ABSTRACT The 1990s will continue to mark health care costs as a major issue facing small businesses. Since health insurance may become mandatory for all employees working 17.5 hours per week, this research assesses small businesses' perceptions of health care costs, mandated health care systems, and cost containment strategies. The major findings of 179 completed surveys of small businesses in Louisiana and West Texas indicate: (1) rising health premium rates are very problematic for small businesses; (2) small businesses are generally unaware of Health Maintenance Organizations; (3) respondents with higher education levels think that the government should take a role in providing basic health care to all citizens and businesses; and (4) some small businesses favor tax exemptions for health care coverage and creation of a government pool for uninsurable businesses. BACKGROUND Small businesses are under attack for not guaranteeing health insurance to all of their employees. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced the "Basic Health Benefits for All Workers Act," S.768 in the 101st Congress, which would make health insurance mandatory for all employees working 17.5 hours/week and their families, and would also require new federal and state programs to cover the unemployed by 1999 (Bolnick, 1990). According to a survey by the Property and Casualty Risk and Benefits Management section of the National Underwriter, 92% of small businesses had a major problem with health care insurance; also, 60% of the respondents agreed with the statement "Americans should receive the minimum level of health care regardless of their ability to pay and every American has a right to basic health care." This clearly demonstrates that small businesses are very interested in health care, although mandated health care may not be the option that most of them would elect (Brostogg, 1989). Opposition to mandated health care may stem from a fear of government intervention, the fear of rising health care insurance costs, or the fear that all employees might be eligible to receive health care insurance (Brostogg, 1989). These findings bring to the forefront the fact that health care reform is much needed. Recently there has been growth in formal health care cost containment organizations like Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs). HMOs provide all health services to their members for a flat fee. PPOs consist of affiliated medical practitioners who provide services at a discount to their members. In order for HMOs or PPOs to be successful, they have to control costs as well as be attractive to the public. HMO's restricted membership access makes them cheaper than PPOs or other managed care programs due to their lower premium costs and a lower rate of hospitalization. However as Havey (1989, p. 9) points out, "Shifting of medical plan costs to employees has contributed significantly to the way employees choose between indemnity plans and preferred provider organizations options." In fact, the concept of "choosing" has led to PPOs gaining a lot of ground. Predictions have been made that PPOs would have 40% of the market share by 1990 (McCombs, 1988). By the year 2000, perhaps 70% of insurance premiums will be paid to some sort of self-capitalized managed care plan rather than to traditional insurance (Maxey, 1988). According to a recent study undertaken by the American Hospital Association (AHA), "75% of the 34.8 million uninsured are self-employed or are dependent on those employed." Also, small employers are more likely than large employers to change insurers from one year to the next, and small groups are perceived by insurers to be a very unstable lot (Maxey, 1988, p. 3). The HIAA came up with some suggestions to solve the health care crisis. They were: (1) expansion of Medicaid coverage to all under the federal poverty line; 2) statutory laws, including a raise of pre-emphasis of state mandated benefits; and 3) no taxes on employee benefits and full tax deductibility for coverage of the self-employed (Maggenty, 1988). …


Functional dependencies (FDs) are an integral part of database design. However, they are only defined when we exclude null markers. However, we commonly use null markers in practice. To bridge this gap between theory and practice, researchers have proposed definitions of FDs over relations with null markers. Though sound, these definitions lack some qualities that we find desirable. For example, some fail to satisfy Armstrong's axioms—while these axioms are part of the foundation of common database methodologies. We propose a set of properties that any extension of FDs over relations with null markers should possess. We then propose two new extensions having these properties. These extensions attempt to allow null markers where they make sense to practitioners. They both support Armstrong's axioms and provide realizable null markers: at any time, some or all of the null markers can be replaced by actual values without causing an anomaly. Our proposals may improve database designs.


The disparity in the education of male and female youths is a global issue particularly in developing countries like Nigeria. The dominant of male gender in schools in general and in the study of certain school subjects or career in particular has been affirmed by research reports. For instance, existing literature indicated low enrolment of females in school. This has strong implications for national development. This study is a theoretical one. It explores secondary sources of data to indicate the participation of female gender particularly in acquiring knowledge and skills in educational sector. Based on the discussions, conclusion is drawn and suggestions made on ways of bringing education to the doorstep of the girl- child in Nigeria. Child participation in schooling is influenced by sector, age, gender household poverty status and regional differences. The fact that girls suffer from disadvantage relative to boys is not enough to conclude gender discrimination in child schooling in Nigeria. However, the challenges facing girls are eased to some degree in urban Nigeria, but no systematic evidence emerges to this effect in Nigeria. The paper recommend that the government and other stakeholders in women affairs should strive to create conducive enabling socio-political and economic conditions which will discourage societal preference for male children and the traditional belief that the position of a woman is in the kitchen.


Dispersal is a fundamental process governing the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of any given species. Due to inherent challenges associated with measuring dispersal directly, identifying proxies for dispersal capacity has long been an active field of research across ecosystems. In marine systems, pelagic larval duration (PLD) has been one of the most widely used indicators of interspecific dispersal potential. The validity of this proxy, however, relies mostly on the assumption of entirely passive dispersal, a notion that has been challenged by findings of strong larval behavioural capabilities. Here, we assessed the effect of larval swimming capacities measured as mean critical swimming speed (U-crit) on emergent species-level properties related to dispersal potential, population genetic structure and global range size, in demersal marine fishes. In a meta-analytic framework, we tested the relative importance of U-crit versus other in trinsic (PLD, egg type, adult body size) and extrinsic (genetic marker type, study scale) predictors of isolation-by-distance slope, global FST and range size. U-crit showed stronger relationships with all emergent response variables than PLD and was consistently the most important predictor in multi-model inference. Our findings indicate that lar val swimming capacities could serve as a power ful indicator of a species' long-distance dispersal potential.


Information on phytoplankton light absorption is necessary to derive accurate estimates of marine chl a concentration and primary production. Global satellite data on photosynthetically active radiation and chl a concentration are available from a suite of satellite imagers like CZCS, SeaWiFS, MODIS, MERIS and others, but spectral information of absorption by phytoplankton and other water constituents is still lacking. Therefore, we used Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) to study the retrieval of phytoplankton distribution and absorption with the satellite sensor Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY). SCIAMACHY measures back scattered solar radiation in the UV-Vis-NIR spectral region with a high spectral resolution (0.2 to 1.5 nm). We used in-situ measured phytoplankton absorption spectra from two different RV Polarstern expeditions where different phytoplankton groups were representing or dominating the phytoplankton composition in order to identify these characteristic absorption spectra in SCIAMACHY data in the range of 430 to 500 nm. Our results show clearly these absorptions in the SCIAMACHY data. The conversion of these differential absorptions by including the information of the light penetration depth (according to Vountas et al., Ocean Science, 2007) globally distributed pigment concentrations for these characteristic phytoplankton groups for two monthly periods (Feb-March 2004 and Oct-Nov 2005) were derived. The satellite retrieved information on cyanobacteria (Synechococcus sp. and Prochlorococcus sp.) and diatoms distribution matches well with the concentration measured from collocated water samples with HPLC technique and also to global model analysis with the NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Model (NOBM from http://reason.gsfc.nasa.gov/OPS/Giovanni/) according to Gregg and Casey 2006 and Gregg 2006. Results are of great importance for global modelling of marine ecosystem and climate change studies regarding changes in the ocean.


Global warming and increased atmospheric co2 are causing the oceans to warm, decrease in pH and become hypercapnic. These stressors have deleterious impacts on marine inver - tebrates. Increasing temperature has a pervasive stimulatory effect on metabolism until lethal levels are reached, whereas hypercapnia has a narcotic effect. ocean acidification is a major threat to cal - cifying larvae because it decreases availability of the carbonate ions required for skeletogenesis and also exerts a direct pH effect on physiology. Marine invertebrate propagules live in a multistressor world and climate change stressors are adding to the mix. ocean pH, pco2 and caco3 covary and will change simultaneously with temperature, challenging our ability to predict future outcomes for marine biota. To address questions of future vulnerabilities, data on the thermo- and pH/ pco2 tolerance of fertilization and development in marine invertebrates are reviewed in the context of the change in the oceans that are forecast to occur over the next 100-200 years. Gametes and fertilization in many invertebrates exhibit a broad tolerance to warming and acidification beyond stressor values projected for 2100. Available data show that all development stages are highly sensitive to warming. larvae may be particularly sensitive to acidification/hypercapnia. Embryos that develop through the bottleneck of mortality due to warming may succumb as larvae to acidification. Early juveniles may be vulnerable to skeletal dissolution, although warming may diminish the negative impact of acidifi - cation on calcification. The effects of climate change stressors and their interaction differ among life history stages and species. Multistressor experiments show that if thermal thresholds are breached, embryos may not reach the calcifying stage. If the bottleneck for species persistence is embryonic thermotolerance, then the question of compromised calicification due to acidification may not be relevant. our limited knowledge of the interactive effects of climate change stressors is a major knowledge gap. Although climate change is deleterious for development in a broad range of marine invertebrates, some species and regional faunas will be more resilient than others. This has implica- tions for persistence, faunal shifts, species invasions and community function in a changing ocean.


Bacteria can transfer DNA through a process called conjugation, and the transfer of these extrachromasomal plasmid DNAs contributes to virulence and antibiotic resistance. Chandler et al. report that in Enterococcus faecalis, a mammalian pathogen, the same pheromone that stimulates donor bacteria to initiate conjugation with plasmid-free recipients is also produced by the donor bacteria and regulates the donor sensitivity to recipient-produced pheromone. The bacterial chromosome encodes the pheromone (cCF10), so both the donor and the recipient can produce this molecule. To prevent conjugation with other donor cells, the donor cells have two mechanisms for suppressing the response to the endogenously produced pheromone. The plasmid in the donor cells contains the prgQ operon, which encodes genes responsible for conjugation and genes responsible for inhibition of conjugation. One of the conjugation inhibitors is a secreted inhibitor protein, iCF10, which binds and sequesters secreted cCF10, and another is the membrane protein PrgY, which degrades or binds cCF10 as it is released. Using mutant bacterial strains that lacked functional cCF10, Chandler et al. show that cCF10 produced by the donor cells stimulates the production of iCF10. Donor cells grown in human plasma or in vivo produce the plasmid-encoded aggregation factor Asc10, which contributes to cellular invasion and virulence of the bacteria. The mutant bacteria that did not produce functional cCF10 did not aggregate when exposed to plasma. Albumin was identified by iCF10 affinity chromatography as the protein that bound to iCF10, thereby shifting the balance between iCF10 and cCF10, allowing self-induction of the conjugation genes, including the one encoding the aggregation factor Asc10. Donor bacteria use self-produced cCF10 to set the sensitivity to recipient-produced cCF10 through an autocrine signaling pathway from cCF10 to iCF10. When only self-produced cCF10 is present, the majority is inactivated, and that which is not stimulates iCF10 production. Under conditions where iCF10 abundance is decreased or cCF10 is secreted in abundance by recipient cells, the iCF10 to cCF10 ratio is decreased and conjugation is initiated. J. R. Chandler, J. Hirt, G. M. Dunny, A paracrine peptide sex pheromone also acts as an autocrine signal to induce plasmid transfer and virulence factor expression in vivo. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102, 15617-15622 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]


We are now able to generate high quality digital classifications of urban land cover using remotely sensed images, yet such classifications remain of only limited use in the analysis of urban morphology. This is in large part because similar built forms fulfil a range of diverse functions, and even the best possible land cover classifications will fail to discriminate between residential, commercial and industrial land uses. It is therefore unsurprising that we remain largely incapable of relating the'functioning of urban settlements to their spatial forms. The solution to this problem is likely to lie in the integration of socio-economic datasets with satellite images. This paper seeks to demonstrate how geographically comprehensive, frequently updateable satellite information on land cover may be supplemented with area, line and point information from socio-economic and mapping agency sources. In the case of the UK, these inolude, respectively, small area census statistics, digitised road network information and the Ordnance Survey's 'Address-Point' product. Other data, such as property registers, are not as yet explicitly georeferenced, and the prospects for realising the potential of such sources will also be investigated. Some of the wider implications of 'RS-GIS' data integration for urban morphology research are also explored.


Introduction: Librarians are faced with a large volume of information and electronic resources, which causes stress. The purpose of this research was to determine job stressors among librarians of University of Medical Sciences, Tehran city, Iran in 2014. Methods: This study was survey research. 185 librarians were studied in this research which data was collected by questionnaire. Questionnaire validity confirmed by specialists and a number of experts in the fields of psychology, mental health and science information. Its reliability determined by Cronbachrs alpha, as (r = 0.824). Data analyzed using SPSS 21 software and descriptive statistics and inferential tests. Results: New technology increases the incentive to work, save time, increase the responsibility. In relation to the rating of occupational stressors, respectively, the greatest impact include lack of understanding of the nature of the job, their familiarity with the English language, And minimal impact on the question of inconsistency in average professional expertise with organizational work as well as different training courses with job requirements In general, electronic resources in libraries has caused stress. The mean and standard deviation 2.66p1.210. Conclusion: The results showed the Librarians introduced stressors are, Failure to inform the authorities of the nature of the work, ambiguity in the role of staff, lack of ability, need to support and unfamiliarity with the English language in with the advent of electronic resources and environmental changes.


Arms Racing and Conflict in the Third World: 1970-2000 by Victor C. Marin In this dissertation I investigate the relationship between arms races and the probability of militarized conflict onset. The research question is critically important on at least two fronts: first, many policy makers and scholars alike believe ramping up military forces is the best way to deter military conflict (the peace through strength argument) while others suggest arms races do nothing but lead states towards militarized conflict. Second, this dissertation fills a research gap present since the end of the Cold War since research on arms races by the scientific community of conflict scholars has slowed dramatically since the end of the Cold War and findings remain inconclusive. The Steps to War research program (Vasquez, 1993; Senese and Vasquez, 2008), however, suggests arms races are one of the central provocateurs of militarized conflict and warfare between states. Using this theoretical approach I frame arms races as dangerous events in the global arena and provide a clear theoretical account of the international system, the incentives for arming, and the linkage between arms racing and international conflict. The central theoretical argument suggests arms races lead states into conflict with one another. I test my expectations through a regional analysis of minor powers from three geographic areas: Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East over the period 1970-2000. In an important departure from the majority of previous quantitative arms race and conflict studies I utilize the actual weapons stockpiles of states (as opposed to defense expenditure data) as the primary measure of an arms race. The empirical results not only shed insight into the likelihood observing international conflict when preceded by arms racing but also indicate whether certain types of arms racing air as opposed to sea or ground racing, for example may be more likely to develop into conflict than other forms.


Reuse-oriented software methodologies have emerged to provide a set of rules or guides for development and evolution of software systems by reusing existing domain engineering artefacts such as requirements, architecture, components, test cases, etc. Domain engineering methods, such as software product lines engineering, aim at reducing development time, effort, cost, and complexity by taking advantage of the commonality within a portfolio of similar products. However, these methodologies are not based on specific domains, instead they cover a wide range of domains without considering particularities within them. Therefore, in this work we define a novel approach in which the creation of a software product line is guided by a subdomain analysis process, oriented to a particular case within the marine ecology domain. The methodology is then applied to a specific organization in order to create a product of the line.


Abstract Using survey data collected from 184 local elected officials, this paper investigates how frequently local political officials use e-mail, and how important they consider e-mail, compared with telephone calls, postal mail, faxes, and meetings. Among all forms of communication, only phone calls are initiated with a similar rate of frequency as e-mail messages. E-mail is rated as important as telephone calls and meetings, and more important than letters and faxes. E-mail is used more heavily by representatives from professional county boards and city councils, but regarded as more important, relative to other communication methods, by members of non-professional city councils. Despite e-mail's limitations, it is a powerful and useful tool for "virtual representatives."


Query Processing for Massively Parallel Systems Paraschos Koutris Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Dan Suciu Computer Science and Engineering The need to analyze and understand big data has changed the landscape of data management over the last years. To process the large amounts of data available to users in both industry and science, many modern data management systems leverage the power of massive parallelism. The challenge of scaling computation to thousands of processing units demands that we change our thinking on how we design such systems, and on how we analyze and design parallel algorithms. In this dissertation, I study the fundamental problem of query processing for modern massively parallel architectures. I propose a theoretical model, the MPC model (Massively Parallel Computation), to analyze the performance of parallel algorithms for query processing. In the MPC model, the data is initially evenly distributed among p servers. The computation proceeds in rounds: each round consists of some local computation followed by global exchange of data between the servers. The computational complexity of an algorithm is characterized by both the number of rounds necessary, and the maximum amount of data, or maximum load, that each processor receives. The challenge is to identify the optimal tradeoff between the number of rounds and maximum load for various computational tasks. As a first step towards understanding query processing in the MPC model, we study conjunctive queries (multiway joins) for a single round. We show that a particular type of distributed algorithm, the HyperCube algorithm, can optimally compute join queries when restricted to one communication round and data without skew. In most real-world applications, data has skew (for example a graph with nodes of large degree) that causes an uneven distribution of the load, and thus reduces the effectiveness of parallelism. We show that the HyperCube algorithm is more resilient to skew than traditional parallel query plans. To deal with any case of skew, we also design data-sensitive techniques that identify the outliers in the data and alleviate the effect of skew by further splitting the computation to more servers. In the case of multiple rounds, we present nearly optimal algorithms for conjunctive queries for the case of data without skew. A surprising consequence of our results is that they can be applied to analyze iterative computational tasks: we can prove that, in order to compute the connected components of a graph, any algorithm requires more than a constant number of communication rounds. Finally, we show a surprising connection of the MPC model with algorithms in the external memory model of computation.


The toxic metabolites of the micro-fungi are associated with many problems in the food-producing industries. The role of isolates of Aspergillus flavus that produce aflatoxin in the toxicity of feed-stuffs derived from ground nuts is well known (Paget, 1954; Wogan, 1966) and there is some evidence that metabolites of Pithomyces chartarum are implicated in the aetiology of diseases of ruminants in Australia and New Zealand and possibly in South Africa and the southern United States (Dingley, Done, Taylor & Russell, 1962; Mortimer & Taylor, 1962). Bilai & Pidoplichko (1962) suggested that the fungus Absidia ramosa, isolated aerobically from the rumen contents of diseased animals was a factor in haematuria in cattle in the Ukraine. This, to our knowledge, is the first suggestion that the colonization of the rumen by microfungi has important implications in the growth and health of ruminants; although the presence of yeasts in the rumen has been known for some time (Clarke & diMenna, 1961). In northern Nova Scotia the growth rate of sheep in summer and autumn is extremely slow (Calder, Nicholson & Cunningham, 1962), and whilst investigating this problem from a microbiological point of view we have observed the presence of fungi among the rumen flora. Since this appears to be of biochemical, microbiological and agricultural interest we report our preliminary results here.


The concept of Latent Variables (LVs or latent constructs) is, probably, one of the most charming and discussed of the last fifty years, although, even today, it is only possible to give a negative definition of it: what is not observable, lacking both of origin and of measurement unit. One of the difficulties for a researcher in the economic-social sciences in the specification of a statistical model describing the casual-effect relationships between the variables derives from the fact that the variables which are object of the analysis are not directly observable (i.e. latent), for example, the performance, the customer satisfaction, the social status etc. Although such latent variables cannot be directly observable, the use of proper indicators (i.e. manifest variables, MVs) can make the measurement of such constructs easy. Thanks to the SEM, it is possible to analyze simultaneously, both the relations of dependence between the LVs (i.e, Structural Model), and the links between the LVs and their indicators, that is, between the corresponding observed variables (i.e, Measurement Model). The different and proper methodologies of estimate of the dependence are topics of this work. In particular, the aim of this work is to analyze Structural Equation Models (SEM) and, in particular, some of the different estimation methods mostly adopted: the Maximum Likelihood-ML, the Partial Least SquaresPLS and the Generalized Maximum Entropy GME, by illustrating their main differences and similarities.


There are not many studies dealing with a comparison of the eye movements of individuals with dyslexia and developmental language disorder (DLD). The aim of this study is to compare the eye movements in the two most common language disorders, dyslexia and DLD and to consider their contribution to diagnostics. In the research the oculomotor test was administered to 60 children with the clinical diagnosis of dyslexia or DLD and 58 typically developing children (controls). The test included a prosaccadic task, antisaccadic task and a nonverbal sequential task with self-regulation of the pace. Controls could be singled out from other two clinical groups by means of the oculomotor imaging. Both of the clinical groups in comparison with the controls were characterized by worse overall performance. Through the employment of the oculomotor it was possible to differentiate between both of the clinical groups. The dyslexics had an overall worse oculomotor performance than the DLD group. The results of the study show that the oculomotor test has the potential to contribute to diagnostics of dyslexia and DLD and the screening of these disorders at pre-school age.


Denosumab, an antibody targeting RANKL, is effective against osteosarcoma in mouse models. OutRANKing osteosarcoma Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer, and it can be difficult to treat, especially in patients with metastatic disease. Chen et al. developed a series of genetically engineered mouse models of osteosarcoma and used these models to dissect the role of receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) signaling in the progression of this disease. The authors also showed that denosumab, an antibody against RANKL that is already used in patients with some bone diseases, is effective in mouse models of osteosarcoma and is a viable candidate for future testing in human patients. Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary bone cancer, which occurs primarily in children and adolescents, severely affecting survivors' quality of life. Despite its chemosensitivity and treatment advances, long-term survival rates for OS patients have stagnated over the last 20 years. Thus, it is necessary to develop new molecularly targeted therapies for this metastatic bone cancer. Mutations in TP53 and RB are linked to OS predisposition and to the evolution of spontaneous OS. We established receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) as a therapeutic target for suppression and prevention of OS. Combined conditional osteoblast-specific deletions of Rb, p53, and the protein kinase A (PKA) regulatory subunit Prkar1α genes in genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) generate aggressive osteosarcomas, characterized by PKA, RANKL, and osteoclast hyperactivity. Whole-body Rankl deletion completely abrogates tumorigenesis. Although osteoblastic Rank deletion has little effect, osteoclastic Rank deletion delays tumorigenesis and prolongs life span. The latter is associated with inactivation of osteoclastogenesis and up-regulation of the tumor suppressor phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN). Further, we use these GEMMs as preclinical platforms to show that RANKL blockade with RANK-Fc arrests tumor progression and improves survival and also inhibits lung metastasis. Moreover, preemptive administration of RANK-Fc completely prevents tumorigenesis in mice highly predisposed to this aggressive cancer. Denosumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody against RANKL, is currently used to treat patients with osteoporosis or bone metastases. Our studies provide a strong rationale to consider RANKL blockade for the treatment and prevention of aggressive RANKL-overexpressing OS in humans.


This paper presents a single case study of an epileptic hostel resident who presented behavioural problems in the form of high frequency pseudoepileptic seizures in association with an attention-seeking personality. Psychological intervention along behavioural lines was found to be lastingly effective in reducing the frequency of these seizures and generalized improvements were obtained in other areas of social skill. The results are discussed with reference to suggested implications for clinical practice.


Abstract The article starts by examining the idea of conservation laws as applied to market economies. It formulates a measure of financial entropy and gives numerical simula-tions indicating that this tends to rise. We discuss an analogue for free energy released during this process. The concepts of real and symbolic appropriation are introduced as a means to analyse debt and taxation. We then examine the conflict between the conservation laws that apply to commodity exchange with the exponential growth implied by capital accumulation and how these have necessitated a sequence of evolutionary forms for money, and go on to present a simple stochastic model for the formation of rates of interest and a model for the time evolution of the rate of profit.


When understood as anthropogenic phenomena, contemporary social and ecological crises can be framed as moral issues, arising from human action and neglect of duties to marginalized human and ecological neighbours. In so much as the roots of these problematic outcomes lie in worldview, ecological wisdom can help in fostering spaces for integrated ethical responses to associated challenges like global climate change, social injustice, and ecological delegation. The present article highlights select instances of thinkers who express convergences between social and ecological concern by exploring cross-cultural perspectives on ecological wisdom. Then, with the aid of a green theo-ecoethical viewpoint informed by those perspectives, it maps relevant teachings of Pope Francis that are expressed in two of his most important exercises of his magisterial office: Evangelii Gaudium and Laudato Si'. As brought into view through dialogue with contemporary articulations of ecological wisdom, inclusive of overlapping Indigenous and academic insights, this approach helps discern a noteworthy measure of rhetorical support for socio-ecological flourishing found in the teaching of Pope Francis.


The paper introduces a web-based interactive environment for creating and exploring software artefacts. The authors describe a case study where the environment has been combined with Moodle and used for the implementation of an online introductory database course currently being taught as part of computer science degree programme. The aim is to show how the environment can offer web-based education that goes beyond providing digital learning materials, by supporting the learner at different kinds of learning activity, from guiding along a well-defined path, to exploring particular paths of interest, and eventually, to creating a new path for themselves.


In February 1972 Henry Moore's sculpture studios in the English countryside at Much Hadham were filled with the preparations for his retrospective exhibition at Florence. In search of peace and quiet, he went into a smaller room overlooking the fields where a local farmer grazed his sheep. The sheep came very close to the window, attracting his attention, and he began to draw them. Initially he saw them as nothing more than four-legged balls of wool, but his vision changed as he explored what they were really like - the way they moved, the shape of their bodies under the fleece. They also developed strong human and biblical associations, and the sight of a ewe with her lamb evoked the mother-and-child theme - a large form sheltering a small one - which has been important to Henry Moore in all his work. He drew the sheep again that summer after they were shorn, when he could see the shapes of the bodies which had been covered by wool. Solid in form, sudden and vigorous in movement, Henry Moore's sheep are created through a network of swirling and zigzagging lines in the rapid and (in Moore's hands) sensitive medium of ballpoint pen. The effect is both familiar and monumental; as Lord Clark comments, 'We expect Henry Moore to give a certain nobility to everything he draws; but more surprising is the way in which these drawings express a feeling of real affection for their subject.'


Algorithmic Complexity Vulnerabilities (ACV) are a class of vulnerabilities that enable Denial of Service Attacks. ACVs stem from asymmetric consumption of resources due to complex loop termination logic, recursion, and/or resource intensive library APIs. Completely automated detection of ACVs is intractable and it calls for tools that assist human analysts. We present DISCOVER, a suite of tools that facilitates human-on-the-loop detection of ACVs. DISCOVER's workflow can be broken into three phases - (1) Automated characterization of loops, (2) Selection of suspicious loops, and (3) Interactive audit of selected loops. We demonstrate DISCOVER using a case study using a DARPA challenge app. DISCOVER supports analysis of Java source code and Java bytecode. We demonstrate it for Java bytecode.


Constructing realistic and real time human-robot interaction models is a core challenge in crowd navigation. In this paper we derive a robot-agent interaction density from first principles of probability theory; we call our approach "first order interacting Gaussian processes" (foIGP). Furthermore, we compute locally optimal solutions—with respect to multi-faceted agent "intent" and "flexibility"—in near real time on a laptop CPU. We test on challenging scenarios from the ETH crowd dataset and show that the safety and efficiency statistics of foIGP is competitive with human safety and efficiency statistics. Further, we compute the safety and efficiency statistics of dynamic window avoidance, a physics based model variant of foIGP, a Monte Carlo inference based approach, and the best performing deep reinforcement learning algorithm; foIGP outperforms all of them.


In these stories whole lives come into focus through single events or sudden memories which bring the past bubbling to the surface. The past, as her characters discover, is made up not only of what is remembered, but also what isn't. The past is there, just out of the picture, but if memories haven't been savoured, recalled in the mind and boxed away, it's as if they have never been - until a moment when the pieces of the jigsaw re-form suddenly, sometimes pleasurably but more often painfully. Women look back at their young selves, at first marriages made when they were naive and trusting, at husbands and their difficult, demanding little ways. There is in this new collection an underlying heartbreak, a sense of regret in her characters for what might have been, for a fork in the road not taken, a memory suppressed in an act of prudent emotional housekeeping. But at the same time there is hope, there are second chances - here are people who reinvent themselves, seize life by the throat, who have moved on and can dare to conjure up the hidden memories, daring to go beyond what is remembered.


One of my most satisfying experiences as a graduate student in history and library science at Indiana University was mounting an exhibit at the Lilly Library. A project for the archives and manuscripts class, my exhibit was entitled "A Brief History of the ABCs" and drew on an extremely rich collection. Children's literature was a particular interest of J.K. Lilly, and the Library holds nearly 10,000 children's books in a stillgrowing collection—a key part of which is its ABC books and primers (Lilly Library overview, 2001). Although it was a short-term exhibit, the topic deserves broader attention, thus I present it here. I hope it will educate and enlighten and evoke renewed appreciation for some of the treasures the IU Libraries have to offer.


Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) is an efficient approach to synthesize self-assembled core–shell nanofibers in water, made of amphiphilic block copolymers. We demonstrate here for the first time that such anisotropic and high Tg nanofibers can be used as reinforcing fillers for water-based acrylic materials. This strategy opens the way for strong all-organic aqueous coatings.


Statistical moment invariants were used to generate a feature space for classifying images of text characters. The feature vector of a given letter is invariant to changes in scale, position, rotation, and contrast in the image. Test character images were generated by simulated optical blurring. Images were classified by calculating the distance between the feature vector of a given test character and that of each reference character. The test character was identified as the reference character for which the distance between feature vectors is a minimum. Significantly blurred characters were classified correctly using this method.


This study aims to determine the development of Islamic microfinance research trends published by leading journals on Islamic economics and finance. The data analyzed consisted of 441 indexed research publications. The data is then processed and analyzed using the R Bibliometric application to find out the bibliometric map of the development of Islamic economics and finance on Islamic microfinance. The results showed that the number of publications on the development of Islamic economic and financial research had increased significantly. Then, most types of documents that analyze Islamic microfinance are journaled articles. The most popular author is Kassim S, and the most popular keywords are Islamic, microfinance, institution, and Indonesia. The trend analysis shows that Islamic microfinance institutions needs to play a more social role, especially to help reduce poverty.


The Association of College and Research Library's (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education is a key document for developing and guiding information literacy programmes. In this opinion piece the author posits that the Framework is inclusive of themes and elements that support digital literacy as well, whether it is viewed as a unique literacy or as part of the broader literacy of information literacy. The paper explores the background of the Framework, definitions of digital literacy, and the ways in which the Framework connects to digital literacy. The author argues that the Framework is a relevant guide for digital literacy initiatives.


Nature-based solutions (NBS) are actions that use natural processes in a resource efficient manner to solve societal challenges. The lack of supportive legislature, and financial, communication and social barriers complicate the process of NBS implementation. It is an urgent need to develop approaches to design and implement NBS that would act as drivers to overcome potential barriers and enhance the social acceptability of the project. The vision-based decision-making methodology and participatory process created in this study has been carried out in the Koiliaris Critical Zone Observatory in Crete to design erosion and flood protection NBS and restore the riparian forest. The methodology consists of four distinct steps as follows: i) develop a vision of the area, ii) conduct a baseline assessment study, iii) NBS design and co-design, and iv) procurement and implementation. The methodology overcame multiple barriers because of the effective stakeholder engagement and the vision "drove" the project and created the necessary consensus that is necessary to achieve the objective of converting privately owned prime agricultural land to riparian forest. It offers an exemplar of a functional ecosystem restoration project that protects the river in a sustainable way, improves its biodiversity and water quality and improves the quality of life and social cohesion.


The instant availability of information has changed the paradigm of teaching. Whereas at one time teaching and learning was information being passed, memorized, and repeated, students can now find their own knowledge. Learning now consists of using information in creative ways and requires a shift in how students are taught. This is quite similar to what occurred in music over a hundred years ago when jazz was introduced to the culture. Music moved from musicians playing what the composer wrote, to creating their own music within a structure. This shift is an apt metaphor for the changes being felt in twenty-first century teaching and learning. The processes of learning and creating jazz provide a way to illustrate new teaching methods that allow students to discover new knowledge through their own creative interests and to develop self-efficacy with the material.


This article examines aspects of feminist methodology pertinent to carrying out transnational research within an era of globalization. I explore the use of self-reflexivity, engagement with conceptualizations of insider/outsider, and the employment of feminist critiques of notions of objectivity within the research process as feminist methodological tools relevant to transnational feminist research. I argue that in an age of globalization, such methodological frameworks and tools are necessary in research committed to feminist contestations of globalization in that the nature of transnational research sustains an ever dynamic and shifting landscape of personal, political, and geographical relationships. This article draws upon my experiences carrying out transnational research in Ireland and the United States for my PhD dissertation between 2003 and 2007.


Journal of Psychopathology 2016;22:10-20 Summary Human emotional life is structured and to a certain extent constituted by language, and yet making sense of and communicating how we feel is often a challenge. In this article, I will argue that a person's struggle to make sense of and articulate her suffering plays a major role in the experience of suffering. I unfold this argument in five steps. I will first look at the vexed question of what emotions are. Discussing biological and rational conceptions of emotions, I argue that human emotions are deeply ambiguous phenomena constituted by an opaque combination of biological factors and rational factors. In the second section, I will argue that instead of trying to solve the ontological riddle of emotions we should investigate the actual experience of emotions. I examine the dialectics of the conceptual and the phenomenal aspects of our emotional experience, arguing that we need to adopt a phenomenological approach to emotions in order to explore the ambiguity of emotions. Anxiety is endemic to most mental illnesses, and nowhere does the ambiguity of our emotions become more manifest than in the experience of anxiety. So in the following two sections, I will look at two influential philosophical accounts of anxiety. Heidegger and Kierkegaard both argue that anxiety is intrinsic to our experience of freedom. I criticise Heidegger's theory for restricting the phenomenology of anxiety by making it a functional tool in his ontological project. I then argue that Kierkegaard's theory, on the other hand, allows us to explore the significance of the phenomenological ambiguity of anxiety. Of particular importance in Kierkegaard's theory is the dialectics of imagination and reality at work in anxiety, and in the concluding section, I will look at how this dialectics can help us understand how both the patient and the psychiatrist are challenged with the problem of finding a language for mental suffering.


In his acclaimed book "American Theocracy", Kevin Phillips warned of the perilous interaction of debt, financial recklessness, and the spiking cost (and growing scarcity) of oil - warnings that are proving to be frighteningly accurate. Now, in his most significant and timely book yet, Phillips takes the full measure of this crisis. They are part of what he calls 'bad money' - not just the depreciated dollar, but also the dangerous attitudes and the flawed products of wayward mega-finance. His devastating conclusion: In its hubris, the financial sector has hijacked the American economy and put our very global future at risk - and it may be too late to stop it.


The government of Nepal has recommended blanket fertilizer application for rice cultivation, which results in lower nutrient use efficiency (NUE) particularly under rainfed conditions. With the aim of finding an appropriate nutrient management practices concerning rice production and profitability, a field experiment was conducted during rainy season of 2017 and 2018 at Kavrepalanchowk and Dang district of Nepal. Altogether, five treatments comprising various nutrient management practices viz. Nutrient Expert Model (NE), use of Leaf Color Chart (LCC), Government Recommended Fertilizer Dose (GON), Farm Yard Manure (FYM), and Farmers' Field Practice (FFP), were laid out in RCBD with four replications in farmers' fields. The analysis of variance showed significant difference between treatments for test weight and grain yield in Kavrepalanchowk whereas all traits except number of effective tillers were significant in Dang. The significantly higher grain yield and harvest index were obtained in NE, followed by LCC; and the overall straw yield was highest in LCC, followed by NE in both the locations. Also, yield gap analysis suggested the NE had 44.44% and 23.97% increase in yield as compared to FPP in Kavrepalanchowk and Dang, respectively. The combined analysis with Best Linear Unbiased Estimator revealed the interaction of nutrient Agriculture 2022, 12, 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12010004 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture Agriculture 2022, 12, 4 2 of 16 management and location significantly effects the straw yield and harvest index across both the locations. The estimated mean straw yield and harvest index were 10.93 t/ha and 34.98%, respectively. Both correlation study and biplot of principal component analysis signaled grain yield had positive correlation with all other traits. Furthermore, the net revenue was maximum for NE, followed by LCC in both the locations. The benefit: cost ratio was highest for NE which was 1.55 in Kavrepalanchowk and 2.61 in Dang. On the basis of these findings, NE and LCC can be effectively used as nutrient management practice by the farmers to obtain maximum production and profitability in Rice.


Although entity coherence, i.e. the coherence that arises from certain patterns of references to entities, is of attested importance for characterising a descriptive text structure, whether and how current formal models of entity coherence such as Centering Theory can be used for the purposes of natural language generation remains unclear. This thesis investigates this issue and sets out to explore which of the many formulations of Centering best suits text structuring. In doing this, we assume text structuring to be a search task where different orderings of propositions are evaluated according to scores assigned by a metric. The main question behind this study is how to choose a metric of entity coherence among many alternatives as the only guidance to the text structuring component of a system that produces descriptions of objects. Different ways of defining metrics of entity coherence using Centering's notions are discussed and a general corpus-based methodology is introduced to identify which of these metrics constitute the most promising candidates for search-based text structuring before the actual generation of the descriptive structure takes place. The performance of a large set of metrics is estimated empirically in a series of computational experiments using two kinds of data: (i) a reliably annotated corpus representing the genre of interest and (ii) data derived from an existing natural language generation system and ordered according to the instructions of a domain expert. A final experiment supplements our main methodology by automatically evaluating the best scoring orderings of some of the best performing metrics in comparison to an upper bound defined by orderings produced by multiple experts on additional application-specific data and a lower bound defined by a random baseline. The main findings are summarised as follows: In general, the simplest metric of entity coherence constitutes a very robust baseline for both datasets. However, when the metrics are modified according to an additional constraint on entity coherence, then the baseline is beaten in domain (ii). The employed modification is supported by the subsidiary evaluation which renders all employed metrics superior to the random baseline and helps identify the metric which overall constitutes the most suitable candidate (among the ones investigated) for search-based descriptive text structuring in domain (ii). This thesis provides substantial insight into the role of entity coherence as a descriptive text structuring constraint. Viewing Centering from an NLG perspective raises a series of interesting challenges that the thesis identifies and attempts to investigate to a certain extent. The general evaluation methodology and the results of the empirical studies are useful for any subsequent attempt to generate a descriptive text structure in the context of an application that makes use of the notion of entity coherence as modelled by Centering.


ABSTRACT Awe, an intense, and usually positive emotion often experienced by individuals visiting nature-based tourism destinations, has the potential to nurture strong connections between individuals and their environment. Despite this, awe research has been neglected in the tourism literature, especially in relation to the aspects or features that foster awe-inspiring experiences. This study sought to rectify this by focusing on such experiences in the remote, unique Kimberley region in north-western Australia. A total of 49 tourist interviews were conducted to ascertain their responses to the question "what has been your most awe-inspiring experience and why?" Responses highlighted five distinct facets contributing to respondents' awe-inspiring experiences: marine fauna, aesthetics, ecological phenomena, vast geological landscapes and reflective/perspective moments. Future research should focus on exploring the applicability of these facets to other nature-based tourism destinations.


Introduction-to-proof courses are becoming more prevalent in mathematics de-partments as more recognize the need to support students while they transition from courses focused on computation (such as calculus) to proof-intensive courses (such as real analysis). In such introduction courses, there are some common proving techniques to teach (induction, contradiction, and contraposi-tion to name a few), but the content varies from institution to institution. This note adds to the discussion on content in such courses, by analyzing two prior studies, one using a coding scheme designed to illuminate step-by-step justifications in a proof, and the other focused on interviews with course instructors. Our analysis of the literature shows that there may be reason to believe that content-based introduction-to-proof courses inadvertently overemphasize specific mathematical-area reasoning, which may not translate effectively to subsequent proof-based courses in different content areas. Simply put, while some mathematicians may be convinced of this, a real analysis, number theory, or abstract algebra course may not be the most effective introduction-to-proof course for students to transition to other proof-based courses.


OBJECTIVE
The effect of SUMO on the promoter activity and mRNA expression of BACE gene was investigated to find the connection between sumoylation and APP processing.

METHODS
The BACE promoter activity was measured by reporter gene analysis and BACE mRNA level was investigated using real-time RT-PCR method.

RESULTS
BACE gene promoter activity was inhibited by the over-expression of SUMO proteins and was blocked by disrupting the SP1 site. Endogenous BACE mRNA level was also negatively regulated by the induction of SUMO proteins. Using a specific inhitor of SP1, BACE promoter activity was coordinately inhibited.

CONCLUSIONS
SUMO negatively regulates the BACE expression and SP1 is involved in the process.


PURPOSE
To evaluate impact on surface dose, Depth of dose maximum (dmax) and depth dose distribution due to physical wedge filters for different wedge angle were studied for 6MV flattened (6MV FB) and 7MV unflattened (7MV UFB) photon beams.

METHODS
The flattening filter and primary collimator are the major sources of producing the scattered radiation and these parameters affect the surface dose, dmax and dose distribution. In this study, open fields surface dose, dmax and depth dose distribution values were compared with physical wedge filter for 6MV FB and 7MV UFB .The measurement carried out in Siemens - ARTISTE linear accelerator with diode detector along the central axis of the beam at 100 cm source to surface distance using IBA blue water phantom for 6MV FB and 7MV UFB x-ray beams.

RESULTS
The surface dose increased as the field size increased for open and physical wedge fields for 6MV FB and 7MV UFB beams. For open fields, Surface doses relative to the dose at dmax ranged from 0.443 to 0.569 and 0.463 to 0.668 for field sizes of 5 × 5 to 20×20 cm2 for the 7MV UFB and 6MV FB beam respectively. The measured surface dose for 150, 300,450 and 600 wedge field values are 0.396 to 0.504, 0.366 to 0.484, 0.342 to 0.464 and 0.347 to 0.47 respectively for 7MV UFB and 0.424 to 0.566, 0.398 to 0.555, 0.3860 to 0.5430 and 0.389 to 0.55 respectively for 6MV FB.

CONCLUSIONS
We found that dmax of wedged beams were higher than those open beams for field size up to 10 × 10 cm2 , Surface doses of wedged beams were lower than those of open beams for 7MV UFB and 6MV FB. Surface dose of the 7MV UFB were lower than the 6MV FB for open and wedged beams.


Research shows that if a food product is labeled with a fancy name, people like it more than they would otherwise. Similarly, some people tend to think of healthy foods as less satisfying. The purpose of this study was to extend previous research on the effects of labels on people's preference for certain foods using a cookie taste test. It was predicted that cookies with a fancy label ("Grandma's favorite recipe") would be rated higher than cookies with a plain label ("Chocolate chip cookie"), and that cookies with a healthy label ("Low-fat, 80-calorie cookie") would be rated the lowest. To test this prediction, 72 participants (57 women, 15 men) tasted and rated a cookie with one of the three different labels. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the rating for the cookies with the fancy label (M = 7.55), the plain label (M = 6.85), or the healthy label (M = 7.58). Although cookie ratings did not vary significantly as a function of label in the current study, previous research has shown that labels do influence how much people like certain foods.


Entrepreneurs appear to borrow largely against their near-term revenues, even when their investment has a longer horizon. In this paper, we develop a model of credit horizons. A question of particular concern to us is whether persistently low interest rates can stifle economic activity. With this in mind, our model is of a small open economy where the world interest rate is taken to be exogenous. We show that a permanent fall in the interest rate can reduce aggregate investment and growth, and even lead to a drop in the welfare of everyone in the domestic economy. We use our framework to examine how credit horizons interact with plant dynamics and the evolution of productivity. Finally, we speculate that the measurement of total investment may camouflage the true level of productive investment in plant and human capital, and give too rosy a picture of property-fueled booms sparked by low interest rates.


Abstract: This paper presents preliminary outcomes of a European Commission; funded project which brings together industry, academics and practitioners in an; innovative project to create an international forum of learning. SIGNALL II builds; on the successes of SIGNALL I (a Leonardo da Vinci project). It is promoted by; Interesource Group (Ireland) Limited partnered with the Centre for Deaf Studies,; Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), Irish Deaf Society (Ireland), Finnish Association of; the Deaf (Finland), University of Sussex (UK), the Foundation for the Promotion of; Entrepreneurship, Lodz, (Poland) and Grant Advisor, Brno (Czech Republic).; SIGNALL 2 aims to utilise the experience, results, partnership alliances and the; relationships built up with supporters and user groups from SIGNALL I and to; develop an accredited digital course on Perspectives on Deafness (POD).; Accreditation leads to the transfer of credit points (under the European Credit; Transfer System) amongst participating third level educational establishments; promoting international mobility in education and the transparency of; qualifications. Experiential and evidenced-based material will illustrate experiences; of deafness by using digitised case studies and video materials. The course will be; offered as a distance-learning programme with fully accessible (signed, subtitled); course content in each partner country on-line. This is essential given that Deaf people are the most under-represented group accessing third level education (e.g.; Leeson 2007, Conroy 2006), and is challenging given the linguistic diversity of the; European Union. For example, signed languages differ from territory to territory,; even where spoken languages are the same (i.e. Britain and Ireland have very; different natural signed languages – British Sign Language and Irish Sign; Language).; The core content for the 'Perspectives on Deafness' course has been created by the; Centre for Deaf Studies (CDS) at Trinity College Dublin. CDS has actively engaged; in the development of digital learning assets to support traditional delivery of; programmes, and are actively engaged in the development of blended learning; diplomas and degrees. European perspectives are added, allowing for the; exploration of shared – and differing- experiences of Deafhood (Ladd 2003) across; Europe as well as notions of d/Deafness as a medical, social, cultural, and historical; construct. Human rights perspectives are also explored in this wide reaching; course.; This paper outlines the background to the development of this course, outlining; rationale, content, creation of digital materials, the nature of international; involvement and the challenges to creating a repository of digital courseware that; will be accessible and relevant to Deaf and hearing students and employers across; the European Union, and beyond.


In many machine learning applications, one needs to interactively select a sequence of items (e.g., recommending movies based on a user's feedback) or make sequential decisions in a certain order (e.g., guiding an agent through a series of states). Not only do sequences already pose a dauntingly large search space, but we must also take into account past observations, as well as the uncertainty of future outcomes. Without further structure, finding an optimal sequence is notoriously challenging, if not completely intractable. In this paper, we view the problem of adaptive and sequential decision making through the lens of submodularity and propose an adaptive greedy policy with strong theoretical guarantees. Additionally, to demonstrate the practical utility of our results, we run experiments on Amazon product recommendation and Wikipedia link prediction tasks.


Context Cardiac troponins have become the 'gold standard' for diagnosing myocardial infarction. Elevation of cardiac troponins is noted in patients with chronic stable heart failure, but comparative prognostic value of different assay types is not established. Objective To perform a systematic review for investigating the prognostic value of the different types of cardiac troponins (including low and high sensitivity) in chronic stable heart failure. Data sources Search of three databases, PubMed, The Cochrane Library and Web of Science, was made in April 2012. Study selection All studies which provided information on prognosis based upon the baseline cardiac troponin elevation in chronic stable heart failure were included. Limits applied were adults, humans and English language. Data extraction Two authors individually reviewed all studies and extracted data on patient and study characteristics along with primary and secondary outcomes. Results 16 of the 365 papers from three databases were finally included for data analysis. Elevated baseline cardiac troponin in patients with chronic stable heart failure was associated with a high risk of mortality (HR 2.85; 95% CI 2.02 to 4.03) and combined adverse cardiovascular outcome (HR 2.38; 95% CI 1.63 to 3.49). Although high-sensitivity assay detected cardiac troponin in higher proportion of patients compared with low-sensitivity assay, there was no statistically significant difference among both groups (p=0.54). Conclusions Elevated baseline cardiac troponin level identified chronic stable heart failure patients who are at a higher risk of mortality and combined adverse cardiovascular outcomes. There was no statistically significant difference between high- and low-sensitivity cardiac troponins.


This paper examines the "Respect for History" project on Turkey's Gallipoli Peninsula sponsored by a Turkish oil company, OPET. The project sought to enhance and protect the cultural and historical experiences of tourists visiting Gallipoli, and to bring direct and indirect benefits to local communities through enhancing tourism-related business opportunities and improving community infrastructure. This research investigates the project's impact on residents' perceived social and economic wellbeing, using a quality of life framework, and also ascertains residents' views of the sponsoring firm. The context illustrates key differences between pure philanthropy and strategic philanthropy; the latter defined as doing good by purposefully achieving corporate and civic benefits. The role of strategic philanthropy as a sustainable tourism development tool, and its impact on tourism governance, are considered. Data were collected from 674 residents on the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula in areas impacted by OPET's investment program. The results, using structural equation modelling (SEM), identify that respondents generally believe that both their economic and social quality of life have improved. This, in turn, has positively influenced respondents' views of the sponsoring organization. The concept of strategic philanthropy appears valuable as a private sector, non-tourism, sustainable tourism development tool in some circumstances.


This article first draws together a range of published statistics to analyse trends in participation in higher education in the UK over recent years. That provides evidence of the shifting profile in the student population and sets a context for examining emerging evidence of the impact of recent government policy decisions on control of student numbers and on financial support. Comparisons are drawn between England and other nation regions of the UK. Data on subgroups are presented to develop an agenda on equity for institutional managers. Finally, the article examines institutional responses to the new context of marketisation and increased government micro-management interventions and of a significantly reduced provision. It uses research funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education to identify a shift to a corporate-enterprise culture as relations with applicants and entrants are increasingly driven from central structures in HEIs.


In this work, a series of polyetherimide (PEI) flat sheet membranes were produced with different concentrations of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) addition via the phase inversion method. The effects of additions on membrane morphology and performance were investigated. Synthesized membrane had the properties of ultrafiltration membrane. Although PEI is not widely used for water treatment, in this study, the ferrous iron removal rate was investigated and good results were obtained. Through the membrane production experiments, the PEI content was 22 wt%. PVP was added as a pore-forming agent with concentrations of 2, 4 and 8 wt%. N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) was used as solvent. Distilled water was used for the coagulation bath. After production, all membranes were characterized by using contact angle, permeability, porosity, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT/IR) analyses. With the increasing doses of PVP addition, the permeability of the PEI membranes produced in this study increased, while porosity results were changeable. The permeability was 23 L/m2h bar for the membrane with 2 wt% PVP content, while the permeability for the membrane with 8 wt% PVP content was 32 L/m2h bar. Contact angles increased with PVP addition to PEI membranes. With the increasing PVP concentration, the finger-like pores and the pores located in the sub-layer expanded.


This paper addresses the problem of adaptive fitting of a stochastic model to what is known as Human Body Daily Temperature Dynamics (HBDTD). HBDTD belongs to the class of systems whose state processes are unobtainable for any practical use and can therefore be regarded as hidden signals. Hence, the only criterion for stochastic model fitting appears to be the output (measured) process used in Minimum Prediction Error (MPE) identification methods. Recently however, a relatively novel methodology known as the Active Principle of Adaptation (APA) was developed and generalized for the purpose of time-variant system identification. In contrast to MPE methods, the APA-based approach considers Exact System Models rather than Approximate System Models and hence yields a new Minimum State Prediction Error method. The solution outlined in this paper is based on replacing the direct model fitting by the indirect one and employing HBDTD adaptive stochastic modeling to demonstrate how modern, i.e. numerically stable MSPE computations can be successfully put to practical use in today's health care.


Two trials were carried out during 1986-87 at the Corozal substation to evaluate six herbicides for weed control in yam. In the first test, herbicides evaluated were ametryn, fluazifop-P, oxyfluorfen and paraquat. Ametryn at 4.48 kg ai/ha, in sequential application with fluazifop-P at 0.56 kg ai/ha, was highly effective against broadleaf weeds. Oxyfluorfen alone and oxyfluorfen + paraquat were also highly effective, but both treatments caused slight to moderate crop injury. In the second trial, ametryn, fluazifop-P, paraquat, cinmethylin and metolachor were evaluated. Ametryn at 4.48 kg ai/ha in sequential application with fluazifop at 0.84 kg ai/ha again proved to be highly effective. Cinmethylin alone was poor against broadleaf weeds. Its sequential application with paraquat slightly improved weed control. Metolachor at 3.54 and 7.08 L/ha+ paraquat also provided good weed control. Its sequential application with paraquat slightly improved weed control. Metolachor at 3.54 and 7.08 L/ha + paraquat also provided good weed control. In the first planting there were no significant differences in tuber yield between the weeded check and other herbicide treatments except for the fluazifop-P alone treatments. In the second planting, with the exception of the cinmethylin alone treatments and one of the cinmethylin + paraquat treatments, there were no significant yield differences between the weeded check and the herbicide treatments.


Restorative justice, rooted in the practices of indigenous people across the globe, has grown exponentially in both theory and practice since its beginnings in Canada in the 1970s. Restorative justice has influenced the interactions between offenders and victims, helped community members address crime and develop self-efficacy, and changed the way some countries rebuild after a history of oppression. Despite these restorative justice influenced changes, many criminology and criminal justice programs pay scant attention to restorative justice in curricula. This paper will examine ways to include restorative justice in criminal justice and criminology curriculum and the challenges involved in the process. The paper will then examine how the Law and Justice Department at Central Washington University has incrementally added restorative justice components to its curriculum, culminating most recently with the addition of a Community and Social Justice course. The paper will conclude with several examples of classroom activities and assignments that have helped connect students with the theory and practice of restorative justice.


This thesis is concerned with developing our understandings and knowledge of children within Early Years Learning (EYL) and the importance of movement and play in processes of social class and cultural (re)production. The ways in which parents from different social classes are involved and invest in their children s education and physical activity have been researched quite extensively. This research therefore looks at the nature of transactions and interactions within EYL settings and the influence social class and parental investment has on children s embodiment, knowledge construction and learner identities. The study pays particular attention to how social inequalities are produced and reproduced within EYL through differences in its organisation, curriculum structures, pedagogical interactions and transactions. Data were collected over a ten month period of sustained critical ethnography in three socially and culturally diverse EYL settings in central England through observations and informal conversations. The collected data were first analysed ethnographically to determine the organising categories and concepts of the setting, while second order analyses brought into to play the researcher s sociological interests in questions of equity, social reproduction and control, imposing another layer of questions on the study. A Bernsteinian theoretical lens was adopted to interrogate the transactions within EYL settings in relation to power and control, while those of others (namely habitus , physical capital and the corporeal device - pace Bourdieu, Shilling, Evans and Davies respectively) were used to embellish such understandings and bring processes of embodiment to the fore. The findings illustrate the complexity of the discourses and practices that children negotiate when re-contextualising knowledge and constructing their learner identities within EYL settings. They also reveal how children learn about their own and others bodies through the various forms of play that feature in EYL settings and that these processes are profoundly class related. At the heart of the thesis lies the claim that extant social class hierarchies and ability differences are sustained rather than eroded or lessened through the structure, organisation and transactions of EYL settings. Finally, recommendations are made as to how UK Government policy relating to EYL might begin to promote pedagogies that enhance the potential for greater social mobility in the UK.


As injuries are the main health threat for young adults (18–29 years) in industrial countries, a better understanding of injury risk is needed for this population. Using the Critical Incident Technique, this study explores how young people experience situations that have the potential to cause physical injury (i.e., near-injury situations). Clearly, understanding how and why near-injury situations arise can be used to develop strategies to help prevent severe injury. Content analysis was used to categorize the characteristics of the experiences into unexpected risk in ordinary tasks , duty first , and price for learning . Young adults' exposures to new or unusual environmental conditions, especially in unexpected risk in ordinary tasks, should be considered when planning injury prevention strategies. A combination of individual, social, and contextual demands and expectations was identified in both work- and sports-related experiences with near-injury situations. The price for learning, which arises from the added risk involved in learning situations, is another condition that was identified and requires further attention. The Critical Incident Technique proved to be a useful method for identifying near-injury situations that might otherwise have been difficult to recall. Young adults' efforts to display their ability to handle difficult situations at work and in their everyday lives was identified as a major contributor to near-injury situations.


The design to resist blast loading is required in many private and governmental buildings. The research presented in this thesis characterizes the response of high strength concrete panels, reinforced with high strength vanadium steel, subjected to blast loading under controlled conditions. This work is intended to provide valuable data to study numerical models such as the commonly used single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) models. The experimental procedure used and data collected from high-strength reinforced concrete (RC) slabs, having two different high-strength reinforcement ratios subjected to shockwave loadings using a blast load simulator are presented in this thesis. The pressure, impulse, and deflection time histories generated from the experiments along with the predicted panel deflection and damage responses are presented. The pressure impulse (PI) curves developed using a SDOF model are compared with the experimental data. Damage assessment generated from the blast load simulator experiments and a comparison of experimental behavior of high strength RC slabs with regular strength RC slabs, having two different Grade 60 regular-strength reinforcement ratios, are also presented. These results showed that while the regular strength slabs with regular strength reinforcing steel experienced slightly higher experimental deflections that the high strength slabs with high strength reinforcing iii steel, the reinforcement spacing or reinforcement ratio, played a more significant role in both experimental and numerical maximum peak deflections for both the regular strength concrete slabs reinforced with regular strength steel and the high strength concrete slabs reinforced with high strength steel. Experimental quantification of the dynamic resistance curves showed that the slabs with smaller longitudinal reinforcement spacing had greater ductility and post-yield behavior. Furthermore, a parametric study was performed, using the same SDOF model, comparing various high-strength concrete slab thicknesses with varying highstrength reinforcement ratios for maximum numerical deflection. The results from this study showed that the thicker slabs with larger reinforcement ratios yielded smaller maximum numerical deflections than those of the thinner slabs with smaller reinforcement ratios. Finally, the concrete damage patterns of the panels are shown and described.


Political finance scholars have paid little attention to the partisan preferences of business donors. This was because business donors were overwhelmingly concerned with the left-right dimension and enjoyed stable relationships with centre-right parties. These parties are increasingly tempted by nationalist positions on a globalisation dimension. This new ideological flux provides an opportunity to measure the extent to which donors are party identifiers or react to changes in the policy space. Dramatic shifts in party policy on both dimensions and a relatively transparent political finance regime make the UK a particularly apposite case to study this question. I analyse 19,000 donations to the Conservative Party and show that business donors reacted strongly to recent shifts on both the left-right and globalisation dimensions. Thus, centre-right parties cannot rely on party identification and their left-right position to maintain business funding. Economic nationalism costs centre-right parties money.


Tensor decomposition is a powerful framework for multiway data analysis. Despite the success of existing approaches, they ignore the sparse nature of the tensor data in many real-world applications, explicitly or implicitly assuming dense tensors. To address this model misspecification and to exploit the sparse tensor structures, we propose Nonparametric dEcomposition of Sparse Tensors (NEST), which can capture both the sparse structure properties and complex relationships between the tensor nodes to enhance the embedding estimation. Specifically, we first use completely random measures to construct tensor-valued random processes. We prove that the entry growth is much slower than that of the corresponding tensor size, which implies sparsity. Given finite observations (i.e., projections), we then propose two nonparametric decomposition models that couple Dirichlet processes and Gaussian processes to jointly sample the sparse entry indices and the entry values (the latter as a nonlinear mapping of the embeddings), so as to encode both the structure properties and nonlinear relationships of the tensor nodes into the embeddings. Finally, we use the stick-breaking construction and random Fourier features to develop a scalable, stochastic variational learning algorithm. We show the advantage of our approach in sparse tensor generation, and entry index and value prediction in several real-world applications.


PURPOSE
Increasing drusen volume was proposed to be a predictor of disease progression in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In patients with late AMD in one eye, the fellow eyes without neovascularization are known to be at higher risk of developing exudative AMD. We evaluated the relationship between drusen volume in these fellow eyes and their progression to late AMD.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis included fellow eyes with drusen associated with nonexudative AMD. All eyes with neovascular AMD were treated with intravitreal ranibizumab, aflibercept, and/or bevacizumab and followed for 2 years. All eyes were scanned with the Cirrus HD-OCT using a 512 × 128 scan pattern. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) data at baseline, month 12, and month 24 were collected using the advanced RPE analysis tool to quantify drusen volume within 3- and 5-mm-diameter circles centered on the fovea. Optical coherence tomography scans were also evaluated for the development of geographic atrophy (GA) or macular neovascularization (MNV).

RESULTS
Eighty-nine patients who had neovascular AMD in only one eye were studied. Optical coherence tomography drusen volume in the absence of MNV could be measured in 61 participants (68.5%). After 12 months, 4 eyes (4.5%) developed MNV and 15 eyes (16.9%) developed GA. By 24 months of follow-up, an additional 5 eyes (7.1%) developed MNV and an additional 10 eyes (14.3%) developed GA. At month 24, the eyes that developed GA or MNV had baseline drusen volumes that were significantly larger than in eyes that did not develop late AMD. Patients with a drusen volume over 0.03 mm3 had a greater than 4-fold increased risk for developing late AMD compared with those with lower drusen volumes.

CONCLUSIONS
Baseline drusen volume appears to be an important predictor for the development of late AMD within 2 years in eyes that have fellow eyes being actively treated for MNV. This suggests that OCT-derived drusen volume measurements may be a useful biomarker to identify eyes at the highest risk for progression to late AMD.


The identification and characterization of conserved epitopes on the HIV-1 viral spike that are immunogenic in humans and targeted by neutralizing antibodies is an important step in vaccine design. Antibody cloning experiments revealed that 32% of all HIV-neutralizing antibodies expressed by the memory B cells in patients with high titers of broadly neutralizing antibodies recognize one or more "core" epitopes that were not defined. Here, we show that anti-core antibodies recognize a single conserved epitope on the gp120 subunit. Amino acids D474, M475, R476, which are essential for anti-core antibody binding, form an immunodominant triad at the outer domain/inner domain junction of gp120. The mutation of these residues to alanine impairs viral fusion and fitness. Thus, the core epitope, a frequent target of anti–HIV-neutralizing antibodies, including the broadly neutralizing antibody HJ16, is conserved and indispensible for viral infectivity. We conclude that the core epitope should be considered as a target for vaccine design.


For the Brazilian conditions, the determination of the quality of a potato field, grown for seed purposes cannot be done based only in field inspections. A post control method is already recommended, based on the removal of spheric seed pieces from the crown end of tuber samples and their planting for further determination of their phytosanitary quality. In order to determine the best way for breaking the dormancy of seed pieces of the cv. Aracy (IAC-2) a late cultivar, which ought produce plants of easy determination of secondary infection with the potato leafroll virus (PLRV), a trial was carried out with six treatments in 1983, at Tiete, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The treatments were: 1 - check control; 2 - whole tubers treated with CS2 (30 cc/m3 of chamber during 48 hours) and posterior removal of the eyes; 3 - immersion of the seed pieces in a solution containing 1 ppm of gibberellic acid (G.A.); 4 - the same, in a 2 ppm G.A solution; 5 - treatment 2 plus treatment 3; and 6 - treatment 2 plus treatment 4. The treatment 5 gave the best results. It is discussed the influente of the seed piece treatment in the percentage of a perfect stand, in four consecutive observations, spaced of two weeks; in the height of the plants; in the numbers of leaves in the major stem; in the number of stems per seed piece and in the development of PLRV symptoms.


Help the Aged Muscle function declines with age, as does neurogenesis in certain brain regions. Two teams analyzed the effects of heterochronic parabiosis in mice. Sinha et al. (p. 649) found that when an aged mouse shares a circulatory system with a youthful mouse, the aged mouse sees improved muscle function, and Katsimpardi et al. (p. 630) observed increased generation of olfactory neurons. In both cases, Growth Differentiation Factor 11 appeared to be one of the key components of the young blood. A circulating growth factor promotes youthful muscles and brains in aged mice. In the adult central nervous system, the vasculature of the neurogenic niche regulates neural stem cell behavior by providing circulating and secreted factors. Age-related decline of neurogenesis and cognitive function is associated with reduced blood flow and decreased numbers of neural stem cells. Therefore, restoring the functionality of the niche should counteract some of the negative effects of aging. We show that factors found in young blood induce vascular remodeling, culminating in increased neurogenesis and improved olfactory discrimination in aging mice. Further, we show that GDF11 alone can improve the cerebral vasculature and enhance neurogenesis. The identification of factors that slow the age-dependent deterioration of the neurogenic niche in mice may constitute the basis for new methods of treating age-related neurodegenerative and neurovascular diseases.


Object tracking typically relies on a dynamic model to predict the object's location from its past trajectory. In crowded scenarios a strong dynamic model is particularly important, because more accurate predictions allow for smaller search regions, which greatly simplifies data association. Traditional dynamic models predict the location for each target solely based on its own history, without taking into account the remaining scene objects. Collisions are resolved only when they happen. Such an approach ignores important aspects of human behavior: people are driven by their future destination, take into account their environment, anticipate collisions, and adjust their trajectories at an early stage in order to avoid them. In this work, we introduce a model of dynamic social behavior, inspired by models developed for crowd simulation. The model is trained with videos recorded from birds-eye view at busy locations, and applied as a motion model for multi-people tracking from a vehicle-mounted camera. Experiments on real sequences show that accounting for social interactions and scene knowledge improves tracking performance, especially during occlusions.


This paper synthesises findings from a design method course that focused on a design brief in shared medical decision making. In the paper, design methods is a term describing any action undertaken for a forward movement in the design process. The course is based on a selection of assignments that target intuition, reflection and reflexivity. Although many science disciplines strive to include more elements of active and practice-based learning, design education faces the challenge of integrating theory in a 'designerly' way. The current curriculum offers little opportunity to train these skills together with traditional practice-based ones. However, the complexity of design tasks in interconnected systems with manifold stakeholders and users requires a cohesive design research approach to govern its inherent complexity. Using the findings of this case study, design students can integrate theory in their practical work and welcome the confrontation found in current design research literature, helping them contextualise the meaning of design, be inspired and develop an individual stance on the purpose of design.


Nature uses hierarchical self-assembly to realize fascinating structures with complex architectures from rather simple building blocks. Utilizing this approach, emergent properties arise which are surpassing the sum of properties from the individual components and are inherently coupled to the building blocks and the forces linking them together.
Since the advent of structural DNA nanotechnology, scientists strive to realize artificial structures with ever growing complexity and functionality. DNA origami is a method of choice for the bottom-up assembly of biomimetic systems, as it allows the precise and programmable hierarchical self-assembly at the nanoscale, coupled with sub-nanometer spatial resolution. In this work, the hierarchical self-assembly of different macromolecular structures is guided by programmable DNA interactions and used to construct several different homo- and heterooligomeric systems. The emulation of protein filaments is performed by designing and creating a highly modular DNA origami building block, which can undergo dimerization and multimerization reactions, depending on the addressed interfaces, eventually resulting in more than 15 different filamentous structures with distinct ultrastructures and global elastic properties. The synthetic DNA filaments were analyzed by microscopic data, showing the successful realization of artificial, biomimetic structures with persistence lengths similar to – or even larger than – those of natural protein filaments.
Furthermore, a nanocage for the compartmentalized spatial confinement of proteins and nanoparticles is designed and realized by using the DNA origami approach. By using hierarchical self-assembly, the pathway to a defined multi-compartments system can be well defined and thus allows a multitude of different final structures to be realized. For this purpose, all fundamental units are pre-assembled into reactive species, dimerized and finally characterized by single-particle and ensemble methods. Both temperature and cation concentration are tuned to precisely control the fate of the system.


. The use of automatically learned knowledge for a planning domain can significantly improve the performance of a generic planner when solving a problem in this domain. In this work, we focus on the well-known SAT-based ap-proach to planning and investigate two types of learned knowledge that have not been studied in this planning framework before: macro-actions and planning horizon. Macro-actions are sequences of actions that typically occur in the solution plans, while a planning horizon of a problem is the length of a (possibly optimal) plan solving it. We propose a method that uses a machine learning tool for building a predictive model of the optimal planning horizon, and variants of the well-known planner SatPlan and solver MiniSat that can exploit macro actions and learned planning horizons to improve their performance. An experimental analysis illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.


[1] Solar wind controls nonthermal escape of planetary atmospheric volatiles, regardless of the strength of planetary magnetic fields. For both Earth with a strong dipole and Mars with weak remnant fields, the oxygen ion (O+) outflow has been separately found to be enhanced during corotating interaction region (CIR) passage. Here we compared the enhancements of O+ outflow on Earth and Mars driven by a CIR in January 2008, when Sun, Earth, and Mars were approximately aligned. The CIR propagation was recorded by STEREO, ACE, Cluster, and Mars Express (MEX). During the CIR passage, Cluster observed enhanced flux of upwelling oxygen ions above the Earth's polar region, while MEX detected an increased escape flux of oxygen ions in the Martian magnetosphere. We found that (1) under a solar wind dynamic pressure increase of 2–3 nPa, the rate of increase in Martian O+ outflow flux was 1 order higher than those on Earth; and (2) as a response to the same part of the CIR body, the rate of increase in Martian O+ outflow flux was on the same order as for Earth. The comparison results imply that the dipole effectively prevents coupling of solar wind kinetic energy to planetary ions, and the distance to the Sun is also crucially important for planetary volatile loss in our inner solar system.


The processing of the nfκb2 gene product p100 to generate p52 is a regulated event, which is important for the instrumental function of NF-κB. We previously demonstrated that this tightly controlled event is regulated positively by NF-κB-inducing kinase (NIK) and its downstream kinase, IκB kinase α (IKKα). However, the precise mechanisms by which NIK and IKKα induce p100 processing remain unclear. Here, we show that, besides activating IKKα, NIK also serves as a docking molecule recruiting IKKα to p100. This novel function of NIK requires two specific amino acid residues, serine 866 and serine 870, of p100 that are known to be essential for inducible processing of p100. We also show that, after being recruited into p100 complex, activated IKKα phosphorylates specific serines located in both N- and C-terminal regions of p100 (serines 99, 108, 115, 123, and 872). The phosphorylation of these specific serines is the prerequisite for ubiquitination and subsequent processing of p100 mediated by the β-TrCP ubiquitin ligase and 26 S proteasome, respectively. These results highlight the critical but different roles of NIK and IKKα in regulating p100 processing and shed light on the mechanisms mediating the tight control of p100 processing. These data also provide the first evidence for explaining why overexpression of IKKα or its activation by many other stimuli such as tumor necrosis factor and mitogens fails to induce p100 processing.


We study the thermal stability of wurtzite (w) structure ZrAlN coatings by a combination of in situ high-energy x-ray scattering techniques during annealing and electron microscopy. Wurtzite structure Zr1−xAlxN coatings with Al-contents from x = 0.46 to x = 0.71 were grown by cathodic arc evaporation. The stability of the w-ZrAlN phase depends on chemical composition where the higher Al-content coatings are more stable. The wurtzite ZrAlN phase was found to phase separate through spinodal decomposition, resulting in nanoscale compositional modulations, i.e., alternating Al-rich ZrAlN layers and Zr-rich ZrAlN layers, forming within the hexagonal lattice. The period of the compositional modulations varies between 1.7 and 2.5 nm and depends on the chemical composition of the coating where smaller periods form in the more unstable, high Zr-content coatings. In addition, Zr leaves the w-ZrAlN lattice to form cubic ZrN precipitates in the column boundaries.


A test is reported of Midgley and Dowling's contingency model of consumer innovativeness which ascribes adoption of new products to innate innovativeness mediated by product field interest and situational facilitation/inhibition. Kirton's measure of adaptive-innovative cognitive style operationalises innate innovativeness, while Zaichkowsky's measure of personal involvement assesses product field interest. Subjects (127 graduate business school students) were in programs that differed in required use of computer applications. While adaption-innovation and personal involvement explain overall computer use when situational effects are omitted, inclusion of task orientation renders the contribution of cognitive style non-significant. Cognitive style and personal involvement are related to separate elements of computer use. The results are thus non-supportive of the Midgley-Dowling theory. Suggestions for further research are made and a behaviouristic interpretation of the results is discussed as an alternative to the instrumentalist approach of the Midgley-Dowling model. Managerial implications of the findings are briefly considered.


Social computing and enterprise 2.0 trends are reshaping business. Selling is no different. In this work, we examine the theory of behavior-based and outcome-based salesforce control put forth several decades ago in the context of social business. We collect enterprise microblog posts of salespeople and conduct a preliminary empirical study. Our preliminary results indicate that microblog posts written by sellers not on commission are greater in number and more cooperative on average, confirming the propositions of salesforce control theory. However, a different view of the empirical results indicates that there may not be a difference between commission and noncommission sellers in the content of their posts, warranting further study.


A POPULAR THEORY HOLDS THAT "SWING" STEMS specifically from asynchronous timing between bass and drums in their shared articulation of the beat, a phenomenon Charles Keil has dubbed "participatory discrepancies" (PDs; Keil, 1987). The "push and pull" between these instruments purportedly generates a "productive tension" thought to drive the groove with energy. This paper presents the results of two experiments on the perception of PDs. Experiment 1 employed synthetic recordings of a conventional swing groove in which the onset asynchronies between bass and drums were varied. Participants used three listening strategies to perceive the asynchrony and its purported effects. Experiment 2 employed recordings of professional jazz musicians and tested for the effects of learning in the perception of PDs. Little evidence emerged from either experiment in support of the PD framework. An alternative proposal drawn from metric entrainment theory explains the effects of PDs as more limited and local than previously thought.