The overall aim of the research work reported in this Thesis was to study a variety of aspects of dog faeces in relation to public health, their fertilizer potential and possibility that such faeces might be remediated using larvae, ultimately to provide a source of biodiesel. The results can be summarized as follows:
 1) Dog faeces were shown to be source of pathogenic bacteria, notably Escherichia. coli and Salmonella. These bacteria were shown to be transferred to the soil of a local playing field by direct, in situ, transfer from dog faeces undergoing weathering. E. coli and Salmonella enterica were isolated from all four sites while no such isolates were obtained from the fifth location which was uncontaminated with dog faeces
2) It was shown here that "common or garden" slugs can transfer potentially pathogenic bacteria from dog faeces to lettuce.
3) The feeding of Black Soldier Fly Larvae on faeces led to a statistically significant increase in the number of bacteria inside the BSFL gut and the same trend was seen in relation to dog faeces fed Fruit Beetle Larvae. This trend of increasing bacterial numbers in larvae fed on dog faeces is particularly worrying in relation to the potential feeding of these larvae to animals- post exposure to faeces.
4) Dog faeces were shown to have potential inherent fertilizer content; the nutrients present being released over a time period mimicking the natural weathering of dog faeces in the environment.
5) As a generalization, the addition of both types of larvae to dog faeces significantly reduced the concentration of indigenous plant nutrients over the entire four week incubation period; exceptions to this were nitrate and phosphate concentrations in BSFL treated faeces, where significant increases were seen at week 4 and 3 respectively and in faeces treated with FBL, where ammonium concentrations were significantly increased at weeks 2-4, and phosphate at week 4. While the addition of both larvae therefore initially decreased levels of indigenous plant nutrients there was a trend in some of the nutrients to increase the longer the incubation went on. This suggests that perhaps a longer term exposure of dog faeces to the two larvae might have lead to increase in ammonium, nitrate, sulphate and phosphate concentrations. The addition of ammonium, elemental sulphur an insoluble phosphate to dog faeces which had been modified by the two larvae led to significant increases in nitrate, sulphate and plant-available phosphate, results which shows that that dog faeces contains the indigenous microflora required for the transformation of these amendments (which simulate fertilizer addition). The results suggest the possibility that larval modified dog faeces could be used as compost additive fertilizer, or perhaps even be used as an agricultural soil fertilizer.
6) The potential for using fly larvae for the bioremediation of dog faeces was investigated. Black Soldier Fly (BSFL) and Fruit Beetle (FBL) Fly larvae were shown to dramatically improve the physical nature of canine faeces, even after only a short exposure period, giving a bioremediated product which is markedly improved in terms of texture, reduced odour and overall reduced offensiveness. The bioremediated dog faeces product was also found to be suitable as potting compost when "diluted" with proprietary potting compost.
7) The haemolymph and total body extracts of BSFL and FBL were shown to be antibacterial. 8) The potential for using dog faeces and dog faeces which had been treated with BSFL and FB as a source of biodiesel was determined. It was shown that potential biodiesel precursors) (mainly fatty acids) were present both in the raw dog faeces and in faeces which were treated with the two different larvae.
9) The number of bacteria present in dog faeces disposed of in plastic bags dramatically increased over exposure to the UK summer, when temperatures were recorded between 10-270C.


Abstract. The Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the Atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container (CARIBIC) project investigates physical and chemical processes in the Earth's atmosphere using a Lufthansa Airbus long-distance passenger aircraft. After the beginning of the explosive eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on Iceland on 14 April 2010, the first CARIBIC volcano-specific measurement flight was carried out over the Baltic Sea and Southern Sweden on 20 April. Two more flights followed: one over Ireland and the Irish Sea on 16 May and the other over the Norwegian Sea on 19 May 2010. During these three special mission flights the CARIBIC container proved its merits as a comprehensive flying laboratory. The elemental composition of particles collected over the Baltic Sea during the first flight (20 April) indicated the presence of volcanic ash. Over Northern Ireland and the Irish Sea (16 May), the DOAS system detected SO2 and BrO co-located with volcanic ash particles that increased the aerosol optical depth. Over the Norwegian Sea (19 May), the optical particle counter detected a strong increase of particles larger than 400 nm diameter in a region where ash clouds were predicted by aerosol dispersion models. Aerosol particle samples collected over the Irish Sea and the Norwegian Sea showed large relative enhancements of the elements silicon, iron, titanium and calcium. Non-methane hydrocarbon concentrations in whole air samples collected on 16 and 19 May 2010 showed a pattern of removal of several hydrocarbons that is typical for chlorine chemistry in the volcanic clouds. Comparisons of measured ash concentrations and simulations with the FLEXPART dispersion model demonstrate the difficulty of detailed volcanic ash dispersion modelling due to the large variability of the volcanic cloud sources, extent and patchiness as well as the thin ash layers formed in the volcanic clouds.


The Internet has, within a period of twenty years, become the primary medium of information exchange in the world. It is also arguably the primary source of information in the world. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo have made the vast trove of information available and accessible to everybody. Email and social network applications such as Facebook and Twitter have enabled people all over the world to meet, collaborate and participate in joint activities. The Internet has also gradually become a tool of dissidence in repressed nations all over the world - to spread information, plan and organize activists and conduct protests. Not surprisingly, repressive regimes see the Internet as a threat. Under the guise of protecting their citizens from the negative effects of the Internet (such as pornography and hate speech), they have, and are, actively curbed Internet use by their citizens by adopting various censorship measures and blockades.In this paper I have surveyed the history of Internet censorship by various countries, starting from 1991. Governments all over the world use various means – legal, political, technical, and coercive – to control and restrict Internet content. Cataloging all such efforts by all the countries would be beyond the scope of this paper. Despite that, I have tried to focus on the various methods of censorship and blockades used by various countries around the world. I have also provided a brief description of recent attempts by Myanmar and Egypt to completely block the Internet, with a discussion of the technique and methods involved. Finally, I have also briefly discussed the push-back efforts by citizens of the world, who are actively and innovatively finding ways to circumvent the most pernicious of these censorship efforts and blockades.


Software robustness is an ever-challenging problem in the face of today's evolving software and hardware that has undergone recent shifts. Instruction-grain monitoring is a powerful approach for improved software robustness that affords comprehensive runtime coverage for a wide spectrum of bugs and security exploits. Unfortunately, existing instruction-grain monitoring frameworks, such as dynamic binary instrumentation, are either prohibitively expensive (slowing down applications by an order of magnitude or more) or offer limited coverage. This work introduces BugSifter, a new design that drastically decreases monitoring overhead without sacrificing flexibility or bug coverage. The main overhead of instruction-grain monitoring lies in execution of software event handlers to monitor nearly every application instruction to check for bugs. BugSifter identifies common monitoring activities that result in redundant monitoring actions, and filters them using general, light-weight hardware, eliminating the majority of costly software event handlers. Our proposed design filters 80-98% of events while monitoring for a variety of commonly-occurring bugs, delegating the rest to flexible software handlers. BugSifter significantly reduces the overhead of instruction-grain monitoring to an average of 40% over unmonitored application time. BugSifter makes instruction-grain monitoring practical, enabling efficient and timely detection of a wide range of bugs, thus making software more robust.


Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet Buenos Aires is your passport to all the most relevant and up-to-date advice on what to see, what to skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Catch the historic sights of Plaza de Mayo, get a backstage tour of the Teatro Colon, or immerse yourself in a game of futbol; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Buenos Aires and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet Buenos Aires Travel Guide: *Color maps and images throughout *Highlights and itineraries show you the simplest way to tailor your trip to your own personal needs and interests *Insider tips save you time and money and help you get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots *Essential info at your fingertips - including hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, and prices *Honest reviews for all budgets - including eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss *Cultural insights give you a richer and more rewarding travel experience - including language, religion, history, art, dance, literature, film, music, architecture, and politics *Free, convenient pull-out Buenos Aires map (included in print version), plus over 21 neighborhood maps *Coverage of Puerto Madero, Congreso & Tribunales, San Telmo, La Boca, Retiro, Recoleta, Barrio Norte, Palmero, Belgrano, Caballito, Once, Villa Crespo, Montserrat, and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Buenos Aires, our most comprehensive guide to Buenos Aires, is perfect for those planning to both explore the top sights and take the road less traveled. * Looking for just the highlights of Buenos Aires? Check out Lonely Planet's Pocket Buenos Aires, a handy-sized guide focused on the can't-miss sights for a quick trip. * Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's Argentina guide for a comprehensive look at all the country has to offer. Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Sandra Bao, and Bridget Gleeson. About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveler community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travelers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in. TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)


Purpose - This paper seeks to evaluate the arguments for and against the proposition that students in higher education are "customers" and should be treated as such. Design/methodology/approach - A critical review of the relevant literature from the domains of total quality management and marketing. Findings - The debate is polarised, with advocates regarding it as self-evident that students are customers and should be treated as such, while critics regard it as self-evident that the incursion of the "customer" concept into higher education degrades educational standards and damages educator/student relationships. Research limitations/implications - Researchers should investigate whether the adoption of the terminology, systems and processes of the "student-as-customer" leads to a degradation or improvement of the quality of education and level of service delivered to higher education students. Practical implications - Ways are recommended in which the careful adoption of the term "customers" to refer to students could retain positive aspects - promoting the legitimate interests of students in the higher education system - while avoiding such potentially negative aspects as the problematic idea that "the customer is always right". Originality/value - The paper points towards a "middle way" by which educational policy-makers and managers can obtain the benefits associated with a "customer orientation" while avoiding the difficulties associated with a simplistic interpretation of the customer concept.


textabstractThe Call for a Budgetary Theory: The appeal of Valdimer Key for a budgetary theory marks the interest in public budgeting in modern history. He clearly referred to a normative theory, raising the question: 'on what basis shall it be decided to allocate X dollars to activity A instead of activity B?' [Key, in Hyde & Shafritz 1978, p. 20]. A couple of efforts to develop such a theory failed before Aaron Wildavsky took over the relay baton, issuing the first edition of his seminal The Politics of the Budgetary Process that changed the budgetary landscape almost completely2. He argued that the allocation of scarce resources is not a matter of arithmetics or calculation, but a matter of power. On top of that he claimed that of incrementalism offered both the best description of and prescription to the budget process, introducing now common words as the 'base' and 'fair share' in the vocabulary of budget watchers [Wildavsky 1964]3. Soon, incrementalism became the dominant theory of public budgeting in America and, strange enough, also in Europe where the power of the purse is with the executive rather than the legislative branch of government. Moreover, empirical support was at least mixed, if not to say weak [LeLoup 1978; Rubin 1988].


We show that Nakatsu & White's (2010) proposed enhancements to the SPaRKy Restaurant Corpus (SRC; Walker et al., 2007) for better expressing contrast do indeed make it possible to generate better texts, including ones that make effective and varied use of contrastive connectives and discourse adverbials. After first presenting a validation experiment for naturalness ratings of SRC texts gathered using Amazon's Mechanical Turk, we present an initial experiment suggesting that such ratings can be used to train a realization ranker that enables higher-rated texts to be selected when the ranker is trained on a sample of generated restaurant recommendations with the contrast enhancements than without them. We conclude with a discussion of possible ways of improving the ranker in future work.


Mark DeKay, Professor of Architecture and Director of Graduate Studies in the College of Architecture at the University of Tennessee, a prominent scholar-practitioner in the field of sustainable design, opens his latest book with the explicit intention that the volume "help create a breakthrough in the effectiveness of the Sustainable Design movement such that it is transformed to greater power, relevance, meaning and positive effect on people and Nature" (p. xxi). His approach is thoroughly integral, taking up Wilber's classic integral theory, more or less a version of "Wilber-4," clarifying and extending this meta-theory in service of creating and advancing sustainable design as discipline and practice.


Globally, journalism education is undergoing significant changes in view of the ongoing technological evolution. Hence, it is important to have a good journalism education that can shape good journalism practices and professionalism. In recognition of this, the Council for Heads of Communication Studies (COHEC) in Malaysia has mapped out a framework for journalism education to be offered by Malaysian universities (COHEC, 2010). However, COHEC study was very brief and did not underline what makes good journalism practice. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the knowledge, experience, and skills needed in Malaysian journalism education. To this end, this study conducted in-depth interviews with senior practitioners – senior editors and chief editors - from media organizations in Malaysia. Findings show the importance of knowledge, experience, skills, and attitude needed for good journalism practices. The findings also acknowledged that journalism knowledge is as important as experience and debunked the old testimony that knowledge can be practiced on the job and no formal journalism education is needed. The understanding of journalism is not as a skill but as social, cultural, and philosophical expression, and general education is needed to cover the journalistic aspect of life. There is a need to redefine journalism as a field of study. Keywords : Journalism education, knowledge, experience, skills, attitude, Malaysia.


A simple method has been developed for the measurement of high quality FTIR spectra of aerosols of gas-hydrate nanoparticles. The application of this method enables quantitative observation of gas hydrates that form on subsecond timescales using our all-vapor approach that includes an ether catalyst rather than high pressures to promote hydrate formation. The sampling method is versatile allowing routine studies at temperatures ranging from 120 to 210 K of either a single gas or the competitive uptake of different gas molecules in small cages of the hydrates. The present study emphasizes hydrate aerosols formed by pulsing vapor mixtures into a cold chamber held at 160 or 180 K. We emphasize aerosol spectra from 6 scans recorded an average of 8 s after "instantaneous" hydrate formation as well as of the gas hydrates as they evolve with time. Quantitative aerosol data are reported and analyzed for single small-cage guests and for mixed hydrates of CO(2), CH(4), C(2)H(2), N(2)O, N(2), and air. The approach, combined with the instant formation of gas hydrates from vapors only, offers promise with respect to optimization of methods for the formation and control of gas hydrates.


Financial statements of nineteen mature banks have been patronized to examine the impact of macroeconomic indicators and bank-specific determinants on the NPLs ratio through Quantile and Panel Data regression approaches. The impact of macroeconomic indicators on credit risk is statistically estimated for banking network via two directions. First, different quantiles are econometrically calculated, assessed and compared during 2007-12. Second, the Panel Data estimation is utilized in the same way to verify the outcomes of quantile regression and to check the robustness. Results indicate that the impact of real money supply on the banks' NPLs in 25%, 50%, and 75% of data is positive and significant in line with empirical evidence. The coefficients of the other variables (including the ratio of individual banks' performing loans to total deposits, individual banks' performing loans to total loans ratio, as well as GDP would be positively significant as well. The real interest rate has negatively-significantly driven NPLs. The banks' NPLs are generally exacerbated by the impact of higher real money supply over the long run, real interest rate in the money market and upper return in the assets market mainly because of the negative-inflationary transmission effect.


OBJECTIVE
To study radiographic and genetic aspects of hereditary radial head subluxation in Bouviers des Flandres.

ANIMALS
26 related Bouviers des Flandres affected with bilateral subluxation of the radial head, 10 unaffected related dogs, and 29 unrelated Bouviers des Flandres with diagnoses of nonskeletal diseases.

PROCEDURES
All dogs were radiographically studied, and their DNA was analyzed with a genome-wide screen of 1,536 single nucleotide polymorphisms. In addition, karyotyping was performed in an unaffected dam and its affected offspring.

RESULTS
Both forelimbs of affected dogs were disproportionately short with caudolateral subluxation or luxation of the radial head. Angulation of the radial axis at the mid-diaphysis ranged from 9.3 degrees to 30.3 degrees (mean +/- SD, 14.9 +/- 6.1 degrees ), with an estimated age of onset from 0 to 4 months. Poorly defined medial coronoid processes and osteoarthritis of the elbow joint, cranial bowing of the olecranon, and disturbed growth in length of the ulna with sharply demarcated spurs were noticed on radiographs of affected dogs. Genealogical analysis indicated that most affected dogs were closely related, but the mode of inheritance was not clear. The DNA analysis found that 205 single nucleotide polymorphisms were monomorphic in the affected dogs. Conventional chromosome staining revealed no numerical chromosomal aberration.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Congenital radial head luxation and subluxation in the studied Bouviers des Flandres were characterized by angulation of the radial axis leading to caudolateral subluxation of the radial head and insufficient growth of the distal portion of the ulna together with cranial bowing of the olecranon.


When public security organizations like fire brigades deal with emergency situations, 'real world' problems and phenomena are inseparably intertwined with media and communication: Not only are working practices grounded in professional knowledge, discourse and interaction, but the achievement, modification, storage, distribution and selection of such organizational knowledge is also increasingly supported (or even enabled) by media technology. Against this background, the deployment of media innovations in organizations that deal with emergencies may cause additional ('second order') troubles and lead to an escalation of the crisis. On the basis of participatory observation and video documentation at a training center for firefighters this paper examines communicative practices in the use of "ubiquitous" media in emergency situations. Finally the findings will be summarized and discussed with regard to the concept of "ubiquitous computing".


Galactokinase catalyses the site‐ and stereospecific phosphorylation of α‐d‐galactose. As such it has attracted interest as a biocatalyst for the introduction of phosphate groups into monosaccharides. However, attempts to broaden the substrate range of human galactokinase have generally resulted in substantially reduced activity. The enzyme also has biotechnological potential in enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for type II galactosaemia. The return‐to‐consensus approach can be used to identify residues that can be altered to increase protein stability and enzyme activity. This approach identified six residues of potential interest in human galactokinase. Some of the single consensus variants (M60V, D268E, A334S and G373S) increased the catalytic turnover of the enzyme, but none resulted in improved stability. When all six changes were introduced into the protein (M60V/M180V/D268E/A334S/R366Q/G373S), thermal stability was increased. Molecular dynamics simulations suggested that these changes altered the protein's conformation at key sites. The number of salt bridges and hydrogen bonds was also increased. Combining the six consensus variations with Y379W (a variant with greater substrate promiscuity) increased the stability of this variant and its turnover towards some substrates. Thus, the six consensus variants can be used to stabilise catalytically interesting variants of human galactokinase and might also be useful if the protein were to be used in ERT.


This article discusses how male Angolan war veterans navigated the sudden shift from the rigours of military discipline to life in a civilian society they no longer recognised, where money had become a dominant social value. Based on a year of participant observation and interviews with war veterans in the city of Huambo, it traces their life histories and their post‐war struggles to develop the necessary creativity and initiative to make a profit in a disordered, war‐torn economy, where masculine status and authority had come to depend crucially on monetary income. I analyse their reaction to the crumbling of the relative certainties of the patriarchal orders of both pre‐war society and military life, and the associated anxieties around living up to a senior masculine archetype of the wise, authoritative provider whilst attempting to ensure that their wives' behaviour conformed to the family model that accompanies this archetype.


In this paper a Networked Learning environment is presented for teaching Logic Programming from a Distance. After a short introduction to the Networked Learning approach to Open and Distance Learning, we present the reasons why Logic Programming background is regarded as necessary for a computer scientist. Technological and pedagogical aspects of the design of the Networked Learning course are then discussed and the designing choices are justified together with the implementation of the environment, by giving descriptions of the syllabus and the course structure. We discuss our experience acquired by both the web based teaching environment and the teaching process. The Networked Learning course was delivered for two successive academic years to undergraduate students under a SOCRATES-MINERVA program. Finally, we briefly present the results of the networked learning process based on student evaluation questionnaires and students' learning performance and we propose ways to improve the programme delivery and outcomes.


The academic success of any school depends on its teachers. However, relatively little research exists on the qualities principals value in teacher hiring, and we know almost nothing about charter school principals preferences. This article addresses this gap in the literature using survey results for a matched sample of charter and traditional public school principals. We compare regression-adjusted survey responses of charter and traditional public school principals to examine whether charter school principals report placing more emphasis on teacher hiring than principals in traditional public schools and whether principals preferences for teacher qualifications and characteristics vary between charter and traditional public schools. While we find some mean differences in principals reported hiring focus and preferences across charter and traditional public schools, regression results indicate that these differences are driven not by charter status but by school characteristics, such as average teacher experience and school enrollment.


This title explores the evolutionary history of training in psychotherapy, the institutions they came from, and the main ideas that supported them. It also explores the professionalization of psychotherapy and provides detailed information about each training. It includes all the organizations central to psychoanalytic work, including the Jungian trainings in analytical psychology and Jungian psychotherapy, and the child, group and couple trainings and all trainings inspired by psychoanalysis and analytical psychology. It is designed for those interested in training to become a psychotherapist and provides a focus for debate about the history of the field.


New three-dimensional (3-D) V_P and V_P/V_S models are determined for southern California using P and S-P travel times from local earthquakes and controlled sources. These models confirm existing tectonic interpretations and provide new insights into the configuration of geological structures at the Pacific-North America plate boundary. The models extend from the U.S.-Mexico border in the south to the southernmost Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada in the north and have a 15-km horizontal grid spacing and an average vertical grid spacing of 4 km, down to 22 km depth. The heterogeneity of the crustal structure as imaged by V_P and V_P/V_S models is larger within the Pacific plate than the North American plate. Similarly, the relocated seismicity deepens and shows more complex 3-D distribution in areas of the Pacific plate exhibiting compressional tectonics. The models reflect mapped changes in the lithology across major geological terranes such as the Mojave Desert, the Peninsular Ranges, and the Transverse Ranges. The interface between the shallow Mono of the Continental Borderland and the deep Moho of onshore California forms a broad zone to the north beneath the western Transverse Ranges, Ventura basin, and the Los Angeles basin and a narrow zone to the south, along the Peninsular Ranges. The near-surface increase in velocity, from the surface to up to 8 km depth, is rapid and has a logarithmic shape for stable blocks and mountain ranges but is slow with a linear shape for sedimentary basins. At midcrustal depths a rapid increase in V_P is imaged beneath the sediments of the large sedimentary basins, while beneath the adjacent mountain ranges the increase is small or absent.


The ancient climate of Mars remains an enigma despite the abundance of in situ and remote-sensing data revealing hydrological activity in the past. The crux of this debate—informed by geomorphic studies, chemical alteration observations, and numerical climate models—is the amount, distribution, and nature of surface water and precipitation (i.e., rain vs. snow). Here, we combined measurements of 96 open- and closed-basin lakes with simple hydrological balances to constrain catchment-averaged precipitation, PT, integrated over a given runoff episode of indeterminate length during early Mars history. We included 13 systems containing both open- and closed-basin lakes, providing fully bounded precipitation estimates (coupled systems). We show that, on average, PT was ≳4 m and ≲159 m; however, local precipitation was spatially variable and consistent with a complex, planetwide climate. Aridity indexes of open-basin lakes indicate some regions may have been at least as humid as semiarid terrestrial environments. Our results offer widely distributed, quantitative hydro-climate constraints that can be used to test paleoclimate model scenarios, working toward bridging the gap between geological observations and climate theory for early Mars.


A confined aqueous environment is defined by a very low water-volume to exposed steel-area ratio. In such media containing dissolved CO2, siderite is formed and acts as a protective film. An addition of applied stress and/or environmental fluctuation can disturb the balance between the steel and this protective film, causing the fracture of the latter and leading to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC). The material studied is a cold drawn and rolled high strength steel composed of ferrite and spheroidized pearlite and has a strong microstructural anisotropy due to the specific cold work process. To investigate its susceptibility to SCC, Slow Strain Rate Tests (SSRT) were carried out on smooth and notched specimens allowing to separate crack initiation and crack propagation. The environment is an aqueous chloride solution saturated in CO2 at pH around 6. Tests were performed under open circuit potential (OCP) and at cathodic potential. Under OCP, localized anodic dissolution in shear bands is responsible for crack initiation. Under cathodic potential, crack initiation is delayed due to the absence of critical defect on the surface. Both fractographic analyses and results obtained on notched specimens showed that hydrogen plays an important role in crack propagation.


The idea of an application described through its workflow is becoming popular in the Grid community as a natural method of functional decomposition of an application. It shows all the important dependencies as a set of connections of data flow and/or control flow. As scientific workflows grow in size and complexity, a tool to assist end users is becoming necessary. In this paper we describe the formal basis, design and implementation of such a tool -- an assistant which analyzes user requirements regarding application results and works with information registries that provide information on resources available in the Grid. The Workflow Composition Tool (WCT) provides the functionality of automatic workflow construction based on the process of semantic service discovery and matchmaking. It uses a well-designed construction algorithm together with specific heuristics in order to provide useful solutions for application users.


Spain is the most self-sufficient country for minerals in the
EsU. A major proportion of these Spanish mineral resources has
been oblained from Tertiary material-. The main material
exploited in Tertiary basins have been: brown coal and lignites, potassium salts, sodium salts (sulphates and chlorides), diatomite,
sepiolite and other absorbent days, bentonites, celestine. pumice and also dimension (building) stones and ceramics, portland
cement and plaster raw materials.
Pb-Zn-Ag and gold alunite volcanogenic ores, related to Neogene
volcanism, besides Au-placers have been mined from Roman
times, Minor Cu and Mn occurrences are also reviewed.
The brown coal mines of Galician basins have provided all the
significant production of Spain: more than 17 Mt. Low-quaility
Oligocene lignites in the eastern part of the Ebro Basin and Balearic
Islands are less important from tbe economic point of view. Other
occurrences are in the Guinzo de Limia. Guadix Baza. Granada
(Arenas del Rey) and Alcoy basins.
The Spanish Tertiary basins (continental and marine, (Oligocene-Miocene) are filled by thick evaporites in which are obtained
potassium salts and sodium salts (sulphates and chlorides). The
Montevives celestine mine is located in the evaporitic unit of the
Granada basin (Miocene), and provides all of the Spanish celestine
production. Spain is the world's third largest producer of celestine.
The Madrid basin and the minor Calatayud basin supply the
whole of Spanish sepiolitic production. The most important Spanish
attapulgite production is obtained from the El Cuervo mine (Sevilla
and Cadiz provinces). The genesis of the Cabo de Gata bentonite
deposits is thought to be by hydrothermal alteration and halmyrolsis
of Neogene volcanic roch. The Madrid basin bentonites and
'pink days' have been interpreted as an early diagenetic. even
edaphic Mg-rich, attapulgitization of illite clays. The most important
areas of ceramic c1ay production in Spain are localed in the
Guadalquivir basin (Bailen area) and the Madrid basin, (La Sagra
Alcala de Henares).
The continental Neogene basin ofthe Hellin area supplies 90 % of Spanish diamote production.


Experiencing violence in schools can negatively impact girls' enrollment as well as the quality of the education they receive. Evidence suggests that sexual harassment is widespread in educational settings in many parts of the world. Children who have witnessed violence at home or experienced violence have lower educational attainment. In Zambia, girls who experienced sexual violence were found to have more difficulty concentrating on studies, some students transferred to another school to escape harassment, and others dropped out of school because of pregnancy. Few ministries of education around the world have explicit policies on sexual violence and harassment as unacceptable, and few have developed guidelines on the definition of harassment and how educational institutions should respond.


Most humans don't realize that when they exchange emails with someone, anyone, they are actually exhibiting certain unspoken rules about dominance and hierarchy. The same rules regulate the exchange of grooming behavior in rhesus macaques or chimpanzees. Interestingly, some of the major aspects of human nature have profound commonalities with our ape ancestors: the violence of war, the intensity of love, the need to live together. While we often assume that our behavior in everyday situations reflects our unique personalities, the choices we freely make, or the influences of our environment, we rarely consider that others behave in these situations in almost the exact the same way as we do. In Games Primates Play, primatologist Dario Maestripieri examines the curious unspoken customs that govern our behavior. These patterns and customs appear to be motivated by free will, yet they are so similar from person to person, and across species, that they reveal much more than our selected choices. Games Primates Play uncovers our evolutionary legacy: the subtle codes that govern our behavior are the result of millions of years of evolution, predating the emergence of modern humans. To understand the rules that govern primate games and our social interactions, Maestripieri arms readers with knowledge of the scientific principles that ethologists, psychologists, economists, and other behavioral scientists have discovered in their quest to unravel the complexities of behavior. As he realizes, everything from how we write emails to how we make love is determined by the legacy of our primate roots and the conditions that existed so long ago. An idiosyncratic and witty approach to our deep and complex origins, Games Primates Play reveals the ways in which our primate nature drives so much of our lives.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the long-term fixture success rate, crestal bone loss and peri-implant soft tissue parameters around ITI dental implants placed in the posterior region of partially edentulous patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A total of 192 ITI dental implants were consecutively placed in premolars and molars of 83 partially edentulous patients admitted for treatment at Geneva Dental School. All implants were restored by means of ceramic-to-metal fused fixed partial dentures and single crowns. Patients were followed as part of a prospective longitudinal study focusing on implant success. Surgical, radiographic and clinical variables were collected at the 1-year recall after implant placement and at the most recent clinical evaluation.

RESULTS
The mean observation time was 6 years (range 5-10 years). Four implants failed, yielding a 10-year cumulative survival rate of 97.9%. The mean annual crestal bone loss was -0.04+/-0.2 mm. Hollow-cylinder implants displayed more crestal bone loss (-0.13+/-0.24 mm) than hollow-screw implants (-0.02+/-0.19 mm; P=0.032). Clinical parameters such as age, gender, implant length and bone quality did not affect crestal bone levels. Increase in recession depth (P=0.025) and attachment level (P=0.011) were significantly associated with crestal bone loss.

CONCLUSIONS
ITI dental implants placed in the posterior jaw demonstrate excellent long-term clinical success. Hollow-cylinder implants seem to display a higher risk for crestal bone loss. Recession depth and attachment levels appear to be good clinical indicators of peri-implant bone loss.


Today, more mediated information is available to more people than at any other time in human history. New and revitalized sense-making strategies multiply in response to the challenges of "cutting through the clutter" of competing narratives and taming the avalanche of information. Data miners, "sentiment analysts," and decision markets offer to help bodies of data "speak for themselves"making sense of their own patterns so we dont have to. Neuromarketers and body language experts promise to peer behind peoples words to see what their brains are really thinking and feeling. New forms of information processing promise to displace the need for expertise and even comprehensionat least for those with access to the data. Infoglut explores the connections between these wide-ranging sense-making strategies for an era of information overload and "big data," and the new forms of control they enable. Andrejevic critiques the popular embrace of deconstructive debunkery, calling into question the post-truth, post-narrative, and post-comprehension politics it underwrites, and tracing a way beyond them.


Neurospora crassa glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) is produced during conidiation and stored in dormant conidia. Polyclonal antibody was generated to GAD that had been purified to homogeneity. The anti-GAD antibody was specific for N. crassa GAD and inhibited GAD activity. The level of GAD protein decreased during conidial germination, indicating that GAD was degraded during this phase of development. The anti-GAD antibody was used to isolate a cDNA clone of GAD from a lambda ZAP cDNA expression library. Escherichia coli containing a plasmid with the cDNA insert produced GAD activity. The cDNA clone contained a 2.6 kbp insert and hybridized to a 2.6 kb mRNA species from conidiating cultures of N. crassa. GAD mRNA was not present in vegetative hyphae. In conidiating cultures, GAD mRNA was first detected when conidia began to appear. The level of GAD mRNA increased as conidiation progressed. This is the first example of the cloning of an enzyme that is regulated at the level of mRNA during the asexual developmental cycle of N. crassa.


The 3d transition metal nitrides M4N (Sc4N, Ti4N, V4N, Cr4N, Mn4N, Fe4N, Co4N, Ni4N, and Cu4N) have unique phase relationships, crystal structures, and electronic and magnetic properties. Here we present a systematic density functional theory (DFT) study on these transition metal nitrides, assessing both the I-M4N phase and the II-M4N phase, which differ in ordering of the N atoms within the face-centered cubic (FCC) framework of metal atoms. The calculations showed that for M = Mn, Fe, Co and Cu, the I-M4N phases with perfect metal sub-lattices are favored, while for M = Sc–Cr, and Ni, the II-M4N phases with distorted metal sub-lattices are favored. We predict that several currently not existing II-M4N phases may be synthesized experimentally as metastable phases. From Bader charge analysis the M4N phases are found to be ionic with significant metal–metal bonding. I-M4N with M = Cr to Ni are magnetic, while II-M4N with M = Cr and Ni are non-magnetic. The calculations revealed unusually high local magnetic moments and high spin-polarization ratios of the M1 atoms in I-M4N (M = Cr to Ni). The origin of magnetism and lattice distortion of the M4N phases is addressed with the Stoner criterion. Detailed information about the relative stability, structures, chemical bonding, as well as the electronic and magnetic properties of the phases are of interest to a wide variety of fields, such as chemical synthesis, catalysis, spintronics, coating technology, and steel manufacturing.


Gonadal function was evaluated in 100 home-reared persons with Down syndrome (DS) including 53 boys and men and 47 girls and women. In order to definitively evaluate gonadal function in our subjects, all patients with abnormal thyroid function were excluded from endocrine analysis. Among the men, the frequency of hypospadias and cryptorchidism was similar to that of the general population. In both men and women, the ages for the onset and completion of puberty were also normal. However, among adult men with DS, the mean stretched penile length and the mean testicular volume were significantly below the mean value of normal men. In the 23 men with DS, the mean serum levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were significantly elevated above the mean for normal men. By contrast, the mean plasma level of testosterone (T) was normal, suggesting a diagnosis of partial gonadal deficiency. Among the 14 women in the study, 6 had primary gonadal dysfunction. In prepubertal children, serum FSH levels in 3 boys and 5 girls were more than 2 SD above the mean for normal children, while serum levels of LH in 3 boys and 2 girls were abnormally elevated. When gonadal function was evaluated in male infants, serum levels of FSH were above the normal in 6 of 11 subjects. Serum LH was abnormally elevated in 3 of 8 female infants. Our data argue that primary gonadal deficiency is common in DS, that it is progressive from birth to adolescence, and that it is clearly manifest in adult patients.


Sentiment analysis of social media data consists of attitudes, assessments, and emotions which can be considered a way human think. Understanding and classifying the large collection of documents into positive and negative aspects are a very difficult task. Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram provide a platform in order to gather information about peoples sentiments and opinions. Considering the fact that people spend hours daily on social media and share their opinion on various different topics helps us analyze sentiments better. More and more companies are using social media tools to provide various services and interact with customers. Sentiment Analysis (SA) classifies the polarity of given tweets to positive and negative tweets in order to understand the sentiments of the public. This paper aims to perform sentiment analysis of real-time 2019 election twitter data using the feature selection model word2vec and the machine learning algorithm random forest for sentiment classification. Word2vec with Random Forest improves the accuracy of sentiment analysis significantly compared to traditional methods such as BOW and TF-IDF. Word2vec improves the quality of features by considering contextual semantics of words in a text hence improving the accuracy of machine learning and sentiment analysis.


The issue of audit quality currently sits at the top of the financial reporting policy agenda (eg, FRC, 2006a; 2007, 2008). The audit process involves interactions (ie, discussions and negotiations) between the audit team and client company directors and staff. At senior level, these interactions determine the content of the published financial statements and hence impact on the overall integrity of the financial reporting process and capital market confidence. This Briefing reports findings from a survey of the three principal parties (finance directors/chief financial officers (CFOs), audit partners (APs) and audit committee chairs (ACCs)), part of which explores their role in the audit interaction process. The data was collected between June and September 2007 and therefore relates to the current UK regulatory environment. In this Briefing we report on the extent, nature and outcomes of financial reporting interactions which took place involving the three parties.


This research describes the entrapment of spermatozoa in a micro
uidic device and the analysis of
single spermatozoa by
uorescence and impedance spectroscopy.
This micro
uidic device is made from PDMS and consists of two main channels, which are con-
nected by small side channels. These side channels act as small traps when a pressure di�erence
is obtained over the main channels. This pressure di�ence was caused by a di�erence in
ow rate.
Three di�erent trap heights of 1, 1.5 and 2 mm were tested, of which the 1 mm traps showed a
single cell trapping capacity of 43%. This chip showed the least tendency to trap multiple sper-
matozoa, which is an advantage since multiple trapping is undesirable for impedance measurements.
Spermatozoa were analysed with
uorescent stainings. Viability staining was performed on and o�
chip. With viability staining on chip, the viability of a speci�c cell could be determined. FISH
staining of X and Y chromosomes was performed, after which several FISH staining experiments
were performed on spermatozoa on chip. The staining results were not in
uenced by the presence
of microelectrodes in the chip.
The presence of a spermatozoon in the trap could also be detected through impedance spectroscopy.
It was seen that spermatozoa caused a drop in impedance at the resistive plateau. This drop in
impedance indicates that the interior of the cell was measured. Because the interior of spermatozoa
mainly consists of DNA, it might be possible to measure the amount of DNA.
Therefore, viability and FISH staining on chip can be combined with impedance measurements
on chip, to investigate the impedance di�erences of viable and dead spermatozoa and of X and Y
bearing spermatozoa.


This Commentary by CEPS Director Daniel Gros asks what is behind the ever-increasing price of crude oil? He argues that the supply of oil today will increase only if tomorrow's price is low relative to the price today. This implies that China influences oil prices today not so much because (as is often asserted) Chinese demand is high today – China currently accounts for less than 10% of global consumption of crude – but because demand in China is projected to increase so much in the future, fuelling expectations of higher prices and thus leading producers to lower their rate of extraction today.


-With increased number of mixed-signal SoC designs and accordingly mixed-signal verification needs, UVM as a proven verification methodology for complex digital SoC is imposed as a solution. However, many mixed-signal UVM verification approaches are present, with no standardized methods of connecting UVM environment with the Mixed-Signal design. For these reasons, efficient Mixed-Signal design verification is becoming challenging and opens space for innovative verification solutions. This paper will show different ways to connect UVM environment with the Mixed-Signal design when Verilog-AMS models are used.


Abstract Development of eco-friendly binders with no harmful emission during its complete life cycle is of high interest for the wood-based industry. In this paper, a fully renewable binder based on activated lignin and poly-furfuryl alcohol and a partly renewable lignin based phenol-formaldehyde (PF) binder were evaluated. Activation of kraft and soda lignins, isolated respectively from softwood and non-woods, by periodate oxidation was performed to improve lignin reactivity and application in wood adhesives. Periodate oxidation of lignin leads to higher lignin acidity, formation of quinonoid groups under more severe conditions, higher molar mass and higher reactivity towards the curing of furfuryl alcohol within a temperature range currently used in industry. Comparison of a 100% furan-based glue with a furan-based glue substituted by 10% lignin yields comparable product properties. However, periodate-activated lignin leads to lower wood failure, which might be caused by incompletely solubilised lignin particles in the acidic formulation disturbing crosslinking of the furan resin. Unmodified softwood kraft lignin performs well in a PF resin formulation at substitution levels up to 30% (w/w). Periodate oxidation of soda lignins enhances the glue performance because higher wood failure is attained. The higher molar mass after periodate treatment could be an important parameter for development of a stronger wood binder.


The thesis looks at the issue of career choice and decision-making through the eyes of young people in Antigua and in England. It provides an account of their views and attitudes in relation to various jobs and careers and the factors which have influenced these views. It asks young people about the way in which they are making their career choices and the sort of factors which influence them into making these choices.

The study begins by first providing a brief overview of education and training in both countries and the way in which education is presented in both countries as being essential for economic growth. At the centre of this study is the realisation that after many years of vocational initiatives young people still appear to be reluctant to enter vocational courses and or careers. Nonetheless, from a socio/economic viewpoint, various governments over the last quarter of a century, at least, have placed much emphasis on the relationship between education and the country's economic performance.

The three specific aims of the study are:
• To explore young peoples' employment aspirations in Antigua and the UK
• To investigate young people's attitudes towards jobs and careers
• To evaluate the various influences on their career choices.

Since vocational education prepares individuals for gainful employment, the participants were therefore questioned about their career aspirations; particularly in terms of whether they are considering academic or vocational type courses or careers. In order to ascertain if the participants had made informed choices/decisions regarding subjects and career choices it was necessary to look at the types of information with which they are provided as well as the sources of the information. The research also questions whether the information provided is adequate and without bias.

Conducted within two schools and two colleges in the North of England and two schools and a college in the Caribbean island of Antigua, the study employs the use of both Questionnaires and interviews so as to obtain a rich texture of data. However, as it seeks to give a voice to the young people themselves, it leans more towards the qualitative side of the interview data.

The study reveals that the term vocational is not widely understood and attributes this to the narrow approach of careers education and guidance being provided to young people. Thus, it raises questions of how well young people are being prepared for the world of work. It however has found that young people do not make their choices based upon whether the career is a vocational or academic career. They are more concerned about the money and status which a career or job earns them and they are more likely to take advice from parents, siblings and even friends than from careers advisers.


The robotic hand plays an extremely significant role in completing various robotic tasks, especially for a robot to complete different grasping tasks. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-fingered bionic hand with variable stiffness for robotic grasp. Firstly, based on the analysis of the human hand, we design the modular finger with variable stiffness mechanism and the flexible thumb with dual-link independent mechanism. Secondly, the multi-fingered bionic hand composed of three modular fingers and one flexible thumb is presented, which possesses 14 degrees of freedom (DoFs). Then, the parameters of the designed hand are analyzed to obtain the stiffness characteristics and working space. Furthermore, the grasping control method based on position control and force control is proposed for robotic grasp. Finally, a series of experiments are designed to verify the effectiveness of the designed hand and the proposed method. The experimental results show that: (1) the designed variable stiffness mechanism can be used to adjust the stiffness of hand fingers; (2) the proposed method can effectively control the grasping force under different stiffness conditions; (3) the designed hand can successfully grasp different types of objects by various grasping strategies.


This study
seeks
to establish
whether, and
,
if so, how, 'F
ootball in the
C
ommunity
'
can be
an important source for cultivating and
tending
s
ocial
c
apital. Previous
research has paid much attention to the role of sports and leisure pursuits in the
development of
s
ocial
c
apital and the benefits which can be attained through
participation in and in
volvement with sport, sporting organisations and
c
ommunity
s
ports
d
evelopment (CSD). Using the
's
ocial
c
apital
c
ycle
'
as a framework for
analysing the case of
Arsenal in the Community
and
drawing on
previous analytical
frameworks, the
findings
suggest that
s
ocial
c
apital is being cultivated and
tend
ed
within
Arsenal in the Community,
particularly as a result of the environment created
through their CSD programmes and the networks developed in partnerships with
other organisations. In some cases
,
this develo
pment of
s
ocial
c
apital has helped to
achieve outstanding results. The Holy Grail of CSD research and practice
is
a
credible mechanism for
evaluating and measuring
seemingly intangible
value
s
.
Whil
e
previous studies have
emphasised
the intangibility of CSD and
s
ocial
c
apital,
the discussions raised in this research suggest two important conclusions. First, that
the power of an elite football club brand
,
such as Arsenal
,
presents opportunities to
add and receive value through recipro
cal benefits with
its
community department.
Second, that the positive impacts of this mutual benefit can be recognised within a
social impact measurement
that
has both wider relevance and contemporary
resonance
for
global business strategy


Tempe is traditional Indonesian food. It has a variety of tastes, sometimes with a hint of bitterness, which may differ in intensity. The cause of bitterness in tempe has never been reported previously. In this study, the aim is to identify whether bacteria play a role in the formation of bitter tastes in tempe. Sensory tests were carried out in order to determine the scores of bitter-taste-intensity in tempe. The sensory test on EMP, WJB, CLR, DRG, and MLB tempe shows that EMP tempe has the highest score (2.3) and WJB has the lowest (1.3). It is revealed that the processing method has no impact on the formation of the bitter taste in tempe. Plating analysis, showed that EMP soaking water contained a higher number of Enterobacteria group bacteria, approximately 103-104 CFU ml-1 and spore-forming bacteria groups, 102 CFU ml-1, compared to WJB. Similarly, other bacteria groups in fresh EMP tempe was 102 CFU g-1 higher than those in fresh WJB tempe. Based on sequencing the16S rRNA gene, the dominant bacteria on PCA media in EMP tempe are Acetobacter indonesiensis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis, and Flavobacterium sp. On the other hand those in WJB tempe were Klebsiella sp., Brevundimonas sp., Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas putida, and Acinetobacter sp. Bacillus, a group of proteolytic bacteria was found 105 CFU m-1 higher in the soaking water of EMP compared to WJB. Nevertheless, the types and numbers of fungi were not significantly different between tempe types. Accordingly, it is concluded that the difference in the number and the types of bacteria involved in the tempe production process leads to the difference in the bitter taste intensity in both EMP and WJB tempe. Key words: tempe, taste, bacteria community analysis


Through mainstream media, men are often exposed to and expected to adopt stereotypical masculine traits, which include excessive aggression, power and dominance, and emotionless. Studies have shown that the conformity to these gender norms can predict numerous variables, including depression, sexism, aggressiveness, etc. (Addis, Syzdek & Mansfield, 2010). This thesis examines, through qualitative content analysis, the portrayal of fathers within the media through the use of Father's Day advertisements. The Father's Day advertisements were predicted to adhere to the typical masculine gender role. These predictions included that the advertisements would be geared towards dad's personal life (work and play) rather than his family life, would depict men as being strong and tough, hardworking, and breadwinners, and finally, would depict men as being aggressive. As expected, the quantitative content analysis revealed that Father's Day advertisements reflected men as being working men rather than family men, strong and tough, hardworking and breadwinners, and aggressive.


Summary One of the locations of renal artery atherosclerosis is at the orifice of the renal artery, therefore the structure of this orifice was assessed in 6 normal, adult male dogs by light microscopy (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). For the LM study, processed tissues were embedded in paraffin and sectioned serially into 6-μ m thickness. Sections were stained with orcein. For the TEM study, after fixation and dehydration, samples were embedded in resin, and ultrathin sections stained with uranil acetate. In the LM study, two edges (proximal and distal) at the orifice of the renal artery were observed. Extra formation of elastin was clearly seen at the tip of the distal edge compared with the proximal edge. The curve from the aorta wall into the renal artery at the distal edge of the orifice was sharper than that of the proximal edge. In the TEM study, the tunica intima in the distal and lateral edges was thicker than that in the proximal edge. At the proximal edge of the orifice, there was only one layer of endothelial cells, and the internal elastic membrane was situated directly beneath it. In the distal edge, besides the endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells (SMCs) were found in the tunica intima that were separated from each other with elastic and collagen fibers. In the tunica intima of the lateral edge, two layers of SMCs were observed, between which were collagen fibers. This distance between the internal elastic membrane and endothelial cells at the distal and lateral edges can be important in diseases such as atherosclerosis. These data indicate that there are differences between the proximal edge and the distal and lateral edges of the orifice, and the involvement of special structures in atherosclerosis is suggested. Key word: Orifice, Renal artery, Proximal edge, Distal edge, Lateral edge


Elizabeth Faue traces the transformation of the American labor movement from community forms of solidarity to bureaucratic unionism. Arguing that gender is central to understanding this shift, Faue explores women's involvement in labor and political organizations and the role of gender and family ideology in shaping unionism in the twentieth century. Her study of Minneapolis, the site of the important 1934 trucking strike, has broad implications for labor history as a whole. Initially the labor movement rooted itself in community organizations and networks in which women were active, both as members and as leaders. This community orientation reclaimed family, relief, and education as political ground for a labor movement seeking to re-establish itself after the losses of the 1920s. But as the depression deepened, women -- perceived as threats to men seeking work -- lost their places in union leadership, in working-class culture, and on labor's political agenda. When unions exchanged a community orientation for a focus on the workplace and on national politics, they lost the power to recruit and involve women members, even after World War II prompted large numbers of women to enter the work force. In a pathbreaking analysis, Faue explores how the iconography and language of labor reflected ideas about gender. The depiction of work and the worker as male; the reliance on sport, military, and familial metaphors for solidarity; and the ideas of women's place -- these all reinforced the representation of labor solidarity as masculine during a time of increasing female participation in the labor force. Although the language of labor as male was not new in the depression, the crisis of wage-earning -- as a crisis of masculinity -- helped to give psychological power to male dominance in the labor culture. By the end of the war, women no longer occupied a central position in organized labor but a peripheral one.


This paper reviews four transit projects funded by using special assessment districts (SADs) across the United States. The paper examines the SAD revenue yield and stability and focuses on the actions taken by public agencies to enhance them; this examination results in three important findings. First, SAD revenues are highly stable and can be expected to generate large sums of money. However, as a proportion of project cost, such revenues might fund a small portion of capital-intensive transit projects such as heavy rail. Second, SAD revenues typically do not accrue up front because property owners have the option to pay the fee over time. Therefore, public agencies must rely on other funding sources (usually assessment fee-backed bonds) to address this revenue-expenditure mismatch. Finally, to ensure that assessment revenues do not decline in real dollars when paid over time, public agencies charge property owners interest, usually on the basis of the interest paid to service the assessment-backed bonds. Public agencies can take the following steps to enhance SADs' revenue yield and stability. First, try to capture as large a portion of the property value increase as is politically feasible. Second, use SADs to demonstrate local community support for a transit project, thereby leveraging state and federal funds. Third, minimize the number of properties exempt from paying assessments. Fourth, minimize real estate market risks to SAD revenues by formulating a revenue calculation methodology based on factors other than or in addition to property value, such as a parcel's street frontage and size and a property's building area. In addition, the assessment fee could be a proportion of the property's previously assessed value or a proportion of a fixed property value increment. Fifth, ensure full payment of fees.


Reinforced concrete being the most applied construction material today performs very well in most applications but still lacks durability under severe environmental conditions. Especially existing structures built decades ago show degradation. Using Ultra-High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) to improve durability is a promising option seen the extraordinary performance of this material when applied in a composite section. Restrained shrinkage of the overlay plays an important role in this type of application. A conceptual bridge cross section combining UHPFRC and reinforced concrete has been numerically analysed. Two main parameters, tensile strength and strain hardening capacity, were varied. The analysis indicates the importance of strain hardening of UHPFRC and the influence of its tensile strength on the structural response under restrained shrinkage (deformation controlled loading) and traffic loads (force controlled loading). The results validate the concept of using a UHPFRC layer to improve the structural durability of concrete constructions.


Soil moisture stress is a limiting factor in crop production particularly in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) as it affects many physiological and biochemical processes of plants. Research on moisture conservation measures is thus imperative. The current study used CropSyst model to simulate soil moisture under different tillage practices (oxen plough, tied ridges and furrows and ridges), cropping systems (monocropping, intercropping and crop-rotation) and organic fertilizers; farm yard manure, rock phosphate (RP) and Farmyard manure (FYM) combined with rock phosphate (RP+FYM). The study was conducted in Matuu Division, Kenya for two seasons; October 2012 to February 2013 short rain season (SRS) and March to August 2013 long rain season (LRS). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block design with a split-split plot arrangement and replicated three times. The main plots were tillage practices whereas the split plots were cropping systems and split-split plots were organic fertilizers and a control (nothing applied). The test crops were sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.) and sweet potato ( Ipomea batatas L. lam ) rotated and/or intercropped with dolichos ( Lablab purpureus ) and chickpea ( Cicer arietinum ). The CropSyst model was calibrated using measured soil texture, permanent wilting point, bulk density and initial soil moisture at the experimental site. Model validation was done using Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), percentage differences (PD) and willmott index (WI) of agreement. CropSyst model was reasonably validated as indicated by the low RMSE (0.5 to 1.3), PD (less than ±15) and WI index (close to 1). In the first season and second season, simulated soil moisture (101.91 and 108.3 mm) was significantly (P < 0.05) high in sorghum/dolichos intercrop with RP+FYM application under tied ridges and least (13.52 and 15.4 mm) in control treatment of sorghum mono crop under oxen plough. In sweet potato plots, both individual treatment and treatment interaction significantly influenced simulated soil moisture. Sweet potato-dolichos rotation (75.32 and 79.63 mm), with application of RP+FYM (75.03 and 79.39 mm) under tield ridges (95 and 100.24 mm) had highest simulated soil moisture levels under oxen plough (32.49 and 34.36 mm), sweet potato monocrop (53.46 and 55.26 mm) and control (52.52 and 55.39 mm) having the least during the first and second season, respectively. In both sorghum and sweet potato based cropping systems, soil moisture was correspondingly highest in tied ridges, intercropping and rotation systems involving dolichos and application of FYM+RP and least in control of monocropping under oxen plough. Information on effects of tillage practices, cropping systems and organic inputs could be very useful for soil water conservation purposes. Thus, using simulation models to attain the same could be the ultimate solution. A good agreement between observed and simulated soil moisture implied that CropSyst model is capable of investigating sustainable alternatives of increasing soil moisture in the ASALs.


The outsider, international approach to ending apartheid in South Africa tends to take an overly moral stance, one that ultimately ignores a complex political, economic and racial situation. Thus effective outside action and intervention fails to help remedy or improve what it finds offensive. Denis Worrall draws on 20th century South African history and his own experience as a South African to show some of the less obvious but extremely important facets of apartheid that bare directly on its dissemination.


The role of open data in air transport research is analyzed by means of a sample of over 300 research articles. The most used (or available) data types, their sources and their access policies are identified, both for the US and the EU. The analyses show that 70% of research in air transport is heavily reliant on data, that 70% of the data sources are curated by governmental bodies and that the US publicizes a wider set of sources, leading to wider usage. Areas for improving accessibility of (mainly European) data sources are outlined and alternative avenues to obtain data are sketched. The fact that Europe is lagging considerably in making its sources readily available to the research community means Europe missing out on entrepreneurship, innovation and scientific discovery, the presumed benefits of open data.


PURPOSE
To investigate the association of characteristics of type 2 diabetes mellitus (duration and biochemical severity of diabetes) to brain structure measured on magnetic resonance (MR) images, specifically testing whether more severity in metrics of diabetes is inversely correlated with brain volumes and positively correlated with ischemic lesion volumes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study protocol was approved by the institutional review board of each center and participants provided written informed consent. Baseline severity of diabetes was evaluated by testing fasting plasma glucose levels, hemoglobin A1c levels, and duration of diabetes. MR imaging was performed with fluid-attenuated inversion recovery, proton-density, T2-weighted, and T1-weighted sequences, which were postprocessed with an automated computer algorithm that classified brain tissue as gray or white matter and as normal or ischemic. Separate linear regression models adjusted for potential confounding factors were used to investigate the relationship of the diabetes measures to MR imaging outcomes in 614 participants (mean age, 62 years; mean duration of type 2 diabetes mellitus, 9.9 years).

RESULTS
The mean volumes of total gray matter (463.9 cm(3)) and total white matter (463.6 cm(3)) were similar. The mean volume of abnormal tissue was 2.5 cm(3), mostly in the white matter (81% white matter, 5% gray matter, 14% deep gray and white matter). Longer duration of diabetes and higher fasting plasma glucose level were associated with lower normal (β = -0.431 and -0.053, respectively; P < .01) and total gray matter volumes (β = -0.428 and -0.053, respectively; P < .01). Fasting plasma glucose was also inversely correlated with ischemic lesion volume (β = -0.006; P < .04). Hemoglobin A1c level was not associated with any MR imaging measure.

CONCLUSION
Longer duration of diabetes is associated with brain volume loss, particularly in the gray matter, possibly reflecting direct neurologic insult; biochemical measures of glycemia were less consistently related to MR imaging changes. Contrary to common clinical belief, in this sample of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, there was no association of diabetes characteristics with small vessel ischemic disease in the brain.


Modern economic conditions are characterized with growing global processes, whose source and conductors are transnational corporations (TNC). They operate in the structural units located in different countries of the world. The specific of transnational corporations is to follow the international standards of the company. Every country has its own mentality, peculiarities and traditions of the economic activity. And all countries carry out the economic policy influencing the economic activity.While penetrating into the receiving countries TNCs come across the problems they solve through the adaptation tools. The objective of the article is to identify the contradictions in the food industry TNC in Russia, to identify tools for the transnational corporations to adapt the Russian economy. One the most important adaptation tools to the Russian economic conditions is introduction of the transnational corporation values. The article looks into the corporate culture elements and it is marked that it determines the norms, laws, traditions and company values and is based on corporation global strategy.The corporate culture principles determine the key factors of the corporation success. It is possible to realize these principles through the search and selection of the highly qualified personnel and formation a comfortable working environment. Recruitment is carried out around the world in accordance with the corporate culture requirements. The expert assessments methodology is proposed to assess the working environment. The experts are the representatives of the main functional departments. They do a survey the employees through a questionnaire.The analysis and assessment of the obtained results allow to identify the company strong points and problems which need managements' special attention. Positive changes in the problem areas mean the improvement of the company activity final results and promote a TNC successful adaptation to the Russian economy. The fact that highly qualified Russian professionals familiarize with new management methods through corporate culture values introduction is an advantage for the Russian economy.


In order to enhance the acoustical performance of a traditional straight-path automobile muffler, a multi-chamber muffler having reverse paths is presented. Here, the muffler is composed of two internally parallel/extended tubes and one internally extended outlet. In addition, to prevent noise transmission from the muffler's casing, the muffler's shell is also lined with sound absorbing material. Because the geometry of an automotive muffler is complicated, using an analytic method to predict a muffler's acoustical performance is difficult; therefore, COMSOL, a finite element analysis software, is adopted to estimate the automotive muffler's sound transmission loss. However, optimizing the shape of a complicated muffler using an optimizer linked to the Finite Element Method (FEM) is time-consuming. Therefore, in order to facilitate the muffler's optimization, a simplified mathematical model used as an objective function (or fitness function) during the optimization process is presented. Here, the objective function can be established by using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) in conjunction with the muffler's design parameters and related TLs (simulated by FEM). With this, the muffler's optimization can proceed by linking the objective function to an optimizer, a Genetic Algorithm (GA). Consequently, the discharged muffler which is optimally shaped will improve the automotive exhaust noise.


Cynodon white leaf disease is associated with cynodon white leaf phytoplasma in Cynodon dactylon growing in Darwin, Northern Territory. In order to effectively assess and manage the risk to agricultural crops posed by this phytoplasma, it is necessary to establish whether there is an insect species capable of transmitting it from C. dactylon to grasses like Saccharum spp. hybrids and Zea mays. We used field and cage trials to investigate transmission of cynodon white leaf phytoplasma in these grasses. No transmission of the phytoplasma occurred in any of the trials, even to C. dactylon, the known host, and the phytoplasma did not persist in the potential leafhopper vector, Chiasmus varicolor. These results suggest that C. varicolor is not a vector of cynodon white leaf phytoplasma and that some requirement for successful transmission was not met in our field trials. We do not have sufficient information to determine whether transmission to Saccharum spp. hybrids or Z. mays is possible. Our study demonstrates the techniques that can be applied to this problem and provides a starting point for further investigation using different transmission conditions and insect species.


The mid-twentieth century Australian fieldwork of Joseph B. Birdsell illustrates, perhaps uniquely, the transition from typological structuring in physical anthropology before World War II to human biology's increasing interest in the geographical or clinal patterning of genes and commitment to notions of drift and selection. It also shows that some morphological inquiries lingered into the postwar period, as did an attachment to theories of racial migration and hybridization. Birdsell's intensive and long-term fieldwork among Aboriginal Australians eventually led him to criticize the settler colonialism and white racism that had made possible his expeditions and data collection. Yet he continued to regard Aboriginal communities as "island laboratories" and to treat Aboriginal people as convenient research subjects, distancing himself from their life worlds and experiences of dispossession and exploitation.
 This essay is part of a special issue entitled Pacific Biologies: How Humans Become Genetic, edited by Warwick Anderson and M. Susan Lindee.


All Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) have been going through a severe agricultural depression since their centrally planned economies collapsed in the early 1990s. It has now become clear that the transition process is far more complex and is likely to be much more protracted than was first expected. The agricultural policies of the Communist era resulted in considerable environmental problems, which are still present to varying degrees even after a considerable decrease in agricultural inputs during the past ten years. On the other hand, CEECs still retain a significant proportion of Europe's biodiversity. The existing low input and low intensity agriculture practised in these countries can be perceived in certain respects as an opportunity for environmental sustainability in the agricultural sector. However, in view of future EU membership and accompanying policies, the question is to what extent the requirements of environmental protection and nature conservation will be taken into account in the CEECs' policy formation. The paper presents a preliminary survey of agri-environmental problems and relevant regulations in the Central and Eastern European Countries and identifies future challenges for their agri-environmental policy formation.


The University of Chicago's robot, CHIP, is part of the Animate Agent Project, aimed at understanding the software architecture and knowledge representations needed to build a general-purpose robotic assistant. CHIP's strategy for the Office Cleanup event of the 1995 Robot Competition and Exhibition was to scan an entire area systematically and, as collectible objects were identified, pick them up and deposit them in the nearest appropriate receptacle. This article describes CHIP and its various systems and the ways in which these elements combined to produce an effective entry to the robot competition.


The purpose of this study was to examine the role of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) on worry reduction in a 36-year-old female with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sexual abuse and war exposure were the sources of PTSD for the patient. Using a manualized protocol, CBT techniques were tailored to the patient's problems and content of symptoms within a case study. Self-rating scales were used to measure the role of CBT on worry reduction during pre-treatment, post-treatment and follow-up. Results showed the importance of CBT components for worry reduction in PTSD. Particular issues were encountered; the most notably were the designing and monitoring of out-session practices which involved careful planning. The treatment implications are discussed including the tailoring of therapy for personalized interventions and patient screening with regards to the construct of worry for clinicians.


This paper uses the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey data for the years 1999, 2002 and 2005 to investigate business tax evasion in 24 transition economies. We use both conventional fixed effects estimation and the recently developed Fixed Effect Vector Decomposition approach. The most robust finding in our study is the importance of institutional factors. In particular, higher levels of corruption related to tax administration and slower transition reforms substantially reduce the amount of taxes paid by businesses in transition economies. In addition, we find a positive relationship between evasion and tax rate; and identify minor effects of the macroeconomic environment. We also find that social norms play a significant role in tax evasion. These findings inform policy recommendations intended to reduce either the possibility and/or the inclination to evade.


We determined the susceptibility of vegetative corn stages to Dichelops melacanthus damage, and how seed treatment can reduce damage and yield loss. Two field trials were carried out. In the first, corn plants were artificially infested with D. melacanthus male/female pairs at rate of 0.5 pair per plant at different vegetative stages and infestation periods lasting 7-28 days (V1-V3, V1-V5, V1-V7, V1-V9, V3-V5, V3-V7, V3-V9, V5-V7, V5-V9, and V7-V9), plus a control without infestation. In the second, corn plants were artificially infested at a rate of one male/female pair per plant at different vegetative stages and infestation periods (V1-V3, V1-V5, V1-V7, V3-V5, V3-V7 and V5-V7) and treated with two pesticide seed coatings: (i) fungicide [carbendazim + thiram (150 g i.a. per L and 350 g i.a. per L)] + insecticide [clothianidin (600 g i.a. per L)] or (ii) only fungicide (carbendazim + thiram), plus three controls without infestation and with only fungicide-treatment (V1-V7, V3-V7 and V5-V7). In both trials, plants were caged during the entire period in order to hold stink bugs in contact with plants and to avoid injury from other arthropods. The most stink bug susceptible corn growth periods were from V1-V5 and from V1-V7. Seed treatment with clothianidin at the rate of 3.5 mL per Kg during the most susceptible infestation periods increased yield gain of 37.8 to 61%. Treatment with clothianidin during V1-V5 and V1-V7 caused 40% to 50% D. melacanthus adult mortality, respectively.


The response of runoff and sediment loading in the Apalachicola River under projected climate change scenarios and land use land cover (LULC) change is evaluated. A hydrologic model using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool was developed for the Apalachicola region to simulate daily runoff and sediment load under present (circa 2000) and future conditions (2100) to understand how parameters respond over a seasonal time frame to changes in climate, LULC, and coupled climate/LULC. The Long Ashton Research Station‐Weather Generator was used to downscale temperature and precipitation from three general circulation models, each under Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) carbon emission scenarios A2, A1B, and B1. Projected 2100 LULC data provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center was incorporated for each corresponding IPCC scenario. Results indicate that climate change may induce seasonal shifts to both runoff and sediment loading. Changes in LULC showed that more sediment load was associated with increased agriculture and urban areas and decreased forested regions. A nonlinear response for both runoff and sediment loading was observed by coupling climate and LULC change, suggesting that both should be incorporated into hydrologic models when studying the future conditions. The outcomes from this research can be used to better guide management practices and mitigation strategies.


This research paper presents an innovative model of a program's internal behaviour over a set of test inputs called the probabilistic program dependence graph (PPDG), which facilitates probabilistic analysis and reasoning about uncertain program behaviour particularly that associated with faults. The PPDG construction augments the structural dependences represented by a program dependence graph with estimates of statistical dependences between node states, which are computed from the test set. The PPDG is based on the established framework of probabilistic graphical models which are used widely in a variety of applications. This research paper presents algorithms for constructing PPDGs and applying them to fault diagnosis. The research paper also presents preliminary evidence indicating that a PPDG-based fault localization technique compares favourably with existing techniques. The research paper also presents evidence indicating that PPDGs can be useful for fault


This conceptual paper seeks to advance a theoretical discussion on risk modeling and how it is used within the context of business process modeling. It discusses developments in risk modeling and then shows how they have been applied to the USA pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is a particularly interesting example in that it is bound on one side by stringent USA government mandates, and on the other by a risk adverse consumer population. A third aspect, the expanding cost structure of drug production and compliance, adds to the complexity of the problem. The discussion of risk in this paper applies mainly to regulated industries, and may be less applicable to more unregulated industry sectors. The important lesson for researchers is that a risk framework can play a significant part in business process modeling. The format for this paradigm may very well resemble a process repository, similar to those found in knowledge management systems.


Most general retailers have made huge investments in their on-line businesses but are still struggling to make money out of the World Wide Web. Yet their perseverance is more than justified. While off-line retailing is a mature, slow-growing business, the on-line market--albeit still fairly small--is expanding at double-digit rates. Moreover, customers increasingly demand an on-line presence from retailers. The search for ways to make the Web profitable is therefore on. It is a considerable challenge, calling for skills that go well beyond those required to run an off-line business successfully. General retailers have always succeeded by striking a carefully calibrated balance between offering a wide choice of goods and the opportunity cost of offering each additional category. But customers in the savvy new generation who shop both on- and off-line have different expectations of Web-based retailing: they want greater depth of inventory as well as rich and relevant on-line product information. For many pure e-tailers--and even for some retailers with substantial offline expertise--the cost of trying to provide that depth and content has proved insupportable. But help is at hand from an established off-line strategy: category management. How category management works General retailers tend to be masters at managing only three to five core categories. When a general retailer has established a loyal base of customers for those core products, it must determine which additional categories will make the most of its valuable shelf space--a decision that calls for sophisticated brand analysis and focus-group research. J. C. Penney's mainly middle-class customers, for instance, are not at all likely to shop for expensive Raymond Weil watches, unlike customers of Saks Fifth Avenue, at the luxury end of the retail market. The equally high-end customers of Neiman Marcus wouldn't expect to find compact discs (CDs) there, but the value-driven customers of Wal-Mart love the idea of buying them in its stores. Too often, retailers offer a wide product range to increase their share of overall customer spending without knowing enough about the noncore categories they stock. This is the opening for category managers: wholesalers that develop specific expertise in managing stocks of a given type of product--snack foods, sneakers, CDs, or the like--for the stores they serve. A category manager decides what mix of brands a retailer should carry in a particular category, and in what quantity, and helps to promote the products. A general retailer can use this expertise to add another string or strings to its bow, thereby increasing its chances of capturing a higher proportion of its customers' total spending, and can benefit from the added value the category manager offers through the economies of scale achieved by serving many retailers. Category managers are most useful when a category is relatively complex and customers demand deep selection from an array of many competing brands. Currently, category managers exist in 10 to 15 leading product categories, including financial services, music, sporting goods, and travel (exhibit). CDs are a good example: Handleman Entertainment Resources has built a billion-dollar business by managing the music aisles of chains such as Wal-Mart and Kmart. It decides which CDs to stock in individual outlets, arranges the shelves and displays, prices the CDs, and even designs newspaper advertisements for the stores. Since these stores carry as many as 3,000 different CDs on their shelves, it is easier for a category manager with specialized knowledge to get the selection right than it is for them: Handleman employs 20 or more music experts to track the music scene, for example, compared with the average retailer's one or two. This detailed knowledge means that even the most localized preferences can be picked up and reflected in a store's stock. …


This paper presents a method for combining
query-relevance with information-novelty in the context
of text retrieval and summarization. The Maximal
Marginal Relevance (MMR) criterion strives to reduce
redundancy while maintaining query relevance in
re-ranking retrieved documents and in selecting appropriate passages for text summarization. Preliminary results
indicate some benefits for MMR diversity ranking
in document retrieval and in single document summarization.
The latter are borne out by the recent results of the
SUMMAC conference in the evaluation of summarization
systems. However, the clearest advantage is demonstrated
in constructing non-redundant multi-document
summaries, where MMR results are clearly superior to
non-MMR passage selection.


Research has found levels of engagement in environmental behaviors and participation in Extension programming around environmental issues are directly associated with political affiliation. Democrat and Independent parties encourage members to vote for stricter environmental regulations, such as water conservation efforts, while Republicans resist. These divergent political behaviors imply that individuals' political affiliation affects their water conservation habits and their attitudes towards environmental issues. Hence, this can be used as a basis for creating appropriate water conservation-focused Extension programs targeting specific populations. However, research on the level of individual engagement in water conservation efforts and participation in Extension programming by political affiliation is lacking. The purpose of this study was to identify how engagement in water conservation behaviors and interest in water-focused Extension programs differ by political affiliation. The results show that Democrats are more interested in water-based education when compared to Republicans. These findings have important implications for the development of effective Extension programs designed to assist in water conservation efforts. By understanding the diverse political influences on water conservation behaviors, Extension educators can create appropriate and effective water-based education programs that resonates with all audiences.


For the past twenty years the Centre for Positive Displacement Compressor Technology, at City University, has employed experimental techniques for the measurement of screw compressors' performance where both experimental data and predicted mathematical models are found to be in agreement with each other. Some of the experimental measuring techniques involve the use of pressure and temperature transducers installed in the housing to determine the vital thermodynamic process characteristics and functioning performance of compressors. Moreover, as advanced technologies were available, measurements were performed in an optical compressor with a transparent window near the discharge port to allow the application of a laser technique, Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV), to investigate the axial mean flow and turbulence characteristics inside the working chamber of the male rotor. Recently a prototype two-phase screw steam expander has been designed and developed as a means of power recovery from liquid geothermal brine. An experimental setup has been designed by using a set of new generation instruments to complement the unit's numerical modeling, from which predictions of an adiabatic efficiency in the order of 70%, were obtained. The testing includes measurements of instantaneous pressure and temperature in the suction and discharge port, instantaneous torque, speed and flow rate as well as monitoring the temperature and pressure of its lubrication system. Furthermore, four miniature high resolution pressure transducers were installed in the expander unit to measure the main rotor inter lobe temporal pressures with respect to crank angle of the main rotor. The high dynamic characteristics and response of the instrument are captured by a real time processor, National Instrument Compact-RIO, data logger and the programming is done using LabVIEW. The paper presents the measuring method, preparation of the instruments, acquisition and processing of the results obtained during experimental investigation of the two-phase screw expander.


The aim of the article is to research, reconstruct, present and discuss the provisions of faction of social-democrats of the Constituent Seimas and LSDP in general in the process of reception of the temporary Constitution (June 2, 1920) and the permanent Constitution (August 1, 1922) of the Republic of Lithuania. Summarizing, it can be stated that social-democrats of that period aimed to consolidate radical parliamentary democratic form of governance, which had to consolidate not only radical political democracy, but social and economic democracy, as well. Social-democrats of that period were implacably hostile to the institution of the president, which they considered not democratic. It should be stated that constitutional provisions of social-democrats were caused by the spirit of the times originated from the collapse of undemocratic monarchies during the revolutions in 1917 and 1918, popularity of democracy in its radically parliamentary, 'french' version, adherence to one of the most radical socialistic interpretations of marxistic doctrine and ideological tradition of socialism in general. Also, they were exposed by circumstances and characteristics of LSDP activities at that time. All of that resulted into hypertrophied and not adequate assessment of presidential institutions according to the permanent Lithuanian Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (1922) and assessment of this Constitution in general.


From too-big-to-fail financial firms to net neutrality to internet platforms and the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, we now face a variety of legal and public policy problems which all share a common structure. While covering vastly different subject matter areas, these disputes are similar in that they all involve the same root problem: how should law and public policy operate to prevent the arbitrary and unaccountable control over basic infrastructure? Water, finance, internet access — these are examples of goods and services which are foundational and infrastructural. They are the basis upon which much economic and social activity is built. As a result, arbitrary, exclusionary, or unfair governance of these services poses a particularly troubling problem for individuals, businesses, and communities. This Essay draws on the historical and legal tradition of public utility regulation to develop a generalized framework for regulating these kinds of infrastructural goods and services. While the history of public utility regulation has at times been fraught with some controversy, this Essay (and this symposium as a whole) suggests that the public utility tradition offers some valuable normative, legal, and institutional design insights which can be adapted for a range of contexts in today's economy.
The Essay develops a portable method of analysis and regulation that can be applied to a wide range of contemporary contexts. This proposed, modernized framework of "infrastructural regulation" has three elements. First, I argue that infrastructural regulation should be applied to goods that are infrastructural, in that they are defined by the conditions of scale, necessity, and vulnerability. Second, such infrastructural goods should be subjected to a mix of regulatory oversight, "firewalls," and public options, which together can assure fair and equal access to those infrastructural goods. Finally, the Essay suggests that the regulatory oversight of such infrastructural goods must itself be constituted in more democratically-accountable ways.