Cash transfer programs are rare in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper describes the evolution of a cash transfer program in major urban centers of Mozambique, from its inception in 1990 through two major reorganizations until October 1998. Appropriate design, strong multisectoral political support and adequate administrative capacity are critical factors determining the success of such programs. Key lessons applicable to other resource-poor countries designing social assistance programs are drawn, recommending adequate targeted support to truly destitute persons incapable of physical labor in urban areas where administrative costs are more manageable than in more isolated rural sites.


Background & Objective: Helicobacter pylori, which has infected about 50 percent of the world population, is one of the most common gastrointestinal pathogens and the most prevalent cause of gastro-intestinal diseases, such as chronic gastric ulcers, gastric and duodenal ulcers, gastric cancer and lymphoma. The CagA Gene (cytotoxin-associated gene A) is a major virulence factor of this pathogenic bacterium. The aim of this study was to construct a recombinant vector carrying the antigenic regions of CagA gene and also to express this gene. Material & methods: The major epitopes of the CagA gene were identified based on bioinformatics. Through this procedure, a gene fragment of 996 bp was isolated by PCR, inserted into a pET32a vector using the enzymatic digestion and then transformed into the E. coli strain BL2I (DE3). Results: The results of sequencing represented the successful cloning of the CagA gene in the expression vector and introducing the accessibility to the antigen. The molecular weight of the produced recombinant protein was estimated 57 KD on an SDS-PAGE gel and the accuracy of the protein expression was verified. Conclusions: The results of this study proved the successful cloning of the epitope area. The recombinant protein can probably be introduced as a good candidate for the production of IgY from the chickenimmunized and the control of Helicobacter pylori infection in humans. It could also be possibly used for the design of diagnostic kits and vaccines for Helicobacter pylori


A two-dimensional infinite length porous slab is employed to simulate biomimetic porous scaffold. The pores of slab are saturated with a relatively low and high viscous fluids such as air and bone marrow. Ultrasonic waves based on the Biot-JKD formulation travel through the porous slab and create viscous exchanges between the skeletal frame and the fluid. The Biot-JKD formulation focuses on the parameters, biomarkers of the biomimetic porous scaffold, which are sensitive to the transmission and reflection signals. These parameters include porosity, tortuosity, viscous characteristic length, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio. An artificial neural network (ANN) based on a set of the biomarkers is rendered to model the transmitted and reflected waves from the porous slab. The validation of the proposed analytical approach and released artificial neural network is evaluated by the pertinent literature. The output of the artificial neural network, the transmitted-reflected waves, is inversely applied to the analytical expression to estimate the biomarkers associated with bone regeneration. The results show that for a medium filled with a relatively high viscous fluid the longitudinal waves are more prone to estimate mechanical properties of the medium such as Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio while the transverse waves, in addition to longitudinal waves, are essential to estimate the physical properties of the medium including porosity, tortuosity, and viscous characteristic length. Furthermore, it is also concluded that for the medium filled with a relatively low viscous fluid such as air the longitudinal waves alone is able to estimate the biomarkers, which reduce significantly the computational efforts.


To study the competitiveness of a company we use several indicators I1 , I2 ,…, In that can be expressed numerically. We note E1 the company whose competitiveness we want to evaluate. It can action several markets, but we will focus on one of them, where it competes with the companies E2 , E3 ,…, Em. Firstly, we aim to achieve the firms' hierarchy operating on that market with ELECTRE method. Then we will see how to obtain the classification of these companies based on competitiveness' index method.


The low interest rate environment of recent years has sent many investors looking for ways to enhance returns. This has stimulated the creation of investment products with what were once known as "exotic" payoff patterns. These products tend to involve exposure to a risky security like a stock index, overlaid with a combination of guarantees and barriers designed to appeal to the target investor audience. Small investors, and many fiduciaries such as small pension funds, are rarely in a position to evaluate the highly path-dependent payoffs on such securities. In this article, the authors analyze a somewhat different product, the "accumulator" contract. This product is actually a formalized plan to build up a holding in some specific asset, typically a stock, through a series of purchases over time. In a typical example, the buyer commits to buy some number X of shares per day at a fixed price that is initially set below the current market price. If the market price subsequently falls below the contract price, the required purchase amount is doubled. But if the market price goes too far above the strike price, the contract terminates. The article presents valuation formulas for some standard variants and shows empirically that accumulator contracts are priced in the market at levels that tend to be quite favorable to the issuer.


Richard Dawkins is one of the finest minds in science, and in this superb collection of essays and letters, he demonstrates the depth of his knowledge and the rich variety of his interests. Whether he is examining postmodernism or the Human Genome Project, penning a letter to his daughter, or writing a moving eulogy to Douglas Adams and e-mailing Stephen Jay Gould, Dawkins writes with an intellectual vigour and grace that is second to none. This is a very human collection that shows not only the acuity of Dawkins' scientific mind, but also his sense of humour and the warmth of his relationships with friends and family.


The National Student Survey (NSS) has indicated over several years that not all students in UK higher education are satisfied with the feedback they receive on their assessments. However, the Open University consistently receives high scores for student satisfaction in the area of feedback and assessment. This article provides an overview of the Open University's model of providing written feedback on student assignments, which may be useful for other institutions. The basic model is to provide students with a sandwich in which constructive criticism is presented embedded within praise for attainment. There is also a focus on general feedback that can be applied to future assessment situations, rather than detailed corrections on assignment tasks that are not necessarily repeated.


The 1525 FOUNDATION, sister fund to the Second Foundation, was incorporated in Cleveland in 1971 by KENT HALE SMITH. The foundation emphasizes higher education, environment and conservation, and institutions supported by the founder in his lifetime. It especially favors agencies which promote self-help by recipients. 1525 grants locally, giving special support to CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV. (CWRU), and other UNIV. CIRCLE institutions. In 1989 the fund provided the largest single gift in CWRU's history, $15 million for the Kent Hale Smith Science and Engineering Bldg. Assets of the 1525 foundation in 1993 were over $8.45 million, with expenditures of over $3.09 million for 37 grants ranging generally between $500 and $1.6 million. Hubert H. Schneider was the foundation's president; offices were located at 1525 National City Bank Bldg. See also PHILANTHROPY and FOUNDATIONS.


Previous research suggests that individuals with a Vocal Pitch Imitation Deficit (VPID, a.k.a. "poor-pitch singers") experience less vivid auditory images than accurate imitators (Pfordresher & Halpern, 2013), based on self-report. In the present research we sought to test this proposal directly by having accurate and VPID imitators produce or recognize short melodies based on their original form (untransformed), or after mentally transforming the auditory image of the melody. For the production task, group differences were largest during the untransformed imitation task. Importantly, producing mental transformations of the auditory image degraded performance for all participants, but were relatively more disruptive to accurate than to VPID imitators. These findings suggest that VPID is due partly to poor initial imagery formation, as manifested by production of untransformed melodies. By contrast, producing a transformed mental image may rely on working memory ability, which is more equally matched across participants. This interpretation was further supported by correlations with self-reports of auditory imagery and measures of working memory.


A 79-year-old lady presented with a 2-month history of soreness and swelling of her upper and lower lips, associated with dryness, cracking and ulceration. Prior to this, she had been intermittently applying Vaseline, her own lipsticks and Blistex (a brand of lip slave). Patch tests were performed to the departmental standard series (based on the European standard series with a few additional allergens), a hand and face series, several mint products and 3 of her own lip cosmetics including Blistex. Patch and photopatch tests were also performed to 2 sunscreens chemicals identified as constituents of the lip cosmetics (oxybenzone and ethylhexylmethoxycinnamate). The patch tests were entirely negative. The photopatch tests (UVA 5 J/cm) revealed photoallergy to oxybenzone (benzophenone-3) with no reaction at the non-irradiated site. The Blistex contained oxybenzone, which she was advised to stop using, as well as avoiding all other cosmetics containing this UV filter. At follow-up, 4 months later, the cheilitis had resolved. Discussion


Internet gaming disorder is a behavioral addiction integrated in the category of "specific Internet addictions", due to its particular focus on the online gaming behaviors and related cues. A high rate of comorbidity is reported in cases of various types of Internet addictions, which implies a thoroughly conducted anamnesis is necessary. DSM-5 presents a set of diagnosis criteria, but Internet gaming disorder is only a provisional entity that requires further research. Multiple scales have been developed for the purpose of measuring the severity of this addiction, most of them being based on DSM-5 criteria. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has been successfully applied in different drug-induced disorders with good results, therefore extending this psychotherapy administration range to behavioral addictions seems granted by their common pathophysiology. The case of a young adult diagnosed with both Internet gaming disorder and alcohol use disorder is analyzed using the cognitive-behavioral paradigm. The psychotherapy applied in this case was a structured 10-week, by-weekly sessions, cognitive restructuringand coping skillsfocused approach. Time spent on Internet gaming decreased with 50%, Internet Gaming Disorder ScaleShort Form (IGDS-SF) score was lower with 45%, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score decreased with 33%, and Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) also reduced with 65% after 10 weeks. A follow-up at week 20 recorded an increase in the alcohol use, but not in the Internet gaming behavior. The monitorisation of patients with multiple addictions (behavioral and/or drug-related) is necessary throughout the duration of treatment, but also after ending the structured psychotherapy, with frequent follow-ups, due to the high risk for relapse. Key-Words: Internet gaming disorder, alcohol dependence, functional impairment, cognitive-behavioral therapy, individual psychotherapy, behavioral addictions, cognitive restructuring


This paper uses the prism of archival, ancestral research to consider the nature of our relationship to the lives of the Others that we find in the past. The particular Other within this paper, the intergenerational haunting that appears in words and in walks, in stones, photographs and in memories, is Joyce Reason. My Great Aunt, whom I never met, Joyce was a writer, an idealist, an evangelist, a bluestocking, a spinster, a crank, and a missionary.

In reflecting upon the attempted resurrection that lies in all historical writings, I return to the question at the heart of Emmanuel Levinas' Totality and Infinity: how can the I "enter into relationship with an Other without immediately divesting it of its alterity?" With this question the investigation of personal archives and family memory intersects with considerations of public memory and produces two interlocking concerns. What is the articulacy, or otherwise, of the archival trace? And how can we know the life of another, without subsuming it into our own preoccupations and perspectives?

Presented as a collage of fragments, this paper explores walking, the body, place, photography and memory in the performance of the biographical archive. It asks ethical questions, exposes its own loose ends and involves time travel, but does not result in a resurrection.
It begins with a walk. A pilgrimage even.


This is a study of the 2008 film Hunger made by the British director Steve McQueen, a film that dramatises events in the Maze Prison in the period leading up to the 1981 Irish Republican hunger strike and death of Bobby Sands. It considers the filmic and artistic practice of McQueen in conjunction with certain concepts from the work of Deleuze and Guattari to develop a productive thinking about how the film addresses this traumatic event. Hunger employs a series of aesthetic techniques that push at the limits of the viewer's senses and suggest new ways of thinking about the subject. McQueen's concern to go beyond the cliches of the media coverage of the Irish conflict provides a unique insight into the production of a militant subjectivity generated by the opposition to the prison regime of the Maze in Belfast. Ultimately, however, it is argued that McQueen collapses into a form of religious iconicity that reinforces the Irish Republican mythology of suffering and redemption. Hunger, as a work of cinematic creation, offers a powerful sense of how resistance can be made manifest on screen yet, simultaneously, can become captured by the transcendental unity of identity thinking operating through the image of the romanticised face.


Abstract. The effect of the winter Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC) on the seasonal and decadal evolution of total ozone in both hemispheres is investigated using satellite total ozone data from the merged GOME/SCIAMACHY/GOME-2 (GSG) data set (1995–2010) and outputs from two chemistry-climate models (CCM), the FUB-EMAC and DLR-E39C-A models. Combining data from both hemispheres a linear relationship between the winter average extratropical 100 hPa eddy heat flux and the ozone ratio with respect to fall ozone levels exists and is statistically significant for tropical as well as polar ozone. The high correlation at high latitudes persists well into the summer months until the onset of the next winter season. The anti-correlation of the cumulative eddy heat flux with tropical ozone ratios, however, breaks down in spring as the polar vortex erodes and changes to a weak positive correlation similar to that observed at high latitudes. The inter-annual variability and decadal evolution of ozone in each hemisphere in winter, spring, and summer are therefore driven by the cumulative effect of the previous winter's meridional circulation. This compact linear relationship is also found in both CCMs used in this study indicating that current models realistically describe the variability in stratospheric circulation and its effect on total ozone. Both models show a positive trend in the winter mean eddy heat flux (and winter BDC strength) in both hemispheres until year 2050, however the inter-annual variability (peak-to-peak) is two to three times larger than the mean change between 1960 and 2050. It is, nevertheless, possible to detect a shift in this compact linear relationship related to past and future changes in the stratospheric halogen load. Using the SBUV/TOMS/OMI (MOD V8) merged data set (1980–2010), it can be shown that from the decade 1990–1999 to 2000–2010 this linear relationship remained unchanged (before and after the turnaround in the stratospheric halogen load), while a shift is evident between 1980–1989 (upward trend in stratospheric halogen) and the 1990s, which is a clear sign that an onset of recovery is detectable despite the large variability in polar ozone. Because of the large variability from year to year in the BDC circulation substantial polar ozone depletion may still occur in coming decades in selected winters with weak BDC and very low polar stratospheric temperatures.


With the rise of emerging economy EE as main engine of global growth, the intensified competition in the wind energy industry and internationalization to EE, enterprises need to rethink and innovate their business models in order to succeed. The overall purpose of this article is to increase our understanding of the drivers of business model innovation (BMI) in EE, particularly in the wind energy industry. Qualitative, multi-case design is applied, where three cases within the wind energy industry in Africa are studied - Siemens (Germany), Suzlon (India) and Goldwind (China). The results show that there is a difference between "Developed-country Multinational Enterprises" (DMNEs), such as Siemens, and "Emerging-country Multinational Enterprises", such as Suzlon and Goldwind, in the way they approach BMI in EE. To gain a competitive advantage in EE requires capabilities to deal with the specific EE-related drivers of change: 1) fast growth and high demand combined with high uncertainty; 2) lower level of market-oriented socioeconomic development; 3) stronger governmental influence on the market; and 4) the need for simple, cheap and easy to maintain technologies. Therefore, it is important that managers position their enterprises in the EE first as local players and only then as multinationals. Our study indicates that future research should focus on the main elements and the drivers of change that would shape BMI by adding new variables, specifically related to EE.


The demand for portable digital data storage has increased with the evolution and advancement in consumer electronic devices. USB storage devices, also referred to as USB sticks, pen drives, flash drives, thumb drives, and key drives, have replaced many other portable storage. With the evolution of these devices, an increased use for data transportation has been seen for both private and commercial data. USB storage capacity has increased during the past decades with capacities up to one terabyte available today. Such devices are increasingly popular given their robustness, low power consumption, rapid response rates, non-volatile nature, and ease of transportation. This study obtained second hand USB flash memory storage devices, purchased from eBay Australia over a period of seven months, to determine whether there were any traces of data on the devices, and whether or not an attempt had been made to securely wipe the devices. If data fragments were recovered, it was assessed to see if there was a sufficient volume and sensitivity of data to be of value to anyone with malicious intent. The findings from the research show that in the majority of the cases, the USB flash memory storage devices retained a large volume of data. Concurring with outcomes from previous studies in 2009 and 2011, the devices investigated in this study, owned by both individuals and organisations, were used to store highly sensitive and confidential data. This data was not permanently nor securely destroyed prior to disposal (by sale) of the devices. Such incidents highlight the failure to meet regulatory obligations with regard to privacy legislation in Australia.


The pregnant woman has an altered immune response and, for some pathologies, is at increased risk of infection and of developing complications and serious outcomes. In addition, maternal infections can result in congenital anomalies, malformations or severe neonatal diseases. Vaccination of pregnant women can therefore have a double goal: to protect the mother from diseases that could have an impact on her health and to avoid infection/disease transmission to the fetus or the newborn. Despite the potential benefits of immunization in pregnant women, it is still evident reluctance and/or refusal of vaccinations by health professionals as well as by pregnant women, who are wary of the real advantages linked to vaccines. Concerning pertussis, immunization is strongly recommended in pregnancy and some data are already available in Europe as well as in other parts of the world. This review describes the rationale for this immunization and summarizes available data around the world.


Build, Build, Build (BBB) is the ambitious P8- to P9-trillion infrastructure development program of the current Duterte administration, pledged to usher in a "golden age of infrastructure." This paper aims to independently assess critical governance dimensions of BBB, focusing on the performance of transparency and accountability reforms, as well as those combating corruption in infrastructural development processes. Beginning with an overview of corruption drivers and good governance reforms in infrastructure development, the paper appraises the transparency and accountability mechanisms that have been established by the current administration for BBB's implementation. This includes investigating the effectiveness of information access procedures, through systematic exercise to request the feasibility studies of 48 flagship projects reported to have completed such studies as of mid-June 2018.

All in all, access was granted to only 7 such studies, with an actual copy of the said studies only secured in a single instance. While a number of agencies have been standout performers in their responsiveness and efficacy in handling requests (i.e. the BCDA and the DOTr's Air Transport Planning Division), most other infrastructure-related agencies have demonstrated lower responsiveness and e-FOI compliance, with more than half (29) of all requests not having been acted upon by their respective IA's within the mandated 15-working day period. Coordination problems within and between agencies, confidentiality and trade secrecy concerns, as well as uneven and fragmented service delivery performance are underscored as major issues impeding information access to such critical public documents concerning BBB projects.


Data mining, also known as knowledge discovery in database (KDD), is the process to discover interesting unknown knowledge from a large amount of data. Text mining is to apply data mining techniques to extract interesting and nontrivial information and knowledge from unstructured text. Text clustering is one of important techniques of text mining, which is the unsupervised classification of similar documents into different groups.
This research focuses on improving the performance of text clustering. We investigated the text clustering algorithms in four aspects: document representation, documents closeness measurement, high dimension reduction and parallelization. We propose a group of high performance text clustering algorithms, which target the unique characteristics of unstructured text database.
First, two new text clustering algorithms are proposed. Unlike the vector space model, which treats document as a bag of words, we use a document representation which keeps the sequential relationship between words in the documents. In these two algorithms, the dimension of the database is reduced by considering the frequent word (meaning) sequences, and the closeness of two documents is measured based on the sharing of frequent word (meaning) sequences.
Second, a text clustering algorithm with feature selection is proposed. This algorithm gradually reduces the high dimension of database by performing feature selection during the clustering. The new feature selection method applied is based on the well-known χ2 statistic and a new statistical data which can measure the positive and negative term-category dependence.
Third, a group of new text clustering algorithms is developed based on the k-means algorithm. Instead of using the cosine function, a new function involving global information is proposed to measure the closeness between two documents. This new function utilizes the neighbor matrix introduced in [26]. A new method for selecting initial centroids and a new heuristic function for selecting a cluster to split are adopted in the proposed algorithms.
Last, a new parallel algorithm for bisecting k-means is proposed for the message-passing multiprocessor systems. This new algorithm, named PBKP, fully utilizes the data-parallelism of the bisecting k-means algorithm, and adopts a prediction step to balance the workloads of multiple processors to achieve a high speedup.
Comprehensive performance studies were conducted on all the proposed algorithms. In order to evaluate the performance of these algorithms, we compared them with existing text clustering algorithms, such as k-means, bisecting k-means [59] and FIHC [21]. The experimental results show that our clustering algorithms are scalable and have much better clustering accuracy than existing algorithms. For the parallel PBKP algorithm, we tested it on a 9-node Linux cluster system and analyzed its performance. The experimental results suggest that the speedup of PBKP is linear with the number of processors and data points. Moreover, PBKP scales up better than the parallel k-means with respect to the desired number of clusters.


On Slavery's Borders: Missouri's Small-Slaveholding Households, 1815-1865. By Diane Mutti Burke. Early American Places Series (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010. Pp. 368. Paper, $24.95.)Reviewed by Matthew SalafiaIn On Slavery's Borders, Diane Mutti Burke argues that small slaveholdings dominated the landscape of antebellum Missouri, which in turn created a "slavery culture that differed socially, politically, and economically from that of plantation regions" (5). The small size of slaveholdings is the dominant variable in Burke's interpretation. These small farms provided the backdrop for a form of slavery that was intimate and remarkably flexible. While Burke's argument for the importance of scale in the lived experience of slavery is persuasive, the uniqueness of Missouri is not the most revealing aspect of her research. Instead, Burke highlights the important insight that antebellum slavery, whether violent or cooperative, whether rooted in accommodation or resistance, whether on a small farm or large plantation, was a fundamentally human exchange. The human element of slavery allowed the institution to function in multiple contexts, which made it at once resilient and tragic.Burke's analysis of the intimacy of small-scale slaveholding makes her work a significant contribution to our understanding of American slavery as a whole. Historians have long identified the humanity of enslaved African Americans as central to understanding how the system of slavery functioned in the antebellum American South. David Brion Davis defined the "problem of slavery" as the attempt to turn a human being into a salable object, and Walter Johnson identified commodification as a contradiction that defined the relationship between the enslaved and slaveholders.1 Yet Burke's work hints at the need to adjust, not change, these formulations. Burke argues that while Missouri slavery exposed "both slaves and owners to a vast array of human exchanges ranging from empathy and cooperation to hatred and brutal violence," the institution functioned and flourished because of the intimacy of these "personal and work interactions" (6). Burke's conclusions echo Robin Blackburn's often neglected arguments that small planters, a diverse economy, and a family-centered regime made American slavery particularly resilient and productive from the outset.2 While the power dynamic was necessarily uneven, and slaveholders had the ability to destroy their slaves' lives with one act of sale, more often than not the relationship was "fraught with the ambiguity" that defines pretty much all human interactions (7).Burke is at her best in the middle chapters of the book when teasing out the intimate social relations that made up the small slaveholding world. Because she seeks to understand slavery in motion, Burke resists the urge to isolate one race or gender in her analysis, and instead explores all members of the household, "slave and free, male and female, young and old" (8). She also demonstrates that in order to understand small-scale slaveholding we need to look beyond the limits of the household. Ultimately, intimate and personal interactions between households held the entire system together because both legal and illicit mobility linked households together in a broader slaveholding neighborhood. For example, she explains how slave hiring and the small farm household organization made abroad marriages common in Missouri. Because small-scale slavery made it difficult for owners to control slave marriages, slaveholders permitted men and women to choose partners from other farms in the greater neighborhood. The dominance of abroad marriages and the realities of sale forced the enslaved to develop "alternatives to the nuclear family" (226). Using pension records, Burke carefully deduces that many abroad wives lived with their adult children, and others lived with friends and extended kin. Enslaved Missourians adapted to the uniqueness of slavery in Missouri, and slaveholding Missourians adapted to maximize the profitability and stability of the system. …


Robert Barro in his three papers on the topic(AER 1977, JPE 1978, and 1978 conference paper with Mark Rush). A distinction is drawn between the Lucas-Sargent-Wallace (LSW) theory that only unanticipated monetary changes influence real output, and the orthodox view that anticipated monetary changes influence real output in the short run during the interval of adjustment of prices to the monetary change. The LSW proposition requires for its validity a contemporaneous and equiproportionate response of the expected price level to the anticipated level of money or nominal CNP, whereas the orthodox approach requires that price expectations depend at least partly on the past history of prices rather than entirely on the expected level of nominal demand. The results uniformly support the orthodox approach. The Livingston expectations series exhibits a highly significant response to past price changes, and only a slight response to current expectations about nominal GNP or money. The actual inflation rate also depends heavily on past price changes, with an insignificant impact of current expectations of nominal GNP, or money. The equations that relate real output to the deviation of changes of nominal income (both anticipated and unanticipated) from past price changes fit the data significantly better than Barro's approach using current and lagged values of money "surprises." The pure version of the LSW approach relating real output only to current surprises is decisively rejected.


Three electron-accepting dialkoxydicyanopyrazinoquinoxaline derivatives (1a, 1b, and 1c) showed properties of smectic (Sm) liquid crystals. Temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction studies were consistent with the formation of a bilayer structure through the π-overlap and interdigitation of alkoxy chains in the Sm liquid crystalline state. Intermolecular dipole–dipole interactions between the cyano groups played an important role in stabilizing the bilayer structure and liquid crystalline properties. Elongation of the alkoxy chains from C6H13O- (1a) and/or C12H25O- (1b) to C18H37O- (1c) changed the molecular arrangements and the liquid crystal phase from SmA to SmC, suggesting the importance of the van der Waals interaction of CnH2n+1O- chains for stabilizing the liquid crystalline phase. A hole-mobility value of 5 × 10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1 was observed for the SmA phase of 1b at 438 K based on transient photocurrent measurements.


ERAS is the acronym for enhanced recovery after surgery, a term often used to describe perioperative care programs that have been shown to improve outcomes after major surgery. This article gives a brief history of the development from fast-track surgery to ERAS. Today, the full meaning of ERAS goes beyond just a protocol for perioperative care with the initiation of a novel multiprofessional, multidisciplinary medical society: the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Society for Perioperative Care (www.erassociety.org). The ERAS Society is involved in the development of evidence-based guidelines. These guidelines form the basis for an implementation program of the ERAS principles to practice. While ERAS was initially developed for colonic resections, these principles are being used in a range of operations, and there is also a continuous update of care protocols as the fields develop. A key mechanism behind the effectiveness of ERAS is the dampening of the stress responses to the surgical insult combined with the use of treatments that support return of functions that delay recovery in traditional care. The article also gives some insights to why the protocols work and reports the effects of ERAS protocols.


This thesis aims to investigate the reasons for the variation in China's oil diplomacy performance
in Africa and South America in the period 2000-2010. Lacking sound experience in pursuing oil
security overseas and enjoying strong financial muscle, China's oil diplomacy is largely rooted
in the extension of soft loans for infrastructure to oil-rich countries in exchange for steady oil
supply and favoured access to oil acreage. Taking Angola and Brazil as case studies this thesis
argues that differences in the institutional structure of the oil industry in each country,
determined different outcomes regarding Beijing's oil security goals. This thesis has found that
although this template fitted well with the more centralised institutional environment in Angola,
it was highly unsuitable for the more liberal and regulated Brazil setting. Furthermore, the advent
of the recent global economic crisis (2008-2009) caused China to adjust its approach to the
institutional particulars of Brazil becoming more efficient in that country regarding its oil
security goals.
Building on foreign policy analysis tools and concepts, an empirical analysis of the interplay
between Chinese infrastructure-for-oil loans (hereby regarded as positive economic statecraft)
and the institutional structure it met in each country, is presented. Through the case studies, this
thesis aims to uncover to what extent the institutional context constrained Chinese oil diplomacy
efficiency in Brazil for most of the past decade, and how innovation has surfaced in the context
of the global financial crisis. This analysis thus gives interesting insights not only into the
dynamics of China's oil diplomacy in Africa and South America, but also into Chinese economic
statecraft in general and how constraints that surface at the implementation level feedback into
foreign policy formulation.


Dynamic reconfiguration techniques can greatly improve the flexibility and reliability of manufacturing systems. However, different from static reconfigurable systems, system behavior during dynamic reconfiguration processes is quite complex due to possible concurrence of system structure changes and events inside unaltered components. This increases the difficulty in designing and developing dynamic reconfigurable systems. The current paper deals with the analysis and control of dynamic reconfiguration process of manufacturing systems from the perspective of discrete event systems. To this end, the authors improve the reconfigurable timed net condition/event systems formalism by assigning reconfiguration functions with extra permeating time, action ranges, and concurrent decision functions. As a consequence, nondeterministic behavior of a dynamic reconfigurable system during dynamic reconfigurations can be specified, while the system correctness, coherence, and safety during reconfigurations can be guaranteed. A reconfigurable manufacturing plant is used as a running example to illustrate the contribution of this paper.


There have been competing arguments about the effect of public infrastructure on productivity in the literature. Level-based regressions generally show a much higher return to public capital than private capital, while difference-based regressions tend to find insignificant or even negative effects. To help reconcile this debate, this paper proposes that researchers should first test for causality in their data to check for length of lagged relationships and the existence of reverse causality, as a critical step before specifying a final model and estimating procedure on the relationship between the stock of capital and productivity growth. A newly developed system GMM method of estimation is proposed for this purpose. Second, a new method of estimating the relationship between the capital stock and productivity in level form is proposed that controls for possible endogeneity problems arising from reverse causation. These methods are illustrated using a unique set of pooled time-series, cross-section data for India. It is shown that infrastructure development in India is productive with an estimated impact lying between those obtained from level-based and difference-based estimates.


This study developed an instrument to measure IT management sophistication in small firms. Multiple-case studies were used to explore the concept of IT management sophistication in small firms and provide a pool of indicators representing IT management sophistication. Small chartered accountancy firms in New Zealand were surveyed and the data was analysed using PLS. The final model of IT management sophistication included three dimensions: IT planning, IT controlling and IT leading. The validity and reliability of the measurement instrument was examined thoroughly. The results provide a significant foundation for researchers of IT management in small firms.


Even though, three-dimensional representations of architectural models exist, experiencing these models like one would experience a fully constructed building is still a major challenge. With Virtual Reality (VR) it is now possible to experience a number of scenarios in a virtual environment. Also prototyping interactive architecture elements, which might be very expensive, becomes possible. Thus, researchers and designers can already start to define user interfaces for interactive architectural elements, before they were even built. However, it is still an open question how exactly VR technologies can support experiencing interactive architecture. To answer this question, we compared experiencing three-dimensional architectural models and interactive architectural elements through a 2D screen & mouse+keyboard navigation, an head mounted display (HMD) & keyboard navigation, and an HMD & walking for navigation. The results of our study show challenges and opportunities regarding the immersion of these experiences.


There are a number of socioeconomic phenomena that are difficult to discern using only census data. We present an innovative approach developed to discern the spatial dimensions of risk for homelessness amongst recent immigrants in Vancouver, Canada. Dasymetric mapping and a postal survey are employed to improve the resolution and utility of census data. The results illustrate the potential for developing a more nuanced understanding of the spatial dimensions of complex socioeconomic phenomena using a combination of secondary data and primary data. It is argued that higher-resolution data aids in identifying and understanding socioeconomic phenomena that are highly localized and misrepresented by coarsely aggregated data. Finally, the potential for population surveillance is discussed and weighed against the benefits for policy-makers, non-governmental organizations, and researchers.


We argue that existing syntactic typologies of relative clauses which distinguish between two categories of relatives, i.e. headed and headless relative clauses, based on the presence or absence of head NP in the main clause, do not include externally headed relative clauses with reduced and light heads such as demonstratives, pronominal person clitics, classifiers, plural number markers, etc. The Asheninka Perene data show that the third syntactic category of intermediate heads such as demonstratives, indefinite terms, numerals, pronominal verbal clitics and classifiers should be included in syntactic typology of relatives to more accurately represent variability of headed relatives in individual languages.


Abstract Rural household economies dependent on rain-fed agriculture are increasingly turning to irrigation technology solutions to counter weather variability, and guard against low crop yields. Organizations too are using market-based approaches to disseminate technologies to smallholder farmers, and although women are among their target group, little is known of the extent to which these approaches are reaching and benefiting them. There is also scant evidence about the implications for crop choice and income management if these new irrigation technologies are used and controlled by women. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study undertaken in Tanzania and Kenya to examine women's access to and ownership of irrigation pumps, and the implications on their ability to make major decisions on crop choices and use of income from irrigated crops. Results from sales monitoring data showed that less than 10 percent of the pumps are being purchased by women, and most of the major decisions on crop choices and income use continue to be made by men. These findings vary from type of crop, with men making major decisions concerning high-income crops such as tomatoes, and women commanding relatively more autonomy over crops such as leafy vegetables. The study recommends further research to find out whether market-based approaches on their own can guarantee women access to and ownership of technologies, and the specific measures that need to be taken by businesses to achieve the goal of reaching and benefiting women.


Objectives this case-control study compared levels of stress and allostatic load (AL) among Mexican women in the US ( n =19) and Mexico ( n = 40). Method measures of stress included the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Hispanic Women's Social Stressor Scale (HWSSS). A composite measure of 8 indicators of AL (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, total cholesterol, glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C), triglycerides and C-reactive protein) was calculated. Results there were no significant group differences in AL between Mexican and Mexican immigrant women ( t = 1.55, p = .126). A principal component factor analysis was conducted on the 8 AL indicators; a 2-factor solution explained 57% of the variance. Group differences in the two AL factors were analyzed using MANOVA. BMI and waist-to-hip ratios were lower, but blood pressure and triglycerides were higher in the US group and were mediated by time in the US. Greater acculturation stress was significantly related to increased waist-to-hip ratio ( r = .57, p = .02). Final remarks findings suggest some measures of AL increased with time in the US, and acculturation stress may be a significant factor.


Objective. Despite dramatic reductions in perinatal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission in the United States, obstacles to perinatal HIV prevention that include lack of prenatal care; failure to test pregnant women for HIV before delivery; and lack of prenatal, intrapartum, or neonatal antiretroviral (ARV) use remain. The objective of this study was to describe trends in perinatal HIV prevention methods, perinatal transmission rates, and the contribution of missed opportunities for perinatal HIV prevention to perinatal HIV infection. Methods. We analyzed data obtained from infant medical records on 4755 HIV-exposed singleton deliveries in 1996–2000, from 6 US sites that participate in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Pediatric Spectrum of HIV Disease Project. HIV-exposed deliveries refer to deliveries in which the mother was known to have HIV infection during the pregnancy. Results. Of the 4287 women with data on prenatal care, 92% had prenatal care. From 1996 to 2000, among the 3925 women with prenatal care, 92% had an HIV test before delivery; the use of prenatal zidovudine (ZDV) alone decreased from 71% to 9%, and the use of prenatal ZDV with other ARVs increased from 6% to 70%. Complete data on maternal and neonatal ARVs were available for 3284 deliveries. Perinatal HIV transmission was 3% in 1651 deliveries with prenatal ZDV in combination with other ARVs, intrapartum ZDV, and neonatal ZDV; 6% in 1111 deliveries with prenatal, intrapartum, and neonatal ZDV alone; 8% in 152 deliveries with intrapartum and neonatal ZDV alone; 14% of 73 deliveries with neonatal ZDV only started within 24 hours of birth; and 20% in 297 deliveries with no prenatal, intrapartum, and neonatal ARVs. Complete data on prenatal events were available in 328 HIV-infected and 3258 HIV-uninfected infants. A total of 56% of mothers of HIV-infected infants had missed opportunities for perinatal HIV prevention versus 16% of mothers of HIV-uninfected infants. Forty-four percent of the infected infants were born to mothers who had prenatal care, a prenatal HIV diagnosis, and documented prenatal ARV therapy. Seventeen percent of women with reported illicit drug use had no prenatal care versus 3% of women with no reported drug use. In a multivariate analysis, maternal illicit drug use was significantly associated with lack of prenatal care. In a multivariate analysis, year of infant birth and the combination of lack of maternal HIV testing before delivery and lack of prenatal antiretroviral therapies were significantly associated with perinatal HIV transmission. Conclusions. Missed opportunities for perinatal HIV prevention contributed to more than half of the cases of HIV-infected infants. Prenatal care and HIV testing before delivery are major opportunities for perinatal HIV prevention. Illicit drug use was highly associated with lack of prenatal care, and lack of HIV testing before delivery was highly associated with perinatal HIV transmission.


Punishment has been proposed as being central to two distinctively human phenomena: cooperation in groups and morality. Here we investigate moralistic punishment, a behavior designed to inflict costs on another individual in response to a perceived moral violation. There is currently no consensus on which evolutionary model best accounts for this phenomenon in humans. Models that turn on individuals' cultivating reputations as moralistic punishers clearly predict that psychological systems should be designed to increase punishment in response to information that one's decisions to punish will be known by others. We report two experiments in which we induce participants to commit moral violations and then present third parties with the opportunity to pay to punish wrongdoers. Varying conditions of anonymity, we find that the presence of an audience—even if only the experimenter—causes an increase in moralistic punishment.


This paper offers an approach to extensible knowledge representation and reasoning for the Description Logic family of formalisms. The approach is based on the notion of adding new concept constructors, and includes a heuristic methodology for specifying the desired extensions, as well as a modularized software architecture that supports implementing extensions. The architecture detailed here falls in the normalize-compared paradigm, and supports both intentional reasoning (subsumption) involving concepts, and extensional reasoning involving individuals after incremental updates to the knowledge base.

The resulting approach can be used to extend the reasoner with specialized notions that are motivated by specific problems or application areas, such as reasoning about dates, plans, etc. In addition, it provides an opportunity to implement constructors that are not currently yet sufficiently well understood theoretically, but are needed in practice. Also, for constructors that are provably hard to reason with (e.g., ones whose presence would lead to undecidability), it allows the implementation of incomplete reasoners where the incompleteness is tailored to be acceptable for the application at hand.


Legal scholars and legal educators view contracts as a welfare-maximizing (or optimal risk-allocating) device for two or more parties. Because we cling to this principal-driven paradigm, we think of lawyers only as the proverbial "transaction cost engineers," the loyal agents of parties to a transaction. And whenever we observe contracts that appear to be suboptimal, we blame agency costs. We instead should apply the literature on organizational economics to understand the production of contracts by the modern law firm. This literature better illustrates how law firms organize, why they produce the products they do, and why those products sometimes exhibit strangely inefficient features. These inefficiencies are not the consequence of agency costs or a lack of attorneys' fidelity to their clients; they instead illustrate the limits — and, indirectly, the strengths — of large organizations. Indeed, observing that legal products do not perfectly match contemporary needs might be no less provocative than observing that Detroit is long overdue to produce high-mileage cars.


Lee Kuan Yew passed away on 23 March 2015 at the age of 92. This book, which was first published in 1998, tells the story of his life from when the Japanese occupied Singapore in 1941 until 1998 when he was Senior Minister. Based on 13 exclusive interviews held over 30 hours, this book chronicles the events, people and political fortunes that were to shape Lee's view of the world, as well as the path he set for the transformation of Singapore. It delves into the choices he made, the political turnings he took, the insights gained and lessons learnt, some of which were expounded to the authors for the first time, with wit, wisdom, candour and vivid recollection. Written by three leading journalists from The Straits Times.


Type~Ia supernovae are used as standard candles to measure the energy density components of the universe. This led to the new paradigm in cosmology: only about 30\% of the universe is made by ordinary pressure-less matter, the rest is associated with an unknown form of energy with a negative equation of state parameter, called dark energy, able to drive the accelaration of the universe. The importance of this discovery requires to fully understand and control the possible systematic effects affecting both current and future measurements, aiming at probing the equation of state parameter, i.e. the nature of dark energy.In this thesis, we tackle systematic effects involved in several aspects of supernova cosmology. Studies of supernova colours are used for investigating the homogeneity of the standard candle and to improve the spectral templates used for $K$-corrections. We have measured the intrinsic colour dispersion and assessed its correlation between different epochs of supernova evolution. We develop a technique for fitting the $I$-band ligthcurve and present studies of correlations of its properties with the SN luminosity. Moreover, we present a pioneer study of restframe $I$-band Hubble diagram extended at redshift $\sim$ 0.5. This is found to be a valuable complementary tool for cosmological studies, and the results found are consistent with the concordance model of the universe, though the uncertainties are large. Presence of grey dust in the intergalactic medium is investigated both using the $I$-band Hubble diagram and supernova colour excess. Although the low statistics of the high redshift sample used do not allow to draw firm conclusions, both methods are tested and shown to be useful for probing the presence of intergalactic dust. The hypothesis of supernova population drift is tested in two different ways, both studying restframe $I$-band lightcurve properties and by comparing spectra of high redshift with those of nearby SNe. One distant supernova SN~2002fd (z=0.279) shows spectral similarities with 1991T/1999aa like objects. No signs of evolution in supernova properties is found in these studies, strengthening our confidence in the measured cosmological parameters.


British Bohemia. The Bloomsbury Circle of Virginia Woolf. International Cultural Centre, Krakow, 14 September 2010-9 January 2011. Curated by Tony Bradshaw and Monika Rydiger. British Bohemia. The Bloomsbury Circle of Virginia Woolf. Ed. Barbara Gorska (Krakow: International Cultural Centre, 2010) 185pp. It is not surprising that British Bohemia should have been shown at the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, for Krakow has always held an important place in the development of the Polish literary and visual avant-garde. It was, for example, home of the Young Poland modernist group, the Formists, the Polish Futurists, and the Zwrotnica circle associated with the art critic and poet Tadeusz Peiper, who was editor of a little magazine called Zwrotnica (Railway Switch). The Bloomsbury artists seem to match perfectly Krakow's artistic atmosphere which during the first decades of the twentieth century was as vibrant, innovative and creative as that of its counterparts in London. This is the first time the "Bloomsberries" have made an appearance in this part of Europe so the exhibition may be regarded as a milestone in the understanding of modern British art in Poland, where it has usually been French, Italian and German art that has attracted popular and critical attention. The exhibition emphasized the lifestyle as well as the art and literature produced by the group. Although to some viewers it may have seemed slightly modest, the selection of objects was conditioned not only by limited gallery space, but by the decision of the curator, Tony Bradshaw, not to display work from major museum collections but to bring forward works from private collections. Bloomsbury enthusiasts saw perhaps for the first time several unseen or little-shown art works. Paintings dominated but the wide-ranging activity of the Bloomsbury artists was also demonstrated, particularly in the field of design. The most prominent members of the group were represented in the exhibition, including the writer Virginia Woolf, the painters Duncan Grant, Dora Carrington and Vanessa Bell, and Roger Fry, who was both painter and critic. Large biographical panels hung alongside their work. Grant was represented most abundantly with landscapes showing the countryside around Charleston, the house in Sussex particularly associated with the group, as well as portraits and still-lifes. Some of the most remarkable landscapes included Grant's watercolor and pencil on paper work entitled Barns and Pond at Charleston (c. 1934) or a Cezannesque oil, Houses at Newhaven (c. 1934), both showing an increasing departure from representation. Charleston played an important role in the show, since the design of the exhibition reflected the interior of the house itself. There were enlarged life-size photographs of the interior which increased the visitors' feeling of an intimate encounter with the artists and the Bloomsbury ambience. These photographs highlighted the Bloomsberries' view that their lives formed part of their art, so that when they decorated their immediate surroundings--including Charleston's walls and furniture--it seemed both necessary and valid. Charleston also symbolized the Bloomsbury Group's anti-war stance in 1914-1918. These artistic revolutionaries carried out an aesthetic crusade against bourgeois taste and academicism, but they were not at all rebels in the political sense; avoiding military conscription, they were instead employed on the land at farms nearby, so that staying at Charleston became a convenient option. Grant's Dancers, from the 1930s, exemplifies his long-lasting interest in dance and ballet which began in the early 1920s, when he designed sets and costumes with Leonid Massine and Lydia Lopokova and later continued his cooperation as a set designer with the Vic-Wells Ballet and the Camargo Society. Equally impressive are two studies for the large painting Interior (Ulster Museum, Belfast); one of them, David Garnett Writing at Charleston, 1918, depicts Garnett, who resided at Charleston between 1916-1919, who "is shown translating Dostoyevsky in the dining room at Charleston" (85). …


The 1996 Telecommunications Act was an attempt to increase competition among telecommunications providers in the United States by reducing regulatory barriers to market entry. This competition was expected to drive innovation in the telecommunications sector and reap economic benefits for both American consumers and telecommunications providers. The legislation, however, had a markedly different impact. While many of the more aggressive providers enjoyed sharp short-term rises in stock market values, they soon faced sudden collapse, leaving consumers with little or no long-term benefit. In Competition and Chaos , Robert W. Crandall analyzes the impact of the 1996 act on economic welfare in the United States and how the act and its antecedents affected the major telecommunications providers. He argues that the act was far too stringent, inviting the Federal Communications Commission and state regulators to micromanage competitive entry into local telecommunications markets. Combined with the bursting of the dot.com and telecom stock market bubbles, this aggressive policy invited new and existing firms to invest billions of dollars unwisely, leading to the 2001-02 collapse of equity values throughout the sector. New entrants into the market invested more than $50 billion in unproductive assets that were quickly wiped out through massive failures. The 1996 act allowed the independent long-distance companies, such as MCI and AT& T, to live a few years longer. But today they are a threatened species, caught in a downward spiral of declining prices and substantial losses. The industry is preparing for an intense battle for market share among three sets of carriers: the wireless companies, the local telephone carriers, and the cable television businesses. Each has its own particular advantage in one of the three major segments of the market --voice, data, and video --but none is assured a clear path to dominance. Although the telecom stock market collapse is now history and the survivors are investing once again, Crandall concludes that the regulators have failed to adapt to the chaos to which they contributed.


In New Zealand, the demand for nitrogen fertiliser has increased markedly since the early 1980s. Potentially, this trend has significant environmental and climate change implications. While many factors could contribute to this trend, little work has been done to examine the drivers of increased use of nitrogen fertiliser in New Zealand. In this paper, we review the international literature and discuss a theoretical framework for modelling fertiliser demand. Using a national data set, we develop an empirical cointegration model for New Zealand. The results suggest that, in the long run, nitrogen fertiliser use is elastic (2.3) to output prices and unit elastic to its own price.


We study how the spectral fitting of galaxies, in terms of light fractions derived in one spectral region translates into another region, by using results from evolutionary synthesis models. In particular, we examine propagation dependencies on Evolutionary Population Synthesis (EPS, {\sc grasil}, {\sc galev}, Maraston and {\sc galaxev}) models, age, metallicity, and stellar evolution tracks over the near-UV---near infrared (NUV---NIR, 3500\AA\ to 2.5\mc) spectral region. Our main results are: as expected, young ($t \lesssim$ 400 Myr) stellar population fractions derived in the optical cannot be directly compared to those derived in the NIR, and vice versa. In contrast, intermediate to old age ($t \gtrsim$ 500 Myr) fractions are similar over the whole spectral region studied. The metallicity has a negligible effect on the propagation of the stellar population fractions derived from NUV --- NIR. The same applies to the different EPS models, but restricted to the range between 3800 \AA\ and 9000 \AA. However, a discrepancy between {\sc galev}/Maraston and {\sc grasil}/{\sc galaxev} models occurs in the NIR. Also, the initial mass function (IMF) is not important for the synthesis propagation. Compared to {\sc starlight} synthesis results, our propagation predictions agree at $\sim$95% confidence level in the optical, and $\sim$85% in the NIR. {\bf In summary, spectral fitting} performed in a restricted spectral range should not be directly propagated from the NIR to the UV/Optical, or vice versa. We provide equations and an on-line form ({\bf Pa}nchromatic {\bf A}veraged {\bf S}tellar {\bf P}opulation - \paasp) to be used for this purpose.


A 50-year old woman was admitted with a mass in the anterior triangle of the neck. Because of interpretation of a needle biopsy specimen as undifferentiated adenocarcinoma, a radical excision of cervical lymph nodes was performed and the specimen showed metastatic adenocarcinoma suggestive of carcinoid tumor. Four months later the patient developed an abdominal mass that turned out to be large mesenteric lymph nodes involved in carcinoid tumor, the primary lesions being in the terminal ileum. Following resection of all visible tumor, the patient has remained symptomatically and chemically well for 15 months. No previous case of carcinoid tumor metastatic to the neck can be found.


Earth has been struck and will be struck again by asteroids and comets whose orbits bring them into close proximity with Earth's orbit, collectively termed Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), and such collisions can be catastrophic. One possible means of eliminating the threat posed by a NEO on a collision course with Earth is to deliver and emplace explosive charges into blast holes drilled into the NEO by a human and/or robotic crew. Preliminary design work has been completed regarding the proper fashion in which to distribute these charges throughout the NEO to ensure that their detonation breaks the NEO into fragments no larger than 30 – 50 m in mean diameter so that any fragment that should still collide with Earth will burn up in the atmosphere and not harm Earth's surface. This paper examines the requirements for a spacecraft mission to deliver this distributed-energy blasting system to a given NEO by considering four example target NEOs drawn from the currently known NEO population. A preliminary mission outline for completing the NEO blasting operation is presented that includes basic rendezvous trajectories and deliverable payload mass results for each target NEO, a survey of NEO proximity operations methods and considerations, and a discussion of the issues associated with supporting a human crew for such a mission. This study has concluded that current and near-term launch and propulsion technology is insufficient for support of a distributed-energy blasting mission unless the overall blasting system mass can be dramatically reduced or launch technology improves significantly. NEO proximity operations are deemed feasible for the blasting mission with continued development. Sustaining a human crew for the duration of multi-year NEO blasting mission will also require advances in technology such that crew health and sustenance can be ensured in the remote space environment for an extended duration. All of these required enabling technologies for a blasting mission are of general interest in terms of the overall advancement of crewed and un-crewed solar system exploration.


London's Chinese population in London is one of the most rapidly growing of any national group and is becoming increasingly diverse as new forms of migration develop and people arrive from regions of China which have previously seen little emigration. These developments are a product of political and economic changes in both China and in Britain. The ending of restrictions on travel within China and its growing participation in the global economy have opened up new opportunities for internal and international migration. These new migrants include the most privileged - students, the highly skilled with established jobs in London - as well as those for whom China's transformation to a market economy has meant dispossession and loss of livelihood. Many have been forced to emigrate for survival,
often leaving family in China. Britain, with other European countries, has become increasingly dependent on migrant labour but immigration policies are increasingly selective, welcoming those with recognised skills while restricting entry to those deemed unskilled. Many of the new thus migrants find themselves forced to rely on 'agents' to enter the country and their insecure status means they have
limited rights once they have arrived and are vulnerable to exploitation. The deaths of 20 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004 drew attention to the 'hidden' population of new Chinese migrants. Many new migrants prosper and are able to take advantage of the opportunities which migration brings, but others, especially those with insecure legal and economic status, may struggle, often over a protracted period, to gain a foothold in British society. They may speak little English, have limited
knowledge of British society and are poorly prepared to settle and find adequate work. They need support in order to access services, but many have little information about how to go about this and limited social networks to help them. Most of the established Chinese population in London migrated to Britain from Hong Kong and speak Cantonese, unlike the predominantly Mandarin-speaking new migrants. They have established a range of community, business and cultural organisations but these mainly cater for earlier generations. Some have struggled to respond to the new needs which these new migrants bring, but they often lack the necessary knowledge, language and resources. This report is based on research which focused on the experiences of this new population and ways in which service providers could support them in order to promote their inclusion. Although we focus on new migrants, we acknowledge that there is widespread poverty, exclusion and isolation among older generations of Chinese people, particularly as they reach retirement age. The research included all those identifying their ethnic origin as Chinese, including people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The majority of participants, however, came from mainland China. The study was based in London which has the largest and most diverse Chinese population in Britain and many Chinese organisations. We hope, however, that its findings and recommendations will also be relevant to the Chinese population across Britain. The research was carried out by researchers based at Middlesex University and working with Chinese community organisations in London. We are grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for their financial
support and to the School of Health and Social Science at Middlesex University whose contribution ensured that the project was completed. We also wish to thank the informants from Chinese community organisations and the individuals interviewed for the research who have contributed generously with their time and ideas.


ABSTRACT The innate immune response to Pneumocystis infection is not well understood. In this study, normal C57BL/6 mouse alveolar macrophages were found to respond to Pneumocystis murina organisms through Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), leading to the nuclear translocation of NF-κB and the production of proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2). P. murina stimulation of normal alveolar macrophages from C57BL/6 mice resulted in increased TLR2 transcription but not increased TLR4 transcription. In gain-of-function studies with HEK293 cells expressing TLR2 or TLR4, only TLR2 was found to stimulate an NF-κB response to P. murina. TNF-α and MIP-2 production in response to P. murina by mouse alveolar macrophages was inhibited by a monoclonal antibody that specifically blocked the ligand-binding ability of TLR2. Alveolar macrophages from TLR2 knockout (TLR2−/−) mice showed little increase in TNF-α and MIP-2 mRNA levels upon P. murina stimulation. An in vivo study showed that TLR2−/− mice challenged with P. murina had reduced cytokine responses. These results indicate that TLR2 plays a major role in the innate immune response to P. murina.


Knowledge distillation is to transfer the knowledge of a large neural network into a smaller one and has been shown to be effective especially when the amount of training data is limited or the size of the student model is very small. To transfer the knowledge, it is essential to observe the data that have been used to train the network since its knowledge is concentrated on a narrow manifold rather than the whole input space. However, the data are not accessible in many cases due to the privacy or confidentiality issues in medical, industrial, and military domains. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no approach that distills the knowledge of a neural network when no data are observable. In this work, we propose KegNet (Knowledge Extraction with Generative Networks), a novel approach to extract the knowledge of a trained deep neural network and to generate artificial data points that replace the missing training data in knowledge distillation. Experiments show that KegNet outperforms all baselines for data-free knowledge distillation. We provide the source code of our paper in https://github.com/snudatalab/KegNet.


Latino students have become the largest minority group on college campuses and their numbers continue to grow (Fry, 2011). The largest generation of Latinos attending higher education institutions is the second generation of immigrants to the United States. This paper examines Phinney's (1989) model of ethnic identity formation, Torres' Hispanic identity model (2003) and Bicultural Orientation model (1999), and how high acculturation or Anglo-orientation affects the process of ethnic identity development for second-generation Latinos. It will also suggest ways that student affairs practitioners can assist students in moving toward a bicultural orientation by understanding their unique ethnic identity development process.


Abstract The Ausable and Boquet rivers are two of New York's major tributaries to Lake Champlain. The two watersheds are referred to as the Boquet/Ausable Subbasin. The Subbasin receives drainage from 795 square miles including diverse wetland types. From 2005 to 2009, a total of 768 sampling sites (324 in the Ausable watershed and 444 in the Boquet watershed) within 56 wetlands were surveyed from mid-June to mid-August. A total of 470 plant species were recorded, including 138 species of woody plants, 85 species of graminoids, 23 species of pteridophytes, and 224 herbaceous species. Included in the sampled plant species were 50 exotic species, 14 non-native invasive species, 2 New York State (NYS) endangered species, 2 threatened species, and 31 species listed as exploitably vulnerable by the New York State Natural Heritage Program. Herbaceous plants were the most abundant group and accounted for 48% of all species (45% at Ausable, 49% at Boquet). The least abundant group was the pteridophytes (5%). The Ausable watershed samples included a larger number of plant species (368) than the Boquet watershed samples (332). This difference was statistically significant (P = 0.001). The Ausable watershed had larger numbers of native, exotic, invasive, and vulnerable species than the Boquet watershed. The differences were statistically significant for the native plants (P < 0.001), exotic plants (P = 0.001), and exploitably vulnerable plant species (P = 0.005) observed in the two watersheds. However, the difference in non-native invasive plant species observed in the two watersheds was not statistically significant (P = 0.505). Plant species differences between the two watersheds might have resulted from variations of multiple environmental factors including elevation, soil types, water chemistry, nutrient levels, and anthropogenic factors.


This concluding chapter presents a summary of the common themes and key points about British politics, which help make sense of current events, such as whether turbulence and instability now characterize British politics, and whether democracy can work well in these conditions. It provides a table containing summaries of each chapter, which relate to the themes of the book: party government and executive power, political turbulence, blunders/policy disasters, and the difficulties of achieving agency. With these and other insights, it is possible to assess whether there is anything left for traditional understandings of British democracy or whether the country is in uncharted waters, without any clearly understood democratic mechanisms and not capable of producing effective policy outcomes. Overall, how does Britain fare as a democracy with its old and new features? The chapter then looks at the debate about the quality of UK democracy.


Many countries actively seek to disperse refugees to counteract residential segregation or/and take measures to attract and retain international migrants in smaller communities to mitigate or reverse population decline. This study explores the regional distribution and interregional mobility among refugees in Sweden. It uses individual-level register data to follow two cohorts for eight years after their arrival in Sweden, distinguishing between refugees subject to a placement policy in the 1990s and recent cohorts that had either arranged their own housing or had been assigned housing. It uses sequence analysis and multinomial logit regression to analyse regional trajectories, and event history analysis to examine mobility determinants. The results indicate that most refugees remained in the same type of region throughout the period. A significant proportion of refugees with assigned housing in large city or small city/rural regions stayed there over a long period, suggesting that refugee settlement policies have long-lasting consequences.


Abstract Objective To delineate the risk factors, symptom patterns, and longitudinal course of prolonged illnesses after a variety of acute infections. Design Prospective cohort study following patients from the time of acute infection with Epstein-Barr virus (glandular fever), Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), or Ross River virus (epidemic polyarthritis). Setting The region surrounding the township of Dubbo in rural Australia, encompassing a 200 km geographical radius and 104 400 residents. Participants 253 patients enrolled and followed at regular intervals over 12 months by self report, structured interview, and clinical assessment. Outcome measures Detailed medical, psychiatric, and laboratory evaluations at six months to apply diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome. Premorbid and intercurrent illness characteristics recorded to define risk factors for chronic fatigue syndrome. Self reported illness phenotypes compared between infective groups. Results Prolonged illness characterised by disabling fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, neurocognitive difficulties, and mood disturbance was evident in 29 (12%) of 253 participants at six months, of whom 28 (11%) met the diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome. This post-infective fatigue syndrome phenotype was stereotyped and occurred at a similar incidence after each infection. The syndrome was predicted largely by the severity of the acute illness rather than by demographic, psychological, or microbiological factors. Conclusions A relatively uniform post-infective fatigue syndrome persists in a significant minority of patients for six months or more after clinical infection with several different viral and non-viral micro-organisms. Post-infective fatigue syndrome is a valid illness model for investigating one pathophysiological pathway to chronic fatigue syndrome.


Neuregulin-1 provides an important axonally derived signal for the survival and growth of developing Schwann cells, which is transmitted by the ErbB2/ErbB3 receptor tyrosine kinases. Null mutations of the neuregulin-1, erbB2, or erbB3 mouse genes cause severe deficits in early Schwann cell development. Here, we employ Cre-loxP technology to introduce erbB2 mutations late in Schwann cell development, using a Krox20-cre allele. Cre-mediated erbB2 ablation occurs perinatally in peripheral nerves, but already at E11 within spinal roots. The mutant mice exhibit a widespread peripheral neuropathy characterized by abnormally thin myelin sheaths, containing fewer myelin wraps. In addition, in spinal roots the Schwann cell precursor pool is not correctly established. Thus, the Neuregulin signaling system functions during multiple stages of Schwann cell development and is essential for correct myelination. The thickness of the myelin sheath is determined by the axon diameter, and we suggest that trophic signals provided by the nerve determine the number of times a Schwann cell wraps an axon.


As early as prewar Japan, thinkers of various intellectual proveniences had begun discussing the most important topics of contemporary media and communication studies (such as ways to define the social function of the press, journalism and the formation of public opinion). In this article, light is shed on press scholar Ono Hideo, his disciple the sociologist and propaganda researcher Koyama Eizō, Marxist philosopher Tosaka Jun and sociologist and postwar intellectual Shimizu Ikutarō. Besides introducing the different approaches of these four figures, this essay also contextualizes the early discursive space of Japanese media and communication studies within international tendencies in Germany from three perspectives of transnational intellectual history (i.e. adaptations, reciprocities and parallels).


The involvement of communities with wildlife is increasing on a global scale. Participatory approaches differ across the world, from natural resource management, environmental quality monitoring, to species and habitat data gathered through citizen science programmes. The personal and community benefits of engaging with nature are acknowledged through ongoing research, particularly in terms of health and wellbeing, yet simultaneously people are becoming increasingly distanced from nature due to factors such as urbanisation. In order to maximise the benefits associated with participatory initiatives, it is important to engage with a cross section of societal groups, providing opportunities for all, at the same time as collecting wildlife data from all habitats.
In this study, I confirm that participation in citizen science can achieve social and potentially community-level benefits on national, local and individual scales. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews, I found that conservation organisations strive to engage with a cross section of societal groups. However, postcode analysis of current wildlife recording scheme participants confirmed that socioeconomically deprived communities are under-represented in these activities. I designed a simple garden wildlife study in a socioeconomically deprived community to investigate the reasons behind this, and found that although a proportion of residents were motivated to participate, the majority had not done so in the past, which was largely attributed to a lack of awareness of opportunities. Despite this, many of these participants shared the same motivations for participation as those currently engaged. Working with a small group of community volunteers, I used semi-structured interviews to reveal that participation in an ecological study can bring about positive personal benefits with the potential to lead on to wider positive outcomes in the future. A significant factor in these transformative effects appeared to be the role of activity practitioners in supporting future participation. Alongside this investigation, a study of habitat use by hedgehogs in an urban setting, current garden management, and resources in the wider area appeared to have a positive effect upon hedgehogs.
Throughout all participants in this study, motivations for involvement were centred on contributing to a local study, an interest in the focal wildlife species/taxa, helping conservation and learning. Gardening for wildlife was a popular activity, with many participants reporting both an active encouragement of wildlife into the garden, and a desire to learn more about this topic.
This thesis demonstrates how traditional environmental activities are not successfully engaging with people from socioeconomically deprived communities. There are likely to be many factors associated with this, but from the findings of this research, some recommendations can be made to improve future participatory approaches as well as building upon the positive effects of working with community volunteers.


This study tests the assertion that the online dissemination of theses has a positive impact on the research profile of the institution and sets out to gain a greater understanding of how digital theses fit into the scholarly resources landscape. The year-long study combined primary and secondary research and was undertaken with the London School of Economics, based on its programme of theses digitization. The paper outlines the types of metrics an institution may use to measure the impact of its corpus of digitized dissertations and examines how these metrics may be generated. Findings included: a higher volume of theses attracts more traffic; Google's strong indexing capabilities make it the most frequentlyused tool for discovery of digital theses; primary conclusions are that there is little correlation between downloads and citations of digitized theses; having a digital thesis collection enhances the reputation of the institution; although they recognize that digital theses are a valuable research tool, postgraduates and academics widely believe that making them available affects future publication opportunities; building and maintaining a digital thesis collection makes considerable 'hidden' work for librarians in terms of training about copyright and permissions. Some conclusions: better statistics are needed, especially of citations; institutions need to promote digital thesis collections better; more work needs to be done on whether digitizing theses impairs authors' chances of traditional publication and on how digital theses affect and are affected by the open access movement.


Countries with the highest labor productivity overwhelmingly lie in the world's temperate climatic zones far away from the equator. The question we address is whether climatic conditions as measured by distance from the equator remain correlated with labor productivity after other variables are taken into account. We find that climatic conditions do not have a significant impact on labor productivity once we control for factor accumulation and cultural diversity within countries. Our regression results suggest that cultural diversity as measured by the degree of ethnolinguistic fractionalization may severely limit economic development in presently poor countries.


Grafting of Acrylonitrile onto cellulose from different sources, using a variety of chemical initiators under various reaction conditions has been thoroughly investigated and reported. Hydrophobic nature of acrylonitrile hinders the partition of metal ions form aqueous phase thus narrows the applicationspectrum of its graft copolymers inseparation and enrichment processes. However, this drawback can be improved by post functionalization of nitrile (-CN) group to generate hydrophilic/ionic moieties by simple reactions like hydrolysis or substitution. In present study, acrylonitrile (AN) was grafted onto commercial cellulose to produce graft copolymers which can be used as starting materials for development of efficient metal ions sorbents. Grafting was carried out by redox initiation method using Ce +4 ions following the earlier reported scheme at the optimum grafting conditions worked out for grafting of AN onto cellulose ether, Hydroxyethyl cellulose(HEC). Graft copolymer thus obtained [hereafter called cell-g-poly (AN)] was characterized by Elemental analysis and FTIR. Both, cellulose and HEC belong to same back bone therefore, exhibited similar behaviour towards grafting. Percent grafting (Pg =50) obtained in case of cellulose was in close agreement with (Pg=55.5) that observed in case of HEC. Cell-g-poly (AN) served as useful precursor to develop reactive metal ion sorbing polymer supports as nitrile (-CN) moiety of poly (AN) is amenable to post functionalization and could be conveniently modified to targeted metal ion chelating amido-oxime group [poly (NH2-C=NHOH))] thus the resultant polymer could be used as a novel support for metal ion sorption.


Robert K. Mautz, Financial Reporting for Nonprofit Organizations: A Fresh Look (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1994, 119 pp., $35). Reviewed by Denise Nitterhouse DePaul University The book Financial Reporting for Nonprofit Organizations: A Fresh Look, by Robert K. Mautz, is readable and provocative. It uses an interesting "intellectual exercise" to develop a set of proposed principles for financial reporting by nonprofit entities. While one may not agree with all of the book's propositions, it offers many points that deserve further consideration as we move forward with accounting principles and standards for nonprofit and governmental organizations. The book begins by discussing the distinguishing characteristics of nonprofit organizations and describing an intellectual exercise that was used to explore the applicability of conventional accounting theory and practice to nonprofits. An unidentified team engaged in the intellectual exercise then develops a classification of nonprofit organizations, including governmental entities, and addresses several issues, including the nature of nonprofits and their involvement in profit-directed activities, and the audience and focus for nonprofit financial reporting. Chapter 2 discusses current nonprofit financial reporting practice as embodied in the financial statements of two membership and one state government organization. The types of disclosure in each of the three sets of financial statements are discussed, but the financial statements themselves are not provided. One serious limitation of the work is the lack of charitable, educational or health care organization financial statements in the exercise. The chapter concludes p. 37-38 with the overall impressions of the team: --the variety of activities and financial reporting within the nonprofit class. --the extent to which nonprofit entities engage in for profit activities. --the complexity of fund accounting in the state government's financial statements. --the freedom available in applying GAAP to nonprofit entities. --the absence of a bottom line to indicate success or failure. --the absence of any identifiable purpose of the reporting. --confusion as to the anticipated readership of the reports. --the apparent lack of interest in the differences between for profit and nonprofit entities. Some team members appear to be experienced and sophisticated with respect to business accounting, but not with nonprofit accounting. A listing of the participants and their backgrounds would help the reader to better understand the findings, especially in light of their comments on the difficulty of understanding the nonprofit and governmental financial statements with which they were dealing e.g., p. 36 . As it is, one is left guessing who was involved and what their backgrounds are. Chapter 3 discusses several problems that the team felt made it inappropriate to apply accounting theory developed for business organizations to nonprofit entities. The key issues addressed p. 39-40 are: --The nature and importance of differences between business and nonprofit organizations. --The applicability of conventional financial statement formats to nonprofit organizations. --The applicability of conventional accounting concepts to nonprofit organizations. --The feasibility of the fund emphasis for financial reporting purposes. --The nature and importance of difference among nonprofit entities. Chapter 4 presents and discusses alternative financial statements that the team developed for the three nonprofit organizations introduced in Chapter 2. This part of the exercise was undertaken to get the team members to think about and apply the theoretical considerations in a practical way. …


Effective and efficient methods for partitioning a digital image into image segments, called "image segmentation," have a wide range of applications that include pattern recognition, classification, editing, rendering, and compressed data for image search. In general, image segments are described by their geometry and similarity measures that identify them. For example, the well-known optimization model proposed and studied in depth by David Mumford and Jayant Shah is based on an L2 total energy functional that consists of three terms that govern the geometry of the image segments, the image fidelity (or closeness to the observed image), and the prior (or image smoothness).
Recent work in the field of image restoration suggests that a more suitable choice for the fidelity measure is, perhaps, the l1 norm. This thesis explores that idea applied to the study of image segmentation along the line of the Mumford and Shah optimization model, but eliminating the need of variational calculus and regularization schemes to derive the approximating Euler-Lagrange equations.
The main contribution of this thesis is a formulation of the problem that avoids the need for the calculus of variation. The energy functional represents a global property of an image. It turns out to be possible, however, to predict how localized changes to the segmentation will affect its value. This has been shown previously in the case of the L 2 norm, but no similar method is available for other norms. The method described here solves the problem for the l1 norm, and suggests how it would apply to other forms of the fidelity measure.
Existing methods rely on a fixed initial condition. This can lead to an algorithm finding local instead of global optimizations. The solution given here shows how to specify the initial condition based on the content of the image and avoid finding local minima.*
*This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Adobe Acrobat.


The Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be the word of God, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad 1400 years ago. Recognized as the greatest literary masterpiece in Arabic, the sacred text has nevertheless remained difficult to understand in its English translations. First published in 2004, M.A.S. Abdel Haleem's translation has been acclaimed for its success in avoiding archaism and cryptic language to produce a version that is both faithful to the original and easy to read. Now for the first time it is published with the original Arabic text to give a greater appreciation and understanding of the holy book. The traditional Arabic calligraphic pages are displayed alongside the English translation, which has been revised for this new edition. A useful general introduction on the revelation, stylistic features, issues of interpretation and translation of the Qur'an is included, together with summaries of each sura, essential footnotes and an index. The verses are individually numbered to facilitate comparison with the Arabic. It is an edition both for those familiar with the Qur'an and for those coming to it for the first time; the message of the Qur'an was directly addressed to all people regardless of class, gender, or age, and this dual-language edition is equally accessible to everyone.


Although cytosolic superoxide dismutases (SODs) are widely distributed among bacteria, only a small number of species contain a periplasmic SOD. One of these is Caulobacter crescentus, which has a copper-zinc SOD (CuZnSOD) in the periplasm and an iron SOD (FeSOD) in the cytosol. The function of periplasmic CuZnSOD was studied by characterizing a mutant of C. crescentus with an insertionally inactivated CuZnSOD gene. Wild-type and mutant strains showed identical tolerance to intracellular superoxide. However, in response to extracellular superoxide, the presence of periplasmic CuZnSOD increased survival by as much as 20-fold. This is the first demonstration that periplasmic SOD defends against external superoxide of environmental origin. This result has implications for those bacterial pathogens that contain a CuZnSOD. C. crescentus was shown to contain a single catalase/peroxidase which, like Escherichia coli KatG catalase/peroxidase, is present in both the periplasmic and cytoplasmic fractions. The growth stage dependence of C. crescentus catalase/peroxidase and SOD activity was studied. Although FeSOD activity was identical in exponential- and stationary-phase cultures, CuZnSOD was induced nearly 4-fold in stationary phase and the catalase/peroxidase was induced nearly 100-fold. Induction of antioxidant enzymes in the periplasm of C. crescentus appears to be an important attribute of the stationary-phase response and may be a useful tool for studying its regulation.


This paper argues that estimation of the Phillips curve for Japan should take account of the geographic dispersion of labor-market conditions. We find evidence that the relationship between wage inflation and the unemployment rate is convex. With such convexity, wage inflation can occur when unemployment rates across regions become more disperse, even if the aggregate unemployment rate is unchanged. We show that controlling for the geographic dispersion of unemployment rates yields a flatter Phillips curve and a higher natural rate of unemployment.


In outdoor environments, mobility, adaptability and reliability of a robot are more important than its speed and precise trajectory. From a practical point of view, tracked robots have an advantage over wheeled robots in outdoor applications. The tracked robot is frequently operated by using the remote controller, but the remote operation is not effective for all cases. To overcome some complex obstacles such as rocks or stairs, the information related to the robot posture is required. However, the sensor information is not intuitive to the user to control the robot. In this research, a multi-active crawler robot (MACbot) was developed and the autonomous stair climbing algorithm was implemented to deal with those problems. Various experiments show that the MACbot can climb the stair autonomously.


ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of application of different organic fertilizers (general organic fertilizer, GOF; biogas residue, BR; refined organic fertilizer, ROF) as compared to no fertilizer on the composition of the soil organic matter. Different scales of experiment (sand filtration tube, pot, and field plot experiment) were conducted to study the effect of organic fertilizers. The results showed that application of organic fertilizer can significantly increase soil organic matter and improve its quality. The content of soil organic carbon and humus increased with the growing of fertilization within a certain range (0∼38 t ha−1). In sand filtration tube experiment, ROF can significantly increase the quality of humic acid (HA)/ fulvic acid (FA), while it had little effect on the quality of HA/FA in the pot and plot experiment. In the field plot experiment, application with mid-dosage (38 t ha−1) of ROF can improve total organic carbon (TOC), HA and FA (by 70%, 89%, and 74%, respectively) compared with the control, and it had the best effect of all. BR for its incomplete fermented, had the worst effect of all. Therefore, ROF with 38 t·ha−1 could be used as the optimal fertilization scheme for the purpose of improving soil organic carbon.


Sequential pattern mining is a challenging issue because of the high complexity of temporal pattern discovering from numerous sequences. Current mining approaches either require frequent database scanning or the generation of several intermediate databases. As databases may fit into the ever-increasing main memory, efficient memory-based discovery of sequential patterns is becoming possible. In this paper, we propose a memory indexing approach for fast sequential pattern mining, named MEMISP. During the whole process, MEMISP scans the sequence database only once to read data sequences into memory. The find-then-index technique is recursively used to find the items that constitute a frequent sequence and constructs a compact index set which indicates the set of data sequences for further exploration. As a result of effective index advancing, fewer and shorter data sequences need to be processed in MEMISP as the discovered patterns get longer. Moreover, we can estimate the maximum size of the total memory required, which is independent of the minimum support threshold, in MEMISP. Experimental results indicate that MEMISP outperforms both GSP and PrefixSpan (general version) without the need for either candidate generation or database projection. When the database is too large to fit into memory in a batch, we partition the database, mine patterns in each partition, and validate the true patterns in the second pass of database scanning. Experiments performed on extra-large databases demonstrate the good performance and scalability of MEMISP, even with very low minimum support. Therefore, MEMISP can efficiently mine sequence databases of any size, for any minimum support values.