyze a series of case studies that describe how the U.S. administration, senior officers in the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, the NATO Science Committee, and influential members of the scientific establishment--notably Isidor I. Rabi of Columbia University and Vannevar Bush of MIT--tried to Americanize scientific practices in such fields as physics, molecular biology, and operations research. He details U.S. support for institutions including CERN, the Niels Bohr Institute, the French CNRS and its laboratories at Gif near Paris, and the never-established "European MIT." Krige's study shows how consensual hegemony in science not only served the interests of postwar European reconstruction but became another way of maintaining American leadership and "making the world safe for democracy."


This document describes the RTP payload format for the BroadVoice(R)
narrowband and wideband speech codecs. The narrowband codec, called
BroadVoice16, or BV16, has been selected by CableLabs as a mandatory
codec in PacketCable 1.5 and has a CableLabs specification. The
document also provides specifications for the use of BroadVoice with
MIME and the Session Description Protocol (SDP). [STANDARDS-TRACK]


The focus of the present study was to examine the extent to which input, interaction and output would influence Iranian intermediate EFL learners' listening skills. To this end, 80 students at the intermediate level of language proficiency, determined via the Oxford Placement Test, and within an age range between 17 and 23 years old were selected through convenience sampling method. They were then randomly divided into three experimental and one control groups with 20 in each. The experimental groups practiced their listening skills under three different conditions, namely, input, output, and interaction while the control group was simply taught using traditional techniques. After the instructional period, the participants' listening skills were measured via a posttest. The results indicated that all three variables of input, interaction and output influenced Iranian intermediate EFL learners' listening skill and interaction turned out to have the most significant impact on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' listening skill. Findings have implications for learners and teachers as well as materials developers.


The Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) protocol,
described in RFC 3720, allows for extension items to the protocol in
the form of Private or Public Extension Keys. This document describes
a Public Extension Key for the purpose of enhancing iSCSI
supportability. The key accomplishes this objective by allowing iSCSI
nodes to communicate architecture details during the iSCSI login
sequence. The receiving node can then use this information for
enhanced logging and support. This document updates RFC 3720 to allow
iSCSI extension items to be defined by standards track RFCs and
experimental RFCs in addition to informational RFCs. [STANDARDS-TRACK]