: Composite materials are an attractive material choice as they enable lightweight, low maintenance products with a long lifespan. But closing the loop for these materials in a Circular Economy (CE) is challenging, especially for thermoset composites. In a CE, products should be designed for minimal impact while preserving their environmental and economic value for as long as possible. However, design strategies for composite products in a CE are currently largely unexplored. Insights from literature on design for a CE as well as on composites recovery are combined to create a set of design principles for composites in a CE. In addition to well-known long life, lifetime extension and product recovery approaches, literature indicates the potential value of structural recycling. Structural recycling preserves most of the functional value of the product, which is largely lost in materials recycling. Experts from composites industry were interviewed in focus groups to further explore CE strategies and design principles for a set of reference products, such as car interior components. The resulting framework connects Circular strategies to design principles for composite products and supports design of new composite products for use, reuse and recycling in a CE.


A clinical Escherichia coli strain highly resistant to the combinations of amoxicillin-clavulanate, ampicillin-sulbactam, and piperacillin-tazobactam was isolated from a patient with a community-acquired urinary tract infection who was previously treated with amoxicillin-clavulanate. These resistances were carried by a 45-kb conjugative plasmid encoding for a single beta-lactamase with a pI of 5.4. Cloning and sequencing of the new beta-lactamase, IRT-3, revealed identity with the blaT1 gene encoding the TEM-1 beta-lactamase except for a replacement of the methionine residue at position 67 by isoleucine and of the methionine residue at position 180 by threonine. Both mutations were segregated by the construction of hybrid genes, and only the mutation at methionine at position 67 was related to resistance to the suicide inhibitors. The inhibitory effects of clavulanate, sulbactam, and tazobactam on the TEM-1 enzyme were substantially decreased in comparison with those on IRT-3, as indicated by the 50% inhibitory concentrations.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the efficacy of brief couples support groups offered concurrently with in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Couples in IVF treatment were given the option of participating in a biweekly support group at the IVF clinic at Wilford Hall Medical Center, San Antonio, Tex. At least 1 member of 26 couples participated in the brief couples support groups, and at least 1 member of 19 other couples completed the questionnaires but did not attend the support group sessions and so comprised the control group. Facilitators used cognitive behavioral techniques to help participants process their feelings and cognitions about their infertility. Emotional and cognitive factors were assessed both before and after group attendance by using the Beck Depression Inventory; the Beck Anxiety Inventory; the Life Orientation Test, which assesses optimism and pessimism; the Survey of Personal Views, which measures irrational beliefs; and the Social Provisions Scale, which measures social support.

RESULTS
Women who attended group sessions were significantly less anxious after the IVF treatment than they were before the cycle (P < .001). Men who attended the group sessions were more optimistic than nongroup men or the women at the completion of the IVF cycle (P < .001) but endorsed greater numbers of irrational beliefs (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Despite the fact that the service was relatively inexpensive compared with IVF in the civilian community, the complexity of IVF treatment and the logistic and psychological stress experienced by couples made it hard to form and maintain such groups. Nevertheless, both men and women derived psychological benefit from the group: women reported less anxiety and men greater optimism on completion of the group sessions.


Computer models of water distribution networks are commonly used to simulate large systems under complex dynamic scenarios. These models normally use so-called demand-driven solvers, which determine the nodal pressures and pipe flow rates that correspond to specified nodal demands. This paper investigates the use of data parallel high performance computing (HPC) techniques to accelerate demand-driven hydraulic solvers. The sequential code of the solver implemented in the CWSNet library is analysed to understand which computational blocks contribute the most to the total computation time of a hydraulic simulation. The results obtained show that, contrary to popular belief, the linear solver is not the code block with the highest impact on the simulation time, but the pipe head loss computation. Two data parallel HPC techniques, single instruction multiple data (SIMD) operations and general purpose computation on graphics processing units (GPGPU), are used to accelerate the pipe head loss computation and linear algebra operations in new implementations of the hydraulic solver of CWSNet library. The results obtained on different network models show that the use of this techniques can improve significantly the performance of a demand-driven hydraulic solver.


Abstract:In May 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky was inaugurated as Ukraine's sixth president. A political novice best known as a comic actor, he had garnered over 73 percent of the vote in the April run-off election. While Zelensky's inaugural address left little doubt that he would continue to position himself as a political outsider and disruptor of the system, it remains to be seen whether his actions will be as bold as his words. As the country heads into parliamentary elections, the coming months will be a crucial test of Ukraine's democracy, the resiliency of its still fragile institutions, and its dedication to continuing reforms.


Objective: This study aims to develop a Respiratory Failure Risk Score (RFRS) with good predictability for elective abdominal and vascular patients to be used in the outpatient setting for risk stratification and to guide preoperative pulmonary optimization. Summary Background Data: Postoperative respiratory failure (RF), defined as ventilator dependency for more than 48 hours or unplanned reintubation within 30 days, is associated with increased mortality and hospital costs. Many tools have been previously described for risk stratification, but few target elective surgical candidates. Methods: Our training sample included patients undergoing inpatient, nonemergent general and vascular procedures sampled for the American College of Surgeon National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 2012 Participant Use File. Multivariable logistic regression identified independent preoperative risk factors associated with RF, used to derive a weighted RFRS. We then determined goodness-of-fit and optimal cutoff values through receiver operator characteristic analysis and Youden indices to evaluate internal and external validity with a retrospective institutional validation sample (2013 and 2014). Results: Multivariable analysis of 151,700 patients from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Participant Use File identified 12 variables independently associated with RF. The RFRS showed good external prediction in the validation sample with a c-statistic of 0.73 (95% confidence interval, 0.68–0.79). With the highest Youden index, 30 was determined to be the optimal cutoff value with a sensitivity 0.62 and specificity of 0.75. Additional cutoff values of 15 and 40 optimized sensitivity (>0.80) and specificity (>0.80), respectively. Conclusions: In the preoperative setting, the RFRS can effectively stratify patients into low (<15), moderate low (15–29), moderate high (30–39), and high risk (>39) to assist in patient counseling and guide application of perioperative pulmonary optimization measures.


Image capturing and image content description can be regarded as the two major steps of a computer vision process. This paper focuses on both within the field of specular surface inspection, by generalizing a previously defined stripe-based inspection method to free-form surfaces on the basis of a specific stripe illumination technique and by outlining a general feature-based stripe image characterization approach by means of new theoretical concepts. One major purpose of this paper is to propose a general stripe image interpretation approach on the basis of a three-step procedure: 1) comparison of different image content description techniques, 2) fusion of the most appropriate ones, and 3) selection of the optimal features. It is shown that this approach leads to an increase in the classification rates of more than 2 percent between the initial fused set and the selected one. The new contributions encompass 1) the generalization of a cylindrical specular surface enhancement technique to more complex specular geometries, 2) the generalization of the previously defined stripe image description by using the same number of features for the bright and the dark stripes, and 3) the definition of an optimal, in terms of classification rates and computational costs, stripe feature set.


Using a cross section of matched data from the employee and management questionnaires of the European Company Survey, this paper investigates the determinants of worker commitment and the potential contribution of commitment to establishment performance. An index of worker commitment is constructed from employer perceptions of the motivation of workers and their retention and absenteeism propensities, while the determinants of commitment are fashioned from observations taken from the worker representation side ordered along dimensions such as perceived organizational trust and involvement. The commitment index is then linked to establishment performance outcomes. Key findings from the commitment equation are the positive role of trust in management, the quality of information exchanged, and the degree of worker representation influence in respect of major decisions taken by management. In turn, commitment emerges as a key correlate of establishment financial performance and labor productivity growth. Our supplemental sensitivity analysis is supportive of the interpretation of commitment as a driver of performance.


According to the world health organization (WHO), approximately one-third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is at risk of contracting tuberculosis. About 9 million people are infected with active tuberculosis each year, and 3 million die from the disease. Early diagnosis and initiation of treatment at the beginning of tuberculosis play an essential role on controlling this disease. Delays in diagnosis and treatment may worsen the disease, increasing the risk of mortality, and transmission within the community. The aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting the delay in diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary and extra pulmonary tuberculosis in Qom province, Iran. This work was an observational cross-sectional observational study with available sampling. The findings were analyzed using SPSS software version 24. The results demonstrated that the mean time of diagnosis in Qom province was longer compared with that of the other similar studies. The mean time of delay in referring patients are to medical centers was only significantly related to gender (female) (p = 0.8). Non-Iranian nationality, negative smear, extra pulmonary tuberculosis, body mass index more than 25. Also it was found that, improving the knowledge of health center staff about the diagnosis and increasing the public awareness regarding the symptoms of tuberculosis can play a significant role in reducing the time of diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary and extra pulmonary tuberculosis.


The thesis examines the changing power structure between Ernst Heinkel's private aviation business and the German government during the first half of the twentieth century. Utilizing Heinkel's autobiography, newspaper articles published during his lifetime, and court documents provide significant evidence with which to judge the question of Heinkel and German nationalism. The methodological focus provided by landmark works on German culture, economics, and intellectual history aid in the assessment of Heinkel as an historical actor from multiple perspectives. Heinkel's life story as an innovative aviation pioneer and successful business man demonstrates the dynamic nature of nationalism, the unmistakable influence of economic factors on decision making, and the complex ramifications of transformative technologies on an unstable and rapidly modernizing German society.


In western countries, accidents are the leading cause of death and injury among children, far surpassing diseases as a health threat. We examine the effect of maternal employment and child care policy on rates of accidental injury using both micro data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and Vital Statistics records. We find that the effects of maternal employment on unintentional injuries to children vary by demographic group, with the effects being positive for blacks and negative for whites in models that control for child-specific fixed effects. Estimates from both individual-level NLSY and Vital Statistics data suggest that the effects of maternal employment may be mediated by child care regulations. Most notably, requiring training beyond high school for caregivers reduces the incidence of both fatal and non-fatal accidents. Other types of regulation have mixed effects on unintentional injuries, suggesting that child care regulations create winners and losers. In particular, while some children may benefit from safer environments, others that appear to be squeezed out of the more expensive regulated sector and are placed at higher risks of injury.


A survey, by questionnaire, was carried out in seventeen school districts in three regions of North Island, New Zealand, to collect data on the extent of ability grouping for mathematics classes and the experiences of students in mathematics classes. Quantitative data were collected on schools' rationales for or against grouping, selection processes and the teaching programmes used for the lowest achieving students. Qualitative data were collected with respect to teachers' opinions about teaching the lowest achieving students and about the possible reasons for those students' low achievements. The responses from Heads of Mathematics Departments indicate keen interest in best practice for low achieving students. A surprising 99% of respondents reveal that some form of ability grouping for mathematics is implemented in their schools. It is clear that ability grouping is seen as the best approach to meeting the learning needs of all students, whatever their level of achievement. These results incorporated a wide range of schools including all year levels, state and private, large and small and all decile ratings from 1 10. Consensus on ability grouping within the wide range of schools in the three geographical regions suggests that schools throughout New Zealand also consider ability grouping as best practice for their low achieving students. The research raises concerns about student self-esteem, motivation and maths anxiety. The need to address those issues as well as mathematical teaching and learning issues is imperative.


Higher education institutions find themselves on the brink of a completely
transformed educational scene. However higher education institutions are also
influenced by international trends in higher education and these influences
impact on the roles of the educators and students. In pursuit of quality,
academics and students must be continuously engaged in a process of finding
opportunities for improving the teaching and learning process, the quality of the
learning experience and the way it is delivered and assess. The focus in this
paper will be on quality assurance of student learning, but with a special focus,
on quality assessments as used in the module Public Human Resource
Management III at the Central University of Technology Free State. The purpose
of this article is to investigate to what extent a group of 87 third year students
according to their own perceptions attach value to the assessment methods (selfassessments,
assignment and formal test) associated with the critical outcomes
of the Public Human Resource Management III Module.


Abstract This paper analyses the auction designs chosen for awarding 3G licences in the UK and Germany and compares them with respect to revenues and bidders' surplus using a laboratory experiment. In our study with a given number of bidders, the German design leads to higher revenues. However, bidder surplus in the German design is lower and bidders face a severe exposure problem. Because this might discourage participation, it will probably lead to less competitive bidding in real applications.


Background: Mutations of presenilin 2 gene are a rare cause of familial Alzheimer disease (AD). We describe an Italian family with hereditary dementia associated with a novel mutation in the presenilin 2 gene. Methods: Clinical investigations of the diseased subjects; interviews with relatives; studies of medical records; pedigree analysis; and neuroradiologic, neuropathologic, and molecular genetic studies were carried out in the pedigree. Results: Genetic analysis showed a novel PSEN2 A85V mutation present in the proband and in all analyzed affected members, in a subject presenting with an amnesic mild cognitive impairment, and in a young, still asymptomatic subject. The proband showed a clinical phenotype indicative of Lewy body dementia and the neuropathologic examination demonstrated the presence of unusually abundant and widespread cortical Lewy bodies in addition to the hallmark lesions of AD. Other affected members exhibited a clinical phenotype typical of AD. Conclusions: Our findings add complexity to the spectrum of atypical phenotypes associated with presenilin mutations and should then be taken into account when considering the nosography of neurodegenerative diseases. They also support previous data that specific mutations of genes associated with familial Alzheimer disease may influence the presence and extent of Lewy bodies.


This paper reports original research on job seekers in two contrasting rural areas in Scotland: one a remote rural area; the other semi-rural with strong metropolitan connectivity. It seeks to answer two key questions. Firstly, what are the potential benefits and barriers associated with the delivery of services for rural job seekers through the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-based systems? And following from this, what is the nature and extent of the 'digital divide' affecting unemployed job seekers and what policies are required to address this problem? Rural labour markets in the United Kingdom, like those across Europe, have recently experienced a period of continuous and rapid change. The decline of primary sector industries has been accompanied by increases in service employment, especially in tourism. However, in the UK, as elsewhere, this economic transition has not been without its difficulties. Whilst social exclusion is less prevalent in rural areas than in many cities, instances f poverty remain. Unemployment, and particularly long-term unemployment, has been cited as an important factor explaining the continuing problem of social exclusion in many rural areas. Recent research has suggested that an important barrier to work faced by unemployed people in rural areas relates to the absence of locally-based job search and advice services. The Employment Service (the main public agency in the UK dealing with job seekers) has argued thagiven the remote and sparsely populated nature of many rural labour markets, ICT-based job search and advice services (e.g. delivered through telephone helplines and the Internet) may offer the most efficient and cost-effective policy solution in many areas. However, the viability of this policy is dependent on the level of ICT awareness and access among job seekers. Interviews were conducted with over 400 job seekers in the two areas. The Caithness and Sutherland area in northern Scotland is among the most remote and least densely populated in Europe, with unemployment rates well above the national average. West Lothian, in contrast, is situated near to Scotland's economic centre and is a major centre of manufacturing activity with unemployment below the national average. The interviws examined the level of ICT skills possessed, attitudes towards and access to ICT, and additionally collected information on a range of personal skills and attitudes. Evidence of relatively low levels of ICT awareness and access was found in both communities Although those residing in the more remote study area were also more likely to have Internet access, a significant minority did not even have access to a telephone at home. The paper concludes that, if ICT is to prove to be the waforward in delivering services for job seekers in rural areas, community-based access and support facilities must be provided, along with appropriate training for job seekers in basic and higher level ICT skills.


Nowadays, humans are exposed to increasingly harmful xenobiotic substances which diffuse from the contaminated environment to food. Additionally, thermal processing of food, especially of meat, gives rise to pyrolytic products, such as heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs). HAAs may be linked to an increased cancer incidence in such organs as the colon, breast, stomach and liver. Carcinogenic mechanisms of HAAs include the initiation of tumours through reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, resulting in the formation of oxidised DNA bases, apurinic/ apyrimidinic (AP) sites, or DNA strand breaks (Brown et al., 2014). ROS may participate in HAA-induced tumour development. HAAs can cause significant oxidative damage to DNA, lipids and proteins in the human body. The Lactobacillus bacteria are regarded as beneficial for host health, and they are most often used as probiotics. The human colon microbiota and probiotics are important factors that may play a major role in preventing colorectal cancer. One of the mechanism is antioxidative activity, which involves the detoxification of ROS (Koller et al., 2008).


While the current system of investment treaty arbitration has definitely improved upon the "gunboat diplomacy" used at times to address disputes between states and foreign investors, there are signs that reform is needed: states and investors increasingly express concerns regarding the costs associated with the arbitration process, some states refuse to comply with arbitral awards, other states hesitate to sign new bilateral investment treaties, and citizens have begun to engage in popular unrest at the prospect of investment treaty arbitration. As a result, both investors and states are advocating for the use of mediation to supplement investor-state arbitration. This Article draws upon dispute system design principles, the socio-psychological research and theories regarding procedural justice, and the U.S. experience with court-connected mediation. Using these lens, the article examines the models of mediation that have been shown to be effective, the importance of ensuring that mediation offers something different from the other procedural options available to resolve investor-state disputes, and the mechanisms that increase the likelihood that disputing parties and stakeholders will perceive individual outcomes and the larger system as fair. The Article also examines the U.S. domestic experience to identify the elements of the mediation process that can be, and have been, made compulsory and the effects of this choice, as well as different approaches for ensuring the quality of the mediation process and its accountability to the disputing parties and other stakeholders. Ultimately, the Article recommends the integration of a default model of mediation into the investor-state context that begins in a facilitative manner, in order to increase the likelihood of trust-building and information exchange regarding important underlying interests, but also permits both evaluative interventions by the mediator and discussion of relevant legal norms. The Article further concludes that if stakeholders' input is sought and considered regarding mechanisms for the referral of disputes to mediation, some elements of mediation could be made compulsory. More specifically, the dispute resolution clauses in investment treaties could require the parties to participate in an initial meeting to discuss the potential use of mediation or other consensual procedures, with the parties themselves then choosing whether to proceed further, when, and with what process. Finally, the Article recommends the establishment of a small pool of well-known and well-respected investment treaty mediators who will offer a reasonably strong and pragmatic guarantee of quality in the short-term and engender a heightened perception of trust in the process. These mediators should also possess the temperament and skills to provide the default model of mediation. In the long term, however, evaluation and mentoring must be put into place to permit thoughtful cultivation of both the model of mediation that is best suited for the investor-state context and the next generation of mediators.


The regulated and regulatory components that interrelate nuclear structure and function must be experimentally established. A formidable challenge is to define further the control of transcription factor targeting to acceptor sites associated with the nuclear matrix. It will be important to determine whether acceptor proteins are associated with a pre‐existing core‐filament structural lattice or whether a compositely organized scaffold of regulatory factors is dynamically assembled. An inclusive model for all steps in the targeting of proteins to subnuclear sites cannot yet be proposed. However, this model must account for the apparent diversity of intranuclear targeting signals. It is also important to assess the extent to which regulatory discrimination is mediated by subnuclear domain‐specific trafficking signals. Furthermore, the checkpoints that monitor subnuclear distribution of regulatory factors and the sorting steps that ensure both structural and functional fidelity of nuclear domains in which replication and expression of genes occur must be biochemically and mechanistically defined. There is emerging recognition that placement of regulatory components of gene expression must be temporally and spatially coordinated to facilitate biological control. The consequences of breaches in nuclear structure–function relationships are observed in an expanding series of diseases that include cancer [Weis et al., 1994 ; Rogaia et al., 1997 ; Yano et al., 1997 ; Rowley, 1998 ; Zeng et al., 1998 ; McNeil et al., 1999 ; Tao and Levine, 1999a ] and neurological disorders [Skinner et al., 1997 ]. As the repertoire of architecture‐associated regulatory factors and cofactors expands, workers in the field are becoming increasingly confident that nuclear organization contributes significantly to control of transcription. To gain increased appreciation for the complexities of subnuclear organization and gene regulation, we must continue to characterize mechanisms that direct regulatory proteins to specific transcription sites within the nucleus so that these proteins are in the right place at the right time. J. Cell. Biochem. Suppl. 35:84–92, 2000. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Told for the first time in English, Paul Preston's new book tells the story of a preventable tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
This is the story of an avoidable humanitarian tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more.

It has many protagonists but centres on three individuals. One, Dr Juan Negrin, the victim of what might be termed a conspiracy of fools, tried to prevent it. Two bore responsibility for what transpired. One of those, Julian Besteiro, was guilty of culpable naivety. The other, Segismundo Casado behaved with a remarkable combination of cynicism, arrogance and selfishness.

On 5 March 1939, the eternally malcontent Colonel Casado launched a military coup against the government of Juan Negrin. Ironically, he ensured that the end of the Spanish Civil War was almost identical to its beginning. As Mola, Franco and the other conspirators of 1936 had done, Casado led a part of the Republican Army in revolt against the Republican government. He claimed, as they had done, and equally without foundation, that Negrin's government was the puppet of the Communist Party and that a coup was imminent to establish a Communist dictatorship.

Casado's ambition was to go down in history as the man who ended the Spanish Civil War. Instead he ensured the Republic ended in catastrophe and shame as Negrin's attempts to achieve an honourable and negotiated peace with guarantees for the civilian population were thwarted and Franco and his forces wreaked havoc and revenge. Madrid collapsed into civil war and two thousand people died. Refugees fled reprisals in their thousands and those who couldn't escape met a terrible fate.

Paul Preston, the leading historian of 20th century Spain, tells this shocking story for the first time in English. It is a harrowing tale of how the flawed decisions of politicans can lead to tragedy.


The aim of this paper is to evaluate the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak that began in 1978 in Paracambi municipality, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, and the steps taken by the Brazilian authorities to eradicate the disease. The presence of ASF in the country was confirmed by isolating the virus, and its pathogenicity was certified by the laboratory of the Plum Island Disease Center, New York, United States. Even before the laboratory results became available, the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry declared an Animal Health Emergency, in which the official Veterinary Services adopted rapid control measures to restrain and eradicate the disease. These control measures contributed to the reorganisation of the national swine industry and stimulated the use of high-technology production techniques, as well as an improvement in herd health consciousness. All this contributed to Brazil becoming the largest meat exporter in the world.


Formulaic sequences are recognised as having important roles in language acquisition, processing, fluency, idiomaticity, and instruction. But there is little agreement over their definition and measurement, or on methods of corpus comparison. We argue that replicable research must be grounded upon operational definitions in statistical terms. We adopt an experimental design and apply four different corpus-analytic measures, variously based upon n-gram frequency (Frequency-grams), association (MI-grams), phrase-frames (P-frames), and native norm (items in the Academic Formulas List – AFL-grams), to samples of first and second language writing in order to examine and compare knowledge of formulas in first and second language acquisition as a function of proficiency and language background. We find that these different operationalizations produce different patterns of effect of expertise and L1/L2 status. We consider the implications for corpus design and methods of analysis.


Most municipal solid waste (MSW) in Russia is disposed of in landfills, and only a relatively small fraction is recycled. The landfilling of waste leads to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and air and groundwater pollution. However, recently, there have been some initiatives to improve waste management in the country. We assessed the economic and environmental benefits of waste recycling in the Murmansk region, in which a new waste recycling plant has been operating since 2019. We found that MSW recycling in the Murmansk region has induced a small, positive, job creation effect and could potentially lead to a non-negligible reduction in GHG emissions. Extrapolating the results from this case study to the country level, we found that recycling landfilled MSW in Russia could save approximately 154 million tons of GHG emissions in carbon dioxide equivalents annually, which is comparable to the total CO2 emissions from Algeria. The positive environmental and health-related impacts from the extensive implementation of MSW recycling in the country could be substantial. From this case study, we also learned that one of the biggest challenges for the waste recycling company in the Murmansk region is finding profitable markets for recycled materials. Moreover, due to the high investment and operational costs, recycling MSW led to a substantial increase in communal fees. However, there is potential to make waste recycling more cost effective. Most MSW in the Murmansk region is still separated at the recycling plant, while separating waste at the source could substantially reduce operational costs. Other challenges in the large-scale implementation of MSW recycling in Russia, such as a lack of investments and the population's willingness to recycle waste, are also discussed.


This paper explores the employability of young Higher Education (HE) graduates in Belarus, from the point of view of employers. Graduate employability can be defined by six items: starting a job; learning at work; performing work tasks; improving professional prospects; improving personal development; and developing entrepreneurial capacity. The FOSTERC database contains representative information on 261 employers in 2018 derived from an employer questionnaire. The questionnaire includes a specific section, which asked about 24 competencies associated with obtaining a job after graduation, and the competency levels required by employers. The responses to these questions allow analysis of employability based on HE achievements and subsequent workplace learning. The 24 competencies are grouped into five categories: entrepreneurial, leadership, interdisciplinary, cognitive and adaptability. The findings provide strong support for the assumption that the match between individual human capital competencies and the characteristics of the firms and organisations matters.


Dutch is typically known to allow scrambling. Finnish on the other hand has a flexible word order. Even though the two languages differ in many aspects and Finnish does not have scrambling in the sense of an alternation between an adverb and an object, we suggest that the relation between word order and interpretation observed in the two languages is similar. On the basis of new empirical data from Finnish, we show that in both Dutch and Finnish movement of the direct object from its base-position to a noncanonical position in the middle field is related to discourse anaphoricity .


This project grows out of my dissatisfaction with a number of popular critiques against Mircea Eliade's approach to religious phenomena, in particular the charges along the lines that his academic writings are crypto-theological, ahistorical, and fascist. The set of questions I ask are as follows: Does Eliade assume the existence of a transcendent, autonomous entity in his explanation of religion, as his critics claim? Is "ahistorical" accurate to capture Eliade's sense of the relationship between religious phenomena and history? Why does Eliade not take advantage of the more "historical" or "scientific" tools of analysis of his time, such as Marxism and the like? Through close examination of Eliade's works, especially the two foundational pieces, The Myth of the Eternal Return, or Cosmos and History and Patterns in Comparative Religion, and the newly published diary, The Portugal Journal, I argue that Eliade writes about the sacred consistently as an element of human experience rather than an autonomous existence outside experience. Secondly, I argue that Eliade does not dismiss the political origins or manipulation of religion, but highlights the dynamic encounter between humans and natural phenomena in its origin. In terms of the general relationship between religion and history, Eliade seems to have a Weberian sense of elective affinity. Thirdly, I argue that Eliade downplays the "scientific" theories of his time in his interpretation of religious phenomena, because he perceived an intrinsic opposition in them to the spiritual freedom that he desperately struggled for to defend himself from personal and historical disasters of WWII. Eliade's fundamental pragmatic position with regards to religion emerges from these discussions. REREADING MIRCEA ELIADE: SOME MYTHS AND TRUTHS ABOUT THE SACRED, THE HISTORICAL, AND THE WWII by Cong Fu B.A., Nanjing University, 2012 Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Religion Syracuse University December 2017 Copyright © Cong Fu 2017 All Rights Reserved


Rice fertilized with 50, 100 and 150 kg of N/ha produced 5.0, 6.9 and 7.8 t/ha, respectively, of dry rough rice. Maximum uptake of N was 90, 124, and 148 kg/ha at the respective rates. At the rate of 100 kg of N/ha, uptake of N by the entire rice plant, including roots, was about 20 kg/ha during the first 4 weeks, 60 kg/ha during the following 2 weeks, and 40 kg/ha during the remainder of the cropping period. The N levels had no residual effects on a subsequent rice crop. About 66% of the first 50 kg/ha increment of N applied and 50% of the second increment were recovered in the rice plants in this experiment conducted in lysimeter tanks, with no losses by leaching.


Magnetic susceptibility was measured for 700 samples of drill core from thirteen drill holes in the porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit of the Stinkingwater mining district in the Absaroka Mountains, Wyoming. The magnetic susceptibility measurements, chemical analyses, and alteration class provided a database for study of magnetic susceptibility in these altered rocks. The distribution of the magnetic susceptibilities for all samples is multi-modal, with overlapping peaked distributions for samples in the propylitic and phyllic alteration class, a tail of higher susceptibilities for potassic alteration, and an approximately uniform distribution over a narrow range at the highest susceptibilities for unaltered rocks. Samples from all alteration and mineralization classes show susceptibilities across a wide range of values. Samples with secondary (supergene) alteration due to oxidation or enrichment show lower susceptibilities than primary (hypogene) alteration rock. Observed magnetic susceptibility variations and the monolithological character of the host rock suggest that the variations are due to varying degrees of alteration of blocks of rock between fractures that conducted hydrothermal fluids. Alteration of rock from the fractures inward progressively reduces the bulk magnetic susceptibility of the rock. The model introduced in this paper consists of a simulation of the fracture pattern and a simulation of the alteration of the rock between fractures. A multifractal model generated from multiplicative cascades with unequal ratios produces distributions statistically similar to the observed distributions. The reduction in susceptibility in the altered rocks was modelled as a diffusion process operating on the fracture distribution support. The average magnetic susceptibility was then computed for each block. For the purpose of comparing the model results with observation, the simulated magnetic susceptibilities were then averaged over the same interval as the measured data. Comparisons of the model and data from drillholes show good but not perfect agreement.


The predominant approach in reinforcement learning is to assign credit to actions based on the expected return. However, we show that the return may depend on the policy in a way which could lead to excessive variance in value estimation and slow down learning. Instead, we show that the advantage function can be interpreted as causal effects and shares similar properties with causal representations. Based on this insight, we propose Direct Advantage Estimation (DAE), a novel method that can model the advantage function and estimate it directly from on-policy data while simultaneously minimizing the variance of the return without requiring the (action-)value function. We also relate our method to Temporal Difference methods by showing how value functions can be seamlessly integrated into DAE. The proposed method is easy to implement and can be readily adapted by modern actor-critic methods. We evaluate DAE empirically on three discrete control domains and show that it can outperform generalized advantage estimation (GAE), a strong baseline for advantage estimation, on a majority of the environments when applied to policy optimization.


Tree ensembles such as Random Forests have achieved impressive empirical success across a wide variety of applications. To understand how these models make predictions, people routinely turn to feature importance measures calculated from tree ensembles. It has long been known that Mean Decrease Impurity (MDI), one of the most widely used measures of feature importance, incorrectly assigns high importance to noisy features, leading to systematic bias in feature selection. In this paper, we address the feature selection bias of MDI from both theoretical and methodological perspectives. Based on the original definition of MDI by Breiman et al. for a single tree, we derive a tight non-asymptotic bound on the expected bias of MDI importance of noisy features, showing that deep trees have higher (expected) feature selection bias than shallow ones. However, it is not clear how to reduce the bias of MDI using its existing analytical expression. We derive a new analytical expression for MDI, and based on this new expression, we are able to propose a debiased MDI feature importance measure using out-of-bag samples, called MDI-oob. For both the simulated data and a genomic ChIP dataset, MDI-oob achieves state-of-the-art performance in feature selection from Random Forests for both deep and shallow trees.


This article uses China's family planning policies to quantify and explain spillovers in fertility decisions. We test whether ethnic minorities decreased their fertility in response to the policies, although only the majority ethnic group, the Han Chinese, were subject to birth quotas. We exploit the policy rollout and variation in pre-policy age-specific fertility levels to construct a measure of the negative shock to Han fertility. Combining this measure with variation in the local share of Han, we estimate that a woman gives birth to 0.63 fewer children if the average completed fertility among her peers is exogenously reduced by one child. The fertility response of minorities is driven by cultural proximity with the Han and by higher educational investments, suggesting that spillovers operate through both social and economic channels. These results provide evidence that social multipliers can accelerate fertility transitions.


The great majority of international contracts provides that any disputes which may arise will be decided by arbitration. Legal scholars argue that international arbitration is leading to the development of legal doctrine attuned to the needs of business and independent of national laws. This paper studies international arbitration as a beautiful example of the role of private trade in shaping international institutions. We review the provisions and the practice of international arbitration, and present a general equilibrium model of the relationship between the expansion of trade and the adoption of arbitration. The model focuses on the heterogeneity existing among economic agents in terms of their legal needs. It shows how arbitration alters the size and composition of markets, while at the same time responding to exogenous change in trade. In addition, it shows how the legal services provided by the courts deteriorate in the presence of arbitration and predicts that the share of traders using arbitration should rise as markets expand. Overall, the model does remarkably well in generating results commonly discussed in the legal literature.


A visualisation method for automatically clustering heart beats in single channel electrocardiography (ECG) signals was developed and applied to a dataset of post-intensive care patients who received long-term continuous monitoring. We first segmented the ECG signal into individual beats using an R-peak detection algorithm. A matrix was constructed by storing the segmented ECG beats in row-wise format. Singular value decomposition (SVD) was applied to remove sparse invalid detected R peaks, thus smoothing the matrix. Treating the matrix of ECG beat values as an image, an edge detection algorithm was applied, resulting in a binary matrix containing traces of heart beats with the contiguous and discontiguous components extracted. We considered each component to be a cluster of heart beats. This method was robust to signal noise by exploiting detected R peaks and ECG raw cycles represented in a matrix format for estimation of heart beats. The algorithm also eliminated the effect of underestimated R peaks in the estimation of heart beats, and minimised the effects of overestimated R peaks using the SVD algorithm. This method allows clusters of beats to be visualized, which may assist clinicians in estimating the components of long-term ECG signals.


Background : Associations of dietary diversity score (DDS), obesity and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) with glucose metabolism have been reported. Furthermore, DDS may not be associated with healthy weight. However, studies on these topics are limited in general Indonesia population. Methods : A total of 3,825 Indonesia Family Life Survey 2014/2015 participants aged 20-59 years old were included in this study. DDS was measured qualitatively in five food groups: carbohydrates, proteins, dairy products, vegetables, and fruits. Obesity was defined by Body Mass Index (BMI) classification for Indonesians. Blood analyses were performed in dried blood spot specimens. hs-CRP were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and HbA1c was analyzed using Bio-Rad D10. Results : High DDS group had higher HbA1c than low DDS group ( p = 0.030). Furthermore, medium and high DDS group had higher BMI than low DDS group ( p = 0.003 and <0.001). Obese group had higher HbA1c than nonobese group (p < 0.001). hs-CRP was correlated with HbA1c (r=0.1194; p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that DDS, obesity and hs-CRP were associated with HbA1c ( p = 0.030, p < 0.001 and <0.001). Conclusions : Present study confirmed that obesity and hs-CRP are associated with HbA1c. DDS is positively associated with HbA1c and BMI. Promoting dietary diversity requires careful consideration. Moreover, further studies are warranted .


ABSTRACT Engagement of individuals with serious mental illnesses in community mental health services is a significant challenge. The Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) is an individual-centered and self-contained mental health program that provides psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation, and support services to persons with serious mental illness who have a history of or likelihood of disengagement with services. Understanding what helps and hinders consumers' involvement in PACT services may provide information on how to tailor engagement strategies to individuals based on their treatment needs and preferences. The current study builds on existing studies by exploring factors that help and hinder engagement in PACT services from the perspectives of individuals receiving treatment. We conducted open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 17 individuals receiving PACT services. Nine themes were identified through thematic analysis: Desirable qualities of PACT, Focusing on positive outcomes, PACT as a safety net, Recovery orientation, Practical barriers, Conflictual relationships, and Medication side-effects. We conclude that the development of a trusting, therapeutic relationship that is collaborative and person-centered and that is facilitated by both practical and emotional support is critical to engaging individuals in treatment and maximizing positive outcomes.


More than a dozen hypotheses have been proposed to explain the startling decline in the Supreme Court's plenary docket, which has puzzled scholars and commentators. Using a unique dataset containing the votes of every Supreme Court Justice that served on the Court between 1986 and 1993, this paper develops support for the hypothesis that changes in the Court's membership have contributed to the decline in the Supreme Court's plenary docket. The data demonstrate that for every Justice appointed from the October 1986 Term through the October 1993 Term, the newly-appointed Justice voted to grant certiorari less often than his or her predecessor. In fact, the average Justice appointed between 1986 and 1993 voted to grant certiorari 46.2 fewer times per Term than his or her predecessor. The substitution of Justice Ginsburg for Justice White had the greatest significance. Justice White voted to grant plenary review a prodigious 215.6 times per Term, on average, between 1986 and 1993. Meanwhile, Justice Ginsburg voted to grant plenary review during the October 1993 Term only 63 times, or 29.2% as often as her predecessor. The data and figures in this commentary demonstrate that personnel changes have had an effect on the decline in the Supreme Court's plenary docket.


This thesis concerns heating and current drive in tokamak plasmas using the fast magnetosonic wave in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies. Fast wave heating is a versatile heating method for thermonuclear fusion plasmas and can provide both ion and electron heating and non-inductive current drive. Predicting and interpreting realistic heating scenarios is however difficult due to the coupled evolution of the cyclotron resonant ion velocity distributions and the wave field. The SELFO code, which solves the coupled wave equation and Fokker-Planck equation for cyclotron resonant ion species in a self-consistent manner, has been upgraded to allow the study of more advanced fast wave heating and current drive scenarios in present day experiments and in preparation for the ITER tokamak. Theoretical and experimental studies related to fast wave heating and current drive with emphasis on fast ion effects are presented. Analysis of minority ion cyclotron current drive in ITER indicates that the use of a hydrogen minority rather than the proposed helium-3 minority results in substantially more efficient current drive. The parasitic losses of power to fusion born alpha particles and beam injected ions are concluded to be acceptably low. Experiments performed at the JET tokamak on polychromatic ion cyclotron resonance heating and on fast wave electron current drive are presented and analysed. Polychromatic heating is demonstrated to increase the bulk plasma ion to electron heating ratio, in line with theoretical expectations, but the fast wave electron current drive is found to be severely degraded by parasitic power losses outside of the plasma. A theoretical analysis of parasitic power losses at radio frequency antennas indicates that the losses can be significantly increased in scenarios with low wave damping and with narrow antenna spectra, such as in electron current drive scenarios.


Non-point source contamination is a major water quality concern in the upper Midwestern USA, where plant nutrients, especially NO3-N, are susceptible to leaching due to extensive subsurface draining of the highly productive, but poorly drained, soils found in this region. Environmental impacts associated with intensive mineral fertilization in conventional production have encouraged producers to investigate organic methods. The USDA-ARS Organic Water Quality (OWQ) experiment, established in 2011, compares organic (C-S-O/A-A) and conventional (C-S) crop rotations and an organic pasture (bromegrass, fescue, alfalfa, white clover) system. Thirty fully-instrumented, subsurface-drained plots (30.5 m × 30.5 m) laid out in a randomized block design with 5 field replications, isolate subsurface drainage from each plot and permit comparison of treatment effects on subsurface drainage water flow and nutrient concentrations. Objectives for this study were to quantify growing season subsurface drainage water flow, NO3-N concentrations, and NO3-N loads for conventional and organic grain cropping systems from 2012-2014. Temporal patterns of subsurface drainage water flux were similar for all cropping systems for all years, except for the pasture system in 2012 and subsurface drainage water N concentrations were highest in the conventional C-S system except for the early spring 2012. Subsurface drainage water N loading loss for the entire 3-year period from the conventional C-S system (79.2 kgN ha -1 ) was nearly twice as much as the N loss from the organic C-S-O/A-A system (39.9 kgN ha -1 ); the pasture system (16.5 kgN ha -1 ) lost the least amount of N over the 3 years. Results of this study suggest that organic farming practices, such as the application of composted animal manure and the use of forage legumes and green manures within extended cropping rotations, can improve water quality in Midwestern subsurface-drained landscapes.


The known distribution of each of 122 species of bats from Peru is summarized. The Andean mountain chain affects these distributions both as a barrier and as a creator of habitat differentiation. Three main distributional areas are distinguished, the humid Amazonian lowlands (below 1000 m.), the highlands within the Amazonian drainage (above 1000 m.), and the chiefly arid Pacific slopes. Some complications occur in northwestern Peru, where the Pacific slopes (particularly the higher portions) are not arid, there are a few relatively low passes across the Andes, and the upper portions of certain Amazonian tributaries are arid. Instances of ecological (including altitudinal) replacement and specific or subspecific representation between the major ecological zones are discussed.


Purpose Clinicopathologic features and biochemical recurrence are sensitive, but not specific, predictors of metastatic disease and lethal prostate cancer. We hypothesize that a genomic expression signature detected in the primary tumor represents true biological potential of aggressive disease and provides improved prediction of early prostate cancer metastasis. Methods A nested case-control design was used to select 639 patients from the Mayo Clinic tumor registry who underwent radical prostatectomy between 1987 and 2001. A genomic classifier (GC) was developed by modeling differential RNA expression using 1.4 million feature high-density expression arrays of men enriched for rising PSA after prostatectomy, including 213 who experienced early clinical metastasis after biochemical recurrence. A training set was used to develop a random forest classifier of 22 markers to predict for cases - men with early clinical metastasis after rising PSA. Performance of GC was compared to prognostic factors such as Gleason score and previous gene expression signatures in a withheld validation set. Results Expression profiles were generated from 545 unique patient samples, with median follow-up of 16.9 years. GC achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.75 (0.67–0.83) in validation, outperforming clinical variables and gene signatures. GC was the only significant prognostic factor in multivariable analyses. Within Gleason score groups, cases with high GC scores experienced earlier death from prostate cancer and reduced overall survival. The markers in the classifier were found to be associated with a number of key biological processes in prostate cancer metastatic disease progression. Conclusion A genomic classifier was developed and validated in a large patient cohort enriched with prostate cancer metastasis patients and a rising PSA that went on to experience metastatic disease. This early metastasis prediction model based on genomic expression in the primary tumor may be useful for identification of aggressive prostate cancer.


Imaginative Does Not Have To Mean Unlawful What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and concilier and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men is foreknowledge. Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits: it cannot he obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation. Knowledge of the enemy's disposition can only be obtained from other men.' - Sun Tzu f believe the intelligence Community would be well-served by the creation of an organization of common concern vested with the responsibility for professionalizing the discipline of interrogation, managing a robust approach to studying the "science " of interrogation, and designing doctrine for incorporating the products ofthat research into field operations,- - Steven M. Kleinman THE UNITED STATES is searching for ways to lawfully glean information from persons detained during the War on Terrorism.' The issue is thorny and politically sensitive. While much of the debate has been about the interrogation tactics of the Central Intelligence Agency and other government agencies, there has been a strong move toward restricting the military interrogators. Some recent changes to Army and Department of Defense (DOD) interrogation policies reflect a less than intellectually rigorous approach that is neither effective nor legally sound. This article examines the Army's interrogation policy as set forth in Field Manual (FM) 2-22.3, Human Intelligence Collector Operations, from both a legal and "effects-based" perspective and offers some recommendations for change. When formulating an interrogation policy, we must recognize and address the following: * Human behavior is very complex, and interrogation, which involves establishing a relationship between the interrogator and the subject, requires imaginative, skilled, and trained interrogators who are free to accomplish their mission successfully and lawfully. * Limiting DOD interrogators to an artificial list of techniques may prevent abusive and coercive interrogations, but it inhibits their ability to create relationships and manipulate them effectively. * The Obama administration based its decision to close the DOD detention facility at Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) and limit the scope of interrogation techniques on a blend of political, policy, and legal concerns about the treatment of detainees. While most Americans want our intelligence officers to extract accurate, time-sensitive intelligence from dangerous terrorists in order to avert imminent attacks, the use of "enhanced interrogation methods," including waterboarding, is at the core of the debate. On an emotional level, particularly after experiencing the effects of a terror attack on our soil, many Americans might pray that there are rough Americans like the fictional TV character Jack Bauer out there protecting the flock.4 However, no one has established that waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation techniques produce accurate or reliable intelligence. Moreover, such activities cause America to lose the moral high ground and have a corrosive effect on the morale and discipline of the interrogators themselves. This is especially true of military interrogators who are subject to more stringent guidelines than their counterparts in other government agencies.3 The Law An attorney providing operational legal guidance to a commander should ensure that the commander understands the advice and that the advice is free from personal bias. While we have consistently and strongly advocated that military interrogators should be prohibited from using enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, we also believe that the rules adopted should be based on law and reason and not on emotion. Unfortunately, conjecture, ill-defined information, and emotion form the basis for much that has been written and said on this topic, both in the media and in professional circles. …


In local reference holographic interferometry and radial shear interferometry, a small portion of the test beam is magnified and used as the reference for the rest of the wave front. The reference portion may be off-center or contain aberrations that complicate measurement of the wave front. An iterative method for correcting the measurement is described here. Information about the aberration in the reference is derived from the interferogram and is used to improve the estimate of the wave front shape. A computer simulation is used to verify operation of the algorithm and estimate the effect of certain input errors.


European Integration and Housing Policy, Mark Kleinman, Walter Matznetter and Mark Stephens (eds), London, Routledge for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, 1998, xi+ 307 pp., £65.00 (h/b), £19.99 (p/b) New Directions in Urban Public Housing, David P. Varady, Wolfgang F. E. Preiser and Francis P. Russell (eds), New Brunswick, NJ, Centre for Urban Policy Research Press, Rutgers University, 1998, xviii + 287 pp., $19.95 (p/b) Rent Control: Regulation and the Rental Housing Market, W. Dennis Keating, Michael B. Teitz and Andrejs Skaburskis (eds), New Brunswick, NJ, Centre for Urban Policy Research Press, Rutgers University, 1998, xiii + 246 pp., $14.95 (p/b) Winners and Losers: Home Ownership in Modern Britain, Chris Hamnett, London, UCL Press, 1999, xiv + 224 pp., £14.99 (p/b) The four books under review cover a good crosssection of recent research on housing in Europe and in North America. Some of the chapters in the collection of papers on the housing aspects of European integration edited by Mark Kleinman and colleagues are examples of a new stage in European housing research. Much work has been done to examine the similarities and differences between the housing markets and housing systems of the member states of the European Union and also of those East European countries in transition from command to market economies following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Indeed, with respect to the latter there has been significant interest in how this transition impacts on the housing system, as markets replace reliance on the state as the principal mechanism for allocating scarce housing resources. European Integration and Housing Policy reports on work that looks more at pan-European issues. It is the output of one of the working groups of the European Network for Housing Research-itself one of the more dynamic of the Europe-wide research networks, many of whose working groups have produced published work like this. While it includes several comparative chapters, its distinct focus is the impact that the single European market and the (at the time when the authors were drafting these chapters) proposed monetary union are likely to have on housing markets. As many of the book's authors stress, a key component of the Single European Act was mechanisms to ensure that the single market brought benefits to all regions and social groups. Although housing policy is not a responsibility of the EU, it is not possible to ignore the consequences of EU policies for national and regional housing systems. Nor is it possible to ignore the impact that national housing systems themselves may have on the attainment of EU objectives. European Integration and Housing Policy covers four areas. First, an examination of the impact of integration on housing markets, including capital markets; second, an examination of the impact of EU policies on national housing system; the third section looks at the outcomes of housing policy across European states; the fourth part of the book consists of chapters examining housing provision and systems in the Nordic countries and former communist countries. Inevitably, like most edited collections, this one has all the elements of the curate's egg. It suffers from the inevitable weakness of a book which appears to have been put together around papers submitted to one or more workshops or conferences, rather than invited contributions to a book with a pre-defined focus, so that the chapters do not all follow a unified theme (apart from being about European housing). Several appear to be rehashes of existing published work, including preecis of recently published books. Of the 15 chapters, those that report new work and/or specifically examine the consequences for national and regional housing systems of European integration are the most useful contributions. Particularly useful chapters that fall into the European integration themes include that by Christine Whitehead examining the impact of integration on capital markets. …


The odd-symmetric quadratic (OSQ) phase mask is examined as a candidate for reduction of working distance and enhancement of light collection in multiplex imaging systems. The knowledge gained from the exact mathematical representation of the optical transfer function of the OSQ phase mask imager is exploited to explain the limits of system performance and quantify the upper bound on the magnitude of defocus within which this wavefront coding imager can successfully operate. The sensitivity of this imaging system to defocus about the special imaging condition that yields an enhanced dynamic range is examined, and it is shown that the modulation transfer function (MTF) degradation when the magnitude of misfocus is increased past this condition is much more gradual than the degradation of a conventional imager past a zero-misfocus state. The condition required for the spatial frequency and angular resolution of this OSQ phase mask imager to exceed that of its counterpart scaled imager is established, and results of simulated imaging under a reduced working distance configuration are presented.


Peak ground accelerations (PGA) at 181 sites for the Landers MW 7.3 earthquake and at 85 sites for the Big Bear MW 6.2 aftershock are compared to the Joyner and Boore (1988) (JB) attenuation relationships and examined for spatial variations. This study finds the following five results. First, at the 95% confidence level, the mean of PGA values for both earthquakes is significantly higher than the JB median by a factor near 2. Second, for distances greater than 70 km, the observations from the Landers earthquake indicate that attenuation of ground motion with distance is less than that predicted by geometric spreading and by JB. Third, the northward propagation of the Landers rupture significantly reduces PGA values recorded at strong-motion stations south of the epicenter. Fourth, stations in the Los Angeles basin and the Coachella Valley recorded higher PGA values than expected during both events. Finally, site geology, using the site classification scheme of JB, generally does not have a statistically significant effect on PGA, except in the distance range from 60 to 100 km for the Landers earthquake. The observed difference between soil- and rock-site PGA's between 60 and 100 km for the Landers data set may be a combination of higher values of PGA recorded at soil sites in basins, an S-wave radiation maximum in the San Bernardino area, and directivity effects.


We describe a novel approach to helping patients learn about their condition using social health forums. We infer a patient's condition based on her clinical data, and assign her to a clinical state pertaining to that condition. Our system presents the patient with forum posts that are most relevant to her current state. By adjusting a Like Me dial, the patient can modify the results from those that are most popular with patients in the same condition to the most general that apply to patients that map to other states for the condition. The posts are ranked in order of importance to the patient condition and the dial settings and the Top-N results are shown to the patient. The initial rankings of posts for different states are obtained by weights assigned by a medical expert. The patients can also give feedback with a LIKE or a DISLIKE button on whether the post is useful to them. This is incorporated into our method to dynamically change the initial weights. As the system is used in practice the initial rankings are subsumed by the feedback provided by users of the system. Our approach is general but we give results in the context of a diabetes social health forum. The algorithms are given along with preliminary results and an illustration of the user interface. We view this effort as a component of a larger patient navigation and engagement system that can help patients gain a better understanding of their condition.


Pedestrians are vulnerable road users and comprise the largest single road user group. Walking is a major form of transport in urban areas and crossing a road is a key element in a journey on foot. A pedestrian network is part of the transport system and cannot be separated from it. Road crossing points are the critical links in a connected pedestrian network. Crossing the road is one of the most hazardous activities that a pedestrian can undertake as there is greater potential for conflict with the other road users. This paper presents some of the findings from a literature review as part of the author's Masters degree research report, the goal of which was to to discover how pedestrians negotiate the urban walking environment and describe some of the most important characteristics of pedestrian crossing behavior in urban areas - information that traffic engineering practitioners can use for selecting the correct pedestrian facilities at appropriate locations. The research project investigated pedestrian movement characteristics and crossing behavior and compared results with the findings sourced from a literature review. The research involved reviewing the existing literature and conducting empirical research to study microscopic pedestrian flow characteristics. Keywords Pedestrian, Pedestrian behavior, Pedestrian characteristics, Pedestrian crossing point


Aim: to assess the effect of water temperature on post-rehydration urine output and fluid retention Methods: on three different days, one week apart, 11 physically active men (24±4 years old, 1.73±0.05 m and 70.2±9.0 kg) (x ± S.D.) exercised intermittently in a temperature-controlled room (Dry bulb temperature = 30-32°C, relative humidity = 50-60%) until dehydrated to 1.96±0.2% of body mass (BM) on three separate occasions. They were rehydrated in random order with cold (4-6°C), ambient (23-25°C) or warm (38-40°C) water, equivalent in volume to 120% of weight loss. Fluid was consumed in one hour in 6 equal aliquots, one every 10 minutes. Following rehydration, urine samples were collected every 30 minutes for 4 hours, analyzing volume and Urine Specific Gravity (USG). Results: no interaction was found between water temperature (TEMP) and diuresis (P=.726), or USG (P=.140) over time. There was no significant effect of TEMP on the total volume of urine eliminated (882±380, 973±341, and 1006±407 mL for cold, ambient, and warm water, respectively; P=.541), or on fluid retention (45.0±22, 41.9±14 and 37±28%; P=.588). Conclusion: when men are rehydrated with a volume of water equivalent to 120% of weight loss, after dehydration to 2% BM, water temperature (within this range) has no effect on diuresis or fluid retention.


A strong Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is needed because of the poorly regulated international transfer of conventional arms and the current absence of global standards based on human rights and international humanitarian law to control such transfers. This situation will continue to cost hundreds of thousands of lives each year and blight the livelihoods of millions of people in many countries unless the international community takes principled and resolute action to deal with it. In an attempt to address this issue, all United Nations (UN) member states gathered at the UN Headquarters in New York over the period 2–27 July 2012. Despite an intense four weeks of negotiations, the conference could not reach agreement on a treaty text. The historic lack of action on regulating the international trade in conventional arms is, as the UN Secretary-General has said, rather unfortunate. Ban Ki-moon noted rising military expenditure, armed conflict and human rights violations as requiring concerted, collective action on this issue.1 While different entities play different roles in the arms trade, all should be bound by a collective responsibility to uphold what must be the key objective of the treaty: the preservation of human security and the prevention of human suffering. Achieving this treaty will require not only good faith among all participants but an uncompromising dedication to alleviate human suffering. This policy brief aims to provide objective analysis of key aspects of a future ATT that are applicable to Africa in particular. It recommends that African states prioritise several specific areas of text at the upcoming UN conference on the ATT scheduled to take place on 18–28 March 2013.


Objective To examine the self-reported concussion symptoms provoked with a controlled sub-maximal exercise protocol, incorporating a cognitive load, in athletes recovering from a sports-related concussion. Design A three group repeated measures study with follow-up. Setting University laboratory. Participants University aged athletes (12 males, 3 females) with a recent (<14 days) sports-related concussion and 30 (24 males and 6 females) matched recreationally active, non-concussed persons. Intervention Three groups: Concussed (Con), Control+exercise+cognitive load (CECL); and Control+exercise (CE) undertook a 19 min standardised sub-maximal progressive exercise protocol. The Con and CECL groups simultaneously completed a package of reaction time tasks (cognitive load).The Con group completed an identical protocol on a subsequent visit. Participants were instructed to "stop" the test any time they wished. Outcome measures The symptom severity score (SSS) obtained from the SCAT2 post-concussion symptom scale was determined prior to, immediately following, and 15 min aftercompleting the exercise protocol. Main results The groups X time interaction (F4,84=31.9, p<001)indicated that the Con group was different from both control groups at all 3 time intervalswith differences between the time points for the Con group, but not for the others.Three members from the Con group did not complete the protocol. A significant visit X time interaction (F1,9=56.04) was seen for the Con group which completed the protocol on 2 occasions. Conclusions The protocoldifferentially provoked symptoms in recently concussed athletes suggesting its potential in standardising assessment procedures to inform return to play decisions. Competing interests Paul McCrory is a co-investigator, collaborator, or consultant on grants relating to mild TBI funded by several governmental organisations. He is Co-Chair of the Australian Centre for Research into Sports Injury and its Prevention (ACRISP), supported by the IOC. He has been reimbursed by the government, professional scientific bodies, and sporting bodies for presenting research relating to mild TBI and sport-related concussion at meetings, scientific conferences, and symposiums. He received support since 2001 from CogState Inc for research costs and the development of educational material. He does not hold any individual shares in any company related to concussion or brain injury assessment or technology. None.


There are two objectives of this article: (i) It is discussed theoretically how the dynamics of pricing decisions of multiproduct retailers can be explained. (ii) It is analyzed empirically by use of scanner data how prices are actually set and how consumers react at the point of sale to price changes and promotional activities by retailers. The empirical evidence focuses on breakfast products in general and jam and breakfast cereals in particular. Main results are the following: 1. Theory of optimal pricing by multiproduct firms suggests that direct and cross price elasticities of demand and marginal costs determine the profit-maximizing price at one point of time. Good reasons do exist additionally for multiproduct retailers to vary prices intertemporally. Sales, e.g., can be consistent with optimal intertemporal pricing. 2. Scanner data for German food retailers in the period September 1996 – June 1999 are utilized in the empirical analysis. The law of one price does not hold for individual branded foods across store types. Price dispersion varies by product. The impact of sales is high in grocery retailing; on average for 20 food categories, one product of a category was on sale every other week. 3. Promotional activities affect demand for branded products strongly, but impacts on quantities varied widely. They were above average for coffee, a storeable product, below average for fresh milk, a less storeable good. In some cases, these effects are so strong that consumers seem to buy the brand only when it is on sale. 4. In the special case of jam, prices are lowest in discounters and highest in supermarkets. The spread of prices is also lowest in discounters and highest in supermarkets. Price-elastic reactions at the point of sale was, however, a uniform pattern across all store types of grocery retailing. The strongest reaction was found in supermarkets with a price elasticity of demand of –5.09. 5. For breakfast cereals, strong reactions by consumers occur to various promotional activities. Impacts on demand were, e.g., as high as 175 % when the instruments sales, display and leaflet were combined. Sales were an important feature of promotional activities with a strong demand-increasing effect. Summing up, it can be concluded that an active price policy of grocery retailers is a crucial component of their marketing mix. This is compatible with the finding of a strong price responsiveness of consumers. The stylized fact that the price elasticity of food demand is absolutely low, may be correct for aggregate demand but is not confirmed at the store level. On the contrary: High absolute levels of the store-level price elasticity of demand are typical for branded foods.


We study the dynamics of bound solitons of the complex cubic-quintic Ginzburg- Landau equation under the influence of external modulation. We consider periods of modulation being either smaller or larger than the soliton separation and the amplitude of modulation being either real or imaginary. For each case, we observe bifurcation and hysteresis phenomena in the parameters of the pair when changing the amplitude of modulation. Namely, soliton separation and phase difference between the solitons may take two or more values for the same modulation amplitude. In the case of gain-loss modulation, two solitons may split and be positioned in the two equilibrium states of the periodic potential. The complicated dynamics of this process is illustrated with numerical examples.


Abstract: Seventeen strath terraces in northern India were dated using 10Be surface exposure methods; ages range from c. 7 to c. 735 ka and provide fluvial incision rates of 0.02 ± 0.003 to 2.6 ± 1.9 mm a−1. On the northern side of the Ladakh Range, incision rates are c. 1 mm a−1; in the northern Zanskar Range they are ≤0.06 ± 0.005 mm a−1. New and published incision rates in southernmost Lahul range from 0.1 ± 0.02 to 13.2 ± 6.2 mm a−1; rates for ages >35 ka are ≤0.4 ± 0.2 mm a−1. Across the Himalaya and Transhimalaya, Holocene fluvial incision rates range from c. 0.02 to c. 26.0 mm a−1, whereas Pleistocene incision rates are ≤5 mm a−1. Many of the Holocene incision rates exceed exhumation rates, whereas Pleistocene incision rates are comparable with exhumation rates. This suggests that long-term fluvial incision is in dynamic steady state with exhumation. The temporal pattern for rates of fluvial incision is probably controlled by episodic incision linked to significant precipitation changes throughout the Quaternary, suggesting that strath terraces with ages >35 ka can be used for assessing long-term rates of rock uplift. In contrast, rates of fluvial incision based on Late Glacial and Holocene strath terraces reflect changes in monsoon intensity and deglaciation events. By determining ages for multiple samples on flights of strath terraces, it is possible to document changes in incision rate, assess whether post-abandonment transient shielding has occurred, and help elucidate tectonic v. climatic controls on their formation. Supplementary material: Tables (DS1–4) for previously published data and recalculated ages for strath terraces, and figures (DS1 and DS2) showing plots of incision rates against time for the Himalaya and Transhimalaya are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18454.


When particles are transported in pipelines, they acquire electrostatic charges as they come into contact with the pipe wall. Charged particles can cause problems such as particle agglomeration, blockage, and explosion. Understanding the particle charge can help to prevent these issues. This study investigates a technique for predicting the particle charge in a straight pipe of any given length, as well as the pipe length at which electrostatic equilibrium occurs, through experimentation in a short 1-m pipe section. Experimentation with five different types of particles and four pipe wall materials at longer pipe lengths were used to validate the technique. This predictive technique is applicable to a range of particle shapes and sizes under the restriction that charge transfer is due to impact charging. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 2308–2316, 2013


Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology and Application in Fashion and Textile Supply Chain highlights the technology of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and its applications in fashion and textile manufacturing and supply chain management. It discusses the brief history, technology, and working of RFID including the types of RFID systems. It compares differences, advantages, and disadvantages of RFID and barcode technologies. It also covers application of RFID technology in textile and fashion manufacturing, supply chain, and retail, and RFID-based process control in textile and fashion manufacturing. It covers various applications of RFID starting from fibre manufacturing through yarn and fabric manufacturing; fabric chemical processing; garment manufacturing and quality control; and retail management. It offers case studies of RFID adoption by famous fashion brands detailing the competitive advantages and discusses various challenges faced and future directions of RFID technology.


Farm planning has been championed by land grant universities and the Extension Service since the turn of the century. The predominant focus of early planning efforts was on improving the farmer's management skills and the farm's natural resources, especially soil. Some farm planning experts achieved legendary status, as the simple application of sound physical, biological and financial production principles they espoused allowed many farms to endure the bad times and prosper during the good times. As farmers and ranchers approach the. new millennium, the rewards for effective planning have risen and extend beyond the farm. Heightened competition, less commodity program support, and robust public demand for clean water and air are pushing operators to manage their natural and other resources with even greater care. The joining of economic and environmental requirements has spawned a new era in farm planning. Operators must not only find ways to keep the cost of production low by conserving farm resources, improving their management skills, and identifying new crops and markets, but, increasingly, reduce pollution that travels beyond the farm's boundary. Simultaneously, the explosion of low cost information technologies spurred by the electronic revolution makes new planning resources, such as powerful home computers, digitized maps, and Internet access, accessible that were unfathomable a few years ago. These broader requirements, coupled with the improved technology, has expanded interest in a concept called "whole farm planning (WFP),concept that includes all fann operator goals, farm resources, and the environmental effects of production on and off the fann. Whole Farm Planning: A Survey if North Amencan Experiments is the first of two reports that describe the key features of nine WFP experiments in the us and Canada. This report briefly describes each of the efforts to draw implications for public policy that will allow WFP to reach its full potential in helping fanners satisfy their personal goals while protecting the environment for others. The findings in this report display a rich diversity of WFP approaches. The second (forthcoming) report will provide more extensive detail on each of the approaches as well as contact information. The two reports are the first major survey and analysis of WFP efforts. The Henry A. Wallace Institute does not advocate one approach over another. It does, however, advocate the development of mechanisms, such as WFP, that bring all benefits and costs of farming into operator decisions so that long tenn societal welfare can be enhanced. Partial funding for this study was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The report's contents and conclusions, however, are solely the responsibility of the author and the Wallace Institute.


Welcome to the subject guide for Hairstylists and Estheticians. This subject guide highlights resources, such as books, videos, journals, databases and links which are available to Hairstylist and Esthetician students at St. Lawrence College.


The term "hospitalist" refers to physicians whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients. Their activities may include patient care, teaching, research, and inpatient leadership. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports the continued development and study of the obstetric and gynecologic (ob-gyn) hospitalist model as one potential approach to improve patient safety and professional satisfaction across delivery settings. Effective patient handoffs, updates on progress, and clear follow-up instructions between ob-gyn hospitalists and patients, nurses, and other health care providers are vital to maintaining patient safety. Hospitals and other health care organizations should ensure that candidates for positions as ob-gyn hospitalists are drawn from those with documented training and experience appropriate for the management of the acute and potentially emergent clinical circumstances that may be encountered in obstetric care.


This paper analyzes distributed proportional-integral controllers. We prove that integral action can be successfully applied to consensus algorithms, where attenuation of static disturbances is achieved. These control algorithms are applied to decentralized frequency control of electrical power systems. We show that the proposed algorithm can attenuate step disturbances of power loads. We provide simulations of the proposed control algorithm on the IEEE 30 bus test system that demonstrate its efficiency.


The usefulness of teaching pronunciation in language instruction remains controversial. Though past research suggests that teachers can make little or no difference in improving their students' pronunciation,  current  findings  suggest  that  second  language  pronunciation  can  improve  to  be near  native-like  with  the  implementation  of  certain  criteria  such  as  the  utilization  of  prosodic elements. With the emphasis  on  meaningful communication and the  understanding that  speech production  is  affected  by  speech  perception,  there  is  a  need  to  integrate  prosodics  with communicative  activities  providing  situations  to  develop  student  pronunciation  through listening and speaking.  This short overview examines such elements.


Remission from diabetes is seen in 25 - 50 % of cats during the first months of therapy. The likelihood of remission is higher in old cats and cats with normal cholesterol than in young cats and cats with increased cholesterol. The results of an ongoing study indicate that initial intravenous insulin therapy has positive effects on remission rates and quality of metabolic control.


This thesis concerns partial discharge (PD) diagnostics withvariable frequency of applied voltage in the frequency range 1mHz - 400 Hz. The exploration of a new type of spectroscopythat combines partial discharge analysis and dielectricresponse is demonstrated. A question addressed is if and howthe PD activity varies with the frequency of the appliedvoltage. The nature of an existing frequency dependence couldbe useful in the classification of different defects and tojudge the degree of progressive ageing. A Variable-Frequency Phase Resolved Partial DischargeAnalysis (VF-PRPDA) technique is developed for the appliedvoltage frequency range 1 mHz - 400 Hz. The VF-PRPDA techniqueis combined with a system for high voltage dielectricspectroscopy that allows simultaneous measurements. TheVF-PRPDA technique is used for studying the frequencydependence of PD. The PD activity is for example measured byintegrated measures like total charge per cycle and totalnumber of discharges per cycle. Statistical measures like mean,standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis etc. are applied tomeasure the frequency dependence of the phasedistributions. High voltage dielectric spectroscopy is supplemented withharmonic analysis for studying non-linear dielectric responsecurrents. The VF-PRPDA technique is demonstrated on defined objectslike point-plane gaps and artificial voids, but also on aninsulated stator bar and a paper insulated cable. Surfacedischarges on insulating surfaces are studied in an environmentwith a controlled relative humidity and temperature. Theadsorption of moisture on the insulating surface alters thesurface conductivity of the surface and the frequencydependence of the PD activity. The influence of temperature upon the PD activity is studiedfor a oil paper insulated cable. The results of the measurements show that the partialdischarge activity in general is frequency dependent over thefrequency range 1 mHz - 400 Hz. The reasons behind thefrequency dependence are linked to surface- and bulk-conducting mechanisms, frequency dependent field distributionsand statistical effects of the supply of start electrons. An algorithm is developed that relates the phase resolved PDcurrent measured with the PRPDA technique to the non-linearcurrent measured with dielectric spectroscopy. The algorithm isexperimentally verified by simultaneous measurements of PRPDAand dielectric spectroscopy on defined objects. The resultsexplain the contribution of PD to the apparent capacitance andloss. Moreover, the harmonics of the fundamental currentcomponent yield information about, for example, polaritydependent discharge sources. Keywords:diagnostic methods, partial discharges, phaseresolved, variable frequency, dielectric spectroscopy,dielectric response, harmonics, insulation


The thesis examines the historical emergence of modes of perception,
interpretation and evaluation within Western European nations of what has
been termed Arab Islamic culture. It is argued that the West perceives Arab
Islamic East as "Other" or "Them", but that the content of this "Otherness"
shifts over time according to a range of historical, political, cultural and
economic factors.
The two central themes that emerge within these modes of interpretation are
termed "Romanticism" and "Negativity/Hostility". The manifestation of these
two themes is traced from antiquity to the modern age. The thesis
demonstrates the continuities, shifts and transformations of these two themes
throughout the history of European engagements with the Arab Islamic East.
In addition to a comprehensive survey of Western literary and cultural
interpretations of the Arab Islamic East, the study provides a content analysis
of the presentation of Arab Islamic acts and events on the world stage in six
modern Western newspapers. The content analysis and its evaluation are
both quantitative and qualitative. The findings of the content analysis
confirm much of the theoretical work of the earlier chapters.
The central finding of this thesis is the gradual erosion of an earlier
"Romanticist" interpretation and its increasing replacement by forms of
interpretations summarised by the term "Negativity/Hostility". This process is
not considered to be irreversible and the thesis hopes to contribute to more
adequate, comprehensive and empathetic evaluations and relations between
East and West.


Dung's abstract theory of argumentation has become established as a general framework for various species of non-monotonic reasoning, and reasoning in the presence of conflict. A Dung framework consists of arguments related by attacks, and the extensions of a framework, and so the status of arguments, are defined under different semantics. Developments of Dung's work have also defined argument labellings as an alternative way of characterising extensions, and dialectical argument game proof theories for establishing the status of individual arguments. Recently, Extended Argumentation Frameworks extend Dung's theory so that arguments not only attack arguments, but attacks themselves. In this way, the extended theory provides an abstract framework for principled integration of meta-level argumentation about defeasible preferences applied to resolve conflicts between object level arguments. In this paper we formalise labellings and argument games for a selection of Dung's semantics defined for the extended frameworks.


This study aims to evaluate the impact of different tillage systems on water conservation and penetration resistance in Stagnosols on slopes. Three tillage systems were evaluated during a long-term experiment in Central Croatia in a period from 2011 to 2014, in order to identify sustainable land management practices: control treatment (CT), ploughing and other seedbed layer preparation up and down the slope; ploughing across the slope (PA) – to 30 cm, other operations depending on the crop, also across the slope; and ploughing across the slope (30 cm) with subsoiling (SUB) to 50 cm. Penetration resistance and soil water content were measured each investigated season during five terms to a depth of 60 cm. Tillage systems significantly influence soil water content and penetration resistance, but the results showed great temporal and vertical variation in each investigated season. The results also showed that in low quality Pseudogley deep loosening is required because of the inability of these soils to recover naturally. The hardness of these soils decreases after tillage, or when the moisture content increases, so the period with potentially limiting soil impedance is shorter in systems with subsoiling than in conventionally tilled soils. Fallow has been effective in reducing soil strength in non-traffic areas and increasing soil moisture content. When comparing cropping variants it was established that only a system including subsoiling ensures higher moisture content. Results indicate that since soil water content and penetration resistance were adversely affected, subsoiling should be applied continuously in Pseudogley sites in the hills. Generally, soil resistance increased with time from the date of primary tillage. Although penetration resistance values increase after tillage, the differences were attributed to temporal variation of soil water content. In this study soil moisture condition is presented as a more important factor for soil resistance than the time between primary tillage and measurements.


Not just an exploration of our early Western European roots, these rich chronicles read as literature, first-person narratives of the greatest exploration adventures in historic times.From the Platonic vision of Atlantis to Arthur s Avalon, pre-Columbus Europeans imagined fabulous lands to the west and after 1492, initial reports of a new world filled with golden El Dorados, warrior queens, and Fountains of Youth merely provided confirmation.Although these dreams were soon tempered by reality, explorers continued to set off with expectation that shaped what they say, how they saw, and how they reacted. This complex of attitudes continues to affect the way we view our world, and these accounts provide an excellent source for insight into the metaphorical systems that have permeated European and American writing about the West since the Sixteenth century."Into the Wilderness Dreams" draws from the best of three dozen accounts by the Spanish, French, English, and American explorers who came before Lewis and Clark, and explores the roots of present Western Euro-American culture."


Factor Xa is a serine protease that has a critical role in the blood coagulation cascade by ultimately regulating the production of thrombin. There is now ample evidence for the role of Factor Xa inhibitors as anticoagulants and they represent potential new therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of arterial and venous thrombosis. During the past five years, research in the field of Factor Xa inhibitors has been marked with enormous efforts to identify highly potent, selective and orally-active agents. This research has led to the discovery of a number of clinical candidates that are currently progressing at different stages of drug development. This review examines the patent and scientific literature during the period 2000 – 2005.


The Swaziland Civil Society recently held a media briefing in Johannesburg on 11 April to voice their concerns about the Swazi judiciary. The media briefing was prompted by the ongoing saga pertaining to the arrests in March of human rights lawyer, Thulani Maseko, and the editor of monthly publication, The Nation magazine, Bheki Makhubu, for articles published in the February and March editions of the magazine.