Gompers et al. [Gompers, P., Ishii, J., Metrick, A., 2003. Corporate governance and equity prices. Quarterly Journal of Economics 118, 107-155] created G-Index, a summary measure of corporate governance based on 24 firm-specific provisions, and showed that more democratic firms are more valuable. Bebchuk et al. [Bebchuk, L., Cohen, A., Ferrell, A., 2005. What matters in corporate governance? Working Paper, Harvard Law School] created an entrenchment index based on six provisions underlying G-Index, and found it to fully drive the Gompers et al. (2003) valuation results. Both G-Index and the entrenchment index are based on IRRC data that is comprised of anti-takeover measures, focusing on external governance [Cremers, K.J.M., Nair, V.B., 2005. Governance mechanisms and equity prices. Journal of Finance 60, 2859-2894]. We create Gov-Score, a summary governance measure based on 51 firm-specific provisions representing both internal and external governance, and we show that a parsimonious index based on seven provisions underlying Gov-Score fully drives the relation between Gov-Score and firm value. Our results support the Bebchuk et al. (2005) findings that only a small subset of provisions marketed by corporate governance data providers are related to firm valuation, and the Cremers and Nair (2005) evidence that both internal and external governance are linked to firm value. The 51 governance provisions we consider include five that are relevant to accounting and public policy: stock option expensing, and four that are audit-related. We find none of these five measures to be related to firm valuation. We document that only one of the seven governance provisions important for firm valuation was mandated by either the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 or the three major US stock exchanges. We provide researchers with an alternative measure of governance to G-Index with three distinct advantages: (1) broader in scope of governance, (2) covers more firms, and (3) more dynamic, reflecting recent changes in the corporate governance environment.


This empirical study adopts an open-economy loanable funds model to investigate the impact of post-Bretton Woods U.S. federal government budget deficits and personal income tax rates on the ex post real interest rate yield on thirty-year Treasury bonds. In this study, the budget deficit is measured in two different ways, the total ("unified") budget deficit and the primary deficit (the total/unified deficit minus net interest payments). Two different estimation techniques, autoregressive two stage least squares estimation and the ARCH (Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity) Method, for the 1973-2016 study period provide evidence that the ex post real interest rate yield on thirty-year Treasury bonds has been an increasing function of both federal budget deficit measures (expressed as a percent of GDP) and the maximum marginal federal personal income tax rate. The estimations all imply that elevating either the total/unified or primary federal budget deficit appears to raise the cost of borrowing in the U.S., whereas reducing the maximum marginal personal income tax rate appears to reduce the cost of borrowing. Given the potential effects of longer-term real interest rates on investment in new plant and equipment and overall economic growth, policy-makers should not overlook these findings.


In this paper, we estimate the effect of maternal displacements during pregnancy on birth outcomes by leveraging population-level administrative data from Brazil on formal employment linked to birth records. We find that involuntary job separation of pregnant single mothers leads to a decrease in birth weight (BW) by around 28 grams (-1% ca.) and an increase in the incidence of low BW by 10.5%. In contrast, we find a significant positive effect on the mean BW and a decrease in the incidence of low BW for mothers in a marriage or stable union. We document more pronounced negative effects for single mothers with lower earnings and no effect for mothers in the highest income quartile, suggesting a mitigating role of self-insurance from savings. Exploiting variation from unemployment benefits eligibility, we also provide evidence on the mitigating role of formal unemployment insurance using a Regression Discontinuity design exploiting the cutoff from the unemployment insurance eligibility rule.


As design educators at Zayed University, Dubai, in the UAE we believe in the educational capacities of social innovation and in the exploration of new models and processes of systemic design. Particularly in the field of education, continuous innovation is both necessary and possible if we are to imagine new ways for young people to realize their full potential.

The current higher education system in the Middle East and South Asian regions often represents a socially narrow and dated curriculum that is especially limited in its ability to cultivate empathetic, driven and holistic young leaders and changemakers. Our education system in the UAE has not evolved yet to be imaginative, integrated, or reflective of the complex realities youth experience. Social innovation in education allows for re-imagining how we may create spaces for creative youth engagement and develop models that enable young people to realize their potential as changemakers. The question we explored was 'How might we co-design an immersive, transformative, and sustainable changemaker pathway for social innovation?' To do this, we leveraged community initiative and institutional support from Zayed University to build a platform to social innovation named INNOCO (Innovation and Co-design). Simply put, INNOCO actively supports young people interested in building their capacities as changemakers. Hence, it strives to disrupt a linear educational approaches and builds on the need for a paradigm shift in education in the region.

In three (3) years INNOCO has developed a research framework that has been successfully implemented and has already been modeled for a partner project at Zayed University; has facilitated a youth engagement program with participants in UAE and Nepal; and, has chronicled the changemaker journeys of program participants through quantitative and qualitative narratives. Through these cumulative processes, youth explored ways in which they could connect, collaborate and contribute to their larger communities. The proposed paper will detail the following critical aspects of our work with the hope that an engaged audience of educators and systems thinkers may learn from our shared experiences and enrich our collective knowledge.

Values of Co-design and Commitment to Social Innovation

Co-design was and continues to be a guiding principle in our work. We understand it to be an approach that fosters inclusivity, participation and celebration of collective ownership and achievement. Our efforts to implement principles of co-design into all aspects of vertical learning took shape in brainstorming and feedback sessions, open communication with participants through accessible platforms, and in regular meeting sessions to reflect on program activities and identify strength and improvement opportunities. Although the processes for co-design can be slow, complex and highly iterative, we believe it to be a promising pathway to social change allowing community participation. From 2015-2018 our co-design process involved approximately 116 experts, facilitators and organizations from diverse backgrounds and sectors. When done right, co-design can yield lasting, meaningful impacts that permeate through individual, community and systemic levels.

The value we assigned to co-design was also instrumental in deepening our understanding of social innovation. The term 'social innovation' has become increasingly popular and can mean different things to different people. We brought diverse voices and perspectives together following the principles of co-design and appreciative inquiry to clarify collective vision and to support individuals for their capacity development. We are committed to social innovation as initiatives that 'are not only good for society but also enhance society's capacity to act.' (Hubert et.al., 2010).

Research framework

Our research model is a human-centered and evidence-informed one titled 'ME=WE' that resonates with the Panarchy Theory to understand the systemic and symbiotic relationships between self (ME) and society (WE). The framework focuses on 'action and reflection' contributing to social change that one can affect at an individual, community and systemic level (Lampel 2003).

Wise and diverse communities across our world adopt this simple philosophy. In Indonesia the

Balinese principle of 'tattwa masi' translates to 'you are we and we are you'. Similarly, the South African philosophy of "Ubuntu" teaches that our humanity is reflected in the achievements and humanity of others, intrinsically connecting the 'self' with the collective. This framework also manifests in the Mobius strip, a mathematical phenomena that demonstrates infinite and continuous movement and sprouting growth.

The ME=WE framework acts as a pathway that begins with the individual as a changemaker who engages with their community and systemic change through a continuous cycle of growth, action and reflection. The individual journey mirrors the expansive and moving structure of this framework as they engage in activities grounded in empathy, trust, creative confidence and communication. Through this work, the individual experiences growth points between action and reflection allowing for enriching their knowledge and capacities and deepening appreciative inquiry mode as continuously leaping from ME to WE and WE to ME.

Program Tools

A flexible and imaginative program as a series of independent workshops or an intensive 9-day bootcamp was developed to facilitate socially minded youth engagement. The program objective is to build collective capacity in planning and developing entrepreneurial and/or community-driven service projects. Workshop sessions introduced youth to hands-on and experiential learning through empathy driven tools, storytelling techniques, value proposition canvas, design thinking practices and more.

The INNOCO program was piloted with youth in UAE and in Nepal in varying forms. In UAE (2016-2017) a six month workshop series was implemented where 20 youth experienced learning and collaboration however, participants were not ready to move forward with social enterprise projects. In Nepal (2016 – 2018), the program was initially piloted with select youth and evolved into a 9-day innovation bootcamp with 18 youth. The innovation bootcamp was well-received by youth who continue to be engaged with social change for their communities. The program also included a mentorship component where seven mentors were identified and recruited from Nepal and internationally, matched with youth mentees to foster intimate relationships of learning and expansion. At the end of the Nepal bootcamp, (9) ideas were pitched to a panel of community judges, out of which (7) have emerged as viable projects in development.

Impact Stories

The impacts of our work are illustrated through quantitative and qualitative data collected at different stages of the Nepal run program. While our impact assessment data is primarily qualitative gathered through transcribed one-on-one in-depth interviews, quantitative data was also collected through post program surveys.

Analysis of the quantitative narratives shows that the program was highly rated by participants especially in the areas of bootcamp environment and cultivating culture. These were critical areas for us as we attempted to create an unconventional learning environment and culture that valued co-design where youth could contribute to the process in fulsome ways. On a scale of 1-5 (5 is very satisfied; 1is unsatisfied) participants rated key areas of their experience, below is a snapshot of average rating scores: Workshop Quality: 4.1 / 5; Content Relevance: 4 / 5; Culture & Space: 4.6 / 5; Expectations Met: 4 / 5; Interaction: 4.2 / 5; Creative confidence: 4 / 5.

The qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews was used to develop a set of illustrated changemaker stories to further our Knowledge Translation and Exchange (KTE) efforts. The stories follow youth participants who completed the INNOCO program and demonstrate the transformative change they experienced that led to actions on individual, community and systemic levels.

The seven viable projects that emerged from the Nepal bootcamp, are in there initial developmental or operational phases. This includes a literacy and reading program in a rural community; a homestay for women facing domestic violence; a hydroponic farm; and a kiwi farm and waste management system. The Nepal youth group also realized their vision by registering as the Nepal Youth Innovators (NYI), a space for young people to connect to like minded changemakers and cultivate meaningful connections and collaborations to better contribute to social change.

In summary, the key areas of co-design as an overarching value enabled redefining the ME=WE framework that was then translated into a comprehensive and flexible set of program tools for youth engagement. The impacts of this social innovation model in its entirety is both powerful and promising for future work. The ME=WE framework has already been used as the foundation for another project based at Zayed University that aims to innovate food systems, and at Impact Hub at Georgian University in the USA. The program tools will soon be shared on an online platform for youth, educators and/or academics to easily access and adapt for their local communities. We believe that INNOCO is a strong example of a social innovation pathway that cultivates young changemakers and a study in co-designing alternative forms of learning that disrupt linear models. As one of the Nepal youth participants so aptly states "What we learn in schools is not everything, I want kids and young adults to learn life skills that will bring out the best person that they can be"


Collaterals, which develop in response to ischemic stimuli derived from coronary artery disease (CAD), contribute to reduction of infarct size, left ventricular dysfunction, and mortality. However, there is considerable variation among patients with coronary heart disease regarding the extent of coronary collateral development (CCD). In this study, we aimed to investigate the association of the degree of platelet activation via mean platelet volume (MPV) with coronary collateral circulation. Therefore, 210 patients who underwent coronary angiography and had coronary stenosis ≥50 % in at least one coronary artery were included in the study. Clinical information and analyses of blood samples were obtained from a review of the patients' chart. Blood samples for MPV were analyzed by K3 EDTA and collateral vessels were graded according to the Rentrop classification. In the study group, 150 of the 210 patients were found to have inadequate CCD. Although there was no difference between the two groups with regard to platelet count, MPV levels were significantly higher in the patients who had inadequate CCD (11.3 ± 1.0 fl vs. 9.5 ± 1.5 fl, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the Gensini score was significantly lower in patients who had inadequate CCD (45 ± 46 vs. 91 ± 35, p < 0.001). MPV, Gensini score, age, female gender, total cholesterol, red cell distribution width, triglyceride, and fasting glucose levels were found to have univariate association with poor CCD. In multivariate logistic regression model, MPV (OR = 2.45, p < 0.001) and Gensini score (OR = 0.98, p < 0.001) were found to be the independent predictors of impaired CCD. In receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, optimal cut-off value of MPV to predict inadequate CCD was found as >9.6 fl, with 96% sensitivity and 84.7% positive predictive value. In conclusion, we can say that MPV is an important, simple, effortless, and cost effective tool and can be useful in predicting the CCD in patients with significant CAD.


Recent progress in neural network verification has challenged the notion of a convex barrier, that is, an inherent weakness in the convex relaxation of the output of a neural network. Specifically, there now exists a tight relaxation for verifying the robustness of a neural network to `∞ input perturbations, as well as efficient primal and dual solvers for the relaxation. Buoyed by this success, we consider the problem of developing similar techniques for verifying robustness to input perturbations within the probability simplex. We prove a somewhat surprising result that, in this case, not only can one design a tight relaxation that overcomes the convex barrier, but the size of the relaxation remains linear in the number of neurons, thereby leading to simpler and more efficient algorithms. We establish the scalability of our overall approach via the specification of `1 robustness for CIFAR-10 and MNIST classification, where our approach improves the state of the art verified accuracy by up to 14.4%. Furthermore, we establish its accuracy on a novel and highly challenging task of verifying the robustness of a multi-modal (text and image) classifier to arbitrary changes in its textual input.


A new integration based fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) called IEM has been proposed to implement lifetime extraction [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A25, 1190 (2008)]. A real-time hardware implementation of the IEM FLIM algorithm suitable for single photon avalanche diode arrays in nanometer-scale CMOS technology is now proposed. The problems of reduced pixel readout bandwidth and background noise are studied and a calibration method suitable for FPGA implementation is introduced. In particular, the relationship between signal-to-noise ratio and background noise is considered based on statistics theory and compared with a rapid lifetime determination method and maximum-likelihood estimator with-without background correction. The results are also compared with Monte Carlo simulations giving good agreement. The performance of the proposed methods has been tested on monoexponential decay experimental data. The high flexibility, wide range, and hardware friendliness make IEM the best candidate for system-on-chip integration to our knowledge.


This chapter is a reflection of my 16 year journey in learning to teach math to school children... My inquiry into a different system of math teaching started when I saw the way some children arrived in my classes with broken self esteem due to their failure in learning the subject. I felt the need for a different math – The way of joy! My journey has spanned explorations into 'what works, how and why?' I have worked on instilling skills of math, but focused more on developing a healthy attitude to math and one's relation with it. I have worked on building in children the 'emotional strength' to face their aptitude as it is. Through this quest, I am approaching a system of math that uses multiple strategies of teaching. This chapter is an accumulation of few of the strategies. It is working for me!


Human civilization had been through along with the evidence of history. The city of Malang has its own history which been proved by its buildings as the eyewitnesses. As a part of Indonesian History, Malang contributed to colonialism era in which colored this nation efforts during the independence through its buildings which became the evidence of what happened. The existence of these buildings were important for the record of history, not just political stories but also how did people acted in it. Ignorance of these could erase the history of Malang, in which could stop the transfer information about what did Malang. In this case identified and re-constructed history of Malang is needed to re-built its identity. Through this agenda by historical-description hoped Malang Identity could be found and the building form could re-arranged through its character. If this action done, development of Malang city would be synergy with its own history and identity. Keywords: conservation, history, colonialism


The skew, irrespective of the mean and variance, of investors' interest rate expectations may affect required bond yields over expected short rates. Indeed, evidence suggests that the near-term skew of the option-implied distribution of expected short-term interest rates correlates with distant-horizon term premiums, as derived from a latent-factor affine term structure model (ATSM). Reduced-form models that include skew generally fit the data well and actually better "explain" variation in the term premium during the so-called "conundrum" than during other periods of the May 1989 to May 2006 sample. Moreover, estimates suggest that skew accounts for over half of the movement in term premiums during the "conundrum," considerably more than any other correlate. Caveats regard the term structure of skew as well as alternative measures of the term premium. Indeed, regression analysis of movements in term premiums is plagued by specification bias on both the left- and right-hand-side of the equation.


Abstract Internet users have access to a multitude of science-related information – on journalistic news sites but also on blogs with user-generated content. In this context, we investigated in two studies the factors which influence laypersons' selective exposure (N = 101). In an experiment with a collection of online news, parents were asked to search for information about the controversy surrounding violence in the media. Texts from high-reputation sources were clicked on more frequently – regardless of content –, whereas ratings by others had limited effects. In a second experiment, the expertise and gender of blog authors as well as valence and number of ratings were varied. In this setting, texts from sources with positive ratings were read for longer. Results show that laypersons make use of credibility cues when deciding which articles to read. For online news sites, media reputation is most important, whereas in blogs, ratings are taken into account more frequently.


This research investigated combining the use of modern surveying techniques
and the Internet for the documentation of the historically significant
information contained within an industrial heritage site. A cost-effective and
economical procedure has been developed for the capture of the data in the
field and the presentation of this data in a web site.
The industrial heritage sites of Australia contain a vast resource of historical
information. These sites are perhaps the most difficult reminders of our past to
deal with in terms of conservation and preservation. The industrial sites under
the greatest threat are abandoned mine sites. These abandoned mines often
pertain directly to the past development and growth of many regional areas,
thereby providing an important link to the pioneering men and women of the
district.
By using the abandoned Silverspur mine near Texas, this project has
researched the application of surveying and the Internet in the collection and
documentation of the historical data associated with such a site. The project
has found that the application of this technology for these purposes is possible,
and could be employed by a mining company or relevant heritage committee.
The compilation and presentation of this data before it is lost will provide the
public with a valuable insight into Australia's past.


Economic migration has become a global trend. The movement of people and goods within and beyond territorial boundaries is a phenomenon synonymous with the twentieth century. In the Southern African region, migratory processes were accelerated by the 19 century mineral discoveries in the Cape and Transvaal. Mozambique, particularly its southern regions, was drawn into the South Africandominated economy in a service capacity, as the supplier of migrant labour, principally for the Transvaal. The mineral wealth and the development it generated made South Africa the dominant economy in the region, drawing in migrant labour from surrounding states. Today, mining activities and the Transvaal are no longer the main attraction for many Mozambicans who enter South Africa, as they have spread throughout the country since the ending of apartheid. This study is focused on Durban, where a combination of push and pull factors continues to impel Mozambicans to arrive in search of economic opportunities. The majority, who are from the rural areas of the southern provinces, without education and formal qualifications, enter South Africa illegally and without documentation. Migrants use informal networks and the informal sector, as a means of overcoming the various obstacles to entry imposed by the states on both sides of the frontier, and their inability to compete for jobs in the formal sector. Economic and social integration of Mozambicans in Durban has evolved around informality and it can be argued that if the Mozambicans in this study have achieved a certain degree of integration, this has been due to successful mobilization of resources provided by informal networks and the informal sector. Linguistic affinities and geographical proximity also play a significant role in the process. The study looks at various informal economic opportunities exploited by Mozambicans, including an expanding cross bordertrade based on high mobility between the two countries. It focuses mainly on the varied ways Mozambicans in Durban achieve a degree of economic and social integration. Literature and debates on international migration and on informality lay a foundation for the approach to the study, which is based on an historical overview of migration between the two states and fieldwork in Durban and southern Mozambique.


Why build robot models of animals and their nervous systems? One answer is that in building a robot model of a target organism, that mimics sufficiently some aspects of that animal's body, brain and behaviour, we can expect to learn a good deal about the original creature. Synthesis (engineering) is quite different from analysis (reverse-engineering), often easier, and teaches fascinating lessons (Braitenberg, 1986). Another answer is that a robot model should allow us to conduct experiments, that will help us better understand the biological system, and that would be impossible or at least much more difficult to perform in the original animal (Rosenblueth andWiener, 1945). In this chapter our target organism is the rat and our specific focus is on the sophisticated tactile sensory system provided by that animal's facial whiskers (vibrissae). Neurobiology shows us that the brain nuclei and circuits that process vibrissal touch signals, and that control the positioning and movement of the whiskers, form a neural architecture that is a good model of how the mammalian brain, in general, co-ordinates sensing with action. Thus, by building a robot whisker system, we can take a significant step towards building the first robot 'mammal'. Following a short review of relevant rat biology, this chapter will describe the design and development of two whiskered robot platforms—Whiskerbot and SCRATCHbot—that we have constructed in order to better understand the rat whisker system, and to test hypotheses about whisker control and vibrissal sensing in a physical brain-based device. We provide a description of each platform, including mechanical, electronic and software components, discussing, in relation to each component, the design constraints we sought to meet and the trade-offs made between biomimetic ideals and engineering practicalities. Some results obtained using each platform are described together with a brief outline of future development plans. Finally, we discuss the use of biomimetic robots as scientific models and consider, using the example of whiskered robots, what contribution robotics can make to the brain and behavioural sciences.


Hear about the evolution of Javascript from a panel of experts who have taken it from an idea to where it stands today, and learn what is on the horizon for the little scripting language that became one of the most popular programming languages in the world.


This article presents an investigation into the usage of shareable feedback tags as a way of delivering feedback to three different cohorts of programming students. A series of research questions are examined; these include investigating any perceived benefit from students using feedback tags and exploring how students interact with their feedback. Results indicate that students with both the lower and higher marks in a cohort are more likely to opt to share their feedback and programming work than students with mid-ranged marks. A variety of reasons, both for and against sharing, given by students are discussed. Six categories of student behaviour exhibited during interaction with their feedback have been identified in this article. This article has shown that feedback tags can be used successfully as a form of shareable feedback and that a number of future research possibilities exist that can extend this topic.


As journalism undergoes widespread changes, it finds itself in a 'new normal'. Research seeking to understand these changes by surveying journalists faces new methodological hurdles that span different stages of the survey process. This article identifies the key contemporary challenges when it comes to sampling, instrument design, and distribution. Best research practices in identifying a target population, sampling, selecting or developing measures, and maximizing the likelihood of participation are presented and discussed. Advice is also offered to help peer reviewers identify common shortcomings in surveys of journalists and encourage authors to engage with the limitations of their work.


In Part Two in a series on fiduciary investment matters, the author focuses on how portfolio choice interacts with trust distribution policies to produce wealth flows to current and future trust beneficiaries. The author first frames the discussion through an examination of portfolio effects on beneficiary wealth during an extended period of historical returns. Next, the author examines whether different distribution choices, from simple income-only choices to more complex unitrust methods, can significantly impact wealth flows to beneficiaries. The author finds that in terms of wealth effects to all parties, portfolio choice dominates distribution policy choice over the period examined, although distribution policy can mitigate year-to-year variations in wealth flows. This conclusion leads to a recommendation that fiduciaries should move beyond the traditional balanced portfolio to incorporate asset classes that have a higher risk-return profile to ensure long-term portfolio performance.


Hydrologic scientists and water resource managers often focus on different facets of flow regimes in changing climates. The objective of this work is to examine potential hydrological changes in the Upper Boise River Basin, Idaho, USA in the context of biophysical variables and their impacts a key variable governing administration of water resources in the region in an integrated way. This snowmelt-dominated, mountainous watershed supplies water to a semi-arid, agriculturally intensive, but rapidly urbanizing, region. Using the Envision integrated modeling framework, we created a hydrological model to simulate hydrological response to the year 2100 using six alternative future climate trajectories. Annual discharge increased from historical values by 6–24% across all simulations (with an average 13% increase), reflecting an increase in precipitation in the climate projections. Discharge peaked 4–33 days earlier and streamflow center of timing occurred 4–17 days earlier by midcentury. Examining changes in the date junior water rights holders begin to be curtailed regionally (the Day of Allocation), we found that the it occurs at least 14 days earlier by 2100 across all simulations, with one suggesting it could occur over a month earlier. These results suggest that current methods and policies of water rights accounting and management may need to be revised moving into the future.


Abstract : The World Wide Web is one of the most important ways for your organization to publish information, interact with Internet users, and establish an e-commerce business presence. However, if you are not rigorous in securely configuring and operating a public Web site, you leave yourself and your organization vulnerable to a variety of security problems. You could find yourself in an embarrassing situation because malicious intruders have changed the content of your Web pages. Compromised Web sites have served as the entry point for intrusions into an organization's internal networks for the purpose of accessing confidential information. Your organization can face business losses or legal action if an intruder successfully violates the confidentiality of customer data. Denial of-service attacks can make it difficult, if not impossible, for users to access your Web site. This is especially critical if you are using your site to conduct business. The practices recommended here are designed to help you mitigate the risks associated with these and several other known security problems. They build upon and assume the implementation of all practices described in the security module Securing Network Servers Allen 00. You need to ensure that you first configure a secure general purpose server before tailoring its configuration to operate as a public Web server.


Basaltic volcanism provides a window into the Earth's mantle. Seeing through this window requires seeing through the processes of magma genesis and evolution that distort the view. Radiogenic isotope ratios, and to a lesser extent incompatible elements and stable isotope ratios, allow us to see through these distortions and infer the nature and evolution of various mantle magma sources. Geochemical studies of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) reveal that the upper mantle was long ago depleted in incompatible elements through previous episodes of melt extraction, likely associated with crust formation. Oceanic island basalts (OIB) are the products of mantle plumes and hence provide us with a view of the deepest parts of the Earth's mantle. These plumes can be divided into several genera, EMI, EM II, and HIMU, most of which contain several species. Little or no mixing is observed between these genera, but all mix with a prevalent mantle component, PREMA, that contributes to many if not all plumes. Although the mantle comprising plumes also show evidence of previous melt extraction events, the more prominent chemical signature is of material anciently recycled from the Earth's surface through subduction of oceanic crust and sediment, subduction erosion, and foundering of lower continental crust. This is most unambiguously manifest in variations in stable isotope ratios that could only have been produced at or near the surface of the Earth. In addition to a recycled component, many plumes also contain a quite primitive component, manifested primarily in their noble gas isotope ratios. The primitive component seems most closely associated with PREMA.

In contrast to hot spot and mid-ocean ridge volcanism, subduction-related volcanism allows an assessment of the flux into the Earth's mantle. It was apparent from early Pb isotope data that sediment was subducted along with oceanic crust, an observation later dramatically confirmed by the discovery of cosmogenic 10Be in subduction zone magmas. Because of this sediment, the flux into the mantle at subduction zones is more incompatible-element enriched than MORB. Although some fraction of this material is extracted into subduction zone magmas, a variety of approaches reveal that the flux into the deep mantle remains incompatible-element enriched. Other studies, particularly geophysical ones, indicate that this subduction flux is substantially augmented by subduction erosion of the overriding plate. Over Earth's history these processes together with continental crustal founding may have delivered a volume of material equal to the present volume of the continents.

The discovery that all modern terrestrial rocks have an excess of 142Nd, which is the decay product of the extinct radionuclide 146Sm, compared to chondrites, reopens the question of the Earth's composition. One important implication is that the concentrations of heat producing elements, U, Th, and K, may be 25 % or more lower than previously thought. Another implication is that the depleted source of MORB may constitute a very large fraction of the mantle, perhaps nearly all of it. On the other hand, the heat flow from the core may be substantially greater than previously thought. This implies that the lowermost mantle and the core-mantle boundary layer may play a dominant role in driving mantle convention, and ultimately all geologic processes. Geophysical evidence is revealing that the lowermost mantle is indeed a dynamic and interesting region. The challenge for mantle geochemists is to integrate their observations with those of geophysicists and progress is slowly being made in this respect.


In this paper, we introduce the margin adaptation problem for both single and multiuser OFDM systems and illustrate its optimal solution. Due to the high complexity and long execution time of this solution, simple solutions of this problem have been studied by applying algorithms having lesser complexities and hence reduced the execution time of the allocation algorithm. These algorithms where applied in Rayleigh fading channels, we further investigate the performance of these algorithms in Nakagami-m fading channel, and simulation results are presented.


. This article describes a HMM-based word-alignment method that can selectively enforce a contiguity constraint . This method has a direct application in the extraction of a bilingual terminological lexicon from a parallel corpus, but can also be used as a preliminary step for the extraction of phrase pairs in a Phrase-Based Statistical Machine Translation system. Contiguous source words composing terms are aligned to contiguous target language words. The HMM is transformed into a Weighted Finite State Transducer (WFST) and contiguity constraints are enforced by specific multi-tape WFSTs. The proposed method is especially suited when basic linguistic resources (morphological analyzer, part-of-speech taggers and term extractors) are available for the source language only.


(Level Of Consumers Preferences On Coffee Blend Of Robusta And Arabica) ABSTRACT . Coffee is the third most consumption beverage after water and tea. The popularity of coffee as beverage makes coffee consumption becomes a habit in rural and urban communities. Arabica and robusta coffee is the most widely sell in the market. Both have distinctive characteristics, arabica has an excellent taste and high selling prices, whereas robusta has high productivity and affordable by the consument. Improving the quality and price of coffee, this study conducted robusta and arabica coffee blending and acceptance tested using the 32 respondents who are semi-skilled respondents. Hedonic test is done to see consumer acceptance of blended coffee between robusta and arabica with a ratio of 3: 1, 2: 1, 1: 1 and robusta as control. The parameters observed were color, aroma, flavor, acidity, body, after taste and overall, using a Likert scale. Respondents consisted of 59.4% men and 40.6% women, with the age range 16 times a week, where the most respondents consume coffee instant. The result of hedonic test of four types of coffee served, male preferred blended coffee 3: 1 specially color, aroma and flavor. However female also prefer blended coffee 3: 1 with dominant variable color and aroma. The correlation between age and the variables especially taste and after-taste for the older male respondents increasingly like the taste of coffee served, and in contrary with the women .


HCC is the most common type of cancer, often induced by viral infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV). Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is an important cytokine upon liver damage as in wound healing and liver fibrosis due to its proapoptotic, antiproliferative and immunosuppressive functions on the epithelium. This work investigated the impact of HBV and HCV infection on TGF-β dependent signaling, its outcome and on the progression of chronic liver disease to HCC.
cDNA microarrays were generated of primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) infected with HBV and treated with TGF-β for 1 and 24hrs, respectively. Gene expression analysis revealed that HBV regulated p53 and mTOR signaling pathway, the latter one known as being downstream of the Akt survival signaling pathway. Upon TGF-β treatment, HBV infection abrogated TGF-β signaling in PHHs and reduced the number of TGF-β regulated target genes. HepG2.2.15 cells, which replicate HBV, show decreased Smad3 phosphorylation and transcriptional activity, and impaired TGF-β induced apoptosis. HBV replication increased Akt phosphorylation, but deactivation of Akt by its specific inhibitor LY294002 sensitized HepG2.2.15 cells for TGF-β induced apoptosis. This effect was Smad3 independent. TGF-β induced apoptosis upon Akt deactivation could be reduced by p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580.
To investigate the impact of HCV on TGF-β signaling, Huh7 cells were stably transfected with HCV core protein (Huh7-HCV core cells). In these cells, TGF-β dependent Smad3 phosphorylation and transcriptional activity were reduced, TGF-β induced apoptosis was abolished, and TGF-β target genes involved in cell cycle arrest, like GADD45β, p15, and p21 were downregulated. HCV core protein further induced expression of the pro-fibrotic cytokine connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), which was however TGF-β independent.
In summary, the data of this thesis suggest, that HBV infection and HCV core protein interfere with canonical TGF-β signaling. Upon HBV infection, survival signaling pathways are induced, which counteract TGF-β signaling. Replication of HBV and overexpression of HCV core protein blunted Smad3 signaling and TGF-β induced apoptosis was abrogated. These results indicate that viral infection facilitates the escape of hepatocytes from the TGF-β induced apoptosis to assure viral survival in the hepatocytes.


"In metrics we trust? Prospects & pitfalls of new research metrics" was a one-day workshop hosted by the University of Sussex, as part of the Independent Review of the Role of Metrics in Research Assessment. It took place on Tuesday 7 October 2014 at the Terrace Room, Conference Centre, Bramber House, University of Sussex, UK. This file contains a dataset of 1178 Tweets tagged with #HEFCEmetrics (case not sensitive). These Tweets were published publicly and tagged with #HEFCEmetrics between 02/10/2014 10:18 and 08/10/2014 00:27 GMT. This file was created and shared by Ernesto Priego (Centre for Information Science, City University London) with a Creative Commons- Attribution license (CC-BY) for academic research and educational use. The Tweets contained in this file were collected using Martin Hawksey's TAGS 6.0. This file contains 3 sheets. Only users with at least 2 followers were included in the archive. Retweets have been included. An initial automatic deduplication was performed but data might require further deduplication. The Time column (D) has times in British Summer Time (BST). Please note that both research and experience show that the Twitter search API isn't 100% reliable. Large tweet volumes affect the search collection process. The API might "over-represent the more central users", not offering "an accurate picture of peripheral activity" (Gonzalez-Bailon, Sandra, et al. 2012). It is not guaranteed this file contains each and every Tweet tagged with #HEFCEmetrics during the indicated period, and is shared for comparative and indicative educational and research purposes only. Please note the data in this file is likely to require further refining and even deduplication. The data is shared as is. The contents of each Tweet are responsibility of the original authors. This dataset is shared to encourage open research into scholarly activity on Twitter. If you use or refer to this data in any way please cite and link back using the citation information above. Contact:


The olive pomace erosion wear behavior of carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite (epoxy/CF) has been analyzed. A tribological test was carried out using an in house centrifugal testing setup in order to simulate the environment in olive oil extraction procedure. The environment is composed from a pomace-to-water ratio 70/30. The erosion wear-rate of this composite has been studied at different impact angles (45 deg and 90 deg) and at different impact velocities (200, 1200, 1500, and 2000 rpm). It was demonstrated that both the impact angle and the impact velocity have a significant effect on the carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite erosive wear-rate. The main findings reveal an erosive wear characterized by brittle damage; in fact, micro-cracks at the surfaces and sub-surfaces were found. The damage surfaces were marked by fragmented fibers.


It is now generally accepted that to enable developing countries to compete in the global economy and be in control of their own destiny, the development of higher education (HE) should be a vital part of policy. The Kenyan economy is at a tipping point where skilled graduates are required but a lack of funding for HE means that only a small number of students are entering university each year. The aspirations of increasing numbers of qualified students are not being met. Without exploiting the potential of its population Kenya will remain impoverished. At the time of writing this thesis the Kenyan Government had no policy for increasing access to HE. This thesis focuses on tackling this dilemma by establishing a private university franchise operation in Kenya in partnership with London University utilising Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and blended learning. The thesis utilises a case study of such a private HE college in Kenya in partnership with the University of London External Programme. I have been tasked with the management of the design, implementation and evaluation of the institution. The research field contains little assessment of the processes and outcomes of franchised HE in developing countries in Africa. The thesis aims to make a contribution to the research field in this regard. This thesis also looks at the process of creating a blended learning environment from initial problem analysis, through design and development, to implementation and evaluation. It draws on research literature and empirical work including interviews, diaries and questionnaires involving both staff and students. By outlining achievements, challenges, tensions and pitfalls it is hoped that the thesis can have a practical and professional significance and that insights can be drawn for HE institutions and policy makers in developing countries.


Classical logic and probability theory produce in law the troublesome paradox of aggregation: On the one hand, logic seems to tell us that the aggregated likelihood of alternative claims elevates in response to probability's rules; thus, if the plaintiff almost proves claim A and almost proves an alternative but independent claim B, then the plaintiff should win one. On the other hand, because the law requires each claim to meet the standard of proof, and thus refuses to apply the proof standard to the aggregation, the plaintiff loses in actuality; legal scholars despair in consequence — including Ariel Porat and Eric Posner in their new article Aggregation and Law.Fuzzy logic, however, eradicates the aggregation paradox, by showing that the theories' aggregated likelihood equals the most likely theory's likelihood. The law is correct in applying this approach.


Tropical forest canopies are comprised of tree crowns of multiple species varying in shape and height, and ground inventories do not usually reliably describe their structure. Airborne laser scanning data can be used to characterize these individual crowns, but analytical tools developed for boreal or temperate forests may require to be adjusted before they can be applied to tropical environments. Therefore, we compared results from six different segmentation methods applied to six plots (39 ha) from a study site in French Guiana. We measured the overlap of automatically segmented crowns projection with selected crowns manually delineated on high-resolution photography. We also evaluated the goodness of fit following automatic matching with field inventory data using a model linking tree diameter to tree crown width. The different methods tested in this benchmark segmented highly different numbers of crowns having different characteristics. Segmentation methods based on the point cloud (AMS3D and Graph-Cut) globally outperformed methods based on the Canopy Height Models, especially for small crowns; the AMS3D method outperformed the other methods tested for the overlap analysis, and AMS3D and Graph-Cut performed the best for the automatic matching validation. Nevertheless, other methods based on the Canopy Height Model performed better for very large emergent crowns. The dense foliage of tropical moist forests prevents sufficient point densities in the understory to segment subcanopy trees accurately, regardless of the segmentation method.


The ability of an aquatic organism to tolerate wide salinity variations without compromising life processes is termed euryhalinity. This capability requires physiological, biochemical and ecological adaptations. Strategies permitting euryhaline decapods to inhabit aquatic environments with variable salinities have been studied almost exclusively in adults. Although also larval stages have recently received an increasing attention, the salinity tolerance of embryonic stages has remained little known (1). Embryos, larvae and adults of the shrimp Palaemonetes argentinus tolerate a wide range of salinities (1-~25), but osmoregulatory capacities have been demonstrated only in post-embryonic developmental stages (2; 3). As in most other crustaceans, little has been known about osmoregulation during the embryonic phase.


This paper summarizes the findings of a twenty-year-old pre-engineering program that is aimed at improving both the recruitment and retention of under-represented students pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) at Wright State University. The Wright Science Technology and Engineering Preparatory Program (STEPP) was nitiated in 1988 for under-represented, low-income, first-generation college students interested in pursuing higher education. The effectiveness of the program over time is measured from the survey responses from students, average high school grade point average, retention rates of students returning from previous year, students' enrollment in colleges, and percentage of students committed to STEM disciplines. This program serves as a model and a STEM approach valuable in preparing students for higher education.


The success of the enterprise depends heavily on its decisions. Therefore, companies use Business Intelligence (BI) systems to support managers in their decision making process. However, the acceptance and usage of BI systems by end-users (business users) don't reach the expected goals. This is because of the high complexity and the irrelevance of delivered information. Business users can't use these systems to get the right information without relying on power users. The financial and time costs behind the communication between business and power users are high. The goal of this work is to develop a new BI architecture to reduce the complexity of using BI systems and optimize their usage by business users. The proposed solution offers suggestions to business users during their navigation in BI systems. Offering suggestions helps inexperienced business users in performing complex analysis. This is done by transferring the knowledge of power users to business users.


The environmental importance of peatlands has stimulated efforts to restore their specific ecosystem structure and functions. Monitoring and assessment of the ecological state of the peatland is fundamental in restoration programmes. Most studies have focused on the responses of vegetation and, to a lesser extent, on testate amoebae (TA). To our knowledge, none have investigated whether these two groups show concordance in the context of restoration of drained peatland. Here we assess community concordance between TA and vegetation in boreal peatlands belonging to four different land use management classes (natural, drained, restored 3–7 years ago, and restored 9–12 years ago). TA and vegetation communities were concordant when all of the studied sites were compared. However, there was no concordance within management classes except for sites restored 3–7 years ago. We found that TA and vegetation communities are not surrogates of one another when measuring the success of restoration, and that thorough studies of both communities are required to build a holistic understanding of the changes during restoration from an ecosystem perspective. TA seemed to respond faster to changes caused by restoration and, hence, could be better early indicators of restoration success than plants. Furthermore, studies of the relationships between TA and plant communities could provide important insights to aid understanding of the link between the recovery of ecosystem structure and the reinstatement of ecosystem functions.


Heart Failure (HF) is associated with an increased risk of sudden death caused by ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Recent studies have implicated repolarization abnormalities and, in particular, exaggerated heterogeneity of transmural repolarization in the genesis of polymorphic ventricular tachycardia in a canine model of nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. The presence and degree to which conduction abnormalities play a role in arrhythmogenesis in this model are uncertain. HF was produced in dogs by rapid RV-pacing for 3 to 4 weeks. High-resolution optical action potentials were recorded from epicardial and endocardial surfaces of arterially perfused canine wedge preparations isolated from LV and RV of normal and failing dogs. Cellular and molecular determinants of conduction were investigated using patch-clamp recordings, Western blot analysis, and immunocytochemistry. HF was associated with marked prolongation (by 33%) of the QRS duration of the volume conducted electrocardiogram and significant (>20%) slowing of epicardial and endocardial conduction velocities (CV) in both LV and RV. Cx43 expression was reduced by >40% in epicardial and endocardial layers of the LV, but was unchanged in the RV of failing hearts. Despite greater epicardial than endocardial Cx43 expression, epicardial CV was consistently slower (P<0.01). Immunocytochemical analysis revealed predominant colocalization of Cx43 with N-cadherin in normal versus failing samples, because Cx43 was redistributed from the intercalated disk to lateral cell borders in failing tissue. Moreover, a significant (P<0.05) increase in hypophosphorylated Cx43 was detected in the LV and RV of failing hearts. Action potential upstroke velocities in isolated ventricular myocytes from normal and failing hearts were not different (P=0.8, not significant), and Masson trichrome staining revealed no significant change in fibrosis content in HF. Nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy is associated with significant slowing of CV that was not directly related to reduced Cx43 expression. Changes in phosphorylation and localization of Cx43 may contribute to gap-junction dysfunction, CV slowing, and arrhythmias in HF.


Cadmium is a heavy metal that is found in the environment and enters our body through either dietary sources or cigarette smoke. Heavy metals, like cadmium tend to bioaccumulate and induce toxicities by interacting with organic compounds inside the cell. Recent studies have suggested that cadmium may play a role in breast cancer by activating the estrogen receptor (ER) (Antila1996, Stoica et al. 2000, Martin et al. 2003, Johnson et al. 2003). Data from our lab also suggest that acute exposure of cadmium promotes ER‐dependent cell proliferation and induced ER target gene expression (i.e. cyclin D1, Cathepsin D, and c‐myc). However the effects of chronic cadmium exposure are unclear and require further investigation. The current focus of this project is to understand how chronic exposure of cadmium affects breast cancer cell growth. To accomplish this, we have established a cadmium‐breast cancer cell line (MCF‐7 Cd) by maintaining parental ER+ MCF‐7 cells in 10‐7 M cadmium for over 3 months. By comparing the growth and gene expression patterns of MCF7‐Cd and MCF7 cells, we hope to establish an understanding of how chronic cadmium exposure may contribute to the development of breast cancer.


Geosmithia cnesini sp. nov. is a dominant symbiont of the ambrosia beetle Cnesinus lecontei collected from Croton draco in Costa Rica. This fungus is characterised by whitish colonies and penicillate conidiophores with extraordinary large catenate conidia. Graphium scolytodis sp. nov. is described here from the galleries of ambrosia beetle Scolytodes unipunctatus collected from the trunk of a fallen Cecropia angustifolia tree in Costa Rica. This species does not seem to be a nutritional mutualist but rather a stable associate of unknown function. It produces mononematic conidiophores only and is related to Graphium penicillioides.


We derive the equations for a thin, axisymmetric elastic shell subjected to an internal active stress giving rise to active tension and moments within the shell. We discuss the stability of a cylindrical elastic shell and its response to a localized change in internal active stress. This description is relevant to describe the cellular actomyosin cortex, a thin shell at the cell surface behaving elastically at a short timescale and subjected to active internal forces arising from myosin molecular motor activity. We show that the recent observations of cell deformation following detachment of adherent cells (Maître J-L et al 2012 Science 338 253–6) are well accounted for by this mechanical description. The actin cortex elastic and bending moduli can be obtained from a quantitative analysis of cell shapes observed in these experiments. Our approach thus provides a non-invasive, imaging-based method for the extraction of cellular physical parameters.


The second-order parametric lens effect shows a temporal limit as a saturable-absorber device for operation in the ultrafast time region. We present and discuss an extended theoretical model dealing with second-order cascaded processes in a nonstationary condition. Experimentally we report the detection of the time-averaged lens effect in the hundred-of-femtoseconds range, discussing the limits that arise in this ultrafast optical region.


Background: Surgical treatment is preferred in metacarpal and phalangeal fractures in general can be treated surgically with K-wires, screws or hand plates. Lag screws are the implant of choice for this type of fractures. The aim of this work is to evaluate the outcome of fixation of oblique and spiral fractures of phalanges and metacarpals of the hand by interfragmentary mini screws. Patients and methods: Eighteen oblique and spiral fractures were included in this study with 6 metacarpals and 12 phalangeal fractures. Eight spiral and 10 oblique fractures were followed up for 15 to 31 weeks. Gender distributed as seven females and 11 males with Patients' mean age of 35 (range 19 51) years old. In range of motion, functional and radiological results of treatment of oblique and spiral metacarpal and phalangeal fractures by open reduction and internal fixation using interfragmentary mini screws were evaluated. Results: In our study, the mean value of TAM score for both metacarpals and phalanges at the end of follow up (mean 23.1 weeks) was 87% ± 11.6. Final range of motion assessment revealed three (16.7%) fair, two (11.1%) good and thirteen (72.2%) excellent results. There was statistically insignificant difference between the side of the affected hand with phalangeal and metacarpal fractures and end results of final follow up. Conclusion: Oblique and spiral hand fractures have special characters. They are the result of torsional forces and can cause rotational mal-alignment. Interfragmentary mini Lag screws fixation represents a very good method for dealing with such rotationally unstable fractures.


The aim was to evaluate effects of leadership courses based on the developmental leadership model at the leadership behavioral level. A longitudinal design was employed with assessments before, one and six months after the leadership courses. The sample consisted of 59 leaders who made self-ratings and were rated by at least three subordinates on each occasion. Leadership behaviors were measured with the Developmental Leadership Questionnaire (DLQ). A limited increase of favorable leadership behaviors and a significant reduction of unfavorable leadership behaviors were found, particularly according to the subordinates' ratings. A cluster analysis yielded three meaningful leader profiles and showed that this pattern was found in all three profiles, irrespective of how favorably they were rated before the onset of the intervention.


Regional economics – an established discipline for several decades – has gone through a rapid pace of change in the past decade and several new perspectives have emerged. At the same time the methodology has shown surprising development. This volume brings together contributions looking at new pathways in regional economics, written by many well-known international scholars. The most advanced theories, measurement methods and policy issues in regional growth are given in-depth treatment.


When I wrote my first contribution to social justice (then crime and Social Justice) in 1980, I took the meaning of the "social" more or less for granted. The article (O'Malley, 1981) dealing with Australian bushrangers and United States train robbers in the late 19th century focused on episodes of what Eric Hobsbawm (1969) referred to as "social banditry." Social banditry was "social" in the sense that it was organically integrated in its community and supported accordingly. The communities concerned were made up of rural laborers and smallholders, who saw in the bushrangers and train robbers (sometimes erroneously) an embodiment of their own communal sense of injustice. They saw in the bandits men whose "primitive rebellion" was directed against their shared oppressors: large landholders, the banks, railway companies, and the police and other law agents who upheld the law of the rich and powerful. In this way, the article linked "crime" with struggles for "social justice," and so it seemed natural to publish it in this journal. Thinking about crime in such terms, as Left Realist criminologists reminded us (e.g., Kinsey et al., 1986), could generate a romantic image of offending, one shared with much radical criminology of the time, and perhaps it occasionally glorified thugs and ignored victims. Yet the journal's linking of crime and social justice was not meant to lead us to imagine all manner of lumpen thugs as class heroes, as the Left Realists' perspective would suggest. Rather, it was, and still is, concerned inter alia with various connections between crime and social justice. These include: how crime and predation arise out of the brutalization of people suffering social injustice (Platt, 1978); the ways in which people's resistance to oppression and social injustice were legally defined as crime (Brake, 1983); the role of criminal law in reinforcing and defending social injustice (Takagi and Platt, 1978), and so on. This sort of approach, at least in my understanding, was why the journal was then called Crime and Social Justice. Even though crime has moved from being the main focus of the journal, it continues to have a presence on the agenda of Social Justice. (For two examples, see The War on Drugs [Vol. 18, No. 4, 1991] and Justice and the World System [Vol. 21, No. 4, 1994].) Back in 1980, a key part of the significance of the journal was that it took a radical stance on crime. The journal and its contributors helped enormously to challenge and rupture traditional political and academic notions of crime as pathological or evil, of criminal law as natural and good. True, some other, excellent critical criminological journals emerged about the same time or a little later, notably Contemporary Crises. Yet the distinctive contribution of Crime and Social Justice was that it much more explicitly brought together criminology and the study of issues in social justice. This was by no means the norm, especially in the more theoretically driven radical criminologies emanating from Britain that were prominent at the time. A key aim of Crime and Social Justice was to challenge the idea that the justice in terms of which crime was to be understood was the justice that law created. It made clear, in times when this needed to be made clear, that crime and justice could not be divorced from "the social," and that therefore neither could be thought of as merely analytical subjects. Both crime and justice were to be understood from a radical social perspective simultaneously as analytic, political, and moral. I think this is a legacy of which Crime and Social Justice and Social Justice "together" should be proud. In all of this, too, there was a sense that analysis of crime and justice had to take account of social collectivities. Common to the times, the "social" had a tightly integrated, double character. On the one side was a collective civility, a responsibility to all others that we bear as members of an organic whole that is "society. …


It has been reported that DNA of SV40, a virus of Asian macaques that is tumorigenic for rodents and can transform human cells in vitro, is present in pleural mesotheliomas and in several other cancers. To verify these observations, we tested paraffin sections from mesothelioma tissues of 50 patients for SV40 DNA using PCR with two separate sets of primers. The analytic sensitivity for detection of SV40 DNA was 1-10 genome copies. We also tested the specimens for beta-globin by PCR to assess the suitability of the specimen DNAs for amplification. beta-Globin amplification was detected in 48 of the 50 specimens, but SV40 DNA was not detected in any tumors, with either of two SV40 primer sets. Furthermore, sera from 34 additional patients with mesothelioma, 33 patients with osteosarcoma (another cancer reported to be SV40-related) and 35 controls were tested for SV40 antibodies by a plaque neutralization assay. The serological data, like the DNA results, did not support an association of SV40 with mesothelioma or with osteosarcoma; antibodies to SV40 were detected in three mesothelioma patients, in one osteosarcoma patient, and in one control. These findings call into question the association of SV40 with mesothelioma.


In this paper, we present an approach for the optimization of a racecar using vehicle dynamics simulation in a parallelcomputing environment. The use of vehicle dynamics simulations in the automotive and auto racing industries is widespread. Complex vehicle simulations can include hundreds of parameters and be very computationally expensive to perform. This limits the number of design configurations that can be considered within a reasonable time, preventing thorough exploration of the design space. It also limits the usefulness of these simulations during the course a race weekend when time is of the essence. In this paper, we present the initial results from work to overcome this problem. By using distributed computing, the number of vehicle configurations that can be considered as well as the fidelity of the simulation can increase while keeping the execution time reasonable. The results focus on both the computational savings possible and the improved ability of the designer to make effective decisions due to the huge increase in the amount of design information available. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach the optimization of two vehicles will be considered, a two-design variable model and threedesign variable model. These results are compared to previous results that were obtained executing the code on a single processor. Good speedup and excellent scalability is observed as the number of processors is increased from 2 to 32.


Sodium-glucose cotransporter - 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are a novel class of anti-diabetics proven to reduce blood pressure, blood glucose and body weight. However, the long-term cardiovascular (CV) safety implications of these agents remain unclear. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the available clinical trial evidence pertaining to long-term cardiovascular safety of SGLT2 inhibitors. The databases EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched. Randomized controlled trials assessing CV safety of SGLT2 inhibitors compared with placebo or anti-diabetic medications were included. Two investigators independently extracted study data and completed risk of bias assessments (sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding, incomplete outcome data, or selective outcome reporting and other biases). Outcomes included CV death, myocardial infarction, and stroke. A total of 464 studies were identified in the electronic search and 14 from other sources. Sixteen randomized clinical trials were included after full-text review. All studies reported at least one of the pre-defined outcomes (CV death, myocardial infarction, and stroke). Nineteen CV deaths were reported in SGLT2 inhibitors groups versus 10 CV deaths in placebo or other comparator arms; numerically higher in the dapagliflozin arms. The number of CV events was numerically higher in SGLT2 inhibitor groups than in other arms. Risk of bias assessment showed mixed results, with overall quality assessments deemed unclear for 6 of 16 studies (37.5%). Findings showed CV outcomes do occur in patients taking SGLT2 inhibitors yet the clinical significance remains unclear. These results can be considered hypothesis generating, as studies were limited by inadequate power and/or follow-up time. Future longitudinal studies are needed to further assess the efficacy and safety profiles of these new agents before they become widely adopted in clinical practice.


Every year billions of insects undertake long-distance seasonal migrations, moving hundreds of tonnes of biomass across the globe and providing key ecological services. Yet we know very little about the complex migratory movements of these tiny animal migrants and less still about what causes their populations to fluctuate in space and time. Understanding the reason for these population level changes is important, especially for insect species that are agricultural pests and disease vectors. One possible driver of large scale population dynamics in migratory insect species is disease. Migration is a stressful and energetically-costly behaviour. Fighting off, or living with, infections is also costly. In migratory animals that have been exposed to disease this may lead to potential trade-offs between investment in migration and investment in the resistance and tolerance mechanisms associated with infection. Using a combination of rotational flight mills, bioassays and molecular techniques, this thesis uses the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, and its associated baculovirus, S. frugiperda multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SfMNPV), as a model system to describe the trade-off between migratory effort and disease susceptibility, and how this affects disease dynamics at a geographic scale. After a general introduction to the topic (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 uses an inter-species analysis to describe the insect flight patterns associated with migratory behaviour in three species of migratory noctuid moth, linking these with previous work on the upregulation of genes associated with the migratory syndrome and providing evidence of sex-biased dispersal in the fall armyworm. Chapter 3 builds on these results by quantifying the impact of infection on migratory flight behaviour, and provides the first evidence of Bateman's principle in insect migrants by demonstrating that males and females exhibit different developmental and physiological responses to infection, and adopt different flight strategies following virus exposure. To understand how this affects susceptibility, Chapter 4 quantifies the effect of flight effort on resistance to infection, showing that prolonged bouts of flight results in an increase in disease loads but only in populations with low levels of background infection. This provides evidence that the trade-off between flight effort and resistance is context dependent and possibly phenotypically plastic. Finally, Chapter 5 contextualises these laboratory results by investigating fluctuations in disease load across the United States of America. Findings from this study show that the host-pathogen system is relatively stable over large geographic distances and time periods of up to two years. Where variation does occur, there is evidence for 'escape' from infection but that this is often associated with the cost of reduced resource availability in males. Overall the work demonstrates key physiological and behavioural adaptations that enable insects to engage in long-distance migration when faced with competing costs of flight and disease resistance.


Timing side-channels are arguably one of the main sources of vulnerabilities in cryptographic implementations. One effective mitigation against timing side-channels is to write programs that do not perform secret-dependent branches and memory accesses. This mitigation, known as "cryptographic constant-time", is adopted by several popular cryptographic libraries. This paper focuses on compilation of cryptographic constant-time programs, and more specifically on the following question: is the code generated by a realistic compiler for a constant-time source program itself provably constant-time? Surprisingly, we answer the question positively for a mildly modified version of the CompCert compiler, a formally verified and moderately optimizing compiler for C. Concretely, we modify the CompCert compiler to eliminate sources of potential leakage. Then, we instrument the operational semantics of CompCert intermediate languages so as to be able to capture cryptographic constant-time. Finally, we prove that the modified CompCert compiler preserves constant-time. Our mechanization maximizes reuse of the CompCert correctness proof, through the use of new proof techniques for proving preservation of constant-time. These techniques achieve complementary trade-offs between generality and tractability of proof effort, and are of independent interest.


Abstract Background: The aim of this meta-analysis was to systematically update the evidence for mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in women with breast cancer. Material and methods: In October 2016, PubMed, Scopus, and Central were searched for randomized controlled trials on MBSR/MBCT in breast cancer patients. The primary outcome was health-related quality of life. Secondary outcomes were fatigue, sleep stress, depression, anxiety, and safety. For each outcome, standardized mean differences (SMD/Hedges' g) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Risk of bias was assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results: The Literature search identified 14 articles on 10 studies that included 1709 participants. The overall risk of bias was unclear, except for risk of low attrition bias and low other bias. Compared to usual care, significant post-intervention effects of MBSR/MBCT were found for health-related quality of life (SMD = .21; 95%CI = [.04–.39]), fatigue (SMD = −.28; 95%CI = [−.43 to −.14]), sleep (SMD = −.23; 95%CI = [−.40 to −.05]), stress (SMD = −.33; 95%CI = [−.61 to −.05]), anxiety (SMD = −.28; 95%CI = [−.39 to −.16]), and depression (SMD = −.34; 95%CI = [−.46 to −.21]). Up to 6 months after baseline effects were significant for: anxiety (SMD = −.28; 95%CI = [−.47 to −.09]) and depression (SMD = −.26; 95%CI = [−.47 to −.04]); and significant for anxiety (SMD = −.21; 95%CI = [−.40 to −.03]) up to 12 months after baseline. Compared to other active interventions, significant effects were only found post-intervention and only for anxiety (SMD = −.45; 95%CI = [−.71 to −.18]) and depression (SMD = −.39; 95%CI = [−.65 to −.14]). However, average effects were all below the threshold of minimal clinically important differences. Effects were robust against potential methodological bias. Adverse events were insufficiently reported. Conclusions: This meta-analysis revealed evidence for the short-term effectiveness and safety of mindfulness-based interventions in women with breast cancer. However, their clinical relevance remains unclear. Further research is needed.


The U.S. Supreme Court's 1993 Daubert decision directed federal judges to scrutinize the reliability of expert evidence proposed for admission at trial. This study uses a sample of federal district court opinions between 1980 and 1999 to examine how judges, plaintiffs, and defendants responded to the new directive. The authors find that after Daubert, judges increasingly evaluated the reliability of expert evidence. A rise in both the proportion of challenged evidence found unreliable and the proportion of challenged evidence excluded suggests that the standards for admitting evidence tightened. A subsequent fall in these two proportions suggests that the parties proposing and challenging evidence responded to the change in standards. The study also examines how "general acceptance" of proposed evidence in the expert community enters the reliability assessment and which types of evidence were affected by Daubert. The authors caution that even though judges are more actively screening expert evidence, whether they are doing so in ways that produce better outcomes has not been determined. The study concludes by identifying gaps in what is known about how well federal courts screen expert evidence and by recommending research to help fill those gaps.


This paper introduces heterogeneous microeconomic behavior into a demand-driven stock-flow consistent model with endogenous credit creation, so as to study the joint dynamics of both the personal and the functional distribution of income, household debt and aggregate demand. The distinctive feature is in that the aggregation of heterogeneous agents is not performed numerically as in traditional agent-based models, but by means of an innovative analytical methodology, originally developed in statistical mechanics and recently imported into macroeconomics. Numerical and analytical results reveal that while boosting aggregate demand, a raise in the minimum wage and a reduction in wage inequality can also lead the economy toward more sustainable paths in both household debt and the degree of 'financialisation'. These results are shown to be the exact opposite to the observed responses of the economy to a raise in the interest rate charged on bank loans. T H E A U S T R A L I A N N A T I O N A L U N I V E R S I T Y


Bringing together contributions from top specialists in Hispanic studies - both Peninsular and Latin American - this volume explores a variety of critical issues related to the historical, political, and ideological configuration of the field. Dealing with Hispanism in both Latin America and the United States, the book's multidisciplinary essays range from historical studies of the hegemonic status of Castillian language in Spain and America to the analysis of otherness and the uses of memory and oblivion in various nationalist discourses on both sides of the Atlantic. Wide-ranging though they are, these essays are linked by an understanding of Hispanism as a cultural construction that originates with the conquest of America and assumes different intellectual and political meanings in different periods, from the time of national cultural consolidation, to the era of modernization, to the more recent rise of globalization.


This paper is devoted to the control and identification of a manipulator with three anti-parallelogram joints in series, referred to as X-joints. Each X-joint is a tensegrity one-degree-of-freedom mechanism antagonistically actuated with cables and springs in parallel. As compared to manipulators built with simple revolute joints in series, manipulators with tensegrity X-joint offer a number of advantages, such as an intrinsic stability, variable stiffness, and lower inertia. This design was inspired by the musculosleketon architecture of the bird's neck, which is known to be very dextrous. A test-bed prototype is presented and used to test computed torque control laws. Friction and cable elasticity are modeled and identified. Their effect on the performance of control laws is analyzed. It is shown that in the context of antagonistic actuation and lightweight design, friction plays a leading role and the significance of modeling cable elasticity is discussed.


Abstract The mechanical characteristics of the railway superstructure are related to the properties of the ballast, and especially to the particle size distribution of its grains. Under the constant stress-strain of carriages, the ballast can deteriorate over time, and consequently it should properly be monitored for safety reasons. The equipment which currently monitors the railway superstructure (like the Italian diagnostic train Archimede) do not make any "quantitative" evaluation of the ballast. The aim of this paper is therefore to propose a new methodology for extracting railway ballast particle size distribution by means of the image processing technique. The procedure has been tested on a regularly operating Italian railway line and the results have been compared with those obtained from laboratory experiments, thus assessing how effective is the methodology which could potentially be implemented also in diagnostic trains in the near future.


Since the 1970s, plasma's capability to increase gases sterilizing potential has been demonstrated. During the 2000s some studies started to investigate the possibility to use plasmas to add sterilizing properties to non-germicidal gases (air, helium…). Years of studies and development have shown how they can be useful to inactivate different bacteria, spores, fungi and yeasts.

The high amount of variables influencing a plasma bring to big differences in the effects it can have on a biological payload. Several different chemical compounds can be found in a plasma, depending on the kind of gas one is using and the operating conditions one is igniting the plasma with.

In this thesis my work was focused on trying to better understand the differences in sterilizing efficacy of different chemical compounds produced by an atmospheric pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma in air. In particular, the influence of the plasma source design on the Electro-Hydro-Dynamic effect and its products, and the relative importance of NOx species production and concentrations over the Ozone is investigated.


This Thesis reports a full scale study of cognition and mood in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) longitudinally during recovery. Previous studies fail to cover the scope of this study and/or fail to define adequately the syndrome for subject selection. 47 CFS patients were compared with 41 normal and 26 Crohns/colitis controls in a longitudinal study of cognitive performance and depression/anxiety scores. CFS patients performed significantly worse than controls on many of the cognitive tests at first testing. Small but significant differences between CFS and normal controls were found on memory tests (Logical Memory, Word Recognition and, more significantly, Rey Complex Figure) but Crohns/colitis patients scored similarly to CFS, suggesting that this might relate to a general problem such as attention. Much larger and more significant differences between CFS and both control groups were found on tests involving a psychornotor component (e. g. Reaction Time, Finger Tapping and Digit Symbol). CFS patients' performance improved over time (above practise) on word recognition, Stroop (colours), Reaction Time (Movement) and Digit Symbol. CFS patients were significantly more depressed/anxious than the control groups and scored higher on Middlesex Health Questionnaire (Psychiatric). Depression/anxiety did not diminish significantly by second testing. Differences on depression scores accounted for some of the differences in cognitive test performance, in particular Word Fluency and Stroop; however, significant differences remained after ANCOVA removed depression: significant differences remained on Logical Memory, Word Recognition, Digit Symbol, Finger Tapping and Reaction Time. It was concluded that CFS patients were slowed on psychornotor tasks and that this was only partly accountable by depression as suggested by depressed score. CFS patients performed slightly worse on some other tests possibly dependant upon the task demand. Digit Symbol, Reaction Time, and Finger Tapping seemed to be most sensitive to CFS. Brain damage was not necessarily indicated by the results: differences in psychornotor performance could be caused by difficulties in the transmission of instructions to the muscle or slowness in the nerves and muscles themselves. CFS patients' performance significantly improved on a number of tests over time, and did not significantly deteriorate on any test; therefore, the trend of CFS patients' test performance overall was to get better not worse over time.


The pension reforms of the years 2000 until 2007 were supposed to attenuate the foreseeable effects of demographic change on the pension system. This is why the retirement age was raised, the pension level was lowered and a so-called sustainability factor ("Nachhaltigkeitsfaktor") was introduced into the pension formula. This approach meant a fundamental change of objectives - from safeguarding living standards in retirement to the stability of contribution rates. The lower future pension level is to be complemented by the subsidised formation of a private capital stock ("Riester pension") without employer participation. The analysis of the macroeconomic consequences of this reform shows that the chosen policy of enhanced funding both dampens growth and leads to insufficient income in old age. Thus the current strategy is not suitable for alleviating the demographic burden.


The talk will review our current understanding of the structural consequences of post translational modification by phosphorylation. Studies on active and inactive protein kinases have taught us much about the role of the activation segment in control of kinase activity. We have recently solved the structure of the active phosphorylase kinase catalytic domain in complex with a peptide substrate. The peptide sequence was derived from sequences obtained from the peptide library search for kinase specilicities by Cantley and colleagues. The results demonstrate a key role for the activation segment in substrate recognition that is likely to be common for many protein kinases. Studies with the cyclin dependent protein kinase, CDK2, and its phosphorylation by Civl (CAK in vivo), the kinase activating enzyme from S. cerevisiae, have shown that phosphorylalion of CDK2 proceeds more rapidly with CDK2 alone than in the presence of cyclin A. The activity of the phosphorylated CDK2 is ().39f of the fully active CDK2(phosphorylated)-cyclin A complex. The crystal structure of the phosphorylated CDK2 shows an inactive conformation in which the activation segment not localised. The structural results provide an explanation for the low activity, Staurosporine is a potent inhibitor for most but not all protein kinases. Recent structural studies with CDK2-staurosporine complex have shown the structural basis for the potent inhibition of CDK2 and provide possible explanations for lower potency against certain protein kinases such asCDK4 and CKl.


Soft robotic systems have applications in industrial, medical, and security applications. Many applications require these robots to be small and lightweight. One challenge in developing a soft robotic system is to drive multiple degrees-of-freedom (DOF) with few actuators, thereby reducing system size and weight. This paper presents the analysis and design of an inchworm-like mobile robot that consists of multiple, independent thermally activated joints but is driven by a single actuator. To realize control of this under-actuated system, a solder-based locking mechanism has been developed to selectively activate individual joints without requiring additional actuators. The design and performance analysis of a prototype mobile robot that is capable of inchworm-like translational and steering motion is described. The design of novel "feet" with anisotropic friction properties is also described.


Robots that can assist in activities of daily living (ADL) such as dressing assistance, need to be capable of intuitive and safe interaction. Vision systems are often used to provide information on the position and movement of the robot and user. However, in a dressing context, technical complexity, occlusion and concerns over user privacy pushes research to investigate other approaches for human-robot interaction (HRI). We analysed verbal, proprioceptive and force feedback from 18 participants during a human-human dressing experiment where users received dressing assistance from a researcher mimicking robot behaviour. This paper investigates the occurrence of deictic speech in an assisted-dressing task and how any ambiguity could be resolved to ensure safe and reliable HRI. We focus on one of the most frequently occurring deictic words "up", which was captured over 300 times during the experiments and is used as an example of an ambiguous command. We attempt to resolve the ambiguity of these commands through predictive models. These models were used to predict end effector choice and the direction in which the garment should move. The model for predicting end effector choice resulted in 70.4% accuracy based on the user's head orientation. For predicting garment direction, the model used the angle of the user's arm and resulted in 87.8% accuracy. We also found that additional categories such as the starting position of the user's arms and end-effector height may improve the accuracy of a predictive model. We present suggestions on how these inputs may be attained through non-visual means, for example through haptic perception of end-effector position, proximity sensors and acoustic source localisation.


We investigate the effects of aerosol peak height (APH) and various parameters on the air mass factor (AMF) for SO2 retrieval. Increasing aerosol optical depth (AOD) leads to multiple scattering within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and an increase in PBL SO2 AMF. However, under high AOD conditions, aerosol shielding effects dominate, which causes the PBL SO2 AMF to decrease with increasing AOD. The height of the SO2 layer and the APH are found to significantly influence the PBL SO2 AMF under high AOD conditions. When the SO2 and aerosol layers are of the same height, aerosol multiple scattering occurs dominantly within the PBL, which leads to an increase in the PBL SO2 AMF. When the APH is greater than the SO2 layer height, aerosol shielding effects dominate, which decreases the PBL SO2 AMF. When the SO2 and aerosol layers are of the same height under low AOD and solar zenith angle (SZA) conditions, increased surface reflectance is found to significantly increase the PBL SO2 AMF. However, high AOD dominates the surface reflectance contribution to PBL SO2 AMF. Under high SZA conditions, Rayleigh scattering contributes to a reduction in the light path length and PBL SO2 AMF. For volcanic SO2 AMF, high SZA enhances the light path length within the volcanic SO2 layer, as well as the volcanic SO2 AMF, because of the negligible photon loss by Rayleigh scattering at high altitudes. High aerosol loading and an APH that is greater than the SO2 peak height lead to aerosol shielding effects, which reduce the volcanic SO2 AMF. The SO2 AMF errors are also quantified as a function of uncertainty in the input data of AOD, APH, and surface reflectance. The SO2 AMF sensitivities and error analysis provided here can be used to develop effective error reduction strategies for satellite-based SO2 retrievals.


Our aim is to investigate the potentially preventive effects of Aliskiren in a carrageenan-induced lung pleurisy model and to compare the standard anti-inflammatory agents, indomethacin and dexamethasone. The pleurisy model was induced through the injection of carrageenan (0.2 ml-%2) into the pleural cavity. After the experiment, serum and lung tissues were collected and biochemical, molecular and pathological examinations were performed. In our study, pleural inflammation decreased superoxide dismutase activity and the glutathione level and increased the malondialdehyde level in the lung of rats, while Aliskiren increased the superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione level and decreased the malondialdehyde level. In addition, carrageenan-induced pleurisy caused a significant increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines mRNA expressions (TNF-α, IL-1β, and NF-KB), while Aliskiren administration decreased their expressions as well as the standard treatments, indomethacin and dexamethasone, did. Aliskiren administration at the 200 mg/kg dose protected the lungs in the pathological evaluation, especially against inflammatory cell infiltration and edematous lesions. It appears that Aliskiren protects the lung from carrageenan-induced pleurisy damage by regulating inflammation and antioxidant-oxidant balance via Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System inhibition.


Title of thesis: Shape Identification And Ranking In Temporal Data Sets Machon Gregory, Master of Science, 2009 Thesis directed by: Professor Ben Shneiderman Department of Computer Science Shapes are a concise way to describe temporal variable behaviors. Some commonly used shapes are spikes, sinks, rises, and drops. A spike describes a set of variable values that rapidly increase, then immediately rapidly decrease. The variable may be the value of a stock or a person's blood sugar levels. Shapes abstractly describe a variable's behavior. Details such as the height of a spike or its rate increase, are lost in the abstraction. These hidden details make it difficult to define shapes and compare one instance to another. For example, what attributes can be used to define a spike's behavior? And what attributes of a spike determine its "spikiness"? The ability to define and compare shapes is important because it allows shapes to be identified and ranked, according to an attribute of interest. A lot of work has been done in the area of shape identification through pattern matching and other data mining techniques, but ideas combining the identification and comparison of shapes have received less attention. This dissertation fills the gap by presenting a set of shapes and their attributes, by which they can be identified, compared, and ranked. Neither the set of shapes, nor their attributes presented in this dissertation are exhaustive, but it provides an example of how a shape's attributes can be used for identification and comparison. Spikes, sinks, rises, drops, lines, plateaus, valleys, and gaps are the shapes presented in this dissertation. Several attributes for each shape are identified and defined. These attributes will be the basis for constructing definitions that identify a particular behavior of a shape and allow it to be ranked. The second contribution of this work is an information visualization tool, TimeSearcher: Shape Search Edition (SSE), which allows users to explore data sets using the identification and ranking ideas, presented in this dissertation. Case studies were performed to evaluate the benefit of shape identification and ranking in different data sets. Four case studies were performed with a single user, exploring network traffic data and X-ray diffraction data. Shape Identificaiton And Ranking In Temporal Data Sets


Whispering gallery modes (WGMs) are surface modes that propagate azimuthally around resonators with rotational symmetry (toroidal, spherical, or, as in our case, cylindrical shaped, since the optical fiber itself plays the role of the microresonator). These modes are resonant in optical wavelength, and the spectral position of the resonances depends on the radius and the refractive index of the microresonator material. Due to the high-quality factor of the resonances (as high as 10 7 in cylindrical microresonators), they allow measuring different parameters with high sensitivities and very low detection limits. Here, we report the use of WGMs to characterize the properties of the material that forms the microresonator. In particular, we highlight the use of this technique to measure temperature profiles along conventional and special fibers (such as photosensitive or doped fibers), elasto-optic coefficients, and UV-induced absorption loss coefficients of different photosensitive fibers. These parameters of the fibers set the optical response of fiber-based components and may change when the device is in use in an optical system; thus, this technique allows an accurate characterization of the devices and leads to proper designs of components with specific optical responses.